Here’s my list

I can’t say for sure that 2009 was the year I read the most I have in my life, because it’s the first year I’d actually kept track of how much I read. However, I can say that it was the most eclectic reading year of my life. I read 53 books, just over a book a week, and that includes graphic novels, fantasy series, mystery/thrillers, memoirs, theological works, Pulitzer-winning literature, modern literature, classic literature, YA literature, even a manga or two.

Maybe this year I’ll cross the 100 mark!

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. The cover song is possibly the closest it gets in the music business. From time to time an artist may record an entire album’s worth of cover songs. And once in a blue moon an artist may even record an album of covers of only one other artist. A Tribute record. Willie Nelson did it with To Lefty From Willie, his 1977 Lefty Frisell tribute. Matt Houck, better known by his stage name Phosphorescent, has continued the tradition with his album To Willie, a record of some of the Red Headed Stranger’s hits and rarities. I’ve always told people I didn’t like country music, which given today’s definition of country music is true for the most part, but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Willie. Whether it’s the fragile voice, the perfect songwriting, the hippie braids or the beat-up guitar, there’s just something about him you can’t help but love. I don’t even know if Willie knows about the record Houck has made, but he should be flattered. Matt has managed to not merely cover Willie’s songs, but to put a bit of himself in them. The brokenness in his own voice conveyed in “Can I Sleep In Your Arms” (best track on the album by far) and “To Sick To Pray” coupled with the wry humor/cleverness of “I Gotta Get Drunk” is a dynamite combination. If you’re a fan of Willie, or a fan of Phosphorescent, or a fan of MUSIC, pick up this album.

Here’s a digital version and a physical version you can purchase if you’re interested. Support good art!

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV… the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home… I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office… and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.

That quote from Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air covers Ryan Bingham’s entire philosophy of living. All of his possessions are in the luggage on wheels and the wallet in his suitcoat. He carries dozens of keycards for hotels, car rental companies, airlines, etc. He lives on the road and in the sky. Ryan’s family accuses him of self-isolation. Ryan counters “I’m not isolated, I’m surrounded.” But it becomes fairly clear that the random people Ryan encounters in planes and airports aren’t enough. Without even realizing it, he’s seeking relationships. Community. He meets Alex, a fellow constant traveler with similar philosophies, and they form a sexual connection. But that isn’t enough for Ryan, and it’s a joy to watch him realize that. I won’t go into where the relationship goes, and there’s so much more to this film I didn’t bring up, but I love the way this film depicts the difference between living in isolation and living in community. The final scene of the film is filled with interviews of people Ryan has “fired” telling how they made it through the ordeal. Each of them depended on their family and friends to get them through it. That’s what we need. God made us to be together, not alone.

Margo took a long drag from her cigarette as she stirred the yellow mess in the skillet. Margo’s eggs always taste like shit. I don’t know why I don’t just cook them myself. I’m a much better cook than she. But Margo insists on keeping with the social gender paradigm, and so here I sit drinking my coffee while she cooks her shitty eggs. We’ve been together for four years and six months or so; we’ve both gotten comfortable. Truth be told, being so comfortable is making me very uncomfortable. We stay together because it’s easy, and because it makes sense, but I can’t remember the last time I told her I loved her or vice versa. We continue to wake every morning to strong coffee and shitty eggs, and kiss emotionlessly as we head off to our dead end jobs. God, how did I end up in this life?
Five years ago I was a sophomore in college, the world ahead of me and dreams in my eyes. Dreams filled with beautiful big breasted women and loads upon loads of cash, but dreams nonetheless. I met Margo that Christmas, at a bar. A group of us decided to stay in town for Christmas instead of going home to our depressing home-from-school lives. We were at our usual haunt and I was at the bar ordering my White Russian when she sat next to me. At first glance she wasn’t what you’d call ‘hot,’ whatever that means. Average height; average build; anonymously brunette hair; Then I saw her eyes, which were made of the deepest, most piercing emerald I’d ever seen. I found myself staring and, a few seconds later, she did too. She introduced herself. I introduced myself. We talked for a few minutes before I remembered I was at this bar with friends. I excused myself to return to our booth when Margo stopped me. Maybe you’d like to call me sometime. Maybe I would.
And now, here we are. I could tell you the rest of the story, but it’s mostly uninteresting. It’s the same story you’ve heard a million times from a million books and a million movies and a million lame four-chord songs.
But the truth is, I’m not sure how we got to this point. Bored with each other, bored with everything, we aimlessly walk through our lives. I have a conversation with at least one of my friends at least once a month about how I should just leave her, move on, find a new person, a new life. I never have the balls to do it. Ten bucks says Margo has the same conversation with her friends. That’s the other thing. We have my friends, and we have her friends. I can’t think of anyone we’d call ‘our’ friend. What the hell kind of relationship is that?
Anyway, I got home from work before Margo, which isn’t surprising. She works in the restaurant business, a business notorious for long double shifts that never seem to end. I know this, because I barely escaped the business myself. Me, I push paper. Well, cut it, copy it, frame it, bind it. An assortment of things. That’s right, I work at Kinko’s. Don’t judge. Sure, I escaped one horrible dead end business and jumped right into another one, but what do you expect me to do? I dropped out of college after my junior year. Got bored with it, decided to move in with Margo and live the Bohemian life. We listened to Rent a lot back then. That Bohemian crap lasted about a year, but it was too late to go back to school. I was stuck in the never-ending cycle of working a job to make money to go back to school while being unable to go back to school because I had a job but being unable to quit the job because I had bills because I had stupidly dropped out of college and moved in with my girlfriend thereby forfeiting myself from any of my parent’s charity. Thanks a lot, mom and dad.
Margo just got home, she brought take-out from Chang’s. Thank God, no shitty spaghetti or whatever other concoction she would’ve decided to attempt tonight. We’ll eat our Chinese food from cheap paper boxes with cheap chop-sticks and hop into bed to watch a few sitcoms before we go to bed and wake up a few hours later to start it all over again.
I bet she makes some shitty eggs.

The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You was without a doubt my favorite album of the year, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as anyone who really knows me knows my love for the two brothers from Carolina and their two compatriots on the bass and cello. I was worried about the release of this album, to be honest. The Avetts’ previous studio work always managed to capture the raw energy of their live show, and I had a bit of apprehension considering this would be their first major label release, and the first time they hadn’t produced their own work. The fact that Rick Rubin would be producing the record quelled my apprehension a bit, but it was still there. On release day, all worry faded away. The combination of Rubin’s production and the fellas’ songwriting was perfect. The result is a polished but not too polished, affecting record of ballads. I and love and this record.

David Bazan – Curse Your Branches is a record about crisis of faith…and the eventual loss of that faith. The emotion effect it has when I listen to it is hard to explain. I still have the faith that Bazan seems to have lost, but I understand his questions, his doubts. I identify with his lyrics, even at their most accusing of the God I trust. It can be hard not to.

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love: Epic. That’s really the only word for this album. Start to finish, one long tale of awesomeness.

Derek Webb – Stockholm Syndrome: Derek’s usually controversial. He’s also usually playing an acoustic guitar, as opposed to a bass and some synths. I like the change. It seems my musical taste is always moving, and somehow Derek always manages to be in my wheelhouse.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Elvis Perkins in Dearland: This was a late find. By late, I mean I didn’t listen to it until about a week ago, when I saw that it was in Paste Magazine’s top 3 on their Albums of the Year list. So I gave it a listen, and it really is fantastic. This guy can write a song.

The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock: The Felice Brothers are a band that seem to be from another time. When you hear a song like “Loves Me Tenderly” from their eponymous album, you get the feeling this music’s been recorded for nearly a century, when it’s new as designer jeans (you know, the ones that are distressed to LOOK old). The 2009 release from the Brothers Felice (nice rhyme) has the same old-timey quality that I can’t help but love.

Florence and the Machine – Lungs: Another late find for me. Florence Welch’s voice falls somewhere between Annie Lennox and Etta James. That’s a strange combination, one that I find endlessly interesting. Adding to this interesting concoction is the White Stripes-y indie-soul-infused-rock that backs her voice.

Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels: I expected to find this album on more end-of-year lists than it’s appeared on. This is one of the many indie-folk albums I fell in love with this year. There’s a Neil Young tinge in Tony Dekker’s voice that’s a popular sound these days. It sounds best here.

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest: Can’t say much that hasn’t been said by the zillions of reviewers who’ve raved about this album in the past months. So I won’t. It’s just really good.

Jay-Z – Blueprint 3: Hey, I listen to rap, too. In this album, HOV declared the Death of Auto-tune, made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can, and ran this town. And guess what? He really is the Frank Sinatra of the rap game.

Langhorne Slim – Be Set Free: Langhorne’s another artist that seems to belong in another time. The production here is modern, but Langhorne’s whiskey-drenched voice belongs in the age of Bob Dylan. “I Love You, But Goodbye” was one of my go-to songs during my horrible break-up earlier this year.

M. Ward – Hold Time: I’m admittedly late to the party when it comes to M. Ward. The first time I heard him, a few years ago, there was something about his voice that bothered me. Thank God I got over that. Ward’s usual moralistic themes are accompanied by one of the simplest, catchiest love songs I’ve ever heard (“Never Had Nobody Like You”)

Metric – Fantasies: This was a mid-year find that I was really happy about. I’m a sucker for good female-fronted indie-rock bands with a hint of synth. Metric is yet another band spawned from the Canadian musical juggernaut known as Broken Social Scene.

Mindy Smith – Stupid Love: Patty Griffin, Alison Krauss, Leigh Nash, Sandra McCracken, Norah Jones. The world is full of really talented singer-songwriters. Mindy Smith is one of them. We’re very blessed. This entire album is good, but would make the list only for “Love Lost,” another one of those songs I clung to during the aforementioned break-up.

Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk: M. Ward. Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Conor Oberst. Mike Mogis. I really don’t think anything else needs to be said.

Mos Def – The Ecstatic: If Jay-Z is the Frank Sinatra of rap, Mos Def is Dean Martin. He’s the ultimate triple threat in the rap world, singing rapping and acting his way to stardom. I still can’t figure out why his albums don’t go platinum. “Life In Marvelous Times” is right up there with Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” as best rap song of the year for me.

The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come: Before this album, I had trouble “getting” the Mountain Goats. The music seemed good enough to me, the songwriting good…I just couldn’t get into any of it for reasons I couldn’t decipher. This look at religion and life through the lens of the Bible is fascinating to me. And with it, I finally “got” this band.

needtobreathe – The Outsiders: Just listen to the title track and you’ll see why I love this album. These guys represent a part of the CCM world I wish we could see more. They’re out on their own making the music they want to make, and the result is fantastic and fun. Bear Rinehart (a friggin’ cool name) has one of those instantly recognizable, stay-with-you voices.

Paper Route – Absence: A beautiful mix of indie-rock and electro, I love this band. 2009 was the year I got way into electro music, and these guys were partly the reason. Biggest standout track for me is the haunting “Are We All Forgotten”

Passion Pit – Manners: Like I said…the year of electro music. This album makes me want to dance endlessly and only sing in falsetto.

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: Near perfect pop music. Andrew Osenga said on his twitter feed this album nearly made him want to give up making music. I understand.

Sarah Jarosz – Song Up In Her Head: An early-fall find, thanks to a Paste Magazine sampler. Great mando-centric new-grass. She’s young, but a fantastic songwriter.

The Swell Season – Strict Joy: Finally, a genuine full-length album from the duo that starred in the great film Once. The writing/recording of the songs from Once seemed to bring them together romantically, and this album is the record of that romance’s falling apart. “Low Rising” would feel perfectly at home on an old Van Morrison record, and “I Have Loved You Wrong” is the perfect mix of sad and beautiful.

Wilco – Wilco: I can’t really imagine Wilco releasing an album and that album not appearing on my favorites list. I didn’t love this album as much as I loved Sky Blue Sky, but it’s not for lack of quality. A fantastic duet with Feist (“You and I”) and the anthemic “I’ll Fight” are my two favorite tracks on this album.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz: A year ago if you’d asked me anything about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all I could tell you is that they did that one song that’s on Rock Band. Really. Never got on that bandwagon (although yes, “Maps” is a great song, and fun to play Rock Band drums to), but this album changed that. This is the epitome of indie-pop-rock. Karen O is hot and charismatic and fun.

So that’s it, my 25 favorite albums of the past year. If you read this, and don’t have some of them, I encourage you to check them out…they’ve all stuck with me throughout this year.

The Avett Brothers~Laundry Room from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

I’m a little too young to have been greatly affected by any of the three of these celebrities’ work, though I’m not sure there’s a non-Amish soul in America that hasn’t been at least somewhat affected by Michael’s music. I learned of Michael after he had already started to go crazy and turn himself into a white woman, so I feel like my experience with his music has always been a bit tainted. That said, there’s nothing like putting an old jam from Thriller, Bad, or Off the Wall and trying to moonwalk.

The man was crazy. We all know that. I just hope the legacy left is the music and not the insanity.

I’m tired.