Saturday, February 27, 2010

New Music 2009

To follow up on my first post regarding the Best of 2009 as chosen by all sorts of media outlets, I wanted to share a list of my own.  Rather than a defined, ordered list like the other sites have, I like to pick my favorite albums from the year and then pick a favorite song from each to put onto a "New Music" mix cd.  It's easier than narrowing everything down to one song, album and artist, and it gives me a way to look back and remember a specific year.  I'm still working on the mix for 2009, but so far, here is a list of the artists and albums that I plan on incorporating (listed alphabetically, by band):

The Airborne Toxic Event - The Airborne Toxic Event
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Trent Dabbs - Your Side Now
Dashboard Confessional - Alter The Ending
Dawes - North Hills
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Jedd Hughes - Jedd Hughes
Mat Kearney - City of Black & White
John Lefler - Better By Design
Meese - Broadcast
Metric - Fantasies
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
Our Lady Peace - Burn Burn
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
M. Ward - Hold Time
Weezer - Raditude
Wild Light - Adult Nights


When I'm done creating the mix, I'll post it here, and since I've been doing this since 2000, maybe in future posts I'll go back and share some of the older mixes.  It's think it's really interesting to look at how my tastes evolve and change from year to year.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Eric Stepanian - Club Passim, Cambridge, MA - Feb. 3, 2010

Earlier this week, my wife and I went to see local singer/songwriter Eric Stepanian perform live at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA.  Usually, Eric Stepanian is the lead singer and one quarter of the Boston-based band Stepanian - my favorite local band.  While I'm not familiar with a lot of the local music scene, we saw Stepanian open for Bell X1 a few years ago at Paradise Rock Club and really liked them.  Since then, we've seen them live 3 times and it's always a great show!  They play rock/pop music and their most recent album, Wait Our the Rain (the LP), is really good as well. 

While this was Eric Stepanian's first solo show we've seen, it was no exception - it was great!  I wasn't sure what to expect from seeing Eric alone or what music he would play, but he played a mixture of Stepanian songs I was familiar with, new originals and even threw in a few eclectic covers (Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga).  Overall, it was just a good time and he sounded great.  He said he was going to be recording a solo album sometime in the near future, so now I'm really looking forward to it!

Opening for Eric Stepanian was Ben Carter, a local singer/songwriter who is also going into the studio in the near future.  I liked his set as well and would definitely see him live or pick up his cd in the future. 

You should really check out Stepanian if you get a chance - I'm sure you will enjoy!  Also, on a final note, if you are looking for a local venue to see some cool, small shows, you should definitely check out Club Passim!  They have good food and a great mission!

Best of 2009 Lists

I know we are already a month into 2010, but I've been busy and never posted about the "Best of 2009."  In this post and one more, that's exactly what I will do.  Below, I've collected a bunch of "Best of 2009" lists from different websites, magazines and blogs.  It's not a comprehensive list of every site out there, but each one I've included is something that I read in print or online on a fairly regular basis.  For each site, I've provided a link to the main page, and then I have provided links to their best song, album, video and artist lists of 2009 (as available).  Also, since I don't think it will spoil anything, I've provided the name of the #1 pick from each category and a link to that #1 on Lala (again, where available).  Hope you enjoy!

Rolling Stone:
Best Album: U2 - No Line On The Horizon
Best Song: U2 - "Moment of Surrender"

Rolling Stone Reader's Poll:.
Best Album: Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Best Song: Pearl Jam - "The Fixer"

Paste:
Best Album: The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

Filter:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Spinner:
Best Song: Empire of the Sun - "Standing on the Shore"
Best Canadian AlbumHandsome Furs - Face Control
Best Canadian Song: Metric - "Help I'm Alive"

Pitchfork:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Best Song: Animal Collective - "My Girls"

Spin:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Best Song: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"
Best Video: Matt & Kim - "Lessons Learned"

Stereogum Gummy Awards:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Best Video: Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

Entertainment Weekly:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Hype Machine Music Blog Zeitgeist:
Best Album: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Best Song: Songs Not Ranked
Best Artist: Phoenix

Seems like Animal Collective tops quite a few lists, but honestly, I haven't really gotten into them.  In my next post about 2009, I will provide more details on some of my favorites from the year.