Where does the time go? I thought I just finished writing the 2013 list, and here I am again. POOP and taxes – the only 2 things I can count on to start the New Year off right. And the similarities don’t end there – they are both painful to get out but once I receive something back in the mail, all the pain becomes worth it. Thankfully, the % of money Mark requires is substantially less than my accountant. Anyway, here’s last year’s notables, as I see it:
My Fourth POOP DISC-CLAIMER (disc-lamer?): It’s official. I’ve stopped looking for music by new artists. If whatever is out there is good enough, I’m figuring it’ll find me. As in the previous few years, about half my list this time around is either old stuff or it’s new stuff trying to be old stuff, a trend I don’t see reversing itself anytime soon. I’m not being crabby, mind you. Just realistic. Okay, maybe a little crabby.
1. Sun Kil Moon – Benji — 2. Taylor Swift – 1989 — 3. St. Vincent – St. Vincent — 4. Run the Jewels – RTJ2 — 5. Sleaford Mods – Divide and Exit — 6. Caribou – Our Love — 7. Vince Staples – Hell Can Wait EP — 8. Perfume Genius – Too Bright — 9. Lydia Ainsworth – Right from Real — 10. The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
A Safe and Measured Appreciation of Popular Culture: 2014 Edition –
by Patrick Kennedy –
MUSIC –
1. Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire for No Witness –
2. Spoon – They Want My Soul –
3. St. Vincent – s/t –
4. The Hotelier – Home, Like Noplace Is There –
5. Run The Jewels – RTJ2 –
6. Flying Lotus – You’re Dead! –
Another year gone and another list put together, so in no particular order here are the albums I listened to the most over the last 12 months.
As I have grown increasingly disillusioned with most recent music, 2014 seemed particularly suckie musically… My contribution to the Poop List is 10 (no seven!) really good or maybe even great records you’ve likely never heard… that came out sometime in the past. What? A DJ that is not interested in what is happening now? Sacrilege! You, my son, are in danger of becoming… irrelevant! Well DJ-ing is irrelevant, now that anyone can hit the sync button and throw their arms in the air… and after all… aren’t we ALL irrelevant? Hell, even the Pixies are irrelevant… Indie Cindy? Blech! Todd Terje, not for me… Anyway, here goes…
It’s safe to say my albums list will not include anything by Beyonce, Drake, Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Nikki Minaj, Igloo Australia aka the Kangaroo or any other offender of musical taste. I love what I love and if people like this stuff, that’s fine. I am just some Baseball, Rock and Boxing rockist who is in a Basketball, Hip-Hop and MMA world.
1.CARLA BOZULICH – BOY (CONSTELLATION) I had a dream a few nights ago. The world was ending, I was in a plane that was torn in two and heading for a crash. I jumped out, knowing I would catch fire and die screaming. I jumped and started to burn. I woke up on the ground, laughing. I’m not sure what the hell that has to do with this album, except it seems deceptively dark. When it’s over you have a few welts, but what the hell.
1) Sun Kil Moon – Benji (Caldo Verde) >> Ultimately, I’m kind of glad that Kozelek threw himself from grace with the War on Drugs stuff. The shine on this album was a little too bright. I’m not talking about discovery greed here; it’s not that I wanted this thing to myself, or could ever imagine having it that way (who would even admit to that!?). …
Taylor Swift – 1989
Ex Hex – Rips
Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
Sharon Van Etten – Are We There
Old 97s – Most Messed Up
The Both – Self Titled
The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out At Jagbags
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Mended With Gold
Cheap Girls – Famous Graves
El-P and Killer Mike make up Run the Jewels. Their “RTJ 2” record has many PoOPsters and other critics foaming. Here they offer advice to to girls as part of the “Ask a Grown Man” series.
Moog Music Inc. today announced their plans to recommence a limited run manufacturing of three of their most sought after 5U large format modular synthesizers: The System 55, the System 35 and the Model 15. These three modular synthesizer systems were originally created and manufactured by Moog in 1973. Start saving now! Limited editions! 55 of the System 55 at $35,000 each, 35 of the System 35 at $22,000 and 150 of the System 15 at a very affordable $10,000.
Buy New or Used via Amazon Rent via iTunes [?] Reverend Horton Heat: REV (Victory) I’m so glad that they went back to their crazed Rockabilly sound. There’s still a couple slower toe tappers with that country twang but they are damn good as well. It’s their best since Full Custom Gospel Sounds back in 1993. Buy New or Used via Amazon Rent via iTunes [?] OFF!: Wasted Years (Vice) This is about as riff-driven a disc as you can get. I loved First Four EP’s but this…
Doug Paisley – Strong Feelings
Hollie Cook – Twice
Ty Segall – Manipulator
Tommy Guererro – Perpetuum
Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern…
Sleaford Mods – Divide and Exit
No chops, No solos. Only the barest rudiments of “musicality”. And most of all, no space. Just a soundscape filled with life. And the things that make you shake your head, anger you, frustrate you and make you laugh.
It was a year of continuous change, but also of hopeful permanence. We started the year in a small rental in Reading, Vermont and ended it in our rambling new home in Grafton, New Hampshire. In between, moving and madness. At journey’s end, we found the home of our dreams, a historic colonial, with barns, land, and forest. We’ve just ordered our seeds and are planning the vegetable garden. The cycle of life continues. Of course, one needs a soundtrack for all this change, and 2014 certainly provided it. Tops of the Pops Buy New or Used via Amazon…
Again See how close you think your nominees come… Guess how our list will differ from theirs…
1. Old 97’s – Most Messed Up. 22 years into their career, Rhett Miller and the boys produce one of their most raucous albums. ‘Mats bassist Tommy Stinson sits in on “Intervention” which poses the question: “He’s mystified why we’re so lame, but if he wakes up dead will he feel the same?” Lots of stompy, Hank Williams inspired honky tonk fun.
Gazelle Twin ~ Unflesh (Anti Ghost Moon Ray/Last Gang)
Something bad happened to Elizabeth Bernholz between 2011’s The Entire City and 2014’s Unflesh. The details are foggy, but hints can be gleaned from interviews and the way the artist performs hunched over with her face obscured by a hoodie (and replaced on the album cover by a slab of meat). The suffering has made her an astonishing artist; she’s channeled her pain into genius.
A post from 2009 at NoiseAddicts.com allows you test at which frequency your hearing loss starts. I wish I had learned my lesson earlier than I did. I went to see Tackhead and Georgia Satellites in the same weekend (Spring 1990?). I’ve worn earplugs ever since. The page has a bunch of frequencies ranging from 8 kHz to 22 kHz and you play each of them until you cannot hear one. I can hear 16 kHz, but not higher. How about you? http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hear-this-hearing-test/