The Riffage

2011 Year-End Round Up

2011-12-10T14:19:00.019-05:00

Honorable Mention... #21-11

21 Indestructible Machine, Lydia Loveless (Bloodshot)
20 Hotel Shampoo, Gruff Rhys (Turnstile/Wichita)
19 KMAG YOYO (And Other American Stories), Hayes Carll (Lost Highway)
18 Party Store, The Dirtbombs (In The Red)
17 Breaking Bones, The Clutters (Chicken Ranch)
16 Cloud Nothings, Cloud Nothings (Carpark)
15 Stone Rollin', Raphael Saadiq (Columbia)
14 Mirror Traffic, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks (Matador)
13 Wasting Light, Foo Fighters (RCA)
12 The Whole Love, Wilco (dBpm)
11 Stranger Ballet, Poison Control Center (Afternoon)

The "Damn You, December Release Date" Award: El Camino, Black Keys (Nonesuch)

10 "Unlearn.", Fergus and Geronimo (Hardly Art): I don't get to write this very often these days about new records -- and admittedly, this goes a long way towards explaining F&G's appearance on this list -- but damned if Texas musical polymaths Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage don't know their '60s-era Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention cold. The deadpan critic-takedown "Wanna Know What I Would Do?" is the most obvious example -- it's straight off We're Only In It For The Money in a way that may prompt a cease and desist letter from Gail Zappa's lawyers -- but like the Mothers before them, F&G gleefully parody/homage/deconstruct any genre that can't outrun them: soul ("Powerful Lovin'"), '60s psych pop ("Girls With English Accents") and early rock and roll ("Baby Don't You Cry"). It's a great time even if you don't have a copy of Freak Out! sitting on your shelf, but if you do, "Unlearn." will have you amazed that Geronimo -- and not Jimmy Carl Black -- is the Indian of the group.

09 Arabia Mountain, Black Lips (Vice): Man oh man, the Black Lips coulda been bigger than curly fries if Arabia Mountain had succeeded 2007's breakthrough Good Bad Not Evil. That said, such a scenario was surely a notion the band loathed, and the band zigged with the willfully difficult/sloppy 200 Million Thousand in '09. Who knows what the led the band to get off the skuzzy beaten path and team up with producer Marc Ronson -- and I'm sure I'm "missing the point" of the band (more about that later) -- but if that means digging tunes like the horn-fueled freakouts "Family Tree", "Mad Dog", the Peter Parker ode "Spidey's Curse" and (tee-hee) "New Direction," then I'll continue pledging allegiance to Team Poppy Black Lips.

08 Only In Dreams, Dum Dum Girls (Sub Pop): And here's another band that tidied up their sound to improved (to these ears) results: the reverb guitar and drums of 2010's I Will Be have been scraped away, placing frontwoman Kristin "Dee Dee" Gundred's voice -- and her love of '60s girl-group pop front and center. While Gundred gets most of the kudos, give equal credit to producers Richard Gottehrer and the Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner, who both know a thing or three about girl-group pop; near-perfect pop nuggets like "Caught In One", "Always Looking" and song-of-the-year contender "Bedroom Eyes" are masterful regardless of who was steering the ship (though surely one of the three could've noticed that the same drum beat accompanies more than half of Only in Dreams' ten tunes). Here's the plan: from here to perpetuity, Best Coast gets a best-of slot on this countdown in even numbered years, and Dum Dum Girls take the odd. Everybody cool with that?

07 The Old Magic, Nick Lowe (Yep Roc): As the possessor of one of music's more charmed -- and charming -- second acts, Nick Lowe has, over the past decade-and-a-half or so, become pop's answer to bonsai: crafting pristine (but decidedly warm and humane) albums without a note out of place, at a when-I'm-good-and-ready pace. The Old Magic marks five albums in a row where Lowe has embraced this approach, and they're all elegant beauts. (To the naysayers: One man's rut is another man's groove.) Totally unconcerned with the prevailing trends, Lowe finds deep truths in simple couplets of even simpler-sounding songs ("House for Sale", "I Read A Lot", where Lowe's narrator muse-sighs, "I read a lot, I can't put it down. While others are painting the town, you'll find me in a world of fantasy, population one - that's me"), sets his mortality to a boom-chicka beat ("Checkout Time"), turns a wanderlust ode into a disco-lullaby (!) on "Restless Feeling", nearly floats off the ground with joy on the burbling "Somebody Cares For Me" and even gets a little cheeky on a cover of Jeff West's "You Don't Know Me At All". Be sure to pay attention to both keywords in the album's title; goodness knows Lowe definitely has.

06 Bad As Me, Tom Waits (Anti-): Quick -- name another artist who, after 38 years into his/her career, released an album that wasn't a parody of past glories and, in fact, could stand as a marvelous introduction to said artist's discography? Yep, Tom Waits' Bad As Me stands alone. (Uhh, *maybe* Van Lear Rose, and that was as much Jack White as it was Loretta Lynn. And I wouldn't call the album at #7, The Old Magic, the proper introduction to Nick Lowe's oeuvre.) In the seven years since his last album proper, 2004's drum 'n' bass 62-minute endurance test, Real Gone, everyone's favorite sonic alchemist/junkman has distilled his essence into pure Tomwaitsium: the cockeyed boogie of the in medias res opener "Chicago" and "Satisfied", the noir "Face to the Highway", the knowing ballads "Kiss Me" and "Last Leaf" and the truly-mad, Marc-Ribot-off-the-leash disorienting war indictment cacophony "Hell Broke Luce". Supremely confident and aware of exactly what he does best, Wait, on the doorstep of his fourth musical decade, has made one of the most purely enjoyable records of his career.

05 Wild Flag, Wild Flag (Merge): Largely eschewing the classic rock moves that fueled Sleater-Kinney's (for now!) 2004 swan song The Woods, that band's Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss teamed up with Helium's Mary Timony and the Minders' Rebecca Cole (though they've all collaborated in various permutations over the years) and released some good old-fashioned indie rock 'n' roll in a year that sometimes seemed short on it. Opener "Romance" is one of the year's best air guitar AND air keyboard songs -- plus handclaps! Swoon. "Boom", "Glass Tambourine", "Electric Band", "Racehorse": I've been reduced to just naming song titles, so enamored am I with the quartet's unabashed desire to rock out -- and genuinely sound like they're having fun doing it! What could have been a retro-minded supergroup vanity project (RSVP?) is exactly none of those things and is instead one of the year's most bighearted and full-throated rock records.

04 Yuck, Yuck (Fat Possum): ...and on the other hand, there's the London crew with a retro-'90s indie jones that might be embarrassing if it wasn't so damn great. Yes, the Dinosaur Jr arithmetic checks out -- wall of guitars + vocalist (here, Daniel Blumberg) whine -- but a) I happen to like Dinosaur Jr; b) these guys were born after Bug came out; and c) songs like "Get Away" (the year's best leadoff track), "The Wall", "Operation" and the epic closer "Rubber" are top-shelf indie regardless of the decade. Bands will always churn out this brand of fuzzed-out bash and pop; Yuck have proven that there's still plenty of excitement and thrills to be mined from this sturdy genre.

03 Dye It Blonde, Smith Westerns (Fat Possum): Now take everything I said about Yuck and Dinosaur Jr and replace it with Smith Westerns and T. Rex. That's not entirely true, but Dye It Blonde and the Smith Westerns prove that they too belong on the decades-long continuum of, and believe strongly in, the redemptive power of the three-minute guitar pop single. (And the closing "Dye the World" really would've made Marc Bolan proud.) This and my #1 choice were the first two records I picked up this year, and they completely soundtracked my last 12 months.

02 The Harrow and the Harvest, Gillian Welch (Acony): Has it really been eight years since Soul Journey... and 10 years since The Harrow's true-predecessor, Time (The Revelator)? It's a good thing TH&TH is so excellent because it may stand as the "most recent" Gillian Welch album until 2020 or so. Yikes. As it is, Welch and co-conspirator/guitarist David Rawlings have long loved to explore the people, places and sounds "in-between" and song like "Scarlet Town", "The Way That It Goes" and "Hard Times" celebrate (for lack of a better word) these liminal concepts. TH&TH may be too alt-country/folky spare or simplistic to some ears, especially coming from such talented musicians, but in today's assaultive (in numerous senses of the word) culture, it's nice to spend some time in Welch and Rawlings' stripped-down, slow-moving universe.

01 The King is Dead, The Decemberists (Capitol): Well, I'm as surprised as you are; after all, these guys have been making albums for as long I've been making year-end lists, and they've never even come close to shouting distance to earning a slot on any of my lists. But they were always on my radar, and as I mentioned a few items back, this was one of the first records I picked up in 2011; it never left my rotation. And yes, I know I'm running the aforementioned risk of "missing the point" of the Decemberists by preferring the band's current incarnation to previous ones that yielded knotty, epics, hyperverbose shanties about chimbley sweeps and proggy Irish poems. But now that Colin Meloy and co have stopped the sea of carnage that marked their previous albums, The King is Dead stands as the Great Lost College Rock Album of 1986 (a point the AV Club has noted as well), splitting the difference between R.E.M.'s Reconstruction of the Fables and Lifes Rich Pageant (though Meloy himself has cited Reckoning as a key inspiration), with the Smiths' The Queen is Dead thrown in for good measure. R.E.M.'s disbanding and Peter Buck's appearance on this record certainly color my feelings towards TKID, but even without the sense that the Decemberists are respectfully taking up the mantle from my all-time favorite band, this album is something special. From the hopeful opener "Don't Carry It All" (We are all our hands and holders" feels very 99% this year) and "Calamity Song" (where old habits die hard and Meloy drowns everyone in California) to the Side B killer trio of "Down By The Water", "All Arise!" and "June Hymn" (it always gets a little dusty around my house when Meloy conjures up the "heaven-sent cardinal maroon"), this is a band that, after the baggy The Hazards of Love, realized that a refocusing was in order and ended up creating the best album of 2011.

To Hell With Rarity

2011-04-22T12:21:00.008-04:00

(Please preface this rant with a big fat "Setting aside matters of copyright and rights holders…")

Two essays that are better than mine that spurred the below outpouring:

We are all prisoners of time and victims of entropy: We live, we die, we have finite resources. So why the hell shouldn't I, sitting comfortably at my desk in 2011, be able to listen to the Raunch Hands' 1986 album Learn to Whap-a-Dang With The Raunch Hands -- an album released 25 years ago to little fanfare, and only on vinyl -- with the click of a button? The folks in '86 who purchased Learn to Whap-a-Dang weren't any better or worse than me (though their haircuts were probably the latter); they were simply active members of the record-buying public. It's not my fault that I was only six years old when it came out and didn’t have the foresight to realize that 30-year-old me might want a copy to spin on his turntable. It's not the fault the Raunch Hands' record label at the time, Relativity, for only being able to press a small number of copies of the record, and that those copies found good homes with discerning listeners unwilling to part with the record a quarter-century later. It's not the Raunch Hands' fault for not releasing an album as popular as 1986's best-selling album, the 25-million-selling Whitney Houston; the band was just a bunch of dudes who made a fun, funny garage/rockabilly/punk album, an album they didn't expect to go platinum or top the charts, but one they presumably wanted people to hear beyond the confines of 1986 and its life as a discrete vinyl document.

So yes, "x" number of copies of Learn to Whap-a-Dang were created, but the music etched on the vinyl transcends its format. Why should I, as a listener, be prevented by forces as overwhelming as "time" and "the market" from hearing an album that exists, even if it’s at the absolute ass-end of the Long Tail? We have the technology to clear those hurdles! Sony, Relativity's parent company, sure as hell isn't going to reissue the album or make it available on iTunes. I -- an archivist by training and an avid music collector -- am always on the hunt to rediscover lost music, especially from the '80s college rock-era, so I did my due diligence, flipped through my used, dog-eared copy of the third edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide -- purchased expressly to aid in my record hunt -- and was intrigued by Scott Isler's write-up of the band on page 460 and successfully located the album on a file-sharing site. And you know what? It's a damn fun album. At the risk of petulance, what am I supposed to do? NOT seek out an album that I know I will enjoy because of antiquated notions of scarcity and access? What's the point of making an album if there's a limited time window during which it can be enjoyed, with said window maybe extended through the magnanimity of a record label that deigns to reissue said album? Outside of crate-diggers like Numero Group or Yep Roc (think their Nick Lowe and Soft Boys reissues), reissued albums tend to be classics that are readily available anyways. As the joke goes, How many times do I have to buy The White Album?

2010 Year-End Round Up

2010-11-26T09:18:00.023-05:00

2010 has been -- like every other year when you dig deep enough -- an excellent year for music, and I never cease to marvel at the joy of discovering new records. After taking a hiatus from writing up Top Album blurbs last year to concentrate on trying to make sense of an entire decade's worth of music (though the curious can find my '09 Pazz and Jop ballot here), the Albums of the Year list makes a triumphant return below. As always, the guiding star with these write-ups is my personal relationships with these records over the past 12 months. I'm not here to add to the critical lovefests for the year's most celebrated records; you'll have plenty of other opportunities to read about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Teen Dream and The ArchAndroid elsewhere.

Honorable Mention... #20-#11

20 Somewhere On The Golden Coast, Henry Clay People (TBD Records)
19 J. Roddy Walston & the Business, J. Roddy Walston & the Business (Vagrant)
18 Stuck On Nothing, Free Energy (DFA)
17 The Way Of The World, Mose Allison (Anti-)
16 The Outsiders Are Back, Kings Go Forth (Luaka Bop)
15 Travellers In Space And Time, Apples in Stereo (Yep Roc)
14 I'm Having Fun Now, Jenny and Johnny (Warner)
13 Transference, Spoon (Merge)
12 Together, New Pornographers (Matador)
11 The Grand Theatre, Volume 1, Old 97s (New West)

10 Reform School Girl, Nick Curran & the Lowlifes (Eclecto Groove): "Rock and roll at its most primitive..." warns the ominous soundclip during the title sequence for Little Steven's Underground Garage, and it's a phrase that Nick Curran has taken to heart for his fifth album, and first with the Lowlifes. (Indeed, it was LSUG that first alerted me to Curran.) A raucous stew of rockabilly, surf, blooze ("Kill My Baby") and early R&B/R'N'R beamed straight from Little Richard ("Tough Lover") -- and with a blessing from fellow sonic traveler Phil Alvin of the Blasters on "Flying Blind" -- Curran had a blast celebrating the sounds and energy that make rock and roll so vital. (YT: "Flying Blind")

09 The Guitar Song, Jamey Johnson (Mercury): With listeners' musical tastes more heterogeneous than they've been in years (ever?), it's been interesting to see a few tried-and-true country acts popping up on unlikely cultural radars, making appearances once thought impossible. Taylor Swift can take a long walk off a short pier; the real country crossover this year was South Alabaman Jamey Johnson and his epic double-disc The Guitar Song, which garnered deserving raves from unlikely outlets such as Spin and Rolling Stone. Hardcore country hasn't been done this well since Merle and Waylon's heyday. The best country album of the year is one of the best rock albums of the year is one of the best albums of the year, period. (YT: "Mental Revenge")

08 Crazy For You, Best Coast (Mexican Summer): Consider this thought experiment: What would happen if all the emotional trauma chronicled by girl group singers of the 1960s actually befell a real person here in the 21st century? You'd end up with Best Coast (aka Beth Cosentino), who on Crazy For You (along with Bobb Bruno), is wracked with paranoid, self-doubt and feelings of unrequited love, cooped up in her house, heavily self-medicating with marijuana and wishing her cat could talk. (That album title isn't a sweet celebration; it's a clinical diagnosis.) And oh -- it's one of the catchiest, buzziest records of the year, effortlessly condensing 50 years of pop into 30 minutes, and practically begging to be blared out of a shitty boombox at the beach on the hottest day of the year. Is Crazy For You dead serious about its anguish? Is it an ironic indie parody/homage/deconstruction of girl group frustration? Have I missed the boat entirely? Let academia tackle those questions; all I know is it sounded great all summer. (YT: "When I'm With You")

07 Majesty Shredding, Superchunk (Merge): If history holds 2010 as the "The Year Indie Broke", (through, not down... though it depends on who you ask) then it is fitting that the elder statesmen (and -woman) in Superchunk got to deliver two terrific State of the Indie Union addresses on the opening salvos of Majesty Shredding, their first album in nine years: "Digging For Something" and "My Gap Feels Weird". Mac McCaughan and the gang don't always know what that weird something is either, but throughout, they float their theories: through the push-pull rhythms of the aforementioned "My Gap Feels Weird" (the title of which was supplied by McCaughan and bassist Laura Ballance's daughter, post-tooth loss, but it more than covers the space and time since 2001's Here's To Shutting Up); the graceful strings of "Fractures in Plastic"; the rumble of "Learned to Surf"; the fever pitch of "Crossed Wires" and "Rope Light". Truly, the album is nothing less than a celebration of the last quarter-century of big-hearted, big-guitared indie rock... and a blueprint for the next. Here's to Superchunk aging gracefully... and not heeding the title of their last album. (YT: "Digging For Something")

06 Harlem River Blues, Justin Townes Earle (Bloodshot): While he still may be grappling with his personal demons, there's no denying that Earle is in full control of his musical soul on Harlem River Blues, his third full-length and second-in-a-row to earn a coveted slot on the Haag Year-End Top-Ten list (and surely not for the last time, either). More cohesive than, if not quite scaling the heights of, 2009's Midnight at the Movies, HRB cemented JTE's knack for writing instant classics -- it's hard to believe the gospel-choir-aided title rack and "Working for the MTA" aren't 100-year-old public domain tunes -- and showcasing a sense of humor ("Move Over Mama") and pathos almost as sharp as his legendary wardrobe. (YT: "Harlem River Blues")

05 Brothers, Black Keys (Nonesuch): As a tireless defender of the Keys' Rubber Factory, I'm unwilling to call Brothers the band's highpoint (as many others have done), but it definitely lines up right behind the duo's '04 masterwork in their nearly unimpeachable discography. Expansive in a more organic way than '08 Danger Mouse-assisted rut-shaker Attack and Release was, Brothers finds Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney dabbling in T. Rex (the "Mambo Sun"-nicking "Everlasting Light"), covering Jerry Butler ("Never Gonna Give You Up") and improving on their always-welcome scuzz-blues-garage ("Ten Cent Pistol"). Truth be told, a little judicious pruning (15 tracks at 56+ minutes) could've made a great album even stronger -- Brothers reminds a lot of White Blood Cells in this way -- but who am I to fault a surfeit of great ideas? (YT: "Everlasting Light")

04 Astro Coast, Surfer Blood (Kanine): A January release that held up over the past 12 months, no doubt thanks to one of the strongest A-sides of the year, Astro Coast took a welcome page from the '90s alt/indie playbook: prickly guitars, healthy doses of both melody and noise and a scrappy underdog mentality, all of which helped cut through the ponderous navelgazing/U2 bombastics of too much indie rock these days. Fave moment: consistently forgetting that "Swim" isn't Eno's "Needle In The Camel's Eye". (YT: "Swim")

03 Midnight Souvenirs, Peter Wolf (Verve): Rock fans in general -- and we Bostonians in particular -- have known for years that Peter Wolf is a rare treasure, so it's not news that Midnight Souvenirs is good... but it is a pleasant surprise (if not the year's best surprise) that the record is firing-on-all-cylinders great. Whether on his own ("I Don't Wanna Know") or with ringers like Shelby Lynne and Neko Case who play off his shaggy vocals beautifully (especially the latter on the goosebump-inducing "Green Grass of Summer"), Wolf is in full command of his talents -- hell, he even painted the album cover. (YT: "Tragedy")

02 Halcyon Times, Jason and the Scorchers (Courageous Chicken): Ah yes, time for the ol' oddball pick that only Steve Haag makes. (Seriously, I haven't seen this album earn a slot on a list anywhere in the deep dark bowels of the internet.) It's a shame this record hasn't found a larger audience, because Jason Ringenberg, Warner Hodges and friends (including the Georgia Satellites' Dan Baird and Ginger from the Wildhearts) really bring the heat on Halcyon Times, rivaling the output from their mid-'80s cowpunk heyday. Opening manifesto "Moonshine Guy" (about a guy who "loves the Stones, hates the Doors [and] thinks the Beatles sing for girls") bounds out of the gate and into a world full of blue collar coalminers ("Beat On The Mountain"), souped-up rockabilly cornpone ("Fear Not Gear Rot"), music industry disillusionment ("Twang Town Blues") and of course, girls ("Mona Lee", "When Did It Get So Easy (To Lie To Me)?"). I don't know how a record released this year can already be ripe for rediscovery, but here we are. (YT: "Mona Lee")

01 The Monitor, Titus Andronicus (XL): Yes, on paper it's ridiculous: As the Village Voice's Sean Fennessey so eloquently put it, The Monitor is an album that "conflat[es] The Civil Fucking War with getting dumped and drunk in Jersey," yet there's no denying that in the execution, there was something special about Titus Andronicus' sophomore album. TA frontman Patrick Stickles and co. found the sweet spot between Born To Run and Zen Arcade -- the latter especially, as The Monitor feels like a Class of '84 SST record in a way that too few indie/punk releases aim for these days: a wildly ambitious conceit, overflowing with ideas, sloppy-in-a-good-way, honest and giant-heart-on-sleeved. And like the aforementioned classic albums, The Monitor is a young man's record: Fung Wah bus rides, Keystone Light-fueled ragers, nakedly emotional historical quotes ("If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on Earth." Abe Lincoln, or dark-night-of-the-soul Facebook status update?), and finally -- and crucially -- coming to terms with oneself: On "To Old Friends and New," Stickles' duet partner, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, offers, via her quivering assertion that "It's all right, the way that you live," the most devastating line I've heard in ages (even if the song itself dates back to September '05). Raise a glass to the best album of the year. (YT: "A More Perfect Union")

P4K in 2K9

2009-12-31T14:47:00.013-05:00

Because it killed a few minutes every morning at work, I tracked Pitchfork's reviews for all of 2009. Not as a gotcha!, or with a goal of maliciousness, but to combine my loves of recordkeeping (stupid Masters in Library Science degree) and music. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR ENTERTAINMENT/NOVELTY PURPOSES ONLY.

THE BEST AND THE WORST: This year's top records that earned an 8.6 or higher, (and where they ended up on the Top 50 list):

01 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective (Domino): 9.6 (#1)
02 Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors (Domino): 9.2 (#2)
03 Album, Girls (True Panther): 9.1 (#10)
T-04 Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear (Warp): 9.0 (#6)
T-04 Embryonic, Flaming Lips (Warner Bros): 9.0 (#4)
T-04 Tarot Sport, Fuck Buttons (ATP): 9.0 (#11)
07 Fall Be Kind EP, Animal Collective (Domino): 8.9 (--)
08 Only Built for Cuban Linx... Pt. II, Raekwon (EMI): 8.8 (#5)
09 xx, The xx (Young Turks): 8.7 (#3)
T-10 The Crying Light, Antony & the Johnsons (Secretly Canadian): 8.6 (#16)
T-10 jj no 2, jj (Sincerely Yours): 8.6 (#35)
T-10 Warm Heart of Africa, The Very Best (Green Owl): 8.6 (#17)
T-10 Psychic Chasms, Neon Indian (Lefse): 8.6 (#14)

As for the three albums from the year-end top ten that didn't quite make the 8.6 cut, they are:

Two Suns, Bat for Lashes (Astralwerks/Parlophone): 8.5 (#7)
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Phoenix (Glassnote/Loyaute): 8.5 (#8)
Fever Ray, Fever Ray (Mute/Rabid): 8.1 (#9)

~~~

The 5 worst-reviewed albums of the year:

Mirror Eye, Psychic Ills (The Social Registry) - 1.4
The Spirit of Apollo, N.A.S.A. (Anti-) - 1.6
War Angel, 50 Cent (self-released) - 1.8
I Love You, Amanda Blank (Downtown) - 2.0
The Entrance Band, The Entrance Band (Ecstatic Peace) - 2.2

Two various artist compilations also bear mentioning here:

Johnny Cash Remixed (Compadre) - 0.2 -- The lowest-reviewed record of the year.
Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to the Cure (Manimal Vinyl) - 1.7

~~~

REISSUES: 15 reissues earned a 10.0 this year, in what was a good year for British band reissues -- even beyond the Beatles:

Abbey Road, The Beatles
After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young
Histoire de Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg
Kid A, Radiohead
Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
OK Computer, Radiohead
Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys
Reckoning, R.E.M.
Revolver, The Beatles
Rubber Soul, The Beatles
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
The Beatles (White Album), The Beatles
The Bends, Radiohead
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses

~~~

MONTHLY TOTALS: After removing various artist compilations/reissues, here's the average grade given out each month:

January (22 reviews): 7.26
February (51 reviews): 6.24
March (77 reviews): 6.76
April (99 reviews): 6.45
May (96 reviews): 6.70
June (97 reviews): 6.55
July (104 reviews): 6.81
August (71 reviews): 6.94
September (81 reviews): 6.88
October (101 reviews): 6.69
November (82 reviews): 6.69
December (35 reviews): 6.56
2009 (916 reviews): 6.69

~~~

INDIVIDUAL REVIEWERS: Unlike the above number-crunching, this breakdown includes various artist compilations and reissues, so folks who reviewed several strong reissues may have inflated numbers:

Adam Moerder (7 reviews): 6.25
Adrienne Day (1 review): 6.20
Amanda Petrusich (3 reviews): 7.76
Amy Granzin (15 reviews): 7.25
Andrew Gaerig (26 reviews): 6.90
Andy Battaglia (6 reviews): 7.25
Bob Stanley (1 review): 7.20
Brian Howe (35 reviews): 7.26
Chris Dahlen (8 reviews): 7.73
Cosmo Lee (19 reviews): 6.86
D. Shawn Bosler (1 review): 6.80
David Bevan (16 reviews): 7.36
David Drake (5 reviews): 7.42
David Raposa (12 reviews): 6.20
Douglas Wolk (22 reviews): 6.75
Eric Harvey (26 reviews): 6.41
Grayson Currin (26 reviews): 6.66
Ian Cohen (59 reviews): 5.99
Jason Crock (25 reviews): 7.07
Jayson Greene (21 reviews): 6.85
Jess Harvell (47 reviews): 6.31
Jessica Suarez (10 reviews): 7.01
Joe Colly (28 reviews): 6.65
Joe Tangari (55 reviews): 7.48
Jonathan Garrett (1 review): 5.50
Joshua Klein (45 reviews): 6.41
Joshua Love (29 reviews): 6.13
Marc Hogan (45 reviews): 6.56
Marc Masters (29 reviews): 7.38
Mark Pytlik (5 reviews): 7.80
Mark Richardson (18 reviews): 8.63
Martin Clark (1 review): 8.50
Matt LeMay (3 review): 8.50
Matthew Murphy (6 reviews): 7.56
Matthew Perpetua (29 reviews): 6.41
Matthew Solarski (13 reviews): 7.17
Mia Clarke (18 reviews): 7.44
Mike McGonigal (2 reviews): 7.90
Mike Orme (8 reviews): 6.82
Mike Powell (23 reviews): 7.05
Nate Patrin (49 reviews): 7.30
Nitsuh Abebe (2 reviews): 7.80
Patrick Sisson (11 reviews): 6.64
Paul Thompson (39 reviews): 6.46
Philip Sherburne (6 reviews): 7.83
Rebecca Raber (25 reviews): 7.01
Rob Mitchum (10 reviews): 6.44
Roque Strew (9 reviews): 7.10
Ryan Dombal (15 reviews): 6.28
Scott Plagenhoef (18 reviews): 8.58
Sean Fennessey (4 reviews): 6.82
Stephen M. Deusner (67 reviews - most reviews): 6.64
Stephen Trousse (2 reviews): 5.55
Stuart Berman (29 reviews): 7.31
Tim Finney (7 reviews): 7.27
Tom Breihan (24 reviews): 6.13
Tom Ewing (12 reviews): 8.33
Zach Kelly (15 reviews): 6.46

~~~

RECORD LABELS OF NOTE: Again, no various artists/reissues included here.

4AD (8 reviews): 7.43
Anti- (12 reviews): 6.70
Asthmatic Kitty (10 reviews): 6.82
Columbia (10 reviews): 6.81
Dead Oceans (10 reviews): 6.66
DFA (5 reviews): 6.92
Domino (14 reviews): 7.22
Drag City (17 reviews - most albums reviewed): 7.07
Fat Possum (8 reviews): 6.73
FatCat (7 reviews): 6.78
Guided by Voices, Inc. (5 reviews): 5.90
In the Red (8 reviews): 7.41
Jagjaguwar (11 reviews): 7.54
K Records (9 reviews): 7.20
Kranky (10 reviews): 7.19
Matador (13 reviews): 7.13
Merge (11 reviews): 6.90
Mute (9 reviews): 5.97
Paw Tracks (5 reviews): 5.78
Rough Trade (10 reviews): 6.97
Saddle Creek (7 reviews): 5.94
Secretly Canadian (10 reviews): 6.37
Smalltown Supersound (6 reviews): 7.58
Southern Lord (4 reviews): 5.32
Stones Throw (6 reviews): 7.45
Sub Pop (10 reviews): 7.23
Thrill Jockey (10 reviews): 7.08
Warner Brothers (9 reviews): 6.53
Warp (15 reviews): 6.70
Western Vinyl (7 reviews): 7.38
Woodsist (8 reviews): 7.57
XL (9 reviews): 7.00
Yep Roc (4 reviews): 6.77

Pitchfork's Top 50 of 2009

Decade-End Round-Up: Top 35 Garage Albums

2009-12-29T17:13:00.000-05:00

Alright gang, welcome to the last of the big Aughts lists. You're probably asking yourself, How come every list this guy comes up with has a different number of items? Because why the hell not? That said, this might be my favorite list out of all the lists I whipped up this December. Any time I feel a twinge of doubt about the status of rock and roll, I will refer back to this list. Call me an optimist, but these are the records I plan on growing old with.

35 Pawn Shoppe Heart, Von Bondies (2004)
34 Truly She Is None Other, Holly Golightly (2003)
33 Crystal Gazing Luck Amazing, Compulsive Gamblers (2000)
32 Spend the Night, Donnas (2002) ▲
31 Good Bad Not Evil, Black Lips (2007)
30 Take A Good Look!, Fleshtones (2008)
29 Our Love Will Change The World, Outrageous Cherry (2005)

~~~

28 Fade Back In, Contrast (2004)
27 Celebration, Thomas Function (2008)
26 Fire, Electric Six (2003) ▲
25 Sky Pilots, Flaming Sideburns (2003)
24 White Blood Cells, White Stripes (2001)
23 The Black and White Album, Hives (2007)
22 Kiss and Tell, Sahara Hotnights (2004)

~~~

21 Consolers of the Lonely, Raconteurs (2008)
20 Veni Vidi Vicious, Hives (2000)
19 The Jim Jones Revue, Jim Jones Revue (2008)
18 The Supreme Genius of..., King Khan & the Shrines (2008) ▲
17 Rentacrowd, Len Price 3 (2007)
16 Icky Thump, White Stripes (2007)
15 Dangerous Magical Noise, Dirtbombs (2003)

~~~

14 Bazooka!, Star Spangles (2003)
13 High Life High Volume, Forty-Fives (2004) ▲
12 Feel Like Hell, Bamboo Kids (2006)
11 Origin, Volume 1, Soundtrack of Our Lives (2005)
10 Is This It?, Strokes (2001)
09 De Stijl, White Stripes (2000)
08 Ultraglide in Black, Dirtbombs (2001)

~~~

07 Tyrannosaurus Hives, Hives (2004)
06 Go, The Go (2003)
05 Electric Sweat, Mooney Suzuki (2002)
04 Time Bomb High School, Reigning Sound (2002) ▲
03 Harder and Harder, Paybacks (2004)
02 Rubber Factory, Black Keys (2004)
01 Elephant, White Stripes (2003)

Decade-End Round-Up: Top 40 Indie Rock/Album Rock Albums

2009-12-27T15:31:00.008-05:00

Alright gang, please enjoy the squarest indie rock album list on the entire internet. What you will not find on this list: Radiohead, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, TV on the Radio, anyone who had any indie buzz in the past decade. If anything, the albums below are torchbearers of the '80s college rock/Amerindie scene, with jangly guitars and a rockist bent. And hell, they made me happy these past 10 years. That's gotta count for something in the absence of cred, right?

40 The Body The Blood The Machine, Thermals (2006)
39 The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Andrew Bird (2005)
38 Almost Killed Me, Hold Steady (2004)
37 To Be Loved, Ian Moore (2007) ▲
36 Momofuku, Elvis Costello (2008)
35 District Line, Bob Mould (2008)
34 The Beatific Visions, Brakes (2007)
33 Accelerate, R.E.M. (2008)
32 Candylion, Gruff Rhys (2007)
31 White Bread Black Beer, Scritti Politti (2006)

~~~

30 In Rock, Minus 5 (2004)
29 Born Again In The USA, Loose Fur (2006)
28 Gimme Fiction, Spoon (2005) ▲
27 Ole Tarantula, Robyn Hitchcock
26 Down With Wilco, Minus 5 (2003)
25 Mobilize, Grant-Lee Phillips (2001)
24 Stephen Malkmus, Stephen Malkmus (2001)
23 Devil's Workshop, Frank Black (2002)
22 Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, Nick Cave (2008)
21 The Woods, Sleater-Kinney (2005)

~~~

20 Deliverance, You Am I (2003)
19 Yours to Keep, Albert Hammond, Jr (2006)
18 Furr, Blitzen Trapper (2008)
17 Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman (2007) ▲
16 A Ghost is Born, Wilco (2004)
15 Sea Change, Beck (2002)
14 Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt 2), XTC (2000)
13 Love Travels at Illegal Speeds, Graham Coxon (2006)
12 Life on Other Planets, Supergrass (2002)
11 Girls Can Tell, Spoon (2001)

~~~

10 Face the Truth, Stephen Malkmus (2005)
09 Z, My Morning Jacket (2005)
08 The Obliterati, Mission of Burma (2006)
07 Living With The Living, Ted Leo (2007)
06 Happiness in Magazines, Graham Coxon (2005)
05 Kill The Moonlight, Spoon (2002)
04 Tanglewood Numbers, Silver Jews (2005) ▲
03 Hearts of Oak, Ted Leo (2003)
02 If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry, Marah (2005)
01 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco (2002)

Still to come: Garage rock!

Decade-End Round-Up: Top 25 Power Pop Albums

2009-12-24T16:53:00.007-05:00

Alright, gang, Round 3: Power Pop. Too sprightly/wussy for garage, too... something else... for regular old indie rock. You know it when you hear it. It's good stuff, tho, even if it hasn't been cool since 1982.

25 Married Alive, Mood Elevator (2003)
24 The Lost Patrol Band, The Lost Patrol Band (2005)
23 Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne (2003)
22 Disenchanted Hearts Unite, Tullycraft (2005)
21 Telekinesis!, Telekinesis (2009)
20 Dog Problems, The Format (2006) ▲
19 Rockford, Cheap Trick (2006)
18 Follow Jean Through The Sea, Figgs (2006)
17 Cantilever, Jeff Murphy (2007)

~~~

16 James at 35, Breakup Society (2004)
15 Back to Even, Bill Lloyd (2004)
14 Pretty Together, Sloan (2001)
13 The Hair The TV The Baby The Band, Imperial Teen (2007)
12 Lonely People of the World, Unite!, Devin Davis (2005)
11 Dynamico, Mitch Easter (2007) ▲
10 Tell the Kids the Cops are Here, Model Rockets (2002)
09 Before and After, Wannadies (2002)

~~~

08 OK Go, OK Go (2002)
07 The Instigator, Rhett Miller (2002)
06 Mass Romantic, New Pornographers (2000)
05 Mono, Grandpaboy (2002)
04 The Slow Wonder, A.C. Newman (2004)
03 Guitar Romantic, Exploding Hearts (2000) ▲
02 Lapalco, Brendan Benson (2002)
01 Introducing Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Gentleman Jesse (2008)

Still to come: Garage and Indie Rock!

Decade-End Round-Up: Top 20 Hard Rock Albums

2009-12-24T16:41:00.007-05:00

Alright gang, Part Two of the decade round-up is here: Hard Rock. If something's missing (in your opinion) it may be on the forthcoming Garage list. Or maybe I thought it sucked and it's nowhere to be found on any of my lists. I AM A SLAVE TO ARBITRARY GENRE ASSIGNATIONS!!!

20 Ain't Life Grand, Slash's Snakepit (2000)
19 Headstunts, The Datsuns (2009)
18 The Dethalbum, Dethklok (2007)
17 The Thorny Crown of Rock 'n' Roll, Golden Gods (2006)
16 Permission to Land, The Darkness (2003)
15 ...Must Be Destroyed!, Wildhearts (2003)
14 Pulling Out Just Enough To Win, TAB the Band (2008)
13 Yoni, Ginger (2007)
12 Head Off, Hellacopters (2008) ▲
11 Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger (2007)

~~~

10 I Get Wet, Andrew W.K. (2001)
09 Rules, Supagroup (2005)
08 Retox, Turbonegro (2007)
07 Motherfuckers Be Trippin', Supersuckers (2003)
06 Peace Love Death Metal, Eagles of Death Metal (2004)
05 We Sweat Blood, Danko Jones (2003)
04 By The Grace of God, Hellacopters (2002)
03 Songs For the Deaf, Queens of the Stone Age (2002)
02 Riff After Riff, Wildhearts (2004) ▲
01 Rated 'R', Queens of the Stone Age (2000)

Still to come: Garage, Power Pop and Indie Rock!

Decade-End Round-Up: Top 40 No Depression Albums

2009-12-23T19:24:00.009-05:00

Alright, gang, I know it it ain't much to look at, but here's my list for the top 40 No Depression/Americana/Alt-Country albums of the aughts. It's been a great decade for this stuff, and this list could have easily been longer. That said, if you think this list is too long, pick the number you want to start and and count down from there.

Am I a lazy man for not doing write-ups on these albums? Maybe, but if you're really curious, you could, I dunno, get your hands on some of these albums and hear for yourself what made them so great.

40 The Revolution Starts Now, Steve Earle (2004)
39 Dollar Store, Dollar Store (2004)
38 Chavez Ravine, Ry Cooder (2006)
37 New Deal, Waco Brothers (2002)
36 Kiss It Goodbye, Chris Mills (2000) ▲
35 Streets of New York, Willie Nile (2006)
34 I And Love And You, Avett Brothers (2009)
33 Bulletproof, Reckless Kelly (2008)
32 Time (The Revelator), Gillian Welch (2001)
31 Electric Dirt, Levon Helm (2009)

~~~

30 Joji, Anomoanon (2004)
29 Favourite Colours, Sadies (2004)
28 Your Favorite Music, Clem Snide (2000)
27 No Such Place, Jim White (2001)
26 Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today, Slobberbone (2000)
25 The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, Josh Ritter (2007)
24 Okemah and the Melody of Riot, Son Volt (2005)
23 1372 Overland Park, Lucero (2009)
22 Decoration Day, Drive-By Truckers (2003) ▲
21 Acid Tongue, Jenny Lewis (2008)

~~~

20 O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Various Artists (2000)
19 Trouble in Mind, Hayes Carll (2008)
18 Emotionalism, Avett Brothers (2007)
17 The Fine Art of Self-Destruction, Jesse Malin (2003)
16 Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams (2000)
15 Failer, Kathleen Edwards (2003)
14 Love and Theft, Bob Dylan (2001)
13 Matt Mays and El Torpedo, Matt Mays (2005)
12 Georgia Hard, Robbie Fulks (2005) ▲
11 So Much For The City, The Thrills (2003)

~~~

10 Southern Rock Opera, Drive-By Truckers (2001)
09 We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen (2006)
08 Put the 'O' Back In Country, Shooter Jennings (2005)
07 Furnace Room Lullaby, Neko Case (2000)
06 Normal for Bridgwater, Peter Bruntnell (2000)
05 The World Won't End, Pernice Brothers (2001)
04 The Devil You Know, Todd Snider (2006)
03 Starving Winter Report, Deadstring Brothers (2005)
02 Youth and Young Manhood, Kings of Leon (2003)
01 Van Lear Rose, Loretta Lynn (2004) ▲

Still to come: Celebrations of the decade's best Garage, Hard Rock, Power Pop and Indie Rock!

2009 Year-End Round Up: Part 1

2009-12-09T19:45:00.015-05:00

Well, gang, here we go again with another batch of tunes that soundtracked my past 12 months. I'm up to 56 songs this year, and, yes, that was after a few rounds of cuts. In most instances, links go to YouTube clips: official videos, shaky fancams, whatevs. Enjoy!

--"1, 2, 3, Partyy!," Mission of Burma (The Sound the Speed the Light)
--"(Sometimes You Got To Be) Gentle," Heavy Trash (Midnight Soul Serenade)
--"All Of My Days And All Of My Days Off," A.C. Newman (Get Guilty)
"Argos," Bob Mould (Life and Times)
--"Banker and a Liar," Reigning Sound (Love and Curses) ▲
--"Bull Black Nova," Wilco (Wilco (The Album))
--"Can You Whoop It?," Dexateens (Singlewide)
--"Cigarettes and Wine," Jason Isbell (Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit)
--"Coast of Carolina," Telekinesis (Telekinesis!)
--"Coochie," BlakRoc (BlakRoc)

~~~

--"Cruel, Cruel Fate," Datsuns (Headstunts)
--"Crush On You," Brakes (Touchdown)
--"Dominos," Big Pink (A Brief History of Love)
--"Good Morning Captain," Black Crowes (Before the Frost...)
--"Growing Trade," Levon Helm (Electric Dirt)
--"Gunpowder," Black Joe Lewis (Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!)
--"Hindsight," Built to Spill (There Is No Enemy)
--"Hysteric," Yeah Yeah Yeahs (It's Blitz!)
--"I Cut Like A Buffalo," Dead Weather (Horehound) ▲
--"I Don't Even Know What That Is," 1990s (Kicks)

~~~

--"I Recognized Her," Outrageous Cherry (Universal Malcontents)
--"Inaugural Trams," Super Furry Animals (Dark Days/Light Years)
--"Intricate Things," Robyn Hitchcock (Goodnight Oslo)
--"Irish Wristwatch," Hard Lessons (Arms Forest)
--"It Ain't Gonna Save Me," Jay Reatard (Watch Me Fall)
--"Jeff Penalty," Franz Nicolay (Major General)
--"Know Better Learn Faster," Thao Nguyen (Know Better Learn Faster)
--"Layin' Up With Linda," Lemonheads (Varshons)
--"Left and Right in the Dark," Julian Casablancas (Phrazes for the Young) ▲
--"Lisztomania," Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)

~~~

--"Mazel Tov Cocktail," Wildhearts (Chutzpah!) ▲
--"Mind Eraser, No Chaser," Them Crooked Vultures (Them Crooked Vultures)
--"Money, Compliments, Publicity," Todd Snider (The Excitement Plan)
--"My Wife's Hometown," Bob Dylan (Together Through Life)
--"Never Forget You," Noisettes (Wild Young Hearts)
--"Nikorette," Conor Oberst (Outer South)

~~~

--"Over It," Dinosaur Jr (Farm)
--"Prison Girls," Neko Case (Middle Cyclone)
--"Run Chicken Run," Felice Brothers (Yonder is the Clock)
--"Sixes and Sevens," Lucero (1372 Overland Park) ▲
--"Slap Dash For No Cash," Art Brut (Art Brut vs. Satan)
--"Something Is Squeezing My Skull," Morrissey (Years of Refusal)
--"Straight Into A Storm," Deer Tick (Born on Flag Day)
--"Sulphur to Sugarcane," Elvis Costello (Secret, Profane and Sugarcane)
--"Tastebuds," King Khan & BBQ Show (Invisible Girl)
--"Technicolor Health," Harlem Shakes (Technicolor Health)

~~~

--"Tennessee Jed," Levon Helm (Electric Dirt) ▲
--"The Fixer," Pearl Jam (Backspacer)
--"The Long Way," Bottle Rockets (Lean Forward)
--"This Love Is Fucking Right," Pains of Being Pure of Heart (The Pains of Being Pure of Heart)
--"Tin Man," Avett Brothers (I and Love and You)
--"What I Mean To You," Justin Townes Earle (Midnight at the Movies)
--"When I Died," Thermals (Now We Can See)
--"When I Left the Room," Dan Auerbach (Keep It Hid)
--"You Need Satan More Than He Needs You," Future of the Left (Travels With Myself and Another)
--"Your Mexican Restaurant," Young Fresh Fellows (I Think This Is)

2008 Year-End Round-Up: Part 2

2008-12-12T20:38:00.023-05:00

Another 12 months, another best-of album list agonized over, another set of fists raised to the critical heavens in anger when I saw the albums I loved most relegated to middle-of-the-pack status (if that) on countless other blog and magazine best-of lists. But who needs rage when there's ten great albums to celebrate? (Band name links go to official/MySpace pages.)

10. Gentleman Jesse & his Men, Gentleman Jesse & his Men (Douchemaster): Taking a break from his day job as bassist for Atlanta-area punks the Carbonas, Jesse Smith churned out this effortless 34-minute power pop master class debut, sorely indebted to the late, great Exploding Hearts (R.I.P.) as well as genre touchstones like the Buzzcocks and the Undertones, with a little early Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe-esque smart-aleckery (dig the This Year's Model-aping cover) thrown in for good measure. It's easily the best album released in 2008 that should've been released in 1979.

9. Furr, Blitzen Trapper (Sub Pop): Sub Pop circa 2008 in a nutshell: The sensitivos may have curled up under a blanket with a hot, but not too hot, cup of chamomile and swooned over the harmonies of Fleet Foxes, but those of us who like a little meat on their rock (so to speak) wisely opted to crank BT's fourth album, and first for the venerable Seattle label. Less frantic but still as brimming with ideas as their 2007 breakthrough Wild Mountain Nation, Furr finds the band operating at the peak of their Crazy-Horse-gone-glam powers. Mark my words: BT's Eric Earley will be the Jeff Tweedy of the 2010's.

8. Acid Tongue, Jenny Lewis (Warner Brothers): After Rilo Kiley's maligned/misguided (though I still call it misunderstood) Under the Blacklight, RK frontwoman Jenny Lewis returned with solo album #2, a record that boasted dangerous levels of charm and breezy wit. Lewis could've coasted on her sun-kissed, California-girl looks (siiiiigh), but those who dwell on those superficialities ignore her considerable songwriting talents and warm, honeyed voice. On Acid Tongue, Lewis inspires goosebumps (the sweeping title track), blown speakers ("Jack Killed Mom", "Carpetbaggers"), and, in the case of one particular blogger (cough cough), a fervent wish to move to California.

7. Trouble in Mind, Hayes Carll (Lost Highway): Despite the online-only metaphorphosis of No Depression, one of America's finest music publications, plenty of Americana acts found the audience they deserved this year (James McMurtry, Reckless Kelly, O'Death, the Mother Truckers, among others) that normally found them in the pages of ND, but damned if Carll didn't top them all with Trouble in Mind. Yes, the record's rife with cliches -- drinkin', wanderin', chasin' tail -- but Carll's friendly voice and keen sense of humor elevates the material from the genre ghetto. As long as we're reveling in cliche, let it be known that Carll's the kind of guy you'd love to have a beer with.

6. Real Emotional Trash, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks (Matador): After the glitchy, go-it-alone vibe of 2005’s excellent “Face the Truth,” the one-time Pavement frontman flung wide the gates of Malkmus Manor and brought back his sometime-backing band the Jicks for his fourth album, Real Emotional Trash. Expansive where its predecessor was hermetically sealed, “Trash” found Malkmus obsessed with loose-limbed jams instead of tighter songcraft; it’s nearly an hour of Malkmus-as-shaggy-guitar-god, yet he rarely lost his way, as he did on 2003’s guitar-focused, yet meandering, “Pig Lib.” The 10-minute title track, split in two halves, didn’t overstay its welcome, and in fact favorably recalls mid-period Pavement; "Hopscotch Willie" chugged like a warped homage to Bob Dylan's narratives. Meanwhile, shorter, more recognizably Malkmusian tracks – like “Cold Son” and the charming, sly “Gardenia” – served as breath-catching moments between guitar workout exercises. It was still a treat to hear Malkmus get in touch with his inner Guitar Hero. (Can you tell I borrowed this write-up from the initial review I wrote for the Hartford Courant?)

5. Hold On Now, Youngster..., Los Campesinos! (Wichita Recordings): This decade has seen numerous stabs at recreating XTC's early, jittery, kitchen sink post-punk/pop (Art Brut, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, a few dozen others whose names are consigned to history); needless to say, none of those acts nailed it as well as Los Campesinos! did on their full length debut. Charming, self-deprecating, and with glockenspiels out the wazoo, songs like "Death to Los Campesinos!," "You! Me! Dancing!" and the other tunes that didn't include exclamation points burned bright and brought the fun back to indie rock. In fact, this album is such a blast, I won't dock them a point for the Fall Out Boy-esque song title, "This Is How You Spell 'Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics'."

4. Momofuku, Elvis Costello (Lost Highway): After vowing to stop making albums, Elvis Costello thankfully reneged on that threat and delivered one of his spriest albums in years, with Momofuku. Named after the creator of Ramen noodles, and referencing both the quick prep of the soup and this record, Momofuku is one of the rare albums (by any artist) that favorably and accurately sounds like a musician's "old" stuff, while still moving the ball forward. (Witness the opening one-two punch of "No Hiding Place" and "American Gangster Time" could legitimately have been This Year's Model outtakes, "Harry Worth" mixes Imperial Bedroom with The Delivery Man.) And album closer "Go Away" proves Costello's got more piss and vinegar in him than actual Angry Young Men.

3. Accelerate, R.E.M. (Warner Brothers): And the winner of the Least Expected, But Most Hoped-For, Return to Form Award goes to... Having only been single-digits-years-old during R.E.M.'s '80s heyday (the first R.E.M. album I owned was a cassette copy of Monster), it did my heart good to hear the band at their R.E.M.-iest on Accelerate. The album's Side A – "Living Well Is The Best Revenge," "Man-Sized Wreath" (stolen Kool and the Gang riff and all), "Supernatural Superserious," "Hollow Man" and "Houston"– was the most exciting, passionate, alive string of songs committed to tape this year. Essay question: Which played a bigger role in Accelerate's success: Peter Buck's guitar or Mike Mills' backing vocals?

2. District Line, Bob Mould (Anti): After a few years in the non-guitar rock wildnerness, Mould made a move back to his bread and butter with 2005's Body of Song, and the (re)transformation was completed with District Line, a remarkably strong, well-produced batch of songs about breakups and relationships (with only a minor detour to indulge his ongoing interest in electronica, "Shelter Me"). "Stupid Now," "Again and Again," "Very Temporary" -- this is what modern rock should sound like in 2008; why has it fallen to near-50-year-olds like Mould and Michael Stipe to show the kids how it's done, 25 years after they already laid the groundwork? Yes, I know I'm a horrible rockist.

1. Consolers of the Lonely, The Raconteurs (Warner Brothers): And speaking of rockists... for the second year in a row, I hand the title of the Year's Best Album to Jack White III. I had a hunch Icky Thump would top my 2007 list after I gave it one spin, but who could've predicted the stunning rock 'n' roll punch of Consolers, given the Raconteurs' enjoyable, if lightweight, debut, Broken Boy Soldiers back in 2006? I was certainly caught off guard, even more so considering the album's existence was confirmed a mere week before its street date (and even then, it was still leaked early when iTunes mistakenly released it). Both White and co-conspirator Brendan Benson brought their A-material to their ostensible side project, and they repeatedly pushed each other to greater heights on Consolers: the can-you-top-this-verse trade-offs on "Salute Your Solution"; somehow finding space for and making perfect sense out of both Benson's mariachi boast "The Switch and the Spur" and White's album-closing soap opera, "Carolina Drama"; and, above all, reminding listeners of the redemptive powers of a good old-fashioned guitar rave-up, with "Hold Up" and "Five on the Five". There's a much longer piece floating around in my brain about rockism, the state of alternative/rock music in the early 21st century and my personal apotheosis of Jack White, but until that essay arrives, know this: No other band rocked more convincingly and more satisfyingly this year than the Raconteurs.

2008 Year-End Round-Up: Part 1

2008-12-06T18:56:00.009-05:00

The Best of 2008 Album List is on the horizon, but until that big reveal, here's the 50 songs, in alphabetical order by title, that I really dug this year. Yeah, I know it's a ton of songs. I tried to whittle it down. Honest. Enjoy the YouTube linkage.

--"A-Punk," Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
--"Addicted to Drugs," Kaiser Chiefs (Off With Their Heads)
--"Always Wanting More," Jay Reatard (Matador Singles '08)
--"American Blood," Reckless Kelly (Bulletproof)
--"American Gangster Time," Elvis Costello (Momofuku)
--"Attention," Gentlemen Jesse & his Men (Gentleman Jesse & his Men)
--"Bag of Hammers," Thao Nguyen (We Brave Bee Stings and All)
--"Believe in Me," Sloan (Parallel Play)
--"Carpetbaggers," Jenny Lewis (Acid Tongue)▲
--"Death to Los Campesinos," Los Campesinos! (Hold On Now, Youngster...)

~ ~ ~

--"Dig, Lazarus, Dig," Nick Cave (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!)

--"Five on the Five," Raconteurs (Consolers of the Lonely)▲
--"Furr," Blitzen Trapper (Furr)
--"Gardenia," Stephen Malkmus (Real Emotional Trash)
--"Graveyard Girl," M83 (Saturdays = Youth)
--"How Was California," Reckless Kelly (Bulletproof)
--"I Wanna Deadbeat You," Night Marchers (See You In Magic)
--"I'm Amazed," My Morning Jacket (Evil Urges)
--"It's a Shame," Hayes Carll (Trouble In Mind)
--"Let's Dance to Joy Division," The Wombats (A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation)

~ ~ ~

--"Mercury," Bloc Party (Intimacy)

--"P.F.F.," Hank Williams III (Damn Right, Rebel Proud)▲
--"Party Barge," Silver Jews (Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea)
--"Pop Lie," Okkervil River (The Stand-Ins)
--"Punch Bowl," Punch Brothers (Punch)
--"Real Love," Lucinda Williams (Little Honey)
--"Right Hand On My Heart," The Whigs (Mission Control)
--"Sequestered in Memphis," Hold Steady (Stay Positive)
--"Sex on Fire," Kings of Leon (Only By The Night)
--"Shiny Hiney," Fleshtones (Take a Good Look!)

~ ~ ~

--"Solo Flights," Eagles of Death Metal (Heart On)
--"St. Joseph's," Avett Brothers (The Second Gleam EP)
--"Strange Times," Black Keys (Attack and Release)
--"Streets of Atlanta," Mother Truckers (Let's All Go To Bed)
--"Stupid Now," Bob Mould (District Line)
--"Supernatural Superserious," R.E.M. (Accelerate)▲
--"Take Me Home," Danko Jones (Never Too Loud)
--"Terminal Boredom," Cute Lepers (Can't Stand Modern Music)
--"The Arm," Islands (Arm's Way)
--"The Easy Way," Old 97s (Blame It On Gravity)

~ ~ ~

--"The Girl You Lost to Cocaine," Sia (Some People Have Real Problems)
--"The Rabbit, The Bat and The Reindeer," Dr. Dog (Fate)
--"The Seus," Frank Black (S V N F NG RS)
--"The Sound," Human Highway (Moody Motorcycle)
--"Trashcan," Delta Spirit (Ode to Sunshine)
--"Waving Flags," British Sea Power (Do You Like Rock Music?)
--"We Call Upon the Author," Nick Cave (Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!) ▲
--"White Winter Hymnal," Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)
--"Whoa Mule," Black Crowes (Warpaint)
--"Wreck My Flow," The Dirtbombs (We Have You Surrounded)

Three Bands Who've Got The Halloween Spirit

2008-10-30T22:10:00.009-04:00

As noted All-Hallows-Eve expert Jello Biafra once, uh, noted "Remember what I did / Remember what I was / Back on Halloween." While Biafra was being derisive on "Halloween," there's something to be said for dressing up and letting loose... something the following three bands understand:

The Damned-as-Nazz-Nomad-and-the-Nightmares

Released a scant 12 years after Lenny Kaye's initial Nuggets compilation (and who was using the Hammond organ in 1984 besides Jeff "Monoman" Conolly?), the Damned paid homage to the blink-and-you'll-miss-'em classic garage bands of the 1960s with this charming one-off, billed as the soundtrack to the (unfortunately) non-existent exploitation film, Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy. The already-nicknamed band members picked up new identities for the project -- Raymond Burns is Captain Sensible as Sphinx Svenson! -- and contributed two originals ("Do You Know (I Know)" and "Just Call Me Sky") that fit snugly next to classics like the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" and the Litter's "Action Woman."

The Damned never revisited their retro alter egos, and were barely themselves by 1985, which saw the release of the Sensible-less Phantasmagoria. Still, there's no denying the joyous rock 'n' roll that informs Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy... and here's hoping Green Day-as-Foxboro-Hot-Tubs have the good sense to offer a tip of the cap of their recent garage sidetrip, Stop Drop and Roll!!

XTC-as-Dukes-of-Stratosphear

By 1985, post-punk pioneers XTC had sanded down their spikier edges and had found peace as studio-bound purveyors of intelligent British pop (compare 1980's Black Sea to 1984's The Big Express). '85 saw the unexplained appearance of something called The 25 O'Clock EP, credited to the "lost" '60s Britpsychers the Dukes of Stratosphear, and a convincing era-appropriate album cover. Rumors swirled that XTC were the Dukes, but they denied any affiliation. Still, an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary prevailed: "Sir John Johns" sounded suspiciously like XTC frontman Andy Partridge and "Dukes of Stratosphear" just happened to be XTC's original name. (The record dropped on April Fool's Day, 1985, for what it's worth, too.) The band eventually fessed up -- they needed the publicity, as this unassuming EP outsold XTC's two previous records (Mummer and The Big Express) -- and returned in 1987 to record Psonic Psunspot, which was less psychedelic than it's predecessor -- despite the preponderance of "ps"'s in the title, but is still an amazing batch of tunes seemingly gamma-rayed directly from the heart of 1967. Furthermore, it boasts one of XTC's greatest singles, the peerless "Vanishing Girl"; it's reason enough to justify the entire project.

25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot were released together as Chips Off The Chocolate Fireball later in 1987; it's well worth tracking down.

"You're A Good Man, Albert Brown," Dukes of Stratosphear

Paul-Westerberg-as-Grandpaboy

Adventurous souls who picked up the Grandpaboy EP in 1997 only found the scant description of our eponymous guitarslinger in the liner notes: Grandpaboy was born somewhere He plays guitar Do not try to be his friend He will not like you. Of course, one spin of the disc revealed Grandpaboy to be Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg retreating/retrenching to the power pop garage where he earned his fame in the mid-1980s. And really, who else could've been operating under the name "Grandpaboy" but the man who put both "Gary's Got A Boner" and "Answering Machine" on the Replacements' Let it Be? After the 'Mats' dissolution, Westerberg's solo output had been solid if undistinguished -- Grandpaboy, by comparison, was a righteous blast of snotty rock 'n' roll. Certainly nothing on 1996's Eventually matches the joie de vivre of "Hot Un," with it's tongue-wagging command to "check out that girl on that bellybutton."

Westerberg's gone back to the Grandpaboy well a few times in the last decade, most notably on 2002's Stereo/Mono, and the Grandpaboy aesthetic has bled into Westerberg's proper releases -- how else to interpret this past July's 49:00, single-track, $0.49-cent Amazon download, with it's untitled songs overlapping each other like 10 radios all tuned to 1968?

"Hot Un," Grandpaboy

Pitchfork Cuts Off Music's Nose To Spite Its Face

2008-09-17T14:00:00.001-04:00

Speaking for Paul Banks, Win Butler and Julian Casablancas, I hope that Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen never gets his hands on a time machine. In today’s review of Airborne Toxic Event’s eponymous debut album, Cohen closes with the following assertion, one so recklessly and stratospherically hyperbolic, that it has to be a put on:

In a way, The Airborne Toxic Event is something of a landmark record: This represents a tipping point where you almost wish Funeral or Turn on the Bright Lights or Is This It? never happened as long as it spared you from horrible imitations like this one, often sounding more inspired by market research than actual inspiration. Congrats, Pitchfork reader-- the Airborne Toxic Event thinks you're a demographic.

If only there was a way to avoid the Airborne Toxic Event album; unfortunately for Cohen (and apparently the rest of us), last week the President signed into law the bill that made ownership and daily listens of The Toxic Airborne Event mandatory for every American over the age of 10. Didn’t Bush realize that this law would ruin Interpol and the Strokes for countless listeners, who were now faced with what those bands’ records would one day wreak? Oh wait. Schmuck.

Maybe I’m being too hard on Cohen. After all, it must be disillusioning to encounter the first record in your life that sounds “more inspired by market research than actual inspiration.”

Rock 'n' Roll Math With Danko Jones

2008-02-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the upcoming release of Never Too Loud, hard rock king Danko Jones' latest offering from to the rock 'n' roll gods, I was working my way through his discography. The other day I was plowing through 2003's We Sweat Blood, and on the title track Jones offers this calendar wish up:

I wish there was 80 seconds in a minute, 90 minutes in an hour, 60 hours in a day, 500 days in a year.

That's all well and good, but exactly how long is that? Danko's 500-day year would be 216,000,000 seconds long. By comparison, our 365-day year is a paltry 31,536,000 seconds long (and a 500-day "earth year" would only be 43,200,000 seconds) -- 6.8 times longer than our current year! Heaven help you if were born on Leap Day in Danko's world; you'd be lucky to turn three before you died. Any extreme science geeks want to figure out how far from the sun Planet Danko would be to accommodate his wish, if it revolved around the sun at the same speed as Earth?

In conclusion, Danko rocks regardless of length of day. Download "Code of the Road," Never Too Loud's first single here.

Danko Jones homepage
Danko Jones @ MySpace

A New R.E.M. Song... That Doesn't Suck!

2008-02-07T08:36:00.000-05:00

Pitchfork is streaming "Supernatural Superserious," the first single off R.E.M.'s new album, Accelerate, due out this April, and after the critical drubbing they took in 2004 with Around the Sun (which, I must admit, I own but have not listened to), the new track sounds like a welcome return to form (a little jangle here, some Mills/Stipe vocal intertwining there)... whatever that means for a band that has been around for almost 30 years and has adopted countless guises.

With my avoidance of Around the Sun, I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that this and "The Final Straw" are the only two new R.E.M. songs I've heard in the past 6 years. ("I'm Gonna DJ" is languishing on R.E.M.: Live which is gathering dust on the '07 Music Pile.) I'm the worst R.E.M. fan ever.

R.E.M. HQ
Pop Songs 08 (Matthew Perpetua's R.E.M. Song Discussion Archive)

Year-End Round-Up: Part 3

2007-12-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

There's a trend I've been noticing the past few years that bloomed in full this year: My top 10 are found in everyone else's 11-30. So for better or worse, you won't find the National, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Animal Collective or any other buzzworthy bands on this list. Am I ignoring prevailing trends? Stuck in genre ghettos? Or do I just have terrible taste in music? How can a consensus be reached when literally thousands of albums are released in any given year? Aaaaaaaahhhhhh! Who's to say, but I do know this: These are the 20 albums that defined my 2007, and I'm proud to call them my best-of list. (Band name links go to official MySpace pages.)

20. Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger (Kemado): This is what we talk about when we talk about big dumb rock. This Brooklyn outfit turned in the album the Stooges should've released this year, full of macho posturing, giant hooks and a shout-out to the greatest non-existent nightclub in the planet, Rowdy P's! Whether these guys can repeat the trick on album #2 remains to be seen, but right now, who cares? With Cheeseburger, they've graced us with the year's best air guitar album.

19. Retox, Turbonegro (Edel): These Norwegian garage-glam weirdos seemed to be running out of steam after 2005's Party Animals but Retox was a welcome return to form: Louder and funnier than they've been in years ("What Is Rock?," anyone?), Hank and Co provided hope for every other leather- and ass-obsessed Eurogarage band out there. (May I also suggest Mark Deming's hilarious review over at Allmusic.)

18. Yoni, Ginger (3D): The redheaded Wildhearts frontman was, as ever, a busy man this year, playing shows on both sides of the pond, and releasing his day-job band's eponymous album in addition to this solo lark. But as enjoyable as The Wildhearts was, it's the stylistically-diverse Yoni (horns! guest vocals from the dude from the Toadies!) that earns a slot on the list. Hook-happy songs like "Why Can't You Just Be Normal All The Time?" and "Siberian Angel" prove that nobody writes catchier/deeper/truer songs about relationships. Fifteen years into a rollercoaster of a career, Ginger is still operating at the peak of his powers.

17. Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley (Warner Brothers): Jenny Lewis and the gang may be alienating their original fans with each subsequent release as they move from precocious troubadours to whatever passes for indie rock stars these days, but I've been digging them more and more with each new album. 2004's More Adventurous was a bright revelation, and Lewis' solo project detour, Rabbit Fur Coat, found a deserving home on last year's best-of list, but neither of them prepared me for the sonic leap of Blacklight. Equal parts sunny ("Silver Lining") and sultry ("The Moneymaker"), it's the -- cliche alert! -- quintessential "California" record, and much cheaper than flying out there and surrounding myself with actual Californians.

16. The Dethalbum, Dethklok (Williams Street): What does it say about the current state of rock music when the rockingest album of the year was put out by a homage/parody heavy metal cartoon band? (Obligatory admission about my ignorance of the heavy metal scene; please, no angry letters about which other, non-cartoon bands rocked harder.) The Dethalbum is also funny as hell, tackling topics rarely covered in the metal world: birthdays ("Birthday Dethday") and tax-paying ("Dethharmonic," with its assertion that "If I could write off your murder / I'd save all of my receipts / Because I'd rather you be dead / Than lose a tiny shred of what I made this fiscal year." Death and taxes, man.) Outside of the Britney Spears saga, no one-note joke provided more entertainment this year than these guys.

15. New Wave, Against Me! (Sire): It always does my heart good when Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel shouts "We can be the bands we want to hear! We can define our own generation!" on New Wave's opening title track. Even though history has proved me wrong repeatedly, I want to believe punk rock can make a difference. In a year where too many top acts spent time navelgazing, Against Me! provided a much needed kick in the pants.

14. Dynamico, Mitch Easter (Electric Devil): My inner power-pop loving old man demanded to listen to this album after reading about it in No Depression (of all places), and he refused to be denied. Easter's best known, if at all, as a producer and crafter of '80s jangle pop, working with the likes of R.E.M., Let's Active, the dB's, but he makes a fine frontman on Dynamico, his solo debut(!). Since I'll never get my hands on a time machine to travel back to 1987 to listen to a college radio station, joyful, out-of-time albums like Dynamico will have to tide me over.

13. Glitter in the Gutter, Jesse Malin (Adeline): Malin's 2003 debut, The Fine Art of Self-Destruction, is one of my favorite records released this millennium, and Glitter, album number three, is no slouch either. Malin set his sights on out-Springsteen-ing Springsteen (and not in that inscrutable Arcade Fire sort of way), and nearly does it on earthy, honest, roots rockers like "Don't Let Them Take You Down" and "Lucinda." He also invites Bruce to sing backing vocals on "Broken Radio," just to rub it in the elderstatesman's face. Way to play The Boss's head like a bongo, Malin.

12. Silver Mountain, Deadstring Brothers (Bloodshot): Album number three from this Detroit six-piece picks up where 2005's Starving Winter Report left off: imagining a world where every new album must be influenced by the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. It's a beautiful dream, no? A stronger country vibe permeates Silver Mountain, and indicates the Deadstrings may have their sights on channeling Gram Parsons next. They may not be groundbreaking artists, but, hey, they have a great record collection.

11. Chrome Dreams II, Neil Young (Reprise): After recharging the spiritual batteries on last year's Living With War, Young dug through his own personal archives for this not-quite odds-and-sods collection. Young's rockers sit comfotably next to the introspective tunes, and I'll be the heretic that prefers the (merely) 14-minute long "No Hidden Path" to the epic, 18-minute long, and long-lost late-'80s chestnut "Ordinary People." A glorious mess.

10. At My Age, Nick Lowe (Yep Roc): I'm not sure how it took Lowe 6 years to record the 12 song, 35-minute At My Age, (especially when two of the songs are cover tunes) but when the end results are as funny and charming as At My Age's are, it's hard to quibble with time delays. Lowe's far removed from his late-'70s power pop incarnation, but he's still a charming smart-aleck (see "I Trained Her To Love Me" or "Feel Again")... though he's tempered it with some middle-aged wistfulness ("Long-Limbed Girl") that plays nicely off his silver fox persona. At My Age is a lark, but never fails to entertain. Let's just hope the next Lowe record doesn't come out in 2013.

09. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon (Merge): Write-ups for this one litter best-of lists across the internet, and with good reason: If they weren't there already, Ga^5 confirms Spoon's place at the top of the indie rock heap. No one else mixes venom ("Don't Make Me A Target"), haunting minimalism ("My Little Japanese Cigarette Case") and soul ("The Underdog") better. Also, for those keeping score, they're one album away from the rare five-kickass-albums-in-a-row streak. Check back in 2009.

08. Going Way Out With Heavy Trash, Heavy Trash (Yep Roc): A warped, uh, trashed rockabilly/blues mash-up from Matt Vera-Ray and Jon Spencer, Going Way Out brought nothing but joy this year. This album almost earned a slot on the strength alone of the undeniable "They Were Kings," but there's plenty other songs to recommend: "Crazy Pritty Baby," "Outside Chance" and the bizarro, otherworldly closer, "You Can't Win." Bonus points for the Tony Millionaire-drawn cover.

07. The Hair The TV The Baby & The Band, Imperial Teen (Merge): The title refers to how this power-pop quartet spent the past five years away from music-making, which in turns reminds me of how much I missed these guys during their half-decade hiatus -- so much so, I used my "brainy, expertly arranged power-pop" slot for these guys instead of New Pornographers. (There's not enough room for both of them, so don't ask.) The Hair... surprised me by being my go-to album for the last third of 2007. It's a sweet, fun album that seems to have escaped everyone else's radar.

06. Because of the Times, Kings of Leon (RCA): Haunting, atmospheric, tinged with post-punk... can you believe this is the same band that released the stomping Youth and Young Manhood four years ago? Steady touring (and kicking some of the vices that informed/marred their sophomore disc, Aha Shake Heartbreak) seems to have done wonders for the brothers (and cousin) Followill: opener "Knocked Up" is equal parts epic, enthralling and totally full of itself -- just like a certain Irish band they opened for that starts with a "U" and ends with a "2". And for all their experimentation, they can still knock out rockers that'll punch you in the boypart: "Black Thumbnail" and "Camaro" hold up nicely with their earlier, more visceral work. Doubts I had about their chances of being a career act have been put to rest.

05. Magic, Bruce Springsteen (Columbia): OK, so there's no underlying concept informing Magic (though consensus seems to be building that this is the "America has lost its way" record... though I'm giving that nod to Ted Leo) but time and again I found myself reaching for this album. The post-millennial isolation anthem "Radio Nowhere," the sunny/wistful "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and "Livin' In The Future"... sometimes "just" another batch of Springsteen songs is all this world needs.

04. The Black and White Album, The Hives (Universal): This is one weird-ass album, but it's a measure of my love for and trust of Fagersta, Sweden's finest that I followed them down every twisted alley on The Black and White Album. Sure, there's the classic Hives rave-ups that bookend the album, "Tick Tick Boom" and "Bigger Hole To Fill," but what to make of the other tracks? A quick rundown: "Try It Again" shoehorns in a children's choir; the mid-album diversion "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" is a demented Tom Waits carnival ride; "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." was produced by Pharrell Williams; and "Puppet On A String" is some sort of alternate universe cabaret, yet the whole album hangs together quite nicely. The Black and White Album would have been excoriated had the band stuck with its original title (The World's First Perfect Album, which really belonged as the title to 2004's masterwork Tyrannosaurus Hives), but as it stands, The Black and White Album sums up the Hives' multi-hued universe. They're such jokers.

03. The Beatific Visions, brakesbrakesbrakes (Rough Trade): British, country-infused post-punk with a lefty political bent? Somewhere, the Mekons' lawyers are drafting an angry cease-and-desist letter. But Jon Langford's crew never penned a song about God and the Devil battling for the universe via a poker game (ironically enough, "Cease and Desist"), and they definitely never wrote anything as batshit-insane as the battle-between-two-spiky-things, "Porcupine or Pineapple." But for all the goofing, these guys had plenty going for them in 2007: hook-happy guitars and songs that were equal parts heartfelt (witness the title track and "Mobile Communication") and wracked with paranoia ("Margarita"). Something for everyone! An underrated gem, to be sure.

02. Living With The Living, Ted Leo (Touch & Go): Is Ted Leo the only rocker who reads the newspaper? At the very least, he's one of the few who fuels himself with the outrages of the world, with the added bonus of writing catchy songs that never fall into didacticism. On album number five, Leo repeatedly rails against the protracted/interminable war ("Fourth World War," "Army Bound," the stunning "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb."), yet finds time to relax and celebrate life ("A Bottle of Buckie," "La Costa Brava"). Hell, he even sings about a girl ("Colleen"). I read grumblings from critics, complaining that Leo's now written the same album five times in a row, but as long as the world is going to hell in a handbasket, we need Ted Leo to do what he does best.

01. Icky Thump, White Stripes (Warner Brothers): I heard someone sum up modern radio recently as: British bands, American bands trying to sound British, and the White Stripes. Has everyone else forgotten how to rock? I realize that carefree rock doesn't match the tenor of the times, but as a rebuttal I offer up Icky Thump. The simple joys of picking up a guitar and cranking it will never grow old; what about this has stopped appealing to people? To me, this has been the biggest -- and most disheartening -- trend of 2007. 20 years ago, the Replacements, Husker Du, R.E.M. and U2 all placed in the top 15 of the 1987 Pazz and Jop poll. Where are those bands' analogues today? (Go ahead and call me a rockist; I freely own up to the term.) If you knew where to look, you could get your rock fix, but rock shouldn't have to be a scavenger hunt. The White Stripes know this, and Icky Thump simply outrocked everybody. How come nobody else is thinking to grab a guitar and a drum kit, hole up in a studio for a week, and bang out a rock album, full of songs like"You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)," "Rag & Bone," "I'm Slowly Turning Into You," "Effect and Cause"? Re-reading this entry, I'm ending what was a very good year for music with more questions than answers, but I do know this: Jack and Meg, keep releasing albums like Icky Thump every other year and waving the banner of rock, and you'll have my undying allegiance.

Year-End Round-Up: Part 2

2007-12-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

The Best of 2007 Album List is on the horizon, but until that big reveal, here's the 34 songs, in alphabetical order by title, that I really dug this year. Yeah, I know it's a ton of songs. I tried to whittle it down. Honest. Enjoy the YouTube linkage.

--"Almost Ready," Dinosaur Jr (Beyond)
--"Before The Money Came," Bettye LaVette (The Scene of The Crime)
--"Brass Ring," Broken West (I Can't Go On, I'll Go On)
--"Bigger Hole to Fill," The Hives (The Black and White Album) ▲
--"C.I.A," Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (Living With The Living)
--"Can You Feel It?," Apples in Stereo (New Magnetic Wonder)
--"Gone Gone Gone," Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (Raising Sand)

~ ~ ~

--"Halloween Head," Ryan Adams (Easy Tiger)
--"Hold Me In The River," The Brakes (The Beatific Visions)
--"I Discovered America," Graham Parker (Don't Tell Columbus) ▲
--"Ill-Placed Trust," Sloan (Never Hear The End Of It)
--"Impossible Germany," Wilco (Sky Blue Sky)
--"In The Modern World," Jesse Malin (Glitter In The Gutter)

~ ~ ~

--"Knocked Up," Kings of Leon (Because of the Times)
--"Long-Limbed Girl," Nick Lowe (At My Age) ▲
--"Money For The Heart," Cheeseburger (Cheeseburger)
--"Myriad Harbour," New Pornographers (Challengers)
--"No Hidden Path," Neil Young (Chrome Dreams II)
--"No Pussy Blues," Grinderman (Grinderman)
--"Queen Of The Scene," Deadstring Brothers (Silver Mountain)

~ ~ ~

--"Radio Nowhere," Bruce Springsteen (Magic)
--"Rag & Bone," White Stripes (Icky Thump) ▲
--"Rentacrowd," Len Price 3 (Rentacrowd)
--"Satellite Radio," Steve Earle (Washington Square Serenade)
--"Siberian Angel," Ginger (Yoni)
--"Sudden Crown Drop," Mitch Easter (Dynamico)
--"Skylon," Gruff Rhys (Candylion)

~ ~ ~

--"The Moneymaker," Rilo Kiley (Under the Blacklight)
--"The Picture," Son Volt (The Search)
--"The Underdog," Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
--"The Wolf," Shooter Jennings (The Wolf) ▲
--"They Were Kings," Heavy Trash (Goin' Way Out With Heavy Trash)
--"Thrash Unreal," Against Me! (New Wave)
--"What Is Rock?," Turbonegro (Retox)

Year-End Round-Up: Part 1

2007-12-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

Alright, so clearly this blog will not be regularly updated. (Damn you, social and academic commitments!) But the end of December is like Christmas time to a music blogger (cough, cough); it's a chance to prove your music knowledge to a bunch of anonymous strangers by giddily posting lists of songs and albums that nobody else listened to this year.

I've got a few lists in mind this year, starting with this one: Albums Not Released 2007 That I Loved This Year. Some were new to me this year; others I've had for a while, but it took until this year for me to fall in love with them. Of course, all are highly recommended.

10. Here Come the Warm Jets, Brian Eno (1974): I can't recall what prompted me to get my hands on Eno's '70s albums, but I'm glad I did. As long as we're talking Eno, I recommend this Lester Bangs-penned piece on Eno, written in 1979, but not published until 2003: "Brian Eno: A Sandbox in Alphaville."

9. Kings of the Wild Frontier, Adam & the Ants (1980): I'm still tracking down albums that I learned about through Simon Reynolds' amazing Rip It Up and S tart Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 -- and I read it a year-and-a-half ago. It's funny: the image I once had of these post-punk/New Wave acts, gleaned only through alt-rock radio's "Flashback Lunchbox" hours, is completely different from the one I have from actually listening to these artists' albums. Side A of Kings of the Wild Frontier could whip most anything released this year, or any other year. The lesson: Radio blows. Go out and get the album. Key track

8. Dirty Mind, Prince (1980): Before he was a keyboard-confounding symbol, a movie star or a fan-suing douchetard, Prince was just a dude who mixed funk, soul, R&B and New Wave together better than anyone else has done before or since. This album kicked off his amazing run of albums in the '80s, and at lean, mean 30 minutes, it has a breeziness not found on his hour-plus epics, 1983's 1999 and 1987's Sign 'O' The Times. Also, once you've heard "When You Were Mine," I dare you not to play it four more times in a row.

7. Birth, School, Work, Death, The Godfathers (1988): The Godfathers' fate must be chalked up to bad timing: they missed the Britpunk explosion by 10 years, and precipitated the '90s Britrock scene by a half-dozen years; they were a band without a flag. Oasis, Blur, Arctic Monkeys, every other British guitar band fawned over by N.M.E.: the Godfathers are, uh, godfathers to the whole bloody lot of 'em. This album's opening 1-2 punch of the title track and "If I Only Had Time" leave me wondering how and why these guys haven't attained even footnote status in rock history.

6. Only A Lad, Oingo Boingo (1981): Like many others this year, I first heard the title track to this album on Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s. Some friends and I used to go to "Guitar Hero Night" at a local bar, and I would anger the other bar patrons by constantly playing the "wimpy" New Wave tracks. I'm sorry, but there's nothing wimpy about the song -- read the lyrics: it's "Jeremy" for the 1980s -- or the rest of this album, which is perfect for days when I want to listen to herky-jerky New Wave, but I don't want to listen to DEVO or the first B-52s album.

5. Cosmo's Factory, Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970): I dusted off my CCR records after the Steve Hyden of The Onion's AV Club proclaimed Cosmo's Factory's opening track, "Ramble Tamble," the "most rockin' song of all time." I can't say I agree with him -- my vote goes to the Faces' "Stay With Me" -- but man oh man is this album fantastic. Like the Adam Ant case above, after years of hearing Creedence songs on the radio, it's refreshing to hear them in their original context. How I didn't get a speeding ticket this year while listening to "Ramble Tamble," "Travelin' Band" or "Up Around the Bend" in the car is beyond me. God must be a Creedence fan. Best moment on the album: "You can ponder perpetual motion."

4. Double Nickels on the Dime, Minutemen (1984): I've had this album for years, too, but it took a reading of Michael Azerrad's '80s indie rock report Our Band Could Be Your Life to make this record click for me. With 40+ songs and a decided political bent, Double Nickels seems like an intimidating listen on paper, but tunes like "Corona" (a.k.a. the Jackass theme song), "Jesus & Tequila" and "This Ain't No Picnic" are plenty accessible. I'm also willing to nudge this album ahead of Husker Du's Zen Arcade in the battle for the "Best Double Album Of 1984." This album gets bonus points for being the perfect length for the car ride between Boston and my folks' house in Connecticut. (Also recommended: Michael Fournier's 33-1/3 book series entry on Double Nickels on the Dime)

3. Sandinista!, The Clash (1980): There's always one thing I think when I listen to Sandinista! (and Double Nickels, for that matter): Boy, they don't make 'em like they used to. I parked myself on a park bench one Sunday afternoon this summer and devoured the album in one sitting. What the hell fueled this stuffed-to-the-gills 3-LP set? Musical overexuberance? Hubris? There's so much happening in this album, it never fails to set my brain on fire: "Hitsville U.K." "When Ivan Meets G.I. Joe." "The Leader." "Police On My Back." "Lose This Skin." Hell, I'm getting goosebumps just typing the song titles. (Especially "Lose This Skin." That song's has been haunting me ever since I first heard it.) This album gets unfairly maligned for its adventurism (go check the conflicte d 3-star Amazon reviews), and the Clash themselves retreated (1982's Combat Rock), then imploded (1985's Cut the Crap) on their next two albums, but with Sandinista!, the Clash showed that punk could be whatever the hell you wanted it to be.

2. Exile on Main Street, Rolling Stones (1972): This was another album I've had for ages that I didn't get around to fully appreciating until this year. Yes, I know it's heresy that it took me this long to come around to Exile. Better late than never, I suppose. Enough has been written about this album that I'll only embarrass myself by trying to add to the canon, but I will say this: No lyric ever written, by any songwriter, has ever topped this gem from opening track "Rocks Off": "Sunshine bores the daylights out of me."

1. The Devil You Know, Todd Snider (2006): Checking back through my files, I didn't get my hands on a copy of this album until December '06 (though it was released in August of that year). Had I spent more time with this record, it would have easily taken every slot on my Best Albums of 2006 list. Alright, so that's a little hyperbolic -- but not by much. It's albums like this that remind me why I subscribe to No Depression. There's just so many honest slices of life in the songs collected here: criminals, prostitutes, drunks, drywall-hangers, George W. Bush (whom Snider absolutely eviscerates on "You Got Away With It (A Tale Of Two Fraternity Brothers")), and I'll be damned if there was a more rockin' song than the title track released in 2006. Just... wow. Get your hands on a copy of this one.

"Looking For A Job," Todd Snider

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-14T07:16:00.000-05:00

You dress up for Armageddon, I dress up for summer...

Interview: Robyn Hitchcock (AV Club)
20 Goriest Album Covers (Dallas Observer (!))
Review: Psychedelic Sunrise, Chesterfield Kings (Harp)

From This Week's Edition of The Onion

2007-11-13T17:26:00.000-05:00

It's funny cuz it's presumably true...

A Veterans Day Memory

2007-11-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

It's Veterans Day, 1998. I'm interning at the BU radio station, WTBU, which means I get a half-hour of the "real" DJ's shift to play whatever songs I want. I'd been playing mostly Frank Zappa during my sets to counter whatever garbage the DJ had been playing for most of the show. Without even thinking, I grabbed The Lost Episodes and played FZ's "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted":

The DJ (his name was Paul) comes into the studio and says, "Real smart, playing that on Veterans Day."

I still don't see why not wanting to get shot in the foxhole isn't patriotic.

An Appreciation: "The Wizard," Black Sabbath

2007-11-09T08:09:00.000-05:00

Let's be honest: "The Wizard" is one kick ass song. Heavy as hell, undeniable riff, potential tune for Harmonica Hero II. But it took me until recently to realize what the song really is: Gandalf's Pimp Strut. After overcoming one of the dumbest opening lines I've ever heard -- "Misty morning, clouds in the sky / Without warning, a Wizard walks by." (Bam -- Wizard! Let's just say that Ozzy Osbourne ain't exactly the master of mise-en-scene.) -- the band paints a picture of a good wizard who is a bad-ass. "Evil power disappears / Demons worry when the wizard is near / He turns tears into joy /Everyone's happy when the wizard walks by."The loping harmonica complements nicely as a pimp strut.

When discussing Ozzy, it can never be ruled out that he's really singing about drug use (which, admittedly, he probably is), but c'mon, isn't it more fun to imagine a pimped-out wizard, strutting down the street leaving a trail of stardust behind him?

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

Now the Hitsville hit U.K....

The Clash's Hitsville U.K. lyrics (Lyricsdepot)
Review: Neko Case re-issues (Pitchforkmedia)
In-depth: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets (Popmatters)

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-08T09:01:00.000-05:00

Oh, there's twenty-thousand grandmas, wave their hankies in the air...

DETHKLOK live in Albuquerque -- with footage! (Blabbermouth)
Sub Pop Opens Digital Download Store (Pitchforkmedia)
All-Music Guide Sold (Harp Magazine)
From the Archives: Rock Critic Mental Gymnastics (No Depression)
Happy 58th birthday, Bonnie Raitt! (Wikipedia)

Eagles Top Britney

2007-11-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'll skip the "Hell Freezes Over" joke, and just let loose a hearty laugh that the Eagles -- the Eagles!! -- debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart, ahead of Britney Spears (in a walk, too: 711,000 to 290,000). Yeah, I know it's Glenn Frey's solo work, but The Heat is (Back) On!

Or not.

The Eagles Top Billboard Chart (Comcast.net)

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-07T07:25:00.000-05:00

Sloe gin fizz works mighty fast when you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass...

Wilco Add Bonus Tracks To Sky Blue Sky (Pitchforkmedia)
Search & Destroy: The Punk Rock Search Engine
The Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz (Rolling Stone)
Top Ten Musical Geniuses (Canada.com)
Danny & Dusty For First U.S. Show Since '86 (Harp)

R.E.M. Used To Rock. Honest.

2007-11-06T13:48:00.002-05:00

If you're an R.E.M. fan, you're probably already familiar with Matthew Perpetua's Pop Songs '07, where Mr. Perpetua promises a write-up of every R.E.M. song (eventually). I'm a couple of days late, but on Halloween he posted a write-up about the band's cover of Television's "See No Evil." I'll let the video do the talking, since it's absolutely amazing (and 22 years old!):

Pop Songs '07

P.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

Murder in the red barn...

Axl Rose To Release A Trilogy Of Albums by 2012 (Metal Edge)
Interview: The Feelies' Glenn Mercer (Popmatters)
Worst Album Covers Of All-Time (Mental Floss)
The Evolving Entertainment Weekly (AV Club)

The Worst Song In The World?

2007-11-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

You probably caught the "Worst Songs Of All Time" list that ran in Blender a year or so ago; it was good for a laugh, if wildly skewed towards newer (9 songs released after 2000?) songs that weren't so much gawdawful-for-the-ages as they were currently-mildly-annoying (i.e., Madonna's "American Life").
Their choice for number one: Starship's "We Built This City" is indefensible, but I can't help but wonder if Blender's editors would have changed their votes if they had been reminded of Timmy T's saccharine 1990 "One More Try." I vaguely remember the song from when it was originally released -- I used to listen to Casey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown every Sunday morning back in those days, and Wikipedia says the song hit #1 on the Billboard 200 in March 1991 -- but had been living a Timmy T-free life until I was rudely reminded of the song while in the supermarket this past Friday. I originally misattributed the song to Dino (remember "Romeo"? Dude held the microphone upside-down in the video? [YouTube]), but went home and googled the insipid chorus --

One more try, I didn't know how much I loved you
One more try, let me put my arms around you
Living all these lonely nights without you
Oh baby can we give it one more try

-- and found that Timmy T was the one to blame for the song. If you don't remember the song, imagine those lyrics being sung in a fey, thin British voice backed by a tinny synthesizer, possibly a MIDI file, and you're beginning to get the level of craptacularness that this song achieves. My words can't do it justice. Here's the video (please note T's record label):

I only fear that someone, somewhere, tried to woo his ex-girlfriend back with this song. I pity both partners.

The Timmy T's not-at-all-written-by-Timmy T entry at Wikipedia
The Worst Songs Ever! (Blender)

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

I wanna play cricket on the green, ride my bike across the street...

Happy would-have-been 61st birthday, Gram Parsons (Wikipedia)
Your Boring, Narrow Taste In Music... And How To Fix It (Slate)
Interview: PJ Harvey (Pitchforkmedia)
Review: Situation, Buck 65 (Popmatters)
Jon-Mikl Thor's Rock n Roll Nightmare (WFMU's Beware of the Blog) (via)

Harmonica Hero!

2007-11-02T18:15:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Jamie for this one:

He says it's not quite as good as The Onion's "Sousaphone Hero" piece from a few months back. I'm willing to call it a draw. Major bonus points for the Blues Traveler gags.

What hilarious, anachronous instrument will be parodied next? Triangle? Crystal glassware? Keep it tuned here for details.

Harmonica Hero (After These Messages)
Activision Reports Sluggish Sales For Sousaphone Hero (The Onion)

Jimmy Page Breaks Finger, Delays Zep Show

2007-11-02T13:36:00.000-04:00

So yeah, the greatest thief of American black music who ever walked the earth broke his finger and now the Led Zeppelin show originally scheduled for November 26 has been pushed back to December 10. (Two words, Jimmy: Dialing wand.) You still can't get tickets.

No word on when the Firm and Coverdale/Page reunion shows have been rescheduled to. David is waiting for your phone call, Jim!

In other Zeppish news, I surprised myself by really enjoying the collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand , especially considering I am indifferent to Plant's work outside of Zeppelin (exception: "Tall Cool One"). Still, the pairing of Plant, the amazing Krauss and always-cool producer T-Bone Burnett is pritty-bad-ass, at least as bad-ass as a eclectic bluegrass-folk-celtic-rock gets. It's worth further investigation.

Led Zeppelin Concert Postponed As Page Breaks Finger (Reuters)
Raising Sand reviews: (Allmusic) / (Folkmusic.about.com)

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-02T07:21:00.000-04:00

Cuz I'm down in the Tube station at midnight...

Review: Dwight Sings Buck, Dwight Yoakam (Popmatters)
Brian Posehn Interviews Dethklok (AV Club)
Appreciation: All Mod Cons, The Jam (AV Club)
Why Hasn't Diddy Tried To Save Music Sampling? (Slate)
Interview with Michael Stipe (Guardian U.K.)

Stylus Calls It A Day

2007-11-01T15:43:00.001-04:00

Maybe I'm a little behind the news, but I saw a link at Large-Hearted Boy this afternoon that Stylus was shuttering their doors. The site might not have been my first stop every morning, but I always found plenty of interesting and thought-provoking articles and lists there. They fought the good fight; they shall be missed. (If you're unfamiliar with the site, here's a link to some of their self-selected better pieces.)

Among the reminiscences on the site is a letter from senior writer Nick Southall to editor-in-chief Todd Burns , and I'll be damned if it's not the saddest, truest thing I've read in a long time about guys who write about music because that's what they *have* to do:

You know what probably the saddest thing about Stylus closing is; I don’t know what I’m going to do with that first flush of excitement when I hear a great new record anymore... Where am I gonna put that energy? On a blog that nobody reads? What am I going to do now?
You know I’ve just bought a house (and a kitten!) with my girlfriend, and my day job’s getting busier and more demanding by the hour; maybe it’s time to put away these foolish childish things like writing about music idealistically. Maybe I just need a break? I say that at least once a year regardless, when the end-of-year burnout hits and I spend January and February in a fug wondering why I bother. I dunno...
Part of me is looking forward to just being a music fan with no pretensions and no responsibility. Part of me doesn’t think I can. My relationship with records might become less vampiric, if I’m lucky; no longer trying to suck the marrow out of them and regurgitate it with html tags and words and grades. A lot of the time churning out stuff has been hell, like a never-ending homework assignment. Only now it has ended. Fuck.
I don’t really know what else to write. All we ever wanted to do with Stylus was write about music as honestly as possible. I think we can say that this is almost all we’ve ever done. Thanks.

That pretty much sums it up for us guys in the trenches, no?

Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall's blog)

A Little Too Quiet Over At Mordhaus...

2007-11-01T13:53:00.000-04:00

Can someone explain this to me? Dethklok's album, The Dethalbum, is released on September 25. Season one of Metalocalypse is released on DVD on October 2. Yet there hasn't been a new episode of Metalocalypse on Adult Swim since October 7, when episode 203, "Dethvengeance," aired. What gives? Don't Messrs Small and Blancha want to strike while the cultural iron is hot and draw new fans in immediately with new episodes?

Dethklok (Wikipedia)
Metalocalypse @ Adult Swim

A.M. Link Round-Up

2007-11-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

Why be so curious when nobody knows...

Punk Music Pioneer Beaten To Death (WNBC)
Review: 100 Days, 100 Nights, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (Pitchforkmedia)
A Brush With Rock Royalty: Zakk Wylde Makes The Day For Kid Learning To Play (Canada.com)
Concert Review: Kings of Leon in Baltimore, MD (Popmatters)
Robert Pollard interview (Magnet Magazine)

November Music

2007-11-01T09:35:00.000-04:00

On the first of every month, I'll pick an album that sonically defines each month. November's pick: Favourite Colours, The Sadies (2004)

Around these parts, my autumn listening tendencies veer heavily towards alt-country; I'm convinced that steel guitars cause temperature drops. So while there were a handful of albums that I could've picked here (Varnaline's Songs In A Northern Key, Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker, Willard Grant Conspiracy's Mojave), I'm going with the album that first popped into my head when I thought "November": The Sadies' excellent 2004 release, Favourite Colours. (That said, I reserve the right to talk about those albums later this month.)

When I reviewed this album for Popmatters upon its release, I wrote, "In order to set the proper listening mood for Favourite Colours, the fifth album from Canadian surf rock/psychedelic/garage/alt-country stalwarts the Sadies, I suggest waiting for a day where the sky is as slate gray as the album’s cover is." (Yup, that's the actual album cover on the left; it's not a black and white scan.) It was true then, and it's true now; the album seems custom-made for a day with a low, gray sky, a chill in the air and a crunchy bed of dead leaves beneath your feet. It also helps that the album is the closest the Sadies' have come to replicating the sound of one of the musical kings of autumn: The Byrds. Opener "Northumberland West" recalls one of my favorite Byrds' songs, "Psychodrama City," and nearly every other track wouldn't have sounded out of place on Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

November ain't all sunshine and lollipops, and Favourite Colours is the perfect album to begin hunkering down for the winter.

The Sadies at MySpace
Favourite Colours review at Popmatters
The Sadies at Yep Roc

The Musical Diary Turns Seven!

2007-10-31T23:19:00.000-04:00

In all the hubbub surrounding today's Halloween re-launch of The Riffage (cough, cough), I almost forgot that today is the highest and holiest of my Personal Musical High Holy Days: it was seven years ago today -- October 31, 2000 -- that I began keeping an musical diary, listing every album I listen to every day. This year alone, the diary (I'm filling my third notebook now) has traveled with me to Cancun and San Diego, CA. My current listening tally during this seven-year span stands at 7,548 albums, or almost three albums a day. Yes, I realize that this revelation could be used against me at, say, a mental competency hearing, but I don't care. How else would I know that there have only been four days this year where I didn't listen to an album? Or that on both March 29, 2006 and April 13, 2006, I set my personal record by listening to 13 records in one day? (A feat made all the more impressive by the fact that I was at work both of those days. Boss musta been out of the office... for a couple of weeks.)

As for today, I celebrated, as I do every Halloween, by listening to the album I first entered in the diary: The Pixies' Doolittle. Good times.

Alt-Rock Returns To Hartford Radio. Meh.

2007-10-31T11:52:00.000-04:00

I live in Boston now, but my formative music-listening years were spent in the Hartford area. Some of my fondest memories of the time were driving around listening to Radio 104, the region's lone "alt-rock" station. (To this day, I still remember which street I was driving down when I first heard the Meat Puppets' "Backwater," [it was Montauk Drive] and Edwyn Collins' "Girl Like You" doesn't sound quite right when I listen to it anywhere except inside the confines of my 1992 Subaru.) And even when the station shifted towards Creed/Limp Bizkit mook-rock post-2000, it was still the best (if only) outlet for alternative rock in my town. Plus, I was reviewing concerts for the Hartford Courant after college graduation, and the bulk of the shows I wrote about were sponsored by Radio 104. The station helped me earn a good chunk of change. (Also, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's syndicated morning-zoo radio show originated out of this station.)

A few years ago (2003?) I was at work on a Friday afternoon, and Radio 104 played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at 4:55 p.m., then, without warning, became a hip-hop/rap station... despite the fact that the Hartford market already had a hip-hop/rap station. My concert review opportunities dried up almost overnight (though this was rendered moot when I moved to Boston), and the Hartford market had NO alt-rock station. Until this past weekend.

Radio 104 re-launched this weekend, as "fm 104one," and it's like the station never left. The playlist hasn't changed one iota since they changed formats 3 years ago. Here's a sample of songs that I heard (online streaming) on a recent Tuesday afternoon:

"What It's Like," Everlast
"By The Way," Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Girls & Boys," Blur
"Mr. Jones," Counting Crows
"Headstrong," Trapt
"Big Me," Foo Fighters
"So Much To Say," Dave Matthews Band

Not a single one of those songs was released after 2003. It's a shame, because a ton of great indie/alternative/whatever music has been released in the past four years. (And of course there's plenty of interesting music from this '90s classic alternative era that they're ignoring as well. Surely the station could spare a few minutes for, say, Pavement's "Cut Your Hair.")

A friend of mine derisively refers to Connecticut as "The Land of Metal That Time Forgot," (the state's metal scene has thrived for years -- think Hatebreed), so I understand the station's hesitancy to get "too indie," to a constituency that doesn't have the ears for it. But knowing that other stations across the country -- L.A.'s 103.1 FM, San Diego's 94.9 FM, countless others across the nation -- successfully integrate modern indie (Rilo Kiley! Against Me!!) with the classic alternative stuff reminds me what a half-hearted return this is for one of the favorite stations of my youth.

Current listening: Dirt Farmer, Levon Helm

Welcome Back!

2007-10-31T11:13:00.000-04:00

A little over a year ago, Josh and I launched a music blog, TheRiffage.com. We were music-news oriented, but soon found that running a news blog while holding down full-time jobs was almost impossible. We were at a distinct disadvantage against 19-year-old Williamsburg denizens who could spend their days in local coffee shops, mooching free Wi-Fi and pounding out 1,000 word missives about how awesome the secret Deerhoof concert they attended the night before was.

After we scrapped the news idea, we toyed with posting mp3s, but decided that RIAA-penned cease-and-desist letters were our least-favorite form of communication. It looked like The Riffage would go the way of Flooz.
Still, I've got the itch to write about music, so what's a music blogger to do? Witness the rebirth of The Riffage, with more essays, more reviews, and a more personal and casual vibe. I'm still beta-testing this new format, which is why I'm here in temporary housing at Blogger, but hopefully I can move back to TheRiffage.com in a few weeks.

It's good to be back!