What I did in Feb., part 2 July 1, 2008
Posted by bbop in friends, music, travel.Tags: Wilco
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I realize that it’s July and I’m about to write about something that happened in mid-February — not exactly keeping up with the pace of print media, much less the blogosphere — but I’m determined to catch this thing up, dammit! I admit it does feel odd to be writing about an colder-than-cold week spent in Chicago when summer is in full bloom and everyone is walking around in shorts and flip-flops, but what are you going to do?
To be honest, I don’t have all that much to say about Wilco’s Winter Residency that hasn’t already been said many times over. The shows were a treat. I knew the band didn’t have a great deal of rehearsal time going in, so I wasn’t sure if they would be able to get to all of “the dusty corners of the catalog,” as promised. But they pulled it off with aplomb, even on rarely played songs like “My Darling” and “We’re Just Friends” that I wasn’t quite sure if they would do. It was just nice to see what the current six-piece lineup could do with some of the older material. And knowing that literally almost any song could come next in the set added an invigorating sense of excitement for those of us who have been fortunate to see more than our fair share of shows.
There are, of course, way too many fond memories and anecdotes to recount here (particularly several months after the fact), but here are a few I don’t think I’ll ever forget:
The rousing, extended and emotional ovation the crowd gave John Stirratt after the performance of “It’s Just That Simple” on the second night of the run. … Brianne leaning over to me at one point and saying that a rendition of “Dreamer In My Dreams” with Andrew Bird would be about the best thing ever — and then it happening. … John’s leap off a stack of amps during a particularly raucous “I Got You (At The End of the Century)” … The genuine, unscheduled encore on Night 2, after the Presidents of the United States of America’s “Peaches” boomed over the PA and the crowd refused to leave. … The wonderful dimension that the Total Pros horn section (including a special appearance by Becca Michalak, a friend of Nels Cline’s) added to many of the songs. … Pre-show rituals: hand warmers and Toast-Ti-Toes, Vietnamese sandwiches, numerous bathroom runs to Borders and Starbucks. … Leaving a folding chair at the Riv to establish a place in line and watching from the Starbucks across the street as a homeless man picked it up and walked away with it. … Late-night Mexican food that made me sick. … The Fat Cat.
What else to say? It’s been fun reading some of the reviews that have appeared in various publications in recent weeks. For the most part, I think they did a decent job recapping the five nights at the Riv. But what they didn’t, maybe couldn’t, fully capture was the spirit in that old place. There was a special feeling in the room — a sense of feeling so fortunate to be there, a celebratory mood, a lot of love and friendship and for those of us that endured hours of waiting in line in frigid conditions, no small amount of pride and accomplishment — that probably couldn’t be fully captured in words. It’s not a week that will soon be forgotten, that’s for sure.
Wilco//2-15-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 1]
ELT/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/You Are My Face/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/At Least That’s What You Said/What’s The World Got In Store/When The Roses Bloom Again/Airline To Heaven/Ashes of American Flags/Either Way/Jesus, etc./Too Far Apart/Can’t Stand It [w/Total Pros horns]/Sunken Treasure/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//[[intermission]]/Misunderstood/Far, Far Away/Why Would You Wanna Live/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Please Be Patient With Me/Cars Can’t Escape/Hummingbird//E: Hate It Here [w/TPs]/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/Heavy Metal Drummer/Candyfloss/Outtasite (Outta Mind)
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Wilco//2-16-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 2]
Someone Else’s Song/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/Muzzle Of Bees/Via Chicago/IATTBYH/Hotel Arizona/A Shot in the Arm/Impossible Germany/It’s Just That Simple/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Too Far Apart/Hate It Here/Jesus, Etc. [w/Andrew Bird on violin]/Forget The Flowers [w/AB]/Dash 7 [w/AB]/Christ For President [w/AB]/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//[[intermission]]//The Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed And Blue>/I Got You (At The End Of The Century)/A Magazine Called Sunset/Monday/Casino Queen/Kingpin/Passenger Side [w/AB]/Dreamer In My Dreams [w/AB]/The Lonely 1 [w/AB]//e: ELT/Hoodoo Voodoo
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Wilco//2-18-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 3]
Blue Eyed Soul/Remember the Mountain Bed [w/Andrew Bird on violin]/Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard [w/AB]/Hesitating Beauty [w/AB]/That’s Not The Issue [w/AB]/Wishful Thinking/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/A Shot in the Arm/We’re Just Friends/Kamera/Handshake Drugs/How To Fight Loneliness [w/AB]/Jesus, etc./Should’ve Been In Love/Pick Up The Change/Theologians/Walken [w/Total Pros horns]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]//[[intermission]]//Via Chicago/Impossible Germany/She’s a Jar [w/AB]/Say You Miss Me/Box Full of Letters/I’m Always in Love/Hate It Here [w/AB]/The Late Greats [w/AB]/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century) [w/AB]/Monday [w/TPs]/My Darling//e: Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
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Wilco//2-19-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 4]
Outta Mind (Outta Sight)/I Must Be High/Impossible Germany/Radio Cure/Leave Me (Like You Found Me)/Company In My Back/Handshake Drugs/War on War/Shake It Off/Summer Teeth/In A Future Age/ELT/A Shot in the Arm/Poor Places>/Reservations>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)/On and On and On//[[intermission]]//Hotel Arizona/Too Far Apart/(Was I) In Your Dreams [w/Total Pros horns]/Misunderstood/Someday Soon/California Stars/Hate It Here [w/TPs]/The Thanks I Get [w/TPs]/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/I’m A Wheel [w/TPs]/Kingpin/Outtasite (Outta Mind)//e: The Late Greats
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Wilco//2-20-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 5]
Sunken Treasure/One By One/Shouldn’t Be Ashamed/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/Pot Kettle Black/War on War/Pieholden Suite [w/Andrew Bird on violin and Total Pros horns]/Muzzle of Bees [w/AB]/It’s Just That Simple/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/I Thought I Held You/What Light [w/TPs]/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Summer Teeth [w/AB]/Jesus, etc./Walken [w/TPs]/Hummingbird [w/AB]//[[intermission]]//Via Chicago/Blood of the Lamb [w/AB and TPs (clarinet only)]/Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/Box Full of Letters/Heavy Metal Drummer/Hate It Here [w/AB and TPs]/The Thanks I Get (w/TPs)/Just A Kid/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century) [w/AB]/Casino Queen/I’m A Wheel/Less Than You Think//e: I’m The Man Who Loves You (w/TPs)/Dreamer In My Dreams [w/AB]
Southern Hemisphere visuals April 16, 2008
Posted by bbop in travel.Tags: Bronte Beach, Doubtful Sound, Nugget Point, One Tree Hill, Sydney Opera House
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We interrupt our regularly scheduled February updates to post a handful of pictures from Australia and New Zealand. My friend Brianne and I recently took a sensational trip there, which I’ll try to recap in more detail somewhere down the road.
For now, though, some photographic evidence:
Sydney Opera House at night.
Bronte Beach (Australia) rock pool and beach.
The path to Nugget Point Lighthouse (New Zealand)
One of many rainbows seen in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand.
One Tree Hill in Auckland, New Zealand.
What I did in Feb., part 1 April 11, 2008
Posted by bbop in music.Tags: Arj Barker, Cat Power, Fountains of Wayne, Joe Henry, Kristen Schaal, Lupe Fiasco, The Whigs
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NOTE: I’ve had most of this written for weeks now, but somehow never got it finished because I’ve spent the better part of the past month gallavanting in Australia and New Zealand. So please bear with me and I vow to finally catch up. Someday.
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After much, much procrastination, here’s the ridiculously late first installment of the promised update of my activities in February. For this post, I’m going to return to the “notes column” style that comes in so handy when recapping a bunch of different things in relatively quick bursts…
On a whim, I began the month by heading over to the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Feb. 1 to catch a show featuring up-and-coming garage rock trio The Whigs. I had heard some positive things about them, so I was a little surprised that this Friday night show, also featuring Plants and Animals and Spinto Band, hadn’t sold out. (I also have to admit that the fact the Brooklyn branch of Academy Records is virtually next door to the Music Hall is also a big draw for going to shows there.) Anyway, I can’t say any of the bands were all that memorable, although maybe that had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t heard any of the music beforehand. The Whigs definitely rocked, but none of their songs really grabbed me on first listen. …
The following night, going in a totally different direction, I found myself at the Nokia Theater in Times Square for a show by Lupe Fiasco. I don’t get to a lot of hip-hop shows, nor do I buy a lot of hip-hop records these days, but I have enjoyed a lot of the inventive artists coming out of Chicago over the past decade (Common, Kanye West, Rhymefest). Lupe Fiasco fits right into that vein, so I took this opportunity to check him out. The Nokia usually books the kinds of shows I have little interest in attending — a lot of nouveau metal or emo or mainstream R&B — and when I first got there for the Lupe show, it was pretty much a horror show. Just a ton of teenage, baggy pants-wearing clowns, $8 beers, the whole nine yards. The floor was already pretty well packed when I got there, so after a stint by the soundboard, I grabbed a seat in one of the last rows. Since I was by myself, I actually didn’t mind sitting far away and just sort of listening. Lupe was pretty enjoyable, I have to say. The first half of the show was mostly older stuff from what I could tell, including the hit “Kick, Push.” Then the second half consisted almost exclusively of stuff off his new record The Cool. The crowd probably got most excited when Lupe segued into Kanye’s “Touch The Sky” (on which he guests), but I also really liked the performance of “Superstar” that closed the show. Both songs have a way of getting into your head, but Lupe and his live band really blew the latter out. …
Super Bowl Sunday was the next day and I stayed home and enjoyed watching the New York Giants’ dramatic win. … A few days later, I had another opportunity to see Joe Henry. I really enjoyed his performance at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last September, but since I nearly died driving home from that show, my memory of that night is a little hazy. So it was a pleasure to get a chance to see Mr. Henry again. This time he was performing at the gorgeous Allen Room at the Time Warner Center as part of Lincoln Center’s “American Songbook” series, and he brought along an excellent band led by drummer Jay Bellerose. Not only was Henry’s band terrific, but he also invited a couple of special guests — pianist Brad Mehldau and clarinetist Don Byron — so we were definitely in for a treat. I wish I could have taken a picture of that amazing room, in which the stage is positioned in front of a story-high glass window that looks straight down Central Park South, but they have a pretty strict no-photography policy, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The set mostly consisted of songs from Henry’s most recent and great record Civilians, although he did play a few more older songs than he did at the Boston show, including “Stop” (famously reworked by his sister-in-law Madonna) and the show-closing “Edgar Bergen.” Mehldau improvised beautifully throughout, and the band was a joy to listen to. …
The next night, Feb. 8, featured a doubleheader of sorts. First, I made it down to another edition of the “TimesTalks” series. This time, with the Oscars approaching, the guests were three of the year’s nominees: lead actress Ellen Page and director Jason Reitman from Juno and supporting actress Amy Ryan from Gone Baby Gone. Apparently, in addition to the Oscars, the timing of the panel coincided with that week’s edition of the New York Times Magazine, which featured a portfolio of photos of the year’s breakthrough actors. Page was on the cover, so it was a natural to have her on the panel. She was charming, of course. Like a lot of people, I think I was crushing slightly (although I hadn’t heard about the lesbian rumors at that point). Generally, I didn’t really find out much that I hadn’t already read about. Ryan was probably the biggest revelation, since I didn’t know very much about her going in. It was interesting to hear about her transition from stage (“A Streetcar Named Desire”) to screen. She had my favorite quote from the talk: “Truth is truth, and if you have that, you can tell any story.” During the question-and-answer period, meanwhile, I learned about a couple of interesting-sounding films Page was in that haven’t been widely seen yet — An American Crime and The Tracey Fragments — that sounded intriguing. Mental note to keep an eye out for them. …
After leaving the Oscar panel, I headed down to the Highline Ballroom — a relatively new music venue in the meatpacking district. I’d been there once or twice before (I remember seeing Junior Senior there), but power pop was on the menu for this evening in the form of New Jersey’s Fountains of Wayne. For me, there’s a fine line when it comes to power pop. When it’s done well, like on Teenage Fanclub’s Grand Prix, virtually all of Big Star’s output or the best Sloan songs, I think it’s my favorite kind of music to listen to. On the other hand, it’s difficult to do well because a lot of bands have a tendency to lapse into cliche or silliness. That, or the songwriting really isn’t polished enough and the music becomes boring to listen to because it all starts sounding the same.
Although there’s a smattering of those negatives on their last couple of albums, FoW is a band that still does the power pop thing better than most. Their 1999 record Utopia Parkway is a longtime favorite of mine, and not just for its litany of New York-area references. Still, I had only seen them once before (I think) — when they opened for Squeeze at the Beacon Theatre last August — so I was delighted to get a chance to watch them play a full set in a smallish club. They didn’t disappoint; Chris Collingwood’s lead vocals sounded as good as ever and co-founder Adam Schlesinger provided some great harmonies and anchored the rhythm section. Though much of the focus was on songs from their latest release Traffic and Weather, the band also treated us to some oldies like “Denise” and “Troubled Times.” Here’s hoping that the Fountains don’t stop spewing out their brand of smart pop ditties anytime soon. …
The following evening, I headed back downtown to the West Village comedy club Comix to see the early performance by Kristen Schaal and Arj Barker, two of the cast members of the HBO hit “Flight of the Conchords.” I had been wanting to see Schaal (who is fantastic as super-fan Mel) for a long time, and her stand-up act was wonderfully zany. I won’t pretend to remember everything she touched on — this is the part of this post I didn’t finish when I should have — but I know there was mention of a dream she had about having sex with George Washington (which hilariously came back to close the set when her comedy partner-in-crime, Kurt Braunohler, came back dressed as our first president); a bit involving a pot and lid; and a great routine about a failed attempt at drama in “Anne Boleyn on Fire.” Barker (Dave on the show) delved into more standard standup fare, but had his moments as well. Schaal, as the “opening act,” though, stole the show. …
I caught a flight to Chicago the next day, Feb. 10, where I intended to go see Cat Power at the Vic Theater that night. But it was just too damn cold, an omen of things to come.
Joe Henry//2-7-08//Allen Room [Time Warner Center], New York, NY//support: none
Civilians/Scare Me To Death/Parker’s Mood/Civil War/Time Is A Lion/You Can’t Fail Me Now/This Afternoon/I Will Write My Book [Joe solo]/Sold/Stop/God Only Knows/Trampoline/Flag/e1: Our Song//e2: Edgar Bergen
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Fountains of Wayne//2-8-08//Highline Ballroom, New York, NY//support: April Smith and the Great Picture Show
Please Don’t Rock Me Tonight/Denise/Mexican Wine/Someone To Love/No Better Place/Fire In The Canyon/Hackensack/Hey Julie/Strapped For Cash/Yolanda Hayes/Sick Day/It Must Be Summer/Stacy’s Mom/Radiation Vibe/Survival Car//e1: I-95/Valley Winter Song/Troubled Times//e2: Traffic and Weather/Maureen/Sink to the Bottom
Happy leap day February 29, 2008
Posted by bbop in Uncategorized.4 comments
It’s kind of fitting that there’s an extra day in February this year because even having an additional day isn’t going to help me chronicle all of this month’s activities. I know that I’ve been remarkably — even by my standards — poor at recapping everything that’s gone on this month. So I would like to heartily apologize to my five (actually, I recently found out that I might have added a sixth — welcome, Warner!) readers. In my own defense, all I can say is that February 2008 has been an absolute blur for me of wonderful shows, friends, food and travel and that it’s been hard to write about memories when you’re making new ones all the time.
After traveling for most of the day yesterday, I made my way from Heidi’s house in Washington, D.C., to Uyen’s place in San Francisco. Whenever I fly across the country, I can’t help thinking that’s a trip that, only a century or so ago, probably would have taken months and months. Here, I did it in like eight hours. But it’s sort of an appropriate metaphor for the last month: cramming a lot into a relatively limited amount of time.
Anyway, over a series of, let’s say, three forthcoming installments, I will endeavor to chronicle most of the past month’s shenanigans. Until then, enjoy your leap day — I’ll be in the odd locale of Visalia, Calif., personally, seeing British Sea Power — and see you in March!
The hype machine February 11, 2008
Posted by bbop in music.Tags: Vampire Weekend
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Sometimes I wonder what it’s like for a young band these days. On one hand, it’s so much easier to make music and get it out there than it was even 10 or 15 years ago. But once it is out there – especially if it’s any good – the expectations are so much greater that it becomes almost impossible to live up to them. Take Vampire Weekend (three of whose four members are pictured above) as an example. I can only think of a few bands in the last couple of years – the Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah come to mind – that had as much advance buzz surrounding them before they even had a full-length release officially out.
As I stood inside the Bowery Ballroom on Jan. 30 before one of Vampire Weekend’s two sold-out record release shows, one thought that briefly went through my mind was which way this band would go in the future. Would they live up to the hype (at least mostly) and become a transcendent group like the Arcade Fire or kind of fizzle out a la CYHSY? Well, after seeing their set, I think the answer is probably somewhere in between. I should say up front that I’m a Vampire Weekend fan; I immediately liked the sound of their so-called “Blue CD-R” when it hit the Internet last year and I eagerly awaited its official release this year.
Clearly the members of VW have musical chops. Though lead singer and guitarist Ezra Koenig and multi-instrumentalist/producer Rostam Batmanglij get most of the attention, I found myself watching the propulsive rhythm section of drummer Chris Tomson and bassist Chris Baio just as much. Tomson, in particular, is fun to watch as he pounds away energetically. It just seems like they have, overall, a good formula for success when you include Batmanglij’s ear for arrangements and Koenig’s boyish frontman charm.
They opened their 13-song set with “Mansard Roof” and followed up shortly thereafter with the infectious “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” Eventually, we got just about every song from the “new” record as well as an actual new one that is apparently called “White Skies.” Personally, the highlights for me were simply hearing “Oxford Comma” and the show-ending “Walcott,” two ridiculously catchy songs I still find myself humming from time to time. (How can you not love songs with lyrics like “Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma/I’ve seen those English dramas too/They’re cruel” and ” Walcott/The Bottleneck is a shit-show/Hyannisport is a ghetto/Out of Cape Cod tonight”? Well, I guess you could find them a bit snotty and precious but I prefer to appreciate their hookiness.)
There’s no question VW is derivative, even if they don’t know it. I won’t bother going through the entire list of artists that have been mentioned as inspirations, but there is definitely an early Police vibe combined with the Afropop guitar sound of Paul Simon in his Graceland/The Rhythm of the Saints era of the mid-to-late 1980s. But then how many artists aren’t derivative in some way? And being as young as they are, they still have some lessons to learn about stage presence and showmanship. These are relatively minor quibbles.
What has really impressed me is just how well the songs hold up. The skeptic in me – and I think there’s a certain skepticism in most indie music fans – wanted to not like VW because of all the hoopla. They are the band version of the movie Juno, almost inviting backlash. But whatever you think of VW’s high-society subject matter or preppy outfits, you can’t deny that they’ve made a fresh-sounding and fun record. And at heart, isn’t that what “good” music is supposed to be about? Whether Koenig and his young bandmates can follow it up with another smart, engaging work remains to be seen, certainly, but I’m optimistic.
To Sam Boyle! February 7, 2008
Posted by bbop in death.add a comment
The other day I learned that Sam Boyle, my RW1 (Reporting and Writing 1, probably the main class that defines your Columbia Journalism School experience) professor had passed away after a lengthy fight with lung cancer. I think Sam was more of a mentor figure to some of my younger classmates than me, but I appreciated the lessons he tried to impart and enjoyed the stories he told. Sam was a journalist through and through — he was the Associated Press’ New York City bureau chief for more than 20 years — and I’ll always remember his completely unflappable demeanor.
On a personal note, Sam sent me a very nice e-mail just before graduation last year after I won a new media award. I’m glad he won’t have to suffer any longer with that terrible disease, but sad to think he won’t be able to enjoy the things that gave him pleasure in life. He was just 59 — way, way too young to be gone. As if we needed another reminder to carpe diem.
You can read more about Sam’s career here. RIP.
Playing catchup February 5, 2008
Posted by bbop in music, travel.Tags: Jeff Tweedy, Neko Case, Rhett Miller
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I just realized that if I managed to recap the last four shows I saw, which all involved twangy (to varying degrees) singer-songwriters, then I would actually be more or less all caught up on show reports. For a couple of days anyway. Oy.
I’ve seen Rhett Miller, particularly in a solo setting, more times than I can count. Part of that has to do with the fact that, after he moved to New York a few years ago, Rhett used to play regularly at the late, great downtown venue Fez. So what keeps me coming back? One reason is I’ve always found it enjoyable to see solo performances by singer-songwriters with vast repertoires because you never quite know what you’re going to hear. Often, they’ll be trying out some new material and sometimes you’ll get lucky and get a real chestnut in the set as well. I think the audience sometimes has more influence on a solo show as well, sometimes causing — in good and bad ways — an artist to veer slightly from what he or she had planned. Additionally, with Rhett, I’ve made some good friends at his (and Old 97’s) shows in New York over the years. Since those shows are primarily where I get to see those friends, it’s always another strong incentive to make it to as many shows as possible.
Accordingly, when Rhett announced a show at Black Cat a day after Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings played the same room, I decided it would be a good time to go visit Heidi in Washington. I wasn’t expecting any of the “New York crew,” as I dub them, to come down since there was a show in Ridgewood, N.J. (pretty close to Manhattan) less than a week later at which I figured I’d see them all. But it was a happy surprise when I found out the day of the show that they would all be making the trip. And it was a lucky thing they did because Rhett played a really fun mix of stuff, including four songs off the upcoming Old 97’s record including one that he said he’d never played in front of people before. (I think it was the “Borrowed VW Bug” song, which he somehow got through despite more than one “oops” moment.) We also got a true rarity in “Tupelo County Jail” (a/k/a the hidden track on the 97’s first album, Hitchhike to Rhome) and the song that I had wanted to hear, “Busted Afternoon” (the crew and I filled in the background vocals at the appropriate moments, unlike most of the crowd). I’ve always been fascinated and a little amused by Rhett’s audiences. There are always the youngish girls who think of Rhett as little more than a hottie with a guitar (I’d say the girl at Black Cat who kept insistently yelling for Rhett to “take off your shirt” fit into this category), the alt-country fans who haven’t lost the faith, the older suburbanites who heard about him on radio stations like WXPN and WFUV. It’s an eclectic bunch of people, for sure.
Nearly a week later, Rob picked me up (thanks Rob!) and together we headed over the Tappan Zee Bridge to Rhett’s Ridgewood show. Ridgewood is an affluent town in Bergen County that reminded me of Rye, N.Y., in a lot of ways. The show was at pretty yuppie-ish bar called Blend — or, to be more accurate, in the slick music space beneath Blend that resembled an upscale Manhattan nightclub. Given the venue and the fact that he was essentially opening for a Jersey bar band called The Nerds, Rhett pretty much stuck to the “hits.” So there was a lot of stuff off The Instigator and The Believer and requisite stuff like “Question” and “Rollerskate Skinny.” I don’t blame him, of course, and because of the presence of friends, I still had a good time.
As often as I feel like I’ve seen Rhett the last couple of years, I had definitely gone through a Neko Case drought during that time. Although I’d seen her a couple of times with the New Pornographers, I had missed her area show(s?) in support of her most recent solo record, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. So I planned on rectifying that at Tarrytown Music Hall. Thanks to some fast fingers when tickets when on sale, I managed to score a nice seat in the front row, more or less center. Rob also got a front-row seat over to my left.
Apparently Neko has been recording her next solo album in Vermont and brought her band along on this mini-East Coast tour (on which Tarrytown was the first stop) to test out some new material. Happily, that band included Chicago-based songstress and sometime Hideout bartender Kelly Hogan on vocals as well as mainstays Jon Rauhouse on steel guitar and Tom Ray on upright bass. Neko and Kelly provided plenty of goofy, back-and-forth banter all night long, perhaps working out some anxiety about playing some of the new songs live for the first time. I don’t believe any allusions were made to their recent appearance in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but as one review I read noted, their humor was definitely in that sort of vein.
As for the songs, there was an abundance of new stuff. I can’t say that any of it made much of an impression on me after a single listen, but that’s not all that unusual. It only worries me insofar as I didn’t really get into Fox Confessor as much as Neko’s earlier records. There wasn’t enough older material for my liking, but obviously with so much new stuff, concessions had to be made somewhere. And they made up for it in part with a trio of covers. There was “Listen To Her Heart” by Tom Petty as well as interesting renditions of songs by Sparks and Harry Nilsson. I’ve never quite bought into the sex appeal thing with Neko that some guys seem to be drawn in by, at least in part. But getting to hear her sing, especially in tandem with Ms. Hogan, is something I’d gladly do anytime.
There wasn’t much time to rest after the Neko show, however, because I had to head home, quickly pack a bag and head straight to the airport to catch an early flight to Chicago. Fortunately there wasn’t any severe weather with which to contend, so I made it in plenty of time to drop my bag off and have a tasty breakfast/brunch before heading up to the Vic to get in line for Jeff Tweedy’s second annual benefit show for scholarships at his kids’ school. Ordinarily I might not have arrived quite so early — ha, who am I kidding? — but I felt some responsibility to get a good spot on behalf of Brianne, who had done the same for me the year before. Brianne and some other friends were at our friend Stacy’s wedding, so it wasn’t the usual crowd you might expect at a Chicago show. (I guess some of that also had to do with the $100 price tag for tickets.) I just counted my blessings that I had brought my thickest jacket and a neck gaitor.
As she did at the first annual show, Jeff’s wife, Susan, graciously stepped out into the frigid air prior to the show to take requests from people in line. I initially put in for “Someday Soon,” and when she came back around to take additional requests because there weren’t enough people in line at that point, I also submitted “Pick Up The Change.” To my surprise, Jeff wound up playing both during the show, acknowledging the granting of a rare double request (thanks Jeff!). Unfortunately someone’s ringing cell phone interrupted the latter, leading to some good-natured scolding. But still, it was nice to get those songs as well as hear rarities such as “Pieholden Suite” and “Just A Kid.”
This charity show ultimately is an interesting one because I think Jeff feels like he needs to entertain the audience with stories and banter more than at a regular show because part of the crowd (especially those in the reserved seats in the front) doesn’t comprise his usual fanbase and another part is made up of people who have traveled from far and wide to experience what has been described as “a giant living room show.” It must be a challenge to balance those varied interest levels, which can lead to a somewhat uneven and freewheeling, though fun, performance.
Rhett Miller//1-18-08//Black Cat, Washington, DC//support: Jennifer O’Connor
The El/The New Kid/My Valentine/Barrier Reef/new song (“Borrowed VW Bug”)/new song (“Dance With Me”)/Busted Afternoon/Tupelo County Jail/Brand New Way/Adelaide/Melt Show/World Inside The World/Buick City Complex/new song (“Blame It On Gravity”)/new song (“Down The Mountain On My Own Two Feet”)/Victoria/Fireflies/Rollerskate Skinny/Question (w/French verse)/Singular Girl/19/4-Leaf Clover/Doreen//e: Come Around/Big Brown Eyes/new song (“Government Man”)/Our Love
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Rhett Miller//1-24-08//Blend, Ridgewood, NJ//support: none
This Is What I Do/The New Kid/My Valentine/Salome/new song (“Borrowed VW Bug”)/new song (“Dance With Me”)/Murder (Or A Heart Attack)/Desperate Times/Brand New Way/Things That Disappear/Barrier Reef/Doreen/World Inside The World/Buick City Complex/new song (“Unless I Ride”)/new song (“Down The Mountain On My Own Two Feet”)/Fireflies/Rollerskate Skinny/Question (w/French verse)/19/Singular Girl/The El/4-Leaf Clover//e: Come Around/Big Brown Eyes/Our Love/Timebomb
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Neko Case//1-25-08//Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown, NY//support: Eric Bachmann
A Widow’s Toast/Favorite/new song (“Pharaohs”)/Dirty Knife/Star Witness/new song (“Godspeed”)/new song (“Prison Girls”)/Listen To Her Heart [Tom Petty]/Margaret vs. Pauline/Deep Red Bells/The Tigers Have Spoken/Maybe Sparrow/Don’t Forget Me [Harry Nilsson]/new song (“I’m An Animal”)/That Teenage Feeling/Hold On, Hold On//e: new song (“Vengeance”)/I Wish I Was The Moon/Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth [Sparks]/John Saw That Number
* — setlist courtesy of Porchlight forums
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Jeff Tweedy//1-26-08//Vic Theater, Chicago, IL//support: none
Spiders (Kidsmoke) [started, flubbed]/The Community Song, pt. 1/Spiders (Kidsmoke)/Someday Soon/Radio King/She’s a Jar/The Family Gardener/Cars Can’t Escape/The Community Song, pt. 2/Pecan Pie/The Ruling Class/Passenger Side/Just a Kid/A Shot in the Arm/Remember the Mountain Bed/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Muzzle of Bees/Pieholden Suite/The Thanks I Get//[intermission]//California Stars/Jesus, etc./Pick Up The Change/Be Not So Fearful/Airline to Heaven/When The Roses Bloom Again/I Must Be High/Gun//e: Someone Else’s Song [off PA system]/Acuff-Rose [off PA system]
On with the show(s) January 28, 2008
Posted by bbop in friends, music, travel.Tags: Basia Bulat, Feist, Jon Brion, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Petra Haden, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Tift Merritt
2 comments
Crap, I haven’t updated this thing in almost three weeks. Bad blogger! (Slaps own wrist.) I kept meaning to, honest. If only for the sake of my five readers. It’s kind of crazy how time slips away from you. I feel like New Year’s Day was just the other day, and I look at the calendar and next week it’ll be February already. Madness, I tell you.
Lest my lack of posting be interpreted as a concert drought, I should point out that I have seen a good amount of live music this month. A lot of the shows I’ve gone to, though, have featured artists I was seeing for the first time. So I guess part of the reason for the dearth of recent reports has to do with not having a tremendous amount to say about some of those shows because of a lack of familiarity with the music. (Also the reason for a relative lack of setlists below.)
Not a very good excuse, I admit, but I’m going to try and write a quick update of the month now. And I’m going to rely on that old sportswriting standby to do it: the notes column. So without further ado…
The New Year’s festivities in Chicago got off to an early start with a Dec. 30 show at Schuba’s with a pair of Midwestern bands, Catfish Haven and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. I dragged Sam along, and she agreed mainly because we both like Catfish Haven. They were fun, as usual, and I always dig seeing them with the two backing vocalists who usually sing with them at their hometown gigs. Then it was onto Margot, who played a similar set to the one they had played a couple of weeks earlier in New York. Similar, but not completely the same since we got to hear a couple of new songs they hadn’t played in New York. It was cool to hear everyone singing along with “hits” like “Skeleton Key.” While the New York show was sold out, it seems like Margot is much beloved in Chicago. …
I couldn’t make it to Margot’s New Year’s Eve show the following night because I already had a prior engagement with a bunch of friends and Jon Brion. I usually don’t write about Jon’s shows because it’s hard to do them justice, and because they are recapped so much better here. But just to make a brief mention of his two Chicago performances this time around, on New Year’s Eve (and early New Year’s Day) at the underground Harris Theater and a hastily announced club date Jan. 2 at Martyr’s, they were each memorable in their own way. The New Year’s Eve show was sort of two shows in one with Jon first coming out and playing a couple of songs with surprise guest Britt Daniel of Spoon, followed by a mini Autumn Defense set by John Stirratt and Pat Sansone. Then all three guests joined Jon and a drummer for a few numbers. Following an intermission, Jon’s main set began. It was, as you might expect given the night, a pretty rowdy affair that included a raucous singalong to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and a brief moment when I thought the show was spinning out of control after Jon invited people on stage to write requests on a big pad of paper. But as with so many Jon shows, seeming chaos developed into flashes of brilliance with a closing salvo of “Cortez the Killer,” a Bruce Springsteen-esque song that was actually made up on the spot and a crowd singalong to “God Only Knows.”
During the New Year’s show, Jon announced another show two nights later with a simple message on the aforementioned pad of paper (though our friends had been fortunate and had gotten a little advance warning). Martyr’s was an intimate venue much more suited to Jon’s act, and he obliged with two sets that showed why his small cult of fans is so devoted. From a beautiful “Amateur” early on to “Cathy’s Clown” later, the keyboard was the star of the first set. That gave way to a guitarfest in the second set, particularly when Jon invited Pat Sansone to join him once again. Pat, in turn, brought a drummer, Ryan who plays for Chicago band Vee Dee as well as working as Wilco’s light tech. The quartet was rounded out by a bassist plucked out of the front row and who, unlike some who have joined Jon on stage, knew his stuff. The impromptu group launched into a rocking Beatles mini-set that included “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey,” “Revolution,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” By the time Jon came out for a brief encore of “Knock Yourself Out” (which is where the above photo was snapped), we were all filled with enough warmth to endure the frigid Chicago night. …
A day after getting home from Chicago, I was at it again when I went down to the Mercury Lounge to check out The XYZ Affair, a New York band I had heard good things about. Having not heard any of their music before, I walked away a bit underwhelmed. None of their songs really grabbed me right away, and they seemed very young. But I would check them out again. … I managed to sell my ticket for the last night of Natalie Merchant’s show run and buy a ticket for a Rough Trade showcase at Joe’s Pub featuring Basia Bulat and Jeffrey Lewis. Primarily I wanted to see Bulat, a young Canadian singer-songwriter about whom I have heard several raves. She definitely was as good as advertised, even though I didn’t know any of her music. Switching from autoharp to acoustic guitar to something I later found out from her was an old-timey instrument called a pianoette, Bulat was wholly charming. I’m very much looking forward to her upcoming record. I stayed for Lewis, who mostly played stuff off his upcoming record of remakes of songs by the British anarchist band Crass. I’ve always been kind of intrigued by Lewis, who is also a talented artist and incorporates that into his live show. I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to see him, but I’ve definitely seen much, much worse. …
The next night I headed out to Union Hall, a relatively new venue in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, to see Tift Merritt (pictured above). I had wanted to see Merritt for a long time, but it had never worked out until now. I loved the intimate little venue, which was located beneath a sprawling bar with a couple of indoor bocce courts. Opening the show was Hotel Lights, a band led by former Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee. I had seen them once before ages ago with a fuller lineup (as I remember, anyway), but this time it was a stripped-down duo that played quiet music reminiscent of the Autumn Defense. It was a little mellow for me, but at least they played one of my favorite Jessee songs, “Amelia Bright.” Then it was time for Merritt, who played solo. With a new record coming out, she previewed a good amount of that material but also included what I later discovered were some pretty old songs. Apparently she has relocated to New York from North Carolina, so I hope to have a chance to see her again soon. …
One night later, on Jan. 12, my run of shows continued with a performance by Petra Haden at the Stone, a tiny Lower East Side avant-garde club. I figured she wasn’t going to be doing conventional stuff, but I didn’t really know what to expect. As it turned out, she was joined by experimental music veteran Laurie Anderson on violin and keyboard. The two proceeded to do an eclectic 40-minute uninterrupted “piece” that featured Haden’s improvised vocals. It veered from haunting to rocking to almost melancholy at times. Definitely a far cry from Haden’s work with the Decemberists and Foo Fighters or even her own unique vocal style when covering songs like “I Can See For Miles” and “God Only Knows.” It’s good to see Haden stretch out and do some different stuff, though. I always felt like she was kind of misunderstood in her time with the Decemberists. …
Just before heading downtown to see Haden, I was over at the New York Times’ Arts and Leisure Week talk with Feist, pictured above with interviewer Jon Pareles. The session mostly featured on the immense success of her 2007 record The Reminder. We learned about how the song “1 2 3 4″ came to be used in an iPod commercial, which she explained came about when she refused to play at a birthday party for the daughter of some Canadian music bigwig who, in turn, had her essentially blacklisted from Canadian radio. When Apple approached her about using “1 2 3 4,” she felt like it was her chance to sort of get revenge on the bigwig by getting her music out there and heard. And boy did it ever get heard! Other topics included her work process (she likes to work with a small group of trusted people), how she hooked up with the Kings of Convenience (she met them at a noise fest in Europe, amazingly enough) and how she feels about musical collaborations (she doesn’t really believe in them that much). I found it amusing how people would address her as Feist, as if she didn’t have a first name (Leslie). Like “Hi Feist, here’s my question” or “You are great, Feist.” And I can’t say that Pareles was the best interviewer, but eventually the conversation warmed up to transcend most of the awkwardness. …
The last show I’ll mention in this post is one of the best I’ve seen in a while by an artist I hadn’t seen before. I had wanted to see Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings for some time, but they were another act that slipped through the cracks. I rectified that by traveling down to Washington D.C. and, joined by Heidi, making it to their show at Black Cat on Jan. 17. And what a show! I’m sure it wouldn’t be any surprise to anyone who’s seen them before, but I loved just about everything about this retro soul/funk band. I imagine it’s about as close to seeing James Brown as you can get today. I had heard that Mrs. Jones got the crowd involved, but she really fed off the audience’s energy by bringing various members of the front row (thankfully not us, this time!) up on stage to dance to just playing to the crowd. By the time the band launched their encore with a cover of “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” they had us eating out of their hands. The bottom line: If you want to see a fun show in which ass-shaking just can’t be helped, do yourself a favor.
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Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s//12-30-07//Schubas, Chicago, IL//support: Catfish Haven
new song (“carnival”)/new song (“when all the liquor is gone, gone, gone”)/Paper Kitten Nightmare/On A Freezing Chicago Street/new song-Bad Case of the Blues (“I want to gouge your eyes out”)/new song-The Ocean (“don’t you cry my darling”)/Broadripple Is Burning/Vampires In Blue Dresses//Quiet As A Mouse/new song (“this is how you teach someone to drive”)/Skeleton Key/Bookworm//e: new song-Lightning Rod (“I am a lightning rod”)/Barfight Revolution
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Jon Brion and Friends//12-31-07//Harris Theater, Chicago, IL//support: none
Set 1
[with Britt Daniel] Everything Hits at Once/The Underdog/[with Britt Daniel, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone, and Howard Windmiller] I Feel Fine/with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] Sentimental Lady/Row/Eternal Sunshine Theme/Happy with You
Set 2
Meaningless/New Year’s countdown>Auld Lang Syne/Happy Birthday [to Brett]/Walking Through Walls/minor key improv/Just Like a Woman/I Believe She’s Lying/ragtime instrumental/Bohemian Rhapsody/Sail Away>Knock Yourself Out/Life on Mars/Ruin My Day/Words of Love>Lithium>Uncomplicated>Deathly/[with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] Cortez the Killer/[with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] fake Springsteen song/Queen Elvis/God Only Knows//e: Maple Leaf Rag
*—setlist courtesy of easily fooled
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Jon Brion//1-2-08//Martyr’s, Chicago, IL/support: none
Set 1
I Fall in Love Too Easily/Why Do You Do This to Yourself/Tainted Love/I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)/Amateur/We Didn’t Start the Fire/Girl I Knew>7 Nation Army>James Bond theme>Peter Gunn>Secret Agent Man>Surrender>Police on My Back>Girl I Knew/Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now>Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want/Same Thing/Further Along/I’m Gonna Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key/Trouble/You Say You Don’t Love Me/What a Fool Believes [Les Paul style]/Cathy’s Clown/Everyday/She’s Not There>/I’m Waiting for the Man
Set 2
So I Fell in Love with You/Ishtar medley/Cheers theme/Western-style instrumental
[with Pat Sansone and Ryan (Vee Dee)] Daydream/You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice/Summer in the City/Sunny Afternoon/[with Pat, Ryan and Packy] Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey/Revolution/Don’t Let Me Down/I Want You (She’s So Heavy)/Tomorrow Never Knows//e: Knock Yourself Out
*—setlist courtesy of easily fooled
Busy as a bee January 10, 2008
Posted by bbop in family, music.2 comments
My mom told me recently that one of the main reasons she worries about me not having a job is that I’ll be bored sitting at home all the time. To be fair, she doesn’t know the full extent of my globetrotting ways. But even when I’m not on the road, I like to think I keep fairly busy.
This past week since getting back from the holidays is a perfect example. Between a spring (albeit in winter) cleaning of my apartment, crazily trying to help make arrangements for a planned trip to Australia and New Zealand in March and April and just generally trying to keep my life in order, I’ve been swamped. And that’s just during the day.
On top of that, there’s been stuff seemingly every night — and not just shows (more on those in another post). This week alone, I’ve already…
-gone to see director Sidney Lumet’s talk, part of the New York Times’ Arts & Leisure Week. (Monday)
-donned a suit and tie to attend the annual reception held by my high school’s New York alumni association and then saw Mart and Craig play at Slane (Tuesday)
-attended a workshop on resumes and cover letters in preparation for my inevitable job hunt (Wednesday)
and I’m still planning to…
-see a Rough Trade showcase with Basia Bulat and Jeffrey Lewis at Joe’s Pub (tonight)
-see Hotel Lights, the band of former Ben Folds Five member Darren Jessee, and Tift Merritt at Union Hall (tomorrow)
-go to Feist’s talk in the NY Times’ Arts & Leisure Week series and, afterward, hopefully make it to Petra Haden’s show at the Stone (Saturday)
Then I think I’ll have a few days “off” before I go down to Washington, D.C., for a few days to visit Heidi. So no worries, Mom, I’m not getting bored at all. My question is how do people who have regular jobs do those, plus everything else they need to do and still have time for some fun stuff?
Everybody’s doing it January 6, 2008
Posted by bbop in music.Tags: Arcade Fire, Baby Teeth, Feist, Joe Henry, New Pornographers, Of Montreal, Richard Swift, Rilo Kiley, The Broken West, Wilco
3 comments
In a time when the availability of music is probably at an all-time high, because of leaking, downloading or simple abundance (with many records self-released by the artists themselves), it seems increasingly futile to try and compile an old-fashioned year-end “best of” list. After all, what some might consider a 2007 release might actually have come out overseas in 2006 (such as a pair of albums by English bands, Brakes’ The Beatific Visions and The Long Blondes’ Someone To Drive You Home, that are honorable mentions on my 2007 list). Or they might not be widely available to the public — which is the traditional sense of a “release” — until 2008 (like Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago and Vampire Weekend’s debut album, two of the year’s blogger favorites). Who’s to say when something “officially” comes out anymore?
Personally, I have a hard time ranking records anyway. I suppose you can do it to a certain extent, but when it comes to albums I really like, I don’t know if I can say whether one is categorically “better” than another. It all kind of depends on when I’m listening to something or what kind of mood I’m in. I think that’s probably true of most people, so I almost find an unranked list of 10, 20 or even 50 albums that someone liked more interesting to look at than one that claims such and such is the best album of the year and such and such is No. 2 and so on.
Since the year-end list is such a staple, though, I figure if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So without further ado, here are the 10 albums I most enjoyed in 2007. Probably.
*Neon Bible, The Arcade Fire*
Why I liked it: It wasn’t Funeral, but the band’s second full-length effort took some of the raw emotion from its heralded debut and channeled it into a dark, brooding meditation on the state of the world. And though it took a few listens to fully absorb some of the songs, ultimately that combination of energy and edge helped to forge a winning collection.
Favorite track: “Intervention”
*The Simp, Baby Teeth*
Why I liked it: Sam recommended this one, and she was definitely right on. The first time I listened to it, every song grabbed me in some way, and that’s usually a good sign that I’m going to like an album. It has infectious melodies that work their way inside your head and a variety of influences — a little soul, a little dance, a little glam, a little funk — that always keep things interesting. One of the bands I’m really hoping to get a chance to see live soon.
Favorite track: “The Birds Are Crying”
*I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, The Broken West*
Why I liked it: Hooks, hooks and more hooks kept me coming back to this record frequently in the year or so since its release. Its combination of vocal harmonies, Byrdsian guitars and sweet melodies reminded me of a less twangy Jayhawks or maybe a slightly less power poppy, Grand Prix-era Teenage Fanclub. Which, if you know the esteem in which I hold those two bands, is saying something.
Favorite track: “Down in the Valley”
*The Reminder, Feist*
Why I liked it: Count me among the legions who found this record to be vibrant, inventive and darn catchy. I’m sure some will be reluctant to celebrate it because of its commercial appeal (the Apple ads, the Starbucks connection, how it always seems to be playing in Barnes & Noble), but you can’t deny that it is a pleasure to listen to. Let It Die was a favorite as well, and the followup shares its sense of exploration. As Kelefa Sanneh wrote in his review of two New York shows last summer, “Feist declines to stick to a single mood or style. This is a meticulously made album, but it has the pleasantly casual feel of a sketchbook.”
Favorite track: “Past In Present” (“1 2 3 4″ is just too obvious)
*Civilians, Joe Henry*
Why I liked it: I know Henry has been making quality music for a while now, but for whatever reason, this is the first album of his that I have really been able to get into. But, boy, did I get into it. He seems like a real singer-songwriter’s singer-songwriter, whatever that means, and I’ve heard others say that this one might be his finest work yet. It’s an elegant, atmospheric record that makes you listen carefully to appreciate it fully, perfect for listening to late at night when you’re the last one awake and have some time to contemplate.
Favorite track: “Our Song”
*Challengers, The New Pornographers*
Why I liked it: With the exception of Mass Romantic, every album has been somewhat of a grower for me though I think that has as much to do with the pure pop brilliance of that debut as anything else. Challengers didn’t buck the trend, which also includes my renewed love for the band after a new work has had time to sink in. Some people deemed this record too “mellow,” but although I love power pop as much as anyone, I liked hearing a deeper and more subtle side of the band. Not that hooks were entirely lacking (see “All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth”), but they weren’t the main focus this time. Rather, they merely served as a vehicle for Carl Newman and Dan Bejar’s enigmatic, always interesting lyrics.
Favorite track: “Myriad Harbour”
*Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Of Montreal*
Why I liked it: I don’t pretend to understand what is going through Kevin Barnes’ head, but whatever it is, I like the effects that it has on his music. While previous efforts Satanic Panic in the Attic and The Sunlandic Twins had some moments of sheer wonder, Hissing Fauna might be the most cohesive record yet. It’s got a dark undercurrent that gives it some substance, but also the psychedelic pop and dance elements we’ve all come to know and love. The production might be dense, but to me, it made this album all the more fascinating.
Favorite track: “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse”
*Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley*
Why I liked it: I have to admit I’ve never quite understood those who say they like Jenny Lewis, but not Rilo Kiley (which I frequently heard from people who praised her solo record Rabbit Fur Coat). To me, Lewis — her voice, her ideas — is primarily what elevates the group above your run-of-the-mill indie band. And this record has more of Lewis’ stamp on it than ever. She wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs and, besides the sexual theme, her vocals are really the thing that unify this album’s eclectic mix of styles. Many have criticized this record for sounding “too slick,” and that may be, but I don’t mind because it’s so enjoyable to listen to.
Favorite track: “Silver Lining”
*Dressed Up For The Letdown, Richard Swift*
Why I liked it: Maybe it was hearing them night after night when Swift (and Casey Foubert) opened for Wilco on the West Coast last summer, but these songs really creeped into my head and weren’t easy to shake. Swift’s almost-laconic vocal delivery accentuate the melancholy mood of the record, but somehow the melodies never suffer. And while the production can come off a ramshackle at times, a close listening reveals some careful and surprisingly intricate arrangements.
Favorite track: “Kisses For The Misses”
*Sky Blue Sky, Wilco*
Why I liked it: Aside from a wonderful memory of hearing it for the first time and subsequently hearing most of the songs live about 35 times, this record touched me because of its moments. Like the first guitar solo, in “Either Way,” when you picture Nels Cline playing that lick and smile to yourself. Like the point in “You Are My Face,” where the song explodes out of its gentle beginning. Like the organ solo in the middle of “On and On and On.” Will it supplant Summerteeth as my favorite Wilco record? Probably not. But I appreciate it for what it is — a lovely, melodic expression of soul. Not soul music, but actual soul. Don’t judge it because you don’t like that it was used for car commercials or you expected it to be noisy, rootsy or something else.
Favorite track: “Impossible Germany”
Honorable mentions:
*The Beatific Visions, Brakes
*Time On Earth, Crowded House
*The Distant Future (EP), Flight of the Conchords
*Shrunken Heads, Ian Hunter
*Living With The Living, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
*Someone To Drive You Home, The Long Blondes
*Drums and Guns, Low
*Trees Outside The Academy, Thurston Moore
*Writer’s Block, Peter, Bjorn and John
*Magic, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Special citation:
I’m Not There soundtrack — I think, as a general rule, soundtracks probably shouldn’t be included in year-end lists. But it’s not often that such an awesome collection of talent is brought together and has such fertile material with which to work. Not every interpretation of Bob Dylan on this collection necessarily worked for me, but some were killer. I loved John Doe’s version of “Pressing On,” in particular, as well as the Jim James and Calexico take on “Goin’ To Acapulco.”
Wish I had spent more time with (or some time with):
*Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective
*New Magnetic Wonder, The Apples in Stereo
*Good Bad Not Evil, The Black Lips
*Spirit If…, Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew
*Lady’s Bridge, Richard Hawley
*Places, Georgie James
*Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
*The Stage Names, Okkervil River
*Marry Me, St. Vincent
*Graduation, Kanye West
