10 Years in Music

August 8, 2017August 8, 2017 Joseph Lyttleton4 Comments

Looking back is looking forward.

I’ve been known to indulge in my share of excavating. As I prepare for my next big move, I’ve been looking back, not only on the decade-long 10 Cities/10 Years, but also on my youth and even more recent history. Writing these chapters from my life has been rewarding, allowing me to scrutinize my memories and re-examine pivotal moments in my history, recontextualizing my history as it relates to my present. But there are other ways to explore the past.

One of my favorite tools for documenting my life in real time is Last.fm, a website I’ve mentioned not infrequently in these pages. It’s the simplest of ideas: the website tracks the music you listen to on your various devices and compiles that information into charts and data points. It’s extremely nerdy and entirely unnecessary, and I love it.

I started using Last.fm just a few months before I set out on my decade of travel, so I have a document of all the music I listened to throughout the entire journey from day one: my ups and downs, my relationships come and gone, my periods of depression and moments of hysteria, all of it soundtracked. It’s the kind of thing that I can nerd out over for hours, and often do.

I decided it would be informative to look at my Top Songs charts for the various years of my 10 city project to get a sense of the tenor of each year through my musical obsessions. I’ve taken a snapshot of my Top 5 tracks, so now, if you’ll indulge me, I’m going to take another look back at my project, this time through song.

Call it 10 Cities/10 Years: The Soundtrack.

Or don’t, IDGAF.

1. Charlotte

How predictable. In my first year of traveling, I was still mostly listening to the artists who had gotten me through college, so Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright had been getting heavy rotation for a few years by this point (and still do). “Fake Plastic Trees” was my go-to favorite song for years, though its stature has diminished some over the years.

In terms of evolving musical tastes, The Decemberists were one of the many new artists a friend introduced to me while I was living in Charlotte. Especially in those early days, the Pacific Northwest band was known for their whimsical and eccentric mix of British folk and sea shanties. I was besotted with “The Engine Driver” which has this one verse:

I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I’ve written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones

It’s the kind of melodramatic sentiment that I absolutely adored back then. (Eh, still do.)

2. Philadelphia

Not much had changed in terms of favorite artists, though I was definitely listening to a more varied selection. “Come Pick Me Up” is my all-time most listened song and has never lost its “Favorite Song” status, but by this point I was starting to seek out more obscure artists. Mirah was another new discovery from my year in Charlotte, and she rapidly ascended into the realm of favorites. Though I’ve only followed her career intermittently recently, I was fortunate enough to see her play live just a few months ago at an intimate benefit show for LGBT youth. She was lovely.

Ghosty, for those that don’t know, is (was?) a band from my hometown in Kansas. They played a set at the famous World Café in Philadelphia and I saw them perform. Staying after to talk with the guys, I was surprised when the lead singer said that he actually knew me because he had seen me read poetry back in Lawrence. That was wholly unexpected and kind of cool.

3. Costa Mesa

For a time, Beirut was the musical artist I felt most spoke to my increasingly disparate tastes in music. I used to say that if I had any musical talent (I do not), I would make music exactly like Beirut. It’s interesting how, as especially so-called “indie” music has expanded in form and genre, the once unique Baltic sounds of Beirut have become just another common trope. I still enjoy Beirut, but my fervor has lessened considerably.

4. San Francisco

Starting to see some more female artists gain prominence in this list, though none of these three particular artists would be in my favorites. Still, Beth Orton’s Central Reservation did receive considerable play for a few years. “Concrete Sky,” which is off of a different album, features one-time Orton beau, Ryan Adams, so that probably helps explain its high chart position here. It’s also just a beautiful song.

“No Children” is, for me, the perfect song about a doomed relationship, that kind of love where the two people are terrible for each other but still work in a twisted sort of way. John Darnielle is a storyteller, and the entire Tallahassee album is arguably the best novel he’s ever written (though his two actual novels are worth a read).

5. Chicago

My fifth year was, at times, arduous, as you might recall, so it’s not really surprising that the songs that got the most airplay in that year were in large part downcast affairs. I adore Neko Case’s entire oeuvre, and I consider her song, “Star Witness,” to be one of the defining songs of 10 Cities/10 Years (I’m frankly shocked at its absence on these lists). Although “Don’t Forget Me” is a Harry Nilsson cover, she definitively makes it her own.

Yeasayer’s “Tightrope” stands out from the other songs on the chart with its propulsive and infectious rhythms. It appeared on the Dark Was the Night charity compilation (along with Iron & Wine’s “Die”) and was basically the standout track from two discs of excellent but mostly similar sounding indie rock and folk music. Worth tracking down.

6. Nashville

In the wake of a bad break up in Chicago, Nashville’s list consists of a lot of old favorites; comfort food, I suppose. Ironic that the one Adele song that I was really into that year was actually one of her more upbeat tracks. Also, “Dear Chicago”? How on the nose could I be? (Granted, it’s a fantastic song.)

7. Seattle

Ryan reclaims the top track, but this time with a song that was never officially released. Both “Karina” and “Angelina” appear on the famously unreleased 48 Hours (bootlegs are available, obviously), which was scrapped in favor of Demolition, a solid but ultimately less cohesive album. I’ve said this elsewhere but, after Heartbreaker, 48 Hours is Ryan’s greatest album, and the fact that it has never officially been released is a tragedy (a few songs appear on Demolition). “Karina” is his most sympathetic and piercing character piece and deserves to be loved by millions.

Otherwise, this list clearly reflects the counter-intuitively sunnier times I was having in Seattle. Also, funny to note just how much Childish Gambino has evolved as a writer and performer since those early days. “Freaks and Geeks” is still a banger.

8. New Orleans

This was another hard personal year, but still a year with a lot of partying, which is nicely exemplified in the dichotomy of Justin Timberlake and a pair of The National’s bleakest songs. The Divine Fits’ “Shivers” splits the difference, an old school proto-punk cover with the lyrics:

I’ve been contemplating suicide
But it really doesn’t suit my style
So I guess I’ll just act bored instead
And contain the blood I would’a shed

Considering my state of mind that year, the song was clearly speaking to me. (The song also includes one of my all-time favorite lines of shade: “My baby’s so vain / She’s almost a mirror”.)

9. Boston

I’d been a fan of Death Cab for Cutie since college, and yet, somehow, I had never bothered to acquire their most critically acclaimed album, Transatlanticism. I rectified that in Boston and soon after became enthralled with the eight minute centerpiece. I was also still obsessing over Hurray for the Riff Raff, a folk/mixed genre band from New Orleans that you should also be obsessed with. Get on that.

(Also, yes, Justin Timberlake made the list two years in a row; no shame.)

10. Brooklyn

And then came Brooklyn. Kanye West is an asshole. Kanye West is too full of himself. Kanye West lacks impulse control. All true. Also true: Kanye West can produce some amazing music. When Boston roommate, Emily, helped drive me to my tenth and final city, “Power” literally started playing the moment we passed the city limit sign. There couldn’t have been a more thematically appropriate song for that moment.

I had a brief fling with a French girl when I first moved to Brooklyn; my infatuation with The Stills’ french-language “Retour a Vega” lasted much longer. At the same time, I fell absolutely head-over-heels in love with HAIM’s debut. Their latest release is very good, but I still play the hell out of Days Are Gone.

Goddamn right JT threepeated.

Album Credits

Notably, while many of my favorite artists are represented in these lists, there are plenty of others that don’t appear (no Sufjan Stevens, no Elliott Smith, no Spoon, no Rilo Kiley), while a number of artists who I barely listen to anymore (Night Terrors of 1927, really?) showed up.

I could have done this kind of list with my Top Artists or my Top Albums and gotten some very different results. For instance, these were my top albums from my year in Charlotte:

All five albums came out between 2005 and 2006, yet only one, Picaresque, is represented on the most played songs. I suspect that I was still getting to know these albums and thus listening to them straight through instead of just cherry picking my favorite tracks.

I chose to look at my top songs instead of albums or artists because I think they reflect my moods in those years more accurately. The album lists lean heavily towards recent releases, and my top artists stay pretty static from year to year (Radiohead and Ryan Adams are almost always in the top spots). By contrast, my ever-changing top song lists across my ten year journey illustrate not only an evolving musical taste, but they also provide insight into my mental state in those particular years.

Perhaps this sort of thing is only interesting to me (if so, you probably aren’t still reading, so who cares), but if you have a Last.fm account, I recommend taking a gander into your own past. Maybe you’ll learn something about yourself.

Epilogue

For the completists in the continually dwindling crowd, I’m including my second and third year lists from my time in Brooklyn. As I’ve written about previously, the music of Songs: Ohia carried me through a very difficult post-project year, hence The Lioness charting so many tracks. And then, this current year’s list is a result of my concerted effort to seek out more diverse artists and voices, in particular more women.

Brooklyn (Year 2)

Brooklyn (Year 3)

Ideally, the list will continue to evolve every year because I will continue to evolve. In that way, these charts serve both as a document of the past and a challenge for the future. Who knows what my playlist will look like after a year in Spain? I look forward to making fresh comparisons next August.

Song of the Year

December 27, 2011May 22, 2013 Joseph Lyttleton2 Comments

It’s that time of year again. Year End Lists time. Rolling Stone does it, Pitchfork does it, the New York Times, Washington Post and NPR all do it. Time Magazine does it in spades.

We’ve come to the arbitrary end of 2011, and so now it’s time to unfurl the lists of the best (and maybe even worst) of any random thing. Don’t mistake my snark for disinterest. I actually love reading these lists and will be gobbling them up for the next few weeks.

But whereas I enjoy reading and being enlightened by the lists of major publications because I know their reviewers will have seen or listened to ten times as many movies and albums as me, I don’t have too much interest in the lists of bloggers.

Which is why I don’t do them. I think I bought 10 albums all year, so I can’t very well make a Top 10 list that means anything, and I know I haven’t even seen 10 movies in theaters this year. (I have rented a great deal and enjoyed very many of the small releases this year).

When my friends and fellow bloggers make these lists, I’m always skeptical that they’ve experienced enough variety throughout the year to give their listing any meaning. But then I remember they’re all mostly white, middle class kids with disposable income, so who knows, maybe they really have bought 100 albums in the past 365 days.

But I haven’t. I’ve experienced a lot of music this year, mostly one track at a time through free mp3s (I scour the blogs this time of year to snag every song I can find), and have frankly been mostly disappointed. So much of the music has felt emotionless and remote, I just can’t say there are any new bands or artists that have really captured my attention. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed some new acts this year, but just not enough to seek out their albums.

For whatever reason, there has been a dearth of visceral music this year. For me. Maybe for you this has been a great year for songs of resonance and you can illuminate in the comments what I’m missing.

My musical feast largely consisted of work by longtime favorites, with albums from Radiohead, Ryan Adams, Beirut, the Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie. All of these albums I have enjoyed thoroughly, though none are my favorite by that particular artist. I’ve enjoyed the new Coldplay and Florence + the Machine albums, but they didn’t blow me away.

Bon Iver’s self-titled album has probably been the most disappointing album for me, as it feels like a victim of the emotion-vacuum that a lot of indie music has been going through this year. It’s a solid enough album, but nothing connects the way almost every song on “For Emma, Forever Ago” did. Plus, that final song, “Beth/Rest” is one of those ‘love it or hate it’ songs that I find myself hating. (“Holocene,” on the other hand, does stand out quite beautifully.)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released an unremarkable album (I really wanted to love it), whereas Nicole Atkins surprised me with a sleeper album that I just keep returning to and enjoying more and more.

All and all it was a pretty damn good year for music from bands I already love, and if I had to pick a favorite album of the year, it would probably just end up a 4 or 5-way tie. For the record, I really dig “The King of Limbs” and find it to reward concentrated re-listens, the same way Kid A and Amnesiac did. But I understand if people don’t get into it, it’s a 180 degree turn from “In Rainbows” in that it doesn’t seem at all interested in pleasing a wide fanbase (the recently released singles “The Daily Mail/Staircase” are definitely still worth the $2.25).

For new music, though, I feel pretty blah. There definitely isn’t a new favorite band for me. That’s not to say that I won’t eventually come across something from this year that will really spark with me, but at year’s end, 2011 was a year dominated by old favorites, not new finds.

So, no top 10 albums or songs this year. What I want to leave you with, instead, is the one song that I feel owned 2011. It wasn’t by one of my favorite acts and it wasn’t by a brand new artist. You know this song, you’ve heard it a million times. And there’s a reason for that. It was the perfect pop song.*

Where the indie landscape felt like an emotionless wasteland, Adele released the most emotionally wrought and true song I’ve heard in a long time. If “Someone Like You” doesn’t resonate with you, then you have never been in love or had your heart broken. And aren’t those the two reasons we turn to music?

This song, and the album, will top a great deal of top 10 lists this year, and deservedly so. In fact, any list that doesn’t have this song in it is pretty much disqualified. I don’t care how many times you heard it, I don’t care if that annoying girl at your gym loves it, I don’t care if it was used in too many tv shows. A great song transcends all your dumb reasons for dismissing it, and this is the One Great Song of 2011.

So, maybe this won’t be a year I return to a lot when I’m going through my library, but I guarantee that I, and all of us, will be listening to this song for years to come. And that’s one badge of honor 2011 can claim.

So there you have it:

2011 Song of the Year – “Someone Like You” by Adele

*I don’t hear the radio or watch a lot of ABC medical dramas, so I don’t hear most of the big songs each year, but I will say another song I’m totally loving right now is Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” It’s not a guilty pleasure**, just pure pleasure.

**Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” on the other hand, is pure guilty pleasure.

5 Songs I’m Loving Now – 09/18/11

September 18, 2011March 10, 2014 Joseph Lyttleton1 Comment

Beirut – Goshen

I’ve said it before: If I could write music (or had any musical ability whatsoever), I would write music like Beirut. Because I can’t, I just have to be satisfied with enjoying their work. And I am satisfied, so very much. “The Rip Tide” is happily exactly what I want from a Beirut album and is quickly endearing itself to me. It could become my favorite of theirs. So, selecting one song off of it is tough (“Santa Fe” and “East Harlem” are obvious standouts), but there is something about this somber, moving ballad that makes it stick out. It slowly builds into an almost funeral march before fading away to nothing but plunked piano notes and contrite trumpet. It’s also a showcase for Zach Condon’s affecting voice. It’s really everything I could want in a Beirut song, so I guess in the end, it isn’t that tough to select one song.

James Vincent McMorrow – Follow You Down To The Red Oak Tree

This was one of those love at first hear sort of songs. I don’t know much about this guy, other than he’s Irish. Irish songwriters are usually reliable for at least one stunningly beautiful track, and this is definitely McMorrow’s one. Whether or not he has more such gems in his repertoire, I have no idea. But this is enough for now. Expect this to play in the background of a few dramas this television season. That’s not always a bad thing.

The National – About Today

I’ve actually been loving this song for quite awhile now. In an impressive catalog of emotionally raw and stirring songs, this is perhaps the most intimate and heartbreaking song the National have ever recorded. I don’t think there is a better song for expressing that exhausting confusion and self-doubt that you feel when you know the relationship is passively ending. The big, angry fights are hard, but they don’t compare to the slow, gradual drifting apart that presages the end. I’ve included a live version of the song because I think it’s a pretty nice display of the band’s instrumental talent, but you should really listen to the studio version here.

The Civil Wars – 20 Years

Pretty, pretty, pretty. Here is Indie Folk music at it’s most disarming, which means you pretty well know if you’ll love or hate this song depending on your affinity for the genre. It sounds the way you think mountain music must sound. The music is great, but it’s the vocals that make it. This is one of those excellent vocal collaborations where the male voice and female voice perfectly intertwine. If you enjoyed the album that Allison Krauss and Robert Plant put out a few years back, then you’ll love this.

Freelance Whales – Generator 2nd Floor

I’ve once again filled up my list with a bunch of sad sack slow songs, so I’ll make it up to you. Here’s a nicely upbeat marching song… about dying. No, but really, it’s a happy song. It tells us not to mourn death but to celebrate the life that was lived. And it does it with one of those characteristically ‘Indie’ group-sung choruses. I’ve already seen comments of people saying this song is annoying (apparently it was in a commercial), but personally I’m smitten with it. I like a song to be exultant from time to time, and this fits the bill nicely. It’s good to celebrate life.

Bonus Track:

Stars – We Don’t Want Your Body

I don’t know if this video is an official band creation or just an odd youtube clip that a fan made, but I wouldn’t be surprised if either was true. So many well fit and muscled bodies shouldn’t be so unpleasant to look at, but, blech. I guess that’s what you call ‘symbolism’. Anyway. This song has been playing on repeat in my apartment. It’s catchy as hell, a little more danceable than most Stars songs, but still a perfect fit within the whole, excellent album. “The Five Ghosts” has been out for awhile, but I’ve only just recently gotten into it and I’m glad I have. While they were always a band I enjoyed a few songs from, this album has officially turned them into a band I’m going to pay attention to.

Random Video: Elephant Gun

June 4, 2011December 18, 2011 Joseph Lyttleton

I cannot describe how much I love this song. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if I had even a smidgen of musical talent, I would create songs like Beirut. It might be natural to dismiss this American boy’s Eastern European flourishes as pretentious or unauthentic, but once you’ve listened to his music I think its beauty and grace will overtake your critical posturing.

Besides, we all create art that emulates our most affecting influences, so why not Balkan folk music (is it any less authentic than mining British folk music)?

Plus this video is a giddy pleasure of mine. I love the dancing. I am, actually, quite a sucker for dance and love to watch masterful performances. Someone take me to a ballet, I’d plotz. Maybe not.

Good stuff all around. Enjoy.