TRL's Top Tens of 2011

One of my favorite things about records is listening to an album from start to finish, but this only works when I'm at home with my records and there's no office chatter, phone calls, or co-workers wanting to talk about college football.  More often that not I end up with only 5 or 10 minutes before I some other distraction comes along or I reach my front door.  During those 5 or 10 minutes, I want a super jam.  So, here's the top ten super jams I apparently played this year (or at least since the last time I updated my iPod).

• Patrick Cowley - "Mind Warp"
• Burning Witch - "Sacred Predictions"
• Todd Terje - "Ragysh"
• Jane - "Wind"
• Azari & III - "Reckless (with your love)"
• Cave - "This is the Best"
• John Maus - "Believer"
• Holy Ghost! - "Some Children"
• Krallice - "The Clearing"
• Gavin Russom - "Night Sky"

• Adele - "Rollling In The Deep"
• The Field - "Is This Power"
• Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen)
• The World Series
• Finally paying off my student loans
• Instagram
• Chilean hotdogs
• Jalapeño cheddar biscuits
• My (sort of) new apartment
• My new roommates

• Having many adventures, experiencing new things, meeting many friends, and seeing the real world through the tour
• Recovery from the Japan earthquake
• Traveled to my parents' house. It's been for 8 years since the last time.
• Cool vinyl player for my birthday from members
• Finished composing the new songs
• Another Earth (film)
• Listening to the symphonies by Gustav Mahler
• Reading the books by Konosuke Matsushita, who is the founder of Panasonic
• Wilhelm Furtwangler, who is a German conductor of the 20th century
• Mind Games by John Lennon (song)

10 new records

• glen jones 'the wanting'
• destroyer 'kaputt'
• clams casino 'instrumentals'
• jim orourke / oren ambarchi 'indeed'
• ballake sisoku & vincent segal 'chamber music'
• demdike stare 'tryptych'
• julianna barwick & ikue mori 'frkwys' lp
• horsebladder 'not i'll not'
• james blake 'james blake'
• sandro perri 'impossible spaces'

10 old records

• pentangle 'reflection'
• throbbing gristle 'second annual report'
• jon gibson 'solo pieces' (especially side 2)
• dusty springfield 'brand new me'
• gil scott-heron & brian jackson 'it's your world'
• the raincoats 'odyshape'
• antena 'camino del sol'
• brian eno / robert fripp 'open spaces' lp
• manuel quroga & marta leman'violin e piano'
• glissandro 70 - s/t

BEST VIDEO: An Island

An Island is a film directed by Vincent Moon that followed Efterklang back to their home village in Denmark (the island of Als). Vincent and Efterklang are a perfect match as they both are so intent on capturing something unique and spontaneous and not over thinking things.

BEST ALBUM: Wild Beasts - Smother

I don't know what it says about me, but I'm so drawn to the sinister darkness and sexuality that seems to ooze out of Wild Beasts. Like a good film, the measuredness and restraint this album holds while at same time exploring themes of decadence, lust, and abandonment makes for an unsettling tension. I love it.

BEST READ: Trickster Makes the World

This is a book by Lewis Hyde that explores the role of the 'trickster' characters that show up in most mythologies. He argues for the necessity of figures who stand on the fringes of society stepping in from time to time to upset the status quo and keep society evolving.

BEST MOVIE: Tree of Life

This movie was very divisive, but for many reasons I really connected with it. Malick comes from a different era and his movies, especially their pacing, seem to be more and more foreign. He's like a fixed point that shows how fast the world is rushing ahead.

BEST ALBUM COVER: St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

There's something so captivating about the simplicity of this. It's starkness forces you to reckon with the album title and mull it over and it doesn't let you go easily.  For me it evokes the same feeling I get from the Peter Saville Joy Division/New Order covers. Timeless.

BEST SONG: Apparat - Ash/Black Veil

I've been a fan of Apparat for a while, but it was this song in particular that won me over completely. There seems to be a deeper longing and weight in this song that I never picked up on in his other work before. The way it builds is like classical trance music.

BEST TOUR EXPERIENCE: Paris, France

I was playing with Efterklang and we played a secret show for La Blogoteque in Paris at an old judo training facility near Montmartre. We played for an hour or so and in a typically French way by the end of it we were passing bottles of wine around and letting the crowd join us onstage with toasts in between each song. One of my all time favorite shows.

BEST SOUNDTRACK: Solaris

This piece was written by Daniel Bjarnason and Ben Frost to go with visuals provided by Brian Eno. For the visuals Mr. Eno used screen shots of the original Tarkovsky film and slowly manipulated them in real time along with the music. The music is as haunting and beautiful as the original film.

BEST MUSICAL DISCOVERY: Einstürzende Neubauten

Its really rare to have the gift of discovering a band 30 years into their career and be able to spend months diving into their back catalogue. There's a brutality and strange eerie sensitivity that somehow coexists in their work. The evolution from 'Kollaps' to 'Alles Weider offen' is astonishing.

FAVORITE TOUR CITY: Berlin, Germany

I got to spend a decent amount of time in Berlin this year and was able to better understand my German roots. I've never seen so much amazing graffiti in my life. I know I missed the glory days of the 90's but there is still an amazing sense of creativity and art hanging in the air.

Top 10 Non-TRL Records (In No Order)

• The Psychic Paramount - II (No Quarter)
• Kim Phuc - Copsucker (Iron Lung)
• The Men – Leave Home (Sacred Bones)
• Zombi – Escape Velocity (Relapse)
• Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges (Constellation)
• Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica (Mexican Summer)
• Cave – Neverendless (Drag City)
• Aluk Todolo / Der Blutharsch (The AJNA Offensive)
• Circle of Ouroborus – Eleven Fingers (Handmade Birds)
• v/a - Bollywood Bloodbath (Finders Keepers)

Top 10 Office Quotes of The Year (In No Order)

• "You owe me $86 worth of calzones. And then I will shit on you and everyone else."
• "Encores are for dickheads."
• "I got so much ass and phone numbers at Dillinger Escape Plan shows!"
• "I would pay good money to see Bill play slap bass with his penis."
• "Hot mustard is the saxophone of condiments."
• "Fucking unborn babies ruining my Friday!"
• "It’s not so much about wanting to have sex with somebody, but more wanting to shit on somebody."
• "Check out my 9-inch contract."
• "You took one for the team? I put one in the team."
• "It sank my dick."

• Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream (In The Red)
• Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador)
• The Men - Leave Home (Sacred Bones)
• Cass McCombs - Wit's End (Domino)
• Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica (Software/Mexican Summer)
• A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen (Kranky)
• Julian Lynch - Terra (Underwater Peoples)
• Psychic Paramount - II (No Quarter)
• White Hills - H-p1 (Thrill Jockey)
• Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)

• 9/11 Disintegration Loops @ Metropolitan Museum Of Art
• Vice Creators Project @ Dumbo
• Ty Segall @ Bowery Ballroom
• Hot Snakes @ Maxwells
• The Men/Vaz @ St. Vitus
• Ford & Lopatin @ 285 Kent

The Mighty Angel by Jerzy Pilch

The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

2011 firsts: Hiked, camped, hurricaned, earthquaked, drove down the California coast. Maybe 2012 will be the year I learn how to ride a bike?

The best new records I heard this year

• Boris - New Album
• Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
• Deerhoof - Vs Evil
• Office Of Future Plans - Self-Titled
• PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
• Pygmy Lush - Old Friends
• Reigning Sound - Abdication (For Your Love)
• Shaved Women - Self Titled
• The Skull Defekts - Peer Amid
• True Widow - As High As...

Records from last year that I listened to a lot this year

• The Austerity Program - Backsliders...
• Merchandise - Strange Songs In The Dark
• Milk Music - Beyond Living

Album from last year that has now entered my list of all-time favorites

• Complications - Self Titled LP

The best new movies I saw this year

• Beginners - Mike Mills
• Drive - Nicolas Winding Refn
• Hanna - Joe Wright
• Hugo - Martin Scorsese
• Midnight In Paris - Woody Allen
• 13 Assassins - Takashi Miike
• The Tree Of Life - Terrence Malick
• X-Men First Class - Matthew Vaughn

The good things in life

• California hangout tour + Twin Infinities
• My first solo art show at Static Age in Cincinnati
• Releasing a split 7" with Superchunk
• Many great tours with wonderful folks
• A safe and healthy extended family
• Great friends and bandmates
• Awesome new house with my awesome wife
• Humanity managed to stave off extinction for yet another year

• Lure fan and bubble milk tea in Taipei
• Steak with Rossini sauce at somewhere in Hungary
• Crab with chili sauce in Singapore
• Pork chops and sausages at Conne Island, Leipzig
• Chocolate at Burie in Antwerpen
• German potato at Le Ferrailleur Nante
• Dobin mushi in Kyoto
• Pho at Mekong in Melbourne
• Nashi goreng at Stall in Jakarta
• Icy fruit pot at Zeven in Jakarta

1. Bellini IV writing session in Bologna last week. 12.5 songs in 105 hours. Bonus + Italian shows
2. Torey's Distraction Screening at the USA Film Festival.
3. Seeing Harvey Milk in Denton after not seeing them live in 17 years. Amazing.
4. Bro lunches at Mia's Tex Mex.
5. The State Fair of Texas.
6. Catching up with Banfield in Pittsburgh.
7. Documenting and filming the kids at the Children's Craniofacial Association Retreat in Kentucky.
8. My new bike.
9. Grappa.
10. Always my beautiful wife.