Best Albums of 2011: One more person trying to force their musical tastes onto you.

Sometimes I feel that, as an English teacher I should be selecting albums for their lyrical genius, but this year was at tough one, and was really looking for albums that spoke to me. I looked back over the year and searched out the music that stomped on my foot (really happened with one album), or grabbed me by the pelotas (metaphorical, of course). So below you will find some albums that were meaningful to me, but that will undoubtedly rock your socks off. Enjoy! Listen to them here.

 

1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Yeah I know, what list as this album not been on? I suppose there is a reason it is so universally acclaimed: it is amazing!!!  Put a ton of great musicians together and add in Vernon’s beautiful auto-tuned falsetto, and I would be upset if it was anything less than amazing. I’ll leave the reviews for the professionals, and I’ll just tell you why I love it. It’s so damn unique. The album is unlike anything else I’ve heard (even their previous album). There appears to be a bit of 80’s era (Gayngs) influence, but it sounds nothing like that album either. If you haven’t heard it yet, step out from the hole you’ve been living in, put on a pair of headphones or crank it in the car, and let the album carry you on a sonic journey.

2.  The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

Trying to distract myself from working on my thesis, I stumbled onto NPR's SXSW live stream just as Joy Formidable started playing their set. I was blown away. Such a powerful driving sound from a three-person band. Plenty of reverb, plenty of clashing cymbals, plenty of guitar solos. It is hard not to start moving when listening to this band. So much of the reason why I love this band, however, cannot be separated from the fact that they are amazing live. Ritzy Bryan, the Welsh lead singer, can rock out with the best of her male counterparts (maybe better) evidenced by videos from live performances where she jumps around the stage and smashes guitars to pieces. At the same time when she slows down and sings some of her more potent lyrics, she does so with such a convincing and calm, almost creepy, wide-eyed stare that it leaves you a little hypnotized. Later you may just find yourself checking your phone to see how far you need to drive to see them again tomorrow night. I can’t wait to see what their second album looks like (they hit the studio in November so I guess we’ll all have to wait and see).

3. Middle Brother - Middle Brother

Paste Magazine claimed on that these guys “out-monstered Monster of Folk,” and that about sums it up, end of review. Ok really, this band (a side project for members of Deer Tick, The Dawes, and Delta Spirit) can rock out so wild it seems like they don't care (take the title track as an example), but the music is too damn beautiful and well composed to believe that this is really the case. The album also has several heartfelt little ditties like “Daydreaming,” that capture the pains of being a single dude (It reminded me of my own high school desperation). Overall, Middle Brother will move you both through the honesty of their lyrics and the grooviness of their jams. Listen to them now! 

4. Seryn- This is Where We Are

I am a sucker for harmonies, and Seryn's five-part harmonies and accompanying folk melodies nail it.  Each song builds in intensity and by the end many downright take my breath away (if this sounds a little cheesy listen to "Beach Song" uninterrupted and tell me I am wrong). Throughout each song, the singers’ harmonies blend with the fingerpicked banjo and violin (as well as the trumpet, guitar, cello, ukulele, accordion, drums, pump organ, bells, and the occasional foot stomp). I can't help but sing along to this band, but I am simultaneously reminded that I can't sing (so I just turn up the volume, and belt it out louder). This is also a great album to listen to when relaxing. Crank it up, close your eyes, and let it wash over you. Considering Paste magazine also voted Seryn's SXSW set the best live performance of the year, I will need to see these guys live in 2012. Anyone want to join me?

5. Gillian Welch - The Harrow & the Harvest-

My wife gets mad when I put this album on, and makes fun of me for enjoying this folk-country album, ironic considering I was the one who cringed when she spun the radio dial to a country music station when we were in high school. I suppose I've grown up, or gotten soft in my old age. Either way, the music of Gillian Welch and the subtle harmonies of her partner David Rawlings, especially the first three songs and "Tennessee", haunt me every time I put on a pair of headphones and listen to the album. Even Rawlings' upbeat fingerpicking can't lift the album up out of the somber mood it creates. This album has a special place in my heart, and may be my most meaningful pick of the year, because I spent a lot of time listening to it while drinking alone, and fending off depression this spring. (Looking back, this might not have been the best practice, but it just felt right.)

6. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

First of all, you gotta love the lyrics (though you have to pay attention to understand them). David Comes to Life is a tragic love story/ battle between good and evil,  that also attempts to investigate the nature of fiction and storytelling. Pretty heavy for a hardcore band (no pun intended). Musically the album is beautiful. From the opening intro track "Let Her Rest" to the end of the album, the harmonizing electric guitars and the addition of Jennifer Castle and Madeline Folin singing, clash magnificently with the gutteral vocals of David Abraham. This album claimed an even more intimate place in my heart when I saw Fucked Up perform just about the whole thing at the Casbah. I didn't expect such a small place to get rowdy so I wore sandals. After the pit broke out during the first 30 seconds of the show, and Abraham drew the small crown into frenzy, I had to get in the middle of it. A friend, Luke Perkins (who had never been in a pit before) and I soaked up the sweat of others and gritted our teeth as we got our feet stomped to smithereens. I loved every minute of it. Listen to it and you will see why it is impossible to just sit still.

7 Tune- Yards - W H O K I L L

Another NPR find, tax dollars well spent, was this year’s Tune Yards album. Meryl Garbus’ unique style of singing/ warbling, interesting instrumentation, and clever lyrics (my favorite is Gangsta) makes her another powerful front-woman. I was surprised with how unique this album was, and immediately hooked, as you will be too.  

8 Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

This alum is quite a departure from the traditional, mellow acoustic style present in Iron and Wine's previous work, namely Creek Drank the Cradle, and Our Endless Numbered Days. Some hate it for that fact, but I love it. Though the album is much more upbeat than prior albums, Sam Beam likened it to 70’s radio songs, the same attention to detail is present in the lyrics (check out the lyrics of "Walking Far from Home," and "Big Burned Hand"). I also love the full band. The saxophone lends the album a jazzy feel, while the bass and electric guitars do their fair share of funking things up.

9 The Decemberists – The King is Dead

The most radio-friendly Decemberists album, may have helped to spread the bands sphere of influence and introduce people to new vocabulary words. Leave to Colin Meloy to make a poppy album that still includes words like loam and plinth (making his English teacher proud no doubt). Beyond Meloy’s always powerful and interesting lyrics (my favorite = “Don’t Carry it All), I really enjoyed the upbeat more sing-along style album. I like the rural living theme, and listen to this album when I am missing the wilderness. I also just listen to it whenever I feel like good music. 

Other great albums (that couldn’t be excluded):

The Cave Singers- No Witch- I stumbled upon this band this year and fell in love with Pete Quirk’s scratchy raw voice. This indie rock/folk band sets the foot a tappin’ with the rockin’ jams like “Black Leaf” and mellows things out with more gypsy-style groove tunes like “Outer Realms.” Both styles are interesting and provide depth when listening to the album as a whole.

The Civil Wars- Barton Hollow: Harmony-laden country-leaning folk duo in the same genre as Gillian Welch but sounding more upbeat, The Civil Wars manage to fit a lot of misery into their beautiful songs. Take a close look close look at the lyrics and you’ll see. Overall, Barton Holow is a beautiful album. My wife loves it, go figure.

The Black Keys- El Camino – Another great album by the Black Keys. Lovin’ the new distortion effects and the backup singers on some of the songs. Foot-tapping goodness, in fact it makes you want to dance. Perhaps like this guy (this is the official video for “Lonely Boy” btw).

 

 

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@StoneBrewingCo South Park tasting room open in 2 days. Extra space on the left for beer pong? @SDbeer

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Walks and runs through the wilderness somehow make the rest of life make more sense…

Walks and runs through the wilderness somehow make the rest of life make more sense but I don’t really get that much of a chance to do either living within the San Diego City limits. What does pass for wilderness here is mostly in the form of canyons or hills that all run the same shade of brown (with a few greenish-brown cacti or scrub brush dotting their sides). Despite that, I have tried to find as much time as possible exploring San Diego’s wilderness and beaches and have found that spending time there makes going back to “real life” a little easier. Even better are the far-too-infrequent opportunities I’ve had to wander further abroad in mountains and forests, surrounded by the smell of pine and the sound of the wind in the trees. It is out there alone wandering, running, just staring at it all, that I can regain some of the sanity I lost throughout the year. Jack Kerouac does a much better job summing up this feeling in this quote from Dharma Bums:  

"I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling." 

Perhaps, as Kerouac points out, the reason that I have found so much solace in the mountains and wild places is because when I am there I realize that my life is so small. That really, as much good as I do or as much as I screw up, the world will continue: what I do is truly insignificant. Instead of this realization crushing me (as it probably should), I find hope in it. It really doesn’t make any logical sense, but feeling insignificant is completely necessary to being able to stand in these cathedrals of nature and truly appreciate them. Being laid low by the power, grandeur, and beauty of these places makes me want to reconnect with what it is that makes them so magnificent.

The photos below might do a better job summing up what I mean.

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The things that made 2010 survivable, i.e. what I need to do more of this year

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It’s my last day of winter break and I’m finally getting around to writing this post. This last year has been a formative one. In 2010 I have traveled, reflected on life, tried to change how I teach / learn, and worked on being a better friend and family member. Throughout this year a few moments have stood out: breakthroughs, moments of realization, being awestruck by the beauty of a place, being overwhelmed by my relationships with others. In looking it all over, I’ve noticed that my best moments of the year have some things and people in common. So I decided write about what they have in common and how those things have helped sustain me this year. Because it is also the start of a new year, I hope to spend more time appreciating these people and participating in these life-giving activities.

So, in short, this is a list of bests and resolutions, and it comes it 5 parts (I think).

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Write what you know. Words of wisdom handed down by one of the many knowledgeable English teachers I had in college. And I plan to do that very thing right now.  

Some call me a beer snob, beer geek, beer connoisseur or aficionado. However unpleasantly or bourgeois (or unpleasantly bourgeois) you make it sound, I like beer and I know it well! What follows is the list of the best beers I’ve imbibed in the last year mind you. Not the beers released this year (I’m not that hardcore). I recommend you find these beers immediately, and indulge you inner beer geek-ness, you won’t be sorry. 

Best beer + drinking experience

1. BrewDog Tokyo- At 18% ABV and $8 per glass you really have to earn this beer. So I drank it after running a half marathon. This incredibly unique beer, added a nice needed numbness to my legs and body that was well appreciated after running. Considering the alcohol it is not too boozey, the booze is covered up by complex fruit, oak, and maybe herbs(?). It kicked my ass almost as much as the ½ marathon. 

2. Bitches Brew- I drank this with some great company on my birthday. My wife arranged a beer-luck (beer + a food paired to go with it potluck). I drank this with amazing brownies made with  Bitches Brew... beer-gasm! Chocolatey smooth beer with chocolatey spicy brownies = amazing!

3. Monks mistress Midnight Sun- I drank this delicious Belgian strong ale while with my in-laws looking out at a beautiful cloud covered lake a few miles outside of Seward, AK. I bought this and a few other  Midnight Sun beers to share with Steve Reed, who wanted to get to know some new types of beer. So we talked, watched the rain fall and drank delicious beer. Later we visited the Brewery in Anchorage and were impressed by other beers too. I thought we’d be stuck drinking Alaskan amber, and MGD for the 2 weeks we were in AK but low and behold Midnight Sun Brewing saved the day. Just check out their page on ratebeer, an amazing array of good and unique beers.

Best beer-  uniqueness

1. Stone Belgo RIS- Wow. I love Stone’s Russian Imperial stout to begin with but mix in some Belgian yeast and the resulting chocolate/ coffee/ fruity goodness was fantastic.  

2. Green Flash Grand Mantis- Merlot barrel aged Belgian with brett (sour yeast). This beer just overwhelmed me. Sour, fruity, a little bit of wood and wine smoothing it out = Amazing! Since I had this beer at a special Hamilton's night I doubt I’ll ever see it again.

3. Marin Old Dipsea Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine – Had this at Hamilton's and was amazed at the bourbon smell and flavor. I prefer my bourbon barrel aged beer to taste a lot like bourbon and this one did! At the same time the rich boozey vanilla of the barleywine balanced it out. I drank this too fast, but loved it.

Lists of 2010's bests

I've spent a lot of time in the last few weeks considering my top albums, films, beers, and books of the year. A friend of mine loves lists and encouraged me to do so. I've really enjoyed the process. I've found some great music, drank some insanely delicious beers, read some great and not so great literature (grad school), and watched altogether too much TV and movies. As I went through these lists, and poured over which I should pin the ribbon of "best of the year" onto, I realized that my focus has been in the wrong place this year.

For one, I am way too indecisive and found it nearly impossible to nail down a list of the best, just doing so makes me terrified that I might make a mistake (God forbid I leave out something out on a website that no one else reads). I have since changed my approach. Instead of fretting over which beer is better than another beer, I’ve decided to focus on using this time to savor what I have read, drank, watched, etc. And, if I’m lucky and someone does read this, I also hope that these lists leave him or her with some suggestions as to what to partake in next year, as well as give them a brief understanding of who I am and what I value.

So along with that, the second revelation I had while looking back at the year was that most of my bests didn't have to do with things that I consumed (though I still am going to put those up here since I spent so much damn time thinking about them). Most of the best moments of this year cannot be summed up in a list of beers that I drank or the music I listened to. These moments may include beer (most assuredly they do!) and music (again, undoubtedly!) but they are also interwoven in with faces, conversation, scenery, and other things that add meaning to them. So as I go about listing my bests of 2010 I intend to mix in a lot of memories, pictures, and lessons learned along the way, and I hope that as you finish up the year consider your best memories, creations, revelations, and challenges overcome. 

  Salud!

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Faded High by Gayngs (one of the best songs of the year)

Faded High by mjgonzales

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▶ Anaïs Mitchell w/ Justin Vernon - Wedding Song

via soundcloud.com

Folky melodic, sweet

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Half Marathon.

Before:

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The End of History

Fitting name for this new beer by Brewdog. This 55% alcohol Belgian
ale (which is technically whiskey since it's been cold-distilled) is
packaged in the friendly taxidermied bodies of local Scottish wildlife
(think beer + action figure). I hope the intention of this beer is to
highlight the extreme lengths that brewers go to make their beers
standout (i.e. vortex bottles, and cold activated cans). If that was
the case then they have succeeded because the beer sold out in hours.

Surely, I love that more people are drinking good beers and less
mass-produced corn and rice drink (aka Coors, miller, and Bud), but
this seems to be a case of the pendulum swinging too far in the
opposite direction. At the same time there is something intriguing
about a squirrel with a beer coming out of it's mouth. Hooray beer!

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Party with the in laws only male in a room of females. Lord help me...

Today I decided to hang out with my inlaws in Escondido. I was the
only guy there. We read people magazine, talked about IUDs, discussed
the joys of pregnancy, and drank white zin. This has truly been an
amazing evening.

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First of the Hops

Hello little baby hop nubbins. In a few months you will be in a tasty IPA.

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Contradiction, or Life Imitating Art?

Don't get me wrong I appreciate this piece of art in the hood. I'm just wondering if the placement isn't a little ironic. Wheat pasted on the side of a very busy Urban Outfitters is a mural that, amongst other things, critiques the blind consumer mentality of the average American. Perhaps it is the artistic mastery of Mr. Fairey, a commentary on the people stuck within the of the Urban Outfitter mindset, except that the opposite is in fact happening. While I was admiring and taking pictures many of those who were admiring alongside me decided to browse the  sidewalk sale that Urban Outfitters was having. In essence the artwork condemning consumption is acting like the invisible hand of the market ushering people into vendor of overpriced unescessary goods. I can't imagine that this wasn't the intention of Shepard Fairey, but I'll bet it was a consideration of the owners of the business.

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Here it is folks. Buy all the independence you want. Everything is for sale. 

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The picture you couldn't see. 

Mosaic Gardens, art v. Reality

This image sums up a lot. The mosaic of writing above the shopping cart says  "real world". That combined with the illegaly parked shopping cart provide an interesting intersection of the beauty and poverty which compete for attention in the "real world." Beauty, often synonomous with money, is constantly creating murals and mosaics, rules and redistriticting,trying to rid the world of unsightliness. And poverty, continually rearing its unsightly head, with its homelessness and graffiti, slums and trash, keeps encroaching on the "beauty" of the world  that the rich try to create.  This type if beauty, one that ignores reality, is a false beauty.

Taking a step further back reveals that this is just part of the phrase the mosaic spells out. The whole thing reads "art is the center of the real world." So, if there is any truth in the photo, the cliched mosaic quote, and the placement of it in a poor neighborhood, then it must also be that art exists everywhere someone is digging into and exposing the difficult reality we find ourelves in. Art exists when we cut through the false beauty and see the truth in what surrounds us.

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Attempting to be rocky, like every Other tourist around. Except I had to film myself. I am a dork.  

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As you can see I'm in Philadelphia now. And in case you're wondering they make really aweseome vegeterian Philly cheesesteaks. 

Gag Reflex- Picante de Cuy

I pride myself on having a bit of a culinary adventure every now and again. So far on this trip I haven't gone wrong. I've ordered several and eaten several Peruvian, Nicaraguan, Israeli, Chinese, Italian, and Amercan food dishes never knowing quite what it was that I ordered or received. Random mystery meats, odd pastries, new fruits, funky smelling cheeses, unusual animal parts (cow's feet, heart, liver, spleen) But I finally met my match.

It's called a cuy, it looks like a rat. Some say it tastes like chicken and has crisp delicate skin like a suckling pig, but eating just a 1/4 of one almost made me a lifetime vegetarian.

Most people know it as a guinea pig, and it was my dinner last night. These rodents originate in the Andes and usually find their way into the western world via hamster ball, or small wire cages. Here in Peru and many other Andean countries, however, they are a delicacy, and are prepared in a myriad of ways: baked, fried, cooked in a spicy sauce (picante - the way I had it), in soups, casseroles, fricasseed, barbecued, etc.

The animals were also used to predict the future. Shaman during Inca, and pre-Inca times would spill the guts of the small creature and the resulting layout of carnage could forecast the future or diagnose medical ailments. Clearly, they were damn important. The Spanish realized this and tried to make cultural inroads via the cuy in this painting found in Cuzco's cathedral. (Take a close look at Jesus' main dish).

Now as far as food goes I would recommend keeping cuys as pets not livestock. I was a litle concered when I ordered the guinea pig, but my fear was assuaged by the amount of people ordering them in the restuarant I was in, and by many others who told me that it was very similar to chicken. When it arrived I was even more reassured by the delicious aroma of spices and peppers floating up from the plate. I took a bite of potato first and it was delicious, soft and tender, perfectly spiced. Then I tried to take a bite of the cuy. I started sawing with my knife. The skin was like a rubber armor protecting the scant amount of meat. I thought it would be easier when I finally got to the meat below, but it turned out the meat was stringy and almost as tough. Three minutes later I cut free my first bite, I was already kind of nauseated but I went for it anyway. Chewing the skin felt like eating overcooked beef gristle, or old a piece of an old pair of sandals. The taste was about the same, old shoe and sandal mixed together. I cringed as I ate. I sawed off a few more pieces and scraped and yanked out what little meat I could, but after a few bites I was fighting back a gag reflex. Maybe it was the taste, or more likely the texture, or perhaps it was the fact that my third grade class had one as a pet, but by the end of the fourth bite I was thoroughly disgusted. I had to throw in the towel. Even looking around the room at the others who were gnawing on cuy bones almost put me over the edge. I am seriously looking forward to a less carniverous diet when I return to the states.

Estoy en Nicaragua y traigo que apprender espanol. Es muy dificil, pero me encanta.

I took my 3rd glance at the clock in an hour and I forgot what the teacher was asking me about. Something about the subjunctive tense and conjugating a verb that I only marginally understood (from her rudimentary explanation in Spanish) "Como?" I asked and slumped onto the table. "Esperas un momento" she responded and went off in search of a dictionary. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the minute break. As I wiped the sweat from my face (80 degrees and humid  at 9 in the morning) I looked around the room. Both of the students we met yesterday (straight A students, one of them attending Berkeley)  had looks of desperation on their faces. The girl had strings of blonde hair sticking out from between her fingers and seemed to be trying to massage the vocabulary into her mind, and the other student was slumped so far over his books that it looked like he was trying to take a nap (which wasn't a bad idea, I thought, after a week's worth of twisting my brain into a new way of thinking).

Had I been teaching, this the lack of energy would have been discouraging. I would have been disappointed with what I saw (disappointed with students behaving as I was now) but now that the tables have been turned a bit I see that it sucks to learn a new language. I have become just like my worst students, unmotivated, tired and even losing track of and not doing my homework. So as I sat there and tried to re-energize myself I realized that if I have a hard time learning another language but have had the benefit of one on one tutoring, 18 years of formal education, and 4 years studying Spanish, then what the hell is to be expected of  students who have no foundation for their education or of this language.

How to apply this is a different matter, perhaps a lot of encouragement and leniency on my part. But for now, as I go back to studying through my packets of homework (very high school-esque), I suppose I'll take a page out of Nicaraguan history (or even a page out of the lives of some of the people living on the streets of this city) many of whose boundless energy seems to show the capacidad y necesidad para luchar (especially if my struggling is only for 4 hours a day and involves beer and sightseeing)

A woman working to support her family




Mi lucha no esta dificil en este momento!

this guy said he goes into the streets each
night to beg for food to eat.