Fuck 2011: Music Edition

This has been a very good year for music. Personally, I wrote the best songs of my life, my friends were making great stuff too, and a great album was never more than a month away. And this was THE year for the single LP. All the best albums were just clean-cut single LPs- no bonus tracks, no second discs, no spillage, no mess. It's kinda hard to rank em, even though there was one clear winner. So let's run down my favorites in typical romantic reductionist fashion with the old one sentence review!

Iwrestledabearonce- Ruining It For Everyone
A mature (if possible) sophomore effort while still being BATSHIT CRAZY.

The Strokes- Angles
Remember for a brief second when post-punk was cool again?

Kaputt- Destroyer
A beautiful and un-ironic tribute to slick '80s jazz.

Adele- 21
Well produced, well written, well this is gonna win a bucket of Grammys.

Tom Waits- Bad Like Me
It's like Frank's Wild Years and all his ANTI- albums had a baby.

Yuck
Yuck, this tastes great.

Frank Zappa- Feeding The Monkees at Ma Maison
Dear GZ, can I haz m0ar?

The album of the year, by and far, is The Decemberist's The King Is Dead. I think I wrote about it... The best re-issue (sorta) was The Beach Boys's The Smile Session, in ANY incarnation. Huh, I think I wrote about that too. Weird.

***

TOP FIVE SONGS OF 2011-

5) Foster The People- "Pumped Up Kicks" ...Go ahead, pretend you didn't like this.


4) We Cut Corners- "A Pirate's Life" ...Good gravy, this breaks my heart every time.


3) Okkervil River- "Mermaid" ...Another heart-breaker that deserved to stand alone from the LP.


2) The Strokes- "Under Cover of Darkness) ..."It's been five minutes since I heard it. I gotta hear it again."



and the best song of this year or ANY year....

1) BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEYBEARS- "BOOTY CITY"

End of Summer Mix

1) Eric Clapton- Breaking Point

I'm home. I missed you a lot. Did you miss me?



2) Pat Metheny- Facing West

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I need to go up there! This is what I've always wanted! I'm going out on a limb and I'm ready for adventure!



3) Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells A Story

Whitey Bulger captured? Can I please go down to the courthouse? What's that? Recipes for cooking the best lobsters? OK GBH...I guess that's just as good...



4) Foster the People- Pumped Up Kicks

"Look over there. Pretend they're the audience. I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."



5) The Avalanches- Since I Left You

I'm hung over and it's so bright in Brighton and I love everyone I can see.



6) Roy Orbison- In Dreams

You're just like me.



7) Vampire Weekend- Oxford Comma

Hiding in Nantucket. Everyone is so beautiful I want to cry.



8) Frank Zappa- Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk

"What if Pat gets into the White House?"
"No fucking way, Ike! Hahaha, you know what I mean? HA!"



9) Okkervil River- Mermaid

She's pretty, I think...



10) Steve Winwood- Wake Me Up on Judgement Day

Gotta keep pressing on...

081011

The world is so small
How could anybody not look you in the eye
Or wave was you drive by?
The world is such a wonderful place.

I feel naked without my typewriter and tape recorder being within arms reach. Also can’t stand it when my bed isn’t next to a window so I can look outside at the rain. Minor complaints in a sea of things I could bitch about. On the bright side the beer is cold and the Disney VHS tapes haven’t faded at all through these years.

I don’t really have much to say. I just felt like creating something.

I read some of my old notebooks from as far back as 2003. My handwriting was surprisingly better back then. Content wasn’t great. Did find some of my earliest songs and they were pretty good.

I had a dream the other night where a friend of mine made a video for me. The camera was small and sitting inside an empty fish tank. She slowly filled the tank with water and the camera tried to escape. The tank filled up quickly and the camera looked up at her looking back at the camera. As she pulled the camera out of the tank, I too felt like I just came out from under water. She wiped the water off the camera and I felt hands going through my hair. The video ended abruptly and I searched all over the house I was in for her to thank her. She was no where to be found.

Pre-season is gonna be here soon. After pre-season comes the official start to football season. Then comes autumn and the cold and coats and all the colors of the season. Breaths are shorter. My kind of living. And football sets a wonderful structure around it all. No matter how crummy the week is, there’s two great days to look forward to, and one of them is Monday for Christ’s sake. How great is it to be happy on Mondays?

I can't do long summers. My skin can't take it. Long winters are fine. I can take those any day. Sure I'll dream about the sun and beaches and all those fine things, but can only dig it in bursts. The trip to Nantucket was about all the summer I needed. Cold drinks, warm beaches, that scene. But normal day-to-day in horrible heat? It drives me insane.