20 “Run to Your Grave” by The Mae-Shi

A song to play really loud and jump to, whenever one feels the need to be an ecstatic, aimless punk, which one should feel often, I guess. Taken from Hlllyh.

19. “Oceanic” by Imaad Wasif

When Imaad Wasif played with his band at Cake Shop, the loud treatment of his songs made his delicate voice gasp for air under the weight of all that noise. Then there was a rare moment when everything was quiet and he slowly pulled his voice away from the microphone, and those few seconds had the ache of a dagger through the heart. “Oceanic” is a song where you can hear some of that; a voice that must hurl itself towards everything that will ruin it so that it can resurface all alive and resilient.

18. “Klara” by Ólöf Arnalds

The only non-English song in the list, and this one’s in Icelandic. It reminds me of clothes hung to dry, blowing through the wind, and clouds chasing in over a blue hill. Blue! Whispers of accordion from somewhere not too far.

17. “I Can’t Tell in His Eyes” by Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Mariam Wallentin prefers a highly stylized approach to singing, one that makes her sound primal and aggressive. Sometimes it sounds overworked, but most times it just sounds pretty damn impressive. This song, however, is an unusual slip where she just sings, without a cloak or a mask of any sort. Filled with scenic evocations of the everyday, it’s pretty colorful for a break-up song. Then there’s this killer: “She is the country / That deeply betrayed him / So now he’s moving to Spain / Now he’s packing his things / All of his belongings / And I can’t tell in his eyes / If he’s gonna cry or if he’s gonna fight”. Taken from Heartcore.

16. “Fools” by The Dodos

Rhythm drives The Dodos. The boyish melodies serve to hold the the drums from running too far; the words are a vessel for rhymes; and the consonants are the necessary evil to vowels. “Fools” is a good mix of these things.

15. “Bleed Blood” by City Center

What it feels like to swim under water and let yourself go. City Center’s Fred is a river that runs through Brooklyn.

14. “Dance Dance Dance” by Lykke Li

A song of sweetness, and hips; it reminds me of Vanessa Paradis. Taken from Youth Novel.

13. “The Waves” by Princeton

“The Waves” is an elaborate work of production by Princeton. It’s somewhat silly, with all its tropical inclinations; somewhat dorky, with all its literary references; but all the while endearing; and there’re quite a few places to visit here in 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Taken from their four-song EP, Bloomsbury.

12. “The Nights Pt. 1” by The Builders and the Butchers

I was lucky I got to this band at a tiny dive bar in Connecticut filled with crazed fans who knew all of the songs. Two drummers packed into the corner and faces red and wet with sweat. This is the first song off their self-titled album, a world where you must grow beards, wear big black hats, carry shovels everywhere you go, and sing loudly over beer all the freaking time. Even if you’re a woman. Plus, what an awesome band name, and so filled with character.

11. “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)” by AA Bondy

Here’s how it begins: “I don’t wanna talk about Jesus / I just wanna see his face / The trees are swinging like hanging men /And I just wanna see his face”. Then it gets better; it’s as if the shadows give over to the sun, still water begins to run, and the day breaks as the chorus hits in a swooping lift: “Rapture, sweet rapture / Won’t you lay your hands on me”. But wait, it gets better still: “Mary take that silver dagger / Put it through my throat”. Sung in that amazing voice of AA Bondy’s and taken from that amazing album, American Hearts.

10. “One Cotton Shot Short” by Matt Jones

These verses smell like waffles and they melt in your mouth. It’s taken from The Black Path, which I don’t think is out yet. I stole it from Jesse Elliott’s Mixmas.

9. “More Than Right” by Callers

I’ve been hanging on to this song ever since I heard it back in the summer, though I know little about this Brooklyn band… what a great voice, what a drunkenly staggering pace, and what a night these lovers must have whisked through. They’re playing at Union Pool tonight, the 19th.

8. “The Butcher” by Final Fantasy

Owen Pallett writes a song that sounds like rainbows and butterflies, waterfalls and waves, despite a title that suggests otherwise. Taken from Spectrum, 14th Century, one of the two EPs he released this year.

7. “Trouble No More” by Dark Dark Dark

“I’ll take these rosy cheeks of mine / And be headed south”

6. “Mister Jung Stuffed” by Man Man

A song that captures everything Man Man. Incredible musicians, enthusiastic and consistent theatrics; goofballs, hooligans, drunkards. It opens this year’s Rabbit Habits.

5. “Horn Song” by Suckers

This tune here? A soundtrack for your trip to the gate where angels drink wine, play cards and call each other whores; and you’ll be the most beautiful person when you get there.

4. “Original Bones” by Cotton Jones

“The last time I tried to be so original / I broke all my original bones”

3. “Drops in the River” by Fleet Foxes

“White Winter Hymnal” was the first song I heard and loved from these here Fleet Foxes (like everyone else), but “Drops in the River” was the one I really clung to; it’s got all the goodness of White Winter, but it travels further. I think of them as the same person at different ages, I don’t know which one’s older. This one’s the younger, probably.

There was an unbelievable overabundance of overrated crap this year (Cut Copy – what?), as was there a lot of great music that not everyone discovered and loved as deserved. Then they’re all these year-end lists that are themselves the most overrated act of every freaking year. But, I love Fleet Foxes, and the amount of love and hate that’s been directed towards them, or perhaps the obscene extent of fame they seem to have found (but fame is a ridiculously nonsensical by nature), has ultimately nothing at all to do with my own enjoyment of their songs. They use the language of music with care, compassion and devotion, they seem to understand it really well, and this language, which unleashes its power over your heart than it does your brain, is a funny thing. Right? While it’s great to be articulate about how you feel about music (despite everything, the writers at Pitchfork are really good), it’s terrible to be unable to enjoy music with your heart. I don’t understand why it matters so much that the guy from Fleet Foxes sounds a little like the guy from My Morning Jacket… I really believe in Robin Pecknold. I think he’s good for us. Us humans.

2. “The Gardener” by The Tallest Man on Earth

Heart breaker of a song, everything about it will stab you.

1. “A Day to Float the Bahnar Boat” by These United States

When I first heard this song, my blood level dropped to an all-time low. About 30 seconds in I was having an existential awakening, thinking, “What am I going to do with my life?“, and after I’d recovered, “What were they thinking?” When I made other people listen to it they didn’t quite freak out like I had, which kind of reaffirms my belief that taste is all physics. Everything to do with heart rate and blood levels and how the molecules of the songs fit into the molecules of you. For me, this is one of the most perfect songs ever: in its few words and the compassionate melodies that accompany them, it contains not one but several, unending life cycles, and there’s nothing quite as thrilling as a life. Nothing quite so filled with an exploding spectrum of emotions like hope, triumph, loss, disappointment, sadness, happiness, and so on, all of which I felt when I listened to it the first time.

It was recorded as a free track for Peppermill’s 52 weeks project, for the Spring set in particular. From what I understand, Jesse Elliott took parts from this article in the Washington Post–which was published in the week the band had been assigned by Peppermill–and rearranged them into lyrics. They’ve credited the article’s author Joshua Zumbrun for the lyrics, but that is a lie, essentially. The words and phrases may have been lifted, but the effect they have in the song owes entirely to what parts were picked, and how they were edited and rearranged. Then there’s Tom Hnatow with his haunting glockenspiel and piano…
]]> http://hoovesontheturf.com/200812/best-songs-2008/feed 7 http://hoovesontheturf.com/200806/auguste-arthur-bondy-at-union-hall-video http://hoovesontheturf.com/200806/auguste-arthur-bondy-at-union-hall-video#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:01:01 +0000 sarahana http://hoovesontheturf.com/?p=1186 ]]> At Union Hall, AA Bondy asked that we call him Gus from that moment on. The two A’s in Bondy’s name stand for Auguste Arthur, however, and I ask: why the hell have we been diverted from using that fantastically royal birth name? He may have appeared to be more of a Gus that night, dressed in the most generic combination of shirt over t-shirt with jeans and boots (and a cap pre-show); he may have even sung like a Gus in that extra raspy voice of his, wailing on the harmonica every now and then, but his personaly sure as hell has the heroic poeticism of an Auguste Arthur. Opening band Two Dark Birds tried their best to hold the attention of the room, but going by the chatter that poured of that tiny space, they were unsuccessful. Bondy, on the other hand, with the might of his acoustic guitar and an array of harmonica options, claimed the spotlight. I would’ve liked to stay for Delta Spirit, but an incident before Bondy’s last song dictated I and my posse, shaking with fury, storm out into the pleasant arena of home sweet home as soon as Bondy’s set was done. (ps. I’ll add photos later today)

I had told Sam and Jill from AA Bondy’s label that I would try to post a video from today’s show (which I will if the audio isn’t all crap). So I had secured myself a spot at the stage’s left corner. That, however, put my ear so close to the big speaker that a high-pitched harmonica part felt like a piercing through my skull. The room was busy enough, but not overly crowded. Everyone had a comfortable space around them. I sat on the floor, since the sound from down there was so much more balanced and clear; and most importantly, a whole lot gentle on the ear. I suggested my sister sit down too since she was struggling with the big speaker piercing her left ear as well. The douchebag (nicely labelled for you) happened to be the guy standing next to us all this time. Slowly he starts inching in front of us, blocking my view. My sister rolls her eyes, I tell her he’s probably not aware. Then he puts his left leg on the stage (while Bondy’s still playing), blocking my view, and from the corner of my eye I notice he turns around and glares down at me, but I didn’t look. Then, he casually kicks his foot against my sister’s, though it looked like an accident, except: he followed it with another clear look, and instead of apologizing and removing his foot, he kept it right there, smashed against my sister’s, squeezing her two feet between mine and his. Then he starts shuffling and stepping on our feet quite freely. Then he moves to stand right in front of me. I tap on his leg but he doesn’t respond. My sister taps on his leg but he doesn’t respond. After the song finishes, I get up and tap him on the shoulder but he doesn’t respond. So I go in front of him ask if there was a problem. If I’m mistakenly bothering a nice, decent human being, I expect to be told what the problem is because a nice, decent human being will tell you in order to solve it. Was it bothering him that I had so far filmed one song and parts of others? If so, he didn’t mention it. Was it bothering him that we were sitting down (but why, there was plenty of space for everyone)? If so, he didn’t mention it. Instead, he gave me a blank face with a smirk and said: “Problem? What?” as if he’d no clue why I was even talking to him. I said, “yeah, why are you kicking us with your foot?” He laughs mockingly and says, “How can I kick you? I’m standing up, you’re sitting down”. I get flustered, and sit right back down. Then he yells at me, “Stand up! Stand up!” I say, I don’t want to stand up. He grabs my arm and yells, “Stand up!”

AA Bondy is not really rock-out dance music. It was a one-man show on acoustic guitar and harmonica. If everyone was dancing, I’d understand that people sitting would be quite intrusive, even then you don’t go around stepping on people intentionally.

Though I’m an especially short girl, the only reason I didn’t punch his face is because to make a scene so close to AA Bondy would’ve been just disrespectful. However, if you see that guy at another show and empathize with me, then please do punch him, that’s what the photo is for, keep it in your wallet. 

Download “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)” by AA Bondy | Download “Vice Rag” by AA Bondy | It was an easy-listening night at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, and how wonderful AA Bondy must’ve been with that dreamy, rustic voice of his. I wasn’t there, but Kashish was, and he tells me the performance was mesmerizing. I believe him. A pure crystal of human experience is sheltered in the lyrics, “I don’t want to talk about Jesus / I just want to see his face / The trees are swinging like hanging men / and I just want to see his face”. When a song opens quietly with those words and sweeps you up into the endlessly sweet chorus of “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)”, you can be sure there will be goose bumps. View full post to see all pictures and learn who was suffering from a cold.

All pictures by Kashish.

Kashish says Bondy was humble on stage, taking requests and saying “Thank You” between songs. But he suspects that whenever half-smiles surfaced to the performer’s face, he must’ve thought “Yeah, I know I rock.”

[imeem http://media.imeem.com/m/yxAHzsNshF/aus=false/]
Long Island’s folksy popstress Jaymay was the headliner. Playing her last New York show till fall arrives this year, she spoke of the time when she used to come to Bowery Ballroom as part of the audience and wondered how the artists on stage did what she was doing that night. She managed it quite alright despite some technical glitches, with one dedicated group of girls singing along to each song.

John of Deer Tick was energetic and funny while performing solo. Suffering from a cold, he asked if anyone had any tissue paper. One girl from the audience gave him some, and he promised to reward her with his non-existent album. He performed some great covers as well and remembered the pioneering Bo Diddly, who passed away last week on June 2.

June 10, 2008
Bowery Ballroom