A bird, drinking.

Ok, so I didn’t exactly take any pictures today. I should, right? But I slacked off today and just did homework. But if I had gone photographing today, it’s very possible that I would have taken a picture like this, of my roommate’s lovable dog.

This song came up just as I was starting to write this, and I remembered how much i liked getting mentally lost in the corridors of its warm fuzz in middle school. Ah, the good old days.

It’s a better place than where my mind’s been most of the last two days, grieving and discomforted by the shooting in Tucson. Putting my academic hat on, this has been the most important analysis about it that I’ve seen. An excerpt:

At another, Loughner makes extraordinarily obscure comments about language and grammar, suggesting that the government engages in “mind control on the people by controlling grammar.” That’s not the kind of idea that’s very common out there, even on the Internet. In fact, I think it’s pretty clear that Loughner is taking ideas from Patriot conspiracy theorist David Wynn Miller of Milwaukee. Miller claims that the government uses grammar to “enslave” Americans and offers up his truly weird “Truth-language” as an antidote. For example, he says that if you add colons and hyphens to your name in a certain way, you are no longer taxable.

I had some topical problems with my thumbs that I was forced to go to the doctor for today. As a result, I don’t have that useful opposable thumb functionality, so I’m pretty sure there’s currently nothing separating me from the apes.

While 2010 had a plethora of new releases, 2011 is shaping up to have some great new releases (see below). On top of that, Rdio.com finally picked up the Merge/Matador libraries, so they’re worth the $5/month to try things out/pick up things I’ll only sort of like. I’ll definitely think about but probably won’t get to writing a solid review of the service.

So the new releases, courtesy of my records and Pitchfork:

1/11/11

British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall
Broken Records: Let Me Come Home

1/18/11

The Decemberists: The King Is Dead
Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde
Soda Shop
Tennis: Cape Dory

1/25/11

– The first big week
Cloud Nothings: Cloud Nothings
Cold War Kids: Mine Is Yours
Destroyer: Kaputt
Fujiya & Miyagi: Ventriloquizzing
Get Up Kids: There Are Rules
I Was a King: Old Friends
Iron & Wine: We Kiss Each Other Clean
John Vanderslice: White Wilderness

2/8/11

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead: Tao of the Dead
Cut Copy: Zonoscope

2/15/11

– The next big week
Asobi Seksu: Fluorescence
Bright Eyes: The People’s Key
Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Shugo Tokumaru: Port Entropy
Telekinesis: 12 Desperate Straight Lines

2/22/11

The Cave Singers: No Witch
Soft Province

3/1/11

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes
Papercuts: Fading Parade
The Rural Alberta Advantage: Departing

3/8/11

A Hawk and a Hacksaw: CERVANTINE
Dodos: Time to Die
Parts & Labor: Constant Future
R.E.M.: Collapse Into Now
Wye Oak: Civilian

3/15/11

The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar

3/29/11

Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck
Peter Bjorn and John: Gimme Some
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong

On with the list:

10. Dr. Dog – Shame Shame

I hated this album when I first heard it. I don’t know why – I just found the harmonies a bit too nasally for my tastes at first. And, really, I don’t think I was actually listening to it, because when I actually sat down and gave it time, I realized it was actually a series of really complex songs that are just dusted with a low-key 60s lo-fi vibe.

9. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record

Broken Social Scene – Texico Bitches from Arts & Crafts on Vimeo.

Broken Social Scene, being an indie rock supergroup, rarely disappoint – at least when the full band is on the scene. The last couple albums, in their “Broken Social Scenes Presents…” series have fallen a bit short, so, of course, it was wonderful to see them back at full strength.

What can be said about the album itself? The music is always incredibly layered and interesting, with healthy, driving bass lines, energetic drumming, and incredible multi-gender harmonies. There are at least 10 standout tracks, including Texico Bitches, All To All, and Romance to the Grave.

8. Bonobo – Black Sands

Mini-mix of the entire album

It’s been 4 years since Bonobo’s last album, Days to Come. However, for me, Bonobo had almost completely slid off my radar since the phenomenal Dial M for Monkey. This was a triumphant return – every beat perfect, every song laidback and chill, but interesting enough that it deserves more attention. I’ve listened to this album while studying, with my attention diverted, and bike riding, when I focused on the songs themselves more, and it worked in both situations.

7. Shout Out Louds – Work

Few bands in recent years have forged a stronger connection to me than Shout Out Louds, largely because they were my main musica companion during a 3 week period in which, between work and a volunteer job, I was working 20 hours a day, everyday. They tap into my adolescent love of the Cure, add in a dash of Swedish earnestness, and manage to do so without sounding whiny. Their best songs, like Fall Hard or Walls, are incredibly catchy and end up stuck in your head for days.

6. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor

How did a band from Jersey write such a phenomenal album about the Civil War that managed to simultaneously include the perspective of the broken man fighting at the boundaries of his limitations? The lyrics are both historical and modern, like a David Lynch movie that shifts between flashbacks and current scenes seamlessly. The song above, for example, ranges from gridlock on the Garden State Parkway to a soldier sobbing over a friend hanging from the sourapple tree. It seems to say that we’re still caught up in the useless battles that society has always faced.

Also, the guitar/violinist has an interesting tourblog.

5. Villagers – Becoming a Jackal

A lot of singer-songwriters sound pretty similar – just a guitar and a singer. Sometimes a drum machine idles in the background to round out the rhythm. The sound can be full or delicate, but the focus is on the guitar and the voice. Villagers, a project of Irishman Conor O’Brien, isn’t afraid to alter that dynamic, at the same time adding new depth to the arrangements but stripping them down to the sparse essentials at the same time.

4. Josh Ritter – So Runs the World Away

The above video is a good testament to Josh Ritter’s work – often brimming with emotion, but fragile at the same time. They can be metaphysical, tying you to their mast as they navigate through indelible melodies, tales, and soundscapes. There are a number of stunning songs on here – The Curse, Change of Time, Folk Bloodbath, The Remnant. Musically and lyrically this may be the most interesting album this year.

3. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Really, Arcade Fire almost always win for me. Their epic anthems are always empowering, but songs like Sprawl II or The Suburbs were especially so. The album’s themes are worn on its sleeve, but that’s ok. Who doesn’t like some social commentary on the vapidness of the suburbs? They’re soul crushing, obesity inducing, the embodiment of sterility and lack of personality.

Also, the video/website for “We Used to Wait” is pretty awesome.

2. The National – High Violet

I’m getting tired of writing, to be perfectly honest. I think it’s sufficient to say that there is nothing The National could do that would be bad at this point.

1. Allo Darlin’ – Allo Darlin’

I found this band a week after the end of a nearly 4 year relationship. The upbeat, charming twee was exactly what I needed. The summer was at its peak, I was driving a lot, and this made for perfect driving with the windows down in summer weather. It oozes with a silly, happy charm, as if all the world didn’t matter. And at that point, I needed to hear that, and a lot of it.

But more importantly, it had staying power. The hooks were still infectious in the winds of fall, waiting for a late bus and, surprisingly, not caring because of a toetapping song.

Plus, the video is a takeoff on The Breakfast Club. Instant win!

Honorable Mentions

Best Coast – Crazy for You
Film School – Fission
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I can
Laura Veirs – July Flame
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
Mimicking Birds – s/t
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
New Pornographers – Together
Perfume Genius – Learning
Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
Radical Face – Touch the Sky
She & Him – Volume 2
Summer Fiction – s/t
Tallest man on Earth – The Wild Hunt/Sometimes the Blues…
Vampire Weekend – Contra
The Walkmen – Lisbon

These kinds of lists are always a question of the difference between ‘best’ and ‘favorite’. Just because a song is a favorite doesn’t mean it actually qualifies as best, does it? And what does best actually mean, anyway? How do you measure it? I’m not an expert on music, just someone passionate about it.

So some of these songs may not be the best, but they’re definitely my favorites. These are the songs that ended up stuck in my head, or really affecting me in some way. Maybe I just listened to them a lot. Maybe they convinced me to buy the album. Maybe they were just damn good.

Of course, this is the most difficult type of list to produce, especially when you forget about it until 4 or 5 days after Christmas. The list was pared down from an initial cut of 144 to the 50 songs below. They’re presented in no specific order because it didn’t seem like I could figure out that ranking as well. Some have comments about why they’re important, but with 50 songs, not all garnered that level of attention.

• Active Child – Take Shelter (Curtis Lane – EP)
  It’s the traffic sounds during the chorus that really do it for me. It could have been an accompaniment to Tron.


• Allo Darlin’ – Kiss Your Lips (Allo Darlin’)
  Every song on this album is pop perfection, but I could only pick one.


• Angus & Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane (Down The Way)
  In strings heaven.


• Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (The Suburbs)
  Regine’s songs are usually my favorites.


• Beach House – Norway (Teen Dream)


• Breathe Owl Breathe – Swimming (Magic Central)
  Never heard a song that conveys in everything – music, lyrics, ambiance – the feeling of lazily trawling across a pool.


• Crystal Castles – Not In Love (ft. Robert Smith) (Not In Love)
  This really could have been a Cure song. I always like to see him do good projects.


• The Drums – Book of Stories (The Drums)
  Loved this song for personal reasons.


• Eels – Baby Loves Me (Tomorrow Morning)
  Just fun.


• Film School – Heart Full of Pentagons (Fission)
  The minute long intro, and then its transition to the chorus, are what really makes this song great.


• Freelance Whales – Hannah (Weathervanes)
  Great blend of old school instruments and fuzzed out beeps and boops.


• Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See Land (The Winter of Mixed Drinks)
  This is a great song, but it gets extra points for its conspicuousness in Chuck


• girls in the eighties – Roll with the Punches (Faceless Sonic Boom)
  Fuzz.


• Hey Marseilles – Rio (To Travels and Trunks)


• Home Video – Every Love That Ever Was (The Automatic Process)
  Proving that low budget Radiohead can still be good.


• Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Come Undone (Hawk)


• Jenny And Johnny – Committed (I’m Having Fun Now)
  Good return for Jenny Wilson after her last couple terrible albums.


• Josh Ritter – Change of Time (So Runs The World Away)
  The best Ritter songs give you license to float away on the melody. This one, despite the title, is actually timeless.


• kissed her little sister – cocaine (HIGHandLOW)
  Not just anyone can cover a classic Johnny Cash song without committing atrocities against music kind (see video below). This is one of those rare exceptions: the spirit of the original coupled with the chaos inherent in the modern era.
  


• Kisses – Bermuda (The Heart of the Nightlife)
  80s!


• Laura Marling – Alpha Shallows (I Speak Because I Can)
  Haunting intro. Chorus is a brilliant machine echoing in a diamond mine.


• The Like – Release Me (Release Me)
  60s girl pop.


• Los Campesinos! – Straight In At 101 (Romance Is Boring)
  Darker Los Campesinos is still fun.


• The Love Language – Heart To Tell (Libraries)
  This song is all about the drumstop in the bridge.


• Magic Kids – Summer (Memphis)
  A good British style twee song about summer.


• Menomena – Taos (Mines)
  The best Menomena songs are full of surprises, with several style, rhythm and time shifts throughout the songs


• Mimicking Birds – New Doomsdays (Mimicking Birds)
  This song will echo across frozen wintry landscapes when civilization collapses.


• Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man (Sigh No More)
  One of those songs that’s so good you almost feel bad that it’s getting recognition by the less deserving.


• The National – Terrible Love (High Violet)
  Berninger’s baritone, as usual, is the perfect 5th instrument. More importantly, the actual music reflects the cacophony of love.


• Perfume Genius – Learning (Learning)


• The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire (Clinging to a scheme)
  Silly opening aside, this is the kind fo song Radio Dept. fans love, especially on a rainy day.


• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams (True Love Cast Out All Evil)
  This song sounds like the last whimpers of a broken man.


• Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – She Ain’t a Child No More (I Learned the Hard Way (Bonus Version))


• She & Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Volume Two)
  Aural crack.


• Shout Out Louds – Walls (Work)
  Took me a while to accept this poppier version of Shout Out Louds. Glad I did.


• Slow Club – let’s fall back in love (Let’s fall back in love EP)
  Have to have some representative of the folk/stomp rock that I’ve liked so much the past few years. This one takes a while to get going, but once it does – perfection.


• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Gotta Getta Record Out (Green cover)
  Cover off a split EP with Telekinesis. How can you not include a song like this?


• Steel Train – Bullet (Steel Train)
  Requisite alternative sounding song.


• Stornoway – Zorbing (Beachcomber’s Windowsill)
  Does anyone know what Zorbing actually is? Or am I just too old? In the end, it doesn’t really matter.


• Strange Boys – Be Brave (Be Brave)
  Tortured.


• Summer Camp – Round The Moon (Young)
  More 80s!


• The Tallest Man On Earth – The Dreamer (Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird – EP)
  How can a line (“sometimes the blues’ just a passing bird/and why can’t that always be?”) be simultaneously beautiful, uplifting and heartbreaking?


• Tanlines – Three Trees (Settings)


• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Bottled In Cork (The Brutalist Bricks)
  Any song that starts with the line “There was a resolution pending on the United Nations floor” automatically gets added to my list. The second song that starts halfway through seals the deal.


• Tennis – Marathon Heavily anticipating this album. Great story, too – couple recorded this on their boat as they escaped the responsibilities of adult life for a few months.


• The Thermals – Your Love Is So Strong (Personal Life)
  Frankly, I needed more “oh oh way oh oh oh’s”.


• Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union (The Monitor)
  Civil War + The Boss.


• Villagers – Becoming A Jackal (Becoming A Jackal)


• The Walkmen – Woe Is Me (Lisbon)
  
  
• Yeasayer – Ambling Alp (Odd Blood)
  Such an interesting song – there’s so much going on. This was an early favorite of the year.

For a variety of reasons, I’ve been driving back home late at night frequently the past few weeks from the LA region. And each time, as I’m hypnotized by the glowing white lane markers, I’m transported to the time the ex and I visited the college for the first time to ascertain its potential as a potential graduate school for both of us. It was a time filled with hope and promise, like the middle of any relationship, when the dark undercurrents haven’t yet pulled you to the depths. But more specifically, I remember being so tired, and just needing her help o get through the last 40 minutes, when the bright lights of LA’s sprawl dissipate and the darkness of the oceanside road envelops. And she gave it; commiserating over such trivialities as the number of State St exits Santa Barbara features on the 101; making up stories about what was out in the darkness and why there were no street lights on the freeway (we had no idea we were driving along the ocean).

And when we finally got to the hotel, sleepy driving crisis averted, we nestled together happily.

Those are the moments worth hanging onto even as the circumstances that created them slip out of grasp.

Fyfe Dangerfield – High on the Tide

I just got back from a weekend trip to San Francisco; the first of its kind even though I’ve been here for a year. I did fall for the city, like I do for almost every big city. Wandering through the forest of skyscrapers, I feel connected. It doesn’t really matter what city, I just am at peace, and I often feel an omnipresent smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

The same thing happens in nature. While running at the beach today (my life is so hard), this song came on the iPod. It made me simultaneously feel in touch with the beauty of the ocean and my memories of the beauty of the city.

Jaill (sic) is a band from Wisconsin, of all places, but they play good power pop, often with a surf rock vibe. They’re touring with The Hold Steady down the coast right now, but unfortunately, I’ll be out of town when they hit SB.

I’ve been on a summer kick lately; perhaps this has turned out to be one of the more invigorating ones in recent memory. I think I’ll have to make a power pop mix to accompany its slow fade.