Usually I approach Christmas with a mix of excitement and trepidation, but this year I’m feeling really indifferent. I haven’t baked the usual batches of cookies. We don’t have any decorations up. I did buy gifts for most of the people I normally give gifts to, taking full advantage of Amazon Prime (yay flat rate shipping). And I remembered to do Christmas cards. But for Christmas itself, the actual getting together with people and celebrating, I decided to bail on the usual family plans and go snowshoeing instead with Lucas and my brother. I hope something outdoorsy will be a good way to counteract the ennui. Tune in next week to find out how that went.

Other things:

If you haven’t seen the BERG/Bonnier Mag+ prototype demo, and you’re at all interested in ebooks, digital publishing formats, etc., you really should watch the video. They demonstrate a very fluid way of designing a magazine to read on a digital tablet. Software-wise, this is already possible to create on an iPhone, but the screen isn’t really large enough for the reading experience they’re after, especially with photos. So maybe this will happen when Apple finally releases that much-rumored tablet.

Amanda Palmer, one of my favorite music discoveries for the year, posted a video of a ukulele song in place of a written blog post last week. It’s about Lady Gaga and pop music and art, and does a fun job of explaining what she thinks.

I spent a large chunk of Saturday playing a game called Braid. I first heard about it during a panel at SXSW, mentioned as an example of something with a really interesting set of game mechanics and story. The basic setup is like Super Mario Bros. (complete with a princess who is not in the castle at the end of this level, but perhaps if you keep searching you will find her), except you can make time move backward and forward, so you never really die. I got to a point where I’ve collected all the puzzle pieces I can figure out how to reach, and obviously there’s something else I need to do to be able to pick up the rest, but so far I don’t know what. Which is a little frustrating. (If you’ve solved it, no spoilers, but moral support is appreciated).

Today is the shortest day of the year, the official start of winter, but it’s going to be a couple of months before the winter gloom lifts again. It makes me want to hibernate.

—

After I wrote this, a man came and knocked on the door and said he’d found a bunch of mail from our building opened and wet, out in front of the building. I was in my pajamas still so I told him to leave it on the doorstep. When I went to check a little later, I found two Christmas cards, opened, and an empty mailer envelope that should have contained two books I ordered as presents.

To say that this is not helping with my lack of holiday cheer would be an understatement.

–

And another thing:

I posted this and then I remembered that half the point of these weekly updates is to tell y’all about things I’ve been working on that you can go check out. So, the Curious Life of Ms. Audrey M. Eschright 2009 Retrospective magazine is now live on MagCloud, should you wish to procure a copy for yourself or a loved one. It’s on sale for $2 cheaper than the regular price if you order before the end of the year, thanks to MagCloud’s holiday sale.

When I was beginning to shortlist some albums here, I was getting worried that I wouldn’t have enough. By the time I finished, I have possibly more than ever. 2008 was a great year for music it seemed again, but it could also be due to the fact that by 2008 I was officially a complete music-obsessive, determined to hear and appreciate as music as possible – I was sick of listening to the same albums and same kinds of music over and over again, I was ready to just go out there and LISTEN. That’s not to say I didn’t do that beforehand, I just feel I was almost on somewhat of a musical auto-pilot for a few years of Prog, Metal, Alternative and Electronica. I was ready to spread my wings, and give Indie and other genres I thought “low” of another chance. This list is really in no particular order.

1) Coldplay – Viva La Vida (Or Death and All His Friends)

And if you want a good example of my previous statement, here it is. Before this album, I didn’t enjoy Coldplays musical output due to just being prejudiced against the indie-pop genre completely, however I enjoyed a few of their singles a little. This album, however, changed that view completely for me. And it’s probably in no small part due to Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins’ excellent production here. I think they made Coldplay THINK about their music, and pushing their musical talents to the limit a lot more than they were used to. They could have stuck to their arena, “adult contemporary” and radio pleasing sound, but they didn’t, something that I respect them for. Sure, a few songs still have that quality, but to me it sounds a lot better and more mature. It sounds like they’re actually putting in effort! The fact that they incorporated some odd time signatures in songs like “Yes!” and “Lost”, pleased the Prog side of me, plus the great experimental ambience heavily influenced by Eno in many of the songs introductions like in “Violet Hill”, “Strawberry Swing” and the album opener “Life in Technicolor”, while still keeping songs that can get stuck in your head AND having great lyrics too makes this album a winner for me. I think they’re going to have a hard time topping this album, but I really would like to see them try and beat it, rather than just stick to the formula that made this album great.

2) Portugal. The Man – Censored Colors

Portugal. The Man are a band I feel have improved with every album, and this album is definitely no exception. Despite this being the first Portugal. The Man album I heard, it didn’t take me long to listen to their previous albums and see what got them up to this point; and while their predecessors were good, this one topped them all. Filled with great synth work, eerie vocal effects, catchy pop style melodies complemented by John Gourleys excellent sense of lyrical cadences and a great ‘jam’ sense throughout this album with the last few tracks of the album being gapless, proves that this band are willing to push the envelope in musical experimentation, without denying their talent at writing a good song in the process. Their addition of tour keyboardist/backing vocalist Zoe Manville on this album really added another angelic, beautiful lyrical quality to this album, with Gourley and Manville complimenting each others vocal stylings so well. I had the pleasure of meeting this band earlier in the year, and they’re so humble despite writing great music and beginning to build an even bigger fan base. An all round great album from great guys.

3) Kings of Leon -  Only by the Night

Coming off of what I feel was a slightly disappointing but still enjoyable 3rd album came Kings of Leon’s magnum opus. I’ve followed this band throughout their whole musical journey so far, and supported their every move, and I must say that this album is probably one of the top albums of the decade. Their sound is slightly darker, and they’ve almost entirely removed their ‘country’ and Southern Rock influences, but at the same time, they’ve developed a good alternative sound without completely drifting away from the band they used to be. You can tell with Because of the Times that they were starting to get a darker sound, but I feel that they didn’t fully make it come together, whereas here, they perfected it. The album opener “Closer” is a fantastic opener, haunting, great use of delay and equally haunting vocals about vampires really makes you ready for the ride. Of course, they’re best known for their Grammy winning “Sex On Fire” and the ever popular radio hit “Use Somebody”, but I feel that every song on this album is damn good, whereas with their previous albums a few songs on each album were just OK to listen to. I love this album very much, and you should too.

4) Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

Many of NIN’s fans are divided on this one, personally, I love it. Sure, he’s gone for a more ‘mainstream’ sound, but is that always a bad thing? I still consider The Fragile NIN’s best work, but I find this album the most enjoyable to listen to. Reznor released this album as a ‘name your price’ online release at first, again, a bold move, but Reznor is making a good point. He wanted people to listen to this album, because in the end that’s what it’s all about, letting others hear your music. On top of that, he also released it to his online community, separated into individual tracks, allowing unlimited ways of remixing by his very own fanbase. And some of these remixes that I have heard are pretty phenomenal. He’s got some great arena filling songs like “Discipline”, “Echoplex” and “1,000,000″, and some songs that trace back to his roots such as “Corona Radiata”, “Demon Seed” and “Letting You”. It’s hard to deny that Reznor is a hard worker, before this album he also released Ghosts I-IV, a collection of instrumental works all binded together to form a seamless album ingeniously (and is in the Honorable Mentions below.)

Yes, 2008 was a great year for music, and I really had difficulty reviewing just 4 albums. So, as a possible one off, I’m going to have a Very Honorable Mentions, and the usual Honorable Mentions. So here we go…

Very Honorable Mentions

Beck – Modern Guilt
Bon Ivor – For Emma, Forever Ago
Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Demians – Building an Empire
The Duke Spirit – Neptune
Foxy Shazam – Introducing
Lady GaGa – The Fame
M83 – Saturdays=Youth
The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath
Minus the Bear – Acoustics
Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
Russian Circles – Station
Shearwater – Rooks
Thrice – The Alchemy Index Volumes III and IV
TV on the Radio – Dear Science

Honorable Mentions

Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Apes & Androids – Blood Moon
Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Ben Folds – Way to Normal
City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love
Deerhunter – Microcastle
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
The Fall of Troy – Phantom on the Horizon
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
Foals – Antidotes
The Gaslight Anthem – The ‘59 Sound
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair
Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
Innerpartysystem – Innerpartysystem
Maybeshewill – Not For Want of Trying
Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I – IV
Portishead – Third
School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

So, there you have it, 2008. We’re almost at the end of the list now, 2009 will be up before Xmas!

Iain

The frog-like man sitting next to me, reading a French newspaper, disapproved  greatly of this.

So I read, quietly, and wrote.

The French do not share my boisterous appreciation for Amanda Palmer.

Amanda Palmer’s awesome song about Art. Amanda rocks.

The Amanda Palmer I don’t know.

That’s not to say the one I do, doesn’t.

I should shut up now. Here’s the song:

Reposted everywhere, but this is so I can find it again. If the small number of people who read my blog, and don’t read Neil G, GLP or AFP, get to see it that’s cool.

More soon.

Amanda Palmer definitely marches to the beat of her own drum no matter what those around her might think.

After hearing the explanation from Tegan and Sara Quin for the lyrics to the track “Hell” Palmer decided to film her own video on the streets of NYC with the help of Director Michael Pope. The video depicts Palmer roaming around the streets singing “Hell” being played in her headphones. I have very little doubt that she was belting this out like that person in the airport that has no idea how loud they are actually singing. Some of the people that she comes in contact with are welcoming but for the most part they all think that she has lost her mind.

I am drinking a bottle of Two Buck Chuck while I type this, forgive me in advance.

30.  the Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Believe You – ‘So you quote Love unquote me / well stranger things have come to be …. I don’t believe you.’  It was either this or Old Fools off of Distortion for me when it came to Merritt and company.  Couldn’t find a good audio of this one so instead I’m posting a ukulele cover.  Just a great song about not believing someone…and great lyrics about punctuation, like the opening line and this following gem - ‘….so you’re brilliant gorgeous and / ampersand after ampersand’ – oh I’m sure his English teacher is proud.  Fyi, new Magnetic Fields album drops in January.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwScpo2Xhc0&feature=related

29.  Musiq Soulchild – Sunny (Just Friends) – the ultimate casual trying to get your number so we can go on a date or something song.  Love the honesty, I feel like singing this to every girl I meet at the mall ‘I’m not trying to pressure you / just can’t stop thinking ’bout you / you ain’t even really gotta be my girlfriend / I just want to know your name / and maybe some time / we can hook up / hang out / just chill’.  Sold r&b number just released after the best r&b decade of all time (the 90’s people).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGX5fuW6PlE&feature=related

28.  Jimmy Eat World – Sweetness – ‘Sing it back whoa oh oh oh oh’ – ‘Are you listening?’ – just about one of my favorite pure emo songs ever, if not the best emo song ever.  Now where did I put my skinny jeans?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU3KBI5qyEY

27.  Darius Rucker – Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It – This song got me to buy a country cd, no easy feat.  Not sure if I relate because of many failed relationships, or because it is so simple.  ‘I wonder if sometimes I cross your mind / where would we be today / if I never drove that car away’  This song expresses that even though you may be over something, it still crosses your mind every once in a while between ‘the work, and the hurt, and the whiskey’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa7ot4R_-Qo

26.  the Veronicas – Untouched – ‘I go ooh ooh you go ahh ahh – la la la la / la la la la’ – you would think with such advanced lyrics a song like this wouldn’t be on my list – but you are wrong.  Song is great because it is yearning girlie pop!!! Check out this acoustic version which proves the girls can actually hold a bit of a note or two.  Love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ9xQ6FDsPI

25.  the Darkness – I Believe In a Thing Called Love – this is just really a fun song and I’m glad I’m not the only one who still believes in love…there’s at least four British guys with bad teeth that believe in it as well.  This is the only song released this decade that would make my best songs of the 70’s list were it released in the 70’s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFtywrOTnHw

24.  Ryan Adams – When the Stars Go Blue – this song makes me cry and I want to dance with a Norwegian girl to this song along a plaza with a cobblestone sidewalk as the world watches on.  I probably ranked this song too low but I’m jealous of some of the girls that Ryan has dated so I’m a bit bitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99sjZT1qB2Q

23.  Natasha Bedingfield – These Words – hey, this song was a #1 hit in England dammit.  I like the funky beat, simple words, shout out to Byron, Shelley, and Keats – and the universal Love message.  Sometimes the only words you can say are ‘I love you I love you I love you.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RuGj0g1tk

22.  the Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism – proving all you need sometimes is a piano and some drums this band just rocks your face, this song the best example.  ‘I might join your century / but only on a rare occasion’ – I hear in this song a tortured little girl that enjoys the self affliction, and she is laughing at all of us.  Oh how I love you Amanda Palmer!  Damn you Neil Gaiman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO5APfKnR50

21.  Dave Matthews Band – Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd – ‘Hello again / seems like forever between now and then / you look the same / I mean you look different but you haven’t changed’ – an awkward meeting between two people who used to care for one another, and that moment you realize how and why that person stole your heart away.  Here’s to hoping I can overcome the fear of getting in the way these next ten years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdnoKdoR4-M&feature=related

It’s been really heavy but we’ve printed the 350 posters for Amanda Palmer.
It’s the first time we handprint so many posters but we’re very very happy with the result.
Check it out here below:

These posters will be available only during the New years eve (as You can see on the print).
We’re gonna work on the Malleusdelic AP version in the next days, we’d like to change some colours and printing process to make them different from the band version, so stay tuned and You’ll see.
Time to rest now.

————————————————————–
Listening to Shora – Malval

Yesterday we’ve been in Milano at Magnolia (the cool venue we usually work with for posters and more).
I.C.O. were playing and it was totally cool.
Great sounds and great songs, I like them a lot and it’s been fun to meet them.
We went home happy and we talked about movies and such.
We all agree to say “Inglorious Basterds” by Tarantino is a rad movie. He’s pre genius, hope to meet him one day, just to tell him how cool he is.
In the meantime our Premier said he’s LOVE.
Really, I’m not joking. He said he’s LOVE.
It reminds me of the Kozik poster with Manson and the inscription LOVE. It was a cool one.

This is the american style, a man closed in jail till the end of his life for what he said and for what he didn’t.
And here below there’s the italian style, a man free from every judgement, he’ll never be in jail for what he says and, expecially, for what he has done…

Anyway, let’s speak about something else… it makes me nervous to think about what’s going on in our small Country.

We’re finishing the new Amanda Palmer poster.
Yesterday we printed the gold colour and today we’ve done the red.
Here are some details of the band serie.
We’re gonna print 100 AP after this, they’ll be different from this ones, You’ll see.

No, it’s not brow paper. It’s black paper and no, the grey part is blue.
And no, the yellow is gold. Yes, the red is red.
Ok, I’ve to admit I’m not so good in taking pictures…
Anyway, here’s a detail of the shadow.

and another one

Tomorrow we’re gonna print the last colour (white), so You’ll be able to see the final design of the poster.
Then we’ll ship the 350 pieces to the USA for the new years eve.
And we’ll have the AP on sale from the 2nd of January 2010.
It’ll be very cold and probably covered with snow, I know, but we’ll do our best to ship all to You.
Then we’ll be in Roma for the recording sessions of Ufomammut.
The new album will be out in 2010.
There are too many things for 2010 yet…

——————————————————
Listening to the Eels

I am making a better one. So there.

Severus Snape.

and Amanda Palmer.

I’ve a tooth less.
Ok, who cares?
Nobody threw me a dome souvenir, don’t worry, it’s been the dentist.
Anyway, who cares?
We’ve started the printing process of the Amanda Palmer new poster.
As I told You it’s “based” on the poster we did for her playing with the Boston Pops some years ago.
This is the first colour.

We’re gonna print 350 copies (we’re gonna die…) for Amanda and then there’ll be a serie of 100 pieces AP.
They’re gonna print t-shirts too.
You’ll see the final poster very soon, we’re in a hurry so I hope we’ll finish them all in the next days.
But again… who cares?
I miss my tooth.
It was a good friend and it spent all of its life with me.

————————————————————
Listening to AMEN RA – IIII

It feels like so many women in the public eye are just cookie cutter replicas of one another.  I feel that it is such a shame that more diversity isn’t celebrated.  A woman who I find constantly inspiring is Amanda Palmer.  She is part of the duo The Dresden Dolls and recently went solo.  She refuses to be dictated to and truly marches to her own tune.  I find her inspirational because she refuses to be reigned in, to conform to the latest trends or cave to the glossy image.  She is truly inspirational and proves that all women are beautiful and that your individuality should be celebrated, not caged.

Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/amandapalmer

Check out her work! http://www.amandapalmer.net/

I’m a big fan of inter-artist dialogue. Whether it be between a painter and a photographer, a sculptor and a dancer or an author and a cartoonist. Even when working in the same medium, our processes are all different, but despite this, the foundations of creative response share one key commonality:  Audacious curiosity. And it’s interesting, of course, to see different artists’ take on the same words and ideas.

The idea of exploring curiosities is fundamental to why I enjoy speaking with and learning from artists. Though my field is technically scientific in nature, expressions of artistry have always deeply inspired my journalistic process in how it re-energizes my sense of observation and broadens my perception of the realities surrounding me. This is a world of sounds, colors and shapes more than a world of numbers, formulas and statistics and these things should never be left out of the storytelling process.

One artist whose work has consistently inspired and informed my perspective on art, journalism and storytelling is street-performer-turned-musician Amanda Palmer, formerly of the Dresden Dolls. I know I’ve spoken of her a bit on this blog before, but her work epitomizes these things which I am trying (in a very meandering way) to get at. Through her music, writing (her blog is a great read), she enlivens the idea of all of us storytelling creators as a global community in an increasingly fractionalized world. She isn’t afraid to try things that haven’t been done before and is pioneering what I believe is an early version of a new economic model for creative-types to earn a living doing the thing they love to do. A beautiful concept, no?

Palmer’s most recent creation that grabbed my eye is a music video she made with Michael Pope for the Tegan and Sara single “Hell.”

Filmed over the course of one day in New York City, Palmer pays homage to the Canadian twins’ fantastic song with an impassioned piece of performance from the streets. Palmer had this to say regarding the video’s inspiration:

“….i got the idea brewing when i saw some footage of tegan intro-ing the song at town hall in NYC a few months ago and talking about how she would pass all these homeless people in her new neighborhood in vancouver and feel that awful feeling you feel of frustration and hopelessness. i worked from there. some of the best things that happened never made it onto film, i wish you could have seen what i saw that day. it felt really good to run through the city at the top of my lungs, with an actual excuse that was (relatively) sane. i always feel like doing that. but i rarely have a reason.”

It’s pretty rad to see Palmer’s version of T+S’s experience.

And in the interest of keeping the dialogue rolling, via another expression of this love, cover songs, is a T+S cover of The Bowie. Enjoy!

Download: Tegan & Sara ‘Rebel Rebel’ (David Bowie cover) (mp3)

We’re going to print the last poster of the year, not THE last poster of the year intended as the last one on Earth.
I mean, we’re gonna print OUR last poster of the year.
Well, never say never , we could do something else before the end of the year, but I think we’ll spend the last days of the year on other projects.
Lately we’re working at some logos, t-shirts and record covers.
Ok, I’m wandering and going off topic.
Tomorrow we’re gonna start the printing of the new Amanda Palmer and Boston Pops poster.
We’ll put the printing process online, ok it’s getting a boring tradition, but I’m pretty sure there’ll be someone loving it.
So, stay tuned.

And I’m sure You’re asking to yourself why this topic’s been named “Phone”.
Well, click here and enjoy

—————————————————
Listening to Deer Tick – More fuel for the fire

Hello my lovely little girls! How are you this fine fine day? Good I hope. Bright eyed and bushy tailed I expect. Ready to read a small bit of fan fic after reading that ginorous chapter of CW&IA you did yesterday?

*claps hands*

Excellent!! Because I have just the story for you

It’s a little diddy that took me about two weeks to write. That’s right lol!! My one-shots tend to take me forever haha!!

It’s either take me a while or rip out my hair.

So, sit back my loves and relax. Put up your feet and enjoy. I’ll send Edward over momentarily to fluff your pillows.

He ran with the moon through the impacted snow, his feet crushing against the frozen ground. He ran with his feral brothers against the wind. They were hunting for what should have been left alone and yet what also drove them to live.

His body, once young and invincible was now showing signs of age. What was once fresh and vibrant was starting to turn grey. After eighty years, life was starting to take its toll on him. His bones were not as young as they used to be and he could feel it to be true as his prey dug into his flesh.

Howling out in pain the creature was dropped onto the frozen earth. Blood flooded out of his body turning the snow into a wash of crimson. The pain was unbearable. He screamed out in his mind for his mate to hear him. He prayed to his savage gods to end this unrelenting suffering. He hoped that she would find him.

Oh darn!  What an evil cliffy muhahaha!! Want more.  Check it out on FFN:  http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5552693/1/Broken

This story was inspired by Amanda Palmer’s fabulous song “Boyfriend in a Coma.”

My deepest thanks to Fragile for letting me whore myself out on her bliggity blog and making my awesometastic banner.  You’re the best!!

Who's in YOUR Superband?

When I posted my review of Them Crooked Vultures, I got thinking about the idea of superbands. The idea of taking the “best” parts of other bands, and putting them together in a new band in the hope that this conglomeration of artists could produce something better than they could on their own. Of course, this is all down to personal taste, the idea of what you consider good about different bands and artists, how you hope they would fit together and the sound you are yearning to get from them.

I’ve been mentioning these ideas to people, and it seems that even when people think they are putting effort into their choices, there seems to be some consensus. It seems that most people’s dream superbands take one of two routes. On the one hand, you have the people I will call “Legend Lovers”, who will give you a list of names of classic artists, most of whom are dead, but all are instantly recognisable. On the other hand, you have the “Virtuoso Votaries”, who will pick the artists who are famous for playing fast and complex, and little else. There is some overlap between these groups, but unless people actually sit down and research artists, all their choices fit into these two groups. When it comes to me, my first instinct was to be a Legend Lover as, to be honest, they are legends for a reason!

Vocals: Freddie Mercury/Robert Plant/Roger Daltry

Guitar: Jimi Hendrix/Brian May/Pete Townshend/Eric Clapton/Jimmy Page

Bass: John Entwistle/Geddy Lee/Paul McCartney

Drums: Keith Moon/Neil Peart/John Bonham

Virtuoso Votaries

Vocals: Freddy Mercury/Bruce Dickinson/Ian Gillan/Steve Perry

Guitar: Jimi Hendrix/Joe Satriani/Steve Vai/Yngwei Malmsteen/Eddie Van Halen/Herman Li

Bass: Flea/John Petrucci/Geddy Lee/Cliff Burton

Drums: Neil Peart/John Bonham/Mike Portnoy

The Rules

So, with all this useless research, where does this leave my superband concept? Well, I’ve been putting thought into this, and decided upon some rules for myself. By following these rules, I think I have come up with my personal perfect superband, who could actually have a chance of working together, and is somewhat original.

Rule 1: Avoid Legend Lovers and Virtuoso Votaries lists as much as possible

Rule 2: No dead musicians

Rule 3: Put together a band I think will actually work, musically.

The Band (All Photos Lead To Standout Performances)

Brian Viglione

Drums: Taking up the rhythm duties for my dream superband is Dresden Dolls drummer, Brian Viglione. I know, I’m off to a slightly obscure start, but hear me out. This guy is a really energetic and expressive drummer, and has enough stage presence to not just disappear at the back of the stage. While primarily a rock drummer, with punk influencing the sheer speed of some of his playing, he is also heavily influenced by Jazz, after his father took him to see “The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine” at the age of 11. Playing with Amanda Palmer in Dresden Dolls has given Viglione a good range. He knows when to play softly and not get in the way, but even in these moments he can add sweet little nuances, and not just cymbal taps.  Also, when the time comes, he is able to really thicken up a sound with complex beats, jazzy fills and high-energy rock and roll swagger. He’s the perfect rock to hinge my band on.

Tim Commerford

Bass: One thing I love is when the bass can create movement in a piece of music. It sounds like an oxymoron, but melodic basslines are something we’ve sadly almost lost, but are one of the things that create that classic rock sound that is slowly dissapearing. Listen to most bands, and all you hear from the bassist is the root note of whatever chord the band is rocking. Add the ability to make any song truly funky and you begin to see that the bass guitar is a wonderful instrument and not one to be neglected like this. With Tim Commerford on Bass duties, I know it definitely won’t be. Bassist for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave, this guy is the king of melodic, funky, alterna-rock basslines. Despite this being quite a narrow category, it’s one that he really does truly own. Ok, in terms of alterna-rock funk, the crown goes to Flea, but it’s moments like the intro to RATM’s Calm Like A Bomb that earn Tim his place in my superband. He’ll probably have to drop the effects box to fit into the sound, but that will just make his great playing easier to hear.

Allison Robertson

Lead Guitar: This is where I get controversial. The lead guitarist I have picked isn’t a true guitar virtuoso, or even particularly a big name in their own right. However, the perfect guitarist for this band is coming in and breaking the boys club it is becoming so far, as this superband needs the axe stylings of Allison Robertson. The lead guitarist The Donnas has an irresistible classic rock style, drawn from bands like AC/DC, The Ramones and Kiss, but rather than being big headed and pretentious, her playing style is just a hell of a lot of fun. Chords are big and full, solos are fast and fun, and lead lines fit in brilliantly with everything else that’s going on. My superband has a little bit of classic rock lean, and Allison forms the heart of that sound.

Dave Grohl

Vocals (and Rhythm Guitar): Ok, this band is lacking two things. The first one is star power, the second is a killer front man. This is why we need to call in the services of Dave Grohl. While starting his career as a drummer, Dave has really made it as the singer and guitarist for Foo Fighters. He can disarm you with sweet tones, or scream straight through you, all the while maintaining a sound that very few people will object to. His skilled rhythm playing will round out the sound too, giving Allison the backing she needs for her solos, and help come up with some really memorable riffs to get this band in the public eye and ear. Also, on the subject of singing, all the other band members have had to handle backing vocal duties in their original bands, so there’s potential for some great harmonies and multi-vocal stabs.

I know none of this would ever happen, but it’s a lot of fun to think about and try to put together. Now the question is, who would you want in yours?

The ArtsCenter Photoblog has officially gone international! Local-based Scottish photographer Alex Forsyth has sent us some of his photos from past ArtsCenter shows. Look below for shots of the Dervish show, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Amanda Palmer with Nervous Cabaret, and Johnny Winter.

Photos are below, more after the jump. See more of his work at Ecosse Studios. Thanks Alex!

–Lisa

From Dervish.

The Dervish flute player.

From the Dervish show.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer

Nervous Cabaret, opening for Amanda Palmer

Lucy Wainwright Roche at University Mall.

Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

We love you Amanda! We especially love how you bring it home in your interaction with your fans… see Coachella 09 cover song of Radiohead’s Creep if you missed it. In this video, Amanda, inspired by Tegan & Sara’s explanation of what the song “hell” was actually about…takes to the streets of NYC to share the message.

And so we face the final batch of top popular pressings of the last twelve months and looking back, I really am ashamed at some of my awful descriptive qualities in expressing my sheer adoration for the tracks that made up this twenty five. Maybe it’d have helped if there were some downright stinkers in there to break up the “gorgeous”, “beautiful” and “awesome” but then it wouldn’t be much of a favourite songs list, would it?

Thankfully, the YouTube links to the songs are there and I do hope you’re making the effort to click them because God forbid you’re taking my testimonials at face value….as the actress said to D Bishop (former editor of 2000AD) and…oh just listen to the songs already…

5. Calvin Harris – “I’m Not Alone”

Picking a number one hit after a list so full and rich with pasty indie ducklings with missing wings and teeth, unable to manage the strong current of the music industry, Ben? Well, I am nothing if not a man of surprises although mainly I just really bloody like this song. And ostensibly it is another rock record with the quiet / loud formula so many people have stolen from the Pixies put to good use with a moody, slightly downbeat opening section giving way to gleeful, fizzing synths.

I’m not sure if anyone could really dance to it but then again, I couldn’t care in the slightest. (Who needs nightclubs when you’ve got a carton of apple juice and a digital radio tuned into Planet Old Bastards Enjoyable Rock Music?) It’s to Harris’ eternal credit that he makes the potentially generic keyboard-driven dance single into something memorable after years of similar drivel flooding the charts.

It’s sullen and then without warning it’s full of energy, leaping around everywhere like a deranged salmon. Oh my god, I just realised – Calvin Harris has released a teenager in mp3 format. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

4. Ladyhawke – “My Delirium”

Just sneaking into the end of 2008’s charts rather than being sensible and waiting for the Cowell Christmas Panzer Attack to be over with for another year, those who did manage to cock an ear to Ladyhawke (real name: Jean Ladyhawke) and her slightly paranoid, jumpy indie dance tracks were no doubt left with a grin on their face and blisters from all the GODDAMNED DANCING.

Oozing character at every turn, this (along with similarly terrific earlier record “Paris Is Burning”) takes many familiar turns you’d expect to find in a modern indie disco floor-filler but sometimes that’s alright. I’m all for someone sounding ‘a bit like Goldfrapp’ if they’re still producing incredibly catchy pop music at its most basic.

There have been a lot of new slightly quirky electro-tinged female solo artists this year but Ladyhawke is by far and away the most interesting of the lot of ‘em. Also: her mam didn’t used to be in The Bill either.

3. Frank Turner – “Reasons Not To Be An Idiot”

Released twice to no real takers, “Reasons Not To Be An Idiot” should be given out on the National Health – nay – boiled down and injected into the frontal lobes of young folks everywhere. And why for because? Well, since you asked, it’s possibly the most sensible lyrics used in a pop record since Alan The Safety Snake’s 1996 single “Doin’ The Loft Insulation Boogie (NB: Please Do Not Boogie Throughout Loft Insulation Procedures)”.

Relayed in the style of a best mate in the pub giving advice on life and love, there’s an honesty and charm to lyrics like “She’s not as pretty as she thinks she is / Just picture her after she’s had kids /I bet she sits at home and listens to The Smiths / Deep down she’s just like everybody else” which make the tiny teenage me inside (this is a figurative construct, please do not call the authorities) dance with joy…well, shuffle awkwardly anyway.

Many records claim to be a call to arms for the younger generation but end up being a load of ponce-haired squawking major label faux-emo tripe rattling on about change. Frank Turner has tapped a vein directly into the real thing. So why are you sat at home? You’re not designed to be alone. You just got used to saying “no”. So get up and get down and get outside…

2. Miles Fisher – “This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)”

It is probably incredibly remiss of a person to pick a cover version as one of their favourite records of the year, not least when said original song is possibly the aforementioned individual’s favourite record of all time. But that’s precisely why I should hate this, considering so many artists from Arcade Fire to Counting Crows have had a punt at the track since it first appeared on 1983’s Speaking In Tongues.

And who is this Miles Fisher anyway? He seems to have a bleedin’ huge Wikipedia entry despite his biggest claim to fame seemingly being his portrayal of a coke dealer on one episode of Gossip Girl. Oh and he’s in Superhero Movie. Great. And yet here we are, celebrating his musical achievement so where did it all go right? The track itself doesn’t go out of its way to be different with the Talking Heads’ source material bar a spoken word intro and some more up to date keyboard bleeping but what it manages to get truly right is the sense of FUN.

It’s a simple love song and yet most covers go the howling, miserable route stripping all the pleasure and cheer from it. Coupled with a tremendous American Psycho pastiche video featuring Fisher as Bateman which did the viral rounds at the start of the year, its an irresistible little package – made even sweeter by the fact the EP it was culled from is free which means you get to hear the equally smashing Fisher-original “Don’t Let Go” too.

Even Christian Bale couldn’t shout about that one…

1. Amanda Palmer – “Oasis”

So I don’t like Amanda Palmer. I don’t like her grim lyrics or her band The Dresden Dolls or the fact that people I do like seem to fall over backwards to admire her. People like Ben Folds who produced and played on much of Palmer’s debut solo album “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” which made me feel I really ought to give it a go, thus is my love of the chap.

I didn’t like it. Most of it anyway. Too much of the same depressing fayre and overlong dramatics. Alright for some but its not really what I look for in a popular music recording. And then there’s “Oasis”, a two minute tale of a drunk teenage girl who is raped at a party, gotten pregnant and has to get an abortion whilst angry Fundamentalist Christian protestors rage outside. Fun? You’re standing in it.

Thankfully, Palmer has also got pop sensibilities and thus accompanying the unfortunate tale is some of the cheeriest, most upbeat harmonies and piano work you’ll find outside a Brian Wilson record. Couple with that lyrics about the girl being more interested in getting herself a signed photo of Oasis (yes that one) and having tickets to “see Blur in October and I think we’re still going” and its hard not to smile even the tiniest amount.

Unsurprisingly, every radio station in the UK refused to touch it and so it’s left to cloth-headed blogging idiots like me who don’t even especially like her work to champion this amazing song. So…here I am. Hi!

And that’s the 25, which hopefully some of you paid any attention to and maybe even clicked play on the YouTube links. Probably not. Your loss. As for me, I’m going to return to leaping about like an idiot to some of the greatest records of 2009.

I’m not alone.

I love Amanda Palmer.  You should love Amanda Palmer too.   Hell, she should probably love you as well.  Apparently, she loves Tegan and Sara a lot.  So much, in fact that she made her own version of their new single “Hell.”  I always thought that Amanda is that cool, creepy, artsy, talented, hot-in-her-own-way girl that probably would be the best lay you’ve ever had, yet you’re not sure if you would ever tell anyone you slept with her afterward.  That has absolutely nothing to do with how awesome this video is.

I’ve been glancing around at a few different places online today, and found some great little tidbits to share. First of all, this beautiful little video of Amanda Fucking Palmer talking about the end of the Dolls, the start of her solo album, the types of songs she writes, “Guitar Hero,” the controversy over “Oasis,” the WKAP book, posing dead, Twitter, working with Neil, and more. So basically, if you want to get a 7 1/2 minute summary of what AFP’s been up to with her life – and even if you’re familiar with her, if you want to learn something new – you should totally watch it. Plus, she spends the video lying around in cute makeup, with WKAP playing in the background!

Next, I read this hilarious post from film critic Jim Emerson about “Ambiguous Movie Endings,” which sarcastically attacks people’s lack of tolerance for ambiguity. I first learned of the phrase “ambiguous ending” from my dad when we watched the movie The Party (1968) maybe 10-15 years ago. Since then, I’ve had many reasons to consider and explore the nature of the ambiguous ending – its uses and its effects – most recently with A Serious Man. In film, as with any art, what’s left unsaid can be just as important as what’s said. That’s not to oversimplify and claim that telling a lot to the audience is inherently bad; as usual, it depends on how it’s done.

But refusing to part with certain pieces of information, whether it’s what happened next, what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johansson, or what someone’s motivations were, can have a huge effect, for better or worse, on how the viewer perceives and relates to the movie. Sometimes it lets them use their imaginations and fill in the blank spaces in a Gestalt sort of way, other times it leaves them feeling unsatisfied and locked out. But ultimately some level of ambiguity is pretty much essential, in film as in real life.

You can’t know everything. Otherwise it would be God: The Movie (no, not that one), and it would last forever and encompass every other movie ever made. It’s this tendency to use the term “ambiguous ending” very loosely that Emerson is poking fun at. E.g., to draw from the comments on his post:

The Third Man: Is Holly going to go after her? Did she just not see him? How is Holly going to get home? Who really invented the cuckoo clock?

Seven Samurai: What did he mean they were defeated? They killed the bandits, right? Are they about to be attacked by a hundred bandits?

Planet of the Apes: How did the Statue of Liberty get onto that planet?

Taxi Driver: Is he going to take her to a better movie this time (not a porno film)? Is he ever gonna get organizized?

Thank you, commenter named Nick, for making my day. These even-more-hilarious suggestions make the same good point: if you can’t stand the ambiguity, get out of the art form. What you see on the screen is what’s in the movie; it’s not like you can pull back a little sticker on the DVD case to reveal that no, actually, Holly turned around and proposed marriage to Anna the second the movie ended. And if you need that much closure, what kind of hyper-obsessive-compulsive non-movie-appreciating person are you? So I highly recommend checking out that list for many LOLs and a few ROFLs (and yes, I am using those abbreviations ironically).

Next up: I also read a little post about birthdays by Nathaniel R of the Film Experience blog and was delighted to see some attention being paid to Otto Dix, a German artist of the 1920s who was part of the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit), a movement with which I am heretofore unfamiliar (maybe my Modern Art class next term will help); however, I know of Dix through his striking painting Little Girl, which is hanging in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and which I have seen on visits there since I was a small child. There are many good reasons the painting stuck in my psyche. [Warning... of some kind.]

It feels indecent and wrong, yet it’s totally unerotic, almost clinical. A harsh light reflects on the little protrusions on the prepubescent girl’s body, and her face is presented as unglamorously as possible. The skin is pale and veiny. And the colorful touches – the red bow, the green background, the flowery curtains – just make the colorlessness of her body even more obvious. It’s such a cold, blunt view of the human body. It’s a very curious, possibly upsetting painting.

These points about Dix’s art – his way of painting “ugly or taboo subjects in an increasingly realistic manner,” as the MIA description puts it – are all explained in greater detail by this fantastically informational video linked to by the Film Experience post, which delves into a more famous Dix work, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden. Thank God for analysis of visual art! (I so need to visit some art museums. Somebody give me [and Ashley] a free bus ride to a place that has lots of them – you won’t regret it!)

One of the aspects of Dix’s painting Dr. Juliana Kreinik talks about is Sylvia von Harden’s androgyny, and this is what I’d like to address next. I’m happy to be finally talking about representations of the human body (seriously, this post is like an explosion of things from my head), and androgyny has been bouncing around in my head for weeks. It’s a somewhat vague term, though my Psychology of Gender professor would have you know that it refers to high levels of both masculine and feminine gender characteristics. (Sandra Bem would have you know that, too.)

As we’ve discussed numerous times on this very blog, androgyny is a tricky point for a lot of people, not least of all because its presence can blur the gender line. (Hell, some of the first results for “androgyny” on Google Images are off-putting pictures to that effect.) So, similar to what I was talking about with movie endings, one potential problem here is intolerance for ambiguity. This is definitely relevant to Ashley’s recent post about femme invisibility – they’re both issues of being able to determine one’s own gender identity without being put into unwanted categories. (E.g., all femmes are hetero; all androgynes are gay, or hermaphrodites, or weird.)

This past fall there was a little controversy here at Carleton when a group called SaGA (Sexuality and Gender Activism) put up a series of posters; one featured an androgynous person with the words, “Woman or man – why are you asking?” It’s an interesting observation on how gender affects our interactions, to the point where we have to know everyone’s gender. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the original poster, but I saw one where someone had graffiti’d, “I prefer women,” and immediately knew where my sympathies lay – it’s bullshit to request information just to know whether it’s OK for you to be attracted to someone or not.

And here’s part of this intersection between gender identity and sexual orientation, the very same one that Ashley and Sugarbutch were talking about. I’m reminded of a Savage Love column from a few weeks ago (scroll down to the bottom) about a woman identified as SKIRT who’s unsure how to react if her gay coworker crossdresses and then uses the ladies’ room. The bathroom problem is always difficult; I think that Marjorie Garber, in Vested Interests, identified the bathroom as the major test to determine whether or not a transvestite can pass. And Dan Savage, as usual, handles the inquiry with common sense and good reasoning: if he uses the men’s bathroom at work normally, why should a dress make any difference?

I’m getting a little off point here, but I never had a really strict point other than commenting broadly on androgyny. After all, we are given no authority at all in choosing the sex we’re born with, so our power really lies with the way we gender our appearance and behavior. And I think that’s a common thread here, between Sylvia von Harden (per the audio discussion of the Neue Frau), femme invisibility, the SaGA poster, and the Savage Love column: in each case, gendered expression is a form of power, and someone else is attempting to force the gender back into a certain box in order to remove the person’s agency.

Creating that ambiguity, for example, enables Sylvia von Harden to look like and be someone she couldn’t otherwise, this German equivalent to the flapper (at least insofar as it’s a reaction to reactionary gender politics), represented by Dix in this deliberately de-glamorized way. She’s a woman, but she’s not just a sex object, and she can use her appearance as she chooses, just as femme lesbians can have femininity without using it to attract men. So at least for now, those are my thoughts on androgyny as gender expression and agency.

I’ll end by citing a great popular exemplar of androgyny: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust! Mainly this is just because I listen to the album (1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) a lot, but also because Bowie – 30-40 years ago – did blend a lot of masculine and feminine elements in his appearance, and to great effect. (And in a way that complemented his purported bisexuality.) I’d say Bowie’s makeup and costuming fits in well with Ashley’s thoughts on Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga when it comes to musicians manipulating their own images – but that’s for another time.

[One last note: you may or may not have noticed that Pussy Goes Grrr has a new header and disclaimer. Good idea? Bad idea? Comment and let us know. Or don't, you wanker.]