The shows that I attended this year, according to my computer’s calendar: Lykke Li, Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, Doves, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Wighonomy Bros, Micachu, Tune-Yards (4times), Bon Iver, Flight of the Conchords, The Jesus Lizard, McCoy Tyner.

Have a great holiday season, and remember to share music, always !!! Also, our good friends at Red Choo Choo have extended their holiday coupon for our readers.  Please enter FOEWEEL at check out for a 10% off coupon until the end of the year.

2009 Best Albums (in no particular order)

Bibio-Ambivalence Avenue (Warp) Lover’s Carving

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Fever Ray – Fever Ray (Mute) If I Had A Heart

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The XX – XX (Young Turks) Basic Space

__________________________________________________________________________ Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote/Loyaute) Girlfriend

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Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay (Kompakt) Rollerskate

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St. Vincent – Actor (4AD) Save Me From What I Want

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Beach House – Devotion (Carpark) Heart Of Chambers

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Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (Domino) No Intention

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Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)

Summertime Clothes

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Micahu & The Shapes – Jewellery (Rough Trade) Vulture

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Tune-Yards – Bird Brains (4AD/Marriage) Lions

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Mix of the Year:
Richie Hawtin – Tsugi 100th Podcast (Big Outside Festival 2009 Live Mix)

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Reissue of the Year:
Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Sony) Cop Shoot Cop (Demo)

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Compilation of the Year:
5: 5 Years of Hyperdub (Hyperdub) Burial – Fostercare

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Live Recording of the Year:
Jeff Buckley – Live @ King Theater, Seattle May 7th 1995 (Sony) What Will You Say

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Box Set, Old but New Release of the Year:
Ella Fitzgerald – Twelve Nights in Hollywood (Hip-O Select) Angel Eyes

Great suitcases for every occasion.

A great invention: The Split Ring Key

For fans of The State, which is now, finally out on DVD, there is a new series on Comedy Central from two members of The State called Michael & Michael Have Issues. Members of the cult comedy, The State which aired on MTV, have also gone on to create Reno 911.

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Jeff Buckley – We All Fall In Love Sometimes (Elton John & Bernie Taupin) – From the soundtrack to My Sister’s Keeper,  a movie that would definitely give me a case of the nods, comes this cleaned up, unreleased song which is actually played live for WFMU’s Music Faucet program.

Bill Janovitz – Little Mascara – A classic from The Replacements, by the front man for Buffalo Tom. A release from his website.

Plastikman – Contain – In 1998, Richie Hawtin created an album, Consumed, that continues to influence in the form of minimal techno, dub techno and ambient music forms. This particular track is one I can’t wait to play at my upcoming Aquarium gig. I hope the fishes are ready.

Nina Simone – House Of The Rising Sun – This is a live track from At The Village Gate, and I love how it’s slowed down to nice simmer which brings out all of the flavor, especially the soul that is Simone’s voice.

The Wighnomy Brothers show last weekend was……late. They went on at 2am and played until 6am. We left about an hour, or so into the set which was building and building, but we were tumbling and stumbling.

We have some good news which is still in the planning stage, but after a 2year break, we might be playing in front of real people once again.  Well, we would be playing surrounded by fish, water….and people.  The perfect environment to provide a soundtrack for.

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- Are you Happy ?

- Have you seen UP, a good film, but not as good as Wall-E. Squirrel? Here are some other Nail Homes.

- I love how we live in one of the healthiest cities, in terms of access to organic and healthy foods, but this city is fast becoming a mecca of decadent foods, the creme brulee man, bi-rite creamery, humpry slocombe, and now…. Anthony’s Cookies ( the Cookies and Cream is probably the best cookie I have ever tasted).

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Ra Ra Riot – Each Year – Compared often to the Weekend filled with Vampires, sweet melodies in pop form is not such a bad thing.  Sad lyrics disguised in happy music ?

Harry Belafonte – Sweetheart From Venezuela – From the excellent 1961 release, Jump Up Calypso. I always thought this guy and his daughter were just regular guests on the Love Boat. Who knew?

Jeff Buckley – Grace (Live @ King Theater, Seattle, 1995) – This track is part of the bonus bonus thing from Jeff Buckley’s Grace Around The World release. I have yet to see the documentary or the other DVD, but the CD release of the DVD is not anything special.  What makes this set worth it, is a live Seattle bonus disc which covers a whole concert because with only a finite number of songs that Buckley wrote, or covered, it’s his unique live take on these songs that fans are waiting for.

Rist – Slush – Morning harvest, everything is starting to wake up, you start to notice the light reflecting on the dew…and then you roll over and go back to sleep hoping to return to that dream. I see fishies in my future.

This is my mixtape to you. It comes in at 62 minutes and 24 seconds, so you may have to get a 90 minute tape. You may even have to buy a cassette player, or just get one of these gadgets. Maybe, this is a way to convince you to go to my junior year Ring Dance, or maybe even the Senior Prom. We’ll have cases of Becks beer, Peach Schnapps and Wine Coolers for the ladies, and whatever else we need to make the night memorable. I’ll give it to you at Burger King, the place to drive to in between classes, and meet the girls from the sister school. And if I get caught for leaving campus, and get detention, it’ll be worth it. I’ll clean the toilets, tap the kegs for the jesuits, get on my knees…..to pray.

I hope you like the tape. It’s probably best if you go to a quiet place, and listen to it through your headphones. I think these things come together better when you don’t have too much time to think about it. Take a mood here, a lyric there, and you have this entirely new thing that’s made up from the smaller parts, to help to capture a feeling that may be difficult to express through words, in our adolescence. How a song can take you to a place, this mixtape will take you to all of the places, experiencing all of the unexpected, and help you to remember this small moment, in our time together.

SMS Text: Food Court MixTape (Download)

Milosh – You Make Me Feel - a simple message of how “it” can make you feel. the music has that dream-like, delirious quality, just like “it”. “you, beautiful moment in my life, a sweet wrinkle in time, so let’s stretch this thing out”

Joseph Arthur – Honey And The Moon - maybe it’s about a past love, but the melody has such optimism. “if you weren’t real, i would make you up, now”. “and right now, all your dreams are waking up”

Jeff Buckley – Morning Theft (Live) – “a heart that beats as both siphon and reservoir”

Björk – Headphones (Live) – the power of music to convey emotion. how music may be the most powerful language. “these abstract wordless movements”. “i like this resonance, it elevates me”

Sigur Rós – Med Sud I Eyrum (With A Buzz In Our Ears) – we’re traveling on a train and looking out the window into a vast open space of the future, and it doesn’t matter where we end up, it’s all about the journey and adventure to get there, together.

Hanne Hukkelberg – Ease – whimsical, yet painful. change can happen.

New Order – Every Little Counts – the laughter, for being stupid, together. not the greatest lyrics, but every little does count, like making a bed. “every second counts”.

Damien Rice – The Blower’s Daughter (Live) - “i can’t take my mind off of you”

The Cinematic Orchestra – To Build A Home (featuring Patrick Watson) – home is not necessarily a place. is it a state of mind, or another person ? “Out in the garden where we planted the seeds. There is a tree as old as me. Branches were sewn by the color of green. Ground had arose and passed it’s knees”

Daft Punk – Digital Love – so sappy, but such a great pop song about happiness and hope.

Cat Stevens – The Wind – when you least expect it, your soul will guide you in the right direction, or to the food court at the mall.

Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger – a song about purgatory which I have often felt that I was trapped in as well. all of the beautiful haunting imagery in one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. it has that sort-of sad optimism feeling to it. happy sad.

Bloc Party – Tulips (Original Version) – “this could be an opportunity”. the drumming helps to convey the mood of urgency, and trying to convince someone that this is special, that this is real……

Radiohead – Go Slowly - i love how his voice flows through, and acts out the lyrics, “come slowly to me”, “patiently”.

There’s a great site, Song Meanings which lists lyrics as well as user interpretations of each song, and it helped with the lyrics stated above.

Besides Grace, which was Jeff Buckley’s only officially completed album, the legacy of songs and material that remain comes mainly from his incredible live shows which consisted of playing various covers from a vast array of artists. His vocal range was such that he took on many songs from powerful female singers. Many times, he took the originals and made them his own, as is the case with his version of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Here are some unique covers with the originals, or the version that he was inspired by. He has inspired, and continues to inspire other artists, as is the case with Radiohead.

from the recent Word magazine interview with Radiohead:
It’s funny how their own records are often punctuated by seeing other bands, he (Colin Greenwood) says. “Making The Bends in spring 1994, we were having a crap day in the studio so John Leckie said, ‘Come on, let’s go and see Jeff Buckley at the Garage.’ Then we went back to the studio and Thom recorded Fake Plastic Trees straight away. It was genuinely, properly inspiring.”

Bob Dylan – Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind – this track is from the Bootleg series

Jeff Buckley – Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind – from the Grace Legacy Edition

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Nina Simone – Lilac Wine – from the 1966 Wild Is The Wind album.

Jeff Buckley – Lilac Wine (Live)- from the Palais Theatre in Melbourne Australia, on the Mystery White Boy release. a great slowed down version of the song.

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Big Star – Kangaroo – written by Alex Chilton who also inspired Paul Westerberg from the Replacements to write the song Alex Chilton from the excellent Pleased To Meet Me album.

Jeff Buckley – Kangaroo (Live) – live form the Logo Club in Hamburg Germany. recorded February 22, 1995

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Van Morrison – The Way Young Lovers Do (Live) - live from the Fillmore in San Francisco, recorded 4/26/1970 (((link removed at the request of the publisher)))

Jeff Buckley – The Way Young Lovers Do (Live)- from the Live From The Bataclan (Paris) release. he takes the original jazzy version of the song and turns it into bluesy guitar fueled rant.

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Genesis – Back in N.Y.C. (demo #4) – from 1974, a demo of this track from the classic Lamb Lies Down On Broadway release. this was the period when Peter Gabriel fronted the band.

Jeff Buckley – Back In N.Y.C. – a demo from the Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk release.

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Nina Simone – The Twelfth Of Never (Live) – from the out of print Nina Simone At Carnegie Hall. Buckley covered more tracks by Nina Simone than any other artist. I think he related to the soulfulness and the unique phrasing from her voice.

Jeff Buckley – The Twelfth Of Never (Live) - from Live At Sin-e´. he rarely altered Nina Simone’s version of the songs.

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For more Buckley stuff, click HERE