Phoenix: Free Live Album Download

Faithful readers of TNOP know that French rockers Phoenix came in at a solid #2 in our list of Best Albums of 2009 with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Now the band has decided to tip their caps to the fans and provide a free eight song downloadable album entitled Live In Sydney. No sign-ups or e-mail required; just go to their site and click and listen.

Here's the track listing:
01 Lisztomania
02 Lasso
03 Fences
04 Girlfriend
05 Armistice
06 Love like a sunset
07 Rome
08 1901

Covers, Covers Everywhere

TNOP has been impressed with a number of covers from noted artists flying around the internet, so we've gathered some of these efforts together for your enjoyment.

Dave Matthews & Neil Young, "Alone and Forsaken"
Out of the much hyped "Hope For Haiti" national telethon that featured dozens of musicians, this pairing and choice of song most floored us. The tune was written and recorded by Hank Williams, Sr and originally released 25 July 1951. The plaintive cry of the lyrics were transposed perfectly to the tragic situation in Port-au-Prince and beyond by Dave Matthews and Neil Young. It is our best guess that the genesis for this choice was Young, given his affinity for Hank and covers in the recent past by fellow Canadian Neko Case (0n 2001's Canadian Amp) and frequent collaborator Emmylou Harris (from the 2002 Hank tribute CD Timeless).



Annie Clark & Justin Vernon, "Harvest Moon"
And speaking of Ol' Shakey, his "Harvest Moon" was covered by the stellar pairing of Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on 23 January for Haiti relief.


Phoenix, "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"
A number of sites have revealed the mp3 of Phoenix's interesting choice of covers: Dylan's opus to his first wife. [The track on Blonde On Blonde exceeded 11 minutes; the French band cuts that by more than half.] Interesting to note Thomas Mars' vocal approach on this one. Listen to it via Twenty-Four Bit here.

Fiona Apple, "He's Funny That Way"
Ms. Apple has been lying low for some time, so it is good to see her in this performance with her frequent collaborator/producer Jon Brion. The selection is an old jazz standard written by Richard Whiting and Neil Moret, previously recorded by a number of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Nat "King" Cole. The venue is Los Angeles' Largo at the Coronet on behalf of the "Love and Haiti, Too" benefit concert on 23 January.

2009 Pazz & Jop Poll Released

Music magazines and (now many) blogs have fun each year critiquing and listing their favorite albums and songs of the year. Including TNOP. But the most comprehensive barometer of the past 365 days in music remains the Pazz & Jop poll in The Village Voice, compiled from the votes of over 800 critics. In addition, the Voice provides entertaining articles and interactive links not only about the winners, but the state of the music industry in general.

For 2009, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion was the runaway number one on the album chart (entire albums list can be accessed here), and Jay-Z's collaboration with Alicia Keys, "Empire State of Mind," took the single of the year honors (entire singles list can be accessed here). Phoenix made a strong showing on both charts, locking down the #2 album and the #2 & #9 singles.

TNOP's Best Albums of 2009

10. ST. VINCENT - Actor

After a so-so album debut a couple of years ago and the timid performance we witnessed as an opening act in 2007, this fine effort came out of the blue. Annie Clark a/k/a St. Vincent finds her voice on Actor, adapting a number of personalities in a varied collection of songs. And don't let the sweet voice fool you.

KEY TRACK: "Actor Out Of Work"
BONUS: "Oh Sister" (cover of Dylan song with Andrew Bird, Providence. RI, October 2009)

9. DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE - A Friend of A Friend

Previously known as the key co-writer and musician on so many fine works by Gillian Welch, out from the shadows steps Dave Rawlings and his superb band. The mix of originals and unique covers, assisted by Welch and proteges The Old Crow Medicine Show, are delivered in grand fashion.

KEY TRACK: "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High") (live at Grimey's Records, Nashville, TN, December 2009)
FURTHER READING: Alec Wilkinson's excellent New Yorker profile of Welch and Rawlings from 2004.

8. NEKO CASE - Middle Cyclone

A wonderful follow-up to Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, Neko Case takes on another natural disaster and triumphs.

KEY TRACK: "People Got A Lotta Nerve"
FURTHER READING: February 2009 profile of Neko Case from The New York Times Magazine.

7. BOB DYLAN - Together Through Life

In which the Patron Saint of TNOP interprets Chess Records blues with a Tex-Mex undertone. And it works, continuing the Bard's late-career renaissance. [Side note to long time fans: it's like Desire, except David Hidalgo's accordion replaces Scarlet Rivera's fiddle.]

KEY TRACK: "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"

FURTHER READING: Bill Flanagan interviews Dylan about the record.

6. DAN AUERBACH - Keep It Hid

First solo effort from The Black Keys' front man allows him to flesh out his sound. The record gets stronger with each listen, and shows that Auerbach is now a major player on the music scene. He's in a prolific stage, as evidenced by the BlakRoc project and the expected new Keys' release in 2010.

KEY TRACK #1: "My Last Mistake"

KEY TRACK #2: "Trouble Weighs A Ton" (with James Quine)

5. THE DECEMBERISTS - The Hazards of Love

America's least-likely rock stars continue their musical ascendancy, using little known folk tales as their narrative compass. We admit it took us a little longer to warm up to this effort than previous favorites like The Crane Wife and Picaresque, but this "Folk Opera" treats the listener to bombastic shapeshifters, ghostly kids and a psychotic queen. Too adventuresome? Pretentious prog rock gone bad? Some thought so. But head man Colin Meloy clearly believes in the album concept, and dares to push back at the iPod singles mentality. And it doesn't hurt that he sure knows how to pen a melody.

KEY TRACK: "The Rake's Song"

KEY TRACK #2: "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid" (with Shara Worden, Los Angeles, CA, May 2009)
FURTHER LISTENING: David Dye of The World Cafe interviews Colin Meloy.

4. U2 - No Line On The Horizon

After two albums of straight ahead rock cementing the familiar "U2 sound," the Dublin lads decide to step out of the box again. The result is their best studio record since Achtung Baby. Their massive stadium tour will continue into 2010, a sign of how much they believe in the new work.

KEY TRACK: "Moment of Surrender"

KEY TRACK #2: "Get On Your Boots" (live at the 2009 Grammy Awards)

FURTHER READING: Producer Brian Eno talks to The Telegraph about the recording of No Line On The Horizon.

3. WILCO - Wilco (The Album)

The top American band hits a solid groove from beginning to end in this self-titled (kind of) CD. Major fans of Wilco's experimental, atmospheric side will be disappointed to an extent, but the album brims with confidence from a line up of musicians who clearly listen to and love all shades of rock and roll - and learn from it.

KEY TRACK: "You Never Know"
KEY TRACK #2: "You And I" (with Leslie Feist on Late Night With David Letterman, July 2009)
KEY TRACK #3: "Wilco (The Song)" (The Colbert Report, October 2008)
FURTHER READING: Time talks to Jeff Tweedy about the album, the passing of Jay Bennett and a fellow Chicagoan.




2. PHOENIX - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Regular readers of TNOP know that we are suckers for the unadulterated joys of pop. After three promising tries, France's Phoenix stormed the U.S. shores this year with its sunny, percussion driven sound. We dare you not to like it.

KEY TRACK: "Lisztomania"
PERFORMANCE: "1901," "Lisztomania/One Time Too Many" and "Long Distance Call" (from La Blogotheque Take Away Show, December 2009)
FURTHER READING: "Phoenix Remains A Band Apart" from September 2009 issue of The Fader.




1. GRIZZLY BEAR - Veckatimest

The Beach Boys-like harmony and hollow bodied guitar sound - with production finished, appropriately enough, in a New York church - made this record by the Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear TNOP's most played record in the car and on the stereo and iPod during 2009. Although its production is sparse and tones often hushed, there is an unique and youthful exuberance about this work. It is a record that will be played for many years to come.

KEY TRACK: "Two Weeks"
KEY TRACK #2: "All We Ask" (Blue Ribbon Vision @ Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, WI, June 2009)

KEY TRACK #3: "While You Wait For The Others" (KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, February 2008)
INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE: Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions, November 2009.

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The Next Ten
Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
Dawes, North Hills
Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Drippers, Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!
Levon Helm, Electric Dirt
The Swell Season, Strict Joy
Various Artists, Dark Was The Night
Passion Pit, Manners
Andrew Bird, Noble Beasts
Lisa Hannigan, Sea Sew

15 Minutes of Fame Update

The New York Times Magazine recently tried to figure out how the algorithm works that drives internet radio service Pandora. We here at TNOP are satisfied with the simple fact that it is pretty cool.

Historically one of the more vocal champions of hip-hop, Sasha Frere-Jones declares in the October 26 issue of The New Yorker that 2009 marks its demise as a musical genre, in no small part due to the pop leanings of Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3. No comment as of yet from Nas, who out-Nostradamused Frere-Jones back in 2006.

The photographic exhibition "Who Shot Rock & Roll" opens October 30 and runs through January 31 at the Brooklyn Museum.

Last weekend, TNOP had the pleasure of taking in the "Andy Warhol: The Last Decade" exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The focus is on the final years of the artist's work, but there is also a special presentation of its in-house Warhol collection as well as monitors continuously looping the famous screen tests of Lou Reed, Nico, Dennis Hopper and others who hung out at The Factory in the 1960s.

The Fader runs a feature on French rock band Phoenix. (We're still digging the album they put out this year, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.) And catch the group performing live on "Sound Opinions" this weekend.

The Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones power trio, awkwardly dubbed Them Crooked Vultures, have announced the track listing of their self-titled album to be released on November 16. They will also play a handful of dates in the UK in December.