Ryan's Top 10: Let's Finish This Shiz Up

#4 Okkervil River - The Stage Names

To be perfectly honest, when I first put this list together I was surprised at the fact that this album wasn’t ranked higher. In my head I seriously considered it a top 3 album of the year. But then, when I put it up against all the other albums of the year, there were in fact three albums I enjoyed more. So, once again I find myself mathematically limited by the number of albums I could include…thus Okkervil River’s The Stage Names finds itself at Number 4. I know Bryan mentioned that he finds this album too “happy” in tone, and honestly I don’t really get that. The standout tracks on this albums are the ones that tend to be or sound a bit depressing. The opening track, “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe”, begins by saying exactly what the title states, that our life never works out as great or as bad as things tend to in movies. There’s not ultimate climax, no new boundaries being broken. It’s just life. Seems very ho-hum to me. In fact, I find quite a pessimistic tone throughout the rest of the album. Whether its lamenting a number of women or settling themselves on their own mid-level band status, there’s an overall pessimistic feel. This is none-to-evident on the highlight of the album (and quite possibly the entire year) on the albums closing “John Allyn Smith Sails”. If I was to list my favorite songs of 2007 (which I will certainly not bore you with, this list was long enough) there’s an exceptional chance this would find itself at the very top of that list. Regardless, “John Allyn Smith Sails” finds itself a suicide attempt story of based on former poet John Berryman. The song breaks into a rewritten form of the Beach Boys “Sloop John B” at the 2:30 point that just blows me away. Its great. To add to the fantasticness that is this album is the inclusion of an extra song when purchasing the album from eMusic. The trumpet-laced breakup lament “Love to a Monster” is a slow moving “tribute” to a former lover that includes lines like “I hope you get angry and hurt and have the hardest of landings” and “I hope your new man thinks of me when he sees what a number I did on you.” For some reason, I have a feeling that most of us have probably thought this way about a person at one point or another.


Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails

Okkervil River - A Girl in Port

#3 The National - Boxer

I first discovered The National for myself this year after rummaging through a used CD box at Grimey’s Record Store in Nashville this past summer. There I stumbled upon a used copy of The National’s Alligator which I had remembered reading somewhere might be a decent album. So, unlike many other, more hip, music listeners I was not anxiously awaiting the appearance of the Boxer this year. In fact, because I had just purchased Alligator, I held off on purchasing Boxer until much later in the year than I probably should. That being said, the amount of The National I have listened to this year has been tremendous. So, this review may come off as more of a review of The National’s style than about Boxer itself. Someone, somewhere (maybe it was Bryan, I can’t remember) described The National’s music as being melancholy rock…and I think that’s an excellent description. The National is everything I want in a band from their rolling drums that are often brought to the forefront of the song (see “Squalor Victoria”) to the melancholy reverberating guitars. I typically find myself paying far more attention to the music of a band as opposed to the lyrics, and not to take anything away from the lyrics found on Boxer, The National is a band where one can be completely immersed in the music and sound of the album while not caring at all about the lyrics, and still enjoy the album. So, I very glad I finally worked my way around to getting this album. I’ve listened to both Alligator and Boxer an awful lot this year and either one is a great place to get started if you haven’t experienced The National before.

The National - Squalor Victoria

The National - Fake Empire

#2 Ola Podrida - Ola Podrida

I’ve always thought that if I were a movie director, there wouldn’t be a more enjoyable job than selecting songs for the soundtrack to my movie. Deciding what songs could create a particular feeling in someone when watching something happen to complete strangers is an art, but it’s an art that I like to think I’d be good at. Now, this is most likely completely false. I would probably suck at it, but seeing as how I doubt I’ll ever get the opportunity to prove my chops, I’m going to continue thinking that I’d do a decent job. Regardless, some people are particularly good at it, and supposedly (from what I’ve read at least) one of those individuals is David Wingo. Wingo has written music for movie soundtracks for a while, and Ola Podrida is his first attempt at band-dom. Let me be the 1000^th to say it, I think the transition would quite well. Ola Podrida’s self-titled debut was critically-acclaimed in a few circles, but finds itself absent from many of the Top 10 lists I’ve been reading over the past month. I really find that hard to believe. In fact, Paste even omitted it from their Top 100 list!! Bullshit, I say!! I have dug on this album since my first listen of the song “Cindy”, which came courtesy of everyone’s favorite ubiquitous review site Pitchfork. “Cindy” is the arpeggio-ed story of a girl that decides to burn up everything she owns in a magnificent house fire. Everything proceeds perfectly as planned only until she comes to the realization that she’s got some overdue library books she left in the house that she needs to return. So, I suppose, her thinking that since she was already going to have at least one charge of arson heading her way in the near future, she needed to attempt to make piece with the public servants down at the Biblioteca. That being the case, she entered the partially destroyed, burning house to retrieve the books, never to be heard from again. It’s quite a lovely story, and I was hypnotized the first time I heard it (and subsequently the next 20-30 times). Stories are a common theme throughout the album. There’s the country-twinged ode to a bar singer in “Jordanna” and the lackadaisical vacation-turned-breakup story of “Day at the Beach” that find themselves both at top of my favorite songs of 2007. In fact, I would argue there’s not a better collection of three songs on any of the other albums in my top 10. Maybe the storytelling is an extension of his previous soundtrack writing, but Wingo does an excellent job of eliciting a number of emotions over the course of the album. And from the way I understand it, emotions are a good thing. So, Cheers to Dave Wingo and his band Ola Podrida for creating my second favorite album of 2007.

Ola Podrida - Cindy

Ola Podrida - A Day at the Beach

#1 Radiohead - In Rainbows

Ten years from now will be 2017. That seems ridiculous. Honestly. Two thousand and seventeen. I mean, we should have like flying cars, and everyone should be eating space ice cream all the time by then. We’ll most likely have populated Mars, transitioned to a completely cashless society, and we’ll be approaching 109 years of Chicago Cubs-free World Series. It sounds as if it truly will be the future. But we all know that won’t be the case. 2017 sounds like forever away, but is it really all that far? Another interesting question is what will I be listening to in ten years? Of all the albums that came out in 2007, do any have the a chance of remaining in my rotation in 2017. Well, before I answer that, let’s look back ten years ago…all the way back to 1997. In 1997 my favorite album of ALL-TIME came out. Radiohead’s OK Computer. My first listens to this album were like entering a new universe. Nothing before or it, or since in my humble opinion, had achieved close to the musical perfection that I thought OK Computer was (minus one ridiculous Macintosh-voice ridden “Fitter Happier”). Now, an entire decade later, I still feel basically the same way. My musical tastes haven’t changed much, and the album I thought was the best of all time, I still believe is the best album of all time. So, best I can gather, in another ten years, my musical tastes will most likely remain fairly constant. I mean, they’ve survived the past ten high school/college/grad school/getting married years, I cannot fathom what could happen over the next ten years (aside from getting a job, finally getting paid a real salary, buying a house, having kids, and going to PTA meetings) to cause my fully implanted musical tastes to change. So, being that is it may, I’m announcing Radiohead’s In Rainbows as my Best Album of 2007. No other album came close in creating an excitement in me than In Rainbows. And the amazing thing is….it only had like 6 days to do that. I honestly enjoy everything about the album. There’s something to love about each and every song. I enjoy the “try to learn how to clap to this song, Americans” of “15 Step”. The crunch that “Bodysnatchers” employs, and the fact that once it ends that crunch is over for the rest of the album. The airy lustfulness of “Nude”. The repetitive, crispness of “Weird Fish/Arpeggi”. The brutal, bass-ridden honesty of “All I Need”. The perfect mesh of acoustic guitar and strings in “Faust Arp”. The cymbal tapping, subtleness of “The Reckoner”. The bouncy, carefulness of “House of Cards”. The mind-erasing bridge at the 2:54 point in “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” that practically sums up the entire album for me. The going nowhere, eeriness of “Videotape”. I love each song and believe that regardless of my situation ten years from now, In Rainbows will be up there with OK Computer as one of my favorites of all time. So, the pressure’s on Radiohead…..if I’m interpreting the pattern correctly, then in 2017 we should be in for quite a new album. I’m already counting down the days.

Radiohead - All I Need

Radiohead - Reckoner

RR

Free Stuff.....

Cold War Kids have recorded a six song EP called Mulberry Street and they're giving it away for free.

Just found out today. They're offering two songs a day between now and Friday at their website. You can go here, and scroll through their EPs. Mulberry Street should be at the bottom and you can download the first two tracks.

Track listing:

1. The Soloist in the Living Room
2. Heavy Boots
3. Quiet, Please!
4. The Wedding
5. In Harmony, In Silver
6. Don't Let Your Love Grow Away

Also, i noticed there's an acoustic EP available for free download from the site that i didn't know about called Acoustic at the District.

So, if you're a Cold War Kids fan, you should check it out. Hopefully the songs will be decent.

BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!!

Apparently, Okkervil River has recorded an EP of cover songs which they are also releasing for free. Wow. Tis the season for giving, I suppose. It's a nine song EP which they're calling the Golden Opportunites Mixtape including one new Okkervil song and 8 cover songs recorded in various places over the past few years. You can download the album for free as a zip file from their website here.

Track listing:

1. April Anne by John Phillips (another good version of this one can be found on Okkervil River's Daytrotter Session.
2. Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear by Randy Newman
3. I Want to Know by Charles F. Olsen/Ed Sanders
4. Do What You Gotta Do by Jimmy Webb (another one on the Daytrotter session)
5. I Came Here to Say I'm Going Away by Serge Gainsbourg
6. The Blonde in the Bleachers by Joni Mitchell
7. Antarctica Starts Here by John Cale
8. Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas by Okkervil's own Will Sheff
9. Solo by Sandy Denny

Man. Free stuff. Coolness. Enjoy.

RR

Catching on Waaaaaayyyyyyy Too Late

One of the best albums I've purchased this year is The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America. Unfortunately it finds itself ineligible for any Top Ten albums status because it actually came out last year. But I didn't buy it until some point this year. Well, i've loved it and would consider it one of my favorite albums.....EVER. (GASPS are heard in the background....)

This being the case, i just downloaded their previous album, Separation Sunday, which came out way the heck back in 2005. Better late than never, I suppose. Well.....go figure....i love this one, too!! Its another great album. I love their lead singer Crain Finn's clever lyricism and delivery. He sings a lot about growing up in the Minneapolis suburbs, drugs, drinking, going to parties, drugs, and drugs....all while using some very unexpected Christian undertones. Its unlike anything else I've ever heard. Its not a Hold Steady song unless it includes one lyric that makes you think, "Damn, I wish I would've thought of that." The winner from the Boys and Girls album comes from the song Citrus....."lost in fog and love and faithless fear,
I've had kisses that make Judas seem sincere." That's one I wish I had in my back catalog (it would increase the number of clever lyrics I've come up with to an astounding total of 1). I haven't heard much by the way of new albums coming out, but I can guarantee this will be a "buy on the release date" CD.

Anyways....Separation Sunday......here's two tracks that I think are good representatives of the rest of the albums.

The Hold Steady - Cattle and the Creeping Things (good example of the unexpected Christian references)
The Hold Steady - Multitude of Casualties

Love the lyric in this one, "At least in dying you don't have to deal with new wave for a second time." HA! That's great. Suck it, New Order.

You can purchase all their albums for a very reasonable $10 at their website here. Very very worth it.

PS Okkervil River's got some stuff up on Daytrotter's website now....check it out if you get a chance.

Knock Knock......Who's There?.......Not RadioKGB

So, we've been a little sluggish here at KGB for some time now. Its not that we've haven't been listening to music, but we sure have been less likely to distribute our tastes to the masses. Well, its time for us to wake the eff up here, myself, most definitely included. I'm going to get this shiz started by introducing a couple new bands to the KGB community (can I call is that?). Oddly enough (its actually not that odd, but still) most, if not all, of these bands albums can be found on eMusic. I love that website and a big shout out to Kendall for introducing it back in the day. Let's get started.

A caribou.....which lends itself a healthy segway to our first band.

Caribou - Eli
Caribou - Melody Day

Here's an argument for Gerdon that people today can write Beatles songs just as good as anything the Beatles could have written *dodges bolt of lightning*. Whereas that might not be exactly true, the new album Andorra by Caribou (mainly one dude named Dan Snaith) sounds extremely Beatles-esque. And if you disagree with the Beatles comparison it definitely has a 60's ring to it. There's not too much else out there like this. I've really enjoyed it so far.

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
Blitzen Trapper - Sci-Fi Kid

Hmm, coincidence that a band named after a reindeer comes immediately after a band named after the North American equivalent of a reindeer????? I think not. Actually, Kendall might have already mentioned this band a while back. Typical modern day indie album, its got a little bit of everything in it. Both of these are off their album of the same name of the first song I posted. Some sound a little country-ish. The second one here sounds like Wilco to me. Overall, I guess I'd catagorize this a good new old-fashioned country-indie-rock. Pretty much sums it up I think.

Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Okkervil River - A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene

So, remember that band Bishop Allen I told yall about. Well, close your eyes, forget about them, and listen to Okkervil River.....they're good aren't they? Yeah, I think they sound similar. That's not a bad thing...just a thing, ya know? The second one actually makes me want to go to a damn sock hop......kinda.

Hmm, time for another semi-related picture....

Its an all animal themed day here at KGB.

Panda Bear - Bros

This one's long, so get ready. Panda Bear is one of the dudes from the band Animal Collective. Apparently, he's the one that likes electronic musics.......actually scratch that. Let's not say electronic.....we'll manufactured sounds. He sounds like Brian Wilson. You know...the Beach Boys guy? Actually, he sounds like what Brian Wilson would sound like had he taken acid. Wait, what's that? You think Brian Wilson took acid, but still didn't sound like this?? Hmm, you make a good point.

Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today
Port O'Brien - My Eyes Won't Shut

Garr, steve. So, apparently this, at times Modest Mouse-like, dude is an Alaskan fisherman by day.....or something like that. If its anything like that show The Deadliest Catch, then I'd quit, like today. I guess he's always got his band to fall back on.

Oh, let's see.....how about one more:

White Light Riot - In a Shotgun Whirlwind
White Light Riot - Atomism

Oh, if only The O.C. were still around. I guess I would've found out about this band like two weeks earlier if it had still be on the air, due to their sly attempt to highlight every band in the world you had never heard of. Some were winners, some were clearly not. I think White Light Riot would've been a winner.

Whew. Are you tired? That was a lot, i realize. But we've got some making up to do, so i figured I might as well get it started. Enjoy. Oh, you can buy every album here at eMusic. You should.