Dancing About Architecture 7.15.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 07.15.2008
Jenny Lewis, Radiohead reissues, Sonic Youth, I geek out about guitars, I’m from Barcelona and some of my favourite albums ever.
The bit at the start
I saw this on a blog a couple of weekends ago and it seemed like it'd be a fun list to compile.
My favourite album for every year that I've been alive ...
1980: Tom Waits - Heartattack & Vine
1981: Joy Division - Still
1982: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
1983: Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
1984: The Minutemen - Double Nickels On the Dime
1985: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
1986: Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band - Live 1975/85
1987: Sonic Youth - Sister
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
1989: Pixies - Doolittle
1990: Sonic Youth - Goo
1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
1992: Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1994: Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
1995: The Bends - Radiohead
1996: The Wrens - Secaucus
1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
1999: Jim O'Rourke - Eureka
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2001: Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong
2002: Broken Social Scene- You Forgot It In People
2003: The Wrens - Meadowlands
2004: Arcade Fire - Funeral
2005: The National - Alligator
2006: Joanna Newsom - The Ys
2007: The National - Boxer
2008: Why? - Alopecia (thus far)
Notes and Observations:
- This is a heavily America-centric list with only 7 albums not from the US. You could make an argument for it being 6 considering where the Butler brothers are from.
- Despite that I didn't pick Born In The USA, I hate the production and arrangements on it. Nor did I pick Born Again In The USA.
- I really fucking love Radiohead.
- And Tom Waits, especially in the 80's.
- And Sonic Youth, that 5 album in 6 year run from Evol to Dirty was gold.
- I realise that Prince probably is a genius, I've just never listened to him in depth.
- Like Stephin Merritt I obviously hate black people. Even my lone hip-hop entry was made by jews.
- I've gone with when the album was originally released in any territory, so despite Funeral not coming out here until 2005 I'm classing it as a 2004 record.
- I don't really like Still that much, weak year.
- The same can be said of Double Nickels On The Dime.
- Fuck Thriller
- I'm not doing any of that "Spiderland was really close in '91 so I'll list it too" business. One album per year, no cop outs.
- That being said I really love Elliott Smith even if it's not reflected in this.
- If I'm not allowed to include EP's then the 2001 entry is The Shins - Oh Inverted World
- Yeah I know it's all pretty standard pitchforkey indie kid fair, though as my list goes back to 1980 I don't think I can reasonably describe myself as an indie kid at this point. Perhaps the only slightly idiosyncratic entries are the appearance of the O'Rourke album at the expense of The Soft Bulletin, the Springsteen live set and the second Wrens album cropping up (though given my love for that band anyone who knows me a little shouldn't be all that shocked that I included it).
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
The Gothic Archies – The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events
A Lemony Snicket soundtrack, how can it be so good?
You news, you lose
I love vinyl like a crackhead loves rock.
Capital/Emi are nothing if not anxious to milk the cash cow that is the Radiohead back catalogue for all it's worth. Hot on the heels of the recent "Best Of" collections that they released comes a set of vinyl reissues.
On August 19th OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief will all hit shelves as past of the "From the Capital Vaults" series. As with the rest of the series the albums will be remastered and come on high quality vinyl.
Though no release date has been set it's expected that reissues of Pablo Honey and The Bends will soon follow.
And for what it's worth Coldplay are reissuing Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head on the same day.
New album news is all well and good but in this case I'm more concerned with live dates.
Truth be told I've not listened to I'm From Barcelona's Let Me Introduce My Friends in about 2 years. 2 outstanding songs and much filler do not for repeated listening make. Nevertheless Emanuel Lundgrun and his 20 or so bandmates have a new album due. Who Killed Harry Houdini is out on Mute Records on October 14th. Lead single "Paper Planes" is out on August 19th.
Tracklisting:
01 Andy
02 Paper Planes
03 Headphones
04 Music Killed Me
05 Gunhild (ft. SoKo)
06 Mingus
07 Ophelia
08 Houdini
09 Little Ghost
10 Rufus
There's a few festival dates lined up but presumably a full tour will be announced in the coming weeks.
I really want a Jazzmaster.
When I first got into guitars at 16 I was really into Radiohead (still am) and I became fascinated with this guitar …
.
It's a Fender Telecaster but it's not quite a standard one. For a start the headstock is one that was more typically found on older Stratocasters. And that shit blew my mind. I eventually decided that what must have happened was that Thom Yorke had taken the neck off of an old strat and put it on a tele.
But I'm obviously an idiot.
Because what the guitar actually is is a Tele Deluxe, Fender first issued it in the 70's as a rival to Gibson's Les Paul (it came with twin humbucker pickups). Anyway they reissued it a few years ago and last year I was finally able to afford a decent guitar. So I bought one.
And now what I really want is a Jazzmaster, mainly because as my tastes have developed over the years I've found that a whole bunch of my favourite guitarists, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth, Nels Cline currently of Wilco, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine (and also J Mascis and Tom Verlaine who aren't actually favourites of mine but I can recognise them as great guitarists) use them. The guitar is 50 years old this year and to mark that anniversary Moore, Cline, Mascis and Verlaine will be performing at New York's Knitting Factory on September 12th at a special concert.
Another thing to add to the list of things that make me wish I live in New York.
No twins this time?
Details are beginning to emerge of the follow up to Jenny Lewis' first solo album Rabbit Fur Coat. Acid Tongue is due out on Warners in September. The album features contributions from all sorts of luminaries with Elvis Costello, M. Ward, Zooey Deschanel, the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, Beachwood Sparks' "Farmer Dave" Scher, Rilo Kiley producer Jason Lader, and singer/songwriter Johnathan Rice all guesting as well as Paz Lenchantin from A Perfect Circle and her sister Ana, Davey Faragher of Costello's band and Lewis's sister Leslie who sings backing vocals. Lewis's father Eddie Gordon also plays harmonica on the album.
Tracklisting:
01 Black Sand
02 Pretty Bird
03 The Next Messiah
04 Bad Man's World
05 Acid Tongue
06 See Fernando
07 Godspeed
08 Carpetbaggers
09 Trying My Best to Love You
10 Jack Killed Mom
11 Sing a Song for Them
The YouTube video of the week
Sonic Youth's Letterman debut.
If you can you should go to these gigs.
TV On The Radio
09-05 Portland, OR - Roseland
09-06 Seattle, WA - Showbox
09-07 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore
09-09 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Ballroom
09-10 Edmonton, Alberta - Starlite Room
09-12 Boise, ID - Big Easy
09-13 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
09-14 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks (Monolith Festival)
09-19 San Diego, CA - Street Scene
09-20 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Festival
Why?
07-10 Dortmund, Germany - FZW
07-12 Dornstadt, Germany - Obtwiesen Festival
07-13 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Valkhof Affaire
07-18 Grafenhainichen, Germany - Ferropolis (Melt! Festival)
07-20 Dour, Belgium - Dour Festival
07-25 Hyere, France - Midi Festival
07-26 Laval, Quebec - 3 Elephants Festival
08-02 Osnabruck, Germany - Lokpop Festival
08-08 Diepholz, Germany - Appletreegarden Festival
08-10 Erlangen, Germany - E-Werk
08-12 Vigo, Spain - Vademecum
08-14 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
08-15 Hamburg, Germany - Uebel und Gefährlich
08-16 Saint-Malo, France - La Route du Rock
08-29 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall %
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
09-05 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
09-06 Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture
09-08 Austin, TX - Mohawk *
09-09 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater *
09-11 Pensacola, FL - Sluggo's *
09-12 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
09-13 Miami, FL - White Room *
09-14 Orlando, FL - The Social *
09-16 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle *
09-17 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
09-18 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
09-19 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts
09-20 Portland, ME - Space Gallery
09-21 Providence, RI - Club Hell
09-22 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
09-25 Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival
09-26 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge #
09-27 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock #
09-29 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
09-30 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
10-02 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
10-03 Seattle, WA - Vera Project
10-04 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
10-22 Poitiers, France - Confort Moderne
10-23 Saint-Etienne, France - Le Fil
10-24 Dijon, France - La Vapeur
10-25 Paris, France - BB Mix Festival
10-27 Amiens, France - Pirates Cabaret
10-28 Le Havre, France - Electrique
10-29 Rennes, France - L'Antipode
10-30 Nantes, France - Festival Yamoy
10-31 Vendôme, France - Rockomotives
11-01 Dublin, Ireland - Andrews Lane Theatre
11-03 London, England - TBA
11-06 Massy, France - Centre Culturel
11-07 Metz, France - Musique Volante
11-08 Colmar, France - Super Sound Festival
11-11 Berlin, Germany - Maria am Ufer
11-12 Leipzig, Germany - UT Connewitz
% with Tussle
* with Mount Eerie
# with Tobacco
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Built To Spill – Perfect From Now On.
Big Black – Songs About Fucking.
Henry Rollins - Get In The Van
The bit at the end
That's all for this week, I'll be guesting in the Sports Zone later in the week doing the soccer fact or fiction.
