Updated 1/4: More consolidation, so I can get the rest of it together while I post a my top 20! Enjoy this.
100.
The Hold Steady - "Constructive Summer" (2008) _ I really appreciate how Craig Finn & Co kept their heads in check despite all the music press
worship and sellout crowds they received during the latter half of this decade. This is a major love letter to the Minneapolis
scene, including nods to Husker Du (hells yes) and the Dillinger Four (hell yeahs).
99. The White Stripes
- "Fell in Love with a Girl" (2001) _ Actually, the same case as the Hold Steady. No one will ever forget
the White Stripes. And this video! Dear Godcrapjesus the video!
98. The Avalanches - "Frontier Psychiatrist" (2001)
_ "And he also made false teeth." A sample quiche that gives you a stomach ache but it's worth it.
97. Future of the Left - "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You" (2008) _ Undeniable stomp and thick-ass key chords from Welsh playahataz. The ending's annoying but the first
two minutes are so asskickingly good.
96. Blink-182 - "The Rock Show" (2001) _ It became cool to hate this band, especially after they polluted the pop-punkosphere with Enema
of the State, but Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was a legitimately good pop-punk album, and this single is
about as good as anything they did pre-MTV success.
95. They Might Be Giants - "Man, It's So Loud in Here!" (2001) _ Random techno-ey song from Mink Car that I love. TMBG in Rochester with OKGO in the fall
of that year was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
94. Supergrass - "Grace" (2002) _ Pound for pound, the best band to emerge from the Britpop era, and they kept chugging along right
through this decade. I'm still excited to see what they come up with in the next one.
93. Charlotte Hatherly
- "Behave" (2007) _ Ash's secret weapon sets out and makes a decent album, led by a completely fantastic first single.
It's not like anyone doubted Charlotte's talent, but this is easily the best single thing she's played on yet that didn't
have Tim Wheeler hogging the spotlight.
92. Portishead - "Machine Gun" (2008) _ One of the decade's greatest comebacks, easily. Beth Gibbons sounds kind of decrepid but who cares.
This song's got such a thrashing beat it makes your heart thump along.
91. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
- "Little Dawn" (2005) _ Again with the quality tunes, Ted! You should be Mayor of cooltown, only cool people allowed to invest
in real estate. It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, etc…
90. Andrew W.K. - "She is
Beautiful" (2001) _ Andy was always a born romantic.
89. Dillinger 4 - "Gainesville" (2008) _ One of the greatest bands in the world shows us what maturity sounds like from a pop-punk band whose
bassist will wear a white garter thong in front of a massive crowd in Baltimore. Yes, I'm still washing my eyes.
88. Tom Waits - "Everything Goes to Hell" (2002) _ "There's a few things that I never could belieeeeeve…" The misanthrope's anthem.
87. Basement Jaxx feat. JC Chasez - "Plug It In" (2003) _ One of the best, spot-on
dance singles, complete with N'SYNC's Horshack on vocals. (Timberlake was the Barbarino, for anyone keeping track).
85. Decemberists -
"The Soldiering Life" (2003) _ I can't listen to this band anymore for whatever reason, but I was really into them during their
Kill Rock Stars era, and this was my favorite song.
84. Brand New - "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" (2003) _ Ah, 2003, I shall dub thee "year of those punk/emo songs with great screaming choruses that
always have some other guy screaming another layer in the background on vocals."
83. The Strokes
- "12:51" (2003) _ A buncha rich pricks from New York who were recipients of the decade's first "hyped to shit"
award, but made some quality tunes. This one's magnetic as all hell.
82. The Killers - "Mr. Brightside" (2003) _ I don't know why SPIN magazine was on Brandon Flowers' nutsack for the middle part of this decade.
The Killers aren't that good but this song owns your face. It's the runner up for "song you can tell is going to be amazing
before 0:01" of the decade.
81. Estelle feat. Kanye West - "American Boy" (2007) _ The chorus' jazzy vocals elevated this above a whole lot of terrible pop songs this second half of
the decade. Estelle's chorus is so good. If this were the first time I heard Kanye West rap, I would be convinced he was retarded.
80. The Divine Comedy - "A Lady of a Certain Age" (2004) _ You should just put this in the dictionary next to "chamber pop" cause it don't get more prototypical
than this. Neil Hannon is the master, and old rich women get made fun of. A win-win if you ask me. 79.
The Shins - "Mine's Not a High Horse" (2004) _ It's that band that everyone and their fucking grandfather loved once Natalie Portman and Zach Braff
drooled all over them in that dumb, overrated movie about hipsters. That's right, SAW IV. Seriously, though "Chutes Too
Narrow" is pretty great.
78. The Futureheads - "Carnival Kids" (2004) _ Vocal harmonies are just as good now with some bands as they ever were, I think.
77. Scissor Sisters - "Filthy/Gorgeous" (2004) _ This is so gay, the video makes “Relax” look like a hunting trip. The song thumps and the chorus
is brilliant.
76. Weezer - "Simple Pages" (2001) _ I didn't know Weezer were on a major descent into mediocrity at this point, but this was my favorite song
on their "comeback" green album. Stop hating Rivers Cuomo, he's crazy but still misunderstood.
75. Travis - "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" (2001) _ It really is exactly what the title suggests, oddly enough. Makes you wonder if every band should
have an orchestra handy. It's basically the Scots doing what they do best, which they haven't for a couple of albums since,
unfortunately.
74. The Bouncing Souls - "Manthem" _ For a lot of high school, this band was the world to me. Over the course of this decade, I kept in touch,
but this was their final moment at the center of my universe. BROS! AM I RIGHT?
73. Spank Rock - "What It Look Like" (2006) _ I was really impressed when I saw these guys open for MIA in '05. Not as impressed after that, but
I did learn a lot about the importance of vaginas from their lyrics. I should expect as much from Baltimore House. This is
the Spank Rock team's best song.
72. The Urge - "Too Much Stereo" (2000) _ Strange how a lot of ska bands turned their back on ska before their fans did. The last great moment
the dread'd Steve Ewing and co. had before dissolving along with the 20th century.
71. Tim Armstrong -
"Into Action" (2007) _ More ska! Tim Armstrong aged about 30 years in these last 10, but proved several more times how talented
he is. The artsy dub album we'd been waiting for.
70. Outkast - "Ghettomusick" (2003) _ This marked the end of "Outkast" as a duo, and I dug Big Boi's side much more than Andre's.
This song was a shining example of how Boi played out edgy while Andre just dressed that way.
69. I'm
From Barcelona - "We're from Barcelona" (2006) _ Emmanuel Lundgren should publish a book of the email chains
among this band leading up to each gig, and this video shoot. There's something really otherworldly about this video, probably
because it's (intentionally?) poorly done. Anyway, this song is Swedish blisspop happytime.
68. The Very Best - "Julia" (2009) _ JULIA! JULIA! This is pretty much prototypical happy-good-time-fun music. White (I think) British
producers team up with a black British singer who's got the lingo and dialect all nailed.
67. At the
Drive-In - "Invalid Litter Dept." (2000) _ I really don't like the Mars Volta or Sparta. Does that make me like this one on account of nostalgia?
Possibly. But it's frantic and dramatic but not overwrought. At the Drive-In's time had come, I guess. The video will spoil
your good mood but it's great.
66. Jurassic 5 - "The Influence" (2001) _ I feel like I missed this song in 1,000 McDonald's commercials for some reason. A great, bouyant
beat and I think all 5 members have their say here. "My gift of gab should be sold in bags." Nice.
65. Radiohead - "All I Need" (2007) _ You may have never heard of this band, but they gave away an album for free! OMGLOLZ. This was the
best track on there; soothing, some moog action, then it starts crashing on you like a rising tide. If water were mildly disturbing
but pretty music. Same case with the video.
64. LCD Soundsystem - "New York, I Love You But You're
Bringing Me Down" (2007) _ I maintain my opinion that Brooklyn is both the bastion and detritus of American
pop culture, but James Murphy always finds himself on the right side of it. This is a gorgeous piano-charged love letter to
his hometown where he lets it all loose. Plus, the video has Kermit!
63. Guided by Voices - "My Kind of Soldier" (2004) _ Robert Pollard is the Ernest Hemingway of indie rock. I stand by that statement. This is the best
song of the 19,589 that he published this decade.
62. A.C. Newman - "Drink to Me, Babe, Then" (2004) _ The New Pornos are good but not great. This solo stab from their frontman is outstanding, and the
most effective use of whistles this decade.
61. Jimes - "Bunk Bed" (2005) _ Hard to describe to anyone who doesn't know Brandon Ivey. It's everything that a rock star should
not be, and a 100% true story told with shrieks and a chorus that you can't not laugh at.
60. Sufjan
Stevens - "For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" (2003) _ This guy blew the f up right after this record simmered for a few months. This was my favorite song
on there, sheer simplicity and banjo'd hooks.
59. Interpol - "Obstacle 1" (2002) _ Killer, one-note chorus and definitive track from NYC Joy Division ripoffs. Ian Curtis would be proud,
and then still call them twats.
58. Andrew Bird - "Fake Palindromes" (2005) _ I saw him open for the Magnetic Fields in 2004. I couldn't understand one word he mumbled between
his looped and sampled songs where he played everything virtuostically. A big step forward for classically trained indie pop
stars, this song was the most impressive piece of music he recorded.
57. Delay - "71N" (2007) _ Adorable twins from Ohio who make pop-punk and eschew mainstream success make a song that makes me
wonder why they eschew mainstream success. Oh, yeah, the whole evil stuff, and their music might start sucking thing. Nice
to know some people still care.
56. Outkast - "B.O.B." (2000) _ I think Pitchfork likes this song. It's pretty intense and barrier-shattering, after all. I'll never
forget watching my friends Mike and Will attempt this song in my high school's lip sync contest in 2001.
55.
The National - "Apartment Story" (2007) _ If the Doors were an indie rock band sequestered on the other side of the millenial break, this is
what they'd sound like. Catchy, brooding, and seductive but still damn depressing.
54. Lykki Li - "Little
Bit" (2007) _ Swedish pixie owned my brain the first time I heard this song! And she will owns yours, too.
53. Fucked Up - "Magic Word" (2008) _ ROOOAAAAARRRRR. Bongos fit into the hardcore framework perfectly, and gentle giant "Pink Eyes"
Abraham brings the fury. His sliced-throat "all-riiiiiigggghhhhtttt" at the end makes a perfect, visceral coda.
52. Les Savy Fav - "The Sweat Descends" (2004) _ Tim Harrington should win some type of "frontman of the decade" award. So he can smash
the award over his head onstage sometime while the band doesn't pay any attention. WAKE ME UP WHEN WE GET TO HEAVEN [ANGULAR
GUITARS IN YO FAAAAACE]
51. Art Brut - "Emily Kane" (2005) _ Art
Brut brought GOOD irony back to indie rock, and this is the best song I've ever heard, lyrically, at least, about not being
able to get over your first crush.
50. Rivethead - "In My Heart a Warehouse Burns"
(2004) _ “I love you just as much as I hate the man” is the most brilliant line ever written in a pop-punk
song. Is this a pop-punk song about political things, or is this a political song about pop-punk things (read: cheesy romance)?
It successfully skewers both whilst rocking for less than one and a half minutes. This is probably the shortest-lived band
on this list; the members splintered off to other twin cities punk bands after they put out one 12”.
49. Ash - "Burn, Baby, Burn" (2002) _ I followed this obscure (to Yanks) North-Irish band ever since my mid-adolescence, until I first
saw the video for "Burn Baby Burn," and said, "Holy crap. This is it. Ash are finally going to make it here."
Turns out, they didn't. And now, according to some Londoner record clerks, they can't get arrested anymore in the UK, either.
Too bad. At any rate, this is the kind of straight-forward power-pop song that would lead you to believe they're going to
be huge.
48. Hot Water Music - "Trusty Chords" (2002) _ Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard make their guitars swirl and bounce around each other, and they figure
out a perfect revamped formula for the 00's.
47. N.E.R.D. - "Lap Dance" (Both Versions) (2001) _ Pharrell produced a bunch of things with Chad Hugo. They were never good rappers,
but they had the good sense and enough skill to make a rock version that's actually just as good, if not better, than the
original. You guys remember Puff Daddy's song with Fuzzbubble? Didn't think so.
46. Dan Deacon - "The
Crystal Cat" (2007) _ Getting blown by two hot ninjas who are excellent at giving blowjobs is about half as
fun as experiencing a Dan Deacon performance party. And he looks like this! Nintendo and out-of-control vocal modulators in
your veins!
45. The Libertines - "Breck Rd. Boys in the Band" (2002) _ If I get a chance, this will be my first karoake song I ever do in the UK. Well, maybe something
by James, but who knows? The Libs could have not toughed it out to make a second record and the swagger would have endured
from this one.
44. The Boy Least Likely To - "Be Gentle With Me" (2005) _ Xylophones leading off the track bode relatively well, and then the bass drums kick in, along with
all of the other instruments that compose awesomeness.
43. The Sun - "Fell So Hard" (2002) _ I have no clue what happened to this band, since they were about as original as Jet were. But the
lead-off track on their decent EP is a complete scorcher, and it only reminds you of the spring when Rolling Stone decided
"Rock is Back!" for 2 minutes, so either way you win.
42. Quarashi - "Tarfur" (2002) _ I am not joking. Icelandic rap-metal seemed like a decent idea at the time, even if for just "Stick
'Em Up" and this slick number.
41. Ben Folds - "Zak and Sara" (2001) _ Remember when he busted up his band and made a solo album that was better than anything he did with
the BF5? This song makes me nostalgic for sophomore year of college.
40. Jimmy Eat World - "Your House" (2001) _ The album version of this song represents everything good about the mainstreaming of so-called "emo."
Acoustic guitars, shakers, and a menagerie of harmonies. Then the band got suck.
39. Junior Senior - "Move
Your Feet" (2003) _ New Jack swing refracted through a gay giant and straight midget from Denmark. DANCE, BITCH!
38. The Pipettes - "Pull Shapes" (2007) _ Kitsch, you say? Who gives a damn? Everyone still loves the early 60's girl groups for a reason.
The strings here are unbelievable.
37. The Spinto Band - "So Kind, Stacey" (2005) _ If a deli made a sandwich that tastes as good as this song sounds, I would buy that sandwich every
day and leave a nice tip in the jar by the register. Delaware's greatest song? Fuck George Thoroughgood.
36. LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" (2007) _ I haven't been as impressed that a piece of music got recorded as I was when I heard this gem from
Jim (Murphy). I can only imagine how long it took to get 7 minutes of piano banging that worked juuuuuust right.
35. The Ducky Boys - "Alone Tonight" (2006) _ Mark Lind's got this terrific rock n' roll growl, and this song pretty much just SOUNDS like Boston.
If you had roots there, you'd understand.
34. Bloc Party - "This Modern Love" (2005) _ Is it weird that this song makes me feel like Kele Okerere is hugging me? It is? You're a bunch of
liars.
32. Chinese Telephones - "Stay Around" (2007) _ Justin Telephone may be the most talented young gun in the pop-punk canon right now. Too bad his
band flaked on him and they broke up last year. Probably the best intro sequence of any punk song since Clinton got that beej.
31. The Gaslight Anthem - "Casanova, Baby!" (2008) _ Depending on your proximity (mentally or physically) to the Jersey shore, the Gaslight Anthem struck
like lightning in the latter part of this decade. The critical and commercial success of “the ’59 Sound”
meant a few things. People love that blue-collar sincerity of the Jersey sound (ref: Bruce Springsteen’s unflinchable
worldwide success), and the Gaslight Anthem’s next album will probably be watered down crap (ref: Jimmy Eat World’s
“Futures” which was their 2004 follow up to the 2001 lightning-bolt “Bleed American”). But for now,
we’ve got this killer track from “The 59 Sound” to remind us of just how good and how old-fashioned Tom
Fallon and his boys were.
30. The Long Blondes - "Once and Never Again" (2006) _ Singer Kate Jackson has a voice for this song that’s more than perfect. ’19, you’re
only 19, for god’s sake, oh, you don’t need a boyfriend.’ It’s a jangly, poppy, jumpy and quite British
ode to not sweating the small stuff, especially when you’re 19-20 and most prone to make bad life-choices that you can
actually get the hell out of. I’m disappointed I missed this band when they played the Rock n’ Roll Hotel. I think
their guitarist had a stroke, so they called it quits. Sad.
29. Dillinger Four - "Suckers Intl. Has Gone Public" (2000) _ After I saw D4 for the second time at the Ottobar, my friend’s brother walked up to me and
said that D4 were his favorite band on the planet. Reluctant to throw my hat completely into the ring, I said “I don’t
know if they’re my favorite band exactly, but I do think they’re one of the greatest bands in the world.”
I stand by that statement, and depending on the day of the week you ask me, they may be one of my favorite bands. I mean,
how else would a band essentially disintegrate for 5-6 years and reform at the top of the game at the end of this decade?
The full-length that came after Versus God crept its way into my favorite albums of the decade, but this, my favorite track
from my least favorite D4 album (don’t get me wrong, it’s still REALLY GOOD) absolutely rips and reminds of every
reason that D4 are as great as they are. Everything from the pithy but uber-clever song title down to the driving power chords
and Eric Funk’s one-of-a-kind vocals are here. Hooray for consistency.
28. The Libertines - "Can't Stand Me Now" (2004) _ I remember the moment I pledged to stop reading the Washington Post Express, if not the date. I was
on my way to work, probably sometime in 2006, and I was turning to the Crossword puzzle. I glanced at the celebrity crap-filler
page and saw a picture of a strung-out Pete Doherty, with the caption, “This guy is way better known in Britain.”
Really, caption writer who thinks they’re clever by passing off Pete Doherty as an overseas novelty that Americans shouldn’t
care about? That may have been the same month they were making jokes about nobody caring about hockey. Fast forward to 2009;
the Capitals are DC’s best sports team by a light year, and everyone still cares about Pete Doherty, even though he
isn’t fucking up left and right anymore. It’s because substance always obliterates style, and if there’s
one thing that Pete Doherty has…it’s… substance. Wait, that doesn’t work. All I know is that “Can’t
Stand Me Now” is one of about 2 or 3 great songs on the Libertines’ S/T album, and songs like it by Pete Doherty
and Carl Barat have stood the test of this fickle decade very well. Doherty’s massive popularity in the UK notwithstanding,
the Libertines has a massive impact on college radio in the early part of the decade for every good reason. Now, it’s
2009 and the quintessentially dysfunctional lads are patching up their differences. And I still read the Express when I don’t
have to go out of my way to get a copy. 27. Radon - "Rehab Barbie" (2006) _ Gainesville earned a valuable place in my heart this decade, between bands like Radon, Hot Water
Music, and I guess Against All Authority. I can’t really listen to Less Than Jake anymore but I have to give them a
little credit, too. I always preferred HWM but Radon have a sense of humor that can’t be messed with, and “Rehab
Barbie” is about as hilariously depressing as good songwriting comes, especially in the realm of sun-soaked No Idea
Records. The band responsible for “the only hard feelings that I’ve got are in my front pockets” (“Lying
to You”) paints a picture of both the person (a drunk, desperate cougar) and the experience (having to countenance sitting
next to a drunk, desperate cougar on a plane) in the catchiest way.
26. Wale - "The Crazy" (2008) _ For a city filled with sycophantic, apathetic philistines, DC has had, and contrary to some popular
belief, always had a vibrant music and arts scene trying to burst through the cracks. Everyone knows about harDCore, Duke
Ellington, and Chuck Brown. Soon enough, everyone will know Wale (wah-lay), the Max Levine Ensemble, and Magrudergrind, ideally.
But being more realistic, Oboluwale Folarin has the best shot at making it and blowing the district back into everyone’s
eyesight. The Mixtape About Nothing generated a lot of buzz, and “The Crazy” won me over completely with its beat,
present but not obnoxious level of braggadocio, and most importantly, his rhyming skill. Nothing really mindblowing about
it; it’s just a really good rap song. There’s something really sincere about him saying “I ain’t sayin’
I’m Nasir [Jones, aka Nas], I’m just sayin’ rap’s dead when I’m not here.”
25.
Jens Lekman - "A Postcard to Nina" (2007) _ I feel like I missed the boat on Jens Lekman, since I feel like my bookish, gentle Scandinavian songster
needs were fulfilled by Sondre Lerche for most of the decade. To be fair, Jens’ songwriting is a bit more eclectic.
This is one of the most outstanding, creative pieces I’ve songwriting I’ve heard in a very long time. Jens’
friend uses him to disguise the fact that she’s into chicks, and Jens has to undergo an inquisition by her father. The
way that Lekman delivers it, I can picture every scene playing out like in some sepia-toned short film about a dysfunctional
family. In short, it’s a work of art. With kick horns.
24. Gavin DeGraw - "Chariot" (2003) _ Is this one here for shock value? Well, no, but it does freak a lot of people out that I actually
like a song by the guy who did that shitty “I Don’t Wanna Be” song from TV. But this isn’t just any
song. It’s a reminder that there’s some hope for piano-driven adult contemporary radio. There just aren’t
that many Elton Johns, Phil Collinses, and Ben Foldses coming up anymore. Maroon 5 have had the right idea a few times but
can’t do anything right. Jason Mraz’s songs are getting to be less and less about, you know, things. Coldplay
suck. What we’re left with is one of the decade’s most rewarding, driving pieces of teen girl-bait that has enough
gospel sensibility to make anyone smile. I think it’s about moving to a big city from modest origins and needing to
escape. Whatever, the last 40 seconds could be about farting and still be majestic.
23. Andrew W.K. - "I Get Wet" (2001) _ WHEN IT’S TIME TO PARTY WE WILL PARTY HARD. There you have the words that defined every note
of Andrew Wilkes-Kriere’s bizarre musical career. People thought he was a one-note novelty, but unlike the cock-rock
that so many carelessly compared him to, he stayed relevant somehow, delivering film scores and classical piano pieces. Most
people will still remember him for his debut full-length, though, lyrics that either make no sense or are so bereft of nuances
it’s like he’s spelling them out for you while he yells them, and being soaked pretty much constantly. The album’s
title track doesn’t close it out, but it’s one of the best “we’ve just kicked some ass and now we’re
going home” triumphant crushers I’ve heard. 22. So Many Dynamos - "Search Party" (2006) _ In surveying the effect that Brainiac and the Dismemberment Plan had on hundreds of thousands of
young people aspiring to create electronically fringed, spazzy bands of their own, one need look no further than St. Louis’
So Many Dynamos. The amount of crap the Dynamos have been through in their treacherous years on the road, including two rolled
vans and a massive equipment theft, is pretty astounding. I’ve seen them play whenever they’ve been through town
since I met them in the summer of 2006, and they always have some sort of new, frustrating story. Regardless, they don’t
let it slow them down or discourage them. Their time will come. If more people heard “Search Party” then that
would probably come sooner. It’s basically a tome of everything the band does right about, well, electronically-tinged
spazz-rock. The breakneck, complex drum fills by “Norm” Kunstel, squelching vocals by Aaron Stovall, and of course
“angular” (critics love that word) guitarmageddon by Griffin Kay and Ryan Wasoba. Also, there’s a tumbling
interlude before the ridiculously good breakdown that includes a Nation of Ulysses-type trombone. They deserve bigger crowds
when they play in DC is all.
21. Stars - "Elevator Love Letter" (2004) _The Canadian Arts & Crafts records bands invaded, raped and pillaged our indie rock playlists
like an army of Vikings over the course of this decade. The two big players, Broken Social Scene and Stars, have about 25
different members who play in about 3592 different projects between them. They’re responsible for some of the most lovely
and most boring indie music to ever invade American earholes, but the lush, brain-massaging, bass-driven “Elevator Love
Letter” is the best song I’ve heard from any of them this decade (And for the record, “Help I’m Alive”
by Metric may be the worst). I don’t know if I’m settling any arguments or starting any, but this is the kind
of beautiful pop song that you won’t like if you’re like my roommate and a fan of Medeski, Martin, and Wood. Which
is ironic, since I think that MMW are the most boring fucking band in the universe. Eh, different strokes… Yes, if
you’re making a mixtape for a girl, do not forget this one.
If you're in Bethesda tonight at 7:30, come to Union Jack's *4915 St. Elmo Ave) for a great
comedy show featuring me, Jim Meyer, Mike Storck, and Irwin Weinstein, hosted by the inimitable Jared Stern. It's free and
should be a great time.
If you're in Baltimore tonight at 9 pm, come to Nadd's in Mount Vernon.
(227 W. Chase St), for a free comedy show hosted by the inimitable Justin Jones. Good times all around.
They’re not Radiohead or Animal Collective, and yet
they occupy the top spot on a “best albums” list that exists in the blogosphere. Get over it.
They are
a trio, composed of three down-to-earth, superior musicians named Matt Tobey, Ginger Alford, and Mike Harpring Jr.
They
are based in Bloomington, Indiana, but don’t fit into any picture book Hoosier framework.
This is their first
full-length, released in what was essentially their second year as a band.
Bassist Alford once told me in an interview
that, “when we play with punk bands, they’ll say we’re an indie rock band. When we play with indie rock
bands, they say that we’re the punk band. If we play with hardcore bands, I guess that means we’re the pop punk
band? I don’t know.”
Speaking from my own experiences with this decade in music, a lot of trends have been reactionary or too progressive for
their own good. A lot of trends have also been dictated by massive rediscovery and re-ignition of artists that were so progressive
(e.g. Can) that many bands today are still trying to catch up with. Technology has splintered and crept into our minute-by-minute
lives so that we don’t even consciously think about how ridiculous a lot of it is while we’re using it. What do
we have to show for it, after a decade of “progress?” A few great pieces of music that come as a direct result
of these chips, 1s and 0s, like Kid A and some pretty impressive one-man acts who run off iPods. But we also have
a lot of watered-down shit. Too many indie bands that have suddenly sold billions of records to soccer moms and lost their
edge (e.g. Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, etc. for a while now that it’s been 5 whole years since “indie”
culture became completely mass-marketed) and we’ve lost track of, you know, what’s simply cool and what sucks.
Too bad this decade didn’t have a bona fide Beavis and Butthead. (Oh, how I miss you, 90’s). Instead, we have
a million bloggers sitting around attempting to make fun (and sense) of it all. Trios like Good Luck, who take a simple idea
and make every good decision when turning it into a song, fall by the wayside in the name of “Hey bro! You gotta hear
these afro-drum-chip-pop-fusion record that the dude from Mars Volta did with the asian guy from the Books! He actually plays
the cello with a real live robot baby!”
Which is why (thanks for staying with me until this point) I am
perching Into Lake Griffy by Good Luck at the top of my list for best albums of the 2000-2009 decade. It’s
not mind-shattering or reality-bending with its innovation. It’s not a bleak, quasi-futuristic account of humanity after
8 years of Bush that would make JP Sartre call his lawyer. It’s not the type of record that’s going to move Good
Luck from dive bars and hip coffee shops to 10,000-seat amphitheaters (as much as they deserve to). It’s not even particularly
genre-pushing for any of the three musicians on it, who play, or have played, in about 293 different bands from all over the
Midwest and South.
It’s simply- wait for it – the best set of songs I’ve heard committed to a record since that
moment people realized that the Y2K bug was bullshit and 2000 was going to be just as dumb as 1999. That’s it. No serious
bells and whistles. Just stellar musicianship, fucking amazing songwriting, chemistry unlike any American band since the Minutemen,
and an incredible spirit of rock n’ roll that you can’t help but catch while listening to it.
Like
any great album worthy of repeat listening, the best way to take it in is from start to finish, but so many of these tracks
could easily be standout singles. “How to Live Here” leads the record off, and it makes a perfect mission statement
for the band, who start firing on all cylinders right away with Matt Tobey singing about how fucked up and amazing of a race
we are. (“Here we are in this world / I don’t know how we got here but somehow we learned how to live here”…
“And sometimes living doesn’t terrify you, and love doesn’t pulverize you, then where are you at? Where’s
the power in that?”… “But it’s been nothing but complicated, since the first time that two people
dated.”) If I were to put all of Tobey and Alford’s quotable lyrics in this essay, I’d easily triple it’s
size, so I’ll try to be conservative, which is hard, since tracks 2 and 3 are just as quotable. Alford sings lead on
both her dynamic ode to band life in “Pajammin” and Tobey’s beautiful “Stars are Exploding,”
which she absolutely nails. Tobey swoops right back in with one of his most shining moments on the record, “Man on Fire,”
which balances equal parts prodigious songwriting and kickass guitar playing. Not to say that his musicianship isn’t
prodigious and his lyrics aren’t kickass…
Seriously, there isn’t a track on here that I couldn’t
compliment each of the members on both individually and collectively. By the time we reach the halfway point on “Public
Radio,” which Tobey claims is an intense love song, the album has won. Specifically, the moment 5 seconds in, when Alford’s
intense, wailing backing vocals take off a la the Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up.” It doesn’t hurt that Harpring
brings the heat here, too. I feel bad that his contributions can easily be overlooked due to the talented front people he
sits behind. He masters about 100 different time signatures here, including a rumbling, rolling breakdown on “Public
Radio,” and about 4 different signatures in “Pajammin” alone.
"Stars are Exploding"
The track that follows, “West Wind Ride” is probably the
most musically ambitious song here, which is saying a ton. Tobey and Alford sing together, as the song builds to a musical
climax that includes a guitar lead that’s nothing short of mind-boggling with an equally strong platform from the rhythm
section.
The first time I listened to this album, the moment that clinched its permanent place in my rotation
came the moment the brilliant chorus struck on “Sleep With No Bad Dreams.” I’m sure music critics left and
right would try to explain the power and emotion of it, but it’s nearly impossible. You ever seen an action movie where
there’s a showdown between the hero and the villain? You know that moment where the hero gains the upper hand RIGHT
before striking the death blow to the villian? Try to relive the first time you saw Roy Schieder yell “Smile, you son
of a bitch!” or the moment that Han shows up and takes out those two TIE Fighters RIGHT as Luke’s about to get
shot down, allowing Luke to blow up the Death Star? That’s how good this chorus is.
Actually, check that;
that’s how good this whole album is. There you go. Bring on the 10’s.
How good could a Blur album with next to no contribution from Graham Coxon be? I mean, wasn’t he the
driving force behind most of their best work? To the latter question, he was, and to the former question, incredibly good.
I’m still trying to piece together the dynamics that made Blur one of the greatest bands of the 90’s…eh,
screw it, of all time in the world… that kept them so legendary in their own way.
Keeping in mind where I was in 2003 when this album dropped, I had pretty much given up any hope of seeing Blur live. I went
to the WBCN River Rave outside of Boston, hearing looped announcements that Blur (at the time a trio of Damon Albarn, Alex
James, and Dave Rowntree) were not performing, and I went off on them for flaking out. My resentment grew as my friends and
I had to sit and watch Saliva, who are about as terrible as Blur are good, for those lacking reference points. Also, their
biggest hit was a string of onomatopoeia.
Anyway, Damon Albarn was more focused on Gorillaz by this point, and
he’d already sold more Gorillaz albums in the US than the entire Blur catalog (This country pisses me off sometimes,
no slight to Gorillaz). But considering the obligation that Blur had to the British, most of Europe, and whichever countries
have generally better taste in music than the US, they went to Morocco, pulled in Fatboy Slim to help produce (which pissed
the Pavement/by Voices/Youth-loving Coxon off to the point that he gave up) and recorded, against a ton of odds, prooooobably
the best end-to-end Blur record. All of the elements are here, just with much less concern for landing on the Billboard Hot
100. When Blur was spinning out hitz (sic) like “There’s No Other Way” getting singles on the radio was
vastly more important than in 2003, when XM was creeping in and iTunes existed. Outside of “Crazy Beat,” and arguably
“Out of Time,” there are no three-minute pop songs and even fewer power chords anywhere on Think Tank.
The former got onto some jeans commercials in the US, and the latter became one of the most poignant, well-measured songs
against the Iraq War and neo-conservatism at large.
What the band lacked in a strong lead guitarist, they made up for
in emphasis on percussion (the tribal and festive “Moroccan Peoples’ Revolutionary Bowls Club”), mellow
ambient tracks (“Sweet Song” and “Good Song,” both crafty enough to forgive Albarn’s lack of
creativity in naming them), funkdafication (the suave “Brothers and Sisters”) and peppering in non-white musical
influence wherever applicable (from the Moroccan lead-in of the mosh-pit ready “We’ve Got a File on You”
to the avant-jazz sax solo on “Jets”). No disrespect at all to Graham Coxon, but if he’d stuck around Think
Tank would have been very good rather than outstanding on its own merits. “Battery in your Leg,” the gorgeous,
spacey finale, features a trademark-ready Coxon guitar crescendo. So, he made everyone other than Albarn, James, and Rowntree
miss him. Crafty bastard.
"Moroccan Peoples' Revolutionary Bowls Club"
"Battery in Your Leg"
I listened to this album on repeat during my semester abroad in Madrid,
and it fed into my fascination with Morocco. I spent spring break there and it was probably the best week of my life. That
sentiment has stayed with me, and I, like millions of others, sat and patiently waited for Coxon and Albarn to bury the hatchet
and play a show or two. And after more than five years of speculation (the music press would go nuts when James and Coxon
had lunch, for chrissakes), they did, and I got to see one of the greatest bands of all time blast through their classics
at Hyde Park.
Of these thirteen songs, they only played “Out of Time,” which I was slightly disappointed at, but
I understood. The hundred thousand people there wanted to hear the pop hits, all of which are great. Before the band went
into this song, Albarn mentioned that he loves the song because it brings to mind the 2 million+ who marched on Hyde Park
in 2003 to protest the Iraq War. Six years later, we’re still paying for the Bush administration’s mistake and
utter failure in that part of the world, but those of us who were against it from day one remember those moments that we realized
how much good exists in the world and how palpable the “what the hell is wrong with us?” sentiment always was.
And we still have this document of a great band overcoming great odds and silencing the haters long after the sparkle and
fade of Britpop. Funny how easily music trumps politics sometimes.
Mac MacGaughan, the man behind Merge Records, owes Win Butler a lifetime
of drinks. Britt Daniel (Spoon) deserves a few of those, too, but as good as Spoon is, they haven’t pumped out anything
quite as astoundingly good and paradigm-haDOOOKening as the Arcade Fire’s Funeral.
Win Butler was a McGill
student from Texas who hooked up with Regine Chassagne and some Napoleon Dynamite-lookin' friends. They put out a decent demo
and EP between 2002 and 2003 and in 2004, HOLY SHIT WHAT A HEARTSTOPPING SURPRISE OUT OF NOWHERE. This was the first record
that owes a large part of its success to Pitchfork, earning a deserved 9.7/10 and endless adulation of their dignified/pretentious
staff of writers.
Before this record, Merge was a North Carolina-based indie label that was well known and respected by pretty
much everyone who knows who the Pixies are. Now, Merge has become the paradigm of the successful indie label, adorning the
shelves of those people to whom you had to resignedly cite the ending of “Fight Club” to explain who the Pixies
are. The Arcade Fire, Spoon, Neutral Milk Hotel, M. Ward, and the Magnetic Fields are selling what seems like billions of
records, and it's all because of this.
By the time I first heard that the leadoff track “Neighborhood #1”
hit it’s chilling, propelling climax, I knew that this band was going to be huge, but I didn’t know they’d
take an entire subculture with them. Track 2 was known by me and my friends as “the Alex song,” and the whole
album stays on the right page straight through to the epic, string-laden, Bjork-if-she-was-good track 10, “In the Backseat,”
which Regine sings. Honestly, her French-Canadian-via-Haiti influence was the tipping point of what made the Arcade Fire interesting.
As adequate as their follow-up Neon Bible was, the band’s been riding the wave of this particular
record for the last five years. They know it, and we, the now-indie-adoring public know it. 2004 was such an odd year. Don’t
even talk to me about “Garden State;” this was where all of the mass-marketing bullshit began. It couldn't have
had a better starting point.
Like most weasly, smart-ass music writers on the interwebs, I’ve never been in a proper band. Sure, my friend
Wes and I did record a self-released “single” as the duo Gagortion back in 2006, but I still don’t count
it. There are times when I wish I had the musical talent and ambition necessary to start a band, and maybe that still may
happen one day, but for now, I’m forced to sit at the sidelines and wonder how the fuck the Afghan Whigs stayed a band
for over ten years. There’s no way it could have been fun for anyone not named Greg Dulli to be in. It wasn’t
enough that most of their songs were dark, drug-fueled, and every bit as noirish (which I guess is redundant, but I’m
leaving it in) as the lives of the black jazz legends they idolized.
I feel like part of it was how Dulli wove himself into such a cult icon over the years that whatever band he’s fronted
has been some sort of “come with me if you want to live” situation. (Except for Mark Lanegan, which is another
story entirely). The best thing about the Twilight Singers is that it’s whoever is currently playing with Greg Dulli.
Talented journeyman guitarist Jeff Klein? Member of the Twilight Singers. Internet radio geek Scott Ford? Member of the Twilight
Singers. Me when I bumped into Greg Dulli at the House of Blues in New Orleans and chatted with him for a couple of minutes
before he disappeared into the darkness? Technically not a member of the Twilight Singers. But if I’d given him a beat
or something while he was talking, I would be beefing up my resume instead of writing this.
Anyway, the early to mid-00’s
were a tough time for Greg. His good buddy Ted Demme died tragically, his solo album was put on hold, and his beloved adopted city drowned. But musically, it was about as good of a period as he’d had since the early 90’s when he pumped out Congregation
and Gentlemen. He peaked this decade with the ornate, noir-drenched, and suitably epic Blackberry Belle,
which functions as both a great dark pop album and love letter to New Orleans right on par with 'The Princess and the Frog.' There’s even a song called “Decatur St.” for those who need it spelled out for them.
The entire record comes off sounding like a montage of scenes throughout the Crescent City as the sun sets. The
opening piano on “Martin Eden” could be the sound of waking up in the French Quarter, walking outside hung over
as hell, and discovering the Mardi Gras parade like Clancy and Skinny Boy did in Chief Wiggum, P.I. But, in slow motion. “Teenage
Wristband” and “The Killers” are both perfectly overproduced explosions for the fist-pumping crowds, “St.
Gregory” has the smoky, bongo-bedecked groove that few fat white boys could get away with, and the sultry, tip-toeing
“Follow You Down” may be the most beautiful song recorded this decade. Goddamn those female oohs and aaahs. And
of course, his Gutter Twin-to-be Mark Lanegan, who sounds like he’s been dipping testosterone-laced chewing tobacco,
shows up on the album’s closer “Number Nine.” A fitting finale to such a wonderful piece of darkly American
music. Damn this late-career “sobriety,” you’re a goddamn genius, Greg Dulli.
If you’re an Aerosmith fan, you should probably stop reading this now. Actually, I don’t know why
an Aerosmith fan would actually be reading this in the first place, but I have a point to make. Some rumor spread recently
that Steven Tyler left Aerosmith to pursue a solo career? I am not making this up. My own opinions about his former band aside
(they’re one of the shittiest, most self-indulgent bands in history and it kills me how the collective “we”
let them get away with their bullshit year after year), this goes to prove that truth is stranger than fiction. He could have
stopped making music at 40 and we’d still have “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” and “Angel” to pollute
the fringes of classic rock radio. (Okay, I kind of like “Angel.”) I really wish that the rumor had been true,
given the fact that he’d throw the band aside that he rode to the top for years, fell to the bottom with, and washed
ashore, where Run-DMC gave them kick-ass food and shelter so they could recover. Do I really need to highlight the fact that
HE’S FUCKING OLDER THAN TOM WAITS?
Tom Waits is old, but he celebrates his age in a way that no one (and I mean NO ONE) ever has. He gets simultaneously creepier
and more likeable, knowing full well that he's got not one but two generations by the balls. By the time 2000 arrived, Tom
had already ground out almost 30 years of gritty, layered, challenging, and genuinely outstanding music, but showed no signs
of slowing down. One day, he’s making people crack up on the set of the Letterman show (scroll to the bottom of this;
i am so serious), and the next day he’s writing an operetta about Lewis Carroll’s unrequited infatuation with
the extremely underage Alice Liddell. The next day, he’s starring in that new Terry Gilliam movie that looks so awesome
I can’t think about anything else until it hits screens.
Odds are, you either love Tom Waits, don’t
know who he is, or don’t really understand him. Alice doesn’t function as any kind of rough guide to
Waits, but more like a showcase of how beautiful and precious his music can get. He’s had tearjerker moments through
his career (“Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” in 1978 and “Soldier’s Things” in
1982 both come to mind), but he hadn’t really spread that sentiment throughout an album in the style he does on Alice,
culminating on “Fish and Bird,” a song so heart-wrenching that it’s almost difficult to listen.
The theme of love that can never be, complete with many of the most
tender moments of Wait’s nearly-40 year (Jesus Christ) career doesn’t mean at all that this isn’t quintessential
Tom. He still seamlessly weaves in the weirdo shit that you’d skip over in your car if your passenger were an Aerosmith
fan, such as “Everything You Can Think” and his fan-favorite for some reason, “Kommienezuspadt.” (Bless
you).
Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan had these songs in their collective
head (and out on the streets in some form) for over ten years before they actually recorded this album. Everything about the way things fell together
here feels right, even the stranger moments on Alice still trump Blood Money, which Waits and Brennan released concurrently.
Ballsy.
Alice is easily the best thing that Waits released this decade, which is saying a lot, considering the high standard that he holds himself to. It’s hard to place it next to his other “best” albums Small Change (70’s), Rain Dogs
(80’s), and Mule Variations (90’s…though I like Bone Machine more) because of its unique
context. But as a work of art, it almost exceeds those other albums. I’m looking forward to seeing what he grinds out
in the 2010's. Let’s all do this again when he turns 70.
When I graduated from school in 2005, I wrote that this was my favorite album of my four years in college. The
most remarkable thing about Faces Down, as I pointed out then and maintain now, is how much of the most critically-acclaimed
music of this decade has essentially been overwrought hipster bullshit. Yet, one of the most memorable and magnetic pieces
of music to arrive since 1999 was created by a Norwegian teenager.
A-Ha. Sondre Lerche. Royksopp. The three Norwegian
acts I can name that don’t look somewhat like this.
Sondre’s got the edge because he actually speaks near-perfect English, and can sell out the 9:30 club
on charm and quality singles rather than a music video involving a woman getting swallowed into a comic book. (“Take
on Me” is still pretty cool, though, for the record). Every time he plays a solo acoustic/electric show, he earns a
new cluster of fans, and rightfully so. I can tell that some of the people whose friends brought them along can be on the
fence… until he pulls out “Modern Nature” and sings a duet with the audience.
Okay, about the album. I don’t know. I just fell in love with
this thing; there’s nothing really analytical about it. Even before he turned 20, Lerche had a perfect indie-pop voice
(Stuart Murdoch is one obvious comparison), and he wrote such innocuous yet altogether great songs that you can send to your
grandmother as a birthday present. “Sleep on Needles,” “Suffused with Love,” and my personal favorite
“On and Off Again” all pack so much Burt Bacharach-laced ESL charm (there’s that word again) that you just
want to pat this dude on the back and thank him for doing what he does.
Here's the brand new video from Brooklyn-via-MA-based white boy hip-hoppers The Nasty Midnighters. MC Ectolasmic
is better known as Theo of the Great Barrington TDC Crew. You can get their music at their site here. Download it for your nephew who's learning about how innuendo works.
There’s this dude from Illinois who posts on a blog I read often. He hates Converge. He makes it a
point, whenever applicable; to state his disdain for Converge, even, at times, asserting Rick Ross’ superiority to the
band. I don’t know much about Rick Ross. He’s not bad from what I’ve heard and seen, but I’ll settle
this argument. Converge are so much better, they’re in a class all their own, even next to artists similar to them.
When you’ve been playing blistering, chaotic (but not really… I’ll explain later), “mathcore”
(durrrrr) for nearly twenty years. I needed to stop. TWENTY YEARS. That’s longer than a lot of their fans have been
alive. Shit. Goddamn, get off your ass and jam. What was I getting at? They spent a lot of money on gas, gear, and vegetarian
literature over the course of the 90’s to get to the point of mastery it took to record “Jane Doe.”
The jury’s still out on what the band has done since 2001, but I don’t know anybody who’s into hardcore,
punk, metal, speed metal, powerviolence, thrash, mathcore, noisecore, death metal, deathcore, fastcore, or pretty silkscreened
album covers that wouldn’t give the Masshole quartet serious props for this beautiful tome of earcrushitude.
ARGHAGHARARGHARGAR (Singer) Jake Bannon brings the fury in his voice, which in many respects acts like a fourth instrument
in their crashing wall of sound, despite genuinely thoughtful lyrics on songs like on “Heaven in her Arms.” WRRRORRRRRW
WEEEDLYWEEDLY RRRRWWRRRRW (Guitarist) Kurt Ballou, who became the go-to producer for great but unmarketable bands over the
course of this decade, grinds out plenty of classic riffs, including the iconic intro to “Distance and Meaning:”
Bonus points to the rhythm section of BMBMBMBIMBMBM (bassist) Nate Newton
and CRASHCRASH!!HUDTHUDCRASHCRASH!!! (drummer…yeah, I'm done) Ben Koller for both holding down the beats and complex
rhythms that it takes to make Jane Doe such a unique piece of music in a subgenre plagued by homogeneity. Perhaps even more
impressively, they tie up fairly blistering music into serviceable packages that, in a less squeamish universe, could be pop
singles (like “Bitter and Then Some,” below. Converge know what they’re doing, every note and every beat
of the way, so there’s nothing chaotic about their sound, even if it’s what they’re trying to make you think.
And how the hell did Ballou and his production partner Matthew Ellard
make the song “Phoenix in Flames” sound EXACTLY like a large bird running around on fire?
I don’t care how hip or cool your favorite hardcore or metal
band may be now… they can’t do THAT. So to the cottage industry springing up around hating on this band, I admit
they’ve lost their step a bit since 2001. But just because your girlfriend dumped you while “You Fail Me”
was playing in the background (yes, you), doesn’t mean there aren’t better way to channel your bitterness. And
then some.
I’ve seen Pinback twice. The second time they were much better than the first, but what really struck
me both times were their opening acts. The first time, in 2006, they brought Pleeseeasaur out with them. The second time,
in 2008, they brought MC Chris. If you don’t know Pleaseeasaur, take a minute to check this out and return. I’ll wait. If you don’t know MC Chris, then you need to close this window, double-click that Fray
song on your iTunes, and punch yourself repeatedly in the face. I don’t mean girly smacks, either. Hard, 'Punisher:
War Zone'-style blows. And I’m not even MC Chris’ biggest fan.
What does this have to do with Pinback’s best album? When you think about it, a ton. Rob Crow is a fat sci-fi nerd who
happens to be incredibly good at music, the veteran of about 289 different bands. Zach Smith isn’t far from him intellectually,
and a veteran of a respected math-y San Diego band called Three Mile Pilot, and one of the most impressive bass players I’ve
ever seen. A few of the tracks on Summer in Abaddon are so beautiful and textured that you don’t even know
it’s just two dudes with alternatively tuned basses and a drum machine. "FORTRESS," dudes.
To bite from the Pitchfork review (sorry, universe, but it’s
an accurate appraisal of the band), Pinback have succeeded in making outstanding indie-rock albums without lending any credence
to the conventions of indie-rock. The guitars, only there when they’re necessary, are usually just plucked and always
in tune. There’s a lot more piano and keys integral to their sound than it was ever cool to have this decade. The vocals,
while high-pitched and unconventional enough to please the kind of people who fiend Touch & Go Records, are well-measured
and pleasant. On paper, it sounds as boring as one of the Fray’s even worse songs (I’ll trust that those people
are still punching themselves at this point), but within the first minute of album opener “Non-Photo Blue” you’re
struck. Rob n’ Zach are ridiculously good at what they do, striking the right chord and pace on all ten tracks. I guess
I wasn’t paying attention to the jazz influence here, either, as much as you don’t think about it while you’re
attempting to sing along to “Bloods on Fire,” or keep up with the rolling drums and piano chords in “Syracuse”
on your dashboard.
"Syracuse"
Pinback are nothing if not meant to be popular musicians. Actually,
they’re EVERYTHING if not meant to be musicians, since I get the sense that Crow and Smith would do pretty much anything
well. You know? Rob & Zach’s comedy hour? Get on it.
A friend and I went to see this nerdy trio from New Jersey play a basement smaller than most relatively
small basements. It was called “The Party Pit” (remember my spiel about The Hold Steady?) and situated right near
the Tenleytown metro. We went based on a tip from a gay friend of a bisexual friend, as well as comic artist Mitch Clem. Two very different people brought together by the good-times good-tunes of three unrepentant dorks from one of the shittiest
places on the east coast (north-central Jersey). We were expecting a good time, and we got one, but at one point, they played
a catchy song even catchier than their other catchy songs, and every person in the basement sang along with every word.
Let me repeat that: EVERY GODDAMN PERSON (except my friend and I, because we hadn’t heard it yet) sang along with EVERY
GODDAMN WORD. That song was “Pray for Rain,” the centerpiece of their definitive 2004 LP dorkrockcorkrod.
And that moment has torched itself into my brain as one of my favorite concert experiences ever. Don't believe me? Wait for
1:20 on the video below. It's not that actual show I was at (it's them playing at the Fest in Gainesville in 2006, I think,
but you get the idea.)
Okay, seriously, The Ergs! continued a valuable musical legacy in
the vein of early Replacements, Husker Du, and, obviously, the De-motherfucking-scendents. Lead singer/drummer(!) Mikey Erg
plays and squelches with reckless abandon about heartbreak, being a loser, and the government Fing us in the A (at least on
the songs penned by bass virtuoso Joey Erg). And then there’s guitarist Jeffy Erg, who supplies the riffs and the leads
that puts the pop in both their pop-punk and power-pop.
Not long after that show, asshole neighbors and landlords
put and end to the Party Pit, and coincidentally The Ergs! decided to call it quits not long after that. It’s amazing
how quickly things can crash to a halt after taking so long, and so much hard work, to achieve. No matter how long it takes
the Ergs! to join forces again for a reunion gig or two, we’ll always have dorkrockcorkrod. The trio busted
their asses and broke (and mended) lots of hearts on the way to finding their voice and unleashing it on a record. Like Mikey
declares here, “It’s never going to be the same again.”
"Running, Jumping, Standing Still"
"A Very Pretty Song for a Very Special Young Lady Part II"
[tws]
94. Supergrass - "
81. Estelle feat. Kanye West - "
75. Travis - "
72. The Urge - "
61. Jimes - "
31. The Gaslight Anthem - "
28. The Libertines - "
27. Radon - "
26. Wale - "
23. Andrew W.K. - "
[tws]
[tws]
Keeping in mind where I was in 2003 when this album dropped, I had pretty much given up any hope of seeing Blur live. I went
to the WBCN River Rave outside of Boston, hearing looped announcements that Blur (at the time a trio of Damon Albarn, Alex
James, and Dave Rowntree) were not performing, and I went off on them for flaking out. My resentment grew as my friends and
I had to sit and watch Saliva, who are about as terrible as Blur are good, for those lacking reference points. Also, their
biggest hit was a string of onomatopoeia.
[tws]
[tws]
I feel like part of it was how Dulli wove himself into such a cult icon over the years that whatever band he’s fronted
has been some sort of “come with me if you want to live” situation. (Except for Mark Lanegan, which is another
story entirely). The best thing about the Twilight Singers is that it’s whoever is currently playing with Greg Dulli.
Talented journeyman guitarist Jeff Klein? Member of the Twilight Singers. Internet radio geek Scott Ford? Member of the Twilight
Singers. Me when I bumped into Greg Dulli at the House of Blues in New Orleans and chatted with him for a couple of minutes
before he disappeared into the darkness? Technically not a member of the Twilight Singers. But if I’d given him a beat
or something while he was talking, I would be beefing up my resume instead of writing this.
[tws]
Tom Waits is old, but he celebrates his age in a way that no one (and I mean NO ONE) ever has. He gets simultaneously creepier
and more likeable, knowing full well that he's got not one but two generations by the balls. By the time 2000 arrived, Tom
had already ground out almost 30 years of gritty, layered, challenging, and genuinely outstanding music, but showed no signs
of slowing down. One day, he’s making people crack up on the set of the Letterman show (scroll to the bottom of this;
i am so serious), and the next day he’s writing an operetta about Lewis Carroll’s unrequited infatuation with
the extremely underage Alice Liddell. The next day, he’s starring in that new Terry Gilliam movie that looks so awesome
I can’t think about anything else until it hits screens.
[tws]
[tws]
[tws]
What does this have to do with Pinback’s best album? When you think about it, a ton. Rob Crow is a fat sci-fi nerd who
happens to be incredibly good at music, the veteran of about 289 different bands. Zach Smith isn’t far from him intellectually,
and a veteran of a respected math-y San Diego band called Three Mile Pilot, and one of the most impressive bass players I’ve
ever seen. A few of the tracks on Summer in Abaddon are so beautiful and textured that you don’t even know
it’s just two dudes with alternatively tuned basses and a drum machine. "FORTRESS," dudes. 
[tws]
Let me repeat that: EVERY GODDAMN PERSON (except my friend and I, because we hadn’t heard it yet) sang along with EVERY
GODDAMN WORD. That song was “Pray for Rain,” the centerpiece of their definitive 2004 LP dorkrockcorkrod.
And that moment has torched itself into my brain as one of my favorite concert experiences ever. Don't believe me? Wait for
1:20 on the video below. It's not that actual show I was at (it's them playing at the Fest in Gainesville in 2006, I think,
but you get the idea.)
