Record sales/ The Grammys

Two of the top ten selling albums last week are on independent labels. I don't have any stats, but I would assume that is a pretty rare occurrence. Spoon's "Transference" debuted at No. 4 this week, and Vampire Weekend's "Contra" dropped a few spots from its No. 1 debut last week (only the 13th indie ever to go No. 1 since the advent of Soundscan) to No. 6.

Is this another sign of the "mainstreaming of indie," or more representative of how far major label record sales have fallen in the past decade, allowing the little guys to catch up? I'm leaning towards the latter — major label record sales can't hold a candle what they were just 10 years ago.

The top selling album of '09, Taylor Swift's “Fearless,” has sold 2.4 million copies, less than half of what a hit album sold in 2000. That reflects the larger trend in record sales, which have declined 45 percent since 2000, according to the NY Times.

But, music fans of the indie persuasion are still buying music, because, this is gonna sound arrogant, they appreciate and value the craftsmanship and artistry more than the mainstream zombies downloading the majority of their tunes, and buying the god-forsaken Susan Boyle album in droves.

As I'm writing this, E! is spraying inane chatter all over the red carpet pre-Grammy Awards. (What are the Grammys?)

Should an album-buying, music-obsessing record nerd like myself be the prime target of a music awards show (glorified recording-industry commercial, back-patting contest)? If the teens and mainstream listening public are buying enough fewer albums that indie labels are creeping into the top ten with rising frequency, why pander to the fading purchasing power of the pop demographic? The awards are, of course, not awarded for the quality of the actual music but for the size of the celebrity receiving each award (the abominable yet ubiquitous Black Eyed Peas received several nominations). Then again, fans of Spoon and the indie/alternative canon (supposedly) don't really care about gold-painted statues with a history void of any credibility, and the awards show would fade into even further obscurity if it deviates from its current path of comedic irrelevancy.

Basically, the Grammys are fucked. The music it trumpets no longer sells like it used to, and the underground music that has always had the most artistic integrity is slowly eating up more of the sales pie and would shun the awards if it halfheartedly and (now) belatedly tried to embrace it.

Note: The upcoming cover story for Paste Magazine is an essay entitled "Indie is Dead." I haven't read it yet, and don't know what the argument is going to be, but my interest is piqued.

Half-assed record review: Vampire Weekend - Contra

I was going to say that without guitars, Vampire Weekend becomes too precious. Too cute, too island-y, too pop, too ..... something. But that's not true ... some of the best tracks on Contra lean almost completely to the electronic/laptop side of the equation.

Whatever it is, I don't like Contra nearly as much as the debut, and it's probably because singer Ezra Koenig doesn't have jack shit to say. His vacations were all sailboats and lobster and filet mignon, his education Ivy League, and his wealth (likely) trust-funded. And that lifestyle and the carefully chosen keywords peppered throughout the debut was the message itself: "I come from the East Coast and I am here to rock you like something quite less than a hurricane." But that's about the entire depth of Koenig's tale, and any attempt to branch out smells like fake crab meat. Nearly very lyric on Contra is all pretense and almost no meaning. What the fuck is "I think you're a Contra" supposed to mean? We are supposed to receive the sentiment as a mystery, words to be deconstructed, analyzed, eventually understood. I call bullshit. Ezra doesn't even know what the fuck it's supposed to mean. Of course it's soooo cool to be meaningless, but it distracts from an album chock-full of interesting percussion and keyboards (and too few guitars). But, of course, all this would be moot if Ezra dug up as many great melodies as were found on the debut. That's all we really want, if we're honest, and when they aren't there, we start looking at everything else in the room.
Contra is still playing in my car, but with every trip through the album, more and more tracks are being skipped immediately. Oh yeah, and sometimes it just sounds like ska, hahaha. C+/B-

It's gonna be cold outside and warm as hell in my recliner (UPDATED 11/27)

Early 2010 looks to be a great time for music fans. Spoon will continue its current four-album winning streak with "Transference," Vampire Weekend will try to avoid the sophomore slump with "Contra" and LCD Soundsystem will drop his follow up to 2007's mind blowing "Sound of Silver" on unworthy boys and girls.

Get yr credit cards ready, as I'm sure you'll all be buying each of these in CD, digipack, vinyl, cassette, 8-track and sheet music in valiant efforts to singlehandedly save the recording industry.

Yeasayer will follow its terrific 2007 debut with "Odd Blood." The album's lead single "Ambling Alp" (and it's awesome, surrealistic video) shows a new electronic take on the band's sci-fi tribe sound.

Stereogum claims the Avalanches will follow its 2001 debut this year ... here's for holding out hope. And the Hold Steady might reward is with some new tracks, too.

That's all for now, folks.

Vampire Weekend - Contra (1-12-10)
Spoon - Transference (1-19-10)
Yeasayer - Odd Blood (2-9-10)
LCD Soundsystem - TBA (3-??-10)

Ur a Contra

You can download a free track here from Vampire Weekend's upcoming album "Contra," to be released 01-12-10. The heavy traffic has caused the site crash on occasion, just hit reload and it will work.

It sounds like Ezra and the gang have been listening to a little Animal Collective.

2008: The Crappening (updated again on 12/28 I keep remembering things I forgot to add)

I spent a good amount of this year catching up on some of 2006 and 2007's albums that I didn't grab the first time around. 2006, in particular, was an awesome year for music. I finally listened to "The Crane Wife" by The Decemberists, "The Loon" by Tapes n Tapes and "Boys and Girls in America" by the Hold Steady. I also bought "Boxer" by the National, one of '07s best records.

Though it can't compete with the last two years, music fared better than film in 2008, and did do an OK job fulfilling its most useful purpose — distracting me from everything happening outside my front door. Some of my favorite bands released overhyped and underwhelming records (My Morning Jacket, Black Keys, Beck, Kings of Leon) but the year stayed afloat thanks to a handful of promising debuts. In fact, 2008 churned out the best crop of indie freshman in recent memory. Haunting folk by Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver hung like a thick fog, slowing down my daily chores with heavy reverb and timeless harmonies.

Vampire Weekend succeeded in reinventing the wheel, making ska and African rhythms sound fresh 25 years after art-damaged kids and popsters alike turned the same trick.

And, with the year's best singles, MGMT brought danceable Psychedelic glam-rock into dorm rooms everywhere.

Favorite albums:

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Youtube video is the track "White Winter Hymnal"

2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Youtube track is "Cape Cod Kwasa Kwasa"

3. Bon Iver - For Emma, forever ago

Youtube video is "Skinny Love"

4. The Walkmen - You and Me

Youtube video is "In the New Year"

5. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Video is "Play Your part (Pt. 1)"


6. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Video is "Time to Pretend"

7. Dr. Dog - Fate

Video is "The Breeze"

8. Deerhunter - Microcastle

Video is "Agoraphobia"

9. Blitzen Trapper - Furr

Video is "Furr"

10. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

"Solute Your Solution"

11. Black Keys - Attack and Release

"I Got Mine"

12. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
"Beg Waves"


13. Hold Steady - Stay Positive

"Sequestered in Memphis"

14. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

"Dancing Choose"



15. Black Mountain - In the Future
"Wucan"

Biggest Disappointment:

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Moderate Disappointments:

Beck - Modern Guilt

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak

Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III

Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty

Albums yet to be fully digested that could possibly make the list:

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins

Portishead - Third

WHY? - Alopecia

Spiritualized - Songs in A and E

Magnetic Fields - Distortion

No Age - Nouns

The Knux - Remind Me in 3 Days
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Albums I didn't even get to:

She and Him - Vol. 1

The Kills - Midnight Boom

The Bug - London Zoo

Randy Newman - Hearts and Angels

Q Tip - The Renaissance

People Under the Stairs - Fun DMC

Heralded albums that I could give two shits about:

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

FILM

2007, and 2006, were probably the two strongest years of the decade for film. Last year had prestige films actually worthy of prestige in "No Country for Old Men," "There Will be Blood" and Zodiac, a comedy classic in "Superbad" and a good comedy in "Knocked Up."

2006 was worth it of not just for "Children of Men" and "Pan's Labyrinth." Admittedly, I didn't see many of this year's films, spent most of my Netflix que catching up on classic and obscure old movies. But, 2008 did have two of the strongest summer blockbusters in recent memory with "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E." Other than that, the year was grim.

Favorite films of '08

1. Wall-E

2. The Dark Knight
3. Burn After Reading

4. Tropic Thunder

... and that's it

Best comedy that wasn't Tropic Thunder

Role Models

Biggest surprises

The Bank Job

In Bruges

The Foot Fist Way

Guilty Pleasure
Hitman

Disappointments

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
W

Yet to see
Slumdog Millionaire
Pineapple Express
Man on Wire