Funky Fresh

Trying to delay a final decision on which lever I'm pulling for President (or however they do it in Vermont), I've spent most of today just bumming around the internets. You know, gettin' my Lost on, listening to Spring Training ball games, and finding sweet, sweet new music vids. Here's one, courtesy of Cee-Lo and DJ Danger Mouse, who are dropping a follow up to St. Elsewhere next month. If Gnarls Barkley had ever done Sesame Street circa 1987, it prolly would have looked alot like this:

GB: "Run"

My 42 Favorite Albums of 07 - Part Two, Or: A Polite Listing of Albums 1-10

The Nitty Gritty ~ Ten Albums To Make Your iPod Weep

Okay, so we've knocked down albums 11-42, and that was fun. But here are the best of the lot. So sit back, download Soulseek or iTunes, and find these albums quickly. Your ears will thank you later. I will thank you now.

10. The Angels of Light - We Are Him: Michael Gira scares the hell out of me. The literal Hell. Sometimes, when I listen to his Angels of Light stuff, I'm reminded of music class in High School when Mr. Townsend would play us Stryper in order to illustrate how Christian Rock fit better in the "basement" of the afterlife than in the tranquil perfection of heaven. Being all of 14 at the time, and not really liking Stryper in the first place, I think I just nodded and pretended to understand what he was talking about. If Mr. Townsend had really wanted to make his point, he would have skipped the whole Fundamentalist indictment of CCM and played us something like We Are Him. I can't really put it into words, but I'm of the opinion that Michael Gira writes music that could be described as Transcendent and Depraved in the same moment (which incidentally might not be a bad way to describe living on Earth). At 53 years old, it's amazing that he continues to produce serious art with such immediacy, and in ways that the rest of his baby boomer generation can only imagine (*he says, glaring at Dylan, Springsteen and Neil Young*). We Are Him manages to capture both the spirit of Southern Gothic Literature and Country/Western Music, most clearly on the title track -- four minutes and eleven seconds of pure pagan-Gospel hillbilly-tribal rock. Not for the faint of heart, but saints be praised for the gift of Gira.

9. Uncle Earl - Waterloo, Tennessee: Uncle Earl are a bunch of ladies who know how to rock through bluegrass. While most might be satisfied with the contemporary stylings of Alison Krauss & Union Station, this little cowpoke needs more -- more blue with his grass, more stomp with his fiddle, more tradition with his modern interp. And Uncle Earl deliver on all accounts. Waterloo, Tennessee restores my faith in the purity and continuity of the uniquely Southern musical tradition. When the gloss falls away, it's nice to know that you don't have to find LPs from 1954 to find good bluegrass. Uncle Earl find ways to make the string band genre sound new and fresh and exciting without resorting to the Nashville temptation "to reach a wider audience." If you like your mountain music, and you especially like your mountain music fun and adventurous and oh-so-pretty, give this album a whirl. There might not be a forthcoming sequel to Down from the Mountain, but this might be the next best thing.

8. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: Almost three had years passed since I last thought about Spoon was up to. Their last album, Gimme Fiction, came and went like a lamb, not registering much when it dropped a couple of years back. But Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga managed to seize the cockels of my heart like Kill the Moonlight did, and suddenly, I cared about this band again. And life just seemed better because of it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Fiction seemed to ape the idea of Spoon, not quite capturing the spirit and frenzy of "The Way We Get By" or "Jonathon Fisk." Instead, it was like a B&W Zerox of what a Spoon album should sound like. Everything seemed in place, but it wasn't as vibrant, it wasn't as refreshing. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm describing a soft drink, but that might be a good metaphor for Spoon's music. It won't change your life, but when made correctly it can put a spring in your step and smile on your face. And from the opening notes of "Don't Make Me A Target" it's clear that Britt Daniel and Co. have gotten back to the business of putting smiles on the faces of the faithful. This is what a rock 'n' roll album circa 2007 should sound like. Why the rest of America doesn't agree is a complete and utter mystery.

7. The Innocence Mission - We Walked In Song: Karen Peris is like the Family Room couch -- as long as you keep the dogs off it, it only gets better with age (maybe that's OtR's problem, too many dogs). In an effort to stay away from Cheese and Wine metaphors, I might have just turned you off from sampling this album. If so, that would be a low-down shame. The Innocence Mission have been around the game long enough to have tasted "Alternative" success and survived to go on and become even greater songwriters in the process (the were college radio darlings for their mid-nineties single "Bright as Yellow" donchyano). And basically, I love them to death. In what can only be described as a marriage -- both musical and familial -- made in heaven, Don and Karen Paris make music for every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Delicate vocals, gentle guitar work, subtle bass lines, and percussion so occasional it's almost surprising at times, We Walked in Song delivers it all. And in ways that make you want to hold your breath every time one song ends and a new one begins. Simply lovely.

6. Gatsby the Great - Karuna Rage: This album was a mistake; I downloaded it thinking it was Kanye West's Graduation. I have to admit that from the outset because I am in no way an expert (nor do I even resemble one) in underground rap. Karuna Rage ended up being the musical surprise of the year for me. Most albums I'll have some inkling of, whether from previous familiarity, recommendations from friends, or web buzz. But Gatsby was totally unfamiliar to me. To make it at number six, you'd expect it to have all the hip-hop bells and whistles -- hot producers, crazy samples and tons of guests. Instead, Karuna Rage is probably one of the simplest hip-hop records I own. Homemade production, mostly piano tracks and organic beats, and a simple yet outstanding flow. I still know absolutely nothing about who Gatsby is (Google searches are frustratingly pointless), other than dude is from NYC , he has an affinity for the Howard Beale character in Network, and not everyone likes him as much as I do. Which is too bad, because in a year when hip-hop was something of a turn-off for me, Karuna Rage made me want to take notes and sow my rap oats all over again.

5. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin: I used to think of Band of Horses as a Pac-NW ripoff of My Morning Jacket. And now I can say with all honesty and humility that I was very, very wrong. These guys have got it, whatever it is, and that it translates to one of my favorite rock albums of the year. Cease to Begin. . . .um, begins with a bang called "Is There a Ghost," and hardly lets up for 35 solid minutes. At the moment, I can't get over the more countryish tracks like "The General Specific" and "Marry Me," -- countryish because while not actual country songs, they employ some gorgeous Mason-Dixon-inspired harmonies that reel me in a little more with every listen. If Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Cease to Begin were parallel lines cut by a transversal, then the pairs of their corresponding angles would most definitely be congruent. It's only because Top Ten Lists are better understood than random bunches of records that I reluctantly rank one of these albums "above" the other. I almost fully assume that where one goes, the other will follow. It's my own personal 2007 rock 'n' roll postulate.

4. Akron/Family - Love Is Simple: There's something of a disconnect between hippies and their music -- Jefferson Airplane and early Dead made some really great tunes. It's just when hippies open their mouths it tends to spoil the whole mystique; it's then when you realize that they're no more wise or transcendent or in-tune with reality than you are. What sounded like amazing words of love and acceptance when sung turn to bloated gibberish when said aloud without music. Maybe that's something for the Church to think about. Maybe not. But when a band like Akron/Family come around, with songs titled "Love, Love, Love (Everyone)" and "Don't Be Afraid, You're Already Dead"; and albums called Meek Warrior and Love Is Simple, my natural instinct is to love the music, hate the message. But Akron/Family do something the old hippies just couldn't. They shut the hell up and jam. Yes, I've said it once and I'll say it again. I can't stand Jam Bands. Except when the jam never overtakes the band. Akron/Family play Jazz as Rock 'n' Roll, or maybe Rock 'n' Roll as Jazz. To stick them with the Hippie or Jam Band labels doesn't began to describe their music. Love Is Simple is everything modern Praise & Worship could be if those musicians put half as much thought into their music as they did into updating Hebrew Psalms for a modern, image driven, consumer packaged culture. Am I digressing? Yes. But know this: Love Is Simple takes the ideas of Jesus Christ and Woodstock and sets them to some really bitching tunes. In case you haven't heard, Akron/Family are phenomenally sick musicians. Their jams are never pointless, and always weird as hell. Why these guys aren't huge in Vermont is beyond me. Maybe they're too good. Maybe they're too true. Maybe they're too lovely for people to stand. I don't know. But I do know that this album should be heard by joyous people, because it will increase their joy: They will be glad as in the time of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

3. Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse: Folk music originated everywhere -- continually originates everywhere -- especially in the American South. Bowerbirds are a new folk band from North Carolina, and play a brand of folk oft times tagged as nu-folk, which is sort of ridiculous because they stand firmly among the old folk traditions of love and land and hard times. Hymns for a Dark Horse is one of those rare debut albums that capture a young band in its young band prime. That an album this good is a debut album is beside the point -- or maybe it's above it -- because the point is this: Folk music needs more artists who aren't afraid to write lyrics like It takes a lot of nerve to destroy this wondrous earth. Whatever you think of folk music in general, leave it by the wayside before listening to Hymns for Dark Horse. This album is not about making a statement (though there are statements made). It's not about maintaning an image (though the imagery is clearly there). And it's not about defining a genre and appealing to a certain clique (though it sounds like a certain music for a certain people). This album is about carefully crafting songs, balancing words and music in powerful ways, creating new tunes for new times, that speak of old themes and old mysteries. Were it not for three other people in the whole wide world, this would be my favorite album of the year. And unlike albums one and two, I would recommend Hymns for a Dark Horse to every person I know, and every person I don't know, and all the people that fall in between.

2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch: This album came to me in a storm. I think I downloaded it sometime late last winter, before it had even been released, and immediately fell in love. Panda Bear is another part of that Animal Collective, and after Person Pitch, probably my favorite part. The few few seconds of "Comfy in Nautica" literally woke me up from a long, dark winter above the 42nd parallel in New England. The idea of Brian Wilsonian sunshine pop in January might sound strange, but it really, honestly fits. Words are words, and they do an awful good job getting us around on most days. But words have very little to say when it comes to Person Pitch. It's the music, stupid. That's what's got my tongue strings and heart strings in knots. It's like a thousand nights of being wrapped up in your favorite blanket, listening to the stars. Or a thousand days of hanging out in the kiddy pool, content to simply be content with everything that everyone else says make you less-than. This is an album about being and becoming, and in that sense it's about the end of the world as much as it's about the moment we're in. There are times when you feel like a kid, and then there are times when you become a kid. If the kingdom of heaven doesn't sounds alot like this, then someone up above better have a really good reason.

1. Nina Nastasia & Jim White - You Follow Me: I can't even remember just how I came into contact with Nina Nastasia and You Follow Me. But thank goodness for providence, because Miss Nastasia is one for the ages, beautiful in song, and Jim White is her perfect foil, probably the most bad-ass drummer ever. When you think of singer-songwriters, you don't think of jazz and bop and music that swings. Until you hear You Follow Me, then you do, and you can't believe you never did, and the world falls out from under you, and proclaim this album your favorite of the year. Nina Nastasia was new to me this year; every album of her back catalog like a long lost gift from an old friend. But it was her collaboration with Dirty Three drummer Jim White that brought me into the fold, and made me a fan for life. I tried explaining to my brother what this album was about, and how it was the same as any other girl-singing-over-her-guitar album, and how it wasn't like anything you've ever heard before ever in the history of history. Nastasia is a superb songwriter, but we've heard that before. Nastasia has a captivating vocal presence, but we've heard that before, too. And White can drum, but so could Roach, Peart and Bonham. But they never played with Nina Nastasia, and that's their loss. In just ten tracks and thirty minutes, this pair rip through volumes of folk, jazz and pop, producing probably the quietest, most intense album the year. And my favorite musical moment of 2007. From opening to closing, I simply couldn't get enough. This is 2007 for me. And I am so very, very grateful.

My 42 Favorite Albums of 07 - Part One, Or: Random Thoughts and Bullet Points

List City, Man!

2007 was a good year for music. I'm nearly 80% positive that that's a true statement. Since I've been without a home computer for over a year now, I've gotten back into the habit of listening to CDs on actual stereo systems and boom boxes. It's been rather pleasant. Unlike last year, I didn't go through quite so many random downloading phases, so this year's list is a little more focused. Downloading is scarce for a brother without a computer, but that doesn't mean I failed to gorge myself on new tunes.

Now the reason I'm only 80% positive that 2007 was a good for music is this: Lots of "good" music sucked. There were some albums that were just plain unlistenable (I'm talking to you Wilco, Josh Ritter and Rilo Kiley!). Others were major disappointments: Over the Rhine went from "sophisticated" to "boring" on Trumpet Child, a fine line to be sure, but one they've skated triumphantly for some time now. And who would have thought Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan, the half-voices and half-brains behind Animal Collective and Múm, could thud so hard? Even when reversed back to normal, Pullhair Rubeye wasn't much to listen to. And Modest Mouse's big team-up with Johnny Marr? Not quite as middling as Good News for People Who Love Bad News, but that's not saying much.

One last note before we get into the grime: There were a few albums I completely ignored this year. This happens on an annual basis, really, and shouldn't be taken the wrong way. Some albums I need to just wait until the right time to hear and appreciate. So you won't see Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface, M.I.A., Beirut, White Stripes, Lucinda Williams or Kayne West on this list. Maybe next year, I guess. We'll see. Now, on with the show.

42. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity: What more is there to say about Deerhoof? This: They are basically all that's left of anything resembling punk rock these days. In fact, they're actually too punk for punk rock. Cereal.

41. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above: Dave Longstreth has never really been a favorite of mine, and neither has Black Flag, but this album has legs, people. It's got legs and it knows how to use them.

40. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted: Girl pop is back! At least in the UK. They really are much hipper than us.

39. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism: This album would have been in my top ten four years ago -- mellow, sweet sounds of country-ish/folk with occasionally off the wall subject matter. Like Whiskeytown fronted by a younger, happier version of Tom Waits. Sort of. I don't know. It's nice, I guess.

38. The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City: Will Fiery Furnaces ever release another album that makes me giddy all over for days at a time? Widow City is good times, but it's not hella good times, and that my friend, makes all the difference.

37. Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War: Maybe it is trite indie-pop for late 20-somethings, but I don't care dammit! Duets on almost every song! Sweet, suite serenades! Good for late, over-caffeinated nights while driving through New Jersey! Suck it, Pitchfork!

36. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala: I only downloaded this cause Ryan Schreiber told me to. I'm such a hypocrite. It's actually quite excellent. I should've ranked it higher. Sorry, Jens.

35. St. Vincent - Marry Me: Annie Clark is the new Karen O, only clever. So clever. "Jesus Saves, I Spend" is my fourth favorite single of the year. Also, she's the prettiest girl in indie pop at any given time. Like now. Or now. Maybe not now. But now. Yes, now.

34. The Bees - Octopus: The Bees play old-timey music, but not that old-timey, more like 66-72 old-timey. So not really old-timey at all, actually. I like it, though.

33. Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation: The winner of the most fractured album of the year award, a field recording of dissociative identity disorder to the tune of country/folk/jazz/jam/fuzz/rock. That means nothing to me, either. Good night.

32. James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing: Yes! The prettiest album of 2007 that doesn't have lyrics! Take that you electro-ambient fiends! Acoustic guitar arrangements can rock your face off and lull you to sleep!

31. Shannon Wright - Let In The Light: Shannon Wright is like Tori Amos if Tori Amos were punk. Or good, for that matter. Oh crap. I just plagiarized myself.

30. Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block: I was burning "Young Folks" on my May 2007 mix waaaaaay before it became the theme song for Sears/JC Penney/Target/Wal-Mart! And now everyone hates it! But not me! I don't watch commercials! Internet-television rocks!

29. The Go! Team - Proof of Youth: Maybe not as fun as Thunder, Lightning, Strike, but neither is Vermont. And I'm still here. So I guess that says something.

28. Frontier Folk Nebraska - The Devil's Tree EP: I have no idea when this EP came out, so maybe it doesn't even fit here. Do you like dusty folk? Do you like folk, Dusty? Do you like folk that no one else has heard of? Ever? Then go here. You too, can be as cool as me. Try it today!

27. Caribou - Andorra: Caribou lights fires in me that I never knew existed. It's sunny music for late nights. Where have you been all my life? To the north!

26. Feist - The Reminder: I liked "Mushuboom", but this takes the cake. Yes, cake. Go to Leslie Ann Feist. She is yours and you are hers! Her banner over us is love!

25. The New Pornographers - Challengers: Okay, this album possibly sucked. But when you think of it as a follow up to The Slow Wonder, you might really start to like it. I mean it. Burn the drum slowly. See where it goes. What have you got to lose?

24. Battles - Mirrored: Is this math rock? Post-rock? Prog rock? Well, your mom is prog rock. Oh crap. Now I'm plagiarizing internet trolls.

23. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver: When I first heard this album, I thought, meh. I think my heart wasn't calibrated correctly. Were the batteries out? Then "Time to Get Away" became my second favorite single of the year. This album is the boss hog, sister. The. Boss. Hog.

22. The National - Boxer: I keep telling everyone I know -- these guys write the songs that U2 wish they still had in their brains, but don't, because they made Rattle and Hum and all heaven and earth came crashing down in the terribleness that was 1988. It's not like Boxer's all signature delay; and Matt Berninger sounds nothing like Bono. But still, U2 are sooo jealous of these guys. Because this album sounds great. And moving. And cathartic. And oh, you know, relevant.

21. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings: "WHAM City" is my single of the year. Dan Deacon is my golden elephant of shiny, flickery, jump-up-and-down happiness. I don't understand half his electro-beat stuff, but that's okay. We're still prominent friends.

20. Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon: Disappointing? At times. Unfocused? Oh, yes. But I'm sofa king retarded for DB. "Seahorse" might just be my most favoritest moment of his career so far. Careen! Yes, Karen, you have a phone call.

19. Taken By Trees - Open Field: From the voice of the Concretes, only more Glasgow. Quiet and pretty as all get out. And better than I'm giving it credit for here.

18. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam: You rock, rock! I took a nap one night when I could have seen them live. I don't regret it. I regurgitate it.

17. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog: If I didn't have to skip the first two tracks every time I put this one in the CD player, it could've have been a top 10 contender. Sam Beam has stolen my heart and hidden it under Joanna Newsom's couch. Gross.

16. Múm - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy: Another album that grew on me after a while. Sure, it's nothing like Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK, but don't sweat it. Just go with the flow. Hey, Flow! These guys are with you! Thanks!

15. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha: I listened to this album way more than I should have. I kind of hate it now. But for most of 2007, it was one of my favs. Andrew Bird is such a nice, young boy. Good mannered. Excellent whistler. Enjoys his tea bitter and his women bitterer.

14. Patty Griffin - Children Running Through: Seeing her live was kind of terrible, but only because I was the only person who looked like me at the theatre. I never knew she had so many old, old fans. One of my true, true loves, even if my fellow Fatty Pans (thanks Liz!) are all collecting Social Security checks.

13. The National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear: Oh, jeez. Seriously, the prettiest quiet album of the year. No kidding. If not for Sonya Cotten, I wouldn't be able to stand it anymore (another album I overplayed this summer). But whenever she chimes in on these sunny songs of murder, rape and mayhem, I go all melty.

12. Pharoahe Monch - Desire: I missed alot of hip-hop this year, but not Monch's return. Well-worth it? Well answer me this, what hath God wrought. That's right: "Body Baby." I can't believe this isn't everyone's album of the year. Including my own. We're all bastards!

11. Menomena - Friend and Foe: This is the closest thing I'll ever get to jam-bandiness, outside of the Akron/Family's New Age Love-fests. But if all jam bands jammed liked Menomena, who aren't really a jam band at all, then the world (especially Vermont, oh God Vermont!) would be a much better place. I'm not kidding. People listen to crappy music around here. It's kind of depressing.

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Ha! You didn't think I was going to give you the whole list today, did you? Never! I need time to recollect my thoughts, and collect album art work, and call my physician. Albums one through ten will have to wait. No flipping!

Vermont Public Radio Is Getting Better Every Day

Meets Requirements Satisfactorily

After something of a rant last winter about how much I hated Vermont Public Radio, I've been slowly getting acclimated to an NPR that plays loads and loads of classical music every day. I wasn't very happy making the transition from Chicago Public Radio to VPR, but after a while you just sort of get used it. And Walter Parker is the man, so that helps.

Yet little by little, VPR has been adding programs (or sometimes programmes!) that I enjoy. One night last June I noticed that the World was broadcast every night after Marketplace. O Joy!* Then came news that VPR would be splitting its Classical Network into a separate entity. Starting tomorrow VPR will feature news programs from 9am-3pm -- and that's not all! They've also added American Routes on Saturday nights!**

I'd like to think they saw my blog and took my advice and that I'm pretty much all powerful and awesome to behold in my glory and strength and wisdom and honor forever and ever until the Day of the LORD or Ragnarok or whichever comes first. But let's face it, I'm not and they didn't. Or at least I don't think so from their press release.

VPR didn't follow all my instructions, however. Day to Day is on the new schedule (O Alex Chadwick! How I love you so!) As is BBC Newshour. (Damn fine journalists, those Lobsterbacks!) But no To the Point. (Warren Olney, I'll tie a yellow ribbon for you!) Instead, we've got WBUR's On Point, which I'm not exactly wild about. But when the latter program is from Boston and the former is from California, it makes sense, East Coast Bias and all. KCWR gets no love from the Green Mountain State. Sorry, Nic Harcourt.

Furthermore, This American Life is still not airing in its natural Friday night home, which is just plain immoral. And still no Tavis Smiley Show on the weekends. The Rutland Herald is reporting that all 17 Afro-Americans in Vermont are up in arms. Just kidding. They don't care, either.

All in all, it's a nice improvement, though somewhat sad. For the near future I won't have access to VPR Classical in Rutland unless I purchase a digital receiver (fat chance of that on an AmeriCorps budget), which means no more Peter Fox Smith and Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. And like I said, Walter Parker is the man. Though apparently, he loves music more than journalism. Some days, though, I don't blame him.


*Though now that summer hours are over, and I'm back to Noon-7:30 hours at work, it hasn't been quite so joyous.
**Though maybe they did that ages ago. I'm usually out doing something at that time; though that something is usually no more anti-social and boring and unproductive as listening to the radio all by myself on a Saturday night, so don't think I'm Joe Camel or Marty McFly.

Take That Villainy!

Sticking with the P-Fork theme:

Kim Gordon: Starbucks "Less Evil Than Universal"

Sure, why not.

Jokey McJokepants

From the Onion, Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8

Probably the funniest line comes from the (fake) mouth of EIC Ryan Schreiber: "In the end, though music can be brilliant at times, the whole medium comes off as derivative of Pavement."

We Are All Sufjan Stevens

Thanks to the Internets, it's alot easier to hear about new tunes. And to actually hear them, too. Case in point, the music of Mr. Sufjan Stevens. He's been awful quiet since The Avalanche was released last summer, yet slowly but surely, new songs are trickling out -- even if they aren't necessarily from a new Sufjan album, states related or non.

First, a song from A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, which was released in April. Mr. Stevens covers Ms. Mitchell's "A Free Man in Paris," of which I have no prior knowledge, seeing as my infatuation with her began and ended very quickly, over a matter of days, and never recovered. Pitchfork has been streaming it for weeks now, but in case you missed it, here it is:



It's classic, big-band Sufjan, or at least recently classic, big-band Sufjan, which is how most people know him anyways.

However, not-so-classic Sufjan is right around the corner, on an upcoming compilation from McSweeney's The Believer. Stevens has flashed rock cred in the past, but this new track, "In The Words Of The Governor," really gets the blood pumping unlike anything else in his back catalog. Be prepared for a surprise if you like the pretty Sufjan best, courtesy of Stereogum (follow the link for a stream of the cut).

And finally, back to pretty Sufjan, and a video (from blogotheque and dailymotiom) of the man himself covering The Innocence Mission's gorgeous "Lakes of Canada" from their album Birds Of My Neighborhood. Banjo? Check. Shyness? Check. Rooftop performance? Check. Ah, who cares which Sufjan you like best. The man is just plain good at what he does, however it is he does it.

So there you go, true believers. Maybe one of these days we'll see another 50 States album. Or maybe a Seven Swans-ish rock-your-face-off fest. I couldn't care less what it is, as long as it's sooner rather than later. Much sooner.

I seen her, ages ago, and lived to tell the tale.

Last month I took a little trip to Northampton, Mass to see little a singer-songwriter named Patty Griffin. And behold, everything that I saw was good.

So Patty was basically her bad self all night long. I've got to say (this being the first time I'd seen her in concert) I had built this show up in my mind more than a person ought to. But Miss Griffin hit one out of the park that night. Except for the first two songs (a French lullaby and a guitarless "torch" tune that I was unfamiliar with), it was a night of day dreams come true.

Patty without her guitar at the beginning was a bit disconcerting, for both the audience and Miss Griffin. She was doing some uncomfortable hand gesturing/dancing that you see women twice her age trying during that concert by The Tokens that PBS kept showing during Pledge Week. But once she strapped on that guitar....good Lord. Songs from all over the place came out -- Living with Ghosts, Flaming Red, 1000 Kisses, Impossible Dream, Children Running Through -- even some love from Silver Bell. My stomach nearly flew out my mouth when she started playing the chords to Truth #2, I kid you not.

The only drawback was how much the damn show actually cost. $30 bucks for a ticket? This is the reason I liked Chicago so much. $14 for Joanna Newsom and The Handsome Family. $12 for Sufjan Stevens. $8 (yeah, $8!) for Damien Jurado. But I guess you can get away with that when most of your audience are Baby-Boomers. And oh how those Boomers showed up that night! I was surprised by how few people my age were there. Except for the nice lesbian couple I sat by, there was no one in my section who was within 10 years of me. Good golly, Miss Griffin. But what can you do?

All in all, a very good night of music. Even if it looked more like a Simon & Garfunkel show that it ought to have. But those tunes! O my those tunes!


Photo courtesy of Rick Harris' photostream. Don't be mad, Rick. I'm real poor. Pity me.

Blusic II: Friday Night Lights

This show has got the goods. Last fall, when I was in full TV overload, Friday Night Lights was just one of a number of impressive pilots offered by NBC. These days, however, it's one of only two or three shows I've stuck with through the entire 06-07 season. Studio 60 sort of fizzled and imploded on its way to a slow, painful death. Heroes got bogged down by a lack of zip and interesting characterization. Kidnapped....well, I'm not sure what the hell happened there. How long did it even last -- three episodes? But FNL. It just kept getting better and better.

One of my favorite parts of the show -- besides the acting and the writing and the camera-work and the attention to small detail and the acting (again) -- is the music. I try to forget how often craptastic music has laid low some of my favorite shows (J.J. Abrams choice of 75% absolute shite in the background and foreground and montages of Alias quickly springs to mind). But Friday Night Lights must have some smart people in their music licensing department. Over the course of 20 episodes so far, we've heard music from Explosions in the Sky, Iron & Wine, Spoon, Jose Gonzalez, TV on the Radio, Heartless Bastards, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, the Old 97s, the Go! Team, Whiskeytown, a Daniel Johnston cover, Camera Obscura, Beulah, Broken Social Scene and the Stooges. Even appearances by Justin Timberlake and TobyMac (yes, that TobyMac) seemed to fit seamlessly into the fabric of the show. And I'll say it again, yes that TobyMac.

It helps, that a show this good doesn't distract by employing a terrible soundtrack. It makes the acting and the writing and the camera-work and the attention to small detail and the acting (again) all the more powerful and moving. That I enjoy this show, and that I enjoy Iron & Wine, and that this show enjoys Iron & Wine, sort of brings everything to a harmonious full circle. Yes, that's cheesy. But it's also transcendent. And it's what elevates Friday Night Lights head and shoulders above most of the schlock on TV these days.

And it's just one of the elements that make Friday Night Lights the best hour of television you'll find, this week, last week, and all season long. Keep your fingers crossed for a second season, because if any freshmen show deserves a year two, it's FNL.


*Screencap courtesy of Friday Night Lights Online.

Blusic

The talk of the town.

Oh music, my music. I basically love your friggin' guts. Nuts and guts. Gutters, too. Music is best that can be listened to in gutters, or by gutters, or behind shutters, or in closets.

I used to have this really great closet in Michigan. I kept all kinds of stuff in it. Baseball cards. Comic books. Hats. Old G.I. Joes. Free pens and pencils. Milk crates. Lots of other stuff, too.

But not music. That went on the dresser. All of it on the dresser. I don't have a dresser anymore. I lost that dresser. I lost my computer, too, and all 20,000 songs along with it. Except I have the computer in a box in my apartment. I can't say the same for the dresser. But at least with the computer-in-a-box, I can set things to rest on it. My dresser is firewood now. Or maybe worse. Maybe it's still sitting in my old room in Wisconsin, empty and sad and lonely and confused why it didn't move with me or David or my parents. I'm sorry dresser. I'm sorry computer. If it makes you feel any better, you have not been replaced.

What was I talking about? Oh, yes. Music. Andy tagged me. Music-tagged me. Web-tagged me. Blog-bagged me. On this fake computer (not the Potter boy, mind you, but a PC) I use at work, there are some 2381 songs from which to choose from. Here are the rules:

1. scan through your itunes or cd library. refamiliarize yourself with the nooks and crannies of your musical options.
2. identify five categories — genres, if you will — of music. these should be as obscure and finely-articulated as you’d like. feel free to use modifiers liberally.
3. nominate — select, really — a “perfect song” for each category. include a link for each song to something (the amazon page for the CD, or the artist’s website, or whatever).
4. ideally, some of the songs will be nominally obscure, or, at least, not completely mainstream and overplayed. no need to tell us all about songs we all know!

So here are five, five songs I like, five songs I lurve. Five songs for campfires and fireflies and flying with wings as eagles. Take that Chris Tomlin! I would kill you at writing worship songs! I know some Coldplay! I know some U2! I owned the first Delirious LP before any of the others! I knew Hungry back when it was a Vineyard secret! I have not only built a treehouse, but the Holy Ghost parties there with John Wimber all the time!

Note: Like Andy, I will use my terribly-tagged iTunes genres. Which is exactly how I like my genre tags in the first place.

1. Taken from Alt.Pop, Long Lost Brother from Over the Rhine's Ohio. (How else do you categorize Karen and Linford?) This song literally got me through my Montana year like hell on hind's feet. Thought you'd be further along by now? Believe brother, down to the letter. OtR stripped down to their post-Good-Dog-Bad-Dog-era basics, all piano and slide guitar glory. Glory! Someone get me a puddin' pop!

2. Taken from Folk, We All Know from Devendra Banhart's Nino Rojo. Smiles to faces, faces to arses, arses to animals, dancing so. Like I said, this is why DB brings smiles to my faces, and makes my clavicles shakeses. He is like smiling. He is smiling. Issa, Queen of the snake people couldn't have said it better. Play that ticker-tape-guitar! It's a parade at the end of the world! It's the earth's end and time is like nothing! It's only track 3! Error! Error! Cannot compute!

3. Taken from Hip-Hop, The Only One from Ghetto Pop Life by Danger Mouse & Jemini. Boom-di-yada! Up in the facility! The faculty can't take it! My faculties can't task it! Multitask? Like a miracle! Break this down. Take this down. Jemini and his friend D-A-N-G-E-R-M-O-U-S-E! Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Wreck yourself before you let yourself never hear this towering tune. Leave this page right now. Install Soulseek. Download this song. Checkmate.

4. Taken from Indie, Bros by Panda Bear from Person Pitch. Like OtR, I don't know what to call this. Better than blood pumping through my veins seemed a bit much. So many repetitions! So many sweet harmonies! So many sallow sounds! Sounds Familiar? Like family? Biking across Europe? Hiking across Sudan? Su-don't! Listen to this instead! Bristle with thistle! Shamrock with Panda Bamrock! Again and again and again and again. Do not forget. Again and again and again and again. Rinse. Repeat. Again and again and again and again. Twice daily, after flossing, and before bed. Or always. The eternal flame of the Seven Wood Club shines for really long periods of time!

5. Taken from Young God (because I believe it really is a genre unto itself) Dylan, Pt. 2 by Akron/Family & The Angels of Light, from their self-titled sort-of split cd. Lots of freaky guitar! Lot of creaky vocals! Lots of ru-ru-rillie-a-ru! I found what I'm looking for boys! This freaking song! This reeking song! Blonde on blonde on blonde on blonde! Bound for Singapore! Round the ring once more! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I hear Jesus and the Angels calling me home! Pedro just swore! Now that's more like it!

End.


p.s. I tag Jake and Paco. Jake because he downloaded alot of new music and needs to share his opinions. And Paco because he never writes full blogs on the Haven.

I knew there was a reason I let my subscription to Spin Magazine run out!

And it wasn't just the departure of Chuck Klosterman.

Sometime last year Spin gussied herself up with a new format, one that looked more like a hipster version of the those supermarket celeb rags than an entertaining music mag. I only had an issue or two left, and the new format change made it much easier to just let my 5 year subscription expire. It was the first time I stopped reading a magazine because I got too old for it since Jr. High, when my parents stopped getting Focus on the Family's Breakaway for me every year for Christmas. In regards to Spin, I was only 26, yet I suddenly realized this magazine wasn't geared towards me any longer.*

Enter an article I found on MusicSnobbery.com today while looking for record reviews on the net. The format change was part of a larger target demographic shift** for the magazine spearheaded by their new editor, Andy Pemberton, formerly of Blender Magazine -- one of the few music magazines whose birth was used to herald the beginning of the end times. While Spin hadn't resorted to centerfold spreads of the Pussycat Dolls, it had dumbed down much of its content, choosing to spend more time reviewing hot party scenes and rock star sitings than actual music journalism. I have no idea if the format shift has helped the bottom line in recent months, but one can only hope that its sales volume has gone down the crapper -- and left Chuck Klosterman laughing at his good luck to get the hell out with his dignity intact.

...At least as much dignity as one could hope to have after having written for the Entertainment Weekly of music magazines.


*Contrast that to two years ago when I stopped subscribing to Paste Magazine after realizing I was too young for its format. There were some great interviews and it sure looked pretty, but I couldn't stand the lack of emphasis on anything outside of the Triple-A genre.

**And prior ownership change

Old/New Music I Rocked To In 2006, A Top Whatever List

2006 was basically a year I used to catch up on things I should have listened to a long time ago. A few things were new/new, but not enough for their own list. Other things were partial new/old, meaning I finally got around to listening to an album I had downloaded months before. Here are some of those things, in some sort of order:

1. Alan Lomax recordings - Southern Journey series, Vols. 1-13 - All of my favorite albums of the year. I went through this awesome folk phase last summer, culminating in these recordings from 50 years ago: Volumes 9 & 10 / 11 & 12 blew me away, the former with hours of shape-note singing, the latter with the Georgia Sea Island singers. I wish the contemporary worship scene would ingest this somehow, giving it untold strength and power, and less Coldplay riffs. Get these albums at any cost.

2. Rachel's - systems/layers - Oi, this is good stuff. Mostly modern classical, quasi-orchestral stuff, with sort of a post-rock-ish and something-I-can't-quite-put-my-finger-on vibe. Whatever it's called, it's real pretty.

3. Danielson - Ships - Boom yeah! Danielson sails fast, Danielson sails sure!

4. Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas - The CDs that broke my 5-month downloading fast. Gooodness gracious that man/boy can write, sing and play.

5. Damien Jurado - Where Shall You Take Me? - An album I missed when it came out, my friend Portia burnt me a copy before I saw him in Chicago. It may be his best since Rehearsals for Departure. If not, it's still damn good.

6. Vaughan Williams - Riders to the Sea / Fantasia on Greensleeves - Basically I love this guy, dead though he may be.

7. Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite: The Very Best of Jackie Wilson - Ditto. Only more like wild love.

8. Eric B. & Rakim -– Paid In Full - Rakim, now RAKIM, pretty much lives in awesometown 24/7.

9. Yann Tiersen - Basically alot: La Valse des Monstres / Rue Des Cascades / Le Phare / L' Absente / Tout Est Calme / Les Retrouvailles / Black Session - One of my binges this year, downloading all the Yann Tiersen I could get my hands on. Unfortunately, I had burned none of it to CD before my computer died. But so many good listens while I had it.

10. Buddy & Julie Miller - Love Snuck Up - I like country music sometimes. Buddy Miller is why.

11. The Stanley Brothers - Angel Band: The Classic Mercury Recordings / The Complete Columbia Recordings - The Stanley Brothers are why, too.

12. Over the Rhine - Snow Angels - More Christmas goodies from OtR. This time with less depression.

13. Snowglobe - Our Land Brains - Oh mans, Manserly, I want to be a Elephant 6er.

14. The Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker - Me, too.

15. Clem Snide - Your Favorite Music - I had a little Clem Snide ep that I've been listening to for a couple of years now, but I didn't go out of my way to hear anything else from them until this year. I badly-loved Your Favorite Music for weeks beginning with my trip to Montana last April. Good frontier music.

16. King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader - Quirky rap. Hot rap. This deserves a cartoon special.

17. The Concretes - The Concretes in Color - Summer pop done real good. Been awaiting May 07 since September 06.

18. Mi and L'au - Mi and L'au - Jake downloaded this and good thing, too, because basically it was the best album for listens after 2:00am for all summer long. Where are they from? I forget. Somewhere better than America, though.

19. Danger Mouse and Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life - Catching up on an album I had had for a couple years now, but didn't sit down with head phones until last spring. Spring is nice. So is this.

20. Half-Handed Cloud - Thy Is A Word & Feet Need Lamps - Discovered while searching for the new Danielson album, I think. Maybe not. But this one-man band is pretty much the best one-man band I know, sir.

21. DAT Politics - Wow Twist - Good pick, Paco. Thanks for getting the words out of your mouth.

22. Amadou et Mariam - Tje ni mousso - Africa, my Africa! Amadou & Mariam make me want to run and jump very high. And love animals real bad, too.

23. Sam Cooke -– Night Beat - My favorite soul singer lights it up -- on a studio album!

24. Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours - I'm taking back Frank Sinatra.

25. Common - One Day It'll All Make Sense - Good for Chicago driving. Another album lost in the computer crash of aught-six.

26. The Clutters - The Clutters - Some rock and roll band I came across. With farfisa hooks.

27. Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show / Fear of a Black Planet - Chuck D drops bombs like a fierce sumbitch.

28. The Breeders - Pod - Way better than Bossanova. Frank Black should be ashamed.

29. Elizabeth Cotten -– Freight Train And Other North Carolina Folk Songs - Part of the folk and blues phase I mentioned. Miss Cotten plays meaner than your mom.

30. The Beatles - Please Please Me to A Hard Day's Night - Speaking of moms, my mom used to have all these on vinyl. She saw them live in 1964. I'm very jealous.

31. Method Man - Tical - My first forray outside of 36 Chambers. Bad-love it.

32. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names Â- #3 - Cutesy, indie pop for the kids who were 7 when Belle & Sebastian dropped Tigermilk. Still, surprisingly yummy.

33. Charles Aznavour - Sus Mas Grandes Exitos - In the Yann Tiersen binge, I came across some more Frenchies, like this guy. Would be sexier were I female.

34. Giacomo Puccini - La Boheme - Trying to learn to like opera. Puccini makes it easier.

35. Quasi - When the Going Gets Dark - These guys have been around forever and now I just hear them for the first time and now I just like them for the first time. And forever. Like Over the Rhine, but with knives.

36. Defiance, OH - The Great Depression - Socialist, possibly anarchist, Woody Guthrie inspired folk-punk. Much better than Toledo, OH, as well.

37. Alan Lomax recordings - Southern Journey series, Vols. 1-13 - I'm not kidding. Go get these songs, right now, dammit!

Harry Potter, Ghostface Killah

Oh how I wish they were one and the same!

• On Monday, The Scotsman had a pair of exclusive pics from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which might have been my favorite book of the series). A day later, Comingsoon.net posted three additional pics from the movie (that's one, above). I would expect more to come in the next few weeks, possibly even a trailer by Thanksgiving or Christmas. The films hits on July 13th and I'm all good and excited about it.
• In other Harry Potter news, Newsweek has Emma Watson, who plays the supposedly buck-toothed Hermione Granger in the films, wavering on whether or not she'll come back for the last two Potter films. Before we all cry foul, it makes sense. Watson states in the article that she's looking forward to university, that a commitment would keep her filming for until she's 20, and that she isn't even sure if acting is what she wants for a career. Read the short Newsweek blurb hither, or the full interview thither.
• And lastly, I promised you Ghostface, I'll give you Ghostface! Dennis Coles, aka Ghostface Killah, is on record saying that it's alright for poor people to download his records rather than buy them. In an interview with the Associated Press about a possible Wu-Tang reunion, Ghostface admits that he doesn't like illegal downloading, but lets folks who can't afford to buy the album off the hook, saying, "I mean, if you're poor, yeah."

Seriously, this is the first time I can remember an artist mentioning poor people in the downloading equation. It's interesting that most artists don't even think in those terms (can you imagine say, Rod Stewart, allowing poor people to have his music for free?). But Ghostface (who saw plenty of the worst life has to offer growing up poor and selling drugs on Staten Island) will let it slide if you don't have the benjamins or cheddar or whatever it is the kids call money these days. It just goes to show that some artists are more aware than others that middle/upper-class white folk aren't the only people who listen to music.

Mark Kozelek Sings Anything Other Than Modest Mouse

In light of the "12 most important bands" debate going on at Andy Sikora's blog & Midwest Mindset, I had a thought about music in general yesterday that might bring peace and joy to all mankind and volcanoes, too.

I was reading this one part in High Fidelity where Marie LaSalle plays a short set in Rob's record shop, and mixes in a bunch of cover songs from artists Rob sells, and this is what flashed in my brain: All bands/artists ought to devote around half their sets to cover songs. Because all bands have influences, (and of the ones I'd like to see) I wouldn't mind hearing them sing and perform some of those influences. And of the ones I'd rather not see, maybe they'd be so embarrassed that the reason they first picked up a guitar was because of Hootie and the Blowfish, that they'd actually start seeking out more carefully crafted songs to cover, and actually become more talented songwriters because of it.

There are some genres, like country or jazz, that just lend themselves to covers -- and it's never thought to be hackneyed or derivative in the least. In fact, jazz artists never even play covers, they perform standards. Something by Ella Fitzgerald or Miles Davis or Duke Ellington. And everybody goes nuts over it.

But maybe rock bands can't do that. Maybe they're so used to trying to find their own sound (or trying to sound exactly like band-X) that to cover too many songs would be detrimental to everything they stand for (or expose them for the charlatans they are). I don't know. But I do know we'd be better off as a listening public if the artists we enjoy would play more things by the artists they enjoy.

Besides, we could all stand to hear more new music, especially if it's new music that we might not have ever heard otherwise.