4 Chords

A funny one for Friday.  It is amazing how many songs are based on the Journey chords.  What is it about these sounds put together perks up our western ears?  If I ever do pick up a guitar, at least I know where to start.  

Warm Your January With Antony

This review is really a chance to 'pay it forward' with blogged recommendations.  I first heard of Antony and The Johnsons in 2005 when his absolutely amazing I Am A Bird Now was in the top 5 on Pitchfork's best albums of the year list.  From first listen, I knew I was listening to something special.  It was one of those albums that you can literally remember where you were the first time you heard it.  For me, it was in my home office while cleaning the closet.  Isn't it amazing that fantastic music can make a mundane activity like that so memorable.  

The first thing that strikes you is the voice.  It's so unique, and truly a gift.  The androgyny to the sound and lyrics take you to a world that is both completely real, but also a fantasy.  As I've spent more time with Bird, I've more clearly seen the parallels to all my favorite Lou Reed songs.  The ethereal qualities of Stephanie Says to dry emotional power of Perfect Day, Antony is the closest my ears have heard that bliss.

And the new album, The Crying Light, is the next chapter.  It's topics are less steeped in identity, and more drenched in mortality.  In Another World, Antony speaks of a perfect heaven, but reflects on what will be lost by going there.  This begs the question that if you will loose all of what you have in this life, how can Heaven truly be Heaven?

Aeon is the story of a son and the promise of redemption for a father through the son's actions.  I'm a sucker for father/son stories right now.  And Antony's voice soars with a power that he has reserved throughout the album.  It's a gospel barn-burner as only he can sing it.

I can't think of a better record to come out the coldest weeks of the year.  Let the snow and ice fall so we all can take a few moments to just listen and contemplate what only wonderful art can make us feel.

The Crying Light - Antony And ...

Monday Morning Quarterback #3

The Hold Steady - One For The Cutters

Last night I listed to the latest Sound Opinions Podcast with guests The Hold Steady.  They have been one of my favorite bands for a few years now since the release of Boys And Girls of America.  That album ended up at the top of my 2006 album list.  Also, as thy talk about in the podcast, you become a believer in them once you see their live show.  It is a beer soaked, joyous romp.  

I was lucky enough to first hear One For The Cutters at their live show over a year ago now.  As soon as I heard the term 'Townies' come from Craig's mouth, it took me back to my College years at Miami University.  Located in a little farm town, there was a huge class difference between the students and the kids who grew up there.  And I swear this biopic tale took place my Sophomore year.  Simple lines about blaring music out of car windows and dumpsters behind townie bars is a virtual tour of Oxford, Ohio.

One For The Cutters - The Hold...

When The Web Is Used Against Your Customers

Last month our family switched over from Direct TV to the new AT&T U-Verse.  We took a long time in making this monumental decision because of the fear of AT&T.  Even though we use them for our iPhones (which we can't live without), our home phone and Internet services, I had no faith in them.  Their brand is down there with gas companies and US automakers to me.  Basically, they are Goliaths that don't server their customers.  They serve themselves.  

So in the month we've had U-Verse, I have been waiting for the confirmation of this evil empire construct I have created.  Yesterday it finally came.  When I signed up for the service, I did so online because they offered $200 cash back.  Yesterday, while going through the mail, I noticed a piece from U-Verse that just said "Thank You".  Now, in the past month, I have received at least one piece of garbage mail like this from AT&T each week, which is annoying enough since I know how much money they are waisting to print and send this crap.  But when I opened this one, it gave me instructions on how to activate my $200 reward.  

Basically, AT&T, instead of just sending me a check, now have made me go online, enter in my account number (which was not included in this mailing), and check that I would, in fact, like to receive my money.  This system has zero benefit to me, their customer.  It only benefits them, as if I didn't see this poorly marked piece of mail, and taken the time to read and act upon it, they would take back the offer in a few weeks.  They have used the amazing power of the Internet for evil.  What jerks.

Companies like this wonder why they have to have offers like this is the first place.  It's because we all don't trust them, and they basically have to pay for our loyalty, or make it nearly impossible not to use their services.  That isn't a healthy way to build a brand.

To My Son

Caleb,

On this historic day, I cannot help but smile when I think of the amazing journey that has brought us to this day.  For myself, the past few years have been darkened by a deep chasim of dispair about where we were headed.  And I hoped that something, or someone would come along to once again wake up our better angels, and call us all to a brighter day.

That has happened.  Today IS a new day.  Forever and ever you, your children, and your grandchildren will never question your ability to do anything based on the color of your skin, or the blood that binds you to your ansestors.  But more importantly, the content of character in our choice in a leader is the real story that moves me.  

President Obama, first, is an inquisitive man.  He reads and listens to all sides.  He doesn't take the vain pride of power over the weak.  That allows him to see from all sides, and not come to just the politically prudant decision.  He will hear all the voices of Amercia.

Second, he is a risk taker.  He was crazy to think he could gain the confidence in the good people of this country in less than two years to vote for him and the ideals he stands for.  But that risk he took is all of our reward.  Taking risks with the goal to help others are the most noble crusades.

Finally, he is a lover.  When he looks at his wife or daughters, it warms my heart because I can see the love, respect, and friendship they share.  It reminds me of the way I get to look at you and your mother every day.  To feel your smiles is to be as close to God as anyone deserves on this earth.  It is a source of unending power, and I know he has created a family unit that will continuiously recharge him through his darkest days.

So my pledge to you is I will work every day of my life to be these things to you.  I will continue to learn, and set an example for you about the importance of knowledge and education.  I will take risks to provide a stronger foundation and opportunity for others so that you may learn to do the same.  And I will continue to love you and your mother with an open heart.

I love you my son.  Please know that every day.  I look foward with hope to our new world we enter together.

Dad

Monday Morning Quarterback #2

From the moment I got off of work on Friday, to this morning driving back in, 75 Bars has been my car anthem.  One of the buried tracks on The Root's disappointing 2008 album Rising Down, this one slapped me around when I cranked it up after a long, hard week. From the initial drum roll, to the frentic Black Thought rhyme, this is classic roots.  You feel like a guest at an exclusive small club date where a battle broke out.  Some guy just heckled Thought, the music comes to a grinding stop, ?uestlove counts off the beat, and away we go with Thought completely dismantling the competition.  A true knockout.  At least someone from Phili won this weekend.  (Note:  Very salty language on this one)

75 Bars (Black's Reconstructio...

Get Off Your High Horse

Oasis have a reputation for being the biggest assholes in the world of music.  And they probably are.  But this documentary will show a little bit of a different light.  

For their latest album, they gave the music to four of the tracks to NY street musicians pre-release.  So, the first leak of the new album was heard in the tunnels under the city.  I'm sure it wasn't their idea, but you can see the sincere apprecation for what these people do in the band's voices.  I especially like when Liam talks about how this is what he fealt as a kid trying to be in a band.  

On the marketing side, I think this is a teriffic idea.  Oasis has been around so long, and has such a cemented sound, I think hearing the songs ripped appart and played different ways shows just how tuneful they are at their heart.  

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets

Caleb's Favorite Music

What with the beginning of American Idol this week, and an ever more disturbing trend of pre-adolescence choosing what is cool in our culture, I figured I would let my son's current taste influence all of you. Here's his current top 3.

3. Supernova - Up and Down (From Yo Gabba Gabba)
This has been in the top five since his top 3 was just a top 1.  But it is slowly fading to make room for other favorites.  I swear it is why he can out-jump his buddies at school.

2. Beyonce - Single Ladies

Actually, the song is less important to him thant the video.  He gets a coy little smile when the background starts to light up and you can see Beyonce and her girls shifting their hands around.  The kid has taste.

Beyoncé |MTV Music

1. Kanye West - Love Lock Down

I think he originally liked this one because of the drums during the chorus.  But the song has captured enough from him that he asks for it 5-6 times a day.  He even can sing the first verse.  He's not completely accurate, but it's still impressive.  He especially likes to get to the chorus and yell "Lo-loc down. LO-LOC down. LOOOOOOOSSSSE."

Monday Morning Quarterback #1

I hope to make this a Monday morning ritual where I look back to the weekend, and pick the song I enjoyed the most. This weekend it was easy. I wore out The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem. These Jersey rockers are straight out of Eddie And The Cruisers era rock and roll. That may sound like the worst endorsment anyone could ever give, but it really isn't. There is an American nostalgia that pours from them, and '59 is the best example. This is a song about wondering what a friend was listening to on their radio as they died. You can smell the leather jacket and feel your knuckles on the steering wheel. For me, it makes me long for a youth that only exists in James Dean movies.

The '59 Sound - The Gaslight A...

If You Have To Explain Yourself, Then You Are Wasting My Time

The silver lining of the entire family having colds this weekend is we haven't had much energy to keep us off the couch.  Luckily a slew of good NFL football kept us entertained.  Since almost all the TV I watch any more is TIVOd, it's rare for me to absorb so many commercials over and over again.

And two series that stand out as horrible are the new Gatoraid "What is G?" and Bud's "Drinkability" series.  Both do the exact same thing - Take :30 seconds to define something that didn't exist before, and no one cares about.  

First, Bud IS beer in America.  Their sales numbers prove it.  It has nothing to do with Drinkability, whatever that means.  It has to do with nostalgia, habit, price, and availability.  None of those have anything to do with taste.  And they certainly have nothing to do with a made up word.  

The Gatoraid ad is even more perplexing, considering they define the mythical G, but don't bother to even mention their product.  Again, saying that your are a bunch of stuff does not mean you ARE that.  And Gatoraid already is an amazing brand.  When you work up a big sweat, don't you just crave Gatoraid to help you re-hydrate?  It's an amazingly successful product at doing what it says it will.  Why not spend your money reminding of your greatness rather than making up a new reality?

At some point, you run out of resources to keep defining what doesn't need to be defined.  These campaigns  have no legs, and will be gone as quickly as the Carolina Panthers yesterday.

Best Albums of 2008

To formally start my new blog, I figured I would look back on 2008 and count down my 10 favorite albums of the year.  But first, a few comments on music as a whole.

During the year, I remember many times thinking to myself that I wasn't very satisfied with the albums I was getting.  Basically, there weren't a lot that totally filled my music jonze.  But then my #1 came, and it seemed like there was a wave of great music after that.  But as I reflect, I also started enjoying albums from earlier in the year more as well.  I think it just shows that when one amazing album opens your ears, mind, and heart, you are much more receptive to discovery.  Kind of like "The Secret" or Scientology.  

Finally, this list only includes albums I picked up in the calendar year.  I've already found one or two that could fight their way on this list.  But that's for another day.  On to the list:

10.  The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

An album featuring the lead singer from Arctic Monkeys in full early Beatles songwriting mode.  The first title track is a great punch to start it all off.  From there, it proves to be a sweet album chalked full of moments to remember thinking about your middle school crush.  Plus, I'm just a sucker for his english accent.  

The Age Of The Understatement ...

9. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

"FUCK!  Why didn't I think of that!".  That's my thoughts on almost every mix and mash-up put together on this perfect mixtape.  Greg Gillis is a brilliant DJ, and this is a masterpiece.  Fav moments:  Jay-Z over Radiohead, Weezy and Birdman over Rod Stewart, and Kelly Clarkson over NIN.  I ran to this album all summer long, and never got sick of it.  Plus, you can pay what you want for it on the Girl Talk mySpace page.  Throw the man a couple of bones, and get it for yourself.

Feed the Animals - Girl Talk

8. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

First, I love Kanye.  I love his brashness, I love his contradictions, but most of all, I love his music.  So I came to this album as a fan.  And I'll leave a bigger one.  One of the crazier stories about it I've heard is that he dropped the more traditional hip-hop album he was making after listening to Phil Collins' No Jacket Required.  That's some funny shit.  And somehow it helped me even make more sense of this album.  I guess because when I was a kid, I was a Phil Collins fan.  And so were other kids my age.  We saw that ugly little guy ALL THE TIME on MTV.  Can you imagine a guy like that on MTV in this era?  Anyway, this album would be much higher if it weren't for the last couple of songs.  The last one is so insufferable, I almost deleted it from my iTunes.  But the good songs are sad pop gold.  Just like Phil.

808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West

7. Vampire Weekend - S/T

The hype of this debut sucked me in.  And it's been a delight all year.  Smart lyrics, great indie rock soaked in African rhythms.  I hope they have enough lasting power.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Week...

6. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

"Welcome Back Hip-Hop, I Saved Your Life..." indeed. Wayne is absolutely bat shit crazy.  And that is what makes this album so much fun.  Speaking of fun, here are three of my favorite memories listening to songs of this album:

• "Mr.Carter" - In the car with my wife as she listened to the ludacris version where he uses seasons as medaphors.  Me'Cheal was laughing so hard at so stupid but witty it was.
  
• "A Milli" - Dancing with college frields at one of their weddings.  He specifically requested it out of nowhere, then made his body convulse with the beat.
  
• "Lollipop" - Let's just say it was with my boys in Austin.  It involved a 30 min cab ride with enough guys crammed in to officially call us a clown car.

Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne

5. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns

Hometowns came out of nowhere at the end of the year.  What I love about this album is it reminds me of two other albums that are one-off artifacts in pop music history.  The singer's voice, style, and lyrics remind me of Neutral Milk Hotel's In An Airplane Over The Sea, and some of the music arrangement reminds me of The Postal Service's Give Up.  Both of these are classics in their own right, and probably the best albums of the year's they came out.  This isn't quite on that level, but even reminding me of these has made their next album one I look forward to.  

NOTE:  This one is only on eMusic right now.  But it's worth hunting down.

4. M83 - Saturdays = Youth

This was the first album this year that I fell in love with it.  I downloaded it one night before dinner, than started listening to it as I was doing the dishes.  Immediately, I felt completely transferred back 25 years.  It was like I was in a scene from "The Big Chill". The dabs of the haunting female voice throughout have an emotional pull that just break my heart.  And the cinematic 80s synths paint such vivid pictures, you don't even need a screen to see this movie.  

Saturdays = Youth - M83

3. Conor Orberst - S/T

Conor wrote and recorded this album down in Mexico, and it has a playful laziness much of his Bright Eyes music lacks.  He's less emo-serious, even when tackling tough topics like cancer, alcoholism, and faith.  Plus, it sounds FANTASTIC on the open Texas highway.  I dare you to not crank up "I Don't Wanna Die In The Hospital" when it comes on.  I've always liked Conor because I feel I've matured with him.  This album did not disappoint at all on that front. 

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

2. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

It took me forever to fall completely in love with this one.  I guess that should be expected since it sounds like the work of an Irish drunk.  You can't help but falling in love with them in the long run.  And once they have you, they have your heart forever.  These songs are meant for the pub and a pint.  Picking up the same producer who handles the boards for The National was a great score as well.  The similarities are noticable.  But this doesn't feel as bleak to me.  Again, it's the Irish drunken sigh that provides the cheer through the tear.

The Midnight Organ Fight - Fri...

1. TV On The Radio - Dear Science

To say this was my favorite album of the year doesn't even start to explain how much I love it.  I picked it up one day at lunch, and threw it on in the car.  From the millisecond the guitars and fuzz kick in on "Halfway Home", my eyes got really big, my fingers started gripping the wheel a little tighter, and my head started bobbing up and down.  The TVOR boys reached out from the speakers and grabbed me with force.  By the time the 'Ba-bas' hit a few bars later, I had little swells of tears in my eyes.  YES!  THIS IS WHAT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR THIS YEAR!  

Even before the record came out, I was hoping this would be the case.  I liked the first two TVOR albums quite a bit, but they just were a little too deep.  They buried so much in layers of noise - especially on Return To Cookie Mountain.  I remember talking to a friend and saying "..,if only they didn't overproduce themselves.  They could be huge!"  Dear Science is that breakthrough.  Way more funky than anything they've done, the nods to Price and James Brown grounds the album in pop hooks that make you want to dance, even while the percussion, synths, and horns spell out doom.

It's that chaos that makes this album more powerful.  After my first full listen, I immediately labeled it the perfect back bookend of the Bush years (with Radiohead's Kid A being the front end).  Since then, Obama won, and the album took another turn for me.  You see, there's a lot of hope in this record.  There is a "Golden Age comin round".  And this album is the perfect document of what ushered in this awkward time of mass turmoil and great hope.  It holds the same paradox, and is unapologetically everything great art should be.

Dear Science - TV On The Radio

Westway To The World

The last couple of nights I enjoyed The Clash documentory "Westway to the World". The most illuminating thing is just how much regret there was that they couldn't stay together. I just wonder how much more growth they could show since their influences (punk, reggae, hip-hop) were all tapped by the time they imploded.

At least there's an amazing legacy of music left behind. Here's one that influenced one of the best songs and artist of the past couple of years.

Straight To Hell - The Clash