sonicdork.

I decided this year that I would rank the top ten and then just let the rest just battle it out.

10. Actor - St. Vincent

9. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

8. At The Cut - Vic Chesnutt

7. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

6. Industry Giants - Superdrag

5. Love and Curses - Reigning Sound

4. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case

3. Zero To 99 - Boston Spaceships

2. Embryonic - The Flaming Lips

and the #1 album for 2009 according to sonicdork……..

1. Popular Songs - Yo La Tengo

Other favorites from 2009

• Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
• The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Duckworth Lewis Method
• Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
• M. Ward - Hold Time
• Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk
• Tegan & Sara - Sainthood
• Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
• A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
• Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend
• eels - Hombre Lobo
• Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
• Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
• Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
• Seven Worlds Collide - The Sun Came Out
• The Wave Pictures - Play Some Pool
• Vic Chesnutt - Skitter On Take Off
• Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
• Sonic Youth - The Eternal
• Pugwash - Giddy
• Port O’Brien - Threadbare
• Polvo - In Prism
• Pearl Jam - Backspacer
• The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - s/t
• Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown
• Lee Fields and The Expressions - My World
• Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
• Joe Pernice - It Feels So Good When I Stop
• Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall
• Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
• Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
• Flight of the Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky
• The Flaming Lips - Dark Side of the Moon
• Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
• Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
• The Dead Weather - Horehound
• Daniel Johnson - Is and Always Was
• Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
• Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
• Coconut Records - Davy
• Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Best Reissues / Live Releases / Boxed Sets

1. Keep Your Eye On The Sky - Big Star AND I Am The Cosmos (reissue) - Chris Bell
2. The Live Anthology - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
3. Good Evening New York - Paul McCartney (if only for the fact that I was at two of these shows!)

Happy New Year and welcome to the new decade. So here we are. Personally, I hated 2009 for many personal reasons and I am frankly happy to see the fucker go. With those feelings aside, it was still a pretty decent year for rock. Before we get to my list, how about some high points?

• Seeing Sir Paul McCartney for the first time (two shows!) at Citi Field.
• Yo La Tengo graced us with two stellar albums…..Popular Songs and Fuckbook (as Condofucks).
• Through one of the best shows on the RADIO - The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling - I discovered Reigning Sound. Where the fuck have I been?
• Springsteen finally removed “Outlaw Pete” from his setlist near the end of the year.
• My faith in The Flaming Lips was completely restored with the release of their amazing double album, Embryonic.
• Bobby Pollard released two killer albums - Planets Are Blasted and the superior Zero To 99. Damn fine year for Pollard. The only thing that could trump it in 2010 is a GBV reunion. Come on. Jump on board, Bob.

some LOWWWWW POINTS in rock, etc.

• The passing of my Dad.
• The passing of soooo many great musicians….. Vic Chesnutt. Jack Rose. Jon Guthrie. Michael Jackson? Well, I pretty much already considered him dead.
• Weezer’s Raditude. Yep. I promised a review and I couldn’t even deliver. That’s just how BAD this album was. I’ve stuck with Rivers for many years now, hoping that he had another GREAT one in him. Face it. He doesn’t. The next great thing he will release is the Deluxe Pinkerton. After that, I’m done.

Coming up next - THE LIST. Who made the cut?!?!?!?!?! Who?!?!?!

Jeff Dunham. Gone. No more racist puppets on Comedy Central?!?!?! Where will I learn comedic hate from now??? Mama’s Family reruns?

Vic Chesnutt sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 45. I’m not going to go too much into the details here - you can refer to the fine blog Athens Music Junkie for the latest on that. Needless to say, his passing shocked and broke the hearts of so many.

Vic Chesnutt was one of the finest songwriters out there - and my favorite Athens songwriter. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to move to Athens in 2003. He’s already greatly missed.

[pic from Village Voice]

Rip Taylor. Pure terror.

brilliant and addictive in every single way. that’s right….sonicdork enjoys some lady gaga. so what?

I know my title got your attention. I have that ability.

So let’s cut to the chase. You absolutely HAVE TO HAVE another fucking CD in your collection besides this one -

I’ve heard “Lisztomania” at least 400 times on Gossip Girl and every other CW show.

What kind of horrible shit does Phoenix have on you??!!?? It isn’t even that good of a record. The only reason anyone listens to it is so that they don’t feel left out. “I can’t not listen to this record….everyone else is.”

I typically hate “supergroups” unless they have the words “travelling” or “wilburys” or “cream” or “blind” or “faith” in them… Supergroups seem to be all the rage these days though…. oh fuck…. I hate saying “all the rage”….. but I guess I could cleverly turn that into some sort of Audioslave reference. That wasn’t a supergroup and neither was Velvet Revolver. Those bands were simply GRIT ROCK….through and through.

But take Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and add Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones (you know where they come from….chances are good you know about Homme as well) and you have one of the best examples of not just a novelty “supergroup”, but actually a very solid band.

Them Crooked Vultures have been popping up all over the world, playing sold out, surprise gigs and their self titled full length is in stores next Tuesday, 11/17. Instead of falling prey to the inevitable leak, the band did it themselves via YouTube. Click here to listen. Buy it next week.

In celebration of Moon Vest’s return to 30 Rock this week….. here is the original classic. Gimme your fingernails!

Hot. Tub. Time. Machine.

This is everything I have ever thought about Radiohead, post OK Computer.

Thanks to emilymphocyte for this gem.

Is that even difficult?

Seriously. This clip is brilliant in every way possible.

So if you read sonicdork, chances are good that you know that my Dad recently passed away. It’s been a tough period for my family and some tough years leading up to his passing.

Before Dad passed, he rambled on about hiding some money in the Cayman Islands. Of course, no one believed him and at that point in my Dad’s life, he wasn’t exactly of sound mind. Once he passed away, the secret of where the money went died with him. Did he hide it in the Cayman Islands??? Did he give it to the horrible vulture Taxi Family that was living with him??? Who knows. [NOTE: People in the NRV, never use “An Affordable Taxi”…. trust me on this one]

Last night, my Mother got this e-mail -

> From: markadams1961@sify.com
> Subject: Re: “sonicdork’s mom”- (Response Requested) - 2nd Notification !! XXXX@XXX.com…
> To: XXX@XXX.xom
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 04:59:57 +0400
>
> To: sonicdork’s mom,
> address here
> Radford
> VA
> 24141 
>
>
> Dear sonicdork’s mom, I had sent an eairlier mail to you on this matter without a reply, Please is this sonicdork’s mom with the contact address [address] Radford VA.
>
> My name is Mark Adams, I work in the accounts department at B F C Bank Cayman Island ® .
> I will like to discuss about a deceased family member’s Fixed Deposit Account at B F C Bank Cayman Island ®.
>
> I am currently on a 6 months banking course in the United Kingdom so you can call me on
> 0044 115 823 108 or 01144 115 823 108 or by email or fax.
>
> Regards,
> Mr. Mark Adams
> TEL:0044 115 823 108 or
> 01144 115 823 108 
> FAX:+44 709 286 4823 
> B F C Bank Cayman Island ®

I hid my Mother’s information. It was addressed to her and not “sonicdork’s mom”. The e-mail also included our correct Radford address. I chose not to hide any of “Mark Adams’” information since it isn’t correct in the first place. Those aren’t real numbers. We checked. We called all numbers available for B F C Bank Cayman Island ® and they were disconnected. B F C Bank Cayman Island doesn’t even have a physical address, just a post office box. His e-mail address didn’t come from B F C Bank Cayman Island, it came from an internet provider in India, where any scammer can sign up for a free e-mail account…. just like Hotmail here in the States.

This got my Mom’s hopes up. She thought that maybe the money DID actually exist… and for this… Mark Adams… you are a Cayman Islands Asshole. We did some GOOGLIN’ last night and found more scams like this and I hope that more people find this post before they make the mistake of responding and setting up an account for $2400 just so they can get the money that was apparently hidden in the Cayman Islands.

I love my Mom and I’m proud of her. This has been an extremely rough time for her but she is staying strong and she has an AMAZING yarn store in Federal Way, WA called Unraveled Yarn and Artful Gifts. If you’re in the Northwest, please check it out. Tell your friends. Tweet Martha Stewart about it. Do it now. I’ll wait….

Mom did eventually respond to the e-mail and her e-mail read:

“Four letter word - S C A M.”

Damn right, Mom.