2019: Who Doesn't Like Leftovers?

I don’t know about you but we (well, I) just stopped eating the Christmas leftovers a week or so ago. It may cause me to grow a third ear but that'll just help me keep up with all this music.

The following are all the records I accumulated during 2019 that I hadn’t yet mentioned - usually, because I had very little to say about them, or they took a while to sink in. 

Months or years from now I’ll put some of them on and have a blast, but for now, most of them fall into the pleasant/fun-but-not-quite-exhilarating category. In other words, life on a pretty good day.

Let’s go in ascending order of excellent-ness.

Tune-Yards: Nikki Nack (2014)

This is a pretty good record, but a huge letdown from 2010’s W H O K I L L. This one is similarly weird and almost as inventive, and if I'd gotten it first it would sound just fine.

B+

"Find a New Way"

Carly Rae Jepsen: E*MO*TION (2015)

Mr.s Jaybee looks at me weird when I get records like this. No dear, I’m not creeping on the young women. Besides, said young women are usually one third my age, and Ms. Jepsen is merely one half.

Re the actual music, I am in awe of its almost pathological catchiness. Between I really really really really really like you and give me love, give me love, give me love, give me love, give me love, give me love, give me love there’s really no doubting where she stands on um, interpersonal questions. I almost want the young lady to take a rest midway through the album (which she does at cut 5). But then again, like I said she’s much younger than me.

B+

“I Really Like You”

Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle (1968)

Recognize that name? You should. He’s worked with Randy Newman, Little Feat, Brian Wilson, JoAnna Newsome, Harry Nilsson and a huge list of others. This is his very first album

It’s oddly Americana-ish for a psychedelic time and too weird for immediate enjoyment. I suspect it’s a grower but mostly for those odd occasions when you’re feeling completely alienated from the modern world. And who could blame you?

 B+

"The Attic"

Los Lobos: Colossal Head (1996)

These guys just impress the hell out of me. There’s a real fuck you attitude to this one. I mean, how many good records do they have to make to have you sit up and notice??

The guitar really stings on this one. They’re way past La Bamba, artiness and white acceptance.  Here the just rock.

B+

"Can’t Stop the Rain"

 

Idles: Joy As An Act of Resistance (2018)

Angry punk music, great dynamics, and a singer with a big deep voice. It’s closer to mid-tempo rather than the breakneck speed punk is more famous for. The main advantage of this is you can tell exactly what they’re mad about.

B+

"Colossus"

LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening (2010)

Same old LCDSS but unlike The Sound of Silver, this one is very consistent. It doesn’t have anything undeniably great like "All My Friends" but I like the consistency of this one.

B+

"I Can Change"

Algiers: The Under Side of Power (2017)

This is less cerebral than TV on the Radio. More impassioned, too. The vocals are simply overpowering. This is a weird mix of gospel, hard rock/punk and a few other things I can't name. It’s not an easy listen. By the time it’s over you feel like you’ve worked out. But every time I put it on I rank it higher and higher.

B+

"Mme Rieux"

REM: Unplugged Completely (1995) Bootleg

I’d been looking for something like this for quite some time. They had their MTV set before I had cable and so I only heard bits of it here and there. 

This pulls all of that set together with some other acoustic performances right around their commercial peak.

As one who loves Out of Time, this one brings similar joys.

There are a few versions of this, that encompass their entire career. This one’s from 1991 or so and sticks to that early middle period that may consider the band’s peak.

A-

"Belong"

Rihanna: Anti (2016)

Who (in my demographic) would know what to expect from this critically hailed record by a fiery and sometimes problematic young lady. So what’s here?

A great voice. Excellent tunes. And no dumb crowd-pleaser songs. (Well, ok, I guess “Sex With Me” counts.) But I actively enjoy each of these songs. And they are songs, not just tracks with a voice over it.

This young lady may have some questionable choices in her life but she has made none of them here.

A-

"Close to You"

 

Alvvays: Anti-Socialites (2017)

This one falls right smack in the middle of my current comfort zone: catchy pop from female-led bands.

This one is more methodically catchy, which I guess has its shortcomings. But while she might also really really really etc like you, she has a little more to say about it than just that.

A-

And so now that I've gotten all that off my chest I look back on the last year and find that my focus on catching up on the decade has caused me to ignore records actually released in 2019 altogether.



Jesus H. Christ, I've got work to do.

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?

Decade: Ours

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You: 

Anyone searching for the Ultimate Truth in Music by looking at the many Best Albums of the Year, Decade, Century, etc., lists out there is probably wasting their time.

But here are some of them anyway. Have at it. There's plenty more:
Pitchfork
Billboard
Stereogum
Rolling Stone
New Musical Express
VICE
Consequence of Sound
Variety

There is a remarkable consistency to these lists, but if you check the music itself out you may or may not be impressed.

Not only are Best of Anything lists (mine included) subjective, they’re personal. Meaning that my favorites moved me in a way that they may never move you. So there’s a risk you’ll be baffled by what I love. Who would blame you for thinking There I go, trying to learn about good music but end up only learning about Jaybee. I should sell t-shirts that say “I Went to Jaybee’s Blog and All I Got Was a Lousy CD”.

Also, after perusing a couple of dozen best of the decade lists, I see that my personal favorites rarely appear at the top. I was much more likely to find them somewhere in the middle. This is not because I’m especially unique but rather because I’m somewhat unique. Just like you. All together now, “We are all individuals!”

Polls are compiled by people whose job is to listen to as much pop music as possible. I couldn’t possibly have heard as much music as they did, but they couldn't possibly have heard some music as much as me.

To put it another way, while the pollsters, having heard more music than me, can judge it all in a wider context that enables them to do so in a more intellectual way, I’m judging mine in a narrower one, and have the opportunity to be more emotionally moved by it than they have the time to be.

So, here’s some guidance to my lists and to all those other ones you’re bound to see:

• “Great” records are somewhat overrated: You'll hear a lot of hype or enthusiasm directed at some records. If you decide to check them out, don't be shocked if they leave you a little cold. There's a million reason for this, not the least of which is that rush one feels when we think we're seeing an emperor not fully clothed.  Don't get too mad, though. I might be you. Give it some time and you may eventually deem it "good".
• “Good” records are somewhat underrated: These are the ones in the middle of the list. They tend to make the list after all the other more famous artists get (more than) their due and it's kind of where I live. I'm not saying you'll love the same ones I do but the ones you would love are hidden here.

And finally, there are all those records that consistently topped those polls that I’d not gotten around to hearing yet. Normally, I'd be excited to get to those records asap, but, sadly, this time around I have no illusions about how much I’ll end up liking them once I do hear them. This is because they’re not in my go-to genres, like pop or rock 'n roll.

That’s okay. I will get to them, and give them the time to sink in. And when something does click it’s the sound of a new door opening. And that, people, is why I do this.

My attitude is the exact opposite of that tired old “Music Sucks These Days” attitude geezers like me are prone to.

No, music doesn't suck these days. But maybe we do. Oh, not you or me. Some other guy.


This Decade:

The good news is that there were plenty of albums to love, if not to be completely obsessed by. Ask me tomorrow and the order will be completely different:

1. Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Denial (2016) 🌶 Yes, it's a little too long, a little too sloppy. Yes, the songs end a little too abruptly. Yes, Will Toledo's nasally voice isn't...welcoming. But damn if this isn't the most bracing rock n' roll I've heard in maybe decades.
2. tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L (2010) 🌶
3. Tame Impala: Lonerism (2012)    🌶
4. Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Just Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)  
5. Robbie Fulks: Upland Stories (2016)
6. Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (2010) 
7. Courtney Barnett: The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas (2013) 
8. Sufjan Stevens: Carrie and Lowell (2015)
9. Beach House: Bloom (2012) 
10. Jon Hopkins: Immunity  (2013)
11. Beach House: Teen Dream (2010) 
12. Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest (2010) 🌶
13. Max Richter: Infra (2010) 🌶
14. Angel Olsen: My Woman (2016) 🌶
15. King Creosote/John Hopkins: Diamond Mine  (2011)
16. Snail Mail: Lush (2018)  
17. Beck: Morning Phase  (2014)
18. Grimes: Art Angels  (2015)
19. The New Pornographers: Whiteout Conditions  (2017)
20. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour (2018)  
21. The Roots: How I Got Over  (2010)
22. Superchunk: Majesty Shredding (2010)  
23. Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer  (2018)
24. Alvvays: Anti-Socialites (2017)
25. Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park (2013)
26. Mike Burns: Mountain Mover EP (2015)
27. Tallest Man on Earth: The Wild Hunt (2010) 
28. Loudon Wainwright III: Older Thank My Old Man Now  (2012) 
29. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound (2017) 
30. Waxahatchee: Out from the Storm (2017)
31. Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker (2018)  
32. Best Coast: Crazy for You   (2010)
33. Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now (2017) 
34. Robyn: Body Talk  (2010)
35. Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory  (2012)
36. Lori McKenna: The Bird and the Rifle (2016)
37. Kanye West: My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy  (2010)
38. Yo La Tengo: Stuff Like That There (2015)  
39. Paul Simon: So Beautiful or So What? (2011)   
40. Withered Hand: New Gods (2014)
41. Forlorne: The Old and Weathered Glass  (2017)
42. Arca: Arca  (2017)
43. Soccer Mommy: Clean (2018)  
44. Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear  (2010)
45. Mbongwana Star: From Kinshasa (2015)
46. Parquet Courts: Light Up Gold/Tally Up the Things You Broke (2013)
47. Japandroids: Celebration Rock (2012)  
48. Destroyer: Kaputt (2011)
49. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel (2012) 
50. Todd Snyder: Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables (2012)

Okay, I'll stop here. Yes, it was THAT good a decade.

Here's a Spotify list of my favorite songs from the 2010s, which, by the way, I'm constantly adding to. Like most of my lists, it starts out quiet and gets louder and faster, but then gets quiet again. (Hey, that sounds like when I get drunk...)

It might help you figure out which of the above are worth checking out. 

Decade: Mine

We’re closing in on the end of the decade, and I’ve been busy trying to catch up on the music I’d missed, and revisit what I’d already gotten, with the ultimate aim of - what else? - compiling a "Best Albums of the Decade" list.

But when I buy albums I don’t confine myself to music from the current decade. So a lot of the music I heard during this decade actually came from a prior one. And thus, a large part of my experience of music during this decade includes that older music What to do?

Compiling a list that combines all of this music isn't a good idea because the current decade would almost certainly get short shrift.

So I compile two lists: one comprised of the best music released this decade, but also another one with the best music from prior ones. The first list is the Best of THE Decade, which I'll deal with next time.

The second is the best of MY Decade, which I have below.

But first, some observations:


Meh Decade: 

Throughout the decade I’d repeatedly experienced fatigue from trying to absorb more music than my little brain could handle. The good news is that this catching up has finally allowed me to “hear” records that I’d previously only been scratching my head about.

One great example of Disappointments That Didn’t Last was Radiohead: The Bends. At first, I felt suffocated by this, but I eventually caught up to it one. The guitars are simply undeniable and Thom York sings pretty. A-

But sometimes it went the other way. There were albums I kind of liked when I first got them, but that I’m not too keen on now. Two of those Albums That Didn’t Stand the Test of Time were Animal Collective's Merriwether Post Pavillion and Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Fegmania!

Then there were those Records Whose Bad First Impression Lasted, like:

• Pixies: Bossanova 
• Portishead: Dummy 
• Wild Flag: Wild Flag  
• Young Marble Giants: Colossal Youth
• Elliott Smith: Either /Or  
• Speedy Ortiz: Foil Deer  
• Ex Hex: Rips
• The Smiths: The Queen is Dead
• The Clean: Anthology
• Superchunk: What a Time to Be Alive 

And sorry to say, David Bowie just didn’t bring it. Blackstar is pretty good but I was expecting more. And Lodger didn’t measure up to its two Berlin Trilogy predecessors.

And speaking of dead heroes, my nominee for Worst Record of MY Decade is Phil Ochs' Pleasures of the Harbor  Phil, I love you man, but Jeez!


My Decade:

Anyway, here's a list of my favorite records from prior decades that I finally got to hear this decade in very rough order:

1. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005) 🌶 If I really give it a lot of thought I could probably rank a dozen or so records higher, but we’ve got a President to impeach, so...
2. Sufjan Stevens: Greetings from Michigan (2003) 
3. Beck: Sea Change (2002) 
4. Andrew Bird: And the Mysterious Production of Eggs (2005)  
5. Grandaddy: The Sophtware Slump (2000) 🌶  
6. Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (Extended Version) (1967) 🌶 
7. The Dandy Warhols: Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia (2000)  
8. Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans (2004)  
9. Imperial Teen: On (2002) 
10. Clean: Vehicle (1990) 
11. The Innocence Mission: Glow (1995)
12. Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2000) 🌶
13. The Grateful Dead: Anthem of the Sun (1968)  
14. Fairport Convention: Leige and Lief  (1969)  
15. Belle and Sebastian: The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998) 
16. Procol Harum: A Salty Dog (1969)  
17. Imperial Teen: Seasick (1996)
18. Brian Eno: Music for Airports (1978) 🌶
19. Willie Nelson: Stardust  (1978)
20. Brian Eno/John Cale: Wrong Way Up? (1990)  
21. The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike (2004)
22. Errol Garner: The Complete Concert by the Sea 
23. The Go-Betweens: The Friends of Rachel Worth  (2000)
24. The Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder (2007)  
25. Amadou and Miriam: Welcome to Mali (2008)
26. John Prine: In Spite of Ourselves (1999)
27. Bob Marley and the Wailers: Catch a Fire (1973)
28. Death Cab for Cutie: The Open Door (EP) (2009)
29. Philip Glass: Glassworks (1982)
30. Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Spinning Around the Sun (1993) 
31. Bright Eyes: Lifted (2002) 
32. Radiohead: The Bends (1995) 
33. Yo La Tengo: Fakebook (1990) 
34. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz (2009) 
35. Liz Phair: Whitechocolatespacegg (1998) 
36. Roxy Music: Country Life (1974) 
37. Spoon: Kill the Moonlight (2002) 
38. Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) 
39. Brian Eno: Apollo (1983) 
40. Nick Drake: Bryter Layter (1970)

Next Time: Our Decade

Decade: More Fun in the Old World

Last time out I gave you some lame post about the decade in genres. It was really just my way of putting off compiling my Actual Best of the Decade List(s).

Well, I’m doing it again. I will persist in my procrastination by now providing you with a couple of lists that almost by definition are about music from prior decades, but the point is that they happened to me in this decade.


Best Throwbacks:

These are albums I’m somewhat familiar with but never got around to actually owning until now. I don’t like judging them against records that I’m hearing for the first time because, on the one hand, they’re somewhat better for having been around this long. But, weirdly, they sometimes contain filler - the parts you didn’t hear on the radio, and the good parts are a bit played out - and that makes them mortal. I don’t want to overreact to those flaws.

Because of these ad/disadvantages, I’d rather just judge them now by how much fun they provided me this time around:

1. Rolling Stones - Singles Collection  This could easily have ended up on top of the list below, but I’m familiar with so much of it already, that wouldn’t have been fair. This is great for long car trips.
2. Joni Mitchell: Court And Spark  (1974) A fantastic album. The songs I hadn’t gotten into before are almost all great.
3. The Who - Live at Leeds (Expanded Edition)  This expanded edition gives a fuller picture of the Who than the original. They were a POP band, people!
4. Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson (1971) Harry comes through big time on his less well-known songs.
5. The Kinks: Lola  (1970) Ray does, too. And Dave.
6. The Monkees: The Best of  What can I say? Of course the version in my head is better, but so is yours.
7. Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974)  The sound on the CD isn’t much better than the original vinyl but that’s okay. Time may have finally caught up to this deeply weird record.  🌶🌶 
8. Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine (1979)  It’s not Television but it’s very good.
9. Jefferson Airplane: The Worst of  I really needed to hear this, even after having chipped away at it with Volunteers and Baxters. A very consistent record from a very good, but I’m not convinced, great band.
10. And tied for 10th: 
• Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man Like You, Or Lady Soul, or Aretha Now. The experience is much the same. Some filler but mostly galvanic.
• Yes: Fragile/Close to the Edge  My first 8 Track tape, and just so much fun.
• Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Expanded) (1970)  Great album, lousy live songs on the extended version.
• Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners (1971) As lovely a record as I remember. Joni must have run over him like a truck. His loss. Our gain. Thanks, Joni!
• David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971) A lot of people hated this record when it first came out. I liked it then. I like it now. What’s NOT to like, I wonder. He didn’t even have a gun then.

Compilations:

1. Belle and Sebastian: Push Barman to Open Old Wounds So fragile, so beautiful.
2. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Greatest Hits The album that proves this alleged weirdo should have been an FM staple.
3. The Chills: Kaleidoscope World  Ah, if only the internet was around then, these super melodic, chiming songs would have gone viral. 
4. James Brown: Star Time This is daunting for an old white guy but worth the effort. If you think it all sounds the same why do you like the Ramones?? 
5. Brian Jonestown Massacre: Tepid Peppermint Wonderland  If you can forget what a narcissistic junkie asshole the guy leads the band is you can really enjoy this late sixties-style psychedelic rock 'n roll.
6. Various Artists: Ocean of Sound Yeah, weird as hell. I love it but know what you’re getting into!  🌶🌶🌶 
7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Lovely Creatures Another purported British weirdo who does some pretty straightforward, passionate rock 'n roll.
8. Leonard Cohen: Essential   A lot to take in one sitting but great for studying.
9. Various Artists: American Epic  Basically another version of An Anthology of American Folk Music, but with better liner notes and sound.
10. And tied for 10th: 
• Taj Mahal: The Best of 
• Blur: Best of 
• Robert Forster: Intermission 
• The Chantels: The Best of 
• Grin: The Best of 
• King Sunny Ade: The Best of the Classic Years  🌶
• Franco and Le Tpok Jazz: Francophonic  🌶

Okay, so much for genres, compilations and throwbacks. Next time it gets real(er).

Decade: Genre-osity

Embarrassments:

Late 1990s:
“You like P.M. Dawn?” said the young Hispanic maintenance worker at the office.
“Yes, I do!” said the middle-aged white guy behind the desk.
The young maintenance man’s expression was a mix of puzzlement and slight disappointment.
The middle-aged guy still likes PM Dawn, though.

Late 2000s:
“You like De la Soul?” asked the scoffing, Tupac-loving young man.
“Well,” muttered the aging white guy whose daughter was dating the young man, “it was a Father's Day present…”
“But Dad, you asked for it,” said the daughter.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I like it yet.” The old guy comes back with.
“Do you always ask for music that you don’t even know if you’ll like?” Tupac-lover again.
“Well...”
“Yes,” chimed in the wife.
De La Soul, by the way, is growing on the old guy.

Which is a long way to tell you that I’m no expert on hip-hop. I’m a dilettante in the very worst sense. I catch up to trends long after they’ve been designated uncool. Forever out of time, I’m trying to enjoy music made for a very specific time that is definitely not Now.

Looking a bit foolish is the price of admission.


The Decade in Genres:

But it comes in handy when your perusal of Best of the Decade lists tells you that your favorite genres are changing out from under you and that they’re well, not that popular anymore anyway.

Now I could play the There’s No Good Music Anymore card, or dig in my heels on the records that are in my comfort zone, but I practically invented FOMO so I’m going to use it to keep up with things.

But genres can be tough. At best I’m behind the times - a good year for pop and rock - with these genres I’m lucky if I’m in the same decade (or century).


The Decade in Decades:

The decade - as I experience it - comprises music released this decade (let’s call it Our Decade) as well as music from prior decades that I happened to get this decade. (Let's call it My Decade.) And why not? It’s what I’m experiencing, isn’t it?

It’s my way of making the best of the fact that we’re no longer listening to music together. We’re all in our own little worlds, so welcome to mine.

When I get around to reviewing the Pop/Rock-ish Decade, I'll make two lists. One for Our Decade and one for Mine.


The Genres Spanning Decades:

But I’m not going to bother with that now. The genres below rarely get to rise to the top of my lists because they’re swimming upstream against all that pop music I like.

So now’s not the time to make the My/Our Distinction. Below are records from all decades but I'll highlight the ones that were actually released this decade. Some may even show up on my Pop Decade lists next time.


The Unfriendliness Factor:

I’ll also use an indicator to show the “un-friendliness” of a record. Why? Well, just because Jaybee likes it doesn’t mean you will, too. As a matter of fact, it’s almost a given.

Therefore, like an Asian restaurant that puts a little pepper next to the spicy dishes on the menu, I’ll put some it next to the weirder, more daunting records. The more peppers, the weirder the record.

That way you can’t say you weren’t warned.


Punk:

Extreme genres, like hardcore punk, can only warm my heart so much. So I am no further into
Black Flag, Bikini Kill, Minor Threat or the Libertines.

1. Against Me: New Wave 
2. Idles: Joy As an Act of Resistance  🌶🌶

Hip Hop:

The Beastie Boys and MIA can be irritating if played when other things are going on. But when I can give them undivided attention, it pays off. The Notorious BIG is just too damn depressing, and Wu-Tang is too scary. The idea of getting entertainment from other people’s pain was just too much for me.

1. The Roots: How I Got Over 
2. Pusha T: Daytona  🌶🌶
3. Noname: Room 25 
4. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 🌶
5. Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly  🌶

Classical:

Modern composers like Terry Riley are pretty cool but I’d be lying if I said I loved his stuff.
The World History Project has brought me more Vivaldi, Handel, Haydn and Mozart - very little of which I've gotten to the root of yet.

1. Max Richter: Intra  
2. Beethoven: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D, Op.61 
3. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue/An American in Paris 
4. Philip Glass: Glassworks  
5. Beethoven: 9 Symphonies  
6. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier 
7. Monteverdi: Madrigals  
8. Gavin Bryars: Jesus’s Blood Never Failed Me Yet  🌶🌶
9. Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians  🌶

World Music:

Franco and Sunny Ade provided pleasure but not epiphany.

1. Amadou and Miriam: Welcome to Mali  
2. Bob Marley and the Wailer: Catch a Fire 
3. Mbongwana Star: From Kinsasha 🌶
4. Ravi Shankar: Three Ragas  🌶
5. Konono No 1: Congotronics  🌶

Christmas:

1. Sufjan Stevens: It’s Christmas  🌶
2. Paul Nelson: Christmas Cello
3. Medieval Christmas 🌶

Country: 

This decade is also the story of me slowly warming up to Country music again. It sure didn’t get off to a good start. I didn’t like Miranda Lambert or Brad Paisley enough at first. They did wear me down though, and some great country albums would follow:

1. Robbie Fulks: Upland Stories  
2. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour 
3. John Prine: In Spite of Ourselves  
4. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound 
5. Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park  
6. Lori McKenna: The Bird and the Rifle  
7. Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Spinning Around the Sun 

Best Jazz:

1. Errol Garner: The Complete Concert by the Sea  
2. Dave Brubeck: Time Out  
3. John Coltrane: Afro Blue Impressions 🌶
4. Thelonious Monk: In Action 🌶
5. Thelonious Monk: At Town Hall  🌶
6. Wes Montgomery: Smokin at the Half Note  
7. Charlie Parker: Complete 1949 Concert  
8. Miles Davis: Panthalassa  🌶

Electronica/Ambient:

1. Jon Hopkins: Immunity 🌶
2. Brian Eno: Music for Airports 
3. Brian Eno/Harold Budd: The Pearl
4. Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica  🌶
5. Arca: Arca  🌶
6. Brian Eno: Apollo 
7. Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma  🌶

Soundtracks:

1. Various Artists: Music from Shutter Island  🌶🌶🌶
2. Music From As You Like It 

Blues:

1. Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf
2. Howlin' Wolf: Moanin’ At Midnight  
3. Muddy Waters: The Plantation Recordings  🌶

Dance Music:

1. Grimes: Art Angels 🌶
2. Robyn: Body Talk 

So there you have it. 

But I have a question for you: Do you like spicy food?