hello, from last night's show - jan. 18 at solid ground.

swans of never.

ole bravo.

the lionelle.

listener

big weekend for the cafe

tim and eric awesome, listener awesomer?

check this out...



catch listener with his band on friday, january 18th at the cafe. get online tickets here. olé bravo, the lionelle and swans of never are also on the bill.

what's in a name?

i first was introduced to the listener legend a few years ago. i've often wondered what happens to hip hop artists after they stop making hip hop (i assumed that they finished college and became babies-daddies). in the case of dan smith, aka listener, he just started making a different kind of music, one he calls "talk music." i know, sounds impressive right?

it's been a several year process now and i think he's finally on the verge of pulling something off. his new cd "return to struggleville" comes out january 14th and will finally deliver in cd form, his brand of music. one way or the other, he manages to tour relentlessly with a full band (which includes his wife kristen) and make a living playing talk music.

talk music (as best as i can describe it), is a mix of shouting, screaming and singing while always remaining in its basest form, beat poetry. it's similar to mewithoutYou and modest mouse vocally, but mixes in beats and a lot of human rhythm (including, but not limited to: clapping, banging on a washing machine and ratchets).

now that i've caught you all up, pay attention: listener will be playing the cafe on friday, january 18th with the lionelle, olé bravo and swans of never. tickets are officially $7, but if you track down someone from the cafe or from one of the local bands, they'll sell you a ticket for $5. listener has played the cafe twice and both times, it ends up being one of our highlights. now he's graced our fair city with a weekend date and hopefully it will pay off for him and everyone that goes to the show...buy tickets! seriously, buy tickets online at: www.24tix.com.

can I finish? (plus Dan & Kristen Smith from Listener)

So, I guess it's my turn. Dan and Kristen's top five is at the bottom.

2007 saw a lot of albums from a lot of my favorite artists, Band of Horses, Broken Social Scene, Pinback, Jose Gonzales, and tons of others. So when I started this little endeavor I thought it would be pretty easy... not so. Instead of writing a top five I just want to write down a bunch of albums you should go listen to, Pink Nasty for instance, or The Pipettes. Both bands released great first albums, I listened to them non-stop for weeks, but I struggled putting them, ultimately, before the albums that you are about to read.

Another point I would like to make before you read my top five, I was really against numbering them, I'm not OK with it. So, since I was just going to randomly assign the numbers to albums anyway, I decided to take another route. I will be listing them by animal, you can decide for yourself what animal corresponds to what number.

Meercat - Iron & Wine - The Shepherd Dog.
This album is just too good, and coincidentally Chad and I are going to seem Iron & Wine tonight, which I love him for. Sam Beam went to another place on this album, not completely, but it's definitely different than The Creek Drank the Cradle. The Shepherd Dog is much more percussive, and to me, seems like a natural progression from his last release, The Woman King.

Antelope - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This is a "first effort" that did actually make my list, and was easily a no brainer. Bon Iver (pronounced eevair) created a masterpiece with For Emma, Forever Ago. I have to give credit to My Old Kentucky Blog for introducing me to this guy, and I'm glad he did. For those of you who know me, you know that I really enjoy a soft, down-tempo album, and this album is one of the best of it's kind.

Dung Beetle - Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
I'm actually really surprised that this album hasn't gotten more love in the top albums of the year category. I'm not sure if it just didn't get promoted the way it should have, or what, but this album is easily one of the best of 2007. Laura has a special little place in my music heart because I have a great memory of seeing her in Berlin, and I think this is her best release yet.

Polar Bear - Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
I love Kate Nash, literally. Not only do I want to date her (I'd move to London, whatever), but she makes great music. I almost forgot about this album, and luckily Chad reminded me of it a few weeks ago. It's very poppy, very British, and really fun. I usually don't listen to lyrics, but I love hers. This is her first released album, and I think she'll be around for a long time. Favorite songs: Birds, We Get On, Shit Song [Interlude].

Goose - Radiohead - In Rainbows
I struggled a lot with this one. It's a great album. The way they released it is better than anything that's been done in the music industry in a long time. I think I'll be listening to this album for years to come. At the same time, for me, it's on par with all the other 20 albums that I wanted to put on this list. In fact as I write this, I just want to change it to the Kevin Drew/Broken Social Scene album. I don't know. You've already heard all about it, I don't need to write more.

Dan & Kristen Smith from Listener

1. Explosions in the Sky – All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
3. El P – I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
4. Radiohead – In Rainbows
5. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog

wow for next week

so starting monday each of our staff writers are posting their articles on their top 5 albums of 2007. but to add a little spice to it, we've asked some of our friends to add their list to ours. so next week check in with the ship for six days of reviews from us and some of friends from: vedera, surrogate, brighten, the new frontiers, listener, and more.