Top 10 albums of 2011

Some of us document our lives by the music that surrounds us.

Songs come on the radio that conjure up memories of decades gone by. A band reminds you of the time you saw them in concert. A single song makes you recall a specific person, a date you went on, a night out or a family gathering.

That's how 2011 was for us.

March was seeing bands such as The Head and the Heart at SXSW that I knew people back at home would love. Then there was that summer day when it seemed everyone wanted to talk about Bon Iver.

2011 was a diverse year with great music from all genres.


10. NOAH AND THE WHALE, "LAST NIGHT ON EARTH"

(Island Mercury)

With this record, Noah And The Whale moved beyond folk to become something more pop and rock — like Coldplay — but with deft lyrics that paint stories — unlike Coldplay. The music of "Tonight's The Kind Of Night" captures the energy and hope espoused in its lyrics while "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." is a song that's at once sad and about heart and leaving behind regrets.


9. JAY-Z AND KANYE WEST, "WATCH THE THRONE"

(Def Jam)

This collaboration could have been disastrous, but it produced, front-to-back, one of the best hip-hop albums in years — as well as a song with maybe the most ridiculous title ever (N***** In Paris). The combination of amazing production — samples of the Will Farrell comedy "Blades Of Glory" as well as Otis Redding are so ridiculous they're awesome — are coupled with incredible rhymes and tons of boasting. Kanye West and Jay-Z say they're the illest, um, gentlemen alive on this record. I'd think that was too much if I didn't think they were right.

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Column: Gift ideas for that music fan on your list

It's Christmas season, so you're probably frantically trying to round up gifts for everyone you know.

If there's a music guy or gal on your shopping list, they may enjoy some of the things that come across my desk.

Here are my picks for great music-related gift items in case you need some ideas (or in case anyone in my family happens to be reading).

"Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge" by Mark Yarm ($25)

Most people know Nirvana and Pearl Jam and probably Soundgarden, the three enduring acts from the Seattle grunge scene. But you don't know the whole story. Mark Yarm interviewed tons of people that were part of the grunge scene to tell the story from the early days with bands you've never heard of to the legacy of groups such as Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains. This is the best book on music I've read this year.

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What are we gonna do with all of these arenas?

An artist's rendering of the new Pinnacle Arena coming to Lincoln in 2013.

On Sunday, I wrote a front-page story on how the Omaha/Lincoln publicly-owned arenas (including Pinnacle, CenturyLink, the Civic, MAC, Pershing and Ralston arena) are going to compete for concerts.

Concerts are only a fraction of the events that go on in an arena, but they mean giant paydays (i.e. a $1.6 million gross for one Lady Gaga concert).

You can read the whole article, which includes lots of facts and figures. The long and short of it is the following: Lincoln and Omaha are going to compete for lots of shows, but no one really knows exactly how it will play out until Lincoln's Pinnacle Arena opens in 2013.

Pinnacle will be the cute new baby that everyone wants to play with while CenturyLink Center up in Omaha is the trusted (slightly) older sibling that everyone knows it can count on.

I think that one of them will win out in the end and the other will suffer for it. It will be tough to operate two similar-sized arenas within 60 miles of each other and have them both be profitable. Fans will have their favorites, but its concert tours and promoters that will make the decisions.

In my book, CenturyLink already has the edge. Fans know it, promoters know it and its got quite a nice operating profit. The "shiny new toy" (as one official put it) down the road in Lincoln won't be shiny forever.

Breathless was dead, but now she isn't

Popular local hip-hopper Breathless was thought to be dead today. Social media posts made it to sound like she had died over the weekend and an outpouring of support came from fans and friends on her Facebook page.

Based on that, several organizations (as well as myself) posted about it. The Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards, in particular, posted a heartfelt message and a video of Breathless performing at the awards ceremony.

Well, she's not dead. Not hardly.

The whole thing was a publicity stunt for her new album/video called "Reincarnation." A promo video shows her lying in a hospital bed. Then the video for "It's Ya Girl" (her new song) has her in a casket and people mourning her. (Creepy?)

As of 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday people were still posting their "RIP" messages to her Facebook wall even though the news was out that she's not deceased.

Some people sound pretty mad about it and I don't blame them. I heard second-hand about people crying and others driving from out of town already for her funeral.

SXSW: Two Omaha bands confirmed

Orenda Fink, left, and Nina Barnes of Harouki Zombi.

Around this time of year, South By Southwest starts sending out preliminary lists of bands. Usually, groups from Nebraska don't pop up this early.

Today, two made the cut. Tilly and the Wall and Harouki Zombi will both be performing at SXSW.

Harouki Zombi is credited as hailing from "Athens, NE," which must be a combination of Athens, Ga., and Nebraska.

Have you heard of the group? It's Orenda Fink (Azure Ray, O+Sl wife of The Faint/Depressed Buttons' Todd Fink) and Nina Barnes (Apollinaire Rave Art Collective, wife of Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes), a DJ/VJ duo and sort of art performance/musical collaboration.

Here's the story (via a press release): While watching Orenda's husband, Todd, DJ on Orenda and Todd's last night in town, Orenda turned to Nina and said "Let's be fucking DJs" Nina said "Yes! But let's do it dressed as geishas." Orenda agreed and Harouki Zombi was born."

They've done some big shows, which includes a cast of zombie geishas that interact with the crowd.

If you're interested in the troupe, the video for "Harouki Swamp Theme" premiered on Rolling Stone. You can download the song, too.

Anyway, that's two bands down for SXSW. Add one journalist (that's me!). Now, who else?

Live Review: "Color Me Obsessed" screening, Q&A and performances

Anonymous American performs covers of songs by The Replacements.

Slowdown was the place to be on Wednesday night for a screening of "Color Me Obsessed: A film about The Replacements," which included a Q&A with director Gorman Bechard. That all was followed by performances of 'Mats songs by local bands.

It was a pretty good night, especially so for fans of The Replacements. If you don't mind, I'll jump right into the reviews.

THE MOVIE

Have you ever read an oral history? If your answer is "no," you should know that they're basically a series of quotes from people that were involved in the story. In my recent favorite book on grunge, "Everybody Loves Our Town," people involved in the Seattle grunge scene talk about what it was like and what happened.

That's what this film is. It's a series of people (almost 150 of them) talking about The Replacements, going to their shows, being married to them and what the band meant to them (both as fans and as friends).

"If you claim not to be moved by 'Sorry Ma,' you're either a liar or comatose," read one press quote.

That would probably be the opinion of Greg Nelson and Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem, who are just some of the people who talk about The Replacements, which one person described as "a janitor, a crazy drunk and a little kid." Others interviewed include the band's sound guy, Bob Stinson's wife, DJs from 89.3 The Current and music critic Robert Christgau.

You get a sense that some of the people couldn't exist without The Replacements. Indeed, all of the stories are fantastic, but also paint a wonderful, but ultimately sad and tragic, arc for the band. The band was so loved, but couldn't keep it together long enough to find commercial success. It made me cringe when sales numbers popped up on the screen and the best-selling music during The Mats' time included REO Speedwagon, Asia and MC Hammer. Ugh.

Some of the best stories told include how Tommy Stinson used to wear ankle weights in an effort to help him jump higher onstage, how every time the band screwed up at one show they would play "Help Me Rhonda," shaving their eyebrows for an MTV interview,

One of the most interesting things about the film is that it doesn't include any music by the band and none of them are interviewed. Additionally, no pictures are ever shown of the band until just before the credits. For me, it didn't matter. I could picture the guys in my head and when they started talking about "Bastards of Young," I could hear the song in my head. For fans of the band, I don't think the movie needs the music.

Whether you like/love/loathe the Replacements or just want to hear people passionately talk about music (or crazy band antics), you'll like this film.

THE Q&A

As soon as the film was over (at two hours long, it could stand to be trimmed down a bit), director Gorman Bechard took the stage. He was asked quite a few questions that were pretty rote and were answered in a Q&A that was published in GO a week before.

But he was asked some interesting ones:
Q. Have you heard from anyone in the band? A. Peter Jesperson is a fan. Chris likes it. Heard Tommy had seen it and likes it.

Q. What about Paul? A. "Paul Westerberg is the JD Salinger of rock 'n' roll." Bechard said that even if Paul had seen it that he'd never comment on it.

Q. How many interviews did you do? A. 145.

Q. (my question) How did you first get into The Replacements? A. Bechard saw them open for R.E.M. at Toad's Place in 1983. "They were the worst band I'd ever seen." He said he came back to them later, then "Let It Be" came out. "Then that was it," he said.

Q. You interviewed a lot of DJs from the Current. Paul's sister (Mary Lucia) is a DJ there, too. Did you interview her? A. She didn't want to be interviewed.

THE PERFORMANCES

I'm surprised more bands didn't jump at the opportunity to play this show, but sadly some probably don't know The Replacements or couldn't learn a few new songs before the show.

Anyway, the final lineup was Aaron Paker of Scratch Howl, The Traveling Mercies, Anonymous American and Witness Tree.

Though he was a little off, Parker had some giant balls to get up in front of a room full of 'Mats fans and play "Here Comes A Regular" and "Can't Hardly Wait" on an acoustic guitar. Bravo.

Traveling Mercies played one country sort of song that I wasn't that into, but then finished with a pretty faithful version of "Little Mascara."

Anonymous American played third and was my favorite. They did "Color Me Impressed," "I'll Be You" and "Left Of The Dial." Led by Matt Whipkey, the band tends to throw themselves into performances and this one was no different. Even though a lot of people don't like "I'll Be You," I thought it was cool to hear the band's biggest hit. And then "Left Of The Dial" is a pretty sweet song.

The night closed out with Witness Tree, a rock band from Elkhorn. They did "Valentine," "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Merry Go Round." I didn't know much about this band before, but I'd probably go check them out again.

Record Store Day's Black Friday shopping

I took home some swag from Record Store Day's Black Friday sale.

As a general rule, I do not go shopping on "Black Friday." I like saving money on Christmas shopping as much as the next guy, but I can't handle all of the people and the frenzy.

But for the last two years, I make sure to brave the madness to go to record stores. Record Store Day is in April, but in 2010 they started doing a smaller version of the event on the day after Thanksgiving.

I like vinyl. I like music. So, off I go.

I did decide to skip the lines and frenzy that takes place in the morning. Homer's Music and Drastic Plastic employees told me that each store had a line before the stores opened at 9 a.m. and it was a little crazy.

I hit up both of those stores as well as Saddle Creek Shop to see what was available. I did write up a wish list in this week's column, and most of what I was looking for was still available.

I ended up going home with Craig Finn's solo single, "Honolulu Blues;" Silversun Pickups' "Seasick;" and Wilco's "Speak Into The Rose" 10-inch. (see the photo above)

I didn't really want to drop all the money for the Black Keys' single (about $10), Iron & Wine (about $15) or the Beatles singles (more than $50... sheesh). The Civil Wars record had sold out and then, according to Mike Fratt at Homer's, The Rolling Stones single had a pressing problem, so I put my name on a waiting list for that.

The most interesting aspect, to me, was over at Saddle Creek Shop. There, I was the very first person to buy any of the RSD exclusives. This was at 3 p.m. and they had been open all day.

SC Shop had most of the RSD stuff and I ended up buying the Wilco record there because everywhere else had sold out. It's a great little store. They have lots of stuff on vinyl and every single Saddle Creek Records release that's in print.

A friend bought some non-RSD vinyl including the Magnetic Fields's "69 Love Songs" box set. They have tons of other great vinyl there, too.

Did you go out for Record Store Day? What did you take home? Where did you go?

Cursive's new album: "I Am Gemini"

Ted Stevens, Tim Kasher and Matt Maginn are Cursive.

Cursive was in the studio recently, and now they have a new record.

It's a concept album called "I Am Gemini" about twin brothers Cassius and Pollock that were separated at birth. The album will be out Feb. 21 on Saddle Creek Records.

"One good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul, played out with a cast of supporting characters that includes a chorus of angels and devils, and twin sisters conjoined at the head," read a press release.

I last talked to Tim Kasher when the band was in the middle of making the record.

"It's going really well," he said back in August, right before the band played Maha Music Festival. "We're done with all of the basic tracking with drums and bass and my guitar and keys and various odds and ends. I'm working on vocals nightly and Teddy's working on guitar."

The record was produced and mixed with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus The Bear, Ladyfinger), who also worked with Kasher on his "Bigamy" EP.

"This is kind of my year of working with Matt Bayles," Kasher said.

Since it's a concept album, Kasher apparently wrote the tracks in order. A press release said it's the heaviest Cursive album in years.

The band's set to head out on tour just before the record is released, with a finale date in Omaha.

Track listing for "I Am Gemini:"
1. This House Alive
2. Warmer Warmer
3. The Sun and Moon
4. Drunken Birds
5. Lullaby for No Name
6. Double Dead
7. Gemini
8. Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton
9. Wowowow
10. This House a Lie
11. The Cat and Mouse
12. A Birthday Bash
13. Eulogy for No Name

Cursive tour dates:
FEB. 12 - DENVER, CO LARIMER LOUNGE
FEB. 14 - SALT LAKE CITY, UT URBAN LOUGE
FEB. 15 - BOISE, ID NEUROLUX
FEB. 17 - SEATTLE, WA NEUMO'S
FEB. 18 - VANCOUVER, BC MEDIA CLUB
FEB. 19 - PORTLAND, OR BUNK BAR
FEB. 24 - LOS ANGELES, CA TROUBADOUR
FEB. 25 - POMONA, CA GLASSHOUSE
FEB. 26 - SAN DIEGO, CA CASBAH
FEB. 27 - TEMPE, AZ CRESCENT BALLROOM
FEB. 28 - ALBUQUERQUE, NM LAUNCHPAD
MAR. 3 - OMAHA, NE SLOWDOWN

Home Recording: Mike Friedman gives his advice

In tomorrow's World-Herald, we're taking a look at home recording since just about anyone can do it now.

One guy I turned to was Mike Friedman, who plays in Simon Joyner's band and records a whole lot of stuff in his basement.

While I used several of Friedman's quotes in my story, his stuff is pretty technical and not all of it fit in my story about getting started. But it's still full of info, so I thought I'd include it here.

Again, be sure to check out the main story in the paper and on Omaha.com tomorrow.

Q: How is your recording operation typically set up? What equipment (or software) are you using to capture audio?

A: My basic set up for the recording is an old version of ProTools with an M-Audio Digi 001 Interface running on an IBM PC that I had built specifically for this purpose. You have a ton have a lot of RAM make things run smoothly. I also recently added a Tascam 48 8-track ½” tape machine. This can be used independently of the ProTools set up, or I can record to tape and then dump it into ProTools for editing, mixing and mastering. I run my mics into a Soundcraft board to boost the signal with the preamps before going into either the Digi 001 or the Tascam tape machine, depending on what I’m doing. I keep this all set up in my basement with all my instruments: guitars, bass, drums, piano, organ, etc, so it’s ready to go whenever.

Q: Are you demoing tracks first? And how are you doing that?

A: As far as “demoing” goes, I guess I don’t really think of it in those terms. When I’m recording, if it comes out good, it doesn’t really matter if it’s the first take or the 10th as long as it’s good. That sort of goes with the question about what home recording offers that the studio doesn’t. The main benefit is that you’re not paying for the studio time, so you can take as much time as you want messing around with your tracks until you get what you want. In a way, you might call that demoing. Especially with ProTools, since you’re not paying for tape and there is not degradation of the sound quality for recording parts over and over again, you can just keep trying stuff out. And there is also the benefit that if you do want to go into a studio, you can work stuff out before hand at home so when you are on the clock you aren’t still experimenting.

Q: What does recording at home offer versus doing it in a studio?

A: So I’ll expand. As I said, the most often perceived benefit or recording at home is that you’re not paying for studio time. But it’s not like it’s really free, because you can spend a lot getting your home studio up and running. Between mics, preamps, a board, tape machine and/or computer and software, it adds up. And once you start putting a studio together, you’re always looking for more pieces. But much like owning a home instead of renting, the money you spend is benefiting you, not the landlord. What I like most is that I am familiar with all my equipment and I have access to it 24/7. The more projects I work on down there, the more I learn about what works and what doesn’t, so it’s a constant learning process. As opposed to paying an engineer at a studio to turn the knobs for you. And I am a very hands-on person who has a tough watching someone else turn the knobs anyway.

Q: Do you do the mixing yourself or have someone else take care of that?

A: I do all that myself, with the input of the artists I’m recording, of course, but like I said before, I really enjoy the engineering aspect of it all and for me it’s a rather fluid process where as I am recording I’m also mixing. Both for the benefit of wheover is laying down tracks – because the better it sound to them, the better they are going to play, and also to satisfy myself. I’m always trying to figure out ways to make things sound as good as possible during the process. So by by the time I’m don’t tracking, it’s already sounding pretty close to how it should sound.

Q: Say I'm a beginner and want to record some pretty basic stuff for a few songs. What would you recommend?

A: Well, if you are a beginner with a Mac you don’t need to do much because it comes with Garage Band which a good program to get started on. If you want to record more than one track at a time you need to get a new interface, but if you just want to record some guitar and then ad vocals later you can just plug in a mic and go. Or very not much money you can get an MBox which allows you to record 2 tracks at the same time. All you need is a couple mics, say a SM57 for your guitar and a SM58 for vocals and you’d have a good start.

Also many company’s make “all-in-one” digital multi-track recorders that are sort of the new versions of the old cassette tape 4 tracks. I have never used one personally, but if they are as easy to use as an old Tascam 4-track, then they should be fine for a beginner. But I’d rather use a cassette 4-track. You’d be surprised at how much you can do with that.

Q: I'm assuming you've recorded for Simon. What else have you recorded?

A: I have recorded tons of Simon stuff at home, but nothing that will see the light of day. This sort of relates to your “demo” question. One of the nice things about having the studio set up all the time is that I am able to record rehearsals and burn discs of the songs we are working on for the rest of the band so they can learn them and work on their parts. For example, we are currently working on some recordings for Simon’s new record. We built a studio in a warehouse are tracking it on 16-track 1” tape. But we demoed them first at my place so we could get the arrangements worked out before we went to do it on tape, again saving money and time. I think the first thing I did at my place was for an old band I was in called Hubble with Reagan Roeder, although as happens too often, the band broke up before we ever released it. I have also made a record for local singer/songwriter Dylan Davis, which is also yet to be released, and I finished up Lonnie Methe’s “Calendar Work” which was started on 8 track tape, then bounced into Protools for additional tracking and mixing. That will be released on Simon’s Grapefruit Records imprint.

I really just record myself and my friends. I don’t run it as a business. I don’t charge anyone. With places like ARC and The Warehouse in town, I don’t really have any delusions about competing in that market.

MAHA returns in 2012

Maha Music Festival is coming back in 2012 as we all knew (or at least hoped) that it would.

It's the little indie festival that could and, so far, it's proven to be the best rock festival going in Omaha. Here's hoping it continues to grow to bigger names and expand to multiple days.

Anyway, the fest will be returning to Stinson Park at Aksarben Village. Maha organizer Tre Brashear tells me that the festival was a lot more difficult to put on at Stinson Park (setting up fences and such was probably a lot more work), but fans loved the spot so much that they decided to move the fest there.

From people that went to the festival (I was, unfortunately, absent), I heard almost nothing but good things about the new venue. In fact, only one person said they didn't like Stinson Park but that guy felt it should be somewhere downtown. But an actual suitable location? He couldn't think of one.

In other news, the festival will take place on Aug. 11, 2012, which is about the same weekend as last year. It should keep them from getting pushed by Red Sky again, but that late date also seemed to cause Maha to struggle with lining up talent they wanted (a lot of artists head to Europe after their summer tours end in late July/early August).

Then again, Maha's running a week after Lollapalooza (Aug. 3-5, 2012), so maybe they'll be able to route around their giant, older brother and grab some of the same names.

What's next then? The lineup, of course. Who would you want to see play Maha? (Please think realistically.) I have a few thoughts, but I'll only share if you do.

To the comments!