She Was Just 17 (if you know what I mean)
Just when I think we've hit the bottom, the next trapdoor opens. And what's down there? The Gospel of Christ warped into a snuff film. Our national paranoia reborn as a desert Vietnam. More death, more blood, more rage, more porn, more product, more celebrities, more costumes for our anguish.
Thankfully, we remain alive and capable of taking measures.
Think of fear as a solitary confinement for your heart.
Think of love as the final cure for grievance.
Think of music as your solace in a dark age.
Most of all: think.
1. The Sleepy Jackson Lovers (Astralwerks, 2004) The most innovative record released this year. Big yummy songlines, George Harrison leads, the T-Rex sexbeats, languid club grooves, a rewrite of the Song of Songs that will destroy you. Surrender to your pending addiction.2. Jim Lauderdale
Headed for the Hills (Dualtone, 2004)
After years of releasing serviceable countrified rock, Croondog Mange finally sticks his landing. This is hillbilly joy: fiddle, mando, dobro, harmonies from Gillian and Emmylou, and melodic whompspiration from the very much unDead Robert Hunter.
3. Jamie Cullum
Twenty Something (Verve, 2004)
Ignore the Connick smack. This kid knows how to bang the piano into a luvly pulp. He leaps from Hendrix to Gershwin without missing a black key, and his originals are scrumdillyicious.
Guest Tip from the always-euphonious Camille Dungy:
Various Artists
Moroccan Spirit (Higher Octave, 2002)
So good I started taking belly dancing classes just so I could listen to more of it. Haunting, funky, disturbingly sexy, amped up Moroccan grooves.
RetroTip
4. Phranc
I Enjoy Being a Girl (Island, 1989)
Lesbo folk ain't my normal lunch, but Phranc ain't normal. It's all up in y'all: tearjerkers, anti-fascist anthems, Rodeo parakeets, odes to Martina, and Rodgers and goddamn Hammerstein. The Indigo Gurls never sounded so pale.
5. Paul Kelly
Ways & Means (Spinart 2003)
A double album of love songs from Australia's ugliest pretty boy. Gospel music for the corazon. "Forty Eight Angels" will make you forget the blood and the tracks.
Guest Tip from the perpetually righteous Elyssa Hagins
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man
Out of Season (Sanctuary, 2003)
First solo record from Beth Gibbons (Portishead). Haven't been able to take the damn thing outta my stereo. Maybe if it'd stop raining and the record didn't sound so good rubbing up against the gray days of January... maybe, just maybe...I'd be able to take it out. Haunting.
6. Jimmy Ryan
Lost Diamond Angel (Ambitious Records, 2002)
Steve Mayone
Bedroom Rockstar (Umver Records, 2003)
Local rawk double shot!
Jimmy Ryan = the Hendrix of mandolin. After years of backing immortals, he's made a blue plate special, country fried steak, Appalachian stylee, with gravy from the boys of Morphine. The enchantingly ungroomed Mayone serves up a DIY masterpiece. The title track is the most refreshing dose of loser rock you'll never hear.
More salt from the vault:
7. Jellyfish
Bellybutton (Charisma, 1989)
How I survived Shrub I (without actually killing anyone). Unabashedly luscious psychedelic soul: soaring harmonies, juicy keys, ecstatic melodies. "Baby's Coming Back" sounds like the Supremes crashing Abbey Road. File under: bubblegum with calories.
Guest Tip from Selene "Deffer Than Thou" Angier
The Tyde
Twice (Rough Trade)
Straight outta LA, these dudes are the brother band to the Beachwood Sparks. "Twice" is Lou Reed dropped in the big sandbox to hang with Brian Wilson. Summer grit like only LA knows. Big surfboards and bigger sunglasses, with more drug references than Lou can shake a dirty needle at.
8. Jet
Get Born (EMI, 2003)
For those about to rawk, we po-llute you. Hooks the size of Cleveburg. Loud strats. Lots of shouting. Gratuitous use of the b-word. Twang, bang, thang you, ma'am.
9. One Ring Zero
As Smart As We Are (Soft Skull, 2003)
Geek lit meets geek rock. Twenty writers handle the words, a couple of klezmatic songmeisters book the tunes. All very disheveled genius, all very Brooklyn. "Half |AMP|amp; Half" is catchier than anything They Might Be Giants has ever done. True.
10. Bob Schneider
I'm Good Now (Vanguard 2004)
Bob sells out. Fine. You heard it hear first. There's no earthly reason he should be name-checking Coors Light, but the title track still makes John Mayer sound like a smurf. I'll stop tipping him when he stops kicking my ass.