06 Jan 2014
I’m not a big “New Year’s resolutions” guy, but I do think it’s worth setting a few goals for the year. Mine are pretty simple:
- Dressing slightly better
- Get back into shape
- Manage my time better
Dressing Slightly Better
This one should be easy. I’m a big fan of dressing comfortably and in a way that doesn’t betray who you are. That makes it hard(er) for me to dress nicely, because that means jeans and a hoodie or t-shirt for me (with beat up sneakers). But, I’ve been working on trying to dress somewhat nicer; comfortable button down shirts, sweaters, and maybe nicer jeans. It’s easier in the winter, where layers are more than styles, they’re necessary to survive teh cold. Come summer, I’m going to need to find a balance.
The other reason this is a goal for me is that I hate spending money on clothing. It feels wasteful. So, I often go years with the same shirts, jeans, and definitely the same shoes. The goal here is to dress slightly nicer while a) not spending a ton of money, and b) not being wasteful. The second part is going to mean lots of donations to goodwill or charity; I’ve been (trying) to live by the “one-in, one-out” rule .
Get Back Into Shape
Another easy objective. Well, not the actual getting in shape part, but the “what do I do” part. Run more, which means cutting back on my work hours a bit (win-win, right?). Eat better, which means eating less free stuff at work (just need some will power). And, finally, walk more. I do this a lot during Celtics season, (I walk a couple of miles back and forth to the T), but less otherwise. I’d like to add some walking to my daily activities. When I worked in Kendall Square, that was pretty simple: just go to work. But working in Burlington means a car ride to a place where there’s not really anything in walking distance. Adding more walking will be a bit of a challenge, but it’ll just mean looking for chances to walk rather than drive.
Manage My Time Better
I’m pretty good at this one today. I live in Omnifocus, but I still find myself spending too much time at the office, which leaves less time for getting in shape and less time for making healthy meals. My day often goes like this:
- Wake up
- Triage and respond to email
- Shower
- Drive to work
- Work, meetings, work, meetings, work, meetings
- Try to clear out as much of my inbox as possible
- Go home
- Eat dinner
- Watch some TV to relax
- Go to bed
Those two parts of the day where I manage my inbox end up sucking up a lot of time. At least one of them is where I could be working out (and the other probably making a healthier dinner). I need to find how to gain back some of that time. Omnifocus will help—I need to get better at pushing emails off to handle in the future—but it won’t solve everything. Part of this just has to be the decision to do less stuff that doesn’t help me get healthier. I’d like to take advantage of better email filtering (automate processing some emails so I don’t have to manage them). I think that little change might help me gain back some time with just a little bit of effort.
31 Dec 2013
Typhoon - “Young Fathers”
If you’ve been paying attention at all this year, you probably already figured this out. White Lighter was my favorite album of the year from the moment it came out, and nothing was able to top it. “Young Fathers” was my favorite song from the moment I heard it, and nothing topped it.
Other songs came close—many of them other songs off of White Lighter, which is why I have my “one song per album” rule— but none surpassed “Young Fathers”. I’ve been trying to think about why this album, and this song, have been so resonant with me. I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of things:
- I’m a sucker for horns, strings, multiple drummers, and harmonies.
- The themes of this album are pretty much aimed straight at me. Adulthood, parenthood, mortality.
In my mind, “Young Fathers” captures what is so great about this album. Here’s a song about growing up, dealing with becoming an adult, and getting to the age that your parents were when they became parents. Should you have kids? What type of world are you bringing them into? Everything about that feels like it should be a dirge, a slow mournful song.
But just listen to it. From the opening “oohs” and the staccato guitar chords dropping as if a record was scratching, this isn’t a sad song. When Kyle Morton’s vocals come in, they’re melancholy, but echoed by shouts, and some harmonies. This isn’t a sad song. About midway through the song, that becomes even more clear. The beat picks up, with the drums pushing the pace along. It all builds until there’s about one minute left.
And then you get it. The horns and strings come in, the drums echo, the chorale comes in.
This isn’t a sad song. It’s catharsis. It’s redemption.
I’ve probably listened to this song 25 or 30 times (at least). I’ve never not smiled by the end.
That’s why it’s number one.
31 Dec 2013
Before we get to #1, here’s a quick recap, in case you missed some of the top 10.
- Sean Nelson - "Kicking Me Out of the Band"
- Au Revoir Simone - "Crazy"
- Ra Ra Riot - "Dance With Me"
- Brass Beds - "I'll Be There With Bells On"
- Surfer Blood - "Say Yes To Me"
- Telekinesis - "Empathetic People"
- Haim - "Falling"
- Vampire Weekend - "Unbelievers"
- Neko Case - "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu"
Number 1 in about an hour.
30 Dec 2013
Neko Case - “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu”
Jesus.
Let’s set aside the song, for a moment. Neko Case’s voice is powerful enough on its own. Here, a capella, backed only by her own vocals overdubbed to harmonize, it’s clearly one of music’s most wonderful instruments.
But when you put her voice on this song (which might be better classified as a poem or short story), it’s chilling and it’s heartbreaking. And more heartbreaking, since it’s so detailed that it’s clearly based on a real event . And, I’m sure, it’s something that everyone can relate to in some way.
The thing is, as dark, as sad, as much of a gut punch as this song is, it ends with a silver lining. When Neko ends the song with “’cause I’ll still love you, even if I don’t see you again”, it’s such a simple, beautiful statement that you can’t help but feel a little bit of hope for the world.
29 Dec 2013
Vampire Weekend - “Unbelievers”
In a year where both Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire put out albums that took their sound in new directions, in my mind, it’s Vampire Weekend’s expansion of their sound that wins out over Arcade Fire’s messy (but often very good) attempt to try damn near every genre .
Every song on Modern Vampires of the City is unmistakably a Vampire Weekend song, but is also so much more mature and grand than anything off of Contra. As they’ve moved past the pure afro-pop sound, Vampire Weekend has figured out how to keep the textures and beats of that genre, but meld them into their own sound. It’s no longer a band doing their best to approximate a modern day Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It’s Vampire Weekend, with all of their influences brought together into a beautiful and buoyant, yet often melancholy, album.
“Unbelievers” is my favorite, because it feels so un-Vampire Weekend-like (how’s that for hyphenation?) yet is so very Vampire Weekend. Lyrically, it’s clearly a Vampire Weekend album. It’s got their trademark hook; incredibly catchy, yet still smart. It’s a song about the gap between the religious and non, and it echoes that religious with its church organ, hand claps, and drums that push the song along like you’re at a revival. “Unbelievers” is, maybe, one of the most straightforward songs Vampire Weekend’s ever made musically. But that’s all it needs to be.
28 Dec 2013
Haim - “Falling”
At this point, pretty much everybody and their mothers (<christrager>literally</christrager>) has heard of Haim. They’re the sister act that sounds like a cross between a 70s rock band and a mid–90s pop/R&B (usually Fleetwood Mac by way of Wilson Phillips). They’ve been on Saturday Night Live making the infamous bass face. They’re a minor cultural phenomenon …
who just happened to have put out one of the best albums of 2013. An old-school album where half of the songs have been, will be, or should be hit singles. All written and performed by the band themselves.
“Falling” is a perfect example of a Haim song, maybe the perfect example. The quiet open that highlights the vocals before opening up into a full on 90s synth pop song. As the song builds, so do the harmonies, and the really powerful low end—the bass and drums pack a punch while not ever overpowering the song. (Though, I'll admit: one morning, I drove into work with the volume a little louder than normal and, damn, that bass line and low end drums seriously shook the car. Just listen to the first 30 seconds in a good pair of headphones.) And then you hop in the Haim time machine again, as you get a very out of the 80s guitar solo.
It’s just a really great radio single. A really smart music blog said that if this were released by Beyonce, it would have been the top song of the year. I think that's spot on, though I think maybe Gaga would have been a more appropriate proxy artist.
27 Dec 2013
Telekinesis - “Empathetic People”
What do you know? A two-and-a-half-minute driving pop song. Who would have guessed?
This one is all about the rhythm section. The bass and drums completely propel this song forward. I think what makes it such a winner for me is that once you’ve seen Telekinesis live is you can’t forget that those propulsive drums are being played by lead singer Michael Benjamin Lerner.
See?
You score points for difficulty on my list.
26 Dec 2013
Surfer Blood - “Say Yes to Me”
2 and a half minutes of pure pop rock. Clearly, I’ve been beating the pop sound into the ground for the first half of the list (and I think there’s still one more …), but this might be as pure as it gets. This is a straight up pop rock song that could have come out at any point in the last four decades, musically and lyrically.
Setting aside what happened with Surfer Blood (which has not been easy for some folks, leading to this album’s lower profile), this is the sort of song Surfer Blood seem tailored to make. Shiny guitars, a nick kicking rhythm section, building a really well constructed pop song.
It certainly never hurts to bring in some harmonies, either.
25 Dec 2013
Brass Beds - “I’ll Be There With Bells On”
I’d never heard of Brass Beds before. This is another of the “popped up on some podcast and stuck in my brain” until it wore down my defenses. 2 minutes and 30 seconds of power poppy-ness. There are points where this sounds a bit like a lost Shins b-side from Oh, Inverted World, but with more fuzz.
And, come on, who doesn’t love a little falsetto?
24 Dec 2013
Ra Ra Riot - “Dance With Me”
You know, I didn’t like the new Ra Ra Riot album at first. I loved the string-infused pop sound from their first couple of albums, and I loved their live shows.
This album is so synth. The strings are down in the mix on most of the songs. It wasn’t what I expected.
And then, unexpectedly, it started catching on. It’s still super poppy, hooky music (and by now, you’ve probably noticed that trend in my picks). Like “Crazy”, this song is damn near all hook. It’s a ton of fun. You can almost hear the fun coming through your speakers. When you see the song live, it’s probably the bounciest thing you’ll ever see.
I think that why I ended up putting it on my list. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve heard it, it never feels tired. Every time it builds up to the chorus and you hear the little “ahhhhhh” in the background, it makes me smile. That gets you on the list.
(And, the fun poppy songs at this end of the list will offset some of the darker stuff you’re going to hear shortly …)