4 posts tagged “music”

I don't feel like doing a ranked list this year, but still want to revisit the music recap thing.  Part of the desire to avoid rankings is that a lot of good music came out this year, but I don't know that I heard a lot of great music.  Even albums that I love, like Nellie McKay's Pretty Little Head or Glen Phillips' Mr. Lemons, and of course, The Crane Wife, are solid albums that I can listen to over and over again, but they don't have the power that their direct predecessors did.  For awhile, I wanted to give the Glen Phillips cover of "I Want A New Drug" some props as the finest cover song of the year, but I can't do that in good conscience, as great as it may be.

The Last Kiss

The soundtrack for The Last Kiss is a pretty phenomenal soundtrack - maybe not on a Garden State level, but damn close.  The real reason to buy it is a song called "Paperweight," by Joshua Radin, who's a big favorite of mine, and Schuyler Fisk, who is going to warrant a lot of space in a post similar to this next January unless I miss my guess.

The song I have listened to the absolute most this year, though, is a cover song - Fiona Apple covering Elvis Costello's "I Want You," at Decades Rock Live.   I really wish that the whole Elvis Costello and Friends concert would be put out on CD, because there's some amazing stuff on it - EC singing "I Know," and Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" just give you goosebumps.  Well, they give me goosebumps, at any rate.

"I Want You" is on my top-5 Elvis Costello songs list, and if there is some sort of master list out there, it's at the top of that as well.   Every thing about the song, from the first guitar sting, to the dirty plodding sound of the bass, to Elvis's signature snarl, it's all perfect.  But Fiona Apple has managed to one-up the original by totally making the song her own and delivering it in her own tortured, angry tones.  It's much more evocative than the original, somehow, and it's got a real addictive quality to it that can't be denied.

Some albums I took chances on this year were Rocco DeLuca and the Burden's I Trust You To Kill Me and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' Nothing But the Water, and neither of them really disappoint.  DeLuca sounds almost too watered down and overproduced on the album, but it's still worth listening to and tons better than most of what passes for rock these days.  He's a bit of a chameleon, in that I always feel like he sounds like another artist, and the specific artist is always up for debate.  Live, he still exhibits that trend, but he owns his own sound a lot more then he has in the studio.   These guys are the best band I've heard this year that will go absolutely nowhere.  A rockumentary with the same title as the album is coming to DVD next week, and it's a must watch for everyone.   Pretty much the same goes for the Nocturnals.  Potter's sweet whiskey voice and the band's energy recommend them pretty strongly to anyone who has the same love for blues and bluegrass that I do.


The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America is so damn great.  It's a gritty anthemic rock album that hearkens back to pre-Born in the USA Springsteen. There are shades of "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" all over this album, from the chords to the lyrics.  And they manage to do it without sounding like they're ripping The Boss off.  And going back to their lyrics for a second, there aren't a lot of bands that can still pull off the concise poetry of "She was a damn good dancer/But she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend."

Boys and Girls in America

Begin to Hope

The album that really blew me away this year, though was Regina Spektor's Begin To Hope.  I don't even have words for how great it is.

5. Glen Phillips - Winter Pays For Summer

A must for any Toad the Wet Sprocket fan.   Still has some of his old band's signature wall o' sound guitar work, but diverges in theme and tone.  The individual tracks trend from good to excellent, and there are a few sappy notes that Phillips hits, but the total package is definitely worth a listen.

Also check out: Glen's collaboration with Nickel Creek, Mutual Admiration Society.  

4. Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die

This band's second release, This Side, is the one that gets all the fanfare, but frankly, this is their best album, and probably the one that cements their place in the folk/bluegrass genre as real mucisians, and not just young kids with instruments.

Also check out: Duh.  Mutual Admiration Society

3. Damien Rice - O

Rice's melancholy and cynical lamentations are the sort of thing you just have to listen to again and again and again, something not hurt by Lisa Hannigan's raspy, haunting vocals backing them up.  This is the sort of album that takes you by surprise when you buy after hearing "The Blower's Daughter" or "Delicate" on tv and discover that neither of those songs are the best on the album.

Also check out: The Annuals - Respondez.   

2. Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance

This is one of those things that I bought on a whim, and it completely blew my mind.  I've been whoring this disc out to anybody who will listen to it.  Poppy, Jazzy, Sultry, and Sad all at the same time.  

Also check out: Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine.  Her best album yet.  Worth the wait.

1. Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman

This is a perfect disc.  It's reminiscent of Elton John at his peak, and maybe even transcends that comparison.

Also check out: Ben Folds - Songs For Goldfish.  This has an amazing Lucinda Williams cover, some great live songs, and a pair of Japanese radio ads.  It's a no-brainer.

Honorable mentions, in no particular order
Coldplay - X&Y
Elvis Costello - The Delivery Man
Lori McKenna - Bittertown
Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
Liz Phair - Somebody's Miracle
The Decemberists - Picaresque