Ninth Annual Jaybee-bies: The Best of 2019, But Not Really

Well, This Is Embarrassing.

Despite my best efforts to stay current, I got so focused on catching up on the decade that I never actually got to 2019. Thus, my 2019 list has no 2019 records on it! Nutboy would be mortified.

It’s people like Nutboy - by focusing on the here and the now and yet somehow absorbing the latest 30-CD Bob Dylan Bootleg release - who keep me humble. I’m waiting for your 2019 list NB!

I was tempted to check out the 2019 records that appeared on the many decade lists I perused, but I didn’t trust the rankings. The value of decade lists is that they give people years to process what they heard. But you only get a few months for the 2019 records. Hence there’s a temptation to overrate what you happen to like at that moment.


Resolutions: 

So, I will - again - resolve to get 2020 music during actual 2020. And, I guess, catch up on, um, 2019. A new decade and I’m already behind the f*cking 8-ball. Or in my case maybe the 7-ball.

Aside from that, I won’t bore you yet again with my pathetic attempts at personal resolutions. They’re going about as well as you’d expect.

But as far as music goes, I’ve made some adjustments. I had previously resolved to get more mp3s. I’m now hearing that the sound quality of CDs (and vinyl) is better. (Any advice on this would be appreciated.) So I may go back to CDs. We’ll just have to add an extension to the house.

Oh, I’ve been (re)learning guitar, and have resolved to practice “more”, whatever that means.


Awards:

Most Work (But Worth it): Arca

Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): tUnE yArDs

Most Surprising: Lykki Li

Most Disappointing: tUnE yArDs

Best Artist: Nobody, but that's okay.


Best Books:

This was not a great year for finishing books, but for those that I did, here are my favorites.

Any Old Way You Choose It by Robert Christgau
Just so much fun to read a person's first-hand reaction to events and music from decades ago. A

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Very entertaining and I learned a lot. But I couldn't have the latter without the former. A-

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Jane’s always reliable for a good yarn. A-

Susan Sontag: The Complete Rolling Stone Interview, Cott, Jonathan
I enjoyed Sontag’s answers a lot more than Cott’s questions.  A-


Oh, Yeah. Music:

I didn’t hear anything that absolutely floored me, but all of the below rewarded repeated listening.

Last year, of my top ten, five were either lead or co-led by a woman. This year makes that year look like a case of testosterone poisoning.

There was also a struggle between fun and seriousness. In a pinch, the former won.

In terms of quality 1-4 are very close, as are 5-6 and 7-9 and - of course - 10.

1. Snail Mail: Lush (2018)  Compared to the ladies below, she’s a bit of a sad sack, but she wants what’s best for you.
2. Alvvays: Anti-Socialites (2017)  She’s pretty level headed about love. And outright serious about catchiness.
3. Best Coast: Crazy for You (2010)  Not only do the songs sound similar, but their themes are also similar. She loves him, he drives her crazy. What might drive you crazy in a friend can be very entertaining in an artist.
4. Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer  (2018)  Yes, Prince is dead, but she is filling the hole pretty nicely so far.
5. Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker (2018)  He may have been a young hedonist but he worked and worked and worked until the very end.
6. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour (2018) The songs are not all uniformly great, but that voice! 
7. Soccer Mommy: Clean (2018)  Sometimes irritatingly weird but I keep listening to it.
8. Pusha T: Daytona (2018)  Grim realities right in your face. Compelling.
9. Noname: Room 25 (2018) This flows beautifully from beginning to end.
10. And tied for 10th: Arca: Arca (2017), Lykki Li: Wounded Rhymes (2011), Father John Misty: I Love You Honeybear (2010), Tom Waits: Bad As Me (2011), Bon Iver: Bon Iver (2011)

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

Here's to the New Year! 

Are we in a war yet?

Sponges

Ah, the 62-year old brain!

It just doesn’t process music the way a 15-year old one does. The latter hears a tune and it instantly experiences ecstasy. And maybe that 15-year old’s life is transformed. And then it happens again the next day.

This is because - as we say - their brains are like sponges. Brand new, right out of the package ones, mind you. But they’re always ready to soak it all up.

The 62-year old brain, however, is that sponge over there by your kitchen sink which you've been meaning to replace because it's been there for months and has those stains and hard brown edges. It’ll work, but you’ve got to run it under the tap for a minute or two to loosen it up.

Which is my way of saying I don’t know what I think of some records until I’ve listened to them for weeks, or even months. I guess it’s my version of running the tap.


Take this record:


Soccer Mommy: Clean (2018)

I was struggling with it because here is yet another example of the female indie rock singer-guitarist with less than upbeat songs.

At first, I didn’t care for it. It resembled Snail Mail, which I liked a lot because it was sad but sweet. This one is simultaneously more commercial and yet stranger and darker (people eating each other, or treating them like dogs, etc.)

But now, after these few months, I can say it’s also more subtle and varied than SN.  And my official verdict is Almost Just Not Quite But Really Almost Just As Good.

And Snail Mail - for all her heart - doesn’t come up with a winner like “Last Girl”.

A-

“Last Girl”


Or this one: 


Father John Misty: I Love You Honeybear (2010)

I held off a long time before getting anything by FJM.  I felt I’d given the guys enough opportunities over the years. And the chances of another young man having enough talent and wisdom without ruining it with some bullshit seemed kind of low.

But I saw it for a good price at Barnes and Noble and said what the hell.

First impressions:

• Not-lame tunes
• Not overwrought
• Not (too) nasty. 

Notice that these are not good qualities but merely the absence of bad ones. So it became an issue of whether or not he brought something to the table.

Well, there’s that lovely tenor, which could easily be misused, but isn’t here. So putting the record on was a not-unpleasant experience. (At this point, one could reasonably ask, Jaybee, do you even like music? Do you hate men? The answers are yes, but not as much as when I was 15, and all too many.

Now, after a couple of months of putting it on regularly, I put it on again. And every single song has something to offer. And sometimes more than one thing.

I think it may have moved into the Active Pleasure phase. How rare!

A-

Christ, when did music get to be so much work?