An Ear For An Era: 2014

2014 was more doing this project. I also went to Costa Rica. That was pretty awesome.

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?

An Ear For An Era: 2002

Your bitterness doesn't surprise me. A quote from 2001 but that was what 2002 was like. I remember blowing off a class because I was bitter about a relationship status. Feeling alone and not wanting to deal with macroeconomics or whatever it was. I think I ended up doing ok for the semester but taking like a week off from class.

It was a painful breakup and it was fueled by painful breakup music. It was perfecting loneliness. It was online friends because I'd alienated all my physical friends. Not discounting said online friends, and if any of you are reading this you were amazing at helping me fight my way through this. It got better. But 2002 was a tough year for me. Not that I should have let that get to me, I was in fact very lucky in all ways except that crucial one way.

Not that it was terrible the whole time. It was a turbulent year with ups and downs, just as the breakup I went through had its on and off points, and I still owe that girl a lot for what she did for me musically. In addition to getting me into some of the crucial emo-esque-whatever bands of the time, she insisted and fought me until I accepted the art of hip hop. So here in 2002 we have the first hip hop album I bought, my favorite hip hop album for the longest time, and even today it stands amongst my favorites.

It came about because I went with her to see Jurassic 5. They were pretty darn cool. Even in 2002 when they were collaborating with Nelly Furtado. Looking at the lineup, there were some cool looking openers and I was curious about this group called Blackalicious. I found my way upon this track they had done called "Chemical Calisthenics."

 

Blackalicious "Chemical Calisthenics"

This song right here was undeniable proof of the presence of talent in hip hop (yeah yeah, baby steps). Incredible talent. And braininess. Smarts. Cleverness. Uniqueness. Everything I thought I knew about this art form was turned on its head because of this song. A nerdy song about chemistry. With different movements and melodies incorporated. Eventually I picked up the album. Blazing Arrow. I still remember going to a record store somewhere in Boulder (I don't think it's there anymore, it was down 28th by where Barnes & Noble was somewhere I think) and picking it up. And listening to it in my car. And becoming obsessed. This was a hip hop album that was immersive and contained, a statement rather than a selection of songs, but something that flowed throughout, in a way I previously credited to the highest honored rock groups like Fugazi. This was an opus. It sampled Harry Nilsson! And had PASSION! And politics and brains and SO MUCH SOUL. And it introduced me to Saul Williams on the epic hip hop track (!!) called "Release." It not only became my immediate favorite hip hop album (not a challenge at the time since it was my only hip hop album, but it remained my favorite hip hop album for years and push come to shove it might still be) but one of my favorite albums of all time. I just can't get over it. It is everything.

So hip hop was entering my consciousness. The Streets were getting started with Original Pirate Material, full of great beats and an interesting perspective on the genre. The Roots took some interesting turns on Phrenology. And oh boy, Talib Kweli. Quality is the other indisputable classic hip hop album of 2002. The lyricism is dazzling, the way he weaves stories and social commentary through classic beats is phenomenal. To me, this is where it feels that Kanye West as a producer really established himself. Sure, that Jay-Z album sounds great. But the songs he does on this album are just unbeatable. "Get By" and "Gorilla Monsoon Rap" are earworms/bangers/everything. And Kweli just makes them so thoughtful and perfect.

Another of my favorite albums of all time doesn't particularly hold a resonance tying itself to my personal life (and I don't think I got into it until it was a couple years old), but nonetheless has been a personal favorite and something I can always rely on to lift my spirits and get my brain working is High Society by Enon. This album is all over the place, hitting so many sounds, but hitting them all right on the head. It feels smart to me but wholly entertaining. This song says it all: Less pop, more fizz.

Enon "Carbonation"

There was a good beat here though, which segues nicely into the other thing that was slowly developing for me. Dance music. Lots of bands I liked started taking this turn toward the dance floor and over the next 2 years I'd discover my own internal lord of the dance which would kind of change my life eventually. Q and Not U were one of these bands. Different Damage seemed like something entirely different and new for a math rock esque band to tackle and I loved it.

And lots of the greatest hits of Lipgloss (the premier indie dance night of Denver) of 2004-5 (when I would go) came out in '02, it turns out. The famous Junior Senior's D-D-Don't Stop the Beat was out and LCD Soundsystem's early single "Losing My Edge" took name dropping to a new, acceptable level. Ladytron was more electronic than most of what I'd listened to but were very catchy. Interpol...I used to think they were famous and crappy but I probably just had them mixed up with someone else. At Lipgloss I enjoyed them. And Hot Hot Heat! "Bandages" was definitely my jam to dance to.

The first new Elvis Costello album that came out when I was closely following him (i.e. getting all the deluxe reissues of all of his back catalog) was When I Was Cruel. Such a great breakup album, full of bold experiments in song structure. Such a perfect album for me to become obsessed with. It combined my budding love of his cynical lyrics and my interest in the abstract and the weird. I just loved that such a respectable artist, a good quarter century into his career, was doing such exciting and weird things while keeping with the spirit of his whole career.

One of my best memories of 2002 was April 20, 2002. The school put on a show to get us kids doing other stuff besides getting stoned because I went to CU Boulder and that was pretty much the thing to do on 4/20. I was not interested in any of that though, and it turned out to just be a great excuse to bring The Lawrence Arms to town! I had just gotten a video camera and my dorm was approximately a block away, so my friend Greg and I decided to go ask Brendan (of said Lawrence Arms) if it would be cool if I video taped their set. He said that would be fine. And I was going to get up to the front to get a good angle with my camera when he brought us back stage to talk to the band and then had us posted on the side of the stage for the duration of the show. It was hard not to dance around and scream along to all of of the words. Anyway, great time. It was right after Apathy & Exhaustion came out, which was kind of a pinnacle achievement for the band. They had just moved over to Fat Wreck Chords and I was worried the sound would be influenced by the label (I'd previously made fun of the fact that all Fat bands sounded just like NOFX, and similarly favorite band Alkaline Trio took a bit of a nosedive when they moved labels), but it was really just an extension of the sound they'd developed on "the splits" that I've mentioned in previous posts here. In fact, as much as they change from album to album, the smallest change they ever made between two albums was this one, the one time they moved record labels. As far as the songs themselves go, Brendan's got increasingly philosophical in their crass self deprecation, and Chris' just got more personal and closer and closer to my own heart. This was emphasized by the song "Brick Wall Views," which I took as my AIM screen name as I drifted away from my ex girlfriend and needed someone to understand. I felt like this song understood me. Which made it even more amazing on April 20 at that show, because Brendan dedicated that very song to "these guys over here, to Greg and Brandon."

The Lawrence Arms "Brick Wall Views"

Of all the shows I saw with Greg in these days, one local band seemed to open up every damn time. Laymen Terms. To where we learned the songs and became pretty big fans. Still not the best of that crop, but they had a few good jams that took me back when I heard them.

Brian Moss of The Wunder Years had a new band called The Ghost, and they released their debut album This Is A Hospital to much acclaim among me and a couple friends. It took the sound of The Wunder Years and put more heave behind it, oozing with passion and stuff.

What really defined me in these days, or maybe this was more 2003 and 2004 but the album came out in 2002, was Perfecting Loneliness by Jets to Brazil. This came out after all my friends talked about Orange Rhyming Dictionary being so great and Four Cornered Night being disappointing. It didn't seem like anyone was talking about Perfecting Loneliness. But what a title! I found the vinyl in some sort of clearance rack, I hadn't heard of a third Jets to Brazil album so I picked it up. And I put it on with much frequency. For the longest time I only had it on vinyl and I still listened to it more than most other music I had access to. Living in a small house by myself, putting this on lonely Friday nights when I had nothing to do but stay inside, this made it feel okay. "Thank God for no phone calls."

Jets to Brazil "Further North"

Other Things About Things:

• Early Iron & Wine was something special and intimate.
• For some reason even though I skipped an album by Reel Big Fish and was totally over them by now, I got Cheer Up! and it was the right thing to do at the time. Even though I did not want to cheer up, the album hit home in a surprisingly strong way. And the closing track "Drunk Again" has gone on to be one of my favorite self pity songs of all due to lyrics like "If I had a dollar bill for every time I've been wrong, I'd be a self-made millionaire and you'd still be gone..."
• Speaking of ska that still ska'd my world, MU330's Ultra Panic cemented the band as something beyond my 90s ska phase. The personal, thoughtful lyrics on "Speed Bump" and "Hey Now" still resonate.
• Similarly, Slow Gherkin's Run Screaming made them a ska band to grow on. "Baby Snakes" spoke to me pretty intimately.
• Desaparecidos were the only way I could handle Conor Oberst at the time. Overtly political and too loud to notice the whiny vocals? Yes please!
• I just recently got Title TK by The Breeders. Nice record!
• Stephin Merritt's Eban & Charley soundtrack was lovely enough, but it includes one of my (many I guess) favorite Merritt compositions, "This Little Ukulele." One of those simple songs that seemed like it should have been put together before 2002 A.D. but we finally got it and it's an instant classic.
• Dntel with Ben Gibbard = the beginnings of a certain Postal Service...oh boy!
• Jim O'Rourke did a lot of good for the music world in 2002. He brought Sonic Youth to sound a little bit more like Wilco on Murray Street, and he made Wilco sound a little bit like Sonic Youth on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Both of these albums are bonafide indie classics.
•  I went and saw Cursive this past month on their Ugly Organ tour. That album was from 2003 and I'll talk about it plenty in the next entry I'm sure. But on the way to the show, on shuffle for 2002, I was fortunate enough to have their split with Eastern Youth come on. One of their best uses of cello, the song "Excerpts from Various Notes Strewn Around the Bedroom of April Connolly Feb 24, 1997" came on and I remembered it being one of my favorite Cursive tunes. They played that one at the show and I was one of the few people rocking out to it, which was weird because it's one of their best but I guess that split is less well known than their full length albums.
• Some real indie stuff was getting started in 2002, bands that would hit their peak in popularity in the era of 2005-2007, when I was at my peak in listening to bands like that. Mirah, Deerhoof, Spoon (the official beginning of their Midas phase which is still going on??), some Neko Case, Decemberists, The Mountain Goats, and more!
• Flaming Lips. Yoshimi. Do you Realize?? Do I need to say anything more?
• Heiruspecs became a favorite hip hop live band that I happened to see a few times. Their next album was better though so I'll try to talk about them when that comes up.
• Beck on Sea Change was a new Beck but it really showcased that he was more than fun beats and fun tricks...
• For more mainstream hip hop, Missy Elliot nailed it on Under Construction.
• Johnny Cash's American Recordings comeback became very real to me (and probably many others) on American IV: The Man Comes Around. The first one I got personally, the one I probably listen to the most, is probably the most vital of the era, and of course it has his cover of "Hurt" which needs no other words.
• I had a recording of the CU Marching Band doing all the songs we did that previous fall. I think I could kind of hear that great trombone player known to readers as Quiet Brandon, but who knows because he was probably pretty quiet.

Next Time:
Alkaline Trio kind of redeem themselves to me! Beulah finishes up. Black Eyes are amazing. Classic Calexico! Deerhoof/Decemberists/Dirty Projectors for a trio of D. The Black Album!! Another great Lawrence Arms classic! I go pretentious with The Mars Volta & Radiohead! Speakerboxx/The Love Below! Another Polysics album to go down in history! Something called The Postal Service. Michigan. The debut EP from TV On The Radio!! Elephant is something classic I think! And another indisputable classic album by Weird Al.

An Ear For An Era: 2001

A Space Odyssey. Still the first thing I think of when I hear "2001." Even though experiencing it first hand it didn't feel like science fiction. It was an incredibly transformative year for me personally and for the country and the world, for better or worse. At the time it just felt like life was happening. The expected (going to college, hanging out with my same friends), the unexpected, I just took it as it came. Lived in the moment as I felt necessary.

I'm not sure what I'm getting at here. I just feel obligated to make this a pretty reflective piece for 2001.

It was so long ago when I listened to this stuff. Or about a month. I just took a long break before writing this. We'll see how it goes. It's really just guideposts for things that have always been in my head for years.

Like Radiohead's Amnesiac. Silly enough, this was my first Radiohead album. I think. If I remember correctly. Best Buy or someone had a deal that if you got Amnesiac you'd get half price on another Radiohead album or something, and I think I also got OK Computer.  But I liked Amnesiac quite a bit pretty quickly, particularly the driving beats on "I Might Be Wrong." The closest link to punk I could find, even though it was miles away from everything else I listened to at the time.

Electroclash was starting to gain steam in 2001, not that I would have known/cared about it at the time. A few years later I'd get way into it for about a year though. Miss Kittin & The Hacker's First Album was a great dance party with all the appropriate filthy/sexy songs that just turn the party up that much more. And "La La Land" by Green Velvet would be one of my favorite songs in 2005 dance mode. Finally (not really electroclash but dancy), the self-titled debut from !!! had "Intensify" which is still probably my favorite live song by them.


Remember those "The" bands? They were supposedly saving rock and roll or something? I saw it as a stupid thing at the time, they were not original, they were just playing garage rock. And rock and roll didn't need saving. I'd been listening to rock and roll for quite some time, punk rock for about 5 years at this point and it was doing just fine. So I saw through the BS that MTV was trying to feed me. The Strokes? You gotta be kidding me. The dude just got a record deal because he's related to someone important. I think. I eventually did cave, YEARS and YEARS later, and got Is This It. It's a decent record. Maybe above decent. The media just turned me off to them before I could have given them a chance at being relevant to me.

The same thing happened to me with The White Stripes. Another damn "The" band thinking they are so cool with their costumes! What about music? Focus on your music, not your image! Of course, the music on White Blood Cells is some of the greatest music created this century so I really must have given them no chance at all. I probably only heard "Fell in Love with a Girl" and assumed they were just another Strokes-type band. Oh, the years I wasted not listening to The White Stripes. This has since become one of my favorites if you can't tell.

Gorillaz got quite popular in their own way. I was dating a girl obsessed with Blur so she was also into Gorillaz. I couldn't really get the appeal, although it would be pretty soon after this that I'd discover how awesome Del the Funky Homosapien is. But that album, I like it quite a bit in retrospect.

What I was into was indie rock! Built to Spill, yo! I remember a bunch of hipsters (before those were a thing everybody hates) were in my dorm cafeteria sitting within earshot. They were talking about Modest Mouse and Built to Spill and I thought, "Wow! Somebody else knows about these bands!" I did not go talk to them because I still thought I was cooler than them and/or not cool enough for them. One of the dudes ended up being in a couple of my film classes though. Anyway, Ancient Melodies of the Future is a pretty good title for an album put out in 2001. Especially for something you're listening to in 2015. I don't know, my main memory of Built to Spill is putting this song on pretty much every mix CD I made for anyone from 2001-2005.

Built to Spill "The Weather"

Former (and current) Pixie Frank Black put out an album with The Catholics called Dog In The Sand. I remember seeing a postcard thing for the album at Albums on the Hill when I visited Boulder for some reason (before going to college). I eventually got the album but one song I heard early, I think from illegal downloading way back when, "If It Takes All Night" has stuck with me for the past 14 years as a favorite.

I remember the day Fugazi's last album The Argument came out. Because that was the day in college I went to Wax Trax after class to pick it up. And the accompanying Furniture EP, of course. You know, 2001 was also the year I saw Fugazi. I turned 18 in 2001 and they played in Denver the night before my birthday. So I hit midnight on my 18th birthday in the front row of the Ogden Theater listening to maybe the most legendary band of my youth. Unfortunately, the Fugazi Live Series has not posted that show yet. I was hoping it'd be up before I listened to 2001! Anyway, that was an amazing life experience. What to say about the album though? Who knew it would be their last? It is as epic as anything else they did, so it's a fitting farewell. I just want more, always.


The Hip Hop:
Word of Mouf was a great continuation of the fun and silly Ludacris I liked so much a little later. Jay-Z and Nas had quite the words for each other on their respective releases. I liked Jay-Z's better. The Blueprint is pretty classic and in addition to "The Takeover" it has my favorite Eminem song, his collaboration with Hova called "Renegade." But you probably already know that song. Oh, and Dilated Peoples' Expansion Team was fantastic. I only recently acquired that one so I'd only known "Worst Comes to Worst" before this.


Remember in the last entry when I explained my thoughts on Suicide Machines' self-titled album that angered me so? I think some of that anger pushed me to be overly judgmental of another of my favorite bands. Asian Man Records has always had a policy of supporting their artists as they get too big for such a tiny label and need to move on. But when Alkaline Trio moved to Vagrant Records, I was pretty furious. This was a band I took VERY personally, because they had spoken to me on such a personal level at a critical time in my development. So the idea of having to share them with people not cool enough to track them down on their own made me pretty sad. But I also like to think I gave them a chance. When the track listing for From Here to Infirmary came out, I remember just being so excited about the prospect of Dan singing a song called "Crawl" or Matt singing one called "You're Dead." But then the album came out. And I hated it. When, to be fair, I probably should have only liked it a little less than Maybe I'll Catch Fire. But "Stupid Kid" was all over MTV and some of those songs were just not up to par lyrically. When you have to have the lyrics "In case you're wondering we're singing about growing up..." then maybe you're either being too cryptic otherwise or you don't think too highly of your audience's ability to understand a song. Anyway, listening to the album in 2015 I realized it's pretty decent. It's got some good songs on it. They couldn't just keep making Goddamnit.

On the other hand, related band The Lawrence Arms continued their ascent into my heart with a split EP with The Chinkees called Present Day Memories. The four Lawrence Arms songs instantly became some of my favorites, so perfectly expressing the exasperation of loneliness and laziness and not finding your way out. Only The Lawrence Arms could speak so boldly with a sigh in a song...

The Lawrence Arms "Hey, What Time is 'Pensacola: Wings of Gold' on Anyway?"

And the triptych concludes with The Honor System. 100% Synthetic sees them moving a little away from the Broadways influence and rocking just a little bit harder without sacrificing any of the passion that made them great.

Cursive was in between their two great albums so of course they put out their great EP Burst and Bloom. "Sink to the Beat" is my go-to when I want to convert someone to the greatness that is Cursive. So I'll play it for you now in case you didn't know and feel the need to know.

 Cursive "Sink to the Beat"

The final album by The Wunder Years was an EP recorded in Fort Collins. I have to credit The Blasting Room for bringing so many great bands through our small city outside of Denver, providing many great memories and making so many records feel all that more personal, knowing they were recorded in my hometown. I think I saw The Wunder Years three times. One of the times was at The Back Alley, a tiny venue that didn't last long but was my favorite venue while it was around. Have I already told this story? I don't know. It looked like it was a 21+ show so I emailed the band asking about it because I was only 17 or 18 or so. He wrote back saying I should be able to get in. I went and I got in. And he found me and somehow knew I was the one that had written (maybe I was obviously the youngest person there?) and asked if I got in okay. What a guy! Anyway, Function Over Fashion is a great final word to go out on for The Wunder Years as well as a look into the future of Brian's next band The Ghost. Just a harder take on things with that much passion.

The Smoking Popes' final album was full of covers and pretty good. But my interest gravitated toward former Smoking Popes guitarist Tom Daily. First I heard him cover their rarity "First Time" and just destroyed it. Will never get over that version. Then I ran across his album The Burlington Northern, which quietly became one of my favorite albums. Something I can't really relate to with anyone, because I don't think any of my friends really listened to him. I got one friend to enjoy "What's It Like?" by putting it on a mix (and I think I also played "First Time" for him) but beyond that, this is my own personal treasure. It feels like a very personal record filtered through lots of digital effects that aren't meant to cover anything up, but rather bring you in. Pique your curiosity with some echoes here or there but bring you in with some straightforward melodies and lyrics. I guess it's my original, personal version of The Postal Service.

Another former Smoking Pope (and Alkaline Trio drummer at the time) Mike Felumlee took part in a message board I posted to and founded an awesome record label, and I became a fan. He put out an album called 64 Hours and it was a great collection of Smoking Popes-style pop with his own personal take.

I guess Beulah fits here because indie pop or whatever. The Coast Is Never Clear was their best album in my opinion, a great combination of cynical lyrics and Beach Boys-meets-90s-indie-pop music. References to Stephin Merritt. It's just so upbeat and good sounding to deliver such hatred, it's a wonderful thing. La la life sucks! Perfect for me in the early 2000s.

What can I say about Polysics? I have to say something about Polysics. When I first heard them it was on an Asian Man Records compilation and I didn't care for them. Too weird somehow for me in 2001. Even though I was way into weird in 2001. It didn't take me too long to get curious enough to listen some more though, because as "too weird" as it was it still had me curious. I think my friends learning and doing a goofy dance to it helped. So anyway, eventually I just went for it and got their first album (to be released in America) called Hey! Bob! My Friend! and I haven't looked back. They idolize Devo, they play a similar new wavy type music with a ton of energy. Perfect for freakin' out squares and going crazy over.

And I'll end it with some ska. Acoustic ska. Chris Murray from King Apparatus put out a simple solo album on Asian Man Records called 4-Trackaganza! I quite enjoyed it but it came to mean so much more to me. Early in the morning on September 11th, I was in my dorm when the phone rang. My roommate had gone to class but his sister called and I answered it. I don't remember the exact conversation, other than her telling me that we were "under attack" and to turn on the TV and that a plane had gone down near "the 'Burgh" (he was from Pittsburgh) but his family was okay. And I turned on the TV and it was on when he came back to the dorm. I gave him the message from his sister. I don't remember much else. I feel like we were more in disbelief than anything. Not visibly upset, but not knowing what to think or how to feel. It took me days to process what had happened and what was going on around me, all the hatred that was coming out, everyone saying to bomb Afghanistan, all the racist talk that became so rampant. We were inevitably headed for war and beyond my selfish concern about being of age for the draft and being sent there myself (obviously there was no draft), I was just concerned about the direction the world was heading. Then one day on shuffle this song came on and while it didn't make me feel better about anything, it helped articulate my concerns.

Grandma's sewing denim patches on the pants of destiny
at the dawning of an era, watching history repeat
it's lookin' like the easy answer is to blame society for the wars
they were swimming in the ocean 'til they crawled up from the sea
then one day they started dying, 'til the last one disappeared
no they never saw it coming, though the signs were there to see
            -Chris Murray, "Dinosaurs"

Other things:

• The final piece from The Impossibles. 2001 I was in the CU marching band and we went to Austin. We met up with the Texas trombone section and one suggestion was to go see The Impossibles. Unfortunately, us punk rock band geeks got outvoted and we ended up playing a drinking game at some house somewhere. I did not drink. The end of that story. Oh yeah, the piece. 4 Song Brick Bomb. An EP with...4 songs. Great stuff.
• The first Quasi album I got was The Sword of God. It has the song "It's Raining," which might be my favorite of theirs.
• "Crystal Frontier" may have been Calexico's finest achievement.
• I remember "Rockin' The Suburbs" by Ben Folds! That one amused me. Turns out that record has a few great songs on it.
• 2001 was when Adult Swim was getting started on Cartoon Network. My beloved Space Ghost Coast to Coast had an expanding universe with lots of great shows. One of these was The Brak Show (not to be confused with Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak). In one episode, Zorak has something removed from his throat and he ends up having a singing voice not unlike the popular boy bands of the era. All of this is to say I still have the songs from that episode. Zorak singing about kicking your ass. Good stuff.
• Thelema is a nifty little EP by Murder City Devils.
• Amethyst Rock Star is a great intro to Saul Williams and he would turn out to have a big impact on me personally.
• That Pigeon John Is Clueless album is kind of funny in its very Christian messages on a couple songs. I'm glad he toned that down a little later on.
• Perennial favorites Enon put out a collection of loops called On Hold. It was pretty rare but I eventually picked it up at a show. It's pretty great for what it is. I used to think it needed some rappers to rap over some of the tracks on some sort of remix version to give it more exposure, but this last time listening to it I realize it is dynamic and interesting without the aid of others. Just a really cool album.
• Spoon was really finding themselves, but I didn't get into them quite yet. But Girls Can Tell is pretty great, a band that would end up being one of the most consistent in rock.
• The Ex was still amazing all these years later on Dizzy Spells.
• After hearing the song he was featured on on the 6ths album, I had to hear more from Momus. Eventually I tracked down his album Folktronic and paid a pretty penny for it. Must have been an import or something. Most of the album is silly and ephemeral and not really worth listening to much, but there are a couple songs that break through the silliness to reach something profound. "The Lady of Shallot" is a mixtape favorite.
• Rufus Wainwright's Poses is a great, personal, devastating album.

Next Time:
2002! The last palindrome year of our lives! Let's see...Trail of Dead! Early Amy Winehouse stuff! My first hip hop purchase (and favorite for a long long time), Blackalicious! A personal favorite Elvis Costello album! The greatest Enon album! Yoshimi! Perfecting Loneliness! The Lawrence Arms reaffirm my love yet again! Early LCD Soundsystem songs! Talib Kweli! Wilco! Lots of great personal stuff here.

An Ear For An Era: 2000

In the year 2000...

I remember when 2000 was far away. And then not so far away. And then the past. And Conan continuing the "In the year 2000" skits regardless. It's just a number. An idea. It used to be the idea of the future. So whatever the number is. It's just a number. When everybody was freaking out about Y2K and apocalypse and whatnot I just kind of laughed it off because of how arbitrary numbers are anyway.

2000 was the year I started my senior year in high school, it was a year I started off by being blown off by my friends but hanging out with my brother so it's fine, it was the year I got a serious girlfriend and went to school dances instead of making movies on school dance nights.

The future.

Now 15 years gone.

Music blog.

I'm going to start off the actual portion of this that is not a meaningless/meaningful introduction by talking about hip hop. 2000 was an insane year for great hip hop. I didn't know at the time because my mind was still closed, but there was a lot.

Soon to be one of my favorite MCs Del The Funky Homosapien had a very fantastic album Both Sides of the Brain that for a long time was the most recent Del solo album so it always felt like latter era Del. He's really upped his productivity in recent years, however, and now I guess I'd call it "mid period" because it is still pretty far removed from his early 90s repertoire. Same attitude, new production. But of course the big one was Deltron 3030, his project with Dan the Automator and Kid Koala. The future! Not sure how much I need to explain to this audience, but this concept sci-fi album is so much fun to listen to, as Del seems to bring out the best in Automator and vice versa (Koala's input is somewhat limited in comparison to his solo stuff...). It's just vivid, it's catchy, and impeccably done all around.

Deltron 3030 "Virus"

More hip hop, quick rundown style...
Ludacris, whom I would pretty soon discover for myself, has been historically viewed by me as just a fun, funny MC without too much to say. I think he's broken that stigma but he was very entertaining on Back for the First Time. De La Soul's Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump is a great showcase of a band still at the top of their game a decade in. Quality Control by Jurassic 5 is kind of a peak for the group creatively as a bunch of MCs that manage to find a level of harmony rarely heard in this century's hip hop, and also exemplified by the dual-DJ attack and "Swing Set," an awesome track of a couple DJs just showing off in a way that usually only MCs attempt. Speaking of DJs (producers?), Quasimoto is an interesting showcase of Madlib's behind-the-mic skills. I don't have the Wu-Tang Clan album The W, but I have "Gravel Pit" and yeah. You know that one is grand. Umm, Train of Thought by Reflection Eternal starring Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek is master class 2000 hip hop.

And of course Outkast. Stankonia was the last super collaborative album they put out together and pretty much the best. "Ms. Jackson" and "B.O.B." and other songs I haven't given their proper due. But "B.O.B." will always get me going nuts. I hated Eminem at the time but he's grown on me a little. The homophobia is pretty awful but he's not the only one with awful homophobia in his music from this time, so I guess he shouldn't have been singled out as much as he was...I know Common was guilty of some homophobia as well but Like Water For Chocolate is praised. And it should be for most reasons.

And now the stuff from the genres I really listened to back in 2000.

I hate being one of those guys that gets mad at a band for going in a new direction or whatever because you're the artist/follow your muse/etc, but The Suicide Machines really pissed me off when they put out their self-titled album in 2000. My saviors, a band that helped me understand this complicated world and work through it, put out some awful pop music and I was pissed. I took it personally. They kind of made up for it later, realizing their mistake and signing to an indie label and being punk again, but my relationship with what was once one of my favorite bands was never the same.

One of my oldest shirts is what I now kind of use to prove my punk rock credentials. It's from the CD release show for Problematic by All. You can barely read it, but it spells out the show date in 2000. At the time it seemed like I was late to the party on it, but at this point 15 years are a lot of years.  I don't listen to Problematic all that often but it does take me back. Not my favorite All record but still good.

The Impossibles got back together while I was still into their ska stuff. And became sort of power pop, in a way that outside observers said they sounded like Weezer (in a good way). I had not really listened to much Weezer, but you can give The Impossibles credit there, for directing me that way. Because Return is a fantastic pop album with great hooks and great heartbreak. "Never Say Goodbye" was my anthem when I was graduating high school. Not that I see any of those people anymore (with approximately 1 exception), so maybe I should have said goodbye?

I don't know how many friends I introduced to the brilliant Shellac when I discovered them, but people did not need to be post-rock/math-rock/experimental music followers to follow the message on "Prayer to God." Profane, hilarious, but so true to the raw emotions that people have, when I was faced with a similar situation the song just got stronger and stronger to me (but still funny, because I'm not a psychopath that takes it seriously). The rest of the album 1000 Hurts is part of what got me into the post-rock stuff later on, but it's easy if you've had a broken heart to latch right on to this song.

Shellac "Prayer to God"

I was always a few steps behind my friends on The Weakerthans. Not sure why. I love their music. Pretty astonishing that this was a guy from Propagandhi being poetic and not political. But John K. Samson is among the greatest lyricists not only in indie rock but in rock. "How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you, how you don't know where you should look...so you look at my hands." Oh yeah, the album is called Left & Leaving. Fantastic stuff.

Speaking of lyricists, Stephin Merritt. This is the right-after-69-Love-Songs Stephin Merritt and even though the 6ths album Hyacinths and Thistles was not as well received critically, I feel like he was still on a roll. There are plenty of songs on this album that could have been 69 Love Songs standouts, particularly "As You Turn to Go" and "You You You You You."

Cursive's Domestica was one of my favorites. An examination of a bitter divorce with nothing held back. A modern Here, My Dear. But emo or whatever. I just always loved how Tim Kasher seemed to know exactly what he did wrong and acknowledged his weaknesses on here, not really pointing the blame in any direction but exploring the roots of the problems. It's uncomfortable but everything from his wife's point of view is the most poignant and you can see that he understands it. This will always be my favorite Cursive album because it taught me to look at myself and examine my own flaws in this area, and hopefully avoid making some of the same mistakes. This song I take very personally because it echoed the mistakes that I would eventually learn from in my relationship at the time to be a better partner today.

Cursive "The Martyr"

When I introduced my friend to the music of The Broadways, he said they reminded him of this other band that I should check out. So I was really excited to hear this band that sounded like The Broadways. But then when I heard them I couldn't really figure out the similarities he'd drawn between the bands. But it didn't matter because this was one of the most intense, aggressive, energy creating bands I'd ever heard. I made an analogy a while back on this blog about a band creating all this potential energy and releasing it and I don't remember who I was talking about, but the same could be said for At The Drive-In. Then I saw them on Letterman and knew I HAD to see them live. Then they broke up.

At The Drive-In "One Armed Scissor" Live on Letterman

I saw a very early The Mars Volta show a little while later but it just was not the same.

In the summer of 2000, Asian Man Records put together the Plea for Peace tour featuring all of the great bands on its roster. Maybe the best lineup I have ever seen. And my family was going to fly out to Florida on vacation the day before the show got to Denver. Somehow I convinced my brother to wait back with me so I could go to this show and convinced a friend who wasn't really interested in that type of music to go with me so I wouldn't be driving to Denver alone. And I SOMEHOW convinced my parents to let me and my brother drive across the country to meet up with them in Florida. All of those pieces fit together and I got to go to this show. And I will never forget that experience. The skapunk of the past (MU330! Mike Park doing Skankin' Pickle songs with them!) met the melodic punk of the future (Alkaline Trio! The Honor System! The Lawrence Arms!) and it was an amazing experience.

Alkaline Trio quickly became one of my favorite bands when they put out Maybe I'll Catch Fire, an album I could get and not feel awkward about its title. While not as great of an album as Goddamnit, it was special and it showed me some dark visions and introduced me to their world. The Honor System was close enough to The Broadways that I was immediately hooked. Single File was their debut and really echoes "Dan songs" by The Broadways. The passion in the political. Similar guitar licks.

And of course The Lawrence Arms. Ghost Stories is still my favorite album of theirs. Walking out of the concert I saw Brendan talking to some dudes in the alley and I told him he'd played a great show. And that was the first time I addressed him at a Lawrence Arms show. This practice would lead to him recognizing me and remembering my name and having longer conversations as the years went on. Anyway, a few years later I was talking to Brendan in one of our longer conversations about Ghost Stories. How it was my favorite and people don't seem to get it. And it was so validating when he agreed with me and said that it's kind of the measure of the real fans, because it really takes time to get it but then it comes together. This is a cold and distant record. The production is "gritty," I guess you could say. I like the word cold for it though. You need to embrace it and warm it up and then it speaks to you. Personal stuff. Poetic stuff. I could pick any song to play for you here because they are all special to me. This was when I really got into Chris' songs in particular. I'd appreciated him in The Broadways but he sounded quite a bit like Dan. He was unique here. I could really feel that he meant what he was singing. I don't know man, what do I say about this album? Criminally underrated. They don't even play these songs anymore. That's fine, you move on. But it will always be my special gem. Due to a fluke on my ipod this played twice and for the first time in the project I did not skip the repeat because I just couldn't stop it. I just had to let it play, once I heard the opening chords, through the secret tracks without skipping past the silence. Because even the silence between "The Last One" and its bonus tracks is part of the experience to me.

The Lawrence Arms "Ghost Stories"

They also put out a split EP with Shady View Terrace in 2000. It was the first step in a brand new direction for the band that is considered the classic, favorite era. A little "better" produced but still amazing. Especially those damn Chris songs...

I remember when Elliott Smith died (I know, not way back in 2000 but this is apparently his last album). I hadn't been a huge fan but one of my friends had. We heard he'd stabbed himself in the heart! We listened to a lot of depressing music but that kind of sealed the deal as him being the pinnacle of that. And from there, it seemed too real for me to approach it without taking it seriously and with the highest amount of respect. This has always put a certain amount of elusiveness on his catalog for me.

Elliott Smith "Can't Make A Sound"

Also Noted.

• Planes Mistaken for Stars! I had the "Fucking Fight" 7" and its intensity was just ridiculous. I only saw the band live a handful of times despite them being all over the Denver indie/emo/whatever scene but every time was very memorable and intense and terrifying. Legends around these parts. The Knife in the Marathon EP was fantastic as well but didn't have the insane intensity of that 7".
• The Dandy Warhols' Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia is kind of a classic of urban Bohemia. That's pretty much what I'd call it.
• Hot Hot Heat certainly was different in these days.
• The first Jill Scott album is fabulous. I wouldn't discover her until around '07.
• I haven't listened too much to Sufjan Stevens' debut A Sun Came, but it's quite pleasant.
• Yeah White Stripes, thisclose to legendary status...
• The distant warmth of Kid A is a brilliant album that I couldn't think of what to write about, so it's just "noted" even though many would consider it the best album of 2000. Take that, expectations!
• Once all of Coldplay's albums were on Amazon for like 50 cents each or something so I got them, thinking "ha! Take that, Coldplay! That's what your catalog is worth!" But now I have to actually listen to them in this thing so who's laughing now? They have a couple decent songs though.
• I saw The New Pornographers last year for the first time in concert (I know!), and they neglected to play the standout track from their debut album Mass Romantic, "Letter From An Occupant." I know, right??
• And Neko Case solo. So country back then. But she's always had that voice!
• Flogging Molly is entertaining.
• Cat Power's deconstruction of a covers album is really cool and really frustrating. Just sing the chorus!
• Don Caballero, one last hurrah of the classic lineup.
• Add Float by Aesop Rock to that hip hop list above. Good year indeed.
• Enon was one of my favorite bands and I'm throwing their debut down here?? Believo! was awesomely diverse and catchy yet only hinted at their future prowess.
• The last Man or Astroman album for a while was A Spectrum of Infinite Scale and for a long time it was the only one I had of theirs on CD. Anyone who can make a compelling track by recording the sound of a printer printing something that they programmed is pretty brilliant in my book.
• There's too much to write about! Daisies of the Galaxy by Eels!
• American III by Johnny Cash!
• Avalanches! Since I Left You is a party!
• Ghostface Killah! Supreme Clientele! I told you it was a year of hip hop!
• I didn't listen to much Modest Mouse in 2000. I know my girlfriend liked their 90s stuff but I didn't get The Moon & Antarctica until later on. Kind of a new direction for them but a fascinating one.

Next Time...
2001 was a big year of changes in my life and in the world. But this is about music. 2001 had some good music by artists such as Beulah, Built to Spill, Dilated Peoples, Ee, the last Fugazi album, Gorillaz, Jay-Z taking over, The National, Polysics, Pulp, The Strokes, Tom Daily, and !!!, among other things. Happy new year!

brendan kelly at rockbar

EDIT: UPDATE: WHATEVER:

The baby was born! Wyatt was born on April 17th, 2008.  Hooray!

here is a blog i posted awhile ago on my myspace blog but never got around to posting it here.  oops!  i decided to post it now because my next entry will have a bunch of pics from tonight's enon show, so i sent them to myself from my phone.  and there was also a brendan pic on my phone, so now i have a blurry, basically crappy camera phone picture of brendan on april 2nd at the rockbar.

hooray!  it's also a good time to post this because today he went to the hospital, so chances are the baby was born today...or will be tomorrow.  i don't know.  that's the latest update though.  without further adieu, here is the old review:

I decided I shall blog about the performance of one Brendan Kelly, who you may know from such bands as The Falcon and Slapstick.

He came to Denver Monday to DJ, and then Wednesday to play some acoustic guitar for us. I think it was his first solo acoustic gig ever...like, ever. Maybe.

He said he knows we all have blogs and wants us to go back to our blogs saying that he can pull anything out, whatever we requested...but I think it’s actually pretty true.

He played some truly rare tracks, including Heaven Help Me and Old Mexico Way. He did most of the show without a mic or amplification. It was truly real and punk rock. About 20 of us gathered around singing along, it was pretty awesome (especially Old Mexico Way). He played a couple Broadways tunes (15 Minutes and It Was Pancho Villa), a couple Falcon tunes, and plenty of Lawrence Arms stuff. Including Another Boring Story, which was just awesome.

Most of the songs he played weren’t really ever meant for the acoustic format, and likewise had some awkward parts. But it was totally worth it for the singalongs and the moments when it really worked.

He also made a pretty spot-on analogy. Talking about how everyone compares his band to Jawbreaker, he said it’s kinda like when a girl says "you’re really hot, because you look like your dad." He proceeded to do a beautiful cover of "Kiss The Bottle." Much better than the Lucero version.

And today he’s back in Chicago. He’s gonna be a dad any moment now, maybe he already is at this point. We got to see his last hurrah, probably his last show in a long time, because he’s got other stuff to worry about now. And for that I am eternally grateful.