Diner Review : Best of 2014

Soooo… 2014 is over and it is time for the much anticipated “best of” for music.  OK, so maybe no one anticipates it.  I don’t blame them.  My tastes are well known and fairly limited but… consistent.  There has been a ton of good music in 2014.  That is the problem. There is literally good music everywhere.  It has never been easier for a talented artist to put music out where everyone has access to it.  It should be awesome but instead it has produced a numbing glut of music because there is no “talent filter”.  Everyone can make music and put it on iTunes or Spottify or anywhere else.  Everyone has a “voice” or a “vision” and they just want you to listen to their “album”... 12-14 songs that they want you to sit through and “get it”.  Anyone can buy “Pro Tools” and share their “vision”.  But the world has passed them by.  I don't just mean my generation.  Most of my heroes are still insisting on cranking out albums (CD’s whatever) and our children for the most part are stuck in that mode.  Everyone is crying about how the Internet ruined music with no appreciation of the fact that they would not have “made it” under the old model either.  With so much music out there, no one has time or interest in anything but the brilliant.  You can access the great instantaneously.  No one has time to wade through your vision or listen over and over again to understand your muse.  

So we have two problems:

1. Two much music; and

2. Too many artists stuck in the old (moldy) model of making “albums”.

This year, I was going to  not list any CD’s or Albums of the year but instead just name a few with several great tracks and other than that I just wanted to give you a play list, give you some tunes, but… when i got into what I listened to this year I real;ized… I too am still stuck in the old model.

One more observation before we start though.  Streaming has won.  In five years they will not have a CD player in the car anymore.  It will go the way of the 8-Track and then the Cassette.  Additionally, iTunes is in the midst of dramatic decline.  My generation of Bushies (The Ownership Society) is on the way out.  The kids are not going to buy music for their hard drives or to burn into CD’s.  That is like… soooooo 2009.  Still, God Blessed us with a lot of good music this year and music...music makes life better and in 2015, you can get a few smiles by enjoying some of the greats of 2014.

Toward the end of the year, Lost on the River, an amalgamation of some of my favorite artists putting lyrics to and music to Bob Dylan.  Evidently when ensconced at “The Big Pink” with The Band he wrote and then performed a brilliant Album know as the basement tapes.  Also during those months and years in northern New York he wrote another 100 or so other songs, lyrics, snippets and these were given to a collection of musicians under the guidance of genius, muse, manager, parent, T-Bone Burnett.  The musicians:

Elvis Costello

Jim James

Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes

Marcus Mumford and

Rhiannon Giddens.

I was not familiar with Giddens.  Giddens was violinist, singer in The Carolina Chocolate Drops.  Anyway, if you get a chance watch the Showtime Special “The Lost Songs”.  It is awesome and will really give you some insight into the brilliance of what they did.  If you don't get a chance to watch that, do download or stream the following songs:

“Married To My Hack”

“Kansas City”

“Spanish Mary”

“Liberty Street”

They all are to nuanced to describe.  Just do it.  Seriously.  The whole CD is worth a listen.

***

In my normal pedigree, the Felice Brothers new CD “Favorite Waitress” is another winner.  Quality all the way through with the right quality of lightness and darkness and the always perfect time and heart ache and beauty that their lyrics and their years of playing together bring.  Recorded with the Omaha Genius Mike Mogis as producer it is a dance hall, and a party and carries on their brilliant discography.  Download or stream:

“Bird on a Broken Wing:

“Cherry Licorice”

***

Rosanne Cash surprised and delighted this year.  She has always had the pedigree with spots of brilliance always promising more but she never has put out anything even close to this years “River and a Thread”. If you like female singers and songwriters this is a great album and if you just like great music this is...a GREAT album.  The whole thing is good but download or stream:

“A Feathers Not  A Bird”

“Modern Blue”
"Will you still be there when I round the curve?
Will you hold my hand when I lose my nerve?
I went to Barcelona and my mind got changed
So I'm heading back to Memphis on the midnight train

I keep my head down, I keep my eyes on you
It's a big wide world"

***

My old Heroes The Old 97’s got together for another sing along.  The Band has always been a Rhett Miller vehicle but there is something special about the way the boys sing together.  20 years gone from Dallas they know their game and still seem to enjoy it.  I would argue that this is the best pure Old 97’s CD since “Too Far To Care”.  The Cd is is called “Most Messed Up” and the theme, politely is summed up by the song “Let’s Get Drunk and Get It On”.  It is a really good Old 97’s Cd and if you love them, you will really love this return to form.  The themes are somewhat distanced from Christian rock though i would still hold that it is, good for the soul.  Download or stream:

“Longer Than You’ve Been Alive”

“Let’s Get Drunk and Get It On”

“Wasted”

“This is the Ballad”

"I’m not crazy about songs that get self-referential

and most of this stuff should be kept confidential

but who even gives half a fuck anymore

well you should know the truth it’s both a blast and a bore

rock stars were once such mythical creatures

up there with presidents playmates and preachers"

***

Local and personal favorite Sleepy Kitty killed it with their sophomore release.  The band from Cherokee street runs a art printing shop that puts out some great stuff and the two of them,  Evan Sult and Paige Brubeck moved to the Lou from Chicago 4 or so years ago and are a brilliant example of a national artist who decided that we have a lot live ability and “scene” here and they are helping to make it so.  Evan Sult was formerly with indie rock demigods Harvey Danger who had a nice hit when radio was still something called “Flagpole Sitta”.  Anyway, their debut CD was awesome, this is more of the same.

“Dont You Start”

Hold Yr. Ground”

“Batman The Ride”

This is loud music for my taste which makes it even better.  Her voice aches and his drumming…”spot on”.

“To whoever stole the Dodge Caravan,

In December 2010

I hope you graduated High School

And your not doing 12th grade again.

What do you do

when your born in 63118?

Where do you run to,

when you get out of the starting gate?”

Ultimate questions memorializing one of what has become the epidemic of touring band van thefts in out beautiful little city.

***

OK, the Last CD is probably not going to be for most of you but… Su Kil Moon (Mark Kozelek) is likely an acquired taste for moth but if you love atonal, brilliant (heart wrenching) songs about life and...life, the CD “Benji” cannot be beat.  He played for years to critical acclaim with The Red House Painters but his solo stuff with Sun Kil Moon is just stripped down and painful.  The songs are like Springsteen Nebraska without… Springsteen.  Download or stream:

“Richard Ramierez Died Today”

“Pray For Newtown”

“Carissa”

“Richard Ramirez died today of natural causes

These things mark time and they cause pause

Think about we were kids scared of taps on the window

What’s under the bed and what’s under the pillow

And the jim jones massacre got in our heads

And the TV headlines elvis presley's dead

And the ayatollah who too many? committed(?) hostages

and ronald regan died of ---”

As Omar from “The Wire” would say…”Indeed.”

***

Laundry List of other artists and songs who did great stuff in 2014:

1. Kurt Vile:  He just rocks and rocks hard in a Lou Reed patois that I love.  His CD KV Crimes is good all the way through but download or stream “Walkin On A Pretty Daze”.

2. Lydia Loveless:  Sweet heart wrenching, rocking country.  Tanya Tucker on steroids and not over produced.  Download or stream “Hurt So Bad”.

3. Curtis mc Murtry:  Son of the brilliant and (by me) lionized James Mc Murtry debuted with a really solid freshman effort that continues to prove that good genes count for a lot.  the kid is a thoroughbred songwriter.  Dowload or stream “Ghost In My Bed”.

4. My fave Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing) came out with “Live at Kens House”.  Download or stream “St. Louise is Listening.”

5. Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) came out with a great CD showing he is still cat fucking Stevens.  Download or stream “You Are My Sunshine”.

There is more but folks… you gotta put in the work.  Let’s see what 2015 brings but follow my advice and buy the upgraded Spotify and cur commercials out of your life and stream whatever you want, whenever you want.  I will be posting a best of 2014 play list for streaming to all comers.  

The St. Louis Diner Review Presents: The Never Ending Playlist

Soooo… I have another idea.  Everything I read about music leads to several trends which at this point are not even really trends but reality.  With my recent boycott of the news and my desire to put together my “Best of 2013” list I buried myself in music for the last month and a half and I was impressed and humbled by how little of it I had screened or listened to at all last year.  So here are the things I have learned and am trying to assimilate into my musical listening life:

1. There has never been more good music out there.  Seriously.  A ton of people are out there recording and writing and when you put a million monkeys at a million typewriters…it is like taking a million monkeys and equipping them with a million Garageband programs…  It might not be the Guttenberg Bible… but you might get “Royals”.

2. Being overwhelmed with product (anyone can put out a CD) because of ease of entry to market (Garageband, Pro Tunes etc…) we are overwhelmed.  We are also overwhelmed because we can access 99% of what is out there for free on Spotify, Pandora and YouTube.  YouTube, by the way is taking over the position that Radio formerly held for finding new music.  The key is to find the filters that take out the crap and that is a challenge.

3. The record companies are dinosaurs similar to the legacy airlines and mainstream religious denominations.  Their main value is their history (library of recordings and rights) and their ability to still get media attention. But don’t be confuse, they are irrelevant.  The industry will continue to amble along and give us Katy Perry and Britney, and Madonna and U-2 and the Eagles but the old bands are only marketable because they are old and Katy Perry and the like (Beiber) have limited shelf life and so we need a constant parade of good looking kids singing well written over-produced dance numbers.  There is an exception (sort of) for country music in that they have found a current recipe (take good looking younger singers who can sing, provide them with Nashville Hit Machine Songwriting (America, Trucks, Patriotism, Beer, Heartache, Darkness, Rain, Alcohol, Pride) and find a back up band that can crank out the same Eagles based power chord country rock) to keep selling new music, all of it listenable and most of it shit.

4. The CD is dead.  It has gone the way of the 78, the 45, and the LP.  I have 1500 CD’s in my basement and to the extent they are not on my iTunes Cloud they might as well not exist.  Perhaps my future grandchildren can build things with them.

5. The format of an artist putting out an album every two years or so is dying, dying, needs to die and is almost DEAD whether the artists or industry realize it or not.  The public buys by the song unless you're like me and you're a junkie.  No one but a small slice of us give a shit about 9 crappy tracks on a CD other than “the hit”.  People like us like a song and wonder what else is there and sometimes we find something good.  A CD with 3 good songs is a GREAT CD and the public will buy those three songs and pay .99 cents or $1.29 or whatever Apple Tells us to pay and the kids will download them for free but we don’t want or need an album.  The industry needs the album/CD because it is their “model”.  Music has moved on.

6. EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is the thing where there is growth and excitement in the industry.  I am 52 and I would posit that if you're over 40, don’t try and pick up on this music.  I know a lot of it is excellent and well done but it does not translate to those of us who grew up thinking ZZ Top was edgy.

So what I am going to do to try and make sense of this new world is to curate the St. Louis Diner Review, “Neverending Playlist”.  I am thinking I keep it at 50 songs.  Not everything will be recently released.  Some of the songs I stumble over have been out there for some time and some are just “chestnuts” for me which I want to share occasionally.  Those of you who look to me for some new music ideas can click on this link and go to the playlist where I will try and add a new artist or recently released CD and post 3 songs from it in the mix.  I plan on keeping this going in my car myself as my 2014 soundtrack.  Perhaps I just keep adding to it and never delete anything but I think “the weak must die” and that even the great tune deserves to ultimately be retired.  I will be happy to receive any feedback on the list or on additions to it as the year progresses. I don’t know how much time this will take and it could be an epic fail but the thought of it amuses me and I need more amusement.

I am going to start it with 15 songs.  I will do three songs off of a recently released album.  You have to go find them or download them though perhaps I could put a YouTube link in… but most of the songs are too new to be up yet.  Get your iTunes account or get set up on Spotify and load em up.  

We are starting with 15 songs and will go from there.  The thought right now is three songs from a new CD and one random track from my iTunes library.  Sometimes discovering old music is just as good or better than discovering new music.  

So Willie Nile, as I have said before heaping praise on him is some cross in attitude, singing style and lyrical quality with Dylan and Lou Reed.  It is all New York attitude and swagger.  he came to my attention several years ago with a song called “Cell Phones Ringing In The Pockets Of The Dead”.  It is a nice metaphor.

A chestnut from Built To Spill this is a Friday after work song, perhaps when the sun is shining. “Life is just a joyride, drink a lot of beer and climb inside!” Just the advice to give your high schooler.  Listen, smile and turn it up.

Gaslight Anthem:  Never know what to think of them.  Cool name.  This is evidently a collection.  They started as a Jersey punk band in 2006 and I would now argue have learned to sing and play their instruments.  I love covers and their version of “Tumbling Dice” pleased me. It takes balls to cover the stones.  Chris Christie/New Jersey balls.

Beth Bombara:  Local songstress.  Has an EP out that is really good and she puts on a nice live show normally backed by a “Tennessee Two” type ensemble.  Live her songs twang but her recorded stuff is much more refined.  Great pipes.  Local girl.  Go buy it and even better see her live.

Rosanne Cash:  River and the Thread is a little early to be album of the year but the critics have jumped on hard and fast.  It is a really sweet CD with nice even production and great writing.  She brings some friends along to play on it and it has some nice surprises.

Bree Sharp:  Another one from deep in the iTunes Library.  She sings like a likeable Sheryl Crow.  Really like this song.  I think I found her because she recorded a pretty good cover of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.”

Sleepy Kitty:  Of course I am a fan.  Another local band via Chicago they are getting a nice national buzz.  Throw them on a Saturday Night Live performance and they would be unstoppable.  They are becoming a pillar of the Cherokee Street scene.  I keep saying “they” because it is Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult.  She rocks the guitar in a Jack White manner and Sult pounds the drums and sings and does everything else needed.  They just wow me and I was worried I would like this CD because their first CD “Infinity City” was so unstoppable.

ST. LOUIS DINER REVIEW NEVERENDING PLAYLIST

Artist	Album	Track Name	Listen	Date Added
Willie Nile	American Ride	Life On Bleeker Street	2014	2/3/14
Willie Nile	American Ride	Holy War	2014	2/3/14
Willie Nile	American Ride	There Is No Place Like Home	2014	2/3/14
Built To Spill	The Normal Years	Joyride	1996	2/3/14
The Gaslight Anthem	The B Sides	Tumbling Dice	2014	2/3/14
The Gaslight Anthem	The B Sides	Queen of Lower Chelsea	2014	2/3/14
The Gaslight Anthem	The B Sides	American Slang	2014	2/3/14
Beth Bombara*	Raise Your Flag	Mountain Sun	2013	2/3/14
Rosanne Cash	The River And The Thread	A Feathers Not  A Bird	2014	2/3/14
Rosanne Cash	The River And The Thread	Modern Blue	2014	2/3/14
Rosanne Cash	The River And The Thread	Your Southern Heart	2014	2/3/14
Bree Sharp	Sunday School And Cigarettes	More BS	2006	2/3/14
Sleepy Kitty*	Projection Room	Batman: The Ride	2014	2/3/14
Sleepy Kitty*	Projection Room	The Hoax	2014	2/3/14
Sleepy Kitty*	Projection Room	Hold Yer Ground	2014	2/3/14