#231
Hello all.
Another weekend passes by, so here I am again at Monday morning with the previous week’s wrap-up. I went two for four on my Wildcard Weekend picks, taking Cincinnati and the Cowboys yesterday and the Ravens and Green Bay today. Hopefully I will be a bit better next week. Finally got a chance to see A Serious Man, and man, what a film. I watched it earlier today, after the first game got a bit boring, and was engrossed the entire time. There is so much going on, even at times when it may need to seem to be the case. The film may warrant its own full-page review (depending on how I do with the project this week), it was simply phenomenal. It is definitely a film, such as Synecdoche, New York, that needs multiple viewings but God did I love it the first time around. Can’t wait to see it again. Not only will I be displaying my weekly last.fm statistics and this week’s playlist but I will also be putting forth my Best of 2009 list for music. Movie list will come sometime within the next week after I see A Single Man and Crazy Heart.
This week’s playlist is extremely simple, The Good Life’s “Help Wanted Nights,” Spoon’s “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” and again, Vampire Weekend’s S/T (will be adding “Contra” to the playlist on Tuesday). Spoon is on there as to the fact that I am getting ready for their new release and this was my last week during my revisit of The Good Life’s discography. I am not entirely sure what band I will do next, and I also need to pick back up on The Who. So, a bit late, but I actually took this serious (at least when compared to the last couple of year’s lists) so I hope enjoy/agree and if you do not, then please feel free to let me know.
1. St. Vincent – Actor
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
3. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing
4. Real Estate – Real Estate
5. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
6. The Mercury Program – Chez Viking
7. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
8. fun. – Aim and Ignite
9. If These Trees Could Talk – Above the Earth, Below the Sky
10. Brand New – Daisy
11. Cursive – Mama, I’m Swollen
12. Say Anything – Say Anything
13. William Elliot Whitmore – Animals in the Dark
14. Thrice – Beggars
15. As Cities Burn – Hell or High Water
16. mewithoutYou – It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s alright
I added on a sixteenth spot because mewithoutYou’s latest was good, certainly wasn’t as great as their previous two releases but still deserves some attention that I most likely have not given it. I tried to look at this as objectively as possible, a bit difficult to do with something in the realm of ranking music but last.fm was a big help. For example, where St. Vincent’s “Actor” was my favorite release of the year, it was also, just behind “Mean Everything to Nothing” in total listens. I have never had an artist creep so quickly my top fifteen overall in listens. I enjoyed all sixteen of these albums and there were a few I hated to leave off (…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead’s “The Century of Self” and Freelance Whales’ extremely impressive first album are the first that come to mind); This was an absolutely fantastic year for music, and here’s to 2010 attempting to be just as good or maybe even better, new Vampire Weekend and Spoon in January is hopefully a good indicator of this possibility.
Thank you for reading!
