Posts Tagged ‘Ryan Adams’

Best Bands and Albums of the Decade

December 22nd, 2009    Posted in Best of the 2000's
 

The first decade of the 21st century has just about come to a close. While the political industry has seen things like the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq War and the first election of an African-American President, the music industry has seen things like the rebirth of the outdoor music festival (thanks to a crashing fall brought on by the failed Woodstock ‘99), as well as all of the issues pertaining to illegal internet downloading and pirating of music. I like to think that’s it’s been an amazing decade of music, and was probably one of the best times for bands to be coming along. While the 60’s are remebered with The Beatles, Stones and hippies, the 70’s funk, disco and punk, the 80’s Michael Jackson and MTV, the 90’s alternative and mainstream rock, the 00’s will be remembered for Jack White, the rise of indie bands, and how the definition of “indie” changed from “independent/unsigned band” to “a certain type of sound.” Like I said, I think it’s been an amazing decade of music, and although I’m still quite young at twenty-eight, I believe this has been by far the best decade of music I have experienced. I like what a lot of blogs and magazines are doing right now with putting together their “best albums of the decade” lists, but I just don’t think I have the patience or could take the stress in trying to rate my favorites from the past ten years. So I’ve made a list below of some of my favorite bands, some of the biggest bands, and some of my favorite and most-listened to albums of the past ten years. Hope you enjoy!

Ryan Adams
Favorite Album: Demolition
Honorable Mentions: Heartbreaker; Gold; Easy Tiger; Cardinology

From what I know, no other artist has released more albums this decade than Ryan Adams. Maybe Jack White or Conor Oberst, if you were to combine all of their records from their various projects, but my “Artist of the Decade” award clearly has Adams winning in a landslide. I’ve enjoyed every Adams release, and consider many of his albums among my most cherished of all-time. Whether he’s playing loud and electric rock and roll and blues (“To Be Young”, “New York, New York”. “This Is It”) or soft and acoustic, country-folk ballads (“Oh My Sweet Carolina”, “Desire”, “I Taught Myself How to Grow Old”), I’ve enjoyed both the Jeykll and Hyde in Adams.

My Morning Jacket
Favorite Album: Evil Urges
Honorable Mentions: At Dawn; It Still Moves; Z

No other band is more loved in the history of Bonnaroo than the Jacket. Thankfully, this is where I discovered this band (after hearing about their 2004 thunderstorm performance, I knew I needed to attend the next year). I’ve been around to see their sound evolve, and much like Ryan Adams, I enjoy both the soft, acoustic stuff (“Golden”, “Sec Walkin”) and the loud rock and roll (“Mahgeetah”, “One Big Holiday”) of MMJ. I think that with every release they put out, their music just keeps getting a lot better, and that all has to do with bringing more musical styles, sounds and instruments to the table. If you haven’t yet heard of the omnichord, you’ve got to check out Jim James’ work on this weird instrument (“Smokin’ from Shootin’”, “Touch Me, I’m Going to Scream”).

Wilco
Favorite Album: Sky Blue Sky
Honorable Mentions: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; A Ghost is Born; Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

Again, another band whose every release this decade has held a special place in my heart. I don’t want to say that I like the story of Jeff Tweedy going from drug addict to clean and sober, but the music he’s written during this phase (especially noticeable on Sky Blue Sky) are by far some of the most honest, emotionally-relatable songs I’ve ever heard, and for him to put his heart out on his sleeve like that is highly respectable and courageous. 

The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/The Dead Weather
Favorite Album (all projects): Icky Thump
Honorable Mentions: White Blood Cells; Get Behind Me Satan; Broken Boy Soldiers; Horehound

Radiohead/Thom Yorke
Favorite Album: Kid A
Honorable Mention: In Rainbows

Bon Iver
Favorite Album: For Emma, Forever Ago
Honorable Mention: Blood Bank EP

Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst
Favorite Album: Cassadaga
Honorable Mentions: Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground; I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning; Digital Ash in a Digital Urn; Conor Oberst

Andrew Bird
Favorite Album: Noble Beast
Honorable Mention: Armchair Apocrypha

Band of Horses
Favorite Album: Cease to Begin
Honorable Mention: Everything All the Time

Ben Harper
Favorite Album: Live from Mars
Honorable Mention: Both Sides of the Gun

Arcade Fire
Favorite Album: Neon Bible
Honorable Mention: Funeral

The National
Favorite Album: Boxer
Honorable Mention: Alligator

Kings of Leon
Favorite Album: Only By the Night
Honorable Mention: Because of the Times

Coldplay
Favorite Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Honorable Mention: Parachutes

The Flaming Lips
Favorite Album: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Honorable Mention: At War with the Mystics

Dr. Dog
Favorite Album: We All Belong
Honorable Mentions: Easy Beat; Fate

The Black Keys/Dan Auerbach
Favorite Album: Keep It Hid (Dan Auerbach)
Honorable Mentions: Magic Potion (Black Keys); Attack & Release (Black Keys)

Explosions in the Sky
Favorite Album: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Honorable Mentions: How Strange, Innocence; Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

Tom Waits
Favorite Album: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
Honorable Mention: Alice

Daft Punk
Favorite Album: Alive 2007
Honorable Mention: Discovery

The Decemberists
Favorite Album: The Crane Wife
Honorable Mention: The Hazards of Love

The Hold Steady
Favorite Album: Boys and Girls in America
Honorable Mention: Stay Positive

Passion Pit
Favorite Album: Manners
Honorable Mention: Chunk of Change EP

Dave Matthews Band
Favorite Album: Busted Stuff
Honorable Mention: Stand Up

The Killers
Favorite Album: Hot Fuss

Modest Mouse
Favorite Album: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

The Swell Season
“Once” Soundtrack

Spoon
Favorite Album: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Honorable Mention: Gimme Fiction

Damien Rice
Favorite Album: O
Honorable Mention: 9

Okkervil River
Favorite Album: The Stage Names
Honorable Mention: The Stand Ins

Josh Ritter
Favorite Album: The Animal Years
Honorable Mention: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Phoenix
Favorite Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

The Slip
Favorite Album: Eisenhower

Heartless Bastards
Favorite Album: The Mountain
Honorable Mention: All This Time

Over the Rhine
Favorite Album: Ohio
Honorable Mentions: Films For Radio; The Trumpet Child

Kim Taylor
Favorite Album: I Feel Like A Fading Light
Honorable Mention: So Black, So Bright

Ryan Adcock
Favorite Album: From Silence and Joy
Honorable Mention: Unfinished

Bad Veins
Favorite Album: Bad Veins

Cameron Martin Cochran
Favorite Album: The Cycle of Life and Death
Honorable Mention: Diary, A Days

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Most Influential Music Figures of The Past Decade

November 5th, 2009    Posted in Best of 2009
 

jack white
Jack White
The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/The Dead Weather

As if trying to achieve world domination with The White Stripes wasn’t enough, White is out to accomplish the same feat with his other two bands. Although his other two bands have a similar bluesy, hard rock sound found in the Stripes, they take that sound to the next level by having more than just the one-two punch of guitar and drums. The Raconteurs features Brendan Benson (who is  also making quite a name for himself) and Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of The Greenhornes, who are one of the best things musically to ever come out of the Cincinnati area. Lawrence joins White for the newer project, The Dead Weather, which also features Alison Mosshart of The Kills and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age. In this supergroup though, White often plays drums, as opposed to the usual distorted and reverb-soaked guitar solos.
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Thom Yorke
Radiohead

There’s not many alternative rock bands from the nineties that can say they’re even bigger now than they were ten, fifteen years ago, but Radiohead is undoubtedly the biggest and most beloved of the group. Radiohead hasn’t released a lot of material the past few years, but they kicked off the 21st century with what would become one of the greatest albums in rock history, Kid A. And of course there was the controversial “pay what you want” for their last album, In Rainbows, a couple years back. It actually worked out quite well for the band, as their fans proved to be rather generous. Yorke has also done the solo thing, with the release of his more electro-fueled disc, The Eraser, back in 2006.

andre-3000-andre-benjamin
Andre 3000
OutKast

Here’s another guy who was also pretty popular in the nineties, but has continued to climb the latter, despite having only a few releases of the 2000’s. He’s also lending his hand to television and film, as well as the creation of his own clothing line, and leading a sober lifestyle. OutKast is one of the few hip-hop groups I can actually stand, and Andre is one of the few rappers I can actually admit to having some form of respect for, unlike some people named Kanye who think they are even bigger than God.

damon-albarn-portrait
Damon Albarn

Blur/Gorillaz/The Good, the Bad & the Queen

London’s alternative rock band, Blur, rose to fame and hit its peak in the nineties, while Gorillaz achieved success quicker in the early 2000’s, and more recently, Albarn’s musical project has been The Good, the Bad & the Queen, which formed in the mid-00’s. But Albarn is also quite the record producer, by lending his skills to World music and artists like Manu Chao and Amadou & Mariam.  

dangermouse
Danger Mouse
Gnarls Barkley

Danger Mouse (Brian Joseph Burton) first rose to fame with The Grey album, a mash-up of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and The Beatles White Album. He formed Gnarls Barkley in 2003 with Cee-Lo, and is also quite the producer, working with bands like Gorillaz, The Black Keys and Beck, as well as collaborating with MF DOOM and Sparklehorse.

moby-remix-contest
Moby

Here’s another guy who rose to fame in the nineties, but has continued to get even bigger, by kicking off the 21st century with the album 18, which hit #1 in the UK and #4 in the US. He is viewed as one of the most important dance music figures by bringing together mainstream audiences both in the UK and US. Moby has remixed and collaborated with a number of artists including Lou Reed, David Bowie, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and Ken Thomas of Sigur Ros. He also a noted advocate for a number of causes such as MoveOn and the Humane Society.

elliott smith
Elliott Smith
(1969-2003)

As one of indie folk-rock’s first and finest singer/songwriter’s, Smith was never the type seeking out the limelight, although he would find mainstream success with his song “Miss Misery” in the film, Good Will Hunting. Most of his music came in the nineties, as he only had one release in the 21st century, before taking his life in 2003 at the age of thirty-four. But there has since been two post-humous releases, 2004’s From a Basement on the Hill (which he had already started working on) and 2007’s New Moon, which featured twenty-four previously unreleased songs. Think of him as what Kurt Cobain was to grunge and alternative rock. A sad and tragic ending for a man with an exceptional talent.

 

ryanadams
Ryan Adams
Whiskeytown/The Cardinals

In the nineties with Whiskeytown, Adams became an integral part as one of alternative country’s most influential and successful bands, despite not having a consistent band lineup. The 21st century was full of all kind of Ryan Adams albums, whether they be solo or with his backing band, the Cardinals. He has been known for his occasional dramatic outbursts during shows, as well as the loss of hearing he has been undergoing for the past several years due to over exposure to loud music when he was younger. After the Cardinals completed a tour earlier this year, they went on hiatus, as everyone, especially Ryan, felt it was necessary to take some time to do their own thing. Ryan recently married pop star Mandy Moore, and has released a few songs under his black metal moniker, Werewolph.

conor_oberst
Conor Oberst

Bright Eyes/The Mystic Valley Band/Monsters of Folk

What Elliott Smith was in the nineties, Oberst has become that of the 21st century. Conor has played in nearly ten different bands, but is best known for his years in Bright Eyes and devotion to Saddle Creek Records and Omaha’s indie music scene. Although the Bright Eyes project formed in the mid-90’s, it wasn’t until their 2002 release, Lifted or the Story…, when they started receiving high praises. Bright Eyes went on to release three more albums, all of which received high praises, before he would drop the name Bright Eyes, concentrating on his solo material and his work with the Mystic Valley Band. His most recent project, Monsters of Folk, dates back several years and features his musician friends like Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis, M. Ward, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket (see below).

jim james
Jim James
(aka Yim Yames)
My Morning Jacket/Monsters of Folk

Being a Kentucky native, I can’t help but feel proud to know that Jim James and My Morning Jacket are from Louisville. My Morning Jacket has done a lot of genre-crossing since the late 90’s; from quiet, Americana folk-rock, to psychedelic, jamband rock, to elements of hard rock and metal, even expanding to the sounds of reggae, dub, R&B and dance, Jim James and My Morning Jacket have found the perfect concoction of nearly every style of music, which is creating one of the most devoted fanbases of the 21st century by bringing together music fans of all walks of life. His most recent project, Monsters of Folk, is seen as one of the greatest supergroups since Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

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Adams & the Cardinals Rock the Taft

October 3rd, 2008    Posted in Uncategorized
 

Just got back from the Ryan Adams show. Wish I would’ve taken my digital camera – I saw several people up front with theirs, but I guess security doesn’t check people anymore.

Full Setlist:

Cobwebs
Everybody Knows
Come Pick Me Up
Wonderwall (Oasis Cover)
Fix It
La Cienga Just Smiled
Goodnight Rose
Sun Also Sets
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
Magick
Desire
Let It Ride
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Love Is Hell
Crossed Out Name
Afraid Not Scared
Natural Ghost
Two
Rescue Blues
Sink Ships
When Stars Go Blue
How Do You Keep Love Alive
Shakedown on 9th Street
Mockingbird
Off Broadway
Note to Self: Please Don’t Die
Cold Roses
Bartering Lines
Meadowlake Street
This Is It

Quick Notes:

There wasn’t definitely a lot more rock tonight than country, with Ryan taking nearly all of the leads, at times even making a sound reminscent of Jerry Garcia, with the Cardinals turning into the Grateful Dead.

A little bit of their Alt. Country sound was still visible with Jon Graboff mastering the pedal steel.
They even got heavy at times, showing Ryan’s love for 80’s Hair Metal & Glam Rock – Ryan was sporting a black Dio t-shirt.

Overall, the setlist was amazing. A lot of new material, coming out on Cardinology at the end of the month.

I was kind of suprised (but very happy) to hear songs like La Cienga, Desire and Come Pick Me Up.

They played over 30 songs, for nearly 2 1/2 hours, only stopping a few minutes before the encore.

A couple times during the night, fans shouted for Halloweenhead, but Ryan only tricked us by “sort-of” singing a couple of lines from the song.

Wish I had some pics or video for you, I would’ve had some great shots, because I was in the third row left center, with a clear shot of Ryan, only about 15-20 feet away.

This was one of the best shows I’ve seen over the past several years.

YouTube Videos

Although I didn’t take my digital camera to the show, I couldn’t resist searching around YouTube for some 2008 Ryan Adams shows, specifically the Cincinnati show. I can’t find anything from the Taft Theatre just yet, but here are some more recent videos of their current tour. Enjoy!

Cobwebs (new song)

La Cienga Just Smiled

Sink Ships (new song)

Everybody Knows

Come Pick Me Up – Jon Graboff giving them their country sound on the pedal steel.

Goodnight Rose – feels a little bit like Neil Young and the Grateful Dead.

Let It Ride – pedal steel again.

Why Do They Leave – more Neil sounding.

Cold Roses – more Dead sounding.

To Sum It All Up:

At times, when you’re watching Ryan & the Cardinals up there, it sounds as if you’re listening to Neil Young front the Grateful Dead as if they were experimenting in country music, rather than other things.

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