Top 9s Updated w/ Xiu Xiu
We're asking our friends to make lists of their favorite things, any things, nine to be exact, from this past year. The closer we get to 2010, the longer this list will grow. Here's the who and what:
Angela Seo of Xiu Xiu (click for upcoming UK & US tour dates)
Gray Death [MP3] From Dear God, I Hate Myself available in February
1. Jasmin the cat
2. Healthcare
3. Buddha bowls
4. Nintendo DS
5. Vegetarian dim sum
6. Obama inauguration day
7. Memphis
8. Fireworks from Crazy Sam's, S.C.
9. Washboards
Herr Nilsson's Top 9 norwegian Christmas main course dishes! (we're especially fond of the top 3)
December [MP3]
9. Lutefisk: Dried, salted white fish soaked in caustic soda, served with mustard and potatoes!
8. Julepoelse: Big white sausage stuffed with fleshy meat, pepper, malzbier and ginger.
7. Medisterkaker : Ground pork, salt, potato starch flour, nutmeg, ginger and milk mixed into meatballs.
6. Christmas Turkey : In Karmøy, the most America-friendly place on earth, american christmas turkey is the only thing that can be eaten in all of christmas.
5. Rice porridge: Not really a main course, but incredibly common as a lunch meal on the 24. Served with butter, sugar, raisins and cinnamon
4. Persetorsk: (Pers Cod): This was the christmas dish for poor people in Bergen in older days. The cod is pressed for two days, and served with butter, potatoes and carrots!
3. Juleribbe: A whole side of a pork, served with cowberry sauce, sauerkraut, potatoes and thick gravy.
2. Smalahove: A whole head of a sheep on a plate, including the eyes, ear and teeth! Great with pureed swede and potatoes!
1. Pinnekjoett: This is by far the most popular main course. ribs of lamb served with pureed swede, potatoes and loads of beer and akevitt.
Dave Merson Hess' Top 9 of 2009
Haunted Kid
Like Dominoes
1. Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus Three - Good Night Oslo.
"Hurry For The Sky" = the new "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town".
2. The launch of WFMU's freemusicarchive.org.
Loads of killer live sessions and CC-licensed netaudio releases, and curators include the mighty Dublab!
3. The launch of Ian Hawgood's Home Normal label.
I wanted to put a Home Normal release on this list, but it was impossible to pick just one. Jawdropping ambient music.
4. Makunouchi Bento - Return To Avebell
Just get it already. These guys are brilliant, and like everything they do, it's free to download.
5. Prosperity Dumpling in New York's Chinatown.
Good, fast, AND cheap!
6. Union Suit Characters - Streetcar Legs, and their Daytrotter session.
7. Danny Cohen - Fleas Of A Thousand Dannys.
After 3 records on Tzadik and 3 on Anti-, Cohen released his latest record himself, and it's fantastic. Surrealist folky weirdness!
8. Lasker Rink in Central Park.
And living just a few blocks away from it.
9. Crif Dog + Please Don't Tell.
Best cocktails ever.
South China's Top 9 of '09
Painting
Sun Sets on Washington Ave.
1. Bill Callahan's Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
2. Hogfarm Studios Annex in Biddeford, ME
3. Valentine's Day Lovefeast/Lovefest at Loving Anvil
4. Portland Picnic
5. Tomato Head in Knoxville, TN.
7. Mikael is kicking ass.
8. The Apohadion Theater in Portland, ME.
9. The Zebulon in Brooklyn, NY.
Pocket's Top 9 of '09:
Pocket feat. Shaun Robinson & Tracy Shedd - Sub-Culture
[MP3 from Ceremony: A New Order Tribute]
1) Where The Wild Things Are
I grew up on this book and was filled with much anticipation when they announced the film. I literally cried through this entire film—beautiful imagery, great story and a good soundtrack - by far, my favorite thing from 2009.
2) Elf Cafe
Ridiculously succulent food that is mostly vegan and entirely vegetarian served in a cozy atmosphere by a fantastic staff.
3) Florence + The Machine
A lot of other records that came out this year deserve mention (such as Mayer Hawthorne, Miike Snow, etc) but this was the one that took me the most by surprise and caused so many repeat listens I wore down the groove on my...mp3.
4) Buying Art
This year I started buying art by local L.A. artists from a few galleries (including the sadly defunct Bandit on Sunset)—it's fun and exciting to finally be an art collector (albeit one on a budget).
5) Los Angeles
Though we moved here in late 2008, this year L.A. actually felt like home—and what a great home it is: the beautiful weather, the cool East side folks, proximity to the desert and wine country, etc.
6) El Prado
Just a few blocks from our house rests this perfect wine bar—perfect for conversation, great vinyl spinning and a crowd that is both fashionable and down to earth.
7) The Muppet Movie at the Hollywood Cemetery
Nothing can possibly compare to having a wine and cheese picnic while watching The Muppet Movie (including a live Gonzo on stage!) in the middle of a cemetery.
8) GoodGuide iPhone app
A friend of mine just turned me on to this—aim the scanner at a product and it tells you how the product compares on social equality, environmental and other scales so you can know how "good" your products are.
9) Comedy
Live music is great for a night out but this year Comedy has taken the cake—from seeing Asiz Ansari at Largo (along with Nick Kroll doing his amazing Ed Hardy Boy character) to Natasha Legerro in Los Feliz to our friends in "Mortified" to a few nights spent at the Groundlings, comedy made me happy and kept me smiling!
Blockhead: top 9 random foods i got obsessed with this year:
Listen to tracks from The Music Scene Download available now, LP due 12/12/10.
1)dried mango
prior to this year i didn't even know i liked mango. apparently, i love it when it's dried and lightly sugared.
2)skor bars
toffee: great or the greatest under rated dessert treat of all time?
3)tune fish salad sushi:
i had it when i was in australia and i found a place that makes it near my house. it's great. mayo makes everything better.
4)honest tea: honey green tea flavor
sorry vitamin water, you're dead to me. i could drink this 3 times a day for a year and not think twice.
5)pretzels
for no reason, i got obsessed with pretzels this year. especially the gourmet kind that seem burnt, but are actually just delicious.
6)chicken wraps
i feel like an annoying health nut forgoing bread for a wrap but it's too late. i love that shit.
7)baby carrots
i have this thing where if i think i'm being healthy, the amount of something i eat gets cancelled out. in other words, a bag of baby carrots at 3 am is equal to a 5 mile sprint.
8)chowder of any type
weirdly enough, this craving picked up during the summer. chowder in the summer is a seemingly bad idea, but it works for me.
9)bacon on anything
i've realized that if you're dealing with salty things, bacon is applicable to any meal you can imagine. it is truly great.
Cougar's (Counter/Ninja Tune) top 9 of '09, in no particular order::
The Cougar - Thundersnow [MP3 Courtesy of Amazon.com]
More celebrity deaths than you can shake a stick at.
America's dismal swing-and-miss at Health Care Reform.
Califone.
Miniature pet pigs.
Grizzly Bear.
Nice gigs with Health, Atlas Sound, Maximo Park, Electric Electric, Gold Streets, et al.
The Large Hadron Collider being sabotaged by well-meaning time travelers from the future.
Dub Trio in concert.
A lovely couple days off with good people in Bern, Switzerland that made it all worthwhile.
THE JET AGE’s Top 9 Things About Being on the Road in ‘09:
The Jet Age - It Could Be Brand New [MP3]
In '09 we released a new record, which means we went on tour, which means we got another opportunity to see the rest of the country and discover cool shit. Thanks to 3Hive, we can share our discoveries with you, so, without further ado…
(##1-3) The Local Bands!
The economy sucked but the bands were awesome in '09. We could easily treble this list; we've never played with so many good bands on a tour. However, because we’re splitting this list up into three different categories, we can only namecheck three of the best:
1. Wolves in the Attic (Des Moines, IA): A brilliant shoegazing rock band that provided that most wonderful gift: surprising songs. Like the original Mercury Rev lineup if they'd actually had tunes (and didn't have a flautist).
2. Bookmobile (Columbus, OH): They committed the cardinal sin of not having a CD to give us (see also: Northampton, MA's Viva Viva) but they were so damn GOOD they are forgiven. Easily filling the gap left by Guided by Voices, their record, due out in '10, will surely be perfect. Fun fact: brilliant guitarist and tunesmith Dan also is brilliant drummer in exceptional Columbus rock act The Kyle Sowashes.
3. Tea Cozies (Seattle, WA). More rockin' than Tuscadero, sexier than Tiger Trap. Guitar pop goddesses (no slight intended to dude bass player) the Tea Cozies made an excellent record in '09 and delivered it live on stage; we demand more in the near future. They also brought the excellent Breaker Breaker to our show in Seattle (Breaker Breaker need a drummer and a record, but think the Raveonettes with Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes).
(##4-6) Road Tunes
The three of us in the band have pretty divergent tastes when it comes to music so, barring new records from Swervedriver or the Wedding Present (why isn't the new Dinosaur Jr. on here?), a consensus top three is unlikely. Here, instead, are three new CDs that, between the three of us, got some spins in the van.
4. Death, … For The Whole World To See. Admittedly not new, but newly issued. Seven tracks from the greatest Detroit punk band you never heard--the reason being they were so punk rock they refused to change their name to satisfy their label. The Jet Age appreciates rock history, and Death's place in said history is rightly assured, right alongside Detroit proto-punkers The MC5 and The Stooges (Ann Arbor, Shmann Shmarbor).
5. The Clean, Mr. Pop. Playing with David Kilgour was a huge thrill for us, so it wasn't surprising that the new Clean album was in the Vehicle (that's a Clean reference, tee hee). What WAS surprising was that, on first spin, all we heard was half-baked pap. A disappointing pall settled over the van and eventually someone put on something palliative (probably some Bob Mould product). Later, a half-hearted attempt at finding some return on the investment found the CD getting a second airing, and suddenly Mr. Pop's charms were abundantly clear: What had seemed simplistic was charmingly clear-eyed and direct; what had seemed half-baked was revealed as being effortless. David, Bob, Hamish: You should not have been doubted.
6. Times New Viking, Born Again Revisited. Eric and Greg's old band, the Hurricane Lamps, were lo-fi back when lo-fi was ... passe. Having cut our teeth on the Grifters' Corrola Hoist, we fogeys of the Jet Age had little interest in the poorly recorded efforts of the tyros in Wavves, No Age, etc., and no lo-fi band's press sounded less appealing than Times New Viking's. Shame on us, because, after hearing a spin of their new platter at a house party in Lawrence, Born Again Revisited was purchased in time for the trip back east. Word on the street is that the first record sounds worse and has even better tunes: Both claims seem unbelievable, but will be evaluated firsthand when budgets permit.
(##7-9) Food
We eat well on the road, but we don't always agree on which places served the best meals. There was no controversy attached to these three:
7. Karma Asian (Denver, CO). Excellent fare that gives "pan Asian" a good name.
8. Vietnamese Pho House (Tyler, TX). Rock solid Vietnamese fare that made even our bassist Greg, a notorious spice glutton, sweat.
9. Monterey Cookhouse (Monterey). So good that our singer/guitarist Eric ordered two creme brulees in a row.
Honorable mention: Waffle House because, state after state, it ALWAYS delivers
Cassettes Won't Listen's Top 9 'Lists' of 09 List:
Perfect Day Remix [MP3]
9. Huffington Post's Best Pranks of 2009 List
8. Times Online: 100 Best Films of the Decade List
7. Paste's 50 best Albums of the Decade List:
6. Cassettes Won't Listen's Top 9 'Lists' of 09 List
5. Amazon.com's 'Best of the Decade....So Far' List
4. Jonathan Turley's Top Thanksgiving Crimes of 09 List:
3. Toy Industry Awards: 11 Best Toys of 2009 List
2. Fortune Magazines 100 Best Companies To Work For List
1. NPR All Songs Considered Listeners Pick The Best Music of 2009 List
Avi Zahner-Isenberg's Favorite Tracks of 2009 + Mayla Ray Longtime Sun
Embry
1. 42012 - "Hamhouse"
2. Jim O'Rourke "The Visitor"
3. Farmer Dave Scher - "Flash Forward to The Good Times"
4. Luis Gutee and His Friends - "Livin' in a Haunted House"
5. Dam Funk - "The Sky is Ours"
6. Mayla Ray Longtime Sun Embry
7. Beach House - "Walk in The Park"
8. Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics- "Phantom of The Panter"
9. Ariel Pink - "Evolutions a Lie"
Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears
1. Thomas Pynchon's INHERENT VICE
2. Nicholas Cage in BAD LIEUTENANT
3. Mélanie Laurent
4. Lars Von Trier
5. Bob Dylan's CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART
6. Bruno Coulais' score for CORALINE
7. Ben & Jerry's MISSION TO MARZIPAN ice cream
8. Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm
9. "The Studio Commissary" by SPARKS
Posted by sean on 01.07.10
