Sedan Delivery

Last night I was cool at the pool hall.
I held the table for eleven games.
Nothin' was easier than the first seven.

--Neil Young

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Ever.

If Raymond Carver had a band.....

Vampire Weekend- great video, no vampires

Drama

Johnny Drama is definitely my favorite Entourage character. I love how he's so insecure and awkward and full of self-doubt, but he's a sage of wisdom to the other guys. The most complex character in a pretty simple show. Loving it!
Currently Listening to: The National, Dylan, and "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys

Once...

is how many times I'll watch it.

barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways

Yes, this is a "Back in my day...." lecture. Back in my day, the way we got our records (yes I mean records) and CDs went like this:

We read zines that were published by pretty organized and business-wise punkrockers. They were usually printed on newsprint. You might read about a band that kind of sounded cool to you, so you would search through the zine for the advertisement from that band's record label. The ad told you where to send the cash. When you received the CD, inside would be a folded up piece of paper that was a catalog from a "distro" (distribution company) that was just some punks probably running a little business out of their step-mom's garage. The catalog would be in tiny print. You would choose a CD or record and the catalog told you where to send the cash.

Even when the internet came around. Record labels' sites, bands' sites, and distros' sites were just long lists of text [in courrier font] that told you the music they carried and.. once again.... where to send the cash.

What with corporations taking over the the world and all, indie distros on the web have disappeared and basically the only place to get indie music from real live indiekids was on a site called Insound. All that said, I recently read that Warner has bought them out and when I heard that, I thought everyone needed a "Back in my day..." lecture.

The National- "Apartment Story" music video

The National "Boxer"

I promised myself that I would not like this album, due to all the hype it got. It seemed a little too cool for me. But friends and journalists I respect kept suggesting it and I picked it up with a Christmas gift card, because then- even if I hated it, I still just bought it with a gift card.

It really hasn't left my player since Christmas. And I've said this before, but the best albums are ones that you can't stand at first and you begin to fall in love with little bits that you hated at first. There was one song that had me from the start, even before I bought the album. A friend put "Racing Like a Pro" on a mix CD for me and I felt like it told me my life.

You're pink you're young you're middle-class
they say it doesn't matter
Fifteen blue shirts and womanly hands
you're shooting up the ladder

Your mind is racing like a pro, now
Oh my god it doesn't mean a lot to you
One time you were a glowing young ruffian
Oh my god it was a million years ago

Sometimes you get up and bake a cake or something
sometimes you stay in bed
sometimes you go la di da di da di da da
til your eyes roll back into your head

This bit from "Slow Show" is how I feel at the end of a work day:

I wanna hurry home to you
put on a slow, dumb show for you
and crack you up

And I just like the psychedelic side of lyrics like this from "Gospel":

hang your holiday rainbow lights in the garden
I'll bring a nice icy drink to you

And that's just it. It's Matt Berninger's lyrics that make the album. To tell you the truth, the music (instruments) is a blur of mid-range frequency stuff that just swirls behind the vocals. Piano and guitars, but nothing memorable. That is, besides the drums that are quite like U2's "WAR" era drums a la "Sunday Bloody Sunday". And it finishes like a Cormac McCarthy book: The world is a bad place and we're probably near the end. Beautiful.

New Releases in 08

I'm really looking forward to these releases:

Cat Power "Jukebox" Jan 22
Kathleen Edwards "Asking For Flowers" March 4
Destroyer "Trouble in Dreams" March 11
Daniel Lanois "Here Is What Is" March 18
Sun Kil Moon "April" April 1
Jay Farrar soundtrack to a Jack Kerouac documentary
Son Volt- undetermined
Gob Iron- undetermined
Mates of State- undetermined

........am I missing any?

Best Songs of 2007

(Click on the number to hear the song.)

1. "The Underdog" by Spoon
2. "1 - 2 - 3 - 4" by Feist (you've heard it on the iTunes commercial)
3. "Marry Song" by Band of Horses
4. "Mind's Eye" by Josh Ritter
5. "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" by Spoon
6. "Hello Goodbye" by Son Volt (Beatles cover)
7. "Temptation of Adam" by Josh Ritter (best 'songcraft' on this list)
8. "Racing Like a Pro" by the National
9. "Myriad Harbor" by the New Pornographers
10. tie between all the rest of the songs on the Band of Horses album

Best Records of 2007

1. Band of Horses "Cease to Begin"
This was the best record put out in 07, hands down. Poetic and diverse. What they did here was basically make the same record as their first record, they just made it better. Great.
Postscript- worst album title of the year, hands down.


2. Josh Ritter "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter"
This guy's genius is in his ironic sense of humor. From the suggestive album title to the gangsta rap lyrics of "Mind's Eye" to the press photo of him slugging whiskey. Joshy isn't a womanizing, violent drunk. He's the sensitive, funny guy we hear in "The Temptation of Adam", but he's smart enough to get a kick out of how silly it is to see himself in the tough guy suit. Smart move. I love it. Not a bad song here. Fabulous artwork. And most of all, the ironic and over-characaturized lyrics, artwork, image, and title are what boosted Ritter out of singer-songwriter boringnessosity. Way to play it like Dylan and invent your own persona.
See my previous blog about this record.


3. Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
Count 'em- 5 ga's. Blogged all about it here. There should be one in every home.





4. Magnolia Electric Co. "Sojourner" Box Set
Four albums in a wooden box. The pine box is fitting for songs that ring somewhere between a cowboy's prairie ballad and a funeral dirge. The movie on the 5th disc is only 20 minutes and nothing to write home about. But this guy's songwriting is nothing less than special. Jason Molina is someone who has made songcraft his life. Geniuses don't write perfect songs. They write songs that bug you.

5. Destroyer "Destroyer's Rubies"
I'll have whatever this guy's having. I'd love to live in Dan Bejar's psychedelic candycane world of Canadian freakiness. Highlight? This album contains one of the best musical moments ever: on "European Oils" when the the lyric, "She needs release, she needs to feel at peace with her father.... the fucking maniac!" is whispered during a pause, then followed by phenomenal guitar solo. Every time I hold my breath until that solo provides the musical resolution to the tension that the song has built up. In a sense, it's the "release" that he spoke of in the preceding line. Genius. Thanks to Matt for getting me into this.

6. Son Volt "The Search"
This one probably didn't make any critics' lists. And I don't think it was totally brilliant. Nor do I think it even ranks on Jay Farrar's own catalog. But let's be honest- I love their stuff. I bought the record 3 times to get all the special bonus EPs and goodies. When you total up all of the EPs, B-sides, iTunes "exclusives", etc., there are about 30 songs. Blogged about it here, too.

7. New Pornographers "Challengers"
I pre-ordered this and it came out right around the time of Lily's birth. I was anticipating it for the sake of still feeling cool and hip even though I was becoming a father. I was hoping that it would be raw and gritty and rule-breaking like their last three releases. Boy, this was the wrong record for that. It's got KFOG (meaning old people who wanna still feel cool and hip) written all over it. But hey, it's fantastic! Highlights here are from the female vocalists (Neko Case and Kathryn Calder) or Dan Behar (A.K.A Destroyer). Slower, polished, refined.

8. Battles "Mirrored"
Believe the hype. This is amazing. Math rock updated for the millennium. This one finds Battles swaying away from the instrumental-only format with some unintelligible lyrics. But even better than this is their 2 EPs. If you're interested in checking out Battles, get those EPs (I have their import double disc that includes those EPs plus the "Tras/Fantasy" single.... did I say that in enough of an indie-snob way?)

9. Rocky Votolato "The Bragg and Cuss"
Rocky is one of those artists I've followed for years through different bands. I have 12 of this guy's CDs and a handfull of 7-inches (vinyl 45s). He kinda started off with Seattle proto-emo band Waxwing and then started a singer-songwriter career that has been his bread and butter. Now, this is his 5th solo record and, as you could imagine, things have gotten pretty stale..... up until now. This is an exciting record full of twists and turns. Has wonderful moments of Rocky's beautiful voice that sometimes goes scratchy and you can just hear the cigarette tar. The best thing this guy did was team up with Casey Foubert who not only produced and engineered this record, but played lead cowboy guitar in a spaghetti western sort of way that really livened up this record and kept it entertaining.

10. Wilco "Sky Blue Sky"
I want a bumper sticker that says, "I hate Jeff Tweedy, but I love his backing band." The funny thing is, who is his band? It seems to change with every record, which is precisely the reason I dislike professional sports. He's got a winning line-up this season, I just wish someone could've pinch-hit for Tweedy in the lyric writing position. See my blog about it here.

Honorable Mention:
The Rentals "Last Little Life" EP (They're back!)
Neil Young "Live at Massey Hall"
Zookeeper "Becoming All Things"
Feist "The Reminder"
Reissue of Sun Kil Moon's "Ghosts of the Great Highway" w/ bonus disc
Iron and Wine "Shepherd's Dog" (just got it)
TheBrotherEgg "Dandelion Wine" EP

Last Year's Top 10 List!