My Pazz & Jop Ballot, 2009
Here's my Pazz & Jop ballot. My opinion is that the year doesn't actually end until December 31st, so that's when I'll start posting expanded lists, possibly with the order changed at the top. The two near misses on my albums list, by the way, were Demi Lovato and Keri Hilson; having four ace songs and lots of personality wasn't quite enough to get
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Hang Over OST.
The movie was funny, and hated it's characters. That they thought they were being harder, more butch, more difficult then they really were was part of the joke. From the opening with Danzig, to the queering of Elvis via El Vez, the construction of that joke was told mostly through the music.
John the Ascender--Phil Kline:
Sacred Harp singing breeds with Elizabethan ecclestical chanting, and gives birth to tape loops. Holy because of how impure it is.
The Life and the World to Come--The Mountain Goats:
I spent the year doing theology work, though I have a problematic and deeply ambiguous relationship with Christ/God. All of my feelings, of loneliness, and desire, of home-seeking, and of scapegoating, of living with the texts, and wanting to destroy the texts are here. Most important theological work of the last decade. We should play it over the loud speakers at the next Lambreth, and JD should get a private audience with the Pope.
Spoils--Alaisdair Roberts
Because of the hurdy gurdy. It makes me want to make sure that every new release of the decade features the hurdy gurdy--and yes, that includes Adam Lambert.
Marvellous Boys: Calypso from West Africa /Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, afro sounds and Ghanaian Blues--1968-1981
One of the miracles of living in the age of digital recordings is that there is no need to crate dig. These well curated sections of African pop talk more about disapora, race, the liquidity of texts, and the claiming/reclaiming of culture and history then most--but that is besides the point, they are the party records of the year.
Blueberry Pie--Nellie McKay
Earnestness is the new irony, and Doris Day knew that in the 50s. Wry, reworking/reclaiming of a lost voice is completely decimated by her version of the Black Hills of Daktoa, the loneliest version of a cowboy ballad since Rufus worked all of the homoerotic tension of Brokeback into The Maker Makes.
Crack the Skye--Mastadon:
Does it make me a hypocrite that i love the insane back story and guitar wank on this one, but hate it on Rush, or do i just prefer to be slapped rather then seduced?
It's Not Me, It's You Lily Allen--Because who hasn't been fucked up and 22, though she makes more money then you, the feelings are the same.
Natural Forces--Lyle Lovett
Could be replaced with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, or Steve Earle, though Lovett has a better band, and has wider influences. There is something to be said about the solid, workman like desires to release an album that is polished, well constructed, warm, and functional. I wish to sound as consistent as he does at his age.
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If it's the Phil Kline I think it is who did John the Ascender (and I'm pretty sure it would be, with his tape loops and all), he was a friend of mine back in my New York days.
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