Laura Veirs - July Flame

I would like to introduce the first great record of the New Year. Veirs' 2005 album Year of Meteors was incredibly sweet, unabashed and pure (not to mention catchy) but at the same time I almost forgot about her after I was through listening to it. Listening to this album was a reminder of how great of a songwriter Veirs truly is. The production is smooth, but never too perfect. At times you can hear Karl Blau singing backup harmonies. It's quite different hearing him without the standard sloppiness that accompanies his solo records. Overall, July Flame is a great gem that won't go unnoticed or forgotten.

Staygold - Backseat

There is nothing I don't love about this video. I'll be watching it on repeat until the full length drops.

Pinback – Autumn of Seraphs

My ex-girlfriend got me to listen to this band which means every time I listen to it I think of her which sucks because it’s a really good album and she’s a bitch.

John Mulaney - The Top Part

I put a comedy album on my best of 2009. Unprecedented? Absolutely. I saw this guy in 2008 when my friend had free tickets to a comedy club. It was hilarious and for a week my friend was convinced that he could do stand-up. This dude is just really funny and cool and, umm, "fun for the whole family?" I don't know, but if you want a good laugh check out John Mulaney.

Passion Pit – Manners

My friend was opening for Passion Pit in what ended up being a sold out show (this was at least six months ago) and he put me on the list, which is always awesome. I invited this girl I knew and we met up and got a few drinks before the show and then headed over to the venue. She kept asking if I had tickets and I said no. Then she saw the sold out sign and started getting nervous, but I played it cool and was like - don't worry, baby, we'll get in. I tell the door guy I'm on the list and we're in and I look like a badass. The show's packed and mostly with young, cute girls. And that's pretty much all you need to know about this band. Cute girls like this band which means you will end up liking this band or at least pretending to like this band.

From Monument to Masses – On Little Known Frequencies

From Monument to Masses is a political instrumental band and I know how that sounds - you should still check them out. This isn’t the boring kind of instrumental music, either. There’s just no room for vocals. They’ve got more in common with Rage Against the Machine than they do with, say, Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai. This is the greatest thing they have put out. It’s super ambitious and connects all the way.

Best of 2009

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's January 5th, but the holidays are a busy time and plus there weren't that many good albums put out this year. But here it finally is - the Wooden Ruler Society's Best of 2009. Some of these I have talked about already. The rest I'll tell you about later.

Marrissa Nadler - Little Hells
From Monument to Masses - On Little Known Frequencies
Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
Molina & Johnson - Molina & Johnson
The Sound of Wonder! - Compilation
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth
Woods - Songs of Shame
Passion Pit - Manners
John Mulaney - The Top Part
Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones

Yeah, I put a comedy album in there. I kept looking over all these other music blogs "best of's" because it felt like I was forgetting something, but the entire list becomes meaningless when Girls makes it into the top 10.

Volcano Choir - Unamped

I was really excited to be seeing a new album coming from Justin Vernon, the falsetto master of Bon Iver's For Emma for Ever Ago, and also being from good ol' WI was a plus too, because it gives kids like me hopes. High Hopes, them apple pie hopes. I had to listen to Unamped around 5 times before I could really write to you about it, and if you've listened to it as well, I hope you've put the much needed time into it, too. The first time I really gave it some attention, I was driving through some mountains strung out on some day time medicine, not the best time to be "digging" a new album, but when I drive I really listen. What ever. All I could think about was cartoons performing lewd acts in dark alley ways, and I liked it. But was also disturbed, quasi disturbed. And I was pretty sure that there was only really one song on the album as well, ISland I believe; the other "songs" mainly seemed, to me, like soundtrack music, but I love soundtrack music, and if you do too, another good listen is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez' A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Vol. One, but anyways, if you're going into this thing looking for this album and group to sound anything like Bon Iver, you'll be disappointed, but isn't that what a good artist is meant to do?Not to disappoint, but to switch it up? Take the Beatles, for example, many of their albums didn't "go" with their previous ones, they kept things a-changing. And granted this is a different group, I believe they are going in the right direction. The other four or so times I listened to it, I found myself enjoying it more and more. I won't lie, I had mixed feelings for this at first, but that's why you have to listen to it a couple times, because I did go into it thinking it might come out a little something like For Emma... and although it didn't, I grew to like the album as something almost entirely different. I guess what I'm really trying to say is listen to it! And if you've already done so, listen to it some more. I now kill zombies to this album, and I'd like to think it helps me perform better, but you be the judge of my zombie slaying skills.