Can I get an Amen?

I just discovered Mumford and Sons. Literally have listened to this only once. But I've got to get it out there.

This is a live take on their tune "Roll Away Your Stone."

Whoa.

22

Well, my friends, it's that time of year again: I am about to become one full year older. This year's magic number is 22, a pointless year to celebrate were it not for the fact that it's the age at which I will graduate college (sigh.)

Anyway, you might remember that for last year's birthday celebration, I honored my 21 favorite albums of all time. I slaved tirelessly over my choices, and came out the other end confident in (most of) my selections.

Of course, only days after the list, I realized that some of it was full of crap. I am, after all, a music journalist, and will never be fully satisfied with my choices.

This year I will attempt to remedy my failed list o' 21, and will issue a list o' 22; my awesomely fantastic totally rock 'n' roll Top 22 Favorite Albums of All Time!!!!!

(pause for dramatic reaction)

Oh, but this time I'm only going to make it as a list. Seriously, finding pictures for all 21 last year - on top of writing a brief blurb about each - took forever. If you want an explanation and/or picture, just ask.

And another thing: last year I was careful to put albums that had significant meaning to me on the list, regardless of whether or not I still enjoy the record. I also tried to avoid repeat offenders. That was dumb. What you're going to get here is my down-and-dirty these-records-rock-my-world-every-time-I-listen-to-them list.

And, finally (I promise): some records are more recent selections, meaning I may be overreacting a teenie bit on them. But if that is true, I will remedy it with my list o' 23.

The Top 22 Favorite Albums of All Time!!!!! list

1. Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans
2. Radiohead, OK Computer
3. U2, Joshua Tree
4. Sufjan Stevens, Greetings from Michigan!
5. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
6. The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism
7. Radiohead, The Bends
8. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
9. The Beatles, The White Album
10. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Master and Everyone
11. The Clash, London Calling
12. Bob Marley, Legend
13. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
14. Arcade Fire, Funeral
15. Josh Ritter, Animal Years
16. M. Ward, Post War
17. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha
18. Great Lake Swimmers, Ongiara
19. Elliott Smith, From a Basement on the Hill
20. Phosphorescent, Pride
21. The Avett Brothers, Mignonette
22. Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head

Honorable Mentions: Beck, Sea Change; The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow; Band of Horses, Cease to Begin; The White Stripes, Elephant; Weezer, Weezer (The Blue Album); U2, Achtung Baby; U2, All That You Can't Leave Behind

One reason (of many) I'm glad I don't smoke

Being able to keep the windows of my car completely shut on days like today.

To add some more (Best of 08 redux) pt. 2

Yeah, I realize I only mentioned in the last post one album from '08 that was left off my top 10 list, even though I said there were four. So sue me. I ran out of time.

Anyway, here's one more album from 2008 that deserves to be mentioned on my "best of" list.

Damien Jurado, Caught in the Trees: The Seattle singer-songwriter's eighth full-length is a rather bittersweet affair, considering he wrote and recorded it after splitting with his wife of 13 years, but Jurado has channeled his pain into a 13-track folk-rock beauty, from angry tracks like "Sheets" ("Is he still coming around like an injured bird needing a nest?/A place to rest his head in a song you'll regret/Lord knows I don't want to compete/But I still sleep in the very sheets he's been in"), to the soul-bearing, cello-laden ballad "Everything Trying" ("And I would come back and admit that it wasn't your fault/But I'm tired and unwilling to be the only one who was wrong/And I would sail back to you.") It's a painful record, but through it all you hear Jurado's attempt at moving on, and in that there is something very raw and beautiful. The building piano, cello, and acoustic guitar don't hurt, either.

Check out more here.

To add some more (Best of 08 redux)

A few weeks ago, I posted my overly-extensive Top 10 Best Albums of 08 list. I mentioned in that post how much I labor over my "best-of" choices; I don't want just any albums to be in your Top 10. You gotta make 'em count.

Anyway, since posting that list I've since discovered/rediscovered four albums that I now believe could be included. Two of them were released late in the year (thus not squeezing into many "best-of" lists), and two were released earlier in the year and were staples on several such lists (I just didn't give them a chance until recently.)

The four:

Welcome Wagon, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon: It's no secret that I have a small man-crush on Sufjan Stevens (seriously, the man is extraordinary), so it's no surprise that something he's affiliated with moves me as much as this debut does. The husband-wife duo of Vito and Monique Aiuto, aka the Welcome Wagon, have much to owe Sufjan, their friend who signed them to his label (Asthmatic Kitty), played nearly every backing instrument on the album (which he produced), and then gave them booming publicity simply at the drop of his name. With or without Sufjan, though, the album is remarkable, equating to Sufjan's work on his phenomenal album Illinois, but if all of the lyrics were about Jesus.
Oh Jesus, you say? Yes, Jesus. Vito Aiuto happens to be the Reverend Vito Aiuto, a small-church preacher from Brooklyn with a guitar to strum and wife to croon. The passion and soul that the Aiuto's find in Jesus - the beauty, the love - is dripping from the music, from the intimate ballad "Up On a Mountain" to the stomping gospel tune "But for You Who Fear My Name," probably the best track on the album. Pushing each song are blues guitar riffs, gospel choir praises, and brass instruments to boot, all of which underscore the joyous celebration the Aituo's successfully shout towards the Man Upstairs. This, to me, is true worship music, the kind that doesn't just riff on a catchy melody, but which cries from its knees the power and majesty of our God.

Click here for more.
Also, Sufjan is blogging about the Welcome Wagon over at his website; highly recommended.

The Cold (woe is me)

Times like these make me really wish that ski masks were socially acceptable.

Oh and happy New Year, by the way.