Goodness gracious, those vibrations

Portland Ian here, casual.

For those of you kids who can't dig enough Vampire Weekend and would like to explore some of their 60s pop West African phrasings and instrumentation in higher doses than you might get in something like Paul Simon's "Graceland," head over to http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com
for some cold turkey. Bah-wah to Frank, the curator, for shutting down his weekly dance party a week before I head back to NY. Frank, I'mnaming all my babies after you anyway.

This year was the year of blogspot and the mp3 blog for me for sure. I learned that if you google the name of an artist plus blogspot you can find some fanatic out there who will not only share all his mp3s with you, but he will also wax poetic about session musicians, labels, the social/economic/political climate that made the music necessary and even the appropriate ice cream flavor to eat while you listen. Ok, I stole that one from City Slickers!

Click the links. With Voodoo Funk as a starting point, you can find some really great blogs. I recommend http://funky16corners.blogspot.com and http://ironleg.blogspot.com to anyone who's anyone. For more soul, check out http://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com and on the West African tip check out http://combandrazor.blogspot.com.

And don't front. I know you know "Graceland" like the back of your hand.

** CORRECTION 1:

Two of those are really wordpress blogs. Hope nobody got hurt.

http://funky16corners.wordpress.com

http://ironleg.wordpress.com

** CORRECTION 2:

"Graceland" was recorded in South Africa and that is, by definition, not in West Africa. Blogging makes me nervous.

I Kissed a Paulies and I Liked It

All Katie Perrys aside, I think that 2008 was a great year for music in general. Sure there was no knock-down number one, but hey- quantity over quality is fine with me. Figuring out what I like best is a very scientific process, as you can see from the image to the left. My top ten:

10. 808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West: I'm for things all Kanye, but I do fear that Kanye the Personality may have overshadowed what's great about this album- something very different on the pop-scene.

9. Volume One - She & Him: I think M. Ward could make anything sound good.

8. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver: Best breakup album of the year (sorry, Ye). This could only be made in the midst of cold weather, lo-fi means, and that crushing feeling.

7. The Renaissance - Q-Tip: How long has it been since Q-Tip's last album? Almost a decade? This should be getting more press. Listen to "Won't Trade."

6. Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: The best balance of SM's old virtue of quirkiness, and new virtue of guitar theatrics.

5. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade: If one song could propell an entire album to awesomeness, it is "Kissing the Beehive": over ten minutes of Wolf Parade firing on all cylinders.

4. You & Me - The Walkmen: I agree with everything that Eamon has already said about this album, but I would like to add one thing: they stop trying to sound different, but still sound so unique compared to everything else.

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: I'm not surprised that this is a top album of the year on many lists. I like it because it takes the Brian Wilson melody-thing that so many bands are down with right now and actually couples it with some cool, melodic songs.

2. Furr - Blitzen Trapper: Really a shocking album. Who knew these guys had this in them? They pick up stylistically from The Band (for one) and make it current. My top track: "Black River Killer."

1. Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust - Sigur Rós: The Martin Scorsese of 2008. Maybe this isn't their best album ever, but it is still great, and it makes you return to their entire catalogue. They're a totally deserving band that often defies words (pun intended). The concert at MOMA has already been mentioned, you can watch it here.

Non-2008 Albums I (Re-)Discovered
Cease to Begin - Band of Horses; Fear of Music - Talking Heads; White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground; This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About - Modest Mouse; Tapestry - Carol King; Dirt - Alice in Chains; Perfect from Now On - Built to Spill; Bach's Fugues- fugues will be the auto-tone of 2009.

Best TV Show of 2008
Seems like it's between 30 Rock, Mad Men, and The Wire. I'm going with The Wire because it's my last chance to give it the award.

Best Live Show of 2008
I'm going to cop-out and say any Boston Celtics game. Do a YouTube search for Gino+Boston+Celtics to see what I mean.

Best Movie of 2008
My short list is The Dark Knight, Young at Heart, and Slumdog Millionaire. Each does something totally different for me.

Best Website of 2008
You mean besides ObsoleteVernacular.com? Definitely hulu.com. For those of us without a DVR or a Tivo, it's amazing.

Best Book of 2008
Of the very few 2008 books I've read this year, Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow and I Don't Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges stand out. Take that Dawkins and Hitchens.

Best Gift I Received in 2008
This thing.

- Michael Grandone

Eamonn Aiken's List

My top 10 this year is really more a top five. Some almosts... Deerhunter, Titus Andronicus, Nick Cave... maybe in 6 months they'll register. I'm rather cut off from culture nowadays so I don't really get to hear much unless I'm recording it. For now, there are five. Last year was killer, this year was meh. I'm sure I'll look back upon it fondly though when the inevitable and near-approaching semi-ironic 90s revival takes over. Here's a hasty wine-fueled list. I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

5. Sigur Ros "...title.." : I have nothing of worth to add to what's been said. The expected beauty plus teases of something new; the tempo increase suits them.

4. The War on Drugs "Barrel of Batteries"(EP)/"Wagonwheel Blues"(LP) : from the name and Berkley College Of Music stoner look I assumed I'd hate them and then three minutes into the set I'd pushed my way to the front of the room to listen more closely. Vocals channel Dylan/Springsteen without feeling a sham over shimmery psych-instrumentation and loops. I like the feel of the EP a little more (mainly just the mix of Arms Like Boulders.) Dunno if it still is, but was a free download from Secretly Canadian a few months back.

3.5 Li'l Wayne : I haven't heard a song from it but what a goddamned cover!

3. Frightened Rabbit "Midnight Organ Fight" : sort of record that sounds familiar, no type of instantly-latched-upon quirk to set it apart other than the singer having a similar accent as the I Would Walk 500 Miles song from Benny & Joon. But what it is - totally solid, catchy, well crafted pop songs produced again by the man who brought you the last National and first Interpol record. Continues to be an enjoyable listen despite my having seriously overplayed it earlier this year.

2. Fleet Foxes : I love Simon & Garfunkle too!

1. Walkmen "You & Me" : After their last record being a serious exercise in yaaaawn I didn't really expect a lot. Then I started hearing these radio sessions and webcast things, them playing Leonard Cohen and Royal Trux songs and there was that Nilsson cover record... and they were great, not just phoning it in anymore. They've always channeled a 60s/early 70s sorta feel, and perhaps it was the full acceptance of it that made this record work so well. I saw a quote from their guitarist to the effect of "we got good when we stopped trying to sound different." This record absolutely killed everything else this year for me, is far and away their best, and their live show is back on par as well. The record is perfectly paced; "In the New Year" is still giving me shivers.

I give a plug to some friends called The Dustys who's EP comes out in the next few days. Sorta Beach Boys harmonies/70s psych-metal/T-Rex adoration.

--
http://www.eamonn-aiken.com/

Two Pieces from the Times

As the rest of you prepare your lists and consider what to discuss from 2008, I'm submitting these two pieces from the New York Times.

1. In Jon Caramanica's concert review of a recent Lil Wayne concert in New Jersey, Caramanica declares Lil Wayne to be the music story of 2008. As evidence, L.W. sold more records than anyone else in '08; his album sold faster than anyone else's album in its opening week; and it recently earned the most Grammy nominations all time for a rap album. So, is the pride of New Orleans, LA really the story of '08?


2. In a cover story for the Arts page on Sunday, chief pop critic Jon Pareles writes about the expanding overlap between new music and marketing use. Pareles gives it a new spin though in these few paragraphs:

The question is: What happens to the music itself when the way to build a career shifts from recording songs that ordinary listeners want to buy to making music that marketers can use? That creates pressure, subtle but genuine, for music to recede: to embrace the element of vacancy that makes a good soundtrack so unobtrusive, to edit a lyric to be less specific or private, to leave blanks for the image or message the music now serves. Perhaps the song will still make that essential, head-turning first impression, but it won’t be as memorable or independent.

Music always had accessory roles: a soundtrack, a jingle, a
branding statement, a mating call. But for performers with a public profile, as opposed to composers for hire, the point was to draw attention to the music itself. Once they were noticed, stars could provide their own story arcs of career and music, and songs got a chance to create their own spheres, as sanctuary or spook house or utopia. If enough people cared about the song, payoffs would come from record sales (to performer and songwriter) and radio play (to the songwriter).

. . .

And as music becomes a means to an end — pushing a separate product, whether it’s a concert ticket or a clothing line, a movie scene or a Web ad — a tectonic shift is under way. Record sales channeled the taste of the broad, volatile public into a performer’s paycheck. As music sales dwindle, licensers become a far more influential target audience. Unlike nonprofessional music fans who
might immerse themselves in a song or album they love, music licensers want a track that’s attractive but not too distracting — just a tease, not a revelation.

To me, this is a genuinely persuasive thesis on how marketing use (something this generation blithely accepts) has perceptible detrimental effects on the creative process (something we still hold sacrosanct).

So looking back, Modest Mouse was completely unbiased in the writing of "Gravity Rides Everything," then just by chance Nissan wanted to use it in an ad, and then out of necessity Modest Mouse obliged and made a quick buck, right? So goes the basic narrative of indie rockers using their music in commercial ventures. But maybe, says Pareles, it isn't so simple after all...

-PGJ

Matt Young== 2008 Paulies List

Hi everybody, here's my list of top 10 albums. All in all I'd say it has been not quite as strong as 2007, but still good nonetheless.

1) FLEET FOXES - s/t
I know these guys are getting a lot of critical love this year, but I think it's totally deserved. No album came out this year that I listened to or enjoyed more than Fleet Foxes. One of those great albums that I kept finding new bits to come back to. They come from this strange indie-folk background that I've always liked but never quite loved until now. An altogether outstanding album, and an easy pick for first place for me.

2) M83 - "Saturdays=Youth"
Holy crap I can't stop listening to Kim & Jessie. Solid album too, but Kim & Jessie has to be the single of the year for me (followed closely by Your Protector by Fleet Foxes and Kids by MGMT while we're at it). Completely weird, hypnotic album and an excellent live show.

3) SIGUR ROS - "Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust"
Not a perfect album, but a welcome new direction for this band. I don't think that they're ever going to make another Agaetis Byrjun, which is sad, but this is a nice way to go and probably their strongest effort since. I just wish they'd taken the risks they took on the first half of the album and carried them into the second half as well. Makes me think their next album is going to complete their reinvention.... and as nice as that will be, I'll still hope that someday they'll turn into a metal band.

4) ANDREW BIRD - "Soldier On" (EP)
It's only an EP, but it came out in 2008 and is responsible for getting me hooked on Andrew Bird. The Trees Were Mistaken is beautiful.

5) PORTISHEAD - "Third"
Awesome. Listen to We Carry On.

6) THROW ME THE STATUE - "Moonbeams"
Steve Lenzen turned me on to this band, and they're excellent, generally unheard of find. They sound an awful lot like the Dismemberment Plan's "Emergency & I," especially the song Your Girlfriend's Car. If you like that album you'll like these guys.

7) RATATAT - "LP3"
I listened to the song Shempi and was so convinced that they took the Lost Woods theme from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that I wound up playing my roommates copy of Twilight Princess all the way through just to get back to the lost woods. In other words, huge points for Ratatat.

8) GIRL TALK - "Feed the Animals"
This time he uses Boy Girl song from Aphex Twin, Whoop there it is by Tag Team, No Diggity by BlackSTREET and some Of Montreal. Predictably amazing.

9) MGMT - "Oracular Spectacular"
Kids was everywhere this year, but Time to Pretend and Electric Feel are two other good ones. Good album, but not sure if I'm going to give a damn in a year.

10) FUCK BUTTONS - "Street Horrrsing"
Good stuff... listened to this more than Holy Fuck, which also has cuss words in the name and also sound sort of similar. Are they all trying to be a David Byrne/Brian Eno team though? I dunno, I gotta get my hands on some more David Byrne/Brian Eno albums.



Also listened to this year and think are awesome but made albums not in 2008:
The National
M.I.A.
Andrew Bird
Yeasayer
The Knife
Bill Evans
Sonny Rollins
Yann Tierson

What I'd like to listen to from 2008 but haven't yet:
El Guincho - "Alegranza"
Of Montreal - "Skeletal Lamping"
Cut Copy - "In Ghost Colours"
The Cool Kids - "Bake Sale"
TV on the Radio - "Dear Science"

Disappointments in 2008:
Weezer - the Red Album. Weezer's officially dead to me. That's it. This album is a complete joke. Their songwriting has been outsourced to their fans and they look to chocolate rain for inspiration for (extremely expensive) music videos. I finally realized that this is NOT the same band that put out Pinkerton and the Blue album, and I'm embarrassed that I held out this long to come to that conclusion. I guess I always harbored some sort of notion that the band that put out those two albums must have something still in the tank, but I guess I was wrong. They're just not the same band is all. So f*ck Weezer, f*ck their shitty music, they've criminally abandoned everything that made them worthwhile and now they suck.   ...and thus concludes my disappointments for 2008! [smiley face]



That's it! Thanks Paul... and keep the lists coming -- I usually find some new albums here. Get on it!

Matt