Just in time, here’s your weekly update on…the acoustic metal scene?

Well, at least according to Ryan Adams. This is a guy I blow hot and cold on, mostly cold in the last, um, decade, but I can’t deny that he’s capable of some incredible stuff.

These tracks fall into that category, or at least they did two nights ago after a couple of Shiner Bocks. If you’ve ever wondered how these songs would sound without the Marshall stacks and vocals of castrato fury, here’s your chance.

Round and Round (Ratt Cover) by geraldinewaters

Ryan Adams – “Wasted Years” (Iron Maiden Cover) by TwentyFourBit.com

Apprised of my sudden interest in Ryan Adams, my friend and neighbor Dan suggested this. Check it out: it’s a blinder.

P.S. Just discovered that the powers that be have decreed that I may not embed the unholy spawn of Ryan Adams and Ratt. Try this link instead (go ahead and click. It’s really good!).:

http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/15311544875/ryan-adams-round-and-round-ratt-cover-at

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I didn’t realize until I took a few minutes to look back that 2011 has actually been a pretty awful year for music. Scans of various music blogs’ Top 10 (or 25, or 100) lists to remind me what came out haven’t left me with many “Oh right! That one!” moments, zero, in fact. This means that a) all the music this year sucked, or b) I am grumpy. Maybe it’s both.

Anyway, I did come across a few tracks that rose above this year, and these are them. Alert readers may notice that not all of these were technically released in 2011, but so what?

tuneyards - “gangsta gangsta”, from Whokill

I blogged about tuneyards earlier this year, and I’m even more impressed months later. What she’s doing still seems fresh to me, and I dig it. Also, I’ve been experimenting with loops in live performance myself, and noticed that it ain’t easy to get them to do what you want them to as casually as she does.

Little Dragon - “Shuffle a Dream”, from Ritual Union

Little Dragon has been my most surprising discovery of 2011, in that I’ve probably listened to their new record “Ritual Union” more than any other new release this year. In a way, these guys give off sort of an updated Eurythmics vibe: strange, icy music + soul and heart in the vocals (though Yukimi Nagano is considerably more low key than Annie Lennox). Again, previously blogged here.

Jose Gonzalez - “Heartbeats”

As mentioned previously, I found out about Jose Gonzalez in the best way – through another actual person rather than at a digital remove. I recently heard him described as “pale-voiced”, which fits his thin, hushed delivery perfectly. His spare, haunting music is an excellent fit for the view out the window this time of year. Light a fire and build yourself a postprandial cocktail before listening.

Okay, that’s all I got. Would LOVE to hear about anything cool from 2011 that I missed…please. Especially if it involves loud guitars!

Wait! Late breaking update! I forgot about The Civil Wars.

The record this came from isn’t all good, but when it’s good, it’s fantastic. I probably could actually listen to these two particular voices singing the proverbial phonebook, but thankfully they’ve written some decent songs instead. I hear that these guys are Taylor Swift’s favorite band these days, but I’m going to pretend no one ever told me.

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If you’re looking for something to pass the time between your coffee break and happy hour today, you could do a lot worse than this excellent article on this excellent album (my favorite from The Replacements).

I don’t have much to say about the record that isn’t covered (more skillfully) here, but I will say that I saw them play on campus at UC Davis in 1989, and the four of them had clearly ingested more alcohol than the 800 people in the audience combined. Paul Westerberg asked the audience for requests, ignored everything anyone said, then asked if we wanted to hear “Cruella DeVille”, from 101 Dalmatians. I said “yeah!”, from about the 5th row. He looked right at me, said “Fuck you”, and then the band exploded into that very song, and it was easily the high point of the night.

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Last week I went to a cool art opening (full disclosure: the artists were my sister and two of my good friends). Wine and an unusually excellent bar mix were served, the art was cool, and many friends were seen.

All of which were great, and worthy of further note. However, this is a blog about music, so what I really want to mention about the experience was the excellent DJ, who was spinning a very cool and individual mix of ’60s Latin Soul, Stax album cuts, and this:

I’m guessing the DJ knew all about the totally arresting effect resulting from dropping this cut into a mix, because he saw me making a beeline for him across the crowded store and even before I was able to get close enough to look at his turntable, he called out “Jose Gonzales”.

As you’re probably discovering right now, this guy is fantastic, and pretty soon I’ll leave you two alone to get acquainted. Before I go, though, I want to mention that the most interesting part of the experience for me was to remember how great and different it is in this day and age to get turned on to music in a real, physical space, through real-time interaction with other actual humans.

There was something about hearing the song in a public place, at a cool event, and essentially having the DJ transmit a song he loved directly from him to me; this experience just doesn’t translate to the online medium.

Moral for me: leave your house and listen to music. Perhaps you already knew that?

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Do you like the Neil Finn? Especially the loose, saucy solo Neil Finn? If so, hang a Do Not Disturb sign on your door for the next hour and check this playlist out. A couple of very considerate show attendees (thanks andromedadropcloth and abermudes!) captured quality video and audio of Neil’s 4/5/11 show at the El Rey Theater in L.A. and then uploaded it all to YouTube – sweet!

All of it is good, but the first vid, a piano version of “Hole In The River”, from Crowded House’s 1986 debut, is especially great. Dark. Spooky.

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