Favorite Albums of the Decade: 40-31

Day 2 of my favorite albums of the decade is upon us, with albums 40 through 31 coming today. Before we start that, a recap of the list so far (you can see that post here):

50. Andrew WK - I Get Wet
49. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
48. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
47. Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy Soundtrack
46. Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
45. M.I.A. - Kala
44. of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
43. Hot Hot Heat - Elevator
42. The Stills - Without Feathers
41. Cake - Comfort Eagle


40. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

Recommended Track: My Girls

Why I Love It: While the cries of "album of the decade!" may have been a pinch strong at this album's release, the hype that this was Animal Collective's best yet was not. This is AC distilling their sound into more of a pop structure, as you can sense Panda Bear's influence (after 2007's stellar Person Pitch) becoming more and more prominent throughout. This may be the definitive headphones and audiophile album of the decade, as this album is all about rich textures and layers of sound. Not only that, but when they take us through the chorus on "My Girls" and we get the gleeful "Ohhh!!", there may not have been a more euphoric moment from music this decade.


39. The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder (2007)

Recommended Track: 7 Stars

Why I Love It: The Apples in Stereo were another out of nowhere band for me, regardless of the fact that they had been around for 16 years before I knew any better. This album is one that is filled with delicious vocoder driven vocals, 70's pop instrumental arrangements, and a sunny disposition mostly about...science? Whatever it is really about (obviously I am all about the lyrical content here), this album is one that surprised in its ability to alternately get me screaming out vocals and to regress into a far more contemplative state. This is not an album weighed down by import, but mostly one wondering "can you feel it." Yes we can, and it feels good.


38. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (2006)

Recommended Track: Shakey Dog

Why I Love It: For all of the reasons Raekwon's Cuban Linx sequel is a success, so is this album. While for the most part Wu Tang Clan had a quiet decade, Ghostface exploded to become the most dominant voice from that crew. With his searing vocals, Ghostface tells us yarns of what a day to day life for a coke pushing gangster is like on the East Coast. Especially on "Shakey Dog", which is, to me, the apex of rap as a form of inner city storytelling. Not only that, but we get all kinds of guest appearances (including an honest to god Wu track), comic book and kung fu flick nods, and we learn a little about the metric system on the way as well. Who saw that coming?


37. The 88 - Over and Over (2005)

Recommended Track: Nobody Cares

Why I Love It: The 88 released one of the best albums of the 1960's, giving us rather straight forward pop rock tracks with soaring vocals, clap along rhythms, and tracks about sweet things such as coming home to your love, or things of that sort. Of course, the fact that it was released in 2005 to relative obscurity sort of alters that concept a bit, but that does not rob this album of any of its brilliance. While their follow up was...not strong, this album (which I found when I first started reviewing albums at my radio station in college) is laden with pop gems that I'd say match up with nearly anything from this decade.


36. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours (2008)

Recommended Track: Hearts on Fire

Why I Love It: Cut Copy is a group that so effortlessly fused indie pop, electronica, and influences from the 1980's into their sound on this album that they were pretty much impossible to be denied. While it's true this album really doesn't intend to be much more than an album that is light, airy, and fun to dance to, it doesn't really matter. Cut Copy is so obviously comfortable with their identity and their sound on this album that everything they do ends up sounding like everything you wanted to hear from them, but you didn't even know it. That's how you know it's good.


35. Muse - Absolution (2003)

Recommended Track: Butterflies and Hurricanes

Why I Love It: Muse is one of the most incredible bands on the planet, as in many ways they are about as talented as anyone out there. For example, Matt Bellamy, lead singer, guitarist, and pianist for the group, can do all three things about as well as anyone in music today. Whether you're looking for a classically trained piano piece in the midst of a track, or an absolutely insane riff, or some of the most beautiful vocals you'll hear from any man, they'll deliver this and plenty more. This album became a very popular one because of a few standout singles, but the depth of the album is where the gems are hidden, such as the more slow burning pieces like "Butterflies and Hurricanes" and "Blackout."


34. Cursive - The Ugly Organ (2003)

Recommended Track: Art is Hard

Why I Love It: "When you get on stage and they scream your name...oh Cursive is so cool...". From the very moment I heard those moments, with the former part sang in standard style and the "so cool" part in the background with muted vocals, I immediately knew I was a little bit in love with this band. At first, I was drawn in by the arty aggressiveness of "Art is Hard" and "Some Red Headed Slight of Hand", but later on I was pulled in by the more introspective moments like "The Recluse" and "Staying Alive." About that time I started to realize just how stellar of an album this was, and it ended up being my favorite album by one of Saddle Creek's absolute finest. Front to back, this album is loaded with power, brains, and a hidden soft streak that they'll scream at you to ignore. Brilliant.


33. Spoon - Gimme Fiction (2005)

Recommended Track: I Summon You

Why I Love It: First, I have to say that if I was going to make a list of favorite tracks of the decade (I may still do that), "I Summon You" would have to be up there for the top prize. This album followed their less structured and more eclectic album Kill the Moonlight and really focused on focusing the bands strengths into more straightforward tracks. For the most part it was a success, as tracks like the aforementioned "I Summon You" and "My Mathematical Mind" end up being every bit as wonderful as anything else in the Spoon discography. However, it falls somewhere in between the spontaneity of Moonlight and the polished pop sound of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and that lack of identity keeps it in the 30's for me.


32. Phantom Planet - The Guest (2002)

Recommended Track: One Ray of Sunlight

Why I Love It: Alright, cool it with the laughter. If you're thinking "really? the band that made the O.C. theme song?" well, you'd be right. That is in fact this band. However, hidden under that overplayed (but infectious) track is an album that is 60's bubble gum pop at its finest. Loaded with more hooks than a meat locker and featuring more toe tapping beats than almost anyone should be expected to handle, this was my album of choice for one entire summer during the middle of this decade. It still stands up to the test of time as an album that will get spins from time to time, just because every once in a while you need a little bit of pop in your life.


31. Air - Talkie Walkie (2004)

Recommended Track: Alone in Kyoto

Why I Love It: Whether it's the simmering creepy beauty of "Run", the effortless cool of whistle happy "Alpha Beta Gaga," or the Eastern quietness of standout track "Alone in Kyoto", Parisian duo Air takes us on a journey through their sound on this album. The way they structure their purely electronic sound gives the album the feel that it is more organic than your average album of this sort, giving it additional weight and soul throughout. This is their masterpiece in my mind, and one of the best electro pop albums of the decade, assuredly.

Bumbershoot: Day 2

This is going to be a long one.

Also, let me preface this by saying my day by day rundown of Bumbershoot will be impeded by other things I do on the day that are not Bumbershoot related. Thus, it will be scattershot and slow for those looking for tasty concert tidbits. Warning over!

Day 2 of Bumbershoot and Vacation started off early and stressfully. Erik, Sobo, Sarah, and myself woke up at 7 in the morning to walk to the nearby Tully's to do a Fantasy Football draft. After having Football be our primary topic of discussion for the entire previous day, Erik, Sobo, and I had to get in a league together, so we joined a $40 pay league on CBSsports.com. We get down to Tully's, snag our coffee, grab a treat or two, and set up for the draft.

But the internet will not connect! Oh noes! What do we do? Continue restarting hoping it will connect, or just bail and go back to Kelly's apartment and try and work it there, knowing that we had it work before. The draft has already started at this point, so we say screw it and pack up and leave, hastily of course in case we can make it back for our first pick. Along the way, we talk about with our luck we'll miss a few rounds and get stuck with Michael Vick or something, and about how hopefully we have the first pick and we get LT (which would be everyone in the world's pick at that spot so we wouldn't feel bad about missing the pick). We get there, set up, takes a bit to connect, and blammo, we're on.

Sobo, myself, and Erik looking on to our draft

And we did it! We had the first pick and we got LT, and then on the following turn we got Tom Brady and Terrell Owens...probably not who we would have taken, but picks we were fine with. This led to an ultimately very solid draft that we are pretty happy with...so long as LT starts running the ball better. Come on man. 25 points a week...that's all we ask.

No less, after we were done with the draft our crew gathered, and Erik, Sobo, Sarah, Kelly, Mike, and myself went to downtown Seattle for some shenanigans down in the Pike's Place market area. When we got down there we were all famished (even though we had our coffee/snack combo, plus some amazing French Toast as prepared by our incredibly gracious host Kelly), so Mike took us to an Irish Pub to have some lunch. Now two things about this Irish Pub (which I believe was called Kell's). 1) It was good. 2) They have the smallest portions on the planet. This is pretty much the direct inverse of the Brown Bag. It was $10.95 for what Erik and I got, which was a Seafood Pasty, which for all intents and purposes was a really good Hot Pocket full of Seafood, plus a dinky cup of Clam Chowder. Erik and I both agreed that our meal needed to be at least 2 times bigger (if not 3 times) and then it would be satisfactory.

Erik riding a pig and Sobot powering down

After that, we went into the market, bought some roasted nuts, checked out some book stores, and visited the legendary shop known as Golden Age Comics (actually Collectibles I believe, but I don't care, it is what I say it is). It was a good time, but time had been burned through and I needed to get to Bumbershoot to meet up with Amy to watch some comedians. I bid adieu to Sobo and Erik (who were headed back down to Portland after going to the Red Hook Brewery) and walked into the Festival with skepticism running rampant in my brain. Day one was meh, and that was with Sobo and Erik at my side. How could this be as good as that even, especially considering the other day had "better" bands.

Well, I started it out right, with Amy and I rejoining for the first time (make sense of that) to watch Fred Armisen, Brett Weinbach, and Eugene Mirman do some sweet, sweet stand up. First off, let me say that Armisen was probably the guy I was most excited to see (besides maybe Mirman) and he was not funny. Well, mostly not funny. He was just very disappointing and perhaps overly weird for my tastes. Mirman on the other hand was as funny as I expected, and Brett Weinbach blew me away. Weinbach's creepy demeanor and then even creepier impersonation of how creepy he could be was ridiculously entertaining, and he was so off the wall that it was very hard not to laugh hysterically throughout his set. As per usual, Doug Benson (6th place finisher on Last Comic Standing) warmed up the crowd very well, even though he rehashed one joke. Bad Benson! Comedy was a great lead off for the day though, and afterwards Amy and myself walked off with our faces hurting and ready for the day.

This led into possibly the band I was most excited about seeing, which was the Apples in Stereo (I struggled mightily with that sentence, was or were? Who knows.). They are the crafters of one of my favorite albums of the year, New Magnetic Wonder, and their set led me to my first foray into the Sound Transit Stage, as sponsored by KEXP (my Mom's favorite radio station ever). The crowd was moderately sized, but it was an entertaining one as there were beach balls to bounce about in the crowd while the band played. And played they did.

The Apples in Stereo

They were very good, playing a nice mix of new and old (new being what I recognized, old being what I didn't), and managing to play almost all of my favorites (besides Beautiful Machine parts 3-4) and finishing up with 7 Stars and Same Old Drag, which are my two absolute favorites. It was a very good set, although they were rather quiet and I did miss my sweet, sweet vocoder action. They were entertaining, and did not disappoint. Plus, they supplied me with the opportunity to take this excellent picture as seen below.

The Apples lead singer playing his guitar with a Rolling Rock!

After this set, I scurried off quickly in hopes of seeing Michael Ian Black perform his set at the nearby Comedy Stage South, yet it wasn't meant to be as 45 minutes before his set was to begin it was already full. A tear shed for me, missing my old favorite from Ed doing standup. However, with my phone pretty much dead, I decided I should just run back to my hotel and take it easy for 15 minutes or so and let my phone recharge, and then go back to catch part of Art Brut as a fall back.

As I said, it wasn't meant to be for me to see Michael Ian Black. Why was that? Because I was meant to see Art Brut. I came in 15 or 20 minutes into their set, but immediately I could feel currents in the air. This band was it. They were the superstars of the whole Festival, and only the people at the Sound Transit Stage knew it.

The whole band rocked hard, as they had their strangely magnetic female bassist, two guitarists who could shred and played around like little kids together, a drummer who literally did not sit ever and had about as much presence as any drummer I've ever seen..and Eddie Argos. Who is Eddie Argos you ask? Eddie Argos is the singer and frontman of Art Brut, and he was a genius.

Art Brut being the best thing ever

No less, in an hour and 15 minutes, the British rockers tore through 20 full songs, even integrating parts of other songs into them (you name it, Amy Winehouse, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z...they are a balanced squad of musicians) and taking plenty of time to interact with the audience and have one of the best actual performances on stage, complete with freezes (you'd have to see it to understand), coordinated movements, and full out jam sessions. Argos was the man who controlled the action with his microphone, even leading off nearly every song with "GO ART BRUT!" to immediately be followed with the song beginning (besides once, when the bassist was getting a drink, and Argos instead asked "Ready Art Brut? Ready? GO ART BRUT!). Fantastic stuff. Loved them to pieces.

The man of the hour - Eddie Argos, with bandmates around as well!

After this set, I ran off to meet with Amy, Jason, and Hannah over at the Starbucks stage for Indie Rock genius/whistling God Andrew Bird's set. Of course, this was my first real foray into drinking at the Festival, and it made perfect sense because it was during the most relaxing of all performers. Let me also say, I did not pay attention as much as I should have. After being alone quite a bit during the day, it was very nice to have human interaction, so the four of us drank and joked together through most of the set, while Mr. Bird gave a beautiful performance. I would love to see him again (second time I had a shot at seeing him, first time I took it) and give it my all because he sounded really worth it. However, like I said, we drank, we joked, we had a great time and it was worth every penny and second.

Hannah, Amy, and Jason at Andrew Bird

Amy and I (as per usual, I suck at photogenic)

Next up, they went off to watch Fergie (oh god.) and I went off to watch Anberlin. They were decent, good at what they do, but could have ended the night with Andrew Bird. Afterwards, I ran back to my hotel to rest up a bit and charge my phone again, and then meet up with the crew to go off to Tiny Biggs and have a couple Martini's. Let me note this one thing. Manhattan's are the stiffest drink ever. They make straight alcohol taste like Water. I don't know what they do, but somebody spiked that Alcohol. Jason trudged through one, and those crazy kids went off to do their thing while I went off to meet up with college buddy Eric Maloney and his crew.

Three interesting things happened the rest of the night. 1) I broke my foot/toe/something. My foot is still not right and it is messed up. It may not be broken, but something is not OK with it. 2) I went to a bar that had a huge pinball arcade in it. 3) I had the lead singer of Art Brut buy me a PBR. Needless to say, Eddie Argos is the man. I met both him and the guitarist, and can't even manage to rememeber what I said because I was...well...I was a little drunk. No less, I'm sure I just told them they rocked very hard. So with that said...the wrap up!

Band of the Day!

Duh! It's Art Brut! They totally rocked the house and were the ultimate surprise for the whole trip.

Surprise of the Day!

That Art Brut, a band I found to be strangely meh recorded, could be one of the best bands I've ever seen live.

Disappointment of the Day....

Not having my camera with me when I met Art Brut. The most ridiculous thing to happen to me the whole trip, and I don't have a camera. Sad panda...

Bands seen: The Apples in Stereo, Art Brut, Andrew Bird, Anberlin (A-tastic!)

Comedy seen: Fred Armisen, Brett Weinbach, Eugene Mirman

Food: Delicious again. Gyro! Beer! Thai food! Oh my!

Day Two grade: A

This day was every thing the first day wasn't. Massively memorable. Exciting. Ridiculous. Rested. That last word could be a good excuse for the first day, I wasn't rested. But I don't think that was it. Art Brut would have rocked whenever they played, regardless of how tired I was.

Now with two days down, I'm going into Day Three with a high likelihood of a hangover, probably tiredness, and a sheer buzz from the huge fun of day two. How would it be? Could it match Day Two's awesomeness? Stay tuned to find out!

Recommendations for the Summer

As it is officially summertime, meaning we have crossed into the month of June, I figured I would drop a few recommendations for those folks who remotely care to see that. I mean come on, who doesn't want to see my recommendations? They're coming from me, that's how you know they're good.

Books

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

It's Harry Potter for one. It's the last Harry Potter ever for two. I may start weeping just talking about it. As a book I originally would only read if properly bargained and bribed beforehand, it is pretty amazing that I turned out to be as big of a fan as I am. I call myself an Hpothead. I went to Prisoner of Azkaban's opening night showing dressed as Harry. I am going to the Midnight release of this book. Yep...I'm a pretty big fan. Essentially, here is the deal. If you don't read the book, we're not friends anymore. Even you folks out there who may or may not read this blog and do not know me, you count to. This relationship is over if you do not read this book. That settled? Good. Here's a brief idea of what it is about. Teen Wizards Harry, Ron, and Hermione head off to destroy Horcruxes (thingamajigs that contain bits of Lord Voldemort's soul) in a desperate attempt to finally kill the very bad man known as Voldemort. Success? We shall see.

Comics

Y the Last Man

Like Harry Potter, Y the Last Man is rapidly approaching its climax. Issue 56 recently passed us by, leaving us with a mere 4 issues to wrap up the tale of the world's last man...or the man that was once known as our last one, as he sired a child who is now the...other last man. For those not in the know, and you should be as this book is pretty much genius from cover to back, Y is the story of a man named Yorick Brown, who along with his pet Capuchin monkey named Ampersand (as in this - &), are the last survivors of something that killed off all of the men across the world, leaving a chaotic world featuring all the women and this one man. It is a story of trying to find the truth behind what happened, Yorick trying to find his lost love, and the mysterious Agent 355 and Yorick's developing relationship. It is about life, and the people who fill out that life and how they make sure it continues. The book is the brain child of the best writer in the world (suck that literature!) Brian K. Vaughan and artist extraordinaire Pia Guerra, and is required reading for pretty much anyone that has a mind. It is one of the best things the medium of comic books has ever offered, and requires more readers, especially now that it is ending. With the ending set for some time in September (I believe), this is more of a general recommendation, but a recommendation no less. Even if you are inherently resistant towards the medium, remember this. I would never lead you astray. Well...most of the time.

Movies

Ratatouille

What a shocker. Pixar making another amazing movie. I can hardly believe it. What am I going to recommend next, "Activity of the Summer: Breathing." Of course Ratatouille is going to be amazing. It is made by Pixar, who has never made a bad movie, just 5 amazing ones and two decent to good ones. It is directed by Brad Bird, who outside of Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter is pretty much the greatest thing in animation. The man directed the Iron Giant and the Incredibles! What more does the man need to do to earn everyones faith?! It also has a great and classically off the wall cast in true Pixar tradition, featuring comedian Patton Oswalt as the lead and my boy Will Arnett (Gob from Arrested Development) in a smaller role. Count me in. I can't wait.

Music

The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

This is the most ridiculously bizarre album of the year. I don't even know how to describe it. It is two CD's long, alternating between full songs and weird little minute long tracks, of just pure pop goodness and driving guitars and synth and vocal effects. It sounds like Electric Light Orchestra's Mr. Blue Sky extended into album length and updated to more fit the sound of now. It was released in February to very little fanfare, but boy is it catchy and fun. If you're willing to try something a little new (which is the summer spirit, I mean come on) put these guys in your CD player and roll down the windows and have a good time. You may be disappointed, but I don't think you will be.

TV/Video Games

It's summer time. I gave you enough to distract you for a while. If you must, watch the 4400 and play some Halo 3 Beta...well play that for like 6 more days. Once that is over, brush off your old copy of Warcraft 3 and play it with me on rainy days. But besides that, go out and enjoy the sun. Go hiking, go fishing, go play some Frisbee Golf. Go have a beer on the deck of your favorite bar. Pretty much whatever, even if it is just suntanning at your place while reading Harry Potter and Y the Last Man while listening to The Apples in Stereo, get out there and enjoy your summer! There's plenty of time to be cold in the other 9 months (especially for us Alaskans), just get out there and enjoy it while it is there. Two last recommendations...try random things like Renaissance Faire's (went to one this past weekend and it was a great time) and do not play World of Warcraft. That is the devil's game, and do not submit to its loving embrace. Otherwise you'll turn into this little kid that I met at the Renaissance Faire this past weekend...and nobody wants to be like that. Well. Besides that kid. He seemed pretty down with it.