Best Of 2012: Andre's Picks

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Hundred Visions – Permanent Basement

Good morning class, my name is Dr. Jim Sullivan and I’ll be your instructor for this semester’s class; Introduction on How to Rock Face 101. Here is your first assignment. I want you to go home, put on Hundred Visions Permanent Basement and loosen up your rock maneuvers along with some serious rock face. Although, there is one condition, you cannot, and I repeat, do not, at any point in this exercise rock face to this album into or near a mirror or any other reflective surfaces.  I’ll see you all tomorrow for our discussion.

Welcome back class. Well, based upon the look on all of your melted faces, you probably think that I’m disappointed to see that you all have failed to follow the instructions. Billy, what was the last instruction I gave? Uhhhmmm, don’t look into a mirror or reflective surface while rocking face to Hundred Visions? Correct Billy, and based on your experience, why would I give you that instruction? Uhhhmmm, because even the reflection alone of how hard this album makes us rock face would cause us to melt our own faces off? Correct Billy, but sometimes the best education is experiencing the true power of rocking face first hand. You can thank Hundred Visions for that one. Good job class, now let me tell you about an album I like to call U.F.O.

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Damien Jurado - Maraqopa

Similar to Jim Sullivan’s 1969 masterpiece U.F.O., Maraqopa is a lush, multi-layered and mysterious sounding folk album that may not get the credit it deserves in its day and age.  This album is also one of the few examples of how to tastefully use strings and choirs in modern music. But, like a fine wine, this one will definitely age well and stand the test of time so that it can be lauded when the Space Jesus returns (listen to podcast 17, time stamp 52 minutes for further explanation on that front.) I just hope Damien doesn’t mimic Sullivan and decide to walk into the desert and get summoned back to another planet where the general public appreciates his music in the time when it is actually happening.  So, as Carrie would say, sometimes you have to ask yourself What Would Alien Jesus Do? Well, apparently he would listen to Damien Jurado. 

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2012 Newport Folk Festival Recap: Part 2

Words by Andre and Kevin

Saturday may have brought the rain - and oh boy did it rain - but it also brought stellar performances from artists old and new alike.

Sunday proved to be no different, with acts ranging from the raucous rock of Rhode Island's own Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Decisions to the scorching guitar blues of Gary Clark, Jr.. There was pop-folk aplenty with bands like  Trampled By Turtles and The Head And The Heart taking over the main stage, and if you were willing to go off the beaten path a little bit you could catch acts like Of Monsters And Men, traditional sets from The Kossoy Sisters, Spider John Koerner, or a blistering performance by ex-Rage Against The Machiner Tom Morello. It was, as everyday at the Newport Folk Festival is, a celebration of music writ large.

The festival ended, of course, with lingering rain clouds as Jackson Browne brought his friends Dawes, Sara Watkins, Jonathan Wilson and Tom Morello (whose set Browne hat sat in on to sing "This Land Is Your Land") out to end an already hit heavy set by Browne. Launching into an explosive cover of Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns and Money", the musicians abandoned any sense of "folk" that may have been lingering at Fort Adams, steering directly into the land of rawk, complete with traded guitar solos, Hendrixian guitar moves by Morello and a fist pumping, slightly waterlogged crowd that refused to let the moment die. 

And then it was over.

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Andre's Top 10 of 2012 (so far)

We're back! After a much need break from the rawk, the crew is rested and restored and ready to dive into this increasingly daunting back half of the year. Before heading out on break, we unleashed our collective top ten unto the world and all was good. But that list was made up of over sixty submitted albums, across any and all genre's you could think of. Taken as a whole, it paints a pretty clear picture of the personalities here and how everything fits together. Beyond that though, there are some great (and not so great) albums that didn't quite make the cut that are well worth a mention.

Kicking things off is Andre's top 10 list. It's a little more cosmic than most, but we wouldn't expect anything less from the good Doctor. So strap in and prepare for liftoff, because you're about to head through the looking glass and into the heart of the sunrise with your cosmic captain at the helm. Safe journeys. We'll see you on the other side.

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