Best Albums of 2009!

1. Sun Araw - Heavy Deeds

Easily my favorite head trip of the year, maybe the decade. This on headphones just takes you to another planet!

2. Desolation Wilderness - New Universe

It's like M. Ward fronting Deerhunter but completely original and done by a three piece... glacial, epic and fragile.

3. Alela Diane - To Be Still

Every time I play this around folks, one person writes down the name of it, often, on their hand. To me, that's solid evidence of a universally great record.

4. Tara Jane O'Neil - A Ways Away

I've been a fan of TJO for years this is the record where she finally snuck her songwriting just a smidge above the haze of her glorious sound, that smidge was enough to keep this record on constant repeat.

5. Mi Ami - Watersports

Never has a cacophony of sound made me want to dance like a hippy so easily.

6. Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People Lazers Do

The only album that makes me want to go out to clubs, booty dance and pop champagne. If this was the soundtrack at dance clubs, you'd find me there in neon tennis shoes dancing all night.

7. Wooden Shjips - Dos

An album like this makes you want to sit with your forehead pressed to the speaker so you can feel every song.

8. Best Coast - Where The Boys Are

The best pop songs of the year drenched in reverb... can't wait to see this band live.

9. The Spits - Vol. IV

Revisionist punk that blows my mind with every listen. Last time I saw them live, they had a roadie lighting off fire crackers in the crowd as part of their "stage show".

10. Dan Deacon - Bromst

A rhythmic symphony of noise that's a perfect soundtrack for my afternoon walks through rush hour traffic in downtown Portland

Karl Blau - Future Folk

If you haven't heard of Karl Blau, you have to check the guy out. He runs a little label called Kelp Lunacy! where you subscribe like a magazine and the dude, no shit, puts out like 4-5 cd-r albums a year.

So, Karl is wrapping up the details on his next album on K Records "Nature's Got A Way" and it should come out sometime next spring. On his last tour he was debuting some of the material from it and this song "Mockingbird Diet" is heartbreakingly perfect... even in the "superhiss mix" that is available here on his myspace page as a download.

Easily one of my favorite songs right now!

Pierced Arrows - Fred and Toody are back!

Dead Moon just might be my favorite band of all time... Fred Cole, frontman for the band, is an original rock & roller and just might be the last. While hundreds of bands cropped up long enough in the 60's to cut a single or two and then vanish into Nugget's compilation obscurity, Fred Cole soldiered on. Playing in bands since the 60's, he formed Dead Moon in the late 80's with his wife on bass and Andrew Loomis on drums.

Live they were unstoppable... Fred would play without the aid of effects pedals preferring, instead, to get his feedback and distortion through sheer force of guitar and amp. Recording too many records to own all, the band broke up last year after their star really started to burn bright in the night.

The hot news, for me, at least is that they're back! Sans Andrew, Fred and Toody are taking the stage with a new drummer as Pierced Arrows. I've yet to catch them live but, I know for sure, that they're fantastic. The two of them are an inspiration to anyone who loves music without concern for anything other than pure music.

It's alright, it's ok you can still see them play anyway:

White Magic - Tour

White Magic are on tour... Mira Billotte and Co. are coming to your town and it's well worth seeing their piano-driven voodoo. Trust me, they're not bringing Carly Simon white-witch bullshit to the stage. They'll blow your mind!

Nov 17 2007 8:00P	Fernwood Theatre	Big Sur, California
Nov 19 2007 8:00P	Nectar Lounge	Seattle, Washington
Nov 20 2007 9:00P	NightLight Lounge	Bellingham, Washington
Nov 21 2007 8:00P	Holocene	Portland, Oregon
Nov 23 2007 8:00P	Hemlock Tavern	San Francisco, California
Nov 24 2007 8:00P	Echo	L A, California
Nov 26 2007 8:00P	Casbah	San Diego, California
Nov 30 2007 8:00P	TT The Bear’s	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Dec 1 2007 8:00P	Casa Del Popolo	Montreal, Quebec
Dec 3 2007 8:00P	Sneaky Dee’s	Toronto, Ontario
Dec 4 2007 8:00P	Beach Land Ballroom	Cleveland, Ohio
Dec 5 2007 8:00P	Crofoot Ballroom	Pontiac, Michigan
Dec 6 2007 8:00P	Empty Bottle	Chicago, Illinois
Dec 6 2007 8:00P	Art Hospital	Bloomington, Indiana
Dec 8 2007 8:00P	Parlour @ Southgate House	Newport, Kentucky
Dec 9 2007 8:00P	Drunken Unicorn	Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 10 2007 8:00P	Local 506	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Dec 11 2007 8:00P	Rock and Roll Hotel	WASHINGTON, Washington DC
Dec 12 2007 8:00P	Ottobar	Baltimore, Maryland
Dec 13 2007 8:00P	Johnny Brenda’s	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 15 2007 8:00P	Music Hall of Williamsburg	Brooklyn, New York

Live Clip:

The Intelligence - Deuteronomy

The Intelligence
Deuteronomy
In The Red Records
B+

Lars Finberg plays every single note on this record, sings every single word... he's a controlling man, it's true. That said, this is the first record he's recorded with the help of someone else.

Fans of the Intelligence should be well aware of the Fall comparisons by now but, still, isn't that what we love about the band? No one does post-punk British scuzz than Mark E Smith but there's a few that come close and "Deuteronomy" outdoes them all.

The results are in and Finberg's new album is more solid than the previous sound collage-style albums that were painted, cut and glued from raw sound, abrassive percussion, general malaise and a few too many Sparks.

"Deuteronomy" shows Finberg newly tinkling the organ on a few tracks like he learned his chops from the Munsters. Songs like "Tubes" and "How To Improve Your Hearing Without Listening" rumble and stomp like they were prepped for future Nuggets compilation. A solid album with no filler that rides a nasty drum beat from start to finish. Perfect soundtrack for happily shooting your middle finger at the world.



Bonus! Live clip from Lars & Co. in Seattle...

Wooden Wand - James & The Quiet

Wooden Wand
"James & The Quiet"
Ecstatic Peace
A-

Officially, James & The Quiet is the last album by James Toth under the Wooden Wand moniker. Unofficially, it's the first album where he's fully stepped into his Backwoods Bob guise. Stream of consciousness lyrics that speak vaguely and specifically at once certainly tip a hat to Dylan's premier period of songwriting.

Not to say, Toth is stealing from that bag of tricks. It's more of a period, a timing and a common consciousness of the people that both musicians cull their material from. Songs meander and stumble along a bumpy road of modern disgust and placation in such a beautiful way; it's as if Toth is blatantly telling you how fucked it all is and finding comfort in it. I can't say "In A Bucket" is our generation's "Hard Rain"... only time can.

Listen here:
http://www.myspace.com/woodenwand