The Best of 2007
(YouTube edition)
This passing year brought us young Hollywood gone wild, Senator Larry Craig's annotated guide to taking a dump, "Don't tase me, bro!", an appalling Anna Nicole media travesty, and for me a nice DSLR. Here's what else happened around these parts...
My Top 10 Discs of 2006
Hallelujah The Hills-Collective Psychosis Begone
Sleeper Agent (Just Waking Up)/Wave Backwards To Massachusetts/Hallelujah
The Hills/The House Is All Lit Up/
Raise The Flag Of Your Sibling's Favorite Daydream/(The Crux Of The Camera
Man)>Slow Motion Records At Break Neck Speeds/
Effie's On The Other Side/The Trap/Teenage Synesthete/It's All Been Downhill
Since The Talkies Started To Sing/
To All My Scientists Colleagues I Bid You Farewell
Blogs. That simple concept had THE greatest impact on my musical tastes this year, bar none. As I discovered these file sharing sites, I was introduced to a great deal of music that I would never had been exposed to otherwise. I nabbed Hallelujah's debut off OINK before it shut down and man, what a find. It instantly appealed to me on the first listen. Finding out that they were swinging through town (playing in a bar no less) got me extremely psyched. These guys are inherently original and I cannot wait for future releases.
Hallelujah the Hills is truly a godsend. Set on a path to restore the faith of indie-rock enthusiasts sick of both over-arranged rock and maddeningly simple distorted power chord pop, Hallelujah the Hills have come down to save the day with their glittering and grimy debut Collective Psychosis Begone.- Misra Records Bio
Elliott Smith-New Moon
Disc 1: Angel In The Snow/Talking To Mary/High
Times/New Monkey/Looking Over My Shoulder/Going Nowhere/Riot Coming/All Cleaned
Out/First Timer/
Go By/Miss Misery (Early Version)/Thirteen
Disc 2: Georgia, Georgia/Whatever (Folk Song In C)/Big
Decision/Placeholder/New Disaster/Seen How Things Are Hard/Fear City/Either\Or/
Pretty Mary (Other Version)/Almost Over/See You Later/Half Right
Being a fan of Grandaddy, Earlimart, Radar Bros. and other Elliott Smith influenced bands, I never got into the main inspiration himself. That is until I picked up (er...downloaded) this odds and sods leftover collection. I was immediately hooked and went out to get the rest of his discography. A reviewer suggested that newbies to Smith's music might not want to start here. Horseshit. This album is great.
Too bad I got into him after he's dead. I would have definitely hit his Halloween show at CMU in 2000.
You’d hardly expect songs as strong as these to be in anyone’s wastebasket, but with only a few exceptions the material assembled here is just as, if not more, intimate and honest as anything on those proper albums.-Stylus Magazine
The Clientele-God Save The Clientele
Here Comes The Phantom/I Hope You Know/Isn't Life Strange/The
Dance Of The Hours/From Brighton Beach To Santa Monica/Winter On Victoria
Street/
The Queen Of Seville/These Days Nothing But Sunshine/Somebody Changed/No Dreams
Last Night/Carnival On 7th Street/Bookshop Casanova/
The Garden At Night/Dreams Of Leaving
I am not sure why I love this album. It's an extremely precious, sappy, and overall loverly bunch of songs. It sounds like I should hate it, but that is not the case at all. It's a beautiful album. I'm bummed they didn't hit Pittsburgh on tour to promote it.
God Save the Clientele is another stroke of magic from a band that has few peers in delivering music that can make or break your heart with a vocal inflection, swath of strings, or gentle arpeggio, music that can devastate you in one breath and lift you to the heavens with the next.-All Music Guide
The Mendoza Line-30 Year Low/Final Remarks Of The Legendary Malcontent
30 Year Low: Since I Came/Aspect Of An Old Maid/31 Candles/I Lost My Taste/Love On Parole/Stepping On My Heels/Thirty Year Low/Tell It To The Raven
Final Remarks Of The Legendary Malcontent: Anything
Goes/It Helps To Leave The House/Fleur De Lie (Live)/Withered And Died/Tougher
Than The Rest/
Go Shopping/Now Or Never Or Later (Demo)/Pack Of Three/Tax Me/It Takes A Lot To
Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry/I Am Small/Golden Boy (Live)/
The Likely Nominee/Mysterious In Black (Live)/Mike T. Interlude/Over The
Hill/Angry Crafts/Metro Pictures (Alternative Take)
Sniff...I still fucking can't believe it.
They've said their piece and torn each other into pieces–we're left to rubberneck at the crack-up.-The Village Voice
Biirdie-Catherine Avenue
Catherine Avenue/LA Is Mars/Who Were You Thinkin' Of?/Him/Life
In A Box/Estelle/I'm Gonna Tell You Something/Petals/Careless & Unconcerned/
I Wish I Could've Been There/Hidden Track
On a whim I downloaded this album not knowing anything about the band at all and WOW!!! I totally love this band. I bought their first release along with this one and it's just as good. Last time they performed in Pittsburgh they played a fucking coffee shop. I hope they swing by in 2008.
Catherine Avenue mixes atmospheric pop, country/ western balladry and a twinge of rock kineticism. The album sounds like a lush combination of Wilco and Pet Sounds, and Flamm sounds like Marc Bolan fronting the Velvet Underground.-The Flagpole
The Apples In Stereo-New Magnetic Wonder
Can You Feel It?/Skyway/Mellotron, Pt.1/Energy/Same Old Drag/Joanie
Don't U Worry/Sunndal Song/Droplet/Play Tough/Sun Is Out/
Non-Pythagorean Composition, Pt.1/Hello Lola/7 Stars/Mellotron, Pt.2/Sunday
Sounds/Open Eyes/Crimson/Pre-Crimson/Vocoder Ba Ba/Radiation/
Beautiful Machine, Pt.1-2/Beautiful Machine, Pt.3-4/My Pretend/Non-Pythagorean
Composition, Pt.3
Classic Apples! Save for a few absurdist 'noise' freak-outs, these songs are killer pop tunes.
Apples' Robert Schneider has continued to hack away at the ins-and-outs of the most perfect psychedelic pop formations ever, and New Magnetic Wonder offers proof.-Filter
The New Pornographers-Challengers Executive Edition
Challengers: My Rights Versus Yours/All The Old
Showstoppers/Challengers/Myriad Harbor/
All The Things That Go To Make Heaven/Failsafe/Unguided/Entering White
Cecilia/Go Places/Mutiny, I Promise You/Adventures In Solitude/The Spirit Of
Giving
B-Sides, Demos, Alternative Mixes: Speed Of
Luxury/Fortune/Silent Systems/Failsafe (Demo)/Showstoppers (Demo)/Myriad Harbor
(Demo)/
Go Places (Lite Mix)/Fugue State/Arms Of Mary/Looking At My Baby
Live From The Future: Full Show From 2007 Tour TBA
Photos/Videos Disc
I just got into The New Pornos right before this album was released. I was at my local independent record store when they were taking pre-orders for the Executive Edition of this album for only $15. Sounds like a good deal to me, regardless of the unique marketing ploy. The funny thing is the second disc of downloads is just as good, if not better, than the album proper.
Challengers stacks up against the pillar of "Twin Cinema" just fine; it is the more restrained of the two, equally as satisfying, and more stylistically varied.-Lost At Sea
Bowerbirds-Hymns For A Dark Horse
Hooves/In Our Talons/Human Hands/Dark Horse/Bur Oak/My Oldest Memory/The Marbled Godwit/Slow Down/The Ticonderoga/Olive Hearts
I love this little band that could. They have a this DIY ethic that's admirable as hell. Seriously, they are building their own house without the use of any electric tools! Oh yeah, the songs are sweet too.
Hymns is like your own private Walden Pond, your own log cabin. It’s your own shade tree that beckons you to come sit, tip your straw cap down over your eyes, and take a nap alongside the wildlife.-Daytrotter
Earlimart-Mentor Tormentor
Fakey Fake/Answers And Questions/Nevermind The Phonecalls/Happy
Alone/The Little Things/700 100/Everybody Knows Everybody/
Don't Think About Me/Gonna Break Your Heart/Bloody Nose/The World/Just
Because/Segue/Nothing Is True/Cold Cold Heaven
I love the Earlimart. Please, please, please come to Pittsburgh!
In the mesmerizing, disturbing dream that is Mentor Tormentor, Espinoza and Murray wrap their sweetly uneasy voices around misty melodies, while the deceptively sophisticated production reinforces the sense of uncertainty.-Paste Magazine
Son Volt-The Search
Slow Hearse/The Picture/Action/Underground Dream/Circadian
Rhythm/Beacon Soul/The Search/Adrenaline And Heresy/Satellite/
Automatic Society/Methamphetamine/L Train/Highways And Cigarettes/Phosphate Skin
This album brought me back from an 'I dunno' why' absence to Son Volt's music. Classic stuff. Plus there were a crazy amount of bonus materials (Best Buy exclusives, i-tunes only) floating around that where a superb compliment to the album.
Son Volt have discovered a new sense of ambition, even abandon, on The Search.-Uncut
notables: Okkervil River-The Stage Names/Feist-The
Reminder/Shearwater-Palo Santo (Deluxe)/Ryan Adams & The Cardinals-Follow
The Lights EP/
Grant Lee Phillips-Strangelet/Centro-Matic-Operation Motorcide EP/Band
Of Horses-Cease To Begin/Li'l Cap'n Travis-Twilight On Sometimes
Island/
Bright Eyes-Cassadaga/Ryan Adams-Easy Tiger/Sarah Borges &
The Broken Singles-Diamonds In The Dark/
Southeast Engine-A Wheel Within A Wheel/Akron\Family-Love Is
Simple/Radiohead-In Rainbows/Steve Earle-Washington Square
Serenade/
The Broken West-I Can't Go On, I'll Go On/Matt Pond PA-Last Light/Magnolia
Electric Co.-The Black Ram/Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga/
Los Campesinos!-Sticking Fingers Into Sockets/Neko Case-Live From
Austin City Limits/Wilco-Sky Blue Sky/Deadstring Brothers-Silver
Mountain/
Oakley Hall-I'll Follow You/Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-Baby 81/Josh
Ritter-The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter/The Arcade Fire-Neon
Bible/
Great Lake Swimmers-Ongiara/The Avett Brothers-Emotionalism/Lohio-Sleeping
Stereo
Late to the party
Older music I discovered this year
Elliott Smith-Figure 8
(2000)
Son Of Sam/Somebody That I Used To Know/Junk Bond Trader/Everything Reminds Me Of Her/Everything Means Nothing To Me/L.A./In The Lost And Found (Honky Bach)\The Roost/Stupidity Tries/Easy Way Out/Wouldn't Mama Be Proud/Colorbars/Happiness\The Gondola Man/Pretty Mary Kay/Better Be Quiet Now/Can't Make A Sound/Bye
Elliott Smith plugs in. My favorite album from his catalogue.
Teenage Fanclub-Bandwagonesque
(1991)
The Concept/Satan/December/What You Do To Me/I Don't Know/Star Sign/Metal Baby/Pet Rock/Sidewinder/Alcoholiday/Guiding Star/Is This Music?
Why haven't I listed to these guys before? Man, I missed out.
Radiohead-Fake Plastic Trees
(1995)
Fake Plastic Trees/Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)/Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was (Acoustic)/Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Acoustic)
This might be the greatest song I never heard before.
Matt Mays & El Torpedo-Matt Mays & El Torpedo
(2005)
Stand Down At Sundown/Travellin'/Cocaine Cowgirl/The Plan/Ain't So Heavy/St. George's Lane/Move Your Mind/What Are We Gonna Do Come The Month Of September?/Good People/Lost Souls/It Don't Matter/On The Hood/Time Of Your Life/Wicked Come Winter
I love these guys. In May I request 'Stand Down At Sundown' and since they are breaking in a new guitarist he doesn't know it. The clip below was from a few months later. He knows it now. Next time, fellas.
Sly & The Family Stone-Stand!
(1969)
Stand!/Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey/I Want To Take You Higher/Somebody's Watching You/Sing A Simple Song/Everyday People/Sex Machine/You Make It If You Try/Stand! (single version)/I Want To Take You Higher (single version)/You Make It If You Try (unissued single version)/Soul Clappin' 2/My Brain (Zig-Zag)
I was interested in getting some Sly when they were selling his entire remastered discography (with bonus tracks!) in a box set at Best Buy...for $40!!
Shearwater-Palo Santo
(2006)
La Dame Et La Licorne/Red Sea Black Sea/White Waves/Palo Santo/Seventy Four Seventy Five/Nobody/Sing Little Birdie/Johnny Viola/Failed Queen/Hail Mary/Going Is Song
I ordered this little gem for $4 directly from the Misra Records. The deluxe double disc version was only $11. I'm a sucker for good deals.
The New Pornographers-Mass Romantic
(2000)
Mass Romantic/The Fake Headlines/The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism/Mystery Hours/Jackie/Letter From An Occupant/To Wild Homes/The Body Says No/Execution Day/Centre For Holy Wars/The Mary Martin Show/Breakin' The Law
They played Club Cafe (capacity 120) during this records tour. I'm a dick for missing them all these years.
AAAA-Arizona Amp And Alternator
(2005)
Cool as hell dude.
The Kinks-Sleepwalker
(1977)
Maybe THE most underrated album from THE most underrated band in music.
Bill Fox-Shelter From The Smoke
(1996)
from Wikipedia (since there is absolutely NOTHING on Youtube):
Bill Fox was lead singer and guitarist of the three-piece Cleveland garage pop band The Mice, which existed from Jan. 1985 to 1988. They released two albums, For Almost Ever and Scooter (re-released by Scat Records as For Almost Ever Scooter in 2004), and were a major influence on the burgeoning Ohio power pop scene, including Dayton's Guided by Voices. He released two solo albums, Shelter From the Smoke (originally released in 1996 on Fox's Cherry Pop label and re-released by SpinArt in 1997) and Transit Byzantium (SpinArt, 1998), did a brief West Coast tour for the latter, and promptly quit the music business.
Top 10 or so Live Songs of 2007
I saw a ton of great shows this year. These were a few highlights for me.
(The Youtube examples are obviously not the versions, or even the songs listed, but rather a sense of what the performances were like...)
Star Witness
Neko Case-July 19-Byham Theater
Looking back, this show ranks as possibly my favorite show of all time. The perfect combination of setlist, acoustics, stage banter, seat position, alcohol buzz, EVERYTHING!!! Just a fucking wonderful concert. Plus, I met HOGAN!!!
The Beast And Dragon Adored
Spoon-April 20-CMU
What a great performance they put on. It was free to boot!
St. Cajetan
Cracker Duo-March 3-The Rex
I never heard them play this tune live in the seven or so times I've seen them. They opened the show with it. Beautiful!
To Love Somebody (soundcheck)
The Drams-June 27-Club Cafe
I was dying to experience this song live. After hearing an incomplete version during soundcheck, I thought I would get it during the show proper. Maybe next time. Fuck maybe, definitely next time!
The Park
Feist-September 13-WYEP Studios
This song is sooooooo good. To see it played in a setting a few feet from me was very cool.
Stuck Between Stations
The Hold Steady-March 19-The Rex
Having seen a sweet acoustic set earlier in the day, I had a hard time picking the best song from that and the electric show that night. C'mon...rock and roll, baby!
Stream Running Over
The Apples In Stereo-February 13-Diesel
Played at my request! Thanks, Robert.
To All My Scientists Colleagues I Bid You Farewell
Hallelujah The Hills-June 30-Bloomfield Bridge Tavern
My favorite song released this year...also played at my request! Thanks, Ryan.
Come Pick Me Up
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals-October 29-Carnegie Music Hall
Killer show.
Paranoia In B Flat Major
The Avett Brothers-June 13-Three Rivers Arts Festival
This was one fun show.
Modern Trick
Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles-July 25th-WYEP Studios
My second favorite song released this year.
notables: 'Chickamauga'-Son Volt (4/19)/'Please
Be With Me'-Jason Isbell (4/19)/ 'Glore'-Local Honey (2/4)/
'City Of Lakes'-Matt Mays & El Torpedo (2/25)/'Chained And Bound'-Band
Of Horses (8/6)/'You>Modern Love'-The Last Town Chorus (5/5)
'I Wish I Was Your Mother'-Alejandro Escovedo (3/31)/'Blindfolded'-Deadstring
Brothers (11/15)/'Start Swimming'-Summer Hymns (1/31)/
'See The World'-Gomez (1/20)/'Searching For The Ghost'-The Heartless
Bastards (11/2)/'My Oldest Memory'-Bowerbirds (9/27)/
'Holy Ghost'-Southeast Engine (8/11)/'Pay For Your Tacos Quickly and
Securely'-Weird Paul (4/20)/'Young Folks'-Peter, Bjorn & John
(12/3)/
'My Own Private Piano Jam'-Howe Gelb (10/2)/'Your Rocky Spine'-Great
Lake Swimmers (6/9)/'Long, Long, Long'-Dios Malos (7/3)/
'Drippy Eye'-Black Moth Super Rainbow (6/4)/'Paper Way'-Boca Chica
(11/15)/'Fighting Ghosts'-Lohio (8/11)