Monthly Archive for December, 2008

P’s top 25 albums of 2008

Published on December 20, 2008 in music. 10 Comments

The top 5 (in order of awesomeness):

Honeythistle Promo, the Sweet Divines Only 3 songs from this amazingly-unsigned Brooklyn soul revival outfit, but I have probably listened to this about 1,000 times. Seeing the Sweet Divines live will probably be what I miss most about living in NYC. We caught them 4 times this year, most recently at Joe’s Pub this week.
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, Amanda Palmer Amanda is the singer/pianist in Dresden Dolls, who also made my list. This one is my Fox Confessor Brings The Flood for this year.
This Gift, Sons and Daughters Best effort yet from this Scottish band. They pronounce it “Thess Geft.”
Rain, Joe Jackson Stripped down production and wailing vocals are my favorite thing. Anyone who sings at the top of their lungs gets much love from me (see Neko, Amanda Palmer, Jemima Pearl of Be Your Own Pet).
Antidotes, Foals I couldn’t believe this was released in 2008– February seems so long ago. Minimal/Maximal math rock. One of the best shows I saw all year, Dan and I caught them at Union Hall (which I will also miss!).Â

I got to see each and every artist on top 5 list this year!

The other 20 (in no particular order):

Night Drive, Chromatics Like an amazing soundtrack to all of the parts they edited out of The Hidden.
Get Awkward, Be Your Own Pet Riot Grrl-channeling loud punk at its best.
Casting Shadows, the Black Hollies Lush psychedelia from Jersey City revivalists. Listen to them play most of the album live on the Cherry Blossom Clinic.
S/T, Jean on Jean Spacious and haunting folkishness from the Out Hud cellist.
S/T, Vivian Girls What everyone else said.
Live at Shea, The Clash Great selection of songs played at blistering speeds.
No, Virginia…, the Dresden Dolls Especially “Dear Jenny”.
Drippers, Black Moth Super Rainbow The only scratch-n-sniff release on my list. More nice and heavy synth-psych. There’s also a free release of additional material! (scroll down to July 9)
Alpinisms, School of the Seven Bells Greg got me into this in November, been listening pretty much non stop since.
S/T, Little Joy Strokesy enough to be great.
Â¿CÃ³mo Te Llama?, Albert Hammond Jr. Also strokesy enough to be great.
S/T, Hercules and Love Affair “Athene” was my favorite track released in 2007– I get to put this on the list since the album wasn’t officially released until 2008. I love you lazy disco.
BITS, Oxford Collapse The kind of 90s-style loud indie rock that has been sorely missing for about 10 years.
Beat Box, Glass Candy
I’ll say it again. I love you lazy disco.
Fantasy Black Channel, Late of the Pier Strange and suprising late addition to my list.
Alight of Night, Crystal Stilts Kelly loves this. Joy Divisionist.
Feed the Animals, Girl Talk Kind of an embarrasing entry, but I couldn’t get enough of this while running this year. & the price is right.
Velocifero, Ladytron Ladytron never dissapoints but is terminally ignored!
Luminarium, Tape The only experimental/ambient release in my 25– I’m trying to be more accessible.
Vol. 1, She & Him Listened to this one a lot on long runs in Fredonia this summer.
Partie Traumatic, Black Kids I know, I’m not supposed to like this, but I had it on my iPod and I realized that I never ever skipped any track from it. For like months. Then I put it on my shuffle for running… it’s still there.

Honorable Mention:

This years releases from High Places, Tobacco, Au, Chairlift, Ra Ra Riot, Ane Brun, Lykke Li, Bon Iver, Ladyhawke-with-the-e, Ladyhawk-without-the-e, Pit Er Pat, Women, Ellen Allien, Studio, HEALTH, Squarepusher, Black Mountain, Jamie Liddell, Fennesz, Titus Andronicus, Growing.

Our new frozen neighborhood

Published on December 18, 2008 in brooklyn, running and syracuse. 0 Comments

We found a place last weekend in the Hawley-Green neighborhood of Syracuse. It’s half of an old house– 2 floors, 2 bedrooms. I should be able to easily walk to work, and there are plenty of little restaurants and a coffee shop nearby. The landlord (and the community) seem incredibly nice.Â Kelly, for some reason, felt it necessary to tell our landlord that I love wearing long underwear. I do, but dang. I thought that was private.

A street view view of our new street (taken in warmer times– we’ve noticed that the google van was in Syracuse on the most beautiful day of all time).

Oh, and I ran three miles on the treadmill the other day– it’s nice have sore quads again. I hope to get at least a few Prospect Park runs in before we leave. But it’s supposed to snow here, so we’ll see.

Jimmy V; Joe Jackson; some news.

Published on December 10, 2008 in infostudies, music and nyc. 0 Comments

Kelly and I headed to Madison Square Garden last night to see both Davidson and UT win their games in the Jimmy V classic. Both games were great (especially Stephen Curry’s last few minutes against West Virginia) and got me excited for our next couple of months. UT played Villanova, who seemed to really lose their way in the last 10 minutes of the game. The crowd was mostly rowdy Nova fans, many of whom were incredibly drunk– I saw more fighting in the crowd than at any other sporting event (or rock show!) than I’ve ever been to. Our section of Texas Exes was pelted with ice and drinks as we ended the game with “The Eyes Of Texas,” and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it a little bit when a bigger Texas fan dropped one of the worst offending Villanova idiots on his head in a particularly vicious altercation. This is, I guess, why beer is only sold at off-campus NCAA events. Ugh.

I just hope that the behavior of the Villanova fans is not typical of the Big East– we’ll be at a lot of BE conference games, hopefully, once we move to our new home in Syracuse next month. That’s right, we’re moving: I accepted a job at Syracuse University right before Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to it, and we’re heading up there this weekend to find an initial place to stay. I’ll start in early January.

Somewhat unrelatedly, on my way to the Garden to meet Kelly last night, I listened to this week’s The Moth podcast, which featured my hero Joe Jackson telling a story about his early days playing in pubs (a bit of the story is also in his great memoir, A Cure for Gravity). Thanks to J for making sure I didn’t miss it! I bring this up, because I keep meaning to post my top 10 or so albums for 2008… Joe’s Rain is definitely on that list.

No more wisdom teeth, running resumes soon, Go Panthers.

Published on December 8, 2008 in pain and running. 1 Comment

I had my wisdom teeth extracted on Friday, and it’s messed with my sleeping schedule so much that I was actually awake to watch the end of the Panther game tonight. What a great second half… I’ll never get to sleep now.

I had gotten up to about 3 miles at a time on the treadmill before the surgery, and everything felt great, so once I’ve fully recovered, I should be out on the road again. That is all.