Tag: music

This post demands a preface. The list that follows is in no way meant to be a comprehensive overview of the year in music. Its limitations are to be expected, guided by my own tastes and wallet. These are not necessarily the best albums of 2009, so far, the most notable or the most popular. They are just what they are: music that has been in heavy rotation on my iPod during the first almost seven months.

I’m going to list them alphabetically, to keep readers from thinking I’ve ranked them;

• Lily Allen, It’s Not Me, It’s You — This is a dance record full of sly commentary and nasty asides; you have to pay attention, but make sure you’ve got on some kicking shoes.
• Art Brut, Art Brut v. Satan — Album no. 3 from the British pop-punkers is as funny and sarcastic as the first, with a big guitar sound that translates well live (in fact, they are probably a better live band than studio band). These guys deserve to be stars, or as they might say, on “top of the pops”!
• Elvis Costello, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane — Elvis goes bluegrass? This is an intriguing record, proving again that Elvis Costello is as restless as Neil Young when it comes to bending genres and providing a moving target for listeners.
• Steve Earle, Townes — A labor of love, an album of songs written by the late, great Townes Van Zandt (Earle’s mentor) that brings one of the great folk/country songwriters back to the limelight.
• Franz Ferdinand, Tonight – The band gets its disco on with its third effort (a remix/dub version called Blood is just as crazy) with great results.
• Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown — Not as good as American Idiot, but then that would have been too much to be expected. I would have pared this back some, but it continues in AI’s political/operatic vein.
  Buddy & Judy Miller, Written in Chalk — This is what Lucinda Williams calls sh**-kicking country. Or is it rock? Or blues? That the Millers make it so difficult to categorize this album says all you need to know.
• Son Volt, American Central Dust — The band returns to their alt-country roots with a masterful release, as good as The Search, though less eclectic.
• Bruce Springsteen, Working on a Dream — A good, but flawed follow-up to Magic that features some great tunes and at least one clinker (“Queen of the Supermarket”). It’s still Bruce, however, so it gets a guaranteed spot in the rotations.
• U2, No Line on the Horizon — I’ve not made my mind up about the latest from the Irish rockers. The single, “Put on Your Boots,” is great, but the album has the feel of Zooropa, a sonic misdirection in the wake of a huge predecessor. (It is far better than Zooropa or Pop, so don’t misread what I’m saying.)
• Wilco, Wilco (The Album) — Right now, this is my favorite album of 2009. Following Sky Blue Sky, a lovely, through somewhat subdued retrenching, Wilco (The Album) hits on all cylinders, bringing pieces of each of its six studio predecessors (not including various EPs or the CD included with The Wilco Book) so that the album stands as both a summary of the band’s past and a step forward into the future.

Other albums worth noting, but that I have not had the chance to buy (I’ve either grabbed singles through the great podcasts at IndieFeed or MPR Song of the Day): Levon Helm, Electric Dirt; Low Anthem, Oh My God Charlie Darwin; Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Outer South; St. Vincent, Actor; Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career; John Doe and the Sadies, Country Club

Eddie Argos wants to be a famous rock star. Or maybe he doesn’t. It is difficult to tell from the lyrics he writes. But there is no denying the band he fronts, Art Brut, deserves a lot more attention than they are getting.

The band played Johnny Brenda’s in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia on Saturday, a rollicking show filled with the kind of snide irony that makes Art Brut one of the funniest group’s in rock ‘n’ roll. The band is tight — drummer Mikey Breyer banged and banged, driving the post-punk forward along with the heavy bottom provided by bassist Freddy Feedback, the two guitar ripping and snorting.

Any singer would be grateful to front such a crack outfit, but Argos is more than a standard front man. He’s got the lounge-singer shtick down perfectly — that is, assuming the lounge singer is Johnny Rotten but thinks he’s Bryan Ferry.

Basically, Art Brut is all about attitude — as anyone who has heard their latest release, Art Brut vs. Satan, can attest. Argos railed about record stores — yes, record stores — that sell DVDs, slammed the Kings of Leon, ordered audience members to form a band, got into the audience and commanded that everyone dance.

It was hard not to, though the crowded dance floor below me — I was up above the band with a perfect view of the stage — had little room for full-out foot work.

The band ran through 18 songs in about an hour and a half — after a tight, but derivative set from Cymbals Eat Guitars — picking from each of its three albums and leaving everyone, the audience, the band members, even the bartenders, sweat-soaked and satisfied.

The set list, according to Music Snobbery:

1. “Alcoholics Unanimous”
2. “Bang Bang Rock and Roll”
3. “The Passenger”
4. “Pump Up the Volume”
5. “Summer Job”
6. “Bad Weekend”
7. “Demons Out”
8. “Emily Kane”
9. “Nag Nag Nag Nag”
10. “Love to L.A.”
11. “DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshakes”
12. “Modern Art”
13. “Direct Hit”
14. “My Little Brother”
15. “Slap Dash to No Cash”
16. ENCORE: “Formed a Band”
17. “Twist and Shout”
18. “Post Soothing Out”

Steve Earle is not exactly shy. The singer-songwriter, who now makes his home in New York, wears his politics openly in a way most other musicians are afraid to do.

On Thursday, at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, a night that one might have expected him to put the political discourse aside, when he was focusing most of his energy on his new 15-song tribute to close friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt, Earle still found time to state rather plainly what he thinks about the state of the nation.

He is hopeful, he says, about an Obama administration, but expects to be disappointed. He admitted to being to Obama’s left and said it was up to us — the people — to keep the government honest.

And he played some amazing music. For nearly two hours, he talked about Van Zandt and played his music — managing to avoid the kind of romantic memorializing that would have been a disservice to Van Zandt. He made no bones about Van Zandt’s alcoholism and his inability, ultimately, to live up to his talent or reputation, also acknowledging his own addictions and the impact they’ve had.

Plus, Earle offered a handful of his own songs — “City of Immigrants,” “Jerusalem,” “Copperhead Road” — finger-picking his way through the entire night. What was striking — and confirmed for me when I finally watched Earle’s appearance on Tavis Smiley’s show on my DVR over the weekend — was how the songs sounded of a piece, how the Townes Van Zandt material and Earle’s songs fit so well together, as if they could have been written by the same person.

Part of the reason is, as Earle told Smiley, their guitar style is similar. I’d go farther, though, and say that Van Zandt and Earle shared a sensibility that was apparent last week and is apparent on Townes.

Musically speaking, this has been an OK year — not overly exciting, but some good stuff has made its way to vinyl, disc and digital. Some thoughts:

• Art Brut’s new album — Art Brut vs. Satan — is brilliant. As with its crazy punky debut, it is hilarious and loud and jet-fueled. “Bang, bang, rock and roll,” as the boys in the band sing. (I’m heading to Philadelphia to see them on Saturday!)
• Steve Earle, who I see tonight at McCarter Theatre here in Princeton, detours from his normal course with a great disc of cover songs, Townes, a tribute to the legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Earle calls him a mentor and does him justice, offering performances of the legend’s songs that often outstrip Van Zandt’s generally inconsistent recording career.
• Bob Dylan’s newest album, Together Through Life, sounds like his three previous efforts, though lacks the lyrical punch and has an easier feel to it. It is another outstanding addition to his late-career comeback.
• Buddy and Julie Miller’s Written in Chalk flat out howls (and I mean that in a good way). I can’t really say much else.
• Green Day returns with another solid punk concept album, 21st Century Breakdown. It’s not as good as American Idiot, but it’s pretty good.
• Lily Allen’s self-titled rant is a lot of fun — like Kate Nash’s disc from a few years ago.

Other good stuff: Alice Russell, Camera Obscura, St. Vincent, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Iron and Wine and Superchunk.

I’ll try to get something up either here or at The Central Jersey Beat after tonight’s Steve Earle show.