worst album of 2k5

the worst album that i listened to was cocorosie. tres horrible!! antony of antony and the johnsons makes me sick to my stomach and not even devendra could save the album. it was crap.

if you are thinking of buying this, i would highly recommend going against any instincts that tell you yes and follow my advice and just say no to noah's ark.



second worst would be the strokes new one whateveritwascalled. i couldn't listen past song three because it, too, made me nauseous. when will the strokes do something different? they really only have one song, you know. just thirty odd variations on it.

2K5

here it is. some of my favorite songs released in 2005.

MIX!

1. the beast and dragon, adored - spoon
one of the best opening songs of all time, and rowan's favorite song evah.

2. notorious lightning - destroyer
yes, it's 9 minutes and 51 seconds long. but, yes, it's fantastic.

3. wolfie - scout niblett
this song haunts me.

4. sovay - andrew bird
though i find his album to be, overall, just okay, i really really like this song.

5. let the cool goddess rust away - clap your hands say yeah
this band was one of my favorite surprises from 2005. they're fun. they're catchy. they're good.

6. this modern love - bloc party
when i first listened to this album, i really loved it, but it kind of faded from memory after a while. however, this song is really good.

7. rollercoaster - sleater-kinney
SK rock! need i say more?

8. stoner jam - blood on the wall
kk introduced me to this band, and though they're a bit sonic youth tributey, they're still pretty good. their album awesomer is pretty awesome, i must say.

9. man on a string - arizona amp and alternator
i love howe gelb. i love scout niblett. put those two together?! magic. pure magic.

10. long haired child - devendra banhart
devendra is like the now version of a sixties hippie. he works it.

11. holding back the year - lou barlow
oh, lou. how could i not put lou on here? one of the standouts from EMOH.

12. punks in the beerlight - the silver jews
I LOVE IT TO THE MAX.

13. intermission - nine black alps
little band from manchester, england makes good.

14. i summon you - spoon
yes, i have broken my rule and put two spoon songs on here. however, spoon are awesome and thus deserve two songs on a mix. this is probably my favorite track from "gimme fiction". i think it's because i'm a romantic at heart.

15. no more shoes - stephen malkmus and the jicks
i probably could have chosen a different song, however, there is something about this eight minute rock out session that i really like. maybe it's just because i really just love malky.

16. baby man - bobby conn and the glass gypsies
live version of one of my favorite bobby conn songs from "rise up".

17. baby man refrain - bobby conn and the glass gypsies
i actually like this one more, but i can't have the refrain without the song and i can't have the song without the refrain. these two go hand in hand.

18. the bleeding heart show - the new pornographers
perhaps not the best way to close a cd, but this is my favorite track from "twin cinema" and i love neko and i quite like the new pornographers, so it's on here and it's the closer...just because.


i'm sure that there are many more that could have been put on here, and maybe next year i'll figure out some hidden 2k5 gems and put those on a revised and updated best of mix. but, for now, this will do.

i forgot some albums for honorable mentions.

the silver jews - tanglewood numbers
devendra banhart - cripple crow (though, in all fairness, i probably have not listened to that enough to give it h.m., but i know that it's good, so it goes up there. for goodness sake.)
blood on the wall - awesomer


the mix is made, but not quite ready to go. i like to quality control these things. once it's had the run through, i'll post it here with notes and the like. so, be prepared for that.

top of the pops

or, alternately, the bad arts gives a rundown on the year 2k5.

album of the year
hands down, this has to go to spoon for their fantastic album, "gimme fiction".




hands down.
i was hooked upon first listen. well, that is a slight exaggeration, as i really enjoyed it as of the first listen but was a bit taken aback by what i thought was the abrupt end to the album. it just.....ends. suddenly. anyhow, by the second listen, i was hooked. from the opening measures of the beast and dragon, adored to the still somewhat abrupt ending of merchants of soul, everything is pure quality. there is not one bad track on this album. in fact, this album pushed spoon into the stratosphere of obsession and britt into the status of ROCKSTARGOD. in my opinion. of course.

any album that can hold my attention span for months and months after repeated listening and wear and tear (this was the only album played in my car for about three months), is a good album. not every album gets that privelege, but gimme fiction does.

spoon rocks.
plus, britt is really hot.




best album of the year and probably in my top five albums of all time, were i to revisit that list.

honorable mentions:
destroyer - notorious lightning and other works (ep)
bobby conn and the glass gypsies: live classics vol. 1
clap your hands say yeah - clap your hands say yeah
arizona amp and alternator: arizona amp and alternator
stephen malkmus and the jicks: face the truth
sleater-kinney: the woods
the new pornographers: twin cinema
scout niblett - kidnapped by the neptune

there surely are more, but those are the standouts at the moment. spoon just was leagues above everyone else and thus my vision is a bit clouded by that.

i would like to give a special shout out to the british band nine black alps and their debut album "everything is". while i enjoyed the album quite a lot and would recommend it to people who like good british rock, that is not why i am giving the shout out. once upon a time, i traded mix tapes with sam forrest, the main man behind the band, and he makes a mean mix and makes a good album, and thus, the shout out. so, that was a debut in 2k5 that is quite good. okay? okay.


concert of the year
this one is a little bit less clear-cut, and thus, i am giving the honors to two bands.

1A. HARRY AND THE POTTERS in the park, july 19, 2005.
i love wizard rock. perhaps people know this? i love harry potter. i love harry and the potters. i love everything about this band. they rocked it out in the minneapolis park on a lovely, sunny, but not too hot summer day. it was fantastic. super fun. super energetic.



they showed heart. they showed soul. they showed pure awesomeness (but not pure-blood. oh no.).

1B. SPOON, 400 bar, december 8, 2005.
again, the awesomeness of britt and his voice and his fantastic songs and the sound of spoon overshadow most everyone else. most. i was very close to britt (front row at a small venue with a low stage) and i think it made all the difference in the world. see, i saw them play in june at a larger venue, but, due to the day of three concerts, we had to stand in the balcony and though it was awesome (they sounded incredible), it was not the same as being RIGHTTHERE in a small, sweaty crowd, knowing that you're witnessing rock godness in the making.

so, yeah, spoon rocked. read my review of this for further details on the show.



honorable mentions:
sleater-kinney, first avenue, june 15, 2005.
neko case, first avenue, june 7, 2005.
lou barlow, 400 bar, march 15, 2005.
ted leo and the pharmacists, first avenue, june 14, 2005.
stephen malkmus, electric fetus, june 12, 2005.

i did not go to as many concerts this year as i have in years past, and some of the concerts that i should have seen were cancelled (destroyer! bobby conn!) and others (scout niblett! grr...) i just could not attend. alas, the ones i did see were pretty quality, so that is good. not really a bad one in the bunch, though i did leave some off the list. i couldn't list everything, right?


random weird music thing of the year
my mom knows more about the hip hop world than i do. it's weird.


musical discoveries of the year
one album that came out in 2k4 that i quite like is the arcade fire's funeral. i was a bit anti-buying this because sometimes i don't like to follow the hype, but, i must say that that is an album that i have enjoyed thoroughly since its purchase one year after its release. that's not necessarily a "discovery", but it would be my album of the year not released in the year.

jim guthrie. he's pretty fantastic. i was sent an edited version of his first album, a thousand songs this fall? or late summer? anyhow, regardless of when it was, i found that album to be kind of....just okay. however, after listening to morning noon night repeatedly later this fall, i realized that i really liked him. a lot. that album was one of my favorite new to me albums of 2005, though it came out in 2002. i would also recommend now, more than ever (2003) as a solid pick.


new band alert
my brother has a band called mise en place. they're pretty good. i've seen them live and heard rough cuts of their demo, and i'd say, (with just an ever so slightly biased opinion) that they could do good things. i'll let you know if/when they explode beyond the local circuit. they just played st. paul for the first time the other day, so they are expanding beyond minneapolis. fifteen minutes beyond, but still.

other random weird music thing
how did the emancipation of mimi score eight grammy nods? granted, i have never listened to it, but eight? that's kind of a lot.

tomorrow, if i remember, i'll have a best of 2005 mix ready for you. it should be pretty mixtastic.

wizard rock, part deux. . .

(. . .or the post where i blether about wizard rock with no real point and no real direction, as per usual for the bad arts)

wizard rock is taking over the world, and i'm not entirely sure that this is a good thing.

yes, once upon a time, i would have been pretty excited to see my favorite band about books, harry and the potters, leading what is apparently a world-wide trend in writing music about the harry potter books. well, scratch that. i am still excited that harry and the potters seem to be a phenomenon and are pretty much considered the kings of wizard rock and are written about in entertainment weekly, on mtv.com, and (with their indie cred, perhaps?) pitchfork.com...to name a few. they're really all over. this bothers me not one bit except that paul and joe aren't nearly as quick with responding to queries as they once were as i'm pretty sure that their fanbase has grown tenfold or more since the release of voldemort can't stop the rock.

no, harry and the potters success has bothered me not one bit. however, i am a bit dismayed at the sheer number of bands that have since popped up who attempt to rock in the same vein, but come up pretty short.

for example, recently, a livejournal community has been dedicated to the genre of wizard rock (check it out here), and with some investigation into the matter i was able to see just how much this has grown as a genre. apparently, wizard rock is the new black, and writing songs about harry potter and life in the world of magic guarantees you legions of fans.

(you don't even necessarily have to be good, as some of those bands most definitely are not.)

maybe i wouldn't mind if i didn't just really love harry and the potters so so much. i hold bands that i love near and dear in my heart and i don't want H&tPs success to be infringed upon by other bands such as draco and the malfoys (who are actually quite good, i must begrudgingly say) or the remus lupins or the whomping willows, or the whole list of wizard rock bands that can be found in the info section of the wizard rock community. i mean, is it necessary to have a band for every character that appears in the harry potter books? and, at what point does originality cease to exist? harry and the potters were the first wizard rock band (well, first harry potter wizard rock band, as there definitely have been wizard rock bands in the past, as people are apt to point out...) and though the other bands are writing their own songs with their own takes on the harry potter mythology, it's not very original to cop the idea when someone else did it first and has done it better and has started this genre of harry potter wizard rock?!

though the brothers degeorge do not seem to mind this, it still bothers ME (and here, as i've said before, my opinion is what counts). they even recently organized and performed at what appears to be a very successful rendition of the yule ball. (which i wish that i had been able to attend, however, boston is kind of far from minneapolis)

maybe it was inevitable, though. harry potter has taken over the world in so many ways that perhaps the music world was the next logical choice and if H&tPs hadn't started it then someone else would have. so, perhaps, i shouldn't be so judgmental and i should just go with the flow. if something is going to take over the world, i'd rather it be wizard rock than something horrible. after all, almost all of these bands are anti-voldemort (grrr, draco and the malfoys. grrr....), and thus, anti-evil, so that must be a good thing. it really could be worse.

so, in conclusion, i have no point. just that the number of wizard rock bands is overwhelming. and, if you're looking to start your own, i have some ideas:

the severus snapes
the potion masters
the golden snitches
the gryffindor lions
the squibs
the dementors
the basilisks
the half blood prince
the death eaters
the order of the phoenix
the prophecies (perhaps you could sing about all of madame trelawney's predictions? just an idea!)
gilderoy lockhart and the obliviators
professor quirrell and the turban of doom
wormtail and the silver hands
the flying cars
the muggles
dudley and the dursleys
the fleur delacours
viktor krum and the wronski feints
the veelas
the room of requirement
the tom riddles

and so on...

wizard rock, part une

currently, in my post settings at the bad arts, i have a post in which i rant about wizard rock. well, that is where it will go eventually, because i really feel that there are far too many bands out there writing songs about harry potter books when really there should only be one (the fabulous brothers degeorge and their band, harry and the potters). however, today, i got the best cd ever in the mail (from H&tPs) and it has made me laugh so much and so, in the spirit of christmas and wizardry everywhere, i present to you a downloadable link to "a magical christmas of magic" featuring many wizard rock bands. this is probably very bad of me to do, so please, dear reader, don't share all over the place (i'd rather you support the fine art of wizard rock - at least until i tell you not to), but here you go: a magical christmas of magic -- zipped all nice and pretty for you.

happy holidays! enjoy the gift of music!
(at least until this link expires)

and now for something completely different....

now, we at the bad arts do not like to write about things that do not pertain to music or what we like, as, well, this was set up to be a music blog of sorts, even if the writing is juvenile at times and gushy at others and not always entirely sensical. however, we at the bad arts do have other interests aside from music. we love books! and knitting (it's true!)! and movies! and, maybe more than other things, television! we love television. not the band, mind you, but the medium. television shows are awesome.

it seems that ever since dawson's creek, television has been a way for musicians to expose a larger audience to their work. musicians and songs that fans would never expect to appear on television shows are suddenly popping up on fairly popular shows. the o.c. has become a show for bands to actually showcase their work by performing live at the teenage drama's music venue "the bait shop" as background for the storylines. some even say that this show is what helped put the band death cab for cutie on the map, as it were, due to seth cohen's obsession with the band. i am convinced, by the way, that all people secretly love this show. it's a theory that i won't go into now, but was developed after seeing stephen malkmus and the jicks in june and them playing a snippet of the theme song (california by phantom planet) during the encore while they were being jickish and laissez-faire in their performance.

moving on, though we do love the o.c.and the fact that we've heard such acts as elliott smith, lou barlow, spoon, bloc party, and so on on the show, there is another teenage drama that we love even more: veronica mars. today, pitchfork media released a great little write-up about spoon and we find out that, OHMYGOD, britt daniel is performing on our favorite show!! even though britt has not watched it (or so he says), it's still pretty cool that he's performing on it.

television sometimes really does rock.

and on that note, we're out.

spoon at the 400 bar, minneapolis, 12.8.05

what can i say about this most fantastic show?

that britt rocked? that the band sounded awesome? that every song they played was great? (even paper tiger, which is probably my least favorite spoon song) that if i had missed it, i probably would have cried just a little bit? that, overall, this might have been my favorite concert of 2005 (though harry and the potters is still high up on the list) and one of my favorite concerts at the 400 bar ever?

though i am still not quite sure what prompted this sponsored show or how we were lucky enough to host it or how it was free or any of the details regarding that, i have decided that that doesn't matter and that, since i was in attendance, it was a great idea. (thanks to: schell's beer, the onion, and the current. for real! and thanks to the nice lady from an accounting firm who works with schell's who sent me free tickets after i missed out at the giveaways that one could attend to try to obtain free tickets!)

so, to set the stage, as it were, the 400 bar is a very small venue with a very low stage (hits me just around mid-thigh, and, granted, i am very tall, but that should give you some idea as to what kind of place we were dealing with) and very bad sound if you are not in the front. we arrived in the neighborhood shortly after seven, hit an african restaurant for coffee and a quick bite to eat, and then headed to the 400 bar around 7:57 as doors were at eight. we waited for a bit in the minneapolis cold and eventually, a little late, the doors opened and we were the first in the door (even though we were not the first to start waiting outside and not the only people there, either). i made a beeline for the front and lodged myself in my favorite spot on the left (our left) side of the stage. and thus, we waited.

the opening bands were.... well, i thought that they were both pretty crap, but i know that some people thought that the first band was okay. both acts were local and neither was great. beau kinstler and the somethings was the first band and kind of sounded like a typical bar band, if you ask me. but, that's just my opinion. michael morris, the second act, sounded like a discount clem snide. really crap. and boring. they were really boring.

and then, spoon.

spoon really rocked it. britt was hot. the band was tight. they played for about an hour and a half, including the encore. britt got a little hoarse towards the end, but it didn't interfere with the show, as his voice sounds cool no matter what. there were a few moments of annoying fandom in the crowd, but, overall, it was fantastic. and, i grabbed the setlist at the end of the show. not britt's, but still... pretty cool.

the set was:

the beast and dragon, adored
me and the bean
someone something
lines in the suit
the fitted shirt
the delicate place
i turn my camera on
sister jack
anything you want
paper tiger
small stakes
vittorio e
they never got you
i summon you
the two sides of monsieur valentine
the way we get by
thirty gallon tank
the infinite pet
my mathematical mind

-encore-
everything hits at once
car radio
jonathan fisk


it was great.

tonight, mise en place.
thursday, spoon.


this girl is excited.
especially about spoon. holy crap. could britt be any hotter?

for the record

the origins of the newly invented word mixtastic come from me and my head.

JUST SO YOU KNOW.