I was trying to be more upbeat (and I think I succeeded for one post), but it's just so much fun being dour. Today, I'm wallowing in Waits land again, thinking about all the things that I shouldn't, letting bar room balladeer Tom (not to be confused with later-period junkyard orchestra leader Tom) serenade me through my melancholy. There is no better artist to wallow in self-pity to than Tom Waits. From his drunken delivery to his (often) sappy piano style, it's legendary in its effectiveness in allowing the listener to wallow in his or her sorrows. Each of his albums from Closing Time through Blue Valentine are classic, with Small Change being the clear best of the bunch, boasting "Tom Traubert's Blues", "The Piano Has Been Drinking", and "Bad Liver and A Broken Heart" amongst its track list. Some can't get past Waits' voice, but let it wrap around you a few times and see how you feel.
This should help to prove Waits' genius in the best way possible - watching him perform at the piano. Be sure to focus on his fingers. (By the way, I don't really have a good reason to feel melancholy and dour, but somehow, I end up here pretty frequently...). Enjoy (and be ready to cry into your drink):
"Kentucky Avenue" - from Blue Valentine - Melancholy remembrances of childhood:
"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" - from Small Change - not tough to figure out the theme of this one:
"On the Nickel" - from Heartattack and Vine - "a hobo's lullaby", as Waits often describes it, "On the Nickel" is devastatingly sad in its simplicity, bringing the plight of the homeless and down-trodden to the fore. The lyrics "So what becomes of little boys who run away from home?/The world keeps getting bigger once you get out on your own" is a killer :
"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)" - from Small Change : this is the crown jewel of Waits' "grand weepers" - a sweeping tale of drunkenness, being lost in a foreign country, being confused, and wishing you were anywhere but where you are right now. Well said, Tom -
That's probably all the Tom Waits melancholy that anyone can handle in one sitting, so I guess I'll call it quits for now. Until next time, remember that sadness is just another emotion to be embraced and loved just like happiness and joy. Just because it's not the easiest emotion doesn't mean it's not valid. Enjoy some Tom Waits, and listen...
OK, I know, I know. I started something that I couldn't finish (to quote Moz). The Ideological Cuddle Top 10 Albums of the year started well, but never came to a conclusion. Part of this is due to being busy, part is due to being lazy. I think it's time to remedy this...
Album #9 - Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
Now, I outlined my new-found love for Teenage Fanclub in the last post, but a few more select thoughts - Shadows continues down the pathway that the band blazed from Grand Prix forward. It's modern pop that looks backward to the grandiosity of 60s and 70s AM radio. The first two tracks are stand-outs - "Sometimes I Don't Need To Believe In Anything" and "Baby Lee" - and a heck of a 1-2 punch. Here's a taste:
Album #8 - Corin Tucker Band - 1,000 Years
Another album that was outlined in its own post just a couple months ago - October, to be exact (found here). Not Sleater-Kinney, but no less powerful and affecting, Tucker harnesses years of being a mother, a wife, and an adult (there's a concept in modern indie rock!). It is an album that is reflective ("Riley" and "It's Always Summer"), sensual ("Dragon"), and angry (standout track "Doubt" - the closest to Sleater-Kinney that you'll hear... that is, until Carrie Brownstein's new band Wild Fang hits the ground running). I really look forward to what Tucker has planned next.
Album #7 - Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away
This one has been a quick riser on the Ideological Cuddle list (if I hadn't finished the list in mid-December, it might have made the top 5). Ritter's latest LP was released in special vinyl form on Record Store Day and it took quite a while to dig through all of the lyrical depths that Ritter presents. The full impact of his prose has to be studied to be fully appreciated. The BFF and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Ritter in concert in Toronto back in October, and he and his band absolutely tore the Phoenix Concert Hall up. The band is tight and Ritter's renditions of "Folk Bloodbath" (which premiered in fetal form on his March, 2008 tour stop to the same venue) and "Lantern" from SRTWA were fantastic. I have been waiting months for the right time to share the video for "The Curse". Be forewarned - this might be the only time that marionettes have ever made me cry :
Album #6 - The New Pornographers - Together
Another band that I have been singing the praises of for years, The New Pornographers stick to their formula (joyous power-pop filtered through the lenses of songwriters Carl Newman and Dan Bejar), yet allow Kathryn Calder to take her place next to Neko Case, rather than in her shadow. You can't help but feel energized by the band's sound. Here they are performing "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk" live in studio on Q TV in their native Canada (undoubtedly the best lyrical use of the word "Byzantine" ever):
Album #5 - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
Another long time Cuddle favorite who swung through our region in 2010, Leo brought his trademark punk energy to venerable Buffalo dive-bar landmark Mohawk Place in June. The place was packed wall-to-wall with every age of devotee - aging hipsters, young punks, and whatever group I belong to. Everyone seemed to vibrate at the same frequency with the sheer frenetic energy of Ted's music, as he showcased the live intensity of the tracks from The Brutalist Bricks. As if you ever needed another reason to see Ted Leo in concert (if you haven't you're missing out big time), the songs from this record absolutely shine live. "Where Was My Brain?", "The Mighty Sparrow", and "Gimmie The Wire" shook the room to its foundation, while my favorite track, "Bottled In Cork" (a rumination on the state of the world filtered through a travelouge that stings of regret) was drawn out into a full-scale sing along with the tune's closing couplet" "I told the bartender/I think I'm falling in love". The official video is downright silly and hilarious (and Paul F. Tompkins rules) :
Album #4 - Spoon - Transference
Somewhat overlooked as the year went on, owing to its release in January, 2010, Spoon continued its streak of amazingly crafted records with Transference. As with many of the albums on this list, the band didn't really try to reinvent themselves, just merely made a few tweaks to alter their sonic delivery. "Written In Reverse" follows in the footsteps of other danceable, funky Spoon tunes like "Don't You Evah" and "You Gotta Feel It". "I Saw The Light" sounds like it would have fit perfectly between "I Turn My Camera On" and "My Mathematical Mind" on Gimme Fiction. "Goodnight Laura" is contemplative and heart wrenching piano ballad along the lines of, well, nothing else in their catalogue. Everything this band puts out sounds nothing like anyone else. The band is truly original and fantastic.
Album #3 - The National - High Violet
Yeah, it's not my #1 record of the year. Yes, it's fantastic. No, it's not as good as Boxer, but not much out there is. I've outlined the grandiosity of the National's live show (at both the Massey Hall and Rockin' at The Knox gigs in 2010) and sung the praises of Matt Berninger and crew over and over again. This album helped to get me to understand that it was OK to be a thirty-something indie music fan in this day and age; that there were people out there in my age bracket making music and outlining themes that we understand (namely, having kids, struggling with a career, maintaining friendships, finding/losing love, mistaking sex for intimacy, feeling claustrophobic in our day and age, feeling paranoid about the government - you know, your basic Top 40 radio themes). And somehow, despite the heaviness of these topics, the band absolutely blew up this year; you could scarcely turn around mid-year without seeing The National on late night TV or being highlighted in print/internet media. It would have been impossible for the band to have reached this level if the songs weren't fantastic (and they most certainly are). Here's my favorite, live on The Interface in LA (and yes, I partially grew a beard this past Fall in a feeble attempt to look more like Matt Berninger):
Album #2 - The Black Keys - Brothers
Speaking of bands that absolutely blew up in 2010... After slogging along on the outskirts of fame for years, the Black Keys made their long-deserved breakthrough to the big time this past year, on the heels of their most ambitious (and, to my ear, best) album to date. Prior to this album hitting the stores, there were plenty of folks who knew and loved the Black Keys, but they weren't exactly household names. Now, they've played Saturday Night Live, have had their songs soundtrack commercial after commercial, and even came full circle to parody their "commercial" breakthrough on The Colbert Report (which, if you haven't seen, is an absolute riot - much credit to Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend for skewering their robust fame as well. Check out the clip at Colbert's website here.) The album should be enjoyed on vinyl (and that goes for all of my top 10) and can be purchased in one of many forms (I must say that I feel that I was punished for being a dedicated little fan and buying the record on its release day on double LP vinyl - it's subsequently been re-released on limited edition 10" records with 45rpm mastering and I would have preferred that version, but whatever). The addition of bass and Hammond organ/harpsichord/keyboard is key to the album's success, as it pulls the Keys sound out of a blues orbit into more of a 60s Stax/Volt R&B vein (right down to the choice of recording studios - legendary Muscle Shoals). "Everlasting Light", "10 Cent Pistol", "Black Mud" - these are centerpieces, but for me, the last two tracks are what cinches it for me. The closing 1-2 punch of soul classic "Never Gonna Give You Up" (made famous by Isaac Hayes) and should be new soul classic "These Days" (imagine the late Sam Cooke or Otis Redding crooning this one) and unparalleled. It's refreshing to see a band so confident in their songs that they can end a record with such gems. Absolutely killed it live at Town Ballroom in September as well.
Finally, The Ideological Cuddle #1 Record of the Year for 2010... Drum Roll, please... Album #1 - Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
This album turned out the be the feel-good story of the year for me, as this was not only the most catchy, well-written return-to-form album, but also the soundtrack to my running resurrection. On a personal level, this record gave me the push that I needed to get out there and get healthier. It has been, almost exclusively, the soundtrack for each of my two and four mile runs since its release. What Mac, Laura, Jon, and James did with this record is nothing short of amazing. For a band that seemed to be lost to nostalgia just a few short years ago, to rebound with such a vital, triumphant record is inspiring. That they've done it while making sure that Merge Records, the label Mac and Laura founded in 1989, continues to flourish as indie rocks' foremost success story is even more impressive. The songs are great individually, but even more impressive when taken as a whole. The track order is seamless, with one anthem flowing into another, but never feeling "samey". As with High Violet, So Runs The World Away, and The Brutalist Bricks, Majesty Shredding finds its authors struggling with adult issues in a changing world. No track that I heard in 2010 sums this up better than "Fractures In Plaster", a tune that celebrates getting older while recalling the fragility of life as we yearn to be like Christopher Robin "in the woods with your yellow bear", perpetually in childhood. It was fitting that the band chose to remaster and re-release two of their best loved records, No Pocky For Kitty and On The Mouth, in 2010 as well, since Majesty Shredding sits right next to those two classics in Superchunk's celebrated discography. You won't find a record that makes you feel better being an adult than this one. It's about time, in the current musical milieu, that we can say that.
So, there you go. It took a while to get posted, but I hope it was worth the wait. I hope that everyone who reads this post will go out and check out these albums. They're all well worth your time.
Until next time (when I'll likely be drooling over the reissue of Emergency & I by The Dismemberment Plan), take some time to review the wonderful music that 2010 had to offer... and listen...
