2009 Already Better Than 2008

by Robin Hilton

For me, the first two months of 2009 have already produced more memorable albums than all of 2008. With a few notable exceptions -- like Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, Son Lux's At War with Walls and Mazes, Deerhunter's Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. -- 2008 felt like a largely forgettable year. I couldn't even put together a Top 10 list for the year's best. But, from what I can tell, it looks as if 2009 will easily lap 2008.

If 2009 ended right now (okay, some of these don't come out for another month or so), I'd feel very good about putting these albums on a Top 10 list:

1. The Antlers: Hospice -- Frontman Peter Silberman is only 23, but has produced one of the most beautiful and moving works I've heard in a long, long time. Just astonishing.

2. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love -- At the rate it's going, we won't recognize this band in another five years. With the 2007 album The Crane Wife, The Decemberists began to drift into more progressive and experimental rock, and away from the quirky sea shanties of earlier work. On The Hazards of Love, the band moves even further into stranger and darker territory, and it's all the better for it.

3. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion -- It's just a bunch of senseless noise to some people. But I really believe that this group is inventing an all-new kind of music, and it's simply brilliant. It's a sound that asks us to reconsider how we define everything that music is, from chord structure and patterns to rhythms, lyrics and the way it makes us feel.

4. Laura Gibson: Beasts of Seasons -- I thought her 2006 album, If You Come to Greet Me, was lovely, but I never would have guessed she'd follow it with something as inspired and affecting as Beasts of Seasons. It's a quiet masterpiece.

5. M. Ward: Hold Time Call it new folk or neo-folk or art-folk, nobody does it better than Matt Ward. Hold Time is a gorgeously produced mix of finger-picked guitars, upright bass and shuffling rhythms, all tied together by his achy voice.

6. Jason Lytle: Yours Truly, The Commuter -- Unfortunately, this won't be out until May, and I can't wait to share it with everyone. Hopefully, we'll be able to get it to you early as part of our Exclusive First Listen series. Lytle was the frontman for one of my all-time favorite bands, Grandaddy. I was so bummed when they split up. But he's back with his first solo album, and it feels like nothing's been lost.

7. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast -- His music is an elegant mix of jazz, folk and quirky art-pop, with whistled melodies and lots of wordplay. After seeing him live and reading his blog on the art of songwriting and the creative process, I think he may be a genius.

8. Dan Deacon: Bromst -- I'll be honest: When I first saw Dan Deacon a few years back, I thought he was a joke. He seemed spectacularly disorganized, with a jumble of wires and junky old drum machines and electronics, and his goofy interaction with the audience left me laughing more than anything. I was impressed with the cohesion of his official label debut, Spiderman of the Rings, in 2007. But now, he's putting out an incredibly tight and beautifully realized follow-up, called Bromst. This guy is for real.

9. U2: No Line on the Horizon -- I haven't really cared much for anything U2 has done in the last 10 years or so. It was starting to feel like the band was lurching into that dead zone where so many older groups go, where they just phone it in. But No Line on the Horizon stopped me dead in my tracks. The band sounds inspired again. We hope to have a cut for you soon on All Songs Considered.

10. Mirah: Aspera -- After getting her hooks in me with her artfully crafted folk-pop on You Think It's Like This, But It's Really Like This, Advisory Committee and C'mon Miracle, Mirah disappeared to work on remixes and other projects. I've missed her. Mirah's new studio album, her first in five years, is transporting. Few artists can balance experimental ambition with quiet intimacy as well as she does.

What do you think? How does this year compare to last year? What are the standouts so far this year for you?

1:35 PM ET | 02-26-2009 | permalink

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Hey, Josh Freese Has To Eat, Too

by Robin Hilton

Who? Josh Freese, dude! He's a session drummer who's appeared on nearly 300 albums. He's worked with Devo, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Guns N' Roses and others. More importantly, Josh Freese has a new solo album coming out toward the end of March, and has a few special offers for you.

According to his Web site, Freese has devised a multi-tiered pricing system for his album (Since 1972) and the tour to support it:

$7
Download the album, including three videos.

$15
Download the double-disc CD/DVD set.

$50
The CD/DVD set, a T-shirt and a personal phone call from Josh thanking you for buying the album.

$250
A signed CD/DVD set and digital download, a signed drum head and drumsticks, AND... you can go on a lunch date with Josh. (He recommends the Cheesecake Factory.)

$500
Signed CD/DVD, digital download, T-shirt, signed cymbal and drumsticks, and you can meet Josh for dinner. He also suggests you float with him in a sensory-deprivation tank.

$1,000
Signed CD/DVD, digital download, T-shirt, signed cymbal and drum head and drum sticks, and Josh will wash your car for you... or do your laundry. Your choice. You can also have dinner with Josh, get drunk and cut each other's hair (all of which can be filmed and posted on YouTube).

$2,500
Signed CD/DVD, digital download, a private drum lesson with Josh, a foot or back massage (couples welcome), lunch, signed snare drum, and pick any three items from his closet.

$5,000
Signed CD/DVD and digital download, T-shirt, Josh will write a song about you and put it on iTunes, you can co-direct a video with him for the song and post it on YouTube, and Josh will give you a private tour of Disneyland. He also says you can get drunk with him at his dad's place.

$10,000
Signed CD/DVD and digital download, T-shirt, signed snare drum, foot or back massage, he'll take you to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle in Long Beach for dinner and Club 33 after, plus a trip to Disneyland. He'll also give you the keys to his Volvo stationwagon.

$20,000
Signed CD/DVD, digital download, T-shirt, signed drum from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails tour; he'll take you miniature golfing and give you a tour of his favorite haunts in Long Beach. You'll get the foot or back massage, a private drum lesson and any three items from Josh's closet.

$75,000
Most of the above, plus you can go on tour with Josh for a few days. He'll also write, record and release a five-song EP about you and your life story. You can take home any of his drum sets, go drinking and play with him on his Ouija board. Also enjoy a trip with Josh to Tijuana, take a flying-trapeze lesson and then join him for lasagna.

On his Web site, Josh assures everyone he's completely serious: "I had a press release go out the other day, and there's been a lot of talk on the ol' Internet about what I'm doing and 'if it's real' or if I'm 'joking.' It is very much real, and I am surely not joking."

5:48 PM ET | 02-25-2009 | permalink

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Leonard Cohen Live In NYC

by Bob Boilen

Let me cut right to the chase: Leonard Cohen's performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York City Thursday night was remarkable. His performance was gracious, his voice deep and direct, his body of work extraordinary. We'll have a dozen songs from this concert online for you to hear, beginning Thursday, Feb. 26.

Cohen is 74, and cuts a striking figure. He looked as if he fell off a 1940s film noir set with his dark tailored suit and his one and only prop, his Frank Sinatra hat. That hat served him well as he bowed to his talented band of musicians and offered bows of appreciation to his fans.

His show was a greatest-hits set of sorts, with nothing new. That's usually a disappointment for me, but not on this night: All the old songs sounded fresh and new.

Continue reading "Leonard Cohen Live In NYC" »

4:18 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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Leonard Cohen Webcast

by Bob Boilen

Tonight, Leonard Cohen is going to give his first U.S. performance since 1993, at the Beacon Theater in New York. I'm on a train there now, and I'm thrilled. I've never seen him on stage. A concert by this 74-year-old poet, musician, singer and novelist is an event.

We recently wrote a blog post about the incredible prices that ticket brokers were asking for the Leonard Cohen show. Prices for some seats were being "brokered" for more than $3,000 -- money that doesn't go to the artist. The initial ticket prices were $65 and topped out at $250. Those sold out quickly.

In an effort to fight the ticket brokers, Cohen's management is allowing us to stream a recording of this entire Beacon Theater performance. We'll post it online on Feb. 26. Details will appear in our show on Monday, and on our Twitter feed @allsongs.

We're thrilled that Leonard Cohen and Columbia Records are giving us permission to webcast this entire concert. Far too many people have missed his songwriting, or perhaps only know "Hallelujah" or "Suzanne." "Dance Me to the End of Love," "Everybody Knows," "Who by Fire" and, of course, "Bird on a Wire" are just a few songs you must hear before you die.

Tell us your favorite Leonard Cohen song here -- or maybe your favorite interpreter of that song, if it isn't him. And please feel free to share any Cohen story you may have.

Continue reading "Leonard Cohen Webcast" »

6:21 PM ET | 02-18-2009 | permalink

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NPR Music Presents at SXSW 2009

by Bob Boilen

Here's the news: We will be webcasting, recording, photographing, videotaping and blogging from the South by Southwest Music Festival again this year. We'll also present a lineup of hand-selected bands, which you'll be able to hear live from the comfort of your home.

Headlining our coverage at SXSW on March 18 at Stubbs Bar-B-Q:

The Decemberists, premiering The Hazards of Love in its entirety
The Avett Brothers, premiering music from a new, Rick Rubin-produced CD
The Heartless Bastards, playing songs from The Mountain

Then, on March 19 at the Parish, starting at around 12:30 p.m. ET, we'll have:

Blitzen Trapper
Dirty Projectors
K'NAAN
BLK JKS
Blind Pilot
Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down

This should be a thrill ride. I'll be there with NPR's Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, NPR's Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson and All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton. We'll be ready with recording devices, cameras and blunt blogging instruments, finding the best new music, interviews and videos to send along.

This blog is how we'll keep you most informed. There will also be Twitter, on which you can follow me @allsongs. Also on Facebook under Bob Boilen or the All Songs Considered fan page.

And so the process begins. We've started listening to 900-plus MP3s from the bands in attendance to figure out what we want to hear from the 18th of March until the last band plays in the wee hours of the 21st. You can do the same by going here.

Let us know which bands most excite you: Tell us what you want from our coverage, and we'll do our best to deliver. Please don't pitch your own band here -- we get plenty of that already. We want to know your passions and current obsessions.

Let the SXSW Madness begin.

4:08 PM ET | 02-18-2009 | permalink

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Lily Allen, Me, Myself And I

by Bob Boilen

Okay, so I got a little obsessed, but I swear it could have happened to anyone. I was listening to the new Lily Allen CD, which I like -- at moments, it gave me a few good belly laughs, along with some insightful lyrics.

But I was completely struck with the number of times she says the word "I." It got to the point where I tried counting, got to over 60 and stopped. There's also a boatload of her singing about "you" on the record, too.

Allen certainly isn't the only self-absorbed artist in rock -- heaven knows the Morrissey record on the current All Songs Considered mines a lot of personal ground. But in terms of sheer numbers, Lily Allen hands-down sings and writes about herself more than anyone I know. (Unless you can think of someone else.)

Anyway, I went to Wordle and pasted in the lyrics to the entire Lily Allen CD, It's Not Me, It's You. (It's even in the title!) Wordle then constructed a word cloud with the most-often-said words big and bold. It's a funny way to look at a record. I'll try this with others in my free time, or you can try it and put a link in your blog post.

7:45 PM ET | 02-12-2009 | permalink

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How Much Is Too Much?

by Robin Hilton

On Feb. 19, Leonard Cohen will give a rare live performance at the Beacon Theater in New York. It's only one night, and there are way more fans than seats, so it's no surprise that the tickets run a little high. But when Bob and I saw the ticket broker price range online, our eyes bugged out: Upper balcony seats start at $289, lower balcony seats are $495, and the best orchestra seats are -- wait for it -- $3,450. Seriously. More than three grand.

I remember seeing some of my all-time favorite bands at various clubs in Athens, Ga., for five bucks. But that's outrageously high compared to some of the shows Bob's seen: The old 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., used to showcase three bands for $3.

Some of us at NPR Music were incredulous recently when we saw that tickets for a Flight of The Conchords show were running around $40, but Bob thought that was completely reasonable.

What do you think? How much would you pay to see your favorite band(s) live?

10:24 AM ET | 02-12-2009 | permalink

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This Just In: M. Ward Live, Solo Performance

by Robin Hilton

M. Ward: Live Online, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. ET

M. Ward; Photo Courtesy Merge Records

Next week, one of our favorite artists, M. Ward, will release what we're certain will be one of the year's best albums. (If you haven't heard Hold Time yet, you can still hear a preview of the entire record as part of our First Listen series). To mark the release, Ward will perform a handful of selections from the new record live, at the studios of WNYC in New York. It'll be a short solo acoustic set, and we'll webcast the entire show here on NPR Music.

Following the performance, Ward will take questions from listeners in a live chat with WNYC's Alana Harper and All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. It'll all start at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 17.

4:22 PM ET | 02-11-2009 | permalink

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Lesser-Known Love Songs: Listener's Choice

by Bob Boilen

On this week's episode of All Songs Considered, we're looking for love in the form of a song. There are 7,458,934,123 love songs in the world, and that grows by 780 every hour. And, though I made all that up, it probably isn't far from the truth.

The simple fact about love songs is that we often hear the same ones. So on this week's show and on this blog, we're asking you to tell us your favorite lesser-known love song. If you have a link for the song, please put it in your post.

Here's one of mine that didn't make it into the show; it's by a band called The Flame from an album of the same title. This South African band was "discovered" by The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson. A few members of The Flame would wind up playing with The Beach Boys on the albums Carl and the Passions, and what I consider the last great Beach Boys record, Holland.

The song, which I dubbed from a vinyl LP, is called "Another Day Like Heaven."

So what are your little-known favorites?

1:57 PM ET | 02- 9-2009 | permalink

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the ...ro'Ck Stärz: Why Do You Vex Us?

by Robin Hilton

Give it up for the Swedish twinkle-pop band Loney Dear. After years of torturing copy editors everywhere, the group has officially dropped the inexplicable comma in its name. So, "Loney, Dear" is now just "Loney Dear." Now, if we can just get them to do something with "Loney."

We've lost a lot of time at NPR Music over the years debating how to spell or pronounce a host of baffling band names. Once, Bob pronounced Ani DiFranco's first name with a short vowel (like "bat"), and our intern at the time, a huge DiFranco fan, screamed "It's Ani!" with a long vowel (like "awning"). True story.

News of the dropped comma from the Loney Dear camp got us thinking about all the other band names in need of an upgrade:

MGMT (It's spelled out -- M-G-M-T -- not pronounced "management")

The Go! Team

Psaap (It's just "sap")

Panic! At the Disco

moe. (Seriously? Moe? All lower case with a period?)

The The (Least searchable band name of all time)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Formerly Godspeed You Black Emperor!)

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Our Dead (Don't forget the ellipses)

!!! (They say it's pronounced "chk chk chk" ...but how is "chk chk chk" pronounced?)

ttttttttttttttttttttt (This is some Canadian band. I have no idea how to pronounce it)

PARACOCCIDIOIDOMICOSISPROCTITISSARCOMUCOSIS (I copied and pasted that from the band's myspace page)

What are some others?

11:11 AM ET | 02- 4-2009 | permalink

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