Let me start off by saying that I didn’t call this entry “Top 20 Records” or “Best Records of 2009” because even though I think I have exceptional taste in music—along with food, wine, movies, women, interior décor and Tokugawa-era woodblock prints—who’s to say what’s best for anyone else? My intention here is to share what I discovered or rediscovered this year and in the process, hopefully turn you on to good stuff. And yes, state my opinions. After all, it’s my blog.
“Magic Ear” n. - Selective hearing that’s able to involuntarily tune out all other stimuli, audible or otherwise, when a future hit song or promising new artist’s recording is playing in even the most acoustically challenging of circumstances, e.g. a crowded bar.
Example: “I’d never heard of Fleet Foxes until my Magic Ear picked up on their tune playing from some dude’s car.”
One thing I’ve noticed about my Magic Ear and tastes in general is that it doesn’t primarily pick up on new pop-punk or rock anymore. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked all kinds of music, but as I review my ’09 playlists, I’m surprised at how my tastes have migrated to so much stuff that’s not stepped in good ol’ fashioned organic drums, bass ‘n’ guitars. Maybe I’m just getting older (Actually, I know I am because I keep cursing at bad drivers who I know can’t hear me) and therefore like more mellow music. But I also attribute this paradigm shift to how today’s technology simply enables more musicians, or even just “creative types,” to make more original and globally influenced (vs. regionally influenced) music than ever before. I also never liked what might be categorized as “dance-pop,” but even those selections feature hallmarks of great music that’ll never die: Fresh, original, hooks, melodies, good beat. All in all, it’s still rock n’ roll to me.
OK, enough talk—more rock. Here’s what’s been spinning on my iPod in 2009. Please note that I set in red type my top 7 favorite new records or discoveries.
Air – “Love 2”
I still remember like it was yesterday when I was sitting in my parents’ basement watching late-night MTV and the video for “Sexy Boy” came on (directed by R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, btw). I’ve owned every Air record since; they’re one of those few artists I’d need with me on a desert island. Their newest offering, “Love 2” is quintessential Air—smart, cerebral, sexy—if not a touch less tonally and compositionally lush than some of their best work (“Alone in Kyoto” comes to mind). Even so, it’s another batch of diverse and unique sonic landscapes by France’s coolest duo.
Choice tracks: “Tropical Disease,” “African Velvet” and “The Dream of Yi”
Billy Joel - all
I know he’s a dinosaur and maybe even sort of pervy now, but unlike other dinosaurs like, say, Ankylosaurus, Billy Joel will be around forever. I was on serious Joel kick a few summers back, and while it may be fading off a bit in ’09, I’ve still been short-listing some of his best, lesser known tracks like “All for Leyna” and “Summer, Highland Falls.” And while I’m rarely in a “New York State of Mind,” I still love how that tune so perfectly evokes that place on its better days, like when you’re not stepping around human poop on the sidewalk.
Catherine Feeny – “Hurricane Glass”
Catherine’s song, “Mr. Blue” was featured in the film Running with Scissors, and I was fortunate enough to get tipped off to a small, intimate show where she performed with her folk trio, Come Gather Round Us, at an art gallery in San Francisco. She and her husband Sebastian (on guitar, also producer of her major label “Hurricane Glass” record), along with Mike Danner on accordion, were not only lovely people but treated the small crowd to a show my companions and I will never forget. Catherine’s angelic voice is the kind that can hush a room and fill it with all the feeling and raw emotion we all feel at times of great joy and heartbreak.
CSS – “Donkey”
CSS is an acronym for Cansei de Ser Sexy, which means “I’m tired of being sexy” in Portuguese something Beyonce reportedly said (in English, doy). This dance-pop-rock band from Brazil of all places is probably my favorite find of this year, “Donkey” my favorite record. I never use the word “fierce” because it’s almost as bad as a straight person using “epic,” but it’s a nice way to describe their tough-chick mesh of punk, reggae and dance-pop. My Magic Ear picked up on them when their single, “Left Behind,” was playing on the PA at CB2 where my fiancée was shopping for a table, so please don’t make fun of me for being in there. Anyway... just go get their record and savor the fact that they’re not overexposed. Yet.
Choice tracks: Skip over 1, 6, 10-12 for now and hit the best three first: “Left Behind,” “How I Became Paranoid” and “Move.” Everything else is gold, too. The bass in “Paranoid” would make Duran Duran’s John Taylor jealous.
Flight of the Conchords – “I Told You I Was Freaky”
I adore this show. Not surprising because I heart comedy, especially when it’s laden with dry wit and subtlety and interspersed with creative, innovative songs presented as music videos within the show. The thing is, the songs are hilarious on their own and damn good musically, too. These dudes are so talented and funny that sometimes I can relate to Mel, the duo’s stalker fan—but just to qualify, more in like a “want to be them” vs. “want to be with them” kind of way. I’d already binged-watched DVDs of Season One and Two but more recently bought the records. Listen closely to every track of Season Two’s “I Told You I Was Freaky”: if you have a soul, you will giggle to yourself on the bus.
Choice Tracks: “Hurt Feelings,” “Too Many Dicks” (my top favorite), “Sugarlumps,” “We’re Both in Love with a Sexy Lady” (hi-larious), “Demon Woman,” “Fashion is Danger,” “Pencils in the Wind.”
Hall & Oates
H&O were my first musical obsession around the time “Voices” came out. As hugely popular and vaguely homoerotic staples of the ‘80s, they’re kind of easy targets for parody and derision. But my homies from Philadelphia are the best selling duo of all time for a reason: they are master musicians and songwriters. And Daryl Hall is still one of the best pop singers ever, period. Several years ago I got re-obsessed with “Rock & Soul, Part I,” and recently rediscovered “Family Man,” an underrated gem that, in my humble view, is a pop masterpiece—and a dark, bad-ass song to boot (except for G.E. Smith’s slightly cheesy guitar leads.) If you haven’t yet given them a dedicated listen, check out their 4-CD box set that came out just last month, Do What You Want, Be What You Are.
John Vanderslice – “Romanian Names”
I recently read somewhere that John’s known as the “nicest guy in rock,” which is what struck me about him when I took photos at his studio for my book. Then I bought his new record, which blew me away as one of the best play-it-straight-through collections I’ve heard in a long time. Categorization and comparisons don’t suffice to describe the beautifully crafted songs and production. “Too Much Time” and “Forest Knolls” in particular are so visually evocative and atmospheric they should be in the movies, and when you play them, you’ll see why: artistry like this transcends genres and wherever you might be listening to take you to a very good place.
Choice cuts: The entire record is brilliant, get it now.
Kings of Convenience – “Declaration of Dependence”
I’ve been fans of this Norwegian folk-pop duo since my friend Erin at Monster Cable turned me on to them. Their new record, Declaration of Dependence just dropped after five years of inactivity, and I’m happy to report that it’s a characteristically fine, intimate third addition to their catalog. It could be said that they sound a bit like a modern-day version of Simon & Garfunkel, if not without some of the occasional bursts of histrionic earnestness and coffeehouse allegory, which of course isn’t a bad thing. You can safely set KOC’s entire catalog on “Shuffle” for music that’s consistently perfect for hipster cocktail parties or tender lovemaking on a bearskin rug. Not that I’ve ever done that... skinning bears is wrong.
Lemonheads – “It’s a Shame About Ray”
I am embarrassed to say that my roommate owned this record way back in ’92, and I just got a copy this year after Magic Ear picked up on the title track playing in a bar or something. My impression of the Lemonheads over the years was that they were the bubblegum version of Nirvana, one of my favorite bands back in the day. I recall Cobain at the time dismissing them at the time as “that f**&ing alternative cover band” and frontman Evan Dando being photographed wearing dead Kurt’s old coat while languishing in a drug-induced stupor on a couch with Courtney Love. Plus I recall seeing the video for “Mrs. Robinson” back in its day and being sort of sickened. I think in my misguided, self-righteous sense of musical purity made me view these things in a vacuum, along with Dando’s poster-boy looks, as nothing less than scandalous.
The shame of it is that I could have been listening to “Shame” all this time. There’s no denying the explosive power, pop and, yes, oft overlooked caustic humor that got me obsessed with “Nevermind” in the first place. But the fact is that with its uncluttered production, brilliant songwriting and no-nonsense pop arrangements, Dando’s talent shines through, giving “Shame” even more staying power than everyone may have given it credit for at the time.
Marvin Gaye – “What's Going On”
Not a new discovery for, say, my parents or people less lazy about their pop music history, but a new find for me. I have more to say about this record at this previous post.
Phoenix – “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”
Magic Ear first picked up on Phoenix’s “Too Young” as it was playing on my fiancée’s iPod. Sure, it was poppy and sort of dance club-sounding—the kind of thing it doesn’t normally key in on in—but there were some elements that made it stand out, and still make Pheonix stand out as disco for smart people: the way lead vocalist Thomas Mars can so gracefully weave his melodies around the beat and repetition; the intricacy and subtlety of the synth and guitar-laden arrangements; the hooks and structure that get their strength from composition over dynamics. The band is a rarity in that it’s got an American indie-pop band’s accessibility infused with its own spin on Euro restraint, intellect and good taste. While their first record, United, featured a few gems with “Too Young”* and “Hollywood,” the far more confident and cohesive Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a record by a band that’s realized its sound.
*On the soundtrack for Lost in Translation, I learned later—Mars is Sophia Coppola’s babydada
Tom Petty – Rich’s Top 7
Nothing new to report here except that Petty is and will always be a national treasure, a god of rock. I’ve recently rediscovered “Greatest Hits” and would like to take this opportunity to list my favorite Petty songs of all time, with the super-favorites at the bottom:
#7. “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
#6. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”
#5. “Learning to Fly” (B-sideish-sounding but still an underrated gem)
#4. “You Got Lucky”
#3. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
#2. “I Won’t Back Down”
And, if I had to pick one—and this was not easy...
#1. “Here Comes My Girl”
I can only hope that all you dudes out there feel this way about your lady on a bad day.
Yo La Tengo
I have pretty much all of YLT’s records, so of course I picked up their newest, Popular Songs, as soon as it was released a few weeks ago. The whole album is great but “I’m On My Way” is exquisite, probably my favorite song by them to date. It’s everything about the band that I love—the dreamy atmospherics, the soft hush of Ira’s lead vocals, tremolo guitar, judicious use of synths, the earnest but understated romanticism of the lyrics—topped off with one of the most delicately beautiful guitar solos I’ve ever heard.
Wilco – “Wilco (The Album)”
Wilco is like the girl (or guy) you want to break up with because you’re not sure what you’re really getting out the relationship. She can be bit lazy, inconsistent and downright incoherent. Sometimes you wonder if she’s deliberately trying to irritate or provoke you in an attempt to drive you away. But then you have those occasional moments of deep connection and appreciation that make your heart shine with love, and you scold yourself for even thinking ill of her in the first place. And that’s the space I was in a few summers ago listening to Wilco’s last record, Sky Blue Sky, which I consider to be one of their best. I regret to report that I think their newest, Wilco (The Album), is not one of my favorites, even after forced repeated listens. But I love my Wilco and, in due time when I can forgive, I’ll take her back... just like I always do.
My book: www.indierock101.com
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