Top Ten Albums from 2011

Each new year a few buddies from high school put together a website compiling our top ten albums from the previous year. I promise to include a link once that website's published, but in the meantime here's my 2011 list. Maybe you'll find something new for your iPod. Enjoy!

1)  Let England Shake – PJ Harvey

Favorite tracks: “ In the dark places” and “Let England Shake”

Last year, PJ made my “Top Ten albums of the Decade” list with Stories from the City, Stories from the City (still my all-time favorite PJ Harvey album), but Let England Shake is a totally different beast.  It’s moody, dark and strange, but oh so good. It took me a few listens to really get into the sound of it, but once I saw PJ in concert at Terminal 5 in NYC in April, I played this album all the time. Between PJ’s autoharp, the amazingly talented band, the lyrics and the dark political theme of this album, it really is one of her masterpieces.

Here’s a vid of her performing “In the dark places” in London. She was wearing a similarly crazy feathered headpiece at the concert in NYC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7HdesDTDWc&feature=related

2)    Live Music – The Strange Boys
Favorite tracks: “Me and You,” “Omnia Boa” and “Punk’s Pajamas”

Mix up garage rock, a little punk, a little folk-rock and a little alt-country and you’ve got The Strange Boys, an Austin-based band who seem to be having great fun making music together. If you like Wilco, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, early Rolling Stones (or all of the above), you’ll love listening to this album. Call me sentimental, but I have a soft spot for any band whose members met and started playing together in the eighth grade.

There’s some seriously funny stuff in their video of “Me and You,” check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2KRB30HVX4

3)    Carrion Crawler/ The Dream – Thee Oh Sees
Favorite Tracks: “Contraption/ Soul Desert” and “Carrion Crawler”

San Francisco-based band Thee Oh Sees is an incredibly energetic psychedelic punk/ garage rock band reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane, The B52s, and The Pixies. Can you imagine that combo? With tracks like “Contraption/ Soul Desert” you will soon be jumping around your living room. So if you’re looking to get your heart rate going, stop reading this and just start downloading the awesomeness now.

Here’s the band performing “Contraption/ Soul Desert” on KEXP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBLQ7TSrHpU&feature=related

4)    So Beautiful or So What – Paul Simon
Favorite tracks: “Rewrite” and “So Beautiful or so what”

What can I say about Paul Simon? He’s a living legend. As always with his albums, his acoustic guitar is as sweet as ever and the lyrics are all at once touching, refreshing and smart. As a struggling writer, I’m particularly fond of his song “Rewrite.” The lyrics tell the tale of an older aspiring writer who works at a car wash during the day, and who struggles to finish his novel during the evening. The guitar work is rhythmic, upbeat, and filled with cute little harmonic flourishes. “Rewrite” is definitely his best track on the album (if you’re looking to download just one).

Here’s a vid of him performing “Rewrite.”  After he does his cool one-handed solo in the middle, he accidently whacks his low E string, and then cracks himself up. It’s definitely worth seeing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi2DypBHyUg&ob=av2n

5)    The Bridge School Concerts 25^th Anniversary – Various Artists
Favorite Tracks: Norah Jones covering Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc,” Paul McCartney’s “Get Back,” The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Every year since 1986, Neil Young and his wife organize a benefit concert for The Bridge School in Northern California. The school helps students with severe speech and physical impairments. This year marked the 25^th anniversary of the Bridge School Concerts and Neil Young compiled some the best live tracks since 1986 for this anniversary album.  What’s also great is that if you buy any individual track (or all of them) on iTunes all proceeds go to The Bridge School. 

6)    A Creature I Don’t Know - Laura Marling
Favorite Track: “ Sophia”

Imagine a love child between Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell had been born with similar guitar skills and songwriting ability. Meet Laura Marling.  She’s already put her stamp on the indie-folk scene in the UK, winning “Best Solo Artist” at both the 2011 Brit Awards and the NME Awards, but it seems she is only starting to get airplay here in the US. With tracks like “Sophia,” which starts so bare-boned and quiet and then builds beautifully around the three-minute mark with the addition of drums and string instrumentation like bass, mandolin, cello and (of course) Marling’s vocal harmonies, you will be hooked. Thankfully, since she’s only 21 years old, it’s likely we’ll be hearing much more from her in the years to come.

Here’s the official “Sophia” vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-TMl5oCRjk

7)    Passenger – Lisa Hannigan
Favorite Tracks: “Knots” and “Passenger”

Lisa Hannigan. Sounds familiar, right? Do you remember the awesome female vocalist who sang with fellow Irishman Damien Rice on some of his best tracks like “Volcano” from his 2002 album O? That’s Lisa Hannigan. Passenger is her sophomore album (her first solo album from 2009 Sea Sew won all sorts of accolades in Ireland) and with tracks like “Knots” on this new one showing off her vocal skills and ukulele ability, you might just want to take a moment right now to listen. 

Here’s her performing “Knots” live at WFUV (one of the best non-commercial radio stations in NYC):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgknRAl9GLU&feature=related
 And the official “Knots” vid (I had to include this too because it’s such fun):  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYdPtcx-4mo

8)    Sing it Loud – k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
Favorite Tracks: “Sugar Buzz” and “I Confess”

Are you ready to be put into an adult-contemporary trance? Well, give yourself a few minutes with this latest k.d. lang album and you’re sure to be swept under. The track “Sugar Buzz” is a perfect example. What’s amazing is that I heard in an interview with k.d. that the majority of the lyrics for “Sugar Buzz” she wrote over text message. If the lyrics and k.d.’s voice don’t do it for you, the music will. The chord progressions in these tunes are incredible. The slide guitar, the organ, the drums…that Siss Boom Bang has got it goin’ on.

Here is a killer acoustic version of “Sugar Buzz” live on WFUV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgyVsn4Ct68

9)    Within and Without – Washed Out
Favorite Tracks: “Amor Fati” and “Eyes be closed”

I first heard of electronic artist Ernest Greene, aka Washed Out, because “Feel It all around” from his 2010 EP Life of Leisure, is the theme song to the hilarious sketch comedy show Portlandia.  Greene describes his music as “chillwave” which seems perfectly accurate. It’s a combination of synthesizer, Greene’s quiet vocals and synced drum patterns that is perfectly suited to whisk you away to another mellower destination on those days when you need it most. The only issue with Washed Out, is that his music seems pretty hard to recreate outside of the studio. Any live versions I’ve found on youtube, when he uses other bands to make up the rhythm section, just don’t do Greene’s solo recordings justice. 

Here’s the “Amor Fati” official vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy2N1dTIQf4 

10) Cape Dory – Tennis
Favorite Tracks: “South Carolina” and “Waterbirds”

What I love about Tennis is also what drives me crazy about them: their music is pretty simple stuff. Problem is, despite it being non-offensive and simple, I’ve enjoyed listening to this album pretty consistently throughout the year. It’s also endearing that Tennis is a husband and wife duo, the wife Alaina sings and plays organ, and her husband Patrick plays electric guitar. You might not be blown away by Tennis at first, but there’s a good chance you’ll soon find yourself listening to the album over and over, even if you’re slightly embarrassed to admit it.

Here’s the band’s “Waterbirds” vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ecuwllU44&feature=related 

Ten Singles from 2011 that are also awesome, but okay, I didn’t listen to the whole album: 

1) "Rockaway Blind" by Lindsey Buckingham from Seeds We Sow
2) "Samurai Cowboy" by Kurt Elling from The Gate
3) "Good Day" by The Gaddabouts - self-titled debut (Edie Brickell side-project)
4) "Contrabanda"  by DeVotchKa from 100 Lovers
5) "You’re Gonna Miss Me" by Ollabelle from Neon Blue Bird
6) "How Come you never go there" by Feist from Metals
7) "Magic" by Girls from Father, Son, Holy Ghost
8) "She walks in So many ways" by The Jayhawks from Mockingbird Time
9) "Roosevelt Island" by Eleanor Friedberger from Last Summer
10) "Got it all (This Can’t be living now)" by Portugal. The Man from In the Mountain In the Cloud

Favorite Tour Scenes in Film

Okay, it's ludicrous that I haven't written a blog entry in over a year. My friend Kensey said she actually checked my blog occasionally for any new entries, so I was inspired to write a new entry.

Today my wife (yes, wife!) and her middle school students are going on a tour to a lesser-known downtown Brooklyn landmark. She was telling me how hard it is to get middle school students interested in anything, much less historical tours. I agreed with her & then said that no tour could be as amazing as the Alcatraz tour led by Phil Hartman from the 1993 movie "So I Married an Axe Murderer." Who can resist his first line, "My name is John Johnson, but everyone here calls me Vicky."

Then it got me thinking of other tour scenes I love from films.

One: The Alamo tour from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. This scene has another one of the former SNL actors in it, Jan Hooks, who is pitch perfect as the overly friendly Alamo tour guide. "Do we have any Mexican-Americans with us today? Well, Buenos Dias!"

Two: The Art Museum of Chicago scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". You might recall Ferris and his gang joining hands with the little school children who are on a tour, so I think it counts! There are a number of reasons why I love this scene: 1) The instrumental guitar music in the background reminds me a bit of The Smiths (before the clarinet comes in), 2) The way they line up all together to look at the paintings, and (most importantly) 3) Cameron's mini-existential crisis that happens as he stares deeply the famous George Saurat painting "Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette."

Three: The scene in another of one of my all-time favorite John Hughes movies, "Some Kind of Wonderful" where Eric Stoltz's character (Keith) takes Lea Thompson's character (Amanda Jones) on a private night tour of an art museum (2:59). The scene culminates when Keith reveals a painting that he has made of Amanda hanging in the gallery. The painting is meant to be beautiful, but it is really just hilarious. Also, my best friend Beth and I once wrote lyrics to the instrumental song that is playing in the background during this sequence. If you're lucky one day, we'll sing it for you.

All right, now I need your help filling in the blanks.

Can you think of any other tours in film that I'm missing? Or movies about tours? I thought about "Spinal Tap" and the fact that they're ON tour, but I'm not sure if that counts...

10 more newish songs you just might like

ONE
Song: "Trashcan"
Band: Delta Spirit
Album: Ode to Sunshine

In a sentence: An uplifting and well-written song that stands apart from your predictably drab indie music.

TWO
Song: "Heart is Strange"
Artist: School of Seven Bells
Album: Disconnect from Desire

In a sentence: Imagine New Order having a baby with the Cocteau Twins.

THREE
Song: "A Roof Somewhere"
Artist: Lonely Drifter Karen
Album: Fall of Spring

In a sentence: Songs in 5/4 time hold a particular power over me, especially when the person singing it sounds like this band's lead singer Tanja Frinta.

FOUR
Song: "Why does the wind?"
Artist: Tracey Thorn
Album: Love and its Opposite

In a sentence: Former Everything but the Girl lead singer does modern Pop music some good.

FIVE
Song: "Time of the Season"
Artist(s): Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Album: Hawk

In a sentence: Belle and Sebastian's Isobel Cambell and Mark Lanegan formerly of Screaming Trees = magic.

SIX
Song: "Let Spirits Ride"
Artist: Black Mountain
Album: Wilderness Heart

In a sentence: Rock is not dead.

SEVEN
Song: "Firecracker"
Artist: Frazey Ford
Album: Firecracker.

In a sentence: Be Good Tanyas singer Frazey goes out on her own and kills it bluegrass style.

EIGHT
Song: "Kon Tiki"
Artist: Plants and Animals
Album: La La Land

In a sentence: This Montreal band has always put me in sweet little trance and this song is no exception.

NINE
Song: "When I'm Small"
Artist: Phantogram
Album: Eyelid Movies

In a sentence: What it about a woman singing "Oh Oh Oh" with a trip-hop sensibility that seems perfectly right on?

TEN
Song: "Babel"
Artist: Massive Attack
Album: Heligoland

In a sentence: Massive Attack, still sexy after all these years.

Me and NPR Music: 6 Tunes and a duel

On September 27th, NPR posted an article called "The Saddest Music in the World: 6 Tunes to Make you Teary Eyed." Well, NPR. I am throwing my glove at you. That's right. This is a duel.

First off, NPR only chose (quote/ unquote) classical music. That simply isn't right. Part of what makes music beautiful (and tragic) are lyrics. Call me biased, but I like words. I don't feel that music is complete without them. So, if we are talking about lyrics, we really have to examine folk-rock and classic rock genres. That's where it's at people - back when people weren't writing total idiotic nonsense and using auto-tuners on their voices (I'm looking at you Gaga). Again, call me biased. And bitchy. I'm good either way.

1. For God's sake, look at Joni Mitchell's "River".

"I wish I had a river/
I could skate away on/
I made my baby cry."

Does anyone have a sharp razor I could use? Seriously. Not convinced by the words? Have you ever listened to that song? It is the definition of DEVASTATING. Don't think so? Listen to Joni's "Case of You." If you don't cry, you're not human.

2. How about Blind Faith's "Can't Find My way home"? Steve Winwood killed this with his sweet tenor voice.

"I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time/
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home."

I mean, "Higher Love" - his crap from the 80s - is funny and all, but this is painfully good. It isn't bogged down with sax and keys (all too typical of anything from the 80s). There's also a really old live version on Youtube.

3. "Landslide" - Fleetwood Mac. Between Lindsey Buckingham's fingerpicked chord changes and Stevie Nicks' desperately sad lyrics (which she's said are a tribute to her father, I mean consider singing this to your father, folks).

"Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?/
can a child within my heart rise above?/
can i sail through the changing ocean tide?/
can i handle the seasons of my life?/
i don't know..."

I am still spellbound by the original recording. The fact that she is literally asking questions to the universe and responding to herself with "I don't know." We all don't know, Stevie. Not a one of us. And I've heard the original recording a ba-zillion, ga-tillion times. So I like to alternate that version with The Dance (Reunion Tour) version.

4. Sad music just wouldn't be sad music without Nick Drake. Part of this is because Nick Drake got famous way after his death because of a freaking VW commercial that played "Pink Moon." He'd committed suicide decades before that "big break." And how did he do it? He overdosed on anti-depressants. Here are some lyrics from my favorite sad one, "Time has Told Me".

"Time has told me/
Not to ask for more/
someday our ocean/
will find its shore"

I know the words seem a little sing-songy, but if you listen, it's anything but. I like to think he wrote this as a pep talk to himself. That's just my analysis.

Aren't depressed yet? Listen to this next name.

5. Elliott Smith. That's right. I went there.
"Waltz No. 2" from his album XO. The second I heard this song in 1999, I ran out, bought the album and proceeded to play the song a trillion times in my little portable CD player in my little old Geo Metro hatchback. Like Nick Drake, Elliott also took his own life. Too sad.

"In the place where I make no mistakes/
in the place where I have what it takes"


6. Lastly, Joan Armatrading's "Down to Zero." If you are feeling heartbroken, simply press play. Side effects of listening to this song include: bawling your eyes out, rocking back and forth in the fetal position, and more bawling your eyes out. Don't believe me?

"Oh the feeling/
when you're reeling/
you step lightly thinking you're number one/
down to zero with a word 'leaving'/
for another one..."

Take that NPR.

More Favorite Music Moments in Film

1. The cast of Reality Bites get the munchies, head to a gas station for snacks & get down to The Knack's "My Sharona."

2. Richie and Margot Tenenbaum reuniting to Nico's "These Days" in The Royal Tenenbaums.

3. Jack Black masking as a substitute teacher premieres his epic hard rock song "You're not hardcore" to class in School of Rock.

5. The wedding singer from Old School sings "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

6. Steve Zissou and his team go underwater to find the Jaguar Shark in The Life Aquatic. The scene starts with a great little electronic ditty and ends with the beautiful Staralfur by Sigur Ros. Not to mention Seu Jorge's doing Portuguese David Bowie covers throughout the movie...my favorite is "Lady Stardust."

7. Jack Black does it again in High Fidelity with his Monday morning tape and "Walking on Sunshine" dance.

8. John Travolta and Uma Thurman get down to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" in Pulp Fiction.

Top Ten Favorite Music Moments in Film

Let's just say the Say Anything boombox "In Your Eyes" scene goes without saying...but here are my other top picks.

1. When Duckie lip-syncs & dances to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" in Pretty in Pink. His entrance alone kills.

2. When the full cast of The Big Chill cleans up after a very tense dinner & does dishes to The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."

3. The "Tiny Dancer" scene from Almost Famous, as the band is leaving Kansas in their tour bus after a very long night of debauchery, they break into a singalong version of the Elton John song that turns their moods around.

4. The "Sound of Silence" montage of the young Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.

5. The Alice in Chains club scene where Kyra Sedgwick and Campbell Scott's characters first meet in Singles. Really seems to epitomize the grunge/ dating scene in 1992 Seattle. This scene also includes great dialogue between the two characters & then Matt Dillion's character discussing his band "Citizen Dick."

6. Soloman Burke's "Cry to Me" scene in Dirty Dancing. "Dance with Me?" Classic.

7. "I've written a letter to daddy" scene with the creepiest looking Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Her bow at the end is brilliant.

8. The club scene from Basic Instinct. This was one of the first times on film I saw two women dancing (and doing some other things) together. Frankly, I could do without Michael Douglas coming onto the scene altogether, but I took what I could get in 1992.

9. The introduction to John Turturro as Jesus in The Big Lebowski to the Gypsy Kings cover of "Hotel California."

10. Salma Hayek's lady on lady tango in Frida. Ay Dios Mio!

newish music from newish bands that i think you won't hate (and might even like)

modern day mamas & papas meet 21st century seattle:
track: resevoir park
band: the dutchess & the duke
album: she's the dutchess, he's the duke

fun & adorably voiced:
track: "cool yourself"
band: thao
album: know better learn faster

minimalist sexy electronica:
track: "recurring"
band: bonobo
album: days to come

70s folk influenced rock n rollers:
track: "roscoe"
band: midlake
album: trials of van occupanther