Weekend Music Roundup

The days are quickly dwindling on another year, which means it's almost time to present my list of favorite albums for the year. To be honest, I think about it all year long and already have a good idea of what will be on there. But there are still a ton of albums that I'm dying to hear, so I never make my list before I'm able to hear the largest number of possible contenders. So that's what I've been up to the past week or more, listening to releases from 2010 that I think have a chance of making my final list. Here's a crop of the most recent albums to get their chance. I'm pretty sure one or more will make my top twenty.

The Cave Singers - No Witch: The Seattle folk-blues band's third album technically doesn't come out until 2011, so it's a bit of cheat to list it here, but it's fantastic. Simple earthy songs that characterize a lot of Seattle's best music. The album works as a whole too, varying tempos but still feeling consistent. It reminds me of a Cold War Kids reinvented as a blues rock band or Richard Ashcroft if he were born and raised in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Good stuff.

The War on Drugs - Future Weather: This eight-song EP from the Philadelphia indie band is a nice bit of mellow rock. Much like the Handsome Furs, there's a heavy Bruce Springsteen influence here, but none of the Boss's annoying righteousness. A solid, short EP that seems to improve the band's sound from their previous full-length. 'Comin' Through' is a stand-out track in my opinion.

Smoke Fairies - Through the Low Light and Trees: A London folk duo made up of two talented ladies, this is the band's second album but first for V2 records. Like a lot of London folk bands these days, the sound is very Americana. This album reminds me a lot of one of my other favorite albums of the year, Karen Elson's The Ghost Who Walks. Fantastically beautiful songs, this is a stand out album.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: I've always admired Kanye's mic skills and his complete lack of fear to say whatever the hell is on his mind no matter the time or place. However, his last album (808 & Heartbreaks) was terrible. Naturally, I was skeptical going into this album. I was shocked not only to discover that it is great, but also one of the most interesting hip-hop albums in years. This album is epic, drawing on influences ranging from '70s metal to current indie folk, and all the while being completely unforgiving. As he says in one song, Kanye is going after whoever who has it and they'd better watch out because this is the sound of an artist completely on top of his game.

Junip - Fields: This is Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez's side-project which has been here and there for several years. This is their first full-length release. It doesn't stray far from Jose's suburb solo-releases. It's quiet enjoyable, although it feels a bit too much of the same for my ears. I would've liked a little departure. If you like his albums, there's no way you won't also enjoy this album too. "Always" the debut single, is wonderful.

Shad - TSOL: I discovered this Canadian rapper through the video for the outstanding track "We, Myself and I" from this album. However, instead of listening to this first, I listened to his previous album The Old Prince and was somewhat disappointed by that album which varied from great to corny depending on the track. But this album is pretty amazing all the way through. Incredibly smart rhymes that fall into the consciousness rap category blend well with the wall-of-sound samples. Frantic and wonderful.

Sparrow & the Workshop - Crystals Fall: This is one of those rare albums that I can't remember at all how it ended up on my wishlist, but I'm sure glad it did. This Glasgow band sounds like what Mazzy Star would sound like, reinvented as a indie folk band. Jill O'Sullivan's voice is amazing, somewhat like Holly Miranda. This is one of the best debut albums I've heard in a long time. It's impact on me was immediate and heartfelt.

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker: This is the first full-length album from the Australian Neo-psychedelia band. I'd previous heard and enjoyed their 2008 EP and was excited for this. This is solid example of the new psychedelic sound being made by bands such as Black Angels, a sort of trip into the past but with a modern vibe to it. There's heavy influences on here, but it doesn't feel derivative. Definitely more of a summer album than a winter album, it just seems to go along with warm weather and sunlight.

Trembling Blue Stars - Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires: The ambitious new double-album from the London indie band is a beautiful piece of dream pop. I suppose it could be compared to Ride's first album Nowhere. Unlike a lot of albums trying to copy that sound these days, Trembling Blue Stars sound sincere and honest in their sadness. "In Arrivals" is an amazing song.

Picture That! Picture Book of the Week

I never cease to find inspiration inside the pages of a good picture book. I know I missed making a recommendation last week, but I figure everybody was either out buying incredibly cheap and incredibly worthless items from the endless sea of shopping malls or still too stuffed to bother turning on their computers. But it's time to get back to routine and so I'd like to share one of my personal favorites, a little known fable about a boy and his obsession with dogs.

Leonard: A Fable by Wolf Erlbruch

(Orchard 1995)

Leonard is a little boy who absolutely LOVES dogs. He loves them so much that sometimes he pretends he is one. He barks in the morning. He carries a bone around. Sometimes he even bites onto strangers pant legs.

Leonard loves dogs, but he doesn't have a dog because there's a slight problem...he's also very terrified of dogs, especially their teeth. One night, a fairy comes to visit and grants Leonard one wish. Of course, he wishes to become a dog. This doesn't turn out so well for Leonard as he quickly becomes afraid of little boys.

This humorous fable, translated from German, is one of those perfect light-hearted looks at some serious issues. It's a wonderful story for talking about fears and about wanting to be something you are not. It's also one of those picture books whose tone is perfectly matched in the illustrations. With very sparse text, it is great for younger children, but is entertaining enough for slightly older children too.

(Side Note: This book was given to me by a co-worker ten years ago because I always wore turtlenecks and had Leonard's haircut. I've had an attachment to it ever since. The illustration on top of the post partially inspired the 'Dogboy' nickname for Benji, a character in Perfect World and Dirty Liar.)

Second Time Around

Time once more to go back and read my own writing. This could be the toughest part of the writing process. That moment when you sit down to see how your story reads. It's one of those moments where you test yourself because inevitably, the pages don't match the story in your mind.

I try to take a very academic approach to revisions. The first I do is to sketch out scenes that I know I want to include somewhere. It frequently happens that by the end of a manuscript, I realize things that are missing. So I write them down and then I keep a notebook beside me as I read through. I figure out where the best place for these added scenes and how they affect the scenes that bookend it.

The other big part of the process is the embellishing of the story. In the first draft, there's usually a lot of functionality in getting the story down. In the next draft, I try to bring lackluster scenes to life. I also try to focus on the characters and make sure when they speak, they sound like the same person. In other words, it's time to do work.

Return from The Dark Forest

My exile from here was brief, but hopefully didn't go unnoticed. However, yesterday I finished the first draft of a what I hope will be a breakthrough project and can now resume my regularly scheduled blogging responsibilities.

The manuscript was something I started on a whim, less than a month ago. A dark, adventurous fairy-tale, it was one of those sparks that quickly engulfed my imagination. Through most of the story, I wrote feverishly. By the time I typed the last word yesterday afternoon, it had become 130 pages in length and nearly 40,000 words...a true novel...the first in what I envision as a four book arc.

Honestly, I'm excited to read through it. Typically I dread reading first drafts, but not this time. I know there's a lot of work and embellishing that needs to happen in the next stage, but that's okay. The foundation is solid. Decorating is the fun part, especially when I already pretty much know what color to paint the walls and where to place the furniture.

Weekend Music Roundup (Homecoming Edition)

I'm back home in front of the fire, watching the Birds, fresh from a visit to the town I grew up in. One thing I love about Thanksgiving is how it has become a memory weekend as each one goes by. Part of that for me is listening to music that has been familiar to me for ages. Over the past few weeks, I found myself listening to a handful of albums that my interest in them dates back to Middle School and High School. In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, it seemed like a nice idea to share those today.

Guns N' Roses - Stoned in L.A.: This is a bootleg that I'd been searching for on and off for the last decade or so. This is one of the more famous GNR concerts and ranks up there with the riots, Rock in Rio, and the unfortunate Monsters of Rock festival in GNR Live lore. One of only two shows the band played in 1989, they opened for The Rolling Stones at the Coliseum. It was supposed to be their ultimate homecoming, returning to their hometown, the biggest rock band in the world. Instead the press focused on the lyrics of "One in a Million" from the just released GNR Lies. Axl gives a three minute rant on the subject that is right-on, then the band goes into blistering "Outta Get Me". An amazing show that I doubt the Stones were able to top.

Pink Floyd - My Uncle is Sick Because the Highway is Green: This bootleg collects a series of BBC studio recordings from a newly post-Syd Barrett Floyd. It features a couple of songs from Saucerful of Secrets and one of my favorite, and rarely performed songs, "Julia Dream". The early version of "Careful With that Axe Eugine" when it was still called "Murderistic Woman" is also pretty great. This has always been my favorite era Pink Floyd, along with perfect sound quality, makes this a must-have Floyd bootleg.

Sex Pistols - Kill the Hippies: This bootleg captures the band's Atlanta show during the ill-fated and ill-advised US Tour that destroyed the band. It's interesting to hear Johnny Rotten taunting the audience who have showed up simply to gawk at the band. The band sounds surprisingly sharp. Unfortunately the recording quality isn't great. Still a fun concert though and recommended for fans.

A Walk In Alice's Garden - Compilation: This collection of late '60s British psychedelic rarities fits this weekend's theme twofold. Not only was I super into these kinds of "See Emily Play" type of song, but my Alice fascination was also born then. Of course, Alice has nothing to do with this except that a lot of this genre of music was inspired Alice and other Victorian children's stories. There's some great gems on here (many of which I reviews on the Singles Edition of the roundup two weeks ago). I'm not usually a fan of compilations because they are uneven by nature, but this is consistent throughout and worth a listen.

Lungfish - The Unanimous Hour: Since buying their first album when I was 14 years old, I bought the next five Lungfish albums as they came out. Each one, while good, seemed to stagnate and by the time this came out in 1999, there was too much competing for my music cash. Recently, I found myself wanting to explore the four albums that I missed. I started with this, the first. Naturally, it's the band's best effort in three albums and this should have been the one I bought. There's a reborn intensity to their post-hardcore spiritual sound. Driving beats and howling Ginsburg vocals make this one of their best. I can't wait to hear the next three.

Whitesnake - Ready an' Willing: This is one of those bands that I've never had any respect for, but in the past few years, I've learned that a lot of those bands that I'd never had any respect for turned out to be pretty good. After reading some good things about this band's early work, I put aside my formative years' prejudice toward what I thought was a cartoon band and gave this 1980 album a listen. Still closer to the members' former bands' 70's roots, this is a solid bluesy hard rock album. Nothing spectacular, but certainly worthy of hearing.

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On the Edge of Town & The Promise: Growing up as child in New Jersey during the '90s, the Boss was unavoidable no matter how hard I may have tried. I've never taken to his music, though I do find Born to Run bearable. Over the past two weeks, building up to this re-release deluxe edition of his 1978 classic, I've been reading a lot about this album. I decided to give it a try. The original album is probably the best I've heard from Bruce. He was being influenced by the NYC punk scene as well as Buddy Holly. The mixture works nicely and there's some beautiful songs. There are still some songs though that irk me. The Promise album collects two albums worth of tracks left off of the album. It's way too many tracks, many of which were left off for good reason, but still there are a few amazing gems like his version of "Because the Night." There's more heartache and despair than I've heard in his music before. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Feeling Thankful for Arthur Rackham

I'll be away for the next few days celebrating all the things to be thankful for. In that spirit, I share with you some illustrations by Arthur Rackham. He is truly the master of the craft.

The Stray Pt. 1

It's not so bad out here. By myself. Looking out for myself, that's not so hard.

I got paws for catching mice. I can fight a rat if I have to. Add in the trash people toss away and there's plenty to eat. Heat from the subway vents is better than in most apartments, I bet. So who cares what those house cats think. I'm just fine here where I am.

Though it would be nice maybe. Curling up on a sofa. Maybe even a lap, but I'm not so sure about people. They kind of smell like salt and they don't clean themselves properly. Some of them even have dogs. I'll never understand that.

No. I'm just fine where I am. Strolling the streets. Prancing the parks. I've got it made. As made as any cat has ever had it made in the big city.

But...

...I wonder what that lady is doing, holding food out in her hand.

'Walk away' I tell myself. There's no shame in being a snob. Not for a cat.

But...

...she's still holding that piece of food out and now she's making weird noises. Does that mean she wants me to take it? Because I will. I'll take it. She'll never see it again, that's for sure.

Maybe a closer sniff, that's all. Then if she still wants to give it to me, I'll consider it. It does smell good. But what's with the petting. Why do they insist on the petting? Lucky for her the treat is tasty enough that I decide not to take a swipe at her hand with my claws.

Wait!

What's she doing now? Why she picking me up?

You asked for it lady.

HISS!

Hold on! I don't want to go into that box. Don't put me in here.

I can't get out. What's the big idea? Why isn't anybody stopping her, this is catnapping! I knew I should've let that treat go. I had a hunch it was a trick. This is how my cousin said he ended up in that kitchen Chinatown. Maybe I should've paid more attention to him when he went on and on about curiosity and the cat.

As soon as he opens this lid, I'm making a run for it.