Oh Yeah, I Like Music Too

I've been writing so much bum out material lately I figured I'd switch it up as some of this has been sitting on my laptop for a while.

I haven’t come up with a list like this in a while. Mostly because I don’t pay that much attention to new music; I’ve kind of gotten back into some metal related music in the last couple of years though. The genres I liked or loved at one point in time have dried up. Most of the stuff on this list is rooted in metal or hardcore, which is the music that has defined me for the last 30 years or so. No hip-hop has made the list this time around as I didn’t hear one album that moved me at all aside from maybe the Jay-Z album. These are in no particular order.

Top Albums of 2009

Mastodon - Crack the Skye
I guess if you were going to put these in order this would be the top album. This was one of those records that didn’t take long to get into. Finally shedding some of the more harsh metal leanings for a more late 70’s early 80’s hard rock vibe that reminds me of Diary of a Madman era Ozzy in some places. Anyone into metal or hard rock who didn’t like this either didn’t hear it, or has some sort of sill underground agenda that doesn’t allow them to listen to bands that are popular, or they don’t like metal period. If so, too bad for them as they are missing out on a truly breathtaking album. Why someone wouldn’t like a concept album about a paraplegic who astral travels, eventually having his soul enter the body of Rasputin is beyond me.

Converge - Axe to Fall
Considering it is pretty hard to put this group in any category, I have decided that with the addition of all the special guests on this album, Converge are still a hardcore band of the truest form. Hardcore kids from the Boston area who have been “doing it themselves” for quite a long time embrace hardcore’s essence of community by creating an album that is all over the place in style, but still firmly what the newest Converge album should sound like. These guys have been getting better with age in my opinion. From the first time I saw that video tease they released for the album of the band playing an instrumental of what would turn out to be the title track I knew this record would be at the top of my list somewhere once it came out. While I was initially turned off by all of the special guests, all of it works perfectly. Easily my favorite Boston band still playing.


Rise and Fall - Our Circle is Vicious
I know very little about hardcore music at this point in time, so I was initially not even wanting to hear this. Once I bought it though, that changed. There is no crappy thug mosh hardcore crap on this. If I were to compare it to anything it would be Deadguy. Some really cool melodies.

Baroness - Blue Album
This album will always hold a special place for me as a dear and close person to me and I both discovered this band around the same time and I like to think of it as “our record”. Between this and the Mastodon record it is hard to really pick a better album. This is a truly great hard rock album, from the arrangements to the artwork and lyrics, everything about it is classy and executed with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I’m glad I found this album and was able to appreciate it with someone who appreciates good soulful music like this as well.

Black Crowes - Before the Frost...Until the Freeze
Who knew these dudes were still putting good albums out? Hippies and dudes with beards did most likely. While I was off in screaming like a shitbag at the world metal hell this album came into my life as a pleasant surprise. Black Crowes have aged into a great rock and roll band from America, still putting out good quality music. This one was recorded live in front of an audience at that Levon Helm barn up in Woodstock, NY. Whatever kind of weed they are smoking up there is doing the trick.

Medeski Martin & Wood - Radiolarians III
Another band putting out some great music this far into their career. They’ve kind of lost the jamband vibe and funk thing into this great instrumental band. Some of the tracks on this are almost indie rock sounding. They create a vibe few other instrumental bands can create. All three albums in this series are great.


Some other albums I listened to a lot in 2009:
Storm of Light - Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Black Elk - Always a Six Never a Nine, Torche – Meanderthal and Intronaut – Prehistoricisms (I know these last two are not from 2009, but I wore both of these out)

Top Live Shows of 2009

Steely Dan x 3 - Gibson Ampitheatre (Studio City, CA)
This would be the first big concert I saw out here as a resident. They were touring and performing their albums Aja, Gaucho and The Royal Scam as well as a “All Request” night. I spent quite a bit of money and went to three nights. I can’t really say which night was the best. I had amazing seats each night (10th row, 5th row and 3rd row). Aja may have been the best night of the three as it’s my favorite album of theirs. Some of the lyrics on that record held some significance to me at the time such as Home at Last. The addition of Larry Carlton on the Royal Scam night made that night even better as he played on the original album. This venue holds a place in my musical history; as a kid I saw Steve Martin with the Blues Brothers here, and as a teenager visiting LA I saw The Smiths (for the third time, yeah yeah, yeah, sorry). I took some video with my iPhone at each of the nights. Sound came out surprisingly well on these!




This one is a brief 35 seconds with yours truly on background vocals


Nine Inch Nails - Hollywood Palladium (Hollywood, CA)
General admission shows where people may start jumping around, I usually stay in the back. This night we went right to the front, and Trent let folks bring cameras in. Aside from the amazing pics and video footage I got the show wasn’t too shabby: opening with the whole Downward Spiral and continuing with some random rarities and favorites and then two songs with Gary Numan this should be the number one choice. I was able to get some amazing shots at this show.


Phish - Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
Thanks to an old friend I was able to score some tickets to this at the last minute. This was my 90th Phish show. I first saw them in 1990. The show itself was okay as with most shows the band has played since coming back in my opinion. Perhaps my last show seeing them...was a nice farewell to Boston and Phish for me.


Wilco - Lowell Baseball Park (Lowell, MA)
My second show at a baseball park in one year. This show was great. Good group of friends who I spent a good amount of time going to shows with before leaving town. The last two Wilco records have been great so it was nice to hear songs from both of those in such a cool place to see them. Show was cut short due to some serious rain. Opener kid from Bright Eyes was the only other bummer of this night after the rain.

Baroness - the Troubadour (West Hollywood, CA)
I had no idea this band existed when the year 2009 started. Like seeing a band right before they are going to blow up and make it into Mastodon territory, these guys were so on top of their shit at this show. Friends saw them in Boston as well as San Francisco all said they were amazing and they weren’t kidding. Perfect segues between songs, some slight improvisation and soul and fire made this a contender for show of the year.

Harvey Milk, Torche - Middle East (Cambridge, MA)
Judging by some of the live shows I have from this same tour it looks like Harvey Milk were playing pretty much the same set every night. I dig these guys quite a bit, but as I’ve said before I think the concept of them is better than the actual music sometimes. Vocals are hard to deal with for an hour plus set, but at least Creston oozes soul and pain when he sings and the band is always tight as well. Openers Torche were great. I have spent so much time with their last album that hearing them live as a three piece was a slight letdown, but still good.

Mastodon - House of Blues (Boston, MA)
Touring their amazing new album Crack the Skye and performing the whole thing start to finish. The band sounded great, vocals were a little off in my opinion, but the album as a whole is so great that it works as one piece in the live setting. By the time they got to the old songs my ears were kind of shot, but they still kicked it.

Shrinebuilder - the Viper Room (Hollywood, CA)
This is that club where Jaquion Phoenix's brother drowned in vomit or whatever it was. This was kind of a last minute announced warmup show that I thankfully bought a ticket for. The place is tiny, and was packed. The band played their whole set not once but twice! They played the whole new record as well as a few others and a cover of Twenty-Four Hours by Joy Division which was intense.

Jesus Lizard - Henry Fonda Theatre (Hollywood, CA)
Easily the best band ever when you are seeing them live. There are a whole slew of bootleg videos and audio of this tour and I have to say I was just melted at the end of the night. They definitely showed the kids how it's done.


Cattle Decapitation, Intronaut - Cobalt Cafe (Sherman Oaks, CA)
My first time seeing Intronaut live and they were amazing. The club was great, this tiny little all ages venue in Sherman Oaks which is pretty close by where I live. Cattle Decapitation were great as well, my friend caught some video with her camera. The singer is intense to watch.


Screaming Females - Spaceland (Silverlake/Los Angeles, CA)
This venue, my first time here, is great. This band, even better. I saw them open for Throwing Muses in Boston, and wait a minute I think I may have written about this very show in this here blog. Anyway, amazing band. A shame nobody was there. I made a distorted video.


Seeing shows out here is pretty good so far. The crowds for the most part are cool, and people definitely are into the music. One irony is LA is full of "plastic" people or whatever, and whenever I see an Angels game on TV or a Dodgers game it seems half the crowd is not paying attention, they're there to say they were there. This was something that bugged me about seeing shows in Boston, half of the time you would be at a show and you'd be standing behind a group of beards and tits chatting it up the whole set of the band you went to see. I haven't seen that out here at all yet. People are genuinely into the music and the show. I have seen some of the same faces at some of these shows as well. This is definitely refreshing.