Another year has come and gone, and the indie music press has churned out their annual "Best Of" lists, which all read basically the same: ten-under-the-speed-limit beardy dad rock, Degrassi Jr. High cast members turned emoting rappers, and samples of French kids talking about magic frogs over wannabe My Bloody Valentine loops are the new hottness, see you all next year...

Yeah, well...nuts to that. This is all going to be forgotten about next year, so without any further adieu, here's ten songs I could probably deal with being stuck with (in this particular order) on a desert island, or the moon, or whatever...FOREVER.

1. Superdrag - Sold You An Alibi

I could listen to the opening chords of this all day, back and forth, back and forth, but then the whole thing is backed up by the sort of perfectly concise, effortless songwriting that cleanses the word "poppy" of any sort of implied grime. Superdrag had a ton of little gems like this; this one is the best. Spoon would later perfect the "being unremarkable via writing entire albums of singles that every other band would kill for" formula (a.k.a. "being awesome"), but I like big guitars, so the 'Drag gets the nod here.

2. Swervedriver - Duel

When I liberate a '73 Charger from an overgrown barn on my desert island and finally get it running using coconuts, I'm going to want something to put on blast while hammering down deserted highways on at 100mph getting 8 miles a gallon. Pretty much anything off the first two Swervedriver LP's will do, but the video for this looks like an issue of MotorCyclist from when I was 13, so it wins.

3. Minus The Bear - Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse

If I ever win the lottery, I want to live forever in the narrative arc of Highly Refined Pirates. Every single day. If that hazily romanticized bender had a name, it'd be Forever 26. This song boasts possibly one of the stupidest choruses ever penned, but somehow that ungainly "we've got to get something/to eat and to drink, yeah" line that is juxtaposed against verses that make you want to grab your significant other, your passport, all your money in the bank, and just never come back, is just so danged perfect in it's clumsily earnest execution.

4. Dismemberment Plan - The City

This song has such a weird vibe; so melancholy but uplifting. The keys are fuzzy and inviting like a warm hug, the strummy guitars drone on distantly, seemingly auto-piloted off into the horizon. The insistent drums have their good shoes on and are dragging you out on the dance floor like that overly-exuberant friend (who only goes out on Fridays) that's had one too many, yet the final refrain threatens to rip your damn soul out, sending you packing back to your studio apartment (that you're probably paying too much for) to really contemplate things; at which point (much like yourself), the whole song shambles to a resigned, exhausted, non-triumphant 3:30am halt. No answers. No resolution. 

5. Cat Power - Metal Heart

Alright, after that last one, everyone into the chill-out tent, y'all.

Those "can't tell where one track ends and the other begins" guitar lines...dang.

6. Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert

This isn't even "the best" Pavement song, an honor that surely goes to something on Brighten The Corners, but this is the most Pavement-y Pavement song, and therefore the best one.

7. Polvo - Tragic Carpet Ride

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to have cool aunts and uncles that ensured I grew up on a steady diet of stuff like the Pixies, Talking Heads, Pavement, etc. thereby sidestepping that really awkward jester hats and rap-metal phase of the 90's, but hearing Celebrate The New Dark Age during my second year of college* was my musical moon landing. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when those harrowing guitar lines howled their way out of speaker cones. At that very moment that everything I knew about music became worthless; that wall of searing, alien dissonance laid waste to it all. I still don't think anything has mentally clawed at me that hard since.

 (*yes, this was 6 years after the album came out, which was a common phenonmenon "back then," since the internet was still in it's infancy, and we weren't born cool yet.) 

8. True Widow - Skull Eyes

HEY LOOK! A song from THIS YEAR! According to iTunes, since I added this album over the summer, it's been played well over 100 times. Yes, according to this list, a tune I haven't even had in my posession a year is standing shoulder to shoulder with some I've practically lived in for almost half a lifetime. No, I'm not crazy. Yes, it is really that good. My Bloody Valentine melodicism with the fog removed, plus a healthy dose of stoner/doom muscle, all boiled down into 3 minutes and 45 seconds of syrupy sweet, heavy bliss.

9. Hum - The Inuit Promise

If I had to pick a single album to be stuck with forever, Downward Is Heavenward would probably be on the shortlist of front runners. There's other songs I like better on this album, but if I have to take one of them that encapsulates the whole feel of the record out of context, this is the one. The opening chords sound like the hull of a battleship being crushed, it's got the trademark Hum 100-tracks-of-guitar lush pre-chorus that's so deep you could drown in it, Matt Talbot sweetly murmuring some math textbook nonsense that sounds it should be like a Hallmark card for girls in the NASA typing pool, the the massive stadium rippling chorus riff, a minute of malfuctioning computer noise...it's all there.

10. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (the 26 minute b-side version)

This song is one of the only two that justifies Sonic Youth's dodgy mid-90's period ("Bull In The Heather" being the other), but I'll be damned if this song isn't just so epic & gorgeous that it whitewashes right over that whole unfortunate post-Dirty / pre-Murray Street period. I used to end all my DJ sets with this at last call, just walk off, and let the whole thing play out. Like the ocean itself, those crystalline opening notes can be warm or icy, inviting or "check, please" unsettling. Something gorgeous to absorb, or a reminder that we have better things to do. An elegy for another wasted Friday night.

Oh yeah, here's some records I liked from this year too:

True Widow - As High As The Highest Heavens...
The Psychic Paramount - II
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
The Men - Leave Home
Rational Animals - Bock Rock Parade
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Ringo DeathStarr - Colour Trip
The Globes - Future Self
Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard
Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Time will tell if they get mentioned in the same breadth years from now.

On December 17th, BURRO celebrates four years in the biz with a holiday-themed alleycat race and a major rager at Burro Bar. 

Many small business never make it past their first year, but BURRO has persevered and continued to grow despite a harsh economic climate. What was once a two-man living room operation is now an internationally recognized brand whose American handmade messenger bags, cycling accessories and apparel can be found in shops across the country and in select stores around the world.

The celebration begins with the Holiday Deliverycat race organized by 904Fixed followed by the party featuring performances by DJ Cheff Rocc, Swear Jar, NOMADIX and DJ Furoche. Also planned are a raffle and the unveiling of the BURRO 2012 Artist Series bag collection with designs from Jacksonville artists such as Squid Dust, Duval Destroyer, Ian Chase, Mark George and Tact.

For more information on this event, please contact jack@burrobags.com

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