1. Wild Flag:  What can one say that hasn’t been said.  Maybe supergroups shouldn’t be eligible.
2. PJ Harvey:  A return to form, and I know everyone agrees.
3. Wye Oak:  Solid growth and a shock to me from a band that I thought would always be an opener last year.
4. Fucked Up:  I’ve already said this is the world I want to live in.  The fact that this is 4th says something about those in 1-3.
5. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart:  Upped the shoegaze and won my heart.  That won’t shock anyone who’s been around me for the last 20 years.
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah:  Nostalgia?  Maybe, but there are some really catchy tunes here.
7. Deer Tick:  People will groan when I say (again) that this is the best new Replacements album in the last 20 years
8. We Were Promised Jetpacks:  I like as much as the debut, maybe more because I find it a little more mature / accessible.  Probably why others hate it.
9. We Are Augustines: Pela’s gone, and those days are, too, but this will do for now.
10. Yuck: Surprising addition to me, I suspect this might not stand, but there are some really good songs on this album.  They should be looking over their collective shoulders for Youth Lagoon.

There are some that I suspect are missing and so I’m going to try to do a top 20 next month.  Let’s see how close I got.

Also, I’m hoping I’ll do a ‘surprisingly disappointing’ list.  *glances towards The Antlers*.

We’d spent the night hopping between venues not knowing who was playing or what to expect. We’d seen some interesting stuff (good and bad), but when we saw Milk Music I knew that we’d seen it.  It was crowded, oven-hot, and WAY too late…  and yet there’s nothing better than realizing you’re watching one of your new favorite bands – and it’s a band that you didn’t know existed before they started playing.

Finding their album is a challenge, and I haven’t seen them back in town since then, but there’s a lot of buzz – this could be their year if they ever leave the west coast again.  Over the summer I would have said the vocals were mixed too low and the music was too far from the mainstream to be popular, but in a world where David Comes to Life is the album of the year anything’s possible.  And that’s the world I want to live in.

I’ll be replacing the album cover in all my meta data w/ this one, and my apologies to the artist who put it together originally.  I’m sure they must have had some reason for flipping reality.

On a related note: meh.

Media files w/ ‘#’ in the name appear to stop the Archos Media Scanner dead in its tracks.  Not just skipping the files, skipping all files that would have been scanned after that file.

Arcade Fire, Elliott Smith, even the Minutemen…

Someone should write a tune about [Alex Chilton]. Then again, nah, that would be impossible. Or just plain stupid.

Westerberg in the NYT

Nothing sums up the Flaming Lips live like this photo, stolen from brooklynvegan:

There were actually _two_ sets of Yetis on stage.

Lately, dunno if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been going to a LOT of shows. This one was down my list, not because they’re not a good band, but… well, you know, the heroin, the one hit albums, the new single, etc. We manged to get tickets early enough that we could go to the Friday show though, so why not? Normally I love the BB, but lately with all the smaller venues we’ve been going to I was sure I was going to hate it.

It turns out that they’re not that popular at all. We arrived exactly on time (or at least when I was planning on showing up), in time to watch them change for the headliners, and the place wasn’t that crowded. We got a good spot and Juliet could almost even see.

Their show is really interesting. The interplay between Kim & Kelly (who looks strangely like the more sober of the two these days) is great. Kelly’s almost the mom on stage… “Honey, are you ready to rock?”. In fact, the whole band was responsible for keeping a well lubed Kim on track. Invariably someone in the rhythm section would start the next song, interupting Kim’s drink or monologue when they decided it was time.

I shouldn’t comment on playing the guitars, because my sk1llz only extend to G & F, but the three (!) players in the Breeders could stand to learn to tune themselves. The constant breaks… pass the guitar back to tech, tune, return… slowed the show down considerably and accentuated Kim’s patter (not necessarily a bad things) making the show like being in their living room. Tuning aside, it’s obvious they all have a great musical ability – again, a good show. I wonder why more bands can’t move the drummer up with the rest of the band, is it because they can’t keep together without the constant pounding? It’s certainly not for lack of space, because the Breeders are 5 strong and managed to fit.

Yes, this is just one more thing that I owe J. – Spicy Gumbo.

How things changed when Read Music, Speak Spanish was finally released. Easily one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time, it’s one of those things that I have to school myself not to listen to every day. I was disappointed to hear that they were opeing for Jimmy Eats World all summer, playing venues that I’d never go to… until I randomly saw on pollstar that they were doing a warm up show at North Six the night before their Roseland gig in the city.

North Six is really the epitome of the new Williamsburgh and we’d never been, so that was going to be a bonus as well. Turns out that it could be one of the best places to see a show in the city – it’s set up very well, probably holds ~500 people and has a good (but really loud) sound system. I liked the bar & the people were really into what was going on.

Rilo Kiley opened, and they were great. Keyboards, yes, but enough guitars to keep me interested. North Six is set up so you can stand at the bar & be close enough to the stage to be engaged, without having chatters bother you (the sound system, again). As their set was finishing I was really worried that J was going to miss the start of the Desaparecidos – it was only 10:30 & I told her to show up @ 11. I didn’t know it, but there was another band playing second.

The Miracle of ’86 kicked my ass. Possibly the best emoish punk I’ve heard live (at least by accident) in a long time. I remember the first time I heard the Old ’97s live, I had no idea that people could have that much fun playing music that I wasn’t prepared for. This was exactly the same thing, he even emotes like Rhett, and I really thought I was seeing the start of something really special, a band that I’d want to see over & over again. AND they were based in Brooklyn. This was a Good show.

The Desaparecidos were, quite honestly, ok. This is a studio band. Conor’s voice just doesn’t work that well live (it does better in Bright Eyes), and he’s not the best guitar player in the world. They’ve replaced a few of the younger members since we saw them last (constant debate during the show about whether the lead player was the same guy much older or not), but still just ok. I’m sure their next will be another of my favorite disks, and I’ll always go see them live, but I wish they had the power & beauty that they manage to pull off in such a raw way on the album.

As for the openers… everything they put out on CD is only OK. Juliet says the first rule of music is that you must rock harder live, this is the first time I’ve run into to such an extent.

Unfortunately, they forgot to adverttise that there were two opening bands, so I was there an hour before I should have been. I really hate it when people do that just to sell more beer. I like getting there at the right time, and I feel tricked when they don’t tell me what’s really going on. Yes, I played right into their hands. Both opening bands were horrible – generic country band started & generic Brooklyn emo band was next – I was ready to give up & go home at around 11 but somehow managed to stick it out. Good choice

From the opener, Lumberlung, to the end of the set there was nothing but pure, fun, rock. The guys looked like they were having lots of fun, and the crowd was really into it. Slobberbone has groupies! How very strange.

I was dragging the next day, but decided to go into town for the next show anyway. I missed the first few songs, but caught enough to see that it was basically a similar set. Evenly distributed through the four albums, including the new one that’ll be out in September. The new songs sound good – much in the same vein as the older stuff. I’m perfectly happy if they just keep writing good songs the same way, at least for another album or two.

No encores on the first night, but Friday they did an incredible cover of Free World. It would be hard to screw that song up, but it made seeing the show twice worth it.