MOG - DJ Cayenne's Posts

My Favorite Songs of 2007...

DJ Cayenne — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:51:54 GMT

Here's a list of some of my favorite tracks from 2007, in particular order...

North American Scum - LCD Soundsystem Cato as a Pun - Of Montreal Tonight I Have To Leave It - Shout Out Louds Don't You Evah - Spoon Fake Empire - The National See You At The Lights - 1990s 23 - Blonde Redhead The Golden State - John Doe Four Winds - Bright Eyes Los Cruzados - Elk City You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse Cheer It On - Tokyo Police Club Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West Intervention - The Arcade Fire Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe - Okkervil River Yea Yeah - Matt & Kim You're A Wolf - Sea Wolf Is There A Ghost - Band Of Horses Shim Sham - Imperial Teen Ruby Room - Foxboro Hot Tubs Kingdom Of Doom -The Good, The Bad & The Queen Plasticities - Andrew Bird Now Now - St. Vincent Sleeping Lessons - The Shins Cold Hands - Black Lips Hang Me Out to Dry - Cold War Kids

The problem is that the list won't fit on a CD, so I'll have to pair this down a bit before burning my year end mix. What to do?

My actual favorite track of the year is Of Montreal's The Past is a Grotesque Animal. It clocks in at 11:53-- A bit long for a mix...

My favorite album of the year: Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna edges out Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga.

My favorite songs of 2006...

DJ Cayenne — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:20:17 GMT

...that work together as a mix and fit on one CD. Here's this year's edition of my year end CD:

Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn & John Yankee Bayonet - Decemberists Way Out - Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys Louisiana - The Walkmen The President is Dead - Okkervil River Wooden Heart - The Features Please Visit Your National Parks - Oxford Collapse Wold Like Me - TV on the Radio Here I Come - The Roots Idlewild Blue - Outkast Cellphone's Dead - Beck Could We - Cat Power Star Witness - Neko Case Sexy Back (acoustic) - James Eric Paradise - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins Darling, Please Come Home - Math and Physics Club Collarbone - Fujiya and Miyagi Ever Fallen In Love - Nouvelle Vague Bearing Witness - Eric Anderson

A few notes:

I'm a sucker for male/female vocal exchanges (see first two songs - it started out as three in a row, but the Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan song just didn't fit - which is too bad)

I'm a sucker for over wrought acoustic versions of songs that took themselves too seriously in the first place (see James Eric's Sexy Back - if you haven't heard this, go download it at: http://jameslaczkowski.com/covers.shtml). Also check out Nina Gordon's amazing version of Straight out of Compton - http://www.ninagordon.com/media (scroll down to bottom right of page).

The last song is by a good friend who cancer took too soon in 2006. It is an acoustic version of an old Dreams So Real song. It is NOT in the same category as the acoustic songs above.

I didn't dig too much "street" rap this year.

Mostly uptempo guitar rock did the trick this year for me this year. That's usually the case.

One of my favorite songs this year was Morrissey's "Life is a Pigsty" - it was too long to fit on the CD and it sucked all of the joy out anything played next to it. So it got dumped. Give it a listen on headphones sometime though if you get a chance.

My Favorite Albums of 2006 (and some other stuff)

DJ Cayenne — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:45:14 GMT

In no particular order:

My Top 10 Favorites:

Cat Power - The Greatest Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of Broken Seas Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say... Elvis Costello & Allen Touissant - The River in Reverse TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain The Decemberists - The Crane Wife The Roots - Game Theory The Beatles - Love

Would have made the list, but I ran it into the ground...

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Was vaguely disappointed by...:

Yo La Tengo - I'm not afraid of you... Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

Come Back Album:

Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormenters (Life is a Pigsty turned up to 11 is a primer in angst)

Can't wait to hear more from:

Peter, Bjorn, and John

I didn't get the fuss over:

The Hold Steady

I meant to spend more time with the new albums by:

Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen Dixie Chicks Pearl Jam Pernice Brothers

Cat Power - Solo

DJ Cayenne — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:02:55 GMT

I was lucky enough to catch a last minute (to me, anyway) solo Cat Power show at the Earl in East Atlanta on 10/22. Doors opened at 3pm, and she started around 4. Chan went back and forth between guitar and piano. It was pretty fantastic. The venue is really small, so there were maybe 100-150 people there. I stood right next to her mike stand. See pictures below. I took a quick video of one song - I didn't want to be that guy filming everything and missing the show. See my video for "Could We" on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxJBGpFJewA. At the end of the song Chan says the song is about "doing it in the afternoon" - which sent everybody looking at their watches. When the show let out it was still daylight outside. It was so civilized.

Howdy

DJ Cayenne — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:46:14 GMT

I found my way here through a discussion of the book 1001 Albums You Must Read Before You Die. I've posted a checklist in handy spreadsheet form (word is that it may be missing 2-3 albums - oops) on my blog. Check it out.