stoblog

Before i forget…in no particular order.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit Of The Stomach

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing

Radical Face - The Family Tree: The Roots

Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

m83 - Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Antlers - Burst Apart

The Crane Wives - Safe Ship, Harbored

Meursault - All Creatures Will Make Merry

This really was my favorite find of the past few years.  Having falling madly, deeply, obsessively in love with Frightened Rabbit…I just needed more of that brogue in my life.  These dudes opened up for FR on a tour…one that I didn’t catch, unfortunately.  Anyway, I’ve already said pretty much everything there is to say about this album a couple posts down.  So just pick the damn thing up.

Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt

Yeah, so he sounds a little like Dylon…so what.  This album just worms it’s way into your brain…makes you forget about the minimalism of the instrumentation that features on most of the album.  I can’t even talk about what this album is like for me.  It destroys me on a molecular level.  The vocal performance on this thing just can’t be missed.  

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Ok, I know this album has it’s critics.  I’m not concerned that it uses a similar sound structure throughout the record.  I don’t care that it’s heavily influenced by a lot of other bands.  This album is just damn fun to listen to.  They had me from the very first song, and it’s allusion to a play I happen to really love.  This album also proves that you don’t need a rack full of drums to rock out.  There are few other albums out there that get me as excited as this album does.  So there’s that.

Frightened Rabbit - Winter of Mixed Drinks

You know this had to be on this list.  I really like this album.  It’s not midnight organ fight.  I don’t think anyone will make another album that’s as important to me as that was.  So while this album isn’t life changing, it’s damn good.  I can find something about every song that I love.  

Jónsi - Go

This album is just a delight.  It’s pretty like a Disney princess; It’s sweet like candy…but it is more significant than both.  The complexity is astounding without sounding muddled.  Jónsi has the voice to pull this off where very few others could.  I was surprised and delighted by the range of this album.  Now if only my Icelandic weren’t so rusty.  

The National - High Violet

They just don’t miss, do they.  This is chapter in a really consistently good book.  There are just certain times, certain moods that I’m in…where nothing but the National will do: morning coffee and the National, self reflection and the National, a cold night and the National, etc.  Now if I only can find a way to steal his vocal chords…

Stars - The Five Ghosts

Yes.  I think Stars are back to their best.  Looking back on the year, for whatever reason I didn’t listen to this album as much as I thought I might have.  This is a shame really, because I like the mix of songs better than the last album.  I love the rock anthems, but one sleeper hit on this album…Changes, surprised me.  Seems totally unlike them, and yet fits perfectly.  My New Years resolution is to listen to this album more.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The next installment in the “artists-Joel’s-liked-forever’s new album” section.  I’m so glad I got some more female vocals on this album.  While that may not be such a good thing for the live shows, the album benefits.  It’s nice to hear that Arcade Firey sound again.  No one else can get quite the same feeling of size into their songs that these guys can get.  

Yusuf Azak - Turn on the Long Wire

I considered excluding this one, because i’m early in my flirtation with Yusuf.  I haven’t fully figured out if we’re going to just be friends with benefits, or if I’m going to let him into my heart.  I know I find him incredibly sexy, and new and fun.  I’m intrigued, but it just might be a crush.  The pick up line he used of Eastern Sun, was quite the introduction though.

First Aid Kit - The Big Black and Blue

Speaking of crushes.  These girls’ harmonies have had me for a while.  I feel like their album wasn’t quite as awesome as I thought it could have been.  Their harmonies and voices are spot on.  I don’t know, i just wish some of the arrangement would have gotten out of the way for their voices.  I’m just kinda stubborn about liking these girls despite everything else.  So there you go

Honorable Mention:

Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

Belle and Sebastian - Write about Love

S. Carey - All We Grow

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Cloud Cult - Light Chasers

Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights

Yeasayer - ODD BLOOD

She and Him - Volume Two

oh and I heard Kanye had an album this year too…huh

1. Arsenal

2. Chelsea

3. Manchester United

4. Manchester City

5. Tottenham

6. Liverpool

7. Everton

8. Aston Villa

9. West Ham United

10. Sunderland

11. Fulham

12. Wigan Athletic

13. Stoke City

14. Blackburn Rovers

15. Wolverhampton Wanderers

16. Bolton Wanderers

17. Newcastle United

18. Birmingham

19. West Bromwich Albion

20. Blackpool 

Some may say that this is self-indulgent, braggy and at points downright misleading.  To this I would say…you’re just jealous of how lucky and cool I am.

5. OMG Tornadoes with Daniel Smith

This story begins as so many other did in this list…I was working a show at Calvin.  This show happened to be Danielson during their ships tour…(aka post tree, post documentary).  This also happened to be just when they were at the peak of their indie popularity (how does Ken Heffner do it).  Midway through lugging gear in for the show…there was a tornado warning.  This meant the whole lot of us had to pop on down to the Fine Arts Center basement.  The whole lot in this case means everyone…rock stars included.  About 20 are crammed down there, and being the opportunist that I am, I started a conversation with the newly accessible lead singer of Danielson.  We had time to chat about music, share a laugh, contemplate worst case tornado scenarios, and revel in the beauty and sadness that surrounds Daniel Johnston (who also had a documentary out at the time).  Turns out he’s not as bat shit insane as I thought he was!  He in this case being…

Funness - 7 (meeting was marred slightly by the fact that we feared for our lives)

Cred - 5 (ships had incredible critical acclaim…but I don’t see Danielson taking over the important finger-stache demographic any time soon)

4.  Dubbed and Cross Fade(d) with John Vanderslice

    Having been given intelligence on the approachability and niceness of JV from my spies in the field (Bryan Wuest), I hung around a bit by his green room after loading in equipment at the Ladies Lit.  Don’t remember exactly how our conversation started but it was something much like…”Hey…i mean Hi uh…Ji…John…i mean mr. Vanderslice…I…i mean do you…have you..,hehe…I hear you make music without using new fangled technoputers…is it cuz ur old?”  Jvslice (as us friends call him) patiently explained his recording philosophy and talked about the internets and keeping in touch with his fans.  He taught me mic placement for 1940s era mandolins, which mic to use if you’re micing a 3 year old shitzu with a torn vocal cord,  and what a chamber orchestra sounds on tape after leaving the tape exposed in the hot desert sun for a day and a half.  Basically he is a super cool genuine guy who absolutely is amazing at and loves his passion of analog recording.  He even recognized me after the show, thanked me for setting up and we hi fived…poorly.

Funometer - 8 (if you’re going to talk to one person in the world about analog recording…he’s a good choice)

Cred - 6 (even though his solo career has cooled a bit, he has been around forever and has produced for some of the greats…and will continue to do so.)

3. - It’s gotten late and now I want to be alone with Benjamin Gibbard

One of the most exhausting load outs of my Calvin Career was the Fieldhouse Death Cab/Ben Kweller/Aveo show.  The show itself suffered from what’s known as thefieldhousehadshittysounditis for the most part.  However, I was near the front of the concert so I got a great view of all the action (including a number of missed snare hits on Title and Registration, Benjamin…tsk tsk).  In any case it came to that point where Ben was kind of milling around and i was talking to my sister on the phone…and my sister loves herself some Gibbard so I thought…huh this would totally be completely unawkward if Ben Gibbard talked to my sister on the phone.  So I’m like “Hey Ben Gibbard my sister is a huge fan [thereby implying that I could care less…smooth Joel]…will you talk to her on the phone?”  He was all like “uh…what?” and I was all like “yeah…phone, you, my sister, she likey the Cab…whadyasay?”  He was all like “Hell yeah bro.”  So he did, and my sister was petrified, but whatever.  After a little chit chat with the big guy, I decided that I was going to lay my tired overworked bones down for a nap.  I pop on over to the dorms, and flop in bed, only to be awakened 11 times from 4:30 to 5:30 in the morning, sometimes answering the phone, sometimes allowing it to go to voicemail…usually the conversation approximated this line of Dialogue “Joel….you’re probably making/hanging out with Ben…jamin Gi…bbard right now, why are you doing that?”  I don’t think my sister and her friends ever believed that I wasn’t at an all night exclusive VIP party with Ben Gibbard…but such is life.  

Funsanity 9/1 - (the 9 is for meeting the future ex-husband of the future Zooey Stob)

Cred  5 - (In certain circles Death Cab for Cutie is still a hallowed name)

2.  How much Torquil does this Van have anyway with Stars

After much haranguing and gnashing of teach from Dave Lyzenga and I, we finally got Kenny boy to bring Stars to Calvin.  Am I glad we did.  From the beginning I knew it was going to be a good day, a smiling Amy Millan introduced herself to me out back by the trailer to their Tour Bus.  I responded with a cool calm and collected “MARRY ME AMY aiEEEEEEEEE…no seriously you wanna?  No?  You’re sure?”  After flooring her with my wit and charm I met the rest of the band, all of whom have their own unique kind of cool  (Evan Cranley’s hats are soooo Boss).  After helping get everything moved in and set up Torquil asked…does anyone have a phone card?  With nothing but completely altruistic self-sacrifice in mind, I offered to give Torquil a ride to look for one.  So we head out on a wild phone card hunting adventure.  

Let me just stop and say how odd an experience it is to make a turn out of Calvin College’s parking lot on to East beltline…a turn I’ve made a thousand times…look to the right, and instead of seeing no one, or one of the schlubs I normally hang out with…I see Torquil effing Campbell.  

For the first time on this list the Rock Star was actually the initiator of conversation, asking about Calvin and my association with it and all that.  During the ride we talked over the meaning of a song I really liked, and after striking out a number of times for phone cards, we decided to get back, so he could…you know…rock the socks off a thousand people.  Theeennnnn during the show (for which I had front row seats) I get a shout out and a “thanks for driving me around and stuff” from him on stage.  After the show Amy Sto…sorry, a little premature…ahem, Millan wrote me a super secret message on the single that I picked up at the Merch counter, and the rest of the band all signed it, aaaaand I couldn’t have scripted it much better.

Funazingness - 9.5  (What I’m Trying to Say is if I could have One More Night like that, it would warm my Heart)

Cred - 7 (Incredibly underrated, still respected)

1.  I could have like 8 more of these with Scott Hutchison

Frightened Rabbit is my favorite band ever.  So just seeing them the other night sent my musicnerdfreakoutometer dangerously near “emotional breakdown.”  We had a great spot and the show was everything I could have wanted in a show, and I was happy…blissful…content.  We piled into the local watering hole next to the venue and exchanged notes on what had already been a great evening.  Then, it started with the guitar player.  He walks in, and my heart stops beating…”I have to say something”, I said to myself, “I have a list of self-indulgent indie moments in my life to write.”  So I swung by and said “Hey man great set.”  Then he blasted me in the face with appreciation for my appreciation “oh did you like it, that’s great…we had a great time…thanks sooo much”  It was the left, right uppercut of niceness and appreciation.  I was slightly taken aback when out of the corner of my eye I see the man…nay…the legend Scott Hutchison walks in.  The cartoon version of this story has my body following my jaw to a heap in the floor.  In  the real version of this story I Somehow work up the nerve to tell him how much I loved the show.  Fortunately I was just tipsy enough to ignore the nerves of being in close proximity to one of my absolute idols.  We cover fandom and albums gone past, and pitchfork, and super obscure Scottish bands (see an earlier post).  He even fills us in on his ex and current girlfriends…those who have listened to Midnight Organ Fight might know why this is exciting information.  During the course of this conversation we had bought him a shot…which he enjoyed apparently because he expressed the desire to drink large quantities of them.  He nuzzled my bosom, rubbed my tummy, bought our group a few rounds of shots and stumbled onto the buss…as close to a cowboy and his sunset as I will ever experience.

Fun Stuff - 10  (there are no words)

Cred - 8 (as he put it…we don’t even need Pitchfork anymore)

• The Album Leaf
• Sea Wolf
• The Welcome Wagon
• Joanna Newsom
• The Dutchess & the Duke
• Half-Handed Cloud
• The Mountain Goats
• Final Fantasy
• The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers
• Great Lake Swimmers
• Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers
• The Books
• Mucca Pazza
• Lupe Fiasco
• David Bazan, Baby Dee & Vic Chesnutt
• The Hold Steady
• Titus Andronicus
• Los Campesinos!
• K’Naan
• The Blind Boys of Alabama
• My Brightest Diamond
• Mates of State
• Berry
• Fleet Foxes
• Broken Social Scene
• Sleeping at Last
• Ratatat
• Stars
• Erin McKeown
• Grizzly Bear
• Yo La Tengo
• My Brightest Diamond
• Rosie Thomas
• Anathallo
• Josh Ritter
• Most Serene Republic
• Explosions in the Sky
• Iron and Wine
• OK Go
• Danielson
• Lovedrug
• Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
• David Bazan
• Page France
• Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
• Neko Case
• Sufjan Stevens
• Andrew Bird
• St. Vincent
• John Vanderslice
• Jose Gonzalez
• breathe owl breathe
• Sufjan Stevens
• Laura Veirs
• Seu Jorge
• Aqualung
• Jeff Tweedy
• Copeland
• David Bazan, Vic Chesnutt, Mark Eitzel, and Will Johnson (Undertow Orchestra)
• Sigur Rós
• Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
• Nickel Creek
• The Cinematic Underground
• The Books

Christmas came for this author on Cinco de Mayo this year.  For it was on this day that I received a brown paper wrapped package from the United Kingdom.  It contained one standard post-card on which were pictures of what I could only ascertain were located in the former Soviet Union (one picture was a Monument to Lenin at Lenin Square).  On the back of said postcard was a hand written note detailing the other contents and ending with the guaranteed-to-make-me-smile britishism…”Cheers!”  This package also contained a copy of Meursault’s brand new and much anticipated (by me at least) album.  

If you have yet to listen to any Meursault, I would suggest picking up…EVERYTHING EVER PRODUCED BY THEM.  Or if you want a taste try the Nothing Broke EP (eMusic - http://www.emusic.com/album/Meursault-Nothing-Broke-MP3-Download/11460682.html).  Neil Pennycockingtonbridge, the enigmatic  lead singer (is it just me or are all lead singers described as enigmatic)…has the kind of voice that only a parent could love…the lyrics at times more squawked than sung.  Well I must have traveled back in time and impregnated Mrs. Pennychamberlainstone as I love the beans out of every vocaltearingly strained note.

Running the normal Meursault (pronounced Murr - so…all french like) gamut from Electronic noisy lo-fi screamyness to damn near folky to more fleshed out soundscapeyness…i feel that they do well to keep you well away from boredom…this is enhanced by the manageability of the albums 40min runtime.  Basically this album is the best thing since individually packaged breakfast pastries.  So in a couple weeks pop on over to emusic/amazon/the “Sung, by Toad” website and pick this thing up.  There may even be some copies of the pre-order cd left RIGHT NOW at their website…mmmkay?