Yes - I have more! My home PC was out of whack for about three months. Thank god the day after I got it back online Lifehacker links to this.

Anyway, here’s a best of list from the lovely Mr Smith who got me and a few other bloggers good and liquored up at a little piano bar in downtown Chicago during Lollapalooza…

Thanks Scott, when you come to Memphis again, I will be sure to return the favor…

Though I’m a co-editor at Chicagoist (since this was written, Scott is now at Time Out Chicago as their Web Editor) - and ostensibly supposed to care equally about all the beats we cover - my heart and soul remain with our music coverage, where I cut my blogging teeth. So this time of year is always exciting for me, even though I think the idea of year-end “best of” lists is almost obsolete. With so many media options available, what was once objective is now completely subjective. So with this in mind, I’ve created an absolutely subjective list of my favorite local releases this year. And since I’m being completely subjective, the word “local” will constitute anything that was released by a band whose members reside primarily in the state of Illinois.

(in alphabetical order)

The 1900s - Plume Delivery
This year, whenever anyone asked me what I’d been listening to lately, I usually pulled this one out in an effort to seem both indier-than-thou and demonstrate my excellent taste (any writer who tells you they don’t have an ego is a bald-faced liar). Despite garnering tons of local press on its release, the 1900s quickly adopted the stealth of a ninja with only a smattering of high-profile gigs locally, perhaps in anticipation of a full-length they’re busy recording now. If Belle and Sebastian grew up on the Nuggets boxed set, it would sound like this. Indie pop never sounded prettier or more harmonic.

01 Bring The Good Boys Home.mp3

02 A Coming Age.mp3

Catfish Haven - Tell Me
I’m on record with loving this band, despite any misgivings one might have about “authenticity.” Whatever. John Fogerty never had to answer those accusations, and if you play this alongside some of the more obscure Stax/Volt artists, no one would bat an eye. It makes me a little angry that had this band not ended up on Secretly Candian, most people would never have heard their intensely satisfying backyard BBQ boogie. A breath of fresh air in a stale indie music world. Pitchfork gave it a 6.2, which, ironically, proves me right.

04 All I Need Is You.m4a

05 Down By Your Fire.m4a

The Changes - Today Is Tonight
Though The Changes have been around since 2002 - and famously opened Lollapalooza 2005 as “the only unsigned band” - this full-length was most folks’ first taste of the group’s Morrissey Lite sound, which is a shame. Live, the foursome’s sound gains brawn and a carefree ease that belies the carefully crafted efforts here. Only a band with the balls to make their first proper album a concept album could pull off the disco yacht rock of “Twilight” and not make it seem laughable.

Eleventh Dream Day - Zeroes and Ones
This was supposed to be the year that Smashing Pumpkins reunited at Lollapalooza. Frankly, Melissa Auf Der Mar cared more than the average Chicagoan, which is why it was little surprise that the thing turned out to be nothing more than mere rumor. But one of the Pumpkins’ progenitors, Eleventh Dream Day, did reunite this year and, as usual, 11DD turned in yet another solid album that was quickly ignored by anyone outside of its small, but rabid fanbase. Corgan and Co. only wish they had the grace to be this artful and relevant as a band like this that’s spent more than 23 years together.

06 Modern Love.mp3

07 Twilight.mp3

Headlights - Kill Them With Kindness
Since REO Speedwagon broke up, Champaign, IL has not exactly known as a breeding ground for music. Polyvinyl Records is trying to change all that. Albums last year by labelmates Of Montreal and Matt Pond PA brought well-deserved bloggerazzi attention to Headlights this year (as well as undeserved kudos to Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, but that’s the way it goes, I guess). Some of the instrumental fills get a bit precious, but after so many waves of gorgeous keyboards punctuated by fuzzed-out guitars, I got pretty forgiving.

03 Put Us Back Together.mp3

12 Hi-Ya!.mp3

Honorable Mention (Temporal Displacement Division): Reptoids - Park A Tiger
Technically (and actually), this album came out in the fall of 2005. But it’s so damn awesome and so unapologetically in-your-face with sludge metal punk that it deserves a mention here. I know it shouldn’t matter that ¾ of Reptoids is female, but we live in a world where a moneyed pop songstress who leaves her toddler kids at home to go clubbing and vag-flashing with Paris Hilton after divorcing her backup dancer husband qualifies as empowerment. So it does. Also, their (male) bassist has a stage presence that makes Flea seem subdued.

01 Mexico Fiasco.mp3

03 F.U..mp3

Honorable Mention (Non-Local Division): Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
Look, I know everyone else is going to name this album as the best thing to hit iTunes this year, but it made me remember that Pete Townshend was right about rock and roll saving your life. I forgot all that for a while this year and it was a gift to get it back.

hey - yell at Scott about the M4a files - not me!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites