It’s that time of year again, oh friendy friends! Time for my favorite music of the year blog! For those who haven’t slogged through these before, allow me to get these perfunctories out of the way:
All music on this list is NEW music that was released in calendar year 2016.
A mix CD of songs from my list can be easily obtained by messaging me and asking. Those on my “mailing list” will receive one without asking.
I am not saying this was the “best” music of 2016. I used to say that but people got their undies in a bunch. I’m just saying it’s my “favorite”.
And before I proceed with this year’s list, I’d like to address what was probably my biggest disappointment of my music listening life: this year’s Band of Horses release. When I heard of the album, and learned it’s title, and saw the artwork and read the tracklist, I was perhaps the most excited I’d been for a new release since the height of my Pearl Jam fandom. I fully anticipated making it the number one album on my list this year. Instead, it does not even appear. The reviews were very mixed–some were ecstatic whereas others reacted quite like I did, and many were very neutral. So obviously it can be heard many ways. I personally, after listening about ten time during it’s first month of release, may never listen to it again.
I’d also be remiss if I did not mention Prophets of Rage, a supergroup combination of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill. Again, many detested it and many loved it; I loved it and thought it was beyond the bee’s knees. However, for the most part, it was not new music, and it does not make the list, but it formed a very important part of 2016 for me. In addition, Neil Young+Promise of the Real released a live album, Earth, that felt as fresh and vibrant as a new studio album and I listened to that thing like crazy, but again: not really new. Now: my list!
15. Explosions in the Sky, “The Wilderness”
14. Ray LaMontagne, “Ouroboros”
13. Public Enemy, “Man Plans God Laughs”
12. Kiefer Sutherland, “Down in a Hole”
11. DJ Shadow, “The Mountain Will Fall”
10. A Tribe Called Quest, “We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service”
The Tribe’s triumphant return was well worth the wait, with lyrics poignantly reflecting the temper of the times and thankfully light on misogyny. And the beats are dope.
9. M83, “Junk”
M83’s new album is a kind of throwback space funk jam-off, like a ride in a technicolor elevator, with purple felt walls. Impossible to dislike.
8. Warpaint, “Heads Up”
Warpaint have now built upon the dark, groovy introspection they created in their first two albums with more intricate jams and a subtle pop sensibility; their musical landscape is now a universe all their own.
7. Mexico City, “When the Day Goes Dark”
This powerful Australian band hadn’t released any new music for six years. Their return was worth waiting for, as they morphed from terrific bar band into a piledriver of country and blues rock. A potential classic.
6. Jim James, “Eternally Even”
The mastermind behind My Morning Jacket didn’t connect with me on his first solo album a few years back, but this year’s “Eternally Even” tickles my Jacket bone.
5. Paul Simon, “Stranger to Stranger”
Simon is never bad. But as he ages, I seem to keep thinking he is getting better and better; his lyrics become more adventurous (from The Werewolf: “The fact is, most obits are mixed reviews./ Life is a lottery, a lotta people lose./ And the winners, the grinners, with money-colored eyes/ they eat all the nuggets, and they order extra fries./ But the werewolf is coming.”), his music more modern, playful, daring. “Stranger to Stranger” is a delight from start to finish, but especially for those familiar with his full body of work; his evolution is a bewildering achievement.
4. Emily Wells, “Promise”
Wells is an astonishing talent, and “Promise” proves she’s an artist worthy of canonization. Eschewing her previous catchy violin hooks and hip hop undertones, here she digs deep–the level of introspection at times becomes hard to watch. But ultimately, while not an album of happy, singalong songs, “Promise” proves instead to be a key addition to any music library concerned with–frankly–the meaning of life.
3. Radiohead, “A Moon Shaped Pool”
What’s still to be said about Radiohead? They are as good as everyone says, as is this album. Including a studio version of “True Love Waits” (re-worked for piano) nearly broke me in half.
2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Skeleton Tree”
Cave’s son died tragically while the band was recording the album, and it can be heard in every sound. It’s a quiet, low-tempo, mostly spoken-word collection of songs, and it is not for the faint of heart. It is brave, and it is terrifying, but it does not wallow.
1. Bon Iver, “22, A Million”
I haven’t said much about this album online, as I grew into it slowly, and it came out shortly after a few albums I’d been talking about at length, so I figured I’d stop clogging up everybody’s feed with my music stuff. But as I kept listening, and listening, and listening, it became clear this album was not going to go away. It is an album of absolutely confounding elements–it incorporates so many genres, styles, and influences, it’s amazing it is coherent. And it sometimes approaches unlistenable, as vocalist Justin Vernon simply sings through a synthesizer without any music for long lengths of time. But ultimately it’s not about being catchy, or easy, or even “artsy”. The album is a true experience, and one that is deeply felt.
Yep, it’s that time of year again: time for my self-important yet entirely meaningless year-end lists. This year will feature three lists: music, movies, and a miscellany list like this one from last year. We start out with the music list.
Boy-howdy, this was a crowded year of music for me! I would estimate that well over 50% of musical artists that I am passionate about had a release of some kind this year. At one point, it actually just seemed like too much. I wasn’t able to give my full attention to some albums, as they were coming too fast for me to keep up with. (one casualty of this may have been the new Cold War Kids album, which I did not like, but it was sandwiched between a lot of other releases. This year marks the first CWK album to not make my list. Also, The Decemberists released TWO albums this year and I found them both snooze-ville). There even, unfortunately, remain some releases I’d love to hear but I just don’t have the time or attention span to squeeze them in (new albums from Deer Tick, Tegan and Sara, Arctic Monkeys, and a live Sigur Ros release are among the 2011 recordings that will have to wait until 2012 in the Seth household). So it is with all this in consideration that I admit to being such a pansy when making this list, I absolutely had to expand my rankings from the 15 slots of last year, to 20 slots this year. That’s right; not only could I not narrow it down to 10, I couldn’t even narrow it down to 15. Give me a break. I don’t get paid for this.
Also new this year, I have included “post rock” bands in my listing. (for a description of the genre, click the link) In years past I have left them off my list, as the style only appeals to a small group of people, but the genre has become such a large part of my listening life, I could not in good faith leave them off my lists any longer. There were two new albums from two of the heaviest hitters in the genre this year, and they’re both fantastic examples of the post rock game (at number 6 and 13 on my list).
As always, a mix disc chronicling my list will be sent out automatically to folks on my “mailing list”. It will only feature songs from the top 15 on the list, however, due to the inherent limitations of the compact disc. (if you’re on my mailing list, you know you are. Although I typically don’t send the mix discs to my parents, who are otherwise on the mailing list. So, Mom and Dad, if you want one of these, let me know!) If you are not on the mailing list and would like on it, just let me know via whatever method you and I usually use to communicate. But if you want in on the mix disc, let me know ASAP, I’ll be mailing them out soon.
Also, bear in mind (to prevent silly mean-spirited arguments that would prove you know nothing about art) this list is meant to represent my favorite music of the year, not my notion of “the best” music of the year. You cannot argue with what was my “favorite”. And so, without further ado, my top 20 musical releases of calendar year 2011:
20. Radiohead, The King of Limbs
19. St. Vincent, Strange Mercy
18. Iron & Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean
17. Wavves, Life Sux
16. Drive-By Truckers, Go-Go Boots
15. Florence + The Machine, Ceremonials I was slow to the party with this band, but I’m now firmly on Team Florence. The lead single, “What the Water Gave Me”, will make you happy to be alive.
14. Young the Giant, Young the Giant One of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard. I can’t wait to see where these guys go as they get their artistic feet under them.
13. Mogwai, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will Mogwai has always been further down my list of Post Rock bands than they are for most; I tend to find them too flippant in a genre that is typically super-serious. But this album blew my socks off; it is harder and more in-your-face than most Post Rock, while maintaining the necessary pretentious artiness that makes my hat fly off.
12. Indigo Girls, Beauty Queen Sister I continue to have no idea why the world at large insists Indigo Girls are only for sappy women or butch lesbians. If perfectly-crafted, heartfelt songs about the most intense mysteries of the human condition (with amazing harmony!) are for butch lesbians, then schedule my appointment with a surgeon. This album proves the ladies can and will keep making compelling music for much longer than most songwriters are able to.
11. The Trews, Hope & Ruin The bar-rock Canadians from my 2009 list make a triumphant return! This album falls short of the majestic magnificence of 2009’s No Time for Later, but contains at least two songs that made me get out of my seat the first time I heard them (“People of the Deer” is a straight-up Earth-scorcher).
10. Real Estate, Days
This Jersey quartet is often accused of being a tad “sleepy” or intentionally understated, but ever since I saw them open for Deerhunter last winter, I’ve been a convert to their introspective, trance-like style of shoegaze rock. Here is the outro to “Wonder Years”, off their superb album from this year, Days:
9. TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light Certainly the most anticipated art rock release of the year, following their spectacular 2008 album Dear Science, many people were afraid we’d never get another TVoTR album after they announced a “hiatus” in 2009. Then, in early 2011, they announced Nine Types of Light, and almost immediately thereafter, bassist Gerard Smith was diagnosed with lung cancer and promptly died. Needless to say, the touring and promotion for the album was all quite bittersweet; but in the end, the album is a huge testament to this band’s power: soaring, soulful and at times, relentlessly rocking.
8. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues
Nothing brings me closer to full-on hipster status than my affinity for Fleet Foxes. As my tastes evolve from ultra-modern, hyper rock to a more toned-down, Americana fusion, no band epitomizes my own evolution better than this band. Stopping short of “country” but straying far from “rock”, the Foxes make me see and smell the Appalachian mountains of back home with every note. A friend of mine once gave as his reason for disliking Fleet Foxes as “it’s like church songs for hipsters”, and I thought to myself that sounded like exactly why I do like them. And it doesn’t hurt that on Helplessness Blues, frontman Robin Pecknold seems to have been singing from inside my own skull. “So now I am older than my mother and father when they had their daughter…what does that say about me?”
7. The Airborne Toxic Event, All at Once
Just watch this from start to finish and tell me it didn’t change your life:
6. Explosions in the Sky, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
The other “post rock” band on my list, they could also arguably be called the most commercially successful (they did the theme song for the TV show “Friday Night Lights”, which is one thousand times more mainstream exposure than any other post rock band). Happily, with their first new album since their profile increased, they did not make simpler, more straight-forward songs for “the masses”. Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is probably their most challenging album to date, while maintaining the heightened level of spiritual raw emotion that has always made them impossible to ignore. The ten minute album closer, “Let Me Back In”, although wordless, is a dirge-like cry of sadness for a lost love, reaching a level of thematic complexity that is new for a band that occasionally relies on bombast. And if this CD doesn’t win the Grammy for album packaging, there is a serious problem (yes, they give Grammys for that…just not on television).
5. Wilco, The Whole Love
I’m a relatively new convert to Wilco. Despite them being constantly talked about in the same breath as a lot of bands I adored, I resisted them because of the label “alt-country”, but it turns out, in the last few years, that label started sounding attractive to me. So I started trying them out (and it turns out that “alt-country” is totally meaningless, anyway). Then this year’s The Whole Love came out, and I was totally blown away. Few albums—of any genre—contain so many varying styles of music and so much depth of feeling and subtextual meaning. Check this performance on Letterman from this year, of the album’s lead track, “The Art of Almost”:
4. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What
Paul Simon has always been one of those songwriters who I knew I loved, but I always stopped short of being an active fan (buying albums, listing him among my favorites, etc). But when one of his songs came on, I was always rapt. (honestly, I like his solo work about 100 times more than his stuff with Garfunkle). But this year, as he released an new album, he did a promotional blitz that managed to work perfectly on me. First, there was this extraordinary appearance on Jimmy Fallon, followed by appearances playing songs from his new album on just about every talk show I tuned into for a week or two. And I just fell totally in love with these songs. Musically they are low-key but extremely inventive, and like most Simon songs, they really shine lyrically. They aren’t the straight-forward, heart-on-sleeve urgent missives that he wrote in his most productive years, but rather, these songs are complex, surprising, bold lyrical poetry that could just as easily be studied in a textbook as played on Jimmy Fallon. I know that’s not necessarily a ringing endorsement for a lot of people—too much thinking, perhaps—but it seems like magic to me. Plenty of songwriters at this stage in Simon’s career are just falling back on old formulas (if they’re making new music at all), but Simon is challenging himself and his audience. “Rewrite” examines the regrets one might have with old age, but through the lens of an artist who can craft how the world views them. It seems like a song Bob Dylan would write if he stopped worrying so much about writing like Bob Dylan. Album-closer and title song “So Beautiful or So What” poses some of the most complicated questions associated with making art—is something art just because it’s beautiful? Or conversely, does beauty DISQUALIFY something from being art? And how important is it if art is good, if the artist is enjoying creating it?
3. My Morning Jacket, Circuital MMJ continues to be the most mystifying, chameleon-esque, dynamic band out there today. Are they space funk? Jazz fusion? Heavy metal? Even they don’t know. To be an MMJ fan is to be a fan of rock in general as well as this band’s unusual mystique. Circuital easily ranks as my second favorite MMJ album (It Still Moves remains firmly in first). Here is a video from the show I attended on this year’s tour. I was front row, directly in front of Jim (the singer)…the song is “You Wanna Freak Out”, from Circuital:
2. Death Cab For Cutie, Codes and Keys
On first listen, I was afraid Codes and Keys was the album where DCFC had started sucking. Nothing caught my attention, and the lyrics sounded suspiciously like Ben Gibbard had given in to writing songs specifically to sound “Gibbard-y” (although it is a testament to his songwriting prowess that nobody familiar with his songwriting would fault me for making it an adjective). But then, a few months after it came out, it clicked. And then I remembered that is how every Death Cab for Cutie album has always been for me. They simply do not pop out at you and declare their presence immediately. It may sound dramatic, but I’m gonna say it like this anyway: Death Cab songs contain universes, and sometimes these multi-layered, subtle, textured universes reveal themselves slowly, bit-by-bit, and sometimes, over the course of years. (every year I find myself re-amazed in new ways by their album Plans. I suspect DCFC fans will know what I mean when I say I just now *got* the song “Summer Skin”). If there is a criticism to be leveled at the band, it is that these encodings (ha! see how that applies to this album’s title?) and hidden universes can often obscure a listener’s personal attachment to a song. I love the DCFC classic “Amputations” because I finally see how it’s looping, counter-acting guitar structure helps to inform the subject matter of lovers who consistently return to a poison relationship that is never going to work. But I don’t love it, necessarily, because it’s important to me.
But once Codes and Keys clicked for me, it did become important to me. Still around are the intricate, hidden gems of musical structure and lyrical content so slick it disguises itself as ordinary, but under that veneer are some of the most prescient, precious conceptual leaps in modern rock and roll. Frontman Ben Gibbard surely knows that each word he writes will be picked over and analyzed by finger-wagging hipsters (on whom he relies for paychecks), yet he’s not scared to write an essentially atheist screed in “St. Paul’s Cathedral”: “When our hearts stop ticking/ this is the end/ there’s nothing past this.” I was actually one of the first to put this song up on YouTube. You can see my little video here. I also found myself delightedly surprised, upon returning to the album after initially dismissing it, to find that the title track had a nearly-hidden crescendo at the end, in a little bit of musical trickery it somehow hid itself rather cleverly at first. Now, when I listen to “Codes and Keys” (the song) I am physically and emotionally moved to a point of near-ridiculousness by the final 2 minutes. Anyone who is trying to get into DCFC, or is skeptical but interested, all I can suggest is that you give it some time to sink in. No other band will more richly reward a patient listener.
1. Hey Rosetta!, Seeds
It should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever read my blog that my favoritest band in the world of all time and forever would get the #1 spot this year. I’ve written nearly ad infinitum about this band, so I won’t waste time going back over why I adore them so much. If you’re new to my blog, scroll up to the tag cloud on the right and click on the Hey Rosetta! tag, which will take you to a plethora of gushing fanboy raves about them. Seeds, their third album, for me ranks squarely as their second best album, but it would take, as far as I can calculate, a literal act of God for any artist to top their previous album, Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood). As far as follow-ups go, Seeds delivers, with enough emotional peaks, insane tempo changes, and heartfelt epiphanies to last two more years, when hopefully the world will have it’s fourth Hey Rosetta! album.
There are many high-points on Seeds, both emotionally and musically, and somehow, nestled in there and almost hidden is the gem “Yer Fall”, which admittedly is not the standout on the album, but after seeing them live in support of this album five times, I can confidently tell you this slow-builder is certainly the live centerpiece (even though it doesn’t get played every show). I’ve posted a video of it below, and if you watch just one of the videos on this page, I implore you to make it this one. Please stick with it to the end; after multiple tempo changes, the song builds to an emotional climax that, even now as I was searching for the best video to post of it, makes me weep. It ends on a stark note, as most of the band sings with Tim, the lead singer, “My love is dead. I buried it.” This video doesn’t even do justice to what I saw on the road this year. In the small clubs, each member of the band loudly sings the final lines into any microphone they can find; the result was an incredible cacophony of intense raw emotion:
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)
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
I made it to a few less concerts in 2009 than I do in most years, mostly due to my decision to see less bands multiple times. Despite the fact that I ended up missing epic, once-in-a-lifetime Pearl Jam shows, I stand by this decision. It allowed me the time and finances to see more unique bands in more distant locales, resulting in not just some incredible shows, but fantastic all-around experiences. My only big regret of the year is missing Kings of Leon on their first big arena tour; although I’ve seen them once before (opening for Pearl Jam in ’08), I’d have loved to see them on a grand scale. Without further ado:
5. LIVE, New Jersey
I saw two consecutive LIVE shows in New Jersey with a slew of awesome people, including my sister, Ron, Billhanna, and Bootney Lee Pharnsworth. (half of you were supposed to come to one of these shows with me, but you are bad, bad people who all bitched out at the last moment). I’ve seen LIVE lots of times now–I’m not even sure how many–but it never, ever stops being awesome. Both shows this year were identical setlists, though they both had great energy, and the band pulled out a few hum-dinger rarities (“Gas Hed Goes West”, “The Distance”) as well as playing scorching versions of old favorites like “Lakini’s Juice” and “I, Alone”. But the biggest deal, at least to my sister and I, were the opener and closer for each show. Opener=”Purifier”. Closer=“White, Discussion”.
Here are the final, amazing moments to the version of “White, Discussion” myself, Adrienne, and Ron saw the first night at the Starland Ballroom:
4. Silversun Pickups, Virginia
My first time seeing this band, one of the more recent additions to my “favorite bands” list, and the show did not disappoint at all!!! I had front row and was able to make pretty steady eye contact with lead singer Brian Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger, as they played, basically, every single one of my favorite songs, essentially in the order I’d have asked for them to be played. I mean, c’mon,they opened with “Growing Old is Getting Old”–mind-blowing! A very tight, rehearsed band.
No YouTube exists of the the show I was at, but here’s a video from another show where they opened with “Growing Old”. It’s a song that requires some patience to really get to the payoff:
3. Seven Mary Three, Reading, PA
There is a huge blog entry about this show here. There’s not much more I can say about it that isn’t already there. I should just say that although it was clearly an amazing experience for me, concert-wise, nothing could possibly come close to touching the experiences I had with the #1 and 2 entries here.
2. Man Man, Washington D.C.
There is also a pre-existing entry for this concert here. But allow me to just re-iterate that I have never seen anything quite like this show. I have never felt so compelled to move, never felt so much energy in a room that my skin shimmered with the excitement, never smiled so big and wide for so long after a show. If you ever get a chance, you MUST see these guys. There’s no YouTube from our show, but watch this anyway:
1. Explosions in the Sky, Central Park, New York
Mary and I had a fantastic (yet I must say, truly adventurous) time getting to and seeing this show. (original blog viewable here) When I think back to this show, I still feel a spiritual uplifting, a true movement of my soul–whatever you think that means. This sort of feeling is what seeing live music is all about for me, and it happens all too infrequently. Do yourself a favor if you have an extra 20 minutes: listen to this song here, and then watch the YouTube video below. Once again, this is a band that requires patience, but your patience will pay incredible dividends.
Here’s the same song again, but from the Central Park show Mary and I were at. The first video I posted has such superior audio and visuals I couldn’t in good conscience post only the Central Park video:
M83’s new album is a kind of throwback space funk jam-off, like a ride in a technicolor elevator, with purple felt walls. Impossible to dislike.
was worth waiting for, as they morphed from terrific bar band into a piledriver of country and blues rock. A potential classic.
reviews./ Life is a lottery, a lotta people lose./ And the winners, the grinners, with money-colored eyes/ they eat all the nuggets, and they order extra fries./ But the werewolf is coming.”), his music more modern, playful, daring. “Stranger to Stranger” is a delight from start to finish, but especially for those familiar with his full body of work; his evolution is a bewildering achievement.
Notes From the Fire 
