So I like to post every day. At first the reasons were simple: more posts = more traffic. Well the traffic never really came. It seems there’s some sort of glass ceiling when you write about the types of music and the kinds of bands that I do. But I just keep posting every day. It’s now officially a compulsion. In the holiday weeks leading up to Christmas and the month or so after it gets pretty quiet on the new release front. So in the past to keep up the daily posts I’ve reposted some of my favorite artists and some of my favorite posts from the year. I’ll be doing that again this year. I’ll try to keep it chronological starting with January and ending with early December.
I’m not calling this a “Best Of” list since I don’t do those. I haven’t heard The National’s record or Radiohead’s for that matter, but I’ll concede that they’re two of the best (over-hyped) records of the year. They certainly don’t need me piling on and adding to all the fawning attention they’ve received in the last couple of weeks. So let’s call this the “Most Deserving Artists of the Year List” list.
Here’s my first repost of 2007. Warts and all.
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Needless to say I’ve heard a ton of great music over the past few years. I’ve written about a portion of it on Songs:Illinois and Swedesplease. Still with all that great music there are still only a handfull of artists that I would dare say are my favorites. Tom Brosseau (MS) is one and if you’re a longtime reader you can guess the rest. Tom is set to release his new record in January on Loveless Records. It’s creatively titled Grand Forks (his home town) and is said to be a concept record of sorts about the great flood that hit Grand Forks in 1997. I imagine this is a concept record more along the lines of Ramona Cordova’s The Boy Who Floated Freely than The Who’s Tommy. The songs are inspired by the event and all relate in some way to the city but it’s not like track one has the storm approaching and track two it hits and track three everything gets really wet.
The most obvious aspect of Tom Brosseau’s style is his lilting high pitched vocals. When you see him live you also are immediately drawn to his humble, shy manner and equally humble (yet masterfull) guitar playing. But it’s his songs that at times strike right to the core. “Plaid Jacket” is the tale of a homeless character who clings to the contents of his shopping cart and his plaid lined jacket. The switch is that Tom has made it so that the homeless character is a more appealing person then the more stable but garish people in the song. Grand Forks was produced by Gregory Page (here) and co-produced by John Doe. Pre-order Grand Forks here.
“Good Night Irene” at Club Passim