Wednesday, December 31, 2008

LAST POST OF DA YEAR

tomorrow it will be 2009... the international year of astronomy, natural fibres, reconcilation (thanks wikipedia!), and my graduation from HIGH SCHOOL. i predict that pitchfork's top album of the year will be merriweather post pavilion.


LOOK AT THAT COLOR CHANGE

in honor of my eightieth post and last post of the year i would like to show you my LAST MOST PLAYED LIST OF 2008, and this pop gem right here:
S.O.S. (RIHANNA COVER) --- LAST SHADOW PUPPETS.

to hopefully round off this year with a bit of spirited argument, alex turner who is the lead singer in both the last shadow puppets AND the arctic monkeys was named NME's HOTTEST MAN IN MUSIC OF 2008. while alex is certainly an attractive guy, i have no choice but to declare that list null and void and everyone who voted in this poll both blind AND deaf for the following inarguable reasons...
1) ezra koenig is not #1
2) ezra koenig is not even on the list
3) pete doherty is ranked hotter than keith murray
all of those things are inexcusable.

what do you guys think? is that list terrible or just bad? what are you doing for new years' tonight? ARE YOU SITTING AT HOME AND WATCHING THE JONAS BROTHERS?!??!

Monday, December 29, 2008

2008 IN LISTS

(great los campesinos reference in the title of this post... ehheh)

TOP 4 TIMES I SAW VAMPIRE WEEKEND IN 2008
1) summerstage. guh.
2) saturday at terminal 5.
3) bowery ballroom album release show. (this is #3 because about half the time i could not hear them playing. however it did supplant architecture in helsinki 6/8/07 as the sweatiest experience of my life)
4) wednesday at terminal 5.

TOP 5 EMBARRASSING CHORUSES I YELLED IN 2008
1) "my body is your body. i won't tell anybody. if you want to use my body go for it." --- we are scientists, "nobody move nobody get hurt." 11/22
2) "i fucked my american cunt." --- the teenagers, "homecoming." 12/3
3) "do you want to fuck, like you know i do?" --- vampire weekend, "cape cod kwassa kwassa." 1/29, 6/14, 12/3, 12/6
4) "i said ooh girl! shock me like an electric eel!" --- mgmt, "electric feel." 7/28
5) "all all all your soaking wet dreams, you've spent them, you have gone and dreamt them dry!" --- ra ra riot, "ghost under rocks." 7/19, 8/19, 10/16

TOP 6 SEXIEST PEOPLE I UNFORTUNATELY SPENT THE MAJORITY OF CONCERTS STARING AT IN 2008
1) ezra koenig (vampire weekend). 1/29, 6/14, 12/3, 12/6
2) keith murray (we are scientists). 11/22
3) ed macfarlane (friendly fires). 12/9
4) andrew vanwyngarden (mgmt). 7/28
5) alexandra lawn (ra ra riot). 7/19, 8/19, 10/16
6) andrew bird. 10/2

TOP 3 "MAINSTREAM" SONGS I REALLY UNDENIABLY LOVED IN 2008
1) beyonce, "single ladies (put a ring on it)"
2) rihanna, "disturbia"
3) t.i. & rihanna, "live your life"
(i have not listened to the carter III yet. i will sooner or later)

TOP 6 BEST COVERS OF 2008
1) architecture in helsinki, "beef in a box" (iq) (they'd been playing this live as early as june 07 but it was only released this year on the like it or not ep. really, really, really good)
2) vampire weekend, "don't come around here no more" (tom petty) (i also saw them cover blondie and fleetwood mac and heard them cover plastic bertrand)
3) spoon, "panic" (the smiths)
4) the last shadow puppets, "SOS" (rihanna)
5) friendly fires, "i'm good i'm gone" (lykke li)
6) ezra koenig + fucked up, "someone's gonna die tonight" (blitz). if you have not seen this... you need to watch this

TOP 5 BEST LYRICS OF 2008
1) "i said ooh, girl! shock me like an electric eel! i said baby girl! turn me on with your electric feel." mgmt, "electric feel"
2) "is your bed made? is your sweater on? do you want to fuck, like you know i do?" vampire weekend, "cape cod kwassa kwassa"
3) "when i arrive will you wake if i open the door?" ra ra riot, "saint peter's day festival"
4) "you and me in the photobooth. waiting for the flash, close the curtain underneath. you and me like young lovers do. timing for the kiss and close enough to hear you breathe." friendly fires, "photobooth"
5) "i am my mother's only one." bon iver, "flume"

TOP 5 SEXIEST JAMZ OF 2008
1) friendly fires, "on board"
2) mgmt, "electric feel"
3) passion pit, "sleepyhead"
4) ra ra riot, "ghost under rocks" (don't know why i find this sexy but i do)
5) vampire weekend, "ottoman" (if only for "you sweat like a teenager")

TOP 5 BANDS I WANT TO LIKE BUT REALLY CAN'T
1) los campesinos!
2) dirty projectors
3) mystery jets
4) airborne toxic event
5) high places

TOP 3 BANDS THAT I DON'T LIKE BUT WITH ONE SONG I REALLY LIKE
1) deerhunter. "never stops"
2) of montreal. "gallery piece"
3) los campesinos! "you, me, dancing"

TOP 5 BANDS I REALLY JUST DON'T LIKE
1) black moth super rainbow
2) telepathe
3) blitzen trapper
4) love is all
5) atlas sound

TOP 6 THINGS I AM REALLY, REALLY, REALLY EXCITED FOR IN 2009
1) GRIZZLY BEAR AT AN OPERA HOUSE WITH A PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
2) RA RA RIOT IN PARIS
3) the recorded version of WHITE SKY, aka. the jam of all jams, aka. that song that makes me cry like a baby for no reason
4) the recorded versions of WRITING TO YOU IN REVERSE and WHO BACKS YOUR MONEY.
5) new grizzly bear and animal collective
6) discovery's promise to be "coming hard at you in 2009"

Saturday, December 27, 2008

BORN RUFFIANS

WE ALL KNOW ABOUT THIS EP:

i am making an assumption here but the point is if you don't know what this picture is, you need to find out what this picture is, and you need to purchase it and listen to all the songs it has on it because, out of the six songs i think are on it, FIVE are AWESOME.

born ruffians are really sweet and adorable. their frontman looks like he is eleven years old, so when you see him sing about how he needs "someone to love me and fuck me" (this sentence will ruin/save your life) there's a brief WTF moment. aside from being sweet and adorable they also continue to churn out ridiculous, incredible, and very unique pop gemz. because i am an idiot / listened to nothing but vampire weekend all year, i just bought their album about a week ago.

IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:


i'm an idiot. it is gold. why i did not buy it before is beyond me, because it is awesome. while it may not be as solidly ass-kicking as that EP, there are a great number of songs on it that really hit you in the face.

here's a live version of red elephant, and it's the only one i could find. what a ridiculously great song. i have played it throughout the last hour.
RED ELEPHANT (LIVE) --- BORN RUFFIANS.

if you like this enough, they're playing webster hall feb. 25 with fellow canadians tokyo police club. might see you there!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

CONCERTS OF DA YEAR

i saw thirty-four bands this year at fifteen concerts. in 2009 i'm going to shoot for 25 concerts / 50 bands. i picked from these 34 bands the ones that really stood out for me. all of these shows have their own separate reviews so i'm going to give you a picture and a link to the post. i was going to do a top five but couldn't narrow it down, so here are six.



6) WE ARE SCIENTISTS at irving plaza on my eighteenth birthday, NOV. 22
so i didn't write a review of this. rest assured it was awesome.


5) MGMT at mccarren park pool, JULY 27. more people than i have ever seen in my life, standing beneath a gentle mist: finally andrew + ben broke out a 14-minute epic and proceeded to jam the fuck out of every song on oracular spectacular, and it was worth it.


4) ANDREW BIRD at tarrytown music hall, OCT 2. awed by the depth of this sound and the way it filled the room, all the way up, all the way around, all the way through everything - "print it on every t-shirt in the land."


3) RA RA RIOT at siren festival, JULY 19. the first of three and the best - deathly hot, i knew every word, i knew "here you are, here you are breathing life into ghosts under rocks" but i have never felt so far from that image and so simultaneously close to it.


2) RADIOHEAD at all points west, AUG 8. you and whose army into idiotheque - some unknown expanse of time: jesus it's incredible to yell these terrifying, hopeless things out, and this is the only time i'd admit it, "take the money and run take the money and run take the money..."


1) VAMPIRE WEEKEND at summerstage, JUNE 14. the second of four and the best - some kind of triumph, everything blurred in the rain, everything divided and multiplied - and here, i waited so long, i waited SO LONG and through so much, "i've been here since january and you still look just as fine."


there is no unifying factor to these shows. in the case of three, it was their first hometown show in months. for one, it was the last show of a giant tour. one of the bands i'd been wanting to see since i was in sixth grade, another for about a year, both with numerous missed chances. for two others it was my second time seeing them perform. five of them seemed genuinely ecstatic to be standing before me playing for me. the other, well, i could forgive them, as they were mind-blowing.

next year i would like to see longer shows from born ruffians and friendly fires! the super-brief sets i heard from each sounded awesome; i'd like to see them do something longer!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

ALBUMS OF DA YEAR

i'm going to do a top three because i was really only blown away by the sheer and undeniable flawlessness of three. but i also would wholeheartedly recommend this year's releases by:
MGMT, FRIENDLY FIRES, THE MORNING BENDERS, GIRL TALK, LYKKE LI, FLEET FOXES, THE TING TINGS, SANTOGOLD, FOALS, and TOKYO POLICE CLUB.



3) YOU + ME --- THE WALKMEN. this album speaks of a place and time and incredible distance, a kind of divided nostalgia. in its ecstatic moments it is ecstatic, quick hand-clapping, this chimey, awkwardly tuned guitar, hamilton leithauser's voice uniformly joyous. on other tracks he is distant, another place and time, regretful. the drums, the bass and guitar, all are hollowed out, as if pulsebeats from the depths of a cave. this man, this voice, this music, have seen a thousand new years, and all of them have turned out to be something separate from whatever was promised. and they are still hopeful, for the kind of closeness this album's title promises and can only deliver in segments that seem like flashbacks.


2) THE RHUMB LINE --- RA RA RIOT. i saw ra ra riot three times in three months this year - july 19, august 19, october 16. the rhumb line is a sheer testament to how powerful and affecting music can be, and seeing it live reinforces this, at least for me. ra ra riot, more than any band i have ever seen live, feel their music like a physical entity, and it effects you like it effects them - watching, in the late-afternoon heat, wes miles in a button-down shirt and cutoff jeans sob "all, all, all your soaking wet dreams, you've spent them, you have gone and dreamt them dry" into a microphone wedged into the neck of his bass player mathieu santos is an image i doubt i will ever forget in all the years that i live. the shock to the rhumb line, though, is how that energy, so rooted in the visual, is carried into the music itself - the unrestrained insanity, personified and multiplied, in ghost under rocks, the glee that is saint peter's day festival (see my favorite songs list), the heavy loss and regret that is winter '05, and that devastating, pulsating organ and drums in too too too fast - that hook, "when i look in your eyes what am i supposed to do!?" you feel it. you will always feel it. you feel it in headphones, at your computer's speakers, you feel it then like you feel it when it is being played right in front of you and these six individuals writhe around, not standing still for a second, a reflection of the divisible entities of their music.


IF THIS IS A SURPRISE TO YOU, YOU DEFINITELY STUMBLED ACROSS THIS BLOG BY ACCIDENT AND DO NOT KNOW ME, BUT MY FAVORITE ALBUM OF THIS YEAR IS OBVIOUSLY

1) VAMPIRE WEEKEND --- VAMPIRE WEEKEND.
"in newport the air proclaims only the sources of money. even as the sun dapples the great lawns and the fountains plash all around, there is something in the air that has nothing to do with pleasure and nothing to do with graceful tradition, a sense not of how prettily money can be spent but of how harshly money is made, an immediate presence of the pits and the rails and the foundries..."
--- joan didion, "the seacoast of despair"

here is an image of an outsider in privilege. here is a precocious kid, handed a hefty sum of financial aid, who moves to cambridge or new haven or, maybe, morningside heights rosy-cheeked, only to find his every motion suddenly soundtracked by harpsichord and ironic afro-beat. this is a world he finds instantly difficult to understand. all he needs to be happy is to take the 79 across the park. the rich girls he hooks up with are more interested in keffiyehs and louis vuitton. his friends - bryn, without whom he is useless and loveless, joanna, who dwells on past relationships and is not mature enough to let go, blake, fake enough to present a different face to everyone - are all awkward people who have no interest in visualizing, imagining, or planning for the outcome of their lives after graudation. like didion in newport he sees not the glory of money, but the depravity with which that money is made. he sees himself sinking into this life, and knows that there is no getting out of it now. he is already lost, but for three minutes and forty-eight seconds he will beg you on his knees, with these strings behind like some kind of ghost, something chasing he cannot escape, to get out of this cape-cod illusion, to not let this take you over, to flee to whatever kind of safety not-new-england can supply. and this is his final stand before we lose him. this album's penultimate moment lies in his admitting, without doubt or denial, that he has fallen into this life where money is spent prettily and earned in secret, and that he has, without struggling, embraced it, become a part of it - "your pillow feels so soft, now." and yet this is triumphant, refined. a peaceful admission. a little death, a little life.
the shock of this album is its amalgamation of so many perfect things into one perfect thing. there is joy in it and sadness. there is privilege in it, yes, but people don't realize that this album's two longest songs are about taking the bus and fleeing cape cod. there is africana in it and ska and an echo of something like elvis costello. i still have the faith in this album i had when watching it performed, live, in stunning entirety, on the day of its release in january. i can only hope that i always have that faith.




i still have to do favorite concerts + stuff i'm excited for next year!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

SONGS OF DA YEAR

honorable mention for:
SKINNY LOVE --- BON IVER
BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS --- FLEET FOXES
LET'S SEE IT --- WE ARE SCIENTISTS
CLOSER --- KINGS OF LEON
WE SHOULD FIGHT --- EZRA FURMAN
FOOLS --- THE DODOS
I'M A LADY --- SANTOGOLD
BLIND --- HERCULES + LOVE AFFAIR


20) DUPPY CONQUEROR --- SAM BUCK ROSEN. when you think you have defeated everything there is always something more. at first when you came here you were thinking that this was like all the other cities and it would be easy. no one wants to talk to you here, but after the initial shock of this you began to treasure it. in the subway stations you stand and listen to the gentle shoving beat of whatever people are playing there belowground. trying to speed up. pushing at empty air. they play these things for you and you know it then. you, the conqueror, are the only one really listening, and this is your battle cry.


19) HERE'S THE THING --- GIRL TALK. (no mp3). it is difficult to choose one song off feed the animals because they all blend together. i think though that this is my favorite, just for the bit with shawty lo and elvis costello. the incredible thing about girl talk is the contrast - so awesome, that contrast. these classic songs, ones you were raised on, you'd know every word if they came on the radio. and then, on the top, these rap lyrics, some of them hysterical in their violence or misogyny or widespread use of the word "pussy." you almost want to laugh at it, but you can't.


18) BOARDED DOORS --- THE MORNING BENDERS. when you look at things at the end, and all that's left is an empty house, windows and doors nailed over with plywood - nothing says abandonment like that, nothing says regret like that pulsing organ, and nothing says "how could you do this to me" like that lyric - "maybe you're right to stay in the light, but tell me please where does that leave me?" in the dark, in the pitch dark with the rafters dripping, in that boarded-up house.


17) ERASER --- NO AGE. in july i listened to this outdoors at south street seaport. in the beginning, with that steady riff and drums, the seething whirlpool of bodies i had been fighting on the verge of momentarily dissolved, and i recall, very sweaty, looking to my right at the backlit ships, the masts emblazoned white against the sky. behind me, wall street glimmered with this ironic faithfulness. they started to break into the shove of the drums before the vocals emerge, and i closed my eyes as long as i could. there was motion before me as the whirlpool began to seethe again. i don't know what that lyric is, is it "won't you die"? i just yelled shit out loud. there's a dependency in insanity. you don't need to really give a fuck.


16) NO ONE DOES IT LIKE YOU --- DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES. my friend once wrote something she read aloud to me, and i recall most vividly something about going out in the night, and coming back again. out in the morning light, you don't have to breathe so easy. there is something cold and haunting about this, to go out alone in the early light, and to find nothing. there are no remaining choices. no one does it like you.


15) PHOTOBOOTH --- FRIENDLY FIRES. you write so many songs about love but you don't write them like this. you can't put this into words, how shaky and jittery it is, to be so close and so far, to wait for the flash in suspended animation. all of this is real, do you get it? all this tension is real. that, you can put that to music.


14) HANG THEM ALL --- TAPES N TAPES. do you like the second amendment? do you like capital punishment? tapes n tapes' second album lacked the sheer punch of the first, but this song spoke of passion more than anything, these shoving drums, fuzzy guitar, and, in the end, this break into a shocking, proud kind of chorus.


13) JOCASTA --- NOAH AND THE WHALE. that is the only thing i can call you and the only thing i will ever call you. i consider this a modest proposal. i'd do it just for my own life. end in a brusque clatter. turn to a ghost.


12) HUMMINGBIRD --- BORN RUFFIANS. oh oh oh-oh, oh oh oh-oh-oh, oh oh oh-a-oh, oh-oh-oh.


11) BAD BLOOD --- BEAR HANDS. (this was technically released last year. do i care? no.) you want to start stuttering like billy bibbit in one flew over the cuckoo's nest. spit words out. you get nervous as shit. you know the consequences.

10) THAT'S NOT MY NAME --- TING TINGS. i don't like dancing. i don't like talking. i'm not the prettiest girl - but fuck you if you don't remember me. i'll show you how rememberable i can be.


9) M79 --- VAMPIRE WEEKEND. remember how big new york was when you were young? you were afraid of it. you made your parents take cabs. you'd never take the subway. there was this fear of being left behind the turnstile, unable to swipe your metrocard at the correct speed. now you want to take the subway. now you want to take the bus. you want to sit in the back and feel the engine rumble. you want to sit between two sweaty guys and watch one of them read oedipus rex. you want to take the 79 across the park. dream out the window. the joy lies in knowing this place is too big for you. you could never take it all. you have to make do with what you can feel. this is fine. you can handle this. nothing is more beautiful than new york, nothing. you would die if you knew it all.

8) I'M GOOD I'M GONE --- LYKKE LI. coldness, a mellowing. you remember what it was like. was it really like that? certainly not. when you think hard all you can hear are sharp sounds like looped piano, handclaps. none of that spice you wanted. you were incorrigible at first, wanting everything. are you ashamed of that self now? everything happens for a reason.


7) IN A CAVE --- TOKYO POLICE CLUB. you could leave here, and you could. you just got the new passport in the mail. they call this temptation. you've never felt flight as such a possibility. there is so much that dissatisfies here. you'd walk the back roads in new england, west to the setting sun.


6) KIDS --- MGMT. the second time i heard kids was in brooklyn, in williamsburg, in the light rain. when i bought the album i was wondering how many fucking songs are about the kids. the kids don't know shit. the kids don't stand a chance. the kids are alright. i don't see much wrong with my generation; we do what we have to. but out of all these songs, all these songs that tell me what we do wrong, the one i trust the most comes out of the mouth of this skinny kid, in a poncho and headband, chanting "control yourself" into a mic he clutches along with a pair of women's underwear, under this violent brooklyn sky. i recall i looked up and around. people spread out all around me. in the condo complexes to my right people lined the balconies, clustered, hidden from the rain. i knew then that this song, all the nonsensical euphoria of it, better summed us up than anything else that tried to.


5) DISTURBIA --- RIHANNA. you ever love someone? not like me. not like me, i've felt it. they were gonna lock me away. it doesn't matter. what matters - i lost it. i really did. all of it. i didn't notice. there is a freedom, almost, in losing your mind. bom bom be-dom, bom bom be-dom bom. i want to dance to my own heartbeat. tachycardia. fillibration. stomp it out on the floor. there are others like me, you know. we've all felt it.


4) DONDE ESTA LA PLAYA --- THE WALKMEN. in puerto rico you drive to the beach in a rented sky-blue car. distantly the clouds gather, this thick gray field. back home this time of year those mean snow. it's somewhat unclear here. they could drift to sea, harmless. you are just off the plane - you haven't unpacked, haven't even booked a hotel. maybe you are fleeing something, it doesn't matter. in the trunk your little suitcase is full of unfolded clothes. what you're wearing is rumpled from sitting on that plane. you find your way to the beach and put on a bathing suit in the backseat. throw out a towel on the sand, lie and look at the sky. over the sea the clouds broil. almost you hope it would rain, for the catharsis.


3) OSAKA LOOP LINE 2008 --- DISCOVERY. you lost her. you had these chances you did not take. on the train you watched her wait, sleep. that subtle erotica in watching someone sleep! it could be next to you. you could be feeling that breath on your ear, on the hollow of your neck. but no. you lost her. you're unused to this place. they've got technology here that seems like children's toys. you've lost the ability to use it, to function yourself accordingly. this isn't like waiting for the subway. this isn't new york. it hurts the most that you saw her go, and you did nothing. you were powerless to stop it. you were frozen in place. you were an ice statue. they could've tapped your shoulder, you would've shattered.


2) BALLOONS --- FOALS. i always thought about the red balloon. there's so much to escape. a lack of color. that juvenile torture. friendlessness - heavy. feel it? paris. menilmontant. i don't know when. i think the sky filled with them. all colors. skyline. these tight images. the brusqueness of sound. you don't need words - do i need words? i could tell you what love means and i don't need words. just eight words. i can tell you. i can say it. let me say it.


1) SAINT PETER'S DAY FESTIVAL --- RA RA RIOT. what waits in gloucester? you have someone tangible floating face-down in buzzard's bay. he would wait in gloucester. he would wait, with st. peter, in a bar called the rhumb line. he would drink lazily, something dark, foam yellow-white on the glass. and you would follow this line, this rhumb line, to its very end. you would walk it heel-toe. you would sail it on that straight bearing. you would run it like khalid khannouci ran marathons, you would bathe in ice afterwards. you would do anything to stay on that line. you would follow it to gloucester, only to find that nothing earthly awaited you there. there would be touches of places that would remind you of the things you might've done. would you have lost him, anyway? he would have wanted you to keep on.

Friday, December 12, 2008

THE DUST THAT SETTLES AROUND YOUR HOUSE


MEXICO --- SAM BUCK ROSEN
i like to think i've heard a lot of gorgeous songs in my life, and i think this tops the list.

Monday, December 8, 2008

YOU + ME IN THE PHOTOBOOTH



i might be going to friendly fires tomorrow so here's a little something to get you excited for a review or whatever.... one of my favorite songs of this year!

PHOTOBOOTH --- FRIENDLY FIRES

Sunday, December 7, 2008

SO LAST NIGHT

vampire weekend take four dec. 6 2008

can you find me and kt?

so we get out last night and it's snowing. just in absolute awe. wow.
i made a great cupcake analogy with kt and our new friends about how much better last night was than wednesday. if wednesday was like eating ONE delicious cupcake, last night was like having that cupcake, and the knowledge that for the rest of your life whenever you wanted a cupcake it would be there, and it would be delicious.
i can't talk much about this but rest assured it totally verified why i love this band so much.

set list.
yes, four from the bottom, that would be a blondie cover, which was introduced as "that song about fucking the police." i laid my heart on the line. oh, my god.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

OPEN LETTERS

dear new york,
dance, new york. DANCE. no one in this city dances. a few times last night i wanted to cry.
love, genevieve.

dear everyone going to vampire weekend this saturday dec. 6,
dance. please. dance.
love, genevieve.



to answer your probable question: it was good. no one danced. campus and white sky were both incredible. ezra forgot some of the words to m79 and then remembered the rest while laughing into the microphone. i think both mansard roof and bryn were too slow. but am i complaining because i know what this band is capable of? well, of course i am. i think they deserve a crowd they've had the two previous times i've seen them: all of us, with this dignified obsession, with the desire to communicate through something - screaming, dancing. in january i remember between every song a bunch of slightly intoxicated dudes yelled "ROSTAAAAAM!!!!" weird but memorable. i left that show with my hair dripping down my neck. i just don't think last night was sweaty enough.

vampire weekend, if you bring it on saturday i will bring it right back. new york, if you dance on saturday, i will dance right back. if you don't dance on saturday you don't even want to know what i will do.

Monday, December 1, 2008

YOU'LL LIKE THIS

MAYBE BABY --- GABRIEL THE MARINE
are you cold? i'm cold. chilling. very gorgeous. how old are these kids? how good is that bit just after the chorus!?