good night, and good luck

I normally attach an MP3 to my posts, but I decided on this, the last night of 2009, I would attach some honesty.

I'm in Costa Rica with my large and very present family, enjoying the surf, the sun, and the monkeys. I've taken long hikes, long horse back rides, long naps, and longer meals. I've cried (we'll get to that), I've laughed, and I even got a Swedish massage. It's been a welcome end to a very unwelcoming year.

2009 was not great. I just felt the need to put that in some sort of more concrete medium than my windy, cyclonic thoughts. 2009 was not wonderful. But I find it amazing that even in such an unwonderful year, I experienced some splendid times of buoyant hope, and almost painfully beautiful moments of true living.

So with the blue moon, a mysteriously gorgeous occurance, shining overhead I will dance on the beach with my family, the people who have seen me through better and worse times than these. And I'm actually getting excited to sweep up after 2009's rowdy upheaval, and see what appears on the surface of the new year.

two thousand and nine retrospective

I hope you know how difficult this was for me.

But I'm sure you do.
For all the albums that tickled my fancy and my eardrums but aren't listed in the Top Ten below...I still love you.

Let's get ready for '010! The Binary Year.

Mumford and Sons- Sigh No More
There are no words that possess this album like this album has possessed me. The young Londoners released this debut album to extreme excitement in Europe, and due to that resounding, well earned success Sigh No More is slated to be released in the United States in 2010. And it should be well received here; at least by those with a deep yearning for wisdom set to deft banjo rolls and explosive, building choruses.
Sigh No More holds me on a knife's edge, steadying my wobbling knees until it releases its grip on me and sends me flying. I lose all control. I kick up dust, I shiver, I feel what they want me to feel. Mumford and Sons strip me to the bone and warm my marrow, refusing to accept a cool exterior for human experience. The confidence that is birthed from the soaring vocals, and galloping strings is built upon this strange and wonderful knowledge that they are wading through the shit show, and just need to tell it.
This is the kind of music to which hip head bobbing would be a disgrace, and an ironic tribute to exactly what the album shirks. Because it's talking about the big things, not the cosmetic problems, but all the gargantuan questions that envelop and consume. Grace? God? Risk? Love? Is it all right to just want to scream down the road and into the blank?
This album goes from being as cathartic and exhausting as weeping, to as exhilarating and jubilant as kissing someone who makes your insides wriggle with raw giddiness for the first time.

The Cave- Mumford and Sons

(If the breakaway end of this song doesn't move you to blindly dance and blow away in a fit of absolute lightness and ecstasy...just don't judge me for how I react.)


The XX- The XX
So I wrote about The XX and their self-titled debut a while back, featuring the sensual track VCR. I suppose what you should know about The XX is that they can create fullness using confined beats and only lush vocals. And with that, The XX has managed to put together an all-together remarkable and unflappable album.
Their sleek, new wave pop entrances me with its hypnotic whispers, and surreal landscapes spun as much out of silence as it is sound. Each track suggests long glances held with more meaning than words can give, backed by swirling electropop beats that cause my shoulders to sway embarrassingly of their own accord.
What really gets me is the classic blend of Romy and Oliver's voices; so unnervingly real and tangible in a mass of electronic influence. They tease, they play, and they swim their way behind my eyes. I swear to you...I've had dreams set to this album.
Bet you're excited they'll be rolling around with Hot Chip in April!

Heart Skipped a Beat- The XX

Gregory Alan Isakov- This Empty Northern Hemisphere

Gregory Alan Isakov knows just how to keep me. I had never heard of this Boulderite, despite my love of local music, until his album release party in May. I attended with a friend, and was stuck to the already sticky floor of the theater by the depth of the music coursing over me. I skittered out to the merchandise table during a quick break to buy an album, desperate to hold in my hands a small piece of plastic that could make my heart expand to capacity in a room full of strangers.
Isakov contains within his music the sounds for a hazy, thoughtful day. It's both lonely and close; a companion for hot pavement (Virginia May), or for when the only living things around you are the sky, the grass, and your thumping heart (Dandelion Wine). He makes characters that are relatable to the best and worst parts of me, and his bucolic voice sketches breathing, tangible pictures of lives full of meaning and all encompassing moments. It definitely doesn't hurt that on This Empty Northern Hemisphere Brandi Carlile lent her smoky vocals to counterbalance and dip below or soar above Gregory's own sauntering melodies.
I've noticed that Gregory Alan Isakov is inordinantly drawn to both the moon and the sea. Especially the cyclical relationship between the two. It's easy to find this to be the silver thread running through the vibrant tapestry of this album. His banjo, guitar, violin, and even his lyrics communicate a love for the tides; the coming and going of things and people and life. He does all this with such skill that this album has been played more than any other during 2009.

That Moon Song- Gregory Alan Isakov (feat. Brandi Carlile)



Woods- Songs of Shame
I was taken aback by the lo-fi wunderkinds lurking out in the musical oasis of 2009. Standing out from the crowd for this listener, though, was Woods' recent gift to us all, Songs of Shame. The stumbling, fuzzy guitars, and earnest drifting harmonies bring together some of Woods' greatest qualities into a surprisingly neat package.
Songs of Shame has some real shining moments, with at once carefree and substantial sensibilities.
Their psychedelic, bare bones '09 release left me feeling dazed in an absolutely welcome way. Woods is genius at taking such technicolor, hallucinatory folk and making it accessible for your average...well...your average Jane strolling down the street having to maintain a somewhat respectable air about her.
It's a patchwork quilt with impeccable stitching. It's sepia toned, whimsical, and made with curious perfection. By far one of the most unpretentious and imaginative albums I heard in the past year.

Rain On- Woods


Roman Candle- Oh Tall Tree in the Ear

I have been waiting to write about this Chapel Hill based collective of brilliance. And while I mean brilliance in the technical sense, as in I am sure they are incredibly intelligent, what comes to mind more readily is the blinding brilliance that exudes from this album. It's a white hot star, and if you let it into your ears, you won't be able to see anything except through the light it provides.
And it's a truly fun time to let this album enter your life. From start to finish, this album (the name inspired by Rilke), delivers unabashed fist pumping rock coupled with fathoms-deep lyrics that require several spins to truly get. Try walking down a road and listening to this album. Eden Was a Garden will get you looking at the clouds as your previously socially acceptable steps turn into little hop/skips, and your fingers begin drumming in your pockets. It will only continue from there. Big Light is a serious contender for Most Wonderful, and A Heartbeat makes me desperately want to compose a silly, romantic mix for somebody now.
Roman Candle has managed to craft an album that I can not, no matter how hard (and it hasn't been very) I try, stop playing. It calls me back with the assurance that through steady rhythm guitar, some glockenspiel laced intros, and totally truthful poetry, I will feel the same delight every damn time.

Eden Was a Garden- Roman Candle


Fruit Bats- Ruminant Band

So, uh, we're all aware that The Shins and Vetiver are two pop collectives that don't fail to sparkle for us, yes? Good then, because Eric D. Johnson of both the aforementioned bands finally paid attention to his four year waylaid lovechild, Fruit Bats. And Ruminant Band was a great way to re-enter my heart. Interestingly enough, Johnson, now a full-time member of The Shins, admitted to really letting the Fruit Bats as a band take the reigns on Ruminant Band, rather than making it as much of a Johnson based project. The sound that the collaboration created is a frolicking, sometimes downright groovy, dance through some major keyed, majorly great tracks.
Fruit Bats has a gift for visual lyrics and visual musicianship. Every guitar lick draws out the bed of mustard seed, or the heart of the primitive man. Ruminant Band harkens back to chamber-pop through smooth vocal blends, with quiet observation like the best Americana, and with fearless electric guitar bubbling and boiling up from behind some key songs. Sometimes reminding me of Neil Young, sometimes making me want to ask Robin Pecknold flat out if he was a Fruit Bats fan...this album touches the soft part of my soul, tenderly strolling along with the little kid version of myself, helping me figure out what it means to be on my own, to lay in the sun, and to be a growing, wacky human being in this shaky, vibrant world.

The Ruminant Band- Fruit Bats

The Very Best- Warm Heart of Africa
Are you thinking...Kathleen...a Malawian singer and a DJ really teamed up to create a musical fusion so profoundly good that it makes your head go all dizzy and light like the tracks they laid down?

Yes.

What I loved about the initial collaboration between Esau Mmamwaya and European DJ and producer, Radioclit, is that many thought the mixtape they released last year would the the end. But come on everyone! They call themselves THE VERY BEST. And what could The Very Best do but release an even more amazing LP the next year?? We should not underestimate them. For Warm Heart of Africa, The Very Best welcomed M.I.A and Vampire Weekend's lead singer Ezra Koenig for some guest vocals. The result is a sunny hello, a warm embrace, and the sort of genuinely freeing sound that is so unnerving to buttoned-up, "mature" people. This fusion of African language and music with the electronic movements stirring in the West is so original, and so unmistakably significant, that even if it wasn't brimming with golden talent I would stick it on some sort of list. However, because many of the songs have been spinning in my head of their own accord, Warm Heart of Africa gets a place in the Very Top. For being the Very Best.

Julia- The Very Best


Fanfarlo- Reservoir

I saw this band in November, and was blown away by the sheer electricity they exude live. Even if I hadn't fallen in mad, obsessive, restraining order inducing love with their debut album before the show, I know I would have been just as surprised as I was when they leaped fearlessly into I'm a Pilot, unapologetically flooding the small Denver BBQ/bowling joint with shining, shimmering music.
Fanfarlo descended on my ears like so many welcome raindrops on a blazing afternoon. Refreshing, propulsive, muscle tightening rock that releases the animal instinct to yell along to lines with the strong voice of Simon Balthazar. I mean, you try to watch this video for Harold T. Wilkins without pushing yourself from your chair and punching the air in rhythm. If you are able to refuse that possibility with absolutely no problem...I would schedule an autopsy promptly.
The album is a complete package from first to last track. The diving, twisting vocals of Balthazar coupled with extremely well thought-out mandolin, horns, and deeply affecting percussive thumps creates an atmosphere of instinctive joy. It's an ever shifting collection of highly intelligent music, and I am so excited to see what they have in store for 2010.

Harold T. Wilkins (Or How to Wait for a Very Long Time)- Fanfarlo


The Low Anthem- Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

When you first start listening to this exquisite album by the Rhode Island band, The Low Anthem, you might be tempted to think of it as merely a lovely, delicate thing. Much like a Southern belle contemplating the gently blowing breeze.
This is not me discounting the first couple tracks. In fact, Ben Knox Miller's ability to create a truly haunting falsetto is only matched by his thought provoking words
Who could heed the words of Charlie Darwin?
Fighting for a system built to fail
Spooning water from their broken vessels
As far as I can see there is no land

But then The Low Anthem hits the ground running, and with The Horizon is a Beltway they pound out a Tom Waits inspired, gravel throated floor stomping number that brings the album into perspective. The whole album fits in its wild, unabashed strangeness. Vascillating from chillingly subtle and sweet melodies to raucous and celebratory maelstroms of sound, it all creates a beautiful piece of work that demonstrates a band's ability to be unafraid in having fun with what they do.
The obvious truth to me is that The Low Anthem has more than earned their 2009 success, with a tour with Josh Ritter, and an upcoming stint opening for my most beloved Avett Brothers. I can't wait to catch these guys live, and let them take my clumsily dancing feet wherever their imaginations please.


Charlie Darwin- The Low Anthem









Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest

You're telling me that this is only Grizzly Bear's third full album? Oh. So the fact that it's a tight-knit, dynamic, unstoppable showcase of talent, vision and cohesiveness shouldn't deter me from remembering that this band has only begun to creatively evolve.
Granted, Grizzly Bear has had its fair share of experience without studio time. From touring with Radiohead, Feist, and TV On the Radio, I would say this band is anything but novice. And it shows. Veckatimest covers a wide spectrum of musical range, and displays a genuine enthusiasm for bringing people from psychedelic tie dye swirls all the way to great big breaths of resounding beauty (perhaps inspired by the album's namesake), all with baffling complexity coming from both composition and execution.
Even with the obvious jump in musical skill, Grizzly Bear doesn't lose sight of creating a beautiful procession of coherent songs that creates a complete experience. The richness of this album leaves me feeling sated, and at the same time...craving more sounds that fill and rejuvenate.

Two Weeks- Grizzly Bear

flowers forever

It's tempting to look at someone going a little crazy and claiming they can see the future as a detrimental thing...

However, when Tilly and the Wall's Derek Pressnall was whipped into a frenzy by the conviction that he could see the future, his outlet for it turned into an intense musical exploration called Flowers Forever.

At times abrasive and demanding in execution, there is still a delicious wrongness to this collection of songs that calls for them to be listened to over and over...as if one more pass at the jangly, early Conor Oberst cacophony could yield some more concrete understanding. One thing I'm taking away from Flowers Forever is that there might be something to Pressnall's claim to be prescient in an intriguingly lyrical and fluid way. Take the stand out anthem for disillusionment, American Dream:


Beauty it will bloom
And truth it will raise through
Oh the river it will start to bloom
Yeah the river it will swallow you

Pressnall and his two new bandmates don't totally abandon Tilly and the Wall's addictive adorable-ness. The striding piano laden track Beach Bum is one that harkens to Pressnall's roots in huggable, danceable indie rock. However, being the Pavement fan I am, I can't help but love bursting, brief, acid rock tunes like Beautiful Tornado or Wet Diamonds.

Sure, I love the warmth of Tilly and the Wall, but if Derek Pressnall wants to convince me that he's turned into a full on prophet of the modern age, throw some wayward horns in, and complement them with dischordant vocals drifting off and drizzling into confusion and ringing. Be dramatic. Send me spinning into the outer reaches of musical wilderness. Build me some tension, scrape against the limits of what counts as pissed off righteousness versus hyped up whining...and then I'll listen again and again. Which is what Flowers Forever did. I can't exactly tell you why I'm repeatedly drinking the Kool-Aid, but feel free to join in.


Beach Bum- Flowers Forever

Wet Diamonds- Flowers Forever

the point

So I don't know if you have seen this movie...but if you haven't...you clearly need to rethink your cinematic choices.

The Point! is a 1970's fable created by the brilliant Harry Nilsson (you put the lime in the coconut...), and narrated with the playful English lilt of Ringo Starr. It's about a world full of points, and a little boy named Oblio (who has a band named after him...they wrote a song called Kathleen) who is born without a point. It's painted with whimsy, and talks to both the child in us, and the grown up activist.

When asked what his inspiration was for the film, Nilsson very honestly admitted;

"I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it."

If you understood that...then you'll absolutely adore the movie.

The songs from the movie help with the psychedelic aesthetic, and are poignant in their catchy, touching composition. The story is so transcendent. It plays to equality and love without relying on any cliches. The imagination that went into the conception is absolutely joyous, and timeless. There have been three remakes of The Point! since its release in 1971, so it clearly isn't going to lose its touch anytime soon.

But the tribute to The Point! that I shrieked in joy over was the recently released cover album of all Nilsson's songs...by some incredible artists. Artists like Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel, Martha Wainwright, Nada Surf, Andrew Bird and DeVotchka relive their childhood introduction to political allegory and dreamy jazz riffs by making these songs their own.

I knew that there had to be a common element between me and the artists I adore. That common element is The Point!

Think About Your Troubles (Harry Nilsson)- Andrew Bird

Think About Your Troubles- Harry Nilsson

you have been warned/i was born to be contrary

I had written up a little blog entry about how Cloud Cult is re-releasing their past two albums in a totally earth hugging manner...

But then I came home tonight in one of those funks. The kind of inexplicable funk that made me want to trudge around in the gray sludge slowly coursing down the gutter in the pitch black of my street. I didn't want to post anything about hip, body snatching music that makes me want to throw my head back and dance like I'm graceful.

Not tonight.

Tonight I wanted to throw my hands up to no particular beat, and admit that I do not feel like a sparkling and wonderful personality at this moment. I just wanted to listen to something that validated my uncomfortable mood.

Stuart Murdoch was ready for me.

The former(?) Belle and Sebastian frontman has released a soundtrack to a film yet to be made. 2010 is the tentative shoot time, but as of now...there is music for this so-called "musical film."

Late in the spring, Murdoch released two albums for God Help the Girl, an LP of the same name and the Stills EP, featuring the brand new Catherine Ireton as the main narrative female vocalist (though other talented voices are present). And the narrative that she spins with her cheeky, effortless, smooth voice is one that I can't help but smile at despite my cloudy mood.

Stuart and Friends reminds me that it's almost a necessary survival technique to grin through my grumpiest and most confusing moments in time. They do so with a French pop meets 60's girl group atmosphere. Merrily skipping bass punctuates all the witty observations about being a real person mired in the strange muck of emotion, and a full orchestral sound plays with the idea of a real Broadway number...without the unbearable cheesiness.

It's an amazing and lovely thing that the right music can find me when I need it.

Just a side note; the title track (the YouTube video) will make you want to wink at strangers. So practice your wink before you go out with your headphones on. You don't want your eyebrow to crinkle funny, or your other eye to twitch. It takes away from the effect that I am sure you want.





I'm In Love With the City- God Help the Girl

oh, she's a messenger tonight

My email account suddenly leapt a whole number this morning. I was sort of convinced that at the early hour, it had to be Amazon.com trying to get me to buy things I can't afford for the holidays. Instead it was an email from the man who sets my veins on fire with his unfathomable honesty. Obviously I'm talking about Joe Pug, who I wrote about way back when. He has this ability to make me trust music to say what I have a hard time saying. That the industry hasn't permeated and mucked up every beautiful thing happening with strings, voices, and other magical things.

And guess what??

He is finally releasing a debut album! After a stint with some incredible EPs, Joe is giving us a full length album, Messenger, out on February 16. There's also a tour along with that LP, one that includes Colorado so many times I'm seriously considering throwing dignity to the wind and following the shows so I can twist and stomp along to the powerful music he puts out in person.

Instead of giving some tunes from the album for free, like his generous heart has before, Joe made a handy little player that I will embed for you. It will tittilate your senses.

No I tried to trust the stranger
It got hard
Now I see things like a soldier
And I'm jealous of the dark
If my eyes had only gotten colder
I still have an unsophisticated heart

The two new tunes are not what I expected. There's less of the stripped, unpolished, ragged urgency of his past two EPs. After several listens in a row, though, I just can't help but immerse myself in what Joe Pug tells me. His words are absolutely intoxicating, as usual. I was taken aback at first by the more polished production of the two songs given to the public, but it also doesn't take away from the honest eagerness that Joe Pug conveys with every strum.

Yes, I will admit the title track, Messenger, is not my favorite Joe Pug song. It just has a touch too much twang for my personal tastes. But surprisingly I've been listening to it non-stop, and I still get that same warm feeling that I get when I listen to most Joe Pug songs. What a guy; he even makes me love twang in the end. So take a listen; I guarantee you'll want to quit your job and come along with me this spring.

We can even rent a bus if you want.

I can't wait until February.

Joe Pug Tour Dates

1/23 Winnipeg, Manitoba--The Park Theater
2/5 Breckenridge, CO--Colorado Mountain College
2/9 San Diego, CA--The Loft at UCSD*
2/11 Los Angeles, CA--The Echo*
2/12 Santa Cruz, CA--The Crepe Place*
2/13 San Francisco, CA--Great American Music Hall*
2/14 Portland, OR--The Doug Fir*
2/15 Seattle, WA--The Tractor Tavern*
2/16 Vancouver, BC--The Biltmore*
2/18 Salt Lake City, UT--The State Room*
2/19 Denver, CO--The Bluebird*
2/20 Telluride, CO--The Sheridan Opera House*
2/23 Iowa City, IA--The Mill*
2/25 St. Paul, MN--The Turf Club*
2/26 Madison, WI--High Noon Saloon*
2/27 Chicago, IL--Lincoln Hall*
2/28 Detroit, MI--The Magic Stick*
3/1 Toronto, CAN--The Horseshoe*
3/2 Buffalo, NY--The Mohawk*
3/4 Alston, MA--Great Scott*
3/5 New York, NY--Bowery Ballroom*
3/6 Philadelphia, PA--Johnny Brenda's *
3/7 Alexandria, VA--The Birchmere *

* with Justin Townes Earle

a cover for a snow covered world

Were you aware that Eddie Vedder could make you want to squeal by dedicating a lovely Tom Waits song to his wife in Italian? I was not. But apparently, without my knowledge, he did just that in 2006 at a show in Milan.

Eddie's familiar voice does Tom Waits justice as he warms the whole atmosphere with tangible sincerity, telling us that he'll love her until the wheels fall off. The perfect way that Waits has of telling the world his most raw thoughts in unapologetic language, and without any cliches, has never failed to capture me. I'm glad to hear Pearl Jam take his work to heart, and give it back to a whole room full of warm and waiting pulses.


Since my car and life are blanketed in snow, I thought a different sort of a cover would bring the blood back to my fingers and toes. I was right.

emily neveu just broke my heart

I woke up this morning to another frozen, but deceptively sunny, day. And all I wanted to do was lay on my back, close my tired eyes, and listen to something that would warm me. Emily Neveu was ready to help me with that.

Now if you're a fan at all of Calico Horse or Indian Moon, you've heard Emily's swinging, lullaby like voice seep into all your cracks before.

What I can't get enough of is how her sound is so patient, and knowing. Her voice tests the temperature of the air holding the notes, and pushes just gently enough so they carry right to the part of you that needs a little understanding. The sliding harmonies building on The Sun sound just like what a sun burst in slow motion would want to sound like. Big, fiery arcs emitting more than you want to handle, but everything you want to bask in.

It's warm, it's heart achingly paced; she doesn't rush through the most clearly haunting tones. Instead, Emily Neveu draws them out, so they keep slipping through you even when there's no more fresh input.

Stay warm.

The Sun- Emily Neveu

And...just for another reference on how Calico Horse can make a great version of an already great song.

Idioteque (Radiohead)- Calico Horse

still waiting for your wayward kiss

David Wingo was originally known as a film composer, for such little films as The Guatemalan Handshake. But a few years he ago he stepped out and decided to clear out a little spot for himself in the world of...well...really really good music. Need a little more to get a feel for it? Well, OK. I guess.

Ola Podrida's self-titled debut album from 2007 was met with thunderous applause, and lots of flattering descriptors. And now it's my turn to jump on that bandwagon, stick out my thumb, and roll away to wherever Ola Podrida wants to take me. From what I can tell, they want to take me to the very core of myself, and make me stay until I'm comfortable enough to crack out of my insecure candy coating and move along to their totally electrifying music.

Ola Podrida takes a genre that can be loosely called "alt-folk" (think Fleet Foxes or Beach House) and slaps it in the face to wake it up. To them, quiet doesn't mean losing complexity. There is no such thing as a "quiet" song, or an "intense" song. They are magnificent, questioning novellas; weaving stories out of every string and word that take a place in the arrangement. And no word or chord is misplaced.

Belly of the Lion, their month old release, sprawls over the twisting roads that connect all the feeling parts of us, so we feel the adrenaline pumping to our toes like when we see the person who sends us racing out of our bodies. And it doesn't chastise for those pulsing daydreams. It embraces all of our running and leaping thoughts, holds our hands, and tells us that those hopeful horizons make us who we are.

And it does that with rich, passionate vocals, and the music to match. There is no drone, no wall of noise, with Ola Podrida. They are not filling space on this album. The "la"s help the banjo roll on to its next destination, and the words tell us in a language we understand with our minds what the guitar is telling us in a language we instinctively feel.

Let yourself be swept away.

Donkey- Ola Podrida

nate ruess is good clean holiday fun.

I just thought since it's Tuesday...a day so buried in insignificance...we could all use something to dance around to. The kind of dancing where you're glad it's only the mirror and your dog that witness it. You need a special kind of bubbly beat to accomplish that kind of wiggle. And why not use the Brad Pitt-esque (from River Runs Through It time period) Nate Ruess' newest project, Fun.? Fun. was formed back in 2008, but their album Aim and Ignite wasn't released until this past August. The former The Format frontman clearly isn't done supplying the world with some well constructed pop albums.

Fun. is exactly what it sounds like. Nate Ruess took where The Format left off, and ran with it, honing his love for clever songs that are engaging and energetic without feeling too false in their bopiness. Take the bit:

You're all that I need/Please don't make me face my generation alone

Exactly.

Also for your listening FUN, they've released a holiday single just for you. And me. Mainly me. I mean...the holidays are mainly about me. Please start thinking about what gifts you'll get me. And no, I do not think that cash is a bad gift. Because I have excellent taste.


Believe in Me- Fun.

Dance along, weekday folks! Only a few more days until you can let loose and go chase down the dreams you're still holding onto in that bouncing, singing heart of yours!