Tops of 2008

Once again this year I’m not going to rank anything but just list it out — you can see a big correlation between the artists I saw live and the records they put out.  Enjoy!

Top Albums:

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig
Santogold - s/t
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain Lookout Sea
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Vivian Girls - s/t

Top Shows Attended:

Boredoms, 9:30 Club
Deerhunter/Times New Viking, Election Night, Black Cat
Keren Ann/Dean & Britta, Black Cat
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, 9:30 Club
No Age/Abe Vigoda, Rock and Roll Hotel
Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago IL
Quintron at Black Cat & Civilian Arts Center
Silver Jews, Black Cat
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, 9:30 Club
The Homosexuals, Velvet Lounge

 Top Films:

American Teen
Burn After Reading
Cloverfield
Gonzo: Life and Work of Hunter s Thompson
In Bruges
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Pineapple Express
Son of Rambow
The Dark Knight
WALL-E

Pavement “Brighten the Corners” Nicene Creedence Edition on All Our Noise

Just a quick note and link to my brother blog, All Our Noise, where I they posted a piece today I wrote about the new Pavement “Brighten the Corners” Nicene Creedence Edition that comes out tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Stephen Malkmus “Gardenia” Video

Pitchfork.tv just posted a new Stephen Malkmus video for Gardenia that features several cameos: Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk, Brian Bell of Weezer, Gary Jarmin of the Cribs, Steve Turner from Mudhoney, the dudes from Ratatat. Its mostly a yawn, but the sequences that animate the cover art from the LP are kind of cool.

Stop Smiling D.C. Issue

Idolator has a quick piece on the new issue of Stop Smiling that covers a bunch of DC topics, including music;  “George Pelecanos and The Wire’s Anwan Glover (a.k.a. Big G of local go-go heroes the Backyard Band). Pelecanos, of course, was deeply involved in The Wire, but the best bits are about music. Take a look at Pelecanos’ roster of D.C.’s greatest acts:

Marvin Gaye. All the go-go bands, starting with Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers through Trouble Funk and Backyard Band, and newer ones like UCB. Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Slant 6, Circus Lupus, Nation of Ulysses. There are too many great punk bands to name. Jawbox. Tommy Keene. The Nighthawks. Root Boy Slim. Not to mention all the soul acts from the Sixties who lived and cut records here. And then you have to talk about the acts that were huge in DC, like Maze, the P-Funk axis, and Little Feat, who did not come from here, but were honorary Washingtonians.”

Flying Lotus “Parisian Goldfish” Video Directed by Eric Wareheim

I’ll let this video speak for itself, but I’m a big fan of work by both Flying Lotus and Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show (Great Job!) Eric Wareheim so this is a fantastic match.

(Disclaimer:  Video contains some NSFW elements and lots of flashing lights)

The Rosebuds “Life Like” Out Now

I must take an opportunity to plug the new LP out this week by my good pals The Rosebuds, and also drop a link to my brother’s review in the Durham NC publication Independent Weekly.

My band Metropolitan shared a bill with the Rosebuds for the very first time back in 2001 in NC to an audience of about 4, and I’ve enjoyed following their meteoric rise ever since.

They’ll be appearing in DC on Thursday October 23rd at the Black Cat.

New Kanye Video Debuts on Ellen

I find it pretty amusing that Kanye debuted this video on the Ellen Show of all places but I’ve been digging on the song so much lately that I had to see the visuals.   Definitely some interesting things going on here, and not entirely what I would have expected from Mr. West.

Source: Hypebeast

Best of 2007

Albums

Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
Dinosaur Jr – Beyond (Fat Possum)
Kanye West - Graduation (Def Jam)
Keren Ann - S/T (Blue Note)
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (DFA)
Liars - Liars (Mute)
Magik Markers - Boss (Ecstatic Peace)
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (Self-Released)
Von Sudenfed -Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino)

Movies

Alpha Dog (Cassavetes)
Control (Corbijn)
Eastern Promises (Cronenberg)
Juno (Reitman)
Knocked Up (Apatow)
No Country for Old Men (Coen)
Sicko (Moore)
The Simpsons Movie (Silverman)
Superbad (Mottola)
Year of the Dog (White)

Shows

Circle, DC9, WDC
Iggy & the Stooges, 9:30 Club, WDC
Qui, IOTA, Arlington VA
Screen Vinyl Image & Outputmessage, Black Cat, WDC
The Dismemberment Plan, Black Cat, WDC
Yo La Tengo & Rosebuds at Sonar, Baltimore MD

Unrest “So So Sick” Video

My brother and I uploaded this Unrest video afew weeks ago (in which he directed and I star) so I thought I’d also throw it up here on TC for kicks. Enjoy.

Current Listening Post

Trying to get through listening to a bunch of new records right now, including:

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Def Jux)
Animal Collective - Srtawberry Jam (Domino)
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments (Drag City)
Brother JT - Third Ear Candy (Birdman)
Gang Gang Dance - RawWar (Social Registry)
Georgie James - Places (Saddle Creek)
Go! Team - Proof Of Youth (Sub Pop)
Kinski - Down Below Its Places (Sub Pop)
Liars - Liars (Mute)
Majik Markers - Boss (Ecstatic Peace)
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy (Ecstatic Peace)
No Age - Weirdo Rippers (FatCat)