Do cats know it's Halloween? Mine are pretty chill right now and can't be bothered to put on a costume. In any case, what music (song, album, or band in general) sets the mood for you for this holiday and I think Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is already the given obvious one.


For my pick, there was a single made for charity-UNICEF a charity single for UNICEF featuring Beck, members of The Arcade Fire, The Postal Service, R.E.M and more a few years back with an uber creepy video to match. I get it stuck in my head like clockwork around Halloween:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dQP2mh9RYY

Tags:   triptych Halloween Dr. Pirate Spooky Buckley cats pumpkin Halloween cats kitty gatos Do they know it's Halloween tonight? Probably not because they are just cats. Music:Response feline

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Here's your chance to promote who you think is the most talented musician in your city. Let's face it...it's quite difficult to keep up with bands these days but I think we can all agree that there is so much talent out there. The Metropolitan areas or larger cities may have more music overall but I'm still convinced there are probably some great musicians in small towns that are amazing.

For me, Helen Money is always astounding. She reaches me on a completely visceral deep feeling level that just floors me. You haven't seen too many photos of her on this stream because she tends to play in darkness and she's one of those musicians I hate to click my shutter during their performance. No vocals here-just probably the greatest cellist I've ever seen/heard. She's been acknowledged by some pretty well known bands and has made guest appearances on albums and live, most recently with Broken Social Scene at Pfork,

www.myspace.com/helenmoney

Some others in Chicago (Andrew Bird excluded as he's more well known and also, dude moved to LA? What?)

People will say I'm biased by Cinchel really writes some amazing ambient stuff (he also clicks all of these shots afer I do the camera settings). I'm spoiled because I get to hear him play live in the same room as me all of the time but I think it really is quite great:

cinchel.com/wp/category/cinchel_music/

Brendan Losch has put out some astoundingly great mellow folk songs and it's always a treat to hear him play live or listen to new recordings. Very talented and also quite modest guy!

www.myspace.com/brendanlosch

Quite recent work with full band Bullets in Madison:

bulletsinmadison.bandcamp.com/

The Ponys put on an especially phenomenal live show...great garage rock band:

www.myspace.com/theponys

Speck Mountain has this gorgeous psych folk sound...so lush and thick. Perfect for fans of Mazzy Star. Highly recommended!!!

www.myspace.com/speckmountain

If electronic pop with shoegaze elements is more your thing, check out Rosen Association:

www.myspace.com/therosenassociation

The 1900s are perfect for fans of Fleetwood Mac and 60s pop and Dr. Pirate is actually Ed Anderson's old cat!

www.myspace.com/1900s

Hollows are perfect if you're looking for more indie garage rock...so much fun! They somewhat recently opened for She and Him at Millennium Park and my guess is they probably blew them right off the stage. Such a great all girl group:

www.myspace.com/hollowschicago

CoCoComa is another garage band that are so catchy and full of energy!

www.myspace.com/cococoma

For more indie alternative fare, check out Soft Speaker:

www.myspace.com/softspeaker

For more experimental and challenging music: Spires that in the Sunset Rise!

www.myspace.com/spiresthatinthesunsetrise

For great folk: Rock Falls:

www.myspace.com/rockfalls

Doleful Lions is one of those criminally underlooked bands (with Jonathan Scot being one of the most amazing composers of great indie songs out there):

www.myspace.com/dolefullions

Secret Colours play some great psychedelic music, if that is your thing (it definitely is mine) I haven't seen them live yet but when Paula K. told me about them, I listened and was really impressed:

secretcolours.bandcamp.com/album/secret-colours

Mucca Pazza is always such a real treat to see, especially in a live setting. They are Chicago's most well known and definitely largest marching band and it is always a real experience seeing them play!

www.myspace.com/muccapazza

I've posted a photo of Angel Olsen somewhat recently. She has a very disarming folk sense to her..her voice seems removed from all space and time in particular. She was most recently seen singing backup vocals to Will Oldham at the Bonnie Prince Billy shows.

www.myspace.com/ghostgrocersings


Ok. I hope I didn't forget anyone important but I bet I did (feel free to remind me) We're a little spoiled in Chicago. I can't wait to discover some of your picks!

Tags:   Support Local Music Helen Money me self self portrait Kirstiecat Spooky Andrew Bird is disqualified! Mucca Pazza 1900s CoCoComa Secret Colours Soft Speaker bands Angel Olsen Speck Mountain music concert live Rosen Association Rock Falls Brendan Losch Music:Response cat gato chat feline

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Congratulations MGMT, even though you managed to make one of my favorite albums of 2010 and put on one of my favorite live shows, you still consistently choose album art that makes me think of the worst kind of hipster trash. This cover literally makes me want to wretch. Its colors are putrid pseudo neon and its drawing of a cartoon character surfing is just about the most repulsively dumb thing I can think of. Dudes, next cover should totally be done by Lisa Frank. Sad face.

Ok, your turn now BUT this has to be an album you actually own. To be honest, Cocorosie's newest album, Grey Oceans, has an even worse cover (on CD) ..but I couldn't bring myself to buy it because it made me so hysterical and nauseous at the same time every time I'd see in a record store.

P.S. Spooky cat really hates this album cover too...though, that should be fairly obvious from his expression.

Tags:   MGMT Congratulations album vinyl record feline kitty Spooky Worst Album Cover Ever rant blog cat gato chat self portrait me Music:Response Kirstiecat

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#1: Thee Silver Mt. Zion: 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons(Montréal, Canada)

Though my brother in law may cringe at this, without a doubt, Thee Silver Mt. Zion put out the best album this year. I know they aren't for everyone but when Efrim Menuck sings, his sense of passion and desperation...the way he communicates devastation speaks to me in a way that makes me think...this, this is the reason why music is here.

I know some have criticized Thee Silver Mt. Zion as pretentious but as someone who has been following Efrim Menuck from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to this point, I feel more than anything it's disarming and also...well, honest. Every time I put on this record, I feel a storm of emotion inside of me waiting to pour out. It startles me but I can't help it. When Efrim sings "Some hearts are true," it's the most hopeful moment. When Efrim sings "One Million Died to Make This Sound," my body was meant for collapse. He's singing my thoughts. He's singing my fears, my prayers. All that is in me is coming out of that dear man's throat.

And let's not forget the strength of the instrumentation and the joint choral effect (of the tra la la band) the album and live performance takes on. It creates the sense we're all in this together and we're all feeling it together. We may each have 13 blues for thirteen moons but we're sharing it together and, in a way, that redeems this pitiful life.


It's true that Thee Silver Mt. Zion, particularly because of Efrim's pained vocal delivery, is an acquired taste. If, like me, you acquire it, you'll probably never let it go.

www.myspace.com/silvermtzion


#2 Karkwa: Le Volume du Vent
(Montréal, Canada)

Yes, another band from Montréal but this one sings in French! Ok, I literally first heard this band for the first time yesterday...skeptical? How 'bout if I told you that they are at times like, as Bill Pearis ( soundbites.typepad.com/soundbites/) aptly describes , a French Canadian Radiohead?

The album begins with a real intensity with Le Compteur before settling down into tracks like Oubile Pas, Le Frimas, and Le Temps Mort later on.

Well, anyhow, I'm in love with this record. It's passionate but also very melodic and urgent at the same time. Sort of like being simultaneously heavy and ethereal. Too bad they won't accept my American money but you can buy this most recent album on itunes. Have a listen...if melodramatic songs are your thing, I think you'll be pleased:

www.myspace.com/karkwa


#3 Portishead: Third
(Bristol, UK)

I know there were many who were disappointed with this album but, if you're like me, you're grasping for just about every last scrap Beth Gibbons will give you

Now, I know this one is a little unpredictable and I know it's also a bit inconsistent. The album starts out with a startling track, "Silence" that builds in a completely hypnotizing way (especially if you are listening to it for the fourth time that night whilst editing photos at around 3:30 am when you begin to realize the next day is coming.) It cuts you off just as you truly sense the overall motion of it, though and the jarring effect is a testament to just how effective the song is.

"Machine Gun" has a similar overall feel and I think it could be said that it's Beth Gibbons at her most overtly powerful. But, we must also try to appreciate the random unpredictability of the album overall which I feel Beth Gibbons makes work in a very atypical way. Quite a few of the tracks are those that cannot be easily taken out of context and they are also the kinds of songs you need to give some extra time to. In a way, it feels like we see a portrait of a woman in all of her moods and this feels not only right but very honest. Just listen to "The Rip" as the day starts to peak through the dark curtain of night and you'll see what I mean.

www.myspace.com/portisheadalbum3


#4 The High Dials: Moon Country
(Montréal, Canada)

If you were to ask me what genre of music I love the most, above all others, I would look at you and say, without any hesitation: Psychedelic. It's something within me that I can't describe. Oh, shoegaze is wonderful and punk has it's place but it's the psychedelic music that speaks to me most. Without it, life is a very bleak place indeed.

That said, The High Dials have put out their third full length double album, Moon Country, and it is magnificent. What amazes me every time I hear the band on album or see them play is how utterly talented every member is. I feel most alive by listening and, even though they are playing songs in the genre that made bands like The Pretty Things and Love great, every time I listen to The High Dials, it seems so fresh to me. In other words, even though the influences peaked so long ago, there's such a joy and bliss renewed that comes to me. It's like I was experiencing it for the first time and it's wonderful. This album as well as 2005's War of the Wakening Phantoms are stellar and if you get a chance to see them live, do whatever you can not to miss it. As I told lead singer Trevor Anderson recently when I saw him play a show in Chicago, "I swear, if aliens were to land on this planet and hold everyone hostage, demanding even just one reason why the entire human race shouldn't be obliterated, I would play them your music."

"How can you be so sure, " he said, "that the aliens wouldn't like reggae dub better?"

www.myspace.com/thehighdials


#5 Spiritualized: Songs in A&E
(Rugby, England)


I really thought Spiritualized had lost it. Seriously! I felt 2003's Amazing Grace was just an album full of rehashed melodies from previous albums and that, frankly, Jason Pierce was starting to lose his magic. Then, another proper full length live album took five years to emerge. In that time, Pierce was going through so many issues including a serious hospital stay. No doubt he did some soul searching to produce this brilliant album, complete with tracks that suggest the power and energy of "Electricity" such as "You Lie You Cheat" but with a delicateness that suggest a fallen angel as in "Sweet Talk." Don't tell me I'm the only one that cries every time I hear "Death take your fiddle."

Needless to say, the gospel choir Pierce chose to back him up both live and on album was one of the best musical decisions he's ever made. Jason, you set my soul on fire.

profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile...


#6 Juana Molina: Un Dia
(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Dear Juana,

You make my days complete...how could anyone be so complex and yet so soothing. I listen to you in my darkest hour and you are so comforting and at the same time incredibly intriguing as a songwriter...your compositions of songs work in a way no American songwriter that I know of can come close to. You are the reason why music will never die. In this modern age, you can be innovative and still provide a sense of stability somehow to this ever changing world. For that, no words seem to do you justice. You are creative in a way that mere syllables strung together seem almost wrong to describe as they are not enough.

Your devoted listener,
Kirstie

www.myspace.com/juanamolina


#7 The Magnetic Fields: Distortion
(Boston and NYC)

It probably comes to some of you as no surprise that I am a fan of Stephin Merritt's wry and insightful lyrics...his way of analyzing relationships and intimacy in a way that few can. I have such a history with this band, beginning so long ago when I was a college student. I loved all of Merritt's stories and even his lyrics when he was most jaded. I couldn't settle for one disc of the 69 Lovesongs...I had to have all three.

Distortion is not without a great deal of classic Merritt wit but the great guitar fuzz effect on much of the album makes it even more engaging to listen to. In a way the feedback and lo fi quality of it makes it seem dated but it's the kind of dates that got you through many of your years so far.

It's always interesting to me how live they tend to strip this down into an acoustic set. Both have their Merritt but I greatly prefer to hear the songs in this way with their full energy realized and without the strange personality of Stephin's making me feel more than slightly uncomfortable.

www.myspace.com/themagneticfields


#8 Orouni: Jump Out the Window
(Paris, France)

Orouni came out with his/their second full length album this year and the only way I'd like these magical songs better is if they were sung in French. Instead, they are sung in English but with a rather enchanting accent.

The cello arrangements are really lovely and so are the beautiful backup vocals of Mina Tindle, Mlie, and Emma. There's a real depth that Orouni has reached at times lyrically and some don't strike you at first but get stuck in your head with the accompanying melody line. There's an odd sense of innocence to the songs, especially the melodies, that make them all the more endearing like a bunch of comforting friends.

www.myspace.com/orouni


#9 Clinic: Do It!
(Liverpool, England)

Ok, you know those times when it's 8am, your parents are visiting in less than 24 hours and you've slept only about five in the last three days???? Well, you may be crawling to the shower and broom but, before that, do yourself a favor and put on Clinic's Do It! It's the get yourself in gear and get some work done type of album. Oh, and also, you might have to take some breaks to dance. Though I found Clinic's live show a little shticky with the surgical masks and the Hawaiian shirts, their live sound even more so brought out these gems.

Even though it's really upbeat overall and just gives me so much more artificial energy, I think Clinic is probably more of an acquired taste, especially relative to more typical music in all three genres of rock, pop, and even dance. Mainly, it's the overly nasal vocals that might turn some off again.

Funny thing about Clinic, when Walking With Thee hit the independent radiowaves back in 2002, I was so repulsed with the sound of it. I literally couldn't stand it and the college radio station in Chicago (WLUW) played it to death! I got to the point where I was changing the radio station any time the title track was played. I HATED Clinic. I wanted to scream how much I hated them! Why were they taking up space on the airwaves, I wanted to know!?!?!

Then, one day I woke up. It was still 2002 and it was on a Sunday. I looked out of the window and it was pouring rain. I turned on the radio but that didn't have what I was looking for. What did I want? Need? Crave with every fiber of my being? That's right! I had to have Walking With Thee and I would travel across the city at warp speed during a thunderstorm just to have it. I tell you this story just so if you're turned off for the first time, realize those songs you listen to might somehow come back to haunt you...they have very strange powers.

www.myspace.com/clinicvoot


#10 Lost Wisdom
(Washington and Canada)

A joint venture between Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie fame and Julie Doiron has led to such lush and beautiful melodies that really resonate. The chemistry and dynamics of their two voices work together so well it recalls the harmony and beauty of the way Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang together so long ago at times, only if Art was a female. Hmmm...imagine the possibilities that might have brought!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Wisdom

Tags:   review best top albums vinyl cds records list 2008 end of the year cat texture Spooky feline gato chat Portishead Third Orouni Jump out the Window Phil Elverum Mount Eerie Julie Doiron Lost Wisdom Magnetic Fields Distortion turn table Record player Spirirualized Songs in A & E Juana Molina Un Dia Karkwa Le Volume du Vent High Dials Moon Country Clinic Do It! bands indie music Thee Silver Mt Zion and Tra La La Band 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons now playing It took me two hours two write this last night so hopefully all of you will appreciate at least one of my really bad puns.

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These are a few of my favorite books. Missing: Hesse's Steppenwolf and I can't for the life of my figure out who I loaned that to as well as Coupland's Life After God, which I have read a few times but like to keep handy in the car to read in waiting rooms. Oh and JD. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey...I have no idea why or how I forgot these...maybe too obvious?

From top to bottom:

Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
Galapagos

I know I'm probably not supposed to like the classic Vonnegut that everyone else likes but the book Slaughterhouse Five was there for me when I needed it and that's pretty much all you can ask of literature. Galapagos I think is Vonnegut at his best in alot of ways but it's also Vonnegut at perhaps his least hopeful...or atleast it shows he thinks we'd be better of as simpler creatures. I was sad to hear of his death recently...had tried to see him read a few years back and couldn't get into the downtown library as it was filled to capacity.

Virginia Woolf: To The Lighthouse:

I love Virginia Woolf and this book is not only flawless but WAY ahead of it's time. Virginia is both why I love being a woman (because we're wildly creative in the tangential way men aren't) and hate being a women (because we're just not very rational).

Don Delillo: Mao II

I know alot of people love White Noise but Mao II is an excellent delve into mass media and culture as well as the parallels between the writer and the terrorist. I found it fascinating.

Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray

I love so many things about Oscar Wilde and I suppose without him, we might never have had Morrissey if you think about it a certain way. I think his plays are of course hilarious but there's a darker side to Dorian Gray that he explores much more thoroughly than the mere inferences of many of his play characters.

Graham Greene: The Power and the Glory

I don't know...you know, there's something comforting and yet revealing and insightful in Greene. Haven't read this one in awhile and I feel it's about time I revisit it.

Paul Auster: City of Glass

I started reading Auster for an experimental fiction class I took in college and I find he is really one of those who is wildly creative and adept at speaking to the reader so that you feel you are almost part of the storyline...which is intriguing even if it is complex enough to warrant taking notes on.

Haruki Marukami: Norwegian Wood

I've read several of Murakami's books but none really hit me like this one (Hard Boiled Wonderland is perhaps a close second). I think maybe because it involves music intertwined with the frailty of relationships and the lives particularily of the women the protagonist falls in love with

Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities

This is the first book I read by Calvino-a collection of stories that really made me sense and dream more than any other short stories have...in the way that I wanted to just live in that place and nowhere else.

Milan Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I'm no stranger to Kundera and, though I haven't quite read everything yet, every book I have read is profound in its own way and gets me to think about identity, gestures, and moments in a consideration and perspective I would never have before. The problem is, every time I read Kundera, I actually go through a major depression.

John Berger: To The Wedding

Berger is an art critic as well so some of his descriptions are just very visually appealing. I've read G and King as well and enjoyed those but To The Wedding had that extra something that made me read it twice and cry both times.

Andrew Sean Greer: The Confessions of Max Tivoli:

Soon to be made into a film starring Brad Pitt (blech!) is this book. I discovered it a year or so ago and it was one of those books I read frantically as if I was incredibly scared I might die before finishing it. It is fantastic-about being born as an old man and aging in reverse and losing everyone around you as you slowly become so young you are an infant. It's also about the nature of changing relationships and, of course, despair.

Sarah Vowell: Assassination Vacation

I love Sarah...she's such a political geek but she equates alot of the politics and feelings to music somehow in a way you don't see coming and she makes trekking across America to find various plaques on Lincoln seem like the most exciting thing on earth.

DBC Pierre: Vernon God Little

I still haven't read his new one as I've had trouble finding it...I thought this book was as creative as it was grim and I'm still not so sure about the ending (as in what end up actually happening) Set in the death penalty capital of the world, Texas.

Flannery O'Connor (Stories)

I've been pressuring a certain friend of mine to read Flannery (sorry Rory) because I love her sometimes even more than Virgina Woolf, which I didn't even think was possible. Flannery is one of those short writers that is always profound and brilliant. She has endings that just make your jaw drop. Favorites: "Parker's Back" "The Lame Shall Enter First."

Jose Saramago: Blindness

Seeing (techincally the sequel) is also brilliant but you just have to read this first...it's about the nature of seeing and the fabric that sight weaves into our reality and world. Any must for a photographer who is curious about how a society would react if they all went completely blind. And, of course, it's a character study into the darkness of man and all that. Seeing is more political and explores the idea of how far pretty much any government will go to oppress its own people in order to keep in power.

Douglas Coupland: Girlfriend in a Coma

I've read every work of fiction Coupland has ever written and I have a great friend in NYC who is always getting me Coupland's autographs. This one is a definite favorite-particularily for the ending which encourages you to get out in the world and actually change things at the expense of your livelihood and sanity-question everything and make the world a better place...a place you'd actually want to live in. I've read this book several times-have memorized passages of it-and tend to read it whenever I feel I am slipping into a very deep depression.

John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany

I read this book when I was in high school and it was one of the first books that made me weep. It is so moving and I really cherish it as a complete work of fiction.

Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex

This book is epic in its coverage of the multigenerational story of a family who came from Greece to Detroit. The main character is an intersexual (born with both organs) which goes undiscovered by his parents. He is raised as a girl even though he strongly feels male. It has alot to do with psychology but it just also makes you feel with excellent writing. The Virgin Suicides misses the mark relative to this one. I'm not sure if he'll ever write anything as good.

Douglas Adams: Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Everyone needs a little lightness once in awhile and the kind Adams provides is guilt free because it is so intelligent and creative that you don't feel bad for laughing even if famine and global warming are making you feel like it's the end of the world.

Salman Rushdie: The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Ok...so the ending isn't as great as 90% of the rest of this but it is still a brilliant book filled with rich storytelling and connections to music. Any avid photographer will read it and fall in love with the protagonist Rai who takes photographs despite all danger and forsaking rational thought. And when I mean fall in love, I don't mean some flippant way. I mean...you wish he existed.

Last but not least...

The Riverside Shakespeare

It's funny because I never fully "got" Shakespeare when I was in high school and had to read play after play. I mean, I liked Romeo and Juliet (duh! Romeo was hot and obviously good at poetry!) and all that but I didn't really connect with it until I took Shakespeare in college. There are many brilliant plays that you don't fully sense until you really study them and analyze them at length but the one that is my favorite above all the others is King Lear and the ending always makes me weep like a little girl:

"Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life and thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more, Never never never never never."

Tags:   books authors stories cat feline Shakespeare Rushdie Berger Vonnegut Irving Coupland Vowell Delillo Virgina Woolf Flanner O'Connor Calvino Eugenides book discussion book piles literature I'm not pretentious. I just like to read. Saramago Cats and books

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