Let's say...

...you get a call one day and someone on the other end of the line informs you that you can take over the voice of any singer of any band. All you have to do is choose the artist and away you go.

My top three or so contemporary artists who's voices I'd steal if I could and why:

1. James Mercer So clear. Such great range. So unpretentious. So simple.
2. Timothy Booth Pretty much the British version of James Mercer in my mind. If I was much of an expatriot Timothy would be number one. Booth was the first guy I heard sing where I consiously thought, "Dude's got a really great voice."
3. Rob Zabrecky (Possum Dixon) Like James Mercer but on amphetamines.
4. Britt Daniel He sings every song in such a kick a**, f*** you! way. If I had that voice I'd strut around town like the fate of everything awesome was riding on my shoulders.
5. Nick Diamonds (The Unicorns, Islands) Young, fresh, jovial. Pretty much everything I'm not.

My top three or so artist from the past I'd steal if I could:

1. Paul McCartney Great. So great.
2. Paul Simon See: James Mercer. Only 50 years ago.
3. Frank Sinatra "The Voice"--even if he was a mobster. Who knew?

Depeche Mode is King

I mentioned this to you earlier...I spent a good six hours with Depeche Mode's music over two nights. It was a make or break time for us. I came out of this six hour discussion with one clear thought ringing in my head: Depeche Mode is still awesome (except for the cuts off Speak and Spell where David has a really bad lisp...how did that get past the producer and let's all thank Vince Clarke for leaving the band and taking his terrible sunny pop with him). So, I'd like to publicly apologize to Depeche Mode for ever doubting them and I will not ignore them like I have for the past 4 years. I still think the concert I saw in SLC when I was 18 was the worst concert I've ever seen, if only for the fact that it lasted about an hour and a half when they still had a good 15 great songs in them. My expectations were so high and they were cruelly crushed. Adrienne would disagree as she thought the Happy Birthday to Martin was off the charts brilliant. I believe Mike vowed to never see another concert again after that one.

Album(s) of the Year: Dos Mil Siete

In times like this I go to iTunes and check the stats. The numbers are don't lie, my friend. They tell me exactly what I've listened to the most this year and, therefore, what the album or albums of the year should be.

Okay, so I just checked the stats and maybe I need to do a bit of interpreting here. The album with the most listens isn't necessarily the album of the year, I realize. So first I'll do it by stats and then by what I think is album of the year.

Most listened to albums of 2007

The Shins: Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Okkervil River: The Stage Names
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
Battles: Mirrored
Iron & Wine: Shepherd's Dog
The National: Boxer
Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Living With the Living
The White Stripes: Icky Thump
Wilco: Sky Blue Sky

So. Those are the cold, hard stats. Do they lie? No. Isn't that great?! The numbers just can't lie! The part where I morph from statistician to clairvoyant, though, is when I look at that list and determine what should be the top album of the year.

Album(s) of the Year: 2007

Okkervil River: The Stage Names
Of Montreal: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (Was held back from Number One by the ridiculously indulgent 12 minute "The Past is a Grotesque Animal.")
Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Was held back from Number One by scattered moments through out the album that returned to sound and style from Gimme Fiction.)

• The biggest blindside was Battles. Oh, and LCD Soundsystem. I'm not into math rock or electronica but their albums really lit me up.
• The biggest I-don't-want-to-say-let-down-but-I-can't-think-of-another-term was The National Boxer. I know people love it and there are times I really, really do, too, but just not overwhelmingly as a whole.
• The album I listened to a lot at first but not very much the rest of the year was Wincing the Night Away.
  
• The album I really, really need to listen to more of is Sky Blue Sky. There. I've said it. I need to listen to it more. But you've got to understand it bores me, okay? Bores me.

As I do every year I feel like I've forgotten some amazingly awesome album and someone's going to say, "Dude, you totally forgot about the amazingly awesome album!!" I did sort my iTunes by year so there may be some that slipped through by not having a year listed in their information. So there's that excuse if I've forgotten anything.



Now that that end of the year stuff is over I wanted say a thing or two about BSP. "Atom" is a great song. Very great. An I-feel-I-should-write-a-movie-just-so-I-could-put-this-song-into-a-
crucial-scene good song. And concerning the rest of Krankenhause--I'm surprised at the big-sounding guitars. And BSP remind me of Pink Floyd. There you go: three things about BSP.

It's November which means...

What are your top albums of the year? I sadly have not listened to many new albums this year, even though others have hailed this as a year of wonderful music. So, pretty much I'm stuck haveing to decide between Wilco, Radiohead, and British Sea Power.

In listening to the Editors, I'm struck by how they've managed to push two of their best tracks to B-Sides while leaving obviously more inferior tracks on the album The Back Room. What makes it all the more striking is that if these tracks had been placed on the album, they would have provided variety for an album where my main criticism is that it sounds the same.

I'm plugging the song "Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home" as one of the saddest, most haunting songs on record. Yes, that's right. Let's see it opens with the bleak lines of

You let the dark in, somehow
I feel the winter more now, more now

And then ends on this note:

Once you've gone girl, you can't come back
I am worried about you

It's quite a song. A song to shout about. "You Are Fading" is quit the corker as well. You should really like the Editors. I wonder if I made a Interpol/Editors mix if anyone who had never heard them could tell the difference. The funny thing is I don't care. If two talented bands make music that sound similar, that's great. I often find a sound I like and then search in vain for someone who sounds similar.

Krankenhaus: An Omen?

If the new BSP album next year is an extension of the Krankenhaus? EP, then it will not only be the best of the year, but it could be legendary. This is a good chance to go legendary. Two solid albums in the books, excellent live performances, it just feels like they are ready to launch into the stratosphere. I've been eagerly awaiting anything new from them because of this potential. The Krankenhaus? EP shows it. They're ready. I haven't had such giddy anticipation for an album in years. Really. Think about if you knew that one of your Nine was going to be released in February. That's what I'm feeling right now.

Music Here and There

I don't branch out very much in my music listening. I know that's really jacked up, though, because when I do I always find something I like. i.e. LCD Soundsystem. I'd listened to them before I saw them open for Arcade Fire but I'd written them off quick as lightening. Then I saw them and was impressed. I came home and started listening to them and, hey, what do you know? I really like LCD Soundsystem. Shame on me.

I don't know how music critics do it. The folks at Pitchfork must listen to hundreds of bands a week. Do they get to the point where it's easy to know what is good and what isn't without spending a week or a month on an album? Do they ever write a review that cans an album only to realize a year or two later that they were completely wrong? I mean most of the time it takes me a good five or six listen-throughs of an album to even begin getting a feel for it--let alone if I like it or think it's good. Of course, there are the magic albums where I immediately know I love them (Alligator, Hissing Fauna, Who Will Cut Our Hair, Chutes, Gimme Fiction, ). Usually I have to listen and listen and listen and listen. And I guess, after looking at that last sentence, maybe I just don't put in the time to get to know new music.

I've never listened to more music in my life than I did in 2005. I listened to everything that came out. I listened to everything than anyone would recommend. The fact of the matter is I just don't have the time to live my whole life like that. I was listening nearly every minute at work and maybe an hour or two at home at night. Now I don't listen at work very closely (my music plays in the background--no headphones). And when I get home I want to listen to the stuff I know I like; I don't want to have to work through an album, you know? I just want the release of familiarity.

But what would I be missing out on if I didn't put in the time? Okkervil River. Ted Leo. Spoon. Sufjan. AMFM. Wilco (who I know I'm still missing out on because I haven't put in the necessary listening time). Those are some of my favorite bands. And the ones I've had to work the hardest at getting to know. And the bands I listen to now instead of listening to new music. They've risen to that place. Maybe I've gotten to a point where I know what I like and I don't have to pressure myself to listen to everything like I did in 2005. Maybe I can let the music come to me instead of going out and searching every corner for it. That'd be great. I could put on Islands and not worry about what else I should be listening to instead of Islands.

Recent music I've been listening to

I think I've mentioned I've been trying to go through a lot of music that I have that I don't know to well to see if I really like it or not.

So far:

Like: Rainer Maria, Midlake, Dismemberment Plan. I listened to "Change" the other day and felt this weird excitement. I felt as if I KNEW I was going to like them, but I couldn't until I listened to the album a few more times. But I could just tell that a future listen was going to be awesome, when I finally got it.

Ne feelings: Andrew Bird, Pedro the Lion. Both drifted by. I was most disappointed by Bird ebcause I thought I liked his album last I listened to it. Not so much, I guess.

In other news, I still love Sam's Town