en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal The Last.fm journal for heyadamo. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2012/01/04/59tu1s_adam%27s_top_15_for_2011 Wed, 4 Jan 2012 04:09:44 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2012/01/04/59tu1s_adam%27s_top_15_for_2011 No frills, no explanations, but overall a pretty awesome year for me and my ears.

15. The Jayhawks -- Mockingbird Time
14. The Dears -- Degeneration Street
13. Fleet Foxes -- Helplessness Blues
12. Smith Westerns -- Dye It Blonde
11. The Joy Formidible -- The Big Roar
10. Tennis -- Cape Dory
9. Foo Fighters -- Wasting Light
8. Wilco -- The Whole Love
7. James Blake -- James Blake
6. Army Navy -- The Last Place
5. Fountains of Wayne -- Sky Full of Holes
4. R.E.M. -- Collapse Into Now
3. Radiohead -- The King of Limbs
2. Sloan -- The Double Cross
1. PJ Harvey -- Let England Shake]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/12/31/59n1oo_adam%27s_way_too_large_halo_list_for_2011 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:30:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/12/31/59n1oo_adam%27s_way_too_large_halo_list_for_2011 Looking at my current top 100, I can't believe what a prolific year it was for those artists. By a conservative estimate, at least 33% put out a new release of some type and several others put out aniversary/expanded version of previous favorite albums. However, it appears my own personal year was at least as busy, because a quick perusal through others' top 10/25/674 lists reveals there was a LOT of stuff I just didn't have time to get to. That vaporization of my time also means my best of 2009/2010 "remix" will have to wait as well. So until the powers that be discover how to "freeze" time and allow me to catch up, here's the albums that I have high hopes for and/or I have bought into their collective hype to give a chance to. Anything else you may suggest is always appreciated and sometimes even obeyed...

Ryan Adams -- Ashes & Fire
Antony & The Johnsons -- Swanlights EP
Bon Iver -- Bon Iver
Bill Callahan -- Apocalypse
Coldplay -- Mylo Xyloto
Common -- The Dreamer, The Believer
Cut Copy -- Zonoscope
The Cyrillic Typewriter -- The Cyrillic Typewriter
Death Grips -- Ex Military
The Decemberists --Long Live The King EP
Drake -- Take Care
The Drums -- Portamento
Liam Finn -- FOMO
Fucked Up -- David Comes To Life
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds -- Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Gomez -- Whatever's On Your Mind
Guided By Voices -- Let's Go Eat The Factory
The High Llamas -- Talahomi Way
Idaho -- You Were a Dick
Nicholas Jaar -- Space Is Only Noise
M83 -- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
The Men -- Leave Home
Metronomy -- The English Riveria
Milk Maid -- YUCCA
Real Estate -- Days
Gruff Rhys -- Hotel Shampoo
The Roots -- Undun
Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations -- Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations
St. Vincent -- Strange Mercy
The Strokes -- Angles
The Vivian Girls -- Share the Joy
The Weeknd -- House of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes Of Silence
Wild Flag -- Wild Flag

Just like last year, about 3-4 of these are patiently sitting in my iTunes library as I type this. Told ya I've been busy. Anyway, with any luck my Top 15 will be arriving to the Journal in a few days, and the only thing's that for sure is that none of the albums above will be part of it.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/10/29/4wmt1b_caught_live_--_the_besnard_lakesmalajube_at_high_noon_saloon_10211 Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:47:14 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/10/29/4wmt1b_caught_live_--_the_besnard_lakesmalajube_at_high_noon_saloon_10211 Sun 2 Oct – The Besnard Lakes, Malajube

For The Besnard Lakes, making an impression is pretty easy. Not many other acts attempt to cross-pollinate the sweeping panoramas of prog-rock with the snarling ripples of sound adopted by the shoegazer sound, with a healthy dose of melodramatic songcraft heard in those tragic ballads of the late 50s and early 60s thrown in for effect. Even fewer feature a husband and wife as the creative centerpoint. Add in the continuous motifs the Lakes return to (espionage, trains,romantic tumult) and the ground the Lakes artistically stand on is pretty barren. While being distinctive and unique should be a boon in the crowded field of indie-rawk hopefuls, the smallish crowd that greeted The Lakes at the High Noon may indicate The Lakes reside in a part of the music universe few don't think to explore much.

Still, those who came were fervent followers of the Lakes' sonic gospel, and were greeted with a few trippy light effects and a fog machine. The Lakes have manned the stage in a six person configuration in the past, but this night they were a quartet, with frontman Jace Lasek (he of the omnipresent Nudie-style western shirts) handling lead guitar, vocal and keyboard duties, his wife Olga Goreas on bass and singing, Richard White on additional guitars and keyboards and Kevin Laing behind the drumkit. The Lakes have such a layered, deep sound on record that I doubted they could match the epic sweep found in their albums up close and personal, but I was happily proven wrong. In fact, their reading of For Agent 13 was absolutely majestic, the fragile buildup snowballing to the crescendo that echoed through the venue walls. Many of the highlights from The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse and The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night were brought to life on stage, the most memorable being Disaster getting more of a classic country and western swing to the verses, adding a noisy bluster towards the end that segued into Devastation, a great song for slow-motion headbanging. While the songs themselves had all the epic feel of their recorded cousins, the set as a whole seemed rushed: they were barely on stage 60 minutes, and that's counting the 2 song encore. Still, one of the edicts of showbiz is to leave them wanting more, and I imagine quite a few of the people that night would take another "dip" the next time they got near these particular Lakes.

Both the Lakes and opening act Malajube call Montreal home, but Malajube are on a separate parcel of land from the Lakes. Malajube's brew is far closer to standard rock/pop fare, with liberal amounts of glam rock and psychedelic guitar. Of course, the biggest eyebrow raiser for Malajube here in the States would be the lack of English in the songs, as Malajube sing French throughout. The language barrier did not seem to cause problems, and the band's collective excitement and enthusiasm wore off on the crowd.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/08/29/4l4d9k_half_a_decade%3A_my_5th_last.fm_anniversary_post Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:29:15 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/08/29/4l4d9k_half_a_decade%3A_my_5th_last.fm_anniversary_post Another August 29th is here, and so I will again look at my stats as a way to track how I'm "growing" as an entity here on last.fm. First, the main stats....

[data collected at 8:58 am 08/29/2011]
TOTAL TRACKS SCROBBLED = 112,096 (up another 2000 + listens, much like last year)
ARTISTS IN LIBRARY = 3,296 (600 or so more -- again, similar to last year's growth #)
FRIENDS = 47 (15 more friends than last year, welcome to the party, here's your hat)

So rather than in-depth breakdowns like last year, I'm going to give some general thoughts and give you the complete ups and downs of my current top 100, thanks to my screencaps.

* My top 4 are starting to power away from the rest of the field, and in some ways starting to drift apart from each other. My numbers 1 and 2 are pretty close, but both acts had new product for my ears (and the difference between the two may have been I saw one live and the other didn't tour.) After that, there's a noticable stretch from 2 to 3 and another pretty wide gulf from 3 to 4. That's not saying another act can't climb to thoe lofty heights but it would take some focused, concentrated listening for an act to get there. (If there was an act that might, look for Wilco to be the best bet, as they have a new album and tour around the corner. My personal top ten has two new faces: Mew and PJ Harvey. Mew were right on the border last year, but PJ is one the bigger jumpers, thanks to her brilliant album Let England Shake.

*It took 287 listens for my #100 artist to get to that lofty high. If we go by last year's rough estimate formula of 1 album equaling 12 scrobbles, that means I have to listen to someone's album or albums 24 times. Considering I listen to about 3 albums a day, that's not an unfathomable feat, but I found (and the stats sorta prove) I don't get hung up on one artist exclusively. (To prove that, the artist that made the biggest "debut" on my overall 500 was Tame Impala, and from an album and an EP I recorded 272 scrobbles, good enough to nab them slot #112.)

1. Sloan 1,549 listens [UP 2]
2. R.E.M. 1,517 listens [down 1]
3. The Beatles 1,287 listens [down 1]
4. XTC 1,024 listens [same]
5. Wilco 958 listens [same]
6. Radiohead 920 listens [same]
7. PJ Harvey 890 listens [UP 10]
8. The Beach Boys 828 listens [down 1]
9. The Kingsbury Manx 768 listens [same]
10. Mew 721 listens [UP 1]
11. Supergrass 705 listens [down 1]
12. Morrissey 700 listens [down 4]
13. Neil Young 691 listens [UP 10]
14. Pernice Brothers 690 listens [same]
15. American Music Club 688 listens [down 3]
16. Beck 653 listens [down 1]
17. Blur 640 listens [UP 1]
18. Gomez 635 listens [down 5]
19. The Twilight Sad 618 listens [down 3]
20. The Smiths 597 listens [same]
21. Stereolab 595 listens [same]
22. Eels 586 listens [UP 2]
23. Broadcast 581 listens [down 2]
24. De La Soul 579 listens [UP 7]
25. Sun Kil Moon 577 listens [UP 1]
26. Phoenix 571 listens [down 7]
27. (tie) Idaho 568 listens [down 2]
27. (tie) The Magnetic Fields 568 listens [UP 1]
29. (tie) Josh Rouse 565 listens [UP 1]
29. (tie) The Roots 565 listens [UP 21]
31. Suede 564 listens [UP 3]
32. Little Brother 544 listens [same]
33. The Who 529 listens [down 4]
34. Foo Fighters 521 listens [UP 4]
35. Kanye West 515 listens [UP 10]
36. Randy Newman 514 listens [down 9]
37. The Apples in Stereo 509 listens [UP 1]
38. Idlewild 487 listens [down 3]
39. Elton John 486 listens [UP 3]
40. Eric Matthews 473 listens [down 7]
41. Steely Dan 471 listens [down 4]
42.(tie) Belle and Sebastian 462 listens [same**]
42.(tie) Broadcast and The Focus Group 462 listens [down 4]
44. Elvis Costello & The Attractions 461 listens [UP 4]
45. The Dears 453 listens [UP 4]
46. (tie) Queens of the Stone Age 447 listens [UP 1]
46. (tie) Johan 447 listens [down 6]
48. Mos Def 437 listens [down 12]
49. Crowded House 436 listens [down 3]
50. (tie) Low 434 listens [UP 4]
50. (tie) Antony & The Johnsons 434 listens [UP 37]
52. Spoon 433 listens [down 1]
53. The Jayhawks 425 listens [UP 52]
54. Lilys 424 listens [down 1]
55. (tie) The Hang Ups 423 listens [down 12]
55. (tie) Grizzly Bear 423 listens [UP 15]
57. Polvo 418 listens [down 13]
58. (tie) Interpol 416 listens [UP 77]
58. (tie) The Everly Brothers 416 listens [UP 1]
60. Starpower 410 listens [down 3]
61. Rufus Wainwright 404 listens [down 3]
62. Ben Folds 401 listens [UP 27]
63. (tie) They Might Be Giants 394 listens [down 8]
63. (tie) The National 394 listens [UP 4]
65. The Besnard Lakes 393 listens [UP 3]
66. The High Llamas 388 listens [down 5]
67. Super Furry Animals 387 listens [UP 1]
68. Common 382 listens [down 5]
69. (tie) Ryan Adams 381 listens [down 13]
69. (tie) The New Pornographers 381 listens [down 8]
71. Fountains of Wayne 378 listens [down 19]
72. Kristin Hersh 375 listens [down 6]
73. Prefab Sprout 370 listens [UP 6]
74. Neko Case 369 listens [down 14]
75. The Decemberists 364 listens [UP 33]
76. (tie) Harry Nilsson 361 listens [down 3]
76. (tie) Fleet Foxes 361 listens [down 11]
78. The Replacements 357 listens [UP 13]
79. Elliott Smith 355 listens [down 2]
80. Stevie Wonder 352 listens [down 9]
81. Pete Yorn 337 listens [UP 39]
82. (tie) Throwing Muses 335 listens [down 1]
82. (tie) Rogue Wave 335 listens [down 8]
84. Todd Rundgren 331 listens [down 12]
85. The Wedding Present 329 listens [down 21]
86. Ghostface Killah 321 listens [UP 56 ***]
87. Bee Gees 320 listens [down 11]
88. OutKast 319 listens [down 7]
89. Doves 318 listens [down 4]
90. David Gray 317 listens [UP 23]
91. (tie) Red House Painters 313 listens [down 8]
91. (tie) The Like 313 listens [down 11]
93. Nirvana 312 listens [down 8]
94. Billy Bragg 307 listens [down 6]
95. Coldplay 304 listens [down 11]
96. Guided By Voices 303 listens [down 18]
97. (tie) The Boo Radleys 297 listens [down 23]
97. (tie) Band of Horses 297 listens [UP 20]
99. Catherine Wheel 288 listens [down 8]
100. Michael Penn 287 listens [down 4]

Shed a tear for the acts that were on last year's top 100 that aren't there this year:
Ray LaMontagne, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, Matthew Sweet, Snow Patrol and Travis.

The five biggest jumpers in our top 100:
1. Interpol
2. Ghostface Killah
3. The Jayhawks
4. Antony & the Johnsons
5. The Decemberists

And, on a sadder note, the 5 biggest droppers who still remain in the top 100:
1. The Boo Radleys
2. The Wedding Present
3. Fountains of Wayne
4. Guided By Voices
5. Neko Case
(not so coincedentally, I did delete the wide majority of the albums I had from #1 and #2 from my iTunes library!)

** Last year's scrobble tallies had separate counters for Belle and Sebastian with the "and" and also with an ampersand in the middle. Had those counters been combined as they are this year, their composite scrobbles would have put them at 42, where they happen to be this year.

*** Some of Ghostface Killah's scrobbles were attributed simply to "Ghostface" in the past. The current count combines both and incorrect tags and subtracts the plays within the past 12 months to get the "correct" total that should have been scrobbled last year.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/07/03/4gu0al_retro_schmetro%2C_or_adam_gets_mildly_bitchy Sun, 3 Jul 2011 05:56:16 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/07/03/4gu0al_retro_schmetro%2C_or_adam_gets_mildly_bitchy So as a lot of my fellow last.fm brethren, I have to deal with the pop-up ads that will occasionally serve as the top or background to some of my pages. Most of the time, they grasp at any sort of shred to symbiosis to their paid product placement (Hey you! You listen to Music! Why not chew some of our Delicious Sugary Gum while you listen to whatever Crazy-Ass Music you kids listen to now!) or a shot in the dark for some TV show or movie. Tonight, I got one that made me kvetch, and maybe made some others too.

So it's for Rod Stewart, an artist I don't actively hate but someone whose best days are far behind him. I mean, he made all those American standard albums last decade which was a pretty bald-faced attempt to court the same middle-aged crowd who were young and impressionable when Rod left The Faces and started his solo career. This, of course, was after he made that one album in the late 90s where he attempted to embrace Britpop by doing Oasis songs. I'm getting off the topic here, but I'm trying to paint the picture of how badly this artist is out of touch with the reality of the 21th century music biz. So the ad was for his "new" album called ONCE IN A BLUE MOON which actually isn't a new album at all, but an album that was recorded in the early 90s. (So for those doing math at home, this was an album that was considered not up to snuff in perhaps the GOLDEN ERA of CD sales, when Rod Stewart was still regularly charting in the top 40. But now in 2011, it's high time to hit the world with some so-so Stewart.) As dubious as that whole business is, the marketing gimmick that's (literally!) attached of it should hopefully inspire worldwide facepalming. Yes, the compact disc is being pacakaged in a "retro longbox."

What? Huh?

Some of you may not remember longboxes, so a quick history lesson. As CDs were being introduced to the masses in the 80's, they were often placed in the same shelves where 33 1/3 LPs were also stored. Since CDs were less than half the height of a vinyl disc, the companies had to figure out a way that the smaller CD had to "stand out" in such a shelving scenario. Enter longboxes, where a CD would be placed inside a long paper box (only filling up the top half) and enabling sorta LP sized graphics to catch a record-buyer's eye. Of course, even though it was the same height of an LP, it was still less than half the length, so any design on these longboxes would have to be transposed onto what amounted to a panorama frame. A *vertical* panorama frame, no less. As much of a pain this was for the design majordomos, it was an even bigger pain environmentally, as millions upon millions of these boxes would be printed, purchased once and then thrown away. Eventually, people figured out that having those reusable locking plastic cases would serve the same purpose and longboxes eventually went to the way of pet rocks and pogs. (The last longbox I remember picking up was R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People back in October of 1992.)

So by re-introducing this practice, Rod Stewart is accomplishing....yeah, I'm not sure either. Firstly, this is trying to fabricate excitement for something almost nobody was excited about. If there's a community that has a treasured collection of their longboxes, I humbly apologize to them, but most longboxes were bulky shoplifting deterrants and little else, and had no sentimental value once you unsheathed the CD from it. C'mon, are there really any old record codgers who sheds a nostalgic tear for the longbox, and is there a single record buyer today who's wishing he/she was around when longboxes were the in thing? The other considerations are purely financial. Between the demise of the longbox and now, CDs became by far the most popular purchased audio medium, so a lot of stores that sold CDs switched their displays to ones that complimented the size and shape of CD jewelboxes. So now this thing comes out and a lot of stores won't even be able to display it properly. Plus it costs more to produce the longboxes, and the flimsy boxes still needlessly squander resources. This is why the term "retro" gets as much flack as it does: there's no sense in bringing back something that was obsolete to begin with.

On that thought, let me just stand up and say to the burgeoning cassette revival scene that's being trumpeted by places like NPR and SPIN: NO. Just NO. The only reason cassettes aren't considered the worst music containment unit is because 8-track tapes once existed. (And yes, I know they have a cult/scene too.) The ONE and ONLY thing that made cassettes a viable option to listen to albums was because of their affordability, i.e. they were cheap. They were cheap to make, cheaper to buy, and the audio quality compared to vinyl and CD was....exactly. They could also be erased easily, the tape inside could stretch and break after only a few listens, and that's if you didn't manage to sit on the damn thing before that. Vinyl coming back made sense; it provides a bigger canvas for a band's artwork, the sound quality is generally better, it turns listening to an album into more of an event. Cassettes do none of these things, and actually provide even less satisfaction than CDs do. For all the people who bitch and moan about how the 4.25" by 4.25" CD booklet compromises the artistry of an album, cassettes don't even offer a third of that area, and any printing practically demands a magnifying glass and unfolding the booklet crammed inside the case, at the end looking like you're playing with a cheap paper accordian.

So far, very few artists I would even have a passing interest in have dabbled in cassette releases (chief exception: The Twilight Sad who released a split cassette of demos with Frightened Rabbit for Record Store Day which I passed on because they wanted $20 for it!) and releasing stuff only on that format seems self-defeating. If I went to a show and saw some up and coming band, I would not buy a freaking cassette from them regardless on how good they are. I understand vinyl presses cost a lot, but if you really believe in your music and your craft, having an end product on even a average slab of vinyl beats it only surviving on a hissy Maxell C-90. MP3s are easy to bag on, but it takes a CD of MP3s a heck of a lot longer to warp in my warm van than a cassette. Cassettes simply are not built for prosperity or longevity: hopefully I can say the same about this movement as well.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/06/01/4eutcf_caught_live_--_sloan_and_dearly_beloved_at_the_400_bar_5272011 Wed, 1 Jun 2011 03:40:09 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/06/01/4eutcf_caught_live_--_sloan_and_dearly_beloved_at_the_400_bar_5272011 Fri 27 May – Sloan

If they say one dog year equals seven human years, imagine how many human years you could equate to one year of rock'n'roll time. Genres come into fashion and flame out seemingly just as quickly; music scenes spring up like dandelions and multiply overnight until the tastemakers-the-be anoint the next new hot sound. It's pretty easy to see how so many bands and artists end up becoming dust and debris, grist to the music industry's mill.

So having the Canadian pop/rock quartet Sloan celebrating their 20th year of existence is no mean feat. Factor in their enduring popularity and their unique band chemistry (juggling 4 members with just as many active and prolific songwriters) and you can forgive the boys for puffling out their collective chests at entering their 3rd decade. They call their 10th and most recent album The Double Cross, a roman numeric reference to the big 20 (XX) that also served as a modest backdrop to their tour.

Perhaps the most eye-opening thing about Sloan is that age is not hampering their recorded output: while most other acts trotting out LPs to the double digit count tend to be graded on a sliding scale of diminishing returns, The Double Cross is every bit as exciting and vibrant as the LPs released in their commerical heyday. So beginning the show with the first trio of songs from it, in the exact same order, more or less segueing together just like on the album, may have seen like overplaying their hands. Instead, the giddy rush of Chris Murphy's Follow The Leader followed by Jay Ferguson's brisk and wistful The Answer Was You and concluded with Patrick Pentland's sturdy fiff-rawker Unkind sounded right in place next to acknowledged Sloan classics like Losing California and Gimme That. The band's confidence in their new release was such that all but one of the albums' dozen tracks was performed to the 400 Bar crowd. (Laying So Low was the orphaned track, FYI.) The body of the show consisted of Jay, Chris and Patrick swapping lead vocals, with a stretch around the middle where Chris surrendered his bass to Jay and moved back to the drumkit while regular drummer Andrew Scott grabbed a guitar and sang four of his songs in a row.

It was my first time seeing the band live and it was fascinating to see the band's interpersonal dynamics on stage. Chris is the de facto MC and class clown. Patrick strong and steady on stage left, commanding attention when singing lead and adding to the vocal blend when needed. Jay content to let others take the visual attention, even when singing lead. Andrew calm and collected up front and a quiet dynamo behind the kit, pulling off his propulsive fills with a charming nonchalance. (While not a member on record, Gregory MacDonald's contribution of keyboard, percussion and harmony vocals enriched many of the songs, allowing the core four to concentrate on their guitar parts.)

Obviously, a band with over 150 songs to their credit isn't going to be able to touch all their musical bases, but the band was able to achieve democracy both in terms of covering their impressive catalogue and the authors therein. They were able to get at least one song from every album in the rotation except one (Smeared being the neglected one) and in a 90 minute, 25 song show, each band mate got at least four lead vocals. While the band didn't shy away from the singles like Coax Me and a 10-minute set closing Money City Maniacs, there was also a decent sampling of deep album cuts like Witches Wand and The Marquee and the Moon. Sloan could have arguably played another 90 minutes and still not hit all the crowd faves, but that's the hazard of having a long and successful career -- there are a lot of current acts that would kill for a problem like that.

Dearly Beloved were the unannounced warm-up act, and while their garage-tested uptempo rock wasn't quite a perfect fit for the headliners, the crowd seemed to enjoy their boisterous enthuiasm regardless. Rob Higgins is a natural frontman whose bass playing is second to none, and the back-and-forth he/she vocals with Niva Chow had a lot of punk rock spark. The rest of the band were no slouches either, and Dearly Beloved made the most of their half-hour.

SLOAN'S SETLIST
Follow The Leader/The Answer Was You/Unkind
The Marquee and the Moon
The End of the Race
Burn for It
Shadow Of Love
Everything You've Done Wrong/Who Taught You to Live Like That
Gimme That
She's Slowing Down Again
Something's Wrong/Traces
Sinking Ships
Green Gardens, Cold Montreal
I've Gotta Know
Your Daddy Will Do
Witches Wand
It's Plain To See
Coax Me
Beverly Terrace
Losing California
ENCORE
The Lines You Amend
The Other Man/Money City Maniacs]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/04/22/4cckqs_caught_live_--_daphne_willis%252C_korby_lenker_%2526_dave_tamkin_at_the_brink_lounge_41811 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:49:48 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/04/22/4cckqs_caught_live_--_daphne_willis%252C_korby_lenker_%2526_dave_tamkin_at_the_brink_lounge_41811 Mon 18 Apr – Daphne Willis, Korby Lenker, Dave Tamkin

Every once in a while, it's good to check out a show for exactly zero knowledge or expectation of the artists in question. So upon the recommendation of a friend and co-worker, we took a Monday night to check out three artists low on name recognition but high on energy and upside.

It was my first visit to the Brink Lounge, which is in the lower level of the building that also houses the High Noon Saloon, mere blocks away from Wisconsin's State Capitol. The facility is very plush and upscale, with a horseshoe-shaped bar in the main room that's surrounded on one side by a wall of wine bottles. The actual room was roomy and elegant, with a bevy of restaurant-style tables spread out before a decently sized stage -- a type of room perfect for classical quartets or perhaps jazz trios. (The back wall of the stage had some black curtains obscuring a plain brick wall facade, which suggests a few comedians have performed here as well.) It was somewhat of an odd venue to host three fairly rootsy singer/songwriters, but having the show upstairs at the High Noon may have stifled the atmosphere and intense energy the small, vocal crowd brought to the Brink.

This Monday night was the eve of Daphne Willis's new album Because I Can, and she seemed eager to share the results with the room. Wearing her trademark goggles, she stormed through hits past (Bluff, What To Say) and possibly future, including the groovy Do What You Want and Shake It Off. Willis avoided the trappings of a full-bore rock band, instead maintaining a core of an additional guitarist (Korby Lenker) and percussion from a type of Cuban Box Drum, which looks like a wooden crate played while sitting atop of it. Still, the trio had energy and spirit, especially during a cover of The Beatles' Come Together.

Although Lenker proved a sturdy support for Willis's set (even grabbing a ukelele and singing a quick ditty midway through because Daphne said it was "her favorite") and Korby boasts an impressive discography, he seemed shy and wilting during his short solo set. There was certainly a Jack Johnson vibe to his easygoing songs, albeit with some deft picking and fingering. But between Korby's stilted mid-song banter and his odd body language, he had other things on or in his mind.

Dave Tamkin was the first to hit the stage, and in some ways he made the biggest impression. Credit a large part of that to his accompanist Jason Vinluan who rocked an electric violin. Combining a guitar and violin invites invitations to Dave Matthews Band and while there was a similar approach, Tamkin and Vinluan were able to find their own distinct musical plane. The duo liked to stretch musical boundaries, as Tamkin conjured up some wah-wah-esque solos on his uptempo strummers and Vinluan began one number by adding violin lines into a sampler, one by one, until he had a mini-orchestra. It was nice to see Tamkin concede so much of the sonic focus, but the two were on the same page, which added a refreshing dimension. Tamkin had a steady string of approachable guitar songs with a craftman's flair and closed his set with a cover of The Who's Baba O'Riley (or, as most know it, "Teenage Wasteland.")]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/04/16/4bzoyu_my_record_store_day_haul_41611 Sat, 16 Apr 2011 17:26:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/04/16/4bzoyu_my_record_store_day_haul_41611 Another year, another Record Store Day. This year, my store was offering a plethora of deals beyond the rare/fetish/ebayable vinyl/CD exclusives. Those who brought canned food goods got a 20% discount off regularly priced, non-Record Store Day stuff. Also, they had all their used stuff at buy one get one free, so there were lots of opportunities to save and spend some serious moolah. So, yeah, I spent a little bit of cash, and found all the stuff that was on my list plus some stuff beyond. Here goes, with rounded up prices put in afterward.

* Foo Fighters -- medium rare LP ($17)
* Foo Fighters -- Wasting Light ($11)
* The Decemberists -- The King Is Dead ($12)
* The Decemberists -- Live At Bull Moose EP ($7)
* Crowded House -- North America Travelogue 2010 ($18)
* Various Artists -- No One Got Hurt: Bloodshot Records 15th Anniversary @ The Hideout, Chicago ($13)
* Paul Simon -- The Paul Simon Songbook ($6)
* The Byrds -- Mr. Tambourine Man ($5)
* The Byrds -- Younger Than Yesterday ($5)
* Green Day -- Shenanigans ($6)
* Three Dog Night -- Three Dog Night/Suitable for Framing (USED $11)
* Three Dog Night -- It Ain't Easy/Naturally (USED FREE)
* The 13th Floor Elevators -- Headstone: The Contact Sessions (USED $10)
* The Auteurs -- How I Learned To Love The Bootboys (USED FREE)
* The Roots -- Phrenology (USED $5)
* Yes -- 90125 (USED FREE)
* N*E*R*D -- Nothing (USED $6)
* Tori Amos -- A Tori Amos Collection: Tales Of A Librarian (USED FREE)

Then I got a couple non-music DVDs, which brought my total to almost $150, netting me 2 commemorative Exclusive Company 55th Anniversary glasses. If that wasn't enough, I got a bag o' swag, which included 8 CD samplers (including the latest Monitor This! and ones from Epitaph, New West and Select-O-Hits, a bunch of stickers, some Soundgarden pins and a G. Love 7" single. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/02/06/47axxh_adam_joins_the_100%2C000_scrobble_club Sun, 6 Feb 2011 06:43:16 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/02/06/47axxh_adam_joins_the_100%2C000_scrobble_club So it took 4 years, 5 months and change, but yours truly hit the six digit mark in scrobbles. I would like to thank my two computers that stored all my tracks, all
the thousands of artists who I'm listened to, the last.fm/Audioscrobbler software
itself and all the peeps who keep last.fm running, and most importantly, my left ear and my right ear, for taking it all in.

At first, I wanted to pick the 100,000th track....I was tempted to program it so it would be a repeat of the very 1st track I played, which was Know. But after a while, I felt I should just be on shuffle and let blind luck pick out the momentous track in question. There are so many songs I love, how could I conceivably elect one as the candidate knowingly? Leaving it to the fates did run the very possible risk of getting a lame or unworthy track to become the chosen one. So what did the shuffle gods bestow onto me as #100,000?

Prince -- Let's Go Crazy

Wow. Not a bad choice at all. OK, now to start my 2nd 100,000....]]> http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/01/04/450au1_adam%27s_2010_best_album_celebration%2C_part_ii%3A_the_furious_15_of_2010 Tue, 4 Jan 2011 03:36:31 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/heyadamo/journal/2011/01/04/450au1_adam%27s_2010_best_album_celebration%2C_part_ii%3A_the_furious_15_of_2010 Three days deep into in 2011 and I'm still not sure what my thoughts were of 2010 as far as music goes. I know for sure nothing absolutely blew me away, and that a lot of the albums on other top 10 lists don't even appeal to me conceptually. Conversely, I did listen to a lot of very worthwhile albums and don't really recall too many works that flat-out disappointed me. As you should know by now, I rank my albums based the number of plays they received between January 1st and New Year's Eve of 2010. I do not count re-issues of old albums but do allow counts for live albums, even if the date the disc was recorded was not 2010. I do not count single, but will count EPs. (By my count, that made a little less than 60 albums eligible for consideration.) If albums have the same number of listens, I sort them due to a number of X-factors including the length of the album, with longer album length generally getting better rankings (but not always.) Moving on up to #1, here we go....

15. Ben Folds & Nick Hornsby, Lonely Avenue

If there's a knock on Ben Folds, it's that he can sometimes get too clever for his own good. His last studio album suffered from both cutesiness (Effington, The Frown Song) and also quite a lot of bitterness (Brainwasht, You Don't Know Me) Whether that factored in his decision to pass the lyric baton to noted author Nick Hornsby (High Fidelity, Fever Pitch) is up for debate, but the end result sounds a lot like a more contented, naunced Ben Folds solo album. The title track in particular is a great portrait of the legendary songwriter Doc Pomus and what fueled his creativity. The closing track Belinda also scores high dealing with a past-his-prime singer who's old flame was the basis of his biggest – and only – hit. Hornsby also has a few “aren't I clever” lyrics that don't quite click (Saskia Hamilton) ) but overall, the collaboration is a winning one.

14. Rufus Wainwright, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu

Like Ben, Rufus earns his keep songwriting through the piano, but whereas Ben can get too jokey, Rufus sometimes flirts too much with the grandiose. His last studio release Release The Stars was like eating a cake made entirely of frosting, which wouldn't have been as difficult if the songs and the lyrics weren't so world-weary and beaten down. There's still a distinct vibe of discontent and malaise in Lulu, but a more stripped-down recording philosophy (basically Rufus, a microphone and a piano) makes for a more rewarding experience. Rufus could have made the entire album about the loss of his talented mother earlier this year. Instead, he balances his insecurity over his mother's illness and how it affects the rest of his family (Martha) with his feelings with the rest of his life (Sad With What I Have, The Dream) There's also three sonnets by William Shakespeare, to which Rufus adds beguiling melodies and offbeat piano playing.

13. The Apples in Stereo, Travelers In Space And Time

Just when we think we have the Apples in Stereo's DNA strand decoded, the veteran Elephant 6 alumni add a few wrinkles to their pop fabric. There's no doubt they're still primarily a retro act, but with more reliance on keyboards and computer programming, they've gone away from the omnipresent The Beatles comparisons to more of an Electric Light Orchestra feel.The strange irony to this is that because a lot of other musicians are looking to keyboards and the 80s as a touchpoint, the Apples are more in tune to the top 40 than in their entire career. They ditched the “creating a new form of music scale” conceit that derailed New Magnetic Wonder and jam Travellers to the gills with bouyant, sleek pop hooks that match up well to anything on hit radio (best bets: Dance Floor and Hey Elevator) While lead Apple Robert Schneider remains the creative majordomo, the bandmates make the most of the shots they're given, especially the bouncy piano pop of No Vacation.

12. The Whigs, In The Dark

One of the many bands I'd heard of from a distance, but never got around to discovering. But I heard In the Dark's leadoff single Kill Me Carolyne which tempted me enough to delve into the whole album. Despite the Whigs' Athens, GA pedigree, the Whigs offer full-blown alternarawk, perhaps 1994/5 vintage. While it's dreadfully out of fashion in most circles, a little bit of stadium-sized drums and thick slabs of guitar wreckage still does it for me. The lyrics are a little weak (Someone's Daughter half-attempts to expose the morality of a one-night stand) but the Whigs do an admirable job flying the flag for the post-grunge sound of the mid '90s.

11. Crowded House, Intriguer

Although he's best-known for a song from 1987 (“Don't Dream It's Over”), Crowded House's Neil Finn has been steadily building a catalogue both dense and substantial. With his Seven Worlds Collide project, he's able to ensnare the cream of the musical crop from pole to pole and spearhead a pop/rock summit. These days, Finn's legacy is showing beyond mere records and concerts as his sons are becoming respectible musicians in their own right. Both his family and his travelling jones show up huge on Intriguer – there are songs about being on a night-train in Russia and being out of sorts in Amsterdam, while Liam adds some lead guitar and his wife sings back-up. There are plenty of great pop songs (Saturday Sun shines brightest) but the whole album hangs together and encourages repeat listens.

10. The Roots, How I Got Over

Being Jimmy Fallon's house band on his late-night chat show hasn't tempered this Philly crew one iota. If anything, they've become more focused, dissecting much of the filler that plagued their earlier albums and delivering tight platters of groove and mood. How I Got Over's clock seems eternally set at 3am, the darkest part of night before the sun arrives... you can hear it in the lonely piano riffs and in the brittle drum fills, and certainly in the effective delivery of Black Thought, who IMO is the MVP of this disc. There's a lot of A-list assistance here (John Legend, Phonte of Little Brother, The Monsters of Folk and Joanna Newsom) but the Roots don't need anyone's help to get their point across here.

9. Spoon, Transference

While I've never been a hardcore Spoon fan (well, except when eating breakfast cereal, because, c'mon, a fork!?) I always like to check them out, as they're an act that takes pleasure in changing and evolving with each new release. I like some more than others, and I suspect Transference will be on the more positive end of the equation. In their own strange, lo-fi way, Spoon are a studio band, and part of the fun in hearing their stuff is seeing how slyly they add in a little console magic. (Is Love Forever? seems to be propelled by a loop of a tape-op machine stopping.) But Spoon can handle a song – and in The Mystery Zone, a groove – on its own, and the results are as catchy as they are peculiar.

8. Dead Heart Bloom, Strange Waves

After his trifecta of EP releases in 2008, Dead Heart Bloom a.k.a. Boris Slasky left himself a large territory of fertile musical ground to set himself on for Strange Waves. The end result was slightly psychedelic dream pop with a distinct rustic and rootsy feel. While he stays more or less in a blissful, gentle frame of mind, his excursions into Nick Drake-like folk (Meet Me) or tense post-punk (opening track Someday Will Not Come Again) don't come across as reaches at all. Matter of fact, these songs sound very lived-in and familiar, which is a testament to Slasky's songcrafting skills. The matter of him breaking through now seems more a matter of “when” rather than “if.”

7. The Like, Release Me

The Like had to deal with a few hurdles upon release of their second LP Release Me. First, the band took half a decade to follow up their tasty debut Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? If that wasn't enough, they completely ditched the winsome anglophile guitar guaze that coated their debut and embraced a garage-y take of the mod 60s sound, complete with farfisa organ. What remained consistant was the pop prowess of singer/songwriter Elizabeth “Z” Berg, who pours on haughty charm and go-go oomph. I have no clue how Walk Of Shame didn't become a breakout hit, but there are about four or five other tracks that would have been splendid follow-ups. The biggest drawback is that Release Me is not built for all season. Instead, it's a summer album all the way, devised and engineered to be played in a speeding car with the top (or at least the windows) down.

6. Sun Kil Moon, Admiral Fell Promises

If The Like conjure up a warm, sunny afternoon, the 4th release from Sun Kil Moon evokes a lazy Sunday afternoon. Those pining for Mark Kozelek's loud electric guitar outbursts he pioneered with Moon and his previous band Red House Painters might add “dull” to my description, as this disc is all acoustic, and seemingly just Kozelek by himself. Basically, those familiar with SKM's 2008 work April will see this as an album full of Blue Orchids. Kozelek has never feared an acoustic approach, but his turn towards more classical playing, gives his songs a refreshing new framework. Even if his guitar picking is more complicated, his lyrics a still life portrait of life while traveling and pining for sort of home (3rd and Seneca finds him assigning colors and phrases to the cities he's visited) and his muted, bruised voice like a comfy old sofa.

5. Pernice Brothers, Goodbye, Killer

For the longest time, Joe Pernice's albums have stood together thematically either due to the lyrics or to the production approach. So the biggest eye-opener with this one is that there's no one unifying sound or one single theme tying the songs together. It's still a great album, with one of Joe's most uptempo numbers (Jacqueline Susann) and one of his most endearing excursions into power pop,Something for You. Add in the expected sad sack laments like The loving kind (“I'm never gonna be....”) and diary entries of a crumbling relationship (F***ing and Flowers) and Goodbye, Killer is ready to be enjoyed and replayed for those who love their guitar pop with a cerebral and slightly calloused edge.

4. Josh Rouse, El Turista

Another old friend to my top 15 lists, Josh Rouse may live in Spain now, but with his album he's got a passport to Brazil via other warm, exotic places. In reality, this is one of his more populated albums in terms of sound and instrumentation, but entering the ears it sounds as easy-going and laid-back as his spare acoustic ditties. The tropical rhythms compliment Josh's smooth song stylings in numbers like Sweet Elaine and I Will Live On Islands. Josh salutes his new locale by singing a third of the album in Spanish, including Valencia which works up into quite the lather. Josh evens attempts to bring back the Civil War-era folk ballad Cotton-Eyed Joe from the purgatory Rednex banished it to, and gives it that bleary-eyed early morning vibe Rouse excels at.

3. Oh No Ono, Eggs

About all I knew about this band is that they reside in roughly the same geographical area as Mew, a band I'm quite smitten by. Then I heard Swim which sounded like the prom theme at Lewis Carroll High. Oh No Ono are certainly not endowed with Mew's rock swagger, but more than make up for it in new wave presence and iciness. The rest of Eggs (only a 2010 release here in the States) is equally adorned in mystery and glitter; there's a certain sense of a helium leak, and not just in the lead singer's voice. At it's more uptempo spots, they sound like a Fraggle Rock version of the Super Furry Animals; when the pace becomes more deliberate, they're the Flaming Lips with their phasers set to “Art Rock.” Even the two somewhat plodding songs at the end doesn't harsh this LP's mellow. I look forward to having future long and strange trips with these guys.

2. Interpol, Interpol

Easily the biggest shock of the countdown for me. I, like much of the music nerd audience, got my ear bent by Interpol's stellar debut Turn On the Bright Lights but I tired of them much more quickly than others. Anticshad a few good tracks, but mostly seemed by-the-numbers and dispassioned. But their major label bow Our Love To Admirewas even more tossed off, with only leadoff track “Pioneer to the Falls” digging into my cranium. As I heard of the former Great Blog Hope jettisoning their big label for their old indie label and later losing their bassist, I was starting to look at this album as an exercise of schadenfreude than something I would enjoy. Was I ever wrong. If this is Interpol's last LP (as the rumor mill seems to be indictaing) they close their career with an ambitious song cycle about regret, jealousy, and personal turmoil. Sure the leadoff single Barricade is their most groovable slice of vinyl since Obstacle 1 (hmmmm....similarities much?) but the rest of the 10 songs manages a deft balance between majesty and malice, with guitars occasionally slicing through the sonic fog like headlights. The songs build tension like scenes in a good cinematic thriller, and the little sonic nuggets lurking in the background just accelerate the process. (Yes, this is a total headphones album.) I keep going back to this album and find new things to enjoy, and really, isn't that the endgame?

1. The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

No one manages to combine prog rock, shoegaze, and post-rock with psychedelic edge quite like the Besnards. Honestly, I thought their previous effort The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse would be hard to top, but Jace Lasek, Olga Goreas and company ramp up the intensity and stretch out the sonic melodrama. Yeah, they're still singing about trains and being spies, and they still sound great singing, especially together but here they push themselves both aggressively (Glass Printer which is a sludge of sound going downhill) and delicately (closing track The Lonely Moan which is a sigh of release at the end of the album.) Each of these eight songs has at least one moment that reaffirms my passion for music, and that's a good reason it stayed in rotation long enough to become my 2010 record of the year.]]>