The First Six Classics of 2013

I consume new music in rotations of 12 to 20 tracks—enough to fill a short playlist or occupy a drive. I'll research, read, and download for a few bleary-eyed late nights, and then spend the next week binging on the best tracks. It's a deeply sick habit. I'm a junky always in search of my next musical fix. New songs are always great in the beginning, but after a week when I've leeched all the excitement and freshness out of each song and more or less spoiled the contents with aggressive and repetitive listening, I'm back searching for my next feeding. There are exceptions to this rule however: the timeless and the classic. Songs that no matter how many times you press play or drop the needle down onto the turntable, appear as unrelentingly fresh and undiminished as that morning sunrise and reliable cup of hot home-brewed coffee.

A fellow fan of Oakland's Warm Soda recently wrote: "They sound like a band that doesn't use the internet." And there's really no higher compliment, as Warm Soda's songs are free of that digital abyss's endless fads, memes, hyperbole, and the absurdly quick turnover rate that we as music fans dictate in our actions as consumers. These six songs all sound remarkably free of that world's constraints: whether it's Adam Green and Binki Shapiro's "Casanova," a beautifully languid harpsichord-decorated throwback to the collaborations between Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood; the unbelievably dynamic dance-pop R&B single "Falling" by sister trio Haim, who retain Kate Bush-like eccentricities while seeming driven to become the Prince equivalent of the 2010s; Kurt Vile's hazy, unhurried, and lushly meditative nine-minute plus I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-radio-play single "Wakin On A Pretty Day"; the three-minutes of power-pop, Dead Milkmen-inspired, sing-along perfection that is Cocktails' "No Blondes (In California)"; rock classicists Dawes, who are invested in the tradition and art of songwriting and storytelling more than any other contemporary band, and the playfully reflective narration of their new single "From A Window Seat"; and of course, Warm Soda's "Jeanie Loves Pop," a track that crushes with roaring guitars and the endearing joyous simplicity of its title and chorus. Only time can truly paint these tracks as classics, but for this music addict, there's no amount of overplay that can blemish songs these spectacular.

Kurt Vile - "Wakin On A Pretty Day"

Adam Green and Binki Shapiro - "Casanova"

Warm Soda - "Jeanie Loves Pop"

The Best of 2011: The Albums :: 40-1

Let me start by saying nothing in 2011 has come close to the affection I still have for my two favorite records of 2010: The Walkmen's masterful Lisbon and Blake Mills' so-good-why-the-fuck-haven't-you-listened-to-it-yet Break Mirrors. But that's not to say 2011 hasn't been a great year in music. In fact, I don't think I've ever discovered so many favorite new bands (Natural Child, Stone Darling, Breakfast In Fur, Marisa Anderson, Mikal Cronin, Bare Wires, Future Islands, Braids, etc.) in a single year. The internet has created so many minute niches catered by small communities, micro DIY labels, and blogs, that it's nearly impossible to keep track of every interesting new release. So while ranking and listmaking are inherently subjective and silly, it's the easiest way to filter through the overhwelming amount of great music that came out in 2011. The following 40 albums are the ones I don't want to forget anytime soon.

Best of 2011: The First Half

THE BEST ALBUMS

1) The Sandwitches :: Mrs. Jones' Cookies
"In 2011, there is perhaps no band more aggressively honest and loyal to their distinctive sound than the Sandwitches." Review
The Sandwitches - "Lightfoot"

Review: Dawes :: Nothing Is Wrong

Dawes are rock classicists. They're not interested in reinventing the wheel or breaking new rock & roll boundaries—at least not yet. Right now, this Los Angeles quartet is simply grinding away and honing its chops. And on their sophomore album Nothing Is Wrong, those chops are mighty sharp. The four members of Dawes clearly grew up listening to the likes of Neil Young, the Band, and the Laurel Canyon crowd, as brothers Goldsmith and company play in a bubble of 1970s rock aesthetics with purring organs, room-filling guitar solos, and grand, sweeping, everyman choruses. But this is no nostalgia act nor rock revival. Dawes are very much a contemporary band with their own distinctive sound—they're just one that happens to appreciate the subtleties of recording live to 2" analog tape.

Middle Brother records Daytrotter sessions

Middle Brother has a handful of cuts off their stellar self-titled LP up on Daytrotter today. The band recorded two 4-song sets with Sean Moeller. The first in January of 2010 at John Prince's Nashville Butcher Shoppe Studio with John McCauley and Taylor Goldsmith playing their freshly written material. The second session was recorded in Austin at this year's SXSW, the morning after McCauley's Deervana show. I'm sure he wasn't hungover at all.

Middle Brother - "Daydreaming"
Middle Brother - "Thanks For Nothing"

Dawes - "If I Wanted Someone"

It seems that inbetween recording an album and touring the country with Middle Brother and playing backup for the legendary Robbie Robertson, Taylor Goldsmith and the rest of Dawes had time to work on their own record—Nothing Is Wrong, due out on June 7th. This morning we get our first taste of the album with "If I Wanted Someone," which adds a bit more rock & roll edge to the band's already potent Laurel Canyon sound. "If I wanted someone to clean me up, I'd find myself a maid / If I wanted someone to spend my money, I wouldn't even get paid," sings Goldsmith with a bit of fire on his breath. Hearing the "maid" lyric and gritty gain-filled guitar soloing, Neil Young and Crazy Horse inevitably come to mind. But what's really happening here is a band finding fresh legs and fleshing out their sound with newly added weight. Like a boxer heading to the ring, Dawes sound like they're flexing their muscles readying for a fight.

Dawes - "If I Wanted Someone" (from Nothing Is Wrong)

Pitchfork's Anti-Folk Outlook: What's New vs What's Derivative

It's a sham that the evaluation of music is so closely associated with the taste and king making of “cool.” That certain aesthetics and cultural identities are so closely associated with certain types of alternative and independent music is absolutely inevitable, but when it comes to listening to music and evaluating it for its worth, it’s profoundly disappointing to learn certain bands and their albums are simply ignored because they lack identifiable factors of that niche brand of "cool" that is so rigorously developed and sold. I’m writing because one of the year’s best albums may not even be reviewed by what most consider the leading voice in online music criticism—and perhaps music criticism in general—and it’s a giant gaping hole in what’s touted as journalism.

Review: Middle Brother:: Middle Brother

Cream were dubbed the world's first supergroup; The Highwaymen were country’s; and then there was the Traveling Wilburys, perhaps the greatest of them all: a band comprised of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. Harrison, one of the Fab Four, once admitted that he never knew what it felt like to play in a band until the Traveling Wilburys. Supergroups were once something to behold, but the magic and allure faded with bands like Velvet Revolver and Audioslave acting more as life rafts for aging rock stars than outlets born of creative desire. Monsters of Folk—three of folk rock’s brightest stars rekindling the magic of a shared tour—sounded so promising on paper, but the record came out flat and contrived. Save for the single "Say Yes," the album was three songwriters trading songs with no discernable input from one another.

Middle Brother - "Middle Brother"

If you're not sold on this Deer Tick/Dawes/Delta Spirit rollickin' roots-rock supergroup, you should be now. We've heard "Me, Me, Me" and the Replacements' cover "Portland" and now we have the song for which the group gets its name, "Middle Brother"—a furious Chucky Berry-inspired bit of rockabilly and soul that features a guest spot by Nashville's Jonny Corndawg. Do yourself a favor and pre-order this baby on some good old-fashioned vinyl.

Middle Brother - "Middle Brother" (from S/T)

Fuck The Golden Age: Every Year Is A Great Year In Music

The majority of rock fans and critics tend to lift music from the 1960's and 70's onto an untouchable pedestal. Yes, it was a Golden Age and defining period with the Rolling Stones, Beatles, and countless other legendary musicians airing their songs in the mainstream consciousness of acceptability. But if you know where to look and you look hard enough, the truth is every year is a great year in music. Songs like "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Blowin' in The Wind" will certainly never be written again because of the political climate and widespread social inequality and injustice of the 60's. But tell me you wish people were still making albums like Joni Mitchell's Blue and I'll play you Joanna Newsom's Have One On Me. The Baby Boomers had Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, and Brian Wilson. The Net Generation has Britt Daniel, Victoria Legrand and Panda Bear. Play me Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and I'll play you "When My Time Comes" by Dawes.

Middle Brother - "Me, Me, Me"

Recently, the concept of a supergroup has offered nothing more than an overabundance of anticipation followed by a giant whopping let down (see Monsters of Folk, Them Crooked Vultures). However, the first track from Middle Brother—the pairing of rowdy roots-rock rabble rousers John McCauley (Deer Tick) and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) with the harmony-glazed Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith—proves to be something else entirely: feverishly sweaty, inspired and most importantly, fun, rock and roll. The trio's debut record is due out March 1st on Partisan Records.

Middle Brother - "Me, Me, Me" (from Middle Brother)

Dawes - "All My Failures"

The immeasurably great Dawes stopped by the Daytrotter studios last week to play a couple new hushed acoustic gems. Especially dazzling is "All My Failures," which finds Taylor Goldsmith digging deep into his own reflection and emerging with the perfect melody to match his own clean timeless timbre.

Dawes - "All My Failures" (Daytrotter session)

Mixtape #5: Six Degrees of Jonathan Wilson

"We met this fellow playing bass for the lovely Jenny Lewis at V Festival, and he gave me one of the best albums I've ever heard, called Gentle Spirit, by him." - Nick Allbrook, Tame Impala guitarist

The internet is such a heavily mapped out place that it's hard for a band to retain any level of mystique or privacy. Yet somehow Jonathan Wilson remains a mystery. His fingerprints can be seen everywhere from Jenny Lewis's Acid Tongue to Elvis Costello's Momofuku and former Jayhawks Gary Louris' Vagabonds. The jam sessions held at his former Laurel Canyon residence have been documented in both the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. Somehow though, whether on purpose or not, the public acclaim has evaded Wilson. Search for a review of his masterful 2007 album Frankie Ray—his only solo work that's been officially released—and you'll find hardly a scrape outside of the local Los Angeles press. Rumors abound about the Emerald Triangle supergroup, the release date of Wilson's second solo record Gentle Spirit and other projects, including a tribute album to the legendary Roy Harper, but concrete release dates don't exist. But maybe it's just part of Wilson's behind-the-scenes strategy, as the work he's been able to help create as a producer, studio and touring musician has yielded some of the most beautiful and organic rock and roll since Joni Mitchell and company first immortalized the Canyon in the 1960s. In a musical era where computers and synthesizers rule, there's nothing more refreshing than the near-Luddite quality of Jonathan Wilson's analog recordings.

Directly or indirectly, these songs are all related to Jonathan Wilson and were chosen to reflect the spirit of his music. Download the mix in its entirety as a zip file below.

Jonathan Wilson - "Can We Really Party Today?" (from Gentle Spirit)

Kevin Barker - "You & Me" (from You & Me)

Gary Louris - "Black Grass" (from Vagabonds)

Jason Boesel - "Hand of God" (from Hustler's Son)

Jenny and Johnny - "Scissor Runner" (from Jenny and Johnny)

Elvis Costello & The Impostors - "Drum and Bone" (from Momofuku)
Vetiver - "Used To Be King" (from Be Yourself: A Tribute To Graham Nash's Songs For Beginners)
Benji Hughes - "Country Love" (from Sargent Singles: Vol. 2)
The Whispertown 2000 - "Done With Love" (from Done With Love EP)

Jonathan Wilson w/ Andy Cabic - "Desert Raven"

Blake Mills - "Hey Lover" (from Break Mirrors)

Dawes - "Love Is All I Am" (from North Hills)

Jonathan Wilson - "Your Ears Are Burning" (from Frankie Ray)

Jenny Lewis - "The Next Messiah" (from Acid Tongue)

Farmer Dave Scher - "Surf Out Sunset" (from Flash Forward To The Good Times)

Johnathan Rice - "The Middle of the Road" (from Further North)

Espers - "Caroline" (from III)
Jonathan Wilson - "WildFIRE" (from Far-Out B-Sides)
Roy Harper - "Hors d'Oeuvres" (from Stormcock)

Six Degrees of Jonathan Wilson.zip

(photo by Courtney Brooke)

Dawes - "When My Time Comes"

"When My Time Comes"—one of the more brilliant songs on the 2009 Jonathan Wilson-produced debut of Dawes—now has a music video. It certainly does the song justice, but also will hopefully bring added attention to North Hills—one of the most impressive and overlooked albums from 2009. Make sure to catch the folk quartet this summer live with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes and remember to watch out for that whole MG&V supergroup thing.

Dawes - "When My Time Comes" (from North Hills)

MG&V: A Deer Tick, Delta Spirt and Dawes supergroup

MG&V is an acronym for McCauley, Goldsmith and Vasquez—the respective songsmiths behind the great Deer Tick, Delta Spirit and Dawes. According to a press release, the three recorded an album down in Nashville together. Judging from the above SXSW performance taped by the great Duke Street Blog, there isn't a Monsters of Folk veneer of collaboration going on here. Thankfully, instead, it seems to be something much more organic. The raspy-voiced McCauley and Vasquez won't be producing many golden CNY harmonies, but the trio sure do embody that spirit in this brief clip of "Daydreaming."