The Best of 2011: Part Three

Merge Records

East River Pipe – We Live in Rented Rooms

Fred Cornog’s output as East River Pipe has always had a downer vibe to it, but the depress-o nature of his music has never felt gratuitous. For instance, if you were listening to a Nine Inch Nails record, it’s likely that about 1/3 of the way through, you would say “Trent, how can you still be this angry after all this time? What sort of pain have you actually experienced other than your white boy guilt?” Cornog has lived it – he battled depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, and ended up homeless in a Hoboken train station.

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.

Record Geek Heaven’s Top 50 Albums of the Decade (part 2)

Now to finish it off!

25. Bjork—Selmasongs (2000)

Like the film Dancer in the Dark did for the musical, “In the Musicals” reinvents the musical number. It has all the rising, uplifting trajectory of the best Rogers & Hammerstein tunes without being cheesy and overbearing like those were. Sure, musicals were the thing back in the forties, but it can be safely said that their popularity and credibility are slipping these days.

Top 100 Albums of the Decade (part 10)

The Flaming Lips—Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Warner Bros., 2002

There isn’t a whole lot that can be said about Yoshimi that hasn’t been said already, but one thing does have to be reiterated: it is NOT a concept album. It gets tiresome to hear people say something over and over again when it’s just inherently wrong—it’s been confirmed by Wayne Coyne himself, so just let it go already. Besides, it’s not like it has to be a concept album for it to be a great record.

The Music Journal: Entry #11

11/26/09

Thanksgiving Day—a day of food, family, and football. The latter is currently happening in our living room as I write this, Texas vs. A&M to be exact. I have the other two on the brain a little more right now, though.