One of 2006's best (and oddest) bands, The Knife

Not to be outdone, here are my top ten albums of 2006. You can see the list with commentary and a bunch of other categories right here. This was the first year that I wrote a full commentary for the list, and it was INDEED a great year in music. Don’t forget that this is the list as I composed it in December 2006.

1. AFI – decemberunderground
2. The Knife – Silent Shout
3. Taking Back Sunday – Louder Now
4. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
5. Matisyahu – Youth
6. Big City Rock – Big City Rock
7. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
8. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
9. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
10. Girl Talk – Night Ripper

Make sure to check out tk’s top ten albums of 2006 as well.

I decorated my Christmas tree tonight. It is always a sentimental experience for me, unwrapping old ornaments and finding mementos of years past. To add another layer of sentiment, this is the first time I have ever decorated my tree alone. I just spent an hour carefully unwrapping at least one ornament from each year of my life; it was strange not to turn to my mom or sister and exclaim, “Remember this?” Instead, I quietly listened to Sufjan Stevens’ Christmas album, drank a glass of red wine, and littered the floor with layers of tissue paper.

This is how you decorate a tree that is several feet taller than you.

I love the velvety feeling of really old tissue paper that has been wrapped and re-wrapped around ornaments over and over again. As I rub the worn fibers between my fingers, I listen carefully to the stories each ornament is telling me.

This dolphin in a Santa hat was from the year we went to Florida and I was going through a major dolphin phase.

This snowman was from the year that my mother bought practically everything from a craft fair and I got really weird-looking, fake Barbie clothes for Christmas that I pretended to like. (Ken’s shirt had multi-colored sailboats on it. Even for the ’90s, it was pretty bad.)

This beret was from the year we went to Paris and my mother hand-stitched “Paris 2001″ onto it so I wouldn’t forget.

The gingerbread girl holding a tray of cookies is my favorite; I got it the year I was four years old and the little cookie sheet always makes me hungry.

This bunny looks like Peter Rabbit and was from my first Christmas.

This cheerleading bear was from my senior year in high school and was a gift from the kids I babysat. The little girl and I would jump on their trampoline and I would teach her “cheerleading kicks.” I heard today that she’s in high school and has pom-pons of her own now. I suddenly felt very old.

The reindeer ornament makes me think of the years when I would construct a sleigh out of a shoebox and attach my stuffed reindeer to it, then hang it from the ceiling in my room with string. I would lace multi-colored lights everywhere and lay in bed, covers pulled to my chin, watching the lights blink on and off late into the night.

The finished product!

It’s like reliving my whole life, lifting each year, one by one, out of a dusty tin canister. I am able to gaze my tree and remember trips I took, phases I went through and feelings that are only evoked by the holidays. I wish so desperately to be a child again while enjoying making small traditions of my own as an adult. I’ve often wondered why Christmas feels different each year than it did in the past. Has it become more commercial? Have I become more commercial? Was it because I didn’t hang up that Advent calendar that my grandma gave me when we moved to Michigan? Was it because we don’t make that certain kind of cookie anymore?

Probably not. I don’t believe the season has changed all that much. I am just seeing it through different eyes. The past is gilded with idealism and distance; maybe in reality it was never as magical as I remembered it. And that’s okay.

O ano de 2007 foi um ano definitivo para o meu ecleticismo (?). Foi quando conhecí Altan, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart e todo esse grupinho de bandas alternativas, indies, folks e irlandesas. Comecei a me aprofundar em Sufjan Stevens depois de ter ouvido Chicago, do Illinois, que, por mais que seja o álbum que eu mais enjoei (de tando ouvir), ainda considero o melhor de todos. Segue a lista.

1. Illinois (Come On! Feel The Illinoise!) (2005)
2. The Avalanche (2006)
3. Michigan (2003)
4. Seven Swans (2004)
5. The BQE (2009)
6. A Sun Came! (2000)
7. Songs For Christmas
8. Run Rabbit Run (2009)
9. Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001)

Os álbuns desse ano só conseguí ouvir uma vez cada, por enquanto, mas acho que a posição deles não será mudadas tão breve. Espero que quem conhece, tenha se identificado e que quem não conhece, procure saber mais, seguindo minha lista.

Who doesn’t love a good indie Christmas song?

1. Christmas Party – The Walkmen
2. It’s Only Christmas – As Tall As Lions
3. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – Damien Rice
4. Splitting up Christmas – Kevin Devine
5. Christmas Time is Here Again (Bring Out the Joy!) – My Morning Jacket
6. Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved it!) – Sufjan Stevens
7. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – Thrice
8. White Christmas – Bright Eyes
9. Jinglebell Rock – Arcade Fire
10. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – The Polyphonic Spree
11. It’s Christmas Time – Yo La Tengo
12. Holly Jolly Christmas – The Format
13. The First Noel – Bright Eyes
14. Get Behind Me, Santa! – Sufjan Stevens
15. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Death Cab for Cutie
16. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Daphne Loves Derby
17. The Christmas Song – The Raveonettes
18. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Bright Eyes

Download

Joanna Newsom, the queen of 2006.

2006 was an outstanding year for music. If you disagree then you’re not my friend anymore.

I have elected to share my list from that year rather than 2005 for two reasons: 1) A strange and inadvertent hibernation I experienced in 2005 within the caves of Malaysia. 2) My recent obsession with one-upping everyone around me coupled with a strengthening of my basic arithmetic skills (2005 + 1 = 2006).

If I could do this again, of course, it’d look a lot different. Alas, my decade list will serve as an opportunity to rearrange albums based on sustained listening of old favorites and discoveries of new (also based on the unearthing of a hidden track on “Stadium Arcadium” that makes it the greatest album of 2006, if not the 21st century… just kidding).

1. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
2. Joanna Newsom – Ys
3. The Knife – Silent Shout
4. Liars – Drum’s Not Dead
5. Band of Horses – Everything all the Time
6. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
7. Islands – Return to the Sea
8. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
9. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
10. The Strokes – First Impression of Earth

First, a note about the direction of CKTK. We will be posting our end-0f-the-decade thoughts soon. Also, our top albums of 2009 lists will drop in mid-to-late-December. To lead up to those, we will be posting our top ten albums of the year lists from 2005-2008, sans commentary. We will, of course, link to places online where that commentary is posted if it’s floating out there somewhere. We will also be creating new content, so that the site doesn’t just turn into “Listapalooza 2009″.

These lists will appear unchanged from when we originally wrote them toward the end of each year. This should show you a little bit about what to expect from each author, and hopefully, it will inspire you to go back and listen to some of those great albums that you’ve forgotten from those years.

Without further ado, let’s start it off with ck’s top ten albums of 2005:

1. Sufjan Stevens – Come On, Feel the Illinoise!
2. Alkaline Trio – Crimson
3. Junior Senior – Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
4. Beck – Guero
5. Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams
6. Fall Out Boy – From Under the Cork Tree
7. The Rocket Summer – Hello Good Friend
8. The Decemberists – Picaresque
9. PANIC! at the Disco – A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
10. Sigur Ros – Takk

Najbardziej w Sufjanie Stevensie podoba mi się to, że nie można go zaklasyfikować, zamknąć do pudełka, przykleić kartki z rodzajem muzycznym i odłożyć z powrotem na półkę. Wszystkie te plakietki z hasłami folk, pop, etc., są w jego przypadku (a wg mnie w każdym przypadku), zbędne.  Sam Stevens żartuje z tej tendencji, mówiąc, z powagą na twarzy, “moja muzyka to połączenie hi-fi z lo-fi folkiem”, co przecież nawet nic nie znaczy.
Poza tym każda jego płyta jest inna. W 2002 roku, nagrywając Michigan, ogłosił, że rozpoczyna “50 States Project”. 50 płyt, każda poświęcona innemu stanowi Ameryki. Żart, czy nie żart, nikt nie wiedział, aż w 2005 roku, pojawiło się Illinois (oryginalny tytuł jest trudny do wymówienia jednym tchem: Sufjan Stevens Invites you to: Come and Feel the Illinois).
Płyta przypomina trochę soundtrack do filmu Disneya, w którym wszyscy zaczynają nagle tańczyć. Bohaterowie, nie wiadomo skąd, znają trudne układy, czerwone balony lecą do nieba, kolorowe sukienki wirują, a gołębie podśpiewują w takt melodii. Sceneria wciąż się zmienia, bo zmienia się również tempo i nastrój utworu. I mimo tych wszystkich okropnych porównań, które właśnie wysnułam, Stevensowi udaje się uniknąć kiczu. Pod wielkimi melodiami kryją się muzyczne aluzje, baśniowe historie i nawiązania do Biblii.
Koniec końców “50 States Project” okazał się tylko żartem i chwytem marketingowym. Podziałało. Mtv odwróciło na 5 minut wzrok od Beyonce i zrobiło materiał o Stevensie, a płyta Illinois zdobyła świetne recenzje. W telewizji trochę się nagłowili jak to zapakować i sprzedać, czyli “co powiemy nastolatkom, że co to jest?”. Stanęło na długiej wyliczance i prostym podsumowaniu: Indie. Jeśli nie wiesz o powiedzieć, mów: Indie.
Obecny rok, to dla Stevensa czas reedycji. W październiku wyszły dwie płyty.
Pierwsza, BQE, opisywana przez muzyka jako “symfoniczne i filmowe odkrywanie niesławnej drogi z Brooklynu do Queens w Nowym Jorku”. Ścieżka dźwiękowa, do filmu Stevensa, nagrana na żywo przez orkiestrę,  Do płyty dołączony jest film, komiks, a w specjalnym wydaniu również vinyl. Połączenie muzyki klasycznej oraz filmowej, z bombą w postaci elektronicznej wstawki, która obudzi zrelaksowanego słuchacza.
Druga, Enjoy your Rabbit, to smyczkowa przeróbka płyty z 2001 roku, Run Rubbit Run, nagrana przez Osso String Quartet.
Wszystko, co tworzy Sufjan Stevens jest zaproszeniem do jego bajkowego, komiksowego świata. Wystarczy dać się ponieść kaskadzie dźwięków.

Come On! Feel the Illinois!

BQE

Run Rabbit Run

So yeah, the Xmas season has started, Cola adverts ahoy!

 BUT this is no link to the advert, why would I ruin that festive moment for you?

Instead here are links to two of the best Christmas songs you will hear. This first is a cover by Bob Dylan and is frickin’ hilarious, seriously I was walking around going ‘Must be Santa, must be Santa’ to myself and sometimes to the bemused passerby. The second song is an oldie by the god in human form Sufjan Stevens, which just doesn’t get enough airplay at this time of year (in fact I reckon it gets almost none)!

So enjoy.

5. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
We start off the list with an album that was released this very year. Will it stand the test of time? I dunno. (If it doesn’t, welcome to the top 5, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem!) What I know is that this album gripped me the first time I heard it, and it has not let go. I just listened to it yesterday while mowing the lawn. I’ve listened to it in the car. I’ve listened to it in my living room while playing with my daughter’s toys (she may have been there too). What I’m trying to say is: It’s versatile. I pick up on something new with every listen.

4. Sufjan Stevens: Come on Feel the Illinoise
How can you not like this album? Even my mom likes this album. Direct quote: “This is a really strange time signature!” Yes, mom. Yes it is. Confession: I have not retained any knowledge of music composition despite years upon years of saxophone and piano lessons. I can’t even really read music anymore. But Sufjan obviously can. And I’m grateful.

3. Arcade Fire: Funeral
It’s rare that I can remember both the first time I’d heard of a band and the first time I listened to their albums. The first time I heard of The Arcade Fire was when Pitchfork listed Funeral as the best album of 2004. I summarily dismissed Pitchfork and snooty and elitist for selecting this band I’d never heard of. Oops. When I did finally listen to it, I was in my office, and the “ooo ooo ooo”s in the back end of the first track gave me chills, as if I was experiencing some sort of catharsis. But I was at work on some random day, and it was 8 in the morning. Now that’s good music.

2. The Strokes: Is This It
When this album came out, I was heavily into softer fare (think Guster). It’s pretty safe to say this fuzzed-out, wrong-noted, bad-singing, imperfect gem of an album changed my whole outlook. I wondered who are these down-on-their-luck garage-based recording artists, who were born sans silver spoon and have not a dollar to their name because of their decadent rock-n-roll lifestyle? Well…

1. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I had extremely high hopes for this album; I followed the drama of Wilco being dropped from their record label then being picked up again by a subsidiary of that same label, and my anticipation built and built. Then I listened to it and it wasn’t at all what I expected, so I summarily dismissed it as snooty and elitist. (Sensing a pattern here?) But then I listened again, and again, and again, and again, and it just sort of burrowed its way into me. I think at one time I read an interview where Jeff Tweedy said they tried to build “space” into the songs to allow the listener to fill in the missing parts. Maybe that’s what makes this album so great.

I feel with each of these albums the whole is greater than sum of its parts. Transformative for the artists as well as myself. Here’s my top 5…

5. The Clientele: The Violet Hour

4. Sufjan Stevens: Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State

3. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

2. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

1. Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People

Honorable Mentions:

Weird Tapes: Get Religion

Sébastien Tellier: Sexuality

Memory Cassette: Rewind While Sleeping

Justice: Justice

Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain

Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes

Doves: Lost Souls

Peter, Bjorn & John: Writer’s Block

Les Savy Fav: Inches

Cut Copy: Bright Like Neon Love

Dungen: Te Det Lugnt

Strokes: Is This It

The Avalanches: Since I Left You

Röyksopp: Melody A.M.

Radiohead: Kid A/In Rainbows

I know what you’re thinking, two posts in a very short time? But here I am.

Sufjan Stevens has been one of the singer/songwriters that have affected me the most in my life. I’m very much a fan of the jangly acoustic guitar singer/songwriter. Sufjan is better than all of them. Not only because he plays a banjo, but because his lyrics, harmonies and songs are among some of the best in recent memory.

I can’t pick a favourite song, so let’s go through a few.

For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti

This one wins because of it’s excellent banjo. The song itself is so emotive. I adore the chorus and the female harmony. It’s so simple, yet so beautiful, and that is the charm of Sufjan Stevens.

Chicago

Chicago is one of those songs that has so much going for it. The lyrics are full of promise and excitement. The song itself is so rousing and so hopeful. The story within the song is so wonderful and fun. It’s  a song that promises everything and delivers everything. It is namechecked in Snow Patrol’s “Hands Open” in the lyric “put Sufjan Stevens on/and we’ll play your favourite song/Chicago bursts to life and your/sweet smile remembers me” . That in itself is an excellent lyric, inspired by an even more excellent song.

To Be Alone With You

A lament and an ode all in one. For anyone that has ever longed for and loved someone that seems so distant and so far away. This song is poignant and so delicate. It’s fragility is it’s strength and while that may sound like  a contradiction, it’s musicians like Sufjan Stevens who make things like that work. Not only work, but excel.

Casimir Pulaski Day

Wikipedia tells me that “Casimir Pulaski Day is a holiday observed in Illinois on the first Monday of every March to commemorate Casimir Pulaski (March 4, 1745^[1] – October 11, 1779), a Revolutionary War cavalry officer born in Poland as Kazimierz Pułaski. He is known for his contributions to the U.S. military in the American Revolution by training its soldiers and cavalry.” Interesting, right? Well, Sufjan Stevens’ song is a song about a boy who falls in love with a girl who is dying of bone cancer. It’s tentative and cute, yet horribly touching and sad. It’s emotive and life-affirming. The story could be anyone’s tale of teenage love, except that she is dying. It’s culmination is a perfect mix of sadness, uplifting-ness and awe. Perfect.

John Wayne Gacy Jnr.

I’ve always had a fascination with serial killers. It’s an incredible psychology. I often think that people forget that they are human beings. Sick and twisted, yes, but still people. This song about the Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jnr and his humanity and crimes. It highlights the fact that we are all humans and that we all have the potential for evil. It is within all of us. We all have skeletons in the closet. It’s a strange dichotomy of poetic lyrics and a beautiful song about such a gruesome and sad story.

I would also recommend The Dress Looks Nice on You, Jacksonville, Romulus and everything else. Honestly, along with Jeff Buckley, his music is perfection.

And he’s really quite cute.

And plays the banjo, did I mention that?

in the spirit of it being sunday night. and since i can’t sleep. i’ve decided to share with you a couple of songs and most importantly what they remind me of.

listening and singing along to this song on repeat every night after i found out my mum had bone cancer, or cancer of the bone, and crying.

walking to school the day after he told me he didn’t want me anymore and trying to tell myself it would be alright.

and to end on a cheerful note:

waking up in the middle of the night, because it is raining against my window and not being able to fall asleep again, getting up to listen to this song and falling asleep on the floor.

Proto and Xaphoon Jones make up the duo cleverly titled Chiddy Bang.  The group has been garnering national attention ever since a PMA feature on their song “Fresh Like Us” appeared back in February. They banged out hits for a few months including “Kids“, an impressivly sampled MGMT track, “Sooner or Later“, and “Because“, the sickest Radiohead sample I’ve heard to date. I was concerned for Chiddy Bang when there was a few month hiatus with no updates and no new tracks, but then a couple weeks ago The Swelly Express mixtape dropped. The guys came back way strong like Tom Brady for the Pats this year. Filled with some of the sickest beats I’ve heard gifted by Xaphoon and some real rhymes you can feel by Proto, this mixtape deserves some kind of honors. The guys take you on a journey from Philly to NY where they’re “trying to get the labels on while flaunting” as Proto would say. Honestly Xaphoon might be one of the best samplers I’ve heard since Kanye came out producing for the ROC. Also what other unsigned groups do you know that can get Black Thought (yes, The Roots MC) on a track? The definite stand out from The Swelly Express is the Sufjan Stevens sampled “All Things Go”. Xaphoon screws “Chicago” to make “All Things Go” one of the best hip-hop songs of the year. Honestly I would go as far as saying the duo might be the revival of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince circa the 90s. Listen to “All Things Go” below and tell me I’m wrong. Also if you feel so inclined to download the mixtape click HERE.

Every time a 0 is involved with the turning year, people tend to go crazy over “the best _____ of the decade”. Lists come out about music and movies and tv shows and whatever. Well, I decided to do that. Because I’m a dork. What I ended up doing is a list of things for every year since the year 2000. I will talk about some of them and leave links to others that I think are fantastical and that I belive you (whoever you are) might enjoy. So. Here we go. Expect to see some bands that repeat, and some that you know I like, if you like me:

2000
Does anyone remember how fantastically catchy ‘Bohemian Like You’ was? The silly video with the karaoke-thing, etcetera? There was a lot of decent music coming out around this time, and I remember being consistently barraged by good albums. This wouldn’t continue through the rest of the decade. Californication would be the last time I would enjoy RHCP as a band.

Dandy Warhols (song – Bohemian Like You); Red Hot Chili Peppers (album – Californication); Smashing Pumpkins/Foo Fighters/A Perfect Circle(show – Summersault – Winnipeg Stadium); Nine Inch Nails (video – Into the Void)

2001
In 2001 I succumbed to sexy pop for a favorite song. Seriously. That song is awesome. Frusciante’s album was magical, and I think my video of the year is really the only choice.

Kylie Minogue (song – Can’t get you out of my head); John Frusciante (album – To Record only Water for Ten Days); Tragically Hip (show – Winnipeg Arena); Fatboy Slim (video – Weapon of Choice)

2002
Dave Grohl makes the list twice as a drummer in this year, and probably would have taken the album too, but from out of nowhere came what would change my mind about Canadian music in that I ended up following almost every project that Broken Social Scene had outside of it’s main band after hearing the album and seeing them live.

Queens Of The Stone Age (song – Go With the Flow); Broken Social Scene (album – You Forgot it in people); Broken Social Scene – (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Tenacious D (video – Tribute)

2003
I remember the moment I fell in love with Sit down Stand up. It was on the eve of the album coming out, and Radiohead played a live show that was broadcasted to Silver City theatres in Canada. When that song reached the crescendo into the fast ‘raindrops’ part, I was almost on the edge of my seat. Which I could also say about the Metric show. They were second on a bill of three that featured Hot Hot Heat as the main act, and were still relatively new, but downright sexy and exciting to watch. I’ve since seen them six more times.

Radiohead (song – Sit Down, Stand Up); Mars Volta (album – De-Loused in the Comatorium); Metric (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Buck 65 (video – Wicked and Weird)

2004
The second time a John Frusciante album makes my favorite albums. This album is widely regarded as his most ‘mainstream’ and is a fantastic, great-amazing thing, just like the Bowie concert, which was the last concert I ever saw at the ol’ Winnipeg arena.

Secret Machines (song – Nowhere Again); John Frusciante (album – Shadows Collide with People); David Bowie (show – Winnipeg Arena); DFA 1979 (video – Black History Month)

2005
I’ll never forget how many phone calls I got when Nine Inch Nails annouced that they’d be coming here. It was the first time I was going to see them, after being a fan since 1994. My phone rang off the hook, and for one song during that show, so did my emotions. I kinda quietly, completely lost it, and felt like a dummy. Ha! By the way, that Esthero video’s freakin’ hot, and I agree with every sentiment in it.

Sufjan Stevens (song – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!); Fantomas (album – Suspended Animation); Nine Inch Nails (show – MTS Centre) Esthero (video – We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)

2006
I saw Wintersleep by myself in front of about 30 people, and skipped work to get there. When I talked to the singer about this, he dedicated a song to me. How nice. As far as Nausea goes, I don’t know what it is about that song, but something in it drives me nuts. It’s way too good and it doesn’t even realize it.

Beck (song – Nausea); Regina Spektor (album – Begin To Hope); Wintersleep (show – The Collective); Eagles of Death Metal (video – Boy’s Bad News)

2007
National Anthem of Nowhere has become my most listened to track on last.fm, and I think the Wintersleep album has since become one of my most listened to albums. They will both continue to rise in numbers. If I did a song by song and album by album breakdown, these two would make somewhere within the top three. And it’s pretty cool that I got to see Mike Patton in any of his 34i83902439024 bands, but Peeping Tom blew me away.

Apostle of Hustle (song – National Anthem of nowhere); Wintersleep (album – Welcome to the Night Sky); Peeping Tom (show – Trocadero); Feist (video – 1234)

2008
God, In Rainbows is great. And Secret Machines live, that’s something so completely underrated, I don’t even know how to describe it to you. The power that they have to get an audience going, is a sight to behold and yet there were so few people there that I was kind of disappointed in the turnout. Oh, and yes, I realize that Feist gets the video 2 years running for the same album, but they’re both great videos.

Kaki King (song – Montreal); Radiohead (album – In Rainbows); Secret Machines (show – Pyramid); Feist (video – I feel it all)

2009
I know, it hasn’t been that long, but Them Crooked Vultures was exactly the album I wanted it to be. So there.  And as far as Spookey’s song goes, this is the second time I’ve talked about it in my blog. Previously appeared in my “songs you won’t see in Guitar Hero or Rock band“, and it’s just something to behold. Metric’s video was perfect, it was the video that I wanted them to have. Something sweet and cute instead of overtly dorky like all of their other videos. As far as Leonard Cohen’s concert goes, I hadn’t been a huge fan beforehand, but was introduced, and BECAME a large fan because of how amazing that concert was. Everything he did was perfect. The singing, the sounds, the engagement with the audience was fantastic. Top five concerts in my life, that one.

Spookey Ruben (song – Mechanical Royalty); Them Crooked Vultures (album – Them Crooked Vultures); Leonard Cohen (show – MTS Centre); Metric (video – Gimme Sympathy)

15 minutes late in today – a new record since starting the new job (but still woefully short of the all time best) mainly because of the Piccadilly Line which was slow, ram packed and horrible. Could also be because I stayed at home to listen to all 3 versions of Chicago on Sufjan Stevens Avalanch LP, dropped my winter coat off at the dry cleaners and bought a sandwich from tescos. But mainly it was the tube, ok?

Bought candles for Sallie yesterday – happy birthday Sal – from habitat, as chosen by Charlotte and me which made me fairly late back into work after lunch – a good 40 minutes – good news was that no-one said a thing – the boss is only a contractor and so he doesn’t mind so much and also no-one really knows when you leave and how long you’ve taken. Still, I will try and be good.

What is making me happy?
1.) Tomato soup
2.) Pesto and cheese vegetable dip
3.) Sufjan Stevens
4.) Circa Survive
5.) I have rediscovered the joy of walking alone.
6.) I have just one more day of classes this week.
7.) Last night brought restful sleep.
8.) Thanksgiving break–soon.
9.) I am writing a list.
10.) People seek the pleasure of my company. My company is pleasurable and sought after.
11.) I am leaning up against a radiator. My back is toasty.
12.) This one is a secret, but Stacia will be able to guess it.
13.) This day isn’t over, and there are so many people with whom I’d love to share it.

I need to go to one of those places that doesn’t give commentary on its own existence, and I think I need to go there alone.  Maybe if someone takes me there–that might change my mind.  Preferably, to a Frozen Creek, though it’s a bit early for all that.

Yes.
I am half-frozen-over.
But am I freezing…
…or thawing?

I am fascinated by the idea, put forward in the lit seminar I’m taking, that in the middle of the 20th century it was fashionable for artists and writers to convert to Catholicism. I’d never heard that before.

I was reading about Robert Lowell’s transformation from Boston-bred Puritan/Congregationalist/etc heir to Catholic, and found a consensus (among half a dozen online sources, anyway) that his conversion was an explicit rejection of the WASPy, industrial mores of his upbringing and native Northeastern context. Max Weber might concur. There’s also at least some religious longing here, though, says A.O. Scott:

The poems are populated by figures from New England’s past, including some of Lowell’s own ancestors. But Lowell, descended on both sides from prominent Yankee families, had undertaken a twofold rebellion against his inheritance, rejecting Harvard for Kenyon College and the bleached-out Puritanism of the Congregational Church for a notably sanguinary, “fire-breathing” Catholicism.

Scott’s full article here.

Because I’m a soft little soul, I know a few things about indie music. I’ve mentioned the Sufjan-Flannery connection before, but the more I think about the number of good, working indie bands out there that also happen to be plaintively (if not commercially), well, Christian, the more I wonder if their influx since the mid-late 90s has something to do with secular suburban kids rebelling against the norms and expectations of their settings. I won’t bore you with tales of my own Tenth-Grade Nothingness (God help me when this becomes that kind of blog…crap, I’ve probably gone there before) or an uninformed discourse on how the straightedge movement corroborates this idea. More on “Christian” art that’s still…good…in this article on emusic.com.

Músicas que irão te acalmar, farão o tempo passar feliz.

Faixas do álbum:

1. Chariot

2. Jesus

3. Dogs

4. Elephant

5. Junkyard

6. Bush

7. Windy

8. Grass

9. Glue

10. Up

11. Finders

12. Trampoline

13. Goodness

14. Feather

LINK – Hello, Dear Wind

Parece com? Pedro The Lion, Sufjan Stevens.

Vídeo com a música Chariot.

Enjoy o/

When we graduated from college in 2008, my friend Cory wrote a series of lists of events from our college years for the Whitworth Forum. He wanted to do a list of the top 10 songs, but thought someone more into the scene should do it. Enter yours truly. What follows is unchanged from when I originally wrote it in late April 2008.

When Cory asked me to write this column a few months back, I couldn’t believe it. My reaction was something to the effect of, “Are you kidding me? I don’t think anyone can actually do that list justice.” Yet here we are, three weeks from the end of the school year, and I’m giving you the Top Ten Songs of 2004-2008.

First of all, this list is useless if you can’t listen for yourself. For your convenience, I’ve posted a link to a YouTube video of each song as it is on the album. Some of them are official music videos, while others are just set up by fans so that people can hear the song for free. I also have to give you a caveat – I realize this list is every bit as subjective as my Top Ten Albums lists are at the end of each year. These are songs that I love desperately, but I realize that not everyone will enjoy them as much as I do. If you disagree with me, that’s great! Post your suggestions in the comments. I will admit right up front that there are a couple of genres that I have missed. Specifically, I can’t stand country music and I don’t think there were very many great rap songs in the past four years. Again, if you think one of them deserves to be on this list, write it in the comments. Prove me wrong.

One final note before we dive in – It’s an absurd idea to try and narrow your iTunes library down to the ten best songs of any era, especially a full four-year span. It is absolutely insane. But I have to recommend it – read this column, agree or disagree with me, and then go make your own list. I’d love to see it, and hopefully we can all discover some great new music together.

Anyway! On to the list!

10.) The Decemberists – Sons & Daughters (unfortunately, I could only find a live version. It still gives a pretty good impression)
The closer to The Decemberists’ 2006 album “The Crane Wife” is the opener to my list. It really is the perfect closer; from its mandolin-led ensemble of acoustic instruments to the way it builds and its final, hopeful refrain: “Here all the bombs fade away.”

9.) The National – Start a War (I have to apologize for showing you scenes from The Notebook; it was the only way I could get the studio version)
This song rumbles like an earthquake, and lead singer Matt Berninger’s voice and melancholy lyrics are at the epicenter. The quiet intensity of this song makes the speaker’s broken relationship all the more poignant, and the progression makes his admission even more heartbreaking: “You were always weird, but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now.”

8.) The Rocket Summer – So Much Love
I will always remember where I was when I heard this song for the first time. I was driving back from Best Buy after picking up The Rocket Summer’s third full-length album, 2007’s “Do You Feel.” I had anxiously unwrapped the album in the parking lot and flipped it on. “Do You Feel” opens up with some immediate rocking, and I knew after one track that this disc would be Bryce Avery’s finest hour. He didn’t disappoint. The next track, “So Much Love,” is everything you could ask for in a fun summer song – a sweet horn solo, a gigantic piano lick, and some inspirational, simple, and somehow profound sing-along lyrics. Above all, though, it’s just a blast. You can imagine Avery jumping around the studio, yelling at the top of his lungs: “You look like the songs that I heard my whole life coming true!”

7.) The Killers – When You Were Young
When I first heard this song, my first thought was, “Yeah, this is pretty good. But it doesn’t sound like The Killers.” I was right about one part. The Killers listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen before recording 2006’s “Sam’s Town,” and The Boss’ influence shines through (especially in lead singer Brandon Flowers’ performance). What I was wrong about, however, was how much this song would grow on me as I kept listening to it. This would have been hands down the best straightforward rock and roll song of this period, if not for the song coming in at number five.

6.) Gwen Stefani (feat. Akon) – The Sweet Escape

Every couple of years, there is a new undeniably catchy pop song that captures the ears and hearts of America’s music critics. Not just pop music consumers either; these songs are loved by snobbish elitists and 13-year-old girls alike. There were a few great ones to choose from in this time period (including Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone”), but “The Sweet Escape” was the finest. Akon is pretty dispensable on this one, but Gwen Stefani proved that she was more than just B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

(#5-1 after the jump)

5.) Foo Fighters – Best of You
Foo Fighters have been at it since 1995. In their tenth anniversary year, they released an album called “In Your Honor.” More than any other song on this list, I have to implore you to watch the video. It perfectly sums up the themes that must have been running through Dave Grohl’s head while writing this song – joy and angst, agony and ecstacy, passion and pain, despair and hope. This song expresses more raw emotion than most of today’s rockers would dare to write about, and it does the job in four minutes and sixteen seconds.

4.) Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
This seems about right for the best song on the best album to be released during my college career. “Chicago” charmed indie rock fanatics and soundtrack composers alike (see “Little Miss Sunshine”), and it made a genuine low-level celebrity out of Sufjan. There are so many highlights on his 2005 album, “Come On, Feel The Illinoise,” that it was difficult to choose one. But with the xylophone intro, soaring strings section, and Sufjan’s softly warbling voice directing it all, “Chicago” was the biggest and best of them all. It seems to be the least likely line for an anthem, but there it is: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes.”

3.) Band of Horses – The Funeral
When Band of Horses first recorded this song, singer/guitarist/songwriter Ben Bridwell didn’t even want to put it on their debut album, 2006’s “Everything All The Time.” Bridwell thought “The First Song” or “The Great Salt Lake” would be the radio hit. But it was this one which, like “Sons & Daughters,” is remarkable for its simplicity. “Every occasion, I’ll be ready for the funeral,” Bridwell chirps over crunching guitars and crashing cymbals. If only every song about loss could be this reverent while simultaneously expressing so much anguish.

2.) Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)
Arcade Fire are an enigma, and they like it that way. This song is partially about hiding “underneath the covers,” but also about exposing the mythology of parents’ rhetoric. The themes that seem melodramatic on much of their 2004 album “Funeral” actually work to great effect here. The thumping heartbeat of the song, coupled with ornate instrumentation and the growing urgency in Win Butler’s voice make this song one to remember – and, perhaps as important, one to play really, really loud.

1.) The Format – If Work Permits
Nate Ruess has just about the most distinctive voice in indie rock, and he makes use of it at all volumes here. Starting out with the sound of crickets and a finger-picked acoustic melody, Ruess unfolds two stories: one about an abused friend who becomes scared of love, and one about the speaker’s roller coaster relationship. As the song builds and unfolds, so do the stories. The moral? Any kind of love means making yourself vulnerable, but that doesn’t mean you have to be afraid.

Hope you enjoy the play list I made! 

Music Playlist at MixPod.com