Sooo… I did not listen to enough good music this year. I listened to my favorites but did not find a lot for my friends and...what kind of friend is that? I blame myself for watching TV and rotting my sensibilities. I also blame the Obama administration and… and global warming. Fortunately I stopped watching, listening to and reading the news and avoided practicing law for December and it allowed me to catch up on the important things in life...new music and gluten free cooking. I did not put numbers by them but generally put them in order with the CD OF THE YEAR upfront. Enjoy… or don't.
Jason Isbell: Southeastern: Jason Isbell started his musical career or more appropriately “came of age” in the seminal, sometimes brilliant Drive By Truckers as one of the three lead guitarist/songwriters that made the band so interesting. If you are of an age and miss the sublime raggedness of the Allman Brother… go by the Drive By Truckers “Southern Rock Anthem”. Unfortunately for Isbell the band and his… youthful exuberance” almost killed him. Happily it did not. This new CD Southeastern is nothing but brilliant all the way through. Isbell if he never does anything else gave us a perfect CD of loss and finding yourself in middle age and coming to peace with… at least a significant number of demons.
“Cover Me Up”, “Stockholm”, “Elephant”, “Flying Over Water” and “Different Days” are songwriting tutorials and his voice carries a nice Ryan Adams accessibility that I really was not expecting.
This Is the CD/Album of the year for me… although it did not make Pitchfork's top 50 Album list. WTF? Why do they hate America?
Okkervil River: Silver Gymnasium. Sheff and his band are long time favorites of mine and I never miss their releases but I consider this CD a return to form. Sheff is in the blessed position of doing whatever he wants and his side trips to work with Roky Erickson and the somewhat slight CD that followed were a not so fun of a side trip. The new CD has been covered adnauseum and it is Will Sheff’s ode to growing up in a small New England town and I have already reviewed it but it is pretty brilliant. “On The Balcony”, “Pink Slips”, “It Was My Season”, and “Down The Deep River” are just tuneful pop romps. Buy the whole CD. It holds up as a narrative of growing up and the references to 80’s pop culture are intuitive and delightful.Live a little. More important it did not make Pitchfork's top 50 albums either. It gets better each time I listen… still.
Neko Case: “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You”... trying to battle Fiona Apple for the long, imponderable CD title (“The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do”) but if we get by this contrivance we discover one of the best CD’s of the year and certainly her best work to date. She has progressed from a Vancouver Punk to a faux country standards singer, and then by hooking up sequentially with The Sadies and then becoming the best vocal chops for The New Pornographers has...defied genres and it manifests itself in this great, broad piece of work. Kelly Hogan, AC Newman and M. Ward help along the way. My favorite song…”City Swans”. This is also one that should not be missed.
Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt: This is a totally different “Southern Thing” from Kacey Musgraves or Brandy Clarkson. This is dark introspective stuff and more evocative of William Faulkner than “Hee Haw”. This is excellent, I had never heard of her and Pitchfork put it on their best of list which caused me to listen. It has no hits. It is solid throughout. I think she is in her early 20s and there's a lot of angst. Buy this one to be ahead of the curve. Think of Chan Marshall and her band Cat Power accept that she has something to say and when you listen to her you don't want to shoot yourself in the head. This is another CD that everytime I listen I grab something else. “Hollow Bedroom”, “Dixie Cups and Jars” and “Your Damaged” are play listing in the Mazda mobile listening room. Seriously, this is a band and an artist almost no one has heard and you should. Impress your friends, or at least stump them.
Natalie Maines: “Mother” I seem to be on a twangy female binge but that is only because they are producing so much great music. Natalie is of course daughter of Lloyd Maines the renowned pedal steel player and session man. She of course was also the lead voice and songwriting chops of “The Dixie Chicks” but their demise for me was...unlamented. This album is brilliant beginning with the title track which she got from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. On “The Wall” I ignored this song. Here it is...epic. She brings in a host of talented admirers to play with her on this CD including Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper and even Eddie Vedder on “Without You”. The whole CD is flawless and a statement but “Mother”, “Without You”, “Silver Bell” and her cover of the Jayhawks “I’d Run Away” with Louris are worth the price of the download.
Parquet Courts:"Light Up The Gold". OK… this is the funnest CD of the year. This is the full length CD review of Brooklyn Punkers. I dont know what these guys were doing before but you can take everything I love from early Built To Spill and here it here as these guys thrash around beautifully. This is car music or club music but it great music and for those of you that know me and love me, there is no twang involved. Buy this one. Play it loud. Smile.
Kurt Vile: "Wakin On A Pretty Daze". OK… this is another one that just grabbed me at the end of the year. This guy is really an excellent find. Think of Lou Reed/R.E.M. with a sense of humor. It made number 1 in the UK on the indie charts. According to Vile (which is a great name) “It’s just about my life, without thinking too much about it. I feel comfortable with the lyrics.” Cannot pick a good song. The whole thing rocks.
*
The Lorde CD/EP. 16 or 17 from New Zealand. Total pop chops. He 5 song EP does not have a bad tune on it but “Tennis Court” and the ubiquitous “Royals” are brilliant. Normally I hate this type of music finding it contrived and over produced but what she has done here, is brilliant. Whether it was her, or her handlers… brilliant. Look, even a pretentious, twangy bastard like myself can appreciate something brilliant even in a genre I don’t wander into. This is not Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus. This is talent, sans “twerk”.
Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer Different Park: This is her 4th studio album and i was at best unfamiliar with her. Normally I would dismiss her as “Big hat” country and “Eagles Esque” this album will not be dismissed. Her songs are almost Springsteen like in their ability to describe the desolation, the hopelessness and… the beauty of rural American life. If you have not listened to the hit, “Merry Go Round”, do download it now. “If you ain’t got two kids by 21 you're probably going to die alone.” Wow. Who says that out loud, even as an indictment.
Inside Llewyn Davis: If you can wait until the Showtime Movie “One Night Only, A Town Hall Tribute To The Music Of Llewyn Davis” comes out as a CD do it. Nonesuch records will be releasing:
T-Bone Burnett who produced this gem gathered a bunch of other musicians and it is brilliant set and I cannot wait. Until then you feed on this a little. It is really good. “Hang Me Oh Hang Me” is such a great classic and it is performed more than adequately here and the Timberlake dominated “Please Mr. Kennedy” is a gem. Don’t be confused though, this is no “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” but you do have to marvel at the consistency of Burnette in the genre and the performances he gets out of musicians.
Brandy Clarkson: 12 Stories. This CD is just what it says. Clarkson is ALL Nashville and has been writing hits for Miranda Lambert and others over the last few years but this is a tour de force and is exactly what advertises. Twelve Stories from the perspective of 12 different women, none of them particularly happy. There is nothing about drinking, cars and “America” in this country songwriting tour de force. This is more like Lucinda Williams than Miranda Lambert.
Brandy Clarkson: 12 Stories. This CD is just what it says. Clarkson is ALL Nashville and has been writing hits for Miranda Lambert and others over the last few years but this is a tour de force and is exactly what advertises. Twelve Stories from the perspective of 12 different women, none of them particularly happy. There is nothing about drinking, cars and “America” in this country songwriting tour de force. This is more like Lucinda Williams than Miranda Lambert.
Pistol Annies: “Annie Up” This is just a lighthearted romp but it is really well done. This is the girls answer to all those stupid country boy CD’s. “Being Pretty Ain’t Pretty” and “Unhappily Married” are great country tunes and these ladies can wail in harmony in a manner I find...tuneful. I am embarrassed to list this CD here but what the hell, I liked it.This is a throw away but what the hell?
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