I’ve skipped weeks 5 and 6 since I was away and then sick. Fortunately, it was not in the reverse order and the periods did not overlap.

Enjoy.

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Man
2. Metric – Dead Disco
   Losing hard drives every few years is in some ways a blessing in disguise. It gives me the opportunity (in the future) to rediscover old albums that I lost a long, long time ago. Metric was big in my bedroom in 2004/2005.
3. The Breeders – Saints
   I’m not a fan of music videos, mostly because there seems like a really narrow window for them now, what with the death of MTV as a reliable source of music. I know people are still making music videos, but I honestly don’t have any urge to watch them on the internet. However, back when I was in my formative years, I remember seeing this video a lot on MTV and hoping that my life would be like it when I grew up, if I was lucky. Guitars, snow masks and a summer fair.
4. The Jim Jones Revue – 512
5. Chuck Berry – Little Queenie
6. The Detroit Cobras – Laughing At You
   Could not get this out of my head this week.
7. Bellvue – Heartbreaker
   A little something from Jesse Malin, who celebrated a birthday this week. This is his cover of a Stones song, from the time between D Generation and his solo stuff.
8. The Kills – Cat Claw
9. Butch Walker and The Black Widows – Summer of 89
   nobody knew Bryan Adams wasn’t cool, the TV just told us he was
10. Slow Club – Giving Up On Love

file under: counting, silent partners, skyline passion

1. The Helio Sequence – Back To This
   it always comes back to this, again
2. Herman Dune – Show Me The Roof
   Herman Dune played this to a very packed crowd Wednesday night at Il Motore, along with lots of new songs.
3. Eef Barzelay – Numerology
   we could have known each other in another life
   
4. Kathleen Edwards – Change The Sheets
5. of Montreal – Suffer For Fashion
6. The Shins – Simple Song
   I’ve started to realize that every song sounds good when it follows this song.
7. A.C. Newman – Prophets
8. Blondie – Union City Blue
   tunnel to the other side
9. Cults – Go Outside
10. Sleigh Bells – Infinity Guitars

File under : haunted beaches, searching, secrets, shout outs, wishes

1. AA Bondy – Drmz
2. Tom Waits – (Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night
   Flashes of a million different things you see from your car, or from your walk through the city.
3. Colin Meloy – Every Day Is Like Sunday
   this is a seaside town that they forgot to close down
   I finally lived out my dream of doing The Smiths at karaoke (not this song) and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to Smithsless karaoke again.
4. Alex Chilton – Baby Doll
5. The Black Keys – Gold On the Ceiling
   I’ve been back in NJ (and NY) since the beginning of the year. You can say what you want about this part of the country but the fact remains that we’ve always had good radio and awesome bands playing nearly every night of the week. I can’t count how many times I heard this and Craig Finn’s new track Honolulu Blues on the radio in the past 15 or so days.
6. The Gaslight Anthem – I Could’a Been A Contender
   …speaking of NJ, a shout out to some local boys who are in the studio as I type this, cooking up something awesome to be released soon I’m sure. I often wonder where the hell Brian Fallon was when I was a teenager convinced that no one my age listened to the kind of stuff I did.
7. Robert Gordon – Fire
   As long as we’re doing shout outs, a shout out to the guy in the record store in Boston who let me have this album for only a buck because he was so impressed with the rest of the stuff I had found. This one is for him, since he told me with a massive amount of heartfelt conviction that this song “should have been a hit”.
8. Seeker Lover Keeper – Even Though I’m A Woman
9. The Smiths – A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours
   That’s not the same track on repeat, just a disturbing case of deja vu...traveled to a mystical time zone…
   
10. Francis Dunnery – Wounding and Healing
    Really glad I went through some old CDs before I left because it led me to this sweet little gem. There’s something about Francis Dunnery that I’ve always liked. This may be my very favorite song of his, and I think it’s a great lead in to week three.

A new year, a new mix. Welcome to your year.

1. Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX – My Cloud
   The best way to start the year.
2. Eleanor Friedberger – Glitter Gold Year
   2010 2012
3. Cotton Jones – Gotta Cheer Up
4. PJ Harvey – Before Departure
5. Kate Bush – All The Love
6. Lucero – Across The River
   Crossed so many rivers this week I’ve lost count.
7. Thurston Moore – Benediction
   Hoping you got to spend the New Year with someone you love, like I did.
8. Wilco – Jesus, Etc.
9. Johnny Thunders – (You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A) Memory
   About an hour or so before midnight on the last day of 2011, I got to hear Jesse Malin cover this. Pretty good end to an okay year.
10. M Ward – Fahey
    The end is only the beginning.

Band who looked like they were having the most fun
Telekinesis at Casa del Popolo
I saw them on a very snowy night in March, the part of the year where everyone (but me) is sick of the snow. I had heard a bit of their music before the show, but it was no preparation for seeing them live. They played their catchy songs with lots of energy, and looked like they were having a great time doing it. It was enough to make the evening more than worth it.

Best live cover
Titus Andronicus at Il Motore
It was hard to decide between the infectious raging of this winner and Dave Hause doing Coma Girl at Foufounes Electriques, but the former won out. It was one of those nights where I wasn’t sure I was even going to go out until the last minute, but I did and the crowd kind of exploded when they started playing White Riot.

Best opener
Callers at Casa del Popolo
Seeing them open for Wye Oak at Casa del Popolo was a treat. They sounded like they belonged outside at Jazz Fest on a balmy July night instead of a cramped club in late Spring.

Best performance from a guy with a cold while I was in severe back pain
Frank Turner at El Mocambo (Toronto)
I took a train to Toronto fresh off a train from NYC the night before to see Frank Turner for the first time since 2010′s Osheaga. Sleeping in different beds and walking all over the city really messed with my back and by the time I got to El Mocambo I was in a whole lot of pain. As for Frank Turner, he had just come down with a cold, but it was his 1,000th show and it was solid. He included a cover of The Lemonheads’ (or was it Smudge?) The Outdoor Type, which I ended up enjoying from the couch at the back of a packed room.

Best drunken/nostalgic experience
Elvis Costello at Osheaga
Well into the first day of Osheaga I started drinking wine during the Anna Calvi set over on one of the smaller stages. By the time I got back to the main area to see Bright Eyes and Elvis Costello I was feeling toasty. I really didn’t think much about what he would play. I figured he was touring an album, so there’d be a bit of that, but what I got was pretty much a hit parade. I spent half of the set laying on a blanket in the dark singing along into my lover’s ear and the other half of it dancing wildly. Somewhere in there I lost my phone in the grass and then found it again, like magic. Thanks Elvis.

Best storyteller
Colin Hay at Petit Campus
I love when artists tell stories about the music they’re playing. Colin Hay had stories in spades, some several times longer than his songs, but I don’t think anyone in the audience minded. The whole thing was entertaining, and there’s really no better way to introduce people to songs they might not know than telling engaging stories about them.

Best one shot deal
The Horrible Crowes at Bowery Ballroom (NYC)
The Horrible Crowes, being a low-key side project, only really played two shows after releasing their album Elsie. One was in NY and the other in LA. In early September I took a short walk over to the Bowery Ballroom on a warm night to see them play. There was an electric excitement from the audience that built and built until it was time for them to take the stage. It seemed like everyone there knew we were getting something very special, and it wasn’t just Brian Fallon in a suit. So many Jersey folks were there, many dressed up in their finest at Fallon’s request, and I overheard lots of “I hope they play….” and general chatting about the album. Everyone there seemed so invested, appreciative and proud that a local boy had put so much passion into something like this. Nothing but love.

Best reunion show
D Generation at Irving Plaza (NYC)
I’m not really one for reunions. Most bands have a time and a place that were all their own and most of the time trying to relive that several years later (in this case twelve) is a futile gesture. That being said, I just can’t seem to find anything wrong with one of my favorite bands ever reuniting to play the kind of show I never got to go into the city to see when I was growing up. I had to rush out after the last song and miss the afterparty to catch the last train back to suburbia, but seeing D Generation at Irving Plaza was worth it. I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to D Generation and thought about how I’d never get to see those songs live again. Never say never.

Best show by a music legend
Jonathan Richman at La Sala Rossa
He had no opener and requested the AC and fans be turned off on a warm September night, but it was amazing seeing someone well established take the stage with such enthusiasm and disregard for certain pretentions of a rock & roll show.

Best blocked view
Wild Flag at Lee’s Palace (Toronto)
For the Wild Flag show I chose a spot surrounding the pit at Lee’s Palace which just happened to be the place with a blocked view of Carrie Brownstein and a great view of Mary Timony. This probably corresponds to the fact that in my daydreams Helium never broke up and Mary Timony controls the universe. Plus I was never really a fan of what Sleater Kinney did.

Best Overall Show
Frank Turner at Corona
Even though I had seen him months before in Toronto I had never seen him with a band, touring the album that he took to nearly every corner of the world in 2011. For example, you’d be hard pressed to find another non-Canadian artist who plays NINE Canadian cities in one tour. There’s no question that he’s in this game because he loves it, and that’s the way it should be. His show at Corona a few days before Halloween made me feel exuberant, excited and connected, which is the ideal. When I chatted with him after the show he was eager to get to the bar, but he still took the time to talk with me and ask me how the show compared to the one I saw earlier in the year. I told him it was as awesome as always.

Here’s a little mix of songs from the best albums I listened to this year. There are thirteen tracks because, well, there just are.

The year is winding down and mostly everyone is deep into holiday plans, including me. I am hosting Xmas for my whole family. However, I’ve decided not to stress myself out about certain things, like the state of the coffee pot or the fact that people will be preparing and eating various meats in my kitchen. I am determined to let all of that go, listen to holiday music for the next few days, and possibly wear a tutu while making vegetarian sag paneer. Whatever makes one happy.

This time of year is the darkest and potentially the most bleak and hopeless, and coincidentally I’ve noticed, a time when some of the people we love are taken from us. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that the biggest holiday in the year gets plunked right on top of it, but it’s something that gives me hope.

Next week is a week of reflection, for me. This week, hopeful craziness mixed with calm and coffee breaks. I hope the end of the year brings you whatever you desire.

File under : seeing clear through, last gang in town, revolution, ghosts

This is the last mix of the Fall, so maybe that means we’ll get some snow soon. Honestly, the lack of snow this year is really fucking with me.

This week on the mix : a band I’ll see perform live before year’s end, a growl about living on the road, some songs about looking for something and someone, some confessions, some wishes, some prayers. All in all, just another week.

File under : so far gone, biggest fake, heart like a wheel, waiting searching waiting.

Things got a little crazy this week and so the mix is a day late. Three weeks left n the year and we’re all doing what we can.