Best of 2009 (the singles)

	1. Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls A great sexy power pop opener that should set the tone for most of this set. This song was introduced during their live 2007 tour and just made it onto Tonight this year. And no, you girls really don’t have any idea how you make a boy feel.
	2. Metric – Sick Muse This year marks a return of the infectious hook/groove guitar riff. This song could diverge into a nonsensical speaking-in-tongues Dave Matthews jam halfway through and still be worthy of inclusion just for its opening.From Fantasies, one of my favorite albums of the year as well.
	3. Rocco DeLuca & the Burden – Any Man Ever since “It Might Get Loud” I’ve been enjoying the bejezus out of some blue-eyed soul. How Mercy avoided most people’s best-of lists is truly beyond me. All the blues power and legitimacy that Jack White covets. Check out the live version of this track on YouTube.
	4. JET – She’s A Genius What can I say? They’re named after one of the best Wings songs ever, they rock, and if this song came on while you were driving your Dodge van on the Ohio turnpike on your way to Cleveland to see your girlfriend, you’d turn it the hell up, roll the windows down and sing along. Loudly.
	5. Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve There are some artists that I hope produce something good enough to include every year. Some artists – I don’t ever have to worry about. Neko Case, whether solo or with New Pornographers has been a consistent joy for years now. Plenty to choose from on Middle Cyclone. This one won both for its borrowed Lloyd Cole opening 12-string chords and for the lyric: “I’m a man-man-man-maneater, but still you’re surprised when I eat ya…”
	6. Antony & the Johnsons – Kiss My Name I was faced with the prospect of either abandoning my bombast mission, leave Antony off the singles list or choose a slightly less maudlin track from The Crying Light. The poster child for pain and personal transformation, he makes Morrissey and Joy Division seem like The Wiggles. For those who haven’t been initiated yet, I realize Antony Hegarty is an acquired taste. Do yourself a favor. Acquire it.
	7. Morrissey – Shame is the Name As a 25 year long Moz fanatic, I don’t wait around for things like “Release Dates” and as such, I featured a track from Years of Refusal on last year’s playlist.  Luckily, this year gave us the B-side compilation Swords, and as any Morrissey fan will attest – his B-Sides often outshine regular album cuts. In a departure from recent work, Shame is the Name revives classic retro Alain Whyte/Boz Boorer Your Arsenal era production, complete with Chrissie Hynde guest vocals, a crunchy bridge segue and cinematic dialogue sfx in the intro.
	8. Richard Swift – Lady Luck An infectious opening groove and R&B unison falsetto. Just the way we like it. He has a few more tasty ones as well. The Atlantic Ocean
	9. Regina Spektor – Laughing With Not as crunchy, but a wonderful lyric that is dear to my heart.  This album was overlooked a bit, I think from the plethora of artsy girl singer songwriters all driving to the hoop this year. (Neko Case, St. Vincent, Toti Amos etc.) From Far
	10. The Avett Brothers – Laundry Room I’ve successfully avoided being moved by these guys for a while. But this album had some excellent writing on it. I passed up the title track for this tastier, shorter gem. From I And Love And You
	11. The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Baby This is an eclectic album by an equally hard to pin down band. There are a few other great soul based dance tracks on their debut album, but this one just kills me dead. Delphonics meets Moby. And they get along. Like waffles and whipped cream.
	12. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes – Home Wow. Look what happens when hippies stop jamming and pushing away the colors and turn their attention to pop songs. Trickle down from the cult-turned-band template that the Polyphonic Spree started some time ago. There’s something about a couple in love singing with each other and touring with a full band in a white schoolbus that just says – um, Partridgy. In a good way. They are  AMAZING live.
	13. Twilight Sad – Reflection of the Television Question: How many amazing “Brogue Invasion” bands can I fit on one playlist? Answer:  How many’ve you got? This song tears me up. “There’s people downstairs, I stole it from a letter - off your tongue it rolled” From their sophomore release Forget the Night Ahead
	14. Lightning Dust – Antonia Jane Okay, there’s a little sad softer stuff on this playlist. But at least she doesn’t have a beard. Haunting wispy chick folk. Just right for a week where we haven’t broken 10 degrees yet. From The Infinite Light
	15. Manchester Orchestra – Shake it Out Aaand we’re back on track. I don’t know why they named themselves this, and no they don’t sound anything like the Boston Pops OR ELO. This is my favorite NEW band/album of the year.  Rockin’ good news, Lulu. Mean Everything to Nothing
	16.Trevor Hall – Unity Before you all check to see if I’ve been replaced by a pod.- yes, it’s technically a reggae song. And yes, he’s a young white guy from South Carolina effecting a Jamaican accent. And okay, yes – his claim to fame was having a track on Shrek III. And yes, that’s Matisyahu (Hacidic M.C.) singing with him. All that notwithstanding, this is a great, infectious, uplifitng, celebratory song for these troubled times. Play it once and see if you don’t hum it later.
	17. Benjy Ferree – Blown Out I loves me my Glam Rock. So naturally I love this Benjy Ferree release with its Bolan guitars and Sweet hooks. From Come Back To The Five and Dime, Bobby Dee, Bobby Dee
	18. The Lonely Forest – We Sing in Time This Washington band has been around since 2006, but this album has really let them spread their sound out and breathe a bit. From We Sing the Body Electric, but don’t let that fool you.
	19. We Were Promised Jetpacks – Moving Clocks run Slow Their bio says that they cite labelmates Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit as influences. Yeah, ya think? Fortunately, as I mentioned before, if you have more hard alt rock melodic Scottish bands – bring them forward with good steed. The more the merrier. Well, the more the thriftier I guess, really. (That’s a Pictish joke)
	20. Passion Pit – Little Secrets More turn-it-up dance electronic rock that will be was on an iPod or CUBE commercial before you finish reading this blog.
	21. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero Dear Karen O, thank you for reminding us of the original promise of The Pretenders before James Honeyman Scott died and took their mission statement with him. Dear Yoko…nevermind.
	That’s the CD length playlist. Once we get past this Sony-imposed 74 minute technological muzzle, we can all get back to the 90 minutes of music that used to grace our UDXLII’s. Until then – I guess we’ll have to settle for unlimited length i-playlists. So here’s the rest of the set.
	22. Bob Mould – Mm 17 I heard Bob Mould playing on the in-store music at Home Depot the other day. I kid you not. And recent Bob too. Not just some Workbook or Sugar standby. Maybe I’m showing my age but the guy is a war machine. he puts out great albums every year and when I saw him in October it was the loudest live show I have ever seen. From Life and Times
	23. Brandi Carlile – Bend Before it Breaks This would have made the prime playlist if it wasn’t so moody. Another phenomenal album from the new queen of indie-alt-country. Give Up The Ghost
	24. Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For The Others I first heard the new GB material from NPR’s All Songs Considered’s SXSW live roundup and knew it would be on my best albums of 2009 list. But I didn’t think there was a single potential. This song proved me wrong. Vekatimest
	25. A.C. Newman – Heartbreak Rides This was going to be my lead song for this playlist earlier in the year. It shifted when the list went another direction but it’s still a strong track and I love the album. Get Guilty
	26. Fanfarlo – Drowning Men Thanks to Tara for this band, back before anyone else I knew had mentioned them to me. Reminiscent of Okkervil River but more British. From Reservoir
	27. The Big Pink – Dominos I begrudgingly include this song here. Why begrudgingly? Because I had to go through 6 “live” videos to find one where they didn’t just sing over a recorded track. And then it turns out that they still used mostly loops and what wasn’t loops sucked. VIDEO So why include them at all? It’s a cool track. Yep. I’m that simple. Like MGMT before them, they blend rock with techno-dance. Unlike MGMT before them, they aren’t self-aware or ironic or even fun. But – sigh – it’s a cool track.

The title of  Morrissey’s new album “Years of Refusal” carried special ironic weight in Pittsburgh tonight.

Yes, it finally happened. Morrissey played Pittsburgh for the first time since the Smiths played here in 1986. The Minister of Manchester had been booked to play here twice during his highly acclaimed solo career, but canceled both gigs under a shroud of mystery and speculation. And everyone was on pins and needles that he might cancel right up until the lights went down, frankly.

But then they came back up and the Moz came out in a bombastic strobe-filled flourish on a stage resplendent with a massive beefcake backdrop. He just started up as if nothing. had. ever. happened.

And that’s when you looked at his aging, earnest features intent on giving the best show the crowd could muster out of him (if we deserved it) and you realize that – despite the petty, whiny whimsical conjecturing from the absolute dreariest of the local music snobs – and to be fair – many of the fans,  Morrissey had no grudge, no axe to grind against Pittsburgh. Shit just happens. Psychosomatic ailments. Faulty electrical safety conditions. Migraines. Apathy. Whatever.  We aren’t in a position to know or be told – but sometimes shit just happens. Twice. I found out about the second canceled show while getting out of my car to walk to the venue. I remember being peeved. I also attended other shows on those tours and enjoyed the NYC show the following week so it didn’t hit me quite so hard.

But to hear the Pittsburgh contingent of  Morrissey’s online fan forums, or the local music press tell it – it was a personal affront so great, it had ignited a feud between the artist and our illustrious city. So much so in fact that it warranted a snarky mention on the singer’s 2006 album “Ringleader of the Tormentors” where he pleads with God to  “Take anyone, take people from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just spare me” which somehow  the same local music writer has taken to be about our Pittsburgh germs? Please. It’s contrived grist-mongering, akin to the press-manufactured confusing feud our city has with Baltimore because somehow one Cleveland Browns wasn’t enough.

We didn’t get a begrudging show. We didn’t get an apathetic or aloof artist going through the motions. (well, no more aloof than usual anyway) What we got was the uncompromising, iconic presence of a legendary songwriter whose mature, acerbic, self-deprecating work at 50, is as relevant, powerful and catchy as his youthful, angst-ridden, self-deprecating work was at 25.

We heard a few references to “Finally making it to Pittsburgh” and a singer wrestling with start-of-tour vocal strain and still recovering from whatever ailment caused the cancellation of the first five US dates. We heard a band still working the kinks out of a new set list that included four (count ‘em four) obligatory Smiths selections, a couple B-Sides and some new material. Moz’s longtime bandleader (with him far longer than Johnny Marr was)  guitarist/songwriter Boz Boorer has put another solid band together once again, but they’re going to need a few more weeks of playing together if they’re going to be dragging out obscure gems like “I’ll Keep Mine Hidden” from 15 years ago. I’d love to see this band/set in August or September.

Perhaps more surprising is what we didn’t hear. We didn’t hear “Everyday is like Sunday” or “Suedehead” both FM Alt-Rock staples from the singer’s early solo catalog. While those tracks haven’t showed up for a few tours now and may have already had their days in the sun, we also didn’t get six of the 13 new album cuts from “Years of Refusal”.  That’s virtually unheard of for a promotional album tour.  Oddly, weaker numbers like “Black Cloud” got a turn while the big, strong “Mama Lay Softly On the Riverbed” and “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” went unplayed. I can only speculate that he chose more sotto voce numbers tonight for throat reasons.

So while the local gloomsayers in the press may have lost their bets on this one – loyal, longtime local fans’ perseverance finally paid off  in spades as the band played the shit out of a kick-ass set in a the best sounding  room in town.

The drought is over. Morrissey has finally thrown his arms around Pittsburgh.

Scot Fleming
3/17/09

“Irish Blood, English heart – this I’m made of. there is no one in Pittsburgh I’m afraid of…”

Here are the rules:
Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you’re it!

I am a rules guy. There is nothing so horrible to me as a game that has no rules. I take that back, a game with vague rules is worse. And as such, warts and all, here are the albums that changed my life. For better or worse. I’d love to be able to show the classics with Blood On The Tracks heading it up in an “Almost Famous” moment, but – alas – I cannot. As others have noted – these aren’t all what I would say are my FAVORITE albums of all time, though some in fact are. But these are albums that when I play them or think about them – I can smell her hair, or the night, or the danger or the contraband.

Keep in mind that both my Father and his best friend were radio DJ’s when I was a kid growing up. We had LOTS of records in the house before I was able to buy my own. This may explain some things. I am trying to put these in chronological order if that’s even possible.

1. Various Artists: “Sunday Morning With the Comics” – This was an LP from the 60’s that featured cover versions of Super Hero and Comic Strip character theme songs along with some old serial and TV themes from the 50’s; The Green Hornet, Superman, Batman, The Lone Ranger, Our FBI in Peace and War etc. I begged my Dad to play this whenever I could. This was exciting stuff. I inherited this album and it sits not 12 feet from where I work everyday. In a related comment – my wife and son gave me a USB turntable for Christmas. Standout Track – “Batman Theme”

2. Various Artists – “Walt Disney’s Merriest Songs” – This is not to be confused with “Walt Disney’s HAPPIEST Songs” They were both compilation albums put out as premiums by Gulf Gas back in the late 60’s that featured the big numbers from the various Disney movies of the past 15 years. The gems for me of course were the 2 Jungle Book songs and the album that had Louis Prima’s and Phil Harris’ scat war from Jungle Book (I Wanna be Like You) was my favorite. I still own both of these as well, but they need replacing.

3. The Beatles – “Abbey Road” – This one hardly warrants commentary by me. I’m sure we’ve all had a similar experience. Many Beatles albums shaped my musical life. One of the problems we had growing up was that my Dad was an early adopter of cassette tapes. We had them (literally) in 1969. And he would often create tapes of albums we gave him. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we had since given the album back to whomever we begged it from so months later were wondering what the hell this song about coming in through the bathroom window was called. Another side effect was that he would fill the tape up with songs from another album once the first album was finished. As such, I went for a long while thinking “Get Back” and “I Dig A Pony” were from Abbey Road. Standout Track – All of them.

4. Elton John – “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” – This was the first ‘real’ rock album that I remember being mesmerized by the sleeve art and the inclusion of lyrics as much as by the music. The double album was such a decadent luxury of the 70’s that has gone the way of the Chevy Van – bastardized beyond all recognition and coolness. It takes me maybe 12 more minutes to illegally download 50 Neko Case songs as it takes to download 11. I don’t think I’d recognize the covers for 85% of the albums I’ve acquired in the last 5 years because I’ve never seen them. Every song on this album is amazing. The sounds and production on this album are amazing. Trite as it may seem today (not to me) – “Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” is still an epic masterpiece.

5. David Bowie – “Ziggy Stardust” I came to this era of Bowie a bit late, but it introduced me to one of the best bands, best guitar players and set of songs in the world for me. I remember hearing Ziggy for the first time and just being awestruck. Mick Ronson’s guitar was more transforming for me as a musician than almost anyone’s. I remember very few of my friends at the time liking this album so it was a lonely pleasure. Like Cocoa Pebbles.

6. The Who – “Tommy” – When the movie came out, the existence of this original version album, and the knowledge that my older cousins owned it – forced me to beg them to borrow it so my Dad could tape it for me. I was disappointed by the lack of Elton’s Pinball Wizard (sorry, it’s vastly superior to the original in every conceivable way) but thrilled because the original versions of “I’m Free” and every other track far outshined the movie soundtrack versions.

7. Queen – “News of the World” – This album ushered me into manhood, rock music-wise. the first time I heard the opening of “We Will Rock You” at Tom Burke’s house was like God had spoken to me and only me. It may be a trifle ironic or at least interesting to note that in my personal rock history, if not the world’s, the penultimate moments in macho rock Godhood have most often been reached and delivered by gay men. (Or at least, always by Brits which some may say is a horse apiece). Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Morrissey. This triumvirate of rock stars in my catalog have achieved the flamboyant uber-arena royalty drama that other rock stars and their music hint at but are often left scratching their heads in the wings. Standout song – “Fight From The Inside”

8. Original London Cast – “Jesus Christ Superstar” (the f’ing Brown album) I’ve written and spoken about this one before (on the radioscooter.com blog, natch) so I won’t re- spend the time here. This album has better guitar work and better production, emotion and everything than just about any album of its day. Ignore the Broadway and movie versions. Standout Track “Overture/Heaven On their Minds”

9. KISS – “Destroyer” – What can I say? The pomp and majesty of rock and roll made visually real and married to comic books, sci-fi and superheros? Where the hell do I sign up? Standout track for me – “God Of Thunder”

10. Pink Floyd – “Dark Side Of The Moon” – Now we will visit a different meaning of “life changing” Ah yes, we are getting into prog rock which will lead in turn to new wave and punk. But for now, let’s just see what we can melt. My first love and I used to listen to it quite a lot when we hung out. In fact, one night coming home alone from her dorm room in Oakland at about 2am in the morning after moving her stuff in, driving her Grandfather’s HUGE American boat of a car (LTD?) I had this album playing super loud on the car stereo and was driving down Grant Street in town when I noticed a bus bearing down on me from a side street on the left. I quickly accelerated but another car was passing the bus on the left of it and we collided. Pretty badly. And we took out a phone booth as well. It was as traumatic as it gets for a 17 year old. It was determined to be their fault and I was completely substance free at the time. But the car was absolutely totaled and I did not drive for a while. I remember sitting shivering in shock on the side of the road with the paramedics asking me questions and shining a flashlight in my pupils and “Run Rabbit Run” was still blaring from the car. They hadn’t been able to get past the twisted dash and wheel to shut it off yet.

11. Genesis – “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” Yup. For as much grief as I continually give musicals and Broadway, there was some sort of a moment when it all changed for me. Because before that I loved the whole medium, was in choirs and many shows and loved the whole experience. Something snapped one year and it turned completely around for me very suddenly. Luckily it was replaced by the almost equally extravagant Prog Rock. And seriously, this is the best of that genre. It’s peter Gabriel at his most potent, albeit oddest and the best prog drummer in the world at the time battling to salvage an album while a band is on the verge of breaking up. The narrative is goofy but the songs are transcendent. Standout Track “Back In N.Y.C.”

12. The Smiths – “The Queen Is Dead” This is possibly my favorite album of all time. So naturally it goes on the list. I remember in 1984 hating the Smiths like many people that hated the Smiths did at the time. From afar they are ephemeral and morose and without merit. One excruciatingly thin onion layer later and they became the only band that mattered for me since the Beatles. Right about the 2nd album I became a convert and by TQID – they had become absolutely without peer for me. It’s a rare joy to be in the throws of liking a band and familiar with their work when they issue their opus. I was too young to be aware of Sgt. Pepper’s. But at just the right time and place for this one. I can list valid, objective, rock critic reasons why this album should be in the top 5 most important rock albums of all time. But you wouldn’t listen to me. Or else you would and you already know it to be true. Standout Track – “Bigmouth Strikes Again”

(Here’s where it gets hard not to complete the list with Smiths albums for me.)

13. Kate Bush – “Hounds Of Love” – This was a breakthrough album that got played from start to finish, rinse, repeat for weeks on end when I lived in Massachusetts. Gads the crap we used to do. I briefly shared a flat over a bar with a guy named Danny and two girls from Syracuse. One night the girls were tripping their asses off and just played this album literally all night long. You’d think it was over and then those strings would slowly fade in from “Running Up That Hill” again as the whole thing started up again. Again, the rest of the story will have to wait for a spot in the sun someday.

14. Laurie Anderson “Strange Angels” – An odd album from an odd performer. This was her finding out she could write songs under 12 minutes and catchy. It seemed to annoy her. And yet there are moments on this album that bring tears to my eyes to this day. There are not many songs more beautiful or poignant than “Hiawatha” Do yourself a favor. If you think you dislike Laurie Anderson – go download “Hiawatha” and see if it’s what you’d expect. It’s not even the best song on this album. Anyway – I saw this show at the lamentably now defunct Syria Mosque and she transformed this album into one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen.

15. Morrissey – “Your Arsenal” – This is the man at his peak. Though the new album is giving it a run for the money. But here’s a great example of sticking to the rules. So much was going on around this album in my life that it almost couldn’t help be on this list, even if it weren’t his best album or one of the best albums of the 90’s. This is also the swansong album for producer Mick Ronson, one of my top 3 favorite guitarists of all time. Who died of cancer in the months following the release of this album. In this album, I challenge you even if you hate Morrissey, to not hear his respect, love and abject mastery of the power-pop-rock song format. Drenched with T-Rex guitars and walls of solid 4/4 drumming – this is as good as any of it ever gets. This is the album that true critics should start having trouble remembering the names of his former band mates after hearing.

ADDENDUM: Obviously there are many albums that could have or maybe should have made this cut. Some I’ve probably just forgotten about. One that I’ll give honorable mention to here is The Carpenters: “Singles” album. I wasn’t a Carpenters fan. I mean – I like the songwriting and the fact that she was a drummer was cool – but those are both things that probably mean more to me NOW than as a 14 year old boy. But this album was my sister’s “Destroyer” at the time. Meaning she played it. A. Lot. She would put it on the old stereo we used to have in our dining room on Potomac ave. and not unlike some form of waterboarding, would play it over. And over. And over… And because it wasn’t “rock music” it was apparently all okay with my parents. The odd thing is – I didn’t really mind it as such. It was funny is all. And I remember one thing funny about it.

The year she got the album – the song “Top Of The World” was a hit on the radio. Now, my father was even less of a music aficionado than he was a stickler for punctuality. He heard music in the world like I notice danger in food choices. That is to say – extremely peripherally. Couple this with the fact that in the mid 70’s he was tagged as a replacement host on the radio for lots of other talk show jocks who were on vacation or in rehab at the time. So this week he would be sitting in for Jack Bogut, next week Art Palent, etc. And they all had different flavors of their shows. Not when my Dad was subbing. I’m sure they expect a sub Jock on a call-in talk show to exercise his own free will, but holy crap, Bill. Anyway, that entire year, different show after different show, day after day, week after week, I remember him not only opening but closing each and every show with The Carpenters “Top Of The World” I would not be surprised if the actual numbers for that song were inexplicably MUCH higher in the Metro Pgh. region that year. I never knew if my sister had subliminally been influenced by this, or what is much more likely, subliminally achieved this – but to this day, when I hear those poppy pedal steel slide strains in the beginning of that song – I cannot help but think of my Dad and my sister, locked in some Top-Of The-Pops Pavlovian battle of wills…

s

Oh Fred Schneider, those buxom beehived bombshell cougars are so wasted on you…

It’s been a while. Make way for the feel-good, turn-up, stop what you’re doing and make out on the dizance flo’ song of the summer.

You don’t show up on Letterman wearing druid capes (or Gryffindor robes, whichever) and expect to survive without being confident that you’re kicking out a monster epic tune that’s going to have Apple and Verizon advertising execs waiting out in the hall afterward with blow and hookers to try to snare it for their next Gen Z “culture” TV commercial.

Paul Schaffer rarely books wild cards on the show. Usually if it’s not Bonnie Raitt or the ghost of Warren Zevon you can be pretty sure that the band featured is not going to be that far away from the curb. So when these tweens show up looking like ironic-shirt-wearing-goth-emo smart-asses you could almost hear a nation of 40+’ers give a collective sigh, roll their eyes and look for the remote.

Luckily, mine was under the cat.

Worthy of your iPod.
Download it for free on their MySpace or on iStore.