Here are my top twenty favorite albums of 2009. Also presented without commentary because this is an ART blog, not a music blog! Even though I do waver from the art posts from time to time to let you all know about music uh… artists you might want to check out. Anyhow, next post I promise I will have some new art. The cartoony sort.

Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons

Church Music – David Crowder*Band

It’s Blitz! – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix

Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective

Two Sons – Bat for Lashes

There Is No Enemy – Built to Spill

Manners – Passion Pit

Fantasies – Metric

Here Comes Science – They Might Be Giants

Bitte Orca – Dirty Projectors

Everybody – Ingrid Michaelson

Coeur De Pirate – Coeur De Pirate

Alpinisms – School of Seven Bells

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Phrazes For The Young – Julian Casablancas

After The Ending [Deluxe] – Dashboard Confessional

Strict Joy – The Swell Season

Bomb in a Birdcage – A Fine Frenzy

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes – Edward Sharpe & the MZ

Lots of other great ones came out, but those are the one I probably listened to the most. I think this was actually a great year for music—better than last—and great for indy rock in particular. My most anticipated new album of 2010 has got to be the new Arcade Fire, due out in May. Just in time for my birthday. :)

Here are my favorite movies of 2009 (at least the ones I saw). Maybe not the best, but the ones I found the most entertaining, interesting or just hit me on some silly emotional or nostalgic level. Also, presented without commentary because I should be drawing and not making movie lists.

Star Trek

The Fantastic Mr Fox

(500) Days of Summer

Inglorious Bastards

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Avatar

Zombieland

Up

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Ponyo

Drag Me to Hell

Moon

Up in the Air

Sherlock Holmes

The Brothers Bloom

Adventureland

Coraline

The Princess and the Frog

The Hangover

Terminator Salvation

Movies I’m most looking forward to in 2010: Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim, Toy Story 3, Robin Hood, and TRON LEGACY!

With our first decade of the new millennium hightailing it to a close shortly, there have been a lot of lists being posted around the internets of what the greatest albums of these past ten years have been. Not an easy feat! But being unable to resist a list, especially one that involves music, I couldn’t help but figure out what my own top ten was. So without further ado, here are the ten albums that not only made what I think some of the biggest impact on the music industry, but my ears as well:

10. Worlds Apart (And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead) – Rare is the album that is this strong and so precise. There is not a throw-away moment on Worlds Apart and Trail of Dead did it by not sacrificing a sound that is uniquely their own. A bonus is that this album somehow wakes me out of whatever slump I may be in with every listen.

A track to listen to: Let it Dive
 

9. Give Up (The Postal Service) – Many have tried but few have come close to capturing what Gibbard and Tamborello accomplished when they formed The Postal Service. The combination of Gibbard’s romantic storytelling lyrics with Tamborello’s 8-bit melodies made for a delicious meal and, like every commercial and movie trailer for the next two years, I ate it right up.

A track to listen to: Clark Gable
 

8. Let It Come Down (Spiritualized) – Can I just say that this album is amazing and leave it at that? Yes. Yes I can.

A track to listen to: Don’t Just Do Something
 

7. Howl (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) – Sometimes when a band decides to take a detour they only end up getting lost. But with Howl it just felt like BRMC were holding out on us! Taking their already authentic American rock n’ roll and giving us some Americana to enjoy with it seems like a no-brainer now, but it’s only because BRMC did this so effortlessly that it worked and worked as well as it did. As much as I enjoy their past and present albums I still hope the harmonica infused sound of Howl is a road BRMC travel down again.

A track to listen to: Shuffle Your Feet
 

6. Takk… (Sigur Rós) – Really, I could have put any Sigur Rós album on here, but Takk is the one I’ve listened to the most. With each new beautiful offering we get from the Icelandic harmonizers, we seem to get a brighter more energetic album than the one that receded it. It’s a progression I’m more than happy to hear continue since Sigur Ros seems to be one of the few bands out there that get better with every passing year.

A track to listen to: Sæglópur
 

5. A Rush of Blood to the Head (Coldplay) – When I first heard Politik on the television before the album’s release, I got excited. See, I like it when bands evolve, for better or worse. And here was a band who was showing us that they weren’t going to disappear into the vastness of one-hit-wonder music space as a group known primarily in America for one yellow song. ROBTTH was a bigger sounding, more ambitious album than Parachutes and it WORKED. It’s what I call a “perfect” album when musically, lyrically, and structurally everything aligns in all all the right places and you’re left with something you’ll continually be listening to for years to come—regardless of where the band eventually ends up.

A track to listen to:  A Rush Of Blood to the Head
 

4. Funeral (Arcade Fire) – I’ll be the first to admit, I was new to Arcade Fire when everyone was already enjoying the (almost) equally amazing Neon Bible. With Funeral, it was like when you meet someone for the first time but deep down there’s this sense that you’ve already been good friends for a while now. What I love most about Funeral though is the way the album just builds and builds and builds to more and more and more awesomeness. But the truly amazing thing? IT STARTS OFF ALREADY AWESOME.

A track to listen to: Wake Up
 

3. Illinois (Sufjan Stevens) – Jen can attest to this. This album did not leave my car for almost a month once I first got it. I just kept it on constant repeat and it is all I listened to while driving back forth from work and wherever. This is a rare thing for me since I’m normally always rotating music and impatiently inserting the next new thing. But with Illinois I was content. And that’s probably the best word to describe Sufjan’s fifth album and his amazing banjo playing self. 74 minutes of pure indy-folk-pop contentment.

A track to listen to: The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
 

2. Kid A (Radiohead) – To be honest, I wasn’t even a fan of Kid A when, 4 years after OK Computer, it finally filled our “we  need new Radiohead!” music void. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t what I expected from Radiohead—at this point fully embracing the new technology that is now a staple in well, ALL of music. I just missed that Bends style that made me love Radiohead in the first place. Over time though (which likely was only a year) Kid A started creeping into me, to a point where it became and still is my favorite Radiohead album. And a lot, I’ll admit, has to do with a certain season that it evokes. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that you couldn’t ask for a better way to to start a whole new millennium of new music.

A track to listen to: How to Disappear Completely
 

1. A Collision (or 3+4=7) (David Crowder*Band) – What  more can I say about my favorite album by my favorite band? It is the album that not only introduced me to DC*B but also gave me a new appreciation for praise music. More importantly, the aptly named A Collision—more than any other album—successfully blended my three favorite genres of music (evident on this entire list): rock, electronic and folk. It’s structurally perfect, unique in sound and the awesome doesn’t just build- it bombards and surrounds you during it’s third triumphant act.  In truth, it’s an album that encompasses all the things I’ve mentioned about every other great album on this list. Which is why it ends up at #1.

A track to listen to: A Beautiful Collision
Another track to listen to: I Saw The Light
 

I actually figured out my top ten 90′s albums while compiling this. Maybe I’ll post that list someday too. Lots of great stuff came out back then!

now that july is prepared to embrace us with her hot, humid unforgiving hands, i thought it was due time for another obligatory music post. here are the albums i’ve listened to the most this first half of 2009:

it’s blitz! (yeah yeah yeahs) – i wasn’t a huge yeah yeah yeahs fan prior to this album, but a terrific blend of dance, melody and karen o’s unique vocal pop harmonies has made it’s blitz! the best contender for my favorite album of 2009. there’s not a single track on here i don’t enjoy—and enjoy listening to multiple times.

listen to: heads will roll
 

two suns (bat for lashes) – natasha khan is like a present day tori amos to me—in that she has me wrapped around her little finger simply by the way she sings. it doesn’t hurt that the production of this album is absolutely amazing. not a throw away track on it and they all roll into each other so so well.

listen to: moon and moon
 

the pains of being pure at heart (the pains of being pure at heart) – these guys just remind me of when indy music used to be fun. it’s almost impossible for me (and jen!) to get sick of this album. if we have trouble deciding on what to listen to (and this happens a lot with our collection!) their debut self-title has been the default album to go to.

listen to: stay alive
 

alpinisms (school of seven bells) – okay, i love female vocalists (obviously) and this group is no exception. what’s funny is that their sound is so refined that i just assumed they’ve been around for a few years and i’m just now hearing them. nope- alpinisms is their first lp. it would have been awesome to catch them touring with bat for lashes during her UK tour earlier this year.

listen to: face to face on high places
 

swoon (silversun pickups) – its too bad this album can’t carry the fantastic momentum that its first half does, and we never get an instant pop hit like carnavas’ lazy eye, but silversun is still producing a sound i have a special place in my heart for. i think the pre-adore smashing pumpkins comparisons are still fairly valid, but the new sp are starting to break out of that mold here with a larger, heavier sound complete with strings and extra power chords (okay, maybe not too different).

listen to: the royal we
 

merriweather post pavilion (animal collective) – this album just goes to show you how sprinkling in a little melody can make a band best known for its prog-alt experimentalism one of the most popular bands in the states right now. yes, musicians. listeners like to hum along.

listen to: summertime clothes
 

the rumb line (ra ra riot) – i know this came out last year, but i just got in to it toward the end of winter of this year. again with the fun! kind of vampire weekendish, but more rock than pop (whatever that means). speaking of both, singer wes miles’ and vampire weekend’s rostam batmanglij’s side project, discovery, aint half bad either.

listen to: can you tell
 

face control (handsome furs) – not quite as raw and addicting as his last album, plaque park, was- but i still can’t get enough of dan boeckner. and the music he and his wife produce with just a keyboard, a guitar and a drum machine  is stunning. dan boeckner makes me love drum machines.

listen to: all we want, baby, is everything
 

dragonslayer (sunset rubdown) – okay, first off, props on the awesome album title. i’ve also only had dragonslayer for a short amount of time compared to the rest of the albums on this list but its still been on heavy repeat. just as with dan boeckner, i have a hard time not enjoying anything spencer krug is attached too.

listen to: nightingale / december song
 

star trek (michael giacchino) – thought i should put at least one score on here since that has been nearly a third of my music rotation this year. star trek is the one i’ve been listening to the most and, i’ll be honest, partly because of how much  i loved that movie, but also because michael giacchino has become one of my favorite composers in the past couple of years. i think he tapped into something pretty classic with this one and structured a nice blending in of the original theme.

listen to: end credits
 

okay- that’s as good a list as any right now. i can’t wait to hear what the latter part of 2009 brings!

was also able to catch two more summer movies this weekend that were both fantastic in each of their polar opposite ways: up, which is another pixar film in case you didn’t know, and drag me to hell, which is the best sam raimi horror movie since sam raimi directed a horror movie.

my current summer movie rankings thus far:

1. star trek
2. up
3. drag me to hell
4. terminator salvation
5. wolverine

and with that, i’m off to the gideon media arts conference, which i already blogged about HERE. wish me luck!

it was a strange year, since a lot of my regular favorite artists released new albums last year, but very few of them are on this list. not that any of those albums were that bad, they just didn’t exceed what i thought they were capable of. instead this list consists of mostly new artists i got into (because, i suppose, there were no expectations), and there  were a bunch of them! because of this, i’m listing my top twenty this year instead of the usual ten (i just felt bad for leaving so many favorites out).  here we go!

1. only by the night (kings of leon): maybe a little too over-produced for some people, but to me kings of leon finally fine tuned their sound and created their best album to date.
2. dear science, (tv on the radio): i’m not sure tvotr can put out a bad album…
3. with a buzz in your ears we play endlessly (eng translation) (sigur ros) : same goes for  sigur ros. if the second half of this album didn’t wind down so much, i would have made it my number one.
4. the stand-ins (okkervil river): wasn’t overly impressed with their last album, but this one really sucked me in. and now i appreciate their last album more.
5. vampire weekend (vampire weekend): took me a while to understand what all the fuss was about (as usual), but i get it now.
6. consolers of the lonely (the raconteurs): yes, jack white sure knows how to make a great rock album, but i think brendan benson helps bring out the best in him.
7. keep your eyes ahead (the helio sequence): so underrated, especially after listening to their previous albums. i read that brandon summers damaged his vocal chords so bad before releasing kyea that he had to essentially learn to sing all over again. it really worked in his favor i believe.
8. narrow stairs (death cab for cutie): wasn’t sure about this one at first, but it slowly crept into my system where now i think it might just be one of their best.
9. common reaction (uh huh her): okay- it’s poppy, but i love it. i can not get enough of these girls.
10. at mount zoomer (wolf parade): i’m biased of course, because spencer krug is one of my favorite artists, but this was a fine follow-up to apologies, if not quite as good as that or sunset’s spirit lover.
11. oracular spectacular (mgmt): the album title says it all. i have a feeling it might have “a current sound” to it when i go back to this in a couple years, but right now, it’s still awesome. i’m curious to hear what mgmt does for a follow-up.
12. the glass passenger (jack’s mannequin): not my usual flavor of tea, but this album was so fun and melodically consistent that i couldn’t stop listening to it. always putting me in a good mood, it was one of my most played albums of the year.
13. thirst for romance (cherry ghost): just… a good album. i don’t know what else to say.
14. only as the day is long (sera cahoone): beautiful, beautiful sophomore release.
15. fleet foxes (fleet foxes): you kinda had to figure they would be on this list somewhere. although i almost enjoyed their sun giant ep more than this full release.
16. keep color (republic tigers): another underrated album of 2008. with keep color, this band accomplished what more experienced bands than them have failed to in recent years.
17. heal for the honey (brooke waggoner): an excellent debut full-album following an equally excellent ep. plus i’m a sucker for female artists with a great voice and mad piano skillz.
18. perfect symmetry (keane): for their third release, keane actually managed to put out an album that combined the best of their previous two releases creating a very accurately titled album. i kinda thought they might go the way of third-eye-blind, but perfect symmetry says otherwise.
19. volume one (she and him): zooey and ward is possibly the best team-up since cookie dough and ice cream.
20. a hundred million suns (snow patrol): i’m still a fan of this band, despite their incredibly over-played success. i just miss the days when they were just mine! million suns kinda plays toward their current popularity in a lot of ways, but lightbody and crew try just enough radio repelling experiments to keep original fans like myself happy. and i still love lightbody’s ever positive romantic lyricism.

i also need to mention two great ep’s came out last year as well:

1. the sun never sets on the cool kids (mumford and sons): without a doubt my favorite new band of 2008. if they make a full-album this consistently awesome, i can already tell you it’s going to be placed number one that year.
2. white lights (deas veil): why only five songs, deas veil?? i need more!

stuff that happened in 2008:

• gained a nephew
• contributed something to cbt
• went to megacon. hung out with some cool friends.
• finished twilight princess (took only eight months!)
• went on my first cruise. realized having a personal chef, butler, maid  and giant yacht probably wouldn’t be that bad.
• went to fluke and hung out with some cool friends
• started a new comic
• dr horrible
• went to mocca and hung out with some cool friends
• avatar finale
• y: chapter 10
• the best summer movie summer EVER.
• went to sdcc and got a hug from tori frickin amos (and hung out with some cool friends)
• went to europe
• i went TO FLIPPIN EUROPE
• became hospitalized for the first and hopefully last time.
• sky•doll in english
• went to a world series game. finally got baseball.
• went to dallas and hung out with some cool friends

things i want to do in 2009:

• start working on that new comic again
• publish parable
• finish my parable 2 comic
• rid the world of evil
• sell some books
• lose some weight
• draw more
• hang out with some cool friends
• don’t forget about the ones i won’t see

you can click on that first one for extra screen-sized fun. and in no way do i condone this habit. it was partially inspired by the genius of chris schweizer but mostly inspired by my pal matt putting the image of abe smoking a bubble pipe in my head. :)

also- a reminder i’ll be at sdcc this weekend.  you can find me at various times fri-sun signing tori books over at the image booth (#2729).  mainly i’ll just be walking around though.

also- i realized i forgot to post my current summer movie rankings in my last post. so if you care, you can view those behind the cut.

1. the dark knight
2. speed racer
3. iron man
4. kung-fu panda
5. wall-e
6. hellboy II
7. incredible hulk
8. narnia: prince caspian
9. get smart
10. indiana jones: kotcs

honestly, indiana jones is the only movie on that list i didn’t like (even if i was still kinda entertained).  and those top six are all very close. i’ve missed a couple (hancock, center of the earth), but this really is the best summer in movie history.  i guess x-files is the next one up…

i saved some of my steps for that first one. so if anyone’s interested in seeing those, let me know and i’ll see if i can’t find some time this weekend to post them.  and that’s all i really have to say about that.  time for more important matters:

2008 SUMMER MOVIE RANKINGS!

i feel it’s important for me to keep my list updated for this, the most entertaining summer movie summer in recent history.  hopefully it helps hollywood out. anyhoo, saw wall-e and it was really, really good.  not my favorite pixar film (cough*incredibles*) but it still held to the high quality standards we’ve come to expect from each new pixar offering.  the first thirty minutes or so is fantastic.  some of the  best thirty minutes i’ve seen in an animated feature. and, being the romantic that i am, i’m always a sucker for a good love story. and robots. my only complaint is that the movie sorta switched gears half way through.  not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way that kinda made me have to reinsert my brain a little bit.  the wall-e and eve centric love story just kinda became less wall-e and eve centric which, to me,  kept the film being really awesome and just being really good instead.  but that first thirty minutes is probably my favorite thirty minutes of the summer.  and a beautiful score as usual by thomas newman definitely contributed to this.

and so my 2008 summer movie ranking is as follows:

1. speed racer
2. iron man
3. kung-fu panda
4. wall-e
5. incredible hulk
6. narnia: prince caspian
7. get smart
8. indiana jones: kotcs

still gotta see wanted.  and can’t wait to see how hellboy 2 and dark knight place!

i might put a pause on these cleo posts for a little while until i can catch up on some pages. hopefully it won’t be too long of a break- there are some fun scenes coming up!

also- saw the incredible hulk last weekend and thought it was great. a really fun action flick with some essential comic geek out moments.  it’s not perfect but who cares.  HULK SMASH!  plus, i love this whole marvel universe that’s being built on the screen right now.  talk about early avengers movie hype!

my summer movie ranking thus far:

1. speed racer
2. iron man
3. kung fu panda
4. incredible hulk
5. narnia: prince caspian
6. indiana jones: kotcs

drawergeeks topic this week was the joker, and i thought i’d draw somewhat of a companion piece to my batman/catwoman that i drew way back in 2006.  by 2016 i hope to have an entire bat-band!

has everyone seen kung fu panda yet?  what an awesome movie. it’s right behind surfs up as my favorite non-pixar cgi animated film, and definitely one of the best blends of action and comedy i’ve seen in a while. anytime po came on screen and did anything i was cracking up.  everything from the character designs to the animation to the backgrounds to the music was all top notch in this film.  this is really shaping up to be one of the best movie summers ever!

for those keeping track at home, here’s my current order list of summer movies i’ve seen so far, from awesome to not-so-awesome:

1. speed racer
2. iron man
3. kung fu panda
4. narnia: prince caspian
5. indiana jones: kotcs

sorry- i skipped sex and the city that week.  saw speed racer again instead. :)  looking forward to wall-e now!

i saw two movies this past weekend (actually three, but two in the theater)- indiana jones 4 and speed racer. and you know what? speed racer blew indy out of the water in terms of awesomeness. why is this movie not doing better?? i had so much fun and felt like i was watching something really special. the script was great, the characters were super developed, and the car racing was the coolest car racing i’ve ever seen. i don’t think i wanted to go home and play mario kart so badly in my life. there was just so much to love about this movie, all the way from the visuals to the message it was trying to tell.

unfortunately, in contrast, indy fell victim to a really bad script and a super, under-developed story line- and honestly- should never have been made. it was like an indiana jones movie for the sake of an indiana jones movie and just didn’t work on so many levels. i don’t want to go into the details, because they’re fairly obvious and most of you have either seen the movie already or will be seeing it soon. but i think this was a rushed project that was fun only in the sense of nostalgia for how much we all enjoyed its predecessors. i didn’t think it was all bad, but i went in with very low expectations and this movie met those.

the funny thing about the two films is that there are so many “wha–?” moments in both of them. but with speed racer those “wha–?” moments are instantly followed by a “haha! awesome!” while with indy they just leave you with your mouth hanging open wondering how someone thought that was good idea.

so- i know speed racer isn’t for everyone, (believe me- from the trailers, i thought it looked just as horrible as the rest of the world seems to think) but if you go in with an open mind- i think you’ll find something you haven’t really seen before. something fun and unique. something for kids and adults. something for artists and people just wanting to see some great action. something meant to be seen on the big screen. something raiders of the lost ark accomplished 27 years ago.

so, with june fast approaching and more movies on the way, here’s my ranking for favorite summer movies so far:

1. iron man
2. speed racer
3. narnia: prince caspian
4. indiana jones: kotcs

the subject was rednecks, but i think mine came out a little bit more hillbilly then redneck. i’m actually a big fan of jug band music. there’s a wonderful earthy energy to it all. big fan of the banjo too.

in the spirit of music, this feels like a good time to list what my ten favorite albums that came out in 2007 were. they may not have been the best albums, but they were the ones i found myself listening to the most often. listed in semi-particular order, with no linking because linking takes too long.

1. Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
2. Radiohead – In Rainbows
3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
4. Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81
6. David Crowder Band – Remedy
7. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
8. Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
9. Deas Vail – All The Houses Look The Same
10. Travis – The Boy with No Name

if your favorite album is not on there, it means i did not hear it or it’s number eleven.

something that most of you might not know about me is that i am a chronic, cusack listmaker. i even thought about designing a new blog specifically for the purpose of listing things i like or do not like. but then i wondered why anyone would, or should, care what it is i like. but lists do help me to organize my ever increasing memory of stuff.

i’m going to make this one easy on me though. here are just a few things that made 2007 a great year:

• judd apatow
• x-men
• getting parable published
• my book!
• lunchbox funnies
• journey cow
• tv on dvd! (veronica mars, avatar the last airbender, battlestar galactica, how i met your mother…)
• comic conventions that start with m (mega con, mocca, mid ohio…)
• avatar the last airbender (listed again because of complete awesomeness)
• new radiohead (and shaking up the music industry)
• new david crowder (and an awesome concert)
• FINALLY seeing the flaming lips!
• discovering sunset rubdown (thanks kean!)
• drawergeeks making me draw (and giving me something to blog)
• BLOGS!
• POGS! (wait, no… those are still lame…)
• the dark knight trailer
• grindhouse in the theater (first time i instantly clapped at a movie)
• immonen on ult. spidey
• world war hulk
• we the robots
• zelda: twilight princess
• heck- just the Wii itself
• crepes
• the best batman ever
• and more important than all of the above- all of my family and friends (on and off the internet).

i’m looking forward to this year. my goal is to draw lots of comics. :)