I don’t know how any of you feel about Andrew Bird, but I think he’s pretty swell. I saw him in a symphony hall in Champaign once. It was magical. He is the best whistler I’ve ever heard.
I write this because his newest album is on sale at Amazon today for $1.99(!!!). You should definitely buy it.
Someday, we all need to save up money and go to Coachella. I’m just saying…
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Sometimes it feels so good to be emo.
“My baby swings like a boxer, and sends her right hooks under my chin.”
Brian Fallon, “The Blues, Mary”
10. She & Him – Volume One
Zooey Deschanel always struck me as an indie chick in the same vein as a Jenny Lewis. Her first album with band mate M. Ward was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I love her voice. On the other hand, I’m not really into 1960’s female pop music. In the end tracks like “Sentimental Heart” and “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” edged this album in front of The Headlights’ Some Racing, Some Stopping for the last spot on my list.
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9. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Chris Walla recently described Narrow Stairs as a “reactionary” album backlashing against the accessibility of Plans. I tend to agree. Songs like “Cath…” and “Long Division” are enough to keep the album on my end of the year list, but I can’t help being disappointed by this album. Please return to Transatlanticism your fan base is depending on it.
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8. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Coldplay can do better than this. Its not that this is bad, its just not at the same level as their previous work. Where is this album’s “Fix You” or “Politik”? I really tried to give this album a number of chances throughout the year, and eventually it worked its way onto this list, but I’m not going to lie, I was expecting more. “Viva La Vida” and “42” are stand out tracks, but the rest of the album just runs together for me.
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7. Mates of State – Rearrange Us
I never listened to very much Mates of State. It wasn’t because I had anything against them, I just never took the time. Finally, this year I decided to check out Rearrange Us. The husband and wife combo of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner are a little tamer on this album, with more piano and less synth, but it still works beautifully. Songs like “Get Better” and “Now” defined the soundtrack of my summer road trip to Colorado. Good times.
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6. The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
Some albums need time to grow. Their stories need to find a place in your brain for a few months. Then, when the time is right, they all make sense. The album ties together and you wonder how you could have ignored all of this when the album first arrived. I never doubted that John Darnielle is one of the best songwriters of our generation (after all Craig Finn of The Hold Steady thinks so). Heretic Pride tells stories of broken lovers and failure in such a way that you still remain hopeful. Darnielle describes the emotions of his characters so realistically that you almost have to believe he’s been there. Maybe he has.
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5. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Boys and Girls in America was perfect. It may very well find itself sitting in the top slot of next years’ “Albums of the Decade.” Knowing this, I prepared myself for a letdown. Unsurprisingly, Stay Positive could not up the ante on its predecessor. Luckily, it never tried to. The Hold Steady are getting older, and they are starting to feel it. Stay Positive is about aging gracefully. The characters are still there, pawing around to find their fulfillment in bars and dumpsters, but they have a new perspective. Prom night is over, and it is time to come to terms with what comes next. What do you do when the kids at your shows have kids of their own? You stay positive. Stay Positive finds The Hold Steady continuing to grow and evolve as they come to term with their growing age. The solo at the end of “Lord I’m Discouraged” might be my favorite solo Tad Kubler has ever played. Sure, its no Boys and Girls in America, but its definitely not a swan song. The Hold Steady are still going strong, and I’m excited to see what’s next.
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4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes should have been born in a different time. Their music sounds old, as if it is hiding some ancient wisdom, gained through a lifetime of experience. Then I find out these men are my age. Are you kidding me? Many bands take several albums to find their voice, but Fleet Foxes already seem perfectly consistent on their first full length. Their harmonies and slow meandering music are beautiful. Like Joanna Newsom’s Ys, Fleet Foxes seems to shatter the idea of modern music more than anything else I listened to this year.
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3. No Age – Nouns
No Age hails from Los Angeles, and I guess that fits perfectly. If you asked me to describe their sound, it would be hard to avoid the word “noise.” Its not that Nouns isn’t beautiful, but there is really no other way to describe it. Like their city, the commotion on the album is constant. Layer upon layer of drums and guitars stack to create strangely poppy songs. Think The Postal Service meets My Bloody Valentine. Then, once you have listened to it, sit in amazement at the realization that only two people are responsible for all of that noise. It’s incredible. This album also holds the distinction for best packaging of any album I bought this year. I heartily enjoyed the photo book included with the liner notes.
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2. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Yes, this sound is gimmicky, I agree, but it is so infectious! Sure, it seems kind of ridiculous that a bunch of Ivy League graduates are borrowing African pop music to sing songs about being rich in New England. Yet the cast of Vampire Weekend pulls it off flawlessly. Songs like “Oxford Comma” plagued my brain for months at a time, in a good way. The driving drums during the bridge even worked great as motivation for my half marathon training. No album represented the soundtrack to my final semester more so than the self-titled album by indie’s most over-hyped newcomers. Will the sophomore album ever deliver? I don’t care. I’m still enjoying the first.
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1. The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound
The Gaslight Anthem hit their stride with this summer’s The ‘59 Sound. In their sophomore album, the band boldly moves away from their straight punk roots and embraces influences ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Miles Davis. Brian Fallon cannot seem to shake his fascination with the way things used to be, but he does it with so much sincerity that it never seems contrived. For a band that took so many risks with their album, it seems amazing that only the bluesy “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” falls short. Songs like “Miles Davis & The Cool” and “Here’s Looking At You, Kid” benefit from a slower pace, while other like “Great Expectations” and “Casanova Baby!” remind you that these boys from New Jersey came to dance.
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I found this interview really quite interesting. I definitely agree when Walla says that Plans was a “half-hearted” attempt at mass appeal and that Narrow Stairs was a “reactionary move” against that. Hopefully they figure it out and get back to Transatlanticism and The Photo Album.
“She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love.”
Radiohead, “Fake Plastic Trees”
Every single day during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I would drive down 270 screaming every word to The Get Up Kids’ Something to Write Home About on my way to and from work. Last night, I got to scream along to every word with 200 of TGUK’s closest friends and family.
That’s right, The Get Up Kids are back. It seems time heals all wounds. There was ridiculous banter between songs and everyone seemed happy to be there. Go watch Matt Pryor fumble a romantic memory of his marriage proposal into a story about about his “3 ass kids” just before “I’ll Catch You.” I wish I could find a recording of James Dewees quoting Highlander after Jim told him he looked like a dark lord from Dungeons and Dragons.
I don’t know that I’ve ever been to a concert where literally every person knew every word to the songs before. When Matt let the crowd sing to “Mass Pike,” I think it was louder than when he had the mic. “Holiday,” “I’m a Loner Dottie…,” and “10 Minutes” probably got the biggest reactions from the crowd. It was insane for all of them.
The band seemed to appreciate that their fanbase had “finally broken the age barrier,” noting that now they tipped their bottles instead of forming circle pits during the anthems. I was a little unsure of how an older crowd would react to music so obviously written for (and by) teenagers, but the great thing about music is how it can immediately throw a listener back to a specific time or place. For last night, we were all ten years younger, remembering what it was like to sing every one of the words with conviction.
As far as the set goes, TGUK played straight through STWHA in its entirely, then played “Campfire Kansas,” “The One You Want,” “On the Roof,” “Mass Pike,” “No Love,” and “Walking on a Wire” for their encore. I would have enjoyed “Shorty” or “Don’t Hate Me” off of Four Minute Mile, but I won’t complain. I’ll just have to wait until Spring 2009 : ).
At a recent concert in Chicago, keyboardist James Dewees confirmed The Get Up Kids will be reuniting to play a tour this Spring. I for one am stoked. The Get Up Kids were pretty much the defining band of my high school years. Getting to hear them in Lawrence? Even better.
Greatest songs of the 90s:
Seriously, those two songs rank so high above every other song I can think of. I need your input.
“I’ve got this store bought way of saying I’m okay, and you’ve learned how to cry in total silence.”
John K. Sampson
Good luck getting that song out of your head, suckas! Seriously though, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin has kept the Polyvinyl sound going strong with this one. “I Think I Wanna Die” is the single off of their new album, Pershing. This has like the ideal spring/summer sound. Pershing came out last week, and I will be buying it as soon as funds become more plentiful.