Will make it nice and easy and break it down into the standard 5 categories everyone uses to present their best-of-year of list.
- San Francisco Continues to Over-Perform
- As Good Now as Then (Live and on Wax)
- Local (Tokyo) Greatness
- The Indie Kids (Now and Then) are All Right
- The New/Old School
Will share Bandcamp links for all, as that’s the only feasible way to do this. Hit me up if you wanna help me build a new platform that gives artists absolute power over choices around how to stream (or not stream), how to sell (or not sell) digital and physical copies and gives users an option to pay a one-time fee, instead of a subscription fee, for streaming.
1. San Francisco Continues to Over-Perform
Barbara Manning – Charm of Yesterday…Convenience of Tomorrow
Wowzers this is good. The originals are are as good as covers and covers as good as the originals. That Galaxie 500 re-working made me cry.
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – These Things Remain Unassigned
I will continue to play in bands that strive to be this good. I will continue to play in bands that copy this band. Was fun meeting collaborator Gibbs Chapman this year.
2. As Good Now as Then (Live and on Wax)
Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World
Saw them play Tokyo in November and songs from this record sounded as good and perfectly in sync with songs from Painful and Electr-O-Pura. Of course they did. Gushing in Woolly Bugger since 1994.
Quasi – Breaking the Balls of History
Saw them play Matsumoto in December and songs from this record sounded as good and perfectly in sync with songs from Featuring “Birds” and R&B Transmogrification. Of course they did. Loving this band since forever.
3. Local (Tokyo) (Ayami) Greatness
Ayami Suzuki & Rob Noyes – Classic Fevers and Chills
Show in Yoyogi Uehara delivered, been listening ever since.
Ayami Suzuki & Takashi Masubuchi – Featherland
I released this on Union Pole, the show in Shimokitazawa was particularly special.
4. The Indie Kids (Now and Then) are All Right
Fenne Lilly – Big Picture
Now. And really great.
The Mountain Goats – Jenny from Thebes
Now and then. And really great.
5. The New/Old School
Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – The Flower School
Absolutely the kind of music I want to play, or aspire to play.
Hallelujahs – Eat Meat, Swear an Oath
Not from now, not from this year, should not be on this list.