Spitball Army

Well, the year is officially half-over: thus it is also officially more half-full than half-empty, meaning that there is no hope for pessimists.  Little joke there, ahem.

As discussed somewhere on this blog recently, I am today submitting to you my favorite music of the year, so far.  Anyone who has frequented this website over the past several months will not be surprised by any of these choices, but here they are anyway, committed to paper, if you will.

Why no Top 10, you ask?  Honestly, there have not been ten releases this year that caught my attention in the way that the following five have.  Among albums getting a lot of notice, the new My Morning Jacket LP left me confused, and the Coldplay CD has one really great song (the title track), but the rest of the album just blended into the background for me.  The good news is that I have six more months to listen to many of these records again, and to hear lots of new, potentially wonderful, works.

Let’s compare notes: what has made the grade for you so far in 2008?  I’m listening…

Kathleen Edwards  Asking for Flowers
After I spent two or three afternoons in a row listening to this album repeatedly, relentlessly focused on the distraction while I pulled weeds in my front yard, I was ready to crown Kathleen Edwards as the next great hope among the current young crop of songwriters.  My opinion of her work on this album has not wavered.  Though I do not know if she gathers all of her material from real-life experiences, there is a wide streak of experiential wisdom in many of these songs.  “Alicia Ross,” inspired by a highly-publicized murder and abduction case in Canada, is imbued with sorrow for the small, lost details from a tragically unfulfilled life.  The elegiac “Scared at Night,” describes a farmyard shooting accident that seems much too horrific to have been fabricated, and its subsequent life lesson.  And the epic “Goodnight, California,” sounding at any moment as if it is going to explode into a 21st century version of “Cortez the Killer,” plays like a taut maelstrom of late night inertia during an encounter at a bar.  Accompanying all of this wistful, dark imagery are some of the most elegant melodies likely to be heard all year.

“Oil Man’s War” could lazily be interpreted as a musical diatribe against corporate and national policies regarding fuel, money and war.  In fact, the song is most intimately concerned with the tentative details between a young man and woman who decide to marry and flee the United States for a safe haven in Canada where they can live peacefully and raise a family.  The war, and the political concerns, are – as Alfred Hitchcock would call them – the MacGuffin.  The poignancy of the song is created in the small, personal details: Bobby borrowing a neighbor’s round toe shoes for the wedding, Annabel’s second-hand white dress, the wrist corsage, Annie’s fearful anticipation of her first sexual experience.
[audio:Kathleen_Edwards___Oil_Mans_War.mp3]
“Oil Man’s War” from Asking for Flowers

The title track from Asking for Flowers is currently available as a free download from Amazon, in an exclusive acoustic version.
[audio:Kathleen_Edwards___Asking_for_Flowers_(acoustic).mp3]

Fleet Foxes  Fleet Foxes
My guess is that the principal members of this band come from families where the parents love music and play it often.  How else would such young people be able to create work that shows influences from not only some of the better independent rock bands of recent years (My Morning Jacket, Great Lake Swimmers), but the soaring harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash, the baroque folk textures of Fairport Convention, and the majestic anthems of The Band.

All of these qualities are found in the song “He Doesn’t Know Why,” where they are blended into a heady mix that sounds simulaneously triumphant and as comforting as a warm embrace.
[audio:Fleet_Foxes___He_Doesnt_Know_Why.mp3]
“He Doesn’t Know Why” from Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes also released a five-song EP entitled Sun Giant this year, and it matches all the qualites of Fleet Foxes, in miniature.

Ry Cooder  I, Flathead
Ry Cooder has found himself a groove over the last few years, creating song cycle prisms through which he can spin yarns about American everymen while indulging his voracious interest in all aspects of this country’s musical heritage.  Last year’s My Name is Buddy and his prior release, Chavez Ravine, focused on depression-era Americana and Chicano culture, respectively.  I, Flathead outdoes both its predecessors by offering a hardbound novella written by Cooder that manages to encompass his many interests, from car racing to country musicians to political subversives to…well, the list seems endless.  Each song on the accompanying CD seems to exist in its unique musical universe, and several reach back as far as Cooder’s 1974 masterpiece Paradise and Lunch for a stylistic touchpoint.

In “Spayed Kooley,” Ry Cooder injects his droll humor into a song that musically recalls both Chet Atkins and Bob Wills, with a Jerry Reed-like vocal.  The subject?  Homeland security, in the form of his trusty guard dog.
[audio:Ry_Cooder___Spayed_Kooley.mp3]
“Spayed Kooley” from I, Flathead

Teddy Thompson  A Piece of What You Need
Each Teddy Thompson album is better than the last.  Piece boasts some deceptively complex production work, wise and world-weary lyrics, and one of the most affecting vocal talents in the recording business.

“Don’t Know What I Was Thinking” shows off Thompson’s remarkable emotional range as a singer, a facet of his talent that, until this album, has merely been respected.  It deserves more rewarding notice than that.
[audio:Teddy_Thompson___Dont_Know_What_I_Was_Thinking.mp3]
“Don’t Know What I Was Thinking” from A Piece of What You Need

I almost hesitate to mention one problem that I have with this release, as it has nothing to do with the audio content, but what the heck.  Joining a growing trend in the CD market, A Piece of What You Need comes housed in a standard jewel case containing the disc, a tray card with the track listing, and a single-fold booklet containing only a two-panel photograph on the inside…there are no liner notes!  For lyrics and musician and production credit information, Verve directs purchasers of the CD to Teddy Thompson’s website, an insulting move that I equate with Random House, or any book publisher, sending book readers to the internet for footnotes or the index.  Stop it!!

Mason Jennings  In the Ever
Mason Jennings has crafted a handful of songs that are immediately likable and artfully ambiguous.  I talked a bit already about this record and my struggle to resist Jennings’ charms here.  More evidence, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Jennings’ “In Your City,” in which you can hear the ghosts of Tin Pan Alley, Dooley Wilson and Tom Rush converge and walk off into the sunset with Charlie Chaplin.
[audio:Mason_Jennings___In_Your_City.mp3]
“In Your City” from In the Ever

The following albums have also gotten some prime, and well-enjoyed, listening time in my home:

• Elvis Costello  Momofuku
• Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic, Volume 2
• Bill Frisell  History, Mystery
• Erik Truffaz  Arkhangelsk
• The B-52’s  Funplex
• The Dexateens  Lost and Found
• The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely
• Sun Kil Moon  April
• Pat Metheny  Day Trip
• Death Cab for Cutie  Narrow Stairs