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.

Here's A Song About Nothing And Everything at Once

It's been quite a while, dear readers, but we here at The Cuddle are pleased to be back on the blogging track.  Since we last had a chance to chat (and since we received our most recent threatening e-mail about removing MP3 files) there has been a lot going on in our musical landscape.  We've seen some great shows and heard some great new things that have gotten our fires stoked.  It's a time for change, as we're speeding toward the greatest time of year in sweet, little B-lo - Fall.  Just over 24 hours from now, our calendars will mark September 21st, the start of the Autumn season, and with it, Mrs. Cuddle's favorite holiday, Halloween.  We've got a lot planned between now and then, but in the meantime, on to an update:
On a beautiful late summer evening (August 28th to be exact), Mrs. Cuddle and I ventured to the Canandaigua Music and Arts Center (CMAC from now on) to see two of our favorite bands (to be fair, two of MY favorite bands, ONE of hers) - The New Pornographers opening for My Morning Jacket.  Despite being sans the rapturous Neko Case (felt more than a little slighted there), the Pornos sounded great.  Carl Newman was in fine voice as usual, the band was tight, and Kathryn Calder was downright impressive - not only singing her parts, but covering Neko's as well.  It was a little disappointing that the venue was less than 1/10th full to see one of indie rock's foremost groups, though. 
After a short intermission, the now packed CMAC was greeted by the nattily dressed quintet and its dual guitar onslaught of Jim James and Carl Brommel as they tore into "The Way That He Sings".  For the next two hours, those in attendance were held in rapt attention by what must be the finest live band playing today.  Besides the great setlist and amazing musicianship of the band, what stands out is how much fun they seemed to be having.  Jim James played a variety of guitars (among them, his signature flying-V) and danced all over the stage.  Besides playing most of our personal favorites ("Dondante" and "Wordless Chorus" were sublime), the band played new tune "Circuital" - a live version from an earlier show on 8/17/10 appears below.  This show will rank right up there with the best of our concert-going lives and made us long for their next show in our surrounding area.  A final word on the CMAC - the venue was absolutely perfect.  Great concessions, well-arranged, perfectly clean, great sound, easy parking, helpful staff.  We'll definitely make every effort to go back soon.

Just 5 days later, Buffalo's finest rock venue, The Town Ballroom, played host to another one of rock's most incendiary live acts - The Black Keys.  The room was packed to the rafters as Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney took the stage and burned through some old favorites (kicking things off, as usual, with "thickfreakness").  They were later joined by a bass player and organist to flesh out the sound of some tunes from this year's masterpiece, Brothers ("Ten Cent Pistol" was a definite highlight).  No one in the crowd left disappointed by The Keys' aural onslaught, despite the huge build-up that the show received in our local media (one would think that a band couldn't live up to the hype... The Black Keys certainly did).

This past Tuesday (September 14th to be exact) was quite the new release day, with 3 albums that will vie for places near the top of The Ideological Cuddle's Best of 2010 list.  First, the always enchanting Leonard Cohen blessed his fans with another postcard from the road of his almost two year 2008-2009 tour, adding to the spectacular Live in London which was released last year.  Songs From the Road is a CD/DVD combo (also available in 2 LP form - $35 was a little rich for my blood despite my obvious proclivity for all things wax) with 12 songs taken from various venues on the tour.  The CD and DVD contain the same material, but no matter.  Take it from a Cohen obsessive - the CD is great, but the DVD is essential.  Just watching a 74 year old musical genius weave his web of intrigue is worth the price of admission.  Each performance is pitch-perfect (Cohen's chilling intonation and impressive guitar playing on "Avalanche" is a highlight), but the version of "Hallelujah" from the 2009 Coachella Fest is TRANSCENDENTAL - try not to get chills as Cohen holds 100,000 kids in rapt attention and gets them to sing along.
Nick Cave's Grinderman project returned this past week with Grinderman 2, another album full of sex and sleaze with a psych-blues bent.  More sonically dense and lyrically evil than its predecessor, Grinderman 2 burns out of the gate with "Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man", a wicked tune about two brothers clearly up to no good (OK, that's an understatement - felonious would be a better description).  When the band cranks the volume, thrashing ensues.  Where the first Grinderman record was clearly a mid-life crisis record about hunting tail ("No Pussy Blues" anyone?), this record presents the morose along with the deviant.  The protagonist in "When My Baby Comes" is longingly singing from his hospital bed, waiting for his beloved to show up (hint - she ain't coming), while "Palaces of Montezuma" professes the singer's deep love for his woman with all of the things (corporeal and ethereal) that he'll give to her.  All in all, another feather in Cave's crowded cap of masterworks.  While we're on the topic of Nick Cave, if you like the works of Irvine Welsh (author of Trainspotting and Filth, among others) and Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), by all means check out Cave's second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro.  This book is not for those looking for a clean, good time, but for those seeking a little bit of seediness with their literature.  I picked it up while on vacation and couldn't put it down.  I kind of wish I had known about the audio book version, as it's 7 discs worth of Cave reading his prose.  Perfect for the Halloween season.
The final new release from last week that has our ears ringing and our hearts leaping out of their collective chests is the thundering return to form by Merge records superheroes Superchunk.  Majesty Shredding can't be called a return to form, nor can it be called a new direction for the band.  What it can be called is a modern masterpiece of indie power-pop.  Coming through the speakers like a New Pornographers LP turned up to 45 speed, Mac McCaughan and company spin through 11 tracks without a dud in the bunch.  First single "Digging for Something" starts the proceedings off right and the band refuses to slow down throughout 42 minutes of perfection.  Most affecting might be "Fractures in Plaster" or "Everything at Once" - as each muses on getting older, and hanging on to what matters.  I must admit being a little late to the Superchunk party (only falling in love within the past 5 years and becoming full-on obsessed while in Boston earlier this year), but consider me a full convert.  It's hard to believe that there are millions out there unaware of this band's prowess and power.  This record is clearly one of the 3 best that 2010 will see and just might supplant The National's High Violet or The Black Keys' aforementioned Brothers at the top of this year's list.

Here's a live taste of some of the best that My Morning Jacket and Superchunk have to offer:

My Morning Jacket:
Live in Japan - February 6, 2009 - "Dondante"
Live in Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion - August 17, 2010 - "Circuital"

Superchunk:
Live at Duke University - September 26, 1997 - "Shallow End"
Live in Washington, DC - 9:30 Club - September 17, 2010 - "Throwing Things"
Live in Washington, DC - 9:30 Club - September 17, 2010 - "Fractures in Plaster"
Live in Washington, DC - 9:30 Club - September 17, 2010 - "Everything at Once"

Until next time, please head out to see a band that you love live in concert and check out the new Superchunk LP - it'll make your day... just listen...