a draft of my all-time favorite albums list—a list that constantly changes but includes constants

Top-Tier All-Time Favorite 10 Albums"

"The Wall" by Pink Floyd

"The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd

"Reign in Blood" by Slayer

"Aja" by Steely Dan
"For Emma, Forever Ago" by Bon Iver
"Jane Doe" by Converge

"Calculating Infinity" by The Dillinger Escape Plan
"Metamodern Sounds in Country Music" by Sturgill Simpson
"Pet Sounds" by The Beach Boys
"Badmotorfinger" by Soundgarden

Second-Tier All-Time Favorite 10 Albums
"Sadness Will Prevail" by Today is the Day
"A Sailor's Guide to Earth" by Sturgill Simpson
"Appetite for Destruction" by Guns n’ Roses
"Grip It! On That Other Level" by Geto Boys
"Picture This" by Do or Die
"Blizzard of Ozz" by Ozzy Osbourne
"Malady" by Malady
"Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer
"The Satellite Years" by Hopesfall

"The City of Caterpillar" by The City of Caterpillar

Honorable Mention
"Roots" by Sepultura
"Weezer" by Weezer
"Dirt" by Alice In Chains
"Above" by Mad Season
"The Bends" by Radiohead

 

 

Note: With endless caveats and prefaces about how I appreciate and care about the important bands, like the Beatles and Black Sabbath.

 

(posts) Bon Iver's "29 #Strafford APTS"

Note: Every once in a while I hear a song that is so good I hate the person that wrote it.

"Comrade" by Volcano Choir

 

Bon Iver's 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session

 

Adult contemporary

Recently the New York Magazine article "Indie Grown-Ups: Are Wilco and Feist our adult contemporary music?" turned a critical eye on a few prominent indie rock artists, describing, for example, Feist's recent album as merely "gusty singsong melodies about finding clarity by the oceanside delivered over cozy acoustic arrangement". The author's larger point was this:

These acts, intentionally or not, have won; they’ve taken a lower-sales, lower-budget version of the type of trip Sting once took, from a post-punk upstart to an adult staple.

Later he indicts labels for having aided and abetted this trend, grooming innocuous sounds from the likes of Feist, Wilco, Radiohead, and Bon Iver to create a new generation's equivalent of adult contemporary.

Although written in response to a different New York Magazine article, The AV Club piece "What makes music boring?" reinterprets this critique by distilling and elaborating on the "cozy" quality described above, this time using the language of boredom:

In a sense, all music is boring. The same, however, can’t be said about “boring” music. “Boring” is its own genre. It is a code word that instantly conjures artists with clearly definable attributes. “Boring” music is slow to mid-tempo, mellow, melodic, pretty in a melancholy way, catchy, poppy, and rooted in traditional forms. It is popular (or popular-ish). It is tasteful, well-played, and meticulously produced. (Or it might sound like it was recorded in somebody’s bedroom under the influence of weed and Sega Genesis.) It is “easy to like”—or more specifically, “easy for white people to like” (“white people” being a sub-group of white people singled out by other white people). It is critically acclaimed (perhaps the most critically acclaimed music there is), and yet music critics relish taking “boring” musical artists down a peg more than any other kind of artist.

This critique to me seems easy to argue, which is to say I don't disagree. But it just isn't particularly insightful. Both articles essentially make this analogy:

• Adult Contemporary is to pop music genres as Feist is to indie music.

This analogy extends easily:

• Adult Contemporary is to pop music genres as Poison is to glam metal/hard rock.

It can even extend to other discussions:

• Adult Contemporary is to pop music genres as scones are to sweets.

And the articles aren't more controversial because they take on indie music--indie music has no exclusive claim to coolness. My comment on glam metal and scones means more. It took more imagination.

Last night

Awed. Moved. Speechless. But a little burdened, too. Like some great secret was shared with me but I didn't know what it meant and no one caresd. I went to bed thinking, That was so awesome, and woke up thinking, So, so awesome. Not much can move me like that. Not "move" like the way a powerful movie can move you, but like the way a world wonder can move you. The music and the venue and the performance and the performers all teemed with a penetrating glow that inspired in me the still wonder that can set a quiet little boy on edge. The songs were alive.

Justin Vernon thanked opening act Kathleen Edwards and described himself years ago listening to her records and drowning his pain in whiskey. He said that tracing the thread in this life is hard but music was his thread and it lead him there and to her and to a better place. He was in a wonderful place.