Best of 2009, Music

Let me say first off, 2009 was a great year for really good music. There were a lot of solidly good albums out there to choose from. Sure, not all that many were GREAT, but still, it's hard to pick out who then makes a top ten list and who doesn't. For the time I spent with them, I suppose it's fairer to call this list "My favorites of '09".

1.Neko Case Middle Cyclone
Neko Case's latest record edges out the competition by the sheer number of times I listened to it this year. While it may not be the most complex or new-sounding album of the year, it is simply the album I found myself putting on above all others. A beautiful country/folk sound with smart lyrics, both sweet and smoky, this is Neko Case at her best. The 30 minutes of field noises at the end might not suit everyone, but it's at the end for a reason, and I think it's a perfect closer for an album that is at times powerful and openly relaxed at others.

2. St. Vincent Actor
Not only do I have a woman at number one for the first time, but I had two competing for the top spot on my list. Where Neko Case is warm and familiar, Annie Clark is bold and original (This record should probably be my number 1, as it is more innovative a record, but I simply listened to Neko Case more). The album is a little top-heavy, with the most striking songs up front and losing a little momentum closer to the end, but when the amazing songs are THIS amazing, you'd want them front and center too.

3. Andrew Bird Noble Beast
While originally I felt this album didn't live up to the standard Bird set for himself with Armchair Apocrypha, the album grew on me steadily and strongly over the year. Who else can write songs about sea anemones and Alan Turing, and with such a vast vocabulary? When coupled with the bonus disc of instrumental work, Useless Creatures, it's an engrossing offering from the whistling violinist.

4. The Antlers Hospice
I didn't get this album til the very end of the year, but it blew me over once I played it. Painful in a very real and heart-wrenching way, it makes Sufjan Stevens' "Casimir Pulaski Day" seem like a happy lullaby. Those listening to the words will be moved to tears. Those listening to the music will be uplifted. Somewhere between the two there is a breath-taking and heart-breaking beauty. This is not a put it on in the background kind of record. This is pay attention and bring tissues kind of record. Worthy of all the praise it's received, definitely.

5. Sunset Rubdown Dragonslayer
I'll grant, not everyone loves Spencer Krug the way I do, and few give as much credit to his "Wolf Parade side-project" (despite the fact he's put out twice as much material under the SR title). I myself was a little mixed on Random Spirit Lover, but Dragonslayer pulled me back in. His singing and lyrical style remind me of a Berlin-era Bowie, even if the music isn't quite so Eno-y. While I have a problem with some of the song lengths (clocking at 10:28, Dragon's Lair is just too long for a single track), I feel the music and narratives here are tighter than his previous record. Sure, Krug can still be dense and impenetrable at times, but there's plenty of cutup-style poetry that anyone who's willing to pay a little attention can pull out and really sink their teeth into. I could still listen to songs like "You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)" another hundred times and not feel discontent.

6. The Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca
I've honestly never paid The Dirty Projectors the proper amount of attention. After seeing them in concert this year on tour for Bitte Orca, I can assure you that attitude has changed. These guys are amazing with the vocal acrobatics. What you'd attribute to cool studio production is actually what they do live. Each track is enjoyable time after time. It's bizarre yet danceable, artistic without being inaccessible. I'll have to go back through their catalog now to see what other gems I've missed.

7. The Mountain Goats The Life of the World to Come
I'm really surprised not to see this album on more year-end best-of lists. Did it pass under everyone's radar? Or did they simply not appreciate the complexity of the biblically-inspired titles/themes? John Darnielle has said he's not a Christian but interested in the ideas of the biblical text. As a person raised in a Christian household who would not define myself as Christian, I have enough familiarity with the subject to find this album intriguing. Sometimes the songs take directly from the text mentioned by the titular verse, other times simply the sentiments are shared between two otherwise unrelated stories. Then, there are a few that are so different, I haven't any idea how Darnielle ties the verse and song mentally, but I find those some of the most interesting. It causes my toes to tap and pulls my heartstrings. Definitely the best Mountain Goats record since The Sunset Tree.


8. At Dusk Small Light
Here's a gem I know won't be on any lists outside the Portland, OR music scene, which really is a pity. Small Light is the final product of At Dusk, I've been told, which is another real pity. There was a period in the fall where this was the only record I could play in the car. This disc is a treasure chest of well-crafted and enjoyable songs with a wide variety of sounds and great lyrics. Bouncy one minute and contemplative the next, there's something for everyone here, but it all comes together for a consistent, solid (and happily long!) album. It epitomizes everything positive coming from the prodigious Portland hotspot these days.

9. K'naan Troubadour
Anyone who knows me knows that I don't listen to a tremendous amount of hip-hop. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that my silly folk records speak to me, a lyric nut, more loudly. It takes a lot for a hip-hop record to really grab my attention, and it needs to be lyrical in doing so. K'naan's album does just that. It's difficult to argue with a person that not only survived growing up in a war-torn Somalia, but taught himself English in order to express the stories of his life. AND he managed to write a rhyme with "Connecticut". A great record that's caught on with everyone I've shown it to, not my usual cup of tea, so all the more respect for it.

10. Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion
The only surprise here is probably how low I've placed the latest Animal Collective offering on my list. This is the album that's graced the top spot on nearly every list I've seen for 2009. But while we are in the minority, I know there are those of us out there who just don't agree (these people tend to be big Animal Collective fans as well, so it's certainly not out of spite). Partly, it's too poppy for me. Partly it's that most of the songs feel a little too repetitive for me. And partly it's that it's just not as good as a number of their previous recent albums. I know that's just, like, my opinion, man, but that's what this list is about! And granted, a lesser Animal Collective is better than a helluvalotta other music out there (and it IS in my top ten, afterall). It's just not the end-all-be-all it's been made out to be. Enjoyable, obviously. But I'd still rather have another Feels, Sung Tongs or even Strawberry Jam.

R&J

If you've never been in theater, you wouldn't understand.

Going backstage, reading actors' notes, seeing the lighting grid, smelling plywood and grease paint...ah, how it floods the senses with nostalgia.

I used to be one of these people. You work hard and you play hard. You put it all out there for everyone else, being someone else. If you're smart, you appreciate everyone else working around you. It's fantasy made real, the art of playing.

I sort of grew out of it. I knew I would never be the leading lady, only best friends and villains. So I left that world.

But damn, are there ever times when I miss it.

Winter

My mom asked me what I missed about Japan this time of year. Here's what I came up with:

-Onsen, especially in the snow
-The Kobe Illuminiarie
-End of the year parties (Bounenkai)
-Nabe pot dinners
-My kotatsu
-Celebrating Christmas without the massive consumerism or, in my family, mandatory church services
-New Years' celebrations
-Celebrating friends' birthdays (I have at least 10 friends with birth dates in Dec.)

But, in fairness, I do not miss:

-Working in a freezing school
-Returning to a freezing apartment (no central heating anywhere!)
-The train commute to work packed to smothering with high school boys (more ride the train in the winter rather than ride bikes)
-Teaching the same Christmas vocabulary each year
-JLPT first weekend of December
-Not having a proper Christmas tree in my home

Things I am Awesome at (that cannot go on my resume):

giving gifts
baking quiche
recognizing voices/voice actors
recovering other people's trains of thought that went astray
collage
making cute faces
some yoga
remembering song lyrics
choosing t-shirts
playing the "sugar mama"
getting ready quickly in the morning
Star Trek trivia
quick tongue movements

it hasn't hit me yet i'm not simply on summer vacation. and i don't think that will hit me until about october.

Adjusting

Day one in America, these were the things that seemed weird to me:

No tray to put my money in at cash registers. Where do I put the money?!

All the choices I had to make ordering dinner at a restaurant. What kind of salad? Which two side dishes? How did I want the steak cooked?...it was like a frakking interview!

Strangers talking to me/not being terrified to talk to me.

How small American cellphones are.

Happily, America has:

Shoes that fit me in womens' styles.

Cheap, delicious pizza.

PBS.

Hugh Manatee.

a few more little things...

I will miss...

The Shinkansen. Best way to travel, period.

Amemura, or America Town, in Osaka. It's to America what our Chinatowns are to China.

The hideous things Japanese McDonald's come up with. The breakfast McHotDog. The Egg Double Mac. The list could go on and on. You don't need to eat them to enjoy the ridiculousness.

Buying sushi at the convenience store.

Japanese convenience stores in general.

No tipping but still having service twice as good as the States.

Streets filled with paper lanterns during festival season.

The cuteness of Japanese kids. Sometimes I think the dopamine rush they give is the reason I stayed so long.

Onsens. Public baths are just not something Americans do, but it's really pretty delightful. Especially if you get to drink beer and eat ice cream in the nude. Oh yeah.

Seasonal Kit-Kat flavors. Salty watermelon, green tea, blood orange, and so forth. Some are better than others, but it's like Pokemon, gotta try 'em all!

Capsule machine toys. Way cooler than the bouncy balls and cheap rings we had as kids.

Puri-kura photo booths. Sometimes you DO need that much glitter in your life.