A Re-Examination of 2007

Those colorful leaves and the cool breezes signify more than just a change in season for me - the Year End List Season is almost upon us! In about a month every music blog lurking in cyberspace will begin posting a run down of the 2008 albums that you just can’t live without. Sensory overload and empty pockets notwithstanding, it’s a great time to be a music fan - as all of your favorite online resources will help you fill in the gaps with everything you might’ve missed out on the first time around.

But, as beneficial as they are, these lists are all lacking one key ingredient: hindsight. Often Year-End lists are hastily compiled and are heavy on trendier music that won’t necessarily stand the test of time. So, I thought it would be interesting to revisit the list of my own 20 favorites from last year and see what I would do differently now that I’ve lived with these records for the past 10-22 months. Somewhat surprisingly, there are only a few minor changes that I would make:

20. Deer Tick - War Elephant

War Elephant remains a startling debut from (the very young) John McCauley’s song vehicle, but more for several truly breathtaking songs than the whole lot of them together. Much promise is shown, and I expect Deer Tick to land much higher in the future, but as an album War Elephant would be just shy of making a revised list.

19. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
18. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
17. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin

These albums would remain toward the bottom of my Top 20, where they were last year. Each still get the occasional listen, but I‘d swap Band of Horses and Andrew Bird - the former coming across as a somewhat pale imitation to their excellent 2006 debut, the latter’s gorgeous songs and arrangements still resonating after almost 2 years.

16. Battles - Mirrored
15. The Roadside Graves - No One Will Know Where You’ve Been

Sonically, Battles and the Graves could hardly be further apart, but they remain bunched together here on the list. The Roadside Graves have recently signed on to release the follow up on Autumn Tone Records, and judging from the demos that are going around, it sounds to be very promising.

14. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog

An unfortunate casualty to the revised list, and one that I hesitate to make as I‘m a huge fan of everything Sam Beam does. But after a year or so of listening to Beam’s most challenging work yet, I find a bit more restraint would have served a handful of these songs better - I’m looking at you, “Carousel”, in particular.

13. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

I just spun this the other night, late at night and with my headphones, and was still taken by the wide open electronic soundscapes of Axel Willner. Absolutely deserving of its spot.

12. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Though this year’s Skeletal Lamping hasn’t grabbed me, last year’s schizo-pop masterpiece is still a daring, rewarding listen. And damn if “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” isn’t one of the best songs of the past few years.

11. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

There’s a handful of top notch singles on the sophomore album from Canada’s most known indie-rockers, but overall I find myself skipping through a bunch of the murkier album tracks. Still in the 20, but down a few notches.

10. Phosphorescent - Pride
9. The National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear
8. Burial - Untrue
7. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
6. A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
5. The National - Boxer
4. Handsome Furs - Plague Park
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

After re-examining my list, I can safely say that I wouldn’t touch my Top 10. Those were my 10 favorites 11 months ago, and they remain so. And I’m happy with the order too.

So that leaves War Elephant and The Shepherd’s Dog out…..but what slides in? Well, that would be Jens Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala, which I didn’t hear in its entirety until late in 2007, and The Twilight Sad’s Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters, which was excellent last year and has only grown since.

The new list:

20. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
19. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
18. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocryhpa
17. Battles - Mirrored
16. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters
15. The Roadside Graves - No One Will Know Where You’ve Been
14. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
13. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
12. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
11. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
10. Phosphorescent - Pride
9. The National Lights - The Dead Will Walk, Dear
8. Burial - Untrue
7. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
6. A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
5. The National - Boxer
4. Handsome Furs - Plague Park
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

Pop Headwound is going on vacation for a week or 2 - we’re moving this weekend and I’m not sure when I’ll be up and running again. Talk to you soon though….

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[video] Eric Wolfson - "The Obama Song"

For the most part PHW is a non-partisan music/mp3 blog. But not really. The grainy black and white D.C. scenes Eric Wolfson employs in his video for “The Obama Song” - a cleverly reworked version of Ritchie Valens’ classic “Donna” - bring to mind the 60’s and the Washington D.C. protests of that time. Election day is in just 2 short weeks people…

Wolfson’s Dylanesque State Street Rambler still gets spins around here with a healthy degree of regularity, so if you haven’t yet given it a try be sure to check out “Graveyard Girls” and/or the video for “Sleeping Is A Sucker’s Game”.

MP3 :: The Obama Song
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MP3 :: Graveyard Girls
(from State Street Rambler. Buy here)
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New Music - Leopold & His Fiction

When listening to the blues and folk based rock of Detroit’s Leopold & His Fiction, an association to both The White Stripes and The Black Keys as reference points is fairly inevitable, and, seemingly, already rote. But I find that Ain’t No Surprise, their sophomore effort, never falls into tedium like every Stripes record save White Blood Cells and Get Behind Me Satan, and displays a startling sonic diversity that The Keys only stumble onto occasionally (as on this year’s Danger Mouse helmed Attack & Release). In short, lead singer/songwriter Daniel James has crafted an album that’s enjoyable from start to finish - it’s a gritty, gruff, hard-edged document from an exciting young band. You might even find trace elements of “Tombstone Blues”, Devendra Banhart, and Beggars Banquet-era Stones. All good things…

MP3 :: Come Back (Now That I’m Here)
(from Ain’t No Surprise. Info here)
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[video] Centro-Matic :: "Rat Patrol And DJs"

I can’t say this with absolute certainty, but I have a suspicion that “Rat Patrol & DJs” is the first official video Centro-Matic has ever done. I’m quite possibly wrong about that, and am far too lazy at the moment to check into it. So let’s just go with it how about?

It’s a kick-ass little song, from their, like, 27th straight kick-ass record - Dual Hawks - released last spring by Misra Records. Did I mention that Centro-Matic kicks butt? If you don’t know that yet for yourself you should immediately find out by buying Dual Hawks or Fort Recovery or Love You Just The Same or Distance And Clime or…..well, any of them. Seriously, if you like the song in the video you will basically like every song the band has ever recorded - and there’s a lot of them. What they have lacked in diversity over the years is more than made up for by the kick-ass factor. Get to it.

MP3 :: I, The Kite
(from Dual Hawks. Buy here)
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MP3 :: Triggers And Trash Heaps
MP3 :: Calling Thermetico
(from Fort Recovery. Buy here)

MP3 :: Flashes And Cables
MP3 :: Argonne Limit Co.
(from Love You Just The Same. Buy here)
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New Music - Creaky Boards

Early last year I wrote about Where’s The Sunshine?, the debut record from Brooklyn’s Creaky Boards. Though the title posed the question, the sunshine was clearly in the bright, memorable melodies that songwriter Andrew Hoepfner coaxed from his songs - a deft mixture of old time rock ‘n roll, Tom Waits’ carnivalesque 80's diversity, and a distinctly New Orleansian spirit. Where’s The Sunshine? was an older release at the time though - dating back to 2005 - so when word came recently that Creaky Boards was preparing the follow up it was very welcome news.

Brooklyn Is Love is the result of the extended break from recording, and acts as an homage to Hoepfner’s home borough (which is easily the best one). The songs shimmer with a Brian Wilson-worthy flair for pop craftsmanship, and Hoepfner proves that when it comes to combining piano-driven indie-pop songs with Beach Boys styled vocal harmonies he is, among New Yorkers, in a class by himself. “The Songs I Didn’t Write” has already gained some notoriety for having a near identical melody to that Coldplay song you secretly kinda like, but was written long before it ever hit the airwaves. It gets the album off to a terrific start, and from there the melodic floodgate is open wide. Check out a pair of tunes and then go spend some of that excess cash everyone seems to have these days:

MP3 :: The Songs I Didn’t Write
MP3 :: Now I’m In The City
(from Brooklyn Is Love. Buy here)
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News - Magnolia Electric Co. record/tour

Why so far away guys? Which one's Molina? That promo picture of Magnolia Electric Co. reminds me of that scene in A League Of Their Own when the commercial for women's baseball is showing the pretty girls on Geena Davis' team up close, one after the other, until the really ugly one, who they show from way far away. Still makes me laugh even though I've seen it a half dozen times.

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Anyway, it’s been a while since the world has heard much from the not very handsome Magnolia Electric Co. Last year there was the 4-disc, limited edition boxed set, Sojourner, which collected alternate takes, outtakes, and unreleased sessions the band has recorded over the past few years. As usual with Jason Molina’s evocative, if repetitive, songwriting - “moon”, “ghost”, and “blues” references littered the songs to an almost comical level.

Word on the street (promo email from the label) says that Molina has gotten his bandmates back together after a quiet year living in Europe to record an as-yet-untitled follow-up to their last full length - 2006’s slightly snoozy Fading Trails. Molina’s creativity peaked on his final album as Songs: Ohia, 2003’s ferocious The Magnolia Electric Co. That album features some of the decade‘s best blues-rock songs - including the infallible “Farewell Transmission”. Let’s hope the long lay off has revitalized Molina’s muse and that the band kicks out the Crazy Horse-styled jams once again.

Here’s a recently released track from the Sojourner sessions:

MP3 :: Texas ‘71
MP3 :: Lonesome Valley
(from Sojourner. Buy here)
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MP3 :: Farewell Transmission
(from The Magnolia Electric Co. Buy here)

MP3 :: The Dark Don’t Hide It
MP3 :: Leave The City
(from What Comes After The Blues. Buy here)
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[video] The Black Keys - "I Got Mine"

Video :: I Got Mine

Click that link there to find The Black Keys tearing into “I Got Mine” from this year’s Attack & Release. The Danger Mouse helmed record has been hovering close to the top of my favorites list for months now, and clips like this one only reaffirm that notion. The video is a recent live take from the Crystal Ballroom in Portland and comes courtesy of Spinner.

MP3 :: Strange Times
(from Attack & Release. Buy here)
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PHW Album of the Month - 9/08

I wrote this post on Tuesday and then proceeded to completely forget about it, thinking I had posted it right away. Starting here > I just heard Gentleman Jesse & His Men’s self-titled debut within the past 2 or 3 days (update: week or so), and if given more time it would have challenged for this spot - it’s pretty freakin’ rad, and I‘ll have more on it very soon (already did - songs of the month. scroll down). But as that record hasn’t yet fully sunk in yet, TV On The Radio’s new Dear Science, has - it’s my official Album of the Month for September, beating out Offend Maggie and Carried To Dust, excellent as they are, by a pretty hefty margin. My early opinion on Dear Science,, and I don’t foresee this changing, is it’s their best yet. Like the TVOTR of the past, Dear Science, is a dense record that grows more rewarding with repeat listens, yet manages to streamline their ambitious nature into an instantly accessible package. If you‘re not hooked 30 seconds into “Halfway Home” I don‘t know what I can do for you anymore. Hear the whole thing here. Previous post here.

MP3 :: Golden Age
(from Dear Science,. Buy here)
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[mp3] Catfish Haven - "Devastator"

Catfish Haven have some serious soul issues. Their new album, Devastator (out October 7 via Secretly Canadian), is packed with sweaty, swampy, riff-heavy blues-rock in the vein of 70’s stadium rockers like Bad Company mixed with the rock ’n soul of the 60’s Muscle Shoals sound. Check out the first 2 legally released tracks:

MP3 :: Devastator
MP3 :: Set In Stone
(from Devastator. Buy here)
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Catfish Haven on tour:

10/01/08 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room w/ Dead Confederate
10/02/08 Madison, WI - Annex w/ Dead Confederate
10/03/08 Milwaukee, WI - Mo's Pub - My Morning Jacket After Party w/ Dead Confederate
10/05/08 Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
10/06/08 Cambridge, MA - T. T. Bears w/ Dead Confederate
10/08/08 Philadelphia, PA - The Khyber w/ Dead Confederate
10/09/08 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge w/ Dead Confederate
10/10/08 Columbus, OH - Carabar
10/11/08 Chicago, IL - Metro- CD Release Show
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PHW Songs of the Month - 9/08

Gentleman Jesse & His Men
MP3 :: All I Need Tonight (Is You)
(from Introducing Gentleman Jesse. Buy here)

The debut record from Gentleman Jesse features cover art that instantly (and purposefully) recalls Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model - a fitting reference point for this endlessly cool collection of gritty garage-pop anthems. In a year filled with fine debut records (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The War On Drugs, & Titus Andronicus, to name just a few), Gentleman Jesse has reached the same heights. Don’t think twice about picking this one up.
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Jenny Lewis
MP3 :: Acid Tongue
Stream :: the whole album
(from Acid Tongue. Buy here)
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Low Water
MP3 :: Voodoo Taxi
(from Twisting The Neck Of The Swan. Buy here)
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Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

Offend Maggie is my Deerhoof breakthrough. I’ve mentioned in the past how I’ve always admired Deerhoof’s ability, musically speaking, to sound so avant-garde and arty and still rock so freakin’ hard. But then there’s Satomi Matsuzaki’s anime squeal of a voice, an instrument often so distracting that it made listening to The Runners Four or Friend Opportunity seem like more of a chore than something done out of pure enjoyment. Offend Maggie is the first of the three Deerhoof records I’ve heard that I can say I sincerely enjoy straight through - and I don’t know exactly why that is. It still sounds just like Deerhoof - it's weird and abrasive and stylistically all over the map. Maybe the guitars, especially on album opener “The Tears And Music Of Love”, are just, I don’t know, crunchier. And Matsuzaki’s voice sounds like a natural part of the beautiful clatter surrounding it. The only thing I don't understand is why they whited out my face on the cover. It’s out on October 7, with a free digital download with a vinyl purchase.

MP3 :: Offend Maggie
(from Offend Maggie. Buy here)
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Check some older tunes:

MP3 :: +81
(from Friend Opportunity. Buy here)

MP3 :: Wrong Time Capsule
(from The Runners Four. Buy here)

MP3 :: Milking
(from Milk Man. Buy here)

MP3 :: Sealed With A Kiss
(from Apple ‘O. Buy here)

MP3 :: Holy Night Fever
(from Reveille. Buy here)
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The Future of Pop Headwound...

Consider this a “State of the Blog” address:

I want to start this little spiel by saying thank you to the many casual and regular readers of Pop Headwound - though I don‘t really know who any of you are, my Google Analytics page tells me that you do exist, you come from all corners of the world, and that several hundred of you are stopping by this site on a daily basis. It might seem obvious, but I have always relished the opportunity to introduce people to new music, whether that was making mixtapes back in the day, or spinning CDs on campus radio, or just passing word on to friends of what they themselves should check out. Pop Headwound has been a very natural evolution of that love, and I’m glad to have guided some of you towards music that matters in your life.

I’ve been writing the posts for PHW by myself for the past year and 10 months. Over that time I have been exposed to countless exciting new bands and have been reminded of many forgotten favorites, both through my own research and that of other like-minded bloggers. I started out in January of 2007 full of awkward moments - posting as often as I could about every band I could squeeze in between work, sleep, and a social life. Eventually I think I got the hang of this, and gradually there were some improvements made - more concise writing, easier links to other sites and mp3s, and finally a cool header photo up there that I took myself (hey I’m no pro, but I really love that pic - it’s the stage floor of a Here Lies Pa (now defunct) show from 2 Springs ago). PHW became a grown up music blog.

And then I discovered a strange thing. I found that I went through alternating phases of interest in this blog - sometimes the writing was full of pure excitement, and sometimes it was kind of a drag to do. Don’t get me wrong - I’ll stand behind every band and/or song that has been shared on this blog. It’s just that some of them I’ll stand behind with more enthusiasm than others. I guess as a music fan I love reading 2 kinds of music criticism - the well written review of an album the author loves, and those where a bad band gets torn to shreds (seriously, you know it’s fun). But it’s the ones that fall somewhere in between that get severely tiresome, and over the past few months I’ve been inundated with emails from bands, promo companies, and record labels asking to listen to and write about bands that don’t excite me either way. I feel like I’ve wasted countless hours listening to music that I either don’t like at all, or worse yet, am completely ambivalent towards. And the fact is that I don’t really want to do that anymore.

You may have guessed from the picture introducing this post that my life has gone through some pretty big changes recently. I’ve never used PHW as a personal forum at all - I’ve hardly shared anything about my personal life in its contents and I like it that way. It’s always been strictly about the music and promoting young bands and reviving interest in older favorites. But, as of September 20th, I am now a married man. And my beautiful new wife is 3 and a half months into a twin pregnancy that has given me a completely new perspective on this gift of life. (CLICHÉ ALERT) Time is a precious thing. Certainly too precious to spend trolling the internet sifting through band after band trying to find that one unknown that will set the blogging community on fire. (For the record, I’ve never set the blogging world on fire - the closest I’ve come is posting some rarities from Wilco, Spoon, and Iron & Wine - any of them you could probably find in dozens of other places). So, to make a long story short, my priorities are shifting, and that might mean a lot less time devoted to making PHW your one-stop source for the best in new independent music.

BUT, it does not signal the end of this blog - just a shift away from the grind of listening to tons of mediocre music on a daily basis. I’ve invested far too much of myself into this blog to just let it go - and though I’m officially a grown up now, my passion for music isn’t going anywhere. Pop Headwound will still be updated on a semi-regular basis, and will focus strictly on music and bands that I am truly passionate about. No matter what they might say, any music blog operated by one person that posts daily couldn’t possibly be passionate about everything. I don’t want to do that anymore. I would guess that the average post takes 2-3 hours of my time, many take much, much more. I still do want to share the music that matters to me with you, but I just can‘t devote that kind of time anymore. I hope you’ll continue to check in, and keep this ongoing musical conversation between strangers going. Peace.
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