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ha’fway 2017
Happy 241st birthday, United States!
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Ah, the annual halfway through the year music recap where I rarely post an end of year recap. *eyeroll* Eh… I don’t blog much anymore… regardless, here goes for my Top 10 of 2017 so far…
Artist – Album (style)
- Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Mulhy & James McAlister – Planetarium (indie rock)
- Burning Ghosts – Reclamation (jazz metal)
- KXM (Doug Pinnick / George Lynch / Ray Luzier) – Scatterbrain (hard rock)
- Peter Mulvey – Are You Listening? (singer-songwriter)
- Sexmob – Cultural Capital (jazz)
- David Bazan – Care (indie rock)
- Ani DiFranco – Binary (singer-songwriter)
- Future Islands – The Far Field (indie pop)
- Mostly Other People Do the Killing (with Steven Bernstein of Sexmob) – Loafer’s Hollow (jazz)
- Incubus – 8 (rock)
Honorable mentions…
- Albums by Lydia Ainsworth, Alt-J, Brian Marsella Trio’s Masada Book Two, Aimee Mann, Dave Douglas’ Riverside, and Throttle Elevator Music (Kamasi Washington).
- EP – ANOHNI’s Paradise
- Live – ISIS’ Live VII: 2.25.2010
- Re-issues – Pink Floyd early years boxset(s), the Beatles Srgt. Pepper’s 50th, U2 The Joshua Tree 30th, Radiohead OK Computer 20th
- Novelty – A**l Trump’s If You Thought ********* **** Was a Lot of People, You Should Have Seen My Inauguration 5″ vinyl (in “Seth Putnam form,” shall we say).
What’s still to come in 2017…
Claypool-Lennon Delirium 12″ (RSD wider-issue), Spotlights, Antibalas, Steven Wilson, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Mogwai, Radiohead OKNOTOK (physical), Failure live vinyl, Lo Tom (David Bazan, TW Walsh & Starflyer 59 folks), Celldweller, The National, Secret Chiefs 3, Weird Al boxset, plus much more, I’m sure.
Will I continue with blogs in the future? I don’t know. :P
Dan – np: Critters Buggin – Muti -EP-
Favorite Albums & Concerts of 2016
- Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial (lo-fi indie rock) fave song: “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” (#6)
- Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket) – Swallowed by the New (singer-songwriter) fave song: “Criminal Career” (#3)
- Sia – This Is Acting (pop) fave song: “Alive” (#2)
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (rock) fave song: “Ful Stop” (#5)
- Wussy – Forever Sounds (lo-fi indie rock) fave song: “Dropping Houses” (#1)
- Holy Fuck – CONGRATS (groove electronic) fave song: “Tom Tom” (#2)
- Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You (indie rock) fave song: “Plainclothes Man” (#6)
- Steve Taylor & the Danielson Foil – WOW to the Deadness -EP- coffin (indie rock) fave song: “Wow to the Deadness” (#1)
- Circle of Dust – Machines of Our Disgrace (hard industrial) fave song: “Machines of Our Disgrace” (#2)
- Lily & Madeleine – Keep It Together (singer-songwriter duo) fave song: “For the Weak” (#2)
- Charlie Hunter, Bobby Previte, and more – Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth (jazz) fave song: “No Money, No Honey” (#7)
- Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was a Polar Bear (jazz) fave song: “Fuster” (#1)
- David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion) – Blanco (indie rock) fave song: “Little Landslide” (#7)
- Anna Tivel – Heroes Waking Up (singer-songwriter) fave song: “Black Balloon” (#2)
- The Jelly Jam –
ProphetProfit (prog rock) fave song: “Care” (#1) - Dave Douglas’ High Risk – Dark Territory (jazz with electronics) fave song: “Celine” (#1)
- Amendola vs. Blades – Greatest Hits (jazz) fave song: “Lima Bean” (#1)
- Damien Jurado – Visions of Us on the Land (indie rock) fave song: “Exit 353” (#11)
- Greydon Square – Omniverse : Type 3 : Aum Niverse (rap/hip hop) fave song: “Defiant” (#5)
- Elysian Fields – Ghosts of No (sultry indie rock) fave song: “Shadows of the Living Light” (#11)
- Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) – 4 ½ -EP- (prog rock) fave song: “My Book of Regrets” (#1)
- Opeth – Sorceress (prog metal) fave song: “Will o’ the Wisp” (#4)
- Scandroid – Scandroid (keyboard electronic) fave song: “Aphelion” (#3)
- The Claypool-Lennon Delirium – Monolith of Phobos (weird rock) fave song: “Cricket and the Genie, Movement I: The Delirium” (#2)
- Kaada & Patton – Bacteria Cult (ambient experimental) fave song: “Immodium” (#7)
- {8 Apr} Peter Mulvey w/ Anna Tivel :: Alberta Rose Theatre :: Portland, OR
- {22 Apr} Sufjan Stevens, BØRNS, Parov Stelar, LCD Soundsystem & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {23 Apr} CHVRCHES, Guns N’ Roses, Gary Clark Jr., Ice Cube, GoGo Penguin & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {24 Apr} Sia, Kamasi Washington, Wolf Alice, Joywave & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {16 Jun} Holy Fuck :: Doug Fir Lounge :: Portland, OR
- {25 Jun} Flight of the Conchords with Eugene Mirman :: Keller Auditorium :: Portland, OR
- {28 Jul} Ozomatli :: HiFi Music Hall :: Eugene, OR
- {29 Jul} Weird Al Yankovic :: Cuthbert Amphitheater :: Eugene, OR
- {13 Aug} Buster Keaton’s The General film with live score by Mark Orton, Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Bossi, Todd Sickafoose :: Bohemia Park :: Cottage Grove, OR
- {29 Oct} Failure presents Fantastic Planet’s 20th Anniversary :: Star Theater :: Portland, OR
- {9 Nov} Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket :: Alberta Rose Theatre :: Portland, OR
- {17 Nov} Car Seat Headrest :: The WOW Hall :: Eugene, OR
ha’fway 2016
Happy 240th birthday, United States!
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Ah, the annual halfway through the year music recap where I never post an end of year recap. *eyeroll* Eh… I don’t blog much anymore… regardless, here goes for my Top 10 of 2016 so far…
Artist – Album (style)
- Sia – This Is Acting (pop)
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (rock)
- Wussy – Forever Sounds (indie rock)
- Holy Fuck – CONGRATS (live electronic)
- Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You (soundtrack) (indie rock)
- Steve Taylor & the Danielson Foil – WOW to the Deadness -EP- (indie rock)
- David Bazan – Blanco (indie rock)
- Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was a Polar Bear (jazz)
- The Claypool-Lennon Delirium – Monolith of Phobos (rock)
- Damien Jurado – Visions of Us on the Land (indie rock)
What’s still to come in 2016…
Chevelle, Peter Mulvey (it’s in the can), Alex Somers’ score for Captain Fantastic, John Zorn (about every month), TOOL (music done, lyrics nearing completion?), Sigur Rós (maybe 2017), Charlie Hunter, and based on kickstarters/pledgemusic that I’ve supported: Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate, Derek Webb‘s Mockingbird Remixed and Fleming & John, plus much more, I’m sure.
Will I continue with blogs in the future? I don’t know. :P
Dan – np: Auragami – Formation (single)
ha’fway 2015
Happy 239th birthday, United States!
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I don’t blog much. Not much time. I haven’t even put out my Favorites from 2013 or 2014… well, here goes for my Top 10 of 2015 so far…
Artist – Album (style)
- Failure – The Heart is a Monster (rock)
- Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (indie rock)
- Faith No More – Sol Invictus (hard rock)
- Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil – Goliath (rock)
- Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) – Hand. Cannot. Erase. (progressive rock)
- Daniel Johns (of Silverchair) – TALK (pop, dance, rock)
- John Zorn’s The Dreamers with Mike Patton, Sofia Rei & Jesse Harris – The Song Project Live at Le Poisson Rouge (jazz, avant garde, pop)
- Dave Douglas – High Risk (jazz with electronics)
- Nellie McKay – My Weekly Reader (cheeky 70s rock tribute)
- DRKWAV (Skerik, Medeski & Deitch) – The Purge (doom, jazz, electronic, all over)
What’s still to come in 2015…
Ben Folds with yMusic, Holy Fuck (no release date, but they recorded it in late 2014), John Zorn (about every month), Puscifer (teaser on their Instagram?), TOOL (music done, lyrics nearing completion?), Charlie Hunter, and based on kickstarters/pledgemusic that I’ve supported: Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5 has a couple more EPs due, Dweezil Zappa, Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate, Jude Christodal, Dylan Carlson of Earth, and Fleming & John.
Will I continue with blogs in the future? I don’t know. :P
Dan – np: Critters Buggin – Stampede
ha’fway 2013
Happy belated* 237th birthday, United States!
*-everything I do lately is belated
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So, here are my faves of the first half of 2013… and outside of the Top 5, it’s all kind of random order on how I feel today… it’s all bound to switch around by year’s end (click album art for sound samples):
Artist – Album (style)
- Thom Yorke’s Atoms for Peace – AMOK ( electronic rock )
- Sigur Rós – Kveikur ( ambient icelandic )
- Kim Taylor – Love’s A Dog ( singer-songwriter )
- Dave Douglas Quintet – Time Travel ( trumpet jazz )
- Fol Chen – The False Alarms ( electronic indie pop )
- Jeffrey Foucault’s Cold Satellite – Cavalcade ( americana rock )
- Goddamn Electric Bill – Dead Alive ( electronic indie pop )
- Jon Madof’s Zion80 – Zion80 ( jewish afrobeat )
- Pat Metheny plays John Zorn’s Masada Book Two – Book of Angels, Vol. 20: Tap ( jewish jazz )
- Palms – Palms ( catharsis, a magical blend of Isis & Deftones )
- Mike Patton – The Place Beyond the Pines ( movie score )
- Overseas – Overseas ( indie rock )
- Pinnick Gales Pridgen – Pinnick Gales Pridgen ( soulful power trio )
- Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (and Other Stories) ( prog rock )
- Puscifer – Donkey Punch the Night -EP- ( rock )
- Les Rhinocéros – Les Rhinocéros II ( avant jazz rock )
- Steven Bernstein’s Sexmob – Cinema, Circus & Spaghetti: Sexmob plays Fellini: The Music of Nino Rota ( trumpet jazz )
- Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob ( pop )
- Tomahawk – Oddfellows ( hard rock )
- Wussy – Duo -EP- ( indie rock )
I didn’t get a few that already came out this year (yet) and whatever “et cetera” that the cool kids are listening to these days; but they may make it to the list at the end of the year.
The 2nd half of 2013 promises to bring some potential great ones, too… a few more from John Zorn, Over the Rhine (a double-album Meet Me At the Edge of the World & new holiday album), George Hrab’s 21812 live CD/DVD, another from Holy Fuck, new Nellie McKay (rumored), Levi Weaver (pledge now!), 3rd Ear Experience (just got in the mail), Chali 2Na (more EPs in the Against the Current series), Au4 & Digital Noise Academy (physical CDs for their late 2012 digital only), yMusic, and many more…
Favorite concerts of 2013 (so far):
- Tomahawk in Portland (Feb)
- John Zorn @ 60 in Minneapolis (Apr)
- Charlie Hunter, Booker T. Jones & Carlton Jackson in Portland (Apr)
- Prince in Portland (Apr)
- Secret Chiefs 3 – two nights / four sets in Seattle (May)
and tons more where I didn’t write a review
(click pictures below for review links)
~Dan – np: 3rd Ear Experience (with dUg Pinnick of King’s X) – Boi
My Favorites of 2012
Life has been a been busy/hectic lately, to say the least. Not enough time to do the usual extended blogs for best of instrumental, vocal and whatnot with lots of descriptions. And since, hell, it’ll be 2014 before too long; so I figured I’d get out my favorites of 2012 list in some fashion now before it’s officially too late.
Here’s what was my favorite music from last year…
vocal top 10
(in no particular order beyond #1)
O.S.I. – Fire Make Thunder
instrumental top 10
(in no particular order beyond #1)
Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola –
Not Getting Behind is the New Getting Ahead
ep, internet, etc
Best Novelty: Sufjan Stevens’ Silver and Gold boxset
Best Internet-only releases: Glen Phillips Coyote Sessions,
Greydon Square Type II : The Mandelbrot Set,
Sufjan Son Lux & Serengeti (s/s/s) beak and claw
Best EPs: Levi Weaver’s I Am Only A Tiny Noise
Peter Mulvey’s Chaser (OOP)
Best Vinyl-only: Wussy “Dangerous Highway” 7″
Sufjan Stevens & Rosie Thomas “Hit & Run” 7″
Enjoy! I’ll sort of promise to do better with timeliness on next year’s lists!
~Dan – np: Pinnick Gales Pridgen – Pinnick Gales Pridgen
Favorite Concerts of 2012
Well, this year was once again good to the Pacific Northwest on the concert front… 366 days, 85 shows, 144 artists, many long nights driving home, and a lot of photos… my best albums lists will likely push off into mid-January (due to being busy & heading out on vacation), but here are my favorite concerts of 2012…
My favorite concerts of 2012:
- Secret Chiefs 3 :: WOW Hall :: Eugene, OR {6 Feb} [review with photos] – I saw them twice on this tour, and both shows were great. The Eugene show gets the nod mainly because it was first in the order. :)
- Roger Waters presents Pink Floyd’s The Wall:: Rose Garden :: Portland, OR {22 May} [review with photos] – Wow. I don’t even think The Wall is in my Top 5 of Pink Floyd albums, but holy cow, this was an amazing show. Truly stunning.
- Radiohead :: Key Arena :: Seattle, WA {9 Apr} [review with photos] – A phenomenal band that keeps making me drive multiple hours anytime I want to see them! I’ll gladly continue, though.
- Sufjan Stevens presents the Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long: Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant On Ice :: Aladdin Theater :: Portland, OR {6 Dec} [review with photos] – I hate Christmas music, but this spectacle of wonderment warmed me over.
- Puscifer :: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall :: Portland, OR {14 Mar} [review with photos] – A wine tasting and a concert from rock’s favorite frontman? Yes, please.
- Seun Kuti & the Egypt 80 :: WOW Hall :: Eugene, OR {18 Mar} [review with photos] – I love Nigerian music, and anyone with the last name of “Kuti” should come with a mandate that you go to the show.
- “Weird Al” Yankovic :: Lane County Fairgrounds :: Eugene, OR {18 Aug} [review with photos] – A long, many be-suited set of songs. Saying it was a “fun time” would be an understatement.
- Over the Rhine :: The Triple Door :: Seattle, WA {17 Nov} [review with photos] – It had been too long since seeing Over the Rhine (a year). I got spoiled when I lived in Cincinnati; so now Ive got to get my OTR fix when I can. This was a gorgeous night.
- Levi Weaver :: my house :: Eugene, OR {16 Jul} [review with photos] – Going to an intimate house concert is great. I recommend it. Hosting an intimate house concert – doubly so!
- Peter Mulvey & Kris Delmhorst :: 3 venues :: 3 Oregon cities {17-19 Oct} [recap with photos] – Story time from two stupendous singer-songwriters.
- Dan Deacon :: Hawthorne Theatre :: Portland, OR {25 Oct} [recap with photos] – Dancing some asses off.
- Sigur Rós :: Edgefield :: Portland, OR {9 Aug} [review] – This was my first time at Edgefield and also my first time seeing Sigur Rós in an outdoor venue. Plus side on a great venue, but a slight knock for loving how Sigur Rós works within a theater setting. A great show regardless of venue, though.
- Fiona Apple :: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall :: Portland, OR {26 Jul} [review] – A bit spastic, but a phenomenal performer. A mix of her new and old tunes, truly great show!
- Nellie McKay :: The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts :: Eugene, OR {2 Mar} [review with photos] – I saw her four times this year, and they all rank well. I’ll see Nellie any time she comes through. She’s always a delight!
- Portland Cello Project plays Radiohead’s OK Computer :: The Majestic Theatre :: Corvallis, OR {21 Sep} [setlist] – While I would have gone a different route than a men chorus for the vocal aspect (i.e. the one song with a regular vocalist was the best one), this was a very special night.
Runners-Up: My Brightest Diamond in Tacoma (Sep) – only because it was a short set, Penn & Teller in Vegas (Jan), Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity in Vegas (Jan), Trevor Dunn & Travis LaPlante at the Wandering Goat (Jan), and Skerik’s Bandalabra at Cozmic (Mar).
Disappointment: the absurd volume of Jack White at the Hult Center (May).
My favorite concert photos of 2012: (in chronological order)
(all images are free to use under a creative commons designation,
simply identify Daniel Temmesfeld with a
photo credit and link to pacificlectic.com.
Past Favorite Concerts Lists:
- Favorite Concerts 2011
- Favorite Concerts 2010
- Favorite Concerts 2009
- Favorite Concerts 2008
- Favorite Concerts 2007
Favorite music of 2012 will be coming in a few weeks (unless I can squeak them out sooner)… EPs/DVDs/etc, vocal albums, instrumental albums…
~Dan – np: George Hrab – Coelacanth
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
Creative Commons
This blog and concert photos therein are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Available with Attribution for Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Use.
