Laura Marling, singing “All My Rage”. Did she dye her hair or something? I could swear this is not the Laura Marling I’ve seen before.
Still, good song, kookie video.
The Shins, with “Clapping Butter” = HI-larious.
Bon Iver’s “Towers,” the most traditional video yet from 2011’s self-titled album.
“Bon Iver at AIR Studios,” in which Justin Vernon and Sean Carey, armed with only two grand pianos, sing five songs, mostly in glorious falsetto. It’s long, but it’s worth it.
I recommend putting it on but then moving it to the background. For whatever reason, the douche factor is pretty high on this video if you watch it, but the beauty of the music is undeniable. Well worth listening to.
The setlist:
- Hinnom, TX
- Wash.
- I Can’t Make You Love Me
- Babys
- Beth/Rest
There’s something infectious about James Mercer’s voice that makes me like the Shins despite my best efforts not to. Here they are, performing “Simple Song” from their new album Port of Morrow, which will be out on March 20.
This video by Mirel Wagner, whom I discovered today via a tweet by my friend Chris, is going to haunt me all day. Especially since her CD isn’t available in the US until March 27.
“There will definitely be another Blur album.”
I wasn’t planning on liking J. Tillman’s new band Father John Misty but then you throw in Aubrey Plaza and suddenly things change.
I may be tired of the entire roots Americana movement, but the Head and the Heart still impress on a near-daily basis.
iTunes Match = royalty checks for musicians →
I had no idea the $25 I paid for iTunes Match turns into royalty payments to the musicians I listen to through iTunes Match. From Jeff Price:
A person has a song on her computer hard drive. She clicks on the song and plays it. No one is getting paid. The same person pays iTunes $25 for iTunes Match. She now clicks on the same song and plays it through her iMatch service. Copyright holders get paid.
Very cool.
/via Daring Fireball
How does OK Go continue to outdo themselves? Seriously. They’ve come a long way since dancing in their back yard in 2005, but every video since that first one has been captivating.
And every one of them puts a HUGE smile on my face.
Bill Callahan covering Leonard Cohen’s “So Long Marianne” for Mojo Magazine.
My absolute favorite Leonard Cohen song, Smog-style.
The Magnetic Fields have a new album coming out on March 6 called Love at the Bottom of the Sea. “Andrew In Drag” is the first video to be released from it.
And in case you’re sitting at work not working, you should know that this video has nudity in it.
/via NPR
You may remember Perfume Genius from such countdowns as the 2010 Bacon Musical Calendar.
This video, for “Hood,” from his new album, Put Your Back N 2 It, (out February 21 on Matador) doesn’t do anything to make him more likable by the mainstream — but that’s pretty much his shtick and I’m ok with that. The music is some of the most emotionally wrought stuff you can put in your ear holes.
Here’s a promising song from Hospitality, a nice little indie-rock trio. “Friends Of Friends” is the first video from their upcoming self-titled debut album, out on Tuesday, January 31.
“Comeback Kid,” Sleigh Bells’ first video from their soon-to-be-released 2nd album Reign of Terror shows that the band is definitely not changing much. This is a good thing.
I’ll recommend any song with Beirut’s Zach Condon on it. But with Sharon Van Etten, too? Is there a “recommended +” function?
From sharonvanetten’s blog:
Sharon Van Etten - We Are Fine (featuring Zach Condon)
#1 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Myths (+2) by Pickwick
No band has had more of an exciting 2011, and no band has made 2011 more exciting to me, musically, than Seattle’s Pickwick. Unless you are immersed in the Seattle music scene or listen to KEXP regularly, chances are you’ve not heard of Pickwick.
Pickwick are the future of Seattle’s music scene. We’re emerging from a Fleet-Foxes induced folk-rock fog, into the warm embrace of soul. Seattle has a storied history in soul music (for more on that, watch the Wheedle’s Groove Movie). But it’s been lying dormant for a long while. and this group of hipster guys is bringing it back in full force.
My first exposure to Pickwick was seeing the video above back in January, over at Sound on the Sound, one of my favorite local music blogs. It wasn’t until August when I finally got to see the band live. But here at the end of 2011, I’ve now seen them three times, and that number will most likely double in 2012.
Pickwick is led by a most unlikely crooner, the bespectacled, big-haired and totally unassuming Galen Disston (otherwise known as @galenbaby). As I said in my review of their performance at the Sound on the Sound 5th Anniversary show back in August, Disston’s ability to ”channel Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and even a touch of Sam Cooke is simply unreal.” Additionally:
Backing up Disston is a collection of 7 guys — bearded, plaid- and glasses-wearing in ample portions — who, if seen on the television with the sound muted, you would think were playing your everyday Seattle-based indie rock. They were tight, as if they’d been practicing every minute of every day for weeks on end.
If you’re like me, your appetite for Pickwick music will become quickly insatiable. Thankfully, there are a number of sources out there to take in as much of them as you can, but don’t go to iTunes to find it. The music they do have available for purchase is only available in local Seattle record stores (purchase your own copy of Myths (+2) here, or better yet, pick up the original Myths Vols. 1-3 45s here). The fastest way to get their music in your ears is through their bandcamp page, where they have each pair of songs from their three 45s available as digital downloads for a separate purchase of $2 each.
Beyond buying their music, you can see a few videos of the band performing around town on YouTube — be sure to watch the recent KEXP in-studio videos (1, 2, 3, 4) — as well as the beautiful videos made by Sound on the Sound at their annual Doe Bay Fest (5, 6). And finally, take a look at their amazing a cappella video for “Blackout” from UW’s Suzzallo Reading Room.
Rumor has it the band will have a proper full-length out in 2012. No word on a specific release date, but I’ll be one of the first ones in line to pick it up. I’m sure it’ll be part of the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar.
From this vantage point, the 2011 Calendar was actually quite a success, regardless of my various moments of belly-aching about the state of the music industry. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, though, and I have to believe that 2012 will be quite the rebound year.
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2. Departing by The Rural Alberta Advantage
3. The King is Dead by The Decemberists
4. W H O K I L L by tUnE-yArDs
5. Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
6. Bon Iver by Bon Iver
7. The King of Limbs by Radiohead
8. Bad As Me by Tom Waits
9. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
10. The Youth Die Young by Mad Rad
11. Last Night On Earth by Noah and the Whale
12. Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
13. Valley of the Headless Men by Ravenna Woods
14. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two by Beastie Boys
15. James Blake by James Blake
16. Hysterical by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
17. An Argument with Myself by Jens Lekman
18. The Whole Love by Wilco
19. My Goodness by My Goodness
20. My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men
21. Gloss Drop by Battles
22. Showroom of Compassion by CAKE
23. A New Kind of House EP by Typhoon
24. EP by Grouplove
25. Fan Chosen Covers (Best of) by Eef Barzelay
26. TKOL RMX 1234567 by Radiohead
27. Organ Music Not Virbraphone Like I’d Hoped by Moonface
28. Heavy Boots & Underwoods by Ben Fisher
29. The Rip Tide by Beirut
30. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
31. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River
#2 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Departing by the Rural Alberta Advantage
This was one of the hardest decisions ever. Number 2 or number 1? Which is it? As I’ve said in other places during the countdown, this has been a very strange year for music in general, and my inability to assign a difinitive #1 album for the year is simply par for the course.
Any one of the Top 5 albums could have easily been #1, but as of right now, today, I’m confident in my choices. Tomorrow I may not feel the same, but I’m ok with that. Here at #2 is the Rural Alberta Advantage. You may remember the RAA from such lists as the 2009 Musical Advent Calendar, where I ranked the band’s debut album at #6. Back then, I claimed that the band was “the best new band of 2009”:
Believe it or not, what you’re hearing is the best new band of 2009. It may not sound like a lot to you right now, but mark my words: 2010 will be all about this band, the Rural Alberta Advantage. Well, at least in the indie rock world that I inhabit, these guys are going to get huge.
And then on a later entry that year, I continued:
Given that I called the Rural Alberta Advantage, who’s debut album Hometowns was #6 on the calendar, the best new band of 2009, I feel like I need to explain why I ranked These Four Walls higher in the countdown, but didn’t give We Were Promised Jetpacks the honor of “best new band.” It’s fairly simple: they made a great album, but I have not seen any evidence that they can do it again. With the RAA, their live show had numerous new, unrecorded songs that were quite good and made me excited about their next release, whenever that happens.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s fair to say the band got HUGE in 2010. Nor did the release of Departing blast them into indie-rock superstardom in 2011. But the album is definitely attracting new people to their sound, and I was at least right that they had the makings of a new great album two years earlier, that first time I heard them live.
I got to see the band again this year, and loved having the opportunity to write up what was one of my favorite gigs of the year. I had said “Prepare yourself for disappointment. You just missed one of the most powerful indie-rock trios to ever come through town.” I really meant it. I can still pull up the feeling of that live show, as if it were a file at the top of my “euphoric experiences” folder. One of the main reasons for that euphoria was the drumming:
The other powerful force in the band is Paul Banwatt, the ball of energy behind the drums. Banwatt chooses tight, complicated rhythms that rattle around Edenloff’s verse and melody like a pinball machine. With undying speed and agility, Banwatt appears to fly around his small kit, lithely touching the sticks to the various surfaces and evoking a methodical, machine-like rhythm. On the band’s recorded music, the drums don’t immediately stand out. But once you’ve seen Banwatt in action, there’s no missing his fantastic myriad of beats plugging away diligently in the background.
I am continually blown away by this band, and find it particularly strange that they haven’t taken off as much as I’d expect. Just goes to show that music taste is a peculiar thing, and not everybody will like what I like. But I’ll keep evangelizing this band as long as they produce music. It’s some of the best stuff out there on any level, and the whole world needs to know it.
And tomorrow, NUMBER 1! Many people are no doubt disappointed that their favorites (Lykke Li, The Weeknd, St. Vincent, to name a few) haven’t made it on the list (to date). You already know I can’t possibly listen to everything that’s been released in the last year, so I thank you for the suggestions and I’ll definitely be listening to what your favorites were for the year, even if it’s too late to add them to the Calendar. But I have to warn you: be prepared for a surprise at #1. It’s something you’re probably not expecting.
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3. The King is Dead by The Decemberists
4. W H O K I L L by tUnE-yArDs
5. Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
6. Bon Iver by Bon Iver
7. The King of Limbs by Radiohead
8. Bad As Me by Tom Waits
9. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
10. The Youth Die Young by Mad Rad
11. Last Night On Earth by Noah and the Whale
12. Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
13. Valley of the Headless Men by Ravenna Woods
14. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two by Beastie Boys
15. James Blake by James Blake
16. Hysterical by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
17. An Argument with Myself by Jens Lekman
18. The Whole Love by Wilco
19. My Goodness by My Goodness
20. My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men
21. Gloss Drop by Battles
22. Showroom of Compassion by CAKE
23. A New Kind of House EP by Typhoon
24. EP by Grouplove
25. Fan Chosen Covers (Best of) by Eef Barzelay
26. TKOL RMX 1234567 by Radiohead
27. Organ Music Not Virbraphone Like I’d Hoped by Moonface
28. Heavy Boots & Underwoods by Ben Fisher
29. The Rip Tide by Beirut
30. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
31. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River
#3 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
The King is Dead by the Decemberists
I didn’t want to like this album. My first few listens into The King is Dead, the sixth full-length album by the Decemberists, I was ready to declare the band dead in the water like so many characters from their songs. It didn’t hook me. I could only find one song on the album that I liked, the quiet “June Hymn.” There was no there there.
But after shelving it for a month or so (the album came out January 14, only two weeks into the new year), I found myself reaching for it again, almost against my will. It had wormed its way into my brain and festered there, like a tumor. It continued to take over my subconscious until it had moved into the foreground, when I found myself beginning to talk up the album to those same friends that I had poopooed the album to only a handful of months earlier.
Then my three-year-old son proclaimed his like for the songs on the album — and if you have a child, you know how nice it is to find an album that you can agree on with them and consequently sing along to together. As I’ve stated in other entries on this year’s Calendar, this has not been a great year for new music. While I do like this album quite a bit (enough to place it all the way up at #3), I don’t believe this album would have landed such a high spot in more competitive years. The Decemberists have also benefitted from this lack of competition more directly, as The King is Dead landed at #1 on the Billboard charts when it debuted, a feat surely not possible were the music industry not in its apparent free fall. The Billboard.com article about the album discusses the low-ball #1 album trend:
While it’s a best-ever week for the group, it’s still a so-so figure for the top-selling album. However, after the past two weeks, any number at No. 1 that’s north of 60,000 is welcome.
Last week, Cake’s Showroom of Compassion (featured at #22 on the Calendar) broke the SoundScan-era (1991-present) record low for a No. 1 album with only 44,000 sold. That record was set just one week earlier, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now shifted 52,000 atop the list.
Regardless of circumstance, the band did manage to sell 94,000 copies in their first week, and that’s pretty damn good for a literary pop band out of Portland, Oregon. And I proudly say that this album is deserving of such high sales. It’s a throw-back album for the Decemberists. There are no 8-minute epics (“This is Why We Fight,” featured above, is the longest song on the album at 5 minutes, 30 seconds). There is no over-arching story to the whole album. This is just solid song after solid song, each one thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable.
If you’ve not been a fan of the Decemberists to date, and your dislike of the band has not hinged on something uncurable like Coin Meloy’s nasally voice, then this album may win you over. There’s very little here to dislike, and plenty to gush about (even if at first you don’t care for it).
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4. W H O K I L L by tUnE-yArDs
5. Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
6. Bon Iver by Bon Iver
7. The King of Limbs by Radiohead
8. Bad As Me by Tom Waits
9. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
10. The Youth Die Young by Mad Rad
11. Last Night On Earth by Noah and the Whale
12. Codes and Keys by Death Cab For Cutie
13. Valley of the Headless Men by Ravenna Woods
14. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two by Beastie Boys
15. James Blake by James Blake
16. Hysterical by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
17. An Argument with Myself by Jens Lekman
18. The Whole Love by Wilco
19. My Goodness by My Goodness
20. My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men
21. Gloss Drop by Battles
22. Showroom of Compassion by CAKE
23. A New Kind of House EP by Typhoon
24. EP by Grouplove
25. Fan Chosen Covers (Best of) by Eef Barzelay
26. TKOL RMX 1234567 by Radiohead
27. Organ Music Not Virbraphone Like I’d Hoped by Moonface
28. Heavy Boots & Underwoods by Ben Fisher
29. The Rip Tide by Beirut
30. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M.
31. I Am Very Far by Okkervil River