As my maiden posting on the Co-op (thanks for the invite Paul) I thought I'd throw out the list of my favorite albums from the last year of the aughts.
I have a hard time making a list which ranks my favorites of anything, especially music, so I'm going to stay away from giving a "Top Ten List". I think music listening is simply too contextual to say without fail that Album ____ is my favorite. If I was asked "What is your favorite album of 2009?" I would probably reply "It depends on what I'm in the mood for."
Dangling preposition aside, I believe each album's weight is dependant on what sort of listening experience I was seeking. I wouldn't necessarily pick The Swell Season's new album as my favorite music for heading to the gym, but I would put it pretty close to the top for Saturday morning breakfast with the family. Conversely, when I want to emulate any driving scene from Ronin or The Transporter, I will throw in the We Were Promised Jetpacks album and proceed to be "that guy" who drives like a bat-out-of-hell while having his music just a little too loud for a guy who is wearing a suit and is in his mid-30's.
Also, I inevitably look back at my lists from the previous years and am disappointed with my rankings at the time and wish I could redo them based on the longevity of each album at the current time. The scale continues to slide with each year. Which is also why I look at making a list of my favorite albums of the 2000-2009 decade as such a daunting task. Anyway, without further rambling, here is my list of albums I think you should buy this year if you have not yet done so (albums listed in no particular order). Enjoy.
We Were Promised Jetpacks - "These Four Walls" (Alt Rock)
William Elliott Whitmore - "Animals In The Dark" (Blue Grass/Folk)
The Clientelle - "Bonfires On The Heath" (Indie Rock)
Cotton Jones - "Paranoid Cocoon" (70's Folk)
Foreign Born - "Person to Person" (Indie Rock)
Andrew Bird - "Noble Beast" (Folk/Indie Rock?)
The Swell Season - "Strict Joy" (Folk)
Colin Hay - "American Sunshine" (Folk/Pop)
DM Stith - "Heavy Ghost" (Indie Rock/Folk?)
Sholi - "Sholi" (Indie Rock)
A couple notes on the above list. First: take all of the genre classifications with a grain of salt. I feel like I'm having a conversation with my wife about paint colors when trying to figure out what genre a certain artist/band fits into. Is the paint color green or is it "forest wren"? Is the album Indie Rock or "Post-Modern Alternative Punk Rock"? I'm frankly not smart enough to make that determination. I am a product of the Poison, Cinderella and Def Leppard era. How am I supposed to know?
Second: Colin Hay could not come any more highly recommended as being placed on the MUST SEE list if he ever comes to your neck of the woods. He will be in the Minneapolis/Milwaukee/Chicago area this summer. I've been to see him 4 times since I've lived in Milwaukee. The shows are solo acoustic performances - which is when he's at his best. Buy the "Transcendental Highway" album for the song "I'm Doing Fine". That song alone makes the purchase worth it. He plays a mean accoustic guitar (contradiction of terms?) and has one of the most unique voices around. Check him out on the daytrotter website to get a taste of him acoustically.
http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/colin-hay-concert/20030904-37382032.html
Happy New Years, all. Buy some Tom & Jerry's mix, crank your favorite albums and tell your friends and family that there is actually good music out there that does not have anything to do with Miley or Cyrus.
- Wilbs
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Glancing at all three lists, the obvious thing that jumps out is that Animals in the Dark is on all of them. The fact that this guy is not more widely renowned or publicized is both mystifying and satisfying. I'd rather we keep him as he is and keep him to ourselves anyway.
ReplyDelete