Top Ten Albums of '09.

So it's been a while since I've written (how many posts have I written this year starting off with this sentence?). Education has me constantly working and I think my lack of writing is a good sign. Right now, howeverm I'm practically the only person in Madison since most people will be coming back from Thanksgiving break tomorrow. Things will be busy for me again soon, so I figured I'd get a post in while I have time. So here's my Top 10 albums of 2009, a few honorable mentions, and some albums that were intentionally left off the list. Hit it.

1. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
This is probably going to be the number one on a lot of lists, and deep inside I don't want to make it #1 just for that reason, but it's too good to not (I can feel better because #2 probably won't be on many people's lists). "While You Wait for the Others" is probably the song of the year as well (the original version, not the one where Michael McDonald sings). It's hard to believe they could top Yellow House, but they certainly did. Daniel Rossen's voice is amazing, the harmonies are great, and even though Ed Droste's "Two Weeks" received considerable airplay, it never gets old. And come on, people, if Jay-z thinks they're cool...

"While You Wait for the Others" at YouTube


2. Intuit - Ramona Falls
Who? I'll tell you, calm down. Seriously, take a step back. I can smell your breath, and it's not charming. Ramona Falls is the side/solo project debut from Brent Knopf of Menomena. Yes, another Menomena band, but until they make a bad album you have no reason to complain. This is Knopf's first, and it's amazing. His angelic voice can get wicked at times. He can serenade you or rip your face off with words. He's always right, but willing to admit he's wrong sometimes (don't worry about the logistics of that sentence). There's not a single weak track on the album. It has not only held me over until the upcoming release of a new Menomena album (date still tentative...), it has furthered my confidence in each member's genius. PS the music video below is probably the coolest of the year in my book.

"I Say Fever" at YouTube.



3. Two Suns - Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan knows she's good. She knew it before anyone else did. Pitchfork thought her first album was good, but nothing special. She likes glitter and sings about having split personalities. She's weird. It's amazing. Both everything that's good about a female vocalist and a bit of every good female vocalist is in Natasha Khan. You can hear Bjork, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and PJ Harvey in her music. She's by no means a ripoff, she's a unique bird/flower/butterfly/anything that's beautiful (and maybe a little bit scary and unstable).

"Daniel" at Yahoo!


4. Eskimo Snow - Why?
Despite having horrible pains from pneumonia at their show and having to go to the ER before they played, the amazing-ness-ocity of Why? is undeniable. Eskimo Snow is the calmest child in the Why's discography, but it's also the most introspective. Where Alopecia talks about jerking off in an art museum bathroom, E.S. asks its mother if its failing. If you love the mallet percussion, you'll love this album.


"These Hands/ January Twentysomething" at Pitchfork


5. Never Better - P.O.S.
The rap I had in my collection before P.O.S. was limited essentially to Why? and K-Os. Why? is a Jewish guy who sounds like a cross between that dude from the Decemberists and that dude from Interpol, and K-Os raps about going to church. P.O.S. is still far from "gangster", but it was my first delving into an artist that was primarily a rapper and a little bit angry. I admit, I got this album initially just because The Velvet Teen's Judah Nagler guests on its title track. I had seen P.O.S. on tour with TVT and Minus the Bear, so I knew his stuff incorporated live band. P.O.S. is the epitome of indie rap. The music to his songs is amazing, and his rhymes are enormously clever. If you've never seen his cover of Pearl Jam's "Why Go", I feel sorry for you, and this injustice must be corrected quickly by clicking on this link.

"Never Better" at YouTube


6. No One's First and You're Next EP - Modest Mouse

I thank God everyday that He gave Isaac Brock a lisp. The band has had mainstream success, yet Brock's maintained his lunacy. They'll still put out 8 minutes songs even though the radio stations will search their music for a hit to play. This is a B side album, but it plays like a coherent thought (which might be the first time anyone's used the word "coherent" to describe anything Modest Mouse has done).

"King Rat" at Yahoo!


7. Upper Air - Bowerbirds
Like Andrew Bird? Like Bon Iver? I have a friend that described Bowerbirds as the illegitimate child of those two artists. If that doesn't sound like a beautiful kid, I don't know what is.

"Northern Lights" from Pitchfork's Cemetery Gates


8. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
I've claimed to know a lot of bands before they made it success in the mainstream. You'll never hear me say this about Phoenix. Well, I shouldn't say that. I bought the album about two weeks before it started getting played on the radio and in commercials. But I can't say I was far ahead of the curve on this one. They're so infectious. And while their earlier albums are better, 1901 is probably the best song they've produced, and this is definitely their most mature album.

"1901" at Yahoo!


9. Wildlife - Headlights
Depressing Headlights songs? Where are the four horsemen, cuz this has to be the Apocalypse. Maturity looks good on Headlights. I've heard comparisons of this album to Broken Social Scene's work, and there are definitely a lot more moving guitar parts. If you want them to be their usually poppy selves, then you might be a bit disappointed, but I now look at Headlights less as a "cute" band and more as a creative band.

"Love Song for Buddy" at YouTube


10. Aim and Ignite - Fun.
When the Format broke up I needed a hug. It was just such happy and creative music. Luckily, Fun. is essentially a continuation of the Format, led by ex-frontman Nate Ruess. I'm going to see them in February in Minneapolis and I couldn't be more excited. Ruess has an amazingly pure and flexible voice. Freddie Mercury would approve, as some of their stuff shows shades of Queen.

"All the Pretty Girls" at YouTube


HONORABLE MENTIONS

Now We Can See - The Thermals
This album didn't make it just because no album can ever measure up to The Body, The Blood, The Machine. That album was the right way to do political, societal, and religious commentary in a rock opera (I'm looking at you Green Day...). Now We Can See is a great album, it just doesn't have the venom and message that TBTBTM had.

"Now We Can See" at Youtube


Mean Everything to Nothing - Manchester Orchestra
I think it's definitely a progression after I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child. It's not so one-dimensional. ILVLC was just so depressing. It was a good soundtrack to my sophomore year. But MEN had a great flow and explored a wide range of feeling. You could hear the influence the bands M.O. toured with had, as shades of My Morning Jacket, Colour Revolt and Brand New come out in many of their songs.

"Shake It Out" at Yahoo!


Ordinary Riches - Company of Thieves
Gen has wicked pipes. The guitarist showed his skills on Live from Daryl's House, but he could use them in their music a lot more. I could not get enough of "Oscar Wilde".

"Oscar Wilde" at YouTube


NOTABLE OMISSIONS
Time to Die - The Dodos
Just to show you I don't always agree with Pitchfork (although that should be obvious from previous posts), I thought the new Dodos album was horrendous. Meric Long's interesting riffs died somewhere between albums.

"Fables" at YouTube


Daisy - Brand New
Literally, just nothing special. They were going in a great direction with The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me, but it just seems Jesse Lacey's gotten lazy and gotten mental help, which makes for much less interesting music. TDGRIM was just so genuine. Daisy just seems like an attempt to quiet the people who said TDGRIM was too depressing and not hard enough. I do wish I could see them with Glassjaw, though.

"Vices" at YouTube



There it is.

King James

I don't like the NBA. Of the four major sports, I think it's the biggest joke. College basketball's great, because everyone's got something to prove, but in the NBA it's all about flash and no defense.

I was watching Sportscenter today and saw Lebron James' tattoo of a crown, and remembered his nickname was "King James". I realized that it's a hilarious nickname, one that isn't exactly flattering. If people took the time to do research on the kings named James, they'd realize that they're not someone you'd want to be associated with.

The Stuarts may have been the worst kings in history, possibly with the exception of Charles II. James I (1603-25) popularized the theory of Divine Right, the thought that kings were chosen by God to rule and should basically have absolute power because of it. Thus, he found ways of taxing without using Parliament, who basically derives all its power through taxation. This led to countless disputes with Parliament, which resulted in James constantly dissolving of them once they tried to assert their rights. He personally racked up a large amount of debt because of his extravagence, attempting to resolve it by selling royal lands. He tried to match his son, Charles I, with a Spanish princess, which greatly steamed the nobles as Spain was one of their two rivals at the time. The failure of the match would lead to disastrous war waged by Charles I upon James' death, and the pompous precedents James passed down to Charles would lead the the English Civil War, where Charles was deposed and beheaded, and the country would be subject to eleven years of military rule by the insolent Oliver Cromwell from 1649 to 1660.

James II (1685-1688) was probably worse than James I, if not the worst king in English history. Charles II had done everything in his power to re-legitimize the throne. However, James II threw it all away, very much his father's son (Charles I). James was a devout Catholic, and tried to push the Anglican Church in a very Catholic direction when Anti-Popery was at its highest. He essentially replaced people in every major position of power with Catholics, suspending laws that limited Catholic rights. The man did not know how to be subtle, ordering Anglican priests to read his pro-Catholic acts in church. After he produced a legitimate male heir, the nobles and priests worried about a pro-Catholic dynasty and requested that William of Orange (who was married to James' daughter, Mary) come to England and overthrow James II. He arrived with 15,000 men, the largest invasion force to ever arrive in England. James did not have the manpower to compete with him, especially when a bunch of nobles and clergy pledged to fight on the side of William. James saw that his number was up, and he fled to France, but not before he made some stupid and cowardly decisions on his way out. He destroyed the writs for calling a new Parliament, ordered his supporting army to be disbanded without pay, and in the biggest act of disrespect towards England by a king ever, threw the seal of England into the ocean. He was captured before he ever made it to France by fishermen. Oh, and he was dressed like a woman. In just three years in office, he had managed to infuriate the country enough to dethrone him in the Glorious Revolution.

So go ahead Lebron, go by King James, but don't be surprised if you lose public support somewhere down the road.

Song of the day: The new song by Manchester Orchestra is genius. They are putting out their new album on April 21 entitled "Mean Everything to Nothing". For more information on M.O., see this post.

Sometimes, it's more than just a dime

Today I had Cousin's for dinner because I have run out of food in my apartment. Attempting to be efficient with my money, I got the two 7.5 inch subs for $5.50 deal, rather than the 4.25 for one 7.5 inch sub deal. Anyway, I ordered from one guy, who went to make my sub, and the other guy came over and rang me up for him. I was kind of in a daze (not drug-induced, obviously), so I paid and took my change without paying attention. As I waited for my sub, I looked at my receipt and noticed the guy had only charged me for one sub. Quickly I was reminded of a story the pastor of my church told.

Here's how it goes: A pastor got onto a bus one day and paid his fare to the bus driver. When the driver handed back his change, he sat down at the back of the bus. Counting his change to make sure he had been given back enough change, he soon realized that the driver had given him a dime too much. The pastor thought about it for a sec. It's a dime, it doesn't really matter. But after a while, his conscience got the best of him and he took the dime back. The driver said to him, "I was watching you in my mirror the whole time. If you hadn't given that dime back, I would have written off the whole Christian population as a bunch of hypocrites."

I gave the change back. Now, there's no way the cashier could have known that I was a Christian, but I still think this story is very relevant. Christians are constantly being analyzed for their actions. It is a Christian's duty to live a model life. However, I am not saying that they should attempt to sway other people to switch religions, gain religion, or even live their life like a Christian. I have said and will always say that tolerance is necessary between all religions and those who lack religion. I am instead saying that it is necessary so that people don't lose faith in Christians. There are a lot of bad people out there who call themselves Christian that lead very immoral lives, as well as a lot of good people that don't believe in religion. It is up to Christians to show people that we are a good group of people.

That being said, I will leave you with a song by a band who makes it well known that they are Christians. While their music is in no way Christian rock (though there are mentions of God and Jesus in their music, but they are not the focus of the song), Manchester Orchestra has reiterated that they are Christians through various mediums, including their tour vlog. They toured with a band, Brand New, whose lead singer, Jesse Lacey, is also a devout Christian. Andyway, the Manchester Orchestra is an AMAZING live band. Andy Hull is one of the most passionate singers I've ever seen. I'll leave you with Manchester Orchestra's "Wolves at Night"

Wolves at Night by Manchester Orchestra (live) at YouTube