Top Live Shows of 2009!

Here are the Top 61 live shows that I remember going to this year (I fucked up the counting, so there's a #5 and #5a - tie).  For various reasons, I attended far fewer shows this year, and I know for a fact that I missed some amazing performances. Nevertheless, I also saw a ton of amazing things. With no further ado... (BTW: a picture of each performance is available here [link to follow soon - I've got a ton of shit to sort through]).

60. Moneypenny @ Hideout 8/6
59. Lucero @ Metro 4/10
58. Black Kids @ Metro 4/11
57. Chairlift @ Metro 4/23
56. Sea and Cake @ Millennium Park 6/22
55. M83 @ Pitchfork 7/18
54. The Thermals @ Pitchfork 7/18
53. Frightened Rabbit @ Pitchfork 7/18
52. Kings of Leon @ Lollapalooza 8/7
51. Raveonettes @ Lollapalooza 8/9
50. Snoop Dogg @ Lollapalooza 8/9
49. Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Logan Square Auditorium 9/8
48. Arctic Monkeys @ Lollapalooza 8/8
47. Women @ Pitchfork 7/18
46. Of Montreal @ Lollapalooza 8/7
45. Cold War Kids @ Lollapalooza 8/9
44. Art Brut @ Green Music Fest 8/15
43. The Sounds @ Double Door 5/7
42. Julian Plenti @ Metro 11/21
41. Tapes n' Tapes @ Green Music Fest 8/15
40. Wavves @ Chopin Theatre 9/20
39. Elsinore @ Beat Kitchen 9/11
38. Deerhunter @ Lollapalooza 8/9
37. Vampire Weekend @ Lollapalooza 8/9
36. Santigold @ Lollapalooza 8/8
35. Tool @ Lollapalooza 8/8
34. Fleet Foxes @ Lollapalooza 8/7
33. Decemberists @ Lollapalooza 8/7
32. Vivian Girls @ Pitchfork 7/18
31. Grizzly Bear @ Pitchfork 7/18
30. Dirty Projectors @ Millennium Park 6/22
29. Titus Andronicus @ Metro 4/10
28. Los Campesinos! @ Logan Square Auditorium 2/7
27. Born Ruffians @ Metro 3/18
26. Mates of State @ Metro 4/11
25. The Faint @ Metro 4/3
24. Your Villain My Hero @ Cubby Bear 11/14
23. Walkmen @ Pitchfork 7/18
22. Hood Internet @ Hideout 8/6
21. TV on the Radio @ Lollapalooza 8/8
20. Black Moth Super Rainbow @ Millennium Park 6/29
19. Peter, Bjorn & John @ Metro 4/23
18. Tapes n' Tapes @ Metro 3/7
17. Ratatat @ Metro 3/23
16. Bloc Party @ Aragon Ballroom 3/28
15. Tokyo Police Club @ Metro 3/18
14. Ladytron @ Metro 4/3
13. Blitzen Trapper @ Pitchfork 7/18
12. Silversun Pickups @ Lollapalooza 8/9
11. Stellastarr* @ Double Door 7/23
10. Flaming Lips @ Pitchfork 7/18
9. Bat for Lashes @ Lollapalooza 8/9
8. Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Logan Square Auditorium 9/8
7. White Denim @ Lincoln Hall 11/6
6. Les Savy Fav @ Epiphany 1/31
5a. Hold Steady @ Taste of Randolph 6/21
5. Art Brut @ Schubas 6/8
4. Fucked Up @ Empty Bottle 2/14
3. Opeth @ House of Blues 5/6
2. Japandroids @ Schubas 10/9
1. Dan Deacon @ Lollapalooza 8/9

New Shows - Happy Holidays!

New shows up at the SHOWcal which isn't going to be updated again 'til the new year, because 1) I'm lazy and 2) there aren't going to be any announcements during the holidays.

Still looking for NYE plans? Supposedly the NYE shows aren't selling out, and in most cases, the venues will probably have to start discounting the absurdly overpriced tickets.  I have all the better NYE shows posted in SHOWcal. That is except for one, which is by far the best: Polkaholics at the DANK Haus ballroom for only $5! If I was looking for something to do on NYE (which I'm not, because NYE is stupid), I wouldn't look any farther than that. In fact, I might just wind up going for shits. Punk-Polka!

Best Albums of 2009

It's that time of year when everybody and their uncle puts out Best-Of lists, thinking they're so creative for coming up with an arbitrary, subjective ranking of whatever it was they managed to experience in the past 12 months.  And, I'm no exception.  Overall, it was a relatively weak year for new music. Nevertheless, with no further ado, here's my Top 25 Best Albums List of 2009!

25.  Jason Lytle, Yours Truly, The Commuter: As close as we're going to get to new Grandaddy.

24.  Spinnerette, Spinnerette (review here): As close as we're going to get to new Distillers.

23.  Dead Weather, Horehound: Can't remember the last time a "super group" put out a solid album.

22.  Manchester Orchestra, Mean Everything to Nothing: Overwrought, but there's some gems here.

21.  Metric, Fantasies: Oh the ear worm!

20.  Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix: Overrated, as their earlier material was far better, but nice to see some recognition.

19.  Silversun Pickups, Swoon: I make no apologies for being a massive SP fan. This album rocks.

18.  White Rabbits, It's Frightening: A disappointment compared to the prior release, but it's still well above average.

17.  Wavves, Wavves: The lo-fi is played out, but there is beauty amidst the sludge.

16.  Lilly Allen, It's Not You It's Me: What was most surprising about this album was after listening to it once I didn't hate it. The more I listened, the more I got sucked in. It's not high art, but there's some artistry at play.

15.  Lamb of God, Wrath: Best death metal album of the year.

14.  Julian Plenti, ...Is Skyscraper (review here)

13. Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca: Unlike earlier DP albums, you can actually listen to this one! It's always good to hear prog go mainstream, and when it works like this does, it's truly notable.

12. Art Brut, Art Brut vs. Satan: Always a better live band, AB nevertheless put together a highly listenable, themed album with some punch.

11. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion: The only AC album I can tolerate, which says a lot.

10.  Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz!: The weakest YYY album of the last several, but it's still a YYY album, so how can it be bad? Let's just hope they don't continue to advance the dance theme further.

9.  Beirut, March of the Zapotec: A deceptively catchy album that is typically off-the-wall Beirut and also heart wrenchingly beautiful.

8.  The Bird and The Bee, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future: A sultry, breathy album of mid-tempo pop that manages to effectively combine beauty, skill, and enjoyment. An extremely rare feat.

7.  Eagle and Talon, Thracian (review here):  Oh man is this good. I mean, really really good. There's nothing as good as stumbling across an unknown commodity and it turning out to be a rare gem. This is this year's High Places (not in terms of style, but in terms of quality), who I also absolutely adore.

6.  Japandroids, Post-Nothing:  Lots of ink has been spilled about this album across the blogosphere, but thankfully it's all true. One of the stellar debuts of the year that has garnered repeat listening, and deserves even more.

5.  Ida Maria, Fortress 'Round My Heart: The girl rawk that Vivian Girls only wishes it could make.

4.  Stellastarr*, Civilized:  For a band that has only occasionally been brilliant, they release their most solid record to date. Every track is strong, catchy, and skillfully mastered.

3. Mastodon, Crack the Skye: mainstream metal goes more mainstream/crossover, but the chops and songcraft have never been better.

2. Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There Are Mountains:  You can't help but be sucked into this album from the very opening note. Sure, there is inevitable filler at times, but easily among the strongest debut albums - top to bottom - creatively and interestingly in years.

1.  XX, xx (review here): This band is as equally likely to burn out and never be heard from again as it is to be a breakout star for many years to come. The only headphone album this year that gets better with repeated listen. A subtile yet powerful masterpiece debut. Here's to hoping for more to come.

Album of the Year Spoiler Alert?

Sound Opinions posted on their Facebook page a solicitation for listener nominations for Album of the Year. I sent in my nomination (which I won't yet mention, since I'm still working on the Showcowgo.com list), and this is the response e-mail I got:

"Thanks for sharing your nomination Matthew. We think you'll be pleased when you tune in this weekend.
Sound Opinions H.Q."

So, sounds like I may have inadvertently agreed with Greg and/or Jim, who I most strongly didn't agree with last year. Either of them. I guess we'll find out on Friday!

White Rabbits @ Turner Hall, 11/10/09

Pity the White Rabbits. They played in Milwaukee a few years ago when opening for the uneven Walkmen, and they stole the show. Whatever good will they had for Milwaukee from that show was squandered by one of the worst crowds I've seen in years. I've seen crowds unfamiliar with a band's current album or unfamiliar with anything except the singles, but I have trouble recalling a crowd that reacted to the headliner with an apathy typically reserved for some anonymous opener. I don’t know if it was because the crowd perhaps stemmed mostly from the listening audience of the local self-declared "alt-rock" station, 102.1 (think Q101 in Chicago), that sponsored the show and that only began playing Percussion Gun a few weeks before (so admitted the guy introducing the band), or if it was just an off and shameful night for Milwaukee music. But this is why bands skip over Milwaukee and go from Madison to Chicago, or vice versa.

Regardless, the White Rabbits put on a show that I can only describe as professional. I could see the increased polish in their live set as compared to two years ago, and they used that polish in a valiant, but ultimately vain, attempt to win over the crowd. I thought the set was good -- they could have mailed it in like some bands that visit Milwaukee (New Pornographers), but they didn't. But eventually the apathetic crowd won out, and the band almost appeared to decide "Well, let's just finish this up and go boozing." (hell, they even twice announced they were looking forward to heading to the Old German Beer Hall afterwards for shotskis.) I couldn't blame them.

Glass Ghost @ Turner Hall, 11/10/09

My experience seeing Glass Ghost open for the White Rabbits is best summed up by an unintentional running diary of text messages exchanged between myself and Horsie Sauce during the set. These are all my sent texts unless otherwise indicated.

(9:05 p.m.) Another opener just came on. Not a happy development. One song in and I want to kill myself.

(9:11 p.m.) Apparently this is Glass Ghost.

(9:13 p.m.) Wow this lead man makes Brian Wilson look lively.

(9:14 p.m.) Also, the auto text wanted to type “Asian Wilson” there.

(9:15 p.m.) [Horsie Sauce:] “That would make a good band name”

(9:17 p.m.) That’s true. Better than Glass Ghost at least.

(9:25 p.m.) Just took a picture [of the band] with my phone. It’s pretty bad. Much like Glass Ghost.

(9:35 p.m.) Two more people – maybe some White Rabbits? – just came out to play more drums. Now I know a band can have three separate drummers and still suck.

(9:37 p.m.) One more! Four drummers now! Still sucks.

(9:44 p.m.) You know your band sucks when the first house song – Here We Go Magic’s Fangela – gets more applause than your band did at the end of its set.

(Post-show notes: I’ve read some positive things about Glass Ghost since the show, and those reviews reinforced some of my non-texted thoughts from both during the show and the next day. Although the band took themselves too seriously, lacked any attempt at banter, seemed unready for the space and size of the crowd, and suffered a Headlights-esq inability to enunciate its lyrics, I wondered whether their music was best experienced with headphones on. I look forward to trying that, so I encourage someone to obtain the album and let me borrow it. But I don't think I'll be seeing them live anytime soon.)