Turn Up the Eagles, the Neighbors are Listening.

So Herbie Hancock's Joni Mitchell thing won Album of the Year last night, beating out other things that speak more to, well, this century, like Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson and Kanye. Maura wasn't surprised, and neither was I, and we both instantly compared it to the Steely Dan/Eminem fiasco of 2001 (although the Jethro Tull/Metallica thing is just as appropriate).

I don't know if there are any hardcore Hancock/Joni Mitchell fans out there silently screaming REDEMPTION IS OURS, but I can attest to the fact that February 22, 2001 was a bit more than a turning point for me in terms of my own tastes and my connection with the broader, up-to-date wider world. I talked a bit about my fan-ography re: SD here, but had to cut out a ton of stuff that would have diverted too much. So lemme do a little bit of it here.

As I mentioned there, Steely Dan was my chaperone onto the Web, and I learned how to engage on message boards and subscribe to listservs with my seemingly endless trove of SD arcana as the entrance fee. This coincided with the band reforming for Two Against Nature, its first new album since Gaucho, and a summer tour that was going to come to Cincinnati. I was as fully immersed in that band as I'd ever been in anything--parsing lyrics, trying to make sense of guitar tabs, arguing over the meaning of "Almost Gothic"--and was super excited that they were actually going to release new material in my own lifetime, and then I learned for the first time that everyone pretty much hates Steely Dan.

Just about for the first time. I mean, I had plenty of friends who hated anything slickly produced, anything not called Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin or the Clash from the 70s, anything...well you get the point. These people were easy to dismiss, of course, in the way that we dismiss anyone who disagrees with something for which we're passionate. Steely Dan's an easy band to hate, lumped in as they so often are with smooth California 70s stuff like the Eagles (to which they must have been not-so-slyly referencing in the lyric up top, from the revenge-fantasy "Everything You Did"). Of course, if you care to dig even a centimeter below the surface, there's so much to discover beneath the sparkling veneer: Brill-ish pop craftsmanship, fucked-up character sketches about junkies and pedophiles and crazy people, sad and nostalgic reveries about dissipated scenes and falls-from-grace, a genius grasp of pre/postwar American music genres (blues/cool jazz/disco/country/American Songbook stuff), hiring sessions guys basically to play impossible guitar solos, and so on and so on. Steely Dan is the reason I like Belle and Sebastian's The Life Pursuit better than any other album of theirs (because large parts of it remind me of Countdown to Ecstasy), why I love Nels Cline's addition to Wilco, why I like disco, why I don't much like real jazz, why I like XTC, and so on. And so on.

But that night, Steely Dan wasn't the weirdo/outsider band that I knew (I ignored their chart successes purposefully: it made them mine), but a couple of lame old dudes who represented the establishment, and dentist's office music, and the longstanding irrelevance of the Grammies in general. Here I was, 23 years old, face-to-face with my first true taste dilemma, trying hard to swallow a pretty large pill. In their day, Becker and Fagen had covered a lot of the same thematic/scatalogical ground as Eminem (hello), but in 2001 their chosen idiom was about as irrelevant as luau music. Two Against Nature wasn't a great album by any means, but it did have a song about a guy who fucks his younger cousin, another one about S&M and another about drugs. Up against Eminem, though, they might as well have been Pablo Cruise.

I felt extremely nervous: for the first time, I had to consider my place within the larger (much larger) context of my contemporaries and popular culture. I'd spent my taste-formative years more or less awash in bands that were now considered dinosaurs, and at that point I'd only heard one or two Eminem songs. I felt sort of isolated, and would get annoyed when people who knew me as the "Steely Dan guy" started referring to me as "the guy who thinks he's better than Eminem." I cut my ties with the anonymous, probably pony-tailed online SD contingents and set about catching up with what I'd (mostly) missed. Seven years later, I couldn't be more up-to-date now if I tried. And not just because of teh internets, but for a myriad of factors, including the sorts of social interactions I've chosen to preference, these sorts of distinction battles, this having to prove my tastes to haters, seem like they happen once a day, if not more.

I Can't Stand Her, Doin' What She Did Before

Did anyone else find the Comcast commercial in which the mother lip-syncs the Andrea True Connection's "More More More" (1976 #4) to her son, while sitting at a cozy restaurant table, a little, I don't know, strange and creepy? If not, consider the day job of the woman who originally performed the song "More More More," then think again about a mother and son and eeeeeeww. Perhaps it's not an accident that the commercial (for, you know, a corporation that regulates Internet access) is unavailable on Myspace's Super Bowl ads site (it aired late during the 2nd quarter, right?), and really, anywhere else on the Web. Maybe it was a local ad?

Also, from the "next time, just stay home and watch the Super Bowl" news desk, I left the game at halftime--right after the above commercial--to see a Six Organs of Admittance show. Yeah, I know. Did I miss anything? I was planning on coming home after the show to watch the DVR'd game, but as it happens 99% of the time when I record sports to watch later, they go over the allotted time, and I miss the end. Again, I'm an idiot.

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I've been quiet here for a spell, obviously; mostly school and writing the first edition of this column, which I'm pretty happy with (not totally happy, but hey). Thanks to Matthew for advice on the title, to which I was cool at first, but once I found that picture, yeah. If you've not read it but have read this site with any regularity, ever, the second half won't totally shock you; it's a smoothed-out, non-cranky distillation of what I've been writing here for a couple years. The first half of the column--or perhaps the revelation of my first fan fascination therein--might raise an eyebrow or two, though. I'll expand on that here, soonish; there's a lot of tangential stuff I had to leave out.

Until then:

All Mixed Up

So okay. I received like twelve emails today asking me variations on the questions "why can't I download your Idolator mix?" or "why can't I download any of the Idolator mixes at all?" or "the results from the clinic are"...okay scratch that last one. The answer is...well, I'm assuming it's because of rights issues, which is completely understandable. But there was a bit of misunderstanding on my part as well re: the purpose of this feature. Let me essplain.

The original CFP I received asked me to compile and annotate a CD-R of music from 2007, in whatever form I saw fit, and to keep the annotations to 500 words. Sweet. So, in the manner I'm known to do, I set about making a single-file/transition-laden 80 minute jam, like these, thinking it would be part of something like this. The annotations were sort of secondary to me, inasmuch as I was more hoping people would understand why I put the songs in the orders I did from like listening to the miraculous flow. You might understand the way my left eyebrow went up when I read the stuff others submitted, much of it lengthier than lengthy literary excursions.

What I perhaps should have read into the thing is that "annotated CD-R" was intended as "use 'annotated CD-R' as a device to frame your thoughts on music in 2007." It's not like I didn't already do that here, but whatever. That's the reason my verbiage looks thin; I'd intended it as accompaniment for like, listening.

Anyhoo, here's the jam (sendspace link).

You Provide the Prose Poems, I'll Provide the War

First, I'm proud of my pal Maura and her little blog's fancy little poll; it's only an improvement on last year's. My ballot can be found here, and the overall results are pretty predictable (also: Blonde Redhead #65, ASDiG #149, 1990s #158, Field Music #186, Yelle #543 woo hoo!), but more gooder is Maura's take on the Radiohead deal, which is definitive because she gets at the crux of the matter, which is there is no crux. Smartly, because she's smart, she allows what people said about the thing to define what it was, and doesn't take the fold-it-up-and-slide-it-through-the-mailslot tack that so many others did. Okay, at one point she makes a comparison. To High School Musical.

Most excellently, the gang recruited 35 stunning music people--and then me, to water it all down--to curate our own year-end mixes, and post them. Needless to say, I'm flattered to be in this company in any form. When they eventually post my mix, I'll link to it. No doubt you'll recognize a lot of the tracks from here and here, but not the order (hint: different order).

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As far as 2008 goes, my thoughts on the past two-or-so weeks in new music (none of which is released yet), formatted in handy, faux-Carnac form.

Q: Remember in Citizen Kane, in the first example of Charles Foster's power-hungry opulence, when he spearheaded the production of a song-based public performance vehicle strictly for girlfriend Susan Alexander to star in, despite her clear lack of singing talent? A: Hello, Blue Roses (sort of related, and sort of great: this)

Q: What do you call Ratatat* with mbiras? A: Mahjongg

Q: You know the archetype of the lonely late-30s dive bar waitress with half-decent smoke-filled pipes (if not necessarily an abundance of taste or ambition) who one night after hours powered up the house PA and made karaoke with the weirdly-stocked record selection? Okay, maybe I'm inventing an archetype, but play along. A: Jukebox

Q: Remember how awesome Cracker was c. Kerosene Hat? Lowry's snarl and Hickman's fire? (how 'bout now?) Also, remember the Joe Strummer song from the opening credits of the batshit/short-lived John from Cincinnati? Now imagine those two interpreted by a gaggle of Plains Country twenty-somethings with a piano and a lady singer. A: Flowers Forever "Dirty Dollar Bill" (mp3)

* Budos Band may also be substituted here. Also, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

In the future, slightly longer things on School of Language, Evangelicals, Atlas Sound, Goldfrapp, Titus Andronicus, and Lil' Wayne, all of which I like, some more than others.

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Wayne Marshall recently had some thoughts on The Wire, currently entering its 5th season (and for which I, for unknown and completely frustrating reasons can't at the moment locate a working Torrent), mostly about verisimilitude and jams, which the show has in bunches (for the former) and sporadically (for the latter). By "sporadically" I'm inferring what Wayne himself says: that the show works music into its very core (like ahem, sorry for the ad) atmospherically, yet not meaninglessly, and certainly not overwhelmingly, unlike much of its serialized network kin (hello, Friday Night Lights).

While I appreciate the verisimilitude, I appreciate Simon's storytelling prowess on a broader level than just formal. Especially reflected in the first episode of the new season (about which after the first episode I share the "inside-baseball" trepidation of these two [Simon, of course, a news vet himself]), I love how he's able to effortlessly parallel so many taken-for-granted social and industrial institutions--the drug trade, the working class, high-stakes city politics, schools, and now the newspaper biz--and make them look, minus the external frills, like they're cast from the same frightening ideological mold. Juking the stats, punching up a lede, teaching the tests; all ways of misrepresenting and thus strengthening the otherwise rotten core. He's cited as inspirations Robert Penn Warren and James Agee, both of whom feel very appropriate. So does this (callback!).

Simon might be our keenest long-form social critic working these days, so I have faith that the Sun season will shake out to be as great as its predecessors (my preference, FYI, in descending order: 4-2-1-3). What seems over-obvious and crudely sketched now (the ladder-climbing white guy, the inexperienced ethnic female/eager student) will hopefully acquire some crags and shadows by the 4th or 5th episode. At this very early stage, a role I particularly enjoy is the crusty old bearded night rewritist whose only function is to juke the copy into Strunk & White-for-newspapers grammatical form ("Buildings can be evacuated. People can't be evacuated, unless it's an enema"--I'm paraphrasing, by the way, pretty poorly). A couple bad places this could lead: he could a foil for a narrative thing on formulaicness overriding all other news concerns (too polemic), or he could stand in for the old-guard (corny sepia crap). I have faith Simon won't lead it there (though lessers certainly would), but will let him be a great little minor and open character, drawn with minimal outlines but colorful enough to not simply hang on the wall. Like the beleaguered assistant principal from last season, or like Norris, most recently from 5.1's cold open. To a large degree, these tertiary characters are The Wire's lifeblood.

Tom B. on the recently-released soundtrack.

An interview with Simon by Nick Hornby, recently re-published online for freedom by Believer.

An older profile of Simon in the New Yorker.

Sort of kind of related, the first single from the new Malkmus/Jicks record, "Baltimore."

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And speaking of verisimilitude, the aforementioned Friday Night Lights, over the past few months, has pretty much spent all of the realist capital it accumulated during the first (wonderful) season. Mostly by the ridiculous (albeit necessary, I'm assuming, to try anything and everything to draw viewers into the show) and completely unbelievable subplot with which it started the season. I won't get into details here (this post--scroll down but total spoiler, beware--encapsulates my feelings and those of no doubt many others), but I don't think it made the season a complete loss. There was a high degree of absurdism in the storyline, which when combined with the affinities the first season had led me to develop with the two characters, made me feel a really queasy unease about the whole thing. Very, very uncomfortable in ways probably best explained by psychoanalysis, and not wholly (thought largely) about the dumbness of the whole thing. I strongly identify with Landry more than any other character on the show, and him going though that scenario was just sort of horrifying to watch. Silly, yes, but I can't deny getting the sort of visceral reaction I never thought FNL would offer.

More subtly, however, the second season lived up to one of the more unfortunate tendencies only latent in the first. FNL is a very well-made and well-acted teen drama, let's not disguise that point. But man, does every single character have to be motivated by purely carnal urges? And I could probably invent a drinking game for the number of times "character A is making out with someone, and character B accidentally sees it" happens on this show. Which is just on some Three's Company shit, really. Secondly, the other trap into which shows like this can fall is the time-tested sacrifice of an important character's backstory for a forced plot twist. Never in a million years would Coach Taylor, the most honest and fervent protector of a daughter I've seen maybe ever on television, allow slutty-ass Tim Riggins to stay in his home, with his daughter, unsupervised. Even worse, he'd never write the whole thing off with his concerned wife so cavalierly. Also: the Saracen/Carlotta thing? Have the writers seen Bottle Rocket one too many times or something? And please don't get me started on the essentializing, after-school specialty/racial parody that is Santiago, either. The WS of him sitting on "his first real bed" that ended one episode this season made me groan aloud, and no one was present.

One really good thing is the continued presence of John Leland's Buddy Garrity character. Leland gets to chew the exact amount of scenery he needs, and makes the most of his time--his loyalties are way too far in the non-family direction, and he pays for it dearly, but he's still a pathetic, loveable (and of course rich) loser. Leland has mastered that combination of weasely car-salesman doubletalk with an underlying sweetness; you know he's going to fuck up, but you still pull for him anyway.

One other good thing, related to the earlier discussion of internal music: in episode 10, during the dance sequence toward the end, the montage that cuts from "Soulja Boy" to Charlie Rich's tearjerker "The Most Beautiful Girl." A perfect encapsulation of the musical and emotional poles of such an occasion.

Year-End List Caboosery (But What A Caboose)

First, two more (two last) year-end lists from elsewhere that get their own post, and don't get rudely crammed into another, lengthier post (sorry, others. New Year's resolution #2: Organize thoughts). J over at Heart on a Stick's top ten is cranky as per usual, but also clear and varied and more interesting to read and download than most other lists (I still need to ck out Shiina Ringo). Particularly read his well-elaborated explanation of Stars of the Lid (#1-spoiler!) and his Passionate Defense of Arcade Fire (I still don't buy it, but it's probably the most concise explanation of the sort of appreciation for that album I'll never have). Also, because he's who he is, there's Local H!

I think he'll admit that Amy at Shake Your Fist may have us both beat, though, with her top 20. There are the token me! too! inclusions (Caribou, Siobhan Donaghy, Spoon). As usual though, the price of admission pays for the stuff that I only associate with her site (Frightened Rabbit, the Voyces, Shanghai String Band), as well as, you know, the way she writes---take the M.I.A. (#1--spoiler 2.0!) piece for instance: incisive political/textural/musicological connections to Love and Joanna Newsom that feel as natural as the consistently name-dropped OMG Pixies/Jonathan Richman OMG elsewhere? Yes, please. I'll be printing this one out and reading it while I eat lunch.

Both of them really like Miranda Lambert, too! Time to give that one another pass.

Okay finally, a couple news items of my own, buried at the bottom here in a display of false modesty. Over the last two weeks I've gotten notice that I'll be presenting a paper (mostly based around this, but updated and fleshed out) at the Exploring New Media Worlds snooty academic conference at Texas A&M at the end of February, so let me know if you can recommend anything to do there during the evening. Secondly, I'm going to have a review of this book (which if you're at all interested in the topic and want something more than Boing Boing kneejerkery, you should read) published in New Media and Society sometime before I die, I'm told.

Marathonproxys 4: One More from an Old Friend

Jason Groth has been a pal o'mine since he brought a rusty vinyl version of Village Green Preservation Society over to my apartment, and played it as spring was rearing its pretty head somewhere around 11 years ago. Since then, he's done time in a few bands of note, filed a series of wonderful tour diaries from the road with one of those bands [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6], and even stopped by a bit over a year ago to tell us what he liked about 2006, music-wise (scroll down). He's back, and though he's not had the time to keep up with le scene as much as he'd like, he graces us with 10 artifacts that struck or re-struck his fancy over the past year. Numbers 2,5,7 and 10 underscore four reasons, I'd imagine, why we're still friends.

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I’m beginning to feel embarrassed about my lack of knowledge regarding records that have been released in the last four years. Touring a lot affords me the opportunity to see a lot of good bands but I find I am constantly neglecting new albums, even the ones that everyone I know (and, more importantly, trust) say I should get. Embarrssingly, I seriously cannot think of one record, released in 2007, recorded in 2007, which I purchased this past year. I do have albums from 2007 – I traded for some at shows, some were given or gifted to me, but I’m surprised that I haven’t even picked up the new Robert Pollard records this year. 2008 will be the year for me – no tours on the horizon, plenty of time to mix up a delicious vodka slush and put my head between the speakers before my wife gets home. The following list are my favorite records that I actually listened to a lot in 2007. They are in no particular order, except for #1, which is hands down my favorite re-discovery of the year.

1) Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
I never gave this record a chance, ever. I even had two cassette copies of it growing up. Both sides are great, and “Darlington County” should have been a huge hit. Springsteen fans I know say they don’t like this one very much, but every spin of each side prompted me to love it more and more. Honorable mention in the Springsteen category: Born to Run. Yeah, I’ve got some catching up to do if this hasn’t made my top ten in the past.

2) Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy
My good friend Pete Schreiner bought this for me at a library sale in 2006 and I didn’t throw it on the turntable until a cloudy Saturday morning back in February. What an unbelievable record. When the pedal steel creeps its way into “Razor Boy” I’m reminded of the true majesty of a well-written, well-produced, and impeccably arranged FM radio song. Steely Dan is not the soulless beast that old punk rockers would lead you to believe they are. They used their limitless budgets and musical knowledge to make some untouchable records. Sure, down the line it gets 80s-slick, but this record in particular is as solid as the brick of cocaine they did while making it.

3) The Who – Live at Leeds, Deluxe Edition
When this came out back in who-knows-when 2000 something I was fresh in to my “I don’t really buy records anymore because I’m always going to shows” phase. I can’t believe I didn’t pick this up until 2007. Live at Leeds might be my favorite rock and roll record, and that’s hard to say because I love each and every version that has been released. In a way, the previous edition (the one disc that corrected errors from the 1970 original and also expanded it by forty minutes) is my favorite, but this one, which features everything from the previous update plus Tommy, live, is fucking unbelievable. I have been asked where I would go if I could travel in time – and, honestly, I would go to this concert. “I’m a Boy” is amazingly heartfelt, and “Go to the Mirror” on the Tommy disc is what rock and roll is, was, and ever shall be, amen. In the back of my mind I’ve always known that the Who are the best rock and roll band that has ever existed, and this adds a lot of fuel to that ever-burning fire.

4) Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
This Steve Lilywhite produced record from 1995 had a minor hit, “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get,” which caught my attention and convinced me to order it to fulfill my last CD commitment to Columbia House. I put it on tape and listened to it pretty incessantly in my car while I was a senior in high school, and even made copies for girls I liked then. It got tucked away for, well, eleven years, when I received a message from one of those girls that said “I found that Morrissey tape you made for me. Still a great record.” She’s right. There’s an antique feeling to it, unlike other Morrissey releases, where the arrangements are delicate and his voice, while still taunting and haunting, seems a bit more honey-dipped than usual. “Hold on to Your Friends,” and “I Am Hated for Loving” are worth the price of admission alone. Plus, Morrissey’s hot.

5) XTC – Skylarking
This is another Columbia House take-a-chance-record that came in, oh, 1987, that I rediscovered in 2007. I’ve always been an XTC fan but, sometimes, I get the feeling that they know a little too-well how to make their pop magic (hard to explain, but see also Of Montreal and Paul McCartney). There are some strange world music moments on this record, but “Grass,” “The Meeting Place,” and “Earn Enough For Us,” more than make up for the dark discomfort brought upon by tracks like “Dying” and “Another Satellite.” I bet you can find this for $4 at most used stores, too. It’s worth it.

6) The Doors – Strange Days
I know, I know. And I make fun of them, too. However, if I have recommended this album to many a person, and since the Perception box came out (all remastered at the correct speed and, well, loud enough that you can hear the kick drum) I’ve been listening to this a lot. “You’re Lost Little Girl” was written for Nancy Sinatra (and would have been awesome) and the freak-out guitar solo in the hilariously overblown but, still, somehow dramatic “When the Music’s Over” is one of my favorites, ever. Sometimes it’s hard to not think of tapestries and claims of “poetry” but this record is a quiet, dark gem.

7) Minor Threat – Discography
I’ve had my drunken arguments about the validity of Fugazi’s place in the canon of independent music based on music and not on ethics, but there is no way I would ever argue with Minor Threat. For the last three months of 2007 I attempted to run at least five miles a week, and at about 12 minutes a mile that equals a lot of Minor Threat. This collection is powerful and the production is timeless. “Play it faster” – I will, Ian, I will.

8) Golden Boots – Burning Brain
Magnolia Electric Co. toured with this amazing band from Tucson, AZ for the majority of our Sojourner fall tour. The band never falls apart although they threaten to, musically, constantly, almost as if they are playing a joke on the audience. It’s charming desert country music and it all comes through in Burning Brain which was released digitally by Park the Van Records this year. Somehow their guitars sound like a flurry of single notes, even during the biggest chords, that creates a constant arpeggio that creates more atmosphere than one would expect from a semi-lo-fi record. Check out “Days are Night” and listen to how the description of someone wearing “pants for a sweater” seems completely normal, if that person happens to come from Tucson.

9) Tom Heinl – With or Without Me
“Weird” Al taught me a lot about classic rock. I would religiously buy his records as they came out (starting in 1981 and ending in 1994 – sorry, Al) and he taught me a thing or two about subtlety, self-effacement, and, of course, parody. Tom Heinl, from Eugene, OR, is not an outright parodist, nor is he a shitty Bob and Tom quality singing comedian. He is a country singer, by and large, who is obsessed (apparently) with karaoke. His record, With or Without Me, features him singing his songs and then the songs repeated without words so that his listener can do karaoke with him. Apparently his live shows were him and a karaoke machine with his music. My dearly departed friend Evan Farrell (R.I.P.) championed Tom Heinl, and Tom Heinl owes Evan a great deal of thanks for the amount of people he turned on to him. Songs like “The International House of Pancackes” (featuring the line “Room starts spinning like a ceiling fan/fruit loops like a breadcrumb trail to the can”) and “Half Day Vacation” (featuring the line “Couple of Certs and it’s back to work from my half day vacation") and real solid comedy music that isn’t un-funny after the first listen. Pick up the record (if you can find it) and, if you knew Evan, think about him during “Three Way,” which Evan serenaded us with in a Starbucks parking lot in Eastern Washington one evening. Just thinking about it makes me almost pee my pants.

10) Misfits – Static Age
I don’t think about the Misfits enough, and in 2007 I tried to listen to Static Age once a week. I know a lot of these songs ended up on other recordings, but the dry basement quality of this recording makes it sound like the band is playing inside of an oversized Halloween present. “Teenagers From Mars” and the disturbing “Bullet” really make any season bright. If I were still 16 and loved this band (I can’t say I really fell in love with them until I was 21) I would have at least three tattoos dedicated to them. Instead I have no tattoos and I talk about how pretty “Hybrid Moments” would be if it were slowed down with people in bathrooms at pop shows. Here’s to getting older, and here’s to another year.

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Also: a belated notice that my buddies over at Destination: Out went a little wild with the year-endage themselves. Here are some "other things" they liked, and when they make sure their tech-stuff isn't all flibbity-dibbity anymore, I'll link to their most popular downloads of 2007. Don't know 'em/afraid of OOP free jazz? Here's a primer they did here a bit ago, to get you started.

New Year's Resolution #1: Change feed

Mainly because the current one shows, for whatever reason, an email address that hasn't been active since the Carter administration. I wonder if anyone's sent me stuff there, like lottery notifications or other notifications, like about the size of my member. I'm sure I'm not missing much, but I'm also a neat-freak.

The new feed is linked under the big orange deal over to the right, or by clicking here. Go ahead. Do it. It'll take you to the Feedburner site, which gives you the option of adding me to the reader of your choice. The old feed is still active, but I'll discontinue it soon, when the stats show me who's transferred over, or, you know, who really cares about me.

Marathonproxys 3: More Year-End Madness

Three more lists from some Bloomington pals. The last two guys are two brothers who, with a few others, run some music stuff in town. The first guy was named Josh Olivo by his parents, but records under the name goodhandsteam (myspace). I've retained his antipathy for all but the simplest grammatical formalities in his list. Go check out his site, but do me a favor and read his top 30, which features some stuff I've yet to hear, but will do posthaste. Then combine his picks in your mind and then compare that imagined composite with the music available on his site. Then book him for your parties. (fun fact: I've known Josh for about a decade now, ever since we lived on the same dorm floor together. One time, we put a large orange in one of those long-distance water-balloon launcher sling-shot things and shot it at a wall about 2 feet in front of us. I think the orange went into the past.)

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josh goodhandsteam

01) the field | from here we go sublime [kompakt]
there is a bass drum on almost every beat of every track of this album. and you forget about that around half way through the first track. the musical phrasing and (swedish) pop sensibility are the more notable pleasantries of this album. like the title suggests, it is sublime and the soft melodic microhouse pulls the listener to its level of nordic chill.

02) burial | untrue [hyperdub]
to be honest, im still stuck on the first burial album. the follow up is obviously a bit different, but similarly stellar. vocal pitching work is proper. seems to fill the void left by fellow englishmen portishead and massive attack, all while making dubstep a household name.

03) justice | † [ed banger/vice]
first reaction: it almost sounds more daft punk than daft punk. second reaction: i have absolutely no problem w/ that. along w/ mr.oizo, dj medhi, and daft punk, justice and their fellow parisians seem to have this blend of house dance pop on complete lockdown.

04) radiohead | in rainbows (discbox) [xurbia xendless]
(full disclosure: im a fanboy) i think radiohead have hit this leisurely older englishman stride of mellow grooviness. songs about finding bunkers to jump into during air attacks of impending doom have never sounded so pleasant and breezy. minimal arrangements but with crisp detail. lots of acoustic guitar – which sounds good with…umm…orchestras. and kids cheering. and max/msp software. this album has less drums and more open spaces. the vocal edits were a little looser, despite the vocals being more the focus in most instances of the album. the concept/release marketing for the album is long overdue. good to see the concept delivered on the actual goods.

05) m.i.a. | kala [xl]
shes (still) got the bombs. to make you blow. kills it on the album. kills it live. there are so many geopolitical and musical influences smashing into each other on her records, very encouraging to see huge global support.

06) beat konducta | vol.3-4: in india [stones throw]
some friends of mine and i have had conversations about the resent madlib/stones throw saturation. im fairly certain he released 453 records last year…which can have a tendency to make people less interested in what exactly it is you are trying to do as an artist. but this is some of the freshest junk since shades of blue. and the fact that bollywood movie tracks from the 70s seems to currently be one of the more popular dj trends, it makes it even more impressive that this record still stands out.

07) stars of the lid | and their refinement of the decline [kranky]
im awfully glad brian eno happened. and im glad that stars of the lid can make really long albums that keep listeners engaged and removed at the same moment.

08) car bomb | centralia [relapse]
a lot of grindcore (or whatever) bands are all precision and no vision. car bomb are a nasty dose of both. they also show depth and musical touch on an album that could have just as easily sounded like a kagillion other albums by a kagillion less nuanced outfits. excellent musical expression throughout.

09) battles | mirrored [warp]
when i heard that battles had vocals on this--their major label debut--i was unexcited. then I heard the album. and saw them live. and im a goober for doubting. mirrored exceeds the highest expectations for a follow up to those killer batch of eps.

10) black moth super rainbow | dandelion gum [graveface]
although a lot of these tracks are on scattered amongst other bmsr eps and a joint venture w/ the octopus project, the album plays like its own greatest hits. this is probably one of my favorite bands at the moment. analog synthesis + vocoder + large beats will never lose. and the songs have great energy live too. makes me want to go eat a psychedelic lollipop soda flake garden of tulips. in space.

11) sixtoo | jackals and vipers in the envy of man [ninja tune]
i hear this album's recordings got accidentally erased, and sixtoo had to use old bits of live stuff to piece (what stuff he could remember) back together. well…i kinda wonder what the original tracks wouldve sounded like, bc these are dope.

12) caribou | andorra [merge]
i heart manitoba…er I mean caribou. i identify w/ his drummer-ness. i was a bit worried when up in flames seemed to be a departure from the idm-isms of the earlier manitoba releases, but andorra is a more focused effort that perfects what the milk of human kindness hinted upon…that makes said stylistic departure a very good play.

13) menomena | friend and foe [barsuk]
portland seems cool. and so are bands whose members are all capable of singing. and playing. ergonomic arrangements make almost everything they do sound mega huge beyond their triodom.

14) liars | liars [mute]
a lot of bands suffer from starting to sound too polished. when their means justify it, they just slip off into the docket of some hot shit producer, and/or they change all their gear for newer more expensive gear, and thusly, destroy the sound that got them all that money. liars need not worry about the aforementioned phenomena, bc they make the slickness work for them and not against them.

15) telephone jim jesus | anywhere out of the everything [anticon]
largeness. just like everything else i’ve heard from this dude. so fresh yet so very anticon.

16) do make say think | you, you're a history in rust [constellation]
i happened to think that this is one of the best bands on the planet. &yet&yet is still blowing my dome. the do makes consistently bring their instrumental post-rock-space-jazz to a slightly variant nuance--in this case: rusticity. i could see a great appeal to getting away from the masses and recording in a bunch of scattered cabins in the wilderness. i could also see a great appeal in being in canada while doing so.

17) jonny greenwood | there will be blood (soundtrack) [nonesuch]
i think the modern classical community probably smirked at the idea of a guitarist for a ‘rock band’ trying to make his way as a composer. two solid soundtracks and a handful of acclaimed orchestral performances later, i think they have probably realized jonny greenwood is no joke. having played viola as a kid, he certainly has a grasp of quite a good many instruments. this soundtrack is more focused on the orchestral side of things whereas bodysong was a bit more varied. but there will be blood yields similarly filling results. these orchestral works and the eraser mark the best solo/side project output of a popular rock band since all the members of kiss did that thing they did in 1978. as such, i anxiously await the forthcoming phil selway afrobeat album as well as the ed obrien books on tape collection.

18) joe beats | diverse recourse [bully]
yup its pfat. bully records continues to steal peoples lunch money w/ this banger. and I hear the vinyl tracklist is different than the cd tracklist. which is pretty cool in this day and age of torrenting bloggering and file sharing.

19) aaron martin & machinefabriek | cello recycling - cello drowning [type]
i have often wondered why there was never anything that really grabbed me from holland. i mean…considering the liberal (drug policies) culture and such. then i heard this album. machinefabriek supplements recent releases on lampse w/ this collaboration effort that finds the dutchman helping to construct cozy cello drones that lull into distorted tape aggravations and back again. fun to listen to while watching american idol w/ the sound off.

20) gescom | a1-d1 [skam]
i think autechre rule school. as does a good deal of the stuff that skam records has slung over the years. this gescom release finds everyone involved (its hard to say exactly who are the participating members at any one time) bringing some more tweaked out uk dance glitchiness. they hath brought their a(e) game once again.

21) growing | vision swim [megablade/troubleman]
growing is probably the most appropriate nomenclature a band has had in describing their sound. (ok, so maybe anal cunt is a close 2nd) this outing finds them growing even more into dynamic drones and swelling sound shapes in a style that they continue to master. and KILLER album art. since vision swim, the band has crossed the country moving from olympia, washington to brooklyn, and have landed on the social registry label--who have already released a 7” which will be followed by a long player in early 2008. and that makes me pleased as punch.

22) flying lotus | 1983 [warp]
steven ellison, or fly-lo, is the great nephew of alice coltrane (wife of john). hes also behind a lot of the stuff you hear on adult swim segues, etc. while he does bring obvious comparisons to madlib and jay dillas production, he also proves on this record that hes well capable of holding his own for a full length. the companion ep reset also brings the pleasantly bumpy beats. how interesting I find it that neither of two best albums on warp this year (w/ the aforementioned mirrored) are the typical uk electronic business that the label has typically been known to push.

23) colleen | les ondes silencieuses [leaf]
french electro acoustic godess continues to tingle the ears w/a decidedly more stipped down, or at least more traditional approach. the instruments on this album tend to be a bit less blurred together in a looptastic mist such as the content on past EXCELLENT albums. a distinct luciano berio sequenzas vibe floats around the album from time to time as the instruments explore their own capabilties in the most unobtrusive ways.

24) supersilent | 8 [rune grammofon]
rune grammofon continues to spit out consistently well made scandanavian electronic pleasantness. supersilent succeeds in making another self contrasting but compelling album of glimpses into what has to be shelves full of improvisations. a slightly more patient approach to making albums finds the entirety of this recent album (along w/6) born from an all anolog studio session that happened in 2005. as such, i really cant wait to hear the music they are making now…you know…when its released in 2017 or so.

25) black dice | load blown [paw tracks]
i admit I have not heard this cd. but I have heard (and own) all of the three 12”s that make up the cd. bd seem to be at the forefront of the brooklyn “noise jam” scene along w/ excepter and wolf eyes. the brooding romps of dance-ish tangles finds the band in a more immediate and specific style, but to no detriment of the quality of the music. and all three 12”s come w/ ultra bizarre 12”x12” posters. i dig perks.

26) deerhoof | friend opportunity [kill rock stars]
this band reeks of san fran meets japan badassery. for years now deerhoof has put together the most catchy complicated groovy playful prog pop jams in the history of catchy complicated groovy playful prog pop jams. the most impressive part about this album is that the bass player left before its recording. so, naturally, satomi decides not only can she retain lead vocal duties, but she can do it while playing fairly complicated bass lines on a paul mccartney violin style bass.

27) sigur rós | hvarf-heim [xl]
this album acts as a soundtrack to their first feature film, heima. it also acts as a mini best of and rarities album which contains some rerecorded non album tracks, as well as acoustic versions of many of their past albums tracks. its redundant to say their music is influenced by their island country, but this release (and corresponding film) in particular are explicitly introspective glimpses of the country and its people that spawned what is one of its most popular bands today.

28) the tuss | rushup edge [rephlex]
people were speculating that this was the handy work of richard d james (aphex twin, etc.) for weeks on various message boards and forums…probably because it was coming out on the record label he started. or maybe because it sounds a lot like some of the more recent afx acid that has been expanding richy richs bank account for the last little bit. or maybe bc there is a distinct hint of the ultra rare yamaha gx1 that james is known to own. but at the end of the day, he, and/or the tuss (which i think i heard was Cornish for “pecker”) puts out quality stuff. the auto disinformational tomfoolery would not matter one lick if it wasn’t.

29) arcade fire | neon bible [merge]
kind of disappointing, but still pretty damn good. the follow up to the super album funeral finds the band going more springsteen and less jangly candian indie pop. but when you are as talented as this bunch is – it really doesn’t matter where they go bc its going to rock.

30) vic chesnutt | north star deserter [constellation]
im not a huge fan of folk/singer songwriter stuff of any type. just never have been. i don’t like bob dylan at all. there i said it. but on this vic chesnutt release, the raspy codgerings have a backdrop of gy!be/a silver mt. zion members bringing the level of despair down beneath the cellar. the two mix quite well together.

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Chris Swanson (SC/Jag main guy #1)

1. Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators - Keep Reachin' Up (Light In the Attic)
2. Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation (LidKerCow)
3. Beach House - s/t (Carpark)
4. Feist - The Reminder (Interscope)
5. Adrian Orange & Her Band - s/t (K Records)
6. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free)
7. Ezra Furman & the Harpoons - Banging Down the Doors (Minty Fresh)
8. Map of Africa - s/t (Whatever We Want)
9. Pop Levi - The Return to Form Black Magick Party (Counter Records)
10. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger (Lost Highway)
11. Lewis Taylor - The Lost Album (HackTone Records)
12. Wooden Shjips - s/t (Holy Mountain)

Ben Swanson (SC/Jag main guy #2)

1. M.I.A. - Kala (XL / Interscope) 
2. Le Loup - The Throne... (Hardly Art)
3. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free) 
4. Cave Singers - Invitation Songs (Matador) 
5. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky)
6. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks) 
7. White Williams - Smoke (Tigerbeat 6) 
8. Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
9. Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian (Absolutely Kosher)
10. Bill Baird - Silence (Unreleased)

Marathonproxys 2: More School-chums

Two more lists from two more school-chums (Travis even has a blog).

While I'm at it, some more year-endness I've been saving and waiting to share with you, dear reader.

Amy at Shake Your Fist: Songs and EPs/Singles from one of my favorite writers in the anywhere-sphere. Also good: lists at Culture Bully, who commissioned some of these "mash-ups," and Nerd Litter, who typed up some inscrutable prose to match each selection (also: his albums). The top ten at Visa for Violet is good too (Red Krayola!), as is Skatterbrain's , which might be my favorite blog ever (the list has been up for a while, but the jams are still free). You already know about/have digested Sean's wonderful collection, but if you want to go back again, it's here.

Tom Ewing counts down the year in Freaky Trigger. Especially recommended are the posts on "Vincent" and "Maggie May" and "Oliver's Army." Also especially recommended, for those unaware: the whole site, everyday, and Tom's recurring Pitchfork column (this is as close to a link as I can get, 'cos P4k's search function is garbage-ass-garbage). Also: Tom talks about Pitchfork's top 10.

Nate Patrin is one of my favorite current P4K writers. Here's his list and self-evaluative verbiage, which echoes the path I (myself) have taken.

Mike Treffehn and Michael Reid (30-21) (20-16) (15-11) (10-1): Two swell, smart and I'm assuming still smartly-dressed guys I've known since I met them matriculating at the school for smart kids.

Okay, on to the school dudes. Right after New Year (happy!), one more proxy list, and then back to our regularly-scheduled programming (posts by your boring host every other week or so).

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Travis Vogan

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam I prefer this to Panda Bear’s record and I decided to put only one of them on the list. Wilson-esque harmonies, with loops, screams, and references to The Smiths. Put Morrissey and Brian Wilson in bed and I’m an automatic fan (and willing cameraman, if you know what I mean…)

Bill Callahan – Woke on a Whaleheart Not his best album, but I still wound up listening to this quite a bit over the year. “From the Rivers to the Oceans” and “Honeymoon Child” have become standards in my mental canon of gothic folk. The dark world Callahan paints always contains that shred of hope. These more sullen cuts are balanced by “Diamond Dancer,” which harkens Bowie and Byrne.

Caribou – Andorra Peach of an album from a peach of an artist. Were I forced to pick a number 1 of the year, this would be it. It’s easy breezy but still gives you something to sink your teeths into. A blessed union of neo-psycehdelia and well-crafted pop compositions.

Dinosaur Jr – Beyond Is J Mascis’ hair not enough to include this album on any list? And Murph, you look like hell. Somehow, Lou “maladjusted/masturbate/smokeout/masturbate” Barlow still looks great, though. Goes to show that heavy doses of depression treated with pot and self-touchy-touch is good for the soul. Truth be told, this album isn’t amazing; but it is better than the vast majority of comeback attempts.

Dirty Projectors – Rise Above I didn’t even see these guys when they came to town, but I have since dug the plug out of this joint. The voice, the concept, the loose adaptation, and memories of the less cartoonish Rollins season my affection for this one.

Earth – Hibernaculum No list is complete without some drone. Very consistent group of cuts and revisions of some older Earth through their revitalized, Hex style. This, along with Hex, has a more spatial, horizontal feel than their previously, pent-up, cagey drone-downs.

R. Kelly – Double Up / Trapped in the Closet chaps. 13-22 “It’s like Jurassic Park and I’m your sexasaurus.” Fucking Sexasaurus, man! And the perverse fantasy continues with Sylvester, Twan, and company (including my new personal favorite, P…P…P…P…Pimp Lucius….you can do it!). A double-whammy from the undisputed king of the whammy.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights Nothing you can’t get here from just looking a couple decades back, but her retro-soul vibe works for me. I like the gawdy dresses, the hairdo, and the posturing. This might be the most solid album on the list, which either means she kills it or all the songs sound the same.

The Sea and Cake – Everybody Prekop and the dudes don’t really do anything different on this album, but they seem to have mastered their sound. Wonderfully consistent and able to be listened to attentively or enjoyed while ignoring. Good music you can also ignore is terribly underrated and a new criterion by which my faves are ordered.

Wilco – Sky Blue Sky Don’t hate. I have vowed not to pay over $30 dollars to see a show—or the value of thirty dollars now and in relation to later times’ inflation—so I will probably never see another Wilco show unless it’s at a festival or something…or unless they get all washed up and start playing fairs. But I still think these guys are one of the best live rock bands going. I’m sort of in love with Tweedy and am developing a strong crush on Nels as well. He looks like a just-hatched baby bird, shaking and waiting for the worm/puke.


Most overrated album:

A Place to Bury Strangers – s/t This doesn’t mean I didn’t cream my breeches a little bit when I first heard it, that I won’t listen to other stuff they release, and that I won’t come see them play. They do the new-new wave thing very well, but it’s not that new I suppose.

Best newly-discovered old album of the year:

Suicide – The Second Album You want instant cred? In a casual, “I could be doing something much cooler but don’t have the energy so you will have to do” voice, tell some faux-hipster you’ve been listening to a lot of Suicide lately. Pause and say, Oh, haven’t heard of them? They’re sort of like electro-pre-post-punk-wave-no-new-core. Proceed to flip your scarf over your shoulder and make someone else feel stupid. Very empowering. But on the real, this is some good shit that I had only heard indirectly before this year.

Second best newly-discovered old album of the year:

Syl Johnson – Chicago Twinight Soul How the fuck did I live 26 years without Syl? No goddamned idea. The tracks “Dresses Too Shot,” “I Feel an Urge,” and “Is It Because I’m Black?” make me wonder why this guy doesn’t have a postage stamp. Get on it; at least a four center or something.

Album I really didn’t want to like but did:

Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog Sam Beam is the most unassumingly obnoxious rocker around. I just want to rip out his beard and then cry with him.

Best propaganda jam we are forced to watch every time we go to the movies:

3 Doors Down – “Citizen Soldier” Iraq, the American Revolution, Normandy. Love it or leave it. Sign up to get blown up at the popcorn counter. Along with the Bollywood Fandango commercial, this song and video ensure that I will at least partially enjoy whatever shitty movie I am about to see.

Best Videos:

Snoop Dogg – “Sensual Seduction / Sexual Eruption” / 2girls1cup / Youtube reactions to 2girls1 cup
These two really complement each other. First, watch Snoop dry hump the keytar whilst hissing in the voice-box-tubey-thing. The only way you can get this song out of your head is by watching 2 ladies each shit and puke. Then you can watch people watching it and puking. Then you can puke. It’s ain’t music, but it’s strangely musical.

Top Six Songs:

Caribou “Melody Day”
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter “Eisenhower Moon”
R. Kelly “I’m a Flirt” and “The Zoo”
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings “Tell Me”
Snoop Dogg “Sexual Eruption”
Wilco “Impossible Germany”

Albums that should have been on my top ten last year but were not:

Justin Timberlake – Futuresex/Lovesounds
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness – Fear Is On Our Side
Beach House – s/t

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Jon Hertzberg

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue No, unfortunately the legal issues that have held this record back for years have not yet been resolved. And, no, I did not pay upwards of $120 for the out-of-print CD. I caved and downloaded the album for a negligible fee (bootlegs of Wilson's unfinished Bamboo album are also floating around). Unavailable since a CD reissue in the early 90s, Dennis Wilson's lone solo album, a prime slice of '70s California rock, remains sadly obscure and under-appreciated. Wilson himself was dismissive of Pacific, but this shouldn't deter potential listeners as the album offers many pleasures, not the least of which are Wilson's weathered, heartfelt vocals, effectively spare arrangements, poignant and haunting lyrics, and even a few cameos from brother Carl. A tragic figure to be sure, the troubled, hard-living Wilson was able to keep it together long enough to produce a (for now) lost classic. Someone said that if ever Criterion took up album reissues, this would be a prime candidate, and I couldn't agree more. With an upcoming reissue of Two-Lane Blacktop (spine #414, for those counting), the timing would have been perfect to pair Pacific with Wilson's only foray into feature films. Until then, Pacific Ocean Blue will continue to fetch collectors prices online and at record shows.

Ennio Morricone - Giu la Testa (Cinevox) Just in time for the stateside DVD premiere of Sergio Leone's Giu la Testa aka Duck, You Sucker aka A Fistful of Dynamite aka Once Upon A Time...The Revolution comes Cinevox's expanded, 35th anniversary edition of the soundtrack. Released domestically as an LP by United Artists in 1971 under the title Duck, You Sucker, there have been countless Italian reissues on vinyl and CD. However, this new edition is sourced from recently discovered original master tapes and boasts improved sound and a second disc with a generous 15 additional tracks. Just as the Leone film remains relatively unknown and under-appreciated, the soundtrack is something of an undiscovered gem. Morricone's score is alternately whimsical and mournful, replete with a sumptuous main theme as haunting and memorable as anything from the great composer's oeuvre. Rest assured, Testa is full of the whistling, soaring vocals, sinister guitar, atonal sounds, and lush strings so much a part of the other Leone/Morricone collaborations from A Fistful of Dollars to Once Upon A Time in America.

Ennio Morricone - Diabolik (bootleg) Morricone's rollicking soundtrack to Mario Bava's masterful 1967 comic book film Diabolik aka Danger, this was unfortunately never officially released on any format. The original master tapes long lost, the music on this bootleg was most likely ripped from a laserdisc or DVD. There are some SFX present in the mix, but it doesn't detract from the music, which features jarring guitar, wah-wah effects, and ghostly female vocals. The sexy and groovy main theme, "Deep Down" appears in two flavors on the album, English and Italian, both sung by Christy. Needless to say, the latter is superior.

Harold Faltermeyer - Lost Tracks from Beverly Hills Cop Originally released as B-sides for a couple of the bigger hits from the original soundtrack (think Patti LaBelle and Pointer Sisters), the tracks "The Discovery" and "Shootout" (the only score tracks besides the ubiquitous "Axel F" to see any sort of official release) have recently re-surfaced online. Former Moroder arranger Faltermeyer is at the top of his craft at this point, bringing in layer upon layer of electo-synth goodness. I'm still waiting for Alan Parker, Paul Schrader, Brian DePalma, or some other enterprising filmmaker to commission Moroder and/or Faltermeyer for his/her next opus. To think, Universal wanted to rescore Scarface with gangsta rap.

St. Vincent - Marry Me (Beggars Banquet) As assured a debut as one is likely to hear this year or any other. Previously providing guitar support for Sufjan Stevens and Polyphonic Spree, Annie Clark is in full creative control here, supplying (according to the liner notes), "voices, guitars, bass, piano, organ, Moog, synthesizers, clavieta, xylophone, vibraphone, dulcimer, drum programming, triangle, percussion." Clark's unpredictable song structures and vocals move from whimsical and wry to stirring and emotional, with enough offbeat flourishes to push this far above a standard collection of confessional ballads. There have been inevitable comparisons to the likes of Bjork (based, perhaps, on similar cover art?), Feist, Cat Power, Kate Bush, and Joanna Newsom, which, if nothing else, will bring more listeners around.

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam I can't say much more than has already been said, but I did enjoy this record even more than the previous albums I had some familiarity with (Sung Tongs, Feels). The sonic palette is as thick and experimental as ever, but I didn't find myself turning the volume down when in the presence of others, as I've felt the need to in the past.

Blonde Redhead - 23 Discounted in some quarters for being too much a step in the pop direction, I can't say this dampened my enjoyment of the record. Kazu Makino's hauntingly beautiful vocals continue to draw me in.

Calvin Harris - I Created Disco This guy has gotten bashed in some places and maybe he really is a doofus, but I found myself laughing at this record (in a good way). It probably helped that I was not aware of, and had not read up on, the hype Mr. Harris has already generated in the UK, prior to listening to this album.

!!! - Myth Takes I've been hooked on these transplanted Sacramentites (and their lamentably defunct sister band Out Hud) since I saw them open for Ari Up at Brownies in late 2000. Needless to say, they were much more impressive than Ms. Up (though her dreads were nothing to scoff at). The Village Voice blurb had me when they compared them to Konk and Liquid Liquid and I feel that !!! continue to carry the post-punk/ no-wave/disco mantle more impressively than any of the other usual suspects (Rapture, Interpol, LCD et al.). The extended jams are still ubiquitous, but remain tight enough to not veer into "jam band" territory. Also, the beginning of "All My Heroes are Weirdos" !!! took me back to Fear of Music/Remain in Light-era Talking Heads. Vocalist Nic Offer seems to have laid off the (often hilarious) Bush-bashing, but Myth Takes is no worse for this omission. Not just a great party record, it represents another leap forward for one of the better bands to come along in the last several years.

Kevin Drew - Spirit If... Didn't hear much difference from a proper Broken Social Scene record. This will not probably not convert the unconverted, but it whets the appetite for the next full-blown BSS outing.

Roisin Murphy - Overpowered I just saw where Ms. Murphy appears on one of the Grey's Anatomy soundtracks, so I've clearly come to her pretty late (I was not an aficionado of Moloko or her Matthew Herbert-helmed record). I did find myself continually putting this eminently hummable, consistently groove-inducing record on repeat.

The Sea and Cake - Everybody Hadn't listened into these Chicago post-rock vets in awhile, but found this to be a very capable and "pleasant" pop record, which is good enough for me.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights Sharon Jones continues what she started on Naturally, creating another record that sounds like it was recorded in the 60s and subsequently lost for 40+ years. The Dap-Kings continue to prove themselves to be one of the most professional and under-appreciated band around, evidenced by their largely unremarked upon contribution to Back to Black.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver I enjoy their records as much as everyone else seems to (save for Death From Above 1979), but I must say I enjoyed the chanted vocals a la Heaven 17 (on "Sound of Silver") when the Sheffield lads were doing it the first time (same goes for the Bowie/Eno-esque vocals on "Us v Them"). In spite of my minor gripes, I've still gone back to SIlver repeatedly over the last several months.

Marathonproxys 2007: Dudes from School, Vol. 1

As promised, here are some more year-end thoughts from a few pals of mine. These three guys--good guys, all--are from the program. I didn't give them limits as to records that were released this year; just stuff they listened to over the course of 2007. More tomorrow.

Mark Benedetti

1. The Sound—discography, live videos, t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.
One of those bands I’d read about for years but never got around to tracking down, which now makes me furious because they’re extraordinary, one of the two or three best British bands of their era. While they’re the least celebrated of that clutch of bands—Joy Division, Comsat Angels, Echo & the Bunnymen, Chameleons—I think they’re the best, in large part because Adrian Borland’s voice is far more expressive than the singers from those other groups (I’m a voice guy). From the Lions Mouth is regarded as their classic, but I have to go with the second LP, Jeopardy, if only because their best has to include “Missiles,” the best protest against weapons manufacturers I’ve ever heard. I love this band so much that I’ve gone and tracked down live clips on YouTube, and I hate YouTube.

2. Robert Pollard - Silverfish Trivia
Admittedly, Pollard’s been spotty for a while, but this ranks with his best, partly because it’s an EP, a form he excels at. More important, I think, is that he’s rediscovered his gift for organizing a record—part of the appeal of the lo-fi GbV was the fact that those records sounded like the world’s greatest DJ putting tracks against each other perfectly: here, note how the instrumentals frame the almost-meandering “Cats Love a Parade” just right so that it comes off as a full, complex movement rather than a bloated song.

3. Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar
So it’s from last year, who cares. It inspired me to reappraise funk Coleman, which I had unfairly written off because I didn’t much like Virgin Beauty or Body Meta. Turns out I’m an idiot—this one and Dancing in Your Head are fabulous (Of Human Feelings and In All Languages are just a step behind, I think). True to the harmolodic ethos, Ornette’s take on fusion is more egalitarian than most: melody plays a very strong