New Years Collected Thoughts Blow-Out Sale

It's enormous. Take the whole week to read it.

This New Zeland artist reads my blog. He sent me an email. He's coming to LA next year. Maybe some of you want to comission him with art this year? He's pretty talented...

Lolololololol:




Raver killed by bass.

More End of Year Lists:
Amateur Chemist Year in Review Pt 1
A Decade In Music Hype (MUST READ)
Buzz Bands Top 103 LA Local Songs of '09
Buzz Bands: Popular With Me, The Decade
Gorilla vs. Bear Top EPs and Singles of '09
Rolling Stone Top 100 Albums of the Decade
Said the Gramophone Best Songs of '09
Stereogum "Celebrity Ballots" (I know, ugh.)
Surfing on Steam Top 50 Albums of the Decade
Surfing on Steam Top 10 LA Releases of '09
Web In Front Best Albums of the Decade
Web In Front Best Albums of '09
Web In Front Best LA Local Albums of '09
Web In Front Best LA Local EPs of '09
You Set the Scene Top 10 Records '09


Scriptshadow thinks the Black List scripts are the only good ones out there. I wouldn't know, but that wouldn't surprise me. The problem with most writers is that they don't read literature, historical nonfiction, or biographies.

Heh.

I loved this old New Yorker article on Alec Baldwin.

I loved the Avatar IMAX 3D experience. I thought the story was a great story... that did not execute well. It was virtually absent of tension. When the Earth people want unobtanium for selfish financial reasons, when the colonel of the army is colonel of a private army, when that guy and his corporate boss are assholes... well, why would Jake Sully do anything other than keep his Thundersmurf body and chase after hotass Thundersmurf poon?

Jake Sully's central choice should have been between two irreconcilable goods, not good vs. evil. If we'd seen Sully's family back on Earth, if Earth needed unobtanium for its own survival, if the colonel's army was a national army... well then, all of a sudden Jake Sully is forced with a tough, significantly more compelling decision. Boing Boing had some further thoughts on how to improve the story.

All that being said, Cameron made me a True Believer in the 3D medium.

Sam Worthington (Terminator 4, Avatar, the upcomming Clash of the Titans remake) would be a great Flash Gordon.

Here's the pitch: "Apocalypto with Vikings". I'M IN.

Here's a 70-minute takedown of The Phantom Menace. I've yet to watch it, though I actually feel that TPM is the most defensible of the three prequel films.

In a similar vein, David Lynch pwns The Goiter:



Lols:



Printer ink is a racket:
Villain Source, for all your supervillain needs.

TNC had an interesting post on politics and pro-wrestling.

How Victoria's Secret photoshops its images. (I will continue to willfully believe that Adriana Lima exists as she is portrayed.)

Maybe there is no death.

And maybe dust can live.

We'll be rewriting memories before I die. Cyberpunkarific.

If you're like me then you love creepy scientology videos.

Badass drug tunnel under the US-Mexico border.

...which is almost as creepy as the arial drones that will patrol our California border.

HORROR OF HORRORS.

Octopuses are shifty fucks.

So are tiny jellyfish. Ugh, the ocean should be set on fire.

Lol, butterflies don't do too well in space:



Ahhhhh! CREEPY:



I can get behind this kind of childcare:


The New England Patriots' mascot was involved in a prostitution ring. Of course he was!

Retirement Home Murder Mystery. Yeesh.

Ukranian student killed by explosive chewing gum. Yeesh.

The founder of Blackwater was a CIA spy. The corrupt private security firm that we used to do terrible things in Iraq and Afghanistan that the public government could not do was run by a guy who worked for the public government. There is no end to the amount of terrible, terrible things we are learning about how Bush and Cheney waged war.

Maureen Dowd joins the "Obama is too Spock-like!" chorus. I sigh, loudly. When scary things like attempted terrorist attacks happen, when the far political left and right are acting like children, when the Fourth Estate spends more time talking about Taylor Swift than a secret US-waged war in Somalia, I want my president to be Spock-like. I don't want the leader of the free world to be some emotional buffoon! One of Obama's best traits is his emotional objectivity.

Dear God, please confirm what I believe.

As ya'll know, I hold a lot of leftist views... but I am also oft irritated by the far left community. This guy helps me understand why.

Favorite Albums of the Decade #49-1

Funny... I'm always going on about how "indie rock" is what people should listen to, but three of my top five records don't even qualify for the label. Typical of me to be so contradictory, I know. I want to repeat the disclaimer:


The first thing you should know, should already know, is that I probably have bad taste. Party because, though indie rocker's rock is what speaks to me the deepest, I like a wide range of songs. Everyone I know hates a different half of the music I like.

This is not an intellectual "best of 00's" list. This list has no narrative. It is both rational and irrational. This list is me having to admit to myself what I really listened to, what music really mattered to me. It was a painful process to make this list. I promised myself that it would be embarrassing, that it would have to be embarrassing if it was going to be truthful. Oh believe you me, it is embarrassing.

You know what bands don't make a single appearance on my list? Radiohead, Wilco, and The Flaming Lips. The sad truth is, I just didn't care about those bands. I admire them (well, the last two) but they never spoke to me like they did everyone else. If I were to make an all-time 00's list, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots would be on here.

But this list is about the stuff I sang along to on midnight drives when nobody else was listening. Abandon hope all ye who enter here...


49. Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
48. RJD2 – Since We Last Spoke

47. The Hives – Veni Vidi Vicious - At some point The Hives got written-off as too gimmicky, or too mainstream, or too silly. That's too bad because in many ways they were more appropriate saviors of rock n' roll than the White Stripes or The Strokes.

46. The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike!
45. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

44. Dashboard Confessional – The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most - Most Dashboard deserves scorn, but I think this record was sincere in its sadness.

43. The Killers – Sam’s Town - I love this record more than anyone I know except for my ex-boss at Entertainment Tonight. I maintain that the songwriting on Sam's Town is outstanding.

42. Ozma – Spending Time on the Borderline
41. Dan the Automator – Wanna Buy a Monkey?
40. The Mudkids - Upward
39. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
38. The Movies – Based on a True Story

37. The Natural Disasters – Last Night In LA - One of the Great Overlooked LA Records since I started blogging. It's so gutty, so emotional, and so very much about the same world that I see through my own eyes; every second of the record rings true.

36. Craft Club – Craft Club

35. William Shatner – Has Been - A work of fucking art. What Ben Folds and William Shatner accomplished on Has Been was a more thorough, more enlightening, more interesting deconstruction of pop than anything Pitchfork has ever praised. (Jarvis Cocker, Aimee Man, Henry Rollins, and Nick Hornby all appear on the album) On "I Can't Get Behind That," when Shatner exclaimed in contempt "The Colonel is breakdancing!" I realized that Folds and Shatner may have understood 21st century America in that moment better than anyone.

34. Coheed & Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 - I'm a sucker for concept albums, especially concept albums with science fiction themes. I fall into the "Likes Geddy Lee's Voice" column. I like it when bands rock out. That's a perfect recipe for an album I listened to way more than it probably deserved.

33. The Mae Shi - Heartbeeps - This was the first Mae Shi album I owned. I think it's a great starter. "I was born in a magazine" is one of my all-time favorite lyrics.

32. Film School – Hideout
31. Eskimohunter – The Fast-Trak Holy Symphony
30. Flogging Molly – Swagger
29. The Mae Shi - HLLLYH
28. Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs
27. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Hearts of Oak

26. The Royal Tennenbaums – Soundtrack - My all-time favorite soundtrack. The contrast between the punk rock and Mark Mothersbaugh's whimsical-but-pained score is inspired.

25. The Airborne Toxic Event – The Airborne Toxic Event - A few tracks on this album don't age as well as I thought they might, and it's hard for anyone to feel as moved by "Sometime Around Midnight" as much as they were moved before they heard it 10,000 times. But I will always go to bat for this one as a terrific "epic indie rock" record. It was the soundtrack of some of the best times of my life thus far, too.

24. Taking Back Sunday – Tell All Your Friends - That's right! Taking Back Sunday in my Top 25! Whatchagonnadoaboutit?! I stumbled on this record in the brief period when I was taking Pro Tools classes and thought I might be a sound engineer; I first listened to it through a pair of AKG studio cans. I am prepared to call Tell All Your Friends the best produced album of the decade. I sounds incredible, still. I also found this record when I was in my Ozma phase, so I had a soft spot for dual-vocalist bands. Lastly, I've talked to tons of locals who secretly profess fondness for this record. So I don't feel so bad about including it.

23. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Shake the Sheets - I'm oft told I'm wrong for liking Shake the Sheets more than Hearts of Oak. I get sick of Leo's voice on Hearts of Oak. Not so here. "Counting Down the Hours" is my favorite Leo song, and "Me and Mia" is in my top 5.

22. Tenacious D – Tenacious D - Jack Black gives an incredible performance on this album. Most the time he's singing nonsense, but the songs still swell with emotion. It's a "joke" record, but there are some very serious rock songs contained within.

21. Weezer - Maladroit - Of all the post-Pinkerton Weezer, Maladroit ages the best. Probably because, save for a couple radio singles, it is the third and last ROCK album that Weezer made. Rivers Cuomo invented his Faux Rock God persona on this album and I wish he'd stuck with that instead of the Sensitive Pop Star identity he's had for the last three records.

20. The Underground Railroad to Candyland – Bird Roughs - A masterpiece of San Pedro punk. This record is leaking liquid energy at the seams and is over before you know it. It's lyrically strong, musically interesting. I wish I could list it higher.

19. The Mae Shi – Terrorbird - My favorite Mae Shi album. I can't really compare Jon Gray and Ezra Buchla, but I was introduced to the band when Buchla held the mic and his weird, near-suicidal bent on music -- those angular and unsettling punk songs -- are how I best remember the band. (Regardless of which vocalist was singing them) "Takoma the Dolphin is AWOL" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

18. Rademacher – Stunts - Heartbreakingly gorgeous.

17. The Mezzanine Owls – Slingshot Echoes - Also heartbreakingly gorgeous.

16. The Henry Clay People – For Cheap or For Free - What I Hope Rock Sounds Like In 2010.

15. Gorillaz – Gorillaz - I don't like Demon Days and that's because Danger Mouse is for fucking plebes. Dan the Automator is what makes Gorillaz work for me. When this record came out there was nothing else out there that sounded quite like it.

14. Atmosphere – Sad Clown Bad Dub II - I first discovered Slug through friends in the late 90's. We used to listen to Atmosphere in my basement while we shot pool in high school. In late 2000 / early 2001 I went down to Bloomington to see them live and it was one of the best shows of my life. The Sad Clown Bad Dub series discs are homemade comps that the band would make and sell for gas money on tour, and I bought this one. One of 500 made. It is lyrically sublime. And by the way, all the "kids" and "hoodrats" The Hold Steady sings about are the people who were at Atmosphere and Rhymesayers shows in Minneapolis.

13. Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Like Bad News - I like all the "wrong" Modest Mouse records. Never mind the hipster snobs, this is one of the great mainstream break-out albums of the decade. Think of it this way: the people buying Owl City today were buying Modest Mouse five years ago. Don't you miss those days?

12. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells - Other White Stripes albums are smarter and more challenging, but this one is the last time Jack White's emotional expression was unquestionably sincere. "The Same Boy You've Always Known" is a long way from "Rag and Bone".

11. Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies - I got into Flogging Molly before Hot Topic did; I had a friend who was in drum corps and knew the band's drummer was in the same corps he'd been in. He turned me onto the band for the drumming. (And being of Irish descent myself made me an easy target.) I didn't have a lot of drunken nights in college, but almost every one ended with a roomful of dorks singing along to the first seven tracks on this album.

10. Silversun Pickups – Carnavas - This probably doesn't need explaining. I don't usually like nonsensical or "poetic imagery" lyrics, but Aubert makes them have concrete emotional meaning. "Common Reactor" picks me up more than any other song.

9. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow - Another "wrong album" entry, I know, but I find this record much more accessible than Oh Inverted World. If you called "Saint Simon" the Best Song of the Decade I would have no rebuttal argument prepared.

8. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Tyranny of Distance - It's an indie rock masterpiece. When I want to measure how wayward indie music has gone, I listen to this album to calibrate. It's sincere, it's furious, it's beautiful, it's noisy. Ted Leo's catalog after this point is worthy, but it's never so pure.

7. The White Stripes - Elephant - Honestly, I think a case can be made for every single White Stripes album as being their best. "Ball and a Biscuit" is my favorite White Stripes song though, which is what pushes this one over White Blood Cells for me. It's just so fucking cool. And that's why I think The White Stripes are the Rock Band of the Decade. The Strokes might be hip for a time period, but the White Stripes make eternally cool music.

6. The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday - My greatest music sin of the decade was resisting The Hold Steady for so long. They have a stupid band name and when ten people in the course of a month tell me I "just have to listen" to a stupidly named band, I almost always shut them out entirely. Local music manager and publicist Dane Sundseth finally forced the pill down my throat and I am forever grateful. Usually rock n' roll ceases to be such once it becomes "cinematic". (At which point it becomes prog or pop) But Separation Sunday is cinematic rock n' roll. No small feat.

5. The Strokes – Is This It? - On my "Best" albums of the decade list, this would be #1. I wish the credit could be given to people who aren't douchebags, but the fact is that Is This It? pulled rock music out of the mud in the minds of all the people (like me) who never should have stopped listening to rock music. And eight and a half years later, it still sounds just as fresh and exciting as the first time I listened to it. Sometimes when you listen to certain records you recall various sensations. Me, I see / hear / smell / taste / touch everything about the year this record came out every time I hear it.

4. Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 - With appologies to Raekwon and the GZA, Deltron 3030 is the most cinematic concept hip-hop album I've listened to. That's it's a science-fiction concept album makes it all the more suited for me. Any time somebody asks me "What's happening?" my instinctive response is always "I keep my dreadlocks in a napkin ring, I rap and sing." This record is so rich and dense with sounds of all manner and kind, I still find new things to hear nine years later.

3. Beck – Sea Change -The best break-up album of all time. I can only listen to it if I need to cry my eyes out. Otherwise, it ruins my day.

2. The Arcade Fire – Funeral - I've noticed it's been chic to downgrade Funeral, but I think we have to judge albums in part on how we felt when we first heard them. When I heard Funeral, I foresaw a bright future in music. I'm not sure if what followed The Arcade Fire lived-up to the promise. But Funeral remains a beautifully expressed album. Its sound and structure mirror its place in music history; the background vocals on "Wake Up" sound like the whole indie music world coming out of a tunnel and seeing the light. Remember when The Arcade Fire opened their Coachella set with that song? My knees buckled and my eyes streamed tears.

1. Grandaddy - Sumday - For my money, Sophtware Slump is too mechanical and it goes without saying I don't share Jason Lytle's take on technology and society. But Sumday, oof. When I lay alone at night and stare at the ceiling, when I fear what all men fear, that I'll be revealed to the world as a total fraud, I hear the songs from this record in the black space between my two ears. Sumday is hospice care for the soul. You're going to die, but at least somebody is going to hold your hand and walk you down to the river.

BROADCAST DELAY

I've selected my top 50 favorite albums of the decade, but I haven't yet written the blurbs. Unfortunately I'll be in an internetless-ish zone for the next few days. Hopefully it will publish just before New Years. I think ya'll will like the top 50 better. Maybe.

I also have an update on The Arcade Cabinet Project. TBA.

I expect to see you at this. Buy tix early.



GO COLTS!
-Mouse

'Twas the Post Before Christmas

'Twas the post before Christmas, and in some Hoosier house,
Some blogger was versing (that would be Mouse)
The weak drinks were poured at The Echo with care,
In hopes that the next Brooklyn band would be there;
But hipsters were nestled all snug in their beds,
While Silversun Pickups rocked in their heads;
(Except for Jeff Weiss, with smoke in his head,
who lit a menorah, like a good Jew instead.)
When out on the blogs there arose such a clatter,
They all rushed to the twitters to tweet twit the twatter;
And through the tabbed browsers, they found what they lacked,
They opened iTunes, downloaded the track:
Glo-fi on the ears of the crest-fallen blogs!
It gave white-foaming mouths to the internet dogs,
(That poor Travis Woods became oh-so-perturbed,
He swiftly converted twelve nouns into verbs.)
But the old Buzz Bands blogger, wit lively and surly...
Bronson, he'd heard that track some twenty years early.
More rapid than eagles his gin-tonics came,
And he hollered, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Fielder! now, Zach That and Hank Altogether!
On, Justin! on Jody! Dave! Rock Insider!
Surfing on Steam! You Set the Scene!
(Of course LA-Underground was attending unseen)
Seraphina from BeatCrave expressed what she liked,
As Bronson's calls were retweeted by @Kill the Mic;
All over the internets LA bloggers wrote,
'bout how that "glo-fi" sounded like scrote;
And then, in a twinkling, they heard in a haze
The fuzzing and buzzing of 90's shoegaze;
As they drew in their heads, and gazed at the ground,
The bloggers heard Bronson moping around;
He was dressed in Cards gear, from his head to his toe,
And his feet were near-floating in an almost-pogo;
A bundle of promos he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack;
His beard -- how he shaved it! So slick and so sharp!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a carp;
His fingers were clenching a fresh cup of joe,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a cig he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a small face and a frame of all-bones,
That rattled, when he laughed like a sackful of stones;
He was gangly and gaunt, a right scrappy old elf,
And they cheered when they saw him, in spite of themselves;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave bloggers notice they had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but displayed his word gift,
By writing a treatise, economic and swift;
And flicking a finger upside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up out Spaceland he poggoed;
He threw down his drink, to his team gave a shout,
And they reposted his post, having no shred of doubt;
And they heard him exclaim, ere he bounced out of sight,
"Glo-fi is old news, since nineteen eight-five!"

My Favorite Albums of the Decade, #100-51

The first thing you should know, should already know, is that I probably have bad taste. Party because, though indie rocker's rock is what speaks to me the deepest, I like a wide range of songs. Everyone I know hates a different half of the music I like.

This is not an intellectual "best of 00's" list. This list has no narrative. It is both rational and irrational. This list is me having to admit to myself what I really listened to, what music really mattered to me. It was a painful process to make this list. I promised myself that it would be embarrassing, that it would have to be embarrassing if it was going to be truthful. Oh believe you me, it is embarrassing.

You know what bands don't make a single appearance on my list? Radiohead, Wilco, and The Flaming Lips. The sad truth is, I just didn't care about those bands. I admire them (well, the last two) but they never spoke to me like they did everyone else. If I were to make an all-time 00's list, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots would be on here.

But this list is about the stuff I sang along to on midnight drives when nobody else was listening. Abandon hope all ye who enter here...


100. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
99. The Black Keys – Rubber Factory
98. Editors – The Back Room
97. Gogol Bordello – Super Taranta!
96. Darker My Love - 2
95. Nick Cave – Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!
94. Double Dagger – More

93. Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future - Lots of people loved this record when it came out, then backed-off when it became clear what the "typical Klaxon fan" was like. It's still a pretty impressive... thing.

92. Nada Surf – The Weight Is A Gift - Everyone forgets about this record. It was great when it came out.

91. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - I'm a terrible Modest Mouse fan because I like the sell-out radio friendly version of the band better than the influential indie version.

90. Light FM – This is the Beginning of My Golden Age
89. Muse - Absolution
88. M83 – Saturdays = Youth

87. The Ataris – So Long, Astoria - One thing you have to know about me is that I am about four years behind my peers, emotionally. If I had been 17 when this record came out, it'd be forgivable. Sadly, I was almost 21. But the truth is that I listened to this album a lot and I'd be lying to myself if I didn't put it on here. Their version of "Girls of Summer" is better than Don Henley's, though. That's right, I said it.

86. Divisadero - Lefty
85. The Happy Hollows – Imaginary EP
84. Gram Rabbit – Radio Angel and the Robot Beat
83. Muse – Black Holes and Revelations

82. Batboy the Musical – Soundtrack - "Another dead cow and the rent is overdue..."

81. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

80. Further Seems Forever – The Moon is Down - Look, I was a really depressed early 20-something. I'm sorry. This might be the last "emo" record that actually sounded like real emo, though. If you can look past the sad bastard lyrical content, it's still a pretty listen.

79. Johnny Cash – American IV: When the Man Comes Around
78. No Age - Nouns

77. Green Day – American Idiot - I think every end of decade list needs to have this album. I don't care who you are or what you like, American Idiot was one of the great popular records of the decade. It was Capital-I Important. Everybody under the age of 30 who wasn't a hipster snob bought it. I still like it, almost exclusively because I like Broadway musicals.

76. Ben Folds – Songs for Silverman
75. Ben Folds – Sunny 16 EP
74. Jimmy Eat World - Futures
73. Manhattan Murder Mystery – Skull EP
72. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell

71. Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers - Like Weezer, Fountains of Wayne were stollen from the geeks. For the everyman or hipster, "Stacy's Mom" come to mind. (Followed by vomit) But for the nerdy rock kids, this was a triumphant return of an underdog 90's alt rock band. (That Fountains of Wayne self-titled disc is on my all-time favorite list) What's really impressive about this album is the diverse range of sounds it covers.

70. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
69. The Hives – Tyrannosaurus Hives

68. Great Northern – Trading Twilight for Daylight - Newer Great Northern releases are too pretentious for me. This was such a pretty record. I miss this version of the band something terrible.

67. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
66. The Thermals – Now We Can See
65. Radars to the Sky – Big Bang EP
64. Pizza! – Pizza!
63. No Age – Weirdo Rippers
62. The Health Club - Rarities and Outtakes
61. Girls – Album

60. Gogol Bordello – Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - "Dogs Were Barking" alone puts this album on my list. It's a song about the best fucking wedding ever. I'm such a sucker for "insert-ethnicity punk".

59. Death to Anders – Fictitious Business - If I were asked "What's the most under-appreciated LA local record?" this would be my answer.

58. Kanye West - Graduation - This is the "wrong" Kanye record to have on my list, but it's my favorite one.

57. Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
56. Thailand – The Remote Controller…
55. The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
54. Vivian Girls – Vivian Girls
53. The Happy Hollows – Spells
52. The Mezzanine Owls – Mezzanine Owls EP

51. Something Corporate – Leaving Through the Window - Ugh. Of all the embarassing picks on my list, this was the hardest one to leave on. I tried to listen to it again earlier this year -- probably the first time in five years -- and I almost killed myself. It's a terrible record.

Of all the awful post-emo kiddie bands that came out in the 00's, at least Something Corporate could hide behind the "piano rock" genre. As a lifelong Ben Folds fan, that's the hook that got me listening. I also found this record the week of a rather emotionally traumatizing event. It was bitter, bitter cold outside. I was weak. I regret it. In the interest of a historical record of my decade of music, I'm leaving it on. Commenters, unleash yourselves.

End of Year 2009: Bands

Favorite "New" Bands

"New" in this sense means "new to the blog." These aren't all rookie bands. Some are just bands I'd not noticed or written about before. (Like the Grammys!) No disrespect intended for veteran musicians.

• The Allah Lahs
• Blue Jungle
• The Hereafter
• Leslie and the Badgers
• Magic Mirror
• Moses Campbell
• Nightmare Air
• Traps, PS
  

Favorite Underdog Local Bands in 2009

These great bands can't get no respect. All they do is write great songs and play great shows.

• Downtown / Union
• The Health Club
• Ready the Jet
• Seasons
• The Shirley Rolls
  

Top 10 Local Bands of 2009

I'm ruling-out Silversun Pickups and The Airborne Toxic Event because the list is intended to represent what you might have had reasonable access to any given month on the local circuit in 2009. I'm also ruling-out currently inactive bands that were active at the start of the year (The Mae Shi, The Movies). All of these bands are worth paying to see.

• Casxio
• The Henry Clay People
• The Happy Hollows
• Leslie and the Badgers
• Letting Up Despite Great Faults
• Local Natives
• Manhattan Murder Mystery
• The Parson Redheads
• Red Cortez
• Warpaint
  

End of Year 2009: LA Local Recordings

Usual disclaimers... again, I did not seek out local music as well as I used to. I feel guilty for not spending more time panning through the mud at The Smell, Echo Curio, and Pehrspace.

I want to invite all readers to mention their favorite local releases in the comments section. Get the word out for the music you think demanded attention this year.


Favorite EPs from LA-Based Bands in 2009

• Amateurs - If We Dare Win (Listen on Lala) - This record makes me tworny. Twang with horns. It is eight songs too short.
  

• Blue Jungle - Demos - I have a collection of Blue Jungle demos I got from a show at The Smell. I don't know if there is a better collection of Blue Jungle demos or a more official release, but these six tracks are better than any fuzzzy-buzzy girl group music I heard this year. Of course, Blue Jungle has more in common with The Misfits than Black Tambourine.

• The Henry Clay People - Hear Ya live session (Download Here) - Not technically an official release, but this collection of studio live tracks may as well be a live EP. It is, in my opinion, a better set of recordings than any official HCP album. These tracks sound like a show. It's free for download, too.
  
  
• Manhattan Murder Mystery - Skull EP ***Los Angeles EP of the Year*** - The Skull EP is Manhattan Murder Mystery's first legitimate release. It is no less than a textbook "first EP," detailing exactly who Manhattan Murder Mystery are and why you should care. The post-punk label gets tossed around a lot these days, but this collection of six songs is truly deserving of the designation. This EP is judiciously not overproduced with added effects or background instrumentation; Skull is haunting in the spaces in between sounds. It's also a faithful reproduction of Manhattan Murder Mystery's sound. Good lyrics. "Your Mother's Neck" is a candidate for song of the year.

• The Monolators - Ruby I'm Changing My Number - Elvis Costello would be proud. Maybe my favorite collection of Monolators recordings.
  

• The Parson Redheads - Orangufang - I'm not supposed to like bands like The Parson Redheads, but they are so infectious as to make this tech-obsessed digital kid throw-open the window and sip some tea. This EP is outstanding.

• Nightmare Air - EP#1 - (Listen on Lala) An end of year gift from 2/5 of Film School + 1. It's a sick and twisted carnival ride of heavier dream rock, the Mr. Hyde to SSPU's Dr. Jekyll, maybe?
  

Favorite Full-Length Records from LA-Based Bands in 2009

• Avi Buffalo - Dr. Cornejo - Technically a Long Beach band. Avi Buffalo made several variations of demos available at their shows and through their friends. The version I have is called Dr. Cornejo. I think this version was quickly jettisoned for a different one, but I'm not sure. I just know that I would have paid ten dollars for this outstanding collection of authentic bedroom pop. I suspect many of these songs will be rerecorded for the Sub Pop full length due this year. I suspect they'll be even better then.
  

• Correatown - Spark. Burn. Fade. (Listen on Lala) - For the most part I don't have much use for sultry singing girl records because I already have some great Over the Rhine. But Angela Correa is different. Loved this one.

• Downtown / Union - Aurora Ahora (Listen on Lala) - A positively terrific marriage of indie rock and power pop. (review)

• The Happy Hollows - Spells ***Los Angeles Album of the Year*** (Listen on Lala) - Energetic, toothy, original, catchy, impossible to put down... Spells is everything a great indie rock record should be. It was almost my overall Album of the Year, too, but I think it's two songs too long. But everyone I've talked to who agrees would drop two different tracks. Read my review, it says it all. (review)
  

• Letting Up Despite Great Faults - self titled - Letting Up Despite Great Faults makes The Postal Service sound like Owl City. I know, that's a terrible way to pitch a record. What I'm trying to say is that electronic, dreamy indie rock can be for grown-ups, too. This record was proof positive.
  
  
• Leslie and the Badgers - Roomful of Smoke (Listen on Lala) - Country that isn't too hip country or too rock radio country. Mostly though, the songwriting is just good.

• Light FM - Let There Be Light FM - Probably a record for engineers and sound nerds more than anything, but I don't think a meatier album was released all year. My ears are always exhausted by the end of it. The synthrock on this album is dense, too dense and sugar sweet for many. But it suits my tastes and I think Let There Be Light FM is one of the most complete local albums of the year. Light FMier than Light FM.
  

• The Littlest Viking - Labor and Lust - It's like a jazz album with noodly indie rock guitars instead of a horn. This record also has some of the best song titles of the year. ("I'm Queer for James Iha" and "Dr. Patch Adams, You Saved My Life!" are favorites.)

• One Trick Pony - Full of Life (Listen on Lala) - Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful voice, beutiful lyrics, beutiful instrumentation. If I put it on it instantly changes my mood.
  
  
• Silversun Pickups - Swoon (Listen on Lala) - This was my first Album of the Year candidate. The 'Pickups sound has clearly been shifted a little towards mainstream consumption, but it's a good shift. This record earned the band a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, which says more about the Grammy's expanded reach than it does about who SSPU have become. It's still a Top 5 2009 album for me. (review)

• The Spires - A Way of Seeing (Listen on Lala) - The Spires are a shifty band whose influence changes song to song, though Velvet Underground comparisons are most apt. A Way of Seeing displays The Spires' music history scholarship, but the album is still strikingly cohesive. This one sneaks-up on you with how good it is; it wasn't until halfway my first listen I thought "Huh, there's not going to be a bad track on this thing." A Way of Seeing is a sexy, romantic listen; a hipper substitute for situations where your friends made fun of you for playing Is This It? again.
  

My Top 15 Songs From Los Angeles-Based Bands in 2009

1. Silversun Pickups - "The Royal We"
2. The Broken Remotes - "Boxer's Arm"
3. Avi Buffalo - "What's In It For Me?"
4. Parson Redheads - "You Can Leave It"
5. Nightmare Air - "Shock of the New"
6. The Henry Clay People - "Randy Where's the Rest of Me?" (live)
   
7. Manhattan Murder "Mystery - "Your Mother's Neck"
8. The Happy Hollows - "Faces"
9. Downtown / Union - "Wake Up Call From The Nexus of Me and You"
10. One Trick Pony - "Phonebook"
    
11. Warpaint - "Billie Holiday"
12. The Spires - Lowercase
    
13. Castledoor - "Shouting at the Mountains"
14. Correatown - "Green Cotton Dress"
    
15. The Monolators - "French TV"
    

End of Year 2009: Non-LA Recordings

The same disclaimer applies: I just didn't listen to everything I was "supposed" to and much of what everyone else liked, I just didn't care for. (Grizzly Bear, I'm snoring in your direction.)


Favorite EPs by Non-Los Angeles Bands

• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher than the Stars (Listen on LaLa) - You know what I like about this record? The Pains of Being Pure at Heart flaunt their pop credentials in very intelligent ways. This nifty EP really expanded my expectations for the band. The near-disco beat on "Falling Over" had me sold. It's kind of like when The Replacements covered Paul Stanley.
  
  
• Superchunk - Leaves in the Gutter (Listen on LaLa) - Everyone ignored this. Pearls before swine.
  
  
• Victorian Halls - Victorian Halls EP - A truly, truly awful sounding record. I credit Victorian Halls for discovering everything there is to hate about sound and packaging it in a ruthlessly efficient way. For those who feel compelled to respect the insane. It's so bad it's good.

Favorite Full-Length Albums by Non-Los Angeles Bands

• Double Dagger - More - This Baltimore-based post-hardcore band put out a record worthy of Fugazi fans and people who lament the rock radio screamo route that DC hardcore eventually took.
  

• Girls - Album (Listen on LaLa) - At first I derided this record. It eventually grew to be a serious contender for my Album of the Year, but it's just too self-centered, too decadent, to warrant the honor. But the story behind the album is great. The songs are terrific. And the expression is sincere, which is more than what can be said for 99% of all blogpop. This is one album the Pitchfork crowd got right.
  

• The Jet Age - In "Love" (Listen on LaLa) - This great little record picks up where The Promise Ring left off.
  

• Micachu and the Shapes - Jewellery (Listen on LaLa) - Yes, minimalism is over rated. Yes, scrappy little DIY kids are over rated. Yes, Stump was better and more interesting twenty five years ago. But as far as all that goes, Jewellery is as good as it gets. A mine full of mixtape gold.
  

• Muse - The Resistance (Listen on LaLa) - It's a guilty pleasure. Queen gone cyberpunk. They better try something new on the next one, though.

• Pains of Being Pure at Heart - self titled ***Album of the Year*** (Listen on LaLa) - Believe me, I'd rather proclaim an indie rock record the best album released in 2009, but this is the only release I heard that was perfect from start to finish. Not a song too long, not a song too short. It's infectious and, while poppy, multiple listens leave plenty to be discovered. Time will tell if this record will "matter" (I don't think it will) but for 2009, in 2009, it was the best I heard.
  

• Sonic Youth - The Eternal (Listen on LaLa) - All Sonic Youth did in 2009 was release a perfectly great album that was absolutely worthy of their legacy. Is it a seminal record? Nah. But none of Sonic Youth's peers have released anything so good so late in their career.
  

• The Thermals - Now We Can See - This was an Album of the Year also-ran for me. Every single sunny morning I have to make the decision "Do I want to listen to Now We Can See... again?" The Thermals are exactly what indie rock should strive to be. We should be pushing pop down and raising this stuff up.
  

Top 5 Songs By Non-Los Angeles Bands

1. The Thermals - "When I Died"
2. Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace"
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Come Saturday"
4. Double Dagger - "The Lie / The Truth"
5. Superchunk - "Learned to Swim"

"Hellhole Ratrace" is the trendy song of the year. "When I Died" is in many ways about the same thing. You know why I picked "When I Died"? Because the singer takes action.

In "Hellhole Ratrace" the singer laments his languishing life and beggs for salvation from another. In "When I Died" the singer explains how he survived just such a life: He didn't seek refuge in an infatuation, he sought refuge in himself. That's a singer I want to get behind.

End of Year 2009: The LA Live Experience

Favorite Pre-Show / Post-Show Food

Bacon-wrapped Street Dog from vendors (Echoplex)
Carnitas Burrito at Burrito King (The Echo)
Three Carne Asada Tacos and a Coke at Tacos Ariza (The Echo)
Chicken Green Curry at Leila Thai (Spaceland)
Chicken Tamale from The Tamale Man (Spaceland)


The Best Beer for Your Buck?

The large mug of Franziskaner dunkelweissen at Spaceland.


Favorite Bartender?

Spaceland Brian, of course.


Most Pleasant Doorman Experience

Grant, Echo Curio
Honorable mention: The Spaceland crew


Most Adventurous Billing?

Echo Curio


Safest Bet for Cheap Weekend Fun on Any Given Night?

Pehrspace


Favorite Music Venues

Echo Curio
The Nokia Theatre
Pehrspace
The Smell
Spaceland

I'll go to bat for our local art gallery venues to the grave. (I suppose it helps that both have let me throw shows.) Going to The Smell used to be a chore for me, but I've got the routine down and that DIY venue never ceases to inspire. Spaceland is still my favorite place to make memories.

Club Nokia surprised me though. It's expensive to attend, but I'd prefer a show there over the Fonda, Greek, Wiltern, or any other major/mid-tier venue any day of the week. Bands look great and sound great.

Noticeably absent? The Echo. I know, blasphemy! The honest truth is that it's not as enjoyable to go there as it used to be: the drinks are pricier, new meters in the area make parking harder, the stone floor hurts my feet, there's virtually nowhere to sit down between bands, and the bills there have captured my attention less and less.I love the folks who run the place, but its just not my favorite spot for bands these days.


Favorite Non-Local / Touring Shows of 2009

I feel like I'm forgetting a few.

• Bob Mould Band @ Coachella 04-17-09 (review)
• Echo and the Bunnymen @ The Nokia Theatre 10-24-09 (review)
• Leonard Cohen @ Coachella 04-16-09 (review)
• The Hold Steady @ Coachella 04-16-09 (review)
• Paul McCartney @ Coachella 04-16-09 (review)
• M.I.A. @ Coachella 04-17-09 (review)
• My Bloody Valentine @ The El Rey Theatre 04-16-09 (review)
• Natalie Portman's Shaved Head @ Spaceland 07-13-09
  
• Superchunk @ Coachella 04-17-09 (review)
• The Raveonettes w/ The Soft Pack @ The Henry Fonda Theatre 01-24-09 (photos)
  
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists w/ Davila 666 @ The Smell 08-30-09 (review)

Favorite LA Residencies 2009

I was not nearly as diligent about checking out all the residencies as I have been in years past. This is by no means an solid list. For example, I only made it to one night of the Le Switch residency and under-attended the Light FM residency. Also, Mere Mortals plays Spaceland this month and could very well join the list.

• Avi Buffalo, May at The Echo
• The Happy Hollows, November at Spaceland
• The Henry Clay People, April at Spaceland
• Leslie and the Badgers, September at The Echo
• Local Natives, August at Spaceland

Best Songs to Hear Live in LA

This list seems not quite complete and, for my blog, incredibly obvious. There's plenty of repeats from previous years. Oh well. If I could have a DVD of the best songs to hear in LA, these would be the song performances I'd want.

• "Boiling Point" - Casxio
• "Don't Dance" - The Monolators
• "Green Cotton Dress" - Correatown
• "In the Parking Lot" - Manhattan Murder Mystery
• "Salvation" - Leslie and the Badgers
• "Lieutenant" - The Happy Hollows
• (On any given night, Red Cortez will hit a different song out of the park. I refuse to pick one but had to leave them on the list.)
• "Run to Your Grave" - The Mae Shi
• "Sunday Morning" - Le Switch
• "Warning Signs" (Talking Heads cover) - Local Natives
• "We're #1" - The World Record
  
• "Working Part Time" - The Henry Clay People
  

Favorite LA Local Shows 2009

I know, it's a long list. I am sure this list is missing a couple Mae Shi and Manhattan Murder Mystery shows. There's a lot of Henry Clay People, Happy Hollows, and Local Natives on this list.

• NYE (The Henry Clay People, The Pity Party, The Happy Hollows) @ Spaceland 12-31-08 / 01-01-09 (review)
• My Birthday Party (The Mae Shi, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Besties) @ Pehrspace 03-13-09 (review)
• The Buzz Bands Anniversary Show (Voxhaul Broadcast, Samuel Stewart, Radio Freq., Eastern Conference Champions) @ The Echo 09-30-09 (thoughts)'
• The Airborne Toxic Event, The Henry Clay People, and Rademacher @ The Henry Fonda Theatre 02-12-09 (review)
• Autolux @ The Henry Fonda Theatre 01-17-09 (review)
• Dum Dum Girls w/ The Tartans @ Spaceland - 11-28-09 (review)
  
• The Happy Hollows w/ Widow Babies, Casxio, and The Soft Hands @ Spaceland 11-09-09
  
• The Happy Hollows @ The Eagle Rock Music Festival 10-03-09
• The Henry Clay People, Mike Watt and the Missingmen, Thee Mighty Angels and Ready the Jet @ Spaceland 04-06-09 (review)
• Local Natives w/ Dusty Rhodes and the River Band @ Silverlake Lounge 02-09-09 (review)
• Local Natives w/ Fun! and The Henry Clay People @ Spaceland 08-31-09
  
• Local Natives w/ Red Cortez and Rademacher @ Spaceland 08-10-09
  
• The Monolators @ Echo Curio 05-04-09 (review)
• The Parson Redheads @ The Echoplex 04-28-09 (review)
  
• Silversun Pickups @ Coachella 04-16-09 (review)

Mike Watt and The Missingmen played the single best set I saw all year.

The best Happy Hollows show I've ever seen was at the Eagle Rock Music Fest this year. I don't know if The Henry Clay People have ever been as good as they were on New Years Eve at the beginning of the year. Silversun Pickups' Coachella set elevated the band to the level of magnificent spectacle that their music demands.

The Henry Clay People are still the best live band in LA. Local Natives, I think, are second.

End of Year 2009: Minutiae

Time for end of the year lists. I HATE that any end of the year list runs before January 1st. I think they should all run January 30th, a month after the year has passed. That said, I want to participate in the ongoing discussion, so here we go.

Monday - Minutiae
Tuesday - LA Live Experience
Wednesday - Favorite Non-LA Recordings
Thursday - Favorite LA-Local Recordings
Friday - LA Bands

Disclaimer: I don't know enough about anything to claim "best" with much confidence. Most everything on the CGT lists are unranked favorites.


Overview

Let's face it: 2009 kind of sucked. I don't like the pop route indie music has taken. Everything is too electro, too acoustic, or too disposable. It was uncool to like rock music in 2009, unless your idea of rock music is to stare at shoelaces all night. Maybe, maybe four records this year entered my all-time playlist. I spent most of the year listening to old Ted Leo and Superchunk records.

CGT went on tour with the Henry Clay People, which was a lot of fun. We got famous for taking cheap shots at the Jonas Brothers. On the blog we reviewed fewer records, put-on fewer shows, stopped live reviews on a regular basis, and did some writing for Web In Front, Fuel, and Radio Free Silverlake. CGT was always intended as a destination for my voice as a writer, not as a music blog competing for notoriety, and that's largely what it was this year.

I most regret not seeking-out new music with the same enthusiasm I have in years past. I got pretty comfortable going to see the same bands I already liked and a part of me feels like I did readers a disservice by not unearthing new stuff.


Favorite Colts Players in 2009

I always list my favorite Colts players for the regular season. It's never Manning or Reggie Wayne or the stars, but the lunchpail guys who deserve recognition:

• Melvin Bullit
• Donald Brown
• Austin Collie
• Pierre Garçon
• Jacob Lacey
• Clint Sessions
• Jerraud Powers
  

Brown puts some power back in the run game. Rookie receiver Austin "The Stormin' Mormon" Collie and virtual redshirt receiver Garçon have made Marvin Harrison a distant memory. ("Peter Waiter" is a future stud.) I've got to love the rookie corners playing most of this entire season better than the injured vets played the last two seasons. Sessions is the new difference maker now that Bobzilla is on the IR. Sanders' replacement, Melvin Bullitt, is equally valuable.


Favorite Movies in 2009

This year was pretty disappointing. There was no brilliant Marvel property film like Iron Man or X2. I've barely seen any Oscar calibre movies yet because so few of them seem interesting. (Up in the Air, Precious, and Brothers are on the eventual to do list.) I'll happily proclaim 2009 the worst year in movies since 1997.

• District 9
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Funny People
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• I Love You, Man
• Inglorious Basterds
• The Road
• Star Trek
• Terminator: Salvation
• Watchmen
• Where the Wild Things Are
  

Star Trek, The Road, District 9, and Inglorious Basterds are the only "great" movies I saw. I thought Where the Wild Things Are, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Watchmen were successful and appropriate (but obviously imperfect) adaptations of beloved properties. Funny People and The Terminator sequel were pleasant surprises, and the new Potter flick was surprisingly fresh and engaging.


Biggest Disappointments in 2009

• The Colts lost to San Diego in the divisional round
• Indie 103.1 left the airwaves
• The Mae Shi went into hiatus mode
• The Mezzanine Owls stayed in hibernation
• The Movies broke-up (for real this time!)
• Pitchfork Still Doesn't Get Music
  

Favorite Music Blogging

Last year I bookmarked all the blogging I liked during the year. This year I forgot to do that. This is a half complete list.

• Amateur Chemist has lunch with Josh Freese
• Mike Penner (1957 - 2009), a friend in deed (Buzz Bands)
• Radio Free Silverlake - New Format
• We Listen For You - Best "New" Blog
• Surfing on Steam - Blog of the Year
  

WLFY isn't actually a new blog, but they are new to me and I love their cranky, elitist writing voice.

Joe Fielder left LA and left Radio Free Silverlake in the hands of a diverse range of scenesters (full disclosure: including yours truly!) RFS's Let's Independent! shows used to be the center of the scene (to me, anyway), and the spirit of those shows lives on with the new site. I wish for more online magazines like that one.

Surfing on Steam is an odd choice for CGT's Blog of the Year. An Aquarium Drunkard and Buzz Bands would be obvious choices based on expertise alone. And in terms of the music SOS covers, I only like so much shoegaze and SOS dislikes / doesn't care for most all of my favorite bands.

But Scott McDonald's blog is fiercely consistent, it takes a stance on "what music should be," is unapologetic, covers everything from local to national / known to unkown, and (perhaps most importantly) is always short and to the point. Every post tells you the who, what, and why you should care in about thirty seconds. That's "what blogging should be" going into the year 2010 and SOS was most consistently worth my time more than any other site in 2009.

Collected Thoughts - 12-04-09

• Added to the side-bar:
  Beatcrave
  Ripfork

• I love Ripfork so very much.

• Vote for the Rawky Awards. I suggest writing-in your favorite LA bands.

• The Rawking Refuses to Stop ran their decade list back in September.

• Buzz Bands' Top LA Songs 2009 #103-73
  

• Web In Front's 250 Best Songs of the Decade

• eMusic's OUTSTANDING Best Albums of the Decade List (Their #1 and #2 might be mine)
  

• Many of you will remember my Jonas Brothers tirade which earned this site astronomical traffic. I'd like to forget it. Re-reading the post is hard to me; it's poorly edited, not cohesively formed, and just a bit too derivative of that South Park episode. Oh wells.
  
  ANYWAYS, I still get about five comments a month on that post, which went-up at the end of March. Here are some hilarious new ones:
  
  "AWW POOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRR THING YOU MUST HAVE AN EXTREMELY SMALL DICK TO SIT HERE AND BASH ON TEENAGE BOYZZZZZZ HOPE YOU FUCKING BURN IN HELL YOU STUPID SHIT!!!!! ^-^"
  
  "What da hell?!?!?!?! Did you grow up living in a little box?! you stupid shit the Jonas brothers are just 3 brothers living up their rock n roll careers!!!! get a fucking life you douse!!! And I am a PROUD SUPER FAN OF THE JONAS BROTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So go fuck yourself with a jonas brothers doll you piece of shit!!!!!!!!! And FUCK YOU SOUTH PARK you fucking producers probably have small fucking dicks and a small pathetic little ego."
  
  Sometimes I think the earth deserves destruction.

• Someone beat all 986 World of Warcraft achievements. Good lord!
  

• Someone posted fake Tow Away signs on Wilshire to scare-away food trucks. I would bet my good testicle that the signs were made in the city building by a corrupted official who did a restaurant owner friend a favor. All civilizations have crime and corruption in their engines, down to mundane things like towaway zones. This story captures my imagination because it shows the seedy underbelly where one just wouldn't think to look. The food truck business is gangster.

• I watched The Third Man for the first time last night. Outstanding. My buddy pointed out how the whole filmmaker's toolbox was used. He's right, there are so many devices in that film. The kid, the cat, the sewer maze, the vertical rubble piles... And the dialog! Films like The Third Man make me want to quit writing.

• Speaking of said buddy... Relevant 2 My Interests' Top 10 Films of 2009. Probably six or seven of mine will be the same.
  

The Airborne Toxic Event tonight at the Disney Concert Hall

Can you believe The Airborne Toxic Event's Spaceland residency that launched them into orbit will be two years old next month? Before their seemingly endless tour one could regularly bump into members of the band at the Galaga machine or the Brite Spot down in Echo Park. Tonight they'll celebrate their beginings with a special show at the Disney Concert Hall that has been promised to be a tribute to their Echo Park / Silverlake origins. (Expect some local bands to make cameo appearances, is my guess.)

His Bloggership cannot attend, but if you'd like to a limited amount of tickets are still available as of this posting. A bit pricey, but TATE puts on one helluva show.

Collected Thoughts - 12-03-09

• I should mention that my "Common People" blasphemy in the post bellow originated on a Facebook debate. I'm aware how... unholy... it is for me to utter such things. Nobody's ever accused me of great taste. Otherwise, I like Pulp.

• Web In Front's Albums of the Year -- For my money, my bromance has PoBPaH way, way too low. His top two make me want to vomit. Web In Front is one of my favorite blogs in terms of bloggers actually offering thoughtful quips on music, though, and the whole list is worth a read.

• If there is a god, all of her creations are TERRIBLE:

• I've not left comment on my Colts in some time, who are 11-0 going into this weekend.
  
  What's to say that hasn't been said? They're one of the top teams in defensive points allowed and yet nobody seems to fear their defense. Their offense is getting by with previously unknown guys like Collie and Garcon, and career years by Wayne and Clark. Manning has been off his game but the team has kept us afloat. Addai, Brown, and (!) Chad Simpson have breathed life into the limited, but effective, run game. Nationally unsung heroes like Melvin, Bullitt and Clint Sessions are killing teams, and the Colts are playing with two rookie corners. Three major defensive pieces are on the IR and Indy is the second best team in the league.
  
  The Colts would beat the Saints, who are a more complete but much less experienced team. I fear only the Chargers, who have the Colts' number, and the Vikes, who have a mighty powerful metanarrative behind them.

• There are so many great stories in the NFL this year. Drew Brees is like '05 Manning. Vince Young's redemption, Brett Favre's comeback, concussiongate, Stafford's injured touchdown-winning pass... pro football is the best human drama on the planet. It is the most intelligent of all sports. Loving it.

• LOLs to the following teams: Pats, Texans, Donkeys (Broncos), Steelers, Iggles, Bears.

• What we know about global warming.

• Ten ways to a sustainable budget. I could get behind about seven of them without second thought. (Hint: responsible politicians raise taxes when they need to be raised!)
  

Collected Thoughts 12-02-09

• Recently added to the sidebar:
  
  Blue Comet TV
  Demolisten
  Dirty Laundry
  I Promote Good Bands
  ReThink Reviews
  Script Shadow
  Sutter Ink
  We Listen For You
  

• We Listen For You posted their Top 10 Music Blogs. I can't argue with their #1, though I find myself and AD sharing tastes less than we used to. (Probably to AD's credit, if anything.)
  
  I'm not really sure what makes a good music blog anymore. I only know what is useful to me.
  
  MP3 blogs are NOT useful to me. I don't want to download an MP3, I want a quick link to a band's myspace music page so I can instantly hear the song and not clog-up my iTunes with clutter I'll never listen to again.
  
  Blogs posting the latest known artist's remix are NOT useful to me. I hate hate hate to see Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Neon Indian, etc in a headline. I just don't fucking care. It's boring and a waste of time to read minutiae about them every single day.
  
  I think most record reviews are useless. It's good for music writing to be personal, but record reviews tend to either be too subjective or too reliant on the band's predecessors. That's good, because context and personal experience should be what matters, but music is so niche-efied these days that it's rare for me to have enough in common with the reviewer to find something in the review to latch onto.
  
  I generally like blogs that stick, for the most part, to a particular kind of music. When You Awake, Surfing on Steam, and Aquarium Drunkard all do this pretty well. (CGT, of course, does not!)
  
  I also like blogs that focus on a region. I like blogs that cover bands that are still getting their shit together. I can get the cream of the indie crop from Pitchfork. I want blogs that champion the unchampioned.
  
  The only music writing that really grabs me these days are feature-styled posts (which is why Buzz Bands might be the best blog out there, for me) or "Hey, I went to check out this band, this is what they were like, this is what I enjoyed / hated, and here's a reasoned argument for why what I felt was correct".
  
  I really respect Gorilla vs. Bear (I don't know Chris or Dave) as a pioneer in music blogging. I despise their readership. Half the comments are about the artists' "style" or charisma or how hip the artist is. It's meaningless fluff. I like the GvB blog because it represents a particular position in taste, but I'm not too keen on what the blog ultimately says about music blogging.

• GvB's Top '09 Albums

• Web In Front's Top 25 Los Angeles-Area Albums
  

• Buzz Bands' Kevin Bronson has three days of local music '09 counting down coming up on Indie 103.1 online.
  

• This is why I less-than-three Ted Leo.
  

• 8=====D~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~
  
  

• I am loving GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, which I play at a friend's house.
  
  I'm a big believer in art, artists, and entertainment "being what they truly are". For example, I prefer the Shatner cover of Pulp's "Common People" because in the Shatner version the performance of the song is as ridiculous, over the top, and absurd as that song deserves. (Read the lyrics; it's a fun, stupid song) It's not about nostalgia or classic status, it's about seeing things for what they truly are.
  
  The Ballad of Gay Tony takes GTA IV to its furious, most logical, absurd conclusion. You're blowing-up skinhead bikers with sticky bombs, attacking yachts with military choppers, dropping tanks out of the sky, and throwing Perez Hilton out of a chopper, free falling, then catching him and pulling the chute just before he slams into the statue of liberty.
  
  Other GTA games have had these kinds of things, but never at this high level of concentration. It is everything I want simulated, depraved mayhem to be. At last, the missions are worthy of my free-play rampage massacres.
  

• In praise of George W. Bush (that's right, I posted that!)

Thoughts on Obama's Afghanistan speech:

1. Policy in the speech aside, in speech-y terms, it was a good speech. It has the potential to be a historical one. It could very well be the most important speech Obama ever gives in his life, and if it is, it was well-written and delivered.
   
   
2. Speechyness aside, the policy makes my stomach churn.
   
   
3. The neo-cons hate the speech. That's good. They're fearful fools.
   
   
4. The far, far left hates the speech and the policy. That's good, too. They don't take national security seriously. An "all military action is bad" worldview is a non-serious one.
   
   
5. I don't want any mofos from here on out saying all of Obama's moves are politically calculated. What, he calculated this policy and speech to piss-off everyone? There should be no doubt going forward that Obama did what he sincerely thought was in this country's best interests. So let's say this: Yeah, Obama inherited the war in Afghanistan, but yesterday he took ownership of it. That's a compliment, it's presidential.
   
   
6. I'm immensely grateful that Obama took a long time to make this decision. (And I loved when he destroyed all accusations of "dithering" in the speech; NO proposal would have sent troops until next year anyway) I'm so grateful Obama is an intellectual. He listened to people on the ground, his own advisers, dissenters, and his conscience. He weighed everything. He decided what was most important to him and took the best option he felt he had based on that choice.
   
   Contrast that with Bush-style governing and be thrilled, whether you like the results or not.
   
   
7. The timeline is good. He's making "the generals on the ground" and the Afghan army accountable. There is much gnashing of teeth on the left right now, but if he sticks to his withdrawal timeline then by the 2012 election we could all be saying "Obama got us out of two wars, floated the sinking economy long enough to get us through it, and signed the first important step in reforming the health insurance industry". Again, Obama doesn't sprint, he runs marathons.
   
   
8. Everyone gets something different from that speech. I heard Obama's emphasis on the Afghan border the most. I get the sense that if he could send 30K troops inside Pakistan on the border, he'd do that instead. Also, understand that the withdrawal timeline is a threat to Pakistan, saying that they'd better be sincere in helping us, because we won't be stabilizing their backyard forever. So that's good.
   
   
9. Still, that fucking wasteland is called "the graveyard of empires" for good reason. If I could have my way, we'd leave all together. I don't want to sound like a total fool here, but at times I think I'd prefer one 9/11 attack on US soil every ten years to losing even more volunteer soldiers every ten years in unwinnable foreign wars. I think combating Al Qaeda is immensely important, but I also think a strong defensive crouch with ongoing special forces missions suits me better.
   
   
10. Last thought: Obama promised this in his campaign. Nobody should be shocked, surprised, or disappointed. All of us who donated time and money did so for a president that promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan, and if you campaigned or donated to Obama like I did, this is your war, too. That's how I felt about Bush supporters. It goes both ways.
    
    Even if you disagree with the decision, if you voted for Obama like me... we own this.