A Free Man

No, not Christmas. Christmas can bite me. I’m talking about the time for end-of-year Top 10 lists. I love a good top 10 list and have always wanted a venue on which to present one. When I was thinking of starting a blog, and this is true, one of the things that motivated me to get it together was that I would finally be able to put together a list of my 10 favorite albums of the year. Just like the magazines. Except nobody cares about mine.

Bit of a twist this year. Because of my loosely enforced boycott of the major labels, this year’s top ten list will be the Top 10 Albums from Unsigned Artists or Artists Associated with Independent Record Labels.* Catchy title, eh? I don’t want to give any press to the Big 4, so I’m going to focus on the little guys. Guys that may not get the attention of an R.E.M. or a Kings of Leon but may be making better music. Now, I don’t own every album that was released in 2008, so this list is really just personal favorites. I’ll feature one of my Top 10 every couple of days until the end of the month.

Christmas blows but I’m not completely opposed to the Season of Giving concept. I’m working on a repeat of last year’s musical giveaways and am hoping to scale it up a bit this year. So, stay tuned for some reader rewards that will hopefully give me a chance to say thanks to those of you that enjoy the music that you find here at A Free Man.

So, we’ll start off today with the Honorable Mention albums:

The Pharmacy - “Choose Yr Own Adventure”: I fell in love with this cheeky Seattle trio earlier this year. I’m a sucker for the harpsichord as well as Kinky psych-pop and The Pharmacy has both. Their debut LP is a Buy it directly from Don’t Stop Believin’ Records or download from .

MP3: The Pharmacy - “Black Ice Cream”

Motel Motel - “New Denver”: I get a load of music through my inbox, the bulk of which goes pretty rapidly into my trash. If something doesn’t make me sit up and take notice on the first listen then it rarely gets another shot. So, the unsigned bands that I feature on this site are the ones that make it to the second listen. Every now and again, one gets a third or fourth or fifth. One of those is Brooklyn’s Motel Motel. The album is kind of all over the place, but when these guys are good they’re damn good. Check out their debut LP, “New Denver” available from .

MP3: Motel Motel - “Coffee”

Cat Power - “Jukebox”: I love Chan Marshall. She is my rock and roll fantasy girlfriend. But her record company, Matador, has been heavy handed with bloggers. This is really a shame, because they’ve got some great acts in their stable. Matador, I’d like to be friends, really I would. But until you make an effort to be friendly to bloggers, I’m afraid I have to treat you as a Major label. At any rate, Cat Power put out one of the best records of 2006 with “The Greatest”, but this follow up pales a bit. It’s kind of a step backwards for Chan. Still pretty good, though and certainly worthy of mention. As Matador will send the sheriff after me if I link to a song from “Jukebox” here’s an excellent live version of”New York, New York”.

MP3: Cat Power - “New York, New York” (Live)

We Grow Up - “Night Kitchen”: There seems to be a real movement in music right now toward simple, almost primitive, melodic pop. I’ve got to tell you, this makes me happy. I ran across an unsigned Aussie band from right here in Adelaide a while back and was immediately enchanted. Their sophomore LP, “Night Kitchen” is just a joy to listen to and they’re surprisingly mature songwriters for a young band. They’ve signed with Half A Cow and “Night Kitchen” is available from the label.

MP3: We Grow Up - “Celia” 

The Mountain Goats - “Heretic Pride”: John Darnielle, the brain behind The Mountain Goats, has a discography stretching back to the early 1990’s but he just really got on my radar this year with the lyrically stunning “Heretic Pride”. Two of my favorite music bloggers are huge fans and convinced me to have a proper listen. Man, am I glad that I did. I’ve always been a lyrics man and Darnielle is a poet. Have a listen to “Autoclave” and if you like what you hear, you won’t be disappointed by the LP. Buy it from 4AD.

MP3: The Mountain Goats - “Autoclave” 

Bon Iver - “For Emma, Forever Ago”: Another folky, lyrical guy is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. He’s making spare, slightly spooky and gently ethereal music that is perfect for lullabies, among other things. I have a bit of experience. But beyond its usefulness to parents, Bon Iver makes beautiful and subtle music and “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar) is a treat. Buy the record direcly from the label. By the way, remember that name (Jagjaguwar) you’ll be seeing these guys again, they’ve got some fantastic artists in their stable.

MP3: Bon Iver - “For Emma”

Super XX Man - “Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds”: Must be something about the rain in Portland, because that city is home to some wonderfully wistful, lo-fi artists here at the end of the 00’s. The latest to make me long for the Pacific Northwest is Super XX Man. The musical vehicle for Scott Gerrard is prolific, with their latest “Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds” (Tender Loving Empire) marking their twelfth (or so) long player. It’s addictively and simply charming and is available from the band.

MP3: Super XX Man - “There’ll Be Diamonds”

The Bell - “Make Some Quiet”: One of the unexpected, and pleasant, surprises of spending so much time in Sweden over the last few years was the discovery that Sweden right now is to melodious, beautifully crafted pop music what Florence in the 1400’s was to religious painting. There’s just an amazing number of incredibly talented pop bands coming out of the frozen north. One of my favorites is Stockholm’s The Bell, an heavily 80’s inspired trio. Their debut LP, “Make Some Quiet”, made some noise earlier this year and if you’ve got a taste for some of the darker music from the totally awesome decade it may just be for you. Check out my interview with Matthias Strömberg and if you like what you hear, buy their record from .

MP3: The Bell - “Do You Know How To Feel”

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* Independent means really independent. No boutique labels, no distribution deals (see Sub Pop).

Popularity: 15% [?]

Father’s little helper and I are grateful that the weekend’s upon us. It means a brief reprieve from ten plus hour days. Here’s hoping that this weekend’s also free from flat pack furniture. Damn Swedes.

Wanted to take the chance to point you all at a band that’s been burning up my iPod this week. The Mates of State (MySpace) are a husband and wife team that came out of Kansas in the late 1990’s. They got my attention a year or so ago as the traveling band for the This American Life live show and, separately, as a contributor  to a great kids music compilation called “For The Kids Three” . They cover James Taylor on that comp and their song is one of the most earwormy you’ll ever hear.

The Mates of State have a new album out and I’ve been listening to it non-stop since it came my way. It’s the best that I’ve heard so far this year. “Re-arrange Us” is effervescent, piano laden pop that just forces a smile out of you. A must. It’s my soundtrack for the weekend.

The Mates of State’s “Re-arrange Us” is available from .

MP3: The Mates of State - “Help, Help” (from “Re-arrange Us”)
MP3: The Mates of State - “Jellyman Kelly”

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For some time now  a number of you, have been asking to hear more from the elusive Dr. O’C. She pops into the comment stream now and again with a clever commentary. But, she’s been a bit reluctant to seriously put pen to paper (or fingertip to key), primarily because she’s rankled by my titular narcissism - “It’s afreeman.org , not ‘A Free person.com”.Well, after much cajoling, begging and badgering I’ve finally worn her down. Today marks the beginning of a (hopefully) episodic new feature here on afreeman.org- Dr. O’C speaks…

Chris has been hassling/requesting/asking kindly that I write a post for a while.  Most likely because he doesn’t have the time to keep you entertained now that he is a busy man tackling 1.5 jobs.  I warn you however - I am not a writer.  My school counselor strongly recommended that I give Year 12 English a miss if I wanted to get into University.  On a recent English quiz on the BBC I scored a pathetic 12/20 and had to have Chris (re)explain where apostrophes should be positioned at the end of words ending with ‘s’.  But, I thought I would tell you the story of my experience of motherhood so far.

I thought it was going to be hard and it is, but first let’s go back to late 2006. Chris and I had talked often about having kids, he wanted them now and I was always the one to hold off.  I loved my job, working and traveling and the baby-thing wouldn’t really fit into all that.  I also wanted my life to play out in a certain, pre-planned way and having a baby before we owned our own house or were in a country we both felt was home was insanity to me.  But somehow my sister, who works in an IVF clinic and a nurse who I went to see about refilling my prescription for The Pill, put a fear into me that it would take ages to have kids.  Two years was the time frame they were talking about.   And I thought ‘Shit, if it takes two years, I could be back in Oz with my own house, just in time to pop one out to get the $5,000 baby bonus.  I had better start cracking.  Chris, where are you?”.

I stopped taking The Pill in October 2006.  We went to Sweden for Xmas, the winter was miserable and in early January I was feeling increasingly sick and tired.  Chris came back from a trip to the US, I complained about having SAD and two days before I was due to fly to the US for work it clicked ‘Shit, I could be pregnant!’  Chris came home armed with pregnancy tests, the digital type which left no room for error.  I persuaded him to wait until the next morning when the tests are more effective.

There was one problem though.  I could not pee.  Normally my bladder wakes me up, but on this Saturday morning it wouldn’t work.  I drank enough water to overcome Australia’s drought problem but my bladder knew that I wanted to remain in denial.  If truth be told, I didn’t want to be pregnant.  When finally through risk of serious bodily injury (Chris was not impressed with my bladder) I did pee, the bloody digital stick took barely a nanosecond to light up ‘pregnant’.  Chris said “cool!” and I started to cry hysterically.  There goes my bloody plan!

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Today is our last day in Sweden. We’ll jet off into the dark western sky for another hop over the North Sea. After landing in Heathrow we’re in for what is bound to be a harried race across London to Gatwick Airport - with slightly more luggage than we arrived in Sweden with ten days ago. Assuming that we manage that little jaunt we’ll be headed west again. And south as well this time, to the Sunshine State.

Florida, Florida, Florida - the most soporific of states. There’s a scene in the movie “Primary Colors” when Libby & Henry are driving to Miami to dig up some dirt on Jack Stanton’s new opposition. It’s wonderfully filmed, with the hazy muted colors that are so characteristic of Florida. It is the dialogue, however, that really nails the state of the Sunshine State. Libby speaks with lackadaisical resignation:

“We are in limbo now, Henry.”
“We are outside the mainstream.”
“We are in purgatory.”
“We are lost.”
“Libby, lf you don’t shut up, I’m going to kill myself.”

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But we’re still an ocean or two away from anodyne sunshine. Sweden has been Sweden. I’ve spent more time in Sweden than any other European country and I still don’t really have a feel for the place. It’s a lot like Canada, but with more Volvos and disturbingly attractive people. Most of what I’ve learned on this trip is about myself. I’ve learned that I am nowhere near as patient as I am going to need to be to make it through this parenthood gig. I’ve learned that anything that I do not want hurled to the floor with astonishing speed needs to be kept well out of range of young Z. This includes - but is not limited to - iPods, breakfast, telephones, glasses of Coke, and handheld gaming consoles. I’ve learned that I will never be as entertaining to Zach as kids nearer to his own age. This is true even if they descend on him in a mad, screaming horde like the Vikings from which they are descended.

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One other thing I’ve learned about Sweden, is that they have some great music. I’ve been featuring Swedish musicians over at my music blog for the time in which we’ve been in country. There is an astonishing number of oustanding independent pop bands coming from this not particularly large country. So, they’re good looking and talented. The Swedes are the people I hated in school. Bastards.

Yesterday, I posted an interview with what has become my new favorite band, and the soundtrack for this post, Moonbabies. They are a duo, in life as well as music, from Malmö. The music on their lates LP, “Moonbabies at the Ballroom” is catchy pop with a sauntering, dreamy tempo. If you’re a “Grey’s Anatomy” fan, you may recognize the song I’ve posted below. There’s more of the same on the album which is available from and Amazon.

 

 Moonbabies - "War on Sound" [3:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 45% [?]

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.
Charlotte: It’s scary.
Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.
Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.
Bob: Your life, as you know it… is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk… and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.
Charlotte: That’s nice.

(From “Lost In Translation“)

The last time we were in Sweden, Dr. O’C’s sister looked after Baby Z for a night so we could get a much needed night out together. It was such a relief - a few baby free hours - that we thought we would try to replicate that experience this time around. We planned to go see the Oscar winning “Once” at one of the city center cinemas.

Well, I’m slightly chagrined to say that my normally flawless sense of direction failed me and we got slightly turned around in the streets of Göteborg. So much so that we couldn’t quite find the cinema. Dr. O’C suggested asking directions, obviously not realizing how laughable a concept this is to any man worth his salt. Our luck seemed to change for the better, however, as we found a second cinema that was showing “Flyga Drake” - the Swedish title for “The Kite Runner“. Both Dr. O’C and I had really enjoyed the Khaled Hosseini book and probably would have gone to see the film earlier if not for, well, you know. We rushed to buy the tickets and almost as an afterthought I asked the clerk:

“It is in English?”

To which she replied:

“Yes, yes, English.”

Dr. O’C astutely pointed out that all of the films for adults in Sweden are in English with Swedish subtitles. Except, apparently, for those that are in Dari Persian, with Swedish subtitles.

I wonder what our fellow cinema goers thought as we slunk out of the theater ten minutes into the film.

Image: I’ve no idea what this statue in the center of Göteborg represents nor what that man is doing with that knife, as I don’t read Swedish. But I love the vandalism/artistic statement.

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“I was dreaming of a steel guitar engagement
When you drink my health in scented jasmine tea
You knifed me in my dirty filthy basement
With that jaded faded junky nurse
Oh, what pleasant company…”

-The Rolling Stones - “Let It Bleed”*

I’ve not got a lot of great photos of Sweden to share with you today because, if the truth be told, I’ve not been out of the house much since our arrival on Tuesday. This isn’t, as you might think, due to the lousy Swedish spring weather. Nope, it’s the continuing struggle to get grounded and settled after our whirlwind departure from Britain. Dr. O’C is doing a little bit better - she’s headed off to a nearby shopping mall today, but your underwhelming narrator - well, I’m still trying to remember whether we shipped or packed my Billy Connolly book.

I did manage a bike ride yesterday. It was sunny and reasonably warm and I was lured out of my bed by the promise of taking Z along with us - his first bicycle trip. I’m a sucker for firsts (and his mother is a slightly erratic cyclist), so I dragged myself out of my state of self-indulgent emotional hibernation and joined Dr. O’C and son for a little ride to Önnered harbour. I’m glad I did, because it was brilliant - a bright sunny day, cycling on well maintained Swedish bike paths with the occasional reassuring tug of my jacket from my little boy firmly strapped behind. Cycling is one of my favorite activities and was my main mode of transport for our time in Britain. Cycling is also great because it allows for mind wandering time and yesterday my brain went into fast forward gear - Baby Z with his first trike, his first two wheeler with training wheels and that fateful day when he pedals off on his own with the realization that he doesn’t need his Dad’s help anymore. Followed fairly quickly by his first crash when, aided by the clarity that comes with skin scraping on concrete, he realizes that maybe he still does - for now.

* Yeah, I know this song has nothing to do with bicycling around a Swedish harbour, but man, The Stones used to be good!

 

 The Rolling Stones - "Let It Bleed" [5:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 21% [?]

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Things are likely to be a bit quiet here at afreeman.org for the next few days. The crew (excepting dog) are off across the North Sea today for a trip to the land of moose and Malmo, of socialism and Saabs. That’s right, while most Britons are donning their sunglasses and shorts and heading for the Caribbean or the Canaries we’ll be boarding a bus with wings tomorrow afternoon for the two hour hop to Göteborg, Sweden.

What we do for family - we’ve already spent a week in the frozen tundra of northern Ontario in December to see my family. Now a trip to the only place in the world that may be slightly gloomier than Britain in February to see Dr. O’C’s sister and her family.

Still, it’s nice to get away from home and this trip will give me more opportunities to teach English profanity to Swedish children. Truth be told, I’m a secret admirer of Sweden, though more in the summer than winter. It’s clean - which is a big deal when you live in the plastic shopping bag and beer can adorned British Isles. Their brand of socialism really seems to work - the country’s infrastructure is amazing, family leave is encouraged, crime rates are extremely low, and the people are sickeningly healthy and attractive. The only problem is that when you talk to some Swede’s they have lots of complaints about tax rates, idlers and the like. Sweden also recently elected a more conservative government. Makes me wonder if it’s kind of Stepford socialism.

Musically, of course, Sweden is best known for the tin foil (barely) clad quartet above, but more recently it’s become a hotbed for scary euro death metal - it’s those dark winters. In the past few years a few decent indie acts have come out of Sweden including Göteborg’s own José González, Stockholm-based Peter, Bjorn and John and my recent favorite Kent. Check out “Klåparen” and see what you think. The lyrics are Swedish, so I have know idea what they are singing about but, for what it’s worth, I think the title translates as “bungler”.

Speaking of Scandanavian music, I seem to have become some kind of correspondent for the Danish music scene since my review of a strange Danish punk band after Christmas. Now, a Danish act doesn’t really belong in a post about Sweden as the Danes and the Swedes have been arch-enemies pretty much since Hamlet’s time, but since I have Scandanavia on the brain I thought I’d share a song from Marybell Katastrophy. The Danish trio is getting ready to release their second EP “You Are The Two” as a pay-what-you-want download (thanks, Radiohead). I’ve attached “Hip” from their first EP for your listening evaluation. I’m not sure what to make of Marybell Katastrophy or their lead singer Marie Højlund. Bjork would be a lazy comparison as a Scandanavian electronic artist, and they don’t have her range. The Danish trio kind of sits at that strange girl table in the lunchroom - you know, the one with Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Siouxsie Sioux and Joanna Newsom. If you like what you hear, go and download their tunes - a warning, though, their website is one of the most user unfriendly I’ve run across in a while.

Finally, in celebration of aluminum foil adorned Swedish flesh - here’s Abba’s “S.O.S”. Have a good weekend, folks.

Image Credits:

Abba

The images of Goteborg harbor and the city at night are mine.

Kent has albums available from and Amazon. Abba’s “Gold” is available from and Amazon.

 

 Kent - "Klåparen": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Marybell Katastophy - "Hip" [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 ABBA - "S.O.S" [3:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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