Something Like a Phenomena: Menomena

By far my favorite record of last year, Friend and Foe by Menomena, has it all. The record is classically pop, with confident and generous melodies, and ezquisitely layered (like Thom Yorke and Peter Gabriel had something to do with it) with impressionistic strokes of sonic genius. I am always in a trance when I'm listening to the piano driven and perfect tracks on this album, but I was certain that it was no secret gem. I pretty much thought everyone and their brother owned a copy of Friend and Foe, as it was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Album Art category, and had left the indie record stores for the big time (like Best Buy and Borders) probably soon after I had discovered the band by checking up on the Staff Picks at Chicago's famous Reckless Records one week last summer. But last night, I was shocked to hear my friend Pat Wooden (http://www.bagolove.com/) say that a0 he's never heard of Menomena and b) he doesn't read my blog. Wince. It hurt. The worst of it was that I had not gotten the word out about one of my cherished new bands, or that this hip-maker (he's the kind of person that knows what's cool before it even exists) hadn't come across them SOMEWHERE already. So, though this feels tiresome because I'm severely depressed and heartbroken and unable to make much sense, I owe it to Menomena (who got me through many a plane ride in the lsat few months) to feature them here on my blog. You can listen to tracks from Friend and Foe at projectplaylist.com.