VAGUE SPACE

Happy New Year

I don't know how I missed this song this decade -- it came out in 2001, for crying out loud, and it's by the band that took over for Godspeed! You Black Emperor when it dissolved at the early part of this decade.  But I didn't discover this song and this album (which made my top 50 albums of the decade) until this year.  I guess it's better late than never.  And I think it's an appropriate capstone to this decade, not only for the lyrical brilliance that foreshadowed 8 years of Bush presidency hell, but also for the grandeur in the music, a post-rock palette G!YBE made possible and that sustained me through all the travails of this decade with music, simple music, that made life shine.

From the comments on SongMeanings about this track:

"oh man. this single song represents all that is good about music." -03-08-2003

I couldn't agree more.

"The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes" by A Silver Mt. Zion

Sisters and Brothers,
We have surely lost our way.
In strip malls full of cancer,
And a pathetic rain.
Lover, sweet lover,
Please don't discipline your hands.
Just kiss me in the morning,
In your dirtiest pants.

My Favourite Year

2009 saw me suffer through a reduced work week (and corresponding pay) for eight months,  a hellish schedule in the last four months after the work week got reinstated, and more recently, my office closing the down but me somehow, if only temporarily, retaining my job.  Shit year in that respect, about as shitty as any in my "career".  The recession was mostly to blame, and people suffered much, much worse than me.  But it was shitty for sure.

2009 saw some personal tragedies in my life.  A life was lost, a life of a friend who was way too young, the first time in my life I've ever had a close friend die, which was horrible, just horrible, and I'm only thankful that I never had to go through it before.  It also saw my closest friend suffer through a horrible ordeal of her own and I can only hope that 2010 will bring more luck and happiness than she's had these past few months.  Others close to me have also suffered health problems and had those close to them in the hospital.  So it's been shitty for sure.

2009 saw the Phillies make it all the way to the World Series again, only to lose to the hated Yankees and the 793rd bought-and-paid-for world championship.  It saw the Raiders suck again, which wasn't a surprise, and it saw Syracuse lose three of its best five starters from a Sweet Sixteen team, which seemed to doom them to an 09-10 season of losing.  Yes, as it turns out, Syracuse is incredible without Jonny Flynn and Devo and Harris, but for much of the year I didn't think that would be the case.  So it's been a mixed bag in sports.

2009 saw a year of failed rehab after ACL surgery last November.  A second knee surgery seems to have helped, but not as much as I'd hoped.  I did get to run again, in two 5Ks this fall.  And my ankle injury seems to have nearly healed -- miraculously through the use of simple, $300 orthotics.  But yeah, it's been a mixed bag in my own personal health.

Top 100 Songs of 2009

While I professed in my albums post that perhaps this wasn't the greatest year for albums, or at least it didn't have too many true classics, 2009 has been an incredible year for songs.  I really had trouble culling this list down to only 100, which is definitely a lot of songs.  Of course, when Spencer Krug's various bands take up over a dozen slots, it leaves little room for other things, but this was a really wonderful year.   Even more shocking is the staggering list of great new albums expected out in 2010, but we'll save that for next week.  On to my final list of 2009.

1. "Silver Moons" Sunset Rubdown (173 plays)
2. "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" Sunset Rubdown (151 plays)
3. "Dragon's Lair" Sunset Rubdown (137 plays)

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "Silver Moons".mp3
  

Well we certainly start with a theme.  And for the second time in the past three years, Sunset Rubdown has the top 3 songs on my year-end chart.  There's not much else to say about my love for the band that I haven't already said, but I did struggle mightily to order these three songs.  They are so different -- really, staggeringly different -- and yet they all appear on the same incredible album by the same incredible band.  The first one, the lead track, is a midtempo ballad, or as close as Spencer gets to a ballad, while the second one is a classic Sunset Rubdown slow burner to fast explosion and the third one, the final track, well -- I could spend days just describing the sonic template that the band achieves on that song alone.  On simple merit, "Dragon's Lair" should be #1.  On excitement, "You Go On Ahead" is the best.  But in the quieter moments, in my final contemplation, nothing this year surpassed "Silver Moons".  Congratulations, Spencer. Again.

A Christmas Tale, Part 3

Bill is awake now, wide awake, trying to remember what the hell he was dreaming about -- a strange dream, full of odd imagery, softball and poker stories and one of his favorite singers making an appearance next to, it seemed like Corbin Bernsen, but that didn't make much sense.  There was a bright shining light and he tried to walk towards the light, but then the shortstop in the softball game lifted his head and the light was gone.  And then he woke.

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"  A figure who looks like Santa Claus enters the room. 

"Who the fuck are you?"  Bill says.  "Get the hell out of my house!"

"I'm old Saint Nick, here to bring you tidings of joy and good will!"

"Really?"

"Yes indeed, Merry Christmas!"

"Do you have an iPhone for me?"

"Umm... no."

"Big screen TV?"

"Not on me, no."

"A new Infiniti.  Mine's got 125,000 miles on it now."

"I thought you were looking at a Prius, because of the whole environment / global warming kick you were on when Al Gore's movie came out."

"Eh, that passed.  I really like my Infiniti."

"Well no, I don't have that but I do have this for you..."

The Santa-man rolls his hand upward in a flourish and the room turns dark, darker than the deepest night, and Bill cannot see a thing as his bed begins to spin and then the room begins to spin and then the world begins to spin and Santa-man disappears.  Bill closes his eyes and awakens again, somewhere, in the future, it seems, at a Barnes & Noble, with the Santa-man by his side.

A Christmas Tale, Part 2

Bill has fallen asleep again, this time in his bed, with a splitting headache and a belief that he was just dreaming of the strange ghost's appearance and the trip to Poorbilly's, a restaurant long since closed.  He hears another bang and clatter that shakes him from slumber and as he opens his eyes, he sees the harrowing figure of a large, shape-shifting beast, but not Switsky, just a ghost, another one and after the fright wears off, he realizes he's awake.  And not dreaming.

Ghost:  I am the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Bill:  Cool, Christmas presents.

Ghost:  No, you fool, Present, as in this time in history.

Bill:  Huh?

Ghost:  "Past" warned me about you -- you're a little show on the uptake, right?

Bill:  What?

Ghost:  Just get your ass up, we've got places to  go.

Bill:  Fine, but if it's another sports bar I'm going to be pissed.  I still have a hangover.

Ghost:  It's not a sports bar, I promise.  It's someplace much, much worse...

Fade out.  End scene.

A Christmas Tale, Part 1

Scene opens on a cold day in central Jersey and the snow has piled up on Bill's car, forcing him to stay inside and write on his blog, drinking the last of the leftover Circus Boys in the fridge below the bar, leftover from a party he doesn't remember having, perhaps it was just a poker game, but the Circus Boys are gone now, and he's tired, always tired, and he finishes off the bottle as he nods off to sleep.

A loud crash and a bang explode from down the stairs and a figure appears, a ghostly figure arising from the dark down the hall through the open door, where Bill sleeps at his desk, an empty bottle in his hand, and a wonderful blog on his screen as the ghost rattles its chains in menacing fashion and shakes them again when Bill doesn't wake, and his voice sounds so hollow as he moans and he quakes and he keeps shaking the chains but Bill will not wake -- shit, did he pass out again?  The ghost surveys the empty Circus  Boys and checks his watch.  This is going to be a long one, he thinks.

Ghost:  Wake the fuck up!

Bill:  Huh? 

Ghost:  Dude, what the fuck?  I ain't got all night here. 

Bill:  What?

Ghost:  You're supposed to scream or something.

Bill:  Oh, sorry, who are you?

Ghost:  I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Bill:  Okay...

Ghost:  We're going on a journey to a place long ago and far away --

Bill:  Star Wars?

Ghost:  No. 

Bill:  Avatar?

Ghost:  No.  Haven't you seen Scrooged?

Bill: Yeah, I guess, it kind of sucked. 

Ghost:  Well we're doing that, grab my arm.

Bill:  We ain't going anywhere in this snow.

Ghost:  Just trust me, where we're going there is no snow.

Bill:  Wait, you mean hell?  Shouldn't that the Future Guy?

Ghost:  Oh yeah, wait.   The Ghost checks his Blackberry and sees that indeed, he's thinking of the wrong destination.  OK, forget it, where we're going ain't so far.  But take my hand.

Bill:  All right, but shouldn't you be Bob Marley or something?

Ghost:  It's Jacob Marley, and he had another appointment.

Bill:  Really?

Ghost:  I think he's visiting Obama about that whole "change" thing to see if he remembers any of the promises he made a year ago and did the complete opposite instead.

Bill:   Makes sense.

Ghost:  Just grab my arm.

Bill:  Well I hope we go somewhere good, because at this rate my readers are going to complain that I stick to posting music.

Ghost:  Believe me, no one wants that.

Fade out.  End scene.

The Halladay Trade

Last summer, I wrote that I thought the Phillies should do everything in their power to trade for Roy Halladay, desperate as they were for a top of the rotation starter given the down year for Cole Hamels and the injuries to Brett Myers.  I even advocated that they trade top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek to achieve the deal.  Phillies GM Ruben Amaro disagreed, and instead pulled off the swindle of grabbing Cleveland's Cliff Lee for lesser prospects, a move that helped us cruise to the World Series for the second straight year, only to lose to a team even more determined (and more financially able) to buy themselves another World Series.  But the loss certainly wasn't Lee's fault, as he pitched spectacularly in the playoffs, and I was looking for him to start at the top of the Phillies rotation in 2010.  But Amaro had other ideas.  He was still fixated on Halladay, who hadn't been traded at the deadline but remained imminently available, going into this, his last season under contract with the Blue Jays.

Reports were that Halladay had named the Phillies among his very short list of potential destinations (he had a full no-trade clause) and that he actually wanted to go there.  Amaro and the new Blue Jays GM were talking, and talks were heated, and visions of Phillies' fans were dancing with a potential rotation of Halladay, Lee, and Hamels, together!!! for 2010.  But there were two issues preventing that wondrous outcome:  (1) the Jays still wanted Kyle Drabek, and (2) the Phillies couldn't afford Halladay at the place where their payroll had been set ($140M).  As it turns out, the first issue wasn't a dealbreaker this time, unlike in the summer.  I'm not sure why, exactly, although Drabek struggled in the final two months of the season, after the trade fell through.  But Amaro pulled the trigger on the Halladay deal this time, after a successful trip to the playoffs without him, giving up Drabek and two other highly touted prospects from the Phillies system, Michael Taylor and Travis D'Arnaud.  I'll deal with the second issue later, but Drabek is gone now and Halladay is here.  And despite the loss of the prospects, the Phillies just traded for one of the best pitchers in the game and he signed a below market extension to play for us for the next 4 seasons.  That's a pretty great thing, even if we someday regret the loss of Drabek and Taylor, or even D'Arnaud, an A ball catcher.  They could all turn into stars, but we just got ourselves a star, one who wanted to pitch here, and he will be sitting at the top of rotation for years, barring in jury.  All of that is a good thing.  Too bad the second issue, and Ruben Amaro's gross inability to perform his job, ruined all that was good about the trade at the same exact time.

Indie Rock on NPR

Check out this link to a superb article with the following indie rock label luminaries:

Maggie Vail and Portia Sabin from Kill Rock Stars
Gerard Cosloy from Matador
Mac McCaughan from Merge
Robb Nansel from Saddle Creek
Chris Swanson and Darius Van Arman from Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans

That's Mac from Merge (my favorite label), plus representatives from Jagjaguwar (my second favorite I think, if I were ranking) and Matador and Kill Rock Stars and Saddle Creek.  That's freakin' awesome.  The article is an interview with the label leaders by an NPR reporter.

NPR article link

And here's some of the great quotes:

Portia Sabin: Dudes, we are in the era of "I like everything," which translates to whatever is on the radio/on the iPod, which has always been the majority of music fans, in my opinion.

(I totally agree, not sure if it's just because I'm a music snob, but I don't understand someone who says they like "everything" in music.  Personally, I hate "everything," or most things, or most everything mainstream, and that's because I love music so much, I think.  Or maybe I'm just a snob).

2009 Top 50 Albums

This has been another great year for music, but while I was compiling this list I found few truly wonderful albums, just a whole lot of very good ones.  So after my top 3, I was really struggling to differentiate one album from another.  I'm not sure if that's a sign of weakness or strength, but I think an EP would be hard-pressed in previous years to make the top 5, as happened this year, so it's probably a bit of a down year for great albums, which is hopefully not the start of a trend.  My song list (coming soon) seems just as strong, or stronger, than in previous years, so perhaps this is the result of my listening habits becoming more iPod/singles based than album-based.   Of course, at the top of the list was one of the best albums I've ever heard, so it's not like there wasn't true greatness out there, it was just a little harder to find.

1. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

    From the moment this album was released there was no doubt that it was going to be my album of the year.  What was surprising is that it ended up in my top 5 of the decade, but the album is really that good.  Spencer's latest effort is more immediately accessible than Random Spirit Lover (my favorite album of the decade) and while it seems more a collection of near-perfect songs than a true cohesive album at first glance, there are so many themes running through the collection that it does work perfectly on full listens as well.  But I've said a million words about this album already and there's not much more to say.  Except thank you, Spencer, for making my year.

Nana Grizol

As a blogger writing primarily about indie rock music, I get a ton of email requests for reviews of records from bands I've never heard of.  OK, "ton" may be a slight exaggeration, but it's probably at least twenty a day, either reviews or release news or concert news, and the majority of the requests are for bands I don't know.  I don't mind it, and I wish I had time to actually listen to these bands' records that are being given to me for review.  I'm sure there's a ton of wonderful gems that I'm missing and could be among the first to review.  But unfortunately, I barely have enough time in my day to keep the blog running let alone listen to a bunch of new bands, so for 99% of these emails they go right into my trash bin unread.  I'm sorry, I really am.  As someone trying to get his writing published in various outlets, I can definitely appreciate the unsolicited bid for exposure of your creative work.  But I just don't have time.  So how did Nana Grizol get my attention, enough attention for me to download the album, actually listen to it, and love it so much that I'm reviewing it?  Two words:  Elephant 6.