Black Friday Presents Via Audio

So it's that scary day where you are afraid to go pretty much anywhere. BLACK FRIDAY OOOOH. The post office is swamped. Why is this? Christmas is over a month away. People are ridiculous. The mall's a zoo, though I don't necessarily blame people, what with stores like KOHL's opening at 4am and making their whole inventory 40% off. We've created a monster. What makes little sense to me is that physical shopping for presents is largely a waste of time, in my opinion. I'll go to the mall and spend 3 hours there and come away with three presents that are actually well thought out and relevant to the eventual recipient. There's so much stuff with so little character, all spread out over a mile of walkways and at mostly outrageous prices. Malls are the reason I (and probably all of you) received countless striped sweaters, polo shirts, and slacks for Christmas from relatives over the years, rarely wearing any of them.

Let's end this scourge! Buy online.

Etsy.com - the craft mafia strikes again. something for absolutely everyone.
threadless.com - $10 t-shirt sale runs through Dec 16th.

Listen:
Via Audio - Presents
[from Say Something|buy]

Peace on Earth, a Charity Holiday Album

Peace on Earth, the season's first Christmas compilation (that I've seen anyway), was just released. For many of us, I'm sure the burn marks from other disappointing comps are still fresh. It's not hard to imagine a reality in which this one would join them, but thankfully I'm here to tell you that this is one of the best of its kind. Caleb Palma over at Hard to Find a Friend pulled this rabbit out of his hat, convincing an all-awesome cast of musical misfits to contribute a holiday song each, all in the name of charity. Every dime from the sales of this 13 track digital album will benefit Toys for Tots. The Long Winters, Chris Walla (of Deathcab), Rosie Thomas, American Music Club, Via Audio, Great Lake Swimmers and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin headline with solid tracks all, but surprise offerings by surprise musicians like The Winter Jazz Routine, Ohtis, Aaron Robinson, David Karsten Daniels, Johnny Bertram, and The Cotton Jones Basket Ride (Michael Nau of Page Frace) really make this compilation a winner. This album is only $7, but it's easily worth three-times that much, and it's for charity! If you like these songs, you should plop it down. It'll make a great gift and it won't disappoint. Thanks, Caleb. I don't know how you did it, but thank you.

Listen:
The Winter Jazz Routine - Through the Snow - "have you spent all day gathering fleeting things that don't last at all?" (link removed per Caleb's request, buy the album!)
The Long Winters - Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes) - "my vodka and snow is melting, the alcohol isn't helping..."
[from Peace on Earth|buy]

Top 30 Albums of 2007

Notables on the cutting room floor (#31-50, in random order): Mae - Singularity, Lovedrug - Everything Starts Where it Ends, Feist - The Reminder, The New Pornographers - Challengers, Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War, Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre, Menomena - Friend and Foe, Travis Morrison & the Hellfighters - All Y'All, A National Chorus - The Millions Too Many, Rogue Wave - Asleep at Heaven's Gate, Page France ...and the Family Telephone, Other Men - Wake Up Swimming, Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice, Kings of Leon - Because of the Times, Fink - Distance and Time, Far-Less - A Toast to Bad Taste, Wheat - Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy..., Via Audio - Say Something, The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth, Chris Bathgate - A Cork Tale Wake

30. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
29. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
28. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
27. Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
26. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
25. Lymbyc Systym - Love Your Abuser
24. Matt Pond PA - Last Light
23. Sara Bareilles - Little Voice
22. Sunparlour Players - Hymns for the Happy
21. The Thrills - Teenager
20. The Rocket Summer - Do You Feel?
19. Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
18. Paramore - Riot!
17. Maritime - Heresy and the Hotel Choir
16. the Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
15. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
14. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
13.Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
12. The National - Boxer
11. Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
10. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

Everytime I hear this record, I like it more. It's quirky and decidedly Canadian. Not the kind of Canadian always making headlines here, the BSS's, Stars, Feists, New Pornographers, Acorns, or Most Serene Republic's. This is the kind of Canada I can hear through odes to hockey goalies, curling, snow and ice, sung in John Samson's inimitable voice. It's decidedly human, warm despite the cold outside.
Top tracks: Night Windows [mp3], Civil Twilight, Sun in an Empty Room

9. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

So this is what happens when you give Sam Beam a full band to work with. Wowza. It's really nice, though I still prefer the stripped down themes of his last album for the most part. An amazing storyteller, this one.
Top tracks: Carousel [mp3], Boy with a Coin, Resurrection Fern

8. Chris Merritt - Hello, Little Captain

Finally a worthy successor to the Ben Folds throne of amazing piano pop. In addition to being a ridiculously talented pianist with a voice that kills, Chris has an uncanny feel for chord phrasing and melody. His songs will stick to you like velcro-covered maple syrup. Chris has jazz hands.
Top tracks: The Palace Flophouse, It's Been Sad, Lay a Finger on Me (aka: Show Me What You're Made Of) [mp3] (bonus track)

7. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

This is the little record that could. Justin Vernon's (of The Rosebuds and Ticonderoga) solo project was the surprise of the year, probably most of all to himself. Secluded in a snow-covered cabin in NW Wisconsin for 6 months, he combined a barrage of heartaches and memories with solitude, serene sunrises and sub-freezing temperatures. The result is a haunting 9 song album without equal. "Re: Stacks" destroys me. It devastates me. It makes me feel alive.
Top tracks: Skinny Love, Re: Stacks [mp3], Lump Sum

6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Their most accessible and polished record, to their detriment some would say. It is what it is, I say. Gone is some of the emotion, scratchy and lo-fi, from their previous albums, and also the novelty. That said, this release is exactly what it needed to be. Tight, clean, and beautiful, grabbing the nation as a whole with its first major release. Maybe now they can return to their roots, break out the analog recorders, and make history.
Top tracks: Sleeping Lessons, Australia, Spilt Needles [mp3]

5. Radiohead - In Rainbows

The best and greatest band in the world continues to break barriers their own way, pulling rabbits out of their hats, farting in paper bags, etc. This record is no bit of recorded flatulence, however, despite the backlash of non-Radiohead fans that are sick of hearing about them. With time, this could be their finest release overall, and certainly their most notable. Ok Computer came out of nowhere, there were no expectations to make the best album in history. These days it's a different story as the band has reached god-like status, expectations weighing down like so many stones. How do you exceed them? Release an album with some of your best songs in a decade, in the raw, melodies a-soaring, piano a-plinking. And let people pay what they want for it, the most revolutionary tactic to hit music sales in years, not to mention a public relations coup. Brilliant.
Top tracks: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Videotape, Bodysnatchers

4. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

Mr. Bird is a truly special performer and songwriter, virtuoso at violin, whistling, and the loop pedal. This record is flawless and plays like the soundtrack to a Vonnegut novel, full of emotion and eccentricities that'll bring smiling tears. It's a campfire album, a triumphant love song, a eulogy, an inspirational speech, a road trip, your first love, a lullaby.
Top tracks: Heretics, Armchairs, Simple X [mp3]

3. Fionn Regan - The End of History

I know, I know. "Black Water Child" was my #1 song of 2006, so how can the album be included this year? a) It's my list dammit, but more importantly b) I didn't have the entire album yet because it didn't get released domestically until this year. Fionn is well on his way to becoming one of the definitive troubadours of our generation. A stunning debut.
Top tracks: Black Water Child, Hunter's Map, Underwood Typewriter

2. Field Music - Tones of Town

One of only two early '07 releases to hold its position over the entire year (the Shins being the other). From the opening track (below), this record is determined to capture, balancing immaculate pop sensibility and restraint with a sack full of tasty hooks. There is simply no weak point on this album. Channeling Squeeze and the Beatles creates the kind of pop that never gets old.
Top tracks: Give It Lose It Take It [mp3], Working to Work, Kingston

1. The Most Serene Republic - Population

Here's something: It took only two weeks for this band to become the most listened-to artist on my last.fm page overall, largely because of this album. It flows like molten sugar, too hot to touch, 3rd degree burns if you do. Tongue-in-cheek, sometimes-dark, social commentary built upon layers of sweet indiepop, two singers, furious percussion, crescendos, the works. The Most Serene Republic is the facade of a normal band, but inside they are anything but.
Top tracks: The Men Who Live Upstairs [mp3], Present of Future End, Sherry and Her Butterfly Net

Take a look at 2006's best songs/albums here.
Tomorrow, 2007's best EP's and maybe some other things.

Listening Assignments 10.15.07

1. Raul Midon - State of Mind - I just saw this video of Raul on Letterman and...holy sh*t. He's got more in common with Stevie Wonder than just blindness. Percussive guitar playing akin to Kaki King. And mouth trumpet. Mouth. Trumpet. [from State of Mind|buy]

2. Via Audio - Harder on Me - Their LP finally dropped on October 2nd and as far as I can tell, no one heard it. Surprising because there was definitely a buzz about them back when I wrote these. Well they still sound great. So let's listen to this song and tell other people about it, deal? [from saysomethingsaysomethingsaysomething|buy]

3. Nada Surf - See These Bones - As per usual with the Surf, this is an enjoyable mid-tempo indie rock song. There's really not much to it than that; they've perfected their own brand. The bassline is really nice, especially with the tastefully-in-the-hip-pocket-drums. I could hear this in a movie, mostly because of the first line. [from Lucky (out 2.15.08)|info]

4. Clem Snide/Eef Barzelay - Lose Big - The squirrely-voiced Eefmonster, an LtL fave, is back. As Clem Snide again, this time without the other members of Clem Snide. Yes, I know it's confusing. Here's an interview with MOKB from just over a year ago about it. His love songs are hard to top. [from Lose Big (out who knows?)|info]

We Can Be Good

I'm a far cry from a one-trick pony, but if you serve me up a heaping plate of interesting melodic indiepop, I'm going to devour it. Such is the case with Via Audio, a Boston foursome that calls to mind Deathcab for Cutie, Rainer Maria, and Margot & The Nuclear So-and-So's. This band has heart as well: Modern Day Saint was written for a friend (Dan Lang-Gunn of The Modern Day Saint) after he suffered a brain injury during a show. The new record is wrapping up with Jim Eno of Spoon producing. Chris Walla loves this band. Maybe you should too?

Listen:
We Can Be Good
Modern Day Saint
[myspace|Dan Lang-Gunn benefit CD]

The Assignments 9.18

[buy]

1. Julie Doiron - Ce Charmant Coeur - this song owns. Is it the french? Am I a sucker for french? It's so pretty.

[buy]

2. Via Audio - Developing Active People - I was turned onto this because Chris Walla was raving and I'd have to agree. This was the only song I could find that I could download, but rest assured I'm buying the full length as soon as it's out. This track from the EP is catchy and pretty and poppy. Surprise! It kind of sounds like Deathcab with more female vox.

[buy]

3. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Let's Get Tired! - an older track from another one of my favorite bands of '06. Pleasant is consistently the word that comes to mind . A shorty, but a goody.

[buy]

4. Midlake - Bandits - This record is easily cracking my top 5 at the end of the year. It's a serene blend of nostalgia and freshness. It sounds like brown and yellow leaves hitting the ground. It sounds like the soft whoosh of traffic as it passes you on a roadtrip through the mountains when your window is only open a crack.

Listening Assignments 1.28.08

1. Via Audio - Enunciation - I'm fairly sure there are multiple points in this song where you'll think you know where it's going. Then, 10 seconds later, you're wrong. But you're not upset about it; you revel in it. You listen to it on repeat. [from Say Something...|buy]

2. The Basics - Baby, Let Me In - Wally De Backer (Gotye) has those golden pipes and the rest of this Australian 3-piece has the '60s groove down pat. It's a short little ditty that'll make you feel pretty. [from Call it Rhythm & Blues|info]

3. Kid Dakota - 10,000 Lakes - This may have been an assignment back before the blog existed, but regardless, it's here now. It's pretty nippy outside recently, enough to make me feel like I'm traversing the open plains, crossing frozen lakes and covering myself in assorted pelts (faux-fur, I assure you). This song is about how I feel on those days. But the real reason it's an assignment starts at the 3:46 mark. [from The West is the Future|buy]

4. J. Tillman - Restlessness - The haunting sound of one J. Tillman has been documented here before, but I see no reason to stop there. Consider this part 3 of your downtempo lesson that began with Idaho and Hayden last week. This plods along like a heartbeat, an ebbing and flowing tide of melancholy. Not always sad though, just always slow. Slow enough to realize that you're breathing slower, along with him. Hanging on every whisper. 4:23 is especially sweet. [from Minor Works|buy]