Ah, the weather is getting nice again and I'm starting to remember why I love my neighborhood so much. Schoolkids are running around in the streets loudly debating the pungency of one another's genitals; the Ice Cream Truck Jingle (which I'm actually a fan of) is already soldered into my skull where it shall remain for the next 4+ months; 60 year old dudes can be found stumbling around the block smoking blunts; drunk black dudes fly by on bicycles insulting random passersby; and perhaps most importantly, "special deliveries" are transacted courteously, comfortably and efficiently.
Again it's been awhile since I've updated said Muddd, but I ain't dead yet. I've been taking it easy the last couple weeks after what has been an unusually toxic year up until this point. Also, earlier in the month I traveled to Atlantic City (impossible to enjoy this place without drugs/fortunately I had some), Virginia (beautiful, especially the ships) and Durham (rainy) so it's nice to hunker down and get back to the essentials -- namely smoking weed and being antisocial.
Also, it's a good time for me to issue some, um, "updates" to last year's Best Of lists (albums and songs), so let's get these belated mea culpas out of the way first. "But Tuddd," you plead, "yer livin' in the past! We want to hear about new shit!" Sadly, we're almost done with March and the New Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the first really, really good record I've heard all year. Fear not, I thought '07 got off to a shitty start too and we still wound up with a ton of gooduns when all was said and done. Anyway,
- All thru '08, I avoided hearing the Titus Andronicus album mainly because of comparisons to Conor Oberst (of whom I'm not a fan) and various emo bands. Well, it turns out I fucked up-- the Titus Andronicus album is probably the best album from '08. Yeah, I'm'a need a mulligan on that one, thanks.
- Also, I totally whiffed in leaving Harvey Milk's Life... The Best Game in Town off of the aforementioned list. In this case, I had actually heard the album during '08 proper (and several times at that) but I somehow retardedly managed to miss giving it a numerical ranking on the spreadsheet I was using to rank albums. Let this be a warning to all fellow hack music bloggers: (underwhelming) music journalism and spreadsheets do not mix. FWIW it's one of the 10 best albums from '08 I've heard.
- Missed the boat on Hercules and Love Affair, too. Shee-it.
- In my (admittedly gay) quest to trendily update my library of garagey shit, I came across a fucking awesome compilation of female-fronted Dutch garage/psych bands, called From the Kitchen to the Garage and available from Distortions Records here (it's the third one down). Normally I don't post links prompting people to buy shit, but 1.) it's awesome and 2.) it's only 7 friggin' dollars. Definitely the first album I've heard from the Distortion imprint, but I doubt it will be the last. I have no idea if this actually came out in '08, but if it did, it too would have been easily in the year's top 10.
- I'm liking Microcastle better and better, but I still think Weird Era kind of blows.
- On the aforementioned Best Songs list, I totally left several great songs off that I didn't hear until after I wrote the list. These include: a lot of the Titus Andronicus album, a few off Harvey Milk's record, the same two that everyone likes from Hercules and Love Affair, "Afgrunden" from Sune Rose Wagner (of the Raveonettes, of course)'s solo debut, Pyramids' "The Echo of Something Lovely," "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings, and, um, Usher's "Love in this Club." For some reason, this makes me want to cry with joy.
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Here's a brief rundown of the albums I've heard so far in '09. Yes, I'm markedly behind last year's pace, but there's still a ton of good stuff I'm looking forward to. I'll try to get a decent "Still To Come in '09" list posted before I go away for the weekend.
1- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz -- I've only owned this album for 5 hours so this may be premature, but I think this is the best thing the YYY's have ever put out. I thought their '07 EP, Is Is was their best effort to date (great songwriting and production) but this likely tops it. Although a few of the songs are marred by repetitive phrasing, there's undoubtedly some really pretty songs on this.
2- Dan Deacon - Bromst -- lots more heart and depth than his Spiderman of the Rings breakthru.
3- Heartless Bastards - The Mountain -- Face it, it's tough for a white chick to sing soulfully without sounding cheesy, but the vocals (and primal guitar playing) of frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom make me long for a Black Keys/Heartless Bastards double bill.
4- Death - ...For the Whole World to See -- A set of mostly unreleased protopunk songs by this trio of Detroit siblings, recorded in the mid '70s. "Politicians in My Eyes" and "Keep on Knockin'" are the best two on here. Read this New York Times article for the full story.
5- Dead Mellotron - Ghost Light Constellation EP -- Pretty sure this Monroe, Louisiana band friended me on MySpace, where this album is available for free download, which is how I heard of 'em. The best songs on here are done in kind of a fuzzy garage-ambient-trance-shoegaze style, which can lend itself to absolute awesomeness under the right circumstances. Bonus points for choosing the right song to cover in Beach House's "Saltwater."
6- Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion -- So far I'm only enjoying this as background music at a chatty party, for example. Obviously warrants more listens.
7- Boston Spaceships - The Planets Are Blasted -- Also needs many more listens, although this might be Uncle Bob's strongest (non-archival) effort since 2006's Normal Happiness.
8- These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove -- Love the lead track "Woolen Heirs," and "Ethric Double" boasts the best heavy groove of the year.
9- Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand -- The single's the only memorable song, IMHO.
10- Wavves - Wavvves -- Whatever, I'm old. I don't have to pretend to enjoy this crap.
11- The Soft Pack -- The Muslims -- Sure, I'm spoiled when it comes to sloppy garage stuff, but this album is nothing special.
12- Nodzzz -- Nodzzz -- If you're into bands like Vivian Girls, ca-USE! co-MOTION! and the Beets, you'll eat this up. Otherwise, you'll find it pretty generic.
(No, I haven't heard the new Mastodon yet... I'm waiting to blast it in my car on the way down to Pennsylvania for a wedding this weekend.)
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Finally, yes, I know I've been slacking on seeing shows this year; I'm only up to 17 so far, which is pretty piss poor. That being said, barring random testicular electrocution (always a possibility) I plan on attending tomorrow (4/1)'s whiplash-inducing show at Europa, starring the mighty Young Widows (seen 'em several times, they're great), Tournament (saw 'em a couple years ago with Baroness and Atakke at Don Pedros/they shred) and Austerity Program (one of my faves). Good times.
All right, gotta go. Muddd outward and such.
