Another year, another list, eh? Well, I have to say that on the verge of my 40th year, I may have finally reached the age of the curmudgeon. I don’t know if I’ve just lost my taste for new music, or if, as I suspect is true, new music really is just getting worse. Of course, there will always be good new music out there; it just seems it’s getting harder and harder to find. As the year wore on, I found less new music that interested me, and so I retreated back into a long forgotten love … reggae…

I thought that 2008 was probably one of the best years in music over the past decade and judging from a lot of other people’s comments, I was just about the only one who felt that way. I’m not sure what people thought this year, but for me 2009 was a year of great expectations and equally great disappointments although maybe I’m just generalizing from everything else that has been happening. Oh well, here it goes:   Buy New or Used through amazon VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Soul of Spanish Harlem: Superb collection of songs recorded in NYC between 1967…

  Buy New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic 1. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE : Merriweather Post Pavilion (early entry in ’09and loved it all year)   Buy New or Used through amazon  OR   @ eMusic 2. GRIZZLY BEAR : Veckatimest   Buy New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic 3. DIRTY PROJECTORS : Bitte Orca (all of the above from Brooklyn NY … what’s in the water? )   Buy New or Used through amazon  OR   @ eMusic 4. YO LA TENGO : Popular Songs   Buy New or Used through amazon 5….

TW – POOP LIST FOR CALANDER YEAR 2009 – COMPILED and SPEIL-BEDECKED 1/20-7/2010   Buy New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic  Buy New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic 1/ Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 2/ Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion It is with a slight spine-shiver of embarrassment that I present this pair of perennial year end front runners as my Top Two. I would love to cover my tracks and affect some contrarian shtick to keep up appearances (by the way, has anyone else noticed that some versions of Word…

Ramble site LIVE #1. Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Which was even more exciting than i had assumed it’d be. Hours of non-stop music and what a venue too, the barn is so inviting and the sound is perfect, a great home to this event! My favorite moments were when Levon was singing! The Organiks and Donald Fagen were the special guests. Fagen did King Harvest, it was great! Ronnie’s Site LIVE #2. Ronnie Spector At the Bearsville Theater. WOW, just WOW. the show was called " Beyond the Beehive" she read from her book over a great slide show interspersed…

  Buy New or Used through amazon  OR   @ eMusic Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do A collaboration between Diplo and Switch and a whole bunch of others (Nina Sky, Ricky Blaze, Prince Zimboo). This was my favourite by far this year. A completely mad mix of Jamaican dancehall, techno, cheese, judiciously applied Auto-tune (yes, yes, I know, I know) and other assorted flotsam and jetsam of dance music from the last 5 years. Diplo has been at the top of the game for the last five years at least here he combines it all into…

THE BEST OF 2009   Buy @ amazon  OR   @ eMusic 01. The Reigning Sound – Love and Curses   Buy through amazon   OR through eMusic  02. Black Hollies – Softly Towards The Light  Buy New or Used through amazon  OR  through eMusic 03. Wau Y Los Arghhhs!!! – ¡¡¡Viven!!!   Buy through amazon   OR   through eMusic 04. The A-Bones – Not Now!   Buy through amazon   OR   through eMusic 05. King Khan & The Shrines –What Is?!  Buy through amazon   OR   through eMusic 06. Ty Segall – Lemons   Buy through…

  Buy from amazon  OR   @ eMusic Ray Barbee meets the Mattson 2 – s/t   Buy New or Used through amazon The Embassadores – Coptic Dub   Download from eMusic Emilie Proulx – La Lenteur Alentour   Buy through amazon  OR @ eMusic Lhasa De Sela – Lhasa   Buy New or Used through amazon Lay Low – Farewell Goodnights Sleep   Buy through amazon  OR   @ eMusic John Doe & The Sadies – Country Club   Buy through amazon  OR   @ eMusic Ceu – Vagarosa   Buy through amazon  OR   @ eMusic Jeb Loy…

2009: The Year In Muse-Ick 2009, you are barely three weeks past in the rear view mirror of life and I’m already getting sentimental over you. Not that you were a very good partner, just that 2010 has started out no better than the miscreant year that was. Okay ’09, in your defense, you were only miserable for a few months. You provided some massive highs – an Obama inauguration, lots of great music, lots of great times spent with friends, and on some magical evenings a combination of the two that reminded me why we’re all here in the…

  Buy New or Used through amazon Wilco WILCO THE ALBUM By far the best recording of the year,and Wilco’s best not only for this year but in quite some time. Burned a few copies for my car, home, iPod, alarm clock, etc. Had the sucker on constantly and never got tired of listening to it.   Buy New or Used through amazon Rosanne Cash THE LIST Geez, I remember getting lists from my parents too, but my album would be filled with songs like MOW THE LAWN YOU LAZY SOB, or the famous MAKE SURE THERE IS GAS WHEN…

  Buy New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic 1. Avett Brothers/I and Love and You: These shaggy bluegrass underdogs make some questionable choices, going for big production and an even bigger sound, and somehow come up with a kind of a masterpiece. Chock full of fantastic songs – epic piano ballads and twangy rockers – this album sounds like they’ve been planted, tended, watered, blossomed, and grown ten feet high. Stunning.   Buy New or Used through amazon 2. Wilco/Wilco (The Album): Every hipster critic’s favorite target, this lean, muscular pop-oriented set stands up to anything…

What I Listened to in 2009 I just can’t do this anymore. Music seems to have lost most of its relevance. I listen to almost no new music, i.e. music by new artists. I only listen to new and old music from the old fogies I mostly grew up on. Why? I suppose it is meant to be this way. Today’s music does not speak to me for the most part. Is it a quality issue? Maybe. Is it older age? Probably. I am amazed at the shelf life of the music of the 60’s and 70’s. Not only for…

I’m finding hard to be interesting, clever, whatever, this year. Most of you know that we lost one of our members, and I lost a friend and boss, Jack Goldberg. All I can hope for is that he would have liked some of the music on this list, and I am sure he would have found most of it annoying as hell.      On a positive note, there was so much good music this year, I couldn’t keep up. So, to get as many titles in as I can, I’m keeping the chatter down to…   Buy New or Used through…

(in no particular order) This POOP is dedicated to Lux Interior. My Hero, my Buddy, my Teacher.   Buy New or Used through amazon Le Reno Amps – Tear it Open (Drift): Scottish band that hits the mark on a few genres. There are songs with a rockabilly flavor and even a couple that you can hear a They Might Be Giants thing going on. This is a great disc for when you have company and just can’t decide what to put on. There’s something for everyone.   But New or Used through amazon   OR   @ eMusic Wau…

This is what I was able to muscle out this year, please read responsibly……….   Buy New or Used through amazon WOLFMOTHER – Cosmic Egg Yes, Sabbath, yes White Stripes/Jack White, but how about WOLFMOTHER? They do bring their own sound to the table you know. And to reiterate a phrase that’s often echoed here in the poop, “NO Sophomore Slump Here!”. With songs that completely rock out like “Back Round” & “Pilgrim” plus the softer amazing tunes like “Caroline” & “Violence of the Sun” and the heavy melodic ones like “Sundial”, this record is Flawless, yes I said it…

  Buy New or Used through amazon  OR   @ eMusic 1. St. Vincent – Actor [4AD] A sublime blend of John Cale, Bowie and the edginess of TV on the Radio. Annie Clark sure plays a mean guitar.   Buy New or Used through amazon  OR   @ eMusic 2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest [Warp] Finally an album to rival Department of Eagles’ “In Ear Park”. Far more listenable and satisfying than Animal Collective’s release from this year.   Name Your Link  OR   @ eMusic 3. Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy [Warner Brothers] Hard to…