2011: The Year in Music

It has officially become an annual tradition, the true year in review for music.

2011 had some amazing music, some mainstream and even better independent releases.

Periodically throughout the year I check out several websites to see what other people are listening to, and now I would like to share some great songs from 2011.

If you would like to learn more I am including some links at the bottom of this post to NPR: All Songs Considered.

Enjoy!

1. Alabama Shakes - Hold on
2. Little Scream - Cannons
3. Cavemen - Old Friend
4. Delay Trees - Gold
5. The Roots - The OtherSide
6. Neutral Milk Hotel - You've Passed
7. Wilco - The Art of Almost
8. Tune Yards - You, Yes, You
9. Apparat - Black Water
10. St. Vincent - Cheerleader
11. Bright Eyes - One for you, one for me
12. Drake - Take Care
13. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bubble
14. Bon Iver - Perth
15. Herzog - Silence
16. The Mountain Goats - Estate Sale Sign
17. Cults - Abducted
18. Beyonce - Countdown

NPR: All Songs Considered - Best Music of 2011 blog


NPR: All Songs Considered - The Best Music of 2011 Podcast

and John White IV is still running!

Kyle Whittingham - USC Press conference

New Year...New Music

Just over a week ago we began a new year and a new decade. Many things have changed in the last 10 years yet many remain the same. A common thread I seem to run across quite often is that music will define my current mood. Music is a gateway to story telling, poetry in motion and it can definitely be an inspiring journey listening to a new album from time to time.

With this in mind I wanted to showcase a great year end show from NPR. All songs considered - The Listeners Best Songs of 2009. I want to issue a small caution however. Knowing NPR's typical listened I don't think that it should come as any surprise that this play list contains almost exclusively indie music. I mostly because although you likely have not heard of many of these artists, there will be several which have attained quasi mainstream notoriety.

Lastly, check out the show on the NPR site, or check out their podcast through Itunes. If you are looking for some new music this is a great place to start. I hope you enjoy this play list, I know that I have. While I encountered some of these artists on my own and with the help of some friends, there is some really interesting new music included in this list. Enjoy!

NPR - All Songs Considered - The Listeners Best Songs of 2009

1. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
2. Animal Collective - My Girls
3. Phoenix - Listomania
4. Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
5. Andrew Bird - Oh, No
6. The Decemberists - The Rake's Song
7. Wilco - Wilco (the song)
8. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
9. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
10. St. Vincent - The Strangers
11.Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's - Zero
12 - Regina Spektor - Eet
13. M. Ward - Stars of Leo
14. The Swell Season - Feeling the Pull
15 . Monsters of Folk - Say Please
16. Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move
17. Passion Pit - Sleephead
18. Sufjan Stevens - You Are the Blood
19. Camera Obscura - French Navy
20. Metric - Sick Muse
21. Beirut - The Shrew
22. The XX - VCR
23. Bat for Lashes - Daniel
24. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Home
25. Modest Mouse - Satellite Skin

Surprise!!

Where the Wild Things Are - A Review

Where the wild things are is a fanciful tale confronting the insecurities of both parents and children in way that is both confrontational and introspective. Immediately after watching the movie I feared that the narrative was to mature for a ten year old to grasp, but knowing that the visuals would provide a story that children would long remember and identify with almost immediately. After digesting the film for a while I now believe that Spike Jonze hit the nail on the head. Without providing a synopsis, I wanted to point out that the screen adaptation differs from the book a great deal. While the book has fewer than ten written lines of text, the film has much a more robust story line.

The original book allowed a great deal of imagination which was great for reading with your children, allowing them to explore the illustration and to think creatively to craft an entire world to better understand Max’s world. The film is much more explicit in defining Max’s frustration with the world’s inability to understand his experience and his world. Max is a self pronounced explorer who experiences the world through his imagination and attempts to address others from his perspective. Unfortunately this seems to backfire and those around him define Max as disruptive and at times destructive. Max has as brief moment of introspection after storming his sisters room, however following this moment of self reflection Max ignores his insight and continues pursing his own desires and the inclinations of his imagination.

After a catastrophic interaction with this mother where he attempts to garner her attention over that of her boyfriend, Max rejects the world around him and runs from his problems, ultimately shunning the confines of our world to escape to a world which better conforms to his experiences. It becomes clear as Max arrives at this new place Where the Wild Things Are that he must take control and responsibility for his actions, and he is immediately presented with an important decision where must choose how he will interact with a world that he does not understand. Shortly thereafter he becomes aware of the consequences of his decision and must again find a creative way to reconstruct his image. What at the time appears to be a great decision where Max lies, and makes it clear that he is a person of great power and authority soon becomes a nightmare where Max again must confront the fallout from his actions and decisions. He again takes this moment to reflect and finally comes to terms with a better understanding of how his actions affect those around him. Along his journey he forms a conditional friendship with Carol the giant who he soon learns is also misunderstood and similar to himself does not grasp the implications of his actions. Carol serves as a mirror for Max, finally allowing Max to see how his construct of a world or place better than his own can shroud your perception of the reality he is confronted with. The idealism of a utopia where problems do not exist and there is no sadness offers a great juxtaposition to the stark reality where real problems do exist and where you must take responsibility for your actions.

When Max arrives at the decision to leave this world Where the Wild Things Are and travel home, the maturation he has experienced is again mirrored in Carol’s character as he now fully grasps that not all things are perfect, but that you can have a great effect either positive or negative on those around you, and that you must be in the present and not lost in some alternate reality. This is a great film intended for all ages. A film full of imagination, best intentions and lessons learned. Spike Jonze directed another wonderful film. Similar to Being John Malkovich we are lost in some other possible reality that is beyond our grasp, an alternate reality that we fashion as an escape from the world in which we live. I think that both adults and children of all ages can walk away from this film with a better understanding of the effect of their actions on those around them, and how to better cope with the realities of this world. I think this may be one of the more creative and perhaps best adaptations I have seen of children’s story in some time. Absolutely recommended.

First off, Amazon needs to add some depth to their ratings system. There seems to be a vast chasm between 3 and 4 stars, similar to the difference between a 60% D and a 80% B. If it were up to me I would give this album 3.5 stars or roughly a 70% C. This album is not a failure by any measure, as a matter of fact I liked this album overall.

What an unexpected treasure. After digesting his freshman effort "These Streets" over the last several months "Sunny Side Up" came as quite a surprise. On the first album he shied away from his native heritage vocally while honing his focus on a great story telling dynamic. He discussed his insecurities surrounding women, relationships gone wrong and his abiding faith in the opposite sex. Not to mention his passionate desire to love and be loved. Not to say his voice was anything to turn your nose up at, quite the contrary. The carefully crafted lyricism mixed with catchy folk hooks makes this album both enchanting and irresistible. I loved that album and will continue to listen to it for years to come.

The first thing that strikes me about "Sunny Side Up" is the return to his roots as a Scotsman in his vocal intonation. You can tell within a just a few moments where he cut his teeth. This is a good album, with some great individual songs. what it is missing however is a sense of cohesiveness. There are several amazing songs but they fail to execute on a consistent narrative. While he continues his theme of passion for women, the over all message is delivered using a different approach, tragically it comes across delivering mixed signals. In terms of an epic album this doesn't quite fall into the amazing category, however I would definitely recommend you give this album a spin. "Candy" sticks out to me as an extremely bright spot on this, his sophomore effort, however I think that "These Streets" is a more cohesive effort album for your money.