Top 20 albums I managed to give a shit about in 2012

The cynical title of this year's year-end music best of list begs many questions, all of which I've asked myself several times over the course of 2012: What's wrong with me? Am I getting old? Do I not care about music as much now? Am I just a hardened jerk who doesn't understand what these kids are into nowadays?

The truth of the matter is, I am getting older and I don't understand what the kids are into nowadays. But I embrace and accept this as part of my transition to being a grown ass woman. My passion for music is still there, but my OCD focus on music releases has waned a little. And that's a good thing. Now, instead of spending the entire year counting down the days until the new "band-I-love-or-am-at-least-obsessed-with" record comes out, I spend a lot more time in the present. A lot more time enjoying what it is I am currently listening to and listening to what I want to hear. There's no more race, no more obligation. 

My girlfriend pointed out to me a couple of years ago that I listen to a new record once or twice and then discard it for the next new release, never giving anything that much of a chance. Which is totally true. I'd feel guilty if I liked a record so much I wanted to listen to it over and over - there's no time! I must move on! Otherwise I'll miss something! But now I realize that this mentality meant I was missing something. Lots of things. Because I was too busy looking over my shoulder to see what was coming up next to really enjoy what was happening at that moment. This is dumb. And I'm done with it. 

But that doesn't mean I didn't listen to an obscene amount of music in 2012. Or that I didn't love some records a great deal. I did! You may notice that a lot of the more obvious, critically acclaimed records that make up the bulk of other year-end lists are not included here. This isn't because I missed them. I'm not that off my game. It's because I didn't like them or care about them. But that's more Jack White and Walkmen for you, right? Right. Here are 20 records I think are worth your time. Enjoy.

Top 20 Favorite Records of 2012

1. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

I knew right away that Tramp would be my favorite album of the year, and that feeling never subsided. This record is on virtually every year end list for a reason. Sharon Van Etten deserves every bit of praise she's gotten for this record. If I ever saw her live I would probably make a fool out of myself by gushing like a little fan girl. So maybe it's best she doesn't often make it to Detroit to play shows.

2. Lightning Love - Blonde Album



I love a lot of Detroit bands, but Lightning Love are my favorite. They also win my "most deserving of big time fame" award. I gleefully listened to this record a million times in 2012. I hope 2013 is the year these guys break out so huge that even Leah Diehl's bird gets her own limo whenever the fuck she wants.

3. Patti Smith - Banga




My absolute favorite music experience of the year was seeing Patti Smith live in the Detroit Film Theatre at the DIA. My girlfriend and I watched from the darkness of the projection booth – it felt like we were in secret, private box seats. Earlier in the week, Smith was wandering around the museum passing out buttons to promote her new record. After witnessing this, my girlfriend told me, "I think a lot of the bewildered people being offered a button thought she was a homeless lady." This just makes me love Patti Smith even more.

4. Allo Darlin' - Europe



Elizabeth Morris writes warm, breezy pop songs that would be perfect on a mixtape for your secret crush. Her lyrics are those perfect words you could never say and her voice has the sweet, beautiful tone you think you're achieving on your best karaoke outing, but that's really just the boozy haze, masking what you really sound like. Sing less and listen to more Allo Darlin' in 2013.

5. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch




As much as I am a sucker for catchy pop songs, I also like to give my brain a good musical challenge. In his long and often odd career, Scott Walker started with catchy pop songs and ended up veering down a musical path that led to him making music that would fit right into a David Lynch movie. Bish Bosch isn't for everybody, but I highly advise giving it a listen. Get outside of your comfort zone for a minute (or nine) and see what happens. That Mumford & Sons record will still be here when you get back. If you get back.

6. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It




This guy knows the way to my heart, and that way involves spooky, beautiful, simple songs. I don't know if the album title is a nod to Prince* but if Mike Hadreas came to my door and presented me with a copy of the Watchtower I'd gladly let him in for some Bible study. As long as it took the form of a private house show and we left all that silly God stuff out of it.
*The joke here is that Prince is a Jehovah's Witness. It's weird to me how many people don't seem to know this. 

7. This Many Boyfriends - This Many Boyfriends



I don't know how this record isn't getting more attention from nerdy, sloppy pop loving music geeks everywhere. This Many Boyfriends are everything you love – catchy songs, care-free delivery and band-referencing lyrical abandon. They're named after a Beat Happening song and open their record with a track named after the bassist for the Talking Heads. You owe it to yourself to give this a chance immediately.

8. Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man



I assume the album name refers to the guy on the cover who is haunted by a recurring dream where he's helplessly carried around constantly by a naked Natasha Khan. When he tells his friends about the dream, they laugh and say "That doesn't sound like a nightmare to me!" as they wink and elbow his ribs. He insists, "You guys, seriously. She never puts me down and never says a word. I just get carried and carried and have no control over the situation. I beg her to release me, but she ignores me. In each dream I eventually freeze or starve to death. It's horrible." His friends laugh at him again and call him a fag. The moral of the story is nobody will ever understand you, haunted man. Nobody. 

9. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar




Pop quiz: Listen to this song, with lyrics that reference country music greats like Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash, and tell me what country this band is from. If you guessed, perhaps, Nashville it would be understandable. However, such an answer suggests you missed the line, "Stockholm's cold, but I've been told I was born to endure this kind of weather." Because duh, they are obviously from Sweden. Surprised? I was too. But country music is so much more universal than we think it is.

10. Twin Shadow - Confess



This is another record I listened to a whole hell of a lot in 2012. I love his voice which is hardly a surprise considering how often Morrissey comparisons are tossed his way. Confess basically takes every serious, synth drenched, tear-jerker Top 40 song I liked as a child in the 80's, blends them all together and reinterprets them for my grown up listening pleasure. If that's the definition of "adult contemporary," I am perfectly comfortable with this.

11. Fawn - Coastlines

12. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe

13. Shearwater - Animal Joy

14. The History of Pan!c - Fight! Fight! Fight!




15. Lambchop - Mr. M



16. Stars - The North



17. Lavender Diamond - Incorruptible Heart



18. Damien Jurado - Maraqopa




19. The Magnetic Fields - Love at the Bottom of the Sea



20. Pet Shop Boys - Elysium



Want a Spotify playlist of all these songs? Here you go.

Love in Detroit

I've started and deleted too many posts related to the horrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. I think it's safe to say that I'm too angry and emotional to really add a whole lot of insight to this conversation. I only wish more people could come to this conclusion, particularly those who can't seem to stop their knee-jerk defensive reaction to defend all things guns. I have cringed so many times in these past few days after reading and hearing things that are (at best) tone-deaf and (at worst) completely cold hearted and off the fucking rails. When I see headlines like, "Post-Newton, Sales Boom for Kids Body Armor," it takes all the strength I have not to just crumple into a ball and cry. This is the America that some people want to live in? I seriously worry that the whole country has gone crazy.

That's why I'm writing about something else instead. Because there's one girl who's brought me joy and comfort during this time, and she knows nothing about those innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In fact, she's completely oblivious to the horrible things that people do to each other. 

That's because she's a dog.

This is Asha. She's a 35lb pit bull that my girlfriend and I adopted at the end of October. We had just recently started talking about getting a dog around that time. The plan being that we'd start doing some research into different rescue groups, talk about what personality traits, etc. would be a good fit for our family and then in the Spring we'd seriously start the adoption process. That would give us time to finish rehabbing our backyard, doing some repair/renovation projects and "dogproofing" the house so everything would be ready when we got a pup.

But that's not how things work. You can plan and plan all you want, but damn it if life doesn't decide to expedite things sometimes. Occasionally these things are precipitated by a grand event or some sort of "sign." Like witnessing an incredible miracle or a flash of light or something. But sometimes it's just a matter of getting on the elevator at the right time. That's how it was for me.

Leaving work one afternoon to run some errands, a coworker got on the elevator and started talking with his friends about a dog he was trying to find a home for. I was not a part of this conversation, but considering the current "thinking about getting a dog" state of my life I listened to them talk. I distinctly remember thinking, "I wonder what kind of dog he found?" Then the elevator reached the ground floor and we dispersed to our separate lunch hour destinations. 

I happened to arrive back at the office at the exact same time as the "talking about dogs" guys. We then got the same elevator again. They were talking about the dog again. Joe, the one who had the dog, looked at me and said, "Haven't we had this conversation already?" acknowledging the coincidence of our two synchronized elevator encounters. He then said, "Do you want a dog?" I asked him, "What kind of dog is it?" He said, "She's a little, white pit bull." He said his wife had found her wandering the streets of Detroit and that she was very sweet. He explained they couldn't keep her because they already had four dogs. I said to him, "Well, my girlfriend and I are actually looking to adopt a pit bull, but I don't know if we're ready just yet. But in my head I thought, "Oh, shit. We're getting a dog"

I mentioned to Jamie my encounter and expected her to be the cautious, sensible one in this situation. She would, I reminded myself, remind me that we still have all this work to do to prepare, that we're not quite ready yet, that we shouldn't rush... After all, this would be her very first dog as an adult. I had an elderly rescue greyhound when the two of us met, but as incredibly sweet and  kind as Jamie was to her, Emma was still my dog. I was sure Jamie would be able to temper my emotional instincts about this poor little pit bull and bring me back to Earth. But instead I got an immediate response back from Jamie that essentially said, "OMG I wanna see pictures NOW!!"

 This is the picture of Asha that Joe sent me the next day. Despite being a little mangy and grungy, we were pretty much taken. The next weekend she was released from the animal hospital to Joe's care. He, his wife and their granddaughter brought her to our house that day to meet us. She walked into our house with her tail wagging and her sweetness shining through her flaky skin and patchy coat. We knew right away that this was where she was going to stay.

 Watching her heal, grow and come out of her shell over these last few months has been fascinating and affirming. We took her to a trainer (Tammy at Fido Personal Dog Training in Ferndale who I can't recommend highly enough) and she gave us an evaluation of Asha that, while purely speculative since we'll never know her exact background, was far from happy. Asha had likely been used for breeding and was probably forced into at least a couple back-to-back pregnancies in her short life. Apparently tiny pit bulls are "in" right now, and she certainly fits that "mini" or "pocket" pit bull description. Thankfully those days are over for her. She's now about two (two different vets have estimated) and it's time for her to get to be a puppy.  

She's proven to be an exceptionally bright, loving, affectionate and playful girl who makes me happy every single day. Seeing her curled up with my girlfriend or watching them play together is almost more cuteness that I can personally take. Asha is my reminder that happiness and joy are almost impossible to extinguish, no matter how terrible the circumstances. When I start to feel overwhelmed by the terrible sides of human nature, I look down at this little lima bean of a pup, snuggled to my side and contentedly snoring like a fat man and feel a little more centered. A little more ok.

No matter how nuts this season gets for you, take the time to curl up with somebody you love and be thankful for that moment. Happy Holidays, you guys.

NaNoWriMo Ho Ho Ho

I haven't written a whole lot here lately, because I've spent the whole month of November furiously trying to write a 50,000 word novel as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoMiMoWiMo for short... I think that's right). This afternoon I finally reached my goal! 50,160 words. Success! When will you get to read this (obviously great) novel of mine you ask? Well! The answer to that is somewhere between never and not for a long time. But probably closer to not for a long time. Because I didn't tackle this writing bonanza in any kind of linear fashion, it's not ready for readin' yet, I'm afraid. As it stands, I'm going to step away from it for a week or so and then revisit and tighten things up. Because I'm one of those "optimist types," I'm thinking it will be finished somewhere around 2019.

But! You're too busy making a list, checking it twice, decking your halls, singing carols and buying all kinds of cinnamon scented, Santa-shaped candles to really have time to read a novel right now anyway. So bide your time until my book release party by checking out the new Suburban Sprawl Holiday Sampler! They've been gathering seasonal recordings from local folks and releasing them on the internet for your enjoyment for eleven years now! Now that's a holiday tradition I can get behind...

John Nelson and the New Girlfriend's submitted our cover of a catchy sad country number originally done by Kitty Wells called "Christmas Ain't Like Christmas Anymore." It's track number 18. Go listen to it on repeat until 2019.

Squirt Gun Justice

Somehow I missed that Water Cops have a little EP out. It's called I'm Showing Up Late & I'm Leaving Early. Altered slightly, this title could reflect my personal "out-on-the-town" philosophy: I'm Showing Up Early and I'm Leaving Early. 

If you're looking for something new to listen to on the way to the Sloan show tonight, look no further. Nice work, you guys.

New Scott Walker song has nothing to do with creepy 80's kids show 'Zoobilee Zoo.' I don't think.

December 4th brings the first new Scott Walker record since 2006's The Drift. So excited.

A flimsy cardboard podium, a ballpoint pen on a string... It's Election Day in America!

Happy Voting Day! Stuck in line and feeling increasingly homicidal about it? I suggest you read my account of working the polls during the 2008 election. That will help pass the time and make you potentially less likely to punch a poll worker.

Part 1: But where the President is never black, female or gay… or: On the eve of my debut as a pollworker

Part 2: We won't vote Conservative, because we never have... or: Everybody's (poll) workin' for the weekend

Best of luck to you today!

Trick or treat, you unwashed heathen!

Halloween is right around the corner, so obviously my mind has turned to Chick tracts. Ah, Chick tracts: terrifying little comics with a "gospel message" and the only thing worse than passing out Smarties. Or pennies. Or razor blades for that matter. 

I remember getting at least one of these every year in my candy bag. And considering we moved a few times in my childhood, it wasn't always the same person handing them out. But sure enough, when dumping out my candy haul at the end of the night to admire/inspect for nefarious tampering, there would be a little paper "comic" amongst the tasty treats. These messages contained lessons from the Lord about things like gay people, abortion, recreational drugs, Islam and of course, the unholiness of Halloween.

The Chick tract website brags that they've been "publishing cartoon gospel tracts and equipping Christians for evangelism for 50 years." I would really love to meet somebody who "saw the light" after reading a Chick tract. Like, how many Catholics have read "The Death Cookie," set it down and said, "Wow. My whole religion is a sham. The holy sacrament of the Eucharist is a death cookie! Thank goodness somebody put this comic under my windshield wiper while I was at Mass!" Or perhaps thousands of homosexuals have been handed the "Sin City" tract at gay pride events and immediately traded in their leather chaps for a leather bound Bible, and I just haven't heard about it. 

The site has testimonials from people claiming that a Chick tract really did save them. Most of these quotes are suspiciously signed simply, "E-Mail" or "Florida." Fishy! But I feel like my personal reaction to Chick tracts is more common. Which is to say, after reading one, I've always felt like I needed to take a shower. And that people who try to sneak Jesus into my life by slipping me an over-the-top, offensive and crazy comic are total creeps. 

Happy Halloween, everybody! Enjoy it - because you're gonna BURN IN HELL for it later!