The Revinylization Project: Year in Review

I bought a lot of vinyl this year. The picture above is only a portion of the records I accumulated in 2009. Missing are the old, used, and reissues, but the picture still gives you a taste of how much vinyl was dropped off at my house by the UPS lady. Even with a few releases yet to be released, I bought a lot of records.

And I was good at sticking to the vinyl, so to speak. I bought one album (Beirut) accidentally on CD, another only available on CD (Clem Snide), and a small handful via iTunes. Of course, the fact that most of the vinyl was accompanied by MP3 codes or CD's only encouraged me to buy more. It was simple commitment despite the fact that this town no longer has a reliable source of vinyl. Insound and all their pre-order deals saved the Revinylization Project.

The toughest part was actually listening to the music. The stereo is kept in the basement and I spend most of my time upstairs or in the car. Those albums without a portable option just didn't get many listens. The listening grew easier as Lucia grew up and often requested to go to the basement to play in the area we set up for her. (Before you call child protective services...or vinyl protective services, you should know that the basement is finished.)

As the year comes to a close, many of you have submitted lists of your favorite albums of 2009. (And some of you still have yet to deliver on your promise.) I too have created my own list. As top-10 lists tend to be, this one is fluid. You may find inconsistencies with my best of the decade list, but this is mainly due to oversight and the changing direction of the wind. I may have a completely different list tomorrow. For now, this is what I've got and I'm standing by it.

10. M. Ward - Hold Time

I sometimes refer to this album as He and Her. Of course, Zooey Deschanel has less to do with this record than Ward had to do with the She and Him debut, but you get the point. The record is good and I have not given it it's due time.

9. Port O'Brien - Threadbare

This record didn't grab me right away, but it's a grower. The band's nod to early nineties alt rock draws me back every time...That and Cambria Goodwin's voice.

8. Handsome Furs - Face Control

This married duo put on a great show at Mojo's this year. The energy from that show has held up on vinyl. Say 'yes' to perestroika dance/synth rock from Canada!

7. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

"Here to Fall" grabs me every time. The rest of the album holds up as well. I predict with some time and further listening, this one will rise on my all-time list. It's the most complete albums YLT has done in years.

6. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light

I can't listen to this very often because it's that kind of good. The album is truly effectual. Antony's voice is not of our post-modern society. It defies definition and I defy you not to feel something when this record plays.

5. Atlas Sound - Logos

I'm always slow with the Brandon Cox bandwagon, but I'm here to tell you that I get it and I'm on board. Sadly, the creator of such brilliant material is not long for this world.

4. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

I fully admit it. this one is all hype. And I haven't liked the Flaming Lips for years. Nothing I've heard makes me think that this is a bad album or even one that doesn't belong in my top-5. Let's hope I feel the same after a few listens.

3. Various Artists - Dark Was the Night

I normally avoid compilations, but this one is too good to pass up. It's one of the few that understands both quantity and quality. I even like the My Brightest Diamond track and I hate her.

2. Japandroids - Post-Nothing

I was so close to making this my number 1, but for reasons specified below it sits in the second slot. There's still some part of me that listens with my gut and my gut tells me to like this band. I know that it's beer and lifestyle music, but it's good beer and lifestyle music.

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Sometimes the best pick for your year-end list is the most obvious. This record was talked about before Animal Collective were a band. And somehow, it lived up to the hype laid upon it. No one makes music like this. No one. Not Radiohead. Not TV on the Radio. And certainly not Wilco. They sound like no one. They sound big and twisted, unraveling and cross, triumphant and just plain brilliant. How could I not pick this record. It's lasted nearly the entire year without me growing tired of it. I don't even know if I need to hear another record by Animal Collective. This will do just fine.

Others considered for the list (in no particular order):

• Monsters of Folk
• Camera Obscura
• Matt and Kim
• Dinosaur Jr.
• Swan Lake
• Grizzly Bear

Best of the Oughts: Albums 31-40

Now, this is a nice mix of new and old. I'm still not 100% about the Flaming Lips album, but this is where it stands today. I was late to the Strawberry Jam party as with Okkervil in general. Oh, and Deerhunter as well. However, I was on time, if not early, for TVOTR and The White Stripes.


40. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
After The Soft Bulletin, I didn't care much for any of the work put out by the Lips. That is, until this fall. I felt some urgency and excitement returned to the band. They feel punk again. It may be the newness or the hype, but I'm liking what they've done here.


39. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
I picked this up long after all the press lavishly proclaimed it great but a while before their next greatest album. It's bigger and fatter than Merriweather, so it sits in the top half of my list. With their string of critically acclaimed records (including this one), Animal Collective could soon be the new REM/Radiohead/Wilco/TVOTR hybrid monster of the future or something.


38. Okkervil River - Don't Fall In Love with Everyone You See
I fell in love with the first Okkervil album I ever owned. It may not be the epic concept album its successors have all been, but it hooked me into Will Sheff - The Most Dynamic Performer in Indie Rock Today.


37. Dearhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
I cut my indie teeth (or ears) on shoegaze and lo-fi. This dude has combined both aesthetics to create a sound that is unstoppable.


36. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes
This was back when TVONR were the cool doo-wop punk band on Touch and Go. Thems were the days.


35. Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Before he released a plethora of posthumous material, Elliott Smith was a living, breathing pop master. And I mean pop in the Beatles sense, not the Black Eyed Peas.


34. The White Stripes - De Stijl
Awesome. Led Zeppelin. Back in the day. Before the Legos video. I have to go listen to this again. Right now.


33. Sonic Youth - NYC Ghost and Flowers
New York albums are always good. Free-form poetry over experimental noise should not normally be attempted, but somehow SY knows just how much is just right.


32. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Somebody's going to tear me apart for this one. It's a great record. Sure, some of the newness has not worn off and provides it a lofty spot on my list, but you will dance when I put this thing on. Oh yes, you will dance.


31. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Superwolf
Matt Sweeney played and wrote most of the songs with Will Oldham. It's a perfect pairing, apparently never to be tried again. It's dark and dirty and dingy...and somehow beautiful.

The Revynilization Project: Screening Records for Lu

I just received some records recently, realizing that they all represent my preference almost exclusively for mid-90's indie rock. What better opportunity is there to introduce music to Lucia than to play some of the best records and artists from the era? Besides, I've neglected my music fan base and this feature in particular.

Last Splash - The Breeders

















Music
This album still stands out from anything in the 90's or even this decade. Kim Deal put together her best line-up for this classic relic from the grunge era. Maybe they weren't the most talented group (I still don't know how Kelley passed as a guitar player.), but they were tight. This has to be one of the best and most unique albums of the past 20 years. It still holds up today.

Insert
For once, an LP insert doesn't measure up its CD counterpart. The artwork found in the original CD was contained in a booklet. It's as if the design was more geared toward a jewel case than a record sleeve. It's sort of a letdown to say the least as the cool, brightly colored photos of the band found in the original packaging are now relegated to sharing space on the inner sleeve.

Sleeve
Where the insert fails, the sleeve succeeds. The colors on the cover photo just pop. The red, black, and green just scream at you to stare as the record spins. Additionally, the back features the black-and-white photo of the band in a convertible as if waving in a parade. This was certainly the size in which these pieces were intended to be viewed.

Extras
None. Well, unless you consider the months and months I waited for some lawyers to argue how this thing should be re-released. Either way, extras or not, it was worth the wait.

Record
180 gram vinyl is nothing to scoff at. The sound is great. As the cover art was meant for an LP sleeve, Last Splash was destined to be heard this way.

whY?
Rarely is there ever an album recorded in an era of loud, aggressive men that not only challenges the sounds and aesthetics of the time but also the gender politics the way Last Splash did for me. If you have a daughter who wants to rock, buy this record. I do and did.

The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips

















Music
Before the Lips turned silly, they recorded The Soft Bulletin, a difficult-but-brilliant pop record. This album is the only perfect record the boys from OK ever recorded, but who can say that much? It's big in the right parts, touches you where it counts, and fills a set of headphones like few others. This is an essential listen.

Insert
The sleeves for this double LP are proper sleeves for protecting vinyl. You know the kind with paper, clear plastic lining and a hole in the middle to reveal the record's label.

Sleeve
As with the music, one can see the direction of the Flaming Lips' graphic design with silk screened images over bright colors and intricate designs and sharp typography. The inside features a great black and white of the band and lyrics. Record sleeves like this cause people to fall in love with albums.

Extras
Three outtakes are included on CD. Not only does this entice consumers with new music, but it also maintains the integrity of the original release and it's intended sequencing. The songs are throwaways, but a bonus nonetheless.

Record
180-gram vinyl just looks, feels, and sounds better. The only thing that could have made this better would have been some color on the vinyl.

whY?
Because I can only think of a small handful of records I like as much as this one.

No One's First, and You're Next - Modest Mouse

















Music
Honestly, I've heard more of this EP on KCOU than I have had time to listen to it at home. In my experience, EP's either contain songs that are too good to shelve until the next full-length release or throwaways that didn't quite cut it for the last album. In this case, these songs are closer to the latter category. However, "History Sticks to Your Feet" is beginning to stick. What I do like about this EP is that Isaac Brock continues to channel his early recordings in his most recent work. For a couple of albums he seemed to drift away from the warbling psychopath with cheap Japanese guitars I grew to love, but this is the second release that at least connects to his work in the mid-to-late-nineties. Either way, nothing he records sounds like any of the other crap on the radio or not played on MTV these days.

Insert
Nothing special. There's some continuation of the charcoal drawings of flies/insects and lyrics. I like the use of thick, quality paper for the insert with plastic coating on the inside to protect the vinyl.

Sleeve
Charcoal drawings of menacing insects with some handmade pen-and-ink lettering. It reminds me more of something one would have seen in an early Modest Mouse concert poster. It's simple and will stick out among their other releases.

Extras
There's the digital download...or so I thought. The file downloaded but won't decompress. Eventually, I'll get back to it and have my listen in the car, but for now it's vinyl only.

Record
I don't know for sure whether it's 180-gram vinyl, but it certainly is solid. There's no wobble in this record.

whY?
EP's are essential to a band's catalog. They give the listener a peak into the recording process between albums. That, or they're just another way to relieve you of some cheddar. You're pick. I think this is an intriguing part of the Modest Mouse oeuvre and should be given a chance.

God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl

















Music
Stuart Murdoch left Belle and Sebastian behind for this project. Maybe he should have rethought that plan of action. This record just sounds like one of those romantic comedies put out by Working Title Films. You know, the company who makes all those sappy comedies starring Hugh Grant and [enter name of American actress of the moment here]. Sure, those films are cute and involve lots of characters, but their benign for the most part. Even as playful as Belle and Sebastian became in this decade, there was always a hint of cynicism there to make you feel alive. This record is a Hugh Grant movie costarring Scarlett Johansson as a busy American shopkeeper in Glasgow who doesn't have time for love until a mysterious-yet-bumbling land surveyor (Grant) sweeps her off her feet. Do you really need to see how it ends?

Insert
The lyric sheet is white on black on rather heavy card stock, hugging the vinyl.

Sleeve
A simple black-and-white photo features a young woman looking longingly somewhere...very Belle and Sebastian.

Extras
There is the digital download.

Record
The vinyl is of medium quality. It's certainly not 180-gram.

whY?
If you miss Belle and Sebastian, this is worth a listen. The sleeve alone will look pretty cool in your record collection.

Overall Verdict: While the two new releases aren't particularly offensive, they are certainly not essential listening. The two re-releases are essential and will be played ad nauseam for little Lucia.

Greatest Drummers Ever.

This is the essential living in misery list of greatest drummers...ever.

OK. So, I have to qualify this post. I'm only counting drummers I have seen in person and actually remember. I'm sure I'm skipping someone and I'm sure you'll all point out drummers missing from my list, but I don't care. Leave your comments and post something on your own blog. For now, enjoy my top 5, in no particular order.
James Lo (Chavez, enough said) - Hands down, this is the greatest thing I've ever seen behind a kit. Just listen to Ride the Fader with a pair of headphones. It will become quite clear to you that this man should not be questioned. Since seeing this band in 1996, I have compared every drummer to Mr. Lo. He is one bad-ass mother...

Chuck Palmer (Earwig, Capital class of '97) - I actually found Chuck's MySpace page, but it does little to prove my point. He drummed for Earwig who played all over Columbus back in the day. Chuck always got so much out of this shitty little drum kit. I've rarely seen a drummer beat his skins so hard. Chuck attended Capital University in Columbus (where I went to school) and studied music in their conservatory. He introduced me to this Japanese drumming he was into...oh, and that dude from Chavez.

Steven Drozd (The Flaming Lips, recovering drug addict) - It's too bad that Steven Drozd is so good at so many instruments, because he has always been one of my 2-3 favorite drummers. He would hover over a kit with not shirt and sweat profusely all over the kit and beat those drums like a sledgehammer on concrete. The dude was intense as a drummer but has softened as he has moved away from the kit. The most disappointing thing for me when The Lips backed up Beck several years back was that Drozd barely played any percussion.

Ahmed Gallab/Daniel Snaith (Caribou, last Thursday night) - Have I not raved about this kid enough? Of course, the sonic cacophony created by Gallab and Snaith together was like nothing I've ever seen. Unbelievable.

Jeremiah Green (Modest Mouse, Satisfact) - I don't know if Green has been the same since he broke down several years ago, but he used to be the best underage drummer of the underground in the mid- to late-nineties. He was so magnificent that Isaac Brock's big ideas could actually come to fruition despite the lack of horn sections, keyboardists, and ex-Smiths guitarists. When Modest Mouse was a three-piece, Green was easily the equal to Brock's guitar-bending, lisp-heavy romps.

I know this list is incomplete, but I was hoping that a few of you would contribute your thoughts on the greatest drummer ever. Comment below...

The Willing Suspension of Disbelief and The Wilders

New York Times Magazine columnist William Saffire wrote in this week's Sunday magazine about the phrase "the willing suspension of disbelief". Of course, he was referring to Hillary Clinton's use of the literary term in the Petraeus hearings, but his essay brought to light the literary meanings of the phrase.

My interpretation, mostly based on the Saffire piece, is that the willing suspension of disbelief is to accept a dramatic or musical performance as real. This works particularly well when we watch a dramatic scene in which the actors portray sorrow in such a powerful way that we, the audience, also feel the pain. We suspend our disbelief and become wrapped up in the tragedy.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips used to describe this similarly in his live shows. He would try to convey why we love sad songs so much. We suspend our disbelief for the three or four minutes it takes the band to complete a sad, sad song in order to put our own suffering into perspective. In doing this, the audience finds it has a community that feels the same thing, helping us to deal with our own situations and conditions.

This is also how country music works. I'm not talking putting a boot in your ass Toby Keith country or she thinks my tractor's sexy Kenny Chesney country. I'm talking about Hank Williams (the first one), the Carter Family, etc. This is the real sort of country from which most of American pop music originated.

I saw a band called The Wilders last night at Mojo's thanks to an invitation from a friend who happened to be related to one of the band members. I'm glad I took him up on the invite. My ability to temporarily suspend my disbelief helped me to fully appreciate the sentiments expressed in The Wilders' moving performance.

Sure, country music is wrought with "she left me, my dog died, and my trailer burnt down" stories, but so are our lives. Tales of love lost and similar sorrows are comforting. You feel what that performer feels who's only trying to connect with what the songwriter was feeling.

The Wlders brought these feelings home for the small crowd at Mojo's last night. The real sorrow is that most of you missed it. They played a combination of covers and originals that were indistinguishable from tunes by the likes of Merle Haggard and Hank Williams. Some locals joined in with their own guitars and flat footin' style to give the evening a communal feel. The finale was performed on the floor in front of the stage while the audience danced and clapped in unison. It was truly stirring.

Whether you have any appreciation for bluegrass and old school country or not, suspend your disbelief for one evening and check out The Wilders.

You know you're old when...

...you see the end of an era...twice.

An old friend from college informed me on MySpace that an institution of the Columbus (Ohio) music scene is (possibly) closing for good. Little Brother's was the result of another cornerstone of the scene closing and moving to the other side of Ohio State's enormous campus. Stache's and Little Brother's gave independent music - international, national, and local - a stage in a city that has quickly transformed into corporate hell over the past couple of decades.

I remember hearing about Stache's when I was a freshman at Capital University (in the Columbus suburb of Bexley). Some friends of mine and I were riding the COTA #2 from the City Center mall when my buddy held up his newly purchased Urge Overkill disc for all of us to see. A be-speckled dude behind us (who turned out to be a scene regular and longtime Used Kids employee) commented on how great Urge was at Stache's. I had never been there and was immediately drawn to the idea that a national act could be seen in such a small venue right (t)here in Columbus. It was a while after that before I began attending shows at Stache's, but once I did...

Fast forward a year-and-a-half to my sophomore year at Capital. I had been to Stache's a couple of times to see some friends play but had primarily gone to the much larger (and older) Newport Music Hall or the tiny Bernie's Bagels and Distillery. The place had an eerie, smoky haze that hid the black walls and dirty tile floor. The bathrooms were in utter disrepair, and the panels above the stage were often knocked out of place by po-going performers. The place was a dump, but it was our dump. The scene and its scenesters the dark and dank interior of their adopted hangout.

Anyway, that night, I saw the most memorable show of my life, Archers of Loaf with Helium and Earwig. I've written about this show before on this blog, but never have I remembered it so clearly as I do now considering that Stache's/Little Brothers could be no more.




After that Loaf show, I made Stache's my venue of choice. I saw Bob Pollard stumble through "Motor Away" with the Flaming Lips. I felt the awesome power of Chavez long before their reunion tour was praised by Pitchfork - actually long before there was a Pitchfork- following a caustic set by Blonde Redhead. Mike Watt used my shoulder to get onto stage one night before breaking bass strings in my face moments later. I saw Will Oldham play acoustic guitar accompanied by a toy synthesizer while people sat on the floor, intently listening to every word. I saw some of the final performances by the likes of The Coctails and Brainiac (RIP). Archers of Loaf came through again only to leave without an encore, because a few lunkheads ruined the show by slam-dancing. I also saw Mercury Rev and Hum the night that Columbus police and fire marshals stopped the show due to overcrowding. (Hum was nearly arrested when they started jamming while waiting for a few fans to leave). Stache's certainly provided much of musical education in my four years of college.

Of course, Stache's had a long history before me. A very tall (Eric Bachman-lookalike) acquaintance of mine once told me the story of how impressively tall Nirvana's Krist Noveselic was when standing on the two foot-high stage and hunching just below the nicotine-stained ceiling panels. Sonic Youth played its first show with drummer Steve Shelley...I guess that worked out. This all fails to mention the enormous number of indie rock luminaries (as well world, blues, jazz, folk, etc.) that have played Staches' like the Afghan Whigs, Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr., The Minutemen, etc.

In the spring of 1997, after months of run-ins with the law and landlords looking to create another strip mall, Stache's shut down and moved south of campus. The venue was named Little Brothers, and would carry the torch of independent music in Columbus.

To be continued...

Another Show I'll Never Forget

In late November, 1995, I went to Stache's in Columbus, OH to see The Flaming Lips. This was about eighteen months after "She Don't Use Jelly" had made them what was thought to be one-hit-wonder status and about three-and-a-half years before they broke with The Soft Bulletin. However, as this show would demonstrate, The Lips were destined to be better than that one radio hit.

I was inches away from Wayne Coyne when he stepped up to the mic. There appeared to be a net of some sort behind the band on the tiny stage and some drunken older guys pushing their way toward the drum kit in the back. I had no idea what was in-store for me that chilly night.

Wayne said something about them being the Flaming Lips from Oklahoma City. Then he said, "Bob." The band broke into Guided By Voices' indie hit "Motor Away" as the older drunk in the back revealed himself to be none other than GBV ringleader Bob Pollard! At the same moment that they played the first few chords, a wall of blinking Christmas lights were turned on to create a solid mass of twinkling light. Bob was stumbling around and was inaudible...until he figured out that his mic wasn't turned on.

When this rocking opener was finally over, Wayne made some crack about Bob not remembering the words as Pollard and his drinking mate (a Used Kids' clerk/owner/regular) managed to land stage left - for the remainder of the show.


The Lips played an rocking set of primarily newer material from Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic. There were no bear and bunny suits, no fake blood, no strange projections behind the band. It was The Flaming Lips at a time when they just rocked. Sure, their hardcore days were long gone, but they could write great power pop anthems with loads of experimental sounds at this point in their careers. In addition, their live show wasn't the circus it would turn into by the end of the decade.

Wayne still played a mean guitar at this point and handled the vocal duties. I don't remember him speaking as much as he does now. His voice was so much more of screechy howl than it is today. At times, he just rocked out on the guitar like a true hardcore kid of the 80's.

The band was a foursome during this period with guitarist Ronald Jones. Jones, to this day, had the most impressive board of distortion pedals I have ever seen. It was this large piece of plywood with pedals screwed all over it. He was stepping on pedals almost as much as he was strumming or fingering chords. Some of the most bizarre sounds from The Lips' albums had me convinced they used keyboards or samplers. However, Jones was able to recreate all of those sounds with just a few steps on some pedals. It was really magnificent to watch.


Although legend has it that bassist Michael Ivins was chosen more for his punk rock look than his musical skill, it seemed to be the opposite that night. I remember him wearing crummy jeans, t-shirt, and flannel - much like everyone else in the mid-90's. He was a more-than-proficient musician, and his balding head didn't exactly make me think "punk".

In all of my years going to indie rock shows, I have only seen two drummers that ever amazed me to the point of almost ignoring the rest of the band in favor of watching the disintegration of the skins. (Actually, there were three, but one was my friend Chuck Palmer. I was possibly biased in his case.) One was Chavez drummer James Lo, and the other was The Lips' Steven Drozd. Many forget that multi-instrumentalist Drozd was as an amazing drummer as he was. That man beat the hell out of his drums as if his life depended on it. It was the most intense thing that I've ever seen. When I've seen the band since, I'm always let down that Drozd doesn't play the drums much anymore. When The Lips backed Beck several years later, he only played three or four songs behind the kit. This was probably Beck's second biggest mistake ever...the first being Midnight Vultures.


I walked out that night with a ringing in my ear, an orange t-shirt that proclaimed that "The Flaming Lips Believe" (in aliens), and a much better state of mind. No band will ever rock harder or make me smile more than The Flaming Lips did on that cold, November night at Stache's.