Many of my favorite bands didn’t release new records this year, so I’d have to say I was a bit disappointed with 2009 overall. Still, there were plenty of gems worth purchasing.

It’s also interesting how many live albums showed up on my list. I enjoy live albums when bands add something new to the performance over the studio versions, so you can assume that any live discs that made my list have that element in common.

Without further ado, please enjoy my favorites from the past year. Let me know what you think, and please suggest anything you think I might enjoy. Continue Reading »

Dymus passed me this great chart linking music tastes to SAT scores.

I’m not sure whether listening to certain bands affects your scores or whether people of a certain score range share similar music tastes, but I don’t think this project is all that scientific anyway. Regardless, it’s a pretty sure bet you can use something on this chart to point out to a buddy how dumb he is.

Biggest shocker: I was certain Kelly Clarkson would have higher appeal among Rhodes Scholars.

I’ve long ago lost the ego to think that I can tell you what the “best” music of any given year is. Music is far too personal a thing for one blogger to tell you what is good and what isn’t.

What I can do, however, is list my favorite music of the year. Hopefully what I write will be descriptive enough to encourage you to buy (as in pay cash money for) some of these albums, whether physical or digital copies. I don’t need to remind you that the music business is in dire straits as it seeks to reinvent itself, and the one thing we don’t want to see happen is that it becomes economically impossible for great artists to make a living doing what they do best. So please, buy some of this stuff. Albums listed after the break.

Continue Reading »

My first post-high school job was in a record store. And I do mean a record store. Every Sunday I took inventory of our vinyl LPs so that Daryl, our manager, could send the weekly restock order in.

Though over my lifetime I have bought more CDs than albums (heresy!), I love records. I spent over a decade working in record stores, and if I ever win the lottery or strike it rich in this silly games business I will open my own record store and live out my days quite happily.

That’s why the story of Paul Mawhinney makes me sick and sad and wishing like hell I had $3 million and a place to store his incredible collection of vinyl. I mean, this is literally a historic treasure we’re talking about here. The thought that he can’t find a buyer for it stuns me beyond belief.

Mawhinney is absolutely right that there is something magical and inspiring about playing a record album. Besides the distinctive sound, it’s the extra care they require. You have to love an LP for it to survive the years. You have to be tender to it. You have to love it, and Paul has done that time and time again with his collection. You can see it in his face and hear it in his voice. Playing an album is a ritual, and we are a culture in desperate need of rituals.

Somebody somewhere has to step up and buy this collection. Give Paul Mawhinney the money he is due so he can live out his days happy and content, knowing that his life’s work will be enjoyed and appreciated for all time.

I’d do it in a heartbeat. Or thirty-three and a third of them.

Thankfully, David Cook won American Idol. After last night’s all-out performance by Archie, I was resigned to seeing the younger David winning the year. Perhaps Simon’s harsh comments actually motivated more viewers to come out on behalf of Mr. Cook. In any case, the right man won.

When I saw the finale was going to be two hours long, I had no intention of watching anything except the last 15 minutes. Of course, I ended up watching the whole thing, and it was actually enjoyable. It was nice to see members of the top twelve who hadn’t been around in a while, and most of the “star” appearances were tasteful.

But come on, be honest: Does anyone actually think that Mike Myers movie looks at all funny? The trailers are painful to watch.

That aside, tonight was the culmination of a good season. I’ll be back next year.

Now the summer season starts with tomorrow night’s kickoff of So You Think You Can Dance, which is actually one of my favorite reality shows.

Yeah, I watch too much TV. Hope my copy of Age of Conan gets here soon.

So yeah, I watch American Idol. The show is funny at the start of the season, and you end up getting wrapped up in how the contestants do each week. Top 40 isn’t my thing, but you have to admire the talent of a lot of these people.

That said, the show is just a TV show to me. I haven’t bought any Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken records (honest!), and I pretty much forget who was on previous seasons. But for the first time, there are people on the show this season whose albums I would actually buy: Jason Castro, David Cook, and Brooke White.

Castro has the exact kind of voice and manner I usually buy, so as long as he holds to a singer-songwriter vibe I’m there. Cook is ready to be a rock star right now, and as long as he doesn’t get saddled with some 100-year-old producer who tries to drag him into pop hell he should make a great record. And Brooke’s voice is just startlingly beautiful; she could sing the instruction manual for a cake decorating kit and put tears in your eyes.

I’ve already bought a few songs via their in-studio iTunes performances: Castro’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Cook’s “Billie Jean” and “Eleanor Rigby,” and Brooke’s “Jolene.” That cross-marketing thing has to be a goldmine for them.

In other TV news, Hell’s Kitchen continues to be the best thing ever. I try to model my management style after Gordon Ramsay, as Shwayder will attest.

One of my all-time favorite bands, American Music Club, releases a new album this week called The Golden Age. Haven’t heard anything from it yet, but I will be in line at the record store to pick it up.

(Yes, you heartless young bastards, I buy CDs. I don’t buy MP3s unless I have no choice but to do so. I’m stubborn; bite me.)

Like me, singer Mark Eitzel is a sardonic old man. I find that charming. Unlike me, he’s a clever songwriter. I’m also quite certain he can drink me under the table.

The band is known for their meditations on the downtrodden and disenfranchised, but don’t call them emo. Here’s a snippet from the AMC site to tell you why.

Of course there are many reasons why. 1) AMC refutes the label of ‘Emo Pioneers’. For the record they hate Emo and have never been on the soundtrack for any W.B. network show. (yet) 2) Dark music is for people who are healthy enough to take it – and AMC want to appeal to all people – including the sick. 3) Mark Eitzel comments: “What will my neighbors in my retirement community think? How will I charm the nurse that tends to me? I want to fill my mouth with sugar and spit it on everyone when I talk. I want to cover the world with chocolate cake icing.”

In case you’re too lazy to follow the link to their site to check them out, I shall use the magic of the internet to embed a gaggle of their songs for you to check out. If you don’t like them now, wait until your next relationship ends, get really drunk, and give them another go. Trust me on that one. Continue Reading »

When I was a snotty record store employee (instead of a snotty game designer), I used to make up lists of what I considered to be the best albums of each year. It’s one of the things record store people are best at… like sneering.

These days I don’t pretend to be the authority on which music is best, but I can at least post some of the records I listened to a lot this year. The following appear in no particular order. Continue Reading »

High school isn’t a great experience for most people, and I was no exception. It’s not that I was particularly tortured or anything, at least not more than any other kid. But I was still feeling pain from my parents’ divorce a few years before and was living in a small town thousands of miles away from the friends I’d grown up with, so it wasn’t a great time for me.

One thing that made it more bearable was music. I could slip on my headphones during study hall, and for that hour the rest of the day didn’t matter. The tapes (yes, I mean cassette tapes) I played most were Synchronicity by the Police and Sting’s The Dream of the Blue Turtles. I literally wore out multiple copies of each. Sting could write a tune as catchy as anything else on the radio but his lyrics were a lot smarter, tapping into feelings of isolation and pain with which my teen angst could identify. Continue Reading »

Last Saturday I went to my first concert in Boston – the Decemberists at the Avalon. One of the few groups that blends pop melodies with Civil War ghost stories and sea shanties, I think they’re pretty much the Best Band Working these days.

It was an awesome show. This was the first time I’d seen the Decemberists, and they were every bit as fun and engaging as I’d hoped they would be. Next to a They Might Be Giants show I’d seen in San Diego, this concert had the highest nerd per capita ratio I’ve ever experienced (though I’ve been to Rush concerts with a higher overall population of nerds, there was a higher ratio of nerds to hipsters at the Decemberists).

My next concert on the schedule is the Police in July, for which I payed a ridiculously stupid amount of money. That’s okay though. I don’t go to many concerts these days because I just don’t enjoy the process of going to crowded venues much anymore. Having spent over a decade working in music retail, I’ve been to more shows than I could ever count, ranging from tiny clubs to huge stadiums. These days it has to be something pretty special to draw me out of my isolationist cocoon, and the reunion of the Police qualifies.