Mix CD O' The Decade

The votes have been counted, the results are in, the appropriate officials have been bribed and my moon is in Jupiter. The time has come to officially release the track list for the MIX CD O' THE DECADE (2000-2009). It's been a pretty innarestin' decade,
due in part to the utter collapse of the music industry. Somebody shoulda bought them a copy of The Internet For Dummies, but all record companies are by nature evil, and i'm glad they're dead. i would argue that not having the traditional gatekeepers has been great for music, although there's 20 more times the stuff to wade through, so forgive me if i left off some greatness. Here it is, the decade in 120 minutes.



1. Last Night by The Strokes-i feel like this is the song that really kicked the decade off. It announced a return to the garage; this wouldn't sound out of place on the Nuggets box-set. More than that, it made it clear that previously embarrassing musical styles (glam to disco to cock-rock) were back in vogue.
2. Devils & Dust by Bruce Springsteen
3. Mississippi by Bob Dylan
4. The man comes around by Johnny Cash-Old Gods not dead. In the decade of retro-chic, it was nice to see these old war-horses turning out some vintage material. Long may you run.
5.Rehab by Amy Winehouse-What, did you all just discover you parent's copy of Dusty in Memphis? The latter part of the decade saw a explosion of Neo-soul in the UK, particularly among the ladies. i think that if any of them can rise above the trend, it will be Amy Winehouse, provided she stays healthy enough. It's not looking good though.
6. Blood Bank by Bon Iver
7. Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
8. White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes- Ahh, beard rock, how do i love thee? You've made it ok for men to cry in public again.
9. Time to Pretend by MGMT
10. Zero by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Don't worry, disco still sucks. For some inexplicable reason though, this does not.
11. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
12. Wavin' Flag by K'Naan
13. Hey Ya! by Outkast
14. Paper Planes by M.I.A.- Interesting decade for Hip-hop. Seems like just rapping over a beat isn't doing it anymore. The most compelling stuff is being produced with more live instrumentation, and there is definitely a world music vibe being added to the pallet. Bodes well.
15. All these things that I've done by The Killers- i'm upset with The Killers because they've made it ok to like the '80's again. This tune is just too much of an anthem to ignore.
16.Float On by Modest Mouse- Straight ahead guitar rock that isn't boring. Amen.
17. Mushaboom by Feist- You know it's going to be a crazy decade when a member of Broken Social Scene get's an ipod commercial. Also, is having your song on an ipod commercial this generation's eqivalent to the cover of the rollin' stooone, rollin' stooone... ?
18. Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire- And the award for the best Bruce Springsteen song not written or performed by Bruce Springsteen goes to...
19. Wolf Like Me by TV on the Radio- i'd like to talk about this song, but it's got me so adrenalized that i gotta go break things, and possibly howl at the moon.

Overall a fantastic decade. Good riddance to the "music business", which was run by pirates with tin ears anyway. i'm sure a superior distribution system that takes better care of of all parties (the artist, the music and the listener) will come along shortly. i do miss record stores though, thank Gourd for the return of vinyl.

Best of 2009

Every year i burn a 20 Best Songs of the Year mix. i was waiting around to hear all of Dylan's Christmas album before before making the list official, but since initial returns indicate that it is about the same amount of creepy as Hannibal Lecter singing nursery rhymes, i'll just get it out there. Here it is folks, my top 20 for 2009, sequenced for optimum listening pleasure:

1.Waving Flag-K'Naan

2.This Tornado Loves You-Neko Case

3.Empire State of Mind-Jay-Z

4.The Rake's Song-The Decemberists

5.The Fear-Lily Allen

6.Blood Bank-Bon Iver

7.French Navy-Camera Obscura

8.Sunken Union Boat-John Vanderslice

9.The Walls are Coming Down-Fanfarlo

10-Actor Out of Work-St-Vincent

11.Help, I'm Alive-Metric

12.I'm Confused-Handsome Furs

13.Never Had Nobody Like You-M. Ward

14.Good Love-Bat For Lashes

15.Nicorette-Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

16.Lisztomania-Phoenix

17.Crush on You-BrakesBrakesBrakes

18.Fitz and the Dizzyspells-Andrew Bird

19.Please Read the Letter-Robert Plant & Allison Krause

20.Through&Through&Through-Joel Plaskett

And dere you go. Pretty good year i think. Big releases due in 2010 (Hello there Arcade Fire) so i'm an excited mannish boy. i've been compiling these lists since 1995, so i think i'll blog 'em for posterity in a little bit...Rocket Reducer out.

LORD BUCKLEY

Hipsters, Flipsters and finger poppin' Daddies--Knock me your lobes! I come here not to jive his sweet double Hipness, but to swing wit' 'em. Now dig this, all you Cats and Kittens and Studs and Stallions; this lame bit I'm puttin' down won't hip you to the actual Genius that was his Lordship. For that you need to hop in your short, and groove on down to the wax museum to pick yourself up some sides of the swingingest Cat what ever swung.

And if you do, m' lawds and ladies of the Royal Court, today's Hipstory lesson will run the gamut all the way down from Jonah and the Nazz to The Hip Ghan, with stops along the way for the Gasser, that poor misunderstood Marquis de Sade and maybe even that story written on the inside of your eyelids.

Grab your pith helmets and your spinnin' wheel baby, and dig the hippest jive in all of Mother India (or anywhere else too).

Astral Weeks

There is an exchange between Jack Black and a fellow vinyl devotee somewhere near the midpoint of High Fidelity, in which Black's surly record store clerk says "Dude, I can't believe you don't own this F***ing album!"


That's somewhat akin to how i feel when snooping through someone's record collection (given the opportunity i will always check out people's CD stack, it helps with the snap judgements) and i don't find a copy of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.

Ultimately more uplifting than a bucket of Paxil, this album nevertheless goes to all the scary places of the human psyche. Maybe it's the fact that it explores those places (the major themes here include obsession, addiction and death) while maintaining a shimmering beauty that make it so powerful.

We do know that it was a happy accident, Morrison did little, to no communicating with the talented jazz musicians (Richard Davis is unbelievable) assigned to his session. Despite (because of?) this, Morrison would never approach this level of genius again, and has in fact spent most of his time disowning it. Ours is not to disown, but to own.It's going to be OK.