Blog Archives

January 3, 2012

Abbey’s Favorites of 2011

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Pickwick Charles Bradley Fleet Foxes Zoe Muth Kelli Schaefer Quiet Life Dolorean Bryan John Appleby Radiation City
no-time-for-dreaming

 

 

I’ve already shared my favorite songs with you and told you a little bit about my personal MVP, but here are a few more of my favorite things from 2011.

My Favorite Albums of 2011:

1. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues 2. Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers – Starlight Hotel

3. Charles Bradley – No Time for Dreaming

4. Dolorean – The Unfazed

5. Bryan John Appleby – Fire on the Vine

6. Gardens & Villa – s/t

7. Other Lives – Tamer Animals

8. Radiation City – The Hands That Take You

9. Alabama Shakes – s/t EP

10 (tie). Quiet Life – Big Green

10 (tie). Gem Club – Breakers

My Favorite Musical Moments of 2011

1. Mavis Staples Singing “The Weight,” “You Are Not Alone” and “Freedom Highway” back-to-back-to-back at Bumbershoot

 

Mavis Staples at Bumbershoot ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

2. Kelli Schaefer and Her Mom Singing “Gone in Love” at Cathedrals II

 

Kelli Schaefer and Mom ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

3. Being Front Row for Charles Bradley at the Aladdin Theater During MFNW

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Charles Bradley ::: iphone photo by Abbey Simmons

4. Pickwick Performing (and performing with Pickwick) at our 5th Anniversary Show

5. Slack Fest (all of it)

 

Whalebones at Slack Fest ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

My Favorite Videos of 2011:

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Thing I Forgot to Include on the Appropriate Best of List: New Carissa’s Wierd

 

 

These new Carissa’s Wierd and the subsequent 7” out on Hardly Art this year, definitely should have been on both my favorite songs and favorite EPs / 7” / cassette of the year list, but absolutely slipped my mind. This is not acceptable.

My Favorite Thing Sound on the Sound did in 2011: Written Here with Bryan John Appleby

December 14, 2011

Abbey’s Favorite (Almost Entirely Local) Songs of 2011

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Bryan John Appleby Cataldo Charles Bradley Curtains For You Dan Mangan David Bazan Dolorean Fleet Foxes Gold Leaves Grand Hallway Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground Kelli Schaefer Lemolo My Goodness Pickwick Quiet Life Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside Shenandoah Davis The Head and the Heart Zoe Muth Radiation City Dude York Wild Flag

 

Kelli Schaefer ::: photo by Dylan Priest

 

 

Having fallen deep down a used-vinyl sized hole this year, I managed to completely miss most of the national blog buzz bands and mp3s making the press release copy&paste rounds of 2011, those things that so often fill end of the year lists. But considering the immense output from our little corner of the country, I don’t feel I suffered or starved for new songs to keep me company. These are the forty songs from 2011 that were my soundtrack and that I played on repeat. I’m not bold enough to say they are the best songs of 2011, but they are my favorites.

While this list is not enumerated, my very favorite song of the year, Kelli Schaefer’s heart-aching-to-the-point-of-breaking “Gone in Love,” is at the top with some other absolute favorites. “Gone in Love” is a song that has not lost its emotional wallop despite hundreds of listens and many live performances over the last 12 months. And every time I see Kelli sing it, I can’t stop my chin from quivering. “Gone in Love” isn’t just one of my favorite songs of 2011, it is one of my favorite songs.

That’s hardly true for every song on this list. Every year has its one-hit wonder and I have no shame in saying I played the hell out of 2011′s. Whether its a song that stays with you for decades or a song you only blast until the end of the year, I hope you might discover a new favorite of your own by taking a listen to some of mine.

 

 

“Gone in Love” – Kelli Schaefer “Before the Night is Gone” – Zoe Muth and Her Lost High Rollers “Montezuma” – Fleet Foxes “Letters” – Lemolo “I’m Not Leaving” – Big Sur

“I Found You” – Alabama Shakes “I’m Losing Myself” – Robin Pecknold / Edward Droste | download “Father’s Clothes” – Grand Hallway “Leaves, Trees, Forest” > “Rows of Houses” – Dan Mangan “Boys” – Bryan John Appleby

“The Round” (From the Basement) – Pickwick “Park” – Radiation City “Twins” – Gem Club | download “Mute” – Joshua Morrison “My Silver Hand” – Case Studies | download

The rest of my favorite (almost completely local) songs of 2011 (more…)

August 3, 2011

Gardens & Villa – “Spacetime” [video]

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“Spacetime” by Gardens & Villa from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

My vote for the trippiest video of the year goes to Gardens & Villa.

They’re also my vote for the new band who’ll be playing every festival in 2012. Get to know them now.

You’ll have a chance on October 11th when the band will be back in Seattle, playing at the Sunset. Their last Seattle show inspired an all-out dance party. On a Tuesday. At the Tractor. Easily one of my favorite shows of 2011.

July 18, 2011

Gardens & Villa – “Black Hills”

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I couldn’t tell you what kind of music Gardens and Villa makes beyond “catchy as hell.” That’s a genre right? Most reminiscent of the avant-pop of Nurses, Gardens and Villa’s debut album from Secretly Canadian has had me floating on a toe-tapping haze all summer. They’re a band I think you’ll be hearing lots more from in the coming months, but Seattle can make their acquaintance officially tomorrow, where the band is playing The Tractor Tavern with The Generationals and The Soft Hills.