smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Mike Gladish <mgladish@gmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: audities-digest V6 #373 (5 msgs) |
| Date | Mon, 4 Jan 2010 00:26:20 -0500 |
[Part 1 text/plain ISO-8859-1 (4.1 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
My top 20 for 2009:
1. Chris Richards - Sad Sounds of Summer. Having followed Chris for
many years, I was amazed yet again at this strong outing - each seems
to get better as he goes along. Beefy guitars, great harmonies and
quality songwriting. Consolation and Sunny Day do it for me, though I
don't hear a dud in the bunch.
2. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown. Continuing to mine past
influences, just like most of their predecessors. Still continue to
hook me until I reach the saturation point of overplay (radio).
3. Cheap Star - Speaking Like an Elephant. Did anyone ever read
Thinner by Richard Bachman? Turned out it was Stephen King. Well,
I'd like to see these guys and the Posies playing in the same room at
the same time. If it is the Posies, they should have saved this
material for their next release. Unlike King's stuff as Bachman, this
material is top notch.
4. Tommy Keene - In the Late Bright. Another great, more diverse set
from Mr. Keene. Played Secret Life of Stories and Realize Your Mind
most. Glad to see he's still hooked up with Robert Pollard -
hopefully they will do another disk together.
5. Paranoid Lovesick - Tuxedo Avenue Breakdown. A long overdue set
of the last things they were working on, along with a few remixes and
rarities/oddities. Certainly a good album buried in here.
Marganilia, Ballad of PL, Star Crossed and Carried Away are solid
efforts, as well as work with Lisa Mychols on Thrall and Orbit. Saw
the group put on a solid show where they reformed and broke up during
the same gig, in true PL form. Also released Suburban Pop Allegro,
which is more raw, although it contains Superclean, one of my faves
and a rare song that references Triptophan. Track down Bill and the
guys on My Space.
6. The Church - Untitled #23. Best effort in years from the Aussie
space-meisters (former pop-meisters). Loved Deadman's Hand and the
bass line in Pangaea.
7. Fastball - Little White Lies.
8. Superdrag - Industry Giants. Aspartame did it for me (the song,
not the additive). Davis tossed in a few tasty slow numbers (Live and
Breathe - Try), as well as the rockers. Not as good as I would have
wanted, but still better than most stuff. Live, they still kicked at
the Nashville CD release gig.
9. Sherwood - QU.
10. James Maddock - Sunrise on Avenue C. Former Wood leader solo.
Mature stuff - yes, I've over 50 - no scoffing.
11. John Hampson - Shiny New Album. Front man of Nine Days solo -
couldn't wait for the group, although this collection is a little
lighter than they've done.
12. Tinted Windows - S/T.
13. Bleu - A Watched Pot. At times funny, crazy, but always well
done. Best ballad to an "ex" I've ever heard, too.
14. Blue Rodeo - Picked up the import - ambitious double disk with a
good mix of ballads, twang and pop for their fans - and anyone else,
too.
15. The Damnwells - One Last Century. Stumbled on to this one
recently and can't get it out of the player. Bastard of Midnight
brings back great memories of the Gin Blossoms heyday.
16. Matthew Sweet - Sunshine Lies. I was really looking forward to
this one. Even bought the double album, which was exquisite (the
artwork and disks). Again, I expected much more. Byrdgirl was good,
Sunshine Lies interesting, and Feel Fear is one of his best ballads,
but the rest was bland to me. The bonus tracks on the LP were duds.
Hopefully better next time for one of my all-time faves.
17. Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend. He's best on his own.
18, Mat Kearney - City of Black and White.
19. Matthew Ryan - Dear Lover. Stark stuff - works well with a drink or three.
20. Pete Yorn - Back and Forth.
Not as much pop as I'm used to (with my nagging Rickenbacker
addiction), but still an interesting year. I still miss: Adam
Schmitt, Velvet Crush, Brian Leach, Eric Voeks, The Dangtrippers,
Dreams So Real - but, as I age, my memories grow fonder for music I
enjoyed.
BTW, if you didn't hear, this group called the Beatles released a few
CDs this year. Pretty cool stuff - I'm still digesting it, but you
might want to check it out.
Take care. Make 2010 great on your own - don't wait for someone to do
it for you.
Mike
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.