Make Me Dance, I Want To Surrender

Just a few days short of the biggest holiday of the year here at The Cuddle, and we find ourselves tremendously busy.  It's tough to juggle everything that needs to be done with what we want to do.  This tends to fall into both categories... The Ideological Cuddle Top 10 Albums of 2010 starts with this gem, released on October 12, 2010...

ALBUM #10 - Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love
We here at The Cuddle are big on the entire Belle and Sebastian catalogue (Mrs. Cuddle, not so much), and Write About Love fits beautifully among the band's best.  The word for this record is consistency.  May of B&S's records have had legendary tracks, but exist on albums that are weak as a whole.  I think that this release ranks right up there with 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress and 1996's If You're Feeling Sinister.  The album is chock-full of the sound of swinging 60s era London, and twee-indie beauty which B&S has become so famous for.  Album opener "I Didn't See It Coming" floats along on Sarah Martin's beautiful, whispery vocal (truth be told, very reminiscent of original B&S female chanteuse Isobel Campbell - too busy making records with Mark Lanegan to be back in the fold with her old band) and propelled by a jangly guitar line and insistent tambourine.  It's telling that the textural layering of the song is such that that Stuart Murdoch is only heard in the background until the 3 minute mark and, there's so much going on, he isn't missed.  "Calculating Bimbo" is classic Murdoch - on the surface, a "put down" song along the lines of Dylan or Costello, but in reality, a song that chronicles a couple keeping score of their shortcomings.  Murdoch manages to express some of the complex emotions present in long-term relationships over a deceptively simple and meandering tune.
Much has been written about the album's two "duets" - "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" featuring Norah Jones, and "Write About Love" featuring Carey Mulligan (the excruciatingly cute lead actress in last year's wonderful An Education).  Some have criticised Murdoch's choice of both of these duet partners, but the band manages to pull each one off.  Jones seems an unlikely, yet refreshingly smart foil to Murdoch, as her jazzy delivery offsets Murdoch's laconic 60s pop crooning.  Mulligan is somewhat of an interesting choice for a singing partner, as she's an actress, but she sings her part beautifully.  In "Write About Love", she is the disgruntled employee to Murdoch's demanding boss, and the roles seem to fit.
We hope that Belle and Sebastian have many, many more albums ahead of them.  Unlike, say, The Hold Steady, they don't feel the need to reinvent themselves album after album.  They do what they do better than anyone else (although fellow Glaswegians Camera Obscura are pretty damn close) and they seem to know it.  Some extra tweaks here and there are fine, but with Belle and Sebastian, it's comforting to know that each album will transport the listener back in time to when sweet pop melodies were the norm, not the exception.
Here are a couple of "promotional videos" that the band released in the wake of the album's release - they're patterned after an idea that the band had to create a "Belle and Sebastian Talk Show" and the design is very much like the sets of The Mike Douglas Show of the 1970s.  Enjoy...

"I Didn't See It Coming"


"I Want The World To Stop"


Until next time, when we reveal our 9th favorite record of 2010, seek out some Belle and Sebastian, and listen...

Sometimes Lonely Isn't Sad

It's near year end here at The Cuddle and a time to reflect on all of the bountiful pleasures that 2010 has  brought us.  It's a time to be thankful for all that we have and look forward to all that is yet to come.  Today, we kick off the Ideological Cuddle Top Ten Albums of 2010 countdown with the two albums that didn't quite crack the top 10 (but were very noteworthy none-the-less), the top re-issue(s) of the year, the biggest disappointment of the year, our favorite concerts of the year, and some notable bands that may not have released a new album this year, but rose to the top of our play lists time and time again.
Without further ado...

The Biggest Disappointment of 2010 - The Hold Steady's Heaven Is Whenever

Now, by no means do I think that this is a bad album, per se.  It's just such a colossal disappointment.  Coming off of 2008's triumphant and epic Stay Positive, the Hold Steady were on quite a roll.  They had risen to the forefront of indie rock, had websites, print journalists, and fans drooling over their trademark mix of boozy bar rock and literate lyrics.  Then they felt it necessary to go in a "different direction".
(A quick aside... Is it ever really necessary for a band who does what they do well to "reinvent themselves"?  It's such an overrated, bullshit move, and it's usually pushed by the media - "such and such is in such a rut, they need to reinvent themselves" - B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T.  Bands who are good at one thing should stick with that one thing.  There are only so many Elvis Costellos and David Bowies who can create new sounds with each subsequent album and dip their toes in different genres without sounding completely idiotic.  The Hold Steady should have heeded this.  Ok, now I'm done... back to your regularly scheduled blog post...)
So that different direction is Heaven Is Whenever.  There are a  few gems on this record ("Hurricane J", "The Sweet Part of The City", and "We Can Get Together"), but there are plenty of clunkers ("Soft In The Center"?  "Barely Breathing"? - P.S., don't write songs that remind people of Duncan Sheik - "Rock Problems"?  Yeah, there are problems here).  I hate to say it, but this band REALLY misses Franz Nicolay.  Maybe the magic will return with their next record.  We here at The Cuddle can only hope so, since we love this band and all of its previous albums.

Bands That We Came To Love In 2010 (But Should Have Loved Before) :
Pavement
This is a no-brainer.  No band was on our iPod, computer, CD player, turntable more this year than Pavement.  It's fitting that Pavement made a triumphant return to playing live this year as well (I didn't have the pleasure of seeing them in person, but nyctaper's recordings of their shows made me feel like I was there).  I know that I didn't want to jump on the bandwagon because I thought that there was no way a band could live up to all of the indie hipster hype.  I know now that they do.  They really, really do.  I was wrong and I wholeheartedly admit it.  It all started with the career retrospective Quarantine The Past in March.  By the start of December, I owned every one of their full length albums in some shape or form.  Theirs is a catalogue that I cherish and listen to almost every day.

Teenage Fanclub
OK, I had heard of this band in the past, but had never made an effort to seek out their music until hearing about their 2010 release, Shadows.  It was all down the rabbit hole from there.  Their sound is right in my wheelhouse - jangly guitar pop, catchy as hell, sugary sweet harmonies.  You'll be hearing more about them in the days to come.

The Top 3 Concerts of 2010 :
3. My Morning Jacket - CMAC, Canandiagua, NY - August 28, 2010 - Our second time seeing My Morning Jacket was kind of a birthday performance celebration for us, as Mrs. Cuddle and I had celebrated my 33rd bday the day prior.  The New Pornographers opened the show in fantastic fashion (even in the absence of Neko Case) and Jim James and crew absolutely tore the roof off.  There is no band working today who can match the playing chops of My Morning Jacket and this show proved it.

2. The Black Crowes - Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA - October 29, 2010 - Mrs. Cuddle and I based an entire weekend in Philadelphia around this concert in celebration of our anniversary.  With this tour being billed as their farewell, there was no way that we were going to miss one of our favorite bands for what could be the last time.  They did not disappoint.  Starting with an acoustic set and closing with a marathon electric set, for 3 hours the Crowes reminded the faithful why they're so beloved.  Their encore seemed hand-picked for Mrs. Cuddle and I - our all-time favorite Crowes song, "Feathers", followed by Mrs. Cuddle's recent favorite, "I Ain't Hiding".  All of the Crowes' shows are available for download (for a nominal fee) from the Crowes' live music site.  I highly recommend this show.  Here's a taste:
The Black Crowes - Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA - 10/29/10 - "Hotel Illness" (Acoustic)

1. Robyn Hitchcock - The Drake Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - June 12, 2010 - I already waxed poetic about this show (and showed off the BFF's nifty camera work) on this previous post.  I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that I was able to see one of my favorite artists in such an intimate, acoustic setting.  Hitchcock was perfect from the first notes of "Cynthia Mask" to the final strains of a gorgeous cover of The Grateful Dead's "Candyman".  I can't really say much more than what I've said already.  It was just plain perfect.

The Best Re-Issues of 2010 - The Soft Boys' Can of Bees and Underwater Moonlight
I like to think of The Soft Boys' first two records as "Proto-Hitchcock".  While they contain the essential elements that would make Robyn Hitchcock such a singular and original songwriter, their sound was much more hard-edged and driving.  These records tend to rawk more than Hitchcock records.  Yep Roc's reissues came with download codes giving the buyer a plethora of outtakes, demos, and live versions, making each of the albums great values for the money.  Can of Bees is the lesser known of the two, but is by no means inferior.  It takes true balls (or insanity) to start a debut record with the lyrical couplet "I feel like asking a tree for an autograph/I feel like making love to a photograph", but The Soft Boys do it.  Standouts like "Leppo and The Jooves", "Sandra's Having Her Brain Out", and "The Pigworker" stand with Hitchcock's finest compositions (and are bat-shit crazy, to boot).  Underwater Moonlight gets more of the publicity as a touchstone in the indie rock canon and a favorite of many of indie/college rock's favorite progenitors (such as Peter Buck from R.E.M.).  "I Wanna Destroy You" is a stone-cold classic (and has been covered by the likes of Uncle Tupelo and The Goo Goo Dolls), "Queen of Eyes" is my favorite Soft Boys song (and has continued to persist in Hitchcock's sets to this day), and "Underwater Moonlight" might be the catchiest (and ONLY) song about couples suicide ever written.  Check out a taste of Hitchcock's madness:
The Soft Boys - "The Pigworker" - Can of Bees
The Soft Boys - "Queen of Eyes" - Underwater Moonlight

The Best Albums of 2010 - Honorable Mention :
She & Him - Volume Two - More gorgeousness from M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, following 2008's Volume One.  Ward and Deschanel managed to pen a timeless single - "Thieves" - which made me recall Papa Cuddle's Roy Orbison records, and was easily one of the 5 best songs I heard all year.  Let's be honest, Zooey could just sing the phonebook and I would rave about it.  There's no such thing as too much Zooey.
Grinderman - Grinderman 2 - As with my comment regarding Ms. Deschanel, there's no such thing as too much Nick Cave (although, sometimes he needs to be taken in small doses).  Grinderman's second record is just as over the top as their first (although it contains nothing as ballsy as "No Pussy Blues").  Grinderman tends to be Nick Cave's id - dirty, debaucherous, lecherous, filthy, funny.  "Heathen Child", "Worm Tamer" (yes, this song is about his woman's prowess with, um... well, you know... and yes, it includes the classic lines, "my baby calls me the Loch Ness Monster/Two great big humps and I'm gone").  It's well worth checking out.

We'll return with the "official" start of our Top 10 countdown in the next few days.  Until then, remember all the great things about the past year, and listen.