The Rolling Stones performing "Angie". Photo Credit: Peter Kreten
Any future hearing loss I may experience, I fully blame on Keith Richards. That being said, it was an utterly amazing experience seeing the Rolling Stones live at Solider Field on June 21st. When I see Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr, its incredible but it's not the Beatles. I SAW the Rolling Stones, and I totally get the band now.
I still and will always prefer the Beatles to the Stones, but the Stones personify a rock n' roll band. At one point, my friend Michelle leaned over to me and said that she thought Mick Jagger just got her pregnant. I replied "Me too."
It was a total bucket list experience, and one that will stay with me for a lifetime.
In full disclosure, 2019 has been a slow musical year for me. There has been some very good music released, but personally there have only been few albums that I've locked onto. Fingers crossed that this trend changes over the second half of the year, but until then, here's my favorites of 2019.
Vampire Weekend: Father of the Bride
This is a fun double album. Double albums are sometimes tricky, but I think Vampire Weekend were able to pull off a very interesting album that is both poppy and reflective. It showcases the "new" sound of the band since the departure of Rostam Batmanglij. However, this is definitely worth your time to check out.
Andrew Bird: My Finest Work Yet
I really like this album. I find Andrew Bird's music to be incredibly interesting. There's this real artistic sense to it, that very few artists have. The combination of modern indie rock and classical create a sound that is unlike most modern music. And this album may be his finest work yet.
The National: I am Easy to Find
Holy cow! Have the National been on a role as of yet. The follow up to 'Sleep Well Beast' may be their most ambitious record yet. The incorporation of guest vocalists on the album had a wonderful quality to the music. In fact this album, may be my favorite album by The National.
Esperanza Spalding: 12 Little Spells
I feel somewhat guilty putting this album on my 2019 list. It was technically released in late 2018, but it wasn't physically released until May 2019. So I'm one of those weird people who believe that an album isn't officially released until it is released on physical media. Anyways, this album is great. Spalding is exploring the physical sensations of the human body. It's wonderful, and is another fine example of how she is growing into an important voice of modern music.
Rhiannon Giddens: There is No Other
It's difficult for me to put into words how much this album has touched me. I first heard it on a "First Listen" stream from NPR, and I've been hooked ever since. Giddens has an incredible sound. She incorporates American roots, Arabica beats, and Eastern European folk all into this unique sound that demands your attention. I really love it, and I need to further explore her discography. If you are only going to listen to one album from this list, this is the one to listen to.
It's been a tradition on this blog to do a mid-year favorite albums of the year listing. And this is the first year, in a very long time that I am having an incredibly hard time coming up with favorite albums of the year. As of right now, I only have about five albums, and even those I wouldn't say that I'm fully prepared to write about each and every one of them.
I do have two stand out records that I am enjoy very much that I could write about. But even those have come out within the last month or so, and I am still "digesting" them. I'm hoping to have the next post here be my next list.
Earlier today I released the latest episode of my podcast series the Looking Glass. The episode is entitled: 'How Sherlock Holmes Created Modern Fandom'. Overall I'm pretty happy with how the episode turned out. I think the clips I selected were pretty good, and the narration was some of the strongest I've written.
However, writing narration is still probably my weakest area, and something I need to continue working on to improve. But overall, I think it's an improvement over the last few set of narration. As always, the goal is over to improve. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction of improvement.
I discovered today that Goodreads tracks the number of pages you read in a year. I love this feature. In all honesty, it gave me a sense of accomplishment when you see that you've read over 15,000 pages in a single year.
But it can be dangerous. I'm one of those individuals who tend to set goals where the quantity becomes more important than the quality. So I'll need to be careful. Nevertheless, very cool indeed.
