Twelfth Annual Jaybee-bies: Journey Through the Past

Executive Summary:

Musically and politically, better than 2021. Personally stressful.

Abstract:

Slightly fewer fascists than expected in the Senate, but alas, they're in charge of it.

An excellent year in music. Women continue to damn near dominate. Few Masterpieces (frankly, they're usually overrated anyway). Just lotsa good rekkids.

Best Humans:

• Volodymyr Zelensky
• Jacinda Ardern
• Greta Thunberg

Worst Humans:

• Vladimir Putin
• Ron DeSantis
• MTG
• Lauren Boebert
• Alex Jones
• Matt Gaetz
• George Santos

Best Books:

• All the Marvels by Douglas Wolk: Having loved Marvel comics from 1965-1975 this was like manna from heaven. A celebration of great storytelling. 
• Orwell on Truth by George Orwell: Alleged stoolie tells you exactly what he thinks. Lucky for us he can see straight.
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: You have got to read the 1,300-page unabridged version, with a translation by Robin Buss. I'm a notoriously slow reader and yet I polished this off in three weeks. Rife with ludicrous plot twists and fantastical coincidences, this was an absolute delight to read.

Best Movies:

• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Batman
• Glass Onion

This might just be a list of what movies I saw. What can I say? I don't get out much.

Best TV:

• Better Call Saul
• Barry
• The White Lotus

What can I say? I don't stay in much, either. (I spend a lot of time in the vestibule.)

Best Concerts:

• None

Maybe I'm spending too much time in the vestibule.

Music Awards:

Most Work (But Worth it): 

• Schubert Leider: Sure, it will never be in my top 10, but I'm glad I've heard it.

Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): 

• Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht is the single piece of music I listened to the most this year, and I'm still not sure if I like it or not. Save it for a World History Project post, I say!

Most Surprising (and Not Necessarily in a Good Way): 

• Elizabeth and the Catapult: Taller Children - An excellent singer and band saying the obvious very expertly. They relentlessly pursue their goal of music utterly at odds with whatever I happen to like.

Most Disappointing: 

No music. Some humans, though...

Best Nostalgia:

10cc: Still as funny as when I first heard it and tuneful enough to keep me coming back.

Best Artist: 

Judee Sill, mainly because of neglect over the last 50 years.

The Best of My Year:

1. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (2022): Funny deadpan girls, Serious rock n' roll band.
2. Judee Sill: Abracadabra: The Asylum Years: Stunning melody - courtesy of God, it seems - gets me every time.
3. Yo La Tengo: Fade (2013) Modest and lofi to a fault. But by the end, they've convinced you it was worth it.
4. Spring Heel Jack: Busy, Curious, Thirsty (1997) Relentlessly invention electronica from beginning to end.
5. Ben Webster: King of the Tenors (1956) So simple and straightforward you couldn't be blamed for underestimating it. I know I did. Indelible.
6. Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee (2021): Somebody MUST have already come up with these melodies already, right?
7. Bob Marley: Burnin' (1973): A bit laid back but the songs just modestly pile up one after the other.
8. Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg (2021): The guitar is the star here. The "vocals" add a bit of clove.
9. Max Richter: The Blue Notebooks (2004): Not quite as haunting as Intra but damn close.
10. Lou Reed and John Cale: Songs for Drella (1990): Nice to hear a bunch of songs from these guys. A highlight for both of them.

Honorable Mentions/Also-Rans/Tieds for Tenth: 

• Sonny Sharrock: High Life 
• Thelonious Monk: Monk's Dream 
• Haim: Women in Music, Part III 
• Amyl and the Sniffers: Comfort to Me 

And a lot more not far behind! Another year with a bunch of also-rans. A good sign!

Some of the best songs I heard this year can be found here.

Conclusions:

A stressful year. Some drink more or smoke more. I listen more, which resulted in a lot of new records, plenty of which I haven't even mentioned. I hope I'll have a chance to. 

The musical present seems pretty good but there's so much of it, I'm finding it necessary to wait it out a bit to let the wheat separate from the hype. Hence, I've been spending more and more time delving into the past, where that separation has already occurred.

Oh, and it's nice to still have a democracy.

Too Soon?

March 27, 2022 (Reuters):  A conflict has broken out between the nations of Jaybee and Ms. Jaybee. The origins of the conflict are in dispute. One side has said it's about historical inequities and humiliation, while the other says it's just pure aggression. 

No matter who is right, it's now a war, and there can be no winners.

When historians look back their first question will, of course, be: Why doesn't Ms. Jaybee love every record Jaybee gets? If she did, none of this would have happened. But one can't go back.

The latest skirmish was just last week:

(Editor's Note: This is a dramatic reconstruction of events. Every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy.) 

(Editor's Wife's Note: Sez you.)

"Who's that you've got playing now?" she said.

"Guess," he said.

"Weyes Blood?" she replied. (Editors note: She always says Weyes Blood.)

"Nope. Big Thief," he responded. (Editor's Note: What he didn't say was Ahh ha! I heard you humming it! And to think when I first got it you HATED it!) 

(Editor's Wife's Note: Hate is a strong word, which I only use on our anniversary.)

Editor's Note: Perhaps a little background would be helpful:

She liked Weyes Blood and asked him to put it on many times. Although he's the one who actually got it, he liked it less than she did.

On the other hand, when he first got Big Thief she specifically asked that he not play it around her anymore.

And frankly, all the names blended together for her, while each was distinct and etched on his brain as with a chisel on a rock. (Editor's Wife's Note: Dense, thick, rock.)

If asked (Editor's Wife's Note: Don't) he would say it started when he found himself buying more and more rock records by bands led by women. And she - not being able to "accidentally" smash an mp3 like say, certain end table lamps - could only resort to pooh-pooh them, or damn them with faint praise. 

Neither Angel Olsen, Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, or even the Sandy Denny-led Fairport Convention could escape her disdain.

She would counter with, oh yeah? What about Beach House? Alvvays? Best Coast? Mitski? St. Vincent? Fiona Apple? Waxahatchee? Sharon Van Etten? Courtney friggin' Barnett?

Somehow that didn't help him. He had to admit the numbers seemed to be in her favor. But it did seem that the ones he liked the most were the ones she hated the most. There was the rub.

But there was nothing admitted. No satisfaction to be had by either side.

It called for an experiment. Each would give input and a grade to the three records in question:

Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg (2021)

Jaybee: Monotone female vocals, with words that sometimes seem random, combined with a good rhythm section and a rather pointed, distortion-drenched guitar. Fuckin' awesome, in my book.

A-

Ms. Jaybee: Pretty good. 

(Editor's note: This is a far cry from her initial expression of disgust.) 

(Editor's Editor Note: Disgust is probably too strong a word. Maybe resignation.)

B+

"Strong Feelings"

Weather Station: Ignorance (2021)

Jaybee: Mrs. Jaybee would often guess Weyes Blood when he put this on. She was close, but the vocals are a bit more relaxed, the tunes are a bit jazzier, and there's an actual beat. She might consider raising her voice at some point, though. The singer, not the Mrs.

A-

MJB: I like it but don't love it. Good background music. 

A-

"Parking Lot"

Haim: Women in Music, Part III  (2021)

Jaybee: For some reason, I was expecting loud rock music but instead got pop music in the best sense. Melodic, thoughtful and well played. Not brilliant but talented and worthy. But I'm not sure it couldn't have been done by someone else. Perhaps buoyed by their appearance in Licorice Pizza.

A-

Mrs. Jaybee: Enough of the bullshit already! A 

(Editor's Note: I find your enthusiasm baffling. Your first reaction was a shrug) 

(Editor's Wife's Note: The shrug was for you.)

"Halleluja"

Reuter's - March 28, 2022: BREAKING: The warring parties have agreed to a tentative ceasefire.

Mrs. Jaybee reportedly threatened to initiate the equivalent of a nuclear strike: a retaliatory purchase of a music album of her choosing each time Jaybee purchased one, which she would play in his presence each time he did the same.

When Jaybee asked what he could do to prevent this, Mrs. Jaybee replied "Just shutting the f*ck up would be nice".

He agreed, saying "Sure! I was gonna put on a new album anyway. It's by this all-female rock band that I just know you're gonna love..."

Reuter's - March 29, 2022: BREAKING: Jaybee has gone missing, and is believed to be in hiding.