|
uberblee
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Brandon
Country: United States
State: Illinois
Metro: Chicago
Birthday: 4/15/1987
Gender: Male
Interests: Chicago Cubs baseball, Chicago Bears football, Chicago Bulls basketball, the Democratic Party of the United States, the West Wing, Gilmore Girls, the Simpsons, various other television shows [the afformentioned would be my tops, though...and you could figure out the others through reading my entries!], a very narrow-minded musical selection, and Star Wars.
Expertise: None. I suck at everything.
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  Bleacherbum005
Member Since:
5/20/2005
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Homie this shit is basic
Welcome to graduation.
Good morning.
| | |
| Ah, the favorite albums list. I love making this list every year, and this year's not really an exception.
I did things slightly differently this year: This is in no order, except there are four that sort of stand out, with one being my favorite of the year. So yeah, this year there's a number one, and a sort of nebulous 2, 3, and 4, and then the rest of stuff that I liked. You can skip to the bottom for the "top four" if you'd like.
By no means is this definitive, nor is it meant to be definitive. There's a lot of stuff that I can rec' that didn't make this list. Tift Merritt, Langhorne Slim, Vivian Girls, Jennifer O'Connor, Johnny Foreigner, Lykke Li, The Dutchess & The Duke, Kathleen Edwards, and Dr. Dog were all good, but didn't get a write up here. For a lot of these, whether they're down there is kinda arbitrary, to be honest.
Billy Corgan seems to think the album is dead, but it's still my preferred unit of music consumption. Instead of declaring the album dead, maybe he should just...ya know, try to make good ones again. Kudos to the people who can make 35-50 consecutive minutes of enjoyable music. Shit's hard to do. Here are my favorites.
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
HisSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Because he's Alejandro Escovedo, geez. That's enough.
Elf Power - In a Cave
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: It's Elephant Six. They also did an album with Vic Chesnutt, which I have yet to hear.
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: I don't know. I don't really want to like this album, but here it is, I like it. It also brought me as close as I'll ever come to writing Gilmore Girls fan fiction.
Hold Steady - Stay Positive
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Listen to the first track in the summer. There are at least three skippable tracks here, but what's not skippable is really good. It's not Boys and Girls in America or Separation Sunday, but it doesn't have to be.
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Because DC Berman knows how to write a song, and tell a story, and tell stories with songs, and he hasn't lost it yet.
She & Him - Volume 1
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Because it's pleasant. Also, Zooey has a great lisp.
Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
themountaingoats.net
John's blog
Metacritic
Why?: Because it's Mountain Goats, and because of the line "I woke up afraid of my own shadow. Like, genuinely afraid." John's new adventures in hi-fi (no REM)
Nana Grizol - Love It, Love It
TheirSpace
Popmatters Review
Why?: Because it's a lot of fun. Can't wait to have this for the summer.
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: The first three tracks.
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
TheirSpace
Why?: Even Kanye loves "Lost Coastlines"!
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings and All
HerSpace
Pitchfork review
Why?: I love Thao.
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Graves
HisSpace
Cokemachineglow review
Why?: Obligatory dude-with-a-guitar.
Joe Pug - Nation of Heat EP
HisSpace
Songs:Illinois post
Why?: Because he's a Chicago guy who has a way with words. His best song probably isn't on this EP.
The Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Because Rhett Miller has sexy hips.
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Their Space</i>
Metacritic
Why?: 'Cause Jim James uses the word "interwebs" in a song about sexy librarians. Fuck the haters, this was good front to back.
Music Tapes - Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes
TheirMergeSpace
Metacritic
Why?: Because it's weird, and spacey, and Julian Koster is weird and spacey, and out of tune, and fun stuff like that. Julian Koster also gets a Seasonable Mention for Singing Saw at Christmastime
-----
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
TheirSpace
Metacritic
Why?: It was my midyear top album, and it's not that this really slowed down, it's that what surpassed it picked up. I listened to this album three times on Kosuke Fukudome bobblehead day at Wrigley Field.
Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
HisSpace
Kanye's Blog
Metacritic
Why?: I probably spent more time talking about this album than any other album this year, and the fact that it was good makes it all the more worthwhile. Yeah, Kanye can have emotions, too; sometimes abstract looking coffee tables aren't enough for a man, and that makes him turn to auto-tune.
REM - Accelerate
TheirSpace</i>
Metacritic
Why?: It didn't suck! It didn't suck! Goodness gracious, it didn't suck! The fact that it wasn't Around the Sun probably has a lot to do with me liking it so much. Also, probably got the second most plays on my CD player this year. REM in general probably had the most plays of any artist for my year.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
TheirSpace
Metacritic
There aren't any notes that come with the album, but the CD itself comes in this sleeve, and on the sleeve there's this little essay written by Robin Pecknold (but attributed to Warren Harding) about music. It talks about music having this sort of power to transport to the place where the song wants to take you, or to the place that you personally associate with the song. I put this on driving through the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountains when we drove back from NAASCON. Yeah, I kinda rigged it that way, but I did, and it was perfect, absolutely perfect. This album takes me there, it takes me to Union Park over the summer, it takes me to Schuba's on a cold April night [the same night when that essay was written], it takes me to the car driving on the roads through forest preserves on the northwest side. The album is just a joy, and it will certainly see some plays into next year. Who knows where Fleet Foxes go from here, but this was amazing (and so was the Sun Giant EP, by the way). It's my album of the year, and it's only kinda close. | | |
| 
| | |
|
She stands alone on the corner of Clark and Addison
This dowager queen, dressed in black and pearls
75 years old
Proud head held high
And not a hair out of place
Awaiting yet another date with destiny
Another time for Mr. Right
She dreams, as old ladies will
Of men gone long ago
Joe Tinker
Johnny Evers
Frank Chance
And of those of recent vintage
Like her man Ernie
And The Lion
And Sweet Billy Williams
And she thinks wistfully of what might have been
And the pain is still fresh and new
And her eyes fill
Her lips tremble
And she shakes her head ever so slightly
And then she sighs
Pulls her shall tightly around her frail shoulders
And thinks
“This time.”
“This time it will be better.”
Go Cubs.
| | |
|
