The State of the (Music) Nation...Best of 2009

Soooooo 2009. All of these “Best of the Decade” things coming out. Exhausting. This decade had marked ny withdrawal from being a serious follower of popular music. Sure... my son Jon kept me on life support for his High School years as his interest was piqued and he developed in the budding, dismissive music snob he has become. I guess I at least accomplished something there. But for myself digital music is awesome but it has created lazy habits which I keep reinforcing. When I was buying albums and CD’s part of the discipline was to read the liner notes, find out who the players were, who produced it, where it was recorded. Now I might hear a new artist I want to try and I go to iTunes and download the two or three most popular tracks on the CD... then if I like it I go get more. Sometimes I prelisten to the 30 second snippet. Sometimes not. Sometimes when you buy the whole album you get the digital CD package which includes the liner notes and art.... but I never look at it. The loss of tangibility of the product makes it much less appealing.

More importantly I use to listen to the whole CD. I listened as Neil Young experimented on deeper tracks with something different. I listened when a band threw in a cover of an old blues artist I had never heard of. I listened to the song that they let the bass player record because they were so sick of his bitching. With talented artist there was always great stuff buried after the two or three “radio ready” tracks. Is there even radio anymore for music? I mean locally we have KDHX but after that we have a few WalMart Music channels that dependably deliver T Swift and the like, we also get rap and of course big hat Nashville Country but no one is out there playing new music like K-SHE did before getting hopelessly enmeshed in the dreaded (and very popular) classic rock format.

So where does that leave me? Reasonably happy. There is probably more access to more varieties of music then ever before. There are very few ultimate taste makers once you get below the national pop culture level. There are thousands (literally thousands) immediately below that that listen and opine on everything. All you can do is find someone with similar tastes and see if they have something new for you.

So this is what I liked in 2009, may it rest in blessed peace.


1. Mountain Goats: The Life of the World To Come. I cannot say enough about John Darnielle and the prolific work he does with the band The Mountain Goats. Last years Heretic Pride was a tour de force of sonic, lyrical angst. No one brings the dysfunction of day to day life to my ears like this guy right now. He is a man in the middle of the struggle figuring out where he is and what he should be doing. This time he paints a tableaux on a dozen Bible verses and in every case is thought provoking and in some cases beautiful. By this one and listen three times. It has my favorite song line of the year on it: "someone leads the beast in on it's chain. And I know your thinking of me cause it's just about to rain". Buy it.

2. Bonnie Prince Billie: Beware. Like Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and Will Scheff of Okkervil River Will Oldham paints his pictures through a band that changes names and casts with his mood. Lately he has been Bonnie Prince Billie and though it is an annoying name he has done some great stuff and this CD is no exception. This is about as accessible and country as he gets with lots of fiddle and pedal steel. Do not ignore this odd little man and this CD will be a great introduction. Several of the songs like "You Don't Love Me" are probably not suitable for the kids but...don't worry about, you are probably not suitable for them either if your reading this.

3. Elvis Costello: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane: Look, I love the guy. With Dylan and Neil Young he has done more for me then anyone else musically and has developed the dreaded "body of work" that cannot be denied. This C is country, country, country and is just awesome. Pedal steel and old school melodies and songs. He does a great country remix of "Complicated Shadows" which at least matches his original but from a different direction. "Changing Partners" and the title cut are also top notch. Buy it.

4. Bon Iver: Blood Bank: This was a nice E.P. and a follow up to last years beautiful CD "For Emma And Ever Ago". Last years "Skinny Love" was an anthem and this years creepy, haunting and Beautiful "Blood Bank" will make you question all analogies for love you have ever heard. It is all night music. It is night music. It is not for everyone. It shouldn't be.

5. Rhett Miller: Rhett Miller: This guy just writes great songs. He has turned 40 and is still fronting The Old 97's and has never (and will never) get any acclaim on his own but he writes great songs and I could turn the lights out, have a beer and listen to this guy sing the phone book any day. "Nobody Says I love You Anymore", "I Need To Know Where I stand" and "Haphazardly" along with everything else on the CD....just hold up well. Not liking Rhett Miller is a form of self hating. Don't give in.

6. Blind Pilot: Three Rounds and a Sound: This was the nicest surprise for me this year. Tuneful and hummable and memorable. It rocks and it rolls. It is well written and cannot be denied. I do not know why no one else is listening to this band. Download the title cut, "The Story I've Heard" and "One Red Thread". You will not be sorry. You have the Diner Review Guaranty.

7. M. Ward: Hold Time: I never know what to do with M. Ward. he is brilliant and he is clever and he is a great guitarist and he does a lot of interesting things. That being said there is a sameness to his stuff which is sometimes numbing. The cute stuff he did with Zoey Deschanel seemed to further loosen him up which is a good thing and "The Monsters Of Folk" seems to further emphasize that he needs someone else or perhaps several other people to bounce things off of but this is a very solid CD.

8. Sun Volt: American central Dust: Jay Farrar breaks out of his mold by going back to his solo roots. Ever since his brilliant CD Trace, Farrar and Sun Volt have been headed down this dreaded "more authentic then thou" and it just got more and more exhausting, minimalistic and depressing. With this CD he breaks out with a little great guitar from every one's favorite side man Mark Spencer. Spencer has an appreciation for Farrar which comes through on this CD and he helps Farrar not to get lost in his moping. This is their best since Trace and deserves a buy.

9. William Elliot Whitmore: Animals In The Dark. it is fitting that this guy follows Farrar and Sn Volt. This is old school solo country folk. My favorite song "Hell or High Water" is a tour de force of aching, remorse and celebration. This is great a cappella white boy blues from an Iowan who seems full of remorse. If nothing else download "Hell or High Water" and "Old Devils". Worth it

10. The Decembrists: The Hazards of Love. More solid work by the irascible Colin Meloy. There is some good stuff on this CD. "The Hazards of Love" and "The Rake's Song" are no less then brilliant. Meloys problem is that he is too clever by half and seems to be getting caught up in the legend of his own brilliance. If he continues in this direction he is going to become "precious" and we will be able to be done with him, as we got done with Lou Reed, David Bowie and all the rest who get caught up in their genius and personae. Until then, enjoy it. There is a lot of talent in these Shakesperian pretenses.


Biggest Disappointment: The Felice Brothers: Yonder Is the Clock, No New Okkervil River