Outlier's JP on Australia's Got Talent :: Down Under

As a rule, I avoid music-based reality competition type shows; I often feel like their audiences don't have too much of an idea of what "good" music actually is, and oftentimes the winners seem chosen more on physical appearance than talent. That said, it's pretty much impossible to deny the awesomeness of this guy's performance right here. Makes me want to ditch my RC-2 for an RC-50 and get my ass to practicing.

Future Islands :: Beach Foam

This is my favorite song ever right now.

2010, in Review

10. Josh Ritter :: So Runs The World Away


I once, between 2006's The Animal Years and this year's offering, reflexively resisted Josh Ritter's music because of an ex-girlfriend who was/is really into him. I'm over that now; Ritter's craft is just too strong to ignore. On this, his third proper LP, Josh proves, once again, why he's considered amongst the greatest living songwriters today. I really can't say much more than that.


09. Big Boi :: Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son of Chico Dusty


With a list of collaborators that reads like an all-star lineup (George Clinton, Janelle Monáe, Gucci Mane, T.I., Jamie Foxx, B.o.B., Bun B, etc.), and three years in the making, this--not Kanye West's--is the best rap album of 2010.



08. Vampire Weekend :: Contra


To quote myself, from January 17th, 2010: "By adding certain electronic elements--namely, pre-programmed loop sampling and, shit, even autotuned vocals!--to the instantly familiar blend of hipster-approved, globalized influences...honed on their first album, Vampire Weekend emerges with a second album much more engaging and interesting a listen than the first. It's only 17 days into the new year, but I am certain this album is gonna be on everyone's best-of 2010 lists come December. Unlike Vampire Weekend's 2008 album, however, this one will also be on mine."


07. Wild Nothing :: Gemini


This is what it sounds like to take mushrooms with an old friend who's in town from Korea on July 4th and stay out on the lake with your brother and some more great friends and everyone in their underwear until the sun rises. At least, that's what it sounds like to me...


06. Arcade Fire :: The Suburbs


Have you fucking listened to "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"?!?! It's a god-damned perfect song, and a totally unexpected and brave one, coming from this band.

05. How To Dress Well :: Love Remains


Best sexy time music of the year.


04. The Besnard Lakes :: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night


Dreamy, cinematic, guitar-driven, honest-to-God rock with a heart. From Albatross: "Those days are now long gone / Wish I had your picture / Never been able to be true / So I wanted, I wanted / I wanted to help you / I wanted to..."


03. The Tallest Man On Earth :: The Wild Hunt


Called this one back in April.


02. Titus Andronicus :: The Monitor


In a year when the cast of The Jersey Shore commands higher levels of our pop culture's collective attention than do most politicians, Titus Andronicus drops this Walt Whitman-quoting, Civil War-referencing reminder that, no matter what Snooki and her crew would have you believe, New Jersey is still the home of Bruce fucking Springsteen and the ever-present, suburban uncertainty of purpose born out of such constant, close proximity to--yet philosophical distance from--the big city.


01. Beach House :: Teen Dream


First off, the production on Teen Dream is just about spot-on perfect; the album marks a quantum leap forward for the duo from Baltimore whose self-titled debut made my #13 spot in 2006. Still present are the moody, ghostly atmospherics and heady, slow-burn rhythms that became Beach House's instant trademark, but gone now for the most part is the monotonous haze that encumbered and dragged down the mood of the group's first two records. What we're left with is a new, significantly more intimate version of Victoria Legrand's voice, pushed so much farther to the front of the mix, we wonder how in the hell they ever thought to drench it in so much reverb before now. In years to come, this album will mark the point in time when a new and important band had truly, finally arrived.


Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

Caribou :: Swim
Charlotte Gainsbourg :: IRM
Crystal Castles :: Crystal Castles
Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of the Ankh)
Four Tet :: There Is Love In You
Gayngs :: Relayted
Holly Miranda :: The Magician’s Private Library
Janelle Monáe :: The ArchAndroid
Mumford & Sons :: Sigh No More
Phantogram :: Eyelid Movies
Pill Wonder :: Jungle/Surf
Plants And Animals :: La La Land
The Radio Dept :: Clinging to a Scheme
Sufjan Stevens :: The Age of Adz
Twin Shadow :: Forget


...but wait, there's more!



Above is a youtube playlist I made with one song from each of my top 10 albums of the year, in order:

01. Josh Ritter :: Lark
02. Big Boi :: Shutterbug
03. Vampire Weekend :: White Sky
04. Wild Nothing :: Chinatown
05. Arcade Fire :: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
06. How To Dress Well :: Ready for the World
07. The Besnard Lakes :: Glass Printer
08. The Tallest Man on Earth :: Love Is All
09. Titus Andronicus :: Richard II
10. Beach House :: Walk in the Park

Belle & Sebastian :: Sleep the Clock Around

This Belle & Sebastian song has been stuck in my head for weeks, but I'd been totally blanking on its title and album up until this morning, when a quick click-through of the B & S discography solved my dilemma: it's "Sleep the Clock Around" from 1998's The Boy With the Arab Strap, and it's one of my favorite songs ever. I already told it I was sorry I forgot about it for a while. It's forgiven me.

Bright Eyes :: Light Pollution (live, 2005)

Listening to records in his basement:
Old folk songs about the government
'It's love of money, not the market,'
He said these fuckers push on you
'And freedom yells, it don't cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there's no hell when you die
So don't look so worried...'

Radiohead :: Motion Picture Soundtrack

One of the all time greatest sad panda songs, ladies and gents:



Red wine and sleeping pills,
Help me get back to your arms.
Cheap sex and sad films,
Help me get where I belong.

I think you're crazy, maybe.
I think you're crazy, maybe.

Stop sending letters,
Letters always get burned.
It's not like the movies,
They fed us on little white lies.

I think you're crazy,
Maybe. I think you're crazy,
Maybe I will see you in the next life...

Bowerbirds :: Northern Lights

I don't need from you a waterfall of careless praise
And I don't need a trophy for all the games I play

But all I want is your eyes
In the morning as we wake for a short while

And I don't need you to catch my wandering mind
And I don't expect a southern girl to know the northern lights

And all I want is your eyes
In the morning as we wake for a short while

And I do need the wind across my pale face
And I do need the ferns to unfurl in the spring
And I do need the grass to sway
Yes, I do need to know my place

But all I want is your eyes
In the morning as we wake for a short while

Pocketknife & Cousin Cole :: Tambourine Dream

I had never heard of this mix before Hanny suggested the link. She totally nailed me; this is practically made of 100% favorite songs ever:

Iron & Wine “Each Coming Night (Pocketknife Remix)”
Beirut “Scenic World (Pocketknife Remix)”
Jose Gonzalez “Storm (Pocketknife Remix)”
Roy Montgomery “Long Night (Cousin Cole Remix)”
Joanna Newsom “The Book of Right On (Pocketknife Remix)”
Devendra Banhart “I Feel Just Like a Child (Pocketknife Remix)”
The Duke Spirit “A Message To a Pretty (Cousin Cole Remix)”
Feist “Gatekeeper (Pocketknife Remix)”
Nico “I’ll Keep It With Mine (Pocketknife Remix)”
Panda Bear “Bros (Cousin Cole Mix)”
White Magic “The Gypsies Came Marching After (Pocketknife Remix)”
Neil Young “My My Hey Hey (Cousin Cole Remix)”
Nick Drake “Know (Pocketknife’s Remix)”
Paul Simon “Paranoia Blues (Pocketknife’s Remix)”
Seu Jorge “Rebel Rebel (Pocketknife’s Remix)”
Lavender Diamond “You Broke My Heart (Cousin Cole Edit)”
John Lennon “Oh Yoko! (Pocketknife Remix)"
Bruce Springsteen “I’m On Fire (Cousin Cole Remix)”

The Tallest Man On Earth :: The Wild Hunt

There is a crow moon comin' in where you keep looking out
It is the hollow month of March now sweeping in
Let's watch phenomenons arise out of the darkness now
Within the light, she is my storming heroine
And old machines abandoned by the ancient races and
I hear them hummin' down below in hollow earth
Oh hell, I guess I don't know why I will go under to
But just for now I let the spring and storm return

I left my heart to the wild hunt a-comin'
I live until the call
And I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone
Yes, I'll be leavin' in the fall

And I will sleep out in the glade, just by the giant tree
Just to be closer when my spirit's pulled away
I left a nervous little boy out on the trail today
He's just a mortal to the shoutin' cavalcade

I left my heart to the wild hunt a-comin'
I live until the call
And I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone
Yes, I'll be leavin' in the fall

Let's open up the windows, have Satan departin' now
And we'll be even when the blues fall down like hail
Hell, I don't even care no more about cadejo now
If he's a white one or a black one on the trail

I left my heart to the wild hunt a-comin'
I live until the call
And I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone
Yes, I'll be leavin' in the fall

Yes, I'll be leavin' in the fall

A.A. Bondy :: Mightiest of Guns

Tomorrow I'll be out of my mind
The bear will dance and the organ will grind
And I'm laughin' cause I know there ain't no sin
All the world on the head of a pin
Turning fast beneath the mightiest of guns
Turning fast beneath the mightiest of guns

Nina Simone :: Be My Husband

Live at the Harlem Festival, 1969

Erykah Badu :: Twinkle

Because her new album's coming out this week, I thought I'd transcribe my favorite part of her last one: the rant which begins around 5:22 of "Twinkle"

I don't have to tell you things aren't good; everybody knows things aren't good! We know the air's unfit to breathe, and our food is unfit to eat! Young punks are running the streets, no one knows just what to do, and there's no end to it! The dollar buys a penny's worth, banks are going under, and congress keeps a gun under the counter! But we sit watching our idiot boxes while some local anchorman tells us that today we've had 18 murders and 80 violent crimes as if that's the way things were supposed to be! We know times are bad--worse than bad! People are crazy! It's like everything everywhere is going utterly mad so we never leave our homes! We sit in our comfy abodes while the world gets smaller and we say, "Come on! At least leave us alone in our family rooms! Let me have my microwave and my flatscreen and my 20-inch wheels and I won't say anything! Just leave us alone!" Well I'm not going to leave you alone! I want you to get angry! I don't want you to riot, I don't want you to protest, and I don't want you to write your senator because I don't know what to tell you to tell him! I don't know what to do about the recession and the inflation and the crime in the street! All I know is that you've got to get mad! You've got to say, "I'm a human being, damnit! My life has value!"

Frank Turner :: Photosynthesis

Oh maturity's a wrapped up package deal, so it seems
And ditching teenage fantasy means ditching all your dreams
All your friends and peers and family solemnly tell you you will
Have to grow up, be an adult--yeah, be bored and unfulfilled
Oh but no one's yet explained to me exactly what's so great
About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate:
"Look, I'm meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity"
Well if that's your road, then take it, but it's not the road for me...

Couple of VERY old covers from a life ago

The first "video" is a super old--as in, 2004ish--cover I made of one of a long-time FSE of mine: "A Lack of Color" by Death Cab For Cutie. I made it in what used to be my bedroom, which I used to share with Jenny, who used to be my girlfriend, in what used to be the apartment I used to share with my friend Brad while we all used to attend GMU. I don't have a particularly good reason why I've never put it on the net before; nor do I have a particularly good reason why I'm doing so now, other than the fact I'm still kinda proud of the way it sounds.



And this second one is from the same time period: my bedroom-recorded take on "In Circles" by the seminal emo band Sunny Day Real Estate.

If anyone, for whatever reason, would like the actual MP3s of (one or both of) these, for your iPod or whatever, shoot me an email or leave a comment.

Phantogram :: Mouthful of Diamonds

OBSESSED with this song.

Sam Gunderson - Let's Just Say Goodbye

I had a show at Lakeside tonight, but then the biggest December snowstorm of local recorded history happened. The show got postponed to tomorrow, due to the lack of an audience to play to. Nonetheless, my friend Sam Gunderson was one of the brave few in attendance, and he ended up sticking around until the last customer left after an early last call. He and I passed my guitar back and forth and sang for our friends, my Lakeside co-workers who'd toughed it out with us through the storm, while the night's last bits of business were being finished. This is an original song of Sam's, and while I presume to title it as "Let's Just Say Goodbye", it's definitely my favorite song of his, and it'll be on his upcoming solo album.



Sam will be playing at Lakeside Inn on Christmas Eve night, which happens to be my birthday eve, at 8:00.

Tim Fite - Away From the Snakes

This is one of the songs I'll be covering on May 23rd. It's somewhat old (circa 2005,) but it's one of my all-time faves.

To beat a dead horse...

"Flume" by Bon Iver...amazing lyrics

I am my mother's only one
It's enough

I wear my garment so it shows
Now you know

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she's the moon

I am my mother on the wall,
With us all

I move in water, shore to shore;
Nothing's more

Only love is all maroon
Lapping lakes like leary loons
Leaving rope burns -- reddish ruse

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she's the moon

Adam Temple - Jerusalem (Steve Earle cover)

(Me doing Steve Earle's 2002 song "Jerusalem")

Adam Temple - My Back Pages (Bob Dylan cover)

Yesterday I got a harmonica rack and a couple (G & C) Big River Harps. Two days in, this is my attempt at doing the Bob Dylan tri-fecta...