365 Days of Jazz Hands - Day 342

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8th 2013

Today's Jazz Hands presents:  

2013's Best and Worst:  Music In My Yearview Mirror

1980 was a terrible year for music and for humanity in general.  If losing Ian Curtis, Joy Division's troubled frontman, wasn't bad enough, thirty-three years ago today the world said goodbye to the legend, John Lennon.

The Joy Division story ended when Ian Curtis tragically decided to take his own life, however it was just the beginning of the New Order narrative as the surviving members channelled the momentum from their success to become one of the biggest game changers in the music industry since the Beatles heyday, decades before them.

Not only that, but Ian Curtis penned 'Ceremony' one of the most underrated songs of his era, thought possibly to be the last song he wrote prior to his death, and was later performed on the first album recorded by New Order.

If connections are what we're looking for, then destruction as a means of creation is certainly on display.

I'm not sure what good came from John Lennon's murder, other than an unmatched legacy and proof that this world is unfairly manipulated by evil.

Although it's the anniversary of his death, December 8th is an appropriate opportunity to acknowledge his amazing contributions and celebrate his life.  I can't think of a better day to reflect upon the year of music events, detailing the high points, the low points and my favorite album releases of this past year.

I have no business reviewing music, for the most part, as I have no formal training as a musician.  Actually, I don't really have much in the way of informal training.  I gave the drums a couple of days worth and the acoustic guitar was a one summer's ambition of mine.  Learning an awkward version of the opening chords to Day Tripper was the sum of my efforts and I now have a guitar, complete with a Bob Seger autograph, collecting dust in the back of my closet.

I am sorely under qualified to provide any sort of criticism, aside from the fact that I am a music fan and have opinions.  So as I count down my favorite albums of the year, you should take the list with a grain of salt.

There were few noteworthy music events worth mentioning, although Kanye West naming his child "North" and Miley Cyrus's foam finger antics on MTV comes to mind, but aside from that we're left with scraps like distasteful album cover art (Black Flag), even worse t-shirt art (Mastadon) and an 80s music icon (Morrissey) taking a social stand against the U.S. President's annual Turkey Pardon tradition.  When an eBay sale of Ian Curtis's kitchen table makes media waves, it's an obvious sign that there were not many news worthy music related events to speak of and if it weren't for Lou Reed's passing in October, this portion of the Yearview Mirror post would be a mockery of ridiculously talented artists making ridiculous fools of themselves.

North West

Miley Cyrus & Robin Thicke Blurring the Lines

Black Flag's Classy Album Art

Mastadon's Classy T-Shirt

Ridiculousness

Ian Curtis's Kitchen Table

That leaves a few albums to count down.

There have been a few good releases this year, and time will be the ultimate judge whether or not these particular albums are truly good or not.  Unfortunately, it's difficult to quantify what equates to good or bad when it comes to an art form and although there are measurables to note, structure, production quality, talent, skill, degree of difficulty, and degree of creativity to name a few, a song or album could score high in all of those categories, but that doesn't mean my ears will agree.  

To be fair, I am no critic, so I don't have to agree with what makes certain music good or bad, all I have to be concerned with is whether or not I liked it.  Good structure, production quality, talent, skill, degree of difficulty and degree of creativity may help on some levels, but I'm not a musician and it's difficult for me to adequately consider those particulars.  Arcade Fire's album Reflektor may be the most creative output of the year, and it certainly makes my list, but it isn't close to my favorite.  There's something pretentious about the band in general, and it shows up in their music.  A handful of songs I could live without and if it weren't for the stand out track Joan of Arc I'd likely shelf it altogether.  If Reflektor is pretentious then Kurt Vile's album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze is its antithesis, with its laid back meandering and lazy plucking.  I positively love it though.  Kurt Vile is probably a dude I'd like to sit in a bar with for a while as there's something charming and appreciative about dry, self deprecating wit.  

6. Arcade Fire - Reflektor

5. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze

Listening to a great song can lift you off the ground and make you look at life with a new perspective, like Jon Hopkins' Immunity.  If music has texture, this is a good example of organic fuzz drenched in honey milk.  I assume this is the same sensation as loading up on narcotics, without the obvious setbacks. 

4. Jon Hopkins - Immunity

Sometimes a great album is loaded on its own narcotics, and sounds particularly dreamy.  There isn't one thing about Local Natives' Hummingbird that stands out as particularly original.  They're not pulling a Velvet Underground and changing the world of music forever or anything, no walking on the wild side, but there isn't a bad moment on the album, a detail that's hard to accomplish in this day and age where releasing a great single is more important than the production of the whole album...a fact I'm not particularly fond of.  That being said, Robin Thicke's song "Blurred Lines" would not have been made possible without this industry shift, and I don't care who he ripped off or didn't rip off, if the song is stolen on any level whatsoever, does that make it sound bad?  Call it a remix and let's move on.  

3. Local Natives - Hummingbird

The National's Trouble Will Find Me isn't my favorite of all of their albums, but that says little about the value of this release as it's an amazing sounding collection of songs and challenges the ears upon every listen, something I regard quite a lot.  If a song or album fails to offer something new upon multiple rotations, then it's usually not one that will stand the test of time.  Ten years from now, it's quite possible that this is the only album on my 2013 list that remains in my collection.  The National have always been engaged in a tight race with The Walkmen for one of my favorite bands, but unfortunately, The Walkmen announced they're calling it quits this year, which is my second least favorite music event of 2013.

2. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

This leaves one last album worth discussing, which tops my list.

Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City was the most surprising release of year.  Surprising to me because I absolutely hated their previous albums, thinking them derivative and lyrically pointless.  I'd now like to retract those critiques.  I have since revisited those earlier releases and now apologetically appreciate them in a whole new light.  In fact, I don't even remember hearing some of the songs from those first two albums, which makes me question whether they were given a fair shake in the first place.  Paul Simon's Graceland may be the closest comparison to Modern Vampires as there is definitely an African tribal influence, but make no mistake about it, these are meticulously crafted pop songs and the lyrics are penned by no less than a poet.  Not necessarily on the level with Lennon, Curtis or Reed poetry, but those are large measuring sticks to say the least.  Of course, the passage of time, questioning faith and mortality are central themes on this album, which is somewhat of a soft spot of mine...so there's a lyrical topic bias in play.

1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

The specific subject matter brings us full circle on this post, being the anniversary of John Lennon's tragic death.  The following paraphrase could have been said, eulogizing any one of the three aforementioned fallen legends.

Life, so beautiful, painful an dazzling, experienced with incredible power and grace.  He will exist in our dreams and we will see him live again.  How strange, exciting and miraculous that we can change the world so much through words, music and moving through the life we're given.

In a roundabout way, those are the words Laurie Anderson, the love of Lou Reed's life, chose to describe the man the world will dearly miss, but could have been said of Ian Curtis and John Lennon as well.  

It's difficult to put into words what makes a song great, but great music gets better over time and those three men created their art as timeless masterpieces.  Will any of the music that I have designated worthy of 2013's Yearview Mirror last?  It's difficult to say.  They all possess sound structure, great production value, a considerable amount of talent, a fair amount of skill, a high degree of difficulty, and off the charts creativity.  Above all else they challenge the ears upon multiple listens, just as nearly anything Lennon, Curtis or Reed recorded throughout their unparalleled careers.  Time will judge how truly great they are, though.

Today's Jazz Hands did not blur the lines.

Day three-hundred and forty-two complete.