Song of the Week 3/30/12

Gomez - "Jumping Jack Flash (Live)"

Who knew that Gomez -- a band that I have enjoyed for many years -- could come up with such an inventive and truly original cover? This was recorded at the Music of the Rolling Stones show at Carnegie Hall a couple weeks ago, and I can hear why people wanted to get a copy of it. I love how the crowd starts going nuts at :33 seconds in. They knew something awesome was happening.

Thanks for the free download guys. This cover rocks.

Song of the Week 3/23/12

Delta Spirit - "Empty House"

One of the things I've enjoyed about becoming a big Delta Spirit fan is that they're a band not afraid to perform new material long before it's released. (That's a rarity these days in the age of YouTube.) When History From Below was released in 2010 it already felt familiar as I had seen them play six songs from it live at various gigs. The band's new self-titled album includes three songs that I'd seen them perform before, including the album opener "Empty House." It's a perfect song to get the album going as it bridges the gap between the sound of their first two records and the new, slightly more-produced vibe of this third one. Matt Vasquez has such great pipes; his vocals are always straddling the line between singing and yelling one's throat raw with passion. And this song sees him balance those two sides perfectly.

Here's the band running through at Lollapalooza 2011, two months before I saw them play it at ACL Fest.

Song of the Week 3/16/12

The Who - "Baba O'Riley"

This is a lot of fun when you're leading a sing-a-long at a friend's going away party. A lot.

Damn, I still love this version.

Songs of the Week 3/9/12

Madonna - "Take a Bow"

I end each edition of Party Like It's 1999 with a few slow songs (or, slow jams, as the kids like to say) to mellow out the crowd and to signify that the night is over. I played "Take a Bow" this most recent edition, and I found myself humming the chorus the past few days. This song was the key to my getting back into Madonna. I was a massive fan of her first two albums, and then promptly ignored her catalog once I got into classic rock in high school. I flat out despised "Like a Prayer" when it hit the airwaves when I was in college. (I've grown to respect that song--and album--over the years.)

I thought "Vogue" was a while bunch of fun, but that "Justify My Love" and the Erotica album were pieces of crap. When I got a free copy of Bedtime Stories (somehow I scored my way on to the Sire Records mailing list in 1992) in 1994 I didn't expect to like it, but once I heard "Take a Bow" I knew that it was a keeper.

Party Like It's 1999 3/9/12

Wow, what another fun night. We're back at The Bell House on April 6th.

Here's what you heard in this edition:

Better Than Ezra - “Good”
Cake - “Never There”
Foo Fighters - “Big Me”
Tori Amos - “God”
Fiona Apple - “Criminal”
The Breeders - “Cannonball”
Garbage - “Stupid Girl”
Juliana Hatfield Three - “Spin the Bottle”
The Cranberries - “Linger”
Fastball - “The Way”
Smashing Pumpkins - “1979”
Toad the Wet Sprocket - “All I Want”
The Rembrandts - “I’ll Be there For You”
Third Eye Blind - “Graduate”
Matchbox Twenty - “Real World”
Del Amitri - “Roll to Me”
Goo Goo Dolls - “Slide”
Gin Blossoms - “Hey Jealousy”
Smash Mouth - “All Star”
Barenaked Ladies - “One Week”
The Presidents of the United States of America - “Peaches”
No Doubt - “Just a Girl”
Len - “Steal My Sunshine”
New Radicals - “You Get What You Give”
Fatboy Slim - “Praise You”
Ace of Base - “Don’t Turn Around”
Britney Spears - “…Baby One More Time”
Spice Girls - “Wannabe”
TLC - “No Scrubs”
Will Smith - “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”
Will Smith - “Miami”
Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Mase - “Mo Money, Mo Problems”
Notorious B.I.G. - “Juicy”
En Vogue - “Don’t let Go (Love)”
Salt-n-Pepa featuring En Vogue - “Whatta Man”
Aaliyah - “Are You That Somebody?”
Janet Jackson - “That’s the Way Love Goes”
Coolio - “Gangsta’s Paradise”
Dr. Dre - “Nothing But a G Thing”
Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre - “No Diggity”
NSync - “Tearing Up My Heart”
Backstreet Boys - “As Long As You Love Me”
Amy Grant - “Baby Baby”
Hanson - “MMMbop”
Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Blink 182 - “What’s My Age Again?”
Green Day - “Basket Case”
Lit - “My Own Worst Enemy”
Harvey Danger - “Flagpole Sitta”
Eve 6 - “Inside Out”
Weezer - “Say It Ain’t So”
Spacehog - “In the Meantime”
Beastie Boys - “Sabotage”
Chumbawamba - “Tubthumping”
Aqua - “Barbie Girl”
La Bouche - “Be My Lover”
Real McCoy - “Another Night”
Dee-Lite - “Groove Is in the Heart”
Rupaul - “Supermodel”
Mariah Carey - “Fantasy”
Destiny’s Child - “Say My Name”
Salt-n-Pepa - “Shoop”
Shaggy - “Boombastic”
Warren G & Nate Dogg - “Regulate”
Notorious B.I.G. - “Hypnotize”
Montell Jordan - “This Is How We Do It”
Ace of Base - “The Sign”
Alanis Morissette - “You Oughta Know”
Sublime - “Santeria”
Beck - “Loser”
Cake - “The Distance”
James - “Laid”
Mr. Big - “To Be With You”
Sheryl Crow - “Strong Enough”
Madonna - “Take a Bow”
Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - “One Sweet Day”

Song of the Week 3/2/12

The Figgs - "Do Me Like You Said You Would"

Oh my, this may be the funkiest song The Figgs have ever done. Mike Gent's guitar tone pays homage to Keith Richards from the mid-70s, while it echoes some classic Al Green. The first time I saw them perform this was just about a year ago at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn, and the crowd just ate it up.

The Day Gravity Stopped is due out April 17th. I suggest you get it.



Song of the Week 2/24/12

The Shins - "Simple Song"



I'm really looking forward to this new Shins album. "Simple Song" is my favorite song that James Mercer has done since "So Says I." I hope the rest of Port of Morrow holds up to this track.

Song of the Week 2/17/12

Suzanne Vega featuring Joe Jackson - "Left of Center"

One thing I love about doing the RT 20 Podcast is when guests bring up songs that have slipped through the cracks in my brain. Jason Fry did just that with this song from Pretty in Pink. I remember playing it in college, but somehow never had a copy of the song in my own collection. I, of course, have rectfied that now.

Yeah, Ms. Vega was attractive back then. (And still was when I interviewed her a few years ago.)

Song of the Week 2/10/12

Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane"



Damn, this is such a flithy song. I had no idea until Bunnie England opened with it last night. Who knew Germans were so dirty?

Party Like It's 1999 2/3/12

Wow.

Just wow.

I am amazed and overcome with the amount of folks that came out on Friday night. Y'all are awesome.

Our next edition at the Bell House will be coming in early March. Details to follow!

Here's the playlist of what you heard and danced and rocked your asses off to:

AC/DC - “Money Talks”
Bad Religion - “American Jesus”
Jellyfish - “The King Is Half Undressed”
Pulp - “Common People”
Oasis - “Live Forever”
New Order - “Regret”
Morrissey - “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get”
The Verve - “Bittersweet Symphony”
Jesus Jones - “Right Here, Right Now”
Depeche Mode - “It’s No Good”
Garbage - “Special”
Nine Inch Nails - “Closer”
Local H - “Bound for the Floor”
Pearl Jam - “Given to Fly”
Presidents of the United States of America - “Peaches”
Fastball - “The Way”
Marcy Playground - “Sex and Candy”
Dishwalla - “Counting Blue Cars”
Joan Osborne - “One of Us”
Alanis Morissette - “Ironic”
Natalie Imbruglia - “Torn”
Meredith Brooks - “Bitch”
Sugar Ray - “Fly”
Third Eye Blind - “Semi-Charmed Life”
Chumbawamba - “Tubthumping”
Ace of Base - “The Sign”
NSync - “I Want You Back”
Boyz II Men - “Motownphilly”
Salt N Pepa - “Shoop”
TLC - “No Scrubs”
2Pac and Dr. Dre - “California Love”
Blackstreet and Dr. Dre - “No Diggity”
Heavy D and Da Boyz - “Now That We Found Love”
Montell Jordan - “This Is How We Do It”
Britney Spears - “…Baby One More Time”
Backstreet Boys - “Larger Than Life”
The Cardigans - “Lovefool”
Hanson - “Mmmbop”
Spice Girls - “Wannabe”
Christina Aguilera - “Genie in a Bottle”
La Bouche - “Be My Lover”
Aqua - “Barbie Girl”
Dee-Lite - “Groove Is in the Heart”
Will Smith - “Getting Jiggy With It”
Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase - “Mo Money Mo Problems”
Coolio - “Gangsta’s Paradise”
Mariah Carey - “Always Be My Baby”
Mary J. Blige - “Real Love”
En Vogue - “Don’t Let Go (Love)”
Destiny’s Child - “Say My Name”
Bell Biv Devoe - “Poison”
Real McCoy - “Another Night”
Snap - “Rhythm is a Dancer”
Sir-Mix-A-Lot - “Baby Got Back”
Kris Kross - “Jump”
House of Pain - “Jump Around”
Ol’ Dirty Bastard featuring Kelis - “Got Your Money”
Lauryn Hill - “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Janet Jackson - “(Love Will Never Do) Without You”
No Doubt - “Just a Girl”
Blink 182 - “What’s My Age Again”
Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Alanis Morissette - “You Oughta Know”
Sublime - “Santeria”
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - “The Impression That I Get”
The Offspring - “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)”
Weezer - “Buddy Holly”
Beastie Boys - “Sabotage”
Green Day - “Basket Case”
Lit - “My Own Worst Enemy”
Eve 6 - “Inside Out”
Veruca Salt - “Seether”
Semisonic - “Closing Time”
Spin Doctors - “Two Princes”
Britney Spears - “(You Drive Me) Crazy”
Backstreet Boys - “I Want It That Way”
Wilson Phillips - “Hold On”
Mariah Carey - “Fantasy”
Robin S - “Show Me Love”
Madonna - “Vogue”
NSync - “Tearing Up My Heart”
Notorious B.I.G. - “Hypnotize”
Warren G. and Nate Dogg - “Regulate”
Arrested Development - “Tennessee”
Naughty By Nature - “Hip Hop Hooray”
Michael Jackson - “Black or White”
Pras featuring Michel, Mya and ODB - “Ghetto Superstar”
Snoop Dogg - “Gin and Juice”
Mr. Big - “To Be With You”
Pearl Jam - “Daughter”
PM Dawn - “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss”
Prince and NPG - “Diamonds and Pearls”
Lisa Loeb - “Stay”
R. Kelly - “I Believe I Can Fly”

Song of the Week 2/3/12

Chumbawamba - "Tubthumping"



Oh my. This is fun song to spin for room of people just digging every song you play. Wow. What a night at Party Like It's 1999.

Song of the Week 1/27/12

Nada Surf - "When I Was Young"

I first heard this song back in late October when I was one of the fortunate people (thanks Ken!) to get an early advance of The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy. I was riding on the F train back to Brooklyn and -- I shit you not -- I felt woozy when I got up off of the seat right after this song finished. It just bowled me over. Months later, I'm still processing the gut reaction I had to this tale about looking back on one's life. I'm sure I'll dedicate an entire page of the RT 20 analyzing this epic track and how much Doug Gillard's :50 second solo slays me and touches me at a molecular level. (Gillard is the secret weapon of this entire album. My goodness, what an amazing, tasteful guitarist.)

For now I just want you, dear reader, to listen to it. First, here's the moving (literally and figuratively) video:



Second, here's the band's release show on Tuesday. After they played "When I Was Young," I yelled "Fuck yeah!" And yes, you can hear that on the webcast. (The songs starts at 31:10. You can hear my yell at 36:32)



Third, go buy this album. It's fantastic.

Song of the Week 1/20/12

Buffalo Springfield - "I Am A Child"

I need to vary my Starbucks trips -- or they need to freshen up their selections -- as I heard this song three days in a row in three different Starbucks. Bizarre.

I really wish that Buffalo Springfield reunion tour of 2011 had gone on longer.

Song of the Week 1/13/12

Heart - "What About Love?"

I joined my old college friends Bruce and Hank on Saturday for our own Record Store Day, trolling through three of New Jersey's finest stores -- Tunes, Princeton Record Exchange and Vintage Vinyl. I love getting those $1 pieces of vinyl on trips like this one. And one of the goodies I brought back to Brooklyn was Heart's 1985 self-titled album. This album straddled the radio worlds I listened to religiously in 1985 -- the Top 40 sounds of FLY 92 and the rock tunes of PYX 106. "What About Love" was the first single, and both stations played it quite a bit. 27 years later the production might be dated, but Heart is still a fine collection.

Especially for a buck.

Song of the Week 1/6/12

David Soul - "Don't Give Up on Us"

I went on a record store road trip through Jersey with my good friends from college, Bruce and Hank, on Saturday. As we approached our last stop, we got stuck in a typical Jersey happening -- a vicious traffic jam. Fortunately we had my iPod plugged into the system in Bruce's car and we were deep into a playlist from 1977, so the traffic jam didn't seem so bad. David Soul's number-one hit "Don't Give Up On Us" came on, inspiring a round of laughs as this plea from TV's "Hutch" echoed throughout the vehicle. With about thirty seconds left Hank, in all seriousness, uttered the line, "Can you hit repeat on this?"

Oh, I laughed.

Song of the Week 12/30/11

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Fisherman's Blues"

Ted Leo's show at the Bell House Friday night might have been even better than his Seaport show this past summer. And this Waterboys cover was a fantastic way to end it.

Party Like It's 1999 12/29/11

Wow, what a great turnout we had last night. Thanks to everyone that made the first year of Party Like It's 1999 such a success. We'll be back in late January with another edition. The date will be announced soon on our Facebook page.

Hear's what you heard last night:

Alice in Chains - “Angry Chair”
Stone Temple Pilots - “Wicked Garden”
Faith No More - “Midlife Crisis”
L7 - “Pretend We’re Dead”
Soul Asylum - “Somebody to Shove”
Bad Religion - “21st Century Digital Boy”
Get Up Kids - “Woodson”
Nirvana - “Sliver”
Metallica - “Enter Sandman”
Smashing Pumpkins - “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
Incubus - “Pardon Me”
Soundgarden - “Black Hole Sun”
Foo Fighters - “Learn to Fly”
The Breeders - “Cannonball”
The Rentals - “Friends of P”
Cake - “The Distance”
Everclear - “Santa Monica”
Goldfinger - “Here in Your Bedroom”
Reel Big Fish - “Sell Out”
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - “The Impression That I Get”
Ben Folds Five - “Song for the Dumped”
Eels - “Novacaine for the Soul”
Pulp - “Common People”
Garbage - “Only Happy When It Rains”
The Flaming Lips - “She Don’t Use Jelly”
Fiona Apple - “Criminal”
Divinyls - “I Touch Myself”
Len - “Steal My Sunshine”
Hanson - “Mmmbop”
Backstreet Boys - “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)”
TLC - “No Scrubs”
Michael Jackson - “Black or White”
Lauryn Hill - “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Notorious B.I.G. - “Juicy”
Positive K. - “I Got a Man”
Wreckx-n-Effect - “Rump Shaker”
Sir Mix-A-Lot - “Baby Got Back”
Pras featuring Michel, ODB and Mya - “Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)”
Blackstreet - “No Diggity (featuring Dr. Dre)”
Coolio - “Gangsta’s Paradise (featuring L.V.)”
Salt-n-Pepa - “Shoop”
Snow - “Informer”
Bell Biv Devoe - “Poison”
Kris Kross - “Jump”
Chumbawamba - “Tubthumping”
Ricky Martin - “Living La Vida Loca”
Spin Doctors - “Two Princes”
Third Eye Blind - “Semi Charmed Life”
Eve 6 - “Inside Out”
Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Weezer - “Say It Ain’t So”
Rancid - “Ruby Soho”
Blink 182 - “Dammit”
No Doubt - “Spiderwebs”
Sublime - “Santeria”
James - “Laid”
Mr. Big - “To Be With You”
NSYNC - “Tearing Up My Heart”
Aqua - “Barbie Girl”
Culture Beat - “Mr. Vain”
Dee-lite - “Groove Is in the Heart”
Juvenile - “Back That Azz Up”
Mark Morrison - “Return of the Mack”
Michael Jackson - “Remember the Time”
Mariah Carey - “Always Be My Baby”
Biz Markie - “Just a Friend”
Haddaway - “What is Love”
Right Said Fred - “I’m Too Sexy”
Ace of Base - “The Sign”
Alanis Morissette - “You Oughta Know”
En Vogue - “Free Your Mind”
Snoop Dogg - “Gin and Juice”
Eminem - “My Name Is”
Prince and the New Power Generation - “7”
Dave Matthews Band - “Crash Into Me”
Counting Crows - “A Long December”

The 22nd Annual RT 20

Hello, I'm Writers Block. Been So Nice to Screw With You This Year.

2011: I Do Believe That I'm Nostalgic For Someone's Nostalgia

2011's Top 20 Albums

2011's Top 20 Singles

Other Musical Stuff From 2011
--Compilations, Reissues, EPs, Soundtracks, Etc.
--Concerts

The 2011 AV Files

Top 10 Stories I Hope I Don't Write in 2012

 

Hello, I'm Writers Block. Been So Nice to Screw With You This Year!

So either you’ve just ripped open the envelope this list came in or I handed it to you at my office or a bar in Brooklyn and you’re thinking to yourself, “December 20th? (or 22nd, 23rd, etc.) Isn’t this kind of late for you to be sending this out?” If I was there in person (or perhaps I am there now as you’re reading this) I would say to you, “Yes, you are correct. Ideally I have this list in the mail by about December 8th each year so I can spend the rest of the month letting my usual anti-Christmas rage build up until I finally run over a family a four outside my office like I was doing an impression of Tim Tebow. But it was late this year. You’re lucky to even be holding a copy, as I had the two words no author wants to say out loud—writer’s block.”

Now I’ve had various degrees of this affliction over the past two decades. In 2002 writer’s block delayed the list by a month because in addition to that case, I caught some wicked flu-like malady. That experience didn’t prepare me at all for how bad this bout ended up being. I shit you not; I spent one afternoon at my office rewriting two sentences over and over again for about two hours. It was maddening. Every time I looked at the lines I had written, it looked very, very wrong. Yet I couldn’t come up with the right phrasing that worked. It was a vicious cycle that I couldn’t break out of for about six weeks. I wrote plenty of things for my day job, but boiling down news into easily digestible form comes from some other part of my brain, a part that’s nowhere near the RT20 section.

I must admit that on the Saturday after Thanksgiving I thought I might just skip doing it. I’d just send out an email with the names of the albums and singles and be done with it. Before I got to that point, I asked fellow writer folks on Facebook to chime in with their tips for breaking through particularly bad writer’s block. And what a wide range of answers I received:

—“Think about the never-ending disappointment, guilt, and self-loathing you'll experience if you don't get it done.”
Heck, I don’t need to not write my list to experience those emotions! (It shouldn’t be any surprise that that suggestion came from a former co-worker.)

—“LSD”
Alas, I’m probably too old to know anyone that could get me LSD. And I know that my writing ain’t so hot…ah, let’s just move forward.

—“Read a screenplay."
This one is from my friend Bob, who had the misfortune of sending me his screenplay while I was in the throes of this block. Looking at someone’s productive writing seemed to make it worse. (I did read it, and it’s a fine script that I’d love to see produced.)

—“Bring a waterproof notebook into the shower.”
Well, I can barely fit in the shower as my bathroom is so tiny. I can’t imagine fitting a notebook in there.

—“Take a shower. Tell a friend a story—any story. Allow yourself to not write—don't torture yourself. I should probably take this advice myself.”
Do you people think I’m not clean? Does my typing smell like a homeless subway guy? Do you think each line is done using a laser dirt printer?

—“Concentrate on something totally unrelated, like cooking a new recipe in order to ‘reset’ your brain.”
I did cook every night for a week in hopes of letting my brain settle after writing at work all day. Alas, one time my brain reset so well that I forgot I was cooking and burned a steak into a hunk of meaty ash. (I believe Meaty Ash was also a prog rock band I saw once.)

—“Go someplace else public—a park, a Starbucks, whatever—and just write dialogue that you hear.”
I didn’t do this, but I did decide to write while on a bus, using the following tip…

—“Great exercise from a writing teacher named Natalie Goldberg: start a sentence with ‘I remember...’ and see what happens.”
I took this tip from my friend John Ross Bowie, who happens to have written a couple of things for those Hollywood types, and it actually worked. I wrote three paragraphs on a bus ride and at a bar waiting to meet folks for dinner. They weren’t great paragraphs, but at least I didn’t want to delete them immediately. So thank you John for your invaluable assistance in getting me over the hump. (So to speak.)

Slowly this monstrosity came into shape. I can’t say I’m proud of the content of these 26 pages. I’m just pleased that it’s finally over. And if I have writers block like this in 2012, be on the look out for a brief email with the list. (And perhaps a link to a news story about how I drove my head through the monitor at my desk and caused a 12 state blackout.)

2011: I Do Believe That I'm Nostalic for Someone Else's Nostalgia

It seems like nostalgia never fails to inspire passionate responses from most people. Some really love indulging in it (like TV and film producers remaking old TV shows all the time) and some truly hate it. (Did you see the reviews for that Charlie's Angels "reboot?" Yowsa, there was some vitriol. And bringing back Fear Factor? Was anyone nostalgic for Joe Rogan? Maybe his family?) As I’ve traveled further and further from the golden days of my youth, I’ve fallen into that trap. And you know what? Sometimes that’s a very nice place to reside.

I remember the very first time I felt nostalgic. I'm not talking about nostalgia for a time I wasn't even alive for—I did plenty of that when I listened religiously to the “Electric Lunch” on PYX 106 in Albany throughout high school summers. It was a mix of ’60s songs and clips from that era, with a heavy dose of stage banter from Woodstock. (I knew the “don't eat the brown acid” advice before I ever knew what acid was. Or the glorious results you could have on it. That's a whole OTHER nostalgic story.) I dug it so much that I copied that template when I got a noontime airshift in college. (It was not even close to the smoothness that I heard out of Albany. I have burned tapes of that show for the greater good.)

The specific sort of nostalgia I’m talking about is when you’re recalling a time you experienced first hand, and that warm flood of memories makes you feel good. The first time that happened to me was in May 1990 when my friend Bruce Hartley did a show on our college station WICB that focused on—as the Rhino collections that came out that year were called—the super hits of the ’70s. Looking Glass, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Starbuck, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds—these were acts that I had forgotten or totally rejected once I thought myself a “rock guy.” Heck, when I got to college I basically rejected everything from my past because I wanted a fresh start. (That apparently included forgetting that eight bowls of cereal a day at the dining hall is a bad idea.) So that night of reliving those songs set me on a path that continues until this day of recovering a lot of music (and memories too) that I worshipped as a 3 year-old until I was 11.

So, as you can see, the lure of nostalgia is something that I can understand pretty easily. Yet even I wasn’t prepared for the pull the ’90s has exerted on folks in their late 20s and early 30s. Last October my friends Allison and Melanie convinced me that a mainstream ’90s night would be a fun time. They knew a bunch of the music and believed that with my DJ experience we could get people out to drink and dance to a decent cross-section of tunes from that era.  And holy crap, they were right. Our second event, for which we dubbed our new collective Party Like It's 1999, was the night before New Years Eve. (The above picture comes from that night.) The bar at the venue, The Bell House, made more money that night from our mix of tunes than they did on the actual New Years Eve. Our unexpected success of that night continued throughout the past 12 months. The pure joy and excitement these people get from hearing Macy Gray, Len, Lit and Notorious B.I.G. is entertaining and, at times, a little bit scary. (Example: I play Spice Girls’ “Wannabe.” Instantly the screaming is vaguely reminiscent of those old newsreel clips of teenage girls at Beatles concerts in 1964.) And while most of these songs don't bring me that kind of joy, I do get supreme satisfaction from bringing those people that moment.

All of this blabbing about music from the past brings me to this point—I found much of the music 2011 unimpressive. I can honestly say that I listened to podcasts (which I’ll cover in The AV Files on page 23) on my commute as much as I did current music. This isn’t meant to belittle the albums and songs you’ll be reading about in the following pages. It’s just that my connection to them is nowhere as strong as it has been in previous editions of the RT20. In fact, some of my favorites of 2011 have a whiff of nostalgia to them. There are two acts on the albums and singles list from one of my all-time favorite musical cities, Seattle. The Head and the Heart’s debut mixes harmonies and acoustic guitars and piano in such a way that I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been initially released in 1974. BOAT hearken back to another golden age of listening—the mid ’90s. D. Crane and company wear their love for such bands as Pavement and Built to Spill on their sleeves—and their album cover, as you’ll see on page 12. Adele’s music has a timeless quality that makes older people nostalgic for their youth, and makes youth nostalgic for a time when everything was “authentic.” I couldn’t help but think of the ’90s yet again when I first saw the video for Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks.” The way MTV hacked out the line “faster than my gun” made me chuckle and recall when I laughed at them doing the same thing to “joint” in Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels.”  Add in such RT20 staples as Wilco, Buffalo Tom and R.E.M. (more on their decision to call it a day on page 8), and I’m starting to think I wrote this list in 2001, not 2011.

Finally, I had one full bout of heavy hearted nostalgia this year as one pillar of my musical identity changed forever. The passing of Clarence Clemons in June struck me hard. I’d only met him once, but his persona was so big that I felt I was meeting him every time I saw the E Street Band. There was a reason that Bruce Springsteen would always announce the Big Man last— Clemons was the embodiment of everything fans (and The Boss himself, I imagine) felt about that band. Those distinctive sax solos were the heartbeat of the albums Springsteen did from the 1973 to 1980. And even though that sax was heard less and less from that point on, the fans love for Clemons never wavered. I distinctly remember a certain moment during one show on the E Street reunion tour when the crowd went rather insane when Clemons burst into the solo of “Badlands.” Springsteen had a shit-eating grin on his face when Clemons finished, and shook his head as if to say “how did you get them to do that?” There’s no way Springsteen can fill that void in the E Street Band sound, so I’m interested to see what happens when they return to the road in the spring.

Okay, that’s enough living in the past, as the old Jethro Tull song goes. Oh, crap. Referencing that 40 year-old song is another dose of nostalgia too. Dammit. It’s a vicious cycle that I can’t seem to stop! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the list more than I did writing it.