The Days of Lore

Best of 2009: TDoL and the Furious 15

Sunday, December 20th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 12 Comments

Seems like it was only yesterday that I was cobbling together the TDoL best of 2008. Yes, time flies when you’re old and surly. And, yes, I know year-end lists are everywhere, cliché, overdone and a dime a dozen—but I do love them so.

These lists are difficult to make, too. I mean who has time to really absorb a full record when you’re being bombarded with hundreds of albums and mp3s? It was chore to make a list that exorcised both my discerning (wax-clogged) ear and my (beer-besotted) gut—the “I can see what this artist is trying to do here” versus the “this fucking rules and I’m going to sing it at the top of my lungs in my car/boxers” if you will. I prefer the latter—less thinking involved.

The following is a semi-in-depth look at what I liked about music in 2009 … in list form. It’s a magical place where good and evil coexist, where big, dumb rock mingles with smarty-pants indie, a place where it’s Christmas year-round. But before we get down to it, I’d like to present to you the following pre-list list.

Thing(s) to do after reading the TDoL Best of 2009:
1. Leave your own list in the comments.
2. Harshly ridicule and mock my list, also in the comments.
3. Praise my list for its fine taste and heterogeneousness.
4. Tweet/tell your friends to read it and do the same.
5. Explain to me what the hell heterogeneousness means.
6. Click on the album cover to purchase.
7. Note there is no Animal Collective on this list …
8. … or Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
9. But there is a KISS on my list.
10. Thank you for reading.

15. Pacific Dust - The Mother Hips (Camera Records)

After years of wrestling with major label politics and personal demons—all of which led to members taking a two-year hiatus—The Mother Hips came back to release one of their best albums in 2007’s Kiss the Crystal Flake. Pacific Dust feels like its sister record, the Hips again playing to their strengths—gorgeous Bee Gees-inspired harmonies, pop hooks, country licks and the occasional Sabbathian riff. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Mother Hips are criminally underrated.

“Young Charles Ives” - The Mother Hips

14. Crack the Skye - Mastodon (Reprise)

I’m still trying to figure out how Mastodon became so popular among non-metalheads … though they aren’t your typical metal band. With Crack the Skye Mastodon has created a sweeping monster of a record that piles riffs on top of mind-bending prog passages. It’s as beautiful as it is brutal, sort of like Tool. And I guess if hipsters are listening to Mastodon, it means less time spent doting on Merriweather Post Pavilion and It’s Blitz … which is never a bad thing.

“Divinations” - Mastodon

13. Amorum Tali - Purple Rhinestone Eagle (Eolian Records)

Led by lanky guitar-whiz Andrea Genevieve, Purple Rhinestone Eagle strings together mighty riffs that crackle over the rib-rattling rhythm section of Morgan Ray Denning and Ashley Spungin. Amorum Tali (Talons of Love) stands firmly at the intersection between San Francisco flower power and Birmingham doom, especially on “Walk With the Wizard.” Add the fact that the lyrics often touch on deeper social and political issues and you have an incredibly potent rock machine.

“Walk With the Wizard” - Purple Rhinestone Eagle

12. Now We Can See - The Thermals (Kill Rock Stars)

The Thermals’ Kill Rock Stars debut doesn’t quite match the barbed nastiness of 2006’s The Body, the Blood, the Machine—it’s still intense, however, as guitarist/vocalist Hutch Harris reflects on his time on Earth after offing himself in the very first song. Now We Can See is a polished piece of wicked pop punk—songs are more refined, hooks sharper. And it took only, what, three releases for bassist Kathy Foster to finally lay down some backing vocals? Now we can hear!

“I Let It Go” - The Thermals

11. Popular Mechanics - Surrogate (Tooth & Nail)

Surrogate hails from Chico, Calif., touring only occasionally and putting out some incredible pop records on a label that puts out some incredibly god-awful records. Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Chris Keene has come into his own after playing hired gun in his previous band Number One Gun, writing smart, earnest, well-produced indie rock that should make fans of Nada Surf take notice. Keene’s influences are all over the map, but it only takes one spin to make Popular Mechanics feel like home.

“Whiskey (Vomiting Words)” - Surrogate

10. Wilco (The Album) - Wilco (Nonesuch)

Well, hand it to Jeff Tweedy and Co. for coming up with their most experimental album title in 2009. So the music within doesn’t come anywhere near the eclecticism of masterstroke Yankee Hotel Foxtrot —it’s simply another tried-and-true batch of songs that further cements Tweedy as one of the great tunesmiths of his generation. And musical wunderkinds Glenn Kotche and Nels Cline again show magnificent restraint. I just like that Wilco continues to simply do what comes natural.

“Country Disappeared” - Wilco

9. Power Move - Screaming Females (Don Giovanni)

Screaming Females got a lot of play at TDoL this year, usually in my car as I was being transformed into a screaming male. The aptly-titled Power Move is a fuzzed-out, riff-laden rock ‘n’ roll that shrewdly pulls from each of the last four decades. The highlight, of course, is Marissa Paternoster, the band’s 5-foot-2 guitar goddess who cranks out noodly solos over an air-tight rhythm section. Album opener “Bell” shows that, as is the case with most shredders, it’s usually the riffs that really scream.

“Bell” - Screaming Females

8. Breaks In the Sun - WEINLAND (Badman Recording Co.)

What strikes me most about Portland’s WEINLAND, is the Jekyll and Hyde they pull with their recordings and live shows. Although Breaks In the Sun comes from less of a dark place than 2008’s La Lamentor, there’s still a calmness and beauty to it. Adam Shearer’s hushed vocals are the centerpiece, floating through emotionally-charged country folk songs brimming with pop hooks. Live WEINLAND transforms into a gritty bar band that would probably buy you a beer. It’s rather impressive.

“Autumn Blood” - WEINLAND

7. Love and Curses - Reigning Sound (In The Red)

It’s unfortunate that Greg Cartwright is known only by weirdos who still like to spend hours scouring dusty bins for records by dead people. Love and Curses is the North Carolina quartet’s first record of new material since 2004, and big guitars and swirly organ still rule here. Cartwright’s voice is a little more ragged this time around, but he sure knows how to convey tenderness and despair whether he’s representing the everyman or a jilted lover. Yes, everyone should listen to more dead people.

“The Bells” - Reigning Sound

6. Sonic Boom - KISS (KISS Records)

Chaim Witz and Stanley Eisen made good on their promise to deliver a klassik KISS album, and the former’s songs are the best of the bunch … don’t tell him I said that. Sonic Boom is one kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll party loaded with sexual innuendo, cheesy lyrics (I’m talking Easy Cheese between two slices of Velveeta sprinkled with Cheetos), riffs, cowbells, ripping guitar solos, walking basslines and anthemic choruses. Attn. hipsters: Wouldn’t it be totally ironic if you played this at your next party?

“Yes I Know (Nobody’s Perfect)” - KISS

5. S/T - The Yule Logs (self-released)

A holiday album on a year-end list? Take away the snow, Santa and menorahs and you’re left with some damn catchy songs with Brit pop jangle and Beach Boys harmonies. The hardest working band in snow business plows through classics as well as a few equal-opportunity originals like “Hanukkah Mambo!” and “Christmastime Is Here (Again!).” And I’ve been listening to it non-stop since August … which means either I’m weird, or it’s just that good. Probably a little of both.

“Christmastime Is Here (Again!)” - The Yule Logs

4. Seconhand Runner - Bodhi (self-released)

Bodhi’s influences are as clear as day—Bowie, The Stooges, Gary Numan—yet they manage to end up sounding like nobody but Bodhi. “Kids Are So Nice” is a fine slice from MTV’s early days when new wave, Nina Blackwood (and videos) ruled. Brian Carr’s voice is the glue that holds the myriad influences in place, even when the band decides to throw a new wave country song into the mix (”Bystander”). Went from 0 to No. 4 on my year-end in less than three weeks.

“Kids Are So Nice” - Bodhi

3. S/T - Harper Simon (Tulsi/Vagrant)

“Shooting Star” grabbed me before I even knew who Harper Simon’s pops was. Simon’s debut is a love letter to Nashville. He recorded there, recruited producer Bob Johnston (Nashville Skyline) as well as noteworthy Nashville musicians including pedal steel player Lloyd Green (Sweetheart of the Rodeo). Not surprisingly, he ended up with a beautiful, warm country record. Simon can’t help but sometimes sound like his father Paul—not a bad thing unless, of course, we’re talking about Graceland.

“Shooting Star” - Harper Simon

2. S/T - The Pains of Being Bure at Heart (Slumberland)

Boy-girl harmonies, jangly guitars and hooks up the wazoo (which is less painful than it sounds) reign throughout the New York quartet’s debut. As guitarist/vocalist Kip Berman explained to TDoL earlier this year: “I feel that pop is so wonderfully broad a style of music that you could never ever get bored or fully exhaust it—it’s infinite.” With all the press that TPoBPaH received in 2009, it’s nice to know that they aren’t interested in resting on their laurels. Hell, they might actually be in this for the long haul.

“Young Adult Friction” - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

1. And Girls Club - The Strange Boys (In The Red)

In The Red put out some incredible records this year from King Khan and BBQ Show, Reigning Sound and Thee Oh Sees, but nothing grabbed me as immediately as the debut from Austin, Texas’ The Strange Boys. The combination of chops, songs and enigmatic confidence made these young(ish) boys sound well beyond their years. The band doesn’t go for lo-fi or silly garage-rock aesthetics, instead churning out no-nonsense, R&B-fueled rock ‘n’ roll that falls somewhere between Meet the Beatles! and Bob Dylan’s Newport Folk Festival performance. Guitarist/vocalist Ryan Sambol coyly unleashes his general disaffection through nasally vocals, while jangly guitars and a booming rhythm section crank out the soundtrack for a misfits sock hop. Effortless and fun. Come to think of it, the only thing lo-fi about The Strange Boys might be the album’s cover. But who really looks at those anymore?

“This Girl Taught Me a Dance” - The Strange Boys

The Best of the Rest of the Best …

Bitte Orca - Dirty Projectors

Paint the Fence Invisible - Drug Rug

To Be Still - Alela Diane

Rose City - Viva Voce

Survival Strategies in a Modern World - Liechtenstein

Tags: Alela Diane, Amorum Tali, And Girls Club, Best of 2009, Bitte Orca, Bodhi, Breaks In the Sun, Crack the Skye, Dirty Projectors, Drug Rug, Harper Simon, KISS, Liechtenstein, Love and Curses, Mastodon, Now We Can See, Pacific Dust, Paint the Fence Invisible, Popular Mechanics, Power Move, Purple Rhinestone Eagle, Reigning Sound, Rose City, Screaming Females, Secondhand Runner, Sonic Boom, Surrogate, Survival Strategies In a Modern World, The Mother Hips, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Strange Boys, The Thermals, The Yule Logs, To Be Still, Viva Voce, WEINLAND, Wilco, Wilco (The Album), year-end list

KISS WEEK! Alive MCMXCIX

Friday, November 20th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Live: KISS and Buckcherry at the Rose Garden, 11.17.09

It’s interesting to think about the pre-show rituals for a KISS concert in 2009. There’s less beer swilling and doobie smoking in the parking lot, and a lot more face-painting with the fam before packing into the mini-van to head down to the arena.

I was standing in front of the stage with four other (real) photographers right before the show. I stared out into the large crowd … well, not just any crowd—the KISS Army! KISS Nation! Which is sort of the equivalent of Fast Food Nation (OK, maybe Applebee’s Nation). Lots of makeup. Lots of KISS shirts covering portly bellies. Lots of middle-agers and their kids. They forked out their dough (tickets are anywhere from $20-$126) and were ready for that 60-foot curtain in front of the stage to drop. As the final chords of Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” rang through the house speakers, those famous words cut through the darkness and the curtain fell. I immediately turned into a teenager.

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are large men—even without the heels. And 35 years in, they play their parts like seasoned actors in a Broadway production, rarely deviating from the script. If you’ve been to a KISS show before you know you’re going to get the classics: “Strutter,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “Cold Gin” (which these days is preceded by a PSA from Stanley telling audience members not to drink and drive) and “Detroit Rock City” (a song whose narrator meets his end after drinking and driving). All great songs. But how about “Love Theme From Kiss”? Or “Plaster Caster”? “The Oath”?

I’ve seen hundreds of KISS performances—four in person, many more on VHS and DVD—and I’ve heard the same between-song banter over and over and over. So I’m always looking for that rare break in the script. I finally got it about two-thirds into the show at the expense of a hooligan in the upper deck. Paul was about to go into his spiel about extended encores, when out of nowhere … “Y’all are gonna get to see me shove a light pen up a muthafucka’s ass.” Whoa. Paul, don’t forget there are children in the audience. Anyway, doesn’t this guy know that Stanley Eisen doesn’t tolerate lasers in his eye? After a short, one-sided exchange, the Starchild snapped back into character as if nothing happened.

KISS is a tighter band today than perhaps it’s ever been. Yes, it’s incredibly lame that drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer are wearing Peter Criss and Ace Frehley’s makeup (couldn’t they have come up with new characters? Perhaps some sort of exotic bird? Maybe a panda?), but KISS’ new lease on life wouldn’t be possible without them. Especially Singer, who drums circles around Criss. Thayer’s a fine musician, too, though everything that came from his fretboard was lifted from the Space Ace.

Not to mention letting Thayer sing “Shock Me” is fucking sacrilege.

But it’s about recreating that classic show, which is still big and loud and fun. KISS has retained the best and most campy elements from the ’70s—fog, fireworks, ticker tape parades, blood spitting—brought into the aughts with banks of video monitors that flashed images of old album covers and graphics that followed along with the songs. At one point, the cover of Sonic Boom appeared overhead as Stanley directed those in attendance to head down to Wal-Mart and pick up a copy. A commercial? I guess it’s the KISS version of an indie band telling a crowd they have a merch table with shirts and 7-inches? Can we go with that?

But hand it to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley for still knowing how to rock ‘n’ roll all night—performing hundreds of shows a year, for more than two hours a night. And for a couple of guys approaching senior citizenship, they still get around pretty well in those 7-inch heels. These guys are the Kings of the Nighttime World. The Knights in Satan’s Service. And though I found myself cringing a few times, a KISS concert is still the greatest show on earth.

Photos by Mark Lore

In memory of Mark Louis Arnone, Feb. 24, 1973 - Oct. 21, 2009

Tags: Ace Frehley, Eric Singer, Gene Simmons, KISS, KISS WEEK, live review, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Portland, Sonic Boom, Tommy Thayer

KISS WEEK KICKS OFF!

Monday, November 16th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve pretty much lived, breathed and slept KISS since I was about 5 … which is, no doubt, both impressive and extremely sad. While my devotion to the band has waned over the past decade, I think it’s safe to say that once you join the KISS Army, there’s really no getting out. I love ‘em … err … I leave ‘em … I mean …

Today TDoL kicks off KISS WEEK … because, well, why not? The band is riding a wave of critical acclaim (?!) with its new record, Sonic Boom. Still selling out shows. Finally nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their 10th year of eligibility. Besides, like it or not, the b(r)and has influenced three generations of music—some of it good, some not so good—while becoming the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of Ringling Bros. meets Disneyland. Fun … and sometimes nauseating.

But if you can get past the KISS tampons and the KISS Kaskets and KISS M&Ms and KISS wine, KISS lunchboxes, KISS belt buckles, KISS Kondoms, pinball machines, KISS this and KISS that, you’ll find the music—loud, dumb, primal rock ‘n’ roll music. And when Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley aren’t spewing their agendized drivel (which isn’t often) you can sometimes catch them talking about the great bands they grew up listening to—The Seeds, The Pretty Things, The Beatles, The Move, Stax/Volt records. That’s what appeals to me anyway.

So, let’s go back to the beginning, shall we? Before the merchandising empire. Before the prepubescent fans. Before the pyro. Before Gene started taking up photography. Beginning on Jan. 30, 1973 KISS performed a series of shows at New York’s Popcorn Club, located on Queens Boulevard, which would soon be renamed Coventry. Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had just joined. And they had changed their name from Wicked Lester to KISS, which Paul Stanley took from the New York Dolls song “Looking For a Kiss.”

The first shows were sparsely attended, the makeup and costumes crude (Paul was still donning the short-lived “bandit” makeup), and the band was still unsigned. But KISS’ performances at those sleazy, roach-infested clubs were ferocious and brazen—not much different from the ones they’d give only two years later for sold-out crowds at majestic rock ‘n’ roll shrines like Cobo Hall and Madison Square Garden.

These old performances make me wish time travel was possible. I can’t imagine what this must have looked like to people in 1973. This performance from the Popcorn Club on Dec. 22 of that year was the band’s very first caught on film—a single-angle shot from behind a modest crowd. Paul and Ace look like they’re wearing jeans under them thar boots, Peter Criss is spry behind the drum kit, there’s no giant KISS logo … hell, there’s not even a stage—only four hungry young kids from New York and a couple of dancing queens up in front (one of whom is Criss’ then-wife Lydia). What a difference a few years would make.

In memory of Mark Louis Arnone, Feb. 24, 1973 - Oct. 21, 2009

Tags: Ace Frehley, Coventry, Gene Simmons, KISS, KISS WEEK, New York Dolls, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Popcorn Club, Sonic Boom