All Things Bob

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Hip-D’s Top 20 of 2007: 4-1

4. The Ike Reilly Assassination – We Belong to the Staggering Evening

“After the good, but sobering Junkie Faithful, The Ike Reilly Assassination is back and ready to kick your teeth in if you even so much as look at them crooked. Ike, I love your rockabilly punk style.” – stacey

3. Okkervil River – The Stage Names

“It isn’t lyrically obtuse, but it’s still great rock and roll and manages to sustain itself through the entire disc.” – Patrick
“New to Okkervil River with Black Sheep Boy, I was expecting more of the same. When I didn’t get that, though, I wasn’t disappointed. The Stage Names is like one-stop shopping. It’s poppy and dirty-rock-y and a little Motown-y and I even love how they throw ‘Sloop John B’ in on near the end of the CD. This just gets better and more enjoyable with each listen.” – stacey

2. The National – Boxer

“The buildup at the end of ‘Fake Empire’ is one of my favorite moments on record this year. A great album start to finish.” – Patrick
“I knew nothing of The National until they came near my town this year and a friend insisted I see them. I had actually begun to tire of going to shows alone, so the idea of seeing a band I had never heard and having to go it alone didn’t really appeal to me, but I found myself at their show anyway. I also found myself buying their entire output of CDs a week after the show. The National became my sleeper hit of the year; to not see a ‘guy and guitar’ at the top of my list truly is a feat, but the more I listened to them, the more I liked their subtly intense sound. They’re like a less epic Frames and I’m a sucker for piano, horns and string spattered pop music.” – stacey

1. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

“Purists might disagree. This could be the best example of what Spoon does.” – Patrick
“Most of the time I forget about Spoon. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just forget they exist. Then I hear a song on the radio and before you know it, I’ve popped a CD in the stereo and it’s stuck in there for days. Ga x 5 was a grower for me, but once my favorite radio station started playing ‘Don’t You Evah.’ I was hooked once again. There are chimes and horns and crack cocaine, I think, because I can’t stop listening.” – stacey

Hip-D’s Top 20 of 2007: 8-5

8. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

“This is Wilco getting older.  This is more Wilco than Tweedy and it works nicely.  My dad probably would like this CD, but so would my young, hip dad circa 1976.” – stacey
“Much better than A Ghost is Born.” – Yail Bloor

7. Babyshambles – Shotter’s Nation

“I like it. It kicks my ass. Long live Pete.” – Yail Bloor

6. Black Francis – Bluefinger

“I don’t know if this is what’s called “included by default” but there is not one bad song on this album.” – Mark H.
“…this guy can shit in a cup and feed it to his bass player and it will still be better than almost anything out there…” – Yail Bloor

5. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

“‘March to the Sea’ may be the song of the year.” – Loog
“I liked it on first listen…it’s still good tunage.” – Mark H.

Hip-D’s Top 20 of 2007: 12-9

12. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin

“I don’t care what you say, if you liked Everything All the Time you should like Cease to Begin and not only like, but maybe like it more.  Do me a favor and put this on in your car during your next trip to wherever.  I accept cookies as a form of thank you.” – stacey

11. Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

“If Animal Years was Ritter’s Guthrie, this is his Dylan.” – Patrick
“The Historical Conquests may not be quite as good as last year’s The Animal Years, but Ritter knows what he’s doing.  He knows where he stands musically and he’s going to explore every corner of that.  Keep it coming, Josh.” – stacey

10. The Broken West – I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On

“Catchy power-pop in the vein of Wilco’s summerteeth.” – FT
“…quite enjoyable…perfect for the fine weather we are having here these days.” – Loog

9. Kings of Leon – Because of the Times

“Good rock and roll rekkid with some slow southern burner action going on.” – Loog

Hip-D’s Top 20 of 2007: 16-13

16. Tim Armstrong – A Poet’s Life

“Everything after #2 is debatable, and more just a random list of albums.” – Loog

15. Deadstring Brothers – Silver Mountain

“The addition of a female voice is a bit jarring at first for those familiar with their previous albums, but this ends up being a solid effort at the end of the day.” – FT

14. John Doe – A Year in the Wilderness

“Is it just me or is this the first time that a deadline has ever been adhered to?” – jasmine

13. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

“Keep coming back to it.  One or two duds, otherwise perfect.” – Patrick
“Rock music for the intellectual in your life, Bird branches out a little with ‘Armchair Apocrypha’, but largely stays true to himself.  The guitar is a bit more pronounced than we’re used to, but it’s mixed with the same whistles, piano, violin and witty lyrics we know and love.” – stacey

Hip-D’s Top 20 of 2007: 20-17

20. The White Stripes – Icky Thump

“Jack and Meg never forgot how to bring it.  A searing rock album.” – Patrick
“They got me.  I’m buying anything they put out at this point.  This does not disappoint.” – stacey

19. Nicole Atkins – Neptune City

“Do not write her off as another chick with a guitar.  You will not only be sorely mistaken, but you will also miss out on her ‘little bit psychedelic, little bit country, all pop candy’ goodness.” – stacey

18. Jim White – Transnormal Skiperoo

“An incredibly strong follow-up to his masterwork (Drill A Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See) that gets better with each listen.  Jim White is an American treasure.” – FT

17. Jason Isbell – Sirens of the Ditch

“I didn’t do any blurbs.” – Yail Bloor
“You’ll get blurbs later, Poonami” – Loog

It’s That Time of Year Again!

Those Hip-D staff members who chose to participate have submitted their 2007 lists, so we are ready to unveil our annual Top 20 Albums.  Starting Monday, we’ll list four albums per day, concluding with numbers four through one next Friday.

So, get ready for more fun than you can handle in one sitting!

So, What Happened?

Way back when I originally started the very first incarnation of this Hip Displeasure blog, it was on Blogger and I was the only contributor.  Though fun for a while, it eventually became too difficult to maintain alone, so I closed up shop for what ended up being right around a year.

I started to miss doing it, so I thought by bringing several other contributors on board, we’d have plenty of creative fuel to keep Hip Displeasure up and running for years to come.  Well, it went great gangbusters at first, with all sorts of great content — including the one-of-a-kind “BlooGAR Show” podcast — but just as had been the case with the original version of the blog, good old Hip-D again petered out.

There’s still a trickle of contributions coming in these days; mostly 7″ reviews by Mark H. and YouTube links posted by Elvis Fu.  But, for the most part, it’s as if the site no longer has any sort of detectable pulse.  That leaves me wondering how best to handle what’s become of Hip-D.  Should I just shut ‘er down?  Or should I just leave it as is and hope someday a flourish of new content miraculously starts flooding in again?

For now, I think I’ll choose the latter course of action, which true to form, really isn’t any action at all.  But if you’re reading this and would like to come to our rescue as a new, hungry contributor, drop me a line or simply post a comment here to that effect.  It’ll be interesting to see if anyone is willing to dump a bucket of water on this beached whale…

The Fratellis: How’d I Miss This?!?

On a recent Saturday night after taking in a Sparklehorse/Jesse Sykes twin bill, I joined my friends Shawn, Stacey and Derek for a post-gig nightcap at a local Irish pub called, appropriately enough, The Dubliner. The joint’s basically the size of an old-school diner, and this particular night was packed to the gills. Simply moving from one spot at the bar to another required undergoing a rather unorthodox version of what can best be described as “Human Jenga.”

Though it was nearly impossible to make out voices above the din, I did manage to meet an Irish friend of Shawn’s with the extremely authentic name of Declan. And I don’t mean Irish-American, I mean mere months off the potato boat. We’re talking non-ironic Riverdance, here. So, after Shawn briefs him on the show we just saw, Declan excitedly responds. Between his thick brogue and the deafening sound of 300 drunken bodies wedged into a retrofitted boxcar, I couldn’t make out but a few words of what he said…

“Fratellis…fookin’ great…you like?”

For some reason, likely my relentless fixation on eating, I assume he’s referring to an area Italian restaurant. I nod in oblivious agreement, until I hear him throw in the word “album,” at which point I realize he’s referring to a band. Neither Shawn nor I were familiar with them, but when someone with Elvis Costello’s birth name suggests an album, I’m damn sure going to check it out.

The following week, Shawn hooked me up with their frighteningly appropriately titled Costello Music. It was then that I knew, before hearing a single note, that it was going to be good. Not only is it good, this album just might have topped by 2006 “Best of” list, had I heard it upon its release last year.

Costello Music brilliantly combines everything I love about music from across the pond (Punk, Glam, Pub Rock, unrepentant cheekiness), while avoiding everything I loathe (Wuss UK, Synth Pop, Twee, overwhelmingly fey foppishness). There isn’t anything even remotely approaching a clunker in this bunch of songs. Hell, even the cover art is fantastic! I cannot recommend this album, or throwing back some ale with Declan, highly enough.

Fracsploitation! (Show #2)

I told you it wouldn’t be long before I got around to putting out the second “Fracsploitation!” show! In case you are still unfamiliar with the concept, “Fracsploitation!” is a showcase for the lesser-known and most underappreciated artists of soul, funk and the blues from the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s the playlist for Show #2:

• Art Jerry Miller – “Finger Lickin’ Good”
• Eddie Bo – “Check Your Bucket”
• Ilana – “Where Would You Be Today?”
• Little Jimmy Tyson and The Highway Robbers – “Who Will Be the Next Fool?”
• Lee Fields – “Let a Man Do What He Wanna Do”
• Stefan – “Holy Cow”
• Esther Phillips – “From a Whisper to a Scream”
• Rodriguez – “Sugar Man”

Click here to stream “Fracsploitation!” Show #2.
Click here to download “Fracsploitation!” Show #2.