The Best of 2011: Part Four

True Panther Sounds

Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

San Francisco indie pop outfit Girls has a gift for balancing old with new, progression with rumination, and order with chaos. Their first release, simply titled Album, proved this to the world and has become one of the most beloved rock releases of the ADD generation; which is odd, considering it’s full of tunes that require at least a little amount of patience. There’s just something about the songwriting talents of Christopher Owens and the production abilities of Chet Jr. White that make for a truly golden partnership, and though each Girls release is different from the next, their path still remains linear.

Joint Review: Superchunk “Majesty Shredding” and The Posies “Blood/Candy”

Merge 2010

So far, 2010 has been a pretty stellar year for rock and roll. It started off a little hairy, with slews of cover albums and a tapering off of 2009’s polished mediocrity. But in its wake, 2010 should be remembered as the year of the comebacks that mattered. In recent years, it seems every band from Dinosaur Jr to Mission of Burma to Superdrag to Killing Joke has reunited to give things another go-round, and in most cases, the resulting new albums are a little underwhelming.

Rykodisc 2010

Fortunately, some people still understand what a comeback is supposed to mean. Ideally, a comeback should come from a band that has been around for a long time and seen a hiatus. But, it’s only a truly successful comeback album if the record is as good as or better than anything previously released in the band’s discography. Judging from these parameters, it seems that two of my favorite bands from back in my high school days—Superchunk and The Posies—have released the best comeback albums of the last decade.

Listening Log: March 12th thru March 15th, 2010

Matador 1999

3/13/10-3/15/10

Album of the Day: Pavement “Terror Twilight”

This has been on my turntable for the last three days. I just keep flipping from side to side. I bought the vinyl used at Love Garden years ago, back when it was still the old upstairs store. The near-mint copy was only six dollars. Nowadays, with vinyl being how popular it is, I bet “Terror Twilight” would go for at least double that amount. Hell, maybe even triple, what with their reunion tour coming up later this year. That is part of the reason I was listening to Pavement, actually—I just paid $54 for my GA ticket to the Uptown show on 9/11/10, and even though the show is still six whole months away, I feel myself getting more psyched for it all the time. I never got to see Pavement live. They are one of those bands that first turned me on to great rock music, and I came along just a little too late to actually witness them.

The Music Journal: Entry #10

11/18/09

Brendan Benson

Lots of cool stuff is happening here at the end of the year. This month alone, my band The Dead Girls has two amazing gigs—one we already played, which was this last Saturday opening for Brendan Benson at the Bottleneck. Here’s a video of us from that show performing “Don’t Change” by INXS.

the Dead Girls – “Don’t Change” (INXS cover) from Nick Spacek on Vimeo.

Capsule Reviews 11/11/09

Sire Records

Tegan and Sara—Sainthood

Tegan and Sara have always seemed somewhat convoluted, more of a producer’s concoction than legit songwriters. Still, they are undeniably charming, and some of their songs are undeniably catchy.