Wow. Just wow.
2009/11/26
Best of 2009 Lists
A considerably better year for both recorded and live music than '08. The top three on the albums list are all interchangeable. Manners will always be synonymous with summer time for me, and for that it wins the tiebreaker and the blue ribbon for '09.
Best Albums of 2009 (From the 0.002% of albums put out in '09 that I was able to check out)
1) Passion Pit- Manners, Really? Yes. Might be a fad, but I don't think it's ever felt so right in the moment. Listen to "To Kingdom Come"
T-2) Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Check out a live video of "Love Like A Sunset" below:
T-2) Alberta Cross- Broken Side of Time, the return of rock. Listen to "Rise From The Shadows"
4) Atlas Sound- Logos, listen to "Walkabout" w/ Noah Lennox
5) Dinosaur Jr.- Farm, guitar slashterpiece of the year, listen to "I Don't Wanna Go There"
6) Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk, The A-Team of independent music, the 21st Century's humbler version of the Traveling Wilburys. Listen to "His Master's Voice"
7) M. Ward- Hold Time. Old school. Listen to Matt covering Neil Young's "Oh Lonesome Me" featuring Lucinda Williams
8) Lil Wayne- No Ceilings. Mixtape Wayne gets his rocks off before serving time. Listen to "Swag Surfin'"
9) Air- Love 2, watch the video for "Sing Sang Sung"
10) Avett Brothers- I and Love and You, Listen to "I and Love and You"
11) Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion, watch a video of "Summertime Clothes" from Coachella
12) Derek Trucks Band- Already Free, listen to "Already Free"
13) Jay-Z- The Blueprint 3
T-13) Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
15) Andrew Bird- Noble Beast, If I had a Ph.D in English I could probably appreciate "Oh No" even more than I already do and understand what exactly the opening verse is trying to say:
In the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid
All the calcified arhythmitists were doing the math
16) Franz Ferninand- Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, listen to "Twilight Omens"
Honorable Mention-
Phish- Joy, listen to "Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan"
Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
*The Flaming Lips- Embryonic
*Baroness- The Blue Record
*Dead Weather- Horehound
Arctic Monkeys- Humbug
Michael Jackson- This Is It, not really an album per se
Portugal, The Man- The Satanic Satanist
Muse- The Resistance
Depeche Mode- Sounds of the Universe
Antlers- Hospice
The Dodos- Time to Die, listen to "Time to Die"
Yeasayer- "Ambling Alp", just a single but good enough to mention again. Also, "Tightrope" from the Dark Was the Night Compilation
Morrisey- Years of Refusal, listen to "All You Need Is Me"
**It should also be noted that a group called Neon Indian put out a song called "Terminally Chill"...
*Haven't really listened to enough yet.
======================================================================================================
Best Concerts of the Year
1) Nine Inch Nails at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. 6/13/2009. Late night retina scorcher. My first (and maybe last) chance to see NIN and Trent Reznor turned the fields of Bonnaroo into a graveyard, crushing skulls and ruining weak minds. Here's a video of them playing "Wish" w/ the boys from Dillinger Escape Plan:
2) Phoenix at Tipitina's Uptown, New Orleans. One of the most energetic crowds I've ever seen. 75 minute set, nary a dull moment. 10/1/2009
3) Futurebirds/Interns at St. Simons Island House Party, 4th of July. LEGENDARY. You just had to be there.
4) Phish first show at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. Get 'em Cactus. 6/12/2009
5) Yeasayer at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. 6/13/2009
6) moe. at Bonnaroo late night. Would probably have been higher on the list if I didn't show up and have to endure 45 minutes of Grace Potter at 3:30 in the morning (no offense to GPN, that was just neither the time nor the place). Played well past the break of dawn and surreal fogrise. 6/13/2009
7) Kaiser Chiefs at Lollapalooza, row-D. 8/9/2009.
8) The Futurebirds and The Interns at AthFest, 6/25/2009
9) Depeche Mode at Lollapalooza, 8/7/2009. Video of "In Chains":
10) Santigold at Bonnaroo, Rites of Spring, and Lollapalooza.
"Unstoppable" from Bonnaroo:
11) Ray Lamontagne at The Florida Theatre, 4/28/2009
It Should Be Mentioned:
The 2nd set of My Morning Jacket's New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden rang in 2009. Thoroughly epic, check out the YouTube below of the band playing Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" after the ball drop and here's the review of the show some idiot wrote for JamBase.com.
Best Albums of 2009 (From the 0.002% of albums put out in '09 that I was able to check out)
1) Passion Pit- Manners, Really? Yes. Might be a fad, but I don't think it's ever felt so right in the moment. Listen to "To Kingdom Come"
T-2) Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Check out a live video of "Love Like A Sunset" below:
T-2) Alberta Cross- Broken Side of Time, the return of rock. Listen to "Rise From The Shadows"
4) Atlas Sound- Logos, listen to "Walkabout" w/ Noah Lennox
5) Dinosaur Jr.- Farm, guitar slashterpiece of the year, listen to "I Don't Wanna Go There"
6) Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk, The A-Team of independent music, the 21st Century's humbler version of the Traveling Wilburys. Listen to "His Master's Voice"
7) M. Ward- Hold Time. Old school. Listen to Matt covering Neil Young's "Oh Lonesome Me" featuring Lucinda Williams
8) Lil Wayne- No Ceilings. Mixtape Wayne gets his rocks off before serving time. Listen to "Swag Surfin'"
9) Air- Love 2, watch the video for "Sing Sang Sung"
10) Avett Brothers- I and Love and You, Listen to "I and Love and You"
11) Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion, watch a video of "Summertime Clothes" from Coachella
12) Derek Trucks Band- Already Free, listen to "Already Free"
13) Jay-Z- The Blueprint 3
T-13) Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
15) Andrew Bird- Noble Beast, If I had a Ph.D in English I could probably appreciate "Oh No" even more than I already do and understand what exactly the opening verse is trying to say:
In the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid
All the calcified arhythmitists were doing the math
16) Franz Ferninand- Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, listen to "Twilight Omens"
Honorable Mention-
Phish- Joy, listen to "Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan"
Dirty Projectors- Bitte Orca
*The Flaming Lips- Embryonic
*Baroness- The Blue Record
*Dead Weather- Horehound
Arctic Monkeys- Humbug
Michael Jackson- This Is It, not really an album per se
Portugal, The Man- The Satanic Satanist
Muse- The Resistance
Depeche Mode- Sounds of the Universe
Antlers- Hospice
The Dodos- Time to Die, listen to "Time to Die"
Yeasayer- "Ambling Alp", just a single but good enough to mention again. Also, "Tightrope" from the Dark Was the Night Compilation
Morrisey- Years of Refusal, listen to "All You Need Is Me"
**It should also be noted that a group called Neon Indian put out a song called "Terminally Chill"...
*Haven't really listened to enough yet.
======================================================================================================
Best Concerts of the Year
1) Nine Inch Nails at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. 6/13/2009. Late night retina scorcher. My first (and maybe last) chance to see NIN and Trent Reznor turned the fields of Bonnaroo into a graveyard, crushing skulls and ruining weak minds. Here's a video of them playing "Wish" w/ the boys from Dillinger Escape Plan:
2) Phoenix at Tipitina's Uptown, New Orleans. One of the most energetic crowds I've ever seen. 75 minute set, nary a dull moment. 10/1/2009
3) Futurebirds/Interns at St. Simons Island House Party, 4th of July. LEGENDARY. You just had to be there.
4) Phish first show at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. Get 'em Cactus. 6/12/2009
5) Yeasayer at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN. 6/13/2009
6) moe. at Bonnaroo late night. Would probably have been higher on the list if I didn't show up and have to endure 45 minutes of Grace Potter at 3:30 in the morning (no offense to GPN, that was just neither the time nor the place). Played well past the break of dawn and surreal fogrise. 6/13/2009
7) Kaiser Chiefs at Lollapalooza, row-D. 8/9/2009.
8) The Futurebirds and The Interns at AthFest, 6/25/2009
9) Depeche Mode at Lollapalooza, 8/7/2009. Video of "In Chains":
10) Santigold at Bonnaroo, Rites of Spring, and Lollapalooza.
"Unstoppable" from Bonnaroo:
11) Ray Lamontagne at The Florida Theatre, 4/28/2009
It Should Be Mentioned:
The 2nd set of My Morning Jacket's New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden rang in 2009. Thoroughly epic, check out the YouTube below of the band playing Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" after the ball drop and here's the review of the show some idiot wrote for JamBase.com.
2009/11/25
Yeasayer video for new single "Amblin Alp" [NSFW]
Not even going to attempt to act like I know what's going on in this video. Nevertheless, it's a good excuse to listen to this song again and again. Kind of thought this song had Disney licensing written all over it. Instead dripping faces, naked people and boxing. Who'da thunkit.
Yeasayer video for "Ambling Alp", the first single from the band's forthcoming LP Odd Blood, set for release in February 2010.
Birthday suits seem to be the costume of choice in music videos these days. Guess you can do whatever you want now that you don't have to worry about your video ever getting played on MTV...See The Flaming Lips new video "Watching the Planets" (actually don't unless you wanna see Wayne Coyne naked)...
...or check out Sigur Ros' 2008 video "Gobbledigook" below:
Yeasayer video for "Ambling Alp", the first single from the band's forthcoming LP Odd Blood, set for release in February 2010.
Birthday suits seem to be the costume of choice in music videos these days. Guess you can do whatever you want now that you don't have to worry about your video ever getting played on MTV...See The Flaming Lips new video "Watching the Planets" (actually don't unless you wanna see Wayne Coyne naked)...
...or check out Sigur Ros' 2008 video "Gobbledigook" below:
2009/11/22
Sunday Serenity-- Let This Music Relax Your Mind
Chill Baby Chill...
Click links below to listen in pop-up player:
M83- Coloring the Void
Sigur Ros- Svefn-g-englar
STS9- By The Morning Sun
J. Tillman- Year in the Kingdom
Fleet Foxes- Quiet Houses
Neil Young- After The Gold Rush
Phish
covering The Rolling Stones w/ special guests
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings-
I Just Want to See His Face
Click links below to listen in pop-up player:
M83- Coloring the Void
Sigur Ros- Svefn-g-englar
STS9- By The Morning Sun
J. Tillman- Year in the Kingdom
Fleet Foxes- Quiet Houses
Neil Young- After The Gold Rush
Phish
covering The Rolling Stones w/ special guests
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings-
I Just Want to See His Face
2009/11/20
Q: What Would I Want? A: Sky -- Animal Collective
Perhaps the most polarizing band in the non-mainstream world, surrealistic mindwarpists Animal Collective have yet another release on the horizon, with the Fall Be Kind EP hitting the web on November 23rd. The EP will bookend a monumental year for the band that started with the most commercially successful release of their career, Merriweather Post Pavilion, which came out in January. Having seen a couple underwhelming performances this summer at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and a subsequent cursory tour through their catalogue on the recommendation of friends, I still consider myself on the outside looking in. I'm still trying to figure out what it is about them that makes people hale them as the 2nd coming. Songs like "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes" pique my interest, but for every song like that there are 3 or 4 ADD-inducing drones that never materialize. One can't argue that they don't push the envelope with each record, creating a new creative space with each effort. But the abstractness can be downright discordant at times making it difficult to get through a full record. The third song on the new EP is titled "What Would I Want? Sky" and might be the turning point for a lot of intrigued followers of their work (like yours truly) towards the cerebral sounds of Animal Collective.
My central complaint about this band over in the past is that the majority of their albums sound cluttered, druggy, and downright lost at times. The lack of cohesion in their sound makes continued focus a challenge and usually gets even further lost in translation on the live stage (coming from someone with no problem seeing a band with no words or a jam band). Although their free-spirited sound and wanderlust-inciting grooviness can be downright blissful at times, these sparse and ephemeral movements generally fade into a storm of confused samples and tribal yodeling (or is it just a bridge?).
The first three minutes of "What Would I Want? Sky" delivers some cortex-jarring shock therapy replete with non-sensical vocal loops and thrashing drums before weaving it's way into a dreamy and hypnotic melody. The Maginot Line occurs when Avey Tare leads in appropriately asking "is everything alright", and the rest of the earthy tune flows out like a massively cathartic sigh of relief after a torturous mindfuck. It's only appropriate that the band samples the forefathers of the tension-release jam band movement, spinning a barely noticeable mix-up of Phil Lesh's vocals from the Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain" on repeat. Lyrically, the tune seems to be about searching for a coping mechanism for panic-inducing paranoia and focusing negative energies on better things. Sonically, the infectious sound is narcotic and downright addictive with a cool, modern day Pet Sounds flow, melodically focused and loopy all the same. Finally, I think I might get it, and perhaps, the band is ready to let us outsiders in. If AC is gonna put out this kind of product in the 10s I might just have to get on board for the long haul.
Listen here:
Listen here to The Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain", a song that only appeared on the band's final tour in 1995.
And finally, here's a short video clip of "What Would I Want? Sky" from this summer's Lollapalooza:
Think it's pretty clear that my standards have just been too high all along...blame Pitchfork and their penchant for handing out 9+ reviews to anything weird/challenging.
My central complaint about this band over in the past is that the majority of their albums sound cluttered, druggy, and downright lost at times. The lack of cohesion in their sound makes continued focus a challenge and usually gets even further lost in translation on the live stage (coming from someone with no problem seeing a band with no words or a jam band). Although their free-spirited sound and wanderlust-inciting grooviness can be downright blissful at times, these sparse and ephemeral movements generally fade into a storm of confused samples and tribal yodeling (or is it just a bridge?).
The first three minutes of "What Would I Want? Sky" delivers some cortex-jarring shock therapy replete with non-sensical vocal loops and thrashing drums before weaving it's way into a dreamy and hypnotic melody. The Maginot Line occurs when Avey Tare leads in appropriately asking "is everything alright", and the rest of the earthy tune flows out like a massively cathartic sigh of relief after a torturous mindfuck. It's only appropriate that the band samples the forefathers of the tension-release jam band movement, spinning a barely noticeable mix-up of Phil Lesh's vocals from the Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain" on repeat. Lyrically, the tune seems to be about searching for a coping mechanism for panic-inducing paranoia and focusing negative energies on better things. Sonically, the infectious sound is narcotic and downright addictive with a cool, modern day Pet Sounds flow, melodically focused and loopy all the same. Finally, I think I might get it, and perhaps, the band is ready to let us outsiders in. If AC is gonna put out this kind of product in the 10s I might just have to get on board for the long haul.
Listen here:
Listen here to The Grateful Dead's "Unbroken Chain", a song that only appeared on the band's final tour in 1995.
And finally, here's a short video clip of "What Would I Want? Sky" from this summer's Lollapalooza:
Think it's pretty clear that my standards have just been too high all along...blame Pitchfork and their penchant for handing out 9+ reviews to anything weird/challenging.
2009/11/16
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezy
The rap court's jester king has put out yet another mix-tape, no surprise here. This time it's ironically titled No Ceilings, seeing as Weezy's about to be walled up for a year in the pen on weapons charges. The scatological lyrical style is no different, as Mr. Carter doesn't waste any time being introspective or whiny about his impending stay behind bars; Instead he continues to deliver the bawdily raw and nasty anti-rhymes the world has come to expect from him ever since he was Clearin' tha Set with The Hot Boys. Forewarning and George Foreman? Sounds good to me. Just remember this display of the classic Weezy sound when the hatespeak starts oozing on December 15th when his long-delayed rap-rock project Rebirth is unleashed (barring yet another delay (cold feet?)).
Download No Ceilings here [This mixtape is NSFAnything--Rated NC-24]
Banned from T.V.
Still stickin to the script like Nicole Kidman
Need the man hit? We are those hitmen
He stopped runnin, the bullet holes didn’t
uh, Basically, I’m still a monster
Till the fat lady sings I come to kill the Opera
Yall too plain, Imma helicopter
My words keep goin like a teleprompter
Something tells me a little time in prison ain't gonna stop the most prolific artist in the world from writing, if any thing we might get Pandora's Box Set unleashed when they open the gate and set this man free.
Download No Ceilings here [This mixtape is NSFAnything--Rated NC-24]
Banned from T.V.
Still stickin to the script like Nicole Kidman
Need the man hit? We are those hitmen
He stopped runnin, the bullet holes didn’t
uh, Basically, I’m still a monster
Till the fat lady sings I come to kill the Opera
Yall too plain, Imma helicopter
My words keep goin like a teleprompter
Something tells me a little time in prison ain't gonna stop the most prolific artist in the world from writing, if any thing we might get Pandora's Box Set unleashed when they open the gate and set this man free.
2009/11/07
Ride the Moon Taxi
Going to see Nashville's hottest jungle jam-funk ensemble down at the NOLA House of Blues tomorrow night. Here's a video of Moon Taxi playing "Mustang" this past summer in Louisville:
Go See Moon Taxi
Go See Moon Taxi
2009/11/03
Voodoo Experience :: 10.30.09 - 11.01.09 :: City Park :: New Orleans, LA
Link to the full text of the article on JamBase
"Worship the music." It's Voodoo Experience's tagline and the sentiment seemed to sum up the New Orleans festival. Referred to as Jazz Fest's "much wilder" cousin by local WWOZ DJ and festival performer DJ Soul Sister, this year, the calendar presented a perfect storm for a spectacular freak show weekend with Halloween falling on Saturday night and All Saints Day hitting appropriately on Sunday. With a heavy lineup curated for thrill seeking rockers, featuring such delectably bizarro acts as Ween, The Flaming Lips, Jane's Addiction, Eminem, Widespread Panic, Gogol Bordello, and KISS, even the casual fan would be hard pressed not to embrace their dark side and celebrate the spirits of the season.
City Park is an ideal natural setting, giving everything "a very beautiful and mysterious looking aesthetic," as Soul Sister put it. The city of New Orleans has a celebrated tradition of embracing all things macabre and doesn't really need an excuse like Halloween to throw a masquerade, but toss in a music festival with a bunch of freaky bands (and fans) and it's on...
Click the link at the top to read more...More videos from the weekend below:
KISS play Dr. Love on Halloween night
Eminem "3 a.m." on Friday night, opening song
The List
Slim Shady's band
The pandemonium of Gogol Bordello
Catching Roses Are Free after Eminem went off early
Driving Song > Diner > Pilgrims > Driving Song
Pogues' lead singer's unparalleled drunkenness on-stage
Black Keys in the rain
Panic in the sun
The people watching factor on Saturday
Naked chick on-stage at Flaming Lips
"Worship the music." It's Voodoo Experience's tagline and the sentiment seemed to sum up the New Orleans festival. Referred to as Jazz Fest's "much wilder" cousin by local WWOZ DJ and festival performer DJ Soul Sister, this year, the calendar presented a perfect storm for a spectacular freak show weekend with Halloween falling on Saturday night and All Saints Day hitting appropriately on Sunday. With a heavy lineup curated for thrill seeking rockers, featuring such delectably bizarro acts as Ween, The Flaming Lips, Jane's Addiction, Eminem, Widespread Panic, Gogol Bordello, and KISS, even the casual fan would be hard pressed not to embrace their dark side and celebrate the spirits of the season.
City Park is an ideal natural setting, giving everything "a very beautiful and mysterious looking aesthetic," as Soul Sister put it. The city of New Orleans has a celebrated tradition of embracing all things macabre and doesn't really need an excuse like Halloween to throw a masquerade, but toss in a music festival with a bunch of freaky bands (and fans) and it's on...
Click the link at the top to read more...More videos from the weekend below:
KISS play Dr. Love on Halloween night
Eminem "3 a.m." on Friday night, opening song
The List
Slim Shady's band
The pandemonium of Gogol Bordello
Catching Roses Are Free after Eminem went off early
Driving Song > Diner > Pilgrims > Driving Song
Pogues' lead singer's unparalleled drunkenness on-stage
Black Keys in the rain
Panic in the sun
The people watching factor on Saturday
Naked chick on-stage at Flaming Lips
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