A List of Music You Didn't Ask For - 2017 Edition

There is absolutely no way to overstate what a vital role music has had for me throughout 2017. As many of you know, the year began with my left forearm broken in half, banded back together with titanium only to rebrake mid-February, forcing a second surgery and prolonged rehab and physical therapy. Combine this with a frustrating year of politics and policy, uncertainty with my job (since abated, thank goodness!) and actually seeing a person die, the need for that "thing" to transport me away from the moment was essential.

In past years, my bike was my solace, taking me outside and allowing me to push my endurance and spiritual limits that would allow me to recenter. With that outlet removed due to recovery (at least through May), I found my peace with my turntable and the warmth of vinyl turning. My new happy place moved from my bike saddle to stretching out on my couch, listening to lots and lots of music. And, fortunately, there was lots of great music to hear this year. And with every great new release, there usually was a corresponding concert nearby, taking me from the personal confines of my living room to Phoenix's newest concert gem or Hollywood's most fabled cemetery to boogie and sway.

My greatest musical discovery this year was my reawakening to the beautiful age of bebop, hard bop and post bop jazz. I could not stop consuming artists like Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Milt Jackson, Grant Green and many others beyond the usuals like Miles, Trane and Brubeck, brought to life on the thick black platters from Blue Note, Verve, Impulse, Columbia and Riverside. Unfortunately for you, this means another list will descend upon you shortly.

For now, here are my favorite records of 2017.

1. Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister, Planetarium
I'm convinced that nobody is pushing creativity right now quite like Sufjan Stevens. And he here collaborates with one of modern classical's greatest composers and one of rock's greatest guitarists to create a musical trip through our galaxy that never ceases to be rooted right here in the humanity of Earth, warts, flaws and all. This album is big, exploratory, wandering, lost, found, strange and brilliant.

2. The National, Sleep Well Beast

This album not only is the most straight guitar rock by The National in nearly 10 years, it also manages to wrap itself around you like a warm, electric blanket and let you peer into the personal relationships of Matt and the brothers Dessners and Devendorfs.

3. Spoon, Hot Thoughts

Like most every other record by Spoon, this one flat cooks. The difference this time is more keyboards. But the ability by this band to rule a stage was on full display when they split a bill with The Shins and they made The Shins feel like the warm-up act even though they closed. I've yet to hear a bad record by these guys.

4. Ron Miles, I Am a Man
Ron Miles: I Am A Man from Derek O. Hanley on Vimeo.
This album gets its title from the sign carried by striking sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968. This set is jazz as its finest workings, with a collection of today's very top: Jason Moran, Bill Frissell, Brian Blade and Tom Morgan. This is grace.

5. Grizzly Bear, Painted Ruins

The continued evolution of this group of Brooklynites, here with more pronounced drums, has more bounce and quirk than their previous sound.

6. San Fermin, Belong

I'm astonished how few know about this outfit. And that one of their lead singers, Charlene Kaye, comes from here in Phoenix.

7. LCD Soundsystem, American Dream

As far as comebacks go, this is as good as they come.

8. Sylvan Esso, What Now

You have to be crafty to write a song that skewers pop and radio and then become a hit on pop radio and far beyond. It's incredible to see two people put on the show that they do, too.

9. Beck, Colors

A step back for Beck is still so much better than most others. Can't see why he should be penalized when his songs are still so dang good.

10. Kamasi Washington, Harmony of Difference

It seems Kamasi Washington is most known for making the music on Kendrick Lamar's albums so good. Others go to his really long album from a couple of years ago, The Epic. This is Washington finding his real sound and making it tight while still exploratory. Good things look to be on the horizon for this still very young sax master.

And nine more because this year's sounds were just so good:
11. Portugal. The Man, Woodstock
12. Japanese Breakfast, Soft Sounds From Another Planet
13. Sharon Jones & the DapKings, Soul of a Woman
14. Mac Demarco, This Old Dog
15. The XX, I See You
16. Phoenix, Ti Amo
17. St. Vincent, Masseduction
18. Tennis, Yours Conditionally
19. Temples, Volcano

As for concerts, I have to call out the tremendous show by Iron & Wine at the Van Buren in October. It was simple and beautiful and funny and perfect. Sam's new album is one I have not had a chance to dive into yet, but I do love this track:

I hope you find a few new things in this list that move you as much as they have carried me this past year. Here's to a great 2018!

My condolences to all of US

As a friend semi-sarcastically posted this morning, "I think we can all agree that the shooting was bad." We all have heavy hearts for those victims and their families in Las Vegas. We should be able to say, "That goes without saying," yet we all feel compelled and responsible to still say it.

But shouldn't we all also be sending condolences to the American people at large? We have had so many opportunities to curb this kind of incident through levels of control and legislation that would keep the weapons this man used out of the hands of people like this man. This is an incident where more guns would not have prevented this or made it any less tragic. This is an incident where this man could have been identified for amassing weapons and ammunition if proper registration and tracking processes were in place. This is an incident where this man could have possibly been identified if Donald Trump had not repealed a rule to block sales from people with certain mental illnesses.

No one, and I mean NO ONE, has ever come forward with legislation to revoke all guns from all people and repeal the Second Amendment. That has never happened, and it never will. But reasonable people want reasonable laws passed so that these tools of death and destruction (that is their sole purpose) can be regulated to minimize this kind of incident as much as possible. It is time for courageous people to stand up and make necessary laws to protect us as citizens.

So I send my condolences to those in Las Vegas, but I also send them to the rest of us across the United States of America, because unless something is done to curb this violent nonsense we will probably be next.

We actually saw a person die tonight

The following is an email I sent last night to my mom and brother, Wyatt, after my wife, Vicki, our kids and I said goodbye after a quick weekend getaway to Pine, AZ. Pine is the home of our summer retreat at the base of the Mogollon Rim, about 90 minutes north of Phoenix. As we were leaving, we saw a heard of elk, about 35 strong captained by a massive buck with stout antlers and a menacing yet protective expression. It was an awesome sight of nature and wildlife, yet looking back felt more like some kind of animalistic warning out of a Miyazaki movie.


Mom and Brother,

Well, we finally just made it home, but not without a great deal of drama. The short of it is that we are all here, we are all safe. But, we actually saw a person die tonight.

As we went past Deer Creek, a couple of motorcycles whipped past us at way beyond high speed, gripping the curving highway leaning their motorbikes at 45 degrees or more. They weaved their way around cars and disappeared around the bend that leads up the big climb through where the roads get limited down to a single lane. As we made our way through that area, with any trace of daylight now fully evaporating, we noticed a third motorcycle cut right around us just as the left lane got pinched into the right. We all got in line to make our way through this section when I saw the other two waiting on the right, clearly looking for their other member of their group. He revved to let them know he caught up and then once the lanes opened up, all three bolted off around the bend of Mt. Ord and into the darkness.

We began the descent past the Sycamore Creek turnoff when I noticed what looked like a red flare against the median and quickly realized it was one of the bikes, so I started scanning the road for a body. Vicki, who did an amazing job driving through this incident, saw the body stretched across the left lane and dodged around it as I saw a second bike on the ground on the right shoulder. Cars began pulling over with people jumping out and heading up the hill to see if the could find the bodies and, more importantly, signal to the other cars streaking down the mountain to slow down. Vicki, among several others, was on the phone to 911 letting them know of the incident. We could hear the body in the highway get run over several times and by the time we got to it, it was hardly human any longer. One man dragged it out of the highway while a few of us looked among the roadside for any sign of another person. The cars screaming around that downhill bend and starting to stack up where we all pulled over were absolutely terrifying. The other motorcyclist whose bike was in the shoulder finally came walking back down the hill, clearly beyond shock but uninjured. He was joined by the third rider who made his way back up along the shoulder to find this devastation. It was amazing to see these young men high on thrill become so instantly mortified and broken, but their carelessness brought this upon themselves.

It took well over 20 minutes for the first emergency respondent to show up. I returned to the car to be with the kids. Vicki finally made her way back to us 10 minutes later. Amazingly, no other accidents occurred. Vicki said that one of the men who was up the road with her remarked to his wife just moments before the incident, "I wonder how long before one of them gets scraped off the road." Little did he or any of us know.

As we were leaving Pine, we did come back across that heard of Elk, making their way down Bradshaw to the meadow. I half joked to the kids once I got back to the car on the side of the road after the accident that those elk knew something and were trying to keep us from getting on the road tonight. The entire incident still haunts me, even as I sit here in my bed now. Yet I also thought of the 10-15 cars of people who immediately and instinctively pulled over to assist in whatever way we could. In a span of a few moments we saw how stupid, foolish and selfish a few people can be while so many more are so good, so decent.

It was a hard remainder of a ride home, but here we are. We even stopped at Target to get Lucas a few supplies for his first day (he is grinning ear to ear in anticipation for tomorrow) and some yogurt so we could have a sweet taste touch our tongue before truly calling it a night.

Thank you for a wonderful yet quick weekend. I love you both. Be careful out there.

Love,
Jason

Here is the report from the Payson Roundup on the accident.

Making America great again?

How does one go about making America great again? Apparently, you follow these five easy steps:
 
1) Instead of properly vetting qualified personnel to surround yourself to navigate this new venture of Federal government, you hire a bunch of self-centered, novice government and administrative sycophants (not to mention all those family members) who you will end up firing within six months.
 
2) Instead of working with leading experts to put together health care reform that can help all those coal miners and blue collar workers you romanced to get elected, you focus on imaginary voters and Russian conspiracy, contradicting yourself endlessly at every step.
 
3) Instead of building stronger foreign relations with your current allies and new relationships with adversarial nations, you antagonize all your friends, focus on building a see-through border wall to avoid flying bags of narcotics and hit on the wife of the newly elected President of France.
 
4) Instead of putting forward new economic stimulus and tax reform packages that will push the national economy to tremendous new heights (believe me), you ride the coat tails of the the previous administration's economic plan that continues to generate a bull market and job growth but claim it as your own.
 
5) Instead of leading, making sure the buck stops with you and owning accountability for everything on your watch, you play the greatest victim, pointing fingers everywhere but at yourself, blame fake news (#sad), FBI investigators and your own political appointees for your own failures.

All things considered, I'm kind of glad America has sucked all this time.

A list of music you didn't ask for, 2016 edition

As the clock eclipses New Year's Eve, 2016 style, I feel compelled to once again post a list of my favorite albums from the past twelve months. Much has been said about the many losses and tragedies from this year, but here's what we did get: a new Franz lady named Paloma, a new look Prius and new music from Radiohead. Here are my top ten from the past year, in alphabetical order except for my favorite, listed last.

Bon Iver, 22, A Million
Justin and his legion drop another collection, this time a bit shorter but still with all the warbly deeps and highs and esoteric lyrics that only Vernon himself understands.  

David Bowie, Blackstar
What a farewell from this devastating creative force. Part tribute to his fans, part personal catharsis, all brilliant.
 

Car Seat Headrest, Teen of Denial
To think, I got to see these guys in The Valley Bar months before this album dropped. Lucky me. I'm not kidding.
 

DIIV, Is The Is Are
These guys self-describe as controversial. That's marketing. The music is still amazing, echoing Joy Division, New Order, Nirvana but wholly current, filled with a man's demons of addiction.
 

Glass Animals, How To Be A Human Being
This sophomore effort is not as deep in sticky jungle beats as their first great outing, but this is more relevant of now, bursting with references and sarcasm of the moment.  

Jagwar Ma, Every Now & Then
Another amazing debut follow-up, this time from some Aussies who know how to make beats to wiggle your buttocks. These guys just generate flowy sounds.  

Solange, A Seat at the Table
The lesser know Knowles sister made the superior album this year, and without an uber-hyped HBO special tie-in. This record plays like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Stevie Wonder's Innervisions or Prince's Sign of the Times - full of soul and conflict, moving a #blacklivesmatter conversation forward with beauty and grace.  

STRFKR, Being No One, Going Nowhere
The boys from Portland - now featuring a new guitarist from Phoenix! - would be the house band for my end of the world party.  

A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service
One of the best rap bands ever, finishing as strong as Bowie. RIP Phife Dawg.

And my favorite of the year...

Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool
Sure, it may be a bit of a greatest hits collection of songs never before committed to an album, but what a glorious collection of sonic and lyric perfection it is. Fewer electronic production flares, richer and deeper orchestral and instrumental arrangement, these songs deal with disenfranchisement, distrust, loss, heartache, climate change and confusion. Every second is brilliant. Of course, my brother says these guys could fart and I'd think it was amazing, and he's probably right - but Thom, Jonny, Ed, Colin and Phil have more than earned that. This album is still sublime.

Aaaaannnnd...three bonus songs that killed:

Sylvan Esso, Radio  

Beck, Wow
 

Childish Gambino, Redbone


2017 reportedly has new offerings from The National, Spoon, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, The Shins, Japandroids, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz and LCD Soundsystem, and who knows what else that will pop up and surprise us. Looks like I'm gonna need a bigger LP shelf.

Music you didn't ask for

I used to love year-end lists, I guess mainly because I thought they kind of validated what I liked. But then I realized that the weird stuff I liked tend to fall off of the radar of most everyone else, especially when it came to music. There is nothing more subjective or diffuse than music because of two things: people shake the junk in their trunk to different stuff; there's sooooo much stuff out there to make you shake the junk in your trunk.

Anyhow, I still troll the year-end lists of best albums because I love finding new stuff. Last year I came across my absolute favorite album for quite some time in Lord Huron's Lonesome Dreams (if you haven't given it a listen, do so now...and see these guys live if you ever get the chance. You will not be disappointed). While most of my list for this year actually came from either bands I knew and loved already or learned via SiriusXM, one great discovery was made just under the wire and has been in heavy play mode ever since.

So, here's my list, hoping the one or two of you who read this might find something new. If nothing else, Sophia likes what I play (and what's better for a dad's ego than for his daughter to tell him he's got great taste?).

1. Vampire Weekend, Vampires of the Modern City


2. Cayucas, Bigfoot


3. Arcade Fire, Reflektor


4. Daft Punk, Random Access Memories


5. Yo La Tengo, Fade


6. The Mother Hips, Behind Beyond


7. Typhoon, White Lighter


8. Atoms for Peace, Amok


9. Foxygen, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic


10. Volcano Choir, Repave


11. Wiped Out, Paracosm


12. Dr. Dog, B-Room


Happy 2014, y'all!

I am a very fortunate human being

I am a very fortunate human being. I am married to an incredibly loving, nurturing, supportive woman. I have two children who are far more intelligent and kind than I could ever expect to have the right to be. I am able to go to work and earn an honest wage at a place whose sole endeavor is to make the world better and healthier, all in the name of education, which I believe is any human’s greatest pursuit. I am surrounded by family and friends who value one another so selflessly and openly. I cannot take this for granted.