So how good a year was it (Musically speaking)?
Great! I’m usually complaining about now but this time around I really can’t.
There hasn’t been anything quite as great as last year’s Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest, but 2017 was way more consistent than 2016.
It’s been such a good year musically that even though I didn't get any great holiday (my definition) music, I realize that was probably too much to ask for. In a way, I did get it, just too early, and everything since then has been trying to catch up. Most of it great stuff, too. Just not for the holidays.
It was so good that my son’s record - good as it is - just made the top 10. But I have to grade him hard here, don’t I?
And how bad a year was it?
Well, my mom died in 2017, along with an uncle, aunt and cousin. I made a playlist for her. The effort involved digging into a lot of music from my childhood, which was emotionally draining. So it’s a good thing that the music was there for me.
And, of course, there’s this sociopath trying to destroy the country, but hey, what the fuck, right?
(I Still Suck at) Resolutions:
I still say “awesome” and “let's get on the same page” way too much.
I don’t get 10,000 steps in a day.
I don’t write 1,000 words per day.
I don’t exercise.
I don’t eat enough vegetables.
I eat too many sweets. (Hey, I thought dark chocolate was a health food!)
I could probably cut down on the drinking a bit.
So how can you expect me to follow my musical resolutions, like getting guitar lessons from my son Michael?
So how did I do with last years resolutions?
Buying fewer CDs: A mp3s: 20 CDs: 9
Buying Current Year Music: B- Still pretty crappy. Just Randy Newman, American Epic (if that counts, Nick Cave (if that counts), Jens Lekman, the New Pornographers.
2018 Resolution:
Catching up on the current decade: I’ll be focusing on the 2010s and so may not do so well on the Current Year Music resolutions. Nothing like clashing resolutions to start off a successful year!
Top Ten Albums:
Tied for first:
Innocence Mission: Glow (1995) - Their seeming lightness is overcome by sheer joy.
New Pornographers: Whiteout Conditions (2017) - A big ole box of hooks and snark.
King Creosote and John Hopkins: Diamond Mine (2011) - Like Glow, this one is so fragile you think it's going to break, but it never does.
Loudon Wainwright III: Older Than My Old Man Now (2012) - An older, wiser man looks death, and even worse - family - in the eye.
Courtney Barnett: The Double EP, A Sea of Split Peas (2013) - She's sly, she's funny, she's a bit insecure, but she's got a great deadpan delivery
6. Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Style (2015) - Some hooks and sounds even more brilliant than Denial, but hampered by airplane-hangar sound.
7. Jon Hopkins: Immunity (2013) - In a genre not reknown for deep emotion, this one wears you down until you hear the heart beating underneath.
8. Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now (2017) - He writes in a style even my mom would have liked, and happens to be pretty great, too.
9. Todd Snider: Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables (2012) - Strong medicine, this explains how Trump happened. I'd buy it if he could have explained why Bernie didn't happen.Tied for tenth:
Death Cab for Cutie: The Open Door EP (2009) - Expert, driven, tuneful music.
Forlorne: The Old and Weathered Glass (2017) - Son of blogger gets even better.
Low: Things We Lost in the Fire: (2001) - This one feels like they know 9/11 is coming and they're already in mourning.
Roots: How I Got Over (2010) - Combines the best of Kanye and Lamar.
Future Islands: Singles (2014) - Just a shade shy of awful, they manage to do all the right things to make it almost soulful.
Yeah, I cheated. There are fourteen.
Honorable Mentions:
Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and the Jazz All Stars, Kanye West, Miles Davis, Cloud Nothings.
Am I saying that the Top Ten are better music than the Honorable Mentions? Yes, but just for now.
Most Fun: New Pornographers
Most Bracing: Todd Snider
Most Work (But Worth it): Kendrick Lamar, American Epic
Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): Nick Cave
Most Surprising: Innocence Mission
Most Disappointing: Sonic Youth: Dirty
Best Artist: Courtney Barnett
Favorite Songs: My favorites can be found here:
Observations:
Pop beat out everything. It beat out hip-hop and jazz. Hip-hop because it’s not one of a go-to genre of mine, and jazz because those records were already familiar to me and thus lose out to the new.
One might think protest music would be the order of the day but sometimes pop - not stupid, empty pop, but instead smart, brainy pop - was the right medicine.
Last year’s music gave me hope. Let’s see how far into 2018 it gets me.
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