My 47th Favorite Song

is:

“We Used to Vacation” by Cold War Kids

This barn-burner of a tale by Cold War Kids tells the story of an alcoholic father and husband whose family has been silently putting up with his slow slide into addiction, including a recent “accident”, which is not detailed but which “had everyone a little shook up”.  The title—which is not said in the song—gives a sly indication of the financial fallout from the man’s addiction.  So of course, being about the disease (I really don’t know where I fall on the disease debate) I have, and from a band I love, it’s always been a special song to me.  It helps that it is really badass.

Seth’s Favorites of 2010: Music

It’s that time of year again: time for my much-anticipated (by me) year-end favorites lists!  However, I won’t be going whole-hog like I did last year; this year there will only be two lists: music and movies, and of course the movies list has to wait till the very end of the year, as most of the best movies get released right at the tail end of the year for top-of-mind Oscar consideration.  But I’ve looked at a bunch of upcoming CD release schedules and it seems safe to compile my music list at this point.

It’s been a huge year in my world for new music.  As such, I was simply unable to limit my list to a top ten list.  So what follows is my top 15 list of albums released in the calendar year 2010.  As always, a bangin’ mix CD has been made featuring all of the entries, and it can be yours simply for the asking.  So ask.  It’ll change your life!  Anyway, here’s the list:

15.  We Are Scientists, Barbara

I’ve been resisting We Are Scientists for a few years–liking them but not loving them–finding their sound just a little too “poppy” for my tastes.  And this year’s Barbara maintains that pop bent while getting a bit bristlier, brasher, brazen.  Head-bobbing fun with a slight smell of incense.

14.  Menomena, Mines

These Portland experimental indie rockers jumped out at me very recently after a kickass performance on “Last Call with Carson Daly” (people make fun of this show, but it is hands-down the best showcase for fringe music on broadcast television).  You can see that performance here.  Yes, the whole album is that good.  Plus you can learn from Carson how to pronounce the band’s name.

13.  Kings of Leon, Come Around Sundown

The Kings’ unique blend of Southern rock with Eastern indie aesthetic and teenage-boy wet-dream lyrics are, unfortunately, gone for good it seems, after this album and it’s predecessor, Only By the Night, have proven.  However neutered their new shiny studio-sheen may be, these are still good songs that haven’t quite veered from the band’s main mission of honesty in a dishonest world.

12.  Cold War Kids, Behave Yourself

I’d have charted the latest Kids’ album higher if it weren’t just a 5-song EP.  Of the 5 songs, 3 are great and 2 are useless; I figured that’s a pretty good ratio.  The slow-rolling opening track, “Audience” sounds very boring, and on the tenth listen becomes a pressure cooker of awesomeness that almost makes my head explode.  A gem of hidden nuance.  Here’s hoping for a full-length album in 2011.

11.  Black Mountain, Wilderness Heart

These hard-rocking Canadians usually rock a little too hard for me.  I’ve been a fan for awhile, but most albums have 5 songs for me and 5 songs for a demographic of slightly “headbangerish” types.  And while Wilderness Heart is a heavy album, they’ve incorporated a bit of “Americana” sound into the mix; think Huey Lewis and John Mellancamp sitting in with Black Sabbath.  Me likes.

10.  Spoon, Transference

  These guys are basically some of the grandaddys of what we might flippantly call “indie rock”, and a new Spoon album is nothing to ignore.  What amazed me the most is how they came at us with more snarl and venom (both lyrically and musically) than they had in the past; unlike most musicians, they are not aging into happy, content men.  The dissonance and dejection of standout track “Written in Reverse” is an especially tasty treat; vocalist Britt Daniel’s lyrics take on the quality of a maniacal Shel Silverstein.  Few rock lyricist bother with such intricacies.

9.  Interpol, Interpol

  The post-punkers’ fourth album (self-titled) is also their best to date; scorching, intricate rhythms and time signatures and pleading, near-death-experience vocals.  Few bands know how to leave empty spaces in their music with such expertise as Interpol.  You’ll be just as impressed with the wall of sound they don’t create as with the one they do.

8.  Stars, The Five Ghosts

Watch:

7.  Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter can be seen as a freak-show band, at times, veering from a populist mainstream sensibility all the way to unlistenable experimentation.  But 2010’s Halcyon Digest boils away most of the band’s stylistic pretenses and finds the heart at the song’s cores.  Sure, sometimes I still think This band is not comprised of folks I’d want to hang out with, but they made an album that is, above all, compelling.

6.  Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do

 One of the few bands I legitimately call “alt-country”–with an emphasis on the alt—the Truckers have always specialized in telling tales about the bizarro nature of American culture, usually with twists involving tragedy, redemption, and the sad and glorious nature of everything in between.  But the stories have never been as vivid as they are on The Big To-Do; lead track “Daddy Learned to Fly” is a study in lyrical simplicity and inference that I’m tempted to call it Faulknerian.  Other standouts, like “The Wig He Made her Wear” and “Drag the Lake Charlie” may sometimes try too hard, but no track on this album fails to try hard enough.

5. Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More

The new-ish country/ shoegaze/ psychedelia/ bluegrass fusion group isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds, but there is definitely plenty of fiddle and banjo to go with the bass and guitars as they swell and wane through this bombastic album’s wild ride.  Not re-inventing the light bulb, but still pretty unlike anything I’ve heard before.

4.  The National, High Violet

 It’s hard to describe The National.  At first listen they might seem boring, unfocused, even untalented.  But listen a few times and grand schemes reveal themselves, and crescendoes fall into place where you hadn’t even heard them.  Suddenly it’s as if you were translating a book in a language you had not even known before, and now the language on the page simply snaps into focus.  On High Violet, lyricist Matt Berninger’s words have become cryptic tomes of modern art worthy of a Thomas Pynchon novel.  “I gave my heart to the Army./ The only sentimental thing I could think of. / With colors and cousins and somewhere overseas/  But it’ll take a better war to kill a college man like me. / You and your sister live in a lemonworld. / I want to sit in and die.”

3. Band of Horses, Infinite Arms

2. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

There can be little doubt that Arcade Fire is the most important rock band of our time.  Their intent is serious but not pretentious, artistic but not demeaning.  Their songs are meant to sound really good but also make you think.  It’s no accident that their most vocal fan is David Bowie; their music harkens back to a time when heady, serious material could fill stadiums and make people dance to songs about the disintegration of the modern family unit, or the trappings of fame, or plain old death.  Not everything, they claim, is about sex.

The Suburbs is their most ambitious album yet.  It’s an old-fashioned concept album about—you guessed it–the suburbs.  (it’s a subject more ripe from examination than you may imagine)  Ultimately, the band doesn’t pass much judgement on the rise of the suburbs, but they do pass judgement on human nature (seems it’s usually bad, sometimes good), because it seems even in the paradise of the suburbs, human nature is still in charge.  Most music critics love the album but charge it with being overlong; I, too, will raise that charge.  There are at least 4 and as many as 6 unnecessary songs that are only tangentially related to suburbs, bringing the album dangerously close to 2 hours long.  But what do we expect from greatness?  Sometimes I think David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” is actually half an hour long!  The Suburbs would certainly be my album of the year if this had not been released:

1.  Grinderman, Grinderman 2

 Grinderman is a side project of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.  NOT a side project of Nick Cave, but the band in general.  You take the Bad Seeds (generally a large band of 6 or 7 members, depending what year it is), strip away all but the four core members, and erase any of the tender, thoughtful, delicate lyrics and themes in Cave’s words, and you’ve got Grinderman, a band of 50-60 year old men wailing away on instruments with a rascal intensity and Cave rasping about sex, violence, loss and being a badass in the most poetic, virulent, bold fashion imaginable.  Their debut album of 2 years ago thrilled me, but this one takes a huge motherfucking cake.  Cave is, aside from a musician, a highly respected poet and screenwriter, and when he lets loose what some might call his id, there are very few things more pleasurable to this fan.  Buy the CD; there’s an incredibly packaged deluxe edition for a very reasonable price. 

So, there you have it folks!  Another year’s worth of my favorite music.  What a satisfying year it’s been!  Remember to send me a text, e-mail, or leave a comment of you want a copy of this kickass mix disc!

My 100 Favorite Albums, in Order

Some of you may remember, about a year ago I made a list of my 100 favorite bands in order (that post is here).  Well, here’s a list of my 100 favorite albums!  This list follows (roughly) the same rules and principles as the bands list.  To re-cap those principles:

1.  This is a list of my favorites.  It is not meant to be a definitive “best” list, hence there are no right or wrong entries and you can’t exactly argue with the list, though disagreements are encouraged.

2.  How I made my choices: I pretended I was on a desert island with all 100 discs, then imagined I could only have 99.  Which would I get rid of?  And so on, down the line.  This method creates interesing and unexpected results.

3.  Unlike the bands post, the albums list is not limited to only bands.  However, I did not allow live albums, compilations, or other such anomalies.

4. Much like the bands list, it is clear to me that this list must be in a constant state of flux; this is far from my “permanent” list of favorite albums.  I can’t encourage you enough to do this yourself periodically, it really does reveal sea changes and trends in your own personal tastes.  Without further ado, here is the list:

100. Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire
99.  Woodpigeon, Treasury Library Canada
98.  Do Make Say Think, You, You’re a History in Rust
97.  Death Cab for Cutie, We’ve Got the Facts and We’re Voting Yes
96.  Nirvana, Nevermind
95.  Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do
94.  Working For a Nuclear-Free City, Businessmen & Ghosts
93.  Radiohead, In Rainbows
92.  Seven Mary Three, day&nightdriving
91.  Cold War Kids, Loyalty to Loyalty
90.  Phish, Farmhouse
89.  Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
88.  Kings of Leon, Because of the Times
87.  The Decemberists, Picaresque
86.  The Ghost is Dancing, The Darkest Spark
85.  Pearl Jam, Binaural
84.  Seven Mary Three, The Economy of Sound
83.  My Morning Jacket, It Still Moves
82.  Barenaked Ladies, Gordon
81.  Pearl Jam, Yield
80.  The Frames, Fitzcarraldo
79.  Death Cab for Cutie, Something About Airplanes
78.  Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nocturama
77.  Radiohead, OK Computer
76.  The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America
75.  Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
74.  Pearl Jam, Riot Act
73.  Explosions in the Sky, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
72.  Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News
71.  Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
70.  Nirvana, In Utero
69.  The Cribs, Ignore the Ignorant
68.  Sven Gali, Inwire
67.  Fire on Fire, The Orchard
66.  The National, High Violet
65.  The Pixies, Surfer Rosa
64.  Mogwai, Come On Die Young
63.  Emily Wells, Dirty
62.  Pelican, The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
61.  Radiohead, Hail to the Thief
60.  Phish, Billy Breathes
59.  Mooney Suzuki, Have Mercy
58.  TV on the Radio, Dear Science
57.  The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
56.  We Are Scientists, Brain Thrust Mastery
55.  LIVE, Mental Jewelry
54.  Primitive Radio Gods, Rocket
53.  Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia
52.  Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, F#A#
51.  The Beatles, Revolver
50.  Hey Rosetta!, Plan Your Escape
49.  Seven Mary Three, Orange Ave.
48.  Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam (The Avocado Album)
47.  Grinderman, Grinderman
46.  My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
45.  Editors, In This Light and on This Evening
44.  Bush, Sixteen Stone
43.  The Postal Service, Give Up
42.  The Cape May, Glass Mountain Roads
41.  Pearl Jam, Ten
40.  Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine
39.  Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming
38.  Yeasayer, Odd Blood
37.  Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild Soundtrack
36.  Pink Floyd, Meddle
35.  Stars, In Our Bedroom After the war
34.  Stone Temple Pilots, Purple
33.  Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
32.  The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
31.  Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Lyre of Orpheus
30.  Silversun Pickups, Carnavas
29.  Neil Young, Mirrorball
28.  Kings of Leon, Only by the Night
27.  The National, The Boxer
26.  Chris Walla, Field Manual
25.  Pearl Jam, Vitalogy
24.  The Cribs, Men’s Needs, Women’s Need’s, Whatever
23.  Cold War Kids, Robbers & Cowards
22.  My Morning Jacket, Z
21.  Phish, Rift
20.  Pink Floyd, The Wall
19.  Explosions in the Sky, The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
18.  Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
17.  Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism
16.  The Airborne Toxic Event, The Airborne Toxic Event
15.  LIVE, Throwing Copper
14.  Seven Mary Three, American Standard
13.  Radiohead, Kid A
12.  The Decemberists, The Crane Wife
11.  Godspeed You, Black Emperor!, Raise Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennae to Heaven
10.  The Arcade Fire, Funeral
9.   The Beatles, Abbey Road
8.  Pearl Jam, Vs.
7.  LIVE, Secret Samadhi
6.  Death Cab for Cutie, Plans
5.  Explosions in the Sky, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
4.  The Beatles, The Beatles (The White Album)
3.  Pearl Jam, No Code
2.  Seven Mary Three, RockCrown
1.  Hey Rosetta!, Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)

My 100 Favorite Bands…IN ORDER

So, let me stop you before you post the comment…no, I do NOT have “too much time on my hands”!  This is just what I decided to do with the time on my hands!

OK, with that out of the way…yes, you are not reading that wrong.  I have in fact ranked my one hundred favorite bands in descending order.  You may ask…why, and how?

Well, I’ve just always been curious how my favorite bands would rank if I spent the time to do it.  I mean, I pretty much knew what 1,2 and 3 would be, but after that, it was a bit hazy.  So I figured I’d devise a way to rank the top 50.  I brainstormed my favorite bands randomly, and when I counted the brainstorm results, there were seventy-some, so I figured I’d shoot for the stars and go for the top hundred.

I also figured I needed a way to narrow down who I could use.  The only criteria was they had to be bands, not just musical artists.  No solo artists or R&B groups. This meant I could use Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but not Neil Young.

This is the method I used for ranking them:  I thought about a desert island situation, and then I thought, If I could only take one album from these bands, which band do I choose? I didn’t spend any time pondering WHICH album it would be, just…which band would I want an album from?  Then after a band was chosen, I crossed them off and asked myself the desert island question again, but now had to choose from the remaining bands.  When thinking about Neil Young and Crazy Horse (or, say, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) I only allowed myself to consider the work of the collaboration.  So, I could have Everyone Knows This is Nowhere, but not After the Gold Rush.

Now, I am open to the fact that I may have missed something and may have to revise this list, so please, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, but remember, this is not a best list, but a favorite list, so you can’t really argue with the list, but I am actually afraid I forgot something, so please point out anything that seems amiss.  (But for the record, I did NOT forget:  Tool, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Led Zeppelin, or The White Stripes—I just don’t like them all that much.  And post-rock fans:  I didn’t forget A Silver Mt. Zion, Surface of Eceyon, or Mono.  Just not my favorites).

I hear you….why should you care?  Well, you shouldn’t care about mine, necessarily, but may I suggest you do something like this yourself?  It’s more interesting than you may think.  You can discern changes in yourself by analyzing your list.  For instance, 15 years ago, Dave Matthews Band would have been in my top 5.  Now, they’re 41.  What would they have been 8 years ago?  25?  So they’re on a slow slide.  Does this have something to say about changes in me beyond simple musical taste?  I’m not sure, but it’s fun to think about.  And some bands will pop into and out of my life quickly, as I’m constantly on the prowl for new music.  It’s intriguing to look at this list and wonder which bands will soon not make this list, and which bands that are currently in the 80s or 90s will be in the top 20 next year.  It’s certainly not a concrete list, I’m sure it is in constant flux.

Oh, and here’s a fun thing:  you’ll see it appears to be a list of 101 bands.  That’s because one of them is a fake band name, made up by me, right now.  If you are the first to identify which of them is the fake, I’ll send you a prize!!  And it will be a real prize, not some mix disc I made or something.  Good luck!

I’ve also linked to a few bands here or there, to some interesting or awesome song, video, or website, if you ever find yourself terribly bored with extra time on your hands.

Without further ado, the list:

101.  MGMT
100. I’m From Barcelona
99.   Oppenheimer
98.  Invert
97.  Constantines
96.  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
95.  Mother Mother
94.  Hollerado
93.  We vs. Death
92.  Interpol
91.  I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
90.  Thursday
89.  Stone Temple Pilots
88.  Mooney Suzuki
87.  Razorlight
86.  The Great Depression
85.  The Two Koreas
84.  The Mercury Project
83.  Tea Leaf Green
82.  This Will Destroy You
81.  Iron & Wine
80.  Band of Horses
79.  The Stills
78.  Jefferson Airplane
77.  Monsterpants
76.  The Walkmen
75.  Drive-By Truckers
74.  Black Mountain
73.  Pelican
72.  Animal Collective
71.  dd/mm/yyyy
70.  Cage the Elephant
69.  We are Scientists
68.  TV on the Radio
67.  Tegan and Sara
66.  Yeasayer
65.  Editors
64.  The National
63.  Islands
62.  Library Voices
61.  Caribou
60.  Stars
59.  Grizzly Bear
58.  The Presidents of the United States of America
57.  Fuel
56.  Low
55.  The Talking Heads
54.  The Hold Steady
53.  Kaiser Chiefs
52.  Mogwai
51.  Arctic Monkeys
50.  Bush
49.  Franz Ferdinand
48.  Do Make Say Think
47.  Jets Overhead
46.  The Ghost is Dancing
45.  Architecture in Helsinki
44.  Fire on Fire
43.  The Emily Wells Trio
42.  Creedence Clearwater Revival
41.  Dave Matthews Band
40.  The Shins
39.  Deerhunter
38.  Primitive Radio Gods
37.  Barenaked Ladies
36.  Nirvana
35.  Sven Gali
34.  The Trews
33.  The Cribs
32.  Doves
31.  The Cape May
30.  Man Man
29.  Indigo Girls
28.  Sigur Ros
27.  Neil Young and Crazy Horse
26.  The Violent Femmes
25.  Grinderman
24.  Rage Against the Machine
23.  The Postal Service
22.  Fleet Foxes
21.  Kings of Leon
20.  The Frames
19.  Cold War Kids
18.  Silversun Pickups
17.  The Airborne Toxic Event
16.  Modest Mouse
15.  Hey Rosetta!
14.  The Decemberists
13.  My Morning Jacket
12.  Phish
11.  Pink Floyd
10.  Godspeed You Black Emperor!
9.    Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
8.    Radiohead
7.    The Arcade Fire
6.    Explosions in the Sky
5.    LIVE
4.    Death Cab For Cutie
3.    The Beatles
2.    Seven Mary Three
1.    Pearl Jam

Seth’s Favorites of 2009: Music

Other favorites of 2009:

Concerts
Magazines
Poetry
Television

Aside from movies (which I am waiting till the last possible moment to do), this was definitely the most difficult year-end round up for me to accomplish.  There was a lot of great music this year!   But after much thought, I’ve come up with a list of albums released in 2009 (or in the last 2 months of 2008) that satisfies me.  And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go buy all of them!

10.  Phish, Joy

I know what you’re saying…you hate Phish, even if you’ve never really listened to them.  But hey fuckers, even if you’ve listened to Phish before with an open mind and hated them, you may very well enjoy Joy.  The same carefree, love-life aesthetic has remained thematically from their previous work, as well as a lot of the “jam-y” musical elements, and the band has added a new, more serious “rock” sound that lurks behind the hippie jam, and some of the lyrics mask a more sinister, dark level underneath the groovy picnic.  Should please almost everyone.

9.  Cold War Kids, Loyalty to Loyalty

Cold War Kids’ sophomore album was, at first, disappointing.  Upon first listen, I was convinced it was boring.  But repeat attendance to the album proved otherwise.  The band is simply evolving, and rapidly, at that.  After their art-rock debut album, Loyalty to Loyalty gets even more arty while maintaining a rock edge; you just have to listen carefully, because they somehow manage to rock hardest when they stop playing their guitars entirely.  Vocalist and songwriter Nathan Willett continues to explore themes of the dark side of American life: alienation, mass-produced emotions, and the stark terror of celebrity culture.

8. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love

The Hazards of Love is a legitimate rock opera, telling one unified (if bizarre) story.  Obviously, it is a love story, but one involving forest-dwelling shape-shifters, infanticide, and a children’s chorus.  It’s certainly not for everyone, especially not those with short attention spans, but the album, once appreciated in totality, can then be appreciated song-by-song, and you can even drop a few of the songs succesfully into a good mix disc.  And aside from being a complete work of genius, the album also marks an incredible shift in musical tone for the band: some of these crunchy rock riffs were nearly unimaginable on previous Decemberists albums, and it is exciting to hear a niche band reaching so far outside it’s comfort zone.

7. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest

I first enountered Grizzly Bear when they opened for Radiohead on their 2008 tour.  I liked them but didn’t love them at the time–I found them a bit too ‘alt-country’ for me.  Then in 2009, they released Veckatimest (named after an island off of Massachusetts), an album that quickly became so critically acclaimed, I had no choice but to go buy it.  And guess what?  It seems their time with Radiohead paid off, as they seem to have borrowed the quiet, electronica-infused sound of Kid A or Amnesiac. When mixed with their already existing alt-country sound, the result is one of the most unique, entrancing albums I’ve ever been forced to buy by rock critics.  Perfect for setting that “romantic” mood, if ye know what I mean.

6.  Cage the Elephant, Cage the Elephant

Straight-up, balls-to-the-wall, cocky, messy, catchy, head-banging motherfucking old school rock and roll!

5.  Modest Mouse, No One’s First, and You’re Next

While technically a collection of B-Sides from their past 4 albums, No One’s First, and You’re Next plays like it’s own album, and for a collection of B-sides, it has more gems than most bands’ regular albums do.  There are more insane guitar sections than one could have hoped for, and Isaac Brock’s depraved, depressed guttural howl is on display in full barbaric force.  I just wish it was longer.

4.  Silversun Pickups, Swoon

Swoon actually has a somewhat lackluster second half, but it has such a gut-pounding, powerful first half that you can’t even hold the second half of the album against these California rockers, who know how to craft a seven-minute, swelling, crashing breaking holy shitting rock song better than anyone else.  Swoon requires patience from the listener on almost every track, but the payoffs are huge.

3.  The Trews, No Time For Later

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the most intellectual bar band in the world!  The Trews somehow manage to craft songs that sound (marvelously) like they belong on a tiny stage at your loal watering hole, while peppering them with insightful, socially concious lyrics and occasional genre-busting time signatures.  They score so high on the list for their pure catchiness that manages to hook you without being saccharine.

2.  The Cape May, Glass Mountain Roads

Wikipedia says this about The Cape May:

“The songs are cenetred around the poetic lyrics of vocalist Clinton St. John, and are lyrical stories of urban dystopia and a culture on the brink.”

Well, hell yes, that’s exactly what it is, and the eerie, shadowy music that backs these lyrics will haunt your dreams.  I knw how corny that sounds, but it’s true!  This is almost certainly the smartest album I’ve ever heard; the fact that it’s relatively emotionless is by design on the band’s part, but alas, is also the only thing keeping it from being #1…

1.  Hey Roestta!, Into Your Lungs and Around in Your Heart and On Through Your Blood

Hey Rosetta!  (the exlamation point is theirs, not mine) is everything I want in a band: smart, emotionally wrenching, serious and funny, rocking and quiet, incredibly poetic, with intense build-ups, prolonged quietudes, and lyrics that reveal our shared humanity.  This album–their second–just might change your life.  Mark my words: if this band isn’t famous in three years, I’ll eat a shoe.  A.  MAZ.  ING.

Some honorable mentions:

Doves, Kingdom of Rust
Death Cab For Cutie, The Open Door EP
Tegan and Sara, Sainthood

As in past years, I’ve made a kickass mix disc highlighting my favortie music of the year.  Want one?  I’ll mail it/bring it to you, just give me your address or let me know where to bring it.  This is the track list of the disc:

1.  “In One Ear” by Cage the Elephant

2.  “Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan” by Phish

3.  “Aint No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant

4.  “Paranoid Freak” by The Trews

5.  “Against Privacy” by Cold War Kids

6.  “Spring Flight to the Land of Fire” by The Cape May

7.  “New Goodbye” by Hey Rosetta!

8.  “The Wanting Comes in Waves” by The Decemberists

9.  “The Whale Song” by Modest Mouse

10. “Old and Early Numbers” by The Cape May

11. “Growing Old is Getting Old” by Silversun Pickups

12. “Lions For Scotty” by Hey Rosetta!

13. “The Rake’s Song” by The Decemberists

14. “Something is Not Right With Me” by Cold War Kids

15. “The Royal We” by Silversun Pickups

16. “I’ve Been Asleep For a Long, Long Time” by Hey Rosetta!

17. “Foreground” by Grizzly Bear

This is what jealousy looks like

Just when I thought my experience with Seven Mary Three the other week was like a lightning strike, my friend Sarah meets and gets her picture taken with ALL of Cold War Kids:

If you don’t know who Cold War Kids are, watch this.