Tag: Iron and Wine

Happy New Year! – Albums I Loved in 2011

Hi, Everyone!  Well, it’s that time of year again!  The time when I get to pontificate about the top releases of the year.  However, as usual, I have a really difficult time ranking things.  This is something that carries over from my work as a professor.  After all, what is the difference between a 93 and a 94?  I know it when I see it, but just how to explain?  So, I’m just going to wimp out present some of the albums I loved in no particular order.  For those of you looking for a more ordered (and possibly comprehensive) list, I would recommend checking in with Pitchfork, Slowcoustic, or NPR Music.  All right, let’s get on with the show!

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Other Stuff You Might Like: Daytrotter

Chances are, you already know Daytrotter.  But in a series about excellent music websites, it’s almost criminal not to mention Sean Moeller’s extraordinary website.  Since 2007, the site has been serving up excellent, intimate music sessions for the masses.  Their motto: “One band a day, every day, 28 Daytrotter Session songs each week.”  Here’s how it works: Bands take a couple of hours out of their travels to visit The Horseshack in Rock Island, IL., where they then record a variety of tracks.  Daytrotter puts together some art, and an oft-amusing description of the session, and gives the music away on their site.  It’s an amazingly expansive collection, too, and a true marvel that it’s all done in a not-for-profit enterprise.  And while picking out highlights in this collection is like trying to pick out a favorite piece of sand on a pristine beach, I’ll do my best.

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Iron & Wine Visits Daytrotter

This week, Daytrotter released a lovely session with Iron & Wine, which you can listen to as well as watch.  Of the music, they write:

He takes the fog right out of us, counteracts our insecurities with the beautifully hushed uncertainty. It’s as if he has a way of gathering up all of the bumps in the night, all of the fire light and all of the tender touches of a young mother or father, of a dying grandmother or grandfather and bringing them all into the picture to put us at ease. It’s as if all of the things that we’ve ever feared in our lives – bringing life into the world, growing older and passing out of the world we lucked into, and all of the craziness in the whirlwind in between – are summed up in Iron & Wine songs, distilled into his leafy version of silence and love and shown to us in a way that makes them more enchanting than scary.

How could you not use a little more of that in your day?  So, have a listen – and then watch the session!

First Listen: Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean (Live)

One of the albums I’m most looking forward to this month – Iron & Wine’s Kiss Each Other Clean – comes out on January 25th.  But thanks to the excellent people over at NPR and WNYC, we can bide the time with a bit more cheer… as of right now, you can see the band perform the entire album live!  Why wait?  Head on over and check it out!

Happy New Year! — A 2010 “Retropackle.”

Hey, everyone!  Happy New Year!  I hope that you have a good one, and that you’re surrounded by good food, friends, and music.  It’s been a long year over here (the epic dissertation struggle continues), and I haven’t always been the most attentive (you’re top of the list of New Year’s Resolutions!)… but I wanted to thank everyone for all their love and support.  I’ve been positively blown away by the amount of excellent music that has been sent my way, and the… well, legitimacy, I seem to have stumbled into.

So, in 2011, I’ll be stepping up to keep things rolling around here.  And I hope that you’ll be there, too!  And since it’s customary, follow me for some things I’ve loved this year, as well as some things I’m looking forward to in the New Year!

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