d u d e r n e t

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2009

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix » Phoenix
Not even their best album, but this is certainly their year.

2. XX » The XX
If they could match this greatness with a live show, they'd be unstoppable.

3. Living Thing » Peter, Bjorn & John
(also: Re-Living Thing » Mick Boogie and Peter, Bjorn & John)
The former would have made it either way, but the latter just cements it for me.

4. Oh For The Getting And Not Letting Go » All Smiles
The best album you haven't heard. Former Grandaddy/current Modest Mouse-r Jim Fairchild.

5. Rain Machine » Rain Machine
Kyp Malone releases a solo album that's enough TV On The Radio to be slightly familiar and still different enough to be hugely refreshing.

6. Wilco The Album » Wilco
Honestly, Wilco has always been a bit hit-or-miss for me. Until this.

7. Humbug » Arctic Monkeys
Produced by Josh Homme, sounding a little darker, a little more grown up.

8. A New Tide » Gomez
Another instant classic; "Airstream Driver" on repeat.

9. My Old Familiar Friend » Brendan Benson
If live shows were taken into consideration, he'd shoot up past the Monkeys of the arctic.

10. Ignore The Ignorant » The Cribs
Sad to see Johnny Marr leave Modest Mouse; their loss surely is the Cribs' gain.

Honorable mention: Noah And The Whale, for the beautiful First Days Of Spring, which doubles as a 47-minute film.

A few notes:

1. I don't understand your obsession with Grizzly Bear, but more power to you.

2. Yes, there is no Animal Collective. I think "My Eyes" is one of the best songs of the year (maybe the best), but the rest was a little too meh.

3. Pumped for a full-album release by Free Energy in '10; the three-song EP alone nearly made it onto this list.

Airborne, take two

After many hours of efforting, finally got this from my DVR to my laptop to the Youtube. So, enjoy the aforementioned Airborne Toxic Event performance from last week's appearance on Last Call.

Airborne toxins spreading

Exciting news from our friends in The Airborne Toxic Event.

In addition to a handful of South by Southwest shows, they're hitting San Francisco and New York in the coming weeks.

Check them out, as I hope to, on March 1 at the Mezzanine in San Francisco (for Popscene).

Or if you're near the Big Apple, hit Piano's New York on Feb. 27 (with the Deadly Syndrome) or the Annex (as part of Club NME!) one day later.

Can I just ask ...

How in the shit is Jack Johnson HEADLINING the first day of Coachella?

Seriously.

That is all.

UPDATE: This "Fuck You Jack Johnson" thread on the Coachella message board has at least brought some laughs to such a horrible situation.

My music grade for '07: Incomplete

The way I see it, I spent half the year preparing to move to Bangkok, moving to Bangkok, living and working in Bangkok, preparing to move back home and moving back home.

That left precious little time to discover thrilling new sounds. That's sad. And so, for the first time in many years, I didn't feel like I could really compile any sort of Top Ten/Twenty/Four Hundred Thirty Seven list of new music. I can't imagine many of you were waiting with baited breath for that, anyway, but in lieu of it, I present you a random list of musicness. It is thus:

BEST LIVE SET: Klaxons at Coachella. Hands down, the most electrifying 45 minutes since seeing the Libertines in the very same tent, pre-Doherty-breakdown. Saw Klaxons again in San Francisco and Chicago, but nothing compared to the first time. Isn't that always the case?

WORST CROWD: Hipster San Franciscans at the Hold Steady's Slims show. How on earth a thousand or so people could ruin a head-bobbing, foot-stomping good time with Brooklyn's finest (well, second finest; TV on the Radio can't be topped), I still don't know. But they did. WAKE. UP. SAN. FRANCISCO. Seriously.

BEST RECORD I HEARD, WHICH DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN IT'S THE BEST RECORD OF THE YEAR: The Weakerthans' "Reunion Tour." Outstanding, from start to finish. If you don't have it yet, what are you waiting for?

BEST ALBUM WHICH UNFORTUNATELY WASN'T REALLY AN ALBUM: The Airborne Toxic Event's three-song EP (video above for "Does This Mean You're Moving On?"). Eagerly awaiting the full-length this year, which seems to be trickling out slowly on the band's MySpace page. Listen there, buy at iTunes, and await just as eagerly once you're through.

OTHER GREAT L.A. BAND WITHOUT A FULL-LENGTH: The Little Ones. Album out April 15 (Tax Day!). Touring with Nada Surf in March (Coming to your town! Probably!). Pop in the most perfect sense.  Check it.

GREATEST SOURCE FOR MUSIC NEWS: Pitchfork makes my head hurt. NME is no more reliable than News of the World. Know the best source for good (mostly) indie rock news? Kevin Bronson's LA Times blog, Buzz Bands. I've never come across a music critic anywhere whose taste I trust this much. If you're not getting the daily feed, you're missing out.

MOST INTERESTING STORY THAT COULD HAVE BEEN: In the months leading up to Coachella, I was thisclose to roping Michael Cera and Clark Duke to spending part of one of the festival days with me, talking music, which I'd have then turned into some Merc live-bloggage. This was pre-Clark and Michael, pre-Superbad, pre-Juno... pre-Cera hugeness. Alas, scheduling conflicts. That would have been one helluva day, though, yes?

SADDEST FAREWELL: Deathray hadn't played a show in more than a year, and the last time I saw them (at the Makeout Room in San Francisco), they were a disaster. But neither of those things made the we're-calling-it-quits announcement any less painful. My very best concert and music memories started with Deathray, the greatest band that wasn't. If you see either album or the EP in your neighborhood used-record bin, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You can't have too much greatness.

Coachella '08

The dates for Coachella 2008 have been set: April 25-27 means a return to last year's three-day format, and the odds-on favorite for an '08 reunion seems to be My Bloody Valentine.

Hurry, there are still a few rooms available at Inland Empire Motel 6 outposts (not the ones actually in Indio, but close), and at less than $75/night, they'll be snapped up by week's end, surely.

Perhaps there will be a return to the tradition of years past, with a fancy vacation-home rental, but just in case, I've got a room in Rancho Mirage.

Bilo's looking a little bloated

I know this isn't terribly fashionable to say, since Pete Doherty is now allegedly "clean," but: It's amazing what a stint in rehab will do to a formerly hot rocker. (And yes, I know this is a little of the fat pot calling the pudgy kettle black.)

Then again, if I had headlines like these appearing in a single week, I might be tempted to eat up, especially if the previously-available pounds of heroin and crack were, er, off the table.

> Pete Doherty Ugliest Man Alive
> Grohl Bans Doherty from MTV Bar
> Cheryl Cole: Pete Doherty is a Waste of Fresh Air

UPDATE: Right. Well, that didn't last long:

> The Sun: Video of Pete Doherty injectin heroin

An exciting day in music

Two items of note today from across the pond (or, if you're where I am, across the... er... continent), especially if you're a fan of late-90s-era BritRock:

Oasis releases its first digital-only single, "Lord Don't Slow Me Down," for £0.99. I think it's outstanding, and I don't even really identify as an Oasis fan.

The Verve releases its first 14 minutes in the studio since 1997, for free via NME. I wouldn't call it terribly inspired, but it's nevertheless interesting to hear what studio time is like with the freshly-reunited Richard Ashcroft & Co.

Meanwhile, my list of concerts for the London trip is steadily growing, and has now, I believe, topped out: Arcade Fire, Pinback, the Weakerthans, the Hives, Babyshambles.

Rockers don't do time

So if I'm reading this right, Pete Doherty avoided jail time today because he was arrested on more drug charges, and was thus a little busy with the police.

Also, watching "The Library" episode of Seinfeld right now, which has to be one of the best episodes of television, ever. Has there ever been a greater guest-star turn than Philip Baker Hall as Lt. Bookman? I think not.

"I've seen your type before. Flashy, makin' the scene. ... Whatever turns you on Seinfeld. Maybe that's how you get your kicks, you and your good-time buddies."