a mending kit — i need some mending
Sunday, December 31st, 2006OK, so maybe 2006′s music didn’t quite live up to the amount of excitement I had for it this time last year. Oh well. I still managed to buy a bunch of CDs and play a lot of steering-wheel drums in my car and have all sorts of 5 a.m. dance parties with Bling and Scooter. On the off-chance you have some money to spend on Tom-approved rock ‘n’ roll, I’ll review some of my favorites.
First off, a few albums that didn’t quite make the top five but still merited mentioning:
Sufjan Stevens — The Avalanche and Songs for Christmas
This was supposed to be an off-year for Sufjan. Last year he rocked our worlds with Illinois and its accompanying tour; this year he was supposed to sleep till noon and spend the rest of his time playing video games and eating leftover pizza. But no, he just couldn’t help himself, the bum! First he decided to release an entire CD of Illinois outtakes and b-sides, seeing as how that album sold pretty well. And for the most part, The Avalanche works as an album. It sounds a lot like Illinois, of course, but isn’t nearly as cohesive. Some of the tracks, particularly the instrumentals, are slower and stripped down, more akin to the songs on Michigan than the instrument-rich ones on Illinois. On Songs for Christmas, Sufjan merely collected his five holiday EPs and but them in a box with stickers, a poster and some other swag. The music ranges from faithful versions of yule favorites to Sufjan’s strange originals. Listen to all five discs and you’ll surely be boogeying to the elf dance.No Man’s Land
Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!
Dirty on Purpose — Hallelujah Sirens
Seriously, I bought this for a quarter at work. I was just looking for things I could easily trade for other CDs I knew I wanted, and this one had a nice-looking cover. And I nearly did trade, but I decided to listen to it once. It turns out that Dirty on Purpose is a fairly enjoyable band whose members have maybe spent the last few years listening to Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine and not much else. If you like fuzzy guitars and shoegazing vocals, you should definitely try to buy this for 25 cents. And if you’re not as awesome as me, it’s probably OK to spend a little more.Fake Lakes
And now, the five CDs you probably won’t buy even with my recommendation:
The guys in Built to Spill really like to play their guitars. (Except for the drummer, who I suppose enjoys banging on his drums. Secretly, though, he wants to be a guitar master, too.) So on this new, much-awaited rock album, they play their guitars. And that’s pretty much it. But then Doug Martsch’s vocals aren’t always the point of Built to Spill’s oeuvre. Yes, the nasally lyrics exist, and sometimes they even make sense, but Martsch has admitted in interviews that he pretty much just uses words that sounds good. Plus the production on this album generally makes it sound like he’s singing through a telephone or something. While this is a step down from the past three albums, it’s still good for a listen when you need some guitar heroics.Conventional Wisdom
Oh, Rhett. Once again you’ve confounded me. I love everything you’ve done with the Old 97′s. And I love your catchy songwriting. And I love seeing you in concert. Plus you’re super hot! And yet you’ve gone and made an album that doesn’t sound like you’re supposed to sound. What’s with all the little dainty flourishes? The overproduction? Did your supermodel wife put you up to it? I’ll cut her! You’re a rocker, so you should be rocking out, just like you do on stage and with the 97′s. But Rhett, I still love you. I promise! Some of these songs are so good; I can’t wait until you sing them for me in Jacksonville. Leave your backing band in New York, though.My Valentine
Joe Pernice’s vocal cords have the Midas touch, I swear. So far as I can tell, the man does no wrong. Everyone who rides in my car when I’m listening to the Pernice Brothers is all, “Who is this band and why are they having sex with my ears?” — which sounds a little gross, yes, but Joe sings dreamy words atop perfect pop songs. And they do this without misfires; it was a shame I could only pick one song off this album for my year-end best-of mix (which, by the way, makes for a great giftmas present at the office). And, well, just listen. You can’t dislike it.PCH One
I first heard about The Long Winters on the Future Soundtrack for America; their contribution was one of a handful that really stood out. And then I dug up an EP during a $1 sale at work, and hey, that was good too. The band in Putting the Days to Bed has almost completely turned over from the previous releases (singer John Roderick remains, of course, and some former collaborators make cameos), but that doesn’t seem to have hurt anything. It’s sunnier than the last album, even, and wonderful for singing along with.Fire Island, AK
For the first nine months of the year, I was a little bit afraid there’d be no be-all, end-all album. Last year I got Illinois. The Minus 5′s In Rock was the feel-good, top-down summer album of ought-four. Beulah finished their career with a bang (i.e., Yoko) in 2003. And I think you remember Wilco’s masterpiece the year before that. Et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, 2006 had me worried. But then I drove to Best Buy before work one October day and bought The Crane Wife. Twenty minutes later, I was at work and gushing to Robert about how he had to buy it. We had found our album of the year. We already know about The Decemberists’ penchant for seven-dollar words, but now they’ve started playing some fancy music to go with it, dipping their toes into the art-rock pool. Here are the first two tracks, the second of which will be the best 12 minutes of your day. Unless you spend 12 minutes with me.The Crane Wife 3
The Island
