Tuesday, March 6 at The Zoo Bar in Lincoln – Mynabirds w/ The Sleepover, Son of ’76, and The Watchmen.
Doors at 9, Sleepover at 9:20, Sons of ’76 at 10:20, Mynabirds at 11:20.  $8.

		Must-hear!
		Recommended
		Good
		Fans only
		Skip this
		Owww! My ears!

This is a potentially troubling comparison for several reasons: the Black Album, besides spawning a ton of hit singles, can be criticized as a commercial sellout, as an aesthetic betrayal of the band’s sound and identity (and fans’ expectations of such), and for not rocking nearly as hard as Metallica’s earlier work.  These points 1) have some truth to them regarding Metallica, 2) could also be applied to The Hunter, but 3) would be absolutely wrong in Mastodon’s case.

The Hunter has cleaner vocals, more straightforward rhythms, and lacks an overall narrative or conceptual structure relative to Mastodon’s previous albums – things fans, myself included, love – but it shreds as hard (dare I claim… harder?), presenting the band’s strengths and signature elements in a new context that happens to be accessible to anyone who likes loud music at all.

In a parallel universe, The Hunter is where radio-friendly metal should be in 2012; pushing the boundaries of what the mainstream can absorb in terms of polyrhythms, weird riffs, and song structure, while also providing immediacy and viscereality that can bring you under its spell on the first listen.  Don’t miss it.

		Must-hear!
		Recommended
		Good
		Fans only
		Skip this
		Owww! My ears!

There are a million guitar-pop bands (I’ve been in at least six of them myself), and the tiny variations among bands’ styles can elicit widely varying opinions of those bands.  Cory adores Surfer Blood, for example; I think they’re good, but they haven’t struck me as anything special yet.

On the other hand, within the walls of my house, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is a four-star record, and I’ve listened to it every day since CA gave me the vinyl a couple weeks ago.  (We’re also seeing them in Omaha in March; psyyyched!)  Nada Surf’s particular spin on catchy, literate, slightly muscular guitar-pop hits me exactly the right way; I just can’t predict if you’ll feel the same.

Case in point; people went nuts for the Yuck record last year which, again, seemed solid but nothing to get excited about to me.  So we’re in a weird situation where 90s revivalism is over-hyped (I don’t know why; maybe it really felt that good in the moment), and I’m under-rating a record I love (because of how I imagine some imaginary aggregate of listeners and readers will feel about Astronomy‘s place in the musical universe a few years from now, when it’s not new).  Yuck is an 8.1, Astronomy’s a 2/5, I feel the opposite, and I’m half of the issue because I’m trying to bring a normal distribution to my ratings and have chosen to offer them as a guide to readers, and not necessarily a reflection of how I feel about the record myself (which is what these paragraphs are for).

You might find Nada Surf more of a four than a two if you like: subject matter that goes beyond boy-likes/hates-girl, vocal melodies and phrasing that follow more intricate lines than usual in guitar-pop, stellar rhythm sections, and unpredictable harmonic shifts between verses and choruses.  I’m not sure why I love Nada Surf and not Surfer Blood, but these are some of the musical differences, for what they’re worth.

		Must-hear!
		Recommended
		Good
		Fans only
		Skip this
		Owww! My ears!

What happened to hip-hop being the black CNN?  Hip-hop is much bigger than the conscious stuff, Public Enemy, and black Americans’ experiences, but in this period of national import, as we struggle with economic depression and serious differences regarding what kind of country we will be, I hoped two of our biggest stars in not just music, but culture as a whole, would have more to say.

Nada Surf managed to weigh in on global warming pretty artfully (“No Snow on the Mountain”), which is a concern that’s no less real or acute for being very Stuff White People Like.  What about jobs, wages, and working conditions?  As I type I realize I’m projecting my own concerns onto this album, but it still seems like an opportunity has been missed.  I haven’t written much about those issues either, so I’ll commit to working on addressing them while calling on Kanye and Jay to do the same.

Watch the Throne is a good record because of its constituent parts – beats, especially, but also flashes of lyrical brilliance – but it adds up to less than the sum of them, and is culturally significant as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does.  It’s of its moment, good for what it is, but falling short of its potential to be less time-bound in the way that The Blueprint or Late Registration, in their greatness, are.

Also, Strawberry Burns fans, stay tuned to the band for some great news – an inside source tells me a big announcement is near.  -h

First off, the album cover artwork is fantastic. It’s all green and blue, with some red and white. It looks like a kid’s drawing, but it could have easily been done by Panda Face himself, aka Brandon McKenzie, also a member of local acts Strawberry Burns and Rock Rose. However, I think it says the “F word” on the cover, so it’s probably not a children’s drawing.

Either way, the art makes the album look quite fun, especially with the name Panda Face, and the album title, Up in Space.

The first song, “Always You,” is really good! I quite enjoy its wistful, spacey, and charming essence. The vibe switches gears with the foreboding third song, “Dreamgirl Nightmare.” However, it’s great to hear the continuation of fun space sounds established in the first two songs.

After song four, the bright delight “Fly Away To Your Destiny,” comes “Some Dark Roads,” the first real slow song straying from the established “Casio space organ” sounds. It’s pretty, but the subject matter is pretty grim, with Panda Face declaring that he himself “has been down some dark roads.”

“The Heart of a Lover” has a gothic-tinged, new wave sound. The guitar tone sounds like it’s coming from the tiniest amp, perhaps a toy amp.

“Something Good” features great synth swells in the background, and “That Buzzzz” reminds me of a Ween song, but I’m not sure which one right yet.

At the end, there’s the SSX remix of “Fly Away To Your Destiny.” I don’t know who SSX is, but he sure did a great job “beefing up” the song, and incorporating a more exciting beat.

I sensed a contrast or combo of bright and dark throughout Up in Space, akin to the style of eels or Sparklehorse. The songs sound mostly electronic, but it’s a more vintage electronic sound, as opposed to the highly-polished, pristine and sometimes soulless sound.

I don’t know where the album was recorded, but it seems like a bedroom or basement recording. It’s certainly not your “big-budget Aerosmith or Def Leppard” sound, but that’s OK with me.

The DragonForce contest is still open, everybody.  http://mrfuriousrecords.com/blog/2012/01/14/ultra-beatdown/

Two Sleepover shows coming up – Feb. 25 at the Slowdown in Omaha, and (just confirmed) March 6 with Mynabirds (!!!) at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln.

Been busy with little things in the studio: Mars Lights demos and writing vocals, Ventura drum practice, Fight Songs EP demos and drums, planning for another EP (Crushed)… and probably more that I can’t think of right now.  -h

MFR028 – Drive-By Honky – Double Live Platinum

• The opportunity to re-release Double Live Platinum just kind of popped up in conversation between Cory and Dan Jenkins of DBH/Ideal Cleaners… I don’t really know much else about how it happened, except I suspect-slash-hope that the MFR re-release was part of the inspiration for Dan to do the excellent thebandbrokeup.com
• When we started working on this release, the only DBH I had was Thrift Americana, so I was happy to hear the tuffer riffs of Double Live Platinum pointing toward Ideal Cleaners’ sound
• “The Divine Butcher” (AKA “Loser by miles”) – Just sayin’!

MFR029 – Sally Ride – There is Something and not nothing

• First off, I’m incredibly proud of Matt for doing this record with me and for his drumming, and of the songs themselves
• The earliest seeds for not nothing were a couple of ideas (like the verse riff and chorus chords/melody/lyrics for “Heart Stops Beating”) that had hanging around for years (since 2003 or ’04), coupled with some Five Star Crush demos I wrote with Matt while the relationship with Joel was strained (and/or he was in Georgia), and we were working on new material separately by design. As I became attached to my vision for some of the songs, and it looked less and less likely that they would make it as 5*C songs (or that 5*C would make new songs at all), it came clear that I had a record on my hands
• The theme is the cross-pollination of existential crisis and questions of the meaning of meaning with my take on 80s dance music, sort of Depeche Mode stuff.  At one point I wanted to produce physical CDs through CafePress, and the inside cover was to contain these quotes, which provide some context for the record.  I had thought I’d put them on the release page, but it doesn’t look like I did.

“Science questions the common assumptions which seem to be true to everyone, to the layman as well as to the average scholar. Then the genius comes and asks for the basis of these accepted assumptions; when they are proved not to be true, an earthquake in science occurs out of the depth. Such earthquakes occurred when Copernicus asked if our sense-impressions could be the ground of astronomy, and when Einstein questioned whether there is an absolute point from which the observer could look at the motions of things. An earthquake occurred when Marx questioned the existence of an intellectual and moral history independent of its economic and social basis. It occurred in the most eruptive way when the first philosophers questioned what everybody had taken for granted from times immemorial — being itself.

“When they became conscious of the astonishing fact, underlying all facts, that there is something and not nothing, an unsurpassable depth of thought was reached.”

– Paul Tillich, from “The Shaking of the Foundations”
Chapter 7, The Depth of Existence

“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, 0 Lord.”
– Psalm 130:1

• A rubbing of the front door and sanctuary door handles at St. Peter’s provided the main cover image. I thought it looked kind of metal with the upside-down cross, but it’s actually the sign of Saint Peter (who, according to the story, was crucified upside-down because he insisted he wasn’t fit to die in the same manner as Jesus)
• I have the first acoustic demos for “Deft” and “Can U Feel It?” somewhere in the studio. “Deft” was written in one sitting, music and lyrics (which is unusual for me), and I did the demo right then. It even has a vocal drum fill in the bridge. Co-writing credit to Joel on “Can U Feel It?” It was a jam we played once at practice, and always stuck with me; I eventually had to do *something* with the idea. The verse of “Yr Right” is a twisted-up inversion of something much poppier Danny played once at practice, too.
• Unintentionally (except for the bridge), “Deft” bears a resemblance to one of my favorite songs, U2′s “Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me.” It’s not the same or anything, just working with a similar palette of chords and intervals.
• This ended up being a pretty fully-realized album – it is, and does, what I meant it to be and do – with some of my most fully-realized songs as well (“Deft,” “Out,” “The Biggest Choice You Make,” “Seven”)
• Really fun to play bass all over this record, and it’s the first album I’ve done a lot of bass. Thanks again, Jill, for letting me borrow your bass! (The line on “Yr Right” is what reminded me to mention how enjoyable bass playing is.)
• Also the first time I’ve used a lot of vocal effects; echo, and distortion. Vocal echo is a Joel thing, and distortion is more Drew. Which reminds me; Matt and I cut the drums for “There is Something and not nothing” at the same time we recorded the base drum and rhythm guitar tracks for Mars Lights’ Sides 1, 2, and 3.
• “The Biggest Choice You Make” was a song I wrote top-to-bottom for Five Star Crush, and just couldn’t ever get the band interested enough in to work on. “Miami” was another where I took an instrumental jam from practice, finished it, and tried to bring it back in with no luck. If I could choose, they’d have been 5*C and not Sally Ride songs, but that doesn’t diminish how I feel about “There is Something and not nothing”
• “Turning the Wheel” is one of the four seals of dharma songs on the record – one song for each seal – the others being “Heart Stops Beating,” “Seven,” and… (thinking…)
• Listening to “Can U Feel It?” reminds me how much this album deals in so many ways with the loss of faith, but also the persistence of something almost deeper than faith… something like the animating spirit of faith, if that’s a thing. It’s a bleak hopefulness, but it’s not nothing.

MFR030 – White Air – White Air

• I don’t remember quite how Greg’s first record as White Air came to MFR. Maybe Cory recommended me to him for mastering, and in the course of doing that the MFR release format came up
• This was a tricky mastering job, but it came out nicely. As you can tell from listening, the songs are all over in terms of instrumentation and intensity of the performances, so it just took a while to nudge everything into the same sonic space. “Endure” was a bear
• Love the demented children’s choir backing vocals
• I think I had a big hand in determining the track listing, so if it doesn’t work for you, please send blame this direction
• “Terrible Truth” was the first rough mix Greg sent to me to check out when we were first talking about collaborating, and I dug it immediately. When I got the whole record, it took a few listens to adjust to it all – the funk of “Am I Getting Through To You,” the weirdo-Neil Young-ness of “Making Out Like A Bandit” – which is one of the points of the record, I think
• “You’re happier than happy should be / You’re too happy to be happy here with me” is a great line

MFR031 – Songwriter Power Rangers on KZUM

• SWPR was a show series Cory helped curate for a year or two, and these tunes are from a live radio session the four artists performed on KZUM to promote the shows. (The whole Hardy Holm “Alive in Lincoln” show is available on the release post – the interviews are pretty funny)
• I’m honored – truly, that’s the right word – to have the great Manny Coon (what a songwriter!), Ember Schrag (what a performer, and contributor to the Lincoln scene!), and Lori Allison (what emotional resonance, and Millions member to boot!) on MFR
• Thanks to Hardy for hosting the show, and extra thanks to Cory for making sure we got a board recording from the studio
• I think this was one of Cory’s first performances with his (then-) new guitar
• We cobbled the cover together from several different SWPR show posters
• Seriously; Manny. “Your Momma Called.” Damn!

MFR032 – Panda Face – Panda Face

• Brandon’s music came to MFR via Greg/White Air (they’re both in Strawberry Burns) fully formed; I didn’t even master this (or his second album, either). It’s exactly as we received it
• Oh – I did add the blue background to the cover, at Brandon’s request
• Panda Face reminds me most of the BLANE stuff, but I’ve never asked Brandon about the development between the two projects, or why these songs called for a new name
• My key to the Panda Face aesthetic is the gulf-sized contrast between the computer-based instrument sounds and production and the very human vocals
• Listening back, I’m getting more and more into this. Maybe I’m slow, or maybe it’s aged better than I expected, or maybe I was overwhelmed a little at first. I’m upping the rating in iTunes song-by-song as I go along

17. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up.  Many of the songs on Black Up bang, but only for a few bars at a time; it’s a tease of an album, in that sense, dancing with my expectations like a seduction, and I like it.  It’s hip-hop, it’s post-rock, it’s spoken word, it’s free jazz, and it isn’t like anything else you’ve heard, this year or before.  -h

16. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light.  Grohl & Co. launched a literal earthquake in New Zeland the other week, and there isn’t a more perfect tectonic reaction to the band and its fans than that.  Swaths of rock radio are revealed as the weak tea they are every time Foo Fighters release a record; they’re unabashedly an arena band, powered by Dave’s gee-I’m-lucky-aren’t-I charisma, and to hear them through any other ears at this point is to miss their best side.  Wasting Light isn’t a perfect record – there’s the requisite moment of clunky lyrics, and Dave seems a bit spiritually thin compared to some of his other work – but it’s miles better than anything else this year in terms of what it aims for, and I’ve spent hours and hours with it since its release, with no sign of letting up.  -h

15. Big K.R.I.T. – Return of 4eva.  Character bursts from the speakers on K.R.I.T.’s mixtape. It’s personal in a way I’ve never heard hip-hop be; not confessional, not narrative, but just the stamp of K.R.I.T.’s being infused in every word and beat. The man is going about his day, dropping classic-sounding Southern jams along the way. Maybe I hear a kindred spirit in that sense. Listening to Return of 4eva is like hanging out with one of those friends you meet and feel like you’ve always known.  -h

14. Wye Oak – Civilian.  Surprise winner of the AV Club’s year-end list, Civilian’s strengths and charms are in its details; judicious layers of guitars and keys that sound more complex together than I’d guess from the individual parts, arrangements tailored to the needs of the song rather than indie conventions, and vocal production that hovers beautifully between atmosphere and lyric clarity.  I’m not sure I can say why this album spoke to me, but it has a spirit that I can’t shake.  -h

13. The Roots – undun.  Two albums in a row, I thought that The Roots had written themselves into a corner.  Rising Down was the bleakest, hungriest, most stressed set I could imagine the band making; anything harder would risk becoming caricature, while anything lighter might seem weak. They brought How I Got Over last year, an album whose first half is blacker than black, but then breaks the dawn with “Now Or Never” / “How I Got Over” / “The Day,” creating a redemptive arc that stretches back to the opening bars of 2006′s Game Theory. But where can you go from there?

Into the story of Redford Stephens, it turns out, the fictional (but composite of several of The Roots’ friends and family members) figure whose words and thoughts are the lyrics of “undun.” The narrative isn’t necessary to bob your head to the likes of “I Remember,” “Lighthouse,” and single “The Other Side,” but the care and deft touch the band takes with the story elevate “undun” to the level of a serious artistic statement in the very best sense, detailing Redford’s life while leaving the plot largely in the silences between what’s said and played.

Reversing the track order gives another perspective on Redford.  -h

12. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy.  Stripped back – guitar, bass, drums, voice – Annie Clark’s work as St. Vincent punches above its weight.   It brings compelling songwriting, weirdo guitar tone to kill for, and synth bass sustaining at 100% (giving everything a subliminal claustrophobic vibe) to the party.

That’s a metaphorical party; this is anything but background music.  It quietly insists on my full attention, and I acquiesce every time.  Hearing Strange Mercy is a bit of an event in any day.  It sets off the time it’s on from the time before, and after.  -h

11. Bon Iver – Bon Iver.  I’m not a For Emma… fan.  It was Bon Iver’s Daytrotter session that pulled me in to their sound, all delicate space and surprising strength.  Bon Iver continues in the vein of that session as an amorphous, resonating set of songs that convey, or create, emotional depth and complexity as much through the words and notes I don’t hear as the ones I do.  This record will age incredibly well; twenty years from now, it will sound both as inviting and impenetrable as it does today, always offering a new sonic corner to explore.  -h

10. Fleetwood Mac – (everything besides the Peter Green stuff) (1970′s Kiln House forward). My parents used to play me all kind of Fleetwood Mac when I was a kid, and I don’t remember disliking it, but I always thought of it as “parent-rock.” That is, it didn’t speak to me in the same way that Green Day and Nirvana spoke to me. Then, just in the last few years, I was able to listen to it with a fresh frame of mind. Some of the songs instantly bring me back to, say, 1990 when I hear them, but I no longer think of it as music my parents listened to.

When I listen to some of these songs, I am shocked at how good they are. To me, Fleetwood Mac are right up there with all the other Great Bands. They don’t sounds like the Beatles or Zeppelin or any other band, but they epitomize ‘70s and ‘80s glitter-beard-tambourine rock better than any other act. They’re decadent, they’re glossy, they’re fun, they’re coed, and they’re rife with drama. They sound totally unique, and because of that, they are the proprietors of a very specific kind of magic. I am not sure how one would go about attempting to replicate such a band, although I would try if I thought I could come close!

I recognize that the Mac isn’t for everyone. Not everyone’s going to love a song like “Everywhere.” It’s bouncy and cheesy and maybe even a little bit ridiculous. But if you love it, you REALLY love it. -Cory

9. tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L.  My entry into W H O K I L L-appreciation was the bass playing. Merrill’s outfit generated a lot of buzz with vocal loops and quirky arrangements, but I wasn’t hooked until I realized that there was soul music bubbling away underneath it all.  After that, I was gone, absorbed into the record’s universe-of-sound-unto-itself.  -h

8. The Strokes – Is This It? (2001).  I almost included this record in my discussion of Surfer Blood, Wavves, and Best Coast (below), since I like it for all the same reasons, but it’s got a NYC-vibe instead, plus it’s like 10 years older, so it’s its own thing on this list. I’m not going to do into detail for this one: suffice to say that it’s something I didn’t “get” when it came out, but it just hit me out of nowhere recently. I think I watched the video for “Someday” on Time Warner On-Demand, and I was surprised at how powerful the song was, and how emotional it made me. The lyrical theme of “I know I’m kind of a dirtbag but I’m trying hard to change and I think it’s getting better” resonates with me. -Cory

7. The Breeders – Last Splash (1993).  Probably the best two dollars I have ever spent; I picked it up at HPB in Lawrence on a whim because of the Pixies association, never expecting that Last Splash would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Doolittle and Surfer Rosa (and is a better casual listen than either of those records, to boot). It’s charming, it’s feisty, it’s weird, it’s catchy, and when I put it on in the car, I leave it in for three or four full spins before I’m ready to hear anything else.  -h

6. Best Coast – Crazy For You. See Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics. -Cory

5. Wavves – King of the Beach. See Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics. -Cory

4. Radiohead – The King of Limbs.  Usually, big records (like Kanye’s) are announced months beforehand in order to build up enough hype, and then the dates are often pushed back. Between the time of the announcement and the actual release, everyone talks about what the band has done thus far and what they might do on their upcoming record. By the time the record comes out, everyone’s expectations are so defined and focused that it’s easy for the record to fall short.

These days, Radiohead avoids the weird and new interactive nature of music by announcing their records about three days before they actually come out. They’ll announce it on a Sunday, everyone flips out on Monday, and then when it comes out Tuesday, no one knows what to expect. As with In Rainbows, The King of Limbs was a surprise for us all.

As per their M.O., this record doesn’t sound a whole heck of a lot like their past releases. It’s got the same Radiohead feel (weird chord transitions, unconventional arrangements and time signatures, crisp production, cryptic metaphors). But it’s different. It’s a lot more subdued and a little darker than In Rainbows: in comparison, In Rainbows was an outright rock record. The King of Limbs is more about textures and atmosphere, and less about big melodies and beats (something like “Idioteque” would sound totally out of place here). This is also one of the most uniform Radiohead records I’ve heard; there’s no “Fitter Happier” or “Hunting Bears” to break up the record. Instead, it’s 37 minutes of densely-packed music that’s creepy enough to be used in a David Lynch movie, but mellow enough to be used as study-music.

Due to personal preference, The King of Limbs isn’t one of my favorite Radiohead records, but it’s not bad at all; in fact, it’s great, and I’m glad they made it. If you’re a fan of Radiohead, you should have it, and while you might only listen to it a few times a year, it will be 100% perfect for those particular situations.  -Cory

3. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues.  First, I was thrilled by first single “Helplessness Blues.”  Later, I was slightly disappointed by what I perceived as unnecessary fussiness and eclecticism.  Then we saw them play.

The show transformed Helplessness Blues for me; after it, I understood.  I felt the difficulty of writing something to follow the self-titled debut, the struggle of becoming slightly older young men, and the need to tell some stories other than our own.  (Or is it tell our stories through others?)  This is still a record for established fans of the band, but please, for your own sake, become one.

2. Surfer Blood – Tarot Classics.  I’m grouping these three releases together because they all represent my gravitation toward a certain aesthetic. I’d call all three bands “punk” bands, but that’s debatable. What’s important, at least to me, is that these bands write songs are catchy, simple, and scuzzy. Melody is my favorite thing about music, so that’s the hook. If songs get too brainy and complex and epic and stretched, I tend to tune out, so I’ve always been drawn to straightforward progressions and arrangements. And, more and more, I can’t get enough of reverby, fuzzy production. It sounds cool, and it tempers a song’s sweetness.

Howie and I had a conversation about the Wavves records, and we agreed that, production-wise, the music is somewhat unsettling. It’s not quite balanced, EQ-wise, and you get the feeling that something is missing. Since I love things that throw me for a loop, I’m a big fan of the music’s unsettling nature, but I’m not sure if Howie feels the same way :) But it makes a WORLD of difference; if the song “Post Acid” by Wavves were produced by Brian Wilson or Butch Vig or someone similar, it would still be just as catchy, but it would have the opposite emotional effect. Instead of being slightly alarming, it would be totally sweet summertime fun song that would invade restaurants, radio, and TV shows. But as it stands, it’s in the “uncanny valley” of pop-music: it’s almost an accessible pop song, but there’s a little something about it that creeps people out. Which is why I love it.

Wavves is the most extreme example of this aesthetic. Although all three of these bands are in the same basic genre of music (surf-pop-punk, I guess?), I would guess that Best Coast and Surfer Blood are a lot more pleasing to the average ear. Best Coast is a female-fronted dreamy and eerie pop group, and most of the songs about summer and boys. The record is captivating, but it doesn’t necessarily demand a whole lot of energy from you; it can be a casual driving record or something that’s a little more intense, depending on your mood. The songs are short, sweet, and are saturated with wistfulness.

In my opinion, Surfer Blood are the band that best bridges the gap between this particular genre of music and the rest of pop music. They write some of the most undeniable catchy songs I’ve ever heard, and even though I’ve heard the songs a million times, they never fail to get me all jazzed up. Their new EP, Tarot Classics, take their melodic fuzz-rock formula once step further. Just like Vampire Weekend, they used their second release to add serious emotional depth to their already-successful approach. This EP encapsulates everything I love about pop music: great lyrics, insanely infectious melodies, great guitar hooks, unconventional yet simple themes; the list goes on and on. “Miranda” represents the direction I wish Weezer had taken; it fits right in with songs like “Susanne” and “You Gave Your Love To Me Softly.” These are the songs that make my 29-year-old grown-up heart yearn for the excitement, frustration, and uncertainty of my 17-year-old self. These songs sound like driving around Ventura looking for something to do, and hoping to bump into girls from school that I’d be too afraid to interact with.

That’s another factor, I think: if distances makes the heart grow fonder, I miss California more and more with each passing winter. You’ll notice a common oceanic trend in these bands’ names (Surfer, Coast, Waves), and their music reflects that attitude as well. I can’t always get back home to get rad, but these records help me out a lot, especially when I’ve got to shovel the damn sidewalk and scrape my damn windshield. -Cory

1. TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light.   In five years of making these lists, I’ve never felt stronger about one album as my favorite of the year. It was a disappointment the first time I heard it.

Banjo?  Accordion?  I couldn’t make sense of the instrumentation; I couldn’t make sense of the songs. I didn’t understand what had happened to one of my favorite bands. I hoped I was missing something.

By the third or fourth listen, “No Future Shock” started to reveal itself as an anthem of the first order.  Opener “Second Song” followed, and soon after that Nine Types of Light became my personal soundtrack to 2011.  I won’t spill many more pixels over it, because what I can write about it falls far short of what it means to me.  If you hear anything this year or next, make it this.  -h

Honorable mention

The Sleepover – Believe the Honesty, Bro.

-Cory

Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination

Mastodon – The Hunter

Halloween, Alaska – All Night The Calls Came In

JV Allstars – Hold On To This.

I’m sure these records would have made the list, had I spent more time with them. As it is, I’ll be enjoying getting to know them better well into 2012.  -h

Good records from consistent bands

Ideal Cleaners – Far As You Know

Twilight Singers – Dynamite Steps

My Morning Jacket – Circuitual

There’s a lot to be said about being steadily awesome; these records say some of it.  -h

Still goona check out

Wild Flag – Wild Flag

Fucked Up – David Comes to Life

-h

Retro

Nick Lowe – Nick the Knife, The Abominable Showman, Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit, Seconds of Pleasure (with Rockpile)

Nilsson - http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath, Vol. 4, Sabotage

-h

Best Records We Heard in 2010 – 2009 – 2008 – 2007

The phrase “the circle of life” came to mind (with its inescapable Lion King associations – hey, I was drifting, here!) from an image of CA and I and a kid or two having a farewell-to-KC party, Jody was there (I guess I saw her earlier tonight at the food pantry), and I thought “Well, an actual circle of life is kind of bleak – we’re doomed to repeat the past and all – but life isn’t really like that; it’s a spiral of life, with its implications of a direction to history and “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” (T S Eliot). From that image, I’ve come, for tonight, at least, to the thought that life’s meaning might be what we can do, and know, and be, that our grandparents couldn’t but wanted to, and what our grandchildren will, that we want to.

Then, in the shower, I was thinking about a conversation I had with CA a couple weeks ago, trying to explain what makes Wooden Shjips awesome. How do you explain, to someone who hasn’t felt it yet, how good ten minutes of a single psych rock riff with weirdo echo soloing and a few vocals can be? I was trying to describe how you can’t approach psych or drone music with the same expectations and critical apparatus as you would art music and get an experience that comes anywhere close to the music’s potential. She wasn’t buying it. (Yet.)

I was also thinking about The Roots’ new undun, and how I feel sure somebody, somewhere, is up in arms because its a concept album that tells a story; in some circles this is taken as self-evidently pretentious and indulgent, but I think the album is fighting trim and shows remarkable restraint and self-editing at nine songs, plus an intro and outro.

The fresh insight was in realizing how important it is to me as a listener and critic to approach music on its own terms as much as possible; I think maybe much more than most other people, such as CA in the example here. Yes, there’s also history, various canons, and a whole universe of other music to relate it to, but there should always be dialogue between what a work sets out to accomplish for itself, and its relationship with other works. (And yes, I grok that “what a work sets out to accomplish for itself” is a matter to be debated; that’s fine; simply that we’re having the debate at all carries the weight I need it to carry here.)

The point here isn’t to be heady for headiness’ sake; it’s that the best way to enjoy and get the most out of a work is to focus on experiencing it on its own terms, and letting all those relationships be secondary. I’ve said many times – without convincing many people – that I may actually be a hedonist at heart; I’m just serious about finding the most pleasure in every little thing.

89- Hush Hush – Scott Morris, 2009
90- It’s a Christmas Thing – Cory Kibler, 2008
91- Snow is a Bear – howie&scott, 2007
92- Silent Night – echoes, 2006
93- What’s My Baby Want’n? – echoes, 2006
94- O Come Thou Dayspring – howie&scott, 2006
95- Jingle Bells – DJ Josh-O, 2006
96- How We Can Know – Cory Kibler, 2005*
97- Mary Be The One This Eve – echoes, 2005
98- At Its Rising – howie&scott, 2005
99- Merry Christmas – howie&scott, 2005

*In 2008 the version of “How We Can Know” from “The Silent Woods” replaced the original version on XMAS, and the entire track order was revised.