Back in the old days of the Notes, I used to write a lot more about music, movies, and books, and I would every so often post updated lists of my absolute favorites of things. Not due to any pressing interest from the public, of course–mostly just because it’s fun for me, and also because having such a blog post can be quite handy during discussions online; I can just link someone to the entry to aid in a discussion of favorites.
Of course this is not to be confused with my annual “Favorite Music” list, where I detail my favorite music released in the previous calendar year; these lists detail my current all-time favorites, which are (like yours, of course) constantly changing.
Looking back at my entries, it appears as though I haven’t done a big posting of lists since 2012, so I’ll make this one fairly comprehensive. All of these lists have changed since 2012–some very little, some quite dramatically:
My top ten favorite poets
10. Jane Kenyon
9. Robert Creeley
8. William Carlos Williams
7. Sylvia Plath
6. Billy Collins
5. Denise Levertov
4. E.E. Cummings
3. Philip Levine
2. John Updike
1. Philip Larkin
My top 10 favorite film directors
10. Federico Fellini
9. Sidney Lumet
8. Alejandro Inarritu
7. Christopher Nolan
6. Paul Thomas Anderson
5. Alfonso Cuaron
4. Stanley Kubrick
3. Werner Herzog
2. Alfred Hitchcock
1. Terrence Malick
My top ten bands
10. This Will Destroy You
9. My Morning Jacket
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor
7. Radiohead
6. Seven Mary Three
5. Hey Rosetta!
4. The National
3. Band of Horses
2. Modest Mouse
1. Arcade Fire
My top ten music solo artists
10. Tracy Chapman
9. Ray LaMontagne
8. Father John Misty
7. Leonard Cohen
6. Jim James
5. Nina Simone
4. Willis Earl Beal
3. Emily Wells
2. Paul Simon
1. Neil Young
My top ten favorite (non-documentary) movies
10. Citizen Kane
9. Night of the Hunter
8. Fitzcarraldo
7. Magnolia
6. The Trouble with Harry
5. Children of Men
4. Where the Wild Things Are
3. The Thin Red Line
2. I’m Still Here
1. The Tree of Life
My ten favorite novelists
10. Malcolm Lowry
9. John Steinbeck
8. Isaac Asimov
7. Ernest Hemingway
6. Oscar Wilde
5. Kurt Vonnegut
4. Mark Twain
3. David Mitchell
2. Don DeLillo
1. Dave Eggers
My top twenty favorite books (any genre, fiction or nonfiction)
20. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
19. “Slade House” by David Mitchell
18. “The Terror” by Dan Simmons
17. “You Shall Know Our Velocity” by Dave Eggers
16. “Point Omega” by Don DeLillo
15. “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell
14. “Fallen Founder” by Nancy Isenberg
13. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde
12. “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding
11. “Under the Volcano” by Malcolm Lowry
10. “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” by Dave Eggers
9. “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
8. “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut
7. “Dubliners” by James Joyce
6. “Letters From the Earth” by Mark Twain
5. “White Noise” by Don DeLillo
4. “Endurance” by Alfred Lansing
3. “Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?” by Dave Eggers
2. “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer
1. “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
My top twenty favorite albums
20. “Funeral” by Arcade Fire
19. “Nobody Knows” by Willis Earl Beal
18. “High Violet” by The National
17. “The Battle of Los Angeles” by Rage Against the Machine
16. “Swamp Ophelia” by Indigo Girls
15. “Mirrorball” by Neil Young
14. “Dis/Location” by Seven Mary Three
13. “Abbey Road” by The Beatles
12. “Graceland” by Paul Simon
11. “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis
10. “‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
9. “Kid A” by Radiohead
8. “Strangers to Ourselves” by Modest Mouse
7. “This Will Destroy You” by This Will Destroy You
6. “Time Out” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet
5. “Secret Samadhi” by LIVE
4. “Infinite Arms” by Band of Horses
3. “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire
2. “RockCrown” by Seven Mary Three
1. “Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and On Through Your Blood)” by Hey Rosetta!
My top five composers
5. Philip Glass
4. Cliff Martinez
3. Hans Zimmer
2. Felix Mendelssohn
1. Carl Nielsen
My top ten painters
10. Edgar Degas
9. George Bellows
8. Mark Rothko
7. Johannes Vermeer
6. Mary Cassatt
5. Maurice Prendergast
4. Thomas Eakins
3. Henri Rousseau
2. Andrew Wyeth
1. John Sloan
It is again that time of year, for my year-in-review favorite music blog post. Again, those of you who usually do will get a sampler CD in the mail. If you’d like to join the ranks of these lucky people, just let me know. I think it is fair to say this year’s CD will BLOW YOUR MIND.
A quick display of links, if you’re curious to see previous year’s lists. It’s interesting looking back to see errors I made in retrospect (2010? I love Grinderman but not more than Arcade Fire!!! Man Man beating out Srcade Fire AND The National in 2013!?):
Now, my favorite music of this year! I’m keeping all the entries short and sweet, I just don’t have the energy for this like I used to!
15. EL VY, “Return to the Moon”
Supergroup consisting of members of The National and Menomena manage to actually merge the two groups disparate sounds into a new kind of sullen quirk rock. It works surprisingly well.
14. Matt Vasquez, “Austin”
Delta Spirit frontman’s debut solo feature sounds actually very little like Delta Spirit and very much like something new; experimental, riff-heavy, ponderous.
13. Alabama Shakes, “Sound and Color”
The sophomore effort from super-hip soul/Americana group expands their sound into something more jammy and trippy, to pleasing effect.
12. El Ten Eleven, “Fast Forward”
Post Rock/ Math Rock looping duo deliver the goods with fifth studio album, somehow find a way to keep the formula fresh.
11. Marilyn Manson, “The Pale Emperor”
Yes, that’s right: Manson is back and, while maybe not sounding exactly current, manages to make relevant, personal, haunting album.
10. Will Butler, “Policy”
Arcade Fire guitarist Butler lays down a solo album full of guts, gusto, and deliciously surprising moments. And he’s not a half-bad singer!
9. Jennylee, “Right On”
Warpaint bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg drops a solo album (recording as simply Jennylee)–the album is brooding, shadowy, thumping. This is dirty music.
8. Sun Kil Moon, “Universal Themes”
Mark Kozelek (recording as Sun Kil Moon) continues his tradition of unexpectedly blunt “blog rock”; although “Universal Themes” fails to live up to his previous album (his masterpiece “Benji”), there are enough disarming, disquieting moments to create a memorable work.
7. Deerhunter, “Fading Frontier”
The quintessential art rock band’s newest effort surprises at every turn, mostly due to a very unexpected dose of pop and hooky melodies. The styles mesh better than expected with the fuzzy unformed feedback the band is known for.
6. Willis Earl Beal, “Noctunes”
Beal could not have turned in a more different album from his debut than he did with “Noctunes”: literally songs to fall asleep to, I recommend staying awake–secrets and revelations are tucked away inside the lullabies.
5. My Morning Jacket, “The Waterfall”
The Jacket return with a concept album that sets its sights as high as possible: an album about lost love and a desire to completely stop time (time is “the waterfall”)–the grandiose vision isn’t quite accomplished but nobody but MMJ could have even got close.
4. Father John Misty, “I Love You, Honeybear”
Mr. Misty–who has also recorded extensively as Josh Tillman and is a former member of Fleet Foxes as well as Saxon Shore–has finally fully arrived with “Honeybear”. Sporting dreary, catchy songs with take-no-prisoner lyrics (“She says, like literally, music is the air she breathes/
And the malaprops make me want to fucking scream/
I wonder if she even knows what that word means”). This album is a game-changer.
3. Foals, “What Went Down”
From huge, sprawling anthems to ponderous, labyrinthine quietude, “What Went Down” set my head spinning and lead me to devour this band’s entire catalogue in a week.
2. Sufjan Stevens, “Carrie & Lowell”
A delicate album of intensely personal proportions. I was not prepared for what the words and melodies here would do to me. It lived in my car’s CD player for almost a month.
1. Modest Mouse, “Strangers to Ourselves”
Picking this #1 was not even a debate for me. Not only hands-down the best album of the year, probably the best rock album of the decade. “Strangers to Ourselves” is not a very intimate, personal album–no songs about lost loves or your good old days–this is a “feel bad” album that attempts to uncover the nasty truth of the universe and comes to the conclusion that humans are pricks, the world doesn’t care about us, and everything, everything dies. But it also rocks like a motherfucker.
Like many people, I have many favorite bands that come into and out of prominence over time. I’m not shy about blasting my opinions about these bands online, so many of you are probably at least slightly tuned into my current obsessions. There are some bands that have what I would call themes; they don’t just write songs, but their entire body of work represents a specific worldview or thought process; others bands just sort of write songs. I like plenty of both kinds of bands. For instance, I love My Morning Jacket, and while I could say quite a bit about their musical themes, I’d be hard pressed to make a statement about what the whole of their songs say about a specific worldview.
My favorite band, Hey Rosetta!, has a very distinct worldview that is expressed in nearly every song: they believe in the lifting-up of humanity–of rising above our base and dreadful selves into a state of grace, be it secular or otherwise. I believe in this worldview and embrace it. I’m an unashamed atheist and I don’t think this concept is anathema to atheism; joy, redemption, and existential victory are just as (if not more) possible secularly as they are with religion. As such, the content of the songs of Hey Rosetta! speak to me greatly.
However, there is a flip side, and that side is Modest Mouse. Modest Mouse also has a worldview, and I believe in theirs, too, despite how different it is from Hey Rosetta!’s. Modest Mouse’s worldview is that the world is a painful, pointless collection of atoms; we spring into existence and consciousness by accident and then after a short time, we stop existing. Their music explores what it’s like to be trying to make sense of the damned mess during the brief period that your carbon gains awareness. I find this worldview to be unassailably true; however, when coupled with Hey Rosetta’s philosophy, it meshes into my own cohesive idea of the world: we’ve sprung from nothing and we end up as nothing, but it can be beautiful and inspiring while you’re here.
Modest Mouse (which nowadays really just means Isaac Brock, the main lyricist and songwriter) have just released an album that I think could not possibly better encapsulate their theme. The album, Strangers to Ourselves, digs deep into not just the whole “everything is pointless” concept but examines more closely American problems like urban sprawl, screen addiction, gun control, anhedonia, climate change; the things that serve to separate us from our experiences, rob us of our individuality, and kill us early–in a universe where there are no second chances. The music on the album is completely immersive: huge, sweeping, danceable yet dirty, like Death come to visit for a playdate, or like a syphilitic disco ball.
But the real accomplishment here are the words. Isaac Brock has always written wholly unique lyrics; only a man with such a sideways twist on conventional rock lyrics could successfully tackle the topics he has (I hesitate to say he is the best current rock lyricist; I don’t know who is but their name probably rhymes with Gibbard). But on Strangers to Ourselves, Brock’s goal has finally become crystalline, his thesis fully formed. This album is his doctoral dissertation. And like any great work of art, it is so bold and cunning that the flashes of brilliance are accompanied by other moments that seem daft or even silly. This is the nature of a rock and roll record that aims, ultimately, to tell us big truths about the entire universe. Here now, a selection of some of my favorite (or more interesting) lyrics from Modest Mouse’s Strangers to Ourselves:
“Well the Earth doesn’t care, and we hardly even matter–we’re just a bit more piss to push out its full bladder. And as our bodies break down into all their rocky little bits, piled up under mountains of dirt and silt: still the world, it don’t give a shit!”
“How lucky we are, that we are so easy to forget.”
“Well fear makes us really, really run around.”
“Pack up again, head to the next place, where we’ll make the same mistakes. Burn it up or just chop it down; this one’s done, so where to now?”
“The world’s an inventor and we’re the dirtiest thing it’s thought about, and we really don’t mind.”
“This rock of ours is just some big mistake and we will never know just where we go or where we have came from. These veins of mine are now some sort of fuse and when they light up and my mind blows up my heart is amused. So this heart of mine is just some sort of map that doesn’t care at all or worry about where the hell you’re at, but you’re right there.”
“We don’t belong here, we were just born here.”
“We get dressed as ghosts with sheets taken from the bed, inside our socks we hide Traveler’s Checks, we are tourists of the dead. So let’s pack up, let’s go!”
“Pack a lunch, wander ’round, toss the map on the ground, it is inaccurate anyway. We’ve been getting away (we’ve been getting away), we are strangers to ourselves. We sneak out, drip-by-drip, through papercuts on our hands. Day by day, nothing’s quite the same, we are tourists in our own heads.”
“These Western concerns: hold my place in line while I take your turn.”
“We all led the charge, till we ran aground in our party barge, and every little gift was just one more part of their grift. Oh yeah we know it. The best news that we got was just some dumb hokum we’d all bought. Let’s go reckless feeling great, we’re the sexist of all primates, let’s let loose with our charms, shake our ass and wave our arms, all going apeshit!”
Here we go again. This yearly list is one of the last remaining rituals from when this blog was much more focused on reviews of and discussions about current art and media; I used to post frequent movie and music reviews, and slowly over the years it morphed into a much more personal blog. Early on, I posted multiple year-end “favorite” lists (I avoid calling them “best of” lists, but only because it seems to piss some of you off). One year I went as far to make a Favorite Poetry, Favorite Television, Favorite Magazines, Favorite Movies, and Favorite Music lists! The last 3 or so years, I have only made a music list. I still like to closely follow new-release movies, but I can no longer make a pointed effort to see enough of them in a timely fashion to make a comprehensive yearly list.
If you have any interest, you can see past year’s music lists here (they did go even further back, but they were on MySpace blogs that have unfortunately disappeared):
As per usual, if you are a person who routinely gets mix discs and other neat stuff from me in the mail, a mix disc featuring a selection from all of this year’s listings is already in the mail on it’s way to you. If you are not one of these people and want to be, leave a blog comment/ send me a Facebook message/ text me/ call me/ hit me up on Tinder (huh?) and I’ll put you on the list! Now, the winners:
This was an especially fertile year for music for me; I’d estimate I listened to approximately 80 new-release albums this year, and really loved about half of those. This was by far the most difficult year I’ve had when it comes to narrowing down my selections! Some of my favorite artists had no releases this year, so it was easier to not play favorites and just judge what moved me the most. Here are the top fifteen, in order:
15. Modest Mouse, “Lampshades on Fire”
This is the first time in the history of my lists that I have included a single song instead of an album, but I didn’t see as I had a choice. Modest Mouse’s new album doesn’t come out until March 2015, but this lead single, which was released about 3 weeks ago, has been almost the only thing I’ve been listening to since it came out. An absolute piece of snarling perfection.
14. Real Estate, Atlas
If you have any idea what “shoegaze” rock is, and you haven’t heard this album, may I suggest you stop being an idiot?
13. Phish, Fuego
Finally a return to form after a number of disappointing releases, Fuego finds the band weaving tight, crisp jams over sparse but giddy lyrics that start to hint at the pains of being post-middle age, with a little bit of supreme confidence thrown in for good measure.
12. Parquet Courts, Sunbathing Animal and Content Nausea
This New York post-punk-post-pop-pre-rockabilly (huh? Here I am just joking; the music media loves to label Parquet Courts in so many ways it is ludicrous; they just make “rock” music, albeit kinda…punky? Amateury?) really hit their stride this year, releasing two back-to-back masterpieces (the second, Content Nausea, being released by their alter ego band, Parkay Quarts). These taut, coiled, short screeds blast at you like beautiful insults; they are loveable songs that you want to run from.
11. The Orwells, Disgraceland
The Orwells steamrolled onto everybody’s radar this year with this unforgettable performance on Letterman. That song (called “Who Needs You”) also features some truly daring lyrics: “You better count your blessings/ kiss your ma and pa/ You better burn that flag/ ’cause it aint against the law!/ Listen up forefathers:/ I’m not your son/ You better save the country/ You better pass the flask/ You better join the army/ I said: no thank you, dear old uncle sam!”. When their full-length album, Disgraceland, was released shortly after the Letterman appearance, it didn’t much matter that it was a disappointing collection of small-talent noise rock: “Who Needs You” was a song debut good enough to buy them a few years of grace period.
10. The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream
These home-grown Philly boys blew me away with the first track on this album (while not their first album, it’s their first ‘major’ album, and the first I’d heard). The album is aptly titled, as, if I had to name this genre of rock, I’d call it Dream Rock. Standout track “Under the Pressure” was my anthem of early summer this year, and provided a soundtrack on repeat for my visit home to Central PA and my friend Michael’s wedding. I have a clear memory of sitting in my dad’s car after arriving to her wedding, blasting the air conditioning, listening to “Under the Pressure” on repeat, and waiting to get out of the car until I saw someone I knew.
9. El Ten Eleven, For Emily
One of the more unique “post-rock” outfits in the biz, this duo utilizes looping and custom instruments to create full, intensely emotive sounds. For Emily is just a 5-song EP, but it is far from a toss-off and there is zero filler. The production is crisper and cleaner than I’m used to from these guys; I can hear the guitarist’s fingers on the strings, a pleasant departure from the more clinical sound of their earlier (and still amazing) records.
8. Willis Earl Beal, Experiments in Time
The supremely “artsy” blues-psychedlia-R&B crooner of last year’s exquisite Nobody Knows came back right away with a solid follow-up; however, Experiments in Time lacks the urgency and necessity of his previous efforts. Still, Time succeeds where most artists fail: every moment of this is something that could only have been made by Beal. Everything he does is unmistakably his, a quality that is more and more rare these days.
7. Hey Rosetta!, Second Sight
Those of you who have followed my blog for years now may be surprised by this band’s new album ranking seventh on my list this year (they’ve released two albums since I started making lists, each one ranking #1 on their release year). I continue to maintain Hey Rosetta! as my favorite band (although it keeps being by thinner and thinner margins) and my discovery of them about 6 or 7 years ago remains a defining event of my life; alas, nothing stays perfect forever. There are lots of moments to like on Second Sight, and a few of these songs would turn up on mix CDs I might make of the band; however, the breathless, emotion-drenched moments I crave from them are a bit too infrequent, and the times the band tries to stretch and evolve often sound too under-developed. Nonetheless: solid, earnest, and soulful.
6. Mono, The Last Dawn and Rays of Darkness
The premier Japanese post-rock band has finally made their masterpiece in these two simultaneously-released twin albums; Dawn explores the light, uplifting possibilities of this genre, and Darkness its depressing underbelly. Both albums are instant post-rock classics; when listened to back-to-back, it can be a damn-near enlightening experience.
5. Delta Spirit, Into the Wide
Finally this band, who I have always loved, completely lets loose. They get big and epic. These are songs about hearts as big as prairies, unchecked regret, the loss of innocence, and the decay of America. The tales are told through booming guitar loops and underlying synth structures, long atmospheric intros and cacophonous crescendos. Singer Matt Vasquez’s voice breaks in just the right places, just the right amount of times, like a pubescent boy finally learning to control the caged beast within.
4. This Will Destroy You, Another Language
This year, This Will Destroy You entered the small league of BANDS THAT ALWAYS MESS ME UP EMOTIONALLY. This intense, emotive post-rock group from Texas (where else have we heard of a Texas post-rock band?) started out my year amazingly, as I worked my way through their back catalog and they made my life better. I was caught off guard late in the year by the release of a new album! Another Language doesn’t often reach the sublime levels of their early work, but some standout tracks (“Newtopia”, “Dustism”, “Serpent Mound”) can make a comfortable home with their best material.
3. Stars, No One is Lost
This band just keeps on growing on me. They are wholly unique. They fuse an indie/alternative vibe with a pop sensibility and then throw in melancholy, defeatist lyrics for a sound and feeling you simply cannot get anywhere else. No One is Lost absolutely has to be their best album yet. You leave it dancing your ass off, but with no idea what to feel. The emotional confusion that Stars provokes is completely intentional and positively riveting.
2. Warpaint, Warpaint
The album is self-titled, but it isn’t their debut album (it’s their third). This album slithered under my skin from moment one. It is sinister, sexy, and deliciously complex. It is bombastic, mathematical, dynamic, coiled. It punches, swerves, licks, plays. The four women in Warpaint refuse to make “chick rock”, but they also do not ignore that they are women; this is rock music made from a woman’s perspective, but for everybody. It’s not about being a woman, it’s about the experience of life, of living in bodies, the depth of feeling, the smell of smoke, the touch of a raindrop, barely felt. This album is a sensual gut-punch.
1. Silver Mt. Zion, Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
This is not music for everybody. This band–and especially this album by this band–is a pretty unhappy affair. It does not focus on the good things in life. It’s about dirt, pain, rot. It is, at times, about rising above these things, about triumph–but it is about triumph as afterthought, as happenstance. This is perhaps not a complete and accurate portrait of life: but it is not a perspective without its truth.
This downtrodden thematic perspective is accompanied by the band’s usual lengthy, repetitive, droning postpunk post-everything mess rock, but with a little (a little) more typical song structure than usual. Like I said: this isn’t for everybody. But you know who it is for? Me. While not a single song on this album could ever come even remotely close to being played on the radio (I think most radio stations would pay money to keep it away) it is, to me, one of those rarest things in modern music: true art, worthy of museum display.
You were laying on the carpet
like you’re satin in a coffin.
You said, “Do you believe what you’re saying?”
Yeah, right now, but not that often.
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
God, I sure hope you are dead.
Well, you disappeared so often
like you dissolved into coffee.
Are you here right now or are there
probably fossils under your meat?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
God, I sure hope you are dead.
Now the blow’s been softened
since the air we breathe’s our coffin.
Well, now the blow’s been softened
since the ocean is our coffin.
Often times you know our laughter
is our coffin ever after,
and you know the blow’s been softened
since the world is our coffin.
And now the blow’s been softened
since we are our own damn coffins.
Well, everybody’s talking about their short lists,
yeah everybody’s talking about death!
You were laying on the carpet
like you’re satin in a coffin.
You said, “Do you believe what you’re saying?”
Yeah, right now, but not that often.
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
Are you dead or are you sleeping?
God, I sure hope you are dead.
Hello fearless readers, and welcome to another semi-regular feature you are not going to care about or read and which I will post solely for my own enjoyment! Yay!
For the next 3 or 4 weeks, on Thursdays, my buddy Bill and I will bring you two fake Modest Mouse album titles, one from each of us. Why Modest Mouse album titles, you ask? Well, this band has a history of giving their albums long, sentence-like titles. In addition, there is a certain tone to the titles that is tough to put one’s finger on, but it is kinda like a feeling of snarky dread, or silly threatening. Here, I shall show you some actual Modest Mosue album titles:
“We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”
“No One’s First, and You’re Next”
“This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About”
“Good News For People Who Love Bad News”
“Building Nothing Out of Something”
So, those were real Modest Mouse album titles. (to be fair, they have a few more “normal” album titles–and they’re good album titles! Such as: “The Moon & Antarctica” and “The Lonesome Crowded West”…and the occasional difficult-to-categorize title such as “Baron von Bullshit Rides Again”) For the last few years, it’s been an ongoing gag of Bill and I’s that when a Modest Mouse album-like sentence occurs in the flow of conversation, to point it out and claim it is a Modest Mouse album title. Finding these chunks of language in real life is a challnge, and kinda an art unto itself, so that’s why I felt I had to highlight it here on the old blog. So there’s a long explanation for what you’ll be seeing in this spot for the nest few weeks. So, without further ado, this week’s fake Modest Mouse album titles:
Bill’s: “Pure Agendas Muddled By Execution”
Seth’s: “When the Bubble Burst, We Were In It, But They Were On It”
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
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!
Last night, my friend Kyle got drunk on rum, watched movies, and fucked around on the internet, blogging his thoughts on what he was seeing/doing. It looked like marvelous self-indulgent fun, so of course I’m doing it now! (except I’ll be drinking generic diet Dr. Pepper and various coffee products instead of rum!)
Tonight is a “Seth-time” night–I shut out the outside world and treat my apartment and everything in it like an amusement park. It’s not very often I get to fully enjoy all this crap I’ve got in here! Most of you will not be the least bit interested by this blog post, so I apologize in advance, but it’s gonna be fun for me, so take a flying leap! Also, I’ll be editing it throughout the night and adding to it, so check back!
7:30pm: I’m halfway through “Citizen Ruth”, the first movie by Alexander Payne (of “Election”, “About Schmidt” and “Sideways” fame). Kyle himself chose this movie for me by randomly picking a number (237) and then I counted to that number in my personal DVD collection. “Citizen Ruth” is a dark comedy about the hilarious issues of abortion, addiction, the religious right, and moral certitude. I know, hilarious, right?! But it IS, somehow, and also very, very issue oriented. I haven’t watched it for probably a year, and am now reminded of why I bought it. As a rule, I very much dislike Laura Dern (what with her association with David Lynch), but in “Citizen Ruth”, Dern does an AMAZING job portraying this very tortured woman (she’s addicted to huffing paint) who’s had 4 kids taken from her and is being pressured to abort her current fetus, when she becomes a national poster woman for anti-abortion…and then the poster woman for choice…and back and forth and back and forth, all the while Dern continues to skirt the line between intense emotion and light-heartedness…as much as I dislike her, she deserved an Oscar nom for this.
Here’s a scene from the movie that perfectly illustrates how it is played both tragic and comic simultaneously:
7:45pm: Cracking open the first Diet Dr. Thunder (wal-mart brand) of the night. I really do love this shit. I don’t buy it for economic reasons. I actually prefer it to the real deal now. I have cans tonight, but I usually have 2 liters. Wal-Mart was actually OUT of the 2 liters last night!
7:47pm: Ruth Stoops (Laura Dern) who is about to enter an abortion clinic but is waiting for some protesters to leave, just said “I wish I could take a dump.”
8:02pm: Just took the trash out. Why do I always insist in doing this in just my socks, when I know full well that the stone parking lot hurts my feet? I’ve always had very sensitive feet.
8:04pm: Just cracked open the newest Time magazine. What is this stuff about New Jersey residents protesting Gaddafi? This seems weird. I’m gonna get to the bottom of this.
8:07pm: The anti-abortion woman who is attempting to win Ruth to their position just accused Ruth of being addicted to “smelling drugs”.
8:12pm: Perusing the latest TV Guide (that’s right, I get TV Guide) to see if I want to put on the TV or another movie after “Citizen Ruth” is over. PBS’s History Detectives is looking pretty good. Anyone ever seen that show? It’s sooooooo intriguing! But that is really the only thing coming on a 9:00 that seems worth my time.
8:14pm: Oh man!!! Burt Reynolds makes his hilarious entry into “Citizen Ruth”! Gotta love this character!
8:35pm: Just read about this curious phenomenon in Time: Putpockets.
8:36pm: Flirting on Facebook.
8:54pm: Eating a can of Hormel chili. Interesting story about me and chili: about 2 years ago, my friend Mary and I were eating at the restaurant Chili’s. I was very, very hungry, and was talking about having an appetizer of some kind, at which point Mary says I might as well have some chili, since I always eat chili. I was astounded! Sure, I’ve eaten chili in my life, but I’ve never been a chili “fan”, or, as far as I can remember, ever eaten chili in front of Mary before that moment. I protested, but she insisted that I always ate chili. Well, wouldn’t you know it, almost immediately after that night, I DID become a big fan of chili, and now I usually have one or two cans in my apartment at all times. This, of course, always looks to Mary as though she were right all along! I can in no way convince her that I was not a chili fan before that night! Also: on my second can of Diet Dr. Thunder.
9:00pm: I’ve opted to watch History Detectives.
9:13pm: That chili was delish!! And this episode of History Detectives is boring! (enough WWII already, History Detectives!). I’m going to step out of the apartment briefly to take some pictures of Carlisle at night.
10:00pm: Back from taking pictures. Didn’t get a lot of good shots, but I should have: it’s “big trash day”, when people can put couches and refrigerators and all kinds of big stuff out on the sidewalk to be taken away. However, my limited-ability camera made capturing anything great very difficult. here are my favorites:
10:16pm: It is apparently impossible to not have these words snake around the pictures. No matter how hard I try, they won’t simply appear BELOW the pictures. Consider that my rant for the evening. Now: I’m well aware of how this sounds, but I’m now going to put on my vinyl copy of Godspeed You Black Emperor’s album Yanqui U.X.O., light some incense, and read some poetry. This is going to rule. Looks like the poet of the night is…Robert Creeley, who rules. Also, when the song “Motherfucker=Redeemer” plays, I am going to play air guitar on a golf club (which I guess is actually golf club guitar) during the 10-minute crescendo.
10:27pm: Texting Joni, who just sprained her wrist.
10:34pm: Internet and cable TV go down, not changing my plans at all, but preventing me from keeping you all updated for a second!
10:44pm: Play air guitar on a golf club, as promised, during the crescendo to “Motherfucker=Redeemer”. If you have a spare 20 minutes and some patience, you can listen to the song here. But that is only part one of the song.
11:25pm: Am astounded by one of these Creeley poems I must have always missed:
The Answer
by Robert Creeley
Will we speak to each other
making the grass bend as if
a wind were before us, will our
way be graceful, as
substantial as the movement
of something moving so gently.
We break things in pieces like
walls we break ourselves into
hearing them fall just to hear it.
11:33pm: Making a marshamallow latte. There’s no actual marshmallows involved; I have marshmallow Torani syrup. It’s just like a caramel latte except it tastes like marshmallow. It’s fantastic! And it sucks typing marshmallow that many times! Also, smoking another one of these cigars I bought for the birth of Paul’s daughter…uh-oh. Am I starting to like cigars?
11:48pm: Texting Sarah about music, and still texting Joni, but now about waffles. Putting Radiohead’s Kid A on the turntable. This is one of my only vinyls where I can notice the difference in sound quality on the vinyl.
Midnight: Holy shit, “National Anthem” on Kid A is making me move! Currently dancing around my living room, singing into a golf club…keep moving the needle back again and again…this song has got me stuck in it’s groove!
12:20am: I’ve made a commitment to essentially stage a fake concert here in my living room to the entire Kid A album. I’m getting sweaty and this latte isn’t helping! “Idioteque” is blowing my mind and it’s getting difficult to not make the record skip!
12:54: Marshmallow latte #2. I might not go to bed tonight. Been awhile since I saw a sunrise…hmmmm…??? I’m gonna let Pandora radio play my Post-Rock station and read some of the Stephen King book I started today, Lisey’s Story.
1:10am: I’ve tried starting this King book a few times now over the last six months, and I just cannot get into it. Is it, perhaps, that this is the one millionth book King has written about a writer? This is feeling a bit worn to me. Plus, the last King book I read before this one, Duma Key (which was about a PAINTER!) felt exactly like this book at the beginning; it seems I’m reading the same book twice–and Duma Key was barely scary at all! I’m afraid to let myself spend that long (these are loooooong books) on a non-scary, mediocre book again. But I shall try. Back to the book!
1:35am: Am totally ambushed by a MySpace Instant Message (that’s right, I was on MySpace!) by one of my friends who insists they have a hilarious YouTube video to show me. I relent, and they are right, it is hilarious! See for yourself:
1:38am: E-mailing back and forth with Joni trying to decide on what her new hairstyle will be…I vote for number 1 or number 4. I think number 1 will be especially amazing on her…it fits her face perfectly. Do you think I can utilize every single one of my existing blog tags in this single entry? Probably not, but the tags are getting ridiculous!
1:45am: I just gave Kyle and opportunity to select my next movie for me through the random number system again, but he dropped the ball and signed off Facebook, and Mary jumped at the chance. She chose number 267 (weird, since earlier Kyle chose 237), and that movie is “Dragonslayer”! Badass. This is an old-school movie about…well…killing dragons, back when special effects were still mainly stop-motion and models. But that doesn’t take away from this movie at all. It is still VERY creepy in places. This is another one I haven’t seen in a long time. Makes me remember my childhood. For some reason it seems I watched this alot when I was little. I remember it influencing my “play”…it really sparked my imagination!
1:54am: Bowl of Boo Berry cereal and a diet Dr. Thunder.
2:13am: Between Mary and Kyle, I am having my ass Facebooked off! Also wondering whatever happened to Peter MacNicol’s film career? He’s the bomb in “Dragonslayer”, and then he was in…”Sophie’s Choice”, I believe?…I suppose he’s had some success in TV though. Oh man, MacNicol is entering the dragon’s cave for the first time…this is so tense!
2:50am: Oh man I forgot about this little monster that jumps out of the hole in the cave! It scared the crap out of me! It’s a fierce baby dragon!
2:55am: All the lights out and some incense going for the big fight scene. I might pee my pants!
3:02am: OMG there’s that fucking dragon. That fucking dragon is popping up right behind Peter MacNicol…you can see it’s reflection in the pool of water. Now you can see the steam from it’s breath! This dragon ain’t nothing to fuck with!
3:23am: So ends “Dragonslayer”…so glad Mary picked that one! And it seems that now just about everyone is asleep…and yet I am wide awake, perhaps owing to my marshmallow lattes. I’m going to go cut my hair.
3:37am: Mid-cut:
3:45am: Haircut complete. That’s right, I can give myself a haircut in under ten minutes! Finished haircut:
Yes, it's true, I look like ass here. I blame it on my overhead flourescent light.
3:55am: Next up, I’m going to rock out a little bit more…I had so much fun earlier jumping around my living room! This time, it’s gonna be Modest Mouse’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Then after that, it’s been decided (by Kyle again, by random number) that I’ll be watching the film “Matchstick Men.” OK…let the Modest Mouse begin!
4:32am: Nobody can sing like Isaac Brock, lead singer of Modest Mouse. Now, I’m not saying he’s a good singer–far from it. In fact, most of the time, he barely sings at all. It’s more a an in-key snarl. But nobody else does it. Alot of the time, he actually laughs the words. he laugh-sings words! WTF? It’s amazing and crazy. Totally sweaty from jumping around my living room pretending to be Isaac Brock.
4:44am: I have elected to skip “Matchstick Men”, as “Needful Things” is on Starz, and I’ve not seen it before. Also, I have elected to watch this movie while laying down in an attempt to sleep eventually, even though I am not tired yet, and I don’t have to be up for anything tomorrow, now seems as good a time as any to hit the reset button, although I’ll probably become engrossed in the movie and be up until 6 anyway. I hope somebody out there got some form of entertainment out of the endless blog. Good night.
See this needle? See my hand? Drop, drop, droppin’
it down, oh-so-gently!
–“Spin the Black Circle”, Pearl Jam
I don’t think I’ll ever buy an iPod (but don’t quote me on that). I have been a stickler for practical media (read: physical) ever since this fascination with ghost media (read: intangible) began over a decade ago. I have stood hard and fast by the Compact Disc, wagged judgemental fingers at illegal movie downloaders, and I even still have my VCR (albeit in my closet). There are enough people in the world on my side, vocally complaining about how important it is to have something after you buy something; how integral to the experience it is to own an actual physical product. And, for many years, I was echoing their sentiment, especially when it came to music: I like to read the liner notes, I like to look at the artwork, I like the heft of a full book of CDs, etc etc. But now I’m changing my tune…but just a little.
Over the years, whenever I would give this speil to an iPod-wearing, Zune-toting, MP3-adoring hipster, there was always a little thing in the back of my mind, a counter-argument I always hoped nobody would make (and nobody ever had) and that argument is this:
Well, I guess it’s not just about the music for you, is it then, if you want all these products?
If any of those ear-budded hipsters had had the presence of mind to say that to me, I’d have been dumbfounded as to how to respond, because of course it’s all about the music! Only…how could it be just about the music, if I needed non-music physical bodies to complete my enjoyment?
Then, about six months ago, I hopped onto this micro-trend of buying a record player. There’s a small but powerful contingent of anti-iPodists out there who are intentionally regressing in medium, and it’s a powerful enough movement that we’re now at a place where just about every new musical release of any importance is getting released in vinyl, though you’ve got to drive far (unless you’re in a city or really cool place) or order from Amazon if you want the vinyl. What I thought might be a lark has changed the way I’m thinking about not only music, but all art. And, folks, it’s quite a transcendental capitalism.
My truly beautiful, marble red, vinyl-only release of Modest Mouse's "History Sticks to Your Feet"
Pull it out, a paper sleeve…
Oh, my joy…only you deserve conceit!
—“Spin the Black Circle”, Pearl Jam
The first time I pulled the new Death Cab For Cutie album, Narrow Stairs, out of it’s paper sleeve, while looking at the sprawling, cubist, wordless bi-fold art in the center of the case, I knew right then and there that it wasn’t–and had never been–all about the music. Maybe it is just about the music for you, and for the millions of iPodists out there, but it isn’t for me. But it’s not as simple as needing a neat, pretty, and new product of some kind–that’s just a bi-product. No, it’s about needing an experience, a ritual, a visual, olfactory, and tactile representation of the music I’ve come to love–the music which has come to define me and say so much about the person I have quite carefully become. No ghost in the machine of an iPod can say more than the notes and words in the intangible wisp in the buds. No, I need artwork and smell and feel: proof that this music exists.
And now, six months into being a vinyl guy, I’m beginning to think that CDs aren’t good enough either (or that they’re too good.)
With vinyl, you rarely get liner notes, or much of any recognition from the artist at all. What you get, typically, are one or two big pictures of some kind, or a thematic artwork. The cerebral heavy-lifting that came with some CDs is erased, and replaced with an immediate, often striking, visual statement of the music you are about to hear. It’s much more guttural, and exactly what I needed in this content-saturated media blitz of a culture.
My vinyl copy of My Morning Jacket's album "Z" beside my CD copy of Deerhunter's "Microcastles" (because I couldn't find my CD copy of "Z")
The same vinyl and CD opened up. Which one would you rather own for the rest of your life?
Aside from the artwork, and plain cool size, of vinyl, there’s another element that really changes the way I listen to music, and that is the anti-portability of vinyl. With first cassette tapes (and the Walkman), then CDs and now digital music, listening to your favorite songs has become more and more portable, to the point that listening to music is now practically more convenient when you’re on the move. You do it while you’re doing other things. You do it when you’re distracted, when you’re going to or coming from work, when you’re exercising, when you run the vaccuum. The soul-searching, the connecting with the artist, the stationary, elemental, prosaic human face of music is disappearing; and I don’t say this because I’m old, or unhip, or resistant to change. This has got to be a true thing.
You’re so warm…oh, the ritual,
when I lay down your crooked arm!
–“Spin the Black Circle”, Pearl Jam
Vinyl practically forces you to be doing nothing but listening to music. Sure, you can clean your house, or read a book, but you’d better also pay some attention to the music, because you’ve got to get up and flip the record after a few songs. You sure as shit can’t do your workout when you’re listening to vinyl, because you’ll skip that record like crazy and scratch it. And, as I have found, if you get a nice rare vinyl, you can even turn it into a social event. Music lovers will actually come to your house to listen to it, and we can have a social event over a record. Think about that.
I don’t even give a shit about the supposedly amazing sound quality of vinyl. I’m no audiophile; I couldn’t pick out a FLAC file from an MP3 in a lineup; I just need to hear the chords and words. Besides, I still have crappy speakers.
1. Before an awesome lunch with Joni, we saw a squirrel trying to get into a drainpipe, and it was hilarious.
2. Joni also wore what I would consider to be the shirt best matched to the person wearing it, ever. It’s like someone made that shirt for her.
3. Started off my day by watching 2005’s ‘Rumor Has It’. I loved it. What’s going on with me and romantic comedies? I used to think they were the devil.
4. Saw the very first guy who was my roommate my first time through rehab walking down the street with a case of beer.
5. I’m going to mention my sister now so I can create a sister tag for my blog, which I don’t understand how one doesn’t already exist. PS my sister rules.
6. Walked from my apartment to Thornwald Park, did some reading, met Michael there, and we watched a nice free bluegrass show in the park. Talked through most of it. Beautiful evening for sitting in a park for live music. Instead of walking right home, I stopped at the theater and saw ‘Bruno’. It was OK. It’s no ‘Borat’. Then stopped at the chinese buffet. Then went to wal-mart and bought more stuff than I should have, since the walk back was rather long. My shoulder hurts.
7. Quote from Michael today: “You want to eat my arm, don’t you?”
8. Mary is a freelance writer. She got a job today to write a screenplay that apparently involves a road trip and medicinal marijuana. I’m excited for her!
9. Took some dumpster pictures on my walk today. I continue to be amazed by how many great dumpster pics I can get in this one podunk town of Carlisle.
10. Going to bed now, going to try to catch up on the 8 unread magazines on my bedside table.
11. Oh, PS, another quote from Michael today: “What’s a romantic attachment? Is that like a dildo or something?”
12. Things I need to add to this entry to create tags for my blog without having to actually write an entry about them:
Paul, Modest Mouse, NPR, P.T. Anderson, Philip Larkin, High School, Childhood, spirituality, woods
manage to actually merge the two groups disparate sounds into a new kind of sullen quirk rock. It works surprisingly well.
arrived with “Honeybear”. Sporting dreary, catchy songs with take-no-prisoner lyrics (“She says, like literally, music is the air she breathes/
Notes From the Fire 
