Year-End Roundup

I steal every blogging idea I have from Joe Massey and/or Andy Mister, anc occasionally from Gina Myers.


Stuff I liked this year:

1. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain. With single of the year "Wolf Like Me" and David Bowie guest vocals, this was hard to beat.

2. Lily Allen, "LDN." She's British, she's cute, her dad's a rich douchebag. Did I mention I'm in love with her?

3. The Pipettes. Joe Massey tells me that Perro del Mar or some such person is better, but I dig the matching outfits, the brazen-but-cute sexuality, the catchy tunes, the finger-wagging.

4. loudQUIETloud. This documentary about the Pixies is chiefly interesting for its segments in my sleepy little burg with Frank and the kids. Well, Kim Deal's rapport with young fans is pretty charming too.

5. Tortoise/Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Brave and the Bold. Gorgeous, eclectic.

6. Witchcraft. I don't actually own any albums but I listen to the tracks on their Myspace quite often. My return to metal this year has been quite a ride, thanks in no small part to Andrew Mister. I've been listening to a lot of Venom and Slayer, but new finds like this Swedish doom metal bands are always welcome.

7. Burzum. I've known of Burzum since reading Lords of Chaos back in the nineties. Now, thanks to Joe, I've had the pleasure of hearing the music. Pretty solid stuff. Beats the shit out of Son 0))).

8. 50 Foot Wave at WOW Hall, Eugene, OR. Ferocious. Drunken. The set was way too short.

9. Kristin Hersh/Grant Lee Philips at Berbati's, PDX. Maybe the funnest show I've been to all year. I drank tequila with Dean and Emily, had too much whiskey with Hannah, puked in the Berbati's head, came out refreshed and drank more tequila, and had a fun conversation with Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey concerning Peter Buck and my brother Steve.

10. The Coup, Sam Bond's Garage, Eugene, OR. Okay, maybe this show was the funnest of the year. I didn't get too drunk and we hung out with Boots after the show. No Pam the Funkstress, just Boots, Slick-E, and a three piece band. Even avowed hip-hop haters seemed to be having a good time. Of course, there was a surfeit of dirty hippies there, but that's Sam Bond's for you.


Stuff I Wanted to Like More

1. Bonnie "Prince" Billy's The Letting Go. Sure, it's pretty. But it's also sterile.

2. Caroline's apartment in downtown Austin. Can you say "squalor"? Sure you can. Now triple that.

3. My PhD dissertation that remains unfinished.

4. Ahsahta Press.

5. Josh Rouse's Subtitulo. There's a good single here, "Quiet Town," but the rest, eh. It's no Nashville.

6. Prime Time Television.

7. Cake. The food, not the band.

8. Tu Lan in San Francisco. Don't get me wrong--the spring rolls and imperial rolls and lemon-beef salad were phenomenal. The other dishes, however, were merely okay. But we gave our leftovers to a homeless woman, so it all worked out.


Stuff I Never Checked Out

1. The new Morrissey record.



*

I'll add to this list as things occur to me.