Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Still a bit behind on writing here, but it's moving forward, so that's a good thing. I admit to being lazy this weekend, partly due to a lack of sufficient sleep (I keep waking up every 2 hours or so for some reason, even if I take melatonin). I also seem to be having a lot of weird dreams lately with OCD themes to them, in which I get frustrated because things aren't 'just right' or other people are not quite doing things to spec. I figured it might be work-influenced, due to the fact that I do tend to be a bit OCD with that job because I kind of HAVE to, but that rarely influences my dreams. I'm thinking that it might actually be due to my recent attempts to kick my thought processes to a faster speed again--that is, making a determined effort to ramp up the creative output, which is in effect causing my brain to not want to slow down at night. I have also been reading a lot on my Nook just before bed, so perhaps doing a bit of analog reading from my TBR pile might calm it down some.

Anyhoo, aside from missing a few days recently, I've been doing pretty good staying with my writing/art/music schedule. This month is pretty much a practice run for what's coming up next year, so it's something to get used to. I'm making a few adjustments here and there, thinking of ways I can utilize time and creativity to my best advantage...when to sneak in morning words during the work day, prompts for mini-projects and exercises, reading more for inspiration and learning, things like that.

Of course, December is also the time for my usual end-of-year posts, in which I wax nostalgic about what went on over the year, what I might have learned...and of course my music posts as well. I'll be posting the music posts over at the Walk in Silence blog as usual, but will link them here and elsewhere as needed. I should probably post the end-of-year writing posts over at Welcome to B-Town as well, shouldn't I? Those two blogs are in need of some love and updating again. Either way...expect an uptick of year-end review posts from me within the next few weeks!

Okay! Time to get back to my usual Sunday afternoon of listening to A Prairie Home Companion, sorting through my emails, and sneaking in some writing stuff at the end of the day!

As promised! This was a very interesting year for music...my tastes were influenced by a lot of different things: listening to Save Alternative, WAMH online, KFOG (the more laid-back adult alternative to the punk/alternative Live 105) and checking out the albums that all the internet kids liked on the music blogs I follow. There was even a bit of watching VH1's weekly countdown as well, so I found myself liking a lot of the pop-friendly stuff too.

This past year seemed to be full of retro goodness as well. We saw a crazy amount of reissues and box sets (Pink Floyd, Rush, The Smiths, Editors, Smashing Pumpkins, The Church, The Kinks, U2), even a handful of retrospectives (Ben Folds, L'Arc~en~Ciel, REM). A handful of old-school artists reunited for albums (Jane's Addiction, Buffalo Tom, The Feelies) or came out of hibernation for unexpected releases (Lamb, Peter Murphy, The Cars(!!), Kate Bush, Gary Numan). There was also Duncan Sheik's wonderful and near-acoustic Covers 80s (expanding the EP from last year).

This retro sound also seeped into new stuff as well--M83, Washed Out and Cut Copy came out with albums that sounded distinctly like their early 80s synth ancestors, DJ Danger Mouse got together with Daniele Luppi to create an album of Ennio Morricone-esque soundscapes, Dum Dum Girls and Cults revived the lo-fi garage punk sound, and The Civil Wars brought back the old-school guitar-driven folk blues.

SO! In chronological order of release, here's my top twenty favorite albums of the year:

Wire, Red Barked Tree
The Decemberists, The King Is Dead
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow
Cut Copy, Zonoscope**
Mogwai, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Elbow, Build a Rocket, Boys!**
Low, C'mon
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light**
The Airborne Toxic Event, All At Once
Explosions in the Sky, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues
Lamb, 5
Moby, Destroyed
She Wants Revenge, Valleyheart**
Death Cab for Cutie, Codes and Keys
Duncan Sheik, Covers 80s
Gotye, Making Mirrors
Bombay Bicycle Club, A Different Kind of Fix**
Mutemath, Odd Soul
M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming**

It's tough to say which won top spot, but the ones marked ** got the most play for me.

And now for the videos of my favorite songs of the year! There's quite a few that made my list, so I'm posting the links instead of embedding, to save your browsers from self-immolation:

Wire, "Clay" from Red Barked Tree, rel. 1/10/11.
A great album from one of my all-time favorite bands. In a way this album was to 1988's A Bell is a Cup... as 2008's Object 47 was to 1987's Ideal Copy...less punkish and more melodic and atmospheric.

Social Distortion, "Machine Gun Blues" from Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes, rel. 1/18/11.
Social D tends to emulate Johnny Cash on all their songs, but damn it, they do a FINE job of it! This is a crazy video too, a 30's bank heist and beautifully filmed (if a bit violent).

The Decemberists, "This Is Why We Fight" from The King Is Dead, rel. 1/18/11.
Colin Meloy is a brilliant songwriter (and a great writer at that--I just finished his YA book Wildwood a few days ago) who writes deceptively smart songs--like this one, which I love because it sounds patriotic without being overzealous, which you don't see often in music.

Cold War Kids, "Bulldozer" from Mine Is Yours, rel. 1/25/11.
I'm still not exactly sure what it's about (homeless people? a shaky relationship?), but it's a great song from them that I heard a lot on Save Alternative.

The Civil Wars, "Barton Hollow" from Barton Hollow, rel. 2/7/11.
A damn fine folk blues song in the old school format. I have to keep an eye on this band.

Cut Copy, "Need You Now" from Zonoscope, rel. 2/8/11.
One of my top albums of the year, it's like a cross between OMD, Heaven 17, with maybe a little bit of early 90s Britpop as well.

Elbow, "Neat Little Rows" from Build a Rocket, Boys!, rel. 3/7/11.
Another of my favorite bands of this past decade, and this was a wonderfully personal album from the band, focusing on their childhood and growing up in the suburbs.

Low, "Especially Me" from C'mon, rel. 4/12/11.
A gorgeous album track from this usually quiet band, well worth picking up. Lovely video as well.

Foo Fighters, "Rope" from Wasting Light, rel. 4/12/11.
An album recorded in a basement? On analogue equipment? And a video made on VHS? (And a second video made as a parody of Falling Down?) How can you go wrong? Dave and Co. certainly passed with flying colors with this hard-driven RAWK album.

The Airborne Toxic Event, "The Kids Are Ready to Die" from All At Once, rel. 4/26/11.
Damn...I mean, damn, this is a good album. Unlike the first album full of tortured relationships, this new album is just frighteningly good, both musically and lyrically, including this Springsteen-esque track.

Fleet Foxes, "Helplessness Blues" from Helplessness Blues, rel. 5/3/11.
I admit this is in my Top 3 favorite songs of the year, even if it does have a bit of a tongue-in-cheek first verse. Very Simon & Garfunkel, this was a beautiful folk album worth downloading.

Lamb, "Build a Fire" from 5, rel. 5/5/11.
WOO! Lamb has returned!! Definitely a welcome return to one of my favorite bands of the late 90s-early 00s after a long hiatus.

She Wants Revenge, "Take the World" from Valleyheart, rel. 5/24/11.
I really don't like this video (I don't like music videos that are basically just shots of models and pretty girls doing very little but looking pretty for the camera--I like my videos to actually have movement, y'know?), but it's a great opening track for a surprisingly good album. I'd written this band off as a bit of a Interpol Division clone, but they've come a long way.

Death Cab for Cutie, "You are a Tourist" from Codes and Keys, rel. 5/31/11.
Ben Gibbard gets married (sort of briefly) and DCFC writes a happy song! Heh. Seriously, their last few albums have been quite entertaining and experimental, and this particular track got a lot of play on the radio.

Duncan Sheik, "What Is Love" from Covers 80s, rel. 6/7/11.
In an extension of his covers EP from 2010, Duncan created a great acoustic set of 80s tunes we all know and love, and made them his own. Here he pulls off a beautiful rendition of the Howard Jones song.

Washed Out, "Eyes Be Closed" from Within and Without, rel. 7/12/11.
Another doofy model video, but at least this one kinda sorta has movement--and I'm pretty sure this one was done as a parody. Another synth-laden album I got into late in the year, but it's quite good in an Air sort of way.

Gotye, "Somebody That I Used to Know" from Making Mirrors, rel. 8/19/11.
Okay, this ties with my favorite video of the year, and also in my Top 3 songs too. This track is like a cross between early Sting and something you'd hear in a musical. And yes, I'm pretty sure I've been in this relationship in the past. ;)

Bombay Bicycle Club, "Shuffle" from A Different Kind of Fix, rel. 8/29/11.
emmalyon got me hooked on this track, and I love it because it's just so goldarn quirky! I love the use of delay for the keyboard bit--one of those things I wish I'd have thought of.

Kasabian, "Days Are Forgotten" from Velociraptor!, rel. 9/19/11.
Kasabian returns to form with a great rocking album of dirty British funk, but with the melodies of the last few albums. Love the artwork in this video.

Steven Wilson, "Index" from Grace for Drowning, rel. 9/27/11.
The Porcupine Tree lead singer's second solo album is another journey into the darker prog sounds he does so well. His stuff is always good to play during my more intense writing sessions!

Mutemath, "Blood Pressure" from Odd Soul, rel. 10/4/11.
Tied for both Song of the Year and Video of the Year for me. I've watched this on YouTube more times than I ought to have, even if it is a relatively simple stop-motion video, but it's got a killer hook and reminds me of Norman McLaren's Neighbours. The lyrics of this song definitely sum up 2011 for me as well, considering my stress levels earlier in the year.

M83, "Midnight City" from Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, rel. 10/18/11.
Yet another synth-laden band (man, listen to those 80s keyboard glissandos and that sax solo!) that I've liked for quite some time, this is an absolutely brilliant album (and a double one at that) that's been on repeat on my mp3 player for the last few months. Tied for album of the year for me.

The Black Keys, "Lonely Boy" from El Camino, rel. 12/6/11.
I put this here basically because it's a fun song, and a damn funny video that was probably made for about $50.


A few leftovers tomorrow, including songs from 2010 and earlier that were on my playlist this year!

Hey kids!

I figure I may be a little busy tomorrow, between working (sigh) and doing some post-work shopping at Trader Joe's, then doing all sorts of silly end-of-year things. Okay, maybe not, but since I have the time now, I may as well share my countdown!



In no real particular order, here's my Top Twenty albums of 2010:

Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns
Interpol, Interpol
Civil Twilight, Civil Twilight*
OK Go, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
UNKLE, Where Did the Night Fall
Middle Class Rut, No Name No Color
The Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Band of Horses, Infinite Arms
The Gaslight Anthem, American Slang
Anberlin, Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place
Duncan Sheik, Covers 80s EP
Editors, In This Light and On This Evening*
Scissor Sisters, Night Work
Best Coast, Crazy for You
Belle & Sebastian, Belle & Sebastian Write About Love
Hooverphonic, The Night Before
Massive Attack, Heligoland
Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
Tricky, Mixed Race
Jimmy Eat World, Invented

* - Okay, technically these two came out last year, but their major reissues came out earlier this year so I'm keeping them here. :)


There's a good mix of both college radio/indie and major-label stuff here, as I tried to actively reach out to both sides this time out. There were quite a few things out there I did like, but these ended up being the albums I listened to most and consistently returned to. If anything, the UNKLE and the Interpol albums are probably my top favorites--not only are they two of my favorite bands, but their releases set the perfect mood for writing sessions. Close behind would be the always brilliant OK Go, with what definitely had to be their homage to Revolution-era Prince. :)

As for the songs themselves...well, there's a boatload of great songs that I liked this year, so I'll embed and/or link some nifty videos under a cut. Sorry if I went overboard here... :p

[NOTE: Also, sorry if some of these don't work right away...the VEVO channels have been acting up as of late and not playing.]

( Dad was a risk taker, his was a shoe maker, you, greatest hits 2006 little list maker )

Whew! A lot of great tracks this year! Probably the best alt-rock/college radio/indie year we've had in the last couple of years, I think. Definitely looking forward to next year, as there's supposed to be a goodly number of new albums by my favorite bands coming out (Cake, Wire, The Get Up Kids, Bush, REM, Bowling for Soup, Death Cab for Cutie and Foo Fighters, just to name a few...). Plus I've been listening to quite a bit of streamed college radio from both coasts, so I'm getting back into the indie swing of things again. Should be interesting.

Will post one last time tomorrow with more stuff. If I don't see you online tomorrow, here's to hoping everyone has an awesome, fantabulous and damn spiffy 2011! :)