I mentioned a dissection of the Grammy nominations would go here this week. I guess I was being overly optimistic. I did read through a lot and I'm really surprised to find out that Grammys voters like Bruno Mars and Skrillex.
Also, Pitchfork and many other publications have released their top songs/albums lists. Feel free to discuss their lists, but again refrain from sharing your best-of until 2011 is at least 99% over.
Now share your randomness.
Speaking of "Best Of" lists, Paste named The Alabama Shakes the Best New Band of 2011.
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* Winning Days - The Vines - Winning Days
* Aghartha - Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions
* Of Greetings and Goodbyes - A.F.I. - The Art of Drowning
* Pompeii - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold! **
* Caterwaul - And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart
* Severed - Mudvayne - L.D. 50
* Concentric Paths: Paths - Thomas Adés - Violin Concerto
* Fist - Deftones - Adrenaline
* Antidote - The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
* Long May You Run - Neil Young - Unplugged
** On the off chance that someone is choosing a song to listen to from this list - I like Indian Jewelry, but not this song, try 'Swans', 'Temporary Famine Ship', or 'Too Much Honkytonking' instead.
I've taken to listening to "Bonus Tracks" if people don't otherwise suggest something from their list.
I liked "Too Much Honkytonking" - driving and intense.
1. She's a Saint not a Celebrity -- Foxboro Hottubs
2. The Killing Moon -- Echo and the Bunnymen
3. Lady Godiva's Operation -- The Velvet Underground
4. Lost Love -- Golden Smog
5. Heartaches -- Patsy Cline
6. Fatman -- G. Love and Special Sauce
7. Williamine -- Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard
8. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Metallica
9. Cod, Cold, Col -- The Handsome Family
10. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds -- The Beatles
Bonus: The Pack -- A-Bomb Nation
I was wondering why you'd have this. This made more sense.
'Goodbye Stranger' - Supertramp Breakfast In America
'Big Bang Baby' - Stone Temple Pilots Thank You
'Fire Down Below' - Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band Night Moves
'Nothing From Nothing' - Billy Preston Ultimate Collection
'King Kong' - The Kinks Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) bonus track
'Special' - Garbage Version 2.0
'Who Can It Be Now?' Men At Work Business As Usual
'Run Right Back' - The Black Keys El Camino
'Poor Poor Pitiful Me' - Warren Zevon Warren Zevon
'Glycerine' - Bush Sixteen Stone
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01. Moonsorrow - "Tastelu Pohjolasta", Tulimyrsky EP
02. Eluveitie - "Spirit", Spirit
03. Jag Panzer - "The Church", Decade of the Nail Spiked Bat
04. Dies Irae - "Byond All Dimensions", Sculpture of Stone
05. Dethklok - "Bloodrocuted", The Dethalbum
06. Alestorm - "Terror on the High Seas", Captain Morgan's Revenge
07. Pantera - "Becoming", Far Beyond Driven
08. Dark Tranquillity - "The Treason Wall", Damage Done
09. Megadeth - "Hook in Mouth", So Far, So Good... So What!
10. Deadnight - "Keeper of Souls", Messenger of Death
1. “landmines” – st. vincent – marry me
2. “eyes like pearls” – van hunt – what were you hoping for?
3. “if i was santa claus” – atmosphere – lucy ford
4. “exit does not exist” – modest mouse – this is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about
5. “monday morning” – fleetwood mac – fleetwood mac
6. “does he love you?” – rilo kiley – more adventurous
7. “as” – stevie wonder – songs in the key of life
8. “it’s a pose” – nellie mckay – get away from me
9. “i shall be free” – bob dylan – the freewheelin’
10. “ain’t it strange” – dr. dog – we all belong
2011 hasn't been the best year for new music.
The War on Drugs- Brothers- Slave Ambivalent
Most Serene Republic - In Places, Empty Spaces - Underwater Cinematographer
Sondre Lerche- She's Fantastic - Phantom Punch
The Strokes - You're So Right - Angles
Monk- Thelonious - Genius of Modern Music Vol 1
Flying Burrito Brothers - Hippie Boy - Definitive Collection
Madvillan - Operation Lifesaver- Madvillany
David Ford - I'm Alright Now - Songs for the Road
Tom Waits - On A Foggy Night - San Diego Folk Festival 1974
Destroyer - Certain Things You Ought To Know - Your Blues*
*Critics are all over the Destoyer album Kaputt this year. Maybe I am crazy but I am pretty sure this is the weakest of any of the Destroyer albums. Maybe I am just not into aimless saxophone solos.
I'm not a big fan of Destroyer to begin with, but I kind of liked one of the songs on Kaputt. I don't remember which one off the top of my head.
See, I like Destroyer a lot. I think City of Daughters, Notorious Lightning, Rubies, and Your Blues are all terrific albums. Kaputt though, I just don't get it. I would have figured it was just pitchfork being pitchfork but AV Club had it as a top ten album too. Maybe I just don't get what is cool anymore.
I streamed Kaputt once. Knew immediately: did not want.
In other news, between Lady Gaga, Bon Iver, Destroyer, and even Katy farking Perry, it seems to be the year of the saxophone.
In other news, with Colin Stetson, it seems to be the year of the saxophone.
Fixed that for you.
I did not realize that Bon Iver had sax on his record. I only listened to it a bit on YouTube. I did put the deluxe edition on my Christmas list: those videos (on the DVD that comes with the Deluxe) looked wonderful. I could use some decent Audio-Visual wallpaper.
Thanks for the fix. I could've added M83, as well.
Also, the Deluxe edition of Bon Iver x2 is on my list, as well.
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1. Seven Caged Tigers Stone Temple Pilots
2. Cupid de Locke Smashing Pumpkins
3. You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
4. Who Wants To Live Forever Queen
5. Breaking The Habit Linkin Park
6. Dosed Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. I'll Back You Up Dave Matthews Band
8. All of Me Willie Nelson
9. Nowhere Road Fastball
10. Break My Stride Matthew Wilder
Bonus: I Don't Live Today Jimi Hendrix
All of Me Willie Nelson
I love that song, and love the whole Stardust album
Yup. Upon further review, I didn't remember that it was produced by Booker T!
1. Richie Hawtin “Minus/Orange (Loop)” Selections 1990-2000
2. Ken Ishii “Echo Exit (Silver City Remix)” Echo Exit
3. Lana Del Rey “You Can Be the Boss” Nevada*
4. Plastikman “Ask Yourself”* Closer
5. Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch “People Lie All the Time” TGWTDT - 6 Track Sampler*
6. Merle Haggard and the Strangers “Mama Tried” Mama Tried
7. Sonic Youth “Lee Is Free” Confusion Is Sex/Kill Yr Idols
8. Count Basie feat. Frank Sinatra “Chicago” Martini Lounge
9. Will Oldham “For the Mekons Et Al (Live)” Guarapero: Lost Blues 2
T. Terry Reid “Brave Awakening” A Bit of a Hick: A Bootsy Mixtape*
B. Lydia Loveless* “Won't Change Me” Indestructible Machine
*Notes:
3. I believe this is her iTunes-Deleted debut, but I downloaded so much random stuff from her this summer, I can't be sure. Decent track, though. Not as good as "Video Games" or "Blue Jeans." Haven't really listened to her new video "Born 2 Die" (the title track from next year's album), though it didn't grab me as much as VG/BJ.
4. On Plastikman's last album (using that name), we hear his voice for the first time, five minutes in to this the opening track. Modulated to an evil and rumbling bass, almost computer-generated, he says "I am. Everything. Why listen to me? I'm just a voice inside your head. I can't help you. Help yourself." At first I hated it, but after getting used to it, it really seems one of very few possible directions for Plastikman to go after Consumed. And the entire Plastikman project was about logical progression from album to album. So much so that he released Artifakts BC a compilation of various pieces made between Musik and Consumed to represent his scuttled third album, so that we could see the progression.
5. TGWTDT = "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Man, this guy likes Coil more than I do, this sounds like a blend of How to Destroy Angels with some of their later works like Musick to Play in the Dark.
T. I've still got two of E-6's mixtapes downloaded but not loaded to my library. After Christmas and New Year's, E-6. Thanks for all of them.
B. I read this week in a Best-of list that was shared by Bloodshot (Ms. Loveless's Label) that "Lydia Loveless" is her actual birthname. I'm skeptical about that, as it's such a perfect name for her sound: Lydia Lunch (Punk) + Patty Loveless (Country). Plus, IIRC, the album credits show a different surname, though she is recently married (at 21! to her bass player!) and her parents might be divorced, so the name in the credits might be her married name or her mom's maiden name or stepdad's name or something like that.
Whatever her "legal" name is, her sound is awesome!
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1. Nothing to Say - The Waco Brothers
2. The Left Hand of God - Charlie Haden & Quartet West
3. More Than This - Charlie Hunter & Norah Jones
4. Punky Reggae Party - Bob Marley
5. Brazil - Michael Nesmith
6. Chasin' the Bird - Charlie Parker
7. Susie-Q - CCR
8. Days - Kinks
9. Reconnez Cherie - Wreckless Eric
10. Maybe After He's Gone - Zombies
refrain from sharing your best-of until 2011 is at least 99% over.
I never have been one to follow orders...
Well, I just meant within the confines of the FMD. I do this for two reasons:
1. I like to scan professional best-of lists to see things that I might have missed that might be up my alley.
2. My heavy workload drops off a cliff right before Christmas.
So it's really just what I want. But I write this column, so those are my requests. (I'm not going to ban anyone or anything.)
Stop the World and Let Me Off - John Doe and the Sadies - Country club
Dr. Dog - Mirror Mirror - Shame, Shame
Q. How Many Punks Does it Take ... - Dillinger Four - Versus God
Lockdown - Fugazi - 13 Songs
Teeth Like God's Shoeshine - Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
One Monkey - Gillian Welch - Soul journey
Another Traveling Song - Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake
No Name No. 5 - Elliot Smith - Either / Or
Wrap My Head Around That - Lucinda Williams - West
Prison Girls - Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
One Chance - Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
i'm amazed it took me as long as it did to finally get a full elliott smith album, which was either/or. wondering which to grab next...
I'm a sucker for XO because it reminds me of the autumn I met Dr. Chop, and because it's a good album. Figure 8 took me a number of years to really appreciate despite being a solid listen.
Left my iPod in my car this morning. Got it at lunch.
01. Ween - "Sorry Charlie" from The Pod
02. Sonic Youth - "Tunic (Song for Karen)" from Goo
03. Marnie Stern - "The Devil is in the Details" from This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
04. Cold Cave - "I.C.D.K." from Love Comes Close
05. Angels of Light - "The Man We Left Behind" from We Are Him
06. Project Pat - "Cocaine" from Crook By Da Book: The Fed Story
07. Gucci Mane & Future - "On Some Other Shit" from Free Bricks
08. Harlem - "Beautiful & Very Smart" from Free Drugs
09. Eat Skull - "Oregon Dreaming" from Wild and Inside
10. The Streets - "Blinded By the Lights" from A Grand Don't Come for Free
BT. A$AP Rocky - "Bass" from LiveLoveA$AP