I didn’t originally intend this to be a two-parter, but when I got to twelve songs with the distinct impression that I’d forgotten a bunch, I thought I’d be safe and do this in two sections. That way I can bung stuff in at the end that I forgot first time round. Part one is over here.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I Am Goodbye
Just about the only good song from his “Beware” album. A rollicking stompalong, with more than a touch of wit and humour, with a great video thrown in. If only the album had been half as good.
A friend asked me the other night: “So what do you listen to when you need cheering up?”. This was the first song that popped into my head and on reflection, I can’t think of many better.
The only song from the album from which it stems that I still listen to, filed firmly alongside Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s latest. Funny that the song from a man whose guitar playing skills are almost unparalleled, has pretty much no guitar on. Who’da thunk it?
Ok, this album just didn’t quite sneak into my albums of the year, but it probably should have. Isn’t hindsight wonderful? It was either this or “Avalon, Or Someone Very Similar”. But this just pips it by being just gorgeously laid-back.
Keeps popping into my head at inopportune moments, which is always the sign of a great record. Overwrought, dramatic Scandinavian indie-rock, and fantastic.
Or rather, great songs from good albums that came out this year. Or great songs that weren’t on an album at all. Or great songs that were on albums that I never got round to listening to.
Oh, just great songs, alright?
(Some of my favorite songs are actually on favorite albums, so see here for them.)
Old Stalwarts
Bill Callahan – Jim Cain
“I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again”
Bill wraps up his career, and love-life, in one line. Like so many of his songs, he uses few words to describe a complex and difficult world. And like so many of his songs, utterly startling, with a scalpel-sharp clarity of thought that separates him from the rest of the singer-songwriter crowd by more than a few miles. As close to an explanation of his breakup with Joanna Newsom that you’ll ever get.
“Look out across a silver landscape of galloping ghosts on our heels\Racing and chasing the nightmare’s almost over now”
It must be tough to keep writing music 10 years after your first album. Where do the ideas keep coming from? Can you still recreate that magic? Kingsbury Manx did it, wonderfully, with this song from the nearly-great “Ascenseur Ouvert!” album. It’s a song you can hardly hear anyone else making; that gentle warmth, that softness, the guitar solo just breaking through – Neil Young meets Willie Nelson and covering an old Pink Floyd song. But, in truth, it’s just the Manx, and if this song doesn’t melt your heart, you are surely not human. Song meaning? Possibly the inevitability of ones mortality, the loss of friendship, finding hope on the darkest days, who knows?
“But I bought you something nice\I got you something warm\For when the weather turns\When will I ever learn?”
Again, just like the Manx, how can Jason do it? That melancholy magic that seeps from every bar, every note, every little inflection of his voice, there is no-one else who can make this kind of tale of misplaced affection so utterly transfixing.
This one got me from nowhere. An email from a publicist pointing me in the direction of the new video by a Scottish band; one quick listen later and I was utterly smitten. 42 plays later and I’m still smitten. I actually have to stop myself from listening to it now, in case I overdo it.
Anthony and Bryce Dessner – I Was Young When I Left Home
I’ve never been an enormous fan of Anthony (of “And The Johnsons” fame). Maybe it was all the hype around him; hype which turned me off him before I’d even heard any of his songs. So this was a lovely treat; his high, frail voice dancing above tender fingerstyle guitar courtesy of The National’s Bryce Dessner. Also wonderful, but I’m not posting the MP3, because I’ve been slapped by the RIAA before for posting stuff from “Dark Is The Night”.
A very quick post today, as I have to go and eat lots more food, following up on last night’s Wigilia Extravaganza. No more vodka for me, thanks. *boilk*
Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas, and that you can’t move by four o’clock this afternoon. Ah, gluttony is such fun!
In the meantime I shall leave you in the capable hands of Mr Sufjan Stevens, with a couple of his seasonal tunes:
After many months of deliberation here at L&L Towers (ok, it’s just me sitting there looking out of the window trying to remember what on earth I’d done all year), I’ve put together my top albums of the year. Like the Albums of the Decade (starting here), the idea was to only choose albums which I happily listen to all the way through, and had listened to a whole bunch of times. This time, rather than the album art, I’ve gone for YouTube videos. Enjoy!
The Top 5, not in any kind of order, except the first one.
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Horrifyingly predictable for anyone who’s spent any timereadingthisblog. Whilst it’s not quite up there with Yellow House, still more detailed, more melodic, more emotional and more surprising than pretty much anything else that came out this year. Returning to it after a few weeks absence has got me playing “All We Ask” many times a day. A thing of sheer, dark beauty which slowly unravels itself into your brain, like some odd robotic monster.
Many people found this too shiny and strident. For me, it was the soundtrack of the first part of the year – deep in job-hunting mode, wandering around the City in jeans listening to Emily Haines’s metallic majestic marvel. A proper album too; well-paced, with a proper start and even more proper fists-pumping-in-the-air finale.
Again, came out of nowhere, and picked it up as a recommendation from another blog (the marvellous Fat Roland). Whilst other people have mixed folk and electronica (“Folktronica”, one of the worst genre names in history), to my mind Bibio have done it the best so far. For whatever reason, I never posted anything about this before, but it’s been happily playing away in my kitchen and in the car many times this year.
Also horribly predictable. This album didn’t really make much sense to me until I saw them live, then it all started to click and fit together properly – ironic, given the complexity of their music. If you like your music a touch more unusual than the norm, but don’t feel warmed by the “Look at us, we’re clever, like”-isms of Animal Collective et al, this could be for you.
I couldn’t do an end-of-year list without mentioning Bill Callahan, Jason Lytle or Kingsbury Manx. All had albums out this year, and all had some highlights that were amongst their best songs, but the albums as a whole don’t quite make the top list. Still worth it though.
And Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is good too, but the chirpy popness doesn’t quite last the whole album, causing me to lose interest about half-way through.
Albums I need to listen to more, that would probably have made the list if only I had some more time to listen to them properly
Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
Mark Eitzel – Klamath
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
I’ve listened to these albums a few times and they are starting to settle in nicely, but not enough for me to hand-on-heart call them albums of the year. Maybe they will appear on my list of albums I have loved in 2010 that were actually released in 2009 but I didn’t hear them then.
Albums I have loved in 2009 that were actually released in 2008 but I didn’t hear them then.
Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
This’d be up in the top 5 above if they’d released this in 2009. A great record by Grumpy Scots, and I suspect they’ve got more to come in 2010.
When I first started this blog, in the depths of January, I rooted around a bunch of sites looking for some new music. And I stumbled across Wye Oak, and after listening to a selection of tunes far too many times, I went out and spent a bit of my redundancy money on the album. Very fine it is too.
Albums by bands I love that I really should get round to listening to at some point
Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Yes, I know. Love both these bands but there just isn’t the time, you know?
The “People Tell Me I Should Love These Albums But I Just Don’t Get It” Award (sponsored by Kissing In Kansas)
Nominees:
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Animal Collective – Merriwether Post Pavillion
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
And the winner is Animal Collective. People keep telling me to give it time, but as I’ve not even listened to the Twilight Sad or Flaming Lips yet, that’s pushing it. But you know, 2010 and all that.
(I still don’t get it, but have a listen and see what you think)
Now, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but one of the real joys of writing this blog has been getting emails from people – readers, bands, PR people, anyone really. From kind words about the blog to people’s own tales (one fella, Scott, emailed me a great story about the Bhundu Boys that I must post one day, if it’s ok with him!), to people promoting their music, it’s always fun to read them and listen to their songs. I am about a month behind now, but with the Xmas break coming up, I should be able to get through the backlog.
One band who emailed me back in November (see?) are Oscar Charlie from Glasgae (boy, that’ll annoy any Scottish readers. I promise not to mention deep-fried Mars Bars. Oops). They originally hailed from the Shetlands but had to move as there weren’t any synths on the islands. Which is as good an excuse as any, really.
They liken themselves far more to bands such as Mew than the current crop of Scots indie bands (Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit), and to these ancient ears they’ve also got that innate sense of drama that the late lamented Geneva specialised in. This is, of course, A Good Thing.
I’ve only really listened to “Vandals” so far, but as it managed to take up earworm residence to the extent that I drifted off in a meeting the other week with it playing merrily in my head, staring happily out of the window until someone asked me a question, I can safely say that it’s a great tune. Got to say I’m looking forward to hearing what else this lot come up with (starting with a single on January 12th 2010).
This is the final part of six-part series, of my albums of the decade. It’s a totally personal view, of albums I’ve listened to tons and love dearly, rather than good albums with some great songs on.
The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (2007)
Moaning about your teenage years has never been as elegaic as on this album. Anger, betrayal, loneliness, that sense of not belonging anywhere, and realising that some people are just plain nasty, it’s all here.
Or how a band can go from pretty damn good to superb. Dropped by their label, self-recording the album in the keyboardist-cum-producer’s house, this is a 56 minute long tribute to sticking together through thick and thin and sticking at what you do best, and waiting for the world to catch up with you.
Even more backwards looking than Midlake, but with a pastoral beauty that just cannot be denied. My son was two when this came out and he couldn’t stop listening to “White Winter Hymnal” and “Oliver James” (though the lyrical content was perhaps not suitable for a young child).
So that’s it. I know that at 3am tomorrow, I’ll awake with a start and remember a great album I missed. But that’s always a peril with writing lists; if I thought about them any more I’d never post the bloody thing. Hope you’ve enjoyed it, and maybe found something new. My absolute, top albums? Probably “You Forgot It In People” and “Yellow House”, but that’s just me.
And to finish off with, here’s my song of the decade:
The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize??
Because it’s a song about love, death, the mystery of life; manages to be slightly melancholy yet hugely uplifting; and is filled with a true, real joy that makes your soul yell out at the sheer beauty of life. Played it at my wedding, and they’d better play it at my funeral, or I’ll be haunting their sorry asses. Probably by singing it, out of tune, in a ghostly voice. That’ll be fun. Anyway, this is Oklahoma’s state song for a reason. It’s brilliant. If you’ve never heard it before, what on earth have you been doing with your life?
I recommended this to a friend’s husband. He called the next day to complain about “Horrible 70’s soft-rock”. I told him to give it a chance. A month on and he was playing it every day. The greatest ever concept album about a mathematician living in a 19th Century American town.
A raging indictment on modern America, possibly. The best drumming, ever. I’ve played “Apartment Story” more than any other song in the last two years, according to my iTunes.
Or how a folk-rock balladeer can fill his sound out and make a wonderful, lustrous album. The stripped down acoustic versions are bizarrely even better.
I really wasn’t sure about putting this in the list. Great singer, great musician, some great songs, but the album? Then I listened to it again and changed my mind. It’s great. Though I think she could do much better.
Right, back to the list. Here’s my own take on the albums of the decade. My criteria? Do I really, really, really love them and can I listen to them happily all the way through?
A yowling, yelping, thundering record packed full of ideas, vim and vigour. Came out of nowhere, and kept me awake during those early days of being a new father.
Low turn their amps up past 2, and make a great album. Again, I’d forgotten how good this was until listening to it recently. “Low go pop” is probably pushing it, but they showed that they can engage with the outside world at something approaching the outside world’s pace, rather than their own glacial stride. I’d say it was their best album.
The most atmospheric album of the decade. And the most baffling, mysterious, ominous, lovely, chilling and gorgeous one too. I caught onto this late (in 2008) and it’s still a wondrous thing.
Post-rock meets metal to stunning effect. Doesn’t quite sound like anything else out there, and shows you only need three people to make a Godspeed! style racket.
The Hold Steady – Girls and Boys In America (2006)
When I first heard the line “She was a really cool kisser and she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian” I knew I was in safe hands. Still a high-water mark in making rock and roll transcendant. No-one’s done it this well since Bruce Springsteen back in the ’70’s.
Here’s part three of my list of albums of the decade. These are albums I love and have listened to, ooh, hundreds of times over the years. Pretty much all of them are still on my very full iPhone, instead of more current stuff like Animal Collective or whoever, because they are great. Oh yes.
For all the wondrous musicality of his “States” albums, this stripped-down, acoustic album shows the beauty and tenderness of his songwriting at its absolute height.
American Music Club – Love Songs For Patriots (2004)
Making an album with the word “Patriots” in the title at the height of post-9/11 anguish and rage, then filling it with songs of anguish, rage, and the wonders of male strippers, was never going to make them too many new friends. But it’s their best album, and Mark Eitzel at his finest.
If you find the first minute of “Bridges and Balloons” utterly wonderful, then you’ll love this. If you think she is a wailing harpy, then you may probably just want to move onto the next record. You’re missing out though, mind.
Or how the Internet will get you noticed. Sure, there’s more that a touch of the U2’s about their later material, but go and listen to this again and be utterly transfixed by their tales of lost childhood all over again. So filled with drama that you need the quieter songs to catch your breath.
Lovelorn tales from Sheffield’s finest guitarist. His most complete album; this could just as easily have been made in 1957 or 1963, but it’s far too lovely to be snooty about.
This could also say “The Transfiguration Of Vincent” or “Post War”, but look, I had to make a choice and as this was the first record of M Ward’s I ever heard, this is my choice. Go for all three, frankly. Ageless, timeless beauty.
Part two of my run through my favourite albums of the Noughties (will someone please think up a better name?). It’s a personal trip through what I’ve loved and listened to the most, and it’s not just a list of good albums with some great songs on that you get bored of half-way through (I’m looking at you Radiohead and White Stripes). These are all proper records, which I hope that people will still make in the age of downloads and blogs. You know, records you listen to all the way through. Remember that?
Main movers in the early Noughties explosion of forward-reaching hip-hop, this album rocks so much they re-recorded it with live instruments. For some reason not many people bought it. Maybe calling themselves “NERD” wasn’t a good idea. Shame, because it’s absolutely fantastic, and I’d forgotten quite how fantastic until I listened to it again recently. Better that Outkast.
Or how to be different, and how to use the Internet to get noticed, especially when you’ve been dumped by your record label. Not quite as forward-sounding now as it seemed then, but still a great record, and their best. See, Radiohead?
Queens of the Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Dark, funny, twisted – the ultimate post-drink-and-drug filled debauchery album. Or, how to sing about the problems of getting fucked up, without moaning about how bad it is and how they are terribly, terribly sorry.
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People (2002)
If you have this album, and haven’t listened to it in a while, go and do it now. If you haven’t got this album, go out and get it. This record shows how a diverse bunch of musicians can make an album that is uplifting, eccentric, full of life and love and sheer bloody joy. Oh, and tunes. Lots and lots of tunes.
That voice. That music. Drama, twisted tales of obsession and love and the loss of innocence, all over beautiful, inventive, gorgeous rock music. And that voice, again.
Breaking up is so hard to do, so why not just do two solo albums together, and make the best damn funk/soul/hip-hop/kitchen sink record ever? (A real toss-up between this and Stankonia, to be honest. This just about edges it)
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Loft And Lost 