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30's Top 68 Albums of the Decade
Why 68? 'Cause 67 is too few and 69 would give too many frat rubes an excuse to feel like they had a sense of humor. We'll be unveiling the list day by day, disc by disc until we run out of decade. So drop back now and again, or just show up on the 31st. It probably won't matter either way.
Present Ghosts of Freddy Ruppert: A Sighting of Former Ghosts
Jesus Christ and Zola Jesus, do we write about anything other than being emo anymore? Sure we do. We write about how hasty deception in the name of poor humor might belittle the efforts of whoever went out and actually wrote something for our sorry site. And that's what makes us invincible. Er, irrational. Hey! Check out what Mark wrote!
The Get Up Kids – A 10 Song Retrospective
If you've ever wondered what makes a person get entrenched in the tawdry and vicious world of the Get Up Kids, or if you've ever just wanted a blueprint for how you might join the teeming masses, boy howdy, does Tyler Greenleaf have a tale to tell.
3 Inches of Blood, on the Floor
You've played it safe for far too long, young jeezy, so now it's become the task of our longest-running contributor, James Dufendach, to call you out on your Sufjan-loving, hipster-haircut , Sunggie-mocking ways.
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Special Report: This Week In College Radio CMJ Style (Part One)
Top 10 most played albums (according to CMJ Music Report):
1 IRON AND WINE The Shepherd’s Dog
2 JOSE GONZALEZ In Our Nature
3 STARS In Our Bedroom After The War
4 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Strawberry Jam
5 BAND OF HORSES Cease To Begin
6 JENS LEKMAN Night Falls Over Kortedala
7 BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS KEVIN DREW Spirit If...
8 THE WEAKERTHANS Reunion Tour
9 THE GO! TEAM Proof of Youth
10 HOT HOT HEAT Happiness LTD
CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival – New York City (October 16-20, 2007).
PART 1 (Day 1 & 2)
My radio station (WWSU) sent me to New York City for the annual CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon and Film Festival (my girlfriend decided to tag along). The weather was pleasant (except for one day of rain) and some of the most interesting indie acts from around the country and the world were playing at the various venues all throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Here is what I took in:
Day 1 – Tuesday:
Went to the Bowery Ballroom. Had no trouble getting in. Got there just in time to see most of a little band I had never heard of before:
 The Shaky Hands – Mildly entertaining. Reminded me a bit of Modest Mouse and Of Montreal. Only not as good as either.
 Miracle Fortress – Missing in action. Found out later that this Canadian artist was stopped at the fortress that is the border, and would have needed a miracle to get into the US.
 The Most Serene Republic – This quirky and complex indie band was one of the reasons I came to this particular show. They came out in fun spirit, banging on pots and pans, and never looked back, plowing through bursts of songs with keys, violin, and trombone, in addition to the normal guitar, bass, and drums. The singer, Adrian Jewett, was a bit goofy, waving his arms and doing strange little dances, but ultimately likable. It was a frenetic performance.
 Dean & Britta – Dean Wareham, one of the pioneers of slowcore and a former member of Galaxie 500, teams up (musically and romantically) with fellow ex-Luna member Britta Phillips for a bit of slow, lovely pop in the vein of Beach House and Arthur & Yu, with just a touch of The Magic Numbers. It was nice, but I could tell the crowd was getting restless for:
 The Rosebuds – Somehow, in the last year, this cute North Carolina pop band has gotten a lot bigger. This was my third time seeing The Rosebuds, and their crowds have been bigger and more excited each time. The band has gone completely into disco-pop territory (Kelly plays the keyboards on every song now) and really knows how to rock out. It was an energetic performance from start to finish, and amazingly, the indie kids were dancing.
Day 2 – Wednesday:
We decided to check out The Film Festival, and saw a film in the IFC Center that we knew nothing of: Greetings From The Shore. It began with a girl driving in a car, listening to Apples in Stereo, and my girlfriend and I nudged each other, saying, “This is gonna be good.” Only it wasn’t.
For an independent feature, it was an oddly clichéd romantic film with a girl getting over the death of her dad, a crummy summer job, an annoying boss, a mysterious and handsome foreigner, a seemingly scary character who turns out to have a heart, a mean, cheating bad guy, a father figure, a dramatic card game, and of course, a decision between the life you know and the love you have just found. It was Dirty Dancing on the Jersey Shore. Director and co-writer Greg Chwerchak was there along with co-writer Gabrielle Berberich, and several members of the cast. Although the film was rather average (and dragged down by an awful, manipulative after school special score – why couldn’t they have stuck with the Apples in Stereo?), it was enjoyable to hear the filmmakers and cast talk about the process of making an independent film.
Afterwards, while waiting for a subway train, we ran into one of the actors from the film, Jay O. Sanders. He’s one of those character actors you just know you’ve seen in all kinds of movies, you just can’t think of which ones (IMDb tells me he was in Half Nelson, The Day After Tomorrow, and Kiss the Girls, among dozens of other things). My girlfriend, in typical charming fashion, called out to him, “Hey! We just saw you!” Turns out Jay is a very nice, personable guy. He shook our hands, introduced himself, and asked our names, as we got onto the subway train. Jay continued to talk to us and we found out that he lives in New York but used to live in Ohio (like us), he’s currently performing on Broadway, and his dad was in the Peace Corps and made non-violent games for kids. He gave us some ideas of places to check out while we’re in New York and after another handshake, we were on our way.
That night, we headed to the Avalon, which is an old church that has been turned into an ultra-modern Japanese-style club (with four levels). When we got there, we couldn’t tell what band was playing, because the schedule had been changed at the last minute. It was some ultra-sloppy garage rock band who had no concept whatsoever of dynamics. Every song was a constant barrage of guitars and yelping (and no hint of songcraft). The crowd was definitely not into it. They were followed by:
 Mates of State – The married, minimalist pop duo (Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel) came on stage to big cheers from the crowd. Surprisingly, Kori was very pregnant. They said it was the first show they had played in a long time, and they had a really fun time, Kori at her keyboard and Jason at the drums. They played their insanely catchy songs with energy and excitement, like there was no tomorrow. The most striking thing about the performance was the perfect blend between Kori’s pretty lead vocals and Jason’s surprisingly high, capable voice. This was the best show we’d seen so far and we decided to call it a night.
END OF PART 1
-30-
Josh Bledsoe is the Music Director at WWSU 106.9 in Dayton, Ohio. You can listen to WWSU online here. Bledsoe’s show, “The Dean’s List,” airs 1-3 PM EST every Thursday.
written on 2007/10/29 by Josh Bledsoe |
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