Adventures in Atlanta

My sister graduated from college last weekend, so my family went down to Atlanta. Here's my weekend in music:

Most listened album: Only Way To Be Alone- Good Old War (runner-up: It's Blitz!- Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
Most listened song: Hysteric- Yeah Yeah Yeahs (runner-up: Glad Girls- Guided By Voices)
Songs heard performed by an a capella group: I think about 8, including Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss," and Blackstreet's "No Diggity."
Record Stores Visited: One- Decatur CD. It was a pretty cool little shop. Mostly CD's, but also a fairly good collection of new and noteworthy vinyl. The walls were covered in signed Wilco posters, which, in my book, is enough to make me love a store.
Albums bought: Just one, and not even a full album- Fleet Foxes's new Mykonos 7''.
Artists Met: One- Annie Clark of St. Vincent! After buying the Fleet Foxes 7'' at Decatur CD, I was waiting outside for my dad and brother to finish up. A group of four or five (including an adorable baby!) were walking past and they started laughing and pointing to something inside the store. I had a weird feeling I recognized one of the women, and once one of the men said, "Hey Annie, it's you!" [in reference to her face, plastered on the front of her fantastic new album "Actor"] I knew it was in fact St. Vincent. When I asked if she was, they all laughed and said yes. The whole group was very friendly and left me smiling. I was definitely starstruck! And yes, Annie is as pretty in person as she is on the covers of her albums.

Major Label Mayhem with Fleet Foxes

I love Fleet Foxes! :)
Fleet Foxes do not love major labels! :(

In a post to their MySpace, frontman Robin Pecknold expressed not-so-subtly his distaste for major labels after a Seattle journalist wrote that the FF's had not only signed to Virgin Records, but were planning on releasing a special edition of their debut album. Here's what Pecknold said:

So, I went to the (truly insane and heart-swelling) Dept of Eagles show at Neumo's tonight (sang along and bought a Tee) and a couple people said something about hearing we signed to Virgin Records and they are reissuing a "special edition" of the CD LP. This is false. I think a Seattle Weekly blog post started this fire, which I will now extinguish, with this statement - "Fleet Foxes will never, ever, under no circumstances, from now until the world chokes on gas fumes, sign to a major label. This includes all subsidiaries or permutations thereunder. Till we die." I just don't see the point. Most major labels seem anti-music. We've pursued no such deal with Virgin (or been pursued to my knowledge, I think it was just a bit of news they reported) and would be idiots to be unhappy with our fam of label folks. It is true though that all copies of the CD LP will now include a free copy of the EP (like it is currently with the vinyl), but that's not a "special limited edition," it'll be that way in perpetuity, no extra cost or packaging change. That's all! Also I cut all my hair off.

I think it's great that Fleet Foxes are sticking with Sub Pop, because it seems they've formed a great relationship. But, this opens the eternal question of whether the major or indie route is better for bands. Clearly, the FF's have their opinion. What's yours?

P.S. Here's Robin without his hair!


P.P.S. All this info snatched from Pitchfork!

My Favorite Albums of 2008

This is a rough list that will probably change in about an hour. I think that while last year brought a lot of good follow-ups (M.I.A., Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, to name a few) 08 brought a lot of really great new bands (Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Los Campesinos, Santogold). Folk music (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver) got pretty big, as did grunge (No Age, a runner-up for my list) and anything afro-beat inspired (Vampire Weekend, Dodos). Can't wait to see what 2009 will bring, and if any of this year's debuts will create some great follow-ups!

1. fleet foxes
2. keep your eyes ahead- the helio sequence
3. narrow stairs- death cab
4. visiter- the dodos
5. viva la vida- coldplay
6. volume one- she and him
7. vampire weekend
8. for emma, forever ago- bon iver
9. little joy
10. hold on now, youngster...- los campesinos
11. feed the animals- girl talk
12. mission control- the whigs
13. evil urges- my morning jacket
14. pershing- someone still loves you boris yeltsin
15. stay positive- the hold steady
16. santogold

While all of those are albums released this year, my ultimate favorite album that I listened to in 2008 would have to be the New Pornographer's Challengers. I don't know why I never bought this in 07. Every song is perfect and wonderful and amazing.

Indie Boy Crushes

Inspired by Stereogum's Gummy Awards, here's a list of my Top 7 Indie Boy crushes of 2008! (What do you expect, I'm a teenage girl.)



Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend)
From magazine covers to MTV interviews, shots of Koenig's preppy charm and boyish face added to all of that hot-vampire hype 2008 brought (Twilight, anyone?)



Conor Oberst
Year after year, Oberst brings that underfed, angled haircut, haven't slept in days look to the scene. Finally recognizing his brooding good looks, the former-prodigy/current-songwriter appeared on the cover of one of his albums. I love you, let's eat food together so you can get some meat on those bones!



Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan didn't even release an album this year, but his innocent stare will always strike me right in the blood-pumper. Put some butterfly wings on and whisper to me, Sufjan.



A-Trak (Chromeo)
When your mom asks you to bring home a nice Jewish boy, perhaps she means A-Trak, hipster extraordinaire and self-proclaimed momma's boy. He's no doctor or lawyer, but he can rock a keyboard with women's legs.



Justin Vernon (Bon Iver)
This is why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62i9Sodwp5o



Andrew Vanwyngarden (MGMT)
Hilarious and inventive, Vanwyngarden has shaggy, don't-give-a-damn looks that are so pretentiously hipster...and yet I can't resist for the very same reasons.



Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes)
I saw Fleet Foxes at the Black Cat in July. Pecknold was sporting a flannel-and-wool ensemble and drinking hot tea. In July. Thus, he's hot. Ba-dum-chhhh!

Also, most of these men get honorable mentions for weirdest names in rock.

Fleet Foxes Live

So I chose to go to the Fleet Foxes show last night instead of tonight's No Age show. And while I suppose that No Age could be a life-altering concert, I'm more than pleased with my decision. Fleet Foxes were (question: would Fleet Foxes be plural or singular? i.e. Foxes was or Foxes were?) fantastic live. Despite their supposedly ill front man (he had a steaming mug of tea by his stool. Not to mention he was dressed in multiple layers of flannel and wore a knit hat. This was July. In a hot and sweaty club.) they played a very impressive set that in every way lived up to their blogged-out hype. The harmonies on songs like "White Winter Hymnal" were gorgeous, and the band sounded better than they do on their flawless self-titled LP. The aforementioned tea-sippin' front man's vocals blew me away. I can't help but wonder (That sounded like Carrie Bradshaw. Well, I did see the Sex and the City movie two nights ago. Is this the only blog post in history that mentions Fleet Foxes and SatC in the same sentence? Probably.) what he sounds like when he's not congested and coughing. The band was clearly humbled by what they called a "staggering" sold-out crowd. After each song they sincerely thanked the audience, who in turn was very receptive to the music and the quintet. It was a pleasure seeing Fleet Foxes for the first time in a small-scale venue, because I predict that they will be selling out larger clubs in the not-so-distant future.

NPR recorded the show and it can be heard here.

They didn't allow flash photography last night, and my camera is crappy (thus it does not function well without a flash), but I got a few semi-decent shots:

No Age or Fleet Foxes?

Dilemma: Should I go to the No Age show or the Fleet Foxes show?