My End of the Year Stuff.

Sorry I haven't written in a bit.  I haven't had much time between burning CD's from the library and shooting terrorists in Modern Warfare 2 to research up and coming bands.  But I plan to post a few new entries in the next couple of days that I have off.  But first, here is my top albums of the year and also the Top things that have influenced my music greatly in the last decade.

 There is no particular order with these albums. I like all of them and since the music styles are so different, it really is hard for me to choose one over the other. Comment on any Albums/bands I missed.



Top Albums of 2009


1.Fever Ray – Fever Ray

2.Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

3.Florence and the Machine - Lungs

4.The xx – xx

5.Dead Man's Bones – Dead Man's Bones

6.Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse present – Dark Night of the Soul

7.Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

8.Discovery – LP

9.The Drums – Summertime!

10.Little Boots – Hands

11.Karen O and the Kids – Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack

12.Matt & Kim – Grand

13.Yeah Yeah Yeah – It's Blitz

14.Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing

15.Portugal. The Man. - The Satanic Satanist

16.AU – Versions

17.Atlas Sound – Logos

18.The Antlers – Hospice

19.Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below

20.Noah and the Whale – The First Day of Spring

21.Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

22.Wavves – Self Titled

23.Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Self Titled

24. Peaches - I Feel Cream

25.  Yacht's - I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real


Top Influences on My Music Interest

1.  Dave Zero and Madcity Music Exchange:  Dave introduced me to some amazing Grrl Rock bands and always takes my daily pop ins to his store with great aplomb.  And with Cooper and Amy working there, er I mean Kim, it's one of my favorite music stores for a reason.

2. Heidi Olson and WORT:  Heidi introduced me to soo many amazing artists when I first moved here that I can't count.  She is Bad Sister Heidi who you may know from the local Roller Derby League as well as one of the hosts from Psychoacoustics; the radio program on WORT Thursday nights. WORT also allowed me access to their immensive library of music which allowed me to taste different artists that I knew little about.

3.  Myspace:  It sucks as a Social Networking site, but the exposure this site has given to bands all over the country is amazing.  I would not have known how good some bands were if it weren't for my ability to look them up on this website. 

4.  Pandora Radio Station: What a genius idea for a web radio station.  Not only did it give exposure to lesser known bands, it allowed you to listen to a stream of different musicians but who all are in the same musical vein of each other.  It's one of the most brilliant things to happen to music and to help individuals find more music that fit their taste.

5.  The Library!: My god.  The amount of amazing music that the Madison Library has astounds me.  This is something new that I've discovered and I can tell you that I have checked out close to 60-70 albums so far just in the last 2 weeks.  From Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, Band of Horses, Pavement, Elliot Smith, Sonic Youth to the Yardbirds, The Who, Metallica...etc.  you will find it at the library. 

6.  Cheng Vue and Ryan Lucas:  Cheng, AKA, DJ Chen Cheng, has introduced me to so much amazing electronic/indie rock music and I'm still amazed when he can make me a mix CD and almost every band on it I haven't heard of yet.  Same with Ryan Lucas.  This guy introduced me to more Folk Indie Rock and I've fell in love with almost every band he suggested for me.  Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes...etc.  It's great to have amazing friends who are on the cusp of knowing what great new music is just coming on the scene.  Both are part of a facebook group that posts "Mix Tapes" online.  I'm glad that now more people are able to get their hands on some great music.

7.  Hype Machine:  A great website that will let you listen to music that is being blogged right now.  From songs from albums yet to be released, to obscure music from the past that is only now getting the love it deserves.  This is also a great way to find a blog that reports on music you listen to and to stay in touch with what new music from the genre is coming out. 

8.  Music Festivals:  One part of the music scene is finding out about new bands and listen to new music.   Another part of the music scene is to see these bands live.  And sometimes, at $10/ $15 a pop, it can get pretty expensive.  And though music festivals aren't cheap, they are the few places you would be able to see so many big name acts in a 3-4 day period.  I've gone to Bonnaroo twice, the Forward Music Festival here in Madison twice, and to a few shows at Summerfest in Milwaukee.  I'm excited to go to Sasquatch next May and experience what that music festival has to offer.  But I highly recommend that if you love music, spend the extra amount of money and try to go to one of these events. 

9.  Last, but certainly not least. Local Live Music Venues in Madison/Milwaukee:  High Noon Saloon, The Majestic, WUD for the UW-Memorial Union, Project Lodge, The Annex, The Barrymore Theater, Pabst Theater and Turner Ballroom and even Milwaukee's The Rave (Links on the side).  I have seen so many memorable shows at these places and I do believe some of these shows have deeply influenced my life.  Some of these places I have seen acts that I never in my lifetime would have thought that I would see.  Others presented me with smaller shows that even though the attendance was small, the performances blew me away.  I'm thankful all the time that I live in a city that pushes hard to get great acts to stop in this city and I'm glad that there are so many other people in this city that will spend money for the music scene even in these unstable economic times.  Thank you Madison for helping me love music as much as I do.