February 06, 2006
Top 10 list?
So, since everybody and his mom has a top ten list, I was wondering if I should even try to split hairs and figure out what I would put on one. Here's a list of things that seem nearly worthy and I'll try to get the top 10 in order later:
Amadou & Mariam, Dimanche a Bamako
Amy Rigby, Little Fugitive
Animal Collective, Feels
Annie, Anniemal
Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock n Roll
Bettye LaVette, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise
Blackalicious, The Craft
Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
Blood on the Wall, Awesomer
Books, Lost and Safe
Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene
Bruce Springsteen, Devils and Dust
Cage, Hell's Winter
Cheb I Sabbah, La Kahena
Chemical Brothers, Push the Buttons
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clem Snide, The End of Love
Common, Be
Damian Marley, Welcome to Jamrock
Danger Doom, The Mouse and The Mask
Deerhoof, The Runners Four
DJ Shadow, Live! In Tune and On Time
Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
Fountains of Wayne, Out of State Plates
Four Tet, Everything Ecstatic
Franz Ferdinand, You Could Have It So Much Better With
Go! Team, Thunder, Lightning, Strike!
Go-Betweens, Oceans Apart
Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punk
Gorillaz, Demon Days
Hold Steady, Separation Sunday
Isolee, We Are Monster
Jamie Liddell, Multiply
John Legend, Get Lifted
Kanye West, Late Registration
Kate Bush, Aerial
Kelley Polar, Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens
Konono No. 1, Congotronics
Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain
Living Things, Ahead of the Lions
Lyrics Born, Same *#!, Different Day
M.I.A., Arular
M83, Before the Dawn Heals Us
MC Hawking, A Brief History of Rhyme
Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree
My Morning Jacket, Z
New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy
Perceptionists, Black Dialogue
Pernice Brothers, Discover a Lovelier You
Ponys, Celebration Castle
Robbie Fulks, Georgia Hard
Run the Road
Shukar Collective, Urban Gypsy
Silver Jews, Tanglewood Numbers
Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
Thelonious Monk Quartet w/John Coltrane, Live at Carnegie Hall
Vitalic, OK Cowboy
White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan
Willowz, Talk in Circles
Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary
(Jesus. How many records did I hear last year?)
Posted by deaconmf at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2005
Scrogg, scrogg, scrogging away
Ok, really, I'm still blogging. I'm just way behind. Sigh.
Anyhow, I just signed up for Audioscrogger, so now the whole world can know what I'm listening to. My account is under "deaconmf". This is the absolute proof that I'm cool. LOL.
Posted by deaconmf at 10:03 AM | Comments (2)
October 13, 2004
"This song promotes homosexuality": The Mekons' "Heaven and Hell"
If you're a band that's been around for 25 years, what do you do for a party? Earlier in the year, the Mekons decided to re-record some early tunes of theirs and called that record "Punk Rock". Most of it wasn't, but it did make them sound like a much younger band. This time out, they decide to do a real best-of compilation and call it "Heaven and Hell". So what happens this time? They're pretty good at thematic records where certain images keep repeating themselves, like rolling heads and vampires and ghosts. Without the context those albums provided, their commited socialism is now the one idea keeping these 32 tunes together. And, goddamn, it still works. Fear of money, capitalist excess, and America keeps them thinking hard about what all this means. While their violins whine like an unruly brass section under stress, they keep drinking whiskey to keep from shitting in their pants and singing to hold back the darkness. Some of them really can't sing well, but Sally Timms always hits those heavenly notes and Jon Langford grumbles his way through. Meanwhile, they keep sloganeering like the old band of fellow travellers they've always been and the lyrics of disbelief, anger and righteous indignation just keep coming: "This song promotes homosexuality." "The sword is sharp, the arrow swift, the witnesses all-seeing." "Ghosts of American astronauts glow in the headlights beams." "Champaigne was never cheap, but I could pay someone to drink it for me." "Destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late." This last one comes from "Memphis Egypt" where they implacate rock and roll for its joy in the power of capital. They implicate themselves. So, at the end, when they claim as they did at the very beginning that they'd never been in a riot, it's finally clear they've been fighting that good fight against themselves as well. Bad art sloganeers. Good art is just plain messy and I'm glad the Mekons have been around long enough to implicate themselves.
Posted by deaconmf at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)