Yo, so last night I found out my musician friend Andy Wagner has been creating a top 25 list every year for awhile now and posting it to LiveJournal. He counts down the albums 5 at a time, with individual song gradings and a detailed review for each album. It's pretty neat because his list does not include Fleet Foxes, Sigur Ros, or Portishead and does contain both Weezer and Beck. It also includes albums that I'm surprised I missed for Paulies inclusion. I don't remember Aimee Mann and +/- being on the '08 album list from NPR I was using as a resource while doing my list. (And the Aimee Mann album freakin' rules!) But I think it would be good debative fun to read and discuss the selections of a music geek whose opinion differs from other music geeks. (And I'm annoyed that debative apparently isn't a real word. Whatever, OED..) (No Fleet Foxes, though? I don't think I'm going to pay him back for fiver he loaned me to get beer in November..)
Below is Andy's 25 from losinginterest.livejournal.com:
#25-21
#20-16
#15-11
#10-6
#5-1
And speaking of Fleet Foxes: SNL tonight!
- Kate Miles
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Three More from Paul J.
Here's my final 2008 discoveries before wrapping up. From the Sound Opinions podcast, I've only now discovered Fucked Up (on Matador). And damn, with bits of Fugazi vocals, Pavement noodling, and all with a ridiculous hardcore intensity, this is a great turn away from the weak white-boy vocals all over 2008. This shit's the anti-Bon Iver. Good stuff:
Again, Sound Opinions podcast. The band is Women (Jagjaguwar Records), it's a lo-fi Pavement-esque thing that sounds great:
And in case y'all heaven't heard, Animal Collective seems to be the clear frontrunner for 09 Album of the Year honors. A new track from the new album:
Again, Sound Opinions podcast. The band is Women (Jagjaguwar Records), it's a lo-fi Pavement-esque thing that sounds great:
And in case y'all heaven't heard, Animal Collective seems to be the clear frontrunner for 09 Album of the Year honors. A new track from the new album:
Reverse Karaoke
This is real and one of the worst commercials ever. I hope glow in the dark towel becomes a catch phrase like jump the shark.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Bartley's list
Hello all,
I'm Bartley, I went to high school with Paul. I'm currently in Austin, TX where I work overnights 3 out of 4 weekends, and therefore lose out on what I hear is a very robust local music scene. I've continued my 3-4 year streak of doing a piss poor job of finding new music to listen to.
I only bought eleven albums that came out this year, this year (well, twelve, but I haven't listened to the live Rasputina album yet). So, sorry to you Nine Inch Nails for Ghosts I-IV, Aphex Twin beat you to the punch...by about two decades. Here are the other 10 in some sort of order with brief commentary, followed by additional commentary.
Music:
10. Ladytron - Volicefero: Follows the usual Ladytron formula of 3-4 standout songs, 4-5 good songs, 3-4 forgettable songs. Saw them in concert this year, they were better than expected, but nothing special.
9. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!: It's ok, like most Nick Cave albums of the past few years. Nothing too memorable or exciting. I miss Blixa.
8. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III: Isn't nearly as good as Da Drought 3. Loses major points because that damn "Mrs. Officer" song is terrible AND on the radio constantly. "Got Money" wasn't much better. "A Milli" may be been the best rap on the radio this year though.
7. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular There's a pretty steep decline in quality on the second half of this album. The first half is good times.
6. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip: In addition to being free (yay!), it's pretty good. Who knew that NIN would recover from The Fragile and whatever two albums came after that?
5. The Roots - Rising Down: It's The Roots! What did you expect? Also, do not subscribe to Questlove's twitter feed. It will slowly drive you mad.
4. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak: It's Kanye West! What did...nevermind. It's infinitely better than the hype of "Kanye West makes an album with a drum machine and an auto-tuner in 5 hours" could ever make me think it would be. I try to ignore him when he's not making music, it makes enjoying the music easier. Saw a Glow in the Dark show...it was ok, but N.E.R.D. was better...also, Rihanna did a (terrible) cover of "Paper Planes" before Pineapple Express made it ridiculously popular...and the night before I saw M.I.A. down the street (disappointing show!).
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science: Umm, wow. I'm of the opinion that everyone should like TV on the Radio. Sadly, most of my friends disagree. Surprisingly disappointing live show. Think the venue (Stubb's BBQ) was too big.
2. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer: Since this one wasn't on (m)any Top Whatever lists, I'll spend some extra time praising it. For starters, you can hear most of it at: http://www.whokilledamandapalmer.com/videos. It's a concept album and has an accompanying book by Neil Gaiman that I haven't bothered getting, but hey, you can't go wrong with Neil Gaiman. Anyway, she's got a unique voice, plays the hell out of a piano, and Ben Folds usually managed not to overproduce the album to hell. Also, her record label said she was too fat to bare her midriff in a video (she's not!), and said she'd never be popular making music like this...so you should help prove them wrong.
1. Portishead - Third: I never expected this album to be this good.
Pop Songs
These are overplayed radio hits I can't resist. Obviously, my weakness for girly pop songs endures! Here are the highlights:
Fergie - Clumsy I generally hate the Fergie, but there's nothing wrong with this song. Well, except for the part where she breaks it down about 2 minutes in. That's awful.
Nelly Furtado - Say It Right Umm, I think this may actually be a good song, not just a good pop song.
T.I - Live Your Life After I got over the ridiculous Numa Numa sample, I realized it's a pretty decent song.
Beyonce - Whatever song wasn't that damn Put A Ring On It song
Movies
The Dark Knight - First time it was actually worth seeing a movie at IMAX (fuck you, Harry Potter 3-D). I kinda hate Christian Bale's Batman voice though.
Ironman - Overshadowed by Batman, still way better than it deserved to be. Someone better tell Samuel Jackson to take whatever pittance Marvel is offering and play the hell out of Nick Fury.
The Wrestler - I loves me some Aronofsky, but this kinda disappointed (relative to near-universal glowing reviews). Still a good movie and a great performance by Rourke. Just not everything I was hoping for. Maybe I just miss Clint Mansell.
No Country for Old Men - Almost forgot about this. My girlfriend absolutely hated it, I loved it. Ridiculously suspenseful, does an excellent job of storytelling.
Slumdog Millionaire - My vote for best movie of the year.
TV
Discovered The Wire via the girlfriend. Still working on Season 5 (which I hear has some Godfather 3 problems), but is pretty high up there for Best TV Show Ever.
The Soup rewards weekly viewing. Way better than the (horribly reformatted) Best Week Ever.
Umm, Project Runway? I had no idea Tim Gunn was so awesome.
Things To Try
Fleet Foxes, Knux, Sigur Ros (again), Mad Men
Terrible Things
The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name: I'm going to start crying if I have to hear this again.
Religulous - You know, I saw this and actually kinda liked it. Until I thought about it more. And more. And it's just a wasted oppurtunity...it's hard to explain what about it bugs me since I do (in theory) agree with most of what Maher is saying.
The Real Housewives of... Wow. I'd seen ads, but watching the real thing is even worse. Even the people who aren't terrible human beings are still annoying.
Prop 8 - Way to taint an otherwise excellent election night, Mormons.
Mormonism - Really, Prop 8 aside, WTF is up with Mormonism. It's like the Scientology of the 1800's. I'm sure most Mormons are (overly) nice people or whatever, but yikes.
Overly long lists - Hello! I bet there's some horrible formatting error in here. Let's find out...
I'm Bartley, I went to high school with Paul. I'm currently in Austin, TX where I work overnights 3 out of 4 weekends, and therefore lose out on what I hear is a very robust local music scene. I've continued my 3-4 year streak of doing a piss poor job of finding new music to listen to.
I only bought eleven albums that came out this year, this year (well, twelve, but I haven't listened to the live Rasputina album yet). So, sorry to you Nine Inch Nails for Ghosts I-IV, Aphex Twin beat you to the punch...by about two decades. Here are the other 10 in some sort of order with brief commentary, followed by additional commentary.
Music:
10. Ladytron - Volicefero: Follows the usual Ladytron formula of 3-4 standout songs, 4-5 good songs, 3-4 forgettable songs. Saw them in concert this year, they were better than expected, but nothing special.
9. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!: It's ok, like most Nick Cave albums of the past few years. Nothing too memorable or exciting. I miss Blixa.
8. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III: Isn't nearly as good as Da Drought 3. Loses major points because that damn "Mrs. Officer" song is terrible AND on the radio constantly. "Got Money" wasn't much better. "A Milli" may be been the best rap on the radio this year though.
7. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular There's a pretty steep decline in quality on the second half of this album. The first half is good times.
6. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip: In addition to being free (yay!), it's pretty good. Who knew that NIN would recover from The Fragile and whatever two albums came after that?
5. The Roots - Rising Down: It's The Roots! What did you expect? Also, do not subscribe to Questlove's twitter feed. It will slowly drive you mad.
4. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak: It's Kanye West! What did...nevermind. It's infinitely better than the hype of "Kanye West makes an album with a drum machine and an auto-tuner in 5 hours" could ever make me think it would be. I try to ignore him when he's not making music, it makes enjoying the music easier. Saw a Glow in the Dark show...it was ok, but N.E.R.D. was better...also, Rihanna did a (terrible) cover of "Paper Planes" before Pineapple Express made it ridiculously popular...and the night before I saw M.I.A. down the street (disappointing show!).
3. TV on the Radio - Dear Science: Umm, wow. I'm of the opinion that everyone should like TV on the Radio. Sadly, most of my friends disagree. Surprisingly disappointing live show. Think the venue (Stubb's BBQ) was too big.
2. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer: Since this one wasn't on (m)any Top Whatever lists, I'll spend some extra time praising it. For starters, you can hear most of it at: http://www.whokilledamandapalmer.com/videos. It's a concept album and has an accompanying book by Neil Gaiman that I haven't bothered getting, but hey, you can't go wrong with Neil Gaiman. Anyway, she's got a unique voice, plays the hell out of a piano, and Ben Folds usually managed not to overproduce the album to hell. Also, her record label said she was too fat to bare her midriff in a video (she's not!), and said she'd never be popular making music like this...so you should help prove them wrong.
1. Portishead - Third: I never expected this album to be this good.
Pop Songs
These are overplayed radio hits I can't resist. Obviously, my weakness for girly pop songs endures! Here are the highlights:
Fergie - Clumsy I generally hate the Fergie, but there's nothing wrong with this song. Well, except for the part where she breaks it down about 2 minutes in. That's awful.
Nelly Furtado - Say It Right Umm, I think this may actually be a good song, not just a good pop song.
T.I - Live Your Life After I got over the ridiculous Numa Numa sample, I realized it's a pretty decent song.
Beyonce - Whatever song wasn't that damn Put A Ring On It song
Movies
The Dark Knight - First time it was actually worth seeing a movie at IMAX (fuck you, Harry Potter 3-D). I kinda hate Christian Bale's Batman voice though.
Ironman - Overshadowed by Batman, still way better than it deserved to be. Someone better tell Samuel Jackson to take whatever pittance Marvel is offering and play the hell out of Nick Fury.
The Wrestler - I loves me some Aronofsky, but this kinda disappointed (relative to near-universal glowing reviews). Still a good movie and a great performance by Rourke. Just not everything I was hoping for. Maybe I just miss Clint Mansell.
No Country for Old Men - Almost forgot about this. My girlfriend absolutely hated it, I loved it. Ridiculously suspenseful, does an excellent job of storytelling.
Slumdog Millionaire - My vote for best movie of the year.
TV
Discovered The Wire via the girlfriend. Still working on Season 5 (which I hear has some Godfather 3 problems), but is pretty high up there for Best TV Show Ever.
The Soup rewards weekly viewing. Way better than the (horribly reformatted) Best Week Ever.
Umm, Project Runway? I had no idea Tim Gunn was so awesome.
Things To Try
Fleet Foxes, Knux, Sigur Ros (again), Mad Men
Terrible Things
The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name: I'm going to start crying if I have to hear this again.
Religulous - You know, I saw this and actually kinda liked it. Until I thought about it more. And more. And it's just a wasted oppurtunity...it's hard to explain what about it bugs me since I do (in theory) agree with most of what Maher is saying.
The Real Housewives of... Wow. I'd seen ads, but watching the real thing is even worse. Even the people who aren't terrible human beings are still annoying.
Prop 8 - Way to taint an otherwise excellent election night, Mormons.
Mormonism - Really, Prop 8 aside, WTF is up with Mormonism. It's like the Scientology of the 1800's. I'm sure most Mormons are (overly) nice people or whatever, but yikes.
Overly long lists - Hello! I bet there's some horrible formatting error in here. Let's find out...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
New Music '09
Hello Paulies People. Thank you Paul for keeping things going. I'm not sure if everyone is a web-head like myself, but here are some links to coming attractions that you may or may not be aware of:
Hold Time - M. Ward
Noble Beast - Andrew Bird
Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
various demos - Gorillaz
"I'm Confused" - Handsome Furs (via Stereogum)
"Ulysses" - Franz Ferdinand
-Michael G.
Hold Time - M. Ward
Noble Beast - Andrew Bird
Merriweather Post Pavillion - Animal Collective
various demos - Gorillaz
"I'm Confused" - Handsome Furs (via Stereogum)
"Ulysses" - Franz Ferdinand
-Michael G.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Itty's Forgotten in '08: Thao
Hi Paul,
I'm sorry for saying "Let's go see Waltz with Bashir" and then going to see it on my own. Let's make up. Here is a post to the Paulies blog. I am also making you a friendship bracelet.
Thao's album "We Brave Bee Stings and All" should have been in my top ten, but as with Destroyer, I forgot that it was an '08 album. A friend of mine had been a huge fan of Thao a few years ago, and I stupidly never really gave her work a proper listen. That said, I think her most recent album was a lot better than her first. However, I will probably kill myself if I listen to Bag of Hammers again. It's a great track, but once it gets stuck in your head, it will be hard to remove (watch the video below for this fun fun experience!)
Here are a few tracks:
Bag of Hammers
Peace,
-Itty
ps. Fiona Apple is a genius and her second album is an amazing result of heartbreak.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Wrappin' up!
Pauliebabes here.
Thanks to the influx of hot entries, Kate and Kaitlin most recently. Anyway, as promised I'm going to shut this thing down within the next few days. But there's no way I'm letting a discussion of 2008 pass without putting "A Milli" up:
And thanks to the New York Times Popcast and Ben Ratliff for sharin this gem with me, T-Pain featuring Ludacris, "Chopped and Screwed"... I haven't heard a chorus this good in years . . . "You've officially been - DANCE DANCE - screweeeed"
Okay, one more from 2008. You might hate Weezer's Red Album, but maybe you'll dig this from Rivers solo album:
Okay, one more from 2008. You might hate Weezer's Red Album, but maybe you'll dig this from Rivers solo album:
Kaitlin M. is less hip than usual this year, and that’s saying something
While I've never amazed anyone with my indy music acumen, nor intimidated anyone with my hipster cool [I wield irony ineffectively at best, and anyway I dress like a hippy], I still had an uncharacteristically pathetic year in that I managed to squeak through 2008 only buying 3 recently-released albums. Also I'm wicked late, but that was probably expected. As a top ten list isn’t going to work, I’ll just give y’all my “only 3” list for music... plus some other random stuff at the bottom, cuz why not:
1) Portishead, Third. Portishead loses some of the spaced-out dreaminess of Dummy for a more deliberate sound, but retains their darkly erotic and self-reflective quality. The effect is marvelous: the enticing vocals seem intentional this time around, rather than apparitional, and are all the more delicious for it.
2) Magnetic Fields, Distortion. Magnetic Fields in general were my musical pasta this year: the eternal comfort food that goes with anything, capable of satiating diverse musical desires without demanding exacting effort or undue attention. Distortion isn’t as great as some of their previous albums, but there are still some great tracks, i.e. “The Nun’s Litany,” for its cheerfully raunchy run down of all the sex work-related professions a woman of the cloth could dream about, and “Till the Bitter End” which sounds like what might result if an adult Punky Brewster began writing slightly stalker-ish love songs in the style of a funeral dirge. Also I dig “Drive On, Driver” because the line “take me to the airport, I need to be extremely far away” has essentially become the catch phrase to my life.
3) Thievery Corporation, Radio Retaliation. Trancey lounge music with influences ranging from Bollywood to jazz to Brazilian funk and an allover tinge of social righteousness that reminds me of when I used to believe the Revolution was just around the corner. Catchy without being annoying or over-poppy. Good sounds for dancing with fire, sticking it to the man. Trivia: got a speeding ticket in a tunnel under a mountain between Switzerland and Italy while listening to this band.
Also—honorary mention goes to Girl Talk, whose Feed The Animals I didn’t buy, but appreciate for being a catchy take on old favourite songs, and a cheeky take on the fair use doctrine of copyright law [yeah, I'm an IP nerd now].
And—honorary mention two goes to Matt, for creating the best music video of the year, as well as the dance of the decade:
If I watched movies this year I don't remember them. It's either the senility kicking in or they weren't very good. But this 16 minute short, Validation, about the magic of free parking and decent passport photos, is absolutely fantastic and 100% guaranteed to chase the blues away. It's about 10 times the strength of Prozac and corn syrup combined, though, so handle with care, lest you start running around grinning at random strangers and telling them they're AMAZING, which might freak them out:
Also, while generally lacking in exposure to culture, I have had some decent exposure to cultures, which is to say foreigners. Thus follows three and a half of my favourite moments from this year's various and sundry cross-cultural experiences. Yeah, it's self-indulgent, apologies-- but hopefully at least some of the randomness of Europe is objectively funny. You can click on the pictures for full size, should you feel so inclined.
1) PARTYING TILL THE COWS COME HOME, LITERALLY: I live in Switzerland. The Swiss are famous for a) cheese fondue and b) chocolate. Also, watches and army knives useful for stabbing people don't keep time accurately enough, but we'll leave that be for now. Anyway, the aforementioned food products require cows. The Swiss really seem to dig their cows. They also have mountains, upon which there are pastures. In the spring, the cows go up the mountains, and in the fall the cows come down the mountains. The latter is called "Désalpe" which I'm pretty sure means de-Alping, and involves a day long party while the cows are coming back from the Alps. They get all dolled up for the occasion, too, as you can see:
we are so fashionable.
moo.
'till the cows come home... we party!
1.5) ON SWISS PASSION REGARDING SOUP, INDEPENDENCE: This only gets a half point because it's still in Switzerland. One of the biggest Genevan celebrations involves the anniversary of an attempted invasion, which was apparently thwarted when an enterprising chef chucked her hot vegetable soup on the would-be colonizers. To commemorate, everyone marches around in period costumes and eats chocolate cauldrons with marzipan vegetables in them, and occasionally real soup too. It's a very solemn occasion, for some reason. There is also a fire:
Touch our soup and you will BURN.
2) TURKISH BAZAARS: They have some weird stuff there in amongst the Turkish delight, belly dancer costumes (my friend bought a lovely magenta one “for her boyfriend,” she told the shopkeeper, while searching for sizes. “Lucky guy,” he says—we don’t think he understood she intended for the boyfriend to fit into it), exotic spices, and shisha tobacco. Also, attempts at one-up-manship between retailers can lead to unintentional humour-- to whit, these two signs, which we found facing each other on opposite sides of the bazaar hallway. I hate to think where further competition took them:
Okay, cool.
YIKES!!!
3) SLOVENIA: Ljubljana reminded me why I travel: getting lost on my way back from a castle on a hill to find a narrow, steep stone staircase overrun with vines, rusted metal railings, backlit driftwood doors with green visible in the cracks between, an old pepsi bottle resting in the space left by a loosened piece of an old stone wall: the feeling of a secret held between me and all others who’d taken one wrong turn and tripped on something beautiful. Also for those ladies whose tastes run to the slightly bohemian, the Ljub is full of gloriously hot people who look like they are simultaneously off to create great art and also hike through the wilderness. But really it’s awesome because the city symbol is dragons. Dragons!
DRAGONS!: 
Bonus Slovenia picture... explaining that there are many ways one can move beyond mental confusion: the traditional lightbulb, the old school/electricity's out candle, or... a rainbow:
1) Portishead, Third. Portishead loses some of the spaced-out dreaminess of Dummy for a more deliberate sound, but retains their darkly erotic and self-reflective quality. The effect is marvelous: the enticing vocals seem intentional this time around, rather than apparitional, and are all the more delicious for it.
2) Magnetic Fields, Distortion. Magnetic Fields in general were my musical pasta this year: the eternal comfort food that goes with anything, capable of satiating diverse musical desires without demanding exacting effort or undue attention. Distortion isn’t as great as some of their previous albums, but there are still some great tracks, i.e. “The Nun’s Litany,” for its cheerfully raunchy run down of all the sex work-related professions a woman of the cloth could dream about, and “Till the Bitter End” which sounds like what might result if an adult Punky Brewster began writing slightly stalker-ish love songs in the style of a funeral dirge. Also I dig “Drive On, Driver” because the line “take me to the airport, I need to be extremely far away” has essentially become the catch phrase to my life.
3) Thievery Corporation, Radio Retaliation. Trancey lounge music with influences ranging from Bollywood to jazz to Brazilian funk and an allover tinge of social righteousness that reminds me of when I used to believe the Revolution was just around the corner. Catchy without being annoying or over-poppy. Good sounds for dancing with fire, sticking it to the man. Trivia: got a speeding ticket in a tunnel under a mountain between Switzerland and Italy while listening to this band.
Also—honorary mention goes to Girl Talk, whose Feed The Animals I didn’t buy, but appreciate for being a catchy take on old favourite songs, and a cheeky take on the fair use doctrine of copyright law [yeah, I'm an IP nerd now].
And—honorary mention two goes to Matt, for creating the best music video of the year, as well as the dance of the decade:
If I watched movies this year I don't remember them. It's either the senility kicking in or they weren't very good. But this 16 minute short, Validation, about the magic of free parking and decent passport photos, is absolutely fantastic and 100% guaranteed to chase the blues away. It's about 10 times the strength of Prozac and corn syrup combined, though, so handle with care, lest you start running around grinning at random strangers and telling them they're AMAZING, which might freak them out:
Also, while generally lacking in exposure to culture, I have had some decent exposure to cultures, which is to say foreigners. Thus follows three and a half of my favourite moments from this year's various and sundry cross-cultural experiences. Yeah, it's self-indulgent, apologies-- but hopefully at least some of the randomness of Europe is objectively funny. You can click on the pictures for full size, should you feel so inclined.
1) PARTYING TILL THE COWS COME HOME, LITERALLY: I live in Switzerland. The Swiss are famous for a) cheese fondue and b) chocolate. Also, watches and army knives useful for stabbing people don't keep time accurately enough, but we'll leave that be for now. Anyway, the aforementioned food products require cows. The Swiss really seem to dig their cows. They also have mountains, upon which there are pastures. In the spring, the cows go up the mountains, and in the fall the cows come down the mountains. The latter is called "Désalpe" which I'm pretty sure means de-Alping, and involves a day long party while the cows are coming back from the Alps. They get all dolled up for the occasion, too, as you can see:
1.5) ON SWISS PASSION REGARDING SOUP, INDEPENDENCE: This only gets a half point because it's still in Switzerland. One of the biggest Genevan celebrations involves the anniversary of an attempted invasion, which was apparently thwarted when an enterprising chef chucked her hot vegetable soup on the would-be colonizers. To commemorate, everyone marches around in period costumes and eats chocolate cauldrons with marzipan vegetables in them, and occasionally real soup too. It's a very solemn occasion, for some reason. There is also a fire:
2) TURKISH BAZAARS: They have some weird stuff there in amongst the Turkish delight, belly dancer costumes (my friend bought a lovely magenta one “for her boyfriend,” she told the shopkeeper, while searching for sizes. “Lucky guy,” he says—we don’t think he understood she intended for the boyfriend to fit into it), exotic spices, and shisha tobacco. Also, attempts at one-up-manship between retailers can lead to unintentional humour-- to whit, these two signs, which we found facing each other on opposite sides of the bazaar hallway. I hate to think where further competition took them:
Okay, cool.
YIKES!!!3) SLOVENIA: Ljubljana reminded me why I travel: getting lost on my way back from a castle on a hill to find a narrow, steep stone staircase overrun with vines, rusted metal railings, backlit driftwood doors with green visible in the cracks between, an old pepsi bottle resting in the space left by a loosened piece of an old stone wall: the feeling of a secret held between me and all others who’d taken one wrong turn and tripped on something beautiful. Also for those ladies whose tastes run to the slightly bohemian, the Ljub is full of gloriously hot people who look like they are simultaneously off to create great art and also hike through the wilderness. But really it’s awesome because the city symbol is dragons. Dragons!
Bonus Slovenia picture... explaining that there are many ways one can move beyond mental confusion: the traditional lightbulb, the old school/electricity's out candle, or... a rainbow:
Sunday, January 11, 2009
2008 According to Kate M.
"Anything's possiblllllllllllllllllllllllle!"
Well, anything except me not being the last person to finish their Paulies submission.
It appears I differ from a lot of you folks and think '08 was a fabulous year for music, a dreadful year for movies, and I think it might have been a good year for books. (But who knows since who the hell can afford hardcovers these days?)
So let's hit it!
MUSIC:
1. Fleet Foxes – s/t: There isn’t any praise I can give this album that hasn’t already been given by every music listener and critic on the planet; so basically, if you haven’t listened to the entirety of the album, you should do so now. It’s like, the music version of “The Wire” - everyone who knows it loves it.
2. The Walkmen – You & Me: I wasn’t too much of a fan of The Walkmen since “The Rat” drove me nuts when it was played all the time back in ’04 or ’05. But now through the magic of Pandora, I’ve realized The Walkmen are great, and You & Me goes down like good scotch from track 1 to the end.
3. Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling: It was released internationally in 2007, but not released in the US till 2008 so is therefore on this list. I listened to it via a recommendation from Amazon. (Who ever really does that? Apparently I do now.) I think the album cover appealed to me, her 70s movie star good looks plus floppy hat made me wonder, “Is she Neko Case-ish? Joni Mitchell-ish? Will this album make me buy a baby blue pick up truck and work on an organic farm?” Her voice is so pretty that I can’t even really devote much time to contemplating whether or not her songs are original enough, if they’re too similar to folksy queens like the aforementioned songbirds, so I say give it a try because as Keith Olbermann said of the RNC, “If you like this sort of thing then this is the sort of thing you’ll like.”
4. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours: If you’re resolving to exercise more, this album will make doing so feel like a treat! Each song will cause you to uncontrollably shake your groove thang.
5. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago: Holy smokes is “Skinny Love” ever a good single. You’d think such a weepy album would be boring, but no, it's magical!
6. She & Him – Volume 1: It’s sort of like the music version of Season 1 of Flight of the Conchords. It is so drenched in (deserved) love and devotion that if Volume 2 doesn’t come out soon, I will barf from Volume 1 overkill.
7. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins: I like how this album puts a swing in my step. And I like their versatility since “For Real” from Black Sheep Boy makes me want to weep while in the fetal position.
8. Jolie Holland – The Living and the Dead: Her voice is so awesome; it’s like Feist and Jenny Lewis had a baby or something. This album didn’t knock my socks off the way 04’s Escondida did, but it’s still a Top 10 quality album.
9. Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust: In ’04, one of the only parts of Life Aquatic that I enjoyed was when they played “Starálfur” – who doesn’t listen to that song and get lump throaty? Who would have thought that same band would create such a cheerful, perfect summer album?
10. Beach House – Devotion: For you kids that listen to All Songs Considered, you might be familiar with Beach House, but if you’re not, you should check them out. I have no idea how to describe their sound; it’s unique and Devotion is as good/better than their self titled debut from 2006.
Honorable mentions / non-2008 stuff I listened to a lot:
*Sun Kil Moon – April (So, Mark Kozelek/Sun Kil Moon/guy from Red House Painters makes new stuff pretty much every year yet doesn’t get nearly as much press as say, Blitzen Trapper. Is this because the former has a pot belly and is in his 40s and doesn’t have the requisite beard and rectangular glasses that male indie rockers must have? Are we really that snobby?)
*Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Lay Down in the Light
*Judas Priest – Screaming for Vengeance
*Ola Podrida – Ola Podrida
*Portishead - Third
*Magnetic Fields - Distortion
*Paul Davis - misc (He died in April of '08, so what better time to reacquaint yourself with his whole catalog?):
MUSIC THAT SUCKED:
Guns n’ Roses – Chinese Democracy: The thing that makes me really hate this album is that you can’t beat Rock Band 2 until you can play “Shackler’s Revenge” on hard. Bulllshit!
Devotchka - A Mad & Faithful Telling: It didn't really suck-suck, but the only track I liked was "New World," which I now can't listen to because it was played in so many damn NBA Finals commercials. Devotchka being played in NBA commercials? That's about as ridiculous as Cat Power being played in a car commercial. Oh, wait..
BEST MOVIES: (This list is intentionally incomplete since, like most of you, I haven’t yet seen all the movies from ’08 that I’d like to see.)
1. Revolutionary Road: I’m concerned that this movie might be hard to appreciate if you haven’t read the book first, (i.e., “Into the Wild”). Having read the book twice, I had to bite my tongue from squealing in delight at how true to the book Sam Mendes was in his execution. Kate Winslet is such an insanely intense actress that all the other actors turn in amazing performances as a way to keep up with her. (Leo’s screaming ability is fantastic, and surprisingly enough Michael Shannon and David Harbour get past the Leo/Kate fanfare in supporting roles that are both hilarious and authenetic.)
2. The Wrestler: I was super sad when this movie was over. Mickey Rourke, your heart is as big your knoggin'. And Aronofsky, I thought you were only good for movies that would traumatize the bejesus out of me and keep me off the drugs.
(Speaking of drugs, give a listen to my favorite single from '08 - "Vanished" by Crystal Castles. It's like, the only song on my iPod that fills the same craving that Depeche Mode would fill. Just don't watch the video, it's stupid, unless you're on drugs..):
3. Milk: Dammit, James Franco, I tried to get over my love for you by watching less Freaks & Geeks. Now between Milk and your dorky Fresh Air interview, I guess I’ll have to start crashing MFA classes in NY.
4. The Dark Knight: In the next one I’d like to see Bale be a bit more of a badass and have some more personality, like when he was Laurie in Little Women..
5. Synecdoche, New York: Yeah, there were times during this movie when I wanted it to be paused so that I could try to process what was going on, but I guess that disoriented feeling is Kaufman’s intent. Either way, PSH is again a genius.
6. Slumdog Millionaire: I liked how it was one of the only “feel good” movies I saw this year. (And honorable mentions to Tropic Thunder and Role Models, which are nothing like Slumdog but definitely 'feel good.')
7. Snow Angels: Sam Rockwell is amazing; too bad he didn’t get more screen time in Frost/Nixon.
MOVIES THAT SUCKED!:
Sex & the City: This was absolutely the worst movie of the year. Talk about a movie that’s insulting to females, ambitious people, and the movies in general. I have never seen such cheap drama, such horribly self-referential and vain characters, and such ridiculously juvenile humor. It made me embarrassed to have had so much respect for the show and Michael Patrick King between 1998 and 2004.
Cloverfield: It could have had that Blair Witch Project “I’m so-so scared” thing if you weren’t rooting for all the stupid characters to get killed as quickly as possible. I find myself in rare agreement with Manohla Dargis who thought the 9/11 imagery was tacky as hell.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Really, David Fincher? You really think this movie is any good when you're the same guy who made Zodiac and Seven? And Brad Pitt, are you really taking the whole "I'm Brad Pitt and can make a successful movie no matter what" thing this far? Shame on both of you!
TV:
I kind of missed the boat on TV this year because I was distracted by election coverage. (What is this Mad Men? Wait, you’re telling me The Shield ended like THAT?) Obviously Season 5 of The Wire gets the #1 spot; 30 Rock gets a disappointed wag of the finger, they need to stop gazing into their Emmys and remember how to write funny stuff (how the hell do you make an episode with Steve Martin boring?); The Office gets my surprise at being so consistent as well as a high five for adding Amy Ryan (from THE WIRE) to the cast; I think it’s awesome that Rachel Maddow has her own quirky show that caters to its younger audience by explaining the Middle East conflict with colorful maps and cute, young experts that make me feel unsuccessful; and everyone I know who has seen Keith Olbermann’s Prop 8 speech consider it one of their favorite moments of the election season. Now I want to check out the book, The Big Show, and Sports Night on DVD.
Top 5 Best Moments:
1./2. Barack Obama’s victory/the Celtics championship win over the Lakers (tie)
3. Eli Manning providing the Patriots, Tom Brady, and cocky, obnoxious fans all over New England with the biggest “OH SNAP!” moment of 2008
4. SNL Digital Short: Iran So Far
5. Blagojevich! (And we were worried that 24 hours news and Jon Stewart wouldn’t have any material after the election..)
And if you didn't catch the quote from the top of my post, take a looksee here:
And on that optimistic note, I'll leave you till next year! Happy 2009!
Jeff Moran Slides In
DJ Benzi, Motivation 2 Mixtape (djbenzi.com)
He makes 1+ hour long, slammin' hip hop dance soundtracks. They're worth the risk of having your identity stolen by the sketch file sharing sites that he posts his mp3s to. Though, try to avoid his collabo with Twista.
Dayman Song from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Musical
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHQRzL0GdUA
Are you not watching this show? Do you not know about the shit Pepe Silvia is doing?
Q-Tip, "Gettin Up"
When you drop your first song in 9 years (a dope one at that), make sure that you're wearing a Davy Crockett hat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A3OHelBweY
Charles Hamilton
Video isn't much, but do download the track from hypem.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAyGZWzpUis
Daytona, "Lately"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znbIHaU1tMc
Just a nice, jazzy hip hop song.
Jay-Z, "Brooklyn, We Got Hard"
Alas, confirmation that Kanye does still produce dope tracks, even if they aren't his.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wq4EewAfFE&feature=related
Hot Chip Remix of Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By"
Spacey, creepy, fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYPQMpKklU8
Donnis, "Party Works"
"If you really wanna party, like I really wanna party, shorty we can go party right now." Seriously, why pull out your planner?
Ice-T's Bizarre Video Response to Soulja Boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7FhIUuo6tE
I'm sure you've seen this. If not, it's worth some laughs. Who wears "Iverson" Reebok jerseys anyway?
Band I Happily Discovered This Year:
Final Fantasy
Sometimes I repeat "This Lamb Sells Condos" during my entire morning commute.
Best Beverage to Hit it Big in 2008:
Honest Tea
Essential Blog of 2008: Kanye's
I know he doesn't write it and I don't care.
Rudyz
Hi there.
Sadly, I didn't discover much this year. I'm either lazy, out of touch, or dont know where to find fresh, quality music. All three, maybe? Sometimes I feel like I'm better off not knowing what the kids are listening to, but then my iTunes get stale and I need something new. Muxtape.com was an amazing innovation in 2008. I found a lot of great music through Muxtape and rediscovered songs I hadn't heard in years. And then it was closed by the RIAA. But luckily, the Paulies still exist, and I've discovered a lot of new (for me) music from reading your lists. So thanks everyone, and thanks to Paul.
The 3 albums I discovered this year are:
1. Santogold - Santogold. In a moment of desperation, I asked a musically-inclined friend for new music recommendations. He led me to Santogold and I am indebted to him. It's really original and I'm really impressed by her range.
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago. I don't know how I found this. Makes me sleepy, but very well-made and hasn't gotten old yet.
3. Bullion - Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee. My brother emailed this to me. I'm not usually a fan of remixes, but this version of Pet Sounds is really good. It's been on my iPod shuffle for months.
My not-made-in-2008-but-still-good-in-2008 list would included Philip Glass, Edith Piaf, Juana Molina, Akron Family, Rufus Wainright, and the Darjeeling Limited soundtrack.
Which brings me to my 3 favorite movies of 2008:
1. Vicky Christina Barcelona. After the last 5-plus years of mediocre Woody Allen films, I had very low expectations going in. But I was blown away. Not just good for late-Woody Allen, just a really good film. And a good soundtrack.
2. Reprise. This is a Norwegian film about two young aspiring writers. It may have been made pre-2008, but I'm pretty sure it didn't play theatres in US until 2008. Netflix it.
3. Revolutionary Road. I have a bit of a man crush on Sam Mendes. He's got a style. You either like it or you don't. I happen to like it.
Other mentions: Slumdog Millionaire (minus the hokey parts), Dark Knight (in IMAX), Synecdoche NY (not very successful, but I appreciate the attempt). I'm excited to see The Wrestler and Milk in the coming weeks.
Go AZ Cardinals!
Bye. Rudy A.
Sadly, I didn't discover much this year. I'm either lazy, out of touch, or dont know where to find fresh, quality music. All three, maybe? Sometimes I feel like I'm better off not knowing what the kids are listening to, but then my iTunes get stale and I need something new. Muxtape.com was an amazing innovation in 2008. I found a lot of great music through Muxtape and rediscovered songs I hadn't heard in years. And then it was closed by the RIAA. But luckily, the Paulies still exist, and I've discovered a lot of new (for me) music from reading your lists. So thanks everyone, and thanks to Paul.
The 3 albums I discovered this year are:
1. Santogold - Santogold. In a moment of desperation, I asked a musically-inclined friend for new music recommendations. He led me to Santogold and I am indebted to him. It's really original and I'm really impressed by her range.
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago. I don't know how I found this. Makes me sleepy, but very well-made and hasn't gotten old yet.
3. Bullion - Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee. My brother emailed this to me. I'm not usually a fan of remixes, but this version of Pet Sounds is really good. It's been on my iPod shuffle for months.
My not-made-in-2008-but-still-good-in-2008 list would included Philip Glass, Edith Piaf, Juana Molina, Akron Family, Rufus Wainright, and the Darjeeling Limited soundtrack.
Which brings me to my 3 favorite movies of 2008:
1. Vicky Christina Barcelona. After the last 5-plus years of mediocre Woody Allen films, I had very low expectations going in. But I was blown away. Not just good for late-Woody Allen, just a really good film. And a good soundtrack.
2. Reprise. This is a Norwegian film about two young aspiring writers. It may have been made pre-2008, but I'm pretty sure it didn't play theatres in US until 2008. Netflix it.
3. Revolutionary Road. I have a bit of a man crush on Sam Mendes. He's got a style. You either like it or you don't. I happen to like it.
Other mentions: Slumdog Millionaire (minus the hokey parts), Dark Knight (in IMAX), Synecdoche NY (not very successful, but I appreciate the attempt). I'm excited to see The Wrestler and Milk in the coming weeks.
Go AZ Cardinals!
Bye. Rudy A.
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