I've always considered it a special sort of sin to dive into a sequel without having first taken in the original. And with that in mind, I've been carrying around an unread copy of John Updike's Rabbit Redux for a couple of years. Ben T Carr was a huge fan of the rabbit series and I think I swiped Redux off the shelf of my parents old college books but I'd been saving it for after I read the first one (Rabbit Run).
Well if it's a sin then I'll be damned. Updike's recent departure from the scene just happened to coincide with one of my occasional lusts for literature. I even took a trip out to the Strand ("18 Miles Of Books") to look for Rabbit Run but of course they didn't have it. So I'm reading Rabbit Redux and Damn! It is good.
I'm only a couple of pages in, but already:
"In the papers you read about these houses in Connecticut where the parents are away in the Bahamas and the kids come in and smash it up for a party. More and more this country is getting like that. As if it just grew here instead of people laying down their lives to build it."
When I first started going to the Sidewalk Cafe I thought "You know, this is an incredible place to hang out and this is the most exciting music I've ever heard but I would never incorporate unsigned, self-released artists into my regular every day listening." No more than three weeks later, my iTunes Top 25 proved me a liar.
And so, when I opened up this December's annual top ten albums list I found myself puzzled. Santogold? TV On The Radio? I didn't listen to any of these artists and I didn't know anyone who did! Someone sent me a video that mashed up the top 25 songs of 2008 all into one song and I could only recognize maybe five of them.
So I decided I would put together my list of albums from 2008. From the many many songwriters I've heard and fell in love with this year, these are the recordings that got into my iTunes and shot straight to the top of the most played. I've decided to split my top ten into two groups: the top five artists to actually get off their ass and release an album this year and the top five who fucking need to release one in 2009 because they already have the songs and the recordings. I begin, without prejudice, with the top five released.
ISAAC'S TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2008
1. The Shivers - Beaks to the Moon http://www.myspace.com/shiversnyc
I saw these dudes the very first time I played at the Sidewalk. They didn't go on until the late hour of 12:45. Most of the people had already gone home or lost their attention span but all of a sudden these two figure ascend to the stage: hard, neurotic Keith Zarriello on guitar and belting vocals from New York City and the light-as-a-dream Aussie Jo Schornikow painting watercolors on the piano and harmonies.
Keith has been playing in and around New York for years as "the Shivers" but only brough Jo in with this last album. Her presence makes all the difference. It's like Lennon having just found McCartney: Keith's heaviness is suddenly balanced by Jo's constant musical generosity and kindness. And the extreme's couldn't mesh any finer.
Since I met these guys they've already made leaps and bounds in their career. At the time, they had only just released this album and already they've been to California twice and have radio play in over thirty states around the country. I will not be at all surprised when they become the next big indie-rock success story.
Alisha Westerman is the for real serious shit. She is that cool girl in seventh grade who is totally above the whole social scene. You know, she gets invited to all the cool parties - and goes - but at lunch time sits with the geeky kids.
I will always remember the first time I heard Alisha play. She started her first song with the line: "Robots are the turn-on of the century" and I was hooked. Alisha spent some time studying poetry in college and it shows. She is a master of the narrative voice. Her mastery of music, apparently, comes naturally.
She is joined on this album by her two very talented sisters singing three part harmony throughout. The music is infused with a laconic cool that betrays an inner suffering. And Alisha's smooth way of gliding vocally up into a note recalls Mason Jennings or Dinah Washington.
Alisha has since left the New York scene for the greener pastures of her native Virgin Islands.
3. Frank Hoier & the Weber Brothers - Lovers & Dollars http://www.myspace.com/frankhoier
What else is there? The title comes from Frank's destined-to-be-classic line "Lovers and dollars - they come and go. But don't confuse your love with diamonds and gold." Frank is a fourth-generation crooner (his father was in the first white group ever signed to Motown) with deep appreciation for all kinds of traditional music.
He glides easily through different styles from the classic rocker "I've Made Up My Mind" through the old timey blues title track to the gorgeous ballad "We Both Live In Brooklyn, Babe" (a personal favorite)
4. Debe Dalton - Live at Sidewalk http://www.myspace.com/debedalton
Debe Dalton is sort of the great matriarch of the current Sidewalk scene. Debe has been in New York since 1971 and has palled around with some of the New York folk greats: Mimi Farina, Karen Dalton (no relation), she even sang once with Pete Seeger (and carried his banjo!). The woman sweats wisdom.
This album, too, is a great labor of love. Debe has been a regular fixture at the 'walk for over four years and is well-loved by everyone who attends. Her songs are all-out masterpieces, crafted over the course of decades sometimes. But Debe is not one to go into a recording studio. So for years the only way to hear these gems was to swing by on a Monday night or when she had a show. That is until 2008.
A couple of the soundguys from the Sidewalk decided spontaneously to compile a CD of live recordings they'd made of Debe over the years and surprise her on her annual birthday show. When they reached out to some other Sidewalk soundguys, they found that they'd been planning the very same thing! So the project became of collaborative effort from some the Sidewalk best.
The songs are gems. Debe comes from that old rough New York that most of us current crowd remember only from the Ninja Turtles movies. So she's seen a lot. But through it all comes the strength of her kindness.
But there is nothing flashy about this disc - every song is solo live Debe Dalton accompanied by her trademark claw-hammer banjo (she has some friends on a few tracks). These are songs that you live with and slowly let in. And the performances, as already mentioned, have been culled over to select only the best and most intimate.
5. Ben Sadock - You Are the Beneficiary of Us http://www.myspace.com/bensadock
Ben is a funny guy. He doesn't get to hang out at the Sidewalk as much as I'd like, what with his wife and kid, but when he does make it by he's always brings his gentle spark. Ben has an incredibly smooth voice and is always keen to throw a harmony on a Hank Williams or Neil Young tune. His own original material is also filled with tons of great cheesy wordplay, which I like a lot.
The recording style is super clean, which is not the regular anti-folk thing. But dangit, I like it. And it gets a lot of play on my itunes.
happy holidays. merry congratulations to the rezendi for making such a new and wonderful person
for my part, I got hooked up Christmas-wise. I got a new camera and a new wallet and new guitar picks. I can't think of what else a boy would need.
Not so long ago I read a top 10 list for albums. And it was wrong. Most likely because this reviewer hasn't been hangin around the anti-folk scene/just plain hasn't heard the music that's going down there. Anyway I've more than half a mind to write the "Best Anti-Folk Albums of 2008 List WITH PICTURES" so please do hassle me to finish doing so if that's something you might like to read.
oh, also, speaking of. I've been getting some great feedback from the album being on iTunes, which is awesome. Thanks for all the words of encouragement!
I'll leave you with this: I was walking down Hudson st last night towards my home on Grove when I was distracted by a massive RV blasting incomprehensible music. "What in the world could that be?" I wondered. As it approached, I could see through the windows where a dozen and a half adolescent Hasidic boys were yelping "Happy Hanukah!" at me.
