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2011 Wrap-Up Mix

A confession: my annual wrap-up mix this year has exploded beyond the length of a CD. When Sam Smith told me about his yearly mixes when we first met in 2004 his rule was that they ought to fit onto a burnable CD. This is the first year I’ve broken the rule. I think the world is ready for it.

These include songs by some friends new and old, bands I’ve always loved and bands I’ve just discovered. Please take the time to look these bands up if you like what you hear, and if you haven’t already, check out my Best Albums of 2011 post from a few days ago.

view the mix on 8tracks.com | View in iTunes

Full tracklist below with links to iTunes. 

1 “Eulogy” Frank Turner  iTunes 

2 “For Better For Worse” Old Man Markley  iTunes 

3 “Daydreaming” Middle Brother iTunes 

4 “Never Felt Young” Mia Dyson iTunes

5 “Matchstick Murder” Tristen iTunes

6 “Under Cover of Darkness” The Strokes iTunes

7 “The Bump” Deer Tick iTunes

8 “Don’t Carry It All” The Decemberists iTunes

9 “Palomino” Mates Of State iTunes

10 “Meant to Be” Hotels & Highways iTunes

11 “Honey” eric-jon tasker iTunes

12 “No Vacation” Tim Blane iTunes

13 “Alms” Katie Barbato iTunes

14 “The Afterlife” Paul Simon iTunes

15 “Daydream” Jamie Drake iTunes

16 “Graveyard” Feist iTunes

17 “I Confess” k.d. lang & The Siss Boom Bang iTunes

18 “Cannons” Youth Lagoon iTunes

19 “How Far We’ve Come” Dawes iTunes

20 “Helplessness Blues” Fleet Foxes iTunes

21 “White Out” Gregory Douglass iTunes

22 “Walking Far From Home” Iron & Wine iTunes

23 “Holocene” Bon Iver iTunes

Best Albums of 2011

These are my picks for 2011. I loved this year in music. My “flow” of listening became smoother — Rdio is still my preferred discovery platform and buying vinyl still satisfies the collector and the desire to support. Spotify is there to fill in the gaps, but I can’t stand the user interface. It’s a wonderful time to have first world problems like deciding which albums should make up my top 10.

I found that Ienjoyed the podcast All Songs Considered more often this year than I enjoyed Sound Opinions, another great rock and roll show. I likde the easy going, free-form playlist format of All Songs more often than the “serious” format of Sound Opinions. But that was this year. Oh, and my preferred listening platform? The iPhone app Stitcher.

And finally on a personal note I *enjoyed* making music more in 2011 than I have in any year since maybe 2007. 2011 of course saw the beginning of Hotels & Highways, a band I am so proud to be a part of, and that exists thanks to the support of fans we have made over th years in our solo careers. H&H has opened up a whole new circle of friends and professional connections that I feel so blessed to have found.

So we’ll start here. Unlike years past I’m not making a playlist with one song from each record. Instead I’m going to save my playlistin’ for a more broad 2011 mix that I’ll post in the coming week that will include songs from all of these albums plus more choices from the year. Just kidding, I couldn’t help myself, here’s an iTunes playlist with a song from each album and an 8tracks mix you can listen to in full with a song from each album.

I’ve linked to youtube videos for a single from the album in question if there is an “official” video as well as a Rdio stream, amazon CD and iTunes mp3 links. If you’re like me and you want to enjoy these albums on vinyl, this year I’ve added links to vinyl. I sent you to Amoeba Records when they had it in stock— they are my preferred desitination for buying LPs online as they provide free shipping and they almost always have the best prices I am able to find. Of course, if you’ve got a great local record store that carries reasonably-priced vinyl, by all means.

Breaking the mold, this year we are travelling down the list rather than up it.

2010 Wrap-Up Mix (Friends, Singles, More!)

My second mix for 2010 includes a few more songs from my best albums of 2010 list but it also includes some singles that I think rule as well as music from my friends who, of course, also rule. It’s a 22 song powerhouse, so settle in, kiddies.

You can listen to a stream of the mix on 8tracks for free. 

You can just go for it and preview/buy the mix on iTunes. 

Two of the songs aren’t available on iTunes or amazon, you gotta go here: 

Patrick Thomas’ “Big Hit” & Todd Martin’s “Humans Being”

2010 Wrap Up Mix

1. Everything Fell into Place by Shwa Losben
2. O.N.E. by Yeasayer
3. No Money by Kings Of Leon
4. Five by Taylor Carson
5. White Sky by Vampire Weekend
6. Modern Man by Arcade Fire
7. The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man On Earth
8. Go Do by Jónsi
9. Big Hit by Patrick Thomas
10. Is Love Forever? by Spoon
11. Fuck You by Cee Lo Green
12. Humans Being by Todd Martin
13. Hey Heartbeat by Jessie Bridges
14. Needing/Getting by OK Go
15. Evening Kitchen by Band of Horses
16. Ok by Chad Perrone
17. Power by Kanye West
18. Your Dogs by Ben Folds & Nick Hornby
19. This Is the Thing by Fink
20. Gentleman Thief by John McVey
21. The High Road by Broken Bells
22. God Made Man by Young the Giant

Best Albums of 2010

I’m going to be posting my 2010 wrap up in a few parts this year. Here are my picks for best albums of 2010. 

In other posts I’ll put up a 2010 mix playlist for you to enjoy, highlight albums my friends made this year and then sweep up some 2009 albums that saw their day in the sun for me in 2010. 

I’ve linked to youtube videos for a single from the album in question as well as rdio full album streams. You can search itunes or amazon for these if you wanna buy them. Which you do.

If you don’t know what rdio is, you’re missing out on a cheap ($5/month) way to hear most of the music you want  legally in it’s entirety. $10/month gets you a mobile app. It’s a great deal. It fits in nicely with my music listening flow — check it out on rdio, buy it on vinyl if I love it.

Here is this playlist on 8tracks.com (free to listen to)
Here is this playlist on rdio (requires trial/membership)
Here is the same playlist on iTunes (previews only unless you buy it)

10. Muford & Sons - “Sigh No More”
YouTube - “The Cave”
Rdio full album stream 

There is no question that this is a good album by a good band, and I find myself really touched by the insistent, aching vibe that lies beneath this album as a whole. It’s in the top 10 by an inch, just because I don’t find myself returning to it as often as I otherwise might. For some reason, the official video for “The Cave” sums it up perfectly. Where I see that there would be this really dark emotional video, they’re handing instruments to guys dressed like Wes Anderson extras on a beach somewhere. That sort of disconnect between the music and the presentation sometimes sneaks into the listening experience. 

9 - Twistable, Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein
YouTube - Dr. Dog “Unicorn”
Rdio full album stream 

Shel Silverstein lived an inspirational creative life. His songs are no exception and this album is full of lovingly crafted recordings of those songs. They are surprising for all kinds of reasons, Silverstein’s wit and joyful wordplay chief among them. Hearing John Prine deliver the baleful songwriter’s lament “This Guitar is For Sale” is unexpectedly powerful. Shel’s writing can be endearingly, openly sentimental and the song “Daddy, What If” wears the crown here. Bobby Bare Jr was the voice of the child on his father’s original recording of the song; this album has him carrying the torch and singing the duet with *his* daughter. 

8. Young The Giant - “Young The Giant”
YouTube - “My Body”
Rdio full album stream 

Hits are a funny thing these days. I probably heard the song “My Body” in a commercial somewhere that had a TV. Maybe a mention on twitter or facebook from my friends. It wasn’t until I happened to see that my 15 year old brother in law had listened to this on his rdio account that I gave the album a listen. It’s a strange mix — side A has a modern hipster rock sheen while side B can barely contain the Coldplay-meets-late-90’s-alterna-rock of it all. Young The Giant could almost be two bands, I just happen to like listening to both of them. 

7. Kings of Leon - “Come Around Sundown”
YouTube - “Radioactive”
Rdio full album stream

It’s an accepted fact of my life (and, I suspect, the lives of many other music nerds as well) that albums that don’t quite grab me on a first listen grow to become perennial favorites. This band is like one of those albums. I respect these brothers as businessmen, I admire their determination and on this album, after years of only kind of getting it, I connect with the music like never before. The lead singer’s voice is just so fucking sexy. There, I said it. 

6. Broken Bells - “Broken Bells”
YouTube - “The High Road”
Rdio full album stream

James Mercer of The Shins plus Danger Mouse could have very well amounted to not much at all. Instead, each song is a grooving, melodically enthralling journey. In an interview on NPR the duo revealed that their favorite part about these songs is that the endings of almost all of the songs take a dramatic turn. It’s true — by the end of each song you’re somewhere much different than where you started. Beautiful artwork too.

 5. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - “Lonely Avenue”
YouTube - album introduction by Folds/Hornby
YouTube BONUS - “Things You Think” w/ Pomplamoose 
Rdio full album stream

My relationship with this album is complex. I listened to his Ben Folds 5 singles in highschool, I loved his first solo record in college, I went on the road with my band named after me and in that band was a man named Sam Smith. Sam is one of my best friends. Sam now plays drums for Ben Folds. We picked up Sam from a tour stop with Ben in Buffalo, ripped him out of his bunk on the tour bus and into our minivan for the CD release tour for our album The Way We Found It. Nick Hornby wrote the book High Fidelity that validates my music nerdery and the very existence of this list, though Sam was the one to inspire me to make these year-end-lists. Nick Hornby’s feelings about Ben were published in this book. My feelings about Ben’s new album are published on this blog. I helped Sam set up his portfolio which is like a blog. The license plate from the minivan that we picked up Sam in is on the windowsill above my sink. I still haven’t mentioned anything about the music on this album which is, of course, terrific. When I listen to it I think of the faces Sam makes when he plays the drums and gets excited about a groove. I get bummed when I know it’s Ben playing the drums on some tracks, even though I think it is pretty cool that he can do that. 

4. Arcade Fire - “The Suburbs”
YouTube - “Ready To Start”
Rdio full album stream (licensing fail)
NPR (?!) full album stream (expired)
Best $7.99 you ever spent

Well, I can’t find links to hear it for free, but that’s all the more reason to just impulsively buy it. After all that’s what America is about. A complicated relationship between art and commerce, sterility and spontaneity, youth and aging. This short memoir in pop album form touches on those themes while exploring what it was like to grow up in the late 70’s/early 80’s suburbia . It’s also just a collection of really interesting, catchy songs. It’s almost unfair how consistently great this band is. 

 3. Band of Horses - “Infinite Arms”
YouTube - “On My Way Back Home”
Rdio full album stream

Driving from Vermont to Canada to meet my wife in Montreal after the worst summer of my life with a burned CD from the digital download included in the vinyl copy of “Infinite Arms” waiting for us back in California. The plaintive, gentle, mystical sound filling my car with a kind of cotton melancholy. I’ll weave something out of that someday.

2. Vampire Weekend - “Contra”
YouTube - “Giving Up The Gun”
Rdio full album stream (licensing fail)
Best $7 you ever spent 

 I loved their first album but with a little hesitation — if they couldn’t follow it up and it was going to simply be a flash in the pan, I was going to feel silly about liking an album by a band of Ivy-leaguers who embraced African rhythm with somewhat unnerving gusto. So it is with great relief that I love love love love love this album more than the first. So many interesting chances taken, so many beautiful vocal hooks laid bare over organic machines making noises in some kind of post-apocalyptic hippy dance party.

1. The Tallest Man On Earth - “The Wild Hunt”
Rdio full album stream

Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man On Earth sings songs in English and in spite (or because) of this being his second language, the winding, obscure stories he sings in a billy goat gruff gravel growling whine are extraordinarily powerful. So powerful that the recordings on this album are simply of him and his guitar. Where that might be a marketing ploy in other circumstances, in his it is simply the case that this is the most visceral way to experience these songs. I can’t stop listening to this album, I can’t stop singing these songs, and I never ever want to. 

1. Ok Go - “Of The Color of the Blue Sky”
YouTube Channel (every song has a brilliant video)
Rdio full album stream 

No, that’s not a typo. These two albums are tied for first place. Ok Go is a YouTube sensation, sure, but, and I hate to sound crotchety and old here, I liked them way before they started hamming it up for the camera. I think their major label self-titled debut was great, I thought their follow up was OK. And though I was eager for more new music from them this album really shocked me with it’s complete commitment to a new direction and integrity. The production is brave and brash and perfect. The songwriting is honest and heart-wrenching and the grooves, oh the grooves. Dan, the drummer in this band is one of my favorite in modern music. 

Up next…either a mix of 2010 songs or albums by my friends. Or maybe the lost gems of 09. We’ll see.

Un-“Fair” practices at Ourstage?

The first record that I was given the opportunity to produce was “Momentum” for Lisa Piccirillo. Together with our team at The Co-Op, we’ve worked hard from day one to make the songs great, the record great, and to help Lisa continue to pursue her career. 

So it was with great optimism that she entered the Ourstage.com competition to get a slot on a side stage at Lilith Fair in Hartford, CT. 

Assuming that the contest would work as advertised, and the winner would play the festival, we pulled out all the stops to get our supporters to vote as often as possible in 3 rounds of competition, all with the express purpose of winning and therefore playing the festival. 

It came down to the 11th hour of voting in her group but through good old fashioned promotion, we got out the vote in a major way. We’d like to think the song “You Never Say” was strong enough to garner many votes from all the good-natured fans voting because they simply love music as well. 

It was after the results were finalized and Lisa had secured the winning slot that things got complicated. We got wind that Lilith was reserving the right to choose the performer from the pool of contestants. 

We honestly didn’t think this was a possibility—-that it was a measure to prevent truly terrible music from getting onstage or something. Either way, ourstage is all about fans choosing winners so that, again, it seemed outlandish. 

I guess not. 

Not only was Lisa passed over, she never heard from anyone personally at either ourstage or Lilith. Instead, she found out on twitter. 

To add insult to injury, now the two companies continue to promote the partnership as though it was decided by fans. 

Was ourstage so eager to be associated with the Lilith Fair that they set aside their commitment to “letting the fans decide”?

My experience with ourstage as an artist was positive - I entered a song into a similar competition to play the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore, won the fan voting, and played the festival. 

That’s how it should work, that’s how they say it’ll work, and I’m dissapointed in ourstage but more importantly, my heart goes out to Lisa who was pursuing a lifelong dream to play this legendary festival.  It certainly doesn’t stop here for her though, she’s got plenty of career left to go. Lets hope that when the next opportunity comes her way that requires fan participation, her supporters trust that their voice will be heard.