pecusita's Last.fm Journal

Most played albums of 2009

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 18:59:30 +0000

Traditions are made out of repetition, so here's another most played music of the year... 2009 edition. Yay!

Just like in past years, this chart is ordered by averaged plays - Averaged plays = Total Plays / Album Total tracks; And like journals past, this one is not without a small sob story of lost scrobbles. Aside from the usual mishaps there was also a computer breakdown halfway through the year that made the gap between my local library and the last.fm stats even greater for those albums that were released on the first half of the year. No need to cry much because I was able to update my library, so technically no stats were lost, just scrobbles. *sigh*

About 2009 I will say that there was just too much music to take in, especially on the second half of the year. This led to many albums not getting enough plays, even though I did enjoyed them, there was just not enough time for them to gain proper chart recognition. Yes, a list of most played albums is not an accurate thing.

In honor of those albums, I have decided to include the stats of 25 albums and save the rant for the Top 15. I also decided to disqualify Telepathe's Dance Mother, because I barely even listened to it this year. It got to my mid-year countdown mostly based on the older tracks, that I think it's not all that fair.

Anyhoo, here we go!

Most played #25 - #16
Apologies to these pretty good albums.

25. Arms - Kids Aflame
Played 108 times – averaged 8 plays per track
Most played song: Shitty Little Disco (22 plays)

24. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Played 63 times – averaged 9 plays per track
Most played song: Rough Steez (17 plays)

23. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
Played 93 times – averaged 9 plays per track
Most played song: Daylight and the Sun (18 plays)

22. White Rabbits - It's Frightening
Played 121 times – averaged 12 plays per track
Most played song: They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong (16 plays)

21. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Played 106 times – averaged 13 plays per track
Most played song: Young Hearts Spark Fire (32 plays)

20. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Played 140 times – averaged 13 plays per track
Most played song: Velvet (27 plays)

19. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Played 143 times – averaged 13 plays per track
Most played song: Glass (23 plays)

18. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Played 233 times – averaged 13 plays per track
Most played song: The Sparrow Looks up at the Machine (19 plays)

17. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly
Played 123 times – averaged 14 plays per track
Most played song: Blanchard (20 plays)

16. Morrissey - Years Of Refusal
Played 179 times – averaged 15 plays per track
Most played song: Something Is Squeezing My Skull (34 plays)

Top 15
15. Atlas Sound - Logos
Played 175 times – averaged 16 plays per track

This album will forever be remembered as the one that includes the happiest sounding song of 2009: Walkabout! That song makes me think of those old Disney cartoons with lots of music and very little dialogue. Something that may include a train or a car rolling down a road with very obtuse hills. The rest of the album does not run on that same vein, but it's still a very melodic, contagious, and at times delicate, album.

Most played songs
Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox) (36 plays)
Quick Canal (27 plays)
The Light That Failed (17 plays)

Least played song
My Halo (9 plays)

14. Micachu - Jewellery
Played 282 times – averaged 22 plays per track

What could you expect out of something that uses broken bottles, vacuum cleaners and others self-built instruments? The year's craziest album of course! To say that this album goes to the point is to cut it short. Most songs don't even pass the 3-minute mark, and even the shortest tracks - like 0:53(!) Sweetheart - are real songs. Its brevity could very well be its biggest strength and, even when they don't contain an actual melody, most of the songs are very catchy.

Most played songs
Vulture (52 plays)
Lips (48 plays)
Calculator (44 plays)

If you don't want to grab this album as soon as you listen to these three songs, then I don't know what's wrong with you!

Least played song
Curly Teeth / Floor (10 plays)

13. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Played 234 times – averaged 23 plays per track

There are bands that want to make as much noise as possible, these guys just set their pedals to obliterate! This album a bit more melodic compared to their debut and, if I dare say so, a lot more fun to listen to without ever sacrificing their main objective: rock your face off!

Most played songs
Deadbeat (35 plays)
Exploding Head (27 plays)
Keep Slipping Away / Ego Death (24 plays)

Least played song
In Your Heart (10 plays)

12. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Played 266 times – averaged 24 plays per track

Who?

Most played songs
Summertime Clothes (41 plays)
My Girls (33 plays)
Brother Sport (33 plays)

It's no joke, the singles were the best of the pack, along with opener In the Flowers and No More Runnin.

Least played song
Lion in a Coma (12 plays)

Just like there were a bunch of spin-your-head-with-goodness songs there were a few that failed to impress as much, at least to me.

11. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
Played 317 times – averaged 26 plays per track

Dead Man's Bones is the extra-curricular project of actors Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling. I wasn't really that interested in it when I first heard about. Don't know if you've noticed but there are a lot of actors with musical projects and... well, I said I wasn't really that interested in it. That was until I got a free mp3 of a couple of songs was immediately sold on it. Neither of them is musically trained so they decided to take that to their own advantage, get a bunch of equally untrained kids to do choir bits, gather up every possible story about werewolves, zombies, et al. The end result is very interesting. The kids inject a lot of energy into it, making it equally charming as it is a bit heartbreaking and creepy.

Most played songs
Pa Pa Power (50 plays)
My Body's a Zombie for You (39 plays)
Lose Your Soul / Werewolf Heart / In the Room Where You Sleep (37 plays)

Least played song
Intro (9 plays)

10. Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four Part Harmony
Played 246 times – averaged 31 plays per track

Just like I said on my mid-year countdown, this album is not far off the road from their first album. It's still got those raw, violent songs mixed with a few more delicate electronic interludes and anarchy/take action inspired sample tracks.

Most played songs
How To Have Sex With A Ghost (69 plays)
You Can't Shake Hands With a Clenched Fist (67 plays)
Accept And Embrace (42 plays)

Least played song
Our History Will Be What We Make Of It (9 plays)

09. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Played 324 times – averaged 32 plays per track

In a way, Humbug walks close by the hand of their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, even down to the awful title. There are a lot of 70s progressive rock guitars that sound even bigger, and slightly heavier, on this album. Half of it was produced by James Ford, who worked on FWN, while the other half was taken over by Josh Hommes of Queens of The Stone Age/Eagles of Death Metal. If you listen closely, it won't be difficult for you to guess which tracks were produced by whom. There are a few that sound just like QOTSA, that is not such a bad thing.

Most played songs
Crying Lightning (63 plays)
Dangerous Animals (39 plays)
Potion Approaching (37 plays)

Least played song
The Jeweller's Hands (18 plays)

08. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Played 390 times – averaged 35 plays per track

This is one beautifully crafted album! Every song has a bit that damn near wants to take your breath away and melodies that flow so easily and get stuck in your head. The one thing that could perhaps break it for some people out there is the falsetto, but made no negative impact whatsoever.

I'd like to add that I got this album from eMusic ,that it included a bonus track, so these stats were produced by 11 songs.

Most played songs
All The King's Men (54 plays) (Oh oh oh anthem of the year!)
Hooting & Howling (39 plays)
Two Dancers (i) / When I'm Sleepy... (37 plays)

Least played song
This Is Our Lot (28 plays)

07. The Jaguar Club - And We Wake Up Slowly
Played 391 times – averaged 36 plays per track

If I could, I would recommend this album to anyone who dared listen. Generally speaking, it's on the late 80s britpop side of the equation. I won't lie to you, they sound a bit Smiths-y, in a great way! I'm planning on writing a love journal in the upcoming weeks. These following tracks are a good start-up...

Most played songs
Antarctica (61 plays)
Perfect Timing (47 plays)
Sleepwalking (43 plays)

Least played song
In the Leaves (22 plays)

06. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Played 449 times – averaged 37 plays per track

Not much too add from my mid-year observations. Beautiful album that still manages to feel intimate and personal. One thing worthy of note is that I liked Ed's songs better on this album, as you can see by the list below.

Most played songs
Ready, Able (49 plays)
All We Ask (46 plays)
Foreground (45 plays)

Least played song
Southern Point (19 plays)

05. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
Played 399 times – averaged 44 plays per track

I liked this album so much that I already wrote a journal about it and recommended it to some people. All I'm going to say is that they liked it so much that it won the "best album of the cycle" (yay!)

Most played songs
Folk Song Oblivion (68 plays)
Burial Sounds (65 plays)
Throwing Bones (54 plays)

Least played song
Island (11 plays)

04. The Horrors - Primary Colours
Played 532 times – averaged 53 plays per track

At first, there were some ugh-another-one-of-those-bands feelings, but this album ended up winning me fair and square, with its nicely crafted skewed and dark atmospherics. Truth is you gotta have strong compositions to hold themselves together as you put them through so much distortion.

Most played songs
Three Decades (79 plays)
Who Can Say (68 plays)
Do You Remember (67 plays)

Least played song
I Only Think of You (22 plays)

03. The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
Played 671 times – averaged 61 plays per track

Well, well, well. Look who we got here!... at number three. As some people may have read, I had some mixed feeling with this one. Mostly good, but still mixed. The track order doesn't feel right and the production is a bit over the place, some songs have crystal clear details (Reflection of The Television, The Room, At the Burnside) while others sound a bit muddled (Made to Disappear, Interrupted) It gave a bit of an uneven feeling to the album. I think it managed to creep up to the top three because I still can't understand it, which leads to a lot of repeated plays in search of enlightenment. Though I've given up for the time being.

Most played songs
Reflection Of The Television (132 plays)
The Neighbours Can't Breathe (103 plays)
Interrupted (84 plays)

Least played song
Scissors (24 plays)

02. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Played 684 times – averaged 68 plays per track

By mid-year, this was the one album that had me the closest to going cuckoo-cuckoo over it. Those feelings still stand, though I didn't have much time to listen to it because of all the new music that came out the last few months of the year, that's probably the only reason it couldn't hold on to the top spot. Shame!

Thought I'd add that her live show was the perfect blend of lasers, smoke machine, creepy scenes and dancing wizards!

Most played songs
Dry And Dusty (104 plays)
If I Had A Heart (99 plays)
Concrete Walls (87 plays)

Least played song
Now's The Only Time I Know (41 plays)

01. Ramona Falls - Intuit
Played 748 times – averaged 68 plays per track

Shocked it beat out Fever Ray! (They were technically tied with 68 averaged plays, but this album had more overall plays) I consider this to be a one-man vengeance for that 2007 loss. Ahem. I wrote some thoughts on it a few months back. The level of attention to details on this album is what really sells it.

And I must mention the excellent video for I Say Fever!

I love watching this because it's the kind of video that invites you to decipher its meaning while putting it in the same context of the original song.

My first thoughts are that the scent of "fever" (reads: Fieber, german) represents each characters' deepest desire that has the power to unleash the true essence of each one of them. The perpetrator, who's been hiding his interests for the female character underneath the façade of correctness, wants to unleash this true essence. This leads him to take off his own eagle mask and attempt to forcefully unveil this side the other characters have worked so much to keep a secret.

This symbolism works brilliantly as eagles is a strong hunter with a sharp vision and a symbol of salvation. In the context of the video one could interpret it as the one character who recognizes the true face of the woman, who shifts from a serene smile and innocent look into a rabid wolf.

Most played songs
Russia (118 plays)
I Say Fever (118 plays)
Clover (89 plays)

Least played song
Boy Ant (33 plays)

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>> Listen on Blip.fm
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Most played song by each artist

All in all, a strong year with lots of good music, but in the end no one blew my brains out for more than a couple of weeks or so. So there's a positive, but mixed, feeling about the year. Still the list of album to complete/get is far too long. See you next year on the revised list!

A big shout out goes out to Doug Scripts, who created an iTunes Script to calculate "Total Play Count of Selected Tracks", making my life a whole lot easier.

Best of 2009 - Albums and Songs

Sat, 5 Dec 2009 22:30:59 +0000

Since I joined last.fm, I've done a couple of end of the year most played albums journals. I intend on keeping a tradition of sorts, but in order to celebrate the "Best of 2009" last.fm countdown, and group, I've decided to make a preliminary list extended beyond my usual 15 releases and place them arbitrarily, by the way of guess-making, based on my current mood and recollection of enjoyment and satisfaction. It may very well change in one week... That's why I like to order these journals by play count!

Now these year end journals usually contain a lengthy rant about each release, but I'll save that for the most played recap.

25 Albums of 2009
Only full albums qualify
Tag: 2009

01. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
02. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
03. Ramona Falls - Intuit
04. The Horrors - Primary Colours
05. The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
06. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
07. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
08. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
09. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion / Fall Be Kind
10. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
11. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
12. The Jaguar Club - And We Wake Up Slowly
13. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
14. A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
15. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
16. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly
17. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
18. White Rabbits - It's Frightening
19. Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four Part Harmony
20. Atlas Sound - Logos
21. Micachu - Jewellery
22. Arms - Kids Aflame
23. Telepathe - Dance Mother
24. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
25. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light

50 Songs of 2009
Limited to one song per artist

01. Fever Ray - Dry And Dusty
02. The Horrors - Scarlet Fields
03. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (i)
04. Grizzly Bear - Ready, Able
05. The Twilight Sad - The Room
06. Animal Collective - Brother Sport
07. Ramona Falls - I Say Fever
08. Fuck Buttons - Flight of the Feathered Serpent
09. The Big Pink - Velvet
10. The Phantom Band - Folk Song Oblivion
11. The Flaming Lips - Worm Mountain
12. Atlas Sound - Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox)
13. Phoenix - 1901
14. Arctic Monkeys - Dance Little Liar
15. Micachu - Vulture
16. The Jaguar Club - Sleepwalking
17. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is the Move
18. Bat for Lashes - Daniel
19. A Place to Bury Strangers - Deadbeat
20. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
21. Florence + The Machine - Girl With One Eye
22. Dead Man's Bones - Lose Your Soul
23. Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire
24. Arms - Shitty Little Disco
25. Blue Roses - Doubtful Comforts
26. Voxtrot - Berlin, Without Return...
27. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Thinking Like That
28. Maybeshewill - You Can't Shake Hands With a Clenched Fist
29. Antony and the Johnsons - Daylight and the Sun
30. Tiny Vipers - Dreamer
31. Spoon - Got Nuffin
32. The xx - Basic Space
33. Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision
34. Doves - The Greatest Denier
35. White Rabbits - They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong
36. Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet
37. Handsome Furs - Evangeline
38. The Antlers - Bear
39. Mount Eerie - Wind’s Dark Poem
40. Crystal Stilts - Love Is A Wave
41. Former Ghosts - Hold On
42. Nudge - Two Hands
43. Morrissey - All You Need Is Me
44. Julian Plenti - Skyscraper
45. Moby - Pale Horses
46. Telepathe - Drugged
47. Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster
48. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - Villain
49. Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
50. The Joy Formidable - Austere

Halloween Playlist!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:40:31 +0000

Maybe I should had done this sooner instead of waiting for the exact day of Halloween... Oh well, I've been inspired to do this today!

These are basically song that fall under at least one of the following criteria:
- Sound eerie or as dark as the belly of a dragon on a post-hangover Sunday morning.
- Depicts murderous anger.
- Invoke your soul to be part of dark rituals (and try to exorcise them in one of these song)

Needles to say, some of them can get downright terrifying. To be fair, I only included one track per artist and gave them a somewhat logical order.

Mogwai - Christmas Steps
The Besnard Lakes - You've Got to Want to Be a Star
Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - The Owl
Joy Division - Heart and Soul
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand
The Cure - Hanging Garden
The Birthday Party - The Friend Catcher
The Twilight Sad - The Neighbours Can't Breathe
The Horrors - Jack The Ripper
Bauhaus - Stigmata Martyr
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
Tool - Die Eier von Satan
Black Sabbath - Children Of The Grave
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen
The Big Sleep - Slow Race
Metallica - Enter Sandman
The Rolling Stones - Paint It, Black
The Doors - Riders on the Storm
Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall
The Phantom Band - Burial Sounds
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
Dead Man's Bones - Lose Your Soul
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Low - Murderer
Alanis Morissette - Uninvited
Bat for Lashes - The Wizard
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - You Guys Talk, We'll Spill Our Guts
Xiu Xiu - Brian the Vampire
M83 - *

I borrowed some picks off the official iMeem playlist. I tried to put together a setlist with all my pick but it was impossible to find them all in the same place. So, these are your options to listen:

> iMeem Playlist
Does not include: Tool, The Big Sleep, Dead Man's Bones or Xiu Xiu

> YouTube Playlist
Does not include: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie or The Besnard Lakes

Now if you excuse, I'll go wish for a day when all music shall roam free...

The Twilight Sad @ Bowery Ballroom/Southpaw (Oct 09)

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 06:54:27 +0000

Back in mid-September, Fat Cat Records started a label showcase tour with some of their main rock acts hitting the american roads, including two dates in New York: Friday, October 2nd at Southpaw and Tuesday, October 6th at Bowery Ballroom. The show at Southpaw was a late addition and was not greatly publicized, yet still got a good turn out.

The opening band for both nights was We Were Promised Jetpacks who are from Scotland, have a ridiculous name, and released their debut album These Four Walls earlier in the year. Now, I found out about this band last year while some people were trying to pitch them through the Frightened Rabbit shoutbox here and one of their demo songs, Quiet Little Voices, even got a little nod in my end of the year song journal. Very catchy and energetic song. But then I found myself a bit disappointed with their debut album that's mostly an exercise in how to over-strech a song until it's got nothing left to give. With a formula full of repeating lines over and over again, while going from shouting to even louder shouting, until it reaches a certain point where the song it's suppose to "break". Sometimes it works better than others but most of the times there's a moment where I find myself looking down to the song timer and wondering how much time is there left on the song, which is obviously not a good thing to have. Even Quiet Little Voices go hit hard when placed in the sequence.

During the entire tour, people have been simply raving about them. Seeing their show I can sort of understand why. They are very much aware of the audience and have a well orchestrated schtick to go around. The singer likes to get a few steps back from the mic and shout out at the microphone. Sometimes a few steps farther than others, or just direct it straight to the audience. And they move around and have energy while playing. Aside from that, I wasn't that much impressed. Guess most people had never heard of them and were expecting a downright awful band, which to be honest they are not. They are not that remarkable either. Like I said, I had already given their album a chance and wasn't very pleased with it and their show did not make me chance my mind. Though, in all honesty, they sound a bit better than on the record, so the gimmicks work. And if you compare that energy to the bands that follow them on the tour, they clearly win that with straight marks. So, if you are looking for a "band to watch on stage", you've found something. Now, if they could come up with better songs, we'll really go somewhere. I have not lost faith just yet.

Next was Brakes, or BrakesBrakesBrakes. Apparently there's a band called The Brakes here in the US (never heard of them) and they threatened to sue them, so they had to turn a simple name into a silly one. Their sound is very "loud 90s pop rock" with a lot of short songs that mostly end abruptly and some incredibly silly songs, like Porcupine Or Pineapple, Spring Chicken, a couple of two word songs, and a song about Cheney being a dick. Now these songs are so silly, you can't help but smile with them. How could you possibly be mad? But I did feel that, for that type of band, their songs are not catchy enough. There's nothing that really sticks with you about the melody. You will get a kick out of seeing their singer go "prickly, prickly, prickly" or their guitarist, who looks like a high school teacher, try to use a mic stand to play the guitar. Not really my thing, but I wasn't particularly offended by their presence.

There is a moment, though, when you wonder who the heck planned out this tour? Seriously, the other three bands have way more in common between them than with The Twilight Sad. I personally don't see their wall of noise approach being a hit with the pop crowd the other bands would appeal to. I can only imagine the faces of melodic pop seeker who encounter a bunch of guys standing mostly static on stage while trying to make the biggest noise possible. I mean, seriously, I'm sure the label saved a lot of money by having four of their bands tour together, but I wonder if it did more harm than good to a band like The Twilight Sad. Maybe Fat Cat should had included canadians Ten Kens, who one could say at least live in a 10 mile radios from their neighborhood. Minor venting moment here, gotta get it out of my system or I'll go crazy!

On Friday, the sound quality at Southpaw simply blew me away. It was almost perfect. The only thing missing was just a little bit more of volume from the keyboards, which resulted in some minor details getting lost amid the torrents of guitars, but the vocals were loud and clear, and sounding just like the recorded material. This is important if you consider that every other element will inevitably change and to have that detail to keep you close to an album experience is a precious thing. I've noticed in some recordings, and live videos, that poor sound mixing leads James to over compensate and end up yelling the lyrics, instead of singing it. Not just him really, a lot of singers go through that. With a good mix, he sounded more relaxed and was able to deliver a lot of those little details, which made me quite a happy gal, to be honest.

Now, that first gig made me feel incredibly giddy about the Bowery show. There's a belief that it's the premier "indie" venue here, but to be honest I've doubted the sound system a couple of times. Last year, I saw Xiu Xiu at both the Bowery and (le) poisson rouge and LPR won by a considerable range. So I was wondering how this would play out.

From the start with WWPJ, the vocals didn't sound as clear as they should had been, which worried me because I knew The Twilight Sad would be louder and noisier than these other two bands put together. It turned out not to be as bad as I feared, the vocals didn't sound as clear as Southpaw but were audible enough and did not get lost as some moments during their supporting gigs back in April. As for the rest, I'd say it sounded just a few kicks shy of the loudness Mogwai achieved at MHOW back in April. Let me make that clear, it was LOUD. It sounded as if there was a wall of amps on stage, where there were only three. The same ones were used by all three bands, actually. But being loud is not the only recipe for success, anyone can turn up the volume knob, but The Twilight Sad makes songs that seem to be recorded loud, mixed loud and if you don't play them at a moderate volume you feel like you are missing something.

Being able to bring that earth shattering loudness really brought the anthemic epic value of those songs to the fore. Ok, it wasn't earth shattering, it was floor trembling loudness! There was a moment where I stood absolutely still and I could feel the floor vibrating beneath my feet. I hope that illustrates enough how loud it was. It was mesmerizing and exciting at times. It's that strange feeling when you are not sure if you should be moving around or simply standing still and letting the waves of sound wash over you. It was something else.

Not to spend too much time talking about the individual songs but I must mention the Cold Days from the Birdhouse renditions. Back in April - long before that, actually - they started playing a loop while James sings the first verse of the song a cappella. During this song, he would either pace around the stage or stand still while looking out to the audience. Well, something felt different to him because when he stepped near the edge at Southpaw, he decided to go even further by going down to the floor, stood in the middle of the crowd, a few feet away from the stage, and sang the entire song back to the rest of the band. Apparently he liked that because on Tuesday he mentioned that Southpaw was the first time he had ever done it but that he liked how it played out. So once again, he stepped down. This time, with a more crowded venue, he couldn't step that far away from them but it felt somewhat better because he was closely surrounded by fans who were singing along with him all the way, myself included standing just a few people away. Don't know what it was but it was different.

So, I've gone from zero Twilight Sad shows to five, in a span of just six months... I like how that looks! Now I'll sit here and wait till they come back and begin my search for the Bowery + Southpaw perfect mix.

Fri 2 Oct – The Twilight Sad @ Southpaw setlist
Reflection of the Television
That Summer, at home I had become the invisible boy
Made to Disappear
Talking with Fireworks
Seven Years of Letters
I became a prostitute
The Neighbours can't breathe
Cold Days From The Birdhouse
And She Would Darken the Memory
I'm Taking the Train Home

Tue 6 Oct – The Twilight Sad @ Bowery Ballroom setlist
Reflection of the Television
That Summer, at home I had become the invisible boy
I Became a Prostitute
Talking with Fireworks
Seven Years of Letters
Made to Disappear
The Room
That Birthday Present
Cold Days From The Birdhouse
And She Would Darken the Memory
I'm Taking the Train Home

The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:25:02 +0000

Here we go again, yet another journal about The Twilight Sad. This one is about a hugely anticipated and important matter: Forget The Night Ahead.

Anxiety takes hold. What will it sound like? All this anticipation can't possibly bode well for an album. What has changed besides the style of the artwork and the not-so-poetic song titles? I'll start off by noting that instead of the highly regarded, retro, indie pleasing, shoegaze style, they've moved on to something a bit more angsty in the forms of krautrock. If you are struggling to pin down what sounds different with this album, I'll say that no effect pedals were used here. It was all created in the studio. If you visit the label synopsis for the album, you'll find a small explanation on how they worked this out and a tiny line towards the end that names early 80’s The Cure, Neu!, Wire and Shellac as a good comparison point for this record. From what I've read, guitarist/music composer/producer Andy MacFarlane happens to be obsessed with krautrock. He even made you two mixtapes to help in your introduction, in case you barely know anything about it.

This is quite a bold move that I think will result in a love it or hate it reaction from people who are already familiar with their work, but as a whole it's not that far off the path of their debut album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. After such a long time listening to all those heavy delayed pedals it may take a little while for this record to fully sink in, an adjustment period. Someone out there knows I struggled for a couple of days with this one. Let's tackle this on a track-by-track pace, shall we?

Fans of their Here, it never snowed EP surely wondered whether this wonderful release would have any long-term effect in their music. Your prayers have been answered in opening track Reflection Of The Television, where a tremoloed guitar, constant drumming and thick bass line densely build up from a slow tempo to a major wreckage of a song. This accompanied with some slightly unflitching, almost deadpan, vocals and a repeating line of "There's people downstairs" will make you feel quite paranoid, like impending doom is lurking over your shoulder until the very end of the song when all hell breaks loose, the song turns to a very sinister and heavy noise... then it ends. In quite a brilliant way, really.

According to a recent track-by-track dissection by Andy, they wanted to have "The Cure/Nine Inch Nails kind of drums and repetitive bass line going all the way through, holding it together, and have noise drones sitting over the top of it" and achieve a more "sparse sound". To others it will evoke something like Joy Division's Heart and Soul.

Lead single I Became A Prostitute storms in with a rhythm guitar that resembles Interpol - The New engaged in an epic battle with a distorted guitar buried in the background to produce a song that sounds aching, with an angry undertone, and an oddly intense feeling of desolation. It's just the kind of weird contrasts that make these guys stand alone in my mind.

About the awful title, they've stated that it's not about a prostitute per se, and that it is a "metaphor for becoming something that you don't want to be, you can see it happening but there is nothing you can do about it.” But then you find yourself with contradicting elements with lines like "if we do what we like then we could be with you tonight... there's a hand in the till, still believing what she sells" , the video and a what-the-heck-does-that-mean line like "you are the bearer of a womb without love". Case is still open for this one.

Seven Years Of Letters mixes the quiet-loud dynamic, a first time rocking guitar solo, a downright weird - yet captivating - freak out rhythm section in the middle of the song and a slow melody meets feedback fade out. While Made to Disappear goes through the effort of hiding a beautiful and lonely song under a ton of relentlessly loud guitars, all performed in true Twilight Sad fashion. These songs show a formula that on paper looks like it could had been taken out of their debut album, yet sounds more detailed and a testament that even when this album closes in on their beginnings, there's plenty of growth to show after two years.

There's a small storm growing in the instrumental Scissors. It starts off sounding like a few snowflakes are hitting the ground with a mysteriously ethereal vocal-like melody, that brings Mogwai to mind, then builds up until it shallows it all and you are trapped in a mighty blizzard that suddenly retreats into nothingness. I think they were looking for the same effect The Weather Is Bad had on the Killed My Parents And Hit The Road compilation, a tumultuous splitting chapter full of abstract noises and loops.

Keeping on the compilation track, following song The Room was previously featured on it as Untitled #27. If you've heard the acoustic version then you know what's in store for you: an oblique and beautiful song that builds up to an almost heart-stopping, dry-swallowing climax. It has been enhanced for the occasion with some mean spirited violin, provided by the lovely Laura MacFarlane from the equally scottish My Latest Novel. The other side of the coin to the early, overly melodramatic, live version. And, if I may say so, a strong contender for the best thing this band has achieved to date.

That Birthday Present is a very uptempo and frenetic song that sounds like And She Would Darken the Memory and Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed went out for a night of irresponsible partying. For the down part, it mostly sounds like a guitar is yelling at you and it doesn't carry the same uplifting effect that Talking with Fireworks had on the debut, giving an anti-climatic contrast with The Room. This is where the track order seems to lose congruency. Instead of giving space for The Room to feel like the centerpiece that it is, it feels trapped in between two highly claustrophobic and contradicting songs.

To reassert the anti-climatic feeling of That Birthday Present, the following song is the quasi-instrumental Floorboards Under The Bed. It seems to pick up on The Room, with a open room vocal recording about some boy throwing rocks but, true to Twilight Sad norm, it can't be all lo-fi, a guitar feedback breaks in until it gives way to repetitive piano notes. At first this song may bring FA&FW title track to mind, but half-way through it shifts into a more distinctive song of its own. Unlike most pop-driven bands with transitional instrumental, there's something evocative that makes this feel like an actual song, not some spare unfinished notes put together. It could soundtrack an aimless walk through early morning fog. There's just something peaceful, beautiful and unexpected about it.

And even more unexpected is Interrupted. The most pop rock song this band has recorded to date. Quite the accessible melody, still the krautrock-ish guitar lingers in the background. Sounds to me like they want to dirty this up, or keep the theme going, but this is a straight-up pop rock song. A pretty good one, with some insanely catchy lyrics about sending dogs after people, beating them to the ground and then burying them. To quote Andy: "It’s accessible, if you don't mind that". It's soooooo catchy, but not too-in-your-face catchy. It goes on to prove they can do a little bit of everything.

Along comes The Neighbours Can't Breathe, aka Untitled #28. I've already professed my love for this song, it still remains true to its tumultuous awesome self. Now you can hear the vocals a lot better and be able to tell that the title is a line of the song (another first time): "you are happy the neighbours can't breathe" Uh?

Closing track At The Burnside comes in to give a high closing note to the album. A small roller coaster ride that starts off with low-key piano and strong vocals that settle in before all breaks loose with some heavy crashing cymbals, formless distortion and echoes. Up there with The Room for best song contender. And I'd like to note that it all clocks in under the 4 minutes mark. So yes, Twilight Sad. You can pull off heavy drone, lo-fi, catchy pop, and a song under four-minutes. Use it all at your discretion.

The big question remains: is it better than the debut? Well, it's clear to say that sophomore slump this ain't. There are things that are satisfying like a certain maturity in their sound that doesn't feel forced but a natural progression from where they've been, and better elaborated lyrics - still as oblique as ever. While at the same time there are some stuff I wish had not changed, as a whole the album doesn't seem to reach the levels of intensity of FA&FW and at times it feels a bit restrained. I found some comfort in reading a recent interview where they admitted that this album "sacrifices its predecessor’s warmth for a darker ambience".

I said comfort because it's not something they've lost but done deliberately. I'm still trying to understand why they'd sacrifice something like that. It's the something that most bands wish they had but not all of them can achieve. What elevates music from merely good into something more memorable and gripping.

Earlier today, I was listening to Walking for Two Hours, possibly my favorite song off the debut, and I still found mesmerizing how the gentle delivery of lines like "you are so far from home and you are wailing" set up the scene for a guitar melody that sounded like it was actually wailing. I think that's the "je ne sais quois element" missing from this album that would have made it soar well above the debut. There are still plenty of memorable moments, though, and I must admit it took me a couple of months to fall head over heels for FA&FW. Not to say that their debut was perfect and unmatchable. It was far from it, there were quite few flaws that in the end managed to somehow blend in with its charms. That's why, in the meantime, I'm putting both albums on the same level. Time can only tell whether I will prefer this album to the other one. I still believe these guys are on their way to something even bigger. Time will only tell about that one as well.

Alternate tracklist

To solve the dysfunctional track order, a couple of people took it out on their shoutbox a couple of days ago and RAngelgrinder came up with a more enjoyable order that I took the liberty to only alter in one song. I've already tested this and I like it very much. Feel free to reorder your songs as well.

Reflection Of The Television
I Became A Prostitute
Seven Years Of Letters
The Neighbours Can't Breathe
Interrupted
Floorboards Under The Bed
The Room
Scissors
That Birthday Present
Made to Disappear
At The Burnside

So, how do you feel about this album? Is it growing on you? Better than expected? A complete disappointment? I'd like to know.

++ Plus ++
> The Skinny Magazine Interview: It was all whirlwind - Aug 09
> Track-by-track recount for The Skinny Magazine
> Drowned in Sound interview - May 09
> Pitchfork interview - May 09
> Fly TV Acoustic Session Video: Made to Disappear + Walking for Two Hours
> Video excerpt + MP3s of their show at T in The Park 09

Some thoughts about Menomena, Ramona Falls and Lackthereof

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:19:22 +0000

Lately I've been thinking about Menomena and what makes them so great and a one-of-a-kind thing for me. It all comes down to the level of detail that seem to make up their songs. Every other second there is a certain moment that gives you a rewarding feeling as a listener. A feeling that your last 4 minutes or so have been very well invested.

While achieving that highly detailed and meticulously calculated arrangements in their songs, it never comes off as an overly artsy and unreachable composition that could only be appreciated by a music connoisseur of sorts. At its very core, it's the smartest form of pop rock in modern music. To write down an oxymoron I'll say that reaching such great levels of simplicity is quite a complicated matter. Look no further than the often over-looked Under an Hour album, where you'll find three 15+ minutes piece of ear heaven that truly showcase the great talent of these guys.

It comes as no surprise then that a group comprised of multi-instrumentalist that can write, record and destroy their own songs would spawn side projects. Well, up until a few months ago it had only spawned Danny Seim's Lackthereof, that is not a side project per se because it started well before Menomena formed, and now comes Brent Knopf's Ramona Falls.

According to a recent interview, the idea of Ramona Falls was not even around until the beginning of the year when they realized that Menomena's next potential masterpiece would take a bit longer than expected. So, with about a five months timeline, Brent set out to put together a record of his own, collaborated with 35 different people - including his mom! - on both sides of the country, where each person brought a different input that was later incorporated into the songs. That's basically the reason why this album feels more like a "band album" rather than a "singer-songwriter album". This could be considered a strength or a weakness of the album as a side project, depends on your point of view, as it ultimately feels well orchestrated rather than an intimate solo album. That's the main difference with Lackthereof, whose last few albums explore different styles from garage and electronic pop to acoustic and a more straightforward pop rock.

Musically, this album is more paced down, and somewhat delicate, with heavy use of acoustic guitars and piano. Lyrically, it employs a very simple, but beautiful, exotic fairytale-like imagery. There's rapunzel, komodo dragons and dinosaur bones, just to name a few. And even if it feels incredibly detailed for a singer-songwriter, the theme behind most of the songs deal with personal themes such as inadequacy, rejection and betrayal. When you combine it with the lush instrumentation, it makes for a winning combination.

Intuit has moments that could very well be compared to Menomena, but it also showcases some of the qualities that Brent brings to the group as an individual. Most of the songs that could be better linked to this album probably had Brent at the helm. Like the fast guitar of I Say Fever and The Monkey's Back, the climax of Evil Bee and Russia.

Disclaimer: This song connection is clearly all speculation on my part because there's no way of knowing who held the helm on which song but I am mostly inclined to go with whoever is singing.

In my opinion, the biggest connection comes with that attention to detail, where something as simple as a whistle on Clover, a soft vocalization part on The Darkest Day, a choir on Bellyfulla makes the song. There are other moments that are slightly bigger, like the heartbreakingly beautiful violin that shifts into a fast-paced part of Russia, the out-of-nowhere eastern european bridge of Always Right, and the hard rock-like freak out part of Going Once, Going Twice. Pretty much every song has a certain moment that's worth noting! Oh well, what are you going to do. It's probably the most downright beautiful album I've heard this year, so far.

If you haven't listened to it yet, I suggest you grab it as soon as you can. Just remember that you are only partially allowed to love this record because it's uncertain that it will have a future and this is possibly the one and only time they'll be on tour. Keeping that in mind, I decided to attend both NYC gigs last week. Yay me!

The shows were performed with the help of a band of collaborators: Danny, as the tallest bassist in the world; Paul Alcott, from Dat'r, on drums; and Matt sheehy on guitars (and mandolin!). As group they looked pretty much in unison and the drummer was a bit hyperactive.

They were also smart to include some key pre-recorded segments, like the string sections for Russia, horns for Salt Sack and the whistles(!) for Clover, while adding some nice touches like a group yell during Salt Sack. It was a pretty good live recreation of the album. I dare anyone to stand still during the Always Right bridge, it sounds a bit different live but it will still send electricity to your feet.

Brent has some interesting mannerisms when he's singing, like for instance he moves his left hand like he wants to play piano, even though there's no piano in the song or he's playing it with his other hand. I'm pretty sure anyone who's ever seen Menomena live has already noticed this sort of things but I've never seen Menomena live, mind you. *tries to hold back buckets of tears*

Well, at least I saw two-thirds of the band on stage, which brings a speckle of happiness to my life.

During the Boy Ant instrumental at Bruar Falls, the funniest thing happened: Danny went to the bathroom, that was located right behind him, with his bass... then had to do a mad dash outside for the next song. He also made a sudden "you can't stop the beat!" shout out line that received mere snickers from the crowd. *sigh*

As a final pointless note, I will add that I was standing right by Matt Berninger of The National, at the Bruar Falls gig. I believe Menomena has opened a few shows for them so it was nice of him to show solidarity.

All in all, mission accomplished. A great album by a greatly talented musician. All that's left to do now is wait for a solo album from Justin Harris...

Setlist

The Ramona Falls setlist looks like those childhood book where illustrations replace actual words. If you've already heard the songs, you'll be able to fill in the blanks.

Thu 17 Sep – Ramona Falls @ Pianos setlist
1. Diamond Shovel
2. Russia
3. I Say Fever
4. The Darkest Day
5. Bellyfulla
6. Boy Ant
7. Going Once, Going Twice
8. Salt Sack
9. Always Right
10. Clover
11. Melectric

Fri 18 Sep – Ramona Falls @ Bruar Falls setlist
1. Diamond Shovel
2. Russia
3. I Say Fever
4. The Darkest Day
5. Bellyfulla
6. Boy Ant
7. Going Once, Going Twice
8. Salt Sack
9. Clover
10. Melectric

++ Plus ++
> Flickr Set of Ramona Falls Pianos gig

> Download Ramona Falls - I Say Fever
> Download Ramona Falls - Russia
> Stream KSPC interview with Brent

> YouTube: Ramona Falls - Clover (Fan Video)
> YouTube: Ramona Falls - Russia (Live @ Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA 08/23/09)
> YouTube: Brent recording Going Once, Going Twice in his living room
> YouTube: Christopher Frogken and Brent star in the best PSA video
> YouTube: Untitled new Menomena song @ PDX Pop Now!

Second Last.fm Anniversary Recap

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:02:11 +0000

Oh, how time just fly by us, last.fm. We are very close to our second anniversary, so I brought you a gift. It's okay if you don't have anything for me, it's not that special. I did the same thing last year: a celebratory journal. This time around I decided to surprise you once again by posting it before the exact date but not on the same date as last year. I like to keep you in your toes.

This time around last year I had “47,036 plays since 26 Aug 2007” now it's "76,168 plays since 26 Aug 2007". So I've scrobbled +29,062 songs and went from "649 artists" to "1,119 artists" in my library. Yikes! I've been listening to a lot of radio that usually pads up the artists counts.

Reading back to that journal, I can tell you that some feelings stay the same. Rolling charts and journals are still rocking my world, and The Twilight Sad keeps hanging in there like a bad rash, when you think they are about to cave it, they release something. *sigh* There's also the Recommended Reading that's slated to make an official come back with a vengeance!

Some loving points have decreased and make me feel mad and annoyed:
- For some reason the "Similar Artists" list seems to be wrong about 8 out of 10 times these past few months. You can really tell when you know the artists involved.

- You seem to be getting a lot more popular with people and that has some pros and cons. One of the major cons is the serious amount of trolling and spamming from street team, regular people and even artists, remember that porn shoutbox spam attack?! Hilarious!

The street team people have also caught on a way of not getting their shouts deleted: attack in flock, so when the moderator visits the page s/he thinks they are regular fan recommendations. Like The Gossip shouts on the Sleater-Kinney page. I await the "flag this shout as spam"/"flag this shout as offensive" feature, pleeeease.

- Who can forgive the boneheaded move of removing the player from the album and artists pages. Makes it a bit hostile to listen to streaming albums. We also have a new fancy "visual radio" for whatever is worth, though the multiple tag radio station is not bad at all.

To compete with you on a certain extent, I have signed up for Blip.fm. It's not an in-your-face competitor, but I listen a lot more to the "radio" over there. And those geniuses let you scrobble your played songs. Ahhh, don't you love it when things just sync with one another?

With the Blipster application, it's easy to make a queue playlist to "blip" and filter your results by media type, it's actually better than using their site. I've also been abled to find some pretty good "DJs". If you are familiar with blip.fm, you'll know why those terms require quotation marks.

And then there's setlist.fm, which is pretty cool for people like me who like to get a sense of what artists - with an upcoming gig in my city - are playing on tour. I often go through artists events here just to see if there's a "Review" link, in case someone decided to take a souvenir... and read some post-gig shouts about how it all went.

I also found a new leisure activity: detect pattern in my artists images. Not the usual "this band has attitude" group shots. I'm talking weird coincidences. So far I've discovered two themes: baths and people who were run over.

Around New Year's eve, these bands felt really dirty and decided to do some band bonding by taking a bath together. Two of them also had snacks while they were at it.

More recently two guys were tragically taken down.

I don't know why this happened but I opened a tip line to uncover the secret. An anonymous tip suggested that Brent from Menomena ran over the two of them. The investigation is still open.

This is a troubling epidemic my friends. It's already extended to other user library. Like the following taken today from trainstobrazil_'s library

It seems to be getting worse. Now they are all lying down!

These little things mean that you've still got some love. I don't think I'll be bailing out just yet but you'd better watch your recently-handed-to-corporate-entity steps.

Let's reminisce the good things, shall we?

Artist charts
One thing I can admit is that I have a bit of a methodology for my playlists. When an album comes out, I will listen to it several times in the intended order; once I pin down the overall mood and flow of it, I start to shuffle it and if I really like the album, there is an "Artist playlist" consisting of basically every new song plus some past favorites. You can tell that one-sided artist dominance abounds.

The week following our first anniversary was dominated by The Walkmen with 129 plays. Last week, it was To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie with 54 plays. Some weeks there's more diversity. That definitely did not happen the week of August 31st when Xiu Xiu crushed the charts with a whooping 254 plays!

An interesting factoid was a tie for the number one spot, it happened on July 19th between To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie and The Kills, each got 91 plays. You could say they were killing it. Ha!

Here's a recap on chart toppers:

The following artists topped the charts one week only:
Xiu Xiu
TV on the Radio
The Beatles
Johnny Foreigner
Lykke Li
Deftones
Doves
The Horrors
Grizzly Bear
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Women
Menomena
Voxtrot

2 times a piece for this group:
Maybeshewill
Errors
Morrissey
The Phantom Band
To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie

3 weeks:
Mogwai
The Twilight Sad
Okkervil River
Fever Ray

5 weeks were topped by the following band
Explosions in the Sky

Aaaaand the past year was dominated by two bands with 7 weeks on top!
The Walkmen
The Kills

Judging from that 250+ week you can tell that thing tends to be go one way quite often. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I indulge on the songs I like from time to time, like listening to them back-to-back-to-back-to-back... to-back and repeating certain moments of the songs. So I decided to unearth the most dominating songs, chart style.

Most dominating songs:
01. Maybeshewill – You Can't Shake Hands With a Clenched Fist
June 14 - 28 plays
This song ends very abruptly and you feel like you must listen to it again... and again.

02. The Twilight Sad – Reflection Of The Television
26 plays - May 24
I'm going to guess that this happened on the week of its release. Just a guess.

03. Johnny Foreigner – Salt, Pepa and Spinderella
25 plays - October 12
What?! This song is so catchy. It's sickening.

04. The Twilight Sad – Twenty four hours
25 plays - November 9
Killer cover! It makes the original feel so tame and... old.

05. Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart
23 plays - March 22
"If I had a heart I would love you... ahhhhh" It just gets in that head of yours.

06. The Walkmen – Postcards from Tiny Islands
21 plays - August 24
This song... it just owns! That guitar, those crashing cymbals... it's excellent!

07. The Daysleepers – Distant Creatures
21 plays - December 7
Great atmospherics. Sadly the rest of the album doesn't live up to this song.

08. The Twilight Sad – In The Blackout
21 plays - July 19
This is a b-side. I repeat a b-side. The lo-fi metal-ish intro is... whooooaaaaa. Makes my head spin.

09 Interpol – Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
20 plays - September 14
My friend Vikki made me listen to this!

10. The Walkmen – On The Water
19 plays - August 31
Look, if the mean triangle doesn't get to you, maybe the piercing whistling will.

11. Ramona Falls – I Say Fever
19 plays - August 2
I'm going to share a little tragic story here. This album came out Tuesday of last week. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I'd do something special by going to the actual record store instead of ordering online. So, on Tuesday I headed out to the record store during my lunch break and it turned out they didn't have it! Apparently no one goes to the record store to buy albums the very same day they are released anymore. So I had to order it online and lost some precious scrobbling time. Please learn from my experience.

Expect a lot more play counts in the upcoming weeks... and months! :)

12. Lykke Li – Let It Fall
18 plays - November 23
Cool pop song.

13. TV on the Radio – Love Dog
17 plays - September 28
Poor little love dog.

14. The Walkmen – On The Water
17 plays - November 16
Notice that the best song of 2008 made two appearances here!

15. The Kills – Sour Cherry
17 plays - February 1
I'm surprised that Sour Cherry ended up here instead of Getting Down. Undeniably catchy and addictive songs.

Journals: The talk of the town
I wrote 16 more journals after last year anniversary thing. There's been more balanced.

One journal a piece

This group were recognized for opening for Xiu Xiu!
Common Eider, King Eider
Prurient
Evangelista
Xiu Xiu! (and a whole bunch other artists) at The Bowery Ballroom - 28 Aug 2008

To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie
To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Patron (2007) - 22 Aug 2009

These artists have put on some solid play counts so far this year.
Grizzly Bear
Fever Ray
The Horrors
2009 Mid-year Countdown - 12 Jul 2009

This group had at least one awesome song that deserved recognition in 2008.
The Daysleepers
Elbow
Gang Gang Dance
Jason Collett
Marnie Stern
This Will Destroy You
We Were Promised Jetpacks
White Hinterland
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009

These artists put on their solid work in 2007 but were truly appreciated last year. Doesn't make them less deserving of a journal.
A Place to Bury Strangers
Battles
Caribou
Efterklang
Film School
Panda Bear
The Field
Yeasayer
Revised 2007 albums - 25 Dec 2008

The following group got the "honor" of getting a mention on my awards last year.
David Cook
Glasvegas
Guns N' Roses
Metallica
Michael Johns
New Kids on the Block
Oasis
Portishead
The Ting Tings
The Verve
Travis
Vampire Weekend
Weezer
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

I did this crazy journal where I went through my library trying to find out which artists would best represent each state.
Andrew Bird
Annuals
Band of Horses
Beirut
Better Than Ezra
Black Dice
Built to Spill
Caspian
Daniel Johnston
DeVotchKa
Discover America
Elliott Smith
Forget Cassettes
I Hear Sirens
Iron & Wine
Jimmy Eat World
Joan as Police Woman
Johnny Cash
LCD Soundsystems
Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
Mates of the State
Menomena
Moby
My Morning Jacket
of Montreal
Remy Zero
Slipknot
Sparklehorse
St. Vincent
Sufjan Stevens
The Hold Steady
The Killers
The National
The Spinto Band
The Velvet Underground
Voxtrot
White Rabbits
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008

Deuces journals

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Revised 2007 albums - 25 Dec 2008
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008

Animal Collective
Bon Iver
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008

The following group's work entitled them to a mention for their songs and an award of sorts:
Crystal Stilts
Death Cab for Cutie
Fleet Foxes
Friendly Fires
The Big Sleep
The Last Shadow Puppets
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

The Dodos
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009

The Phantom Band
2009 Mid-year Countdown - 12 Jul 2009
The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage - 19 May 2009

TV on the Radio
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009

Give me two! No wait, give me three journals!

2008 was a good year for the following artists, they were recognized in my most played, song list and award journals.
Deerhunter
Johnny Foreigner
Lykke Li
M83
No Age
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Fuck Buttons
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008
Mogwai + Fuck Buttons @ Terminal 5 - 19 Sep 2008

Maybeshewill
2009 Mid-year Countdown - 12 Jul 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009

Slaraffenland
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Revised 2007 albums - 25 Dec 2008
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Telepathe
2009 Mid-year Countdown - 12 Jul 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Four journals. I repeat f-o-u-o-r. Fouor?

Errors
Errors - It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever - 9 Mar 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Frightened Rabbit
Thrice
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
Revised 2007 albums - 25 Dec 2008
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Can you people believe that I saw this following band in concert three night in a row... with Mogwai?! It was amazing, of course! I have two more concerts in the can that will surely be even better because it's a headlining affair... *swoon*
The Twilight Sad
The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Apr 27 - Apr 29) - 1 May 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents and Hit The Road - 25 Nov 2008
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008

Five journals. Hang in there, little Timmy. We are almost there.

Speaking of which...
Mogwai
Mogwai @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Apr 27 - Apr 29) - 3 May 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008
Mogwai + Fuck Buttons @ Terminal 5 - 19 Sep 2008

The Walkmen
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008
The Walkmen - You & Me - 12 Nov 2008
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008

Xiu Xiu
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008
Xiu Xiu! (and a whole bunch other artists) at The Bowery Ballroom - 28 Aug 2008

Aaaaand this year crowning winner is *drumroll* Okkervil River!!!! With six journals. Woohooo.
Okkervil River
Okkervil River @ The Bell House - 9 Jan 2009
2008 in concerts, songs and EPs - 2 Jan 2009
Most played albums of 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
Revised 2007 albums - 25 Dec 2008
DGA Awards 2008 - 22 Nov 2008
It's my United States of... whatever! - 6 Sep 2008

EXCELLENT winner! Thought The Walkmen had this one in the can. Oh well, both released great albums last year. I'll leave it up to you to predict who will be the most talked about for next year. :P

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> 1st anniversary journal

To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Patron (2007)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:34:55 +0000

To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - The Patron

Chances are that, if you live in a big city, noise is all around you; wherever you go, anytime of the day. Cramped urban spaces seem to be something that defines our current living situations. It's no surprise then how noise, distortion and saturation has become a defining factor for many artists.

To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie chose noise as their primary element of expression for their 2007 debut album, The Patron. An album that centers around a concept of a love/hate relationship of sorts. The band explains the concept as "an underlying love story between two merging corporations" and that their songs are trying "to capture the raw sentiment of isolation, profound discovery, and morbid betrayal. The Patron is about the corruption of an idea that is at first welcomed and later destroyed".

The idea of a "corporation" doesn't really bring butterflies and hearts on sleeves situations to mind, so how's an artist to proceed? With such a concept the idea of fussing dream pop and ear-splitting noise seems quite fitting. The contrasting elements of both styles bring a passive vs. aggression dynamic that functions as the attacker and its prey.

Opening title track The Patron stars off with deafening distortion that shift into a slow heartbeat-like sound that hides in the background as it create an ominous atmosphere that will follow through the entire album. Singer Jehna Wilhelm delivers her lines in the most monotone and cold voice one could possibly achieve, actually reciting the words would be colder. At the same time, it provides a certain vulnerability and a sense of being dumbfounded by the events that are unfolding around you. It's that hauntingly calm, barely-singing, slow paced voice that gives this album a contrasting element and ultimately humanizes it, turning it into a repeated listening affair.

But there are times when the airy, ethereal vocals get lost and become undecipherable. That is to a certain point, a tying element to dream pop, where the vocals are to be used as another layer of the sound and its textures are more interesting than words themselves. Whether this should to be considered a weakness or strength of this album, guess is up to your personal tastes. Though it makes it difficult to follow through with the imaginary storyline.

The Man With The Shovel, Is The Man I'm Going To Marry is possibly the most hypnotizing moment of the album, with its hollow sounds, eerie vocalization and synth loops. You feel momentarily lost, it's simply gripping. It's a formula that is implemented once again in songs like the music box, glockenspiel tinged Long Arm, with a harmony filled finale that sounds like you are about to take in your last breath. Moments like these are accentuated by ambient instrumental tracks like Dedicated Secretary, Liason, Passionate Mother; the creepy lullaby-esque, still fairly doomed, You Guys Talk, We'll Spill Our Guts; and ethereal closer Window Shopping.

Video: The Man with the Shovel, Is the Man I'm Going to Marry

Lovers & Liars fuses abrupt violence with a flirty pop melody that sends your mind straight into a 40s cabaret scene, complete with a fictitious film noir murder mystery. Exactly the kind of imagery you'd want to get from such a convoluted concept.

I Box Twenty, With Brass Songs They'll Descend and Very Lovely provide a certain sense of helplessness, like destiny is written and you can't do nothing about it.

While it is questionable that their concept came across, it doesn't really detracts from the beauty and power of this album, with its balance of violence-calm, tense atmospherics and ecstatic release. Mostly sounds like falling in slow motion through a black hole. There's an imminent finale but it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the air cutting through your face.

Download:
Lovers & Liars
I Box Twenty

2009 Mid-year Countdown

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:24:53 +0000

This journal has been overdue for about 2 weeks, during that time there was a bit of a technological breakdown and a tragic loss of many scrobbles. I won't get into details because i might breakdown. What's left to do but focus on the positive good music that has surfaced during this first half of the year.

As always, albums sorted in exciting countdown style, by average plays.

Average plays = total album plays / number of tracks

6. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Played 161 times – averaged 14 plays per track

What's to be said? This album has a bigger and confident feeling than Yellow House, something you'd expect after about a 3 year gap. Yet it still sounds intimate, like it was recorded in a basement studio somewhere, while a downpour was happening outside, and very little lighting was making it through those tiny half windows. Maybe an empty bathroom was involved, don't know for sure. All I know is that I'm expecting this to be in my Top 5, come the end of the year countdown.

Most played:
Ready, Able - 23 plays
I Live With You - 18 plays
All We Ask - 18 plays

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
While You Wait for the Others - 7 plays

5. Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four Part Harmony
Played 148 times – averaged 19 plays per track

Nowhere around this time last year, they made it into my most played albums of 2008. I really liked their raw power and intensity of their music, especially the heavy and fast-paced tracks. This album is a little bit more in the same vein, still good. As you can see below this, I got quite obsessed with opening track "You Can't Shake Hands With a Clenched Fist" and "How To Have Sex With A Ghost". Have a listen and you'll see what I mean.

Most played:
You Can't Shake Hands With a Clenched Fist - 40 plays
How To Have Sex With A Ghost - 35 plays
Accept And Embrace - 21 plays

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
Our History Will Be What We Make Of It - 5 plays

4. The Horrors - Primary Colours
Played 213 times – averaged 21 plays per track

Before this year, I had no idea these guys even existed. Apparently, they were part of what I like to call the "NME universe", bands only that magazine and their loyal following care about but not many people in the outside world seem to be aware of their existence. There are plenty of those.

Back in March, or somewhere around that time, they were a free download in one of my endless podcast subscriptions, where I got "Sea Within a Sea", and that was pretty much it. They fit right in with that plethora of bands doing the late 80s shoegaze/synth/post-punk sound. Normally this wouldn't go well for them but they managed to surpass those early feelings of apathy. One of the few that get it right. Expect more love to come their way.

Most played:
Three Decades = 37 plays
Who Can Say - 32 plays
Sea Within a Sea - 30 plays

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
I Only Think of You - 6 plays

3. Telepathe - Dance Mother
Played 233 times – averaged 26 plays per track

Recipients of the award for "I loved your EP, can't wait for your debut LP! award" at the DGA Awards. There were quite a few, all of them very good. Then comes the album and guess what, there were only 3 songs that I had never heard before. Three out of nine! And there's not much difference in the arrangements either. A bit disappointing. Made it here because it includes the play counts from those EPs and I like those three lonesome new songs. I suspect there'll be a new album very soon. Right?

Most played:
Chrome's On It - 50
Devil's Trident - 49
Lights Go Down - 29

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
Trilogy - 3

2. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
Played 287 times – averaged 32 plays per track

Nothing more to be added, just wrote a love prophesying journal some weeks ago. Terribly under-appreciated album! I may create an award for that, if I do, these guys are getting it unanimously!

Most played:
Folk Song Oblivion - 50 plays
Burial Sounds - 47 plays
Crocodile - 41 plays

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
Island - 11 plays

1. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Played 512 times – averaged 51 plays per track

This is it! Hands down the best of the best of the very best of this adolescent year. Whoa! I'm not even a big fan of The Knife, mind you. Though I have to admit that I've gone back to them and I find myself enjoying it a bit more after this album.

In that sense, this could be a contender for that under-appreciated category at the DGA awards. I don't think the so-called music experts have given this album the recognition it deserves, this is almost flawless. A perfect mix of textured electronic sounds and human elements. There's a vulnerability and sense that a real person wrote this, unlike most electronic music that sounds so robotic and mechanic. I've heard few songs that convey a sense of heartache, isolation and desperation as "Concrete Walls". That's where its real power lies.

Most played:
If I Had A Heart - 77 plays
Dry And Dusty - 71 plays
Concrete Walls - 60 plays

Song that needs to pick up the pace:
Now's The Only Time I Know - 33 plays

Honorable Mentions:
Hopefully they'll be able to make it into the end of the year countdown. This is a tough, tough year.

Morrissey - Years Of Refusal
Micachu - Jewellry
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Anthony And The Johnsons - Crying Light

"To Get List"
Released albums yet to be acquired. In most of these cases, I've already listened some of it but don't have all the tracks. *sigh* Oh, you single mp3 culture!

In order of current interest:
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
The Field - Yesterday and Today
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
The Antlers - Hospice
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
White Rabbits - It's Frightening
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
Crocodiles - Summer Of Hate
Sonic Youth - The Eternal
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
My Latest Novel - Death And Entrances (as soon as it gets released in the US or I get tired of waiting and go the other route)

Releases I'm looking forward to
07/21 - Riceboy Sleeps: Riceboy Sleeps
08/18 - Ramona Falls: Intuit
08/25 - Arctic Monkeys: Humbug

Very busy week ahead:
09/15 - A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Ashes Grammar
09/15 - The Dodos: Time to Die
09/15 - Slaraffenland: We're on Your Side
09/15 - Muse: The Resistance

Aaaaaand:
09/22 - The Twilight Sad: Forget The Night Ahead

September 22nd is the date new music will cease to exist. Everyone better get in before that date.

Recommendations for/against already released and yet-to-be-released albums are welcome.

As a random closing comment, I'd like to recommend the last.fm code Firefox add-on for anyone who writes journals. It helps you code and connect your journal in the blink of an eye!

Thanks for reading!

UPDATE: The Twilight Sad album is coming out on a different date than I had previously announced, so that means even less time for "the rest of the world" and someone from the week before must be sacrificed.

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

Wed, 20 May 2009 03:32:20 +0000

For the Weekly Album Appreciation Club

Checkmate Savage is the full length debut of The Phantom Band. An album about details, idiosyncrasies and those little quirks that make a band separate themselves from the pack.

This album could lead you down any number of roads, each one different than the other. From noisy synths, hooky pop melodies and krautrock tendencies, passing through a cappella harmonies to a folksy campfire sing-along. Most songs stand out on their own, not linked to its predecessor, feeling more like a collection of thoughts than a well mapped straight road. I personally think that's what makes this album a memorable experience and the most remarkable moments are those that come a bit out of nowhere.

Songs like album opener The Howling showcases their most straightforward, rich and melodic moments accompanied by the wonderfully deep voice of their lead singer, known under the nickname “Richard The Turd”. Strange, I know.

Burial Sounds emerges to sound like a dark ritualistic modern anthem, full of chants, textured distortion and deep percussion. Never losing focus or accessibility, and giving you quiet climaxes in between the surging melodies and vocal harmonies. Folk Song Oblivion lightens the way a bit with a looser use of the "folk song". With a lot more canned energy for you to make the best use of it as you see fit. It starts off with a threatening tone and a hushed group vocals that breaks loose into a more melody based way that simply makes you want to clap along, or shake an imaginary tambourine. "You've got a voice so loud, you break the mountain side".

Crocodile sweeps in with a duality between a bouncy melody and a melancholic, and solitary, guitar that struggles not to get lost lost in between deep bass-lines and croaking samples. Until the guitar surges in and gives the song a whole different side to it.

For a moment, we ride back into a more pop approach with Halfhound and the darker Left Hand Wave. Both crafted in such a textured way that would please most "headphones music" aficionados. Island sees the band swing for the epic folk fences, with a melancholic, distortion free, ballad that almost clocks in the 9 minute mark. This is where the campfire sing-along comes in, in case you are lost, with a full ensemble of banjo and what sounds to me like a saw(?) Sort of sneaks in on you, you can't help but think this is the "safe card" in the bunch.

Throwing Bones picks up the pace once again, until it breaks out a doo-be-doo vocal group, that is. This either makes you go "wtf" or crack a smile and join in on the doo-be-doo, maybe both. This is obviously the work of a band that is not taking themselves too seriously.

For the closing curtain call they threw us in The Whole is on my side that comes in like a mix between "Left Hand Wave" and "Crocodile", with a repeated slow paced melody flavored in with various distorted samples and buried somber tones that flip into a more easygoing vibe halfway through the 8 minutes. "I know I have been foolish, I was only trying to behave like a man" in a voice full of sorrow and doubt. Maybe this is right, maybe it isn't.