Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Top 25 Albums of 2008 (round two)
Two-thousand eight didn't have the same pedigree of 2007 in its top 10 (only a couple of these albums are threats to my coveted top 50 of all time, unlike last year when at least six of the top ten are still in my monthly rotation), but there's a lot here worth hearing. As always, these are the 25 albums I enjoyed the most this year (not necessarily the best).
Update: I added a playlist at the end of the list so you can hear some of my favorites of 2008. I'll try to flesh it out on Tuesday. I also added a little bit to the #1 album comments.
25. Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
24. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
23. Rue Royale - Rue Royale
22. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
21. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Chad VG had me thinking top five for a few weeks, but I mellowed on Soft Airplane too quickly to chart it any higher. TPC didn't do anything new on their follow-up LP, but it was a lot of fun and I've played it consistently all year. Rue Royale's hummable, uplifting songwriting made it a road trip go-to album for my wife & I. Frightened Rabbit make rock songs to drive faster to, and "The Modern Leper" was one of this year's best. "Keep Yourself Warm" is also an amazing song, but its lyrics, while noble, are probably too inappropriate to recommend. I've been back and forth on the merit of Coldplay's latest album, but "Death & All His Friends" guaranteed it a top 25 spot.
20. Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
19. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah part one
18. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
17. Angil & the Hiddntracks - Oulipo Saliva
16. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Spiritualized tries a lot of styles, and succeeds nearly all the time. "Death Take Your Fiddle" always gets me. Erykah Badu's album is one of the very best of the year, although it takes some concentrated listening and therefore didn't end up in the rotation very often in 2008. If this were a top 25 best-of 2008, she'd be near the top. TV on the Radio found a nice sweet spot between experimental and pop on Dear Science, and I suspect I'll come back for more in 2009. Angil & the Hiddntracks made something so unique and quirky that I have to recommend it, even though most of you will hate it. It's weird, and the story behind it is more weird. Love it. MGMT created one of my top five songs of the year, "Time to Pretend", and that lands it at #16. There's other gems ("Electric Feel", "Kids"), but you can feel free to cherry pick it.
15. Adele - 19
14. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Not Animal
13. Beck - Modern Guilt
12. Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
11. Portishead - Third
Adele knocked my socks off with a commanding voice and lots of pop goodness to sing over. There are at least eight killer tracks here. Margot's label-approved album lacked the cohesion of its band-approved counterpart (that's coming in a little bit), but I loved each of the songs that didn't overlap, and it's worth its price tag (I secretly with "Pages Written on a Wall" had snuck onto Animal! - it might be my favorite track on either of their 2008 albums). Buy Animal! and cherry pick the rest. Beck's collaboration with Dangermouse took a long time to grow on me, and its a testament to his past work that I stuck with it, but in the end I was able to dig into his dusty grooves. It's worth the effort. Port O'Brien's folk-rock from an Alaskan fishing boat was one of my early favorites. There are a few songs here that point to something special down the road. Portishead's Third was, despite the 10+ years since their last studio effort, worth the wait. "The Rip" is as perfect a song as I heard in 2008.
10. DeVotchKa - A Mad & Faithful Telling
9. Son Lux - At War with Walls & Mazes
8. Peter Broderick - Float
7. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
6. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
DeVotchKa's follow-up to How It Ends was amongst my most anticipated 2008 albums, and I was initially unimpressed. But their knock-out performance at Lollapalooza was enough reason to give it a second listen, and I'm glad I did. Son Lux is a late addition to the list. Its formula is tailor-made for me (spiritual lyrics, electronic beds, minimalist arrangements). Check out "Break". Peter Broderick's minimalist Float was part of my "classical ambient" binge, and it's extraordinarily beautiful. If you're looking for some music to breathe by, this is hopeful and stunning and gorgeous and plenty of other adjectives. Dangermouse expanded the Black Keys palette, but in the end the songwriting, crunch of the guitar, & the crash of the drums remained their best asset. Wolf Parade's sophomore effort is in many ways superior to their debut. Almost every song is epic, and it gets better and better with each listen. If you give it a spin, make sure to listen all the way through since many songs are arranged in several movements. Rock and roll at its finest.
5. The Kills - Midnight Boom
"Last Day of Magic" remains my favorite song of 2008, and the rest of Midnight Boom grew on me steadily all year. These are short, dirty old-school punk pop cuts, each with a unique swagger. They'll make you dance, they'll make you strut.
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I like music that makes me feel something. Bon Iver's music is haunting, longing and lovely. His falsetto is familiar and affected. And when he occasionally comes down from it, there's a power in his cry that's out-of-this-world. Check out "Skinny Love". It's perfect.
3. Apes & Androids - Blood Moon
Music doesn't have to make me feel something deep to make its way into my soul. Sometimes it can be ridiculously fun, over-the-top joy. Apes & Androids are wholly unique, wearing their influences on their sleeves, but turning them upside-down in the name of making you move. This is the soundtrack of me looking like a fool to the driver next to me as I sit in traffic. Check out "Nights of the Week" and download the whole thing on iTunes or on their site, where they independently released it.
2. Jacaszek - Treny
Jacaszek is not an easy listen. It's too minimalist to be background music, to sad to be something you just toss on. Treny is an ancient polish word for laments, and that's the broad theme here. Michal Jacaszek uses a violin, a cello, a soaring female voice, a piano, and some minimal atmospheric electronic elements to create his prayers. And while I use the word sad to label the prevalent mood, it's not entirely accurate. There's a sweet quality mixed in, hopelessly hopeful, and it sounds like it could move mountains. An album created for long autumn and winter walks with headphones, the sun setting or set, middle of the night prayers, days filled with longing, long road trips lost in thought, beautiful, hypnotic compositions that benefit from volume. This music moves me every time I hear it. It moves me to tears, it moves me to reflection, it stirs my soul. And on its final song, "Rytm To Niesmiertelnosc II" ("Rhythm is Immortality), it moves me towards joy. So, if you have the time and space to give Jacaszek a good listen, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
1. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Animal!
By the time this was released, I had already spent a year digesting it thanks to live tracks, demos, leaked songs, Daytrotter sessions and a couple concerts (I saw Margot live three times in less than 365 days). The follow-up to one of my all-time albums, The Dust of Retreat is a unique, highly stylized album filled with intimate moments and blistering rock-outs. It's film-noir lyrics and back alley music; Affected vocals and Die-Hard guitar riffs (see "A Children's Crusade on Acid": "Satan settle down, keep your trousers on / You can roam the globe but leave my wretched soul alone / I don't know you, and I don't owe you a thing / but the children lose their minds in such uncertain times"). The sounds they get out of that piano and that drum kit are marvelous (the unfortunately named third track is my favorite example of this). And I frankly I don't know how to talk about this Margot album without sinking into hyperbole.
They didn't get the respect I thought they would from the critics. It seems like this can largely be blamed on the weird circumstances of creating two albums, both published by a major label, but only one of which the band liked and one of which the label liked. Most critics reveiwed the less accomplished Not Animal (get it?) and ignored the more cohesive, more daring Animal!
Like Radiohead, they start with hummable, infectious melodies that are Gossip Girl-ready on their own. Then they mess them all up, adding movements, bringing in all of their eight+ musicians, and finding ways to turn the ideas upside down. They rarely stick with one idea for longer than a minute. Then it's often gone for good, or at least until you hit repeat (the middle section of "Mariel's Brazen Overture" tears the roof off the place, but it ends as suddenly as it begins: "Someone is bleeding the wall; the house is beginning to crumble... oh dear, The zebras are scaling the wall / the mice are beginning to scatter"). And the tracklisting brings out the best in each song, flowing from one idea to the next with grace and curiousity. Songs like "Junked Out German Motorcar" that are less accomplished on their own are given new weight based on where they fall in the concert. And it all climaxes with "As Tall As Cliffs", which they blissfully sing with all their might (If you need to start somewhere, start there). "As Tall As Cliffs" goes into other-worldly territory, taking everything to another level and compelling many happy listeners to hit repeat over and over and over and over again. This is the best 51 minutes of music created in 2008.
Update: I just realized that Animal! is now available on iTunes, and for $7.99 no less. You can get Animal! and cherry pick the other tracks from Not Animal for less than $15.
Best of 2008
Update: I added a playlist at the end of the list so you can hear some of my favorites of 2008. I'll try to flesh it out on Tuesday. I also added a little bit to the #1 album comments.
25. Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
24. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
23. Rue Royale - Rue Royale
22. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
21. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Chad VG had me thinking top five for a few weeks, but I mellowed on Soft Airplane too quickly to chart it any higher. TPC didn't do anything new on their follow-up LP, but it was a lot of fun and I've played it consistently all year. Rue Royale's hummable, uplifting songwriting made it a road trip go-to album for my wife & I. Frightened Rabbit make rock songs to drive faster to, and "The Modern Leper" was one of this year's best. "Keep Yourself Warm" is also an amazing song, but its lyrics, while noble, are probably too inappropriate to recommend. I've been back and forth on the merit of Coldplay's latest album, but "Death & All His Friends" guaranteed it a top 25 spot.
20. Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
19. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah part one
18. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
17. Angil & the Hiddntracks - Oulipo Saliva
16. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Spiritualized tries a lot of styles, and succeeds nearly all the time. "Death Take Your Fiddle" always gets me. Erykah Badu's album is one of the very best of the year, although it takes some concentrated listening and therefore didn't end up in the rotation very often in 2008. If this were a top 25 best-of 2008, she'd be near the top. TV on the Radio found a nice sweet spot between experimental and pop on Dear Science, and I suspect I'll come back for more in 2009. Angil & the Hiddntracks made something so unique and quirky that I have to recommend it, even though most of you will hate it. It's weird, and the story behind it is more weird. Love it. MGMT created one of my top five songs of the year, "Time to Pretend", and that lands it at #16. There's other gems ("Electric Feel", "Kids"), but you can feel free to cherry pick it.
15. Adele - 19
14. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Not Animal
13. Beck - Modern Guilt
12. Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
11. Portishead - Third
Adele knocked my socks off with a commanding voice and lots of pop goodness to sing over. There are at least eight killer tracks here. Margot's label-approved album lacked the cohesion of its band-approved counterpart (that's coming in a little bit), but I loved each of the songs that didn't overlap, and it's worth its price tag (I secretly with "Pages Written on a Wall" had snuck onto Animal! - it might be my favorite track on either of their 2008 albums). Buy Animal! and cherry pick the rest. Beck's collaboration with Dangermouse took a long time to grow on me, and its a testament to his past work that I stuck with it, but in the end I was able to dig into his dusty grooves. It's worth the effort. Port O'Brien's folk-rock from an Alaskan fishing boat was one of my early favorites. There are a few songs here that point to something special down the road. Portishead's Third was, despite the 10+ years since their last studio effort, worth the wait. "The Rip" is as perfect a song as I heard in 2008.
10. DeVotchKa - A Mad & Faithful Telling
9. Son Lux - At War with Walls & Mazes
8. Peter Broderick - Float
7. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
6. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
DeVotchKa's follow-up to How It Ends was amongst my most anticipated 2008 albums, and I was initially unimpressed. But their knock-out performance at Lollapalooza was enough reason to give it a second listen, and I'm glad I did. Son Lux is a late addition to the list. Its formula is tailor-made for me (spiritual lyrics, electronic beds, minimalist arrangements). Check out "Break". Peter Broderick's minimalist Float was part of my "classical ambient" binge, and it's extraordinarily beautiful. If you're looking for some music to breathe by, this is hopeful and stunning and gorgeous and plenty of other adjectives. Dangermouse expanded the Black Keys palette, but in the end the songwriting, crunch of the guitar, & the crash of the drums remained their best asset. Wolf Parade's sophomore effort is in many ways superior to their debut. Almost every song is epic, and it gets better and better with each listen. If you give it a spin, make sure to listen all the way through since many songs are arranged in several movements. Rock and roll at its finest.
5. The Kills - Midnight Boom
"Last Day of Magic" remains my favorite song of 2008, and the rest of Midnight Boom grew on me steadily all year. These are short, dirty old-school punk pop cuts, each with a unique swagger. They'll make you dance, they'll make you strut.
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I like music that makes me feel something. Bon Iver's music is haunting, longing and lovely. His falsetto is familiar and affected. And when he occasionally comes down from it, there's a power in his cry that's out-of-this-world. Check out "Skinny Love". It's perfect.
3. Apes & Androids - Blood Moon
Music doesn't have to make me feel something deep to make its way into my soul. Sometimes it can be ridiculously fun, over-the-top joy. Apes & Androids are wholly unique, wearing their influences on their sleeves, but turning them upside-down in the name of making you move. This is the soundtrack of me looking like a fool to the driver next to me as I sit in traffic. Check out "Nights of the Week" and download the whole thing on iTunes or on their site, where they independently released it.
2. Jacaszek - Treny
Jacaszek is not an easy listen. It's too minimalist to be background music, to sad to be something you just toss on. Treny is an ancient polish word for laments, and that's the broad theme here. Michal Jacaszek uses a violin, a cello, a soaring female voice, a piano, and some minimal atmospheric electronic elements to create his prayers. And while I use the word sad to label the prevalent mood, it's not entirely accurate. There's a sweet quality mixed in, hopelessly hopeful, and it sounds like it could move mountains. An album created for long autumn and winter walks with headphones, the sun setting or set, middle of the night prayers, days filled with longing, long road trips lost in thought, beautiful, hypnotic compositions that benefit from volume. This music moves me every time I hear it. It moves me to tears, it moves me to reflection, it stirs my soul. And on its final song, "Rytm To Niesmiertelnosc II" ("Rhythm is Immortality), it moves me towards joy. So, if you have the time and space to give Jacaszek a good listen, I cannot recommend it highly enough.1. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Animal!
By the time this was released, I had already spent a year digesting it thanks to live tracks, demos, leaked songs, Daytrotter sessions and a couple concerts (I saw Margot live three times in less than 365 days). The follow-up to one of my all-time albums, The Dust of Retreat is a unique, highly stylized album filled with intimate moments and blistering rock-outs. It's film-noir lyrics and back alley music; Affected vocals and Die-Hard guitar riffs (see "A Children's Crusade on Acid": "Satan settle down, keep your trousers on / You can roam the globe but leave my wretched soul alone / I don't know you, and I don't owe you a thing / but the children lose their minds in such uncertain times"). The sounds they get out of that piano and that drum kit are marvelous (the unfortunately named third track is my favorite example of this). And I frankly I don't know how to talk about this Margot album without sinking into hyperbole.They didn't get the respect I thought they would from the critics. It seems like this can largely be blamed on the weird circumstances of creating two albums, both published by a major label, but only one of which the band liked and one of which the label liked. Most critics reveiwed the less accomplished Not Animal (get it?) and ignored the more cohesive, more daring Animal!
Like Radiohead, they start with hummable, infectious melodies that are Gossip Girl-ready on their own. Then they mess them all up, adding movements, bringing in all of their eight+ musicians, and finding ways to turn the ideas upside down. They rarely stick with one idea for longer than a minute. Then it's often gone for good, or at least until you hit repeat (the middle section of "Mariel's Brazen Overture" tears the roof off the place, but it ends as suddenly as it begins: "Someone is bleeding the wall; the house is beginning to crumble... oh dear, The zebras are scaling the wall / the mice are beginning to scatter"). And the tracklisting brings out the best in each song, flowing from one idea to the next with grace and curiousity. Songs like "Junked Out German Motorcar" that are less accomplished on their own are given new weight based on where they fall in the concert. And it all climaxes with "As Tall As Cliffs", which they blissfully sing with all their might (If you need to start somewhere, start there). "As Tall As Cliffs" goes into other-worldly territory, taking everything to another level and compelling many happy listeners to hit repeat over and over and over and over again. This is the best 51 minutes of music created in 2008.
Update: I just realized that Animal! is now available on iTunes, and for $7.99 no less. You can get Animal! and cherry pick the other tracks from Not Animal for less than $15.
Best of 2008
Labels: music
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Top 10 of 2007 (revisited)
My favorite post to write each year is my top 25 albums. I spend far too much time thinking about it. Case-in-point, in addition to my running list throughout the year, I write my first draft sometime in early November. To get things started, I've traditionally thrown out a revisited top ten from the year before, to see which albums stuck with me another year, which albums would've benefited from another month or two of listening and, in general, just to waste time thinking about something inconsequential like music.
Since I have everything nicely backed up for me on my blog, I can look at past years to see how my tastes have changed (I've done these lists since I was in my early teens, back when Hootie & the Blowfish might have snuck into a top five). If I was picking right now, here's what 2005 & 2006 would look like:
2005:
1. Gimme Fiction by Spoon (1)
2. Apologies to the Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (2)
3. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (not ranked)
4. The Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird (4)
5. The Woods by Sleater-Kinney (6)
2006:
1. Dust of Retreat by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's (not ranked)
2. Jokes & Trials by Ned Collette (2)
3. The Eraser by Thom Yorke (16) this one really grew on me
4. Chulahoma by The Black Keys (1)
5. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case (not ranked)
Which brings us to 2007. In December it looked like this:
10. Untrue by Burial
9. Future Suture by Ned Collette
8. This Bliss by Pantha du Prince
7. Emerald City by John Vanderslice
6. The Reminder by Feist
5. Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
4. Design in Quick Rotation by Marco Mahler
3. In Rainbows by Radiohead (it had just come out)
2. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
1. Boxer by The National
And if I had to do it again today, it'd look like this:
10. We Belong to the Staggering Evening by The Ike Reilly Assasination (14)
9. Future Suture by Ned Collette (9)
8. The Reminder by Feist (6)
7. Design in Quick Rotation by Marco Mahler (4)
6. This Bliss by Pantha du Prince (8)
5. Curses by Future of the Left (not ranked)
4. Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon (2)
3. Boxer by The National (1)
2. Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird (5)
1. In Rainbows by Radiohead (3)
In true obsessive spirit, I've got my preliminary top ten figured out for 2008. Wonder how much it will change in two months. And then in 14 months.
Since I have everything nicely backed up for me on my blog, I can look at past years to see how my tastes have changed (I've done these lists since I was in my early teens, back when Hootie & the Blowfish might have snuck into a top five). If I was picking right now, here's what 2005 & 2006 would look like:
2005:
1. Gimme Fiction by Spoon (1)
2. Apologies to the Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (2)
3. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (not ranked)
4. The Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird (4)
5. The Woods by Sleater-Kinney (6)
2006:
1. Dust of Retreat by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's (not ranked)
2. Jokes & Trials by Ned Collette (2)
3. The Eraser by Thom Yorke (16) this one really grew on me
4. Chulahoma by The Black Keys (1)
5. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case (not ranked)
Which brings us to 2007. In December it looked like this:
10. Untrue by Burial
9. Future Suture by Ned Collette
8. This Bliss by Pantha du Prince
7. Emerald City by John Vanderslice
6. The Reminder by Feist
5. Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
4. Design in Quick Rotation by Marco Mahler
3. In Rainbows by Radiohead (it had just come out)
2. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
1. Boxer by The National
And if I had to do it again today, it'd look like this:
10. We Belong to the Staggering Evening by The Ike Reilly Assasination (14)
9. Future Suture by Ned Collette (9)
8. The Reminder by Feist (6)
7. Design in Quick Rotation by Marco Mahler (4)
6. This Bliss by Pantha du Prince (8)
5. Curses by Future of the Left (not ranked)
4. Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon (2)
3. Boxer by The National (1)
2. Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird (5)
1. In Rainbows by Radiohead (3)
In true obsessive spirit, I've got my preliminary top ten figured out for 2008. Wonder how much it will change in two months. And then in 14 months.
Labels: music
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Everything In Its Right Place
Day One of Lollapalooza... and I'm satisfied. Dehydrated, but satisfied nonetheless.
Radiohead was everything I wanted them to be. Despite the sweltering heat and sun beating down for several hours (my face is not satisfied to say the least), it was all worth it from my perfect viewpoint of the stage and a wonderful setlist that gave me no complaints, even if it was heavy on In Rainbows (they played literally all of it). Sure, i would've happily exchanged one of those for "Talk Show Host" but the odds of that were low to begin with, and I'm not sure I could choose which song to omit (okay, "House of Cards" it is). Anyway, it was beautiful.
I danced like I was out of my mind, made normal by the fact that I was simply mirroring Thom Yorke's goofy/awesome set of moves that might be best described as "interpretive belly dance" or "modified snoopy dance". I sang along silently (until the second encore, when everyone let rip on "2+2=5" and "Idioteque", the latter of which was my personal highlight). I was mesmerized by their light/video/color show and I have a new appreciation for "Dollars and Cents" and "The Gloaming".
The crowd was 75,000 large, and judging from the crowd feedback, we were all somewhere between completely scorched and completely reverent. At one point Thom commented on our collective quietness, which of course was met with a deafening roar from all of us who wanted to make sure we got that second encore. Maybe I'm a fanboy, but I'd like to think that our volume level between songs was one-part tired and two-parts savoring every note, waiting expectantly to see where they took us next.
Radiohead isn't your average 75,000-crowd band. Like my friend Matt said, it's a bit surprising that they grabbed a worldwide audience. The soaring melodies certainly put them on the mega-band stage, but they've mostly created music that a mainstream audience is willing to put the time in for, wading through layers of thoughtful, challenging work to get to the pop-center.
Anyway, other highlights included the fireworks show going on behind "Everything in Its Right Place" that bled into "Fake Plastic Trees". Apparently it was from Soldier Field, but I'm not clear on if it was Lollapalooza-centric.
I could go on and on (obviously), but that's good enough for now.
The rest of the day was also great - Bloc Party was good (not 6:00 good, but the Silent Alarm songs were fun to hear, even if they kind of all sound the same), Gogol Bordello was a pleasant surprise. I missed the Black Keys in the name of having a good spot for Radiohead. I don't regret that, but apparently they put on a killer show, as did the Raconteurs. Next time the Keys come through town, I'm in, I promise. Finally, the Kills were fun, but their live show doesn't really add anything to their sound.
Tomorrow looks like another (slightly-cooler) scorcher, so I need to pace myself, stay hydrated and stretch a lot. It's also my bouncing back and forth from the north-end to the south-end day. I begin with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's at 12:15, and I get DeVotchKa, Jamie Lidell, Broken Social Scene, Toadies & Rage Against the Machine, and hopefully a couple side stage surprises. It'll be easier though since I won't be worried about holding down my spot all day (and with the exception of Broken Social Scene & Margot, I mostly just want to catch a few songs from all of these sets). Good stuff.
Radiohead was everything I wanted them to be. Despite the sweltering heat and sun beating down for several hours (my face is not satisfied to say the least), it was all worth it from my perfect viewpoint of the stage and a wonderful setlist that gave me no complaints, even if it was heavy on In Rainbows (they played literally all of it). Sure, i would've happily exchanged one of those for "Talk Show Host" but the odds of that were low to begin with, and I'm not sure I could choose which song to omit (okay, "House of Cards" it is). Anyway, it was beautiful.
I danced like I was out of my mind, made normal by the fact that I was simply mirroring Thom Yorke's goofy/awesome set of moves that might be best described as "interpretive belly dance" or "modified snoopy dance". I sang along silently (until the second encore, when everyone let rip on "2+2=5" and "Idioteque", the latter of which was my personal highlight). I was mesmerized by their light/video/color show and I have a new appreciation for "Dollars and Cents" and "The Gloaming".
The crowd was 75,000 large, and judging from the crowd feedback, we were all somewhere between completely scorched and completely reverent. At one point Thom commented on our collective quietness, which of course was met with a deafening roar from all of us who wanted to make sure we got that second encore. Maybe I'm a fanboy, but I'd like to think that our volume level between songs was one-part tired and two-parts savoring every note, waiting expectantly to see where they took us next.
Radiohead isn't your average 75,000-crowd band. Like my friend Matt said, it's a bit surprising that they grabbed a worldwide audience. The soaring melodies certainly put them on the mega-band stage, but they've mostly created music that a mainstream audience is willing to put the time in for, wading through layers of thoughtful, challenging work to get to the pop-center.
Anyway, other highlights included the fireworks show going on behind "Everything in Its Right Place" that bled into "Fake Plastic Trees". Apparently it was from Soldier Field, but I'm not clear on if it was Lollapalooza-centric.
I could go on and on (obviously), but that's good enough for now.
The rest of the day was also great - Bloc Party was good (not 6:00 good, but the Silent Alarm songs were fun to hear, even if they kind of all sound the same), Gogol Bordello was a pleasant surprise. I missed the Black Keys in the name of having a good spot for Radiohead. I don't regret that, but apparently they put on a killer show, as did the Raconteurs. Next time the Keys come through town, I'm in, I promise. Finally, the Kills were fun, but their live show doesn't really add anything to their sound.
Tomorrow looks like another (slightly-cooler) scorcher, so I need to pace myself, stay hydrated and stretch a lot. It's also my bouncing back and forth from the north-end to the south-end day. I begin with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's at 12:15, and I get DeVotchKa, Jamie Lidell, Broken Social Scene, Toadies & Rage Against the Machine, and hopefully a couple side stage surprises. It'll be easier though since I won't be worried about holding down my spot all day (and with the exception of Broken Social Scene & Margot, I mostly just want to catch a few songs from all of these sets). Good stuff.
Labels: music
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Best Music of 2007: Songs
I did my best to just choose one song for each artist, but as you'll see, in the end I just couldn't do it. Let me know what songs served as your 2007 soundtrack in the comments!
25. "Feels Good" by Rahsaan Patterson
24. "Explosions Were Heard" by Kinetic Stereokids | Stream
23. "Acceptable in the 80s" by Calvin Harris
22. "Fruehstueck" by Touane
21. "Happyfour Twenty" by Christ. | Video
20. "Myth Takes" by !!!
19. "The Minaret" by John Vanderslice | Link
18. "The Devil Never Sleeps" by Iron & Wine | Link
17. "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses
16. "Click Click Click Click" by Bishop Allen
15. "Air Aid" by Menomena
14. "Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse
13. "You Are Never Alone" by SoCalled | Download
12. "Flathead" by The Fratellis
11. "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" by Of Montreal | Download
10. "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice | Download
9. "Orange Chinese Car" by Marco Mahler
8. "No Cars Go" by The Arcade Fire | Download
7. "I Feel It All" by Feist | Link
6. "All I Need" by Radiohead | Link
5. "Black Like Me" by Spoon
4. "When Your Mind's Made Up" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
3. "Catch Hell Blues" by The White Stripes
2. "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" by The Ike Reilly Assassination | Download
1. (tie) "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem
1. (tie) "All My Friends" also by LCD Soundsystem
Related: Best Albums
25. "Feels Good" by Rahsaan Patterson
24. "Explosions Were Heard" by Kinetic Stereokids | Stream
23. "Acceptable in the 80s" by Calvin Harris
22. "Fruehstueck" by Touane
21. "Happyfour Twenty" by Christ. | Video
20. "Myth Takes" by !!!
19. "The Minaret" by John Vanderslice | Link
18. "The Devil Never Sleeps" by Iron & Wine | Link
17. "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses
16. "Click Click Click Click" by Bishop Allen
15. "Air Aid" by Menomena
14. "Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse
13. "You Are Never Alone" by SoCalled | Download
12. "Flathead" by The Fratellis
11. "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" by Of Montreal | Download
10. "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice | Download
9. "Orange Chinese Car" by Marco Mahler
8. "No Cars Go" by The Arcade Fire | Download
7. "I Feel It All" by Feist | Link
6. "All I Need" by Radiohead | Link
5. "Black Like Me" by Spoon
4. "When Your Mind's Made Up" by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
3. "Catch Hell Blues" by The White Stripes
2. "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" by The Ike Reilly Assassination | Download
1. (tie) "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem
1. (tie) "All My Friends" also by LCD Soundsystem
Related: Best Albums
Labels: bestof2007, music
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Best Music of 2007: Albums
This is my favorite post to write every year. There's some slightly embarrassing proof that I've been doing this since Junior High. It's nice to have an outlet for it now. I really can't remember a better year for music in the past 15 years. I had a really hard time narrowing down what I thought was absolutely essential this year, and my top five is more or less interchangeable. If you see something you don't know, MySpace, HypeMachine, Elbo.ws and YouTube will probably have you covered. Check back later and I'll add some links to places where you can hear the albums or download a song or two. I'll post a top 25 songs list sometime soon as well. Happy listening!
25. !!! - Myth Takes
There are about five or six tracks on this album that make me want to get up off my chair and dance. And for those of you who know me, that's a high compliment. Only when I'm home alone of course. !!!, thanks for providing any peeping neighbors with hours of amusement.
24. Menomena - Friend & Foe
There are a ton of ideas infused in each song on Friend and Foe, and all of those elements add up to something creative and utterly fresh.
Download: "The Pelican" (via Pitchfork)
23. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
Singer/songwriter isn't my genre of choice, but I really dug Jose's trips into simple, sometimes brooding beauty.
22. Free the Robots - Free the Robots EP
It's jazzy, funky, soulful and just plain fun.
21. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Once Soundtrack
It's hard to hear this album apart from the movie, as it captures the street musician creates a raw anthem spilling over with creativity and passion, but I suspect that it works even if you haven't seen it. Do note that if you see Once, you're going to want to spend ten bucks to have the soundtrack immediately, so you might as well pick both of them up on your next Target run.
20. Thomas Fehlmann - Honigpumpe
This is electronica served just as I like it - minimal but warm. Fans of the genre should give it a listen.
19. Justice - t (cross)
I don't know how to sell this album any other way than this: "Do the D.A.N.C.E., 1, 2, 3, 4 fight. Stick to the B.E.A.T., get ready to ignite." Awesome. If these guys are Jesus-people, and everything about their titling tendencies point that direction, I'm hoping they get to DJ most of the parties in Heaven.
Download: "D.A.N.C.E." (via Pitchfork)
18. Rahsaan Patterson - Wines & Spirits
The best R&B album of the year. Each track has its own influences, but Rahsaan makes each one of them his own. If you like R&B even a little, seek it out.
17. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
There's not a bad track on here, and its best moments ("No Cars Go", "Keep the Car Running") hold their own with everything on Funeral, good enough for a top 20 spot.
Download: "No Cars Go" (via PopMatters)
Download: "Keep The Car Running" (via PopMatters)
16. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back
Mavis' record of contemporary spins on protest songs that she mastered back in the day (as the lead Staples sister) is moving, passionate and still capable of mobilizing people to change the world. This is also the best worship music I've heard this year.
15. Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens
One of the best rap albums I've heard in years. The beats and music are choice, his voice is confident and distinct without being over the top, and it rewards multiple listens. Oh, and it's a ton of fun. Like, Tribe fun. As with Rahsaan, if you like hip hop even a little bit, seek it out.
14. The Ike Reilly Assassination - We Belong to the Staggering Evening
It's no doubt indebted to a host of influences, but never once does it feel like Ike Reilly is ripping someone off. He and his band are having the time of their lives writing contemporary send-offs and the occasional protest song disguised in a shawl of irony. They're from Chicago but they deserve to be known throughout the country. What a blast.
Download: "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" (via PopMatters)
13. SoCalled - Ghettoblaster
His basic, unorthodox formula is to combine hip hop elements with Klezmer and Jewish cantor music. What makes this such a beautiful marriage is that he obviously loves and knows both of those pieces so intimately. It's the most original music I've heard this year. Listen to "You Are Never Alone" and proceed to purchase the album.
Download: "You Are Never Alone" (via PopMatters)
12. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
55 minutes of pulse-thumping ecstasy, with "All My Friends" and "Someone Great" right in the middle, taking it to another place. LCD brings it.
11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
It's at once deeply confessional and personal, and also completely over the top. They take on many personas (my favorite being Prince after a bad breakup) to tell their story. They get funky, they get intense, and on "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," they sink their claws into you and don't let go for almost 12 cathartic minutes.
Download: "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" (via Pitchfork)
Download: "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" (left click)
10. Burial - Untrue
It's atmospheric but not removed from this planet. This is music for walks in the rain in urban America. It's detached but somehow you get completely immersed. To wit, it beckons you to enter into its world, with its spiral staircases, its flying choirs and its cavernous tree houses, and then it gets under your skin and you want to stay there.
Download: "Ghost Hardware" (left click) (via IODA)
9. Ned Collette - Future Suture
When all was said and done, Ned created my favorite album of 2006, the one that I played the most this year, and one that continues to grow on me. This is another grower, more so than last time, but the songs eventually reveal a beauty where, once you see it, it's hard to turn away. Stick with it. It's rewarding.
8. Pantha du Prince - This Bliss
It's an electronic album that I imagine would play as well in a warehouse as your headphones, only it constantly morphs into new shapes and ideas instead of lingering in atmosphere where so many recent electronica albums linger ad nauseam. And by using the same musical palette for the entire album, he develops a musical language that goes deeper than most wordless albums can go, especially ones created on a computer. I get lost in this music.
7. John Vanderslice - Emerald City
The crunch of his guitar ("White Dove") is tempered by his simple harmonies, the compelling percussion ("The Minaret") and his general songwriting skills and wordcraft. I love this album more each time I hear it.
Download: "White Dove" (via Vanderslice's Official Site)
6. Feist - The Reminder
Sometimes when I'm listening to The Reminder, I forget that I'm not sitting in Leslie Feist's living room.
5. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Andrew Bird got more cohesive, but no less daring. He put the guitars at the forefront to give the album some broad connecting tissue, and cut down on the wordplay, but upped the passion and heat. Andrew and his partners in crime absolutley cook on this record. I've listened to this at least once a week for the better part of a year, and it kicks off five albums that could've been #1.
Download: "Heretics" (via PopMatters)
4. Marco Mahler - Design in Quick Rotation
I've had this on pretty steady repeat since I first heard it. Some might argue that since I first heard this in December, it doesn't deserve to be in the top five, but I actually think that if I had heard this six months ago it'd be even higher. This makes the winter a little warmer. The eleven tracks are diverse in just the right ways, all sharing a lullaby quality that is sure to stir you and warm your heart. I love the lyrics, I love the fingerplay, I love the small choices he makes to flesh out his music without sacrificing any of the intimacy. I'm captivated.
Download: "Design in Quick Rotation"
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
If it looks like a gimmick and smells like a gimmick, make sure it's not Radiohead before you draw conclusions. In the midst of pricing innovations, web sites, webcasts, discboxes and general hype, it's nice to know that they are still making some of the most original and challenging music out there. And even though they're arguably getting more accessible in their old age, the quality of their music is at an ethereal high.
2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Critics like to use words to describe Spoon like 'economical' or 'efficient'. I think a better word is subtle. They leave space in their music for you to claim. It's your little cave where you can curl up and tap your feet happily. Spoon is one of my two favorite bands and this is the best introduction to them I can think of. So, if you haven't yet picked it up, allow me to recommend, without reservation, the absurdly titled (say it like machine gun fire) Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
Download: "The Underdog" (via PopMatters)
1. The National - Boxer
You know that part of the day just before dawn when the sky is a gorgeous but ominous shade of blue? If you listen to "Ada" at that specific moment, you'll have a clear sense that everything is going to be okay. This is the soundtrack to late night drives, after work train rides and all of the pensive moments of our lives. Each song builds to the next, with Matt Berninger's baritone playing tour guide and Bryan Devendorf's drums taking every song to a higher level, to the point where even when he drops out of the picture entirely, you feel his presence, a phantom conductor leading you into the wee hours of the morning. In one of the best years of music that I can remember, nothing bested this. It's perfect.
Download: "Fake Empire" (via BeggarsGroup)
What'd I miss?
Related: Best Songs
25. !!! - Myth TakesThere are about five or six tracks on this album that make me want to get up off my chair and dance. And for those of you who know me, that's a high compliment. Only when I'm home alone of course. !!!, thanks for providing any peeping neighbors with hours of amusement.
24. Menomena - Friend & FoeThere are a ton of ideas infused in each song on Friend and Foe, and all of those elements add up to something creative and utterly fresh.
Download: "The Pelican" (via Pitchfork)
23. Jose Gonzalez - In Our NatureSinger/songwriter isn't my genre of choice, but I really dug Jose's trips into simple, sometimes brooding beauty.
22. Free the Robots - Free the Robots EPIt's jazzy, funky, soulful and just plain fun.
21. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Once SoundtrackIt's hard to hear this album apart from the movie, as it captures the street musician creates a raw anthem spilling over with creativity and passion, but I suspect that it works even if you haven't seen it. Do note that if you see Once, you're going to want to spend ten bucks to have the soundtrack immediately, so you might as well pick both of them up on your next Target run.
20. Thomas Fehlmann - HonigpumpeThis is electronica served just as I like it - minimal but warm. Fans of the genre should give it a listen.
19. Justice - t (cross)I don't know how to sell this album any other way than this: "Do the D.A.N.C.E., 1, 2, 3, 4 fight. Stick to the B.E.A.T., get ready to ignite." Awesome. If these guys are Jesus-people, and everything about their titling tendencies point that direction, I'm hoping they get to DJ most of the parties in Heaven.
Download: "D.A.N.C.E." (via Pitchfork)
18. Rahsaan Patterson - Wines & SpiritsThe best R&B album of the year. Each track has its own influences, but Rahsaan makes each one of them his own. If you like R&B even a little, seek it out.
17. The Arcade Fire - Neon BibleThere's not a bad track on here, and its best moments ("No Cars Go", "Keep the Car Running") hold their own with everything on Funeral, good enough for a top 20 spot.
Download: "No Cars Go" (via PopMatters)
Download: "Keep The Car Running" (via PopMatters)
16. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn BackMavis' record of contemporary spins on protest songs that she mastered back in the day (as the lead Staples sister) is moving, passionate and still capable of mobilizing people to change the world. This is also the best worship music I've heard this year.
15. Blu & Exile - Below the HeavensOne of the best rap albums I've heard in years. The beats and music are choice, his voice is confident and distinct without being over the top, and it rewards multiple listens. Oh, and it's a ton of fun. Like, Tribe fun. As with Rahsaan, if you like hip hop even a little bit, seek it out.
14. The Ike Reilly Assassination - We Belong to the Staggering EveningIt's no doubt indebted to a host of influences, but never once does it feel like Ike Reilly is ripping someone off. He and his band are having the time of their lives writing contemporary send-offs and the occasional protest song disguised in a shawl of irony. They're from Chicago but they deserve to be known throughout the country. What a blast.
Download: "When Irish Eyes Are Burning" (via PopMatters)
13. SoCalled - GhettoblasterHis basic, unorthodox formula is to combine hip hop elements with Klezmer and Jewish cantor music. What makes this such a beautiful marriage is that he obviously loves and knows both of those pieces so intimately. It's the most original music I've heard this year. Listen to "You Are Never Alone" and proceed to purchase the album.
Download: "You Are Never Alone" (via PopMatters)
12. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver55 minutes of pulse-thumping ecstasy, with "All My Friends" and "Someone Great" right in the middle, taking it to another place. LCD brings it.
11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?It's at once deeply confessional and personal, and also completely over the top. They take on many personas (my favorite being Prince after a bad breakup) to tell their story. They get funky, they get intense, and on "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," they sink their claws into you and don't let go for almost 12 cathartic minutes.
Download: "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" (via Pitchfork)
Download: "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" (left click)
10. Burial - UntrueIt's atmospheric but not removed from this planet. This is music for walks in the rain in urban America. It's detached but somehow you get completely immersed. To wit, it beckons you to enter into its world, with its spiral staircases, its flying choirs and its cavernous tree houses, and then it gets under your skin and you want to stay there.
Download: "Ghost Hardware" (left click) (via IODA)
9. Ned Collette - Future SutureWhen all was said and done, Ned created my favorite album of 2006, the one that I played the most this year, and one that continues to grow on me. This is another grower, more so than last time, but the songs eventually reveal a beauty where, once you see it, it's hard to turn away. Stick with it. It's rewarding.
8. Pantha du Prince - This BlissIt's an electronic album that I imagine would play as well in a warehouse as your headphones, only it constantly morphs into new shapes and ideas instead of lingering in atmosphere where so many recent electronica albums linger ad nauseam. And by using the same musical palette for the entire album, he develops a musical language that goes deeper than most wordless albums can go, especially ones created on a computer. I get lost in this music.
7. John Vanderslice - Emerald CityThe crunch of his guitar ("White Dove") is tempered by his simple harmonies, the compelling percussion ("The Minaret") and his general songwriting skills and wordcraft. I love this album more each time I hear it.
Download: "White Dove" (via Vanderslice's Official Site)
6. Feist - The ReminderSometimes when I'm listening to The Reminder, I forget that I'm not sitting in Leslie Feist's living room.
5. Andrew Bird - Armchair ApocryphaAndrew Bird got more cohesive, but no less daring. He put the guitars at the forefront to give the album some broad connecting tissue, and cut down on the wordplay, but upped the passion and heat. Andrew and his partners in crime absolutley cook on this record. I've listened to this at least once a week for the better part of a year, and it kicks off five albums that could've been #1.
Download: "Heretics" (via PopMatters)
4. Marco Mahler - Design in Quick RotationI've had this on pretty steady repeat since I first heard it. Some might argue that since I first heard this in December, it doesn't deserve to be in the top five, but I actually think that if I had heard this six months ago it'd be even higher. This makes the winter a little warmer. The eleven tracks are diverse in just the right ways, all sharing a lullaby quality that is sure to stir you and warm your heart. I love the lyrics, I love the fingerplay, I love the small choices he makes to flesh out his music without sacrificing any of the intimacy. I'm captivated.
Download: "Design in Quick Rotation"
3. Radiohead - In RainbowsIf it looks like a gimmick and smells like a gimmick, make sure it's not Radiohead before you draw conclusions. In the midst of pricing innovations, web sites, webcasts, discboxes and general hype, it's nice to know that they are still making some of the most original and challenging music out there. And even though they're arguably getting more accessible in their old age, the quality of their music is at an ethereal high.
2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga GaCritics like to use words to describe Spoon like 'economical' or 'efficient'. I think a better word is subtle. They leave space in their music for you to claim. It's your little cave where you can curl up and tap your feet happily. Spoon is one of my two favorite bands and this is the best introduction to them I can think of. So, if you haven't yet picked it up, allow me to recommend, without reservation, the absurdly titled (say it like machine gun fire) Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
Download: "The Underdog" (via PopMatters)
1. The National - BoxerYou know that part of the day just before dawn when the sky is a gorgeous but ominous shade of blue? If you listen to "Ada" at that specific moment, you'll have a clear sense that everything is going to be okay. This is the soundtrack to late night drives, after work train rides and all of the pensive moments of our lives. Each song builds to the next, with Matt Berninger's baritone playing tour guide and Bryan Devendorf's drums taking every song to a higher level, to the point where even when he drops out of the picture entirely, you feel his presence, a phantom conductor leading you into the wee hours of the morning. In one of the best years of music that I can remember, nothing bested this. It's perfect.
Download: "Fake Empire" (via BeggarsGroup)
What'd I miss?
Related: Best Songs
Labels: bestof2007, Favorites, music
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Year-End Lists: Top 15 Albums
Which brings us to my favorite list to think about, my favorite albums of the year.
15. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Most of the rap music I heard this year drowned in misogyny, skits and boring beats and lyrics. Fishscale had the skits, it had its share of misogyny (the main reason I rarely listen to it, and why it's at the bottom), a title that announced it's lyrical starting point, but it's got beats and wordplay right up there with the best rap albums of the last five years.
14. Ray LaMontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black
If Nick Drake was a woman and he had a kid with Van Morrison Ray LaMontagne reaches into the Van Morrison / Nick Drake bag of tricks and finds his own voice. This is my favorite album of the year for those introspective moments in life.
13. Beirut - Fulag Orkestar
I've heard it described as Balkan wedding marches, and that's accurate, but it doesn't capture the warm, vibrant and refreshing sounds led by New Mexico-to New York's Zach Condon. If I would've heard it earlier it might have been a top ten album.
12. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
This is your basic "Boy meets girl in a heavy metal band in Mexico, metal band breaks up, boy and girl discover mutual love of flamenco, folk, rock and Spanish music, boy and girl move to Europe, find growing buzz behind a mythical live show, find a producer that helps them get their live show sound in the studio, cut album, and watch said album debut at #1 in Ireland" story. Really fun, really exciting, creative music. This is the 2006 album I expect to grow on me the most in the coming years.
11. The Roots - Game Theory
The Roots parts have often been greater than their sum. The main draw has been hip hop with live instrumentation, and they are indeed one of the most talented bands working today. They have the ability to groove like Marvin Gaye, tear it up like Bad Brains and write songs that stick to the roof of your mouth like caramel. But their albums usually been all over the place - a handful of classic songs surrounded by a bloated amount of filler. And even the albums that are packed with classic songs and little filler never seemed to work as albums, merely as collections of songs.
With "Game Theory" all that has changed. The musicians remain at the top of their game, but this time they have something to say. The emcee Black Thought takes on the war, Katrina, white collar crime and more, the pace rarely lets up and the band delivers an album that flows perfectly (well, almost - that last track can be hard to get through) and is cohesive, a hallmark of my favorite albums. It's the Roots finally getting it right. Now if they'll add that trademark funk and soul back into their sound, maybe they could knock one out of the park.
10. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
I had an on-again off-again relationship with TV on the Radio this year. One week I thought the album was brilliant and played it constantly, the next I thought it was overrated, incoherent and I didn't bother. But from time to time a song would pop up on shuffle ("Hours", "Province" and "Wolf Like Me" being the usual suspects) that made me rethink my renunciation of the band and redeclare their greatness, iPod style. Lather, rinse, repeat. This sounds like nothing else out there today - something like a barbershop quartet trapped in a mudslide, pounding on drums and yelling for help - and once it gets under your skin, all you can do is give in and pay attention.
9. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
When my friends and I heard "Crazy" early this year, we all assumed it was going to be absolutely huge. We were right of course, and patted ourselves on the back as DangerMouse and Cee-Lo claimed the world's ear on behalf of geeks everywhere. But sometimes I wished "Crazy" wouldn't have been the most overplayed song of the year. St. Elsewhere is a creative and infectious album that I rarely listen to thanks to hearing "Crazy" over and over again. But it's still fantastic and sometime in March or April I'm sure it will once again be a staple in my listening rotation.
8. The DFA - Remixes Chapter One (and two)
The DFA (James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and Tim Goldsworthy) made music meant for the dance floor accessible for the living room. Here, many of their numerous remixes from the last few years are collected in one place. Being a compilation, it probably doesn't belong on a proper list, but this was an album that I listened to over and over again for months. Even though each track has its own personality and were created without the intention of being an album, it somehow works as a cohesive album. Presumably to make more money, these were released as two separate discs, and I think the first one works better front to back. No matter what, it's worth checking out, whether your a rave guru or just a casual music fan with a car stereo.
7. Subtle - for hero: for fool
For my money, this was the best rap album of the year, featuring a man with anodd unique voice named Dose One. The band has performed together for years, and this current partnership is apparently going to yield a trilogy of albums. "For hero: for fool" is the second in this trilogy, and it works the way any middle feature should - it moves everything up a notch, it opens up tons of possibilities, it captures the strengths of the original, builds on them and adds new tricks that fit seamlessly with the old tricks. It's an album that requires multiple dedicated listens - each listen will unearth new depths of each song, and the album will slowly reveal itself as a modern day masterpiece.
6. Incubus - Light Grenades
For many years I've counted Incubus amongst my very favorite bands. I've loved every release, and Make Yourself is right up there with my all-time favorites. They've got my number - something they do, the way they write, the way they play, the way Brandon sings and others harmonize, hits my sweet spot. So I waited all year to see if this, finally, would be the seminal album the fanboys know Incubus is capable of making. They've got talent most casual fans don't know about, with roots in funk, rock, punk, soul and of course, power pop. Their live show is excellent, and they've all proven themselves to be capable improvisational musicians.
Light Grenades, then, is the next step in their ongoing evolution as a band. It's not the album I wanted it to be - too many cheesy lyrics, too many chances passed up, too much of Brandon O'Brien's loud, compressed, muddy sound. Most of it sounds tame and pleasant. Which is not to say it's bad - it's very very good mainstream pop that moonlights as power ballads. But this is a band that can pull off something no one else is pulling off. Witness the harmonies on "Pendulous Threads", the chest-slapping-as-percussion-instrument of "Paper Shoes", or DJ Killmore taking out his rage on a variety of pianos and jazz organs, most notably on "Rogues". Witness the best track At the Drive-In didn't make in the title track. Even the sloppy and unfinished pair of "Earth to Bella" tracks are as beautiful as ever.
But in the end, it's an uneven album with some truly uninspired lyrics, and a couple ideas that I think should've been fleshed out more ("Paper Shoes" is missing something, "Earth to Bella" uses the same lyric too many times, "Diamonds and Coal" shouldn't take the easy way out by substituting its chorus as a lyric just to fill the rhyme requirement). It's best moments point to a band that's capable of proving the nay-sayers wrong, and I'll be happily listening to it a year from now, at least in shuffle form.
5. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
If you liked Pearl Jam at any point in your life, pick this up and prepare to be taken back to the early 90s via the early-to-mid 70s. The lyrics are coherent and pointed, the arena-ready anthems are as good as ever, and everything comes together for a band that I was ready to put in the 'fond memories' pile. They've still got it.
4. Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives EP / Your Biggest Fan (single)
It's not a proper album (they have two 5-song EPs and a 3-song single, but no full length yet), but for the price of a normal album you can own both of these mini-albums, so I'm coupling them together and charting them high.
Voxtrot is a musical ambush, with all weapons firing. Once the guitar, piano, bass and drums kick in, they never let up until the final track on Your Biggest Fan. It's that track, "Sway", that brings it this far up on my list of favorites. It sounds like it would've worked fine sped up, but they allow it to perculate slowly, adding instrumentation as they go along that's subtle, does what it came to do, and then makes room for the next violin or piano swell. It's beautiful and it points to a band that's capable of making one of the all-time great albums. Now if they'd just release a proper album for us.
3. Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
This is "not a Christian band" that met at an evangelical Christian college and tells stories of sin, repentance and redemption. The music is part-garage rock, part-fallen gospel choir, that sounds like the soundtrack of a revival breaking out in a barroom. Nathan Willett provides the vocals and piano, and his squeal is of the love-it-or-hate-it variety. The band sounds like it's taking their numerous instruments and beating them up, creating music that's alive and vivid. It's mostly a collection of their three EPs ( although there's good stuff left off of the album from those same EPs) and it's all re-recorded to give it a meatier sound. That all stops it from sounding cohesive front to back, something I hope they can pull off on their next release. Until then, I'll happily turn this one up to eleven.
2. Ned Collette - Jokes & Trials
This came out of absolutely nowhere. I downloaded an MP3 from CokeMachineGlow, that was relatively buried in the site, that would quickly become my favorite track of the year. With some birthday money, I splurged and downloaded the album from his site. See, Ned's from Australia, and his album isn't available in America. Luckily, he's got the whole thing available for download (at a high bitrate, if that matters to you) for a little more than 15 bucks.
On the surface, Ned Collette is a folk singer. But each song takes on a life of its own and runs away from the folk label with weird electronic elements, random synthesizer solos, slide guitars that don't sound like country, Velvet Undergound-ish dirges, choir-like moments that sound like his friends got together and sang in a circle, and Ned's deliberate, perfect voice. The arrangements are already the work of a master, and since this is his solo debut, I'm hoping there's a long career ahead for him to explore and create music to sleep in to, fall in love to, drive in the rain to, relax to, write to, live to.
Which brings us to...
1. The Black Keys - Chulahoma EP
The Black Keys are Dan Auerbach on vocals and guitar, and Patrick Carney on Drums. They don't use overdubs, so Dan's playing bass here as well. The music sounds full and warm. There's a primal quality to it, music to hunt and gather to. It's the best rack of ribs you've ever eaten: ribs that are so tender and juicy, they fall off the bone and fall apart in your mouth, swimming in the best barbecue sauce summer can buy. It's raw and dirty, it's spit-shined, not polished. There's not a wasted note on the album, and for a half hour each note seems more substantial than the last - they're songs that will work their way into your head and work you over until you're a pile of cathartic joy.
Released back in May to finish up a record deal before they moved to a different label, I thought this would be a nice diversion until they released their next full length later in 2006. It's a short collection of Junior Kimbrough covers, a Mississippi Delta blues guitarist with a unique, trance-like style that's hard to imitate and clearly a hero of the Black Keys.
It's only six songs. Six blues songs performed by two people. It's under a half hour in length and it consists entirely of covers. But it was the album I played and enjoyed the most in 2006, one that I will mark as indispensable in my music collection.
Dave's Top 15 Albums of 2006
15. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Most of the rap music I heard this year drowned in misogyny, skits and boring beats and lyrics. Fishscale had the skits, it had its share of misogyny (the main reason I rarely listen to it, and why it's at the bottom), a title that announced it's lyrical starting point, but it's got beats and wordplay right up there with the best rap albums of the last five years.
14. Ray LaMontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black
13. Beirut - Fulag Orkestar
I've heard it described as Balkan wedding marches, and that's accurate, but it doesn't capture the warm, vibrant and refreshing sounds led by New Mexico-to New York's Zach Condon. If I would've heard it earlier it might have been a top ten album.
12. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
This is your basic "Boy meets girl in a heavy metal band in Mexico, metal band breaks up, boy and girl discover mutual love of flamenco, folk, rock and Spanish music, boy and girl move to Europe, find growing buzz behind a mythical live show, find a producer that helps them get their live show sound in the studio, cut album, and watch said album debut at #1 in Ireland" story. Really fun, really exciting, creative music. This is the 2006 album I expect to grow on me the most in the coming years.
11. The Roots - Game Theory
The Roots parts have often been greater than their sum. The main draw has been hip hop with live instrumentation, and they are indeed one of the most talented bands working today. They have the ability to groove like Marvin Gaye, tear it up like Bad Brains and write songs that stick to the roof of your mouth like caramel. But their albums usually been all over the place - a handful of classic songs surrounded by a bloated amount of filler. And even the albums that are packed with classic songs and little filler never seemed to work as albums, merely as collections of songs.
With "Game Theory" all that has changed. The musicians remain at the top of their game, but this time they have something to say. The emcee Black Thought takes on the war, Katrina, white collar crime and more, the pace rarely lets up and the band delivers an album that flows perfectly (well, almost - that last track can be hard to get through) and is cohesive, a hallmark of my favorite albums. It's the Roots finally getting it right. Now if they'll add that trademark funk and soul back into their sound, maybe they could knock one out of the park.
10. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
I had an on-again off-again relationship with TV on the Radio this year. One week I thought the album was brilliant and played it constantly, the next I thought it was overrated, incoherent and I didn't bother. But from time to time a song would pop up on shuffle ("Hours", "Province" and "Wolf Like Me" being the usual suspects) that made me rethink my renunciation of the band and redeclare their greatness, iPod style. Lather, rinse, repeat. This sounds like nothing else out there today - something like a barbershop quartet trapped in a mudslide, pounding on drums and yelling for help - and once it gets under your skin, all you can do is give in and pay attention.
9. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
When my friends and I heard "Crazy" early this year, we all assumed it was going to be absolutely huge. We were right of course, and patted ourselves on the back as DangerMouse and Cee-Lo claimed the world's ear on behalf of geeks everywhere. But sometimes I wished "Crazy" wouldn't have been the most overplayed song of the year. St. Elsewhere is a creative and infectious album that I rarely listen to thanks to hearing "Crazy" over and over again. But it's still fantastic and sometime in March or April I'm sure it will once again be a staple in my listening rotation.
8. The DFA - Remixes Chapter One (and two)
The DFA (James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and Tim Goldsworthy) made music meant for the dance floor accessible for the living room. Here, many of their numerous remixes from the last few years are collected in one place. Being a compilation, it probably doesn't belong on a proper list, but this was an album that I listened to over and over again for months. Even though each track has its own personality and were created without the intention of being an album, it somehow works as a cohesive album. Presumably to make more money, these were released as two separate discs, and I think the first one works better front to back. No matter what, it's worth checking out, whether your a rave guru or just a casual music fan with a car stereo.
7. Subtle - for hero: for fool
For my money, this was the best rap album of the year, featuring a man with an
6. Incubus - Light Grenades
For many years I've counted Incubus amongst my very favorite bands. I've loved every release, and Make Yourself is right up there with my all-time favorites. They've got my number - something they do, the way they write, the way they play, the way Brandon sings and others harmonize, hits my sweet spot. So I waited all year to see if this, finally, would be the seminal album the fanboys know Incubus is capable of making. They've got talent most casual fans don't know about, with roots in funk, rock, punk, soul and of course, power pop. Their live show is excellent, and they've all proven themselves to be capable improvisational musicians.
Light Grenades, then, is the next step in their ongoing evolution as a band. It's not the album I wanted it to be - too many cheesy lyrics, too many chances passed up, too much of Brandon O'Brien's loud, compressed, muddy sound. Most of it sounds tame and pleasant. Which is not to say it's bad - it's very very good mainstream pop that moonlights as power ballads. But this is a band that can pull off something no one else is pulling off. Witness the harmonies on "Pendulous Threads", the chest-slapping-as-percussion-instrument of "Paper Shoes", or DJ Killmore taking out his rage on a variety of pianos and jazz organs, most notably on "Rogues". Witness the best track At the Drive-In didn't make in the title track. Even the sloppy and unfinished pair of "Earth to Bella" tracks are as beautiful as ever.
But in the end, it's an uneven album with some truly uninspired lyrics, and a couple ideas that I think should've been fleshed out more ("Paper Shoes" is missing something, "Earth to Bella" uses the same lyric too many times, "Diamonds and Coal" shouldn't take the easy way out by substituting its chorus as a lyric just to fill the rhyme requirement). It's best moments point to a band that's capable of proving the nay-sayers wrong, and I'll be happily listening to it a year from now, at least in shuffle form.
5. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
If you liked Pearl Jam at any point in your life, pick this up and prepare to be taken back to the early 90s via the early-to-mid 70s. The lyrics are coherent and pointed, the arena-ready anthems are as good as ever, and everything comes together for a band that I was ready to put in the 'fond memories' pile. They've still got it.
4. Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives EP / Your Biggest Fan (single)
It's not a proper album (they have two 5-song EPs and a 3-song single, but no full length yet), but for the price of a normal album you can own both of these mini-albums, so I'm coupling them together and charting them high.
Voxtrot is a musical ambush, with all weapons firing. Once the guitar, piano, bass and drums kick in, they never let up until the final track on Your Biggest Fan. It's that track, "Sway", that brings it this far up on my list of favorites. It sounds like it would've worked fine sped up, but they allow it to perculate slowly, adding instrumentation as they go along that's subtle, does what it came to do, and then makes room for the next violin or piano swell. It's beautiful and it points to a band that's capable of making one of the all-time great albums. Now if they'd just release a proper album for us.
3. Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
This is "not a Christian band" that met at an evangelical Christian college and tells stories of sin, repentance and redemption. The music is part-garage rock, part-fallen gospel choir, that sounds like the soundtrack of a revival breaking out in a barroom. Nathan Willett provides the vocals and piano, and his squeal is of the love-it-or-hate-it variety. The band sounds like it's taking their numerous instruments and beating them up, creating music that's alive and vivid. It's mostly a collection of their three EPs ( although there's good stuff left off of the album from those same EPs) and it's all re-recorded to give it a meatier sound. That all stops it from sounding cohesive front to back, something I hope they can pull off on their next release. Until then, I'll happily turn this one up to eleven.
2. Ned Collette - Jokes & Trials
This came out of absolutely nowhere. I downloaded an MP3 from CokeMachineGlow, that was relatively buried in the site, that would quickly become my favorite track of the year. With some birthday money, I splurged and downloaded the album from his site. See, Ned's from Australia, and his album isn't available in America. Luckily, he's got the whole thing available for download (at a high bitrate, if that matters to you) for a little more than 15 bucks.
On the surface, Ned Collette is a folk singer. But each song takes on a life of its own and runs away from the folk label with weird electronic elements, random synthesizer solos, slide guitars that don't sound like country, Velvet Undergound-ish dirges, choir-like moments that sound like his friends got together and sang in a circle, and Ned's deliberate, perfect voice. The arrangements are already the work of a master, and since this is his solo debut, I'm hoping there's a long career ahead for him to explore and create music to sleep in to, fall in love to, drive in the rain to, relax to, write to, live to.
Which brings us to...
1. The Black Keys - Chulahoma EP
The Black Keys are Dan Auerbach on vocals and guitar, and Patrick Carney on Drums. They don't use overdubs, so Dan's playing bass here as well. The music sounds full and warm. There's a primal quality to it, music to hunt and gather to. It's the best rack of ribs you've ever eaten: ribs that are so tender and juicy, they fall off the bone and fall apart in your mouth, swimming in the best barbecue sauce summer can buy. It's raw and dirty, it's spit-shined, not polished. There's not a wasted note on the album, and for a half hour each note seems more substantial than the last - they're songs that will work their way into your head and work you over until you're a pile of cathartic joy.
Released back in May to finish up a record deal before they moved to a different label, I thought this would be a nice diversion until they released their next full length later in 2006. It's a short collection of Junior Kimbrough covers, a Mississippi Delta blues guitarist with a unique, trance-like style that's hard to imitate and clearly a hero of the Black Keys.
It's only six songs. Six blues songs performed by two people. It's under a half hour in length and it consists entirely of covers. But it was the album I played and enjoyed the most in 2006, one that I will mark as indispensable in my music collection.
Labels: music
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Year-End Lists: Top 15 Songs
Here are my top 15 songs of the year. Although these are numbered 1-15 to represent which was my most favorite (1), the whole thing works (pretty) well as a mix in the same order.
Where an official MP3 is available, I'll provide a link (MP3) that you can right-click/save. Otherwise I'll provide the last MP3 blog I saw it posted at. And since the internet is allowing us to actually hear most of these, I'm going to forgo the commentary. Edit: I changed the order of these slightly after I initially posted them. Am I being obsessive? You be the judge.
15. "Cowbell" by Tapes 'n Tapes | MP3
14. "In the Round" by The Cardigans
13. "Lowlife" - Scanners | MP3
12. "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio | Link
11. "Three More Days" by Ray LaMontagne | Link
10. "Crazy"- Gnarls Barkley
9. "Gravity's Rainbow" by The Klaxons | MP3
8. "The Fatalist" by Robbers on High Street | MP3
7. "Postcards from Italy" by Beirut (The first two minutes are good, but around 2:00 the song goes in a different direction and it's fantastic) | MP3
6. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version) by Sufjan Stevens | Link
5. "Trouble" by Voxtrot | MP3
4. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John | MP3
3. "Ta Douleur" by Camille | MP3
2 . "We Used to Vacation" by Cold War Kids | Link
1. "The Laughter Across the Street" by Ned Collette (The last half of this song is out of this world) | MP3
Where an official MP3 is available, I'll provide a link (MP3) that you can right-click/save. Otherwise I'll provide the last MP3 blog I saw it posted at. And since the internet is allowing us to actually hear most of these, I'm going to forgo the commentary. Edit: I changed the order of these slightly after I initially posted them. Am I being obsessive? You be the judge.
Dave's Top 15 Songs of 2006
15. "Cowbell" by Tapes 'n Tapes | MP3
14. "In the Round" by The Cardigans
13. "Lowlife" - Scanners | MP3
12. "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio | Link
11. "Three More Days" by Ray LaMontagne | Link
10. "Crazy"- Gnarls Barkley
9. "Gravity's Rainbow" by The Klaxons | MP3
8. "The Fatalist" by Robbers on High Street | MP3
7. "Postcards from Italy" by Beirut (The first two minutes are good, but around 2:00 the song goes in a different direction and it's fantastic) | MP3
6. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version) by Sufjan Stevens | Link
5. "Trouble" by Voxtrot | MP3
4. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John | MP3
3. "Ta Douleur" by Camille | MP3
2 . "We Used to Vacation" by Cold War Kids | Link
1. "The Laughter Across the Street" by Ned Collette (The last half of this song is out of this world) | MP3
Labels: music
Friday, November 17, 2006
November Playlist
Is November half-over, or do we still have half of November to go?
Anyway, I forgot to post a playlist this month. The playlist is at iTunes, but if you're savvy enough (e.g. you know what Hype Machine is), you can find most of this on the mp3 blogs around the interweb. Here's the link.
Anyway, here's some highlights of what I was listening to in October and into November - in alphabetical order cause iTunes isn't letting me post them in a specific order.
1. Brightblack Morning Light - "All We Have Broken Shines" - Brightblack Morning Light
2. Can Joann - "Indecision's Way" - Hurt People Hurt People
3. The Cardigans - "In the Round" - Super Extra Gravity
4. Cold War Kids - "We Used to Vacation" - Robbers & Cowards
5. Fat Freddy's Drop - "Dark Days" - Based on a True Story
6. Feist - "When I Was a Young Girl" - Let It Die
7. Goldfrapp - "Slide In" (DFA Remix) - DFA Remixes Ch. 2
8. Interpol - "Say Hello to the Angels" - Turn on the Bright Lights
9. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - "Get Down Moses"- Streetcore
10. Pixeltan - "Get Up / Say What" - DFA Records Compilation #2 (Make sure not to get this on iTunes. You can find it used for cheap, and it includes a third disc that's even better than the first two. iTunes only has the first two.)
11. Ray Lamontagne - "Three More Days" - Till the Sun Turns Black
12. Robbers on High Street - "The Fatalist" - The Fatalist & Friends EP
13. Rodrigo y Gabriela - "Tamacun"- Rodrigo y Gabriela (this is going to be high on my year-end chart)
14. Scanners - "Lowlife" - Violence is Golden
15. Vetiver - "You May Be Blue" - To Find Me Gone
16. Voxtrot - "Trouble" - Your Biggest Fan EP
17. The Walkmen - "Wake Up" - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Dead
18. Yo La Tengo - "Autumn Sweater" - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
There were a few tracks that iTunes doesn't have yet that I really wanted to turn you guys onto, so head over to the afformentioned Hype Machine and do a search for:
Ned Collette - "Laughter Across the Street" - Jokes & Trials - This is available at cokemachineglow.com and this album is one of my two or three favorite albums I've heard this year. I want to wake up to this song for the rest of my life. More at MySpace. This album is not yet available in the states, and to import it is going to cost around $25, but you can purchase the MP3s at a high bitrate for about $17. That's more than I'm usually willing to pay for an album, but this is worth it.
Peter Bjorn and John - "Young Folks" - Apparently this was on Grey's Anatomy at some point, but I don't watch that show and therefore may be behind the times. Anyway it's a fun track.
Cabins in the Forest - Additional Sillhouette - A band out of Africa, courtesy of The Muso
Plaid - "Ladyburst"
and Telograph - "Eye for an Eye"
Happy listening.
Anyway, I forgot to post a playlist this month. The playlist is at iTunes, but if you're savvy enough (e.g. you know what Hype Machine is), you can find most of this on the mp3 blogs around the interweb. Here's the link.
Anyway, here's some highlights of what I was listening to in October and into November - in alphabetical order cause iTunes isn't letting me post them in a specific order.
1. Brightblack Morning Light - "All We Have Broken Shines" - Brightblack Morning Light
2. Can Joann - "Indecision's Way" - Hurt People Hurt People
3. The Cardigans - "In the Round" - Super Extra Gravity
4. Cold War Kids - "We Used to Vacation" - Robbers & Cowards
5. Fat Freddy's Drop - "Dark Days" - Based on a True Story
6. Feist - "When I Was a Young Girl" - Let It Die
7. Goldfrapp - "Slide In" (DFA Remix) - DFA Remixes Ch. 2
8. Interpol - "Say Hello to the Angels" - Turn on the Bright Lights
9. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - "Get Down Moses"- Streetcore
10. Pixeltan - "Get Up / Say What" - DFA Records Compilation #2 (Make sure not to get this on iTunes. You can find it used for cheap, and it includes a third disc that's even better than the first two. iTunes only has the first two.)
11. Ray Lamontagne - "Three More Days" - Till the Sun Turns Black
12. Robbers on High Street - "The Fatalist" - The Fatalist & Friends EP
13. Rodrigo y Gabriela - "Tamacun"- Rodrigo y Gabriela (this is going to be high on my year-end chart)
14. Scanners - "Lowlife" - Violence is Golden
15. Vetiver - "You May Be Blue" - To Find Me Gone
16. Voxtrot - "Trouble" - Your Biggest Fan EP
17. The Walkmen - "Wake Up" - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Dead
18. Yo La Tengo - "Autumn Sweater" - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
There were a few tracks that iTunes doesn't have yet that I really wanted to turn you guys onto, so head over to the afformentioned Hype Machine and do a search for:
Ned Collette - "Laughter Across the Street" - Jokes & Trials - This is available at cokemachineglow.com and this album is one of my two or three favorite albums I've heard this year. I want to wake up to this song for the rest of my life. More at MySpace. This album is not yet available in the states, and to import it is going to cost around $25, but you can purchase the MP3s at a high bitrate for about $17. That's more than I'm usually willing to pay for an album, but this is worth it.
Peter Bjorn and John - "Young Folks" - Apparently this was on Grey's Anatomy at some point, but I don't watch that show and therefore may be behind the times. Anyway it's a fun track.
Cabins in the Forest - Additional Sillhouette - A band out of Africa, courtesy of The Muso
Plaid - "Ladyburst"
and Telograph - "Eye for an Eye"
Happy listening.
Labels: music
Thursday, October 26, 2006
2005 Revisited
I plan on posting my top ten albums of the year in late December, and I'm going to try to keep it to one post and not four or five like last year. One of the reasons is because while I do want to share some cool music that you may have missed, I'm realizing how fickle my tastes can be. I looked at my top ten list from last year and I only listen to three or four of those albums with any sort of regularity.Here's what it looked like last year:
1 - Spoon - Gimme FictionAnd here's what it would look like if I posted it now, after at least a year of listening to these albums (last year's rank in parenthesis):
2 - Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
3 - Beck - Guero
4 - Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
5 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
6 - Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
7 - Common - Be
8 - Robert Glasper - Canvas
9 - John Legend - Get Lifted
10 - MIA - Arular
1 - Spoon - Gimme Fiction (1)With the 2005 Hold Steady album (Separation Sunday) a close 11th. I haven't listened to any of the other six in the last six months, maybe not even this year for a couple of them. I still can't get enough of Spoon though, and Wolf Parade & Andrew Bird remain weekly or bi-weekly listens after a year of hearing them.
2 - Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2)
3 - Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs (4)
4 - Broken Social Scene - s/t
5 - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
6 - Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
7 - Edan - Beauty and the Beat
8 - The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
9 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t (5)
10 - LCD Soundsystem - s/t
Labels: music
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
overdub
I'm trying out a new look, let me know what you think.
I'll be back to posting regularly soon - still collecting my thoughts and rethinking some things as a result of the conference this weekend. I'll leave you with three thoughts from Lance Pittluck's messages this weekend:
"Maturity is adjusting to reality."
"You can't attain the maturity you want without some sort of prayer life."
"...where prayer is our life and we do things in the midst of praying."
So I'm in a Blur mood and that means it's time to put together my all-time Blur playlist. This is heavily weighted towards Blur and 13, as those are my favorite Blur albums. Anyway, if you have a spare 18 bucks, you could theoretically download all of these on iTunes. Maybe a couple of you will have these albums and can share in the Tuesday Blur love.
the Blur on the street Playlist
1 - Trimm Trabb - 13
2 - Song 2 - Blur
3 - Pop Scene - Modern Life is Rubbish
4 - There's No Other Way - Leisure
5 - Caramel - 13
6 - Beetlebum - Blur
7 - Death of a Party - Blur
8 - Coffee & TV - 13
9 - Sweet Song - Think Tank
10 - No Distance Left to Run - 13
11 - Parklife - Parklife
12 - To the End - Parklife
13 - The Universal - The Great Escape
14 - Chemical World - Modern Life is Rubbish (make sure to stay for the last minute or so)
15 - This is a Low - Parklife
16 - Tender - 13
17 - Stange News from Another Star - Blur
18 - Mellow Song - 13
I'll be back to posting regularly soon - still collecting my thoughts and rethinking some things as a result of the conference this weekend. I'll leave you with three thoughts from Lance Pittluck's messages this weekend:
"Maturity is adjusting to reality."
"You can't attain the maturity you want without some sort of prayer life."
"...where prayer is our life and we do things in the midst of praying."
******************************
So I'm in a Blur mood and that means it's time to put together my all-time Blur playlist. This is heavily weighted towards Blur and 13, as those are my favorite Blur albums. Anyway, if you have a spare 18 bucks, you could theoretically download all of these on iTunes. Maybe a couple of you will have these albums and can share in the Tuesday Blur love.
the Blur on the street Playlist
1 - Trimm Trabb - 13
2 - Song 2 - Blur
3 - Pop Scene - Modern Life is Rubbish
4 - There's No Other Way - Leisure
5 - Caramel - 13
6 - Beetlebum - Blur
7 - Death of a Party - Blur
8 - Coffee & TV - 13
9 - Sweet Song - Think Tank
10 - No Distance Left to Run - 13
11 - Parklife - Parklife
12 - To the End - Parklife
13 - The Universal - The Great Escape
14 - Chemical World - Modern Life is Rubbish (make sure to stay for the last minute or so)
15 - This is a Low - Parklife
16 - Tender - 13
17 - Stange News from Another Star - Blur
18 - Mellow Song - 13
Labels: music
Friday, October 06, 2006
October Playlist
Not much time today, just wanted to mention that I posted my October playlist on iTunes. The link is over on the right column. This is just what I was listening to in September - most of these albums are older and much of it you've probably heard before.
iTunes continues to publish the list in alphabetical order, so I'll just leave it that way.
Ambulance LTD - "Primitive"
Athlete - "Modern Mafia"
Beck - "Bottle of Blues"
Beck - "Nausea"
The Black Keys - "Black Door"
Blur - "Trimm Trabb"
Constantines - "Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)"
Gorillaz - "Dare (DFA Remix)"
Grizzly Bear - "Little Brother"
The Hold Steady - "Stuck Between Stations"
John Mayer - "Vultures"
Nomo - "Nu Tones"
The Rapture - "Whoo! Alright, Yeah... Uh Huh"
Subtle - "The Mercury Craze"
TV on the Radio - "Hours"
The Whigs - "Violet Furs"
There were four songs this month that iTunes isn't offering that are worth seeking out.
Scanners - "Lowlife"
The Guillemots - "Redwings"
Sugababes - "Overload"
Tripping Daisy - "Waited a Light Year"
and I was going to include "Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind" by Yo La Tengo, but it's long enough that they don't sell it as a single. Anyway, there's the list.
Real quick plug - on Tuesday, the full length Cold War Kids comes out. It's called Robbers and Cowards and it's one of my two or three favorite albums released so far in 2006. Highly recommended. If you want to take a one song sample, start with "Hang Me Up To Dry". I'll post some YouTube and other links on Monday. Happy listening!
iTunes continues to publish the list in alphabetical order, so I'll just leave it that way.
Ambulance LTD - "Primitive"
Athlete - "Modern Mafia"
Beck - "Bottle of Blues"
Beck - "Nausea"
The Black Keys - "Black Door"
Blur - "Trimm Trabb"
Constantines - "Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)"
Gorillaz - "Dare (DFA Remix)"
Grizzly Bear - "Little Brother"
The Hold Steady - "Stuck Between Stations"
John Mayer - "Vultures"
Nomo - "Nu Tones"
The Rapture - "Whoo! Alright, Yeah... Uh Huh"
Subtle - "The Mercury Craze"
TV on the Radio - "Hours"
The Whigs - "Violet Furs"
There were four songs this month that iTunes isn't offering that are worth seeking out.
Scanners - "Lowlife"
The Guillemots - "Redwings"
Sugababes - "Overload"
Tripping Daisy - "Waited a Light Year"
and I was going to include "Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind" by Yo La Tengo, but it's long enough that they don't sell it as a single. Anyway, there's the list.
Real quick plug - on Tuesday, the full length Cold War Kids comes out. It's called Robbers and Cowards and it's one of my two or three favorite albums released so far in 2006. Highly recommended. If you want to take a one song sample, start with "Hang Me Up To Dry". I'll post some YouTube and other links on Monday. Happy listening!
Labels: music
Friday, September 22, 2006
September Plugs
I've got a (hopefully) solid post on hope in the pipelines for later this evening or tomorrow morning. First, some plugs.
-Music-
Some of the release dates I had written down turned out to be wrong, and there's not much I'm interested in until October now. Instead, it's been a good week for scouring the internet for loose singles. Tracks by Sugababes, Sunset Rubdown, Scanners, the Whigs, Scanners, Grizzly Bear, the Rapture and a bunch of DFA remixes will make the October playlist if iTunes cooperates.
-TV-
I've got three shows I'm addicted to - The Office, Scrubs & Lost. This week The Office returned and Lost is coming up in a couple weeks. This season I find that there's a whole lot of shows that I want to watch, but I just don't have the time. So, if there's anything worth checking out, let me know. I watched Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and I really enjoyed it. I hope episode two is a little less self-aware and has a more coherent story, but I can see myself getting hooked. I also just received disc one of season one of The Wire in the mail, so I'll be checking that out and reporting back.
-Software-
Finally, I don't normally do this, but I was surprised by how many Mac users were hitting my site. I wanted to give you a quick list of software I find indispensable (or mostly so). Most of these are Mac-only and can be found at Version Tracker unless otherwise noted. I think almost all of these are free as well.
VLC - The king of the movie playing software for the Mac. I believe there's a Windows version as well.
Deerpark (Firefox) - For my money, you can't beat Firefox. Extensions, search engines, themes, and it's open source so there's pretty much an extension to do anything. I've got add-ons that make tabbed browsing night and day better than Safari, one-click del.icio.us tags, programs to block specific ads of my choosing, a lightweight RSS reader, a download status bar and much much more. Deerpark is specifically designed for Macintosh computers, and I've found it to be a bit faster and smoother than normal Firefox builds for the Mac. Click the link to get it.
Zulupad - a wiki-style textpad. Usually I'm happy with Microsoft Word (or AbiWord / OpenOffice if you want a perfectly-good and free version of Word) and TextEdit, but for writing sermons, meaty blogs, grants for work and other fun stuff, I think the linking features on Zulupad are fantastic. This is available for Windows too.
Adium - A customizable chat program that's simply way cooler than all of the other ones I've seen. Supports AIM, G-talk, Yahoo and everything else you can think of.
Appzapper - "The uninstall program Mac forgot to include."
Growl - I don't know how to describe Growl, but it makes using my computer even easier.
Macjanitor - because it's just a more efficient way to do all of the little things I forget to do, like repair permissions.
Monolingual - There's over a gig of languages that Mac installs on your computer. Since I only know english, I don't really see a need for them. Just make sure you don't delete english.
Service Scrubber - Under the Apple menu there's a section called "Services". It contains seemingly tons of tasks that I never use, so I just ignore it. The thing is, it's a pretty useful feature, and Service Scrubber can take care of the excess making it far easier to use.
Some people swear by Quicksilver, but I haven't spent the time to understand the program yet.
There's also a program called Midnight Inbox by Midnight Beep that's in a beta phase right now. It's not free like some of these other programs, but it's the best Getting Things Done (GTD) program I've ever seen. I don't use Kinkless Getting Things Done (kGTD) so I don't know how it compares, but so far so good.
And if you're not using a Mac, make the switch. You'll never regret it.
-Music-
Some of the release dates I had written down turned out to be wrong, and there's not much I'm interested in until October now. Instead, it's been a good week for scouring the internet for loose singles. Tracks by Sugababes, Sunset Rubdown, Scanners, the Whigs, Scanners, Grizzly Bear, the Rapture and a bunch of DFA remixes will make the October playlist if iTunes cooperates.-TV-
I've got three shows I'm addicted to - The Office, Scrubs & Lost. This week The Office returned and Lost is coming up in a couple weeks. This season I find that there's a whole lot of shows that I want to watch, but I just don't have the time. So, if there's anything worth checking out, let me know. I watched Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and I really enjoyed it. I hope episode two is a little less self-aware and has a more coherent story, but I can see myself getting hooked. I also just received disc one of season one of The Wire in the mail, so I'll be checking that out and reporting back.-Software-
Finally, I don't normally do this, but I was surprised by how many Mac users were hitting my site. I wanted to give you a quick list of software I find indispensable (or mostly so). Most of these are Mac-only and can be found at Version Tracker unless otherwise noted. I think almost all of these are free as well.VLC - The king of the movie playing software for the Mac. I believe there's a Windows version as well.
Deerpark (Firefox) - For my money, you can't beat Firefox. Extensions, search engines, themes, and it's open source so there's pretty much an extension to do anything. I've got add-ons that make tabbed browsing night and day better than Safari, one-click del.icio.us tags, programs to block specific ads of my choosing, a lightweight RSS reader, a download status bar and much much more. Deerpark is specifically designed for Macintosh computers, and I've found it to be a bit faster and smoother than normal Firefox builds for the Mac. Click the link to get it.
Zulupad - a wiki-style textpad. Usually I'm happy with Microsoft Word (or AbiWord / OpenOffice if you want a perfectly-good and free version of Word) and TextEdit, but for writing sermons, meaty blogs, grants for work and other fun stuff, I think the linking features on Zulupad are fantastic. This is available for Windows too.
Adium - A customizable chat program that's simply way cooler than all of the other ones I've seen. Supports AIM, G-talk, Yahoo and everything else you can think of.
Appzapper - "The uninstall program Mac forgot to include."
Growl - I don't know how to describe Growl, but it makes using my computer even easier.
Macjanitor - because it's just a more efficient way to do all of the little things I forget to do, like repair permissions.
Monolingual - There's over a gig of languages that Mac installs on your computer. Since I only know english, I don't really see a need for them. Just make sure you don't delete english.
Service Scrubber - Under the Apple menu there's a section called "Services". It contains seemingly tons of tasks that I never use, so I just ignore it. The thing is, it's a pretty useful feature, and Service Scrubber can take care of the excess making it far easier to use.
Some people swear by Quicksilver, but I haven't spent the time to understand the program yet.
There's also a program called Midnight Inbox by Midnight Beep that's in a beta phase right now. It's not free like some of these other programs, but it's the best Getting Things Done (GTD) program I've ever seen. I don't use Kinkless Getting Things Done (kGTD) so I don't know how it compares, but so far so good.
And if you're not using a Mac, make the switch. You'll never regret it.
Labels: music
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Fall Music, Part Two
September & October are hosts to the most potentially good music of the year. I want to lay out the next couple months in case there's some music here you may have overlooked otherwise. There's a ton getting released this week, so I'm going to do a three-parter instead of a two-parter. Last week saw releases from one of my guilty pleasure artists, Beyonce, a mellow and beautiful group called Grizzly Bear and another Rage Against the Machine meets Soundgarden and pops then fizzles outing from Audioslave. This week features not three, but sixteen noteable releases.
Out this week (Sept. 12)
Black Keys - Magic Potion - The Black Keys are one of my favorite bands. Their game is blues of the dirty and raw calibur. On Magic Potion, they take a quieter approach and somehow manage to sound more fierce and ready to wail than ever. Magic Potion doesn't have the fluency of an album like their other efforts, and its missing the transcendent moments that highlights each of their four other efforts but it will make your head bob and your waist wiggle.
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio - I keep waiting for Basement Jaxx to finish the trifecta of Remedy and Rooty, but I think it's time to give up and enjoy their albums on their own terms. Crazy Itch Radio is mostly derivative of their other work, and I don't think it works on the casual level as well as those two albums. If nothing else, it's much better than Kish Kash, and it features vintage Basement Jaxx sure to please fans.
DJ Shadow - The Outsider - Two albums ago, DJ Shadow created one of the most important and influential albums of the 90s, and an album I'd squarely put in my top five of all time. As his follow up was also excellent, I've been anticipating this album for years. With inflated expectations comes the chance for an album to fall flat on its proverbial face and The Outsider is an incoherent mess. Josh Davis is doing his own thing now, making the music he likes instead of trying to live up to others expectations. In all seriousness, good for him. The first half is pretty much just good versions of hyphy and krunk music. I hate hyphy and krunk music. There are bright spots - he brings the funk for a couple tracks and the completely inappropriate "Backstage Girl" has a seriously dope beat. The rest kind of sounds like DJ Shadow made an album and let a bunch of crappy producers remix it. Some of the second half is interesting - he channels Radiohead and Coldplay and other sounds, but it's all over the place and mostly forgettable. Just skip it, there's far too much else out there worth hearing this year.
Magnolia Electric Company - Fading Trails - I don't know much about Magnolia Electric Company or its founder Jason Molina, but the tracks I've heard so far have hints of blues and Sunday afternoon pleasantries to spare.
Mars Volta - Amputechture - This is getting the typical love it or hate it reviews common for Mars Volta. Since Mars Volta features members of At the Drive-In, a band who opened my eyes to how boring music was becoming because of how fresh they were, I will always give them a chance. The only track I've heard was, on the surface, stale and generic. If I get the chance I'll go further, but only if its free and easy to hear. So MySpace here I come...
John Mayer - Continuum - As in "Your Body is a Wonderland" John Mayer. This is John getting his blues on, and it's really good. If you loved 'Try' and didn't like 'Inside Wants Out', or if you loved 'Inside Wants Out' and didn't like 'Try', or if you like good music, give it a chance. The man who now looks like Edward Scissorhands has made one of the year's strongest mainstream releases. Beautiful, melodic, surprising music that sounds like he's doing covers. He's not. There's a reason everyone from ?uestlove to Timbaland wants to work with him.
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love - The Rapture never really amounted to much for me. Some catchy hooks, some energetic anthems, but not a lot of staying power, but that may all change. This album features the same ear for hooks and the same energy, but it adds all around better song writing. If you like one song, you'll like them all. I recommend "Whoo! Alright! Yeah Uh Huh" as a starting point. I'll be featuring it on my October playlist.
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds - I loved the first Timberlake album but I was bored after a few tracks on this one. "My Love" should be a huge hit and I won't get tired of hearing it ad naseum. Everything else is tired. And I've decided that if you use the word 'sex' in the first three tracks and feature it in your title, it's actual becoming something besides sexy Whatever that is. Trying too hard to begin with.
(On a brighter note, the first single, the one in which Justin brings the sexy back, has provided serious comedic fodder in the office this week. We've been discussing what we will be bringing back, with the stipulation that you can only bring something back that never left. So you can bring Rick Moranis back, but not John F. Kennedy. Today I'm bringing cursive back.)
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain - I'll be waxing poetic about this album at the end of the year, since it will surely be in my top 10, if not top 5. It's the same unique brand of music only TV on the Radio and their vocalist Tunde Adebimpe can make, but its' tighter, fuller and more melodic than the first. I can't properly describe it, and 30 second samples won't do it justice. If you have ten bucks to spare, it's worth every penny. It's a band that not everyone will click with immediately, but give it some serious listening. You won't be disappointed.
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your... - Okay, the title may offend some of the readers of this blog, although if you saw the band, you would get how tongue-in-cheek this was. Anyway, I haven't been able to hear this yet, but it's getting across-the-board raving reviews and I've heard three tracks off of it, all of which were completely different and all of which I loved. So this is high on my list to hear. Download a couple tracks here.
Also released this week: Mainstream candy by Barenaked Ladies, Everclear attempting a comeback, Mouse on Mars & The Album Leaf doing what they do, and albums from Xiu Xiu & Junior Boys that are getting good reviews. I'm not into any of those bands, but in case you are, there's new music for you to fall in love with.
Next: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Beck, Decemberists, The Who and more
Out this week (Sept. 12)
Black Keys - Magic Potion - The Black Keys are one of my favorite bands. Their game is blues of the dirty and raw calibur. On Magic Potion, they take a quieter approach and somehow manage to sound more fierce and ready to wail than ever. Magic Potion doesn't have the fluency of an album like their other efforts, and its missing the transcendent moments that highlights each of their four other efforts but it will make your head bob and your waist wiggle.
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio - I keep waiting for Basement Jaxx to finish the trifecta of Remedy and Rooty, but I think it's time to give up and enjoy their albums on their own terms. Crazy Itch Radio is mostly derivative of their other work, and I don't think it works on the casual level as well as those two albums. If nothing else, it's much better than Kish Kash, and it features vintage Basement Jaxx sure to please fans.
DJ Shadow - The Outsider - Two albums ago, DJ Shadow created one of the most important and influential albums of the 90s, and an album I'd squarely put in my top five of all time. As his follow up was also excellent, I've been anticipating this album for years. With inflated expectations comes the chance for an album to fall flat on its proverbial face and The Outsider is an incoherent mess. Josh Davis is doing his own thing now, making the music he likes instead of trying to live up to others expectations. In all seriousness, good for him. The first half is pretty much just good versions of hyphy and krunk music. I hate hyphy and krunk music. There are bright spots - he brings the funk for a couple tracks and the completely inappropriate "Backstage Girl" has a seriously dope beat. The rest kind of sounds like DJ Shadow made an album and let a bunch of crappy producers remix it. Some of the second half is interesting - he channels Radiohead and Coldplay and other sounds, but it's all over the place and mostly forgettable. Just skip it, there's far too much else out there worth hearing this year.
Magnolia Electric Company - Fading Trails - I don't know much about Magnolia Electric Company or its founder Jason Molina, but the tracks I've heard so far have hints of blues and Sunday afternoon pleasantries to spare.
Mars Volta - Amputechture - This is getting the typical love it or hate it reviews common for Mars Volta. Since Mars Volta features members of At the Drive-In, a band who opened my eyes to how boring music was becoming because of how fresh they were, I will always give them a chance. The only track I've heard was, on the surface, stale and generic. If I get the chance I'll go further, but only if its free and easy to hear. So MySpace here I come...
John Mayer - Continuum - As in "Your Body is a Wonderland" John Mayer. This is John getting his blues on, and it's really good. If you loved 'Try' and didn't like 'Inside Wants Out', or if you loved 'Inside Wants Out' and didn't like 'Try', or if you like good music, give it a chance. The man who now looks like Edward Scissorhands has made one of the year's strongest mainstream releases. Beautiful, melodic, surprising music that sounds like he's doing covers. He's not. There's a reason everyone from ?uestlove to Timbaland wants to work with him.
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love - The Rapture never really amounted to much for me. Some catchy hooks, some energetic anthems, but not a lot of staying power, but that may all change. This album features the same ear for hooks and the same energy, but it adds all around better song writing. If you like one song, you'll like them all. I recommend "Whoo! Alright! Yeah Uh Huh" as a starting point. I'll be featuring it on my October playlist.
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds - I loved the first Timberlake album but I was bored after a few tracks on this one. "My Love" should be a huge hit and I won't get tired of hearing it ad naseum. Everything else is tired. And I've decided that if you use the word 'sex' in the first three tracks and feature it in your title, it's actual becoming something besides sexy Whatever that is. Trying too hard to begin with.
(On a brighter note, the first single, the one in which Justin brings the sexy back, has provided serious comedic fodder in the office this week. We've been discussing what we will be bringing back, with the stipulation that you can only bring something back that never left. So you can bring Rick Moranis back, but not John F. Kennedy. Today I'm bringing cursive back.)
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain - I'll be waxing poetic about this album at the end of the year, since it will surely be in my top 10, if not top 5. It's the same unique brand of music only TV on the Radio and their vocalist Tunde Adebimpe can make, but its' tighter, fuller and more melodic than the first. I can't properly describe it, and 30 second samples won't do it justice. If you have ten bucks to spare, it's worth every penny. It's a band that not everyone will click with immediately, but give it some serious listening. You won't be disappointed.
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your... - Okay, the title may offend some of the readers of this blog, although if you saw the band, you would get how tongue-in-cheek this was. Anyway, I haven't been able to hear this yet, but it's getting across-the-board raving reviews and I've heard three tracks off of it, all of which were completely different and all of which I loved. So this is high on my list to hear. Download a couple tracks here.
Also released this week: Mainstream candy by Barenaked Ladies, Everclear attempting a comeback, Mouse on Mars & The Album Leaf doing what they do, and albums from Xiu Xiu & Junior Boys that are getting good reviews. I'm not into any of those bands, but in case you are, there's new music for you to fall in love with.
Next: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Beck, Decemberists, The Who and more
Labels: music
Library
June 2005July 2005
August 2005
October 2005
November 2005
January 2006
February 2006
April 2006
June 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
June 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
March 2008
May 2008
June 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
December 2008
June 2009