Jamie Tennant

'08's Top 10

It’s a little late for this, but what the heck – here’s my own personal top ten for 2008.

Now, that said, let’s check what qualifies:  albums I actually own.  I could take the critics’ lists, go to the on-air booth here at CFMU, and load up, perfectly matching the Pitchfork hipsterdom album by album.  However, that would be lame.  (That said, I think the AV Club online for turning me on to one of my favourite albums of the year, the Gaslight Anthem).

So if there’s tons of stuff missing – or genres missing (where was the great hip hop this year?  I’m sure it exists, but I never actually got to hear it) – it’s only because I wanted to actually own the album if it was to be on this list. 

In no particular order:

Mardeen, Read Less Minds

A simple east coast indie rock band.  Nothing in their sound that’s particularly new, but that’s what drew me to it – its guitar sound and vague melancholia reminded me of early treble charger, which I still enjoy.  I’m a big fan of songwriting – no matter how much crazy Japanese neo-psyche I dig, I will always come back to well-written songs.  Plenty of new indie bands are a bit too clever clever with the songwriting.  Mardeen get down to business with a hook that actually hooks.  Which, in my opinion, is cleverer.

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive

I didn’t jump on the Hold Steady bandwagon with everybody else – in fact, it took several spins for me to truly enjoy Stay Positive.  The music is great, yes – to me it seems like Bob Mould meets E-Street Band grandiosity – but the real joy of this band is in its lyrics.  Stay Positive creates its own world of small town ennui, casual petty crime, and characters “sniffing at crystal in cute little cars,getting nailed against dumpsters behind townie bars.”  Combine this world with the driving sound and you’ve got a winning little universe that gets better with each visit.

The Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound

Speaking of the E-Street band, few bands are as upfront about their Springsteen love as the Gaslight anthem.  References to their home state of Jersey, thematic similarities, lyrical nods and Brian Fallon’s weary yet passionate rasp all add up to the oversimplified-but-apt description “Springsteen as backed by a punk band.”  The AV Club’s Noel Murray and I share exactly the same opinion (and tastes perhaps) so let me quote him, because he says it better:  “While I can imagine that some might find their bold-faced sincerity overwrought, it's exactly what I'm looking for these days: well-written songs played simply and energetically, with a strong element of uplift.”  Yep, that’s about right.

Boris, Smile

Boris have their fingers in a lot of musical pies, working withi noise artists (Merzbow) and scary-ass Americans (Sun 0)))).  Lately, though, they’ve been straddling this odd line of J-pop and heavy psyche stoner rock, with the help of guest guitarist Michio Kurihara.  An understated record, a little more tuneful than usual, but still plenty spacey.  Next album?  Could be death metal.  You really never know.

R.E.M., Accelerate

I admit several things off the skip:  I have always been a big R.E.M. fan, and I have not been super impressed by a single release since their last great record, New Adventures in Hi-Fi.  So there was, naturally, a tendency for me to jump on the critical bandwagon and natter on about the “return” of R.E.M.  Well, I’ve been listening to the album for a while now, and guess what?  They have, indeed, returned, and it isn’t just my imagination.  There’s a spirit here that has been lacking for some time, and instead of going for the big pop flash they’ve written serious, snappy songs about, well, whatever Stipe’s usually on about.  Fine stuff from a venerable band.

Billy Bragg, Love & Justice

Well, okay, see the statements about R.E.M. above.  I wasn’t super thrilled when Billy started including more full-band arrangements because somehow he buffs off all the edges in production – and the edges were always part of Bragg’s charm.  Still, the songs on Love & Justice are the best he’s penned in a while, and if you got the special edition, you got a disc of Billy doing it old-school, with just his electric guitar.  These versions are even better, and show that he’s still got the energy that made him a formidable performer in the first place.

Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes

It took me a while to really get the Fleet Foxes – it never rocked as hard as I wanted it to, and the songs seemed to branch off in too many directions too soon, never settling in long enough for my liking.  Then I got used to it.  Then I got liking it.  Now, I’m always a bit taken aback by the gorgeous melodies and the whole atmosphere it invokes.  When you can musically reference Simon & Garfunkel and CSNY without sounding retro, you’re doing something right.

Metallica, Death Magnetic

I was never a purist who hated the pop-driven side of Metallica through the ‘90s.  In fact, I’m a big fan of some of that stuff.  Yet the more time passed, the less focused they seemed, until the sloppy mess of St. Anger landed on shelves.  Death Magnetic brings Metallica back to Master of Puppets/…And Justice For All, at least in theory.  And it works.

Kings of Leon, Only By The Night

A while back I got interested in the unlikely combination of soul music and indie rock which, for the most part, isn’t particularly R&B/soul friendly.  People used to say the Afghan Whigs were soul-inspired…but I never heard it.  Then I heard a great band called Catfish Haven, and it was almost like finding a missing link.  Kings of Leon don’t make it obvious on tracks like “Sex on Fire” but they sure the hell do on “Need Somebody,” which ranks as my favourite sing-along song of the year.  And that’s the truth, Ruth.

Lupe Fiasco – The Cool

Must of the fuss about Lupe is unwarranted – and unwanted, because no one wants this cool, quick, talented (and yet somehow nerdy) MC to become the next Kanye.  He can sound like your average MC while slipping in unexpected references, and manages to make it cool to talk about everything from the brutality of child soldiers to being loyal to your partner when you’re out on the road.  Lest you think it’s lame white-guy-approved hip-hop, Lupe’s production is contemporary and killer; in fact, modern hip-hop’s detractors might have to spin through this a few times to realize it’s far, far better than you might originally believe.

James Tennant

Program Director, 93.3 CFMU FM

UB119, MUSC, McMaster University

Hamilton, ON L8S 4S4

905.525.9140 x 27208

http://cfmu.mcmaster.ca

For a sublime '09

Musical Resolutions

The "new year's resolution" is not a horrible idea at first glance. You take the start of the year — psychologically tagged as a time for new beginnings, even if nothing tangible changes except the  calendar — and pledge to change something about your life. Perhaps you'll finally lose that 20 pounds, or quit smoking, or apply for that promotion. 

Yes, and perhaps you'll find a cure for cancer and end the recession too, my friend. As good an idea as a resolution sounds, there's just too much inherent pressure for most of them to succeed. You're better
to make changes when you're ready, throughout the year, than on one (technically meaningless) occasion. Really, after eating chocolate, shrimp, and chocolate-dipped shrimp for three weeks, you're going to go on a diet? Really? The idea of depriving myself of anything when I'm on my way back to work, trudging through the grey slush with a heavier stomach and a featherweight wallet...yeah. No thanks. Back to work, I'm-a gonna need all the comfort I can get.

Still, for 2009, I've decided to make some resolutions. You know, if you can "resolve" in a vague, who-cares-if-I-don't-do-it kind of way. (Just checked the OED. Apparently, no, that's not "resolve."  Oh well.) Anyway, these resolutions revolve around — surprise! — music. When you work in the business of music, you can easily get jaded, annoyed, cynical, and lazy.  You forget — you got into this business not because you love business, but because you love music. So to make music more of a pleasure and less "my work," I've resolved to do some of the following.

1.  See more music.
In 2007, you couldn't drag me out of the Casbah, unless you were dragging me to the Pepper Jack (and sometimes Absinthe). In 2008, however, something went awry. Habits changed. Relationships changed. Priorities shifted. My wallet started biting back. My liver wept. So, here's a new concept: drink water!  After a long dry spell (hah, get it) it'll be good to get back out there and see what people are doing. Live music has an addictive energy of its own; you get more involved with live music the more you see live music. I hope to load up until I'm overloaded. Then load up some more.

2.  Actually read reviews.
If you've been a reader here, you've heard me mention my friend Vickers. We both believe that most criticism has a dubious value (not no value — dubious value). Critics hated many of my favourite bands.  Critics hated such cinematic classics as "Better Off Dead" and the Norm MacDonald vehicle "Dirty Work."  (What?  You hated that stuff too? Screw you, critics!). At the same time, though, a well-written review does something more — and more important — than the quality of the record. They tell you what it sounds like, how it fits in to the artist's trajectory, and why you might love it even though they don't (or vice-versa). I might have discovered some of my recent faves (such as the Gaslight Anthem) earlier if I'd done some reading.

3.  Embrace more guilty pleasures.
Yeah, yeah, I don't like the term "guilty pleasure" either.  In reality, I don't feel guilty that I like Billy Joel.  Or "Too Much Time On My Hands" by Styx. Or the new Britney single. If the Jonas Brothers write
a catchy song, I'll dig it (though I'll still refer to them as "weirdo home-schooled abstinent pretty boys" even as I'm singing along). If my hipster friends turn up their noses, that's okay.  I've looked into their record collections. I know the truth. Somewhere behind the cool shiz lies a Creed CD.

4.  Explore other genres.
For almost thirty years, while I've had my sights set on pop music, I've caught the shadowy movements of jazz, blues, classical, bluegrass, etc. in my peripheral vision. I couldn't catch up if I devoted the rest of my life — and somehow yours — to the pursuit, but there's always room for a bit more exploration.

5.  Support artists more.
I'm not  particularly puritanical on the issue, but I don't download. You might not, either, if your day job involved mountains of silver plastic discs being shovelled onto your desk. Still, I want to make an
effort to go into more music stores and buy more CDs. Or DVDs, or T-shirts, or concert tickets, or what have you. 

6. Enjoy what I've got.
AV Club (www.avclub.com) readers might be familiar with Noel Murray's "Popless" project, which saw the writer eschew all new music for 2008. Instead, he went back through his collection to enjoy, re-evaluate and (in some cases) even discard older music. Most music nerds (like me) could never buy or receive another piece of music for the rest of our lives, and we'd still never be at a loss for something to fill the air around us.

Happy 2009, y'all.