I Swear I Can Hear The Sea: a spring/summer mix

This mix tells a story. Indulge me, if you will, by imagining that this story is true...
________________________

The sun rises out of the void once again. The morning rays slide down over the glass and concrete and land on tar and gasoline. All the people walk out of their homes and climb into cars. They converge on the highways and sit together in traffic. You wonder how it all happens - the fellowship of the commuters, the coffee-fueled consciousness, the voices on the radio, even your final destination - none of it feels like a decision you made.

Suddenly, but subtly, you feel a pull in your stomach. You notice how striking the sun is in the early eastern sky. Images of the distant places where the sun is directly overhead flood your mind. The sound of waves rushing through piles of rocks and sand begin to echo inside your little sedan.

But these images are different from the ones that you have set as your desktop wallpaper on your work computer. Those are just crappy pictures from your last vacation. They are Corona commercials. But this pull in your stomach is something else. It is the feeling that life is passing away and all the things you fill your time with are worthless. The work you do is so that you will have money, but what does money get you? Instead, there are boulders to climb, trails to hike, oceans to swim, food to eat, and roads to drive. Roads that aren't filled with exhaust and screeching tires, but ones that are open and filled with wind.

So you keep driving. Past your exit. Past your office. Out of the city. Toward that ocean that you crave.

You drive for hours and each passing mile brings fleeting feelings of freedom. Your white button-down is thrown in the passenger seat, the starched collar is finally starting to wiggle in the wind. The seat belt is irritating your bare shoulder, but you ignore it. Midday and afternoon pass by as you drink in the freedom. You don't have to answer to anybody. You are your own man.

The white lines whiz by like a constant echo for hours until you reach the end of the road. And there it is. The ocean sits ahead like eternity. You think the blue is the most beautiful color you've ever seen.

Once you've parked the car and taken off your shoes, you make your way toward the tide. You think you must be in a good place now. You dive in the water and feel all the sweat wash off. Surely this is what Tennyson meant when he said he would drink life to the lees. Surely this is what Thoreau had in mind when he commanded you to suck out all the marrow of life.

But just as quickly as the sweat washed off, a hesitation creeps in. You realize that you are alone. You realize the green in her eyes is the most beautiful color, not the blue of the water. You miss your dog. And who will water your tomato plants at home?

So you make your way back to your car. You brush the sand off your feet and turn back toward the rolling hills. You decide to let your dreams be your escape. At least for a while. And you hope that she lets you come home.
________________________

1. Go Outside / Cults
2. Legal Man / Belle & Sebastian
3. Grown Ocean / Fleet Foxes
4. Sweet Thing / Van Morrison
5. Golden / My Morning Jacket
6. Louisiana / The Walkmen
7. Sometimes / James
8. Paint The Silence / South
9. Gentle, Polite / Eric & Magill
10. Victoria's Secret / Quiet Village
11. Feel It All Around / Washed Out
12. Zadie Bobo / Ernesto Djédjé
13. Round And Round / Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
14. Sun Hands / Local Natives
15. Modern Girl / Sleater-Kinney
16. Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig / Jens Lekman
17. The Swimming Song / Loudon Wainwright III
18. California Sunrise / Dirty Gold
19. I Must Be In A Good Place Now / Bobby Charles
20. Let Me Come Home / Wilco

Download the full mix here.

Best Albums of 2009!

Well, now that 2011 is upon us, and the memories of 2010 are already melting into the ether, I figure it's a good time for me to share my "Best Albums of 2009." Please be aware that I can barely remember one thing that happened to me in 2009. I mean, I can remember lots of things from the past decade of my life, but I couldn't tell you what year they happened in. That's what being over 30 is like, I guess. So this list may be a little off. Here goes. . . .

11. Coldplay - LeftRightLeftRightLeft [live]
This is the free album that they gave out at their concerts, and eventually made available on their web site. I can be picky about the sound of live albums, and this one gets it right. It's a good mix, a good selection of material and performances, and a nice representation of what their live show feels & sounds like. I had a great time seeing them at the Bridgestone (was it Sommet then?), it was the best I'd ever heard them sound (I admit I missed that supposedly legendary show at Starwood back in '05). I'm particularly a fan of "42," Fix You," and "Death And All His Friends" on this live collection.

10. The Dead Weather - Horehound
I have been in love with The Dead Weather ever since being rollicked by Alison Mosshart and wooed by Jack White's drumming at ACL Fest in 2009. I bought the album afterwards and while I don't feel like it's as good as they are on stage, it still captures something deep, dark, swampy, and with a punch that will rattle your gut.

9. Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
This is a satisfying amalgamation of Jim James, Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and M Ward. As their name describes, it's folksy in song style and instrumentation. James, Oberst, and Ward each bring songs to the table, and while the entire album is nice to listen to, it's Jim James' songs that stand out the most. His lovely "Magic Marker" is the gem of the bunch, but I also give a nod to Ward's "Say Please," which is the albums most energetic moment.

8. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Here is another album that won me over live, before I'd ever heard it on record. Okay okay since you asked, it was 10th row center at the Greek Theater in LA (Jason Schwartzman was in the row behind me) with Metric as the opening act. I cannot brag enough on how good Phoenix is live - I would not have predicted it, based on the composed, precise and mannered style of their studio albums. But their sound comes out and over you with a force that lifts and carries your spirit on a 2 hour high. This is a great summer album, so I am annoyed that I purchased it in late September, but I think I got some mileage out of it all through the following summer months. It glows from start to finish, but standouts are the exuberant "Fences" and the shimmering "Rome."

7. Various Artists - Dark Was The Night
A four album set on vinyl, each song here is wonderful, by artists ranging from David Byrne to Arcade Fire to Cat Power to Grizzly Bear. It was produced and overseen by The National's Dessner brothers. You get a lot of variety but a cohesive atmosphere throughout. My favorite track, and one of my favorite recordings of the entire year, is Sufjan Stevens' "You Are The Blood" - 10+ minutes of whacked out, electronica'd up, folk-tinged, melodic wunder-pop like only Soof can provide. It provided the first clue of what his 2010 output would sound like, and perhaps because it came first, it strikes me as more breathtaking than this past year's records (which I love).

6. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Now, I have to be in a very specific mood for this album (I guess that would be the mood to go sunbathing off the southern coast of St. Bart's to trip with the spider monkeys). But I am a huge fan of it. I think it was a wonderful directional shift after their last few (great) albums. Like a palette cleanser after several delicious courses of food. I see the Flaming Lips as a band who have taken and honed a free-spirited psychedelic sound, and used those tools and aesthetics to craft, not psychedelic music, but wonderfully constructed pop masterpieces. Now they have taken those psych-pop aesthetics of their own creation, and used them as tools to create a truly psychedelic record. And that's how I see Embryonic. The soundscape is enthralling! If the mood strikes you in the near future, start it spinning from the beginning, buckle up, and enjoy the tasty ride.

5. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
This was probably my biggest surprise of the year. Not that it should have been; apparently Yo La Tengo have been making solidly fantastic albums consistently since the mid-80s. On two vinyl discs, this first disc is filled on both sides with catchy, well-tempered creative pop songs (hence the title) played with the understated tastefulness of veteran indie rockers. There is mellow synth, textured guitar licks, elegant beats both real and electronic, and subdued orchestration adding to the album's rich palette. Disc 2 contains two long shoegazey compositions on side 1, and an even longer Krautrock burner on side 2. Each are full of lush sounds and hypnotic atmospheres. My favorite song is the wistful "When It's Dark," with its warm acoustic guitar and wispy harmonies.

4. Wilco - Wilco (the album)
Biased because they're just about my favorite band? Perhaps. But while it's certainly not my favorite Wilco album, I think this is another beautiful piece in a career of remarkable albums. I know some have fretted that this band, which found its feet in early days with bold experimentalism and genre bending, is making what could be described more and more as "dad rock." I, too, am not a fan of this directional veering, should it continue much further. But as Tweedy said himself of previous album Sky Blue Sky, he wanted to make music that his wife would enjoy listening to - something that people with less adventurous tastes in music could appreciate. That album was a success in its restrained beauty. And I think the band was still operating somewhat in that headspace when making Wilco (the album). Though this is a different album for sure - louder, less somber in tone, and yet safer in some respects. Here you don't find anything like the wild guitar solo explorations of "Impossible Germany" from the last record. To me this album is, more than ever, about how all of Wilco sound as a whole... the meshing of each instrument and part rather than the individuality of its members. Like the album title suggests, this is Wilco, nameless & faceless, more than it is Tweedy, Stirratt, Kotche, Cline, Jorgensen & Sansone. To some, this might sound a little less colorful than previous material, and I might agree. But they can achieve moments of thrilling power with seemingly little effort. Like the sudden crescendo in the final 20 seconds of "One Wing;" or the joyous chorus of "You Never Know," with its "ooohaaah" harmonies and subtle ride cymbal "bell" hits in the gaps (listen close!); or the lead-in to the bridge in "Wilco (the song)" at 1:40 that ever so slightly kicks it up a notch for that part of the song. I am hoping for a turn back towards the daring for their next release. But this still remains one of my favorite albums of 2009. Wilco will love you baby.

3. U2 - No Line On The Horizon
What can I say - I think U2 have made yet another truly great album. Again a slightly different sound than other albums. At first I was not sure about it, but quickly over repeated listens I fell in love. I like the enchanting atmospherics created by Eno & Lanios. I like the way this sounds in some ways like classic 80s U2, and yet in some ways like a U2 we haven't heard yet at all. I think Bono does a fantastic job with melody on this record. (I guess he always does doesn't he?) I like the synth used throughout the album. For me the standout on the album is "Moment of Surrender" with its gospel-like chorus and trance bassline.

2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
I guess everyone had this on their list and I too fell powerless before the fun, creative mix of sounds that pour out of this record from beginning to end. My first favorite moment is the opening track, as it gently teases you with soft washes of vocals and colorful synth strokes before crashing like a wave at 2:30... "if I can just leave my body for the night" -- and the rest of the song hits with an urgency that sets the stage for the rest of the record. My other highlight is the strange and pulsating "Bluish," which channels the ghosts of Cocteau Twins.

1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
This is my number one, because it surprised & delighted me the most! I am perfectly satisfied by the aesthetic of this album, from the imaginative song structures, the unusual instrumentation, the ear-candy harmonies, the wonderfully clear and open and echoey recording technique, and not least the most infectious song of the year, the sumptuous "Two Weeks." Other songs that stand out to me are - well, none of them. This isn't one of those albums with a bunch of highlights for me. Other than the one already mentioned, I don't know songs by name. I just get lost in one after another perfectly executed chamber-pop gem. Perhaps it's all the more unexpected for me because while I liked their last album, Yellow House, it never really stood out to me. (Maybe I need to go back and listen to that again.) But I love when bands sort of hit a peak, or hit their stride, out of nowhere - like when Genesis lost Peter Gabriel, moved Phil Collins to lead vocals and unleashed Invisible Touch. I guess that's what I'm trying to say: Veckatimest is this generation's Invisible Touch. Happy New Year!

Honorable Mentions:

The Walkmen - Live Session (iTunes exclusive) - Best iTunes Release
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange - Best EP
Thom Yorke - "Hearing Damage" - Best Single Release
Super Furry Animals - "Helium Hearts" - Best Album Track
Radiohead - "15 Step w/ USC Trojan Marching Band @ Grammys" - Best Live TV Musical Moment

Here's looking forward to another great musical year. Stay tuned for my top albums of 2010 - coming in January 2012.

Clay Headden
Bus Salesman

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun: a melt-the-snow mix

Winter is officially upon us - the snow is dusting my front lawn as I type, and my heart is constantly threatening to cease blood-flow to my toes. I figure there's nothing better than a bit of music to heat up the atmosphere and bring some life back into the frozen corners of our homes and automobiles.

Here is a mix that might aid that effort. Merry Christmas!


1. Ce Matin-La / Air
2. D.A.N.C.E. / Justice
3. Seasun / Delorean
4. New Theory / Washed Out
5. In The Morning (featuring Andi Toma) / Junior Boys
6. As Serious As Your Life / Four Tet
7. Ready 2 Wear / Felix Da Housecat
8. Transformers (Ghosthustler Remix) / Futurecop!
9. All My Friends / LCD Soundsystem
10. Hello Jenn, I'm A Mess / Evangelicals
11. Fragile / God Is An Astronaut
12. No Comply / Studio
13. Baptism / Crystal Castles
14. Up, Up, Down, Down, L, R, L, R / Truckasauras
15. Windowdipper / Jib Kidder
16. A Paw In My Face / The Field
17. Don't Save Us From The Flames / M83
18. Flim / Aphex Twin

Download the full mix here.

Top 10 of '10

A brief overview of my music-listening experience in 2010...

10. The Morning Benders Big Echo
The opening track “Excuses” is wonderful. It’s very reminiscent of a 1950’s “At Last” Etta James type of chord-progression, yet still bringing something completely new to the table all at the same time. The album continues from there and stays very strong.

9. Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz
I was actually surprised by this album. Not as much surprised in the obvious shift of sound that Sufjan chose to make, but honestly surprised by how good it is. This guy just knows who to make music and how to achieve the exact sound that he is trying to achieve.

8. Blitzen Trapper Destroyer of the Void
In all fairness, this album is extremely up and down. There are some great high points, but then there are some very mediocre low points. But, the high points are very strong. The opening track, which is the title track, is seriously awesome. The only descriptive which I can think of, in an attempt to describe this song, is to call it “Queen Folk”. And I don’t mean “Queen Folk” in the sense of something that some guy from Montgomery, Alabama (while travelling to New York City for the weekend) would say when he saw a bunch of trendily-dressed men hanging out together and so he yells, “Hey, look at all dem Queen Folk o’er dere!” I mean “Queen Folk” in the sense of somehow combining Queen (the 70’s rock band) and folk music… if Freddy Mercury and John Denver had a child, what kind of music would it make? (Sorry for making you picture what Freddy Denver would look like.) But, this song is serious. And there are other really, really strong points on this album… about a handful of them. And when those strong points shine, this album was on it’s way to being as excellent as anything that was released this year… but, for the remainder of the album there was almost the feeling that they didn’t keep trying… that they kind of did what bands used to do… the kind of bands that used to make their living off of successful singles… the kind of bands that would just record a few good songs (and make those few songs excellent) and then just put some filler around them on the album. Blitzen Trapper was on their way to making the best album of their career, and then it feels like they just got lazy before they were done.

7. The Walkmen Lisbon
My first five to ten listens of this album I really wasn't all that impressed and I felt pretty strongly that You & Me was far superior to Lisbon. And, though I still think that You & Me is the better album between the two, Lisbon has now grown on me a ton and I am actually in the middle of still appreciating this album more and more. At this point I assume that if I were asked about this album a couple of months from now I would have an even higher opinion of it... it just keeps slowly climbing the charts for me. I have no clue how they chose to produce and record this album, but they somehow give you this feel that you are sitting in the center of a large room (almost like a big high school wrestling room... I know that's random, but something that expansive with cold, concrete walls and no windows), you feel like you are sitting in the center of this large room while they are recording this album on all sides of you... there's a lot of near-empty space, and yet even the remotest of spaces are still filled with just enough sound. Great production, great sound, and it keeps getting better the more I listen to it.

6. New Pornographers Together
First of all, I want to say that Challengers was a massive letdown (other than the title track, which was beautiful). Fortunately, Together brought back everything that I love about the New Pornographers. This was certainly no Twin Cinema, and with all of the side-projects that these guys do (or, maybe New Pornographers is now all of their side-project at this point) I don’t think they will every recapture the pop perfection of Twin Cinema. But, nonetheless, I really enjoyed this album.

5. Arcade Fire The Suburbs
Arcade Fire officially recovered from the “sophomore slump” with The Suburbs. (Though some may not feel like Neon Bible was a “sophomore slump”, it was good but certainly not great in my opinion.) The Suburbs was great… and “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” was honestly shockingly good and completely unexpected from these guys. A really strong album.

4. Beach House Teen Dream
Beach House has had a certain and specific sound for a number of years. I remember them opening up for The Clientele a few years ago at The Basement and there was not a person in the entire room speaking (I’m not sure if anyone was even breathing). It was one of those live-music moments that I wish I could go back and re-experience. They have had some amazing tools to work with from the start (Victoria Legrand’s voice is both mature and moving to degrees that hardly anyone else can currently compete with), but it wasn’t until Teen Dream that they finally learned how to really use those tools to the full implementation of all that they could do. I think that their sound finally came together on this album and it turned out to be a beautiful album.

3. Local Natives Gorilla Manor
I know this album came out at the beginning of the year, so I hope you haven’t forgotten already, but please remember how fun this album is. Give it another listen… this a really solid album.

2. Suckers Wild Smile
This is the one band that kicked me in the teeth this year. Please, please, please go and see these guys live. If you take my advice then I will go ahead and preemptively tell you “Your welcome”.

1. The National High Violet
On the surface this is not “my style” of album. It’s honestly not what I usually think of as “my favorite album of the year" type of music… but, as it turns out, “Runaway” was my favorite song of 2010 (by far) and it is definitely not the type of song that is usually my favorite “song of the year” type of song. (Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” was far and away my favorite song of 2009 and, for what I love about music that makes perfect, logical sense… “Runaway” is obviously in an entirely different category from a song like “Two Weeks”.) I love the song structure… which is to say, there really is no traditional structure (what exactly is the chorus and what is the verse, and is there a bridge in there?). I’m listening to it right now… my goodness, do me a favor and play this song right now and close your eyes and turn up the volume and take it all in… wow… so good. This is also the first album I’ve really fallen in love with in awhile where I only “kinda” liked it at first, but kept listening to it, and then a few months later I was mesmerized by it (it honestly took about that long, but for some reason I kept it in my CD changer in my car that whole time because I continued to grow increasingly intrigued… yes, I still listen to music on CD’s). “Conversation 16” is an excellent song, which is followed by “England”, which rocks. This whole album is strong top to bottom. “Terrible Love” is such a perfect album opener… the way it enters (also the way those drums come in… which very much brings you into that The National type of sound, and yet the smooth “oohs” that show up later in the song introduce something more promising). I’m always a huge fan of album bookends, which is to say that I put a lot of weight (probably too much weight) into songs that open and close albums (but, I’m just a huge fan of albums taken as a whole). With that said, in my opinion, which I recall was the opposite of Pitchfork’s review of this album, (I remember them pooh-poohing this song when the album came out, for some stupid reason… I don’t know why) but I think “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” is a gorgeous closing track. It’s one of those songs that carries me along on top of it’s waves (I hope that vaguely makes sense because being carried along on top of the unending, rolling waves of the ocean is the feeling that I get when I listen to this song), it’s one of those songs that I wish was twenty minutes long, I just want him to keep singing “Vanderlyle, cry baby cry/ Oh the waters are rising/ Still no surprising you/ Vanderlyle crybaby cry…” until I fall asleep. And, then I’ll wake up tomorrow and push “Play” again.

Albums from the past and Snowden

So recently I’ve thought about starting something new on this nearly dead blog. Well, I guess I should say I’ve thought about starting something OLD on this nearly dead blog (if you’re offended that I call TLE nearly dead, then let’s be honest—out of the many possible contributors, about 4 or 5 people are carrying the majority of the weight right now…and that weight is just barely being carried).

Other, bigger blogs do it, but I think we can as well. I was thinking about friends and such, and I realized that there are various albums from the past handful of years that we all secretly (or not so secretly) revisit over and over again. These are the albums that one or two of us loved from 1999, 2005, 2007, 2000, etc. They are often albums that—when released—were received with little-to-no critical acclaim. For some reason, though, we go back to them. It’s like walking into Cheesecake Factory – we both hate it and love it at the same time (the portions are so big!!! – it’s like three meals for the rest of the week!!!). We all have them, and we all listen to them. It’s time for them to come out of the woodwork, and for them to show off all of their dirty glory in the soft, warm glow of Thom’s Lazy Eye.

Because I am the one who introduced this idea, I’ll start.

My dirty laundry album is Snowden’s Anti-Anti from 2006, and I am prepared to defend it.

Snowden knows how to look cool. Their lyrics and appearance project a “we-soooo-don’t-(but do)care-about-everything-you-don’t-(but really do)care-about” attitude. The tone, sound, and feeling of the album position the band as either super cool or super ridiculous. I’m not really sure which one is the truth.

Their lyrics, ranging from the “I don’t care” anthem of “Anti-Anti” to the silly and crafty wordplay of “Innocent Heathen,” speak to the 20 or 30 something’s contrasting feelings of apathy and desire. By this I mean a feeling of apathy toward modern society in general, but a genuine desire for something more, even when that desire is horribly misguided and/or banal. And sometimes—and I’ve come to realize this even more recently—the desire to feel something is important. I don’t necessarily struggle with this very often, but I know others do. Snowden captures this apathetic sentiment, and turns it into something bigger, grander. Does that sound so ridiculous?

I think the most important and defining characteristic of Snowden is that they have a sound. It’s clear and pronounced, and because of that, I am willing to forgive many of their faults. Enjoy.

• Anti-Anti by Snowden

More Snowden music on iLike

• Black Eyes by Snowden

More Snowden music on iLike

the age of adz

anyone else loving the new sufjan album? i finally got it off emusic today. great stuff.

that is all.

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, an autumn mix

There are plenty of reasons to hate Fall. All the swimming pools are closing, school is beginning, things are dying, and winter is coming. But the general mood and overall spirit of the season make it my favorite time of year. It is a season of remembrance.

So here is a digi-mix for those who enjoy sustaining the color of autumn with some tunes. Enjoy!


1. Been So Long / Vetiver
2. Graceland (Paul Simon cover) / The Tallest Man On Earth
3. Spanish Pipedream (John Prine cover) / The Avett Brothers
4. Ol' Man River (cover of the Show Boat tune) / The Beach Boys
5. Sweet Black Magic / Ryan Adams
6. Jens Lekman's Farewell Song To Rocky Dennis / Jens Lekman
7. 1979 (Smashing Pumpkins cover) / HoneyHoney
8. Salvador Sanchez (Acoustic) / Sun Kil Moon
9. Thirteen (Big Star cover) / Wilco
10. Crayon Angels / Judee Sill
11. Sally Goodin / Heron
12. Saro (Traditional) / Samamidon
13. Dump The Dog / Loudon Wainwright III
14. Toboggan / Breathe Owl Breathe
15. Les Champs-Élysées / Joe Dassin
16. Into The Mystic / Van Morrison
17. Ooh La La / The Faces
18. Roll On Babe (Derrol Adams cover) / Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance
19. Buffalo / Mountain Man
20. Back to Tennessee / Christabel & The Jons
21. Walk Out / Justin Townes Earle
22. Horn / Nick Drake
23. Wild Mountain Thyme (William McPeake cover) / White Antelope
24. Communion Cups and Someone's Coat / Iron and Wine
25. The Beginner / Wheat
26. 1 John 4:16 / The Mountain Goats
27. You Should've Seen The Other Guy / Nathaniel Rateliff

Download the full mix here.