46. Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (2006)
This album feels as if it could have been released in 1978 Southern California/America, but in a similar parallel universe where society's acceptance of hidden knowledge and the occult was a bit more mainstream. Equal parts beautiful and weird, it just floats along in this universe filled with thieves and introverts, persecuted scientists, overworked-to-the-point-of-abused wives, and 300 year old giants. The experience is somewhat like the following, fading seconds of a pee-chill: Euphoric, intense, subtle, and in no way, unpleasant.
This was for sure the work of some introvered personalities.
39. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
After four months, I still haven't listened to this CD to its end. I will eventually, but I'm not in a hurry. It's not that the music is bad; it's not. The songs are complex, beautiful, and.. overpowering. For me, they take energy to listen to them! You should be fully engaged in listening, and if you're not, Veckatimest will test your patience. The music shifts backdrops without warning, and casual listening would be confusing.
There are some amazing sounds here, but I can handle three, maybe four tracks in one sitting. I don't think, though, this record would have made my top 50.
38. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
There are songs (and elements of songs) on Return to Cookie Mountain that rate in the "All Time Favorite" category. No one does "Wall of Sound" quite like TV on the Radio. "Playhouses" may be the closest thing to a sonic hurricane you'll ever hear. Headphones are required. Also, I thought this would rate quite a lot higher on the list. Surprising.
37. Justin Timberlake - Justified (2002)
Although I liked Justin Timberlake ("Cry Me A River" remains a great, great pop song), I didn't buy "Justified" and wasn't planning to. My niece ended up getting it for me, and wow! I'm so glad she did! "Justified" and Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" are the two great Blue Eyed Soul records of the last ten years. Where Winehouse reworked Soul's heyday of the 60's, Timberlake's record was Here, Now, and Groovy. Dancing to "Rock Your Body" never gets old.
29. Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash (2003)
A surprising choice and rank. Stylistically, Basement Jaxx are all over the dance music map, tapping into the rhythms of the moment without ever feeling forced or plagerized. I got Kish Kash in 2003 and really liked it (along with 2001's Rooty), but didn't focus on the artistry as much as the groove. The album smokes along, switching gears and changing beats, and everything (for the most part) works.
Being an experimental dance record, I didn't see a slot open, much less within the Top 30. But after listening again; ok. Kish Kash still sounds fresh and energetic, full of that undefinable resonance that makes your hips and mojo vibrate, long before you're even moving. Awesome grooves. Great record? Yeah. Sure!
26. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)
I went on a blind date with a guy who had "You Know I'm No Good" on his ringtone for his ex-boyfriend's calls. And, during the date, he called a lot. The Ex was supposedly rich, and going to give this guy a million dollars to buy a guest house in Eureka Springs. My date forgot his wallet, so I had to buy his drinks. Not normally a big deal, but I'd just been laid off for winter, low on funds, and _____ knew that. And he still drank almost 40 dollars by himself. I drank water. Irritating, to say the least..
And, though we chatted on the phone several more times, there wasn't a follow up date. So everything ended all right..
24. Beck - Sea Change (2002)
Awesome album. "The Golden Age" would easily fall into my favorite ten singles of the decade. Yearning and mournful and gorgeous: It is perfect.
Two prevailing memories regarding that specific song:
1. Waiting tables in the smoking section of (the old) Racines in Denver, observing the tables as the song played, watching how the people react. Restaurants ebb and flow audibly in intensity, and our guests did become more quiet the times it was on. Whether they realized it or not, they gave Beck the respect and silence "The Golden Age" deserves.
-And-
2. I worked as a country music DJ twice in my life for a total of almost seven years. What the fuck, Lance.. Yeah, I know.. During my second tenure there, after a year and a half of asking and badgering, the GM of the station let me have my own show, independent of the station's format(Generic Country Top 30, mixed with one classic or one "Branson" artist--Cripes). Officially, I got four songs an hour, but I pretty much played whatever I wanted, and management let me, or was totally unaware of how far off base I sometimes got.
So, for a time, Branson got a big dose of Alt Country, 1960's-era Country and Western, and songs by groups that would Never be considered by mainstream Country radio. Susan Tedeschi, Tift Merritt, The Flaming Lips, late period Johnny Cash and Bobby Bare (I can't think of Bare's first comeback album, but it is excellent..) Wilco, African American Country Rap star Cowboy Troy, Poco, and Beck were in rotation, to name a few. "The Golden Age" had no business on Country radio, but it seemed to fit perfectly in what my bosses had allowed me to create.
Life during my employment at the station was pretty bleak, and just knowing that others were listening to this beautiful, raw emotion of a song, hopefully feeling something from the experience.. Well, that was enough of a rebellious, creative statement to tide me over until the next little victory during a time that was painfully short on "little victories." Like Beck would ever read this, but if he does: Thank you. You helped.
20. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
The single "One More Time" felt like the summer of 2001. Until it didn't anymore. Remember when life felt.. lighter? This song takes me back to then..
18. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
If I close my eyes while listening to this record, I can see individual faces in a sea of people, all in slow, fluid motion, all dancing, all smiling. I'm there, too; with them, within them, dancing also. "1901" is the soundtrack, and all is right for those within that particular universe.
14. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
Hipster record of 2007. It's also the New York record of the year, Trance record of the year, and Headphone record of the year.. contender. Sound of Silver kicks ass. Strap some headphones on and get lost, or shake it like there's no tomorrow; either one works.
12. M.I.A. - Kala (2007)
I actually laughed with glee upon hearing for the first time the Bollywood chorus to "Bamboo Banger." M.I.A. pulls elements from around the world, creating this over the top, global party record housing a soul quite a bit darker than it sounds. Political, humanitarian, and EarthFunky, Kala is the perfect introduction for Westerners to the Rest of the World, and what they might create musically.
5. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
A magnificent record. If you don't own it, you should. I walked my circuits around Denver many, many times with Wilco as the soundtrack. I went nowhere without headphones, watching cars go by, the homeless on Colfax coming towards me, horse cops on the 16th Street mall, the throway kids on the corners, hipster patio diners, people waiting for the bus or train, sometimes emotionally neutral, sometimes agitated.
I remember feeling like The Observer, watching the machinations of the city without fully participating, and having the choice of accompanying music. I used to get on the shuttle, watching the occupants grow with each stop, the group slowly expanding and crushing, each time I played "War on War" at full volume. I stared at people's faces while they pretended not to notice. "There's a war on war there's a war on.. You're gonna lose.. You'll have to lose.. You'll have to learn how to die.." Watching them under these circumstances, allowed me a greater sense of their collective alienation, their self-absorbtion, their consideration, their civility, their regard for humanity, or lack thereof.. And I wondered of their futures as I looked at them looking away.
While it's probably not a period I will ever repeat, it was not entirely unpleasant, either. I learned a lot during that time of high detachment.
4. Outkast - Stankonia (2000)
One of the most wailing, sorrowful moments on record (maybe ever) happens during "Toilet Tisha." The pregnant, scared, 14 year old Tisha kills herself on the "cold porcelain" of the toilet, and her mother finds her after it is too late. Her cries of pain at the sight of her daughter are almost too much to bear. This anguish is so sincere, so overwhelming, it's hard to believe it's not real; but it is authentic. You don't really listen to "Toilet Tisha" as much as you feel it ripping you apart.
"Toilet Tisha" provides an insight as to the creative width and depth of Stankonia, and, more importantly, Outkast themselves.
3. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
If you talk to any Radiohead fanatic, their albums are perfect and they are the greatest band in the world. I'm one of Them, so yeah, you get it. I'd much rather discuss the distances I've covered listening to them, mostly walking, from place to place, in place after place.
In St. Louis, I walked from Maplewood to the Central West End (5.7 miles one way), waited tables at Cafe Balaban for lunch, then walked back home, all the while listening to The Bends. I walked or took the bus up and down Kingshighway almost daily during the summer of 1997. My places of work were in opposite directions north and south, and my home was around four miles east. I walked so much that summer, and it was so.. difficult.
St. Louis has the one-two punch of unrelenting swamp like heat and humidity, coupled with so much heat storing and reflecting concrete, ashpalt, and so.. much.. brick.. In July and August, St. Louis is not so much neighborhoods as it is a collection of gigantic, open air pizza ovens. Summers are uncomfortable for those with cars, and brutal for those without. And Ok Computer was there for me, on the northbound Kingshighway bus, walking south past Uncle Bill's, or walking east, over the new Arsenal bridge.
Kid A was much more internal. In October of 2000, I had just quit working for a non-profit in The City and County of Denver's Human Services building, and had gone back to waiting tables at Racines' in Central Denver. Very early into my time with Work Options for Women (W.O.W.), the conditions of the job became.. unsettling -disturbing - heartbreaking - insane, and it was impossible to be objective in my down time away from work. Fairly quickly, I started not going out, planning my outside chores carefully, and screening all calls/having the phone on silent. The job made it very easy for the Introvert, the Hermit, the Seven, to step through and step up.
The album didn't come out until I'd left W.O.W., but my status as Shut In was already established. Because it was Radiohead, and because favorite ablums are played obsessively until burnout, I listened to Kid A for an intense three or so months. I lived in an aparment seven blocks east of Downtown, and almost every sunset (I worked days) I would be in the sun room with the computer on, smoking a cigarette having just smoked a bowl, looking at the Denver skyline, sun reflecting, bathing warmth, glowing, and changing the geometry of the cityscape's shadows. And I'd stand there, just Boned, and think, Kid A playing, but in half-focus.
And then, the music would change. My thoughts would take backseat to whatever sounds were coming from my speakers. Minutes would pass before realizing that I'd been sucked in, and deeply. One day, I thought. "They're getting weirder, and better!" I smiled, then, as I, too, was getting weirder, and hoped that I was getting better. Eventually, the much more peaceful vibe of the restaurant began to re-socialize and heal, and I began to have more fun than before, and I began to be outside more than before.
Amnesiac was my soundtrack to the Provincetown, Massachusetts shuttlebus system. I would wait in the morning, in front of my residence in North Truro for the bus, looking down the mostly deserted 6A, waiting silently, while the wind blew. I was mostly still. Due to an influx of tourists during the late afternoon, I might get a ride on the third or fourth shuttle offered, so I'd wait, sometimes, within or on the outskirts of the group, sometimes far apart and away, watching the tourists and imagining their back stories. At night, the bus interior was always bathed in red light, and I would also imagine what my fellow travelers would be doing Next. Most scenarios involved fucking, more drinking, throwing up, fighting, or passing out. Lots of "Employee goes home; begins chores after work." Every once in a while, I'd flash on an unusual scene, like "Runaways," and "Aura fading" "Violent-look away." So I did. And then I'd resume again, Amnesiac still in my ears, fantasizing until I got home.
I'd been back in Branson about 18 months when Hail to the Thief was released. It's my least favorite Radiohead album, but it isn't bad.. I just have a lot of negativity, still, around that period. It represents to me the constant power struggles between myself and my parents, moving from liberal Denver to knee jerk Branson, freedom, to freedom-subject-to-control, and a general defeatist, bummer of a time period. I was introverted, had little contact with friends, and, almost 60 pounds heavier. A very difficult time, this was.. I think this will be enough sharing for now.
In Rainbows reflects a better time here (2007 on..)in Branson, running on a Gazelle, getting it together, driving with the windows down. That was the spring and summer of 2008. Life is calmer, more objective, benefitting from the daily yoga. I am becoming more integrated.
2. Kanye West - The College Dropout (2004)
Without comment:
"George Bush doesn't care about Black People."
1. White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)
"Seriously: Are they sister and brother or husband and wife?" I wonder how many people asked that question in the last almost nine years..
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