This will be quick. I almost feel like I'm just getting these out of the way. With a baby coming soon, my focus is going to be in other places. I'm hoping to continue to use this blog to relate music to what my new life will be. Whatever that means.
So real quick, 2014.
Oh and my stupid itunes synching app stopped synching play counts/times so it's harder to keep track. Stupid thing.
I'm going to just do this like a quick recap where I write a few sentences about just a few of the many albums I listened to here. Not really in any order. Well the order is approximately the order I listened to stuff in, which is a somewhat randomized version of the order they were released in (shuffling all the albums of a given quarter)
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Give the People What They Want. I saw them live on this tour. It was the last time I would see them. WEWANTSHARON I remember being the thing. The hash tag thing. She was always amazing. Always. This album is as powerful as anything she did. RETREAT!
Neneh Cherry - Blank Project. I got this one because I so dug her album with The Thing. And because Robyn's on a track. It's pretty hot stuff that you might have forgotten about so give it a spin.
Vertical Scratchers - Daughter of Everything. I just recently picked this one up because I just recently heard of it. Another Schmersal project (John of Enon and Brainiac and several other things), this one is high energy and a lot of fun. I should give it another listen and have something constructive to say!
The Lawrence Arms - Metropole. Who would have thought, huh? My favorite band in college, I loved all their stuff back then, and then I got out of college and they put out what might be their most popular album (Oh Calcutta) and I kind of let my fandom wane even though I think I do quite dig that one...but that all leads to this, almost a full decade later. Metropole. They're getting older, I'm getting older, they're singing about it, I'm relating just as I did in college. Strikes all those same old nerves. What a great, great album.
The Lawrence Arms, "The YMCA Down The Street From the Clinic"
St. Vincent - St. Vincent. What a coincidence, she has a new one now. And I'm seeing her live this January. One of, if not the last, show I go to before fatherhood. It will be a hoot! This self titled album might be my favorite of hers, as she continued her evolution to art rock god in the vein of David Byrne or something like that (easy comparison to make since she had that collab album with him). Her view of the world is so New York, so Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, and she absolutely shreds on guitar. I dig the new one but I absolutely love this album.
St. Vincent, "Digital Witness"
Open Mike Eagle - Dark Comedy. I think I got a random email from Mello Music Group in 2014 with a free download. See, I'd dug some of that label's stuff and they put out some quality free tracks on bandcamp. This one intrigued me because it featured noted funny person Hannibal Buress. It turned out to be the Open Mike Eagle song "Doug Stamper (Advice Raps)" and it was quite funny. Eventually I picked up the album and it is so smart and funny and creative and I can't describe him as well as he does on the opening song "Dark Comedy Morning Show" when he sing-raps "For those who haven't heard of me, I'm bad at sarcasm so I work in absurdity." Eventually I saw him perform live and after several drinks I told him how much I dug his stuff and shook his hand twice. Hopefully he just found me amusing.
Open Mike Eagle, "Qualifiers"
People Under the Stairs - 12 Step Program. I like all of the things that they do, this one was notable for its "1 Up Til Sun Up" song that samples mario and zelda games. And that creepy "Pictures On My Wall" song.
Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack. I'm going with normal spelling. I think they are finally going with normal spelling on their new one that comes out next year. She just keeps pushing forward creatively, she's no longer just dealing in loops but still engrossing. I think I might like whokill a little more but this one is up there.
The Bruce Lee Band - Everything Will Be Alright, My Friend. Mike Park doing what he does. Great ska punk from the man that mastered ska punk 20 years before.
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Mandatory Fun. This one's great because it's a Weird Al album. I think it was his first to hit #1 on Billboard or something? He made all those videos and really captured the attention of the Internet and the Internet returned the favor by paying for the album I guess. At this point I more or less am back to knowing the songs he's parodying because I don't go out of my way to avoid those popular songs. I still don't always know who does what but I can say "I think that's that one song."
TV on the Radio - Seeds. Masters of earnestness and dense soundscapes continue to do their thing too. They stopped pushing the envelope a couple albums ago but as I always say about them, the playing field they have created for themselves is a rich land and they explore interesting depths and whatever other fancy words you want to insert here.
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2. This is probably their crowning achievement. Full aggression, full of politics, entertaining, etc.
I probably also should have written about Spoon, Lia Ices, Leonard Cohen, The New Pornographers, and Shellac. All great too.
Next time I will tackle 2015 and that will really feel like modern times. Grimes, !!!, Sufjan Stevens, Carly Rae Jepsen, Sleater-Kinney, Courtney Barnett, Dilly Dally, Vince Staples, and Kendrick Lamar did some amazing things that year and it's probably still fresh in your mind. Still...nostalgia?
