“Transgender Dysphoria Blues” - Against Me!
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No song was a more forceful statement of self than this, the opening track of the first Against Me! album since lead singer Laura Jane Grace began her transformation from man to woman. It is packed with a righteous rage, the entire album a gigantic middle finger to everyone that questions the manner in which Grace leads her life. And yet, it also rings with an optimism and a profound sense of liberation.
“Gimme Something Good” - Ryan Adams
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This was the soundtrack of my summer, something I heard every 90 minutes or so while we were lounging in the water at the lake. Which made perfect sense, because it has a timeless sound that would have let it fit perfectly into playlists from about any summer of the last 40 years. A song made for singing along to while riding in cars packed with friends, while chilling at the pool, or while grilling your dinner on warm nights.
Back again to fill in a couple hot sports takes between favorite songs entries.
Bill Self Issues a Fatwa Against Mock Drafts Last Saturday KU coach Bill Self, after responding to a question about how well Kelly Oubre had played against Utah, railed against the numerous mock NBA drafts that dot the Internet. He said they hurt more people than they help by building unrealistic expectations for young college players.
“Lights Out” - Angel Olsen
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I’ll write more about my favorite albums of the year next week, but this comes from one of my absolute favorites. And it stands out on a disk full of fine songs. Most of Burn Your Fire For No Witness is focused on pain and loneliness and longing to heal.
While this song certainly matches the tone of its album-mates, the lyrics set it apart.
“Run Forever” Emma Ruth Rundle
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I’m a sucker for a song like this. It is equal parts beautiful and haunting. It is as unsettling as it is comforting. Is it a plea or a warning? There’s a delicious tension to the music and vocals that prevents these differences from ever resolving.
Come on my love take cover with me We can be gone and there’s no one we need Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls 16 - “Milwaukee” - The Both 15 - “New Skin” - Torres 14 - “Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands 13 - “Fall In Love” - Phantogram 12 - “Spinners” - The Hold Steady 11 - “Rent I Pay” - Spoon 10 - “Teenage Wasteland” - Wussy 9 - “Goshen ’97” - Strand Of Oaks 8 - “Lazaretto” - Jack White 7 - “Honey Do” - Beverly 6 - “Head Underwater” - Jenny Lewis
“Head Underwater” - Jenny Lewis
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You can’t write about Jenny Lewis without throwing out the obligatory mention of how her music sounds straight out of the 1970s. Her songs would have fit in nicely with all the stuff we heard from the backseat of our parents cars.[1] Sun-drenched, breath-taking, AM-radio pop that owes a huge debt to Fleetwood Mac.
The beautiful sounds Lewis fills her songs with have always masked deeply honest, often painful, and occasionally dark lyrics.
“Honey Do” - Beverly
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Sometimes the simplest songs have the biggest impact. Twenty words. Chugging guitars and pounding drums. Gorgeous harmonies. Combined, it turns into sheer beauty.
Tell me your oldest memory Yes I will keep it Oh honey do Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls 16 - “Milwaukee” - The Both 15 - “New Skin” - Torres 14 - “Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands 13 - “Fall In Love” - Phantogram 12 - “Spinners” - The Hold Steady 11 - “Rent I Pay” - Spoon 10 - “Teenage Wasteland” - Wussy 9 - “Goshen ’97” - Strand Of Oaks 8 - “Lazaretto” - Jack White
Nine days out, the holiday tension is getting thick at our house.
Shortly after our tree went up, the girls began making presents for each other and putting them under the tree. They were mostly paintings and drawings, but everything was placed into a gift bag or wrapped in a box so they looked like any other gift.
They decided last week that waiting until Christmas to open them was dumb, so they tore them all open.
“Lazaretto” - Jack White
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White’s Lazaretto was perhaps the most disappointing album of the year. He seemed disinterested and unfocused. Thankfully, he was locked in on a few tracks, notably this absolute beast of a song that stands with the best things he’s ever done.
When I say nothing, I say everything Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls 16 - “Milwaukee” - The Both 15 - “New Skin” - Torres 14 - “Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands 13 - “Fall In Love” - Phantogram 12 - “Spinners” - The Hold Steady 11 - “Rent I Pay” - Spoon 10 - “Teenage Wasteland” - Wussy 9 - “Goshen ’97” - Strand Of Oaks
“Goshen ’97” - Strand Of Oaks
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We’re getting closer to the music that defined my year, much of which harkened back to the music of my youth. While this song looks back to the ‘90s rather than ‘80s, I certainly appreciate the intent.
Indiana native Timothy Showalter put together an amazing album, much of it focused on he and his wife’s failures in their marriage. But he kicked it off with this roaring track, which features some heroic guitar work by J.
Week #2 of the countdown means we’re on to the Top 10…
“Teenage Wasteland” - Wussy
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Songs about falling in love with music will always be made. But are we at the end of the age of songs like this? Songs about living in rural America and having your life changed by amazing music that rolls in on the radio waves from distant cities? “Kids these days, with their Interwebs and their file sharing…”
“Rent I Pay” - Spoon youtu.be/NOPfmfRVW…
I’ll entertain arguments that all Spoon songs kind of sound the same. But the thing is, they’re almost always really freaking good. It’s good to hear them recapture their old swagger after a couple albums with slightly different sounds.
And if that’s your answer no I ain’t your dancer Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls 16 - “Milwaukee” - The Both 15 - “New Skin” - Torres 14 - “Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands 13 - “Fall In Love” - Phantogram 12 - “Spinners” - The Hold Steady
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“Christmas Medley” - Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra
What happens when a couple of P-I-M-P-S get together over the holidays? Magic, that’s what happens.
“Spinners” - The Hold Steady
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The Hold Steady will never again be as good as during their three-album run from 2005–2008. But they still write great songs, like this ode to getting out and trying to put heartbreak behind you. Or, put the ball in play, as some of us used to say.
The nights go on forever now But the morning comes up quick. Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls 16 - “Milwaukee” - The Both 15 - “New Skin” - Torres 14 - “Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands 13 - “Fall In Love” - Phantogram
“Fall In Love” - Phantogram
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Phantogram describes their music as “darkadelic,” which strikes me as perfect. Electro-rock with heavy psychedlic influences, their sound is dark and dense. Throw on lyrics that speak about the hopeless side of love, and their songs aren’t terribly uplifting. But damn do they sound great.
Bonus points: If I had to have a crush on someone in this year’s countdown, it would be lead singer Sarah Barthel.
So one morning last week I’m on my way home after dropping the girls off at St. P’s. I’m flipping through my stored channels on SirriusXM and not having much luck finding something to listen to.
Until I hit channel 8, the 80s station. There, I hear that familiar church organ dirge, followed by some of the most recognizable first words of a song/album in rock history,
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life… My hand shot to the volume knob and cranked it up.
“Seasons (Waiting On You)” - Future Islands
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Sometimes great songs get an extra push from a video or nationally televised performance. This is a fine example of that phenomenon, as the band’s performance on Letterman last spring nearly broke the Internet.[1]
But that performance should not hide that this is a great song even without Samuel T. Herring’s wacky stage presence. It is a simple, yet forceful, statement on the perils of trying to change, or change for, someone that you love.
“New Skin” - Torres
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A song I absolutely fell in love with back in February. This was part of Weathervane Records’ Shaking Through project, in which they document the entire creative process as a song is written and recorded. For this, they took Torres, Mackenzie Scott’s stage name, and added two members of The War On Drugs (Adam Granduciel and David Hartley), Sharon Van Etten, and Chris Wilson of Ted Leo & The Parmacists.
A few quick, very hot, sports takes.
CFP As an alum of the University of Kansas, I generally root for chaos when it comes to determining a college football champion. So I was pleased that there was much controversy surrounding college football’s first final four. What happened, with Ohio State leap-frogging[1] TCU and holding off Baylor after they pounded Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game, is what happens all-too-often when the NCAA basketball bracket is being put together: a game played the last weekend is given entirely too much weight in relation to the rest of the season.
“Milwaukee” - The Both
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Take two legends of power pop, put them together, and magic ensues. Aimee Mann and Ted Leo sound like they’ve been playing together for decades, and their differing backgrouns (Mann coming from art rock, Leo from punk) compliment each other nicely. Bonus points for the nicely done video.
It’s the nucleus burning inside of the cell Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems 17 - “Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls
“Too True To Be Good” - Dum Dum Girls
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DDG changed their sound a little for this year’s Too True release. They left behind the fuzzy, garage-rock sound of their first three albums for a darker, post-punk sound that is firmly rooted in the early–1980s. While making the musical change, Dee Dee did not lose her ability to write a terrific hook.
It’s hard to outrun a devil from behind Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells 18 - “We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems
“We Only Come Out At Night” - Sugar Stems
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I reserve one spot each year for a pure pop gem. This song lives up to the band’s name, sweet as sugar.
Go ahead and run your mouth if you think it’ll make people think you’re smarter You always thought you knew it all anyway Previously: 20 - “Black And White” - Parquet Courts 19 - “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells
Over the weekend C. brought home a story she had written in class with instructions for the weekend. We were supposed to read it with her, then rewrite it to take out grammatical errors so she could record it in class on Monday.
Which is a good thing.
Her story, which was based on the Nutcracker, featured one very concerning spelling error. After Princess C.’s brother broke the Nutcracker she received for Christmas, C.
“I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” - School Of Seven Bells covering Joey Ramone
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Normally I disqualify covers from my year end lists. But occasionally I make an exception.
And no, it’s not a cover of THAT song.
Rather, this is a wonderful cover of a song that Joey Ramone wrote while he was battling lymphoma, a disease that would eventually kill him. School of Seven Bells founding member Benjamin Curtis was diagnosed with the same disease in 2013.
I know many of you have been waiting all year for this, and it is finally here. Yes, time to unveil my 20 favorite songs of the past year. Rather than share the entire list up front and then post videos/audio files and comments for each one, I’m going Casey Kasem on you and unveiling them one at a time.
Many of these were featured as Friday Vids over the past year, so some should be familiar.
A lot of links to share since I didn’t get around to it last week.
First, what major city has the most unpredictable weather? Kansas City is No. 1, with Indy four spots behind.
Which City Has The Most Unpredictable Weather?
Joe Posnanski had a couple fine pieces of writing over the last two weeks. This one, profiling what life is like for former NFL player Priest Holmes, is wonderful and scary.
youtu.be/bjQzJAKxT… “Do They Know It’s Christmas” - Band Aid We begin our three weeks of holiday songs with one of the more maligned songs in the modern Christmas song canon. Are the lyrics cheesy? Yes. Are some of the assertions about Africa factually incorrect? Yep? Is the drama cranked about a few notches too high? Of course.
But, come on. The New Wave/New Romantic sounds defined the pop music of the first half of the 1980s.
Man, have we had trouble getting the girls to put Christmas lists together this year. In years past, we normally had detailed lists from all three well before Thanksgiving. Followed by daily updates.
This year, though, has been much harder. L. gave us a list about a week ago. C. and M. both started lists, but they kept disappearing or were never handed over. One day last week, when I asked the girls if they had their lists ready, M.
Another busy month. Four books, three of them good, two very good. I’ve been saying this for years, but I really should write down my thoughts on each one when I finish them, rather than waiting until the end of the month. My apologies for the disjointed thoughts and fuzzy memories on a couple of these.
The Facades - Eric Lundgren This was the one book I did not enjoy, which was a bummer.
Yes, that hallowed holiday tradition is back. It’s time for the first Holiday Jihad of 2014!
This one just baffles me. Last week I added my annual bookmark for the site Christmas TV Schedule, so I can be sure to record the best shows of the season. I scrolled through to find the highlights and noticed one show in particular was hard to find. I hit Command-F[1], typed in “Grinch,” and reviewed the results.