I'm finally posting my Best Music of 2009 list, complete with justifications and occasional long-winded back stories. Five of the bands on my list I also saw live in 2009 (and three of them prior to that) and several others are on my wish list for seeing live in 2010. So here goes:
Fanfarlo: Reservoir because I think this album is flawless start to finish. There's not a weak song on it and it's an amazing debut for a band with the ability to play any and every instrument. I will always feel fortunate to have seen them with only 100 other devoted fans at the tiny Iota.
Passion Pit: Manners because no one reinvents 70s dance music so well. Also, for its back story; any band whose starting point is a guy writing a collection of songs for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day is a guy I want to listen to. A real shame that more people weren't at this show.
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone because she's Neko Case. Because she deigns to sing for us. Because she's had a hard time with her love life. Just because of that voice. I saw her twice this year, if that tells you anything.
The Decemberists: Hazards of Love because who else wrote a rock opera on this most intimate of subjects in 2009? Because even though seeing them in early 2007 was a far more transcendental experience than this year's show, they have a gift that no one else does.
Grizzly Bear: Vekatimest because of their unique acoustic sound and to-die-for vocal harmonies. Their combination of psychedelic, pop and folk is incredibly alluring to me, especially live, even if Norva crowds are obnoxious.
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs because a band that can remain this creative after 25 years together is doing a whole lot right. Yes, you could call them shoegaze or noise pop and definitely experimental, but they never cease to impress me. And their live show in C-ville last year with its listening room environment is forever etched in my head.
Muse: Uprising because they make an amazing amount of sound for just three skinny Brits. Their symphonic (bombastic even) sound is unlike anything else I regularly listen to. I saw them back in 2007 at W & M and lamented that they were only the opening band.
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion because someone needs to move the neo-psychedelic banner forward and these guys are just the ones to do it. Listening to this album is an exercise in pure sound and endless texture, no drug enhancement needed.
Great Lake Swimmers: Lost Channels because I love this whole folk resurgence going on now. GLS make pretty music and I mean that in the most complimentary way. Their incredible harmonies are the stuff of lost love and hope.
The XX: The Xx because of its spare sound, haunting male and female vocalists and because it's night time music. Listening to this album is like having an audio dream. I'd like to take it out of my CD player and give it a rest, but I can't bring myself to do it.
My only entry in the Best EP category is Bon Iver's Blood Bank and I include it for sentimental reasons. When I first discovered Bon Iver last year, it was the full-length "For Emma, Forever Ago" which took on a whole new meaning for me after the personal trauma of my life early this year.
Musician Justin Vernon created that album as a way of dealing with the breakup of his band, his relationship and being sick with mononucleosis.
Since I had been laid off, dumped and hospitalized for pneumonia, I could seriously relate to his pain.
He created heartfelt music in order to stay sane and I'm still trying to figure out what I can create to do the same. Blood Bank is his most beautiful song to date, hence the EP's inclusion here.
I know my list would not match another human being's on the planet and I'm okay with that. I took a lot of pleasure from these albums in 2009 and, god knows, I needed it.
Music and love are the essentials of life and since one was absent from mine, the other took on an even greater importance.
So thank you to these musicians for giving me part of what I needed in 2009.
Showing posts with label passion pit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label passion pit. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I'll Judge Yours If You Judge Mine
It's that time of year when music geeks are furiously trying to decide what to put on their Best of 2009 lists.
Shoot, I've been compiling a list since early summer, adding to it occasionally and crossing others off when something even more impressive comes along.
We music geeks take our lists seriously (and it didn't hurt that I had nothing better to do).
Yesterday I got a tentative list from my music geek friend Andrew and it's a whopping 25 CD scroll!
I understand why; it is difficult to winnow down a year's worth of good music to just ten or even a dozen CDs.
Also, he included local bands on his list and I purposely did not, preferring to make that a completely separate list for my own purposes.
I found it fascinating to read his list because as much as we discuss music, which is every single time we see each other and via e-mail, I was still surprised at some of what was on his list.
He was the one who gave me Great Northern's "Remind Me Where the Light Is" and never really mentioned it much again.
When we were driving home from the Raveonettes show in DC, I played that CD non-stop for the entire trip back and he didn't say a word.
Oh, wait, he might have been sleeping.
And speaking of the Raveonettes, "In and Out of Control" will most definitely be on my list but I didn't expect to see it on his.
This CD has far less of a recorded-in-a-cave sound, which pleases him because he's less of a cave-lover than I am, but I had no idea it was Top 25 list material for him.
Maybe I'm making a cave convert out of him (next up: The Twilight Sad?).
And Guggenheim Grotto?
I got this CD a solid year ago and rushed off to Charlottesville to see them by myself last winter without any idea that he was a fan.
It was an intimate and amazing show, but why the hell did I go alone, I'm wondering?
Next time I'll ask.
I started pushing Passion Pit's "Manners" on all my friends hard late last spring, even more so once their show at the National was announced for June.
Their very 70s-based dance music for non-dance music lovers is one of my favorites and still in regular rotation, but I hadn't realized how highly it rated with Andrew.
And Neko Case, of course.
I saw her twice this year (only once with Andrew), and the cover art of "Middle Cyclone" is probably the best CD cover of the past five years, IMHO.
Every time I listen to her sing, I want to cry or have an in-depth conversation with her about men.
That voice, that attitude!
I see that after much internal deliberation, Andrew included The Decemberist's "Hazards of Love" and I know this caused him much soul-searching because he hated putting something on his list that was on every other critic's best of list.
Sometimes, my friend, there's a reason why everyone acknowledges a CD.
No surprise that Plushguns' "Pins and Panzers" was one of Andrew's favorites.
When we discovered them in 2008, we were both terribly impressed with what a guy in his Brooklyn bedroom could make for sound.
But that show at Alley Katz, complete with glow sticks, sealed the deal.
We're undoubtedly among the few putting this CD on our end-of-year lists, but only because not enough people have experienced it.
Their loss.
I could go through the rest of my friend's list, but perhaps I'd better finish up my own instead.
He probably wants to judge mine as much as he wanted me to peruse his.
And then, like two lawyers battling a case, we'll have the epic Best of 2009 List discussion.
It could go on for days.
Shoot, I've been compiling a list since early summer, adding to it occasionally and crossing others off when something even more impressive comes along.
We music geeks take our lists seriously (and it didn't hurt that I had nothing better to do).
Yesterday I got a tentative list from my music geek friend Andrew and it's a whopping 25 CD scroll!
I understand why; it is difficult to winnow down a year's worth of good music to just ten or even a dozen CDs.
Also, he included local bands on his list and I purposely did not, preferring to make that a completely separate list for my own purposes.
I found it fascinating to read his list because as much as we discuss music, which is every single time we see each other and via e-mail, I was still surprised at some of what was on his list.
He was the one who gave me Great Northern's "Remind Me Where the Light Is" and never really mentioned it much again.
When we were driving home from the Raveonettes show in DC, I played that CD non-stop for the entire trip back and he didn't say a word.
Oh, wait, he might have been sleeping.
And speaking of the Raveonettes, "In and Out of Control" will most definitely be on my list but I didn't expect to see it on his.
This CD has far less of a recorded-in-a-cave sound, which pleases him because he's less of a cave-lover than I am, but I had no idea it was Top 25 list material for him.
Maybe I'm making a cave convert out of him (next up: The Twilight Sad?).
And Guggenheim Grotto?
I got this CD a solid year ago and rushed off to Charlottesville to see them by myself last winter without any idea that he was a fan.
It was an intimate and amazing show, but why the hell did I go alone, I'm wondering?
Next time I'll ask.
I started pushing Passion Pit's "Manners" on all my friends hard late last spring, even more so once their show at the National was announced for June.
Their very 70s-based dance music for non-dance music lovers is one of my favorites and still in regular rotation, but I hadn't realized how highly it rated with Andrew.
And Neko Case, of course.
I saw her twice this year (only once with Andrew), and the cover art of "Middle Cyclone" is probably the best CD cover of the past five years, IMHO.
Every time I listen to her sing, I want to cry or have an in-depth conversation with her about men.
That voice, that attitude!
I see that after much internal deliberation, Andrew included The Decemberist's "Hazards of Love" and I know this caused him much soul-searching because he hated putting something on his list that was on every other critic's best of list.
Sometimes, my friend, there's a reason why everyone acknowledges a CD.
No surprise that Plushguns' "Pins and Panzers" was one of Andrew's favorites.
When we discovered them in 2008, we were both terribly impressed with what a guy in his Brooklyn bedroom could make for sound.
But that show at Alley Katz, complete with glow sticks, sealed the deal.
We're undoubtedly among the few putting this CD on our end-of-year lists, but only because not enough people have experienced it.
Their loss.
I could go through the rest of my friend's list, but perhaps I'd better finish up my own instead.
He probably wants to judge mine as much as he wanted me to peruse his.
And then, like two lawyers battling a case, we'll have the epic Best of 2009 List discussion.
It could go on for days.
Monday, June 8, 2009
A Sound Question
What is up with sound problems at The National lately? Tonight's Passion Pit show featured sound problems during Cale Parks' opening set and again during The Harlem Shakes' set (the lead singer went so far as to call out the sound guys, telling them to fix it).
Just last week there were sound problems at the Decemberists' performance and not long ago, the entire audience saw how peeved Neko Case was when there were sound glitches during her show.
As several concert-going people I know have now pointed out, there are plenty of good sound people in Richmond. How is it that sound is an ongoing issue at The National? All the backstage amenities in the world aren't going to lure bands if we get a reputation for sound problems. The Shakes' singer was right: fix it.
Just last week there were sound problems at the Decemberists' performance and not long ago, the entire audience saw how peeved Neko Case was when there were sound glitches during her show.
As several concert-going people I know have now pointed out, there are plenty of good sound people in Richmond. How is it that sound is an ongoing issue at The National? All the backstage amenities in the world aren't going to lure bands if we get a reputation for sound problems. The Shakes' singer was right: fix it.
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