My Favorite Music of 2013

It is time once again, fair blog readers, for the last remaining “year-end” list that I still do: music.  I’ve been making these lists since 2007, but the first few were on my MySpace blog, which has been destroyed, but you can see past Notes From the Fire music lists here:

Favorite Music of 2009

Favorite Music of 2010

Favorite Music of 2011

Favorite Music of 2012

If you are a person who regularly receives CDs from me in the mail, you’ll be getting a mix disc representing this list.  Don’t get discs from me and want one?  Drop me an e-mail/ text/ blog comment and I’ll send you one.  Oh, and just to be clear, this is my favorite music that was released in 2013, not just the music I loved the most during the year.  That list would look a bit different.

I had to make it a top 11 list, I was unable to take any of these artists off the list.  So, without further ado, in order, the albums I liked most in 2013:

11.  Elvis Costello and The Roots, “Wise Up Ghost”

What seems like an unlikely pairing when you first hear about it turns out to be something that seems like it should have happened all along.  All snarl, no filler.

10.  Editors, “The Weight of Your Love”

These British whiners just keep finding ways to whine that feel like they’re punching you in the goddamn throat.  And they keep building on previous albums and boldly evolving.

9.  Kings of Leon, “Mechanical Bull”

We’re obviously never going back to the shit-kicking jambalaya balling rock of the band’s youth, but this new, outsized punching bag swing will do just fine.

8.  Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Push the Sky Away”

An album a little short on excitement, but 100% dripping in atmosphere, as well as what this band does best: the saddest sex songs on Earth.

7.  Deerhunter, “Monomania”

The creepy indie shoegazers are back, and NOT weirder than ever! Bradford Cox and company get a little more structured on this disc, which suits them just fine.  Have four minutes?  Watch this.  All the way through.

6.  Kinski, “Cosy Moments”

The little-known drone-rockers (I just made up that term) get all vocal-y on their best album yet.  Unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

5. “Oblivion” soundtrack by M83

The French electronica duo M83 have here crafted the most jarring, emotionally resonant film score since Hans Zimmer’s “Inception”.

4.  Willis Earl Beal, “Nobody Knows”

Willis Earl Beal

Probably the most thrilling, humbling, disquieting debut from a solo artist that I have ever been witness to.  Please get on the Willis Earl Beal train.  His music is soulful, disturbing, beautiful, and pummeling.  In addition, he’s a personality with clear potential to ascend to the next level in the cultural zeitgeist.  Get on the train early, you heard it here first.  Plus, watch this.

 

3.  Arcade Fire, “Reflektor”

 

Perennially one of my favorite bands, most years this album would have taken my #1 spot, but the competition was stiff this year.  Like their previous outings, “Reflektor” is a true work of artistic genius, both analytical and guttural, not afraid to come at modern topics through academic approaches, and canvassing world music and deep rock history for influences, resulting in a rounded, eclectic-sounding collection of contemplative ass-kickers.

2.   The National, “Trouble Will Find Me”

 

If I were to, right this moment, make a list of my favorite bands, The National would almost certainly be #1.  Matt Berninger’s wickedly free-associative lyrics uncover profound things within me, and the band’s perfectly balanced approach to squeezing life through a hole in a tomato aligns precisely with my temperament.  This album (the first new one to come out since I became a fan of the band) was no disappointment.  I’ve listened to its melancholy bathtub bleedout tunes hundreds of times this year.  Click here to watch the lyric video I made of my favorite song on the album, “Don’t Swallow the Cap”.  It references the Beatles and Nirvana’s “Nevermind”.  You’ll like it, but listen to it twice in a row.

1.  Man Man, “On Oni Pond”

 

Man Man are a band like no other.  They are most often termed “experimental”, but some of the more memorable labels that have been adhered to them are “Viking swing”, “carnival rock” and “voodoo funk”.  They must be experienced to be understood.

While I am always excited for a new Man Man album, they have always been more about the live experience for me.  I do believe this is even the first time one of their albums has made one of my year-end lists, let alone topped it.  I was never expecting “On Oni Pond” to blow me away the way it did.

Here the band actually attempts to “mature” while maintaining their signature quirkiness.  It works in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible.  Honus Honus (the moniker lead singer Ryan Kattner goes by) sings in turns about seemingly silly things like “pink wontons” or Wolf Blitzer (in the song “End Boss”) and then turns around and gently reminds us “nobody knows/ where the time goes./  nobody knows” (in “Fangs”).  The combination of calculated buffoonery and genuine affectation left me wanting more, dancing around my living room.

 

Monday’s Song: Kings of Leon, “Knocked Up”

Knocked Up
by Kings of Leon

I don’t care what nobody says,
we gonna have a baby.
Takin’ off in a Coupe de Ville,
She’s bundled up, Old Navy.
She don’t care what her mama said, no,
she’s gonna have my baby.
I’m taking all I have to take,
this taking’s gonna shake me.

People call us renegade
cause we like livin’ crazy.
We like taking on the town
cause people gettin’ lazy.
I don’t care what nobody says, no,
I wanna be her lover.
Always mad and usually drunk
but I love her like no other.

And the doc say, say he don’t know.
I’m a ghost, and I don’t think if I know
where we’re gonna go.

People call us renegades
cause we like livin’ crazy.
We like taking on this town
cause people gettin’ lazy.
I don’t care what nobody says, no,
I’m gonna be her lover.
Always mad and usually drunk
but I love her like no other.

And her daddy say, say he don’t know
where we’re gonna go.
I’m a ghost and I don’t think if I know
where we’re gonna go.

I don’t care if you don’t care.

 

Check out this link right here.   Days after my top 15 albums of the year post, the Grammy nominations are in, and it’s clear that I’ve got my finger on the pulse!  Nominations for Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, Kings of Leon, and even a Best New Artist nomination for Mumford and Sons!  (also, a nomination for Pearl Jam, which is cool, but it’s for that damn album that I hate more and more every day, which shall not be named, and which I could swear is 2 years old, but still…go PJ!).  Just figured I’d take this opportunity to point out that I know what’s up.  :)

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: Concerts

Other favorites of 2009:

Magazines
Poetry
Television

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: