My third year I finally broke free of the cafeterias that I once hated (and now miss, largely just because of the absurd amounts of Naked Juice I used to enjoy) and slid into eating quesadillas for probably half of my meals at my new home - a little townhouse close to campus. I also began getting significantly more involved on campus working on shows, which meant even more music-listening and reading than in the past…and generally embracing and enjoying San Diego more than I ever allowed myself to during my first two years. Here are the standout albums from this year - again, these aren’t necessarily albums that came out in the year, but the ones that are the most emotionally connected to the year for me. If you haven’t heard any of these in the series but would like me to help you with that, let me know :).

2008-2009

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas

I generally read reviews, but am not quite sure why. I read this one awhile back and it just came to mind. Here is a great example of why to not care about reading Pitchfork, or any other reviews for that matter:

In the end, despite the band’s valiant and respectable effort, Carnavas ends up too unfocused, too rambly, too boring to make any lasting impressions.

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions…but some are just wrong. Boring? There hasn’t been much in the past 5 years that can personally compare to this album in terms of ability to always get me fired up as I listen to it. Each song has some amazing riff that is as much fun to listen to as it is to play.

I’ve seen the band a few times, and each time that I do, I always find myself forgetting multiple songs that blow me away. The album is packed, and the songs that I once skipped grew into favorites after a few listens. Sure, there are admittedly some lower points (Waste It On = ehh) but they don’t detract from the album as a whole. Sometimes it is alright to have a little breather after all.

I heard about the band a little late in the game, but before they blew up. Sometime in the beginning of my second year I looked into booking them for a smaller show before Lazy Eye had really taken off yet. I listened to the myspace & enjoyed what I heard, and then bought the CD a few weeks later. I guess it largely sat un-listened to for awhile with the exception of Lazy Eye (how can you not love the track?) and Well Thought Out Twinkles. Time went on though, and I opened up my ears. I don’t have a distinct first time that I remember listening to this album all the way through, but I always remember that it was constantly the album playing in my car on drives back and forth from San Diego & Irvine. I remember driving back to school late one Sunday night and dreading some upcoming exams & just totally becoming engrossed in Little Lover’s So Polite. When I made it back down to my apartment that night, I watched the music video for it for the first time - I love it for some reason, I think it just really captures the feeling of the song despite being a shortened version.

Future Foe Scenarios and Common Reactor are the tracks that probably grew on me the most. I maintain that this band is one of my favorite live acts in recent years, but Future Foe Scenarios is one of those songs that is very tough to reproduce live and I’ve never seen a video that captures the energy of the album version. The vocals are just brutally tough to perform. They consistently give me goosebumps towards the end whenever I listen at dangerously loud volumes. Later on as I finally warmed up to the album’s final track, Common Reactor, I found a live acoustic version of it that kills me - you can listen here. While losing out on the noise-y album outro, you gain the true essence of the track. Brilliant.

I think ultimately the band hit a lot of unfair comparisons to the Pumpkins in a lot of ways - the “nasal-y” singing, the female bassist - but deserve much more credit than that. Joe’s work on the keys really are what make Brian’s guitar tone as great as it is. Chris is an amazing drummer to watch live. At a little solo Billy Corgan show I saw in the summer of 2009 at the Che Cafe at UCSD, someone shouted out asking Billy what he thought of SSPU and all he said was that he thought they were actually a really talented band, and that was it. If anyone could/would want to hate, it would be him, and yet that was all there was to it.

Fleet Foxes - s/t & Sun Giant EP

You can’t really have one without the other, considering they were released together & the EP has some of the best tracks between the two (English House & Mykonos).

To say I burned this album out would be an understatement, but I still enjoy listening whenever it comes up on a random play and occasionally fire it up. The first distinct memories I have of listening to the album were when I was over at a (then, just a) friend’s place in early January, hanging around, and she put it on (thanks!). It grew on me even during the first listen as the album played out. I don’t believe we listened to the EP that night, but I don’t fully recall, I just knew I wanted to listen to it again.

Sometime soon thereafter, the band was on Conan and performed English House - I think this is when I realized that I indeed really did want to listen more on my own & for myself. Thanks to the lovely NBC who hates the human race and want Conan to fail miserably, I can’t find the performance on youtube…but this version from Live From The Basement will more than do justice to the song (believe I posted a video from my In Rainbows post about this series - dig around on this site for awhile if you never have & I’m sure you’ll find some amazing performances. I freaking love it. All the recordings are produced by the sixth Radiohead “member”, Nigel Godrich. From the site: “Here lies the website of From the Basement - A sort of music show / labour of love produced by a small group of dedicated individuals. We shoot it all on HD video and the sound is produced by me. The whole emphasis of the show is about being artist friendly and making our bands as comfortable as possible so that they can give great performances without the usual agony of TV promo which everyone has to do but no one seems to enjoy.”)

Anyways, the album was one of those ones that was consistently on in the car, especially when I was out with said girl who introduced me to it…but it was also my go-to for everywhere I went. I recall listening to Oliver James in an empty house at nights with the volume cranked up singing along while in the kitchen or living room. Blue Ridge Mountains would regularly be spun right before going to bed. There really isn’t a bad track on either, but there are plenty of standouts like the above mentioned, and a few others. I had a lot of bleahhh moments at UCSD and relied heavily on music to get me through - one night in particular I was walking through Muir (I think I had been to a late night review session, glad those days are over) and Your Protector came on as I was heading towards the bus I used to take home. The glorious warm flute opening with that catchy melody, all leading into a great breaking chorus really lifted me up…and in the end, isn’t that what music is all about?

They’re a great band to enjoy during the winter, which was right when I first discovered them…so if you haven’t given it a listen yet, you definitely should right about now. They may not be anything revolutionary, but both the album & EP are solid pieces of work.

Year Three Honorable Mention: U2 - No Line on the Horizon. I’ve got a soft spot for these guys still, and even though the weak single “Get On Your Boots” still is an instant skip for me (terrible opening single choice, admitted by 3/4 of the band even), there are some amazing tracks on the album. The Edge shines as usual, and Bono opens up his voice a bit more to rocking out than in recent years. Incidentally, there was a RS article from when it was released where The Edge stated one of his influences on the album was, believe it or not, Fleet Foxes. I think it’s pretty apparent on White As Snow or Cedars of Lebanon, in particular. The standouts for me though are Breathe (goooooosebumps again), the title track, and the glorious Moment of Surrender. The album was produced by Brian Eno, who described the recording of the track as “the most amazing studio experience I’ve ever had” because it was recorded in a single take and developed over just a couple of hours - a worthwhile read of the experience is on the song’s wiki article here.