My Year in Music

I didn’t hear every album this year. That’s a 30-year streak I have intact. Same for seeing every concert, even the ones in my town/city/region. It’s a shame. There were so many albums and shows that I missed. Good ones, even. For instance, I’ve still never heard Deerhunter. I also didn’t see the Fleet Foxes when they came though town.

But this post is not my occasion to lament. The fact is, between 23 shows and 36 albums, I’ve had a year filled with music. So without further ado, here’s my list of bests.

5 Best Albums:

1. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
2. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Jamey Johnson – That Lonesome Song
4. Counting Crows – Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings
5. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges

5 Tracks:

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band w. Tom Morello – “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
2. The Ting Tings – “That’s Not My Name”
3. Fleet Foxes – “Oliver James”
4. Jamey Johnson – “In Color”
5. Old Crow Medicine Show – "Methanphetamine"

5 Best Shows:

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Giants Stadium – 7/27
2. My Morning Jacket – Radio City Music Hall – 6/20
3. Okkervil River – Webster Hall – 10/6
4. Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s Revue – Avery Fisher Hall – 7/12
5. David Crosby and Graham Nash – William Paterson University – 10/11

5 Memorable Live Experiences:

1. Hearing Crosby & Nash sing “Cathedral,” while sitting next to my parents
2. Standing in the first row for Bruce Springsteen
3. Death Cab for Cutie fleeing the stage during a crazy lightning storm
4. Jim James climbing to the rafters at Radio City
5. The communal spirit of Damon Albarn’s Revue, where eight groups sat on stage and played along with each other, regardless of whether they came from London, Mali or Chicago.

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

If I want to oversimplify this band, I can tell you that they sound like Jim James singing The Shins. But then I’d have to start throwing in references to Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Band and maybe the Decemberists. It kind of falls apart, you know?

The truth of the matter, is that it didn’t take me half the album before I started to feel silly trying to make analogies. Fleet Foxes are their own band. They have their own sound, their own voice and they are damn good at what they do.

Voice is probably what stuck me most on this album. Gorgeously recorded in what sounds like a marble-lined room… frontman Robin Pecknold’s voice resounds with power and an appropriately understated echo. This dude can sing. I like the James comparison, but frankly, My Morning Jacket is more gritty, more southern, but not nearly as beautiful. Pecknold’s voice is big. It fills the air and steals attention from nearly everything else. It’s almost as if the rest of the band just throws up their hands in conceit during the albums final song, “Oliver James,” when they drop out and allow Pecknold to close it out a capella.

Now, to just discuss the singing would be to miss the point. Josh Groban has a beautiful voice, but you won’t find me popping in his collection of Christmas tunes this solstice. The Fleet Foxes write beautiful songs. Their lyrics are strong, the structures and harmonies are interesting and they have a Band-like ability to blend without needing to prove how talented the individual performers are. Most notable among their songs: “Oliver James,” “White Winter Hymnal” and “Meadowlarks.” They seem to really enjoy singing about nature, which is kind of cool. I can’t think of anyone else who does it as frequently or as well.

Side note: I’ve always kind of dug Belle & Sebastian’s “Fox in the Snow.” And honestly, who can top “Hungry Like the Wolf,” by Duran Duran? But neither of them have nature both in their song titles and band names. Right?

Back to the topic at hand. This is a really good album. I didn’t bother to pick it up, despite Pirooz telling me to do so, until I saw it topping several Best Of 2008 lists. I could have been at the forefront, but rather, I’m just a late-in-the-game follower. Pirooz, you were right. I should have listened to you months ago.