I'm not much into health food.
And here's the last of my "Best Of 2014" lists for the year. Which was a surprisingly good one given that none of my most favorite bands had releases this year!
THE TWELVE BEST...
#1 All That We Had is Lost by Postiljonen
Had I heard Postiljonen's debut album Skyer when it was released last year, it would have topped my list for 2013. But since Howard didn't tell me about Postiljonen until this year, I had to find a way to get them on my list. Hence, their All That We Had is Lost remixes album in my #1 spot. I love this band. Their beautiful dream-pop music has been playing constantly since the first day I heard it, and no band has consumed me like Postiljonen in a very long time. So... after you buy Skyer, you'll want to pick up All That We Had is Lost (a stunning re-work of Whitney Houston's How Will I know) so you can get the new track When All The Wild Things Die. Magical stuff.
#2 The City Below EP by Mackintosh Braun
As previous years will attest, I have -zero- problem putting an EP on my list. Especially when it's an EP that contains my favorite song of the year... the hauntingly sublime In Reverse. My guess is that The City Below EP was released to satisfy fans who were upset that Mackintosh Braun's long-promised album, Arcadia, was delayed until March 31st of 2015. It worked. The four tracks are all fantastic, and definitely left me wanting more.
#3 Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters
It's always surprising to me that Dave Grohl and Co. haven't made a single misstep in their entire catalog of work. They seem incapable of disappointing me, and everything they release gets played to death. Sonic Highways is no exception. It's a tight album of only 8 tracks... but each one is flawless. Foo Fighters are the face of modern rock in a day and age where rock music seems to be a dying breed. Pray to whatever rock gods ye may that they keep blessing us with new music for years to come.
#4 Take Me When You Go by Betty Who
Having playing both of Betty's EPs into the ground, it was hardly surprising that I'd fall in love with her all over again with the release of her first full-length album. Take Me When You Go is filled with melodic 80's-style pop that I can't seem to get enough of, and Betty's lovely voice bounces through each track with such effortless enthusiasm that it can lift me up even when I'm at my lowest. If you haven't jumped on the Betty Who train yet, there's no better time than now.
#5 Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
I often feel that OK Go's actual music is eclipsed by their amazing, mind-bending music videos. Yes, the videos are fantastic, but they wouldn't be nearly as compelling if the music sucked... but it really doesn't. OK Go has a knack for cranking out inventive, thoughtful songs that deserve the awesome music video treatments they get. The first single, The Writing's On The Wall is by far my favorite track, but there's a lot of pop magic happening on Hungry Ghosts that makes it worth listening to.
#6 Talking is Hard by Walk the Moon
Having friends who get me musically is an incredible blessing, because I'm always being exposed to terrific new music I would have otherwise missed. Many, many thanks to Jester for turning me on to Walk the Moon which is exactly the kind of pop music I obsess over. Talking is Hard is about as good as an album gets. Each track builds on the previous track to keep you moving from beginning to end. Sure, it's only been out for a month, but I've listened to it so much that I've probably played it more than half the other albums I bought this year.
#7 Sheezus by Lily Allen
Lily Allen never really registered for me, even though I very much enjoyed the occasional single I'd happen across. But then she made a guest appearance on P!nk's fantastic song, True Love, and I became obsessed. An obsession was rewarded when she dropped Sheezus back in May. It's an album of chirpy pop classics that never cease to make me smile.
#8 Ghost Stories by Coldplay
As someone who felt that Coldplay's best days were long past, I was taken a bit by surprise with Ghost Stories. It's a haunting album of love and loss that kinds of sticks in your head with each new listen. I don't know that the band will ever reach the marvelous heights found on A Rush of Blood to the Head, but if they keep hitting us with albums like this one, I'm happy to tune in.
#9 1989 by Taylor Swift
When a country artist as successful as Taylor Swift abandons her bread and butter for a stab at pop music gold, it would be understandable to think her insane. But 1989 was a gamble that totally paid off, and is responsible for two of my favorite songs of 2014 (Style and Blank Space). Sure it wanders in places, but it's an overall success story that has me hoping Taylor will abandon her country roots a few albums longer.
#10 White Women by Chromeo
While there are some inexplicably missable tracks on Chromeo's fourth album (I'm looking at you, Sexy Socialite!), the preponderance of vintage beats that make up White Women is too good to deny. This is unapologetic classic pop at its purest, and filled a void in 2014 that needed filling.
#11 Mandatory Fun by Weird Al Yankovic
While I've always been a Weird Al fan, his albums always seem so uneven that I hesitate buying them. Most of his parodies are dead-on, relevant, and funny as hell... other times they miss the mark so badly that you're left wondering why he even bothered. Al seems to have a bit better luck with his original songs, but they too can degenerate into a polka disaster from time to time. Fortunately, Mandatory Fun is much more gold than lead, and easily my favorite album in his discography so far.
#12 The Violet Flame by Erasure
I just can't seem to get into Erasure's newer stuff. The last album of theirs that I really liked was Nightbird back in 2005. Everything that followed doesn't feel very "Erasure" to me at all. With The Violet Flame they took a step back in the right direction, but it all feels so... I dunno... disco?... to me. The "snap" of their pop origins is just missing, with Andy Bell trying to go all operatic or something. Why they can't just give their fans the straight pop album they want I don't know. In the meanwhile, I guess this is better than nothing. And better than a lof of music I heard this year.
ALSO WORTH A LISTEN...
Sucker by Charli XCX
Had this album been released earlier (it just dropped a couple weeks ago) it might have made my list. As it is, I enjoy it, but it hasn't grown on me as much as I had hoped. While Boom Clap feels well-polished and repetitive, too many other tracks feel rushed out the door and repetitive. I'm hoping that Charli matures a bit with her next release, because she certainly has potential.
Singles by Future Islands
So there I am watching Letterman on my DVR and a band I've never heard of takes the stage and proceeds to blow the doors off the joint. The band was Future Islands and the song was Seasons (Waiting On You). Sadly, the rest of the album never reached that high, but many of the songs ended up in steady rotation on iTunes nevertheless.
Voices by Phantogram
It seems like an eternity since Eyelid Movies was released, but apparently Phantogram has put that time to good use, because Voices is one beautifully crafted work of synth-pop art.
Clark by Clark
Nothing makes me happier than being able to work while some deeply atmospheric synth music is lurking in the room to keep me company. Clark is filled with exactly that, and I find it playing more often than I intended.
Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
My music is all over the map and, given my pop music leanings, most people are surprised to find out that my tastes includes everything from metal to rap. And when it comes to rap, the second release by Run the Jewels was my go-to album for those times I needed a fix these past few months. What I love about Run the Jewels is that rappers El-P and Killer Mike play off of each other so damn well. Apart they're good... but put them in the same room and let them build off each other, and they elevate each other to new heights. The first album was packed with those deep throbbing beats that keeps me coming back to rap... this follow-up is even stronger.
Indie Cindy by Pixies
Consistently labeled as one of the most influential bands in music history, the Pixies never consumed me like they did so many of my friends during their formation in the late 80's. Then, just as I was appreciating the band for their inventive stylings that pulled me back to my punk rock days, they disbanded in 1993. Game over. Except... not so much. They got back together for a tour in 2004, and new material followed nine years later in the form of three EPs. This album collects all three into a single work that feels much larger than the sum of its parts. While I'm still not the Pixies' biggest fan, Indie Cindy is a terrific album that has me finding a new appreciation for the band.
Crush by 2NE1
I first became aware of South Korean girl-band 2NE1 with their release of 2nd Mini Album, featuring the amazing track Hate You (seriously, you've gotta watch this insane music video). Three years later they released Crush, their second full-length album and it's everything I could have hoped for. Bouncy pop tracks tempered with a hint of rebellion that few other bands have been able to pull off so convincingly.
My Everything by Ariana Grande
This album was one of those pleasant surprises that came out of nowhere. There I was minding my own business when I heard Love Me Harder drifting from the speakers of a restaurant, inundating the place with pop magic. I found out who and what it was thanks to Shazam on my iPhone, and was pleased to find that Ariana's album was filled with more of the same.
Mr. Twin Sister by Mr. Twin Sister
Another atmospheric synth album that gets a lot of play while I'm working, Mr. Twin Sister never feels quite as deep as Clark, but it has a delicious moody vibe I love. I play this album a lot while driving, as it stems off the road rage that inevitably grabs hold.
And that's my music jams for 2014! Here's looking forward to an even better 2015.
Yeah, yeah, it's Friday and I'm two days early... but I can't mess up my end-of-year lists, so... Bullet Sunday starts now...
• Box! Ooh... look... it's the day after Christmas!
Assuming you celebrate that kind of thing.
• Monkeymedic! When a monkey was badly shocked by an electrical line, a monkey friend did their best to revive him...
Monkey buddies for life!
• Land! One of the gifts from Cards Against Humanity's Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa ended up being one square foot of an island in Maine that they renamed Hawaii 2. My piece is here...
Looks like I'm going to have to see if there's a way to get there for my next trip to Maine!
• Cute! There's an article titled 25 of The Cutest Parenting Moments In The Animal Kingdom that's totally worth a look. Though I'd say a photo I took when I was at Mana Pools in Africa of two elephants teaching a baby elephant how to wash grass is just as cute as any of them...
And a photo I took of a mother lion giving her reluctant cub a bath when I was at Hwange National Park is equally sweet...
Doesn't get much more adorable than nature.
• Horrifying! And now for something that's the exact opposite of cute. I was playing Godus (quite a trick when the pile of crap crashes all the time) when a rival tribe, the Astari, started having a celebration. If the celebration makes their people happier than my people, some of my people will defect. I didn't want this to happen, so I used my god powers to call down a meteor strike. I was hoping if I busted some of their buildings they wouldn't be quite so happy. Unexpectedly, all hell broke loose. Before I knew it, all the buildings... and all the little people... were on fire...
The whole scene was just awful, and I felt terrible all day for the horrific destruction I unleashed. I was going to call down some rain to extinguish everything, but the population plummeted to zero and the entire tribe was gone. Guess this is what happens when people try to play god.
• Quest! I'm a bit obsessed with Questlove, best known as co-founder and lead drummer for The Roots (the house band on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon). He absolutely mesmerizes me with his musical talent... especially when he sits in on drums with a guest band at the last minute (always flawlessly). He can play drums on A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Despite being a fan, I never knew he had a memoir out until last week when I discovered... quite by accident... the book "Mo' Meta Blues." It is fantastic. The guy is even more brilliant than I imagined. Highly recommend checking it out...
If you need convincing, here's a terrific excerpt over at Salon.
• ASSHOLERY! One of my favorite internet services is DropBox. It's a storage space in the cloud that allows me to share files and keep my work handy no matter where I am or which computer I'm using. I've been paying for DropBox space for years, and have come to rely on its ease and convenience. At least I did until the last update when the fucking assholes moved the buttons to open the DropBox folder and open the DropBox website... replacing them with a "Pro" button...
And since I am so accustomed to where the buttons used to be, I'm forever accidentally clicking on that stupid-ass "Pro" button, opening up their idiotic "PAY US MORE FUCKING MONEY" website which I DON'T WANT. And I am absolutely livid. First DropBox trains everybody where to click to get what they need... then they trick you into clicking on an ad? terrific way to treat your customers.
UPDATE: I do have a "Pro" account that doesn't expire until April 2015 and has PLENTY of space available. So I have no idea why I am being told I have to go Pro Pro?
And... that's the last Bullet Sunday of 2014!
They're gonna get you.
They won't forget you.
Oh you know I know.
Lies.
This weekend I ran across a video for one of Depeche Mode's most beloved songs, Just Can't Get Enough. As is typical with YouTube, the videos are stacked up like potato chips and you find that you can't watch just one. Before I knew it, I had blown through dozens of versions of Just Can't Get Enough from their live shows over the decades. Turns out that they've played it a lot.
Not surprisingly, the band had changed it up a bit over the years...
Here is the video that started my journey. They look like they're 10 years old here. The original song is a bit tinny, but this is the only way I knew it for nearly a decade (from 1982)...
Now, in the above video, Alan Wilder has taken the place of Vince Clark, which means there are even earlier versions where he was still with the band (from 1981)...
I'm glad that the official video for the song has Vince performing the track. He wrote the thing after all. Just an FYI, this is the only DM music video he appears in (also from 1981)...
Jumping back ahead to 1982 and the post-Vince Clark period, this version of the song has Dave Gahan with a bit different ending than what I've heard before...
Then we come to what many consider to be the "classic era" of Depeche Mode. People Are People gets released and the entire world starts to take notice (from 1984)...
Of the many, many versions of Just Can't Get Enough I've heard over the years, my hands-down favorite is the live version from my favorite Depeche Mode album of all time... 101 (from 1988)...
A little harder on the synth, but not so much that it's a radical change from the original.
Alan Wilder left the band in 1995. The band was never quite the same. Nor were live performances of Just Can't Get Enough (from 1998)...
Not a lot changed in the years that followed (from 2006)...
Which leads us to last year's show (from 2013)...
This actually sounds like a step back towards the original, where the synth is a bit more brassy than deep.
And... out of the 200+ versions of the song I found on YouTube, that's a pretty good representation of the song's evolution.
I hope to hear it at many more Depeche Mode concerts in the years to come.
Halloween may be over, but the terror is just beginning... because Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Frozen. While my hockey heart will forever belong to the Blackhawks, my love of Boston Red Sox baseball spills over to the Bruins from time to time. Halloween was one of those times...
Dressing up as characters from Frozen to visit sick kids? That's pretty great. GO BOSTON!
• Corn! Okay... this took me completely by surprise...
Now that's a cat that likes corn!
• Rock. Oh... so that's what it takes for Saturday Night Live to be entertaining again! Chris Rock and Prince! As a huge fan of Chris Rock, I knew he'd blow in like a hurricane and ride the bleeding edge. He did not disappoint. With an opening monologue that was so brilliantly dead on that he should be arrested for assault, Rock tore through gun control, Christmas commercialization, Jesus, 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing, and Ebola like his life depended on it. Yeah, it was uncomfortable in spots, but it was exactly what it needed to be... enlightening and damn funny.
Now we just need to wait for FOX "News" to shit all over his performance like they do anything that they can spin into an attack on 'Murica. Then again, is there anything they can't spin into an attack on 'Murica?
As for Prince... he decided to skip the whole "two-song performance" tradition and combined his time for a single blistering medley of his latest tracks. I do not envy having to be the band who has to follow that next week.
• Bianco. How Christina Bianco can keep all those voices straight in her head is a mystery... but the result is pretty amazing...
What... no P!nk?
• Galactic. I was sorry to hear of the tragedy that overcame SpaceShip Two earlier this week. Forging into unknown territory is always a dangerous but worthwhile endeavor...
My thoughts are with the friends and family of co-pilot Michael Alsbury.
• OK! Yet another masterpiece from OK Go! This time they took their famous one-shot video concept to all new heights by using drones to shoot it. As if that weren't enough, the song is pretty awesome to boot...
Every time the band releases a new video, I wonder how they're possibly going to top it, and here's my answer. What's next? OK Go in space?
Click. Click. Click. Until next week then...
Hasn't been working so far...
Maybe I need to sacrifice Justin Bieber to a goat or something.
Put down that pumpkin spice latte, you coffee house hipster... because Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Bureaucracy. If watching this video doesn't make you want to execute every bureaucrat asshole in Washington D.C. responsible for dreaming up this bullshit, then you're not watching it correctly...
Wouldn't it be great if our politicians got off their worthless asses and actually fixed stupid shit like this? Well, don't hold your breath, they're too busy getting reelected to do anything actually useful.
• LEGO. As a lover of all things LEGO, I have to say that even imaginary LEGO makes me happy when it's as well done as this...
Images by JimmyLegs50
You really gotta see the whole thing to appreciate this level of genius.
• Dora. I had a little crush on Dora from I Married Dora. I had more than a little crush on Mirage from The Incredibles...
I was very sad to learn that the amazing actress responsible for both those characters, Elizabeth Peña, passed away earlier this week. She will definitely be missed.
• Hooks. As if losing Elizabeth Peña wasn't tragic enough... sublimely talented SNL veteran Jan Hooks also passed away this past week...
A terrible loss for her many fans... including me.
• Reverse. One of my favorite bands, Mackintosh Braun released an EP titled The City Below in anticipation of their new album Arcadia, due in 2015. My favorite track off the EP was posted to SoundCloud and is worth a listen...
You can pick up The City Below at the iTunes Music store.
• Equality. Progress sometimes happens...
And that's a wrap. Kinda nice to have Bullet Sunday actually land on a Sunday for once.
I have watched every episode of The Tonight Show since Jimmy Fallon took over. I understand the criticism of his work there... he's not the greatest comedian and his interviews tend to wander... but that's not the point. The guy just knows how to have fun and get his guests to have fun with him. And because of that, it's easy to tune in and let Jimmy take you away from the troubles of the day. And for that I love the guy. He never fails to make me laugh, and having The Roots as his house band guarantees that you're going to hear some good music to boot... even if you don't like the musical guest.
Fallon has a number of bits that I enjoy, but sitting at the top of the list is where Jimmy and The Roots get a musician to perform one of their hits... accompanied by instruments from a kid's classroom.
The result is funny... but the song is always great too! In catching up on shows I missed while I was away, I ran across his best one yet. Meghan Trainor showed up to sing her track All About That Bass.
It's fantastic...
If you missed it, here's a few of my other favorites. Including Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines...
And Carly Rae Jepsen singing Call Me Maybe...
And, of course, the time Sesame Street visited to sing their theme song. How anybody can watch this and not smile is beyond me...
And then there's The Roots. Holy crap are they talented. They can do anything having to do with music. And I've seen Questlove fill in on drums more than a couple times for visiting musicians. Flawlessly. I have no idea how he does it. Just massively great at his job, I guess.
If you're not a fan, here's a video where The Roots backed Miley Cyrus acapella on We Can't Stop...
So people can criticize Jimmy Fallon all they want, but there have been times where watching him on The Tonight Show has been the best part of my day.
I can't offer a better endorsement than that.
Put on that skinny tie and flip up that collar... because a Very Special Retro Futura Tour 2014 Edition of Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Tom Bailey! I'm just going to cut to the chase here... as a diehard Thompson Twins fan, Tom Bailey's run through some of the band's greatest hits surpassed my every expectation. After 27 years you'd naturally assume that something would be lost. But it wasn't. Everything he sang was note-perfect and the arrangement of the songs, while freshened up a bit, was still respectful to the originals that everybody came to hear. I loved every minute that Tom was on stage, and nearly three decades of begging for a Thompson Twins tour was rewarded in every way I could have dreamed of (short of having Alannah and Joe show up, of course)...
The set-list was pretty much what you expect...
If time were permitting, I would have really liked to have seen Lay Your Hands on Me and Get That Love included. Maybe one day. And please. Please. Please one day let Tom Bailey take the trip back to Brit-Pop Land and give us a new album of Twins material. Please. If there's one thing his participation in Retro Futura has shown us, people are ready.
• Howard Jones! I'm a big HoJo fan. I love his incredible synth play and feel-good lyrics. His music is on regular rotation on my iTunes playlists. I've seen him perform live twice. Seeing him in concert should be one of life's highlights for me and, for the most part, it is. But good lord, man... does every tune you play in concert have to be the super-extended-disco-remix version of the song? Yes... I love it when a live performance brings a little something to the table that you can't get from the album... but you did that with the heavier pumping synth intros. There's no need to give us fifty refrains of WHAT IS LOOOOOOOOOVE, ANYWAY? DOES ANYBODY LOVE ANYBODY ANYWAY? All it does is serve to drive your beautiful song into the ground and make it run way, way too long.
Still... it was Howard Jones. And though the senseless, endless repetition was annoying, I still loved his performance...
And so did the rest of the crowd...
By the way... Howard Jones has continued to release albums well after the 80's were dead and gone. His last release was in 2009. If you're a fan, it's well-worth checking out. Even so, for the sake of Retro Futura, Howard didn't stray from those early hits that made him famous... The Human Touch, Like to Get to Know You Well, Everlasting Love, No One Is to Blame, The Prisoner, What Is Love?, Things Can Only Get Better, and New Song.
• Katrina... sans The Waves! I should come clean here... I am most definitely not a fan of Walking on Sunshine, which is Katrina and The Waves' greatest hit (here in the US, anyway). I am, however, absolutely a fan of Katrina Leskanich's performance at Retro Futura last night. She worked her guts out to put on a good show and succeeded completely. And not just from her music, which was terrific, but from her conversations between songs... telling the story of how they came to be and how they impacted her career...
My favorite track she performed was Going Down to Liverpool, a Katrina and the Waves track made famous by a cover by The Bangles. As Katrina explains it, the success of that song by another group led to her band getting signed. The rest is history.
It's worth noting that by opening the show, Katrina had to perform in full-on sun... which was blisteringly hot and relentless throughout her entire set. That she managed to get through her song list without fainting is pretty impressive. Even more impressive? The album she wrote and recorded in just five weeks before joining the tour. Take a listen here.
• China Crisis! This is a band that pretty much flew under my radar back in the day. The only song I remember latching onto was the beautiful Wishful Thinking which, thankfully, was performed in their set...
I don't know that Retro Futura turned me into a diehard fan of the group, but it did make me much more interested in taking a listen to their stuff.
• Midge Ure sans Ultravox! And here's where we get to the biggest surprise of the evening. I've played his album If I Was - The Very Best of Midge Ure and Ultravox so many times that the lyrics are burned into my memory. Every song on that album is absolute magic, and I was pretty excited to see Midge perform live, as I'd never had the opportunity before. Little did I know that he would blow the doors off the joint with a voice so powerful and pure that you could feel it to your very soul...
Absolutely amazing show. I think he took the breath away from every person in attendance.
When it comes to his track selection, any fan of Ultravox was bound to be disappointed because he only had time to perform five songs...
All in all... wow. Just wow. I would watch another show in a heartbeat.
• SHARK BITE EXTREME! Before heading to the Sandy Amphitheater, Marty (of Banal Leakage fame) and I headed to Joe's Crab Shack. They have a beverage called a "Shark Bite" that I really wanted to try (because it looks so cool), and the restaurant was fairly close to the venue. When the drink arrives, it's all vodka, rum, sweet and sour, plus Blue Curaçao... with a shark full of grenadine hanging off the side...
The idea is that you dump the grenadine into the blue "water" to make a bloody mess...
And it is cool... for a minute.
But what you ultimately end up with is a disgusting glass of purple stuff that's so sweet your teeth will ache afterwards.
You do get to keep your plastic shark though... and that's all I really cared about.
And there you have it. This afternoon I flew home from Salt Lake City without incident... walking on sunshine the entire way because I got to meet Erin Gray, hang out with one of my long-time blog friends, get a plastic shark... oh... and see one of my favorite bands of all time perform live after 27 years of waiting. A pretty great way to spend a weekend, I think.
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