Tuesday, December 30, 2008

who even cares

things i would like to see in 2009, with little regard for whether it's time:

new albums from:

air
kings of convenience
rhett miller
(ok, i do actually know he's recording next month but i don't care about the album, i just want to hear the songs live, since even his solo material works in concert)
the shins
voxtrot
calexico
neko case
fionn regan
(i'd like about 3 albums from him...now...but patience is important. he's a good reason skipping the next 20 years of life might be worth it just to get 20 years of music all at once)
nedelle and thom
(probably never happening, but come on, please?)
the postmarks
(will happen at some point, similar feel to the above, and probably the more talented group)
fruit bats
(i should add that i don't want the shins record to sound a thing like this one and that i want this one to be awesome and i want to know why the shins had to steal eric johnson because it's not like they needed the help)
the elected
(nick never seems to sing very good songs for rilo kiley, so...)
kruder & dorfmeister
(never happening i'm sure, but i guarantee they'd provide some interesting material)
zero 7
(they might be better off without jose gonzalez' help this time around, like um, er, he's really good but maybe they did have to branch out)
explosions in the sky
(one of those 'you want to hear something as good as them, it has to be them' groups)
loch lomond
(plus national tour with 9 musicians and a ton of instruments; maybe they could bring adam selzer b/c i'm not even asking for a norfolk & western record)


books:

a novel by douglas trevor
adam langer novel not about nyc or chicago
cormac mccarthy writes something tragic and peaceful
jt leroy writes a novel about office politics
joshua ferris manages to release two novels and a short story collection, about any subject he chooses, really
a michael lewis novel and a nonfiction book about the music industry
nick horby novel, set in paris and beirut, about journalism students, with fictionalized book reviews (of real books) interspersed in the text
a chimamanda ngozi adichie novel set in the middle east
a blog by andrew keen, but only for ironic value
michael frayn novel about a scottish america's cup sailor
another gabe hudson story collection
malcolm gladwell authors a novel based on a short story by al gore, vividly detailing the life of a sudanese pirate.

is it wrong to want these things? i just want more great writing, and to learn a few things about parts of the world i've never seen.

go 2009!

5 comments:

seth said...

i'm not going to pretend i thought of this in the first place...but how could i not include lauryn hill? man, when you're doing wish lists you gotta swing for the fences.

ok, and about that norfolk & western album? they release a live record and then a studio album with annie clark, m. ward, kathryn calder, owen pallett, and guest appearances by zack condon. how is that going to work? we're limiting condon's influence since he's only a peripheral member of this lineup; pallett agrees to restrict his creative input, and selzer/blumberg remain the principle songwriters with some serious intervention from annie clark. you gotta figure kathryn calder's the musical equivalent of james posey or any of those 'chemistry' type guys, right? they fire the current bassist and there have to be several people in that lineup who could step in. owen could play cello. does he play cello? it could work.

but ok really, somehow i left off whiting tennis when i'd wanted to fit him in? double album; second disc is spoken word; first 500 copies with original hand-printed artwork and signed by tennis himself. is it possible that would end up as the most valuable compact disc in history?

mj said...

i'm not even going to comment on this list, but something about it reminded me of Don DeLillo's novel Mao II. have you read that one?

seth said...

not that one, but i'm reading underworld right now. it seems like i've picked up a bit of delillo in my writing lately. i read falling man, half of great jones street, and part of the names in the past few months. it's impossible to renew his stuff most of the time; it's too popular, so i rarely get to finish a book.

Olivia said...

I'm also waiting for Kings of Conv. to release a new album, it's been a few years now. I'm kind of getting tired of listening to Riot.

seth said...

they're one of those groups where i get worried that they can't stay together or something...and they need to stay together.