In no particular order, here are my favorite videos of 2009:

…and this wouldn’t be a top 10 list without honorable mentions!

• The once elusive Jandek will be returning to the Pacific Northwest in 2010 and he won’t be the biggest name on the marquee. The Portland performance will find Jandek joined by Sonic Youth principle, Thurston Moore. The show is scheduled for April 29th. Maybe we can convince them to trek the three hours north to bless the Emerald City?

• Speaking of Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo recently told BBC that the band is already working on the follow-up to this year’s The Eternal. Also in the works is a soundtrack for a French film as well as a DVD release detailing the band’s Daydream Nation tour.

• And speaking of film soundtracks, Grizzly Bear are creating the soundtrack for Blue Valentine, a film slated for preview during January’s Sundance Festival. Movie/music blog The Playlist has more info about the film, said to be “intimate, shattering portrait of a disintegrating marriage.” Fun!

• Say what you want to concerning Dave Matthews, but his ATO Records has a solid roster of mainstream artists and formerly great indie acts (Gomez chief among them). Now word has spread that Drive-By Truckers, one of the best live acts in North America today, has signed with Matthews’ label.

• Thee Silver Mt. Zion have just announced their next album, Kollaps Tradixionales, is slated for a February 16th release via Constellation.

• Onstage in Austin last week, Jay Reatard was attacked by two “fans,” one of which actually struck him, and both of whom were arrested. Brooklyn Vegan has the details. Meanwhile, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were greeted by a booing crowd on the first night of the 10 Years of ATP celebrations at Somerset. Karen O and the group were apparently 45 minutes late, but made up for it by playing one of their most ferocious sets, according to Spinner.

• Massive Attack has just released a new video for their highly anticipated new album, Heligoland (due February 8th), and it is totally NSFW! The Toby Dye-directed “Paradise Circus” is more documentary than video, featuring featuring clips from the ‘73 porn classic The Devil in Miss Jones and its star, the now 73-year old Georgina Spelvin, who talks candidly about her experience. Sorry, but we’re not to show the X-rated clip, but you can view it at Stereogum, Some Velvet Blog, and whole bunch of other music sites.

• … instead, we’ll show this G-rated clip for the frequently requested new single by Hot Chip, “One Life Stand”:

• Ok, there are a few questionable recommendations on our list of talk shows appearances this week, but do you want to not watch Michael McDonald on the chance that his Grizzly Bear collaboration won’t come up during Kimmel’s interview? And how great will Colbert’s report with Snoop Dogg be? More obviously, you’re not going to want to miss Gossip or Franz Ferdinand on Carson Daly, or Raekwon on Fallon. Here are the rest:
  Monday, December 14

  Jimmy Kimmel: Wolfmother (R)
  Colbert Report: Snoop Dogg

  Tuesday, December 15

  Conan O’Brien: Norah Jones
  Jimmy Kimmel: Michael McDonald
  Craig Ferguson: The Broken West

  Wednesday, December 16

  Jimmy Fallon: Raekwon
  Carson Daly: Gossip

  Thursday, December 17

  Carson Daly: Franz Ferdinand

  Friday, December 18

  Carson Daly: Snoop Dogg

  Saturday, December 19

  Saturday Night Live: Muse

photo by Kyle Johnson

• The road turned sour for King Khan & the BBQ Show earlier this week when the band was pulled over and the road manager arrested in Kentucky, forcing the group to miss a slate of weekend shows. The band is currently out on bail but their manager remains behind bars. St. Louis music blog Riverfront Times has been posting regular updates of the fiasco.

• Nonesuch has recently reissued Wilco’s fantastic second album, Being There, in a LP+CD package. While the album has long been available on vinyl, this marks another way to prove to Wilco naysayers that the band once showed a lot of talent and spunk before they were labeled ‘dad rock.’

• And as Wilco currently tour Europe, their surprise guests for Saturday night at Milan’s Conservatorio — Grizzly Bear — had to bail out due to a traffic accident as they were en route from Munich. While fortunately no one was injured, their tour bus was cracked up enough to require a replacement and held the band up in Austria. They continue their tour with St. Vincent as scheduled.

• In further tour mishap news, Dan Deacon, who has been on the road non-stop all year, it seems, checked in to a hospital last week for what turned out to be acute sciatica. As he recovers from the debilitating back pain, he’s canceled the final five shows of his tour with the intention of rescheduling as soon as he’s better.

• While it’s hard not to groan at the name, United Kingdom import Wolf People will be releasing their debut album, Tidings, through Jagjaguwar on February 23rd (and a day earlier for the citizens of Wolf People’s great homeland). Can we use this opportunity to begin a petition asking bands to stop using animal names such as ‘Wolf’ and ‘Deer’ as a part of their band? It’s getting difficult to keep track.

• No Age just released the title track video from the Losing Feeling EP. Life’s a garden, so dig it:

• The Cormac McCarthy good-time novel turned movie, The Road, is hitting theaters in time for Thanksgiving (a true holiday-inspired film if ever there was one), which means that the Nick Cave & Warren Ellis penned soundtrack for the film is also on the horizon. Mute will be releasing the score digitally on November 23rd with the physical release not slated until January 12th.

• Are you searching for the perfect holiday gift for your friend or family member who can’t get enough Neu! or Can? Look no further than the recently released Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy, released by UK imprint Black Dog Publishing. The book promises a comprehensive journey through the neglected and forgotten genre from its beginning.

• This week’s late night talk show appearances start off slowly but quickly pick up as Neko Case and The Avett Brothers turn up on Fallon, Death Cab on Kimmel, and Ray Davies serenades Letterman. Elvis Costello on Colbert this Wednesday should be a hoot:

  Monday, November 16

  nothing of interest here. move along.

  Tuesday, November 17

  Jimmy Fallon: Neko Case

  Wednesday, November 18

  David Letterman: Ray Davies
  Colbert Report: Norah Jones
  Jimmy Fallon: The Avett Brothers

  Thursday, November 19

  Colbert Report: Elvis Costello

  Friday, November 20

  David Letterman: Lyle Lovett
  Jimmy Kimmel: Death Cab for Cutie
  Jimmy Fallon: Elvis Costello

photo by Gail Butensky

• The year before the Year of Pavement just keeps getting bigger. This time the news of an added performance directly affects Washington, as the group has been announced as a participant of the 2010 edition of the state’s Memorial Day pastime, Sasquatch!, which falls on the weekend of May 29-31st. Those too lazy or too cranky to camp for a weekend hold out hope the reunited group hits the city limits as well sometime next year. But those eager to attend Sasquatch again next year can pick up a special discounted 3-day festival pass right now!

• In sad news from last night, drummer Jerry Fuchs, who’s played with LCD Soundsystem, !!!, The Juan MacLean, and most recently Maserati, died after a five-story fall in an elevator shaft. While attending a fund-raiser in Williamsburg, he and a friend tried to jump after they got stuck between floors. The friend landed safely, but Fuchs’ clothing apparently caught inside the elevator. More here.

• Morrissey walked off stage again on Saturday night, but this time it wasn’t due to illness or chest pains but rather because some “fan” in the audience struck him on his head. While only on his second song, the statesman crooner bent down to greet some fans in front of the stage and was struck above the eye by a hurled water bottle. At that, he said “good night” and left the stage. 7,999 disappointed fans at Liverpool’s Echo Arena have one moron to thank for the abbreviated show.

• Lost among the littered battlefield of mediocre hip-hop is the mind, soul, and power of KRS-One, whose MC capabilities and genius have gone largely unnoticed for over two decades. Perhaps the 800-page book, The Gospel of Hip-Hop: The First Instrument will change that. The rap legend’s tome discusses the origin of hip-hop, from the culture to the language to the history.

• Jaga Jazzist, on the heels of figurehead Lars Horntveth’s solo album from earlier this year, are readying the release of One-Armed Bandit on January 25th. To curb some of the anticipation, the Norwegian nine-piece will be releasing the album’s eponymous single, “One-Armed Bandit” November 23rd.

• While some would wish Grizzly Bear into hibernation for the winter, others are likely gleeful with word of a new video for “Ready, Able”:

• In a nod to the 1990s business model, indie stalwart Matador swallowed up indie upstart True Panther Sounds in a recently finalized deal. True Panther may be familiar to those who picked up a copy of the debut album from Girls. I’m having flashbacks of Interscope/Death Row proportions!

• It’s a pretty dismal week for talk show appearances this week. Besides a rerun of Yo La Tengo on Carson Daly tonight, the only one we’re looking forward to is The Cribs with Johnny Marr on Letterman on Thursday.

photos and review by Benjamin Mobley

It was a dark, stormy Seattle night outside as eager concertgoers waited for Grizzly Bear, an all-male chamber-pop quartet, to take the stage of the Moore Theatre on Friday, October 16th, in support of their latest release, Veckatimest. For a lush and complex album mostly recorded in the intimacy of a Cape Cod cottage, the cuts from Veckatimest made a seemingly effortless transition to the live setting due largely to the varied musical talents of multi-instrumentalists Chris Taylor, Ed Droste, Dan Rossen, and Chris Bear.

“In the end, you’ll never find me now.”

The opening song, the jazz-tinged “Southern Point,” is a perfect example of Grizzly Bear at their finest — soaring multi-layered vocal lines laid over intricate guitar work that is ultimately nuanced by Chris Taylor’s magical textures and Chris Bear’s masterful percussion. The framework for the evening had been laid down in just a few minute’s time and, if the opening was to be any indication, the Brooklyn-based foursome were going to deliver a beautiful, haunting, raucous, and colorfully wild ride to the finish.

Sharing primary vocal duties throughout the performance, songwriters Droste and Rossen transported their attentive listeners to a universe comprised of aural meditations on loss, love, and regret. As the band moved deftly and swiftly from each song to the next, their combined talents became even more apparent — nowhere in sight were technicians to assist in alternate tunings or instrument swaps. Chris Taylor, the busiest bee of the lot, exhibited fluidity and prowess while manning the helm on bass guitar, clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, and electronics.

“dig his grave, darlin, with a silver spade”

The first and only real break in the show’s opening flow came mid-set during the haunting “Deep Blue Sea.” A traditional American folk song, the Rossen interpretation first appeared on the band’s Friend EP before more recently showing up as a Grizzly Bear contribution to the Dark Was the Night compilation.

On stage at the Moore, Rossen’s vocal delivery of the tune was clearer and even more pristine than either of the aforementioned recordings while tragically relaying the tale of a father, mother, and son who meet their watery demise. Rossen’s lead was beautifully supported by drummer Bear, who alternated to keyboard duties for the tune. Finishing touches for this unforgettable moment were added by Droste’s autoharp and Taylor’s bass clarinet work, the reedy timbre of which more closely resembled the bellow of a pipe organ. The effect was quite a fitting impression considering the Roman “high tau” cross supports from which light-filled mason jars dangled in the often colorful and blinding church of Grizzly.

“hope i’m ready, able to make my own”

Shifting back into their earlier mood, the band continued with the relentless “Ready, Able.” Taylor’s methodical and driving bass work stood in direct opposition to Droste’s feathery main vocal, accenting the tune with a sometimes-sweet, sometimes-not feel and contrasting the otherworldly flourishing sounds of unseen angelic harps. The gentlemen continued to expound on this equation, riffing effortlessly through “I Live With You,” “Foreground,” and “While We Wait for the Others.”

To conclude their performance, Grizzly Bear played “On a Neck, On a Spit,” a brilliant cut from their prior album, Yellow House. The track’s opening shanty-like lilt ultimately gave way as the song built and climaxed into a bar-room, brawl-like frenzy — a feeling imparted primarily by Bear’s exacting percussion work. It was at this point that I and the other Grizzly congregationalists in attendance gave way to dancing in our seats; drumming our knees and thighs until the song faded back into the same ether it had materialized from.

Offering only one encore, Grizzly Bear returned to the stage to perform a cover of The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)” — an interesting closer, considering the song’s domestic violence subject matter. In a sense, Grizzly Bear’s interpretation of the song served as a reminder that we, the audience, had been walloped with a rare hour-and-a-half concert experience that, in the end, felt like all-too brief of a kiss.

With the final whispers of traceable audio rising into the Moore’s intricately beautiful dome, the spell-binding experience was over and the audience was returned to the dark night from which they had come.

The Morning Benders:

Coming out of Brooklyn, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson creates his own brand of multi-instrumentational, introspective, and very personal songs. With vocals that feel warm and scratchy like wool, Robinson sings about one tulmutuous summer on his second release, The Summer of Fear, out on Saddle Creek.  His lyrics denote an even more tumultuous life, dealing with alcoholic hazes, homelessness, and shyness just to name a few.

With the collaboration of talented individuals and good friends such as Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, and Grizzly Bear’s Christopher Bear and Chris Taylor, he’s harnessed a talent that has been brewing inside since he could walk.  Live vicariously through him, or maybe witness some pinata abuse at the Knitting Factory Friday at 1pm for CMJ Music and Film Festival.

photos by Gabi Porter
Live at The Cutting Room Studios NYC

Doron Gild

• Bang Bang Eche are due to release their second EP, “Sonic Death Cuntttt,” on November 3rd (you heard it here first!). If the songs are even good as last year’s “4 to the Floor,” look out! Here’s the tracklist for the EP:
  1. Fist Full Of Dollars
  2. You’re A Jerk
  3. Beat Up The Children
  4. Dirt In The Water

• Third Man Records, the brainchild of Jack White, continues its full pursuit of guerrilla music releases and sales. After setting up a temporary brick-and-mortar shop in the heart of New York City, White is taking his tent pegs and hitting up Los Angeles this week during August 26th-28th.

• Those in the noise know are very familiar with the artful output of Ron Lessard’s RRRecords. Handmade releases covering statewide scenes, however, were just the tip as RRRecords has just released RRR-1000 Lock Groove LP, featuring 50 ‘grooves’ each from the warped minds of C. Spencer Yeh, Aaron Dilloway, Prurient, and The New Blockaders among others. For a sampling, check out contributor Keith Fullerton Whitman’s video sampling his grooves to a montage of RRR album covers:

• Miles Davis called Columbia Records home for much of his career. During his decades-long stay with the label, he produced 52 albums, which will now be bunched together in the mammoth and not very expensive box set (less than $400), The Complete Columbia Album Collection. The set features 70 discs covering every album Davis released for Columbia, a myriad of extra tracks from the recent reissues, and a DVD chronicling the jazz legend’s 1970 Isle of Wight performance and the never-released Live in Europe ‘67.

• The always entertaining, never deflating, Dan Deacon just released the video for “Paddling Ghost,” from this year’s Bromst.

• The Books have kept fans waiting for a proper follow-up to Lost and Safe for four years, but the duo of Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto have gone on record stating that they are currently hard at work sorting through a mountain of audio and video tapes with the goal of finishing an album and releasing it in early 2010.

• Many would point at Norah Jones as an example of all that is wrong with music. Of course, they would be dead wrong. Who else can segway from duets with Willie Nelson into working with Mike Patton and Andre 3000? Now you can add Ryan Adams and Will Sheff to the list, as both lent their songwriting skills to Ms. Jones for her upcoming November release.

• One final video: this fan-made animation for Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” has been causing a stir on the interwebs and caught the attention of the band, who already had a video for the song… but as good?

• Repeats continue on the daily talkshows, but you can catch new performances from Kings of Leon, Matt and Kim, Franz Ferdinand, and Friendly Fires, along with re-watchable repeats of Q-Tip, Raphael Saadiq, and Camera Obscura. Here are the highlights:
  Monday, August 24

  Conan O’Brien: Kings of Leon
  Jimmy Fallon: Aimee Mann (R)
  Last Call: Keane (R)

  Tuesday, August 25

  David Letterman: Jet
  Last Call: The Airborne Toxic Event (R)
  Jimmy Kimmel: Friendly Fires

  Wednesday, August 26

  Conan O’Brien: Franz Ferdinand
  Late Late Show: Camera Obscura (R)
  Jimmy Kimmel: Matt & Kim
  Ellen DeGeneres: Q-Tip (R)
  Bonnie Hunt: Common (R)

  Thursday, August 27

  Last Call: Glasvegas (R)
  Ellen DeGeneres: Raphael Saadiq (R)

  Friday, August 28

  Last Call: Common, Doves (R)
  

Kyle Johnson

• Bumbershoot has completed the 2009 lineup by adding Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cold War Kids, Old 97’s, The Helio Sequence, and Portland Cello Project. Unfortunately, Kasabian and The Ting Tings had to cancel, but there’s still plenty more to hear and see. Go check out the schedule and look for KEXP to broadcast there once again!

• Eight years! Eight long, tiring, Wilco and Sonic Youth-filled years for Jim O’Rourke without an album to call to his own. Thankfully, O’Rourke and Drag City are going to remedy the silence September 8th with the release of The Visitor which promises more Eureka and Insignificance pop goodness.

• You’re read about them here before: Monsters of Folk, the collective name for Jim James, M. Ward, and Conor Oberst are about to release their debut and are offering the first single, “Say Please,” for free download at their website. Just enter the word “please.”

• Fans are very familiar with the foibles of Thom Yorke: living with ghosts, straining his face, and cutting his hair with vacuums. Now rumors are surfacing that Yorke is ready to mix it up with teenage vampires living in Forks. Yorke is apparently eager to work on the soundtrack of upcoming Twilight sequel, New Moon. Oh! the panic, the vomit!

• What do you get when you marry Animal Collective with The Grateful Dead? “What Would I Want Sky,” the first song to officially have the blessing of The Dead to use a sample of their work. The Animal Collective invention doesn’t have an official release vehicle or any outstanding plans but it’s floating about the internets with psychedelic glee for easy listening.

• After all the talk of Grizzly Bear being bumped from David Letterman’s Late Show, it only seems right to post the video of the band’s triumphant return. Please to enjoy, “Ready, Able.”

• Everything seems better with Brian Wilson back in the limelight. The pop icon is returning to American highways this fall, with a Northeastern-centric tour. If we eat our vegetables, maybe he’ll make a detour to Seattle?

• Folks already excited for Judd Apatow’s third directorial stint, Funny People, have a bit more to be excited about: the soundtrack. Reportedly, the accompanying music to the Adam Sandler vehicle will feature a rare John Lennon demo, a live version of Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.” featuring Andre Bird, and the talents of Robert Plant, James Taylor, and Warren Zevon among other hefty legends of rock and roll. The album hits stores July 28th, three days prior to the release of the film.

• Very slow week on the late night circuit, but you can at least preview two of the bands performing the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend: Spinnerette and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Here are the other highlights:
  Monday, July 20

  David Letterman: Spinnerette
  Jimmy Fallon: Tom Jones

  Tuesday, July 21

  David Letterman: The Flatlanders

  Wednesday, July 22

  Last Call: Cold War Kids (R 4/1/09)

  Thursday, July 23

  Jimmy Kimmel: La Roux

  Friday, July 24

  Conan O’Brien: De La Soul
  Last Call: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (R 4/3/09)

Brantley Guiterrez

• Apparently albums can be recalled for being too loud — at least that’s the story surrounding Farm, the album from always louder-than-everyone Dinosaur Jr.. This isn’t a case of Mascis, Barlow, and Murph busting eardrums on purpose, but rather when the duplication software used on European versions of Farm doubled the sound layers creating a 3 db increase to the album’s overall volume. The band will replace the defective albums free of charge, though a better solution would be sending kids scores of earplugs.

• Dani Long, half of the husband/wife duo Celer, passed away suddenly Wednesday afternoon at the tender age of 26. In a post on the band’s blog, husband and bandmaster Will Long discussed Dani’s sudden passing, which at the time of this posting, is believed to be caused by cardiac arrest.

• Bradford Cox can’t keep his music to himself. The Deerhunter frontman returns to his Atlas Sound alias for the October 20th album, Logos. The new album promises a slight departure from Cox’s bedroom laptop musings of Microcastle as Logos was recorded all over the world and features collaborations with Animal Collective’s Panda Bear and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab.

• The 2009 edition of All Tomorrow’s Parties New York has added the talents of Sufjan Stevens, Super Furry Animals, Boris, and Circulatory System to its jam-packed September 11-13th event.

• Purveyors of 77 and 88 people drum circles, Boredoms made a lot of non-Japanese fans happy with the announcement that Super Roots 10 will be available outside the land of the rising sun through Thrill Jockey. While snooty fans have assured me Super Roots 10 isn’t near as stellar as Super Roots 9, what is stellar is that it’ll be offered as a limited double LP. You can race to get your hands on your own copy September 8th.

• In on-again, off-again music news, Blur, who just reuned has called their performance at T in the Park festival in Scotland this weekend their “last gig” — but that also may have something to do with Graham Coxon being rushed to the hospital before the set for food poisoning. At the same festival, Nine Inch Nails announced their performance would be their last in Scotland as well. Trent Reznor has said months ago that the band would never tour again “on this scale,” but his words at T in the Park seemed more dire. Ten final tour dates remain for their “Wave Goodbye” tour. And another New Order reunion seems even more less likely given a recent interview in which Bernard Sumner tells Mojo: “When I make music these days I want it to be fun, nice, enjoyable,” adding “I don’t want to make music as part of New Order.”

• Genesis may be the butt of many jokes — especially former frontman Phil Collins — but for diehard music aficionados, the Peter Gabriel years yielded some of the finest artrock of its time. We’ll coddle Phil too considering the band’s early 80s output was some catchy pop that you still sing along with every time it pops up on the radio. Before we begin launching into “Abacab,” or “Misunderstanding,” maybe you should take a breath and read this: Genesis will be issuing a 10-disc live box set September 29th that expands the band’s four live albums between 1973 and 2007. The release will also contain a host of unreleased tracks for the completist in you.

• Grizzly Bear get their second chance on Letterman this Thursday after being dropped at the last minute due to a time deficit back in May. For the rest of the talkshows, the week starts out slowly but picks up steam with Wilco, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Metric, and The Dead Weather. Should really see Twisted Sister this week, though? Dee Snider on Regis & Kelly? Hard not to watch that trainwreck a-comin’! Here are the highlights:
  Monday, July 13

  nada

  Tuesday, July 14

  David Letterman: Wilco with Feist
  Late Late Show: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

  Wednesday, July 15

  David Letterman: Paul McCartney
  Last Call: The Duke Spirit (R 3/20/09)

  Thursday, July 16

  David Letterman: Grizzly Bear
  Regis and Kelly: Twisted Sister

  Friday, July 17

  David Letterman: Metric
  Late Late Show: Ray LaMontagne
  Jimmy Fallon: The Dead Weather

Well, it’s finally over and everyone’s back home salving their sunburns and getting caught up on some much needed sleep. By all accounts, the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival was a raging, and raving (thanks to Girl Talk and Chromeo), success. For those brave enough to weather all three days, the last day payed off with Santigold, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Grizzly Bear, Explosions in the Sky and many others. Check out this final round of fantastic photos by Kyle Johnson.

Girl Talk:

Silversun Pickups:

Fleet Foxes:

The Dutchess & The Duke:

Gogol Bordello:

Grizzly Bear:

Black Moth Super Rainbow::

Deerhoof:

The Wrens:

Fans: