Diseration, Honey

Hmmm……

The year went by fast and, lately, I’ve been seeing “Best of 2007″ lists everywhere I turn. So instead of creating the usual and droning top albums of the year, I’ve decided to compile a (lengthy) list of artists, past and present, that I was stuck listening to over and over.

Of course classics like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Cream, and The Velvet Underground were regular plays on my iPod, but I also discovered an obsession for Muddy Waters, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and oddly enough, The Hollies. I am adamant that you check out The Hollies. It’s a slight guilty pleasure, but they wrote some very great songs. Throughout the year, I enjoyed a bunch of Mew, Explosions In The Sky, T.I., Tapes ‘N Tapes, My Morning Jacket, The Hold Steady, Jeff Buckley, Kid Dakota, Mos Def, Cold War Kids, TV On The Radio, Manchester Orchestra, and Sonic Youth. As well as At The Drive-In, The Flaming Lips, Glassjaw, Notorious BIG, Deftones, The Roots, As Tall As Lions, and 50 Cent (only Get Rich or Die Trying era). Also, the new releases from The White Strips, Spoon, Queens of the Stone Age, Portugal. The Man, Brand New, Feist, and Kayne West were all very outstanding. Although, the 10 artists who really shaped my year would have to be Minus the Bear, The Mars Volta, Spoon, The Beatles, The Doors, Sigur Rós, Wilco, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the year’s most-talked about band, Radiohead.

Minus the Bear’s new release, Planet of Ice, was just another reminder of how the band never settles for average. Every song was a journey, every note perfect. I’m sure if you look in the dictionary for “progression” a picture of Minus the Bear will be next to it.

The Mars Volta is another band known for their unique style and they were more refreshing this year than ever. Even though they didn’t put out any new music, I couldn’t stop playing De-Loused in the Comatorioum, Frances the Mute, as well as all of their live recordings. For one, the music sounds like an acid trip while riding across country in a station wagon, and two, the band is just so damn good. When you can see the music you’re listening to, you know its special. I have to say I’m very anxious for their new release and to hopefully catch them live in the upcoming year.

I had never really given Spoon a fair chance before this year and, to be honest, I feel like quite the idiot. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is a perfect collection of catchy, smart songs that never grows old. This is the way main-stream pop should have sounded.

The band more popular than Jesus, The Beatles of course, are just timeless. They are the single most influential and important group of our time. This year, when my ears could not take the shit that was coming out of the radio and perfectly horrid myspace pages, I would turn on Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and feel refreshed. Simply unparalleled.

I defiantly listened to a lot of 60’s and 70’s in 07′, another favorite being The Doors. All I can say is watch any live performance and tell me you aren’t impressed. Morrison is ridiculously eccentric and Ray Manzarek is a genius. The band was dark, sexy, unpredictable, and ground-breaking all at the same time.

Iceland rocks. I think that I was raised there in a different life….herding sheep and enjoying the most beautiful place on earth. Not to mention that their most famous export is Sigur Rós. They have created some of the most beautiful and intriguing music, and continue to impress. Check out their DVD, Heima, to see why Iceland is so badass.

And then there is Wilco. What do you say about Wilco? Basically every country music station should immediately take off all of their steel guitar filled, bad-tasting pop and play Wilco 24/7 (as well as a large handful of other alt country greats). With the addition of guitar-guru Nels Cline, Wilco’s2007 release, Sky Blue Sky, has proven that they are able to change their sound and create a familiar, great record…..and that we should all drive Volkswagens.

My obsession with the 60’s could possibly be the cause of my deep love for Jimi Hendrix, but more than likely it is just the fact that Jimi is Jimi. He has to be, hands down, the greatest guitarist of all time and one of the most exciting performers ever (example: lighting your instrument on fire while pretending to make love to it). He was bluesy, psychedelic, and pop rolled into one sexy purple haze. Plus he is the reason I wear ridiculous looking shoes.

I actually thought about selling my body this past year and I’m pretty confident that I would have made enough to purchase Zeppelin tickets and a round trip flight to England. Seriously, it’s sad how much I love that band. Each one of those guys is gods at their trade. Imagine how much you love your favorite band…now pretend like they are Led Zeppelin.
By the way, Raising Sand, Robert Plant’s new album with Alison Krauss, is very good. Try and pick it up.

The band that gained the most attention this year had to have been Radiohead. It started with only 10 days of notice prior to the release In Rainbows and they finished out the year with a New Years Eve web cast of the entire album (you can check it out here). Not only was they digital download a industry-shocker, but the album itself was entirely stunning. Its such a great feeling when a band like Radiohead, whose previous records are to great to even start to talk about, creates something so pure and beautiful. If you pick up one album in the next month, make sure that it is In Rainbows.

Well you made it through my slew of ramblings and banters. I really encourage you to check out a few of the bands I mentioned (if you have not heard of them) and hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon in 2008.

I just read an intriguing article dealing with the history of popular music, including the differences and historical relevance of pop and rock.
Some quotes from the reading are below…

“…musicians could rarely read music but learned their craft through imitating the blues guitarists of the past, and by solitary practice…Rock culture was a way of making ’serious’ that was free from the institutional and stylistic demands of art music”

“…rock was at pains to distinguish itself from ‘low culture’; in this case, the mass-produced, commercial popular music…”

“Music was to have meaning…It was to be about ‘ultimate things’.”

The gendered carnival of pop : By Diane Railton

“…by a good record I mean one that carries surprise, pleasure, shock, ambiguity, contingency, or a hundred other things, each with a faraway sense of the absolute: the sense that either for the entire performance, or more often for a stray moment, someone wants what he or she wants, hates what he or she hates, fears what he or she fears, more than anything in the world.”
- Greil Marcus

In reading Marcus’ Corrupting the Absolute, a musical light has dawned from the pages and into my head. Good music can not be described in terms of notes, chords, or music theory. It is the sense that a song or record is honorable, organic, and filled with the artist’s entire soul. This is to say that the beauty, malice, and essence in music is not contrived or phony, but authentic and indisputable. “Bad” records come and go. They fall to the wayside after listeners call the music out on its dishonesty. Greil Marcus is right when he says, “A bad song is absorbed whole, in the moment, unconsciously”, yet over time, a bad song “reveals itself as a corrupt, faked, and dishonest tumor in the psyche.” In the end, you can’t fool those who seek true authenticity.