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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
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Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Jim Connelly's Fave Recordings Of 2003
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: With 2004 upon us, we're running those much-anticipated Neumu "best-of" lists. Each year we ask our contributors to consider all that they've listened to during the past year, and to come up with a list of their favorite albums (and, if they are so moved, their fave songs, concerts or whatever). Today we present Neumu Contributing Editor Jim Connelly's Fave Recordings of 2003.
1. Ryan Adams, lloR N kcoR (Lost Highway): As someone who's loved Ryan's rock 'n' roll since I saw Whiskeytown make a big rock noise in a tiny alt club back in '97, I think this is his best solo album yet. Those who cavil about Ryan stealing from U2, The Smiths and (as always) The Replacements are missing the point: Those were great riffs in 1986, and they'll be great riffs in 2020. Those who worry that sensitive-boy poet Ryan isn't here are missing the point: Even if the counter-balancing Love Is Hell EPs aren't enough, he'll be back with your precious Heartbreaker 2.0 soon enough. Until then, the rest of us can dig things like the guitar hook at the end of "1974," the Bono piss-takes in "So Alive," "Luminol" and "Burning Photographs," and the sheer melodic power of "Do Miss America," "Note to Self: Don't Die" and "The Drugs Not Working."
2. Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers (S-Curve): Well, at least their not-quite-breakthrough third album garnered them a Grammy nod. For Best New Artist, as it happens. I'm sure that the guys who wrote "Stacey's Mom" and "Halley's Waitress" get the irony of being this year's clueless nomination. So now Adam Scheslinger is going to have decide what's worse: losing the Grammy to Evanescence or losing the Oscar to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
3. White Stripes, Elephant (V2): It ain't easy to move forward while looking backwards, but here's where Jack and Meg show us how to move in two directions at once. Turns out the only way to do it is to loosen up, and defuse all the hype with a bit of humor. So to contrast parables like "Seven Nation Army" and "The Hardest Button to Button," we get things like the feedbacky guitar squeal over the massed choir of Jack Whites on "There's No Home for You Here" or that great place in "Hypnotize" where Meg's drums start back up with a "bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap bap!" In the end, it seems like Jack knows that his strengths can be limitations and Meg's figured out how to turn her limitations into strengths.
4. Paul Westerberg, Come Feel Me Tremble (Vagrant): Like Lou Reed in the early 1980s, Paul seems to have discovered what he wants to do with the rest of his life — neither desecrate nor cling on to the memory of the raw life-changing band of his youth, while releasing music that should appeal to its followers. On the DVD of the same name, those followers return as much love as we can, hoping that he'll play "Answering Machine" one more time for us. And while "Answering Machine" ain't here, its spirit is. Whether he'll ever get any Honda commercials remains to be seen.
5. Joe Strummer, Streetcore (Hellcat): Sigh. That Joe had found his focus again after two decades of following his fuzzy muse around the world just makes it all the more sad. For a second — 'cos we all know that Joe would rather have us celebrate his incredibly full life than mourn his incredibly sudden death. Redemption song? How about redemption album!
6. OutKast, Speakerboxx / The Love Below (La Face): These guys are "Rap" in the same way the Lyle Lovett is "Country" — they make whatever music they want, and don't worry so much about categories anymore. As always, this would have probably been stronger as a single album, and the skits detract from the momentum. Of course, my single album probably wouldn't be the same as theirs; songs like "Bowtie" and "Hey Ya!" are pretty unstoppable. Furthermore, sometimes it's fun to get stuck in a morass of excess, just like Sandinista, (made by a band that had transcended "Punk"). Though I still prefer John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" to Andre 3000's.
7. Rancid, Indestructible (Hellcat): Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
8. Drive-by Truckers, Decoration Day (New West): The Drive-by Truckers mean well, but they can't help telling the truth. So their follow-up to the myth-making (and defying) Southern Rock Opera is somehow even darker than an album that ended with a fiery plane crash. The centerpiece is the chill-inducing "Outfit," in which a father, obviously only a couple of years older than I am — perhaps the first generation to understand from the moment that we encountered it that rock is a lifelong thing — reminds his son that joining a rock 'n' roll band can be upward mobility, if you do it right. In this case, "right" is about making it about art, not commerce. It's also a litany of great advice — the best being the simple "don't give it away." He's not talking about money here, he's talking about soul, essence, effort, brains, rock 'n' roll. Right here's your school of rock.
9. The Thrills, So Much for the City (Virgin): Proving that it now takes people from another continent to come up with sunny new California songs. But forget that — their record company certainly has. Here's an excerpt from the only thing written on the back cover of this CD: "Please don't use internet services that promote the illegal distribution of copyrighted music, give away illegal copies of your CDs or lend CDs to others for copying. It's hurting the artists who created the music. It has the same effect as stealing a CD from a store without paying for it." That's the propaganda. Now here is an absolute fact: The only reason that I purchased this CD is that I fell in love with a downloaded copy, 'cos this isn't something that I would have otherwise discovered, especially given the lack of radio play in a Clear Channel world. So much for Virgin Records; they'd have me totally miss out on great stuff like "Big Sur," "Don't Steal Our Sun," and "One Horse Town," which is the best R.E.M. rip I've heard in a long time. Downloading is saving music!!
10. Zwan, Mary, Star of the Sea (WB): Already broken up, I understand, which is too bad, because Billy Corgan's pop move was strong enough to remind us that he's still a major talent. I loved the newfound lightness of his music and his voice. And when he broke out the fuzz on the epic title track, it was like old times. As someone who stopped paying attention halfway through Adore, I'm once again curious as to what he'll do next, though not necessarily sure that I'm going to enjoy it.
Honorable Mention
Television, Live at the Old Waldorf (Rhino)
Jet, Get Born (Elektra/Asylum)
Belle & Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Sanctuary Records)
Radiohead, Hail to the Thief (Capitol)
Kathleen Edwards, Failer (Rounder)
Led Zeppelin, How the West Was Won (Atlantic)
Stephen Malkmus, Pig Lib (Matador)
Kings of Leon, Youth and Young Manhood (RCA)
Matthew Sweet, Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu (Japanese Import)
The InsiderOne Daily Report appears on occasion.
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