Best Shows (I played):

1. Feb. 23rd – MTU Wadsworth Annex (Houghton, MI)
   This is the first time we met The Mighty Narwhale. It’s also the first time we were ever provided hotel rooms and an after party. Not only was the show well attended with enthusiastic show-goers but every band on the bill was humble and gracious. This was certainly a highlight of the year (too bad it happened so early in the calendar).
2. Apr. 19th – Rubbles (Mt. Pleasant, MI)
   Another Narwhale show, also the first time we played with Great Lakes Myth Society. This show was fair in attendance, but still great. The combination of a great, hard-working promoter (Corey Densmore) plus Narwhale and GLMS making us feel like we’ve been friends for years made the night a great one. Rubbles’ staff was also welcoming and just, plain, nice (a change of pace from Detroit).
3. Jul. 5th – Dreamland Theater (Ypsilanti, MI)
   The venue is a puppet theater, need I say more? This was Night Shall Eat These Girls and Boys CD release and they’re fans gave us a warm reception. It started off potentially disastrous (no PA). but someone managed to round up one speaker cab’ (yes, one), a powered mixer, a bass amp, and mics. Though the night wasn’t hitch free, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Best shows (I didn’t play):

1. May 3rd – GLMS w/ Matt Jones (Leopold Brothers – Ann Arbor, MI)
   A farewell to Leopold Brothers (popular Microbrewery). Both Jones and GLMS gave the packed crowd stellar sets and Leopold’s kept the brews flowing. Basic formula that works every time. Plus, Tim Monger gave me gushy compliments on my posters and illustrations.
2. Mar. 7th – Metro Times Blowout (Hamtramck, MI)
   Highlights were Mick Bassett at New Dodge and (the tail end of) His Name is Alive at Small’s. Due to terrible “Blowout trolly” timing, we walked between the two venues, in the snow, and next to a house fire. Audra Kubat and her friend gave us (and some random drunk guy) a ride back to our car (located by Atlas). It was a cold wet evening but makes for a good story.

Best Local Releases:

1. Alan Scheurman – Old Patterns
2. Javelins – Heavy Meadows
3. Sea of Japan – Black Out the Stars
4. Chris Bathgate – Wait, Skeleton

Best News:

1. Bernie Madoff’s last name is “Made off”
2. Privatizing profit + Socializing risk = Capitalism “working”
3. Congress prefers financial sector fat-cats to unionized workers 3-to-1

Best Discoveries:

1. The combination of feta cheese, olives, and jalapenos on pizza
2. Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury Ale
3. The Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo
4. Califone – Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
5. MXR M169 Carbon Copy
6. LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI

Adrian Orange & Her Band – Adrian Orange & Her Band

Pitchfork gave this a 3.8. Yes, the guy has an (heavily) acquired voice. Yes, the entire album seems rushed and given little thought. But that’s the magic with most of Calvin’s signings.


The Avett Brothers – Emotionalism

Ever since their 2006 EP The Gleam I’ve been in love with this band. Emotionalism is alt-country / folk-rock (blah blah blah) at it’s finest.


Devendra Banhart – Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

It’s got all the makings of a good 1966 psychedelic record.


Dr. Dog – We All Belong

Read my review.


Georgie James – Places

Ex-Q and Not U project that sounds nothing like Q and Not U. For some reason this LP hasn’t gotten any mentions on any lists I’ve read.


Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog

It’s made every year end list. Usually dominating the top spot. The Shepherd’s Dog really is that good.


Matt Pond PA – Last Light

It’s a pop album. The most straightforward pop album Matt Pond PA has ever put out. And that means great songs to sing along to.


Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

They’ve gotten snubbed every year since signing to a major. It’s nothing new for elitists to abandon what they once loved because the varsity quarterback is singing along to it. Now matter, this album is really good.


Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

It’s black or white with this one. Either you hate it or you love it. I really really love it. Which is surprising to me. Parts of this album are sorta MMW. Other parts, standard Wilco. Overall, it has a free jazz vibe. I would have never imagined loving the combination of free jazz and Wilco, but it works. Damn you Tweedy!


Albums with not enough impact for a paragraph (in which I found myself playing a few times over):

Chris Bathgate – A Cork Tale Wake
Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
The Sadies – New Seasons
Saturday Looks Good To Me – Fill Up The Room

Bits of disappointment. Maybe it was my own expectations, maybe it was under achievement, who knows?

New Pornographers – Challengers
Okkervil River – The Stage Names

(Yet I’m still going to the Crofoot on April 10th.)

Feel free to post all the releases I’ve missed in the comments section.

Sunday morning, 11:30 AM.

As I splashed my face with lukewarm water attempting to wash sleep from my eyes, I started recollecting last nights Band of Horses show at the Crofoot. Why would a band that has released two of my favorite albums in the past few years not do much for me live? They played passionately and tight but something was missing. What was it that made me and my three companions leave disappointed?

The most convincing answer I could derive was errors in set pacing. BoH started with dreary balladry and didn’t deliver a foot tapping number until halfway into the set (Weed Party from their 2006 LP, Everything All the Time). Maybe this was an effort in convenience. Front man Ben Bridwell is forced to sit when playing the lap steel, which is featured predominately on the softer tracks. Perhaps the thought was to get those songs out-of-the-way, for a shot at subtlety turning the knob of intensity later. For me, it was a mistake. The knob was turned far too unhurried. The tempo created uneasy anxiety all through the crowd. There were more bathroom breaks and beer runs than a typical frat party. By the time BoH demanded attention, everyone was spent. Aside from a few hip-hop fist pumpers up front, the throng subsided to more loud conversation than watching.

Hopefully this was just an off night. Maybe BoH is one of those acts that rewrite their set list prior to each show. If so, next time they should spend as much time drawing it up as I did trying to convince my cohorts that, “They’re really a great band, I swear!”

During the obligatory “technical difficulties” every opener must inevitably endure, Brian Johnson quipped half to the audience and half to his fellow Whiskey & Co band mates, “Hey, you guys hear about that cow falling off a cliff and landing on a car?” Everyone in earshot chuckled. Over my shoulder I heard a miscellaneous dudebro whisper to his companion dudebro, “Yeah, I guess it happens once every seventeen years… You know, statistically…” Quote of the night.

The Gainesville opener could stand to either lose a guitar player or vary the sound a bit. There’s really no need to have three six strings, when each is strumming the same thing. Catchy hooks sung beautifully by Kim Helm might have been brought up a notch by a peppering of some boy/girl harmonies. But I don’t know if it was me or them I just couldn’t help my eyes from creeping around the room and my concentration from wondering what I would be charged for a Two Hearted ale (I think beer prices are tied to the NASDAQ, was that down today?).

The second act brought me there in the first place. When Bobby Bare Jr.’s keyboardist sound-checked with an impromptu solo version of Proud Mary I knew we were in for a treat. Bare traveled with three others; pedal steel, keys, and drums. His lush records we’re done surprising justice with this stripped down Young Criminal Starvation League. Exactly the opposite of W&Co., the aforementioned keyboardist handled a multitude of jobs. On the Rhodes (right hand) and synth’ (left hand) he mimicked the records bass and lead/rhythm guitar/keys. The primarily Lucero-fan crowd gravitated to the stage tighter and tighter with each passing minute. It’s no surprise; Bare has a knack for connecting on an intimate level. He should, great songwriting is literally in his blood. Opening and closing with tracks from his 2004 LP, From the End of Your Leash, and filling the space between with harder hitting renditions of tracks from his most recent 2006 LP The Longest Meow, Bare (as the headliner’s lyric goes) “set ‘em up” readying Lucero to “knock ‘em down.”

Shirtless/hairless boys with studded belts bounded by a wall of sober guards

With Lucero on stage you have to apply more attention to the obtuse circle formed from the first few rows of the Team Young crowd than to the band. Oh, unless you enjoy getting smacked in the face with a pair of ESs. Lately a lot of Detroit critics, bloggers, and fans have been asking, “Where are all the people?” Simply put, tonight they were here. It’s a working class town and Lucero is a working class band. The formula is plain but effective. The band delivers powerful hook after powerful hook and the crowd splashes PBR in unison to each line. Even passive observers have a hard time not feeling absorbed by it.

Blasting off with The Sons of Cain, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists pick up exactly where they left off with Shake the Sheets. The immediate difference in Living with the Living is the Bob Mould-esce rapidly strummed tin-like acoustics (ala Sugar) throughout the beginning of the album. That and some sparse piano painted a top the punctual political shouts. Speaking of politics, is Neil Young and Ted Leo the only ones pissed about this war? If not, they’re certainly crying loudest about it. And if you can believe it, Living’ is Leo’s loudest scream to date.

With track titles like Army Bound, Bomb.Repeat.Bomb, and The Lost Brigade Leo’s attention seems to be substituting Dubya with everyday soldiers.

Somebody’s dreams they just don’t pay out.
Somebody’s means don’t leave much way out.
In every cradle there’s a grave now,
In every owner there’s a slave now.

But don’t assume his King George rants have fallen completely to the wayside.

Oh, so you could mobilize a million troops?
“Although a thousand would probably get the job done.”
But then, people start to ask questions.

Those notes of everyday soldiers are what make Leo’s Living’ unlike Neil Young’s Living with War. The former captures an emotion for a country at war. Leo places the listener in uncomfortable shoes like Young and Dylan used to do. He illustrates images of soon-to-be-widowed wives at home awaiting the knock at the door. Yet, he doesn’t idealize them in some Three Doors Down fashion. He talks of how they really are: bigoted, uneducated, desperate, poor women that cheered on the bombs like the war was another Super Bowl.

This is your mission. Pretend its television, where the good guys always win.

Some may say that without political turmoil Leo wouldn’t have the same punch. This album proves them wrong. He understands human emotion and despair and captures it with his pen. Until that ceases his relevancy will be evermore prevalent.

If more aggression, a little reggae, and a tad more experimentation upon the typical Ted Leo album appeals to you, Living with the Living will deliver.

Years in a basement listening to nothing but Who, Beatles, ‘Stones, Kinks, and Beach Boys records is the only way to evolve the sound captured on this album. It’s as simple as that. One analyzes the melodies, hooks, instrumentation, and then feeds it all into a home studio. It’s the formula hundreds, if not thousands of pretentious indie bastards use to develop some tiresome incarnate of The White Album. Well if you play the averages, odds are at least three will come out sounding decent, and one will sound fantastic. If this is giving you inspirations to continue you’re home recordings then just stop, Dr. Dog’s fourth long player We All Belong is the one.

Frank (Thanks) McElroy, Juston (Triumph) Stens, Scott (Taxi) McMicken, Toby (Tables) Leaman, and Zach (Text) Miller are either good students, incredible observers, or both. There are subtleties on this album extremely reminiscent of 60’s rock records yet always overlooked by 60’s rock revivalists. With timeless intricacies that go beyond imitation Dr. Dog manage to finally take the culmination of influence, wrap it up in a beautiful package, and deliver it. We All Belong is fun, it’s not oozing of elitism, or slapping the listener in the face with Anton-Newcombesce (Brian Jonestown Massacre), “I talk to God” bullshit. It’s a simple album, with simple songs, and simple lyrics. And that’s why you’ll love it.

Outstanding tracks on We All Belong include: Ain’t it Strange with a bass-line suggestive of Happy Jack, Worst Trip with horns whirling around an uncomplicated but catchy guitar riff and ending in near chaos, and The Girl which sounds like a lost track during the Revolver sessions.

10: Plans Death Cab for Cutie Release: Aug 30, 2005 Atlantic

For those who think I’m an “indie-snob”, count ‘em. There’s two major label releases on the list, and if you reckon The Decemberists recent signing with Capitol, there’s practically three.

As many of you know Death Cab’ recently signed with Atlantic.  You can’t blame them; they’ve been poking around since ’97, releasing albums on Barsuk since ’99, and generally outselling every independent band since 2000.  Of course, by signing to a major, they put-off many of the same people that helped them get to this point but I digress.  There’s plenty to like about Plans.  It’s a step in the same direction as 2003’s Transatlanticism, though a bit more refined and focused.  Chris Walla still produced the thing for Christ’s sake.  So what if they’ve made numerous appearances on The OC, Postal Service (Ben Gibbards “side” project) has far outshined most major label junk, and this new album guarantees numerous TRL interviews.  Big deal, take the album for what it is, damn good.

9: Black Sheep Boy Okkervil River Release: Apr 5, 2005 Jagjaguwar

Black Sheep Boy is like passion, in the deepest throws.  They’ve been poking around for a couple years now but Okkervil River finally gets to the heart of the matter with their latest.  Here’s some background.  The band formed in ’98 (current line-up).  They’re best categorized as an alt-country/indie-folk hodgepodge.  And they’re big in Texas (Austin to be exact).

Black Sheep Boy mixes slide-guitar, vibes, organ, and horns in an ideal spacious balance.  It goes to great lengths to play with intricate rhythms and personal melodies.  Will Sheff, vocals/guitars, croons in linear stories disallowing a likely foundation of verse-chorus-verse songwriting.  His voice isn’t faultless, but it doesn’t need to be to get the point across.  Hell, if it were great, it would probably be too distracting.  However, with songs this concise and confident, there’s hardly room to be so.  If Sufjan Stevens is too quiet, Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is too arrogant, and Kevin Barnes (Of Montreal) is too silly, Sheff might be more to your liking.

8: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Release: Sep 13, 2005 Self Released

This is getting easier and easier.  Check out my July 7th review of CYHSY’s self titled debut for an all access pass to DIY exclusivity.

Just to add a crumb.  On my daily return from work I heard an All Things Considered piece about CYHSY.  Seems they really didn’t have a clue that a bunch of internet buzz launched them into indie stardom.  They claimed to have never heard of Pitchfork.  They also asserted a general ignorance of all things Peer-to-Peer.  I think they’re full of shit.  Great record though.

7: The Alternative to Love Brendan Benson Release: Mar 22, 2005 V2

Detroit’s own Brendan Benson is being featured in car commercials.  I guess it’s more natural than M.I.A., but still seems awfully weird… That’s beside the point.  The Alternative to Love runs a close second to Of Montreal’s The Sunlandic Twins for most over-the-top pop record on my list.  It’s uncomplicated and it includes some of the catchiest tunes I’ve heard in years.  Just to prove it, I’m humming one right now (no, it’s not the Phil Spector one).

6: I Am a Bird Now Antony & the Johnsons Release: Feb 1, 2005 Secretly Canadian

This album is covered on all the elitist lists.  It’s beautiful, gorgeous, and timeless.  I’d rather not go into why these things are true.  If you listen, you’ll agree.  Think Nina meets Boy George, with a cross of “tearful reunion with your long-lost father.”

5: Tournament of Hearts The Constantines Release: Oct 11, 2005 Sub Pop

Again it’s simple; refer to my November 2nd review.  If you’re too lazy to click the link here’s the synopsis.  The Constantines are the line-workers of the list.  The fact that they’ve put in some heavy overtime over the year has attributed to their rise to number 5.  But the fact that they’ve put in heavy rotation in my CD player has also attributed to their slippage to number 5.  On the flipside of some fantastic tracks (Hotline Operator, Love in Fear, Soon Enough, Working Full Time, You Are a Conductor) there are some less-than-noble write-ins (Draw Us Lines, Thieves, Windy Road).  Hell, by the sound of it, they worked their asses off enough so when all’s said and done Tournament of Hearts packs about 6 worthy tracks warranting much praise.

4: Gods and Monsters I Am Kloot Release: Apr 11, 2005 Echo

My June 6th write up of Gods and Monsters covers the essentials but for another epigrammatic excursion, here’s an additional pithy sketch.  Johnny Bramwell writes the songs and then sings ‘em.  He says, “At any given moment, there’s never more than four [instruments at work]. We like to keep the space, space is power.” Thereby meaning, I Am Kloot likes minimalism, rawness, and subtlety.  Gods and Monsters achieves all of the above.  Buy it.

3: The Sunlandic Twins Of Montreal Release: Apr 12, 2005 Polyvinyl

The most over-the-top pop record on the list is undoubtedly The Sunlandic Twins.  Dance night DJs can feel comfortable cueing a cut off Of Montreal’s latest effort alongside Prince’s Raspberry Beret.  Keep Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games in mind whilst feeling “sassy.”

Of Montreal has been churning out pop records since ’97 (9 in all) yet not one of them have grabbed my attention like Sunlandic.  Comparisons to Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control are obvious.  Yet, there’s something more.  Last years much raved Satanic Panic in the Attic (Pitchfork anyone?) had a warm fuzzy feeling, giving the listener the ability to grasp at the natural.  Sunlandic doesn’t offer these easy organics.  Instead the listener is left to fend for themselves.  There’s no co-pilot, the navigational equipment has gone haywire, and the yoke just busted.  Good luck landing this bird.  Not to say the music is exigent to the ear, just the opposite.  It’s the easiest record on the list.

2: Illinois Sufjan Stevens Release: Jul 5, 2005 Asthmatic Kitty

Sufjan Stevens hits number two with his second effort at the daunting task of writing one album themed after each of the 50 states.  For those of you not familiar, let me break down Stevens for you.  He’s from Petoskey (Michigan), he plays an immense array of instruments, and he was previously in the folk-rock band Marzuki.

Like The Decemberists Picaresque, Illinois is as lush as a good chili (vegetarian of course), thing is Stevens played the majority of the instruments.  Each song has an Illinois theme.  Some dark (John Wayne Gacy, Jr.), others light (Casimir Pulaski Day), most surprisingly insightful and well written.  The only detractor is Stevens prolific qualities tend to trip on the repetitious.  Anyone who owns his other works (Michigan, Seven Swans, and A Sun Came) will undoubtedly at times have trouble telling them apart. Maybe it’s all part of his grand scheme to release a box set title America containing all 50 states.

1: Picaresque The Decemberists Release: Mar 22, 2005 Kill Rock Stars

What can I say beside, Picaresque is a near perfect release.  Opening with tribal animalistic whoops (The Infanta) and concluding with a gorgeous acoustic ballad (Of Angels and Angles) this album is the sweetheart of 2005.  The combination of Colin Meloy’s songwriting with lush instrumentation delivers a progressive leap that slaps at the face of indie minimalism.  My only complaint would be the few happy jaunts into “I want to be Morrissey” land (The Sporting Life, Sixteen Military Wives) is a bit out of step with the overall theme but that’s really nitpicking, not to mention I love The Smiths too.

Tournament of Hearts The Constantines Release: Oct 11, 2005 Sub Pop Records

Working full time is a catastrophe of proletariat America.  Line work, counting units, creating a middle-class where there once wasn’t is a product of blue collar history.  Manufacturing products for consumption required punching-in and losing control of your dreams.

Henry Ford created Detroit.  In essence the man distributed industry across state and national borders.  This is especially true when speaking of Canada.

Exclusivity has been running rampant through indie rock with too much fervor.  Young educated professionals dreaming up stories of Russian fairy tales and epic quests have turned to songwriting.  It’s about time someone started writing of the toils from an everyday-dead-end job again.  So, while The Decemberists write of palanquins, Ontario’s The Constantines write of discontented laborers, with a throw back to Springsteen, Steve Lambke wordsmiths’ images of conductors and hotline operators.

Tournament of Hearts is short.  It’s filled with a chugging, droning, building center.  With booming, Sabbath-like beats emulating machinery in some Canadian mill.  Breathing in acidic dust through a poorly designed HEPA mask and then climbing on stage to moan and grunt as best you can is the embodiment of vocalist Lambke.  Monotonous is usually an insult to music.  Yet, similarly to a line worker, Tournament of Hearts turns the tedious into some implied wanting ambition.  What The Constantines don’t write keeps one listening, waiting, and expecting a blast to occur.  However, the album wouldn’t be truthful if that catharsis was accomplished.  The laborer goes in everyday, places the steel, clears his hands, and punches the button.

I’d be tempted to use the term “stoner rock” here.  I presume just a mention without appending it to Tournament of Hearts is a safe way of separating The Constantines from groups that dominate the genre.  Though, it should be stated that those looking for the next classic rock influenced indie band will be equally satisfied as those cynics who abhor any suggestion of “garage rock.”

Sub Pop has once again proved it’s willingness to put out fantastic records whether or not they follow the path of label predecessors.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Release: May, 2005 Self Released

Starting off with a drunken pub shout (Clap Your Hands!) insinuating medieval swigs of bitter, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!’s debut self-titled release elusively fools any first impression. When the drinking subsides a steady guitar and tambourine duet quickly launch into Alec Ounsworth’s best impression of David Byrne (Talking Heads).

I must admit rolling in a near perfect rating (9) in Pitchfork was catalyst to my interest, especially from a band with a self-released album.  That combined with write ups in an array of local NY publications had me figuring CYHSY were on to something.  To be brutally honest upon my initial listen I thought these people might all be in cahoots to propel an over-hyped, well connected, spoiled bunch of Brooklyn brats to indie-rock stardom (oxymoron).  That is, until I heard the fifth cut on the album, Details of the War.  Ounsworth’s focus on intimacy and sheer passion for delivering the best vocal on the album had me casting aside the Talking Heads references as a non-important nuance of a really great songwriter backed by an in-the-pocket band.  CYHSY are supposed to be even better live, which I dare not doubt.  The claustrophobic nature of a studio must be counterproductive for such an uninhibited voice.

I should probably talk about the rest of the band. Ounsworth is joined by Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh.  Sure, they’re good.  Interpol, Strokes, etc… Nothing spectacular, it’s almost utilitarian.  “Kinda like a Jeep.” To make an excuse they’re still a young band, maybe they’re still feeling things out.  I have a feeling that it’s more because minimalist driving rhythms are all the NY rage.  Stepping out to expose ones neck isn’t getting too much airplay lately.  It’s a pop record; they’ve got the tambourine, harmonica, and distorted bass, what more do you want?

I haven’t had the benefit of a live show, and by the look of their schedule, won’t anytime soon.  I guess Detroit hasn’t enough of the art school rock mentality.  They are stopping at every city with a communist café (yes, Portland is on the list) and better organic produce options.  Is anyone up for a Chicago trip?

Your Favorite People All in One Place Medications Release: Jun 13, 2005 Dischord Records

Deduct bassist Jeff Boswell, add drummer Andrew Becker, then swap drummer Chad Molter’s instrument to bass and former Dischord band Faraquet transforms into Medications.  Confused?  No need to be, astounding guitarist/vocalist Devin Ocampo is still doing his job, which makes it easy to heed Faraquet revised.

Your Favorite People All in One Place is undoubtable a Dischord release.  Like Q and Not U and Fugazi, Medications crams swinging tinny guitars, frantic abuses of percussive equipment, and danceable dub bass lines into a politically/socially conscience 10 song record.  Don’t get me wrong, every Dischord record has character and Your Favorite… is no exemption.

Medications cautiously trip into odd time-signature prog’ unlike their former self Faraquet.  Vocally, the melodies are much more determinate.  Ocampo and Becker adopt emotional quivers for less punk shouts and calm things down a bit with blatant beautiful voices.  It’s surprising how Ocampo’s voice has grown.  Faraquet was a “post-punk” band reflective of the time period.  Medications is looking beyond.  They’ve written a record without tattooing their label mates across their faces.  Your Favorite… is an energizing take on a continuation of Dischord Records and Medications have taken the opportunity to add a chapter to the “DC sound.”

Mixing Faraquet with melody driven songwriting Medications’ Your Favorite People All in One Place is a revitalizing Dischord release.  Devin Ocampo, Andrew Becker, and Chad Molter have created a certifiable DC record without chaining themselves to clichés.  Taking elements from typical DC authorities and throwing in considerations for melodious song flow, Medications is on a great path.  Your Favorite People All in One Place will be released Monday, June 13th.  If you’re a fan of Fugazi, Q and Not U, The Dismemberment Plan, and of course Faraquet it’s worth picking up.