Joshua Zamrycki's Weblog

It’s that time of year again. Time for me, you, and your uncle Larry to post our finely-tuned lists, sharing with the world our choices for the best new albums of the year. I did this last year in 2008, back in 2007, and even way back in 2006 – so here’s 2009!

I will not, however, attempt to fashion a “Best albums of the decade” list. First of all, we’ve still got one more year left in this decade!! Get that through your skulls!! Secondly, I just haven’t got the bleeding time.

As is becoming more and more often the case, this year’s list is made up mostly of bands that you won’t find repeated ad nauseum on your local top-40 radio station . Are they “indie”? Some of them. Are they “alternative”? What does that even mean? In any event, labels are irrelevant. They’re just good. Damn good. And here they are. No excuses. No explanations. Just my favorite albums from the past 12 months:
 

 
10. Bat for Lashes
Two Suns

Dark, but never needlessly so, Two Suns offers a rich, distinct world of subterranean lullabies, spacey timbres, and ghostly beauty. [Slant Magazine]

9. Sweet Billy Pilgrim
Twice Born Men

This is a beautiful, beautiful album, which will appeal to fans of alt country and a very English strand of art-pop. It should also be appreciated by lovers of great music everywhere. [musicOMH]

8. Neko Case
Middle Cyclone

Neko Case hasn’t produced a disappointing solo venture yet, and between “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood” and Middle Cyclone, her recent production is the strongest of her increasingly beautiful catalog. [No Ripcord]

7. Wild Beasts
Two Dancers

Wild Beasts certainly aren’t the first rock band to stand up society’s dregs and outcasts, but few others immortalize them on such a wondrous, mythic scale. [Pitchfork]

6. Allen Toussaint
The Bright Mississippi

Upon the first listen, The Bright Mississippi merely seems like a joyous good time, but subsequent spins focus attention on just how rich and multi-layered this wonderful music is. [All Music Guide]

5. Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Though the album trips lightly from slinky roller-skate jams (‘Fences’) to near Brit-rocky rave-ups (‘Lasso’), the underlying vibe is both retro and somehow outside of time–like a memory made sweeter than the real thing it recalls. [Entertainment Weekly]

4. Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest

Underneath the orchestral flourishes and children’s choirs, beneath even the frequent textural shifts and melodic detours, are a set of melodies that find new ways to cut straight to the listener every time. [Paste Magazine]

3. Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion

Soulful and almost structurally flawless, Merriweather finds one of the most talented, most creative pop bands finally and gloriously figuring it all out. [Slant Magazine]

2. The xx
The xx

It is so fully formed and thoughtful that it feels like three or four lesser, noisier records should have preceded it. The xx didn’t need a gestation period, though xx is nuanced, quiet, and surprising enough that you might. [Pitchfork]

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
It’s Blitz!

So let any indie bands planning a trip to the keyboard shop take note: this is how it’s done, with a desire to surprise and be surprised. [Q Magazine]

Honorable mention (in alphabetical order):
Florence + The Machine – Lungs
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
La Roux – La Roux
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
St. Vincent – Actor
Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

Do you have any favorites from this year that I may have missed? Leave me a comment and let me know!

This is Emily’s fourth Christmas but it is definitely the first one that is infused with the magic of the holiday. She is finally old enough to grasp the whole (commercial and secular) concept and, as a result, is so incredibly excited. The thrill of seeing snow falling. The pleasure of watching twinkling lights. The excitement of exploring the packages under the tree. The anticipation of Christmas Eve, waiting on something magical to happen. There is nothing cuter.

Speaking of cute, I should also take this opportunity to note that Emily has finally agreed to start pooing in the toilet!! She has been potty-trained for well over a year now but pooing has always been a traumatic experience. No more! Locking her in the bathroom until she complied was maybe not the subtlest way of handling the situation, but subsequent incidents have involved a lot less screaming now that bribery has been introduced into the equation. Let’s just say that Santa should be bringing an extra “poo present” tonight for a certain little big girl.

This is only Sebastian’s first Christmas but he, too, has taken the opportunity to level-up. As we have observed with Emily a few times each year, Sebastian’s brain experienced a major developmental breakthrough last night. Starting at around 4am last night. Why do they always have to happen at night?! As a result, not only has he been walking and exploring all over the place today, but he is noticeably much more interactive and aware of people around him. That’s always nice.

Here are a few videos filmed today. Christmas Eve in England and Emily is preparing for Santa’s arrival at Grandma and Granddad’s house.

The new-fallen snow is beautiful on the ground of the quaint English countryside outside my window, but the newly-updated five-day forecast makes it look like we may be surrounded by nothing but slush come Christmas.

Humbug!

Even cuter than Emily thinking that any day with snow must be Christmas is her wishing everyone “Merry Christmas and Happy New York!”. She also calls “fruit cocktail” “cock fruit tail”.

We woke up early this morning to ensure that everyone was fed, clothed, and packed before catching our 9am taxi to the airport. As we do each year, we were off to celebrate Christmas with the family in England. The friendly cab driver brought us right to the terminal we requested which, after waiting in line for 20 minutes to check-in behind 50 people headed to Moscow, we discovered was not the correct terminal after all. So we legged it – with children and luggage in tow – to the new EasyJet terminal which is roughly as large as it would need to be to comfortably service half of the people who were currently packed in there. We got in the chaotic “last-minute” line and watched as every other line moved noticeably faster. We eventually got our boarding passes and had to then leg it another million miles to the mathematically-proven furthest possible gate in the entire airport. We made it to the gate, huffing and puffing, just in time to find out that our flight had been delayed an hour. Nice.

But the plane eventually took off without incident and we flew effortlessly from sunny and surprisingly cold Barcelona to cold and surprisingly sunny England. The view of the snow-covered fields of northern France and England from 30,000 feet was at once divine and austere. And the brilliant sun was an unexpected yet very welcome addition to an already postcard-perfect landscape. A quick check of the five-day forecast seems to suggest that Sebastian’s first Christmas may very well be a white one.

Emily enjoyed a white English Christmas two years ago but, since long-term memories were hard to come by then, she doesn’t really remember it. So she was particularly excited. Very cute was the fact that she thought that, just because there was snow on the ground, it must be Christmas.

Fast and efficient were the tram from the plane to the terminal in Stansted, passport security, and baggage claim. All that was left was to pick up the rental car I had already booked via Budget Rent A Car. I will spare you the intricate spreadsheet I created to find the absolute best possible price from all available rental companies. Picking up the car, too, would have been a quick process had I not got caught in a circular argument with the stubborn sales rep regarding my refusal to purchase one or all of their many optional insurances scams, I mean offers. In fact – possibly out of spite – I ended up not taking any insurance at all!! I knew that great price I found on the Internet was too good to be true. Well, I was proud and cheap and possibly stupid, so I’m driving a little more carefully on the left side of these icy roads than I would otherwise. I also made sure to inspect the vehicle more carefully than usual before signing anything and it’s a good thing I did because I found two undocumented scratches and a cracked side mirror! If I make it through these 12 days without so much as a bump or scratch I will have effectively beat the system.

And then we arrived and Grandma and Granddad’s house. The house was all warm and cozy inside, lovingly decorated to excess with lights and tinsel and cards and a beautiful tree in the living room. Emily was so excited to revisit her fond memories of her last visit by seeing and doing everything in the house that could possibly be seen and done in as little time as possible. And Sebastian tormented poor old Chelsea. Seriously, as rough as Emily ever was with this little cat, Sebastian made him long for those days again by repeatedly attempting to pick him up over his head by the scruff of his neck, and sometimes succeeding. Every time we turned our backs he was after the cat again, laughing all the way. Dinner was delicious, our first evening of English Christmas TV was relaxing, and putting the kids to bed was an utter nightmare. Here’s hoping the next week and a half goes as smoothly, calmly, and uneventfully as possible. Happy holidays!

Try as we might, we just couldn’t get Sebastian into a 12-step program before his 10 month birthday. He only managed to take 11 steps. He didn’t get very far with those steps, but they were definitely steps in the right direction (that’s the last time I use that joke, I promise).

Let’s see… what else is new with our little Marathon Man? Well, he’s on three solid meals a day. That is, if you can call lumpy oatmeal, thick soup, and smooshed-up vegetables “solid”. He will go to town on a rice cake, though. Gotta work those spaced-out chompers somehow!

Oh, and speaking of chompers, it looks like the teething fairy has come back with a vengeance. It only started again a couple of days ago and we can’t tell which ones are trying to push through just yet but the fever, ear pulling, fits of pain, and chewing on anything and everything around the house – include the house itself – is a dead giveaway. We actually found him in the laundry room last week with his head in the washing machine, chewing on the rubber ring around the door. It also makes sleeping at night that much more difficult.

Oh, and speaking of sleeping, right before that bitch of a teething fairy showed up, Sebastian was actually starting to enjoy longer and longer stretches of uninterrupted sleep at night, sometimes reaching as much as eight whole hours! But alas and alack, that is no longer the case.

Oh, and speaking of speaking(?), we may have heard a first word this month. And it was a good one! Sebastian was happily bopping around the house saying, “Daa. Daa. Daa.” as he does, and I went over and added, “Daa Dee!”, which he promptly repeated accompanied by the most wonderful smile. I don’t think he had any idea what he was saying but I’m gonna go ahead and document it anyhow.

Who wants some photos and a video?

Pick Nick

Not All There

High Five?

Master of Ceremonies

On the Up and Up

We packed a suitcase full of stuffed animals and shipped them off to a local charity. It was starting to feel like their numbers had increased so dramatically that, if they ever realized how powerful they had become, they could easily overthrow us. We weeded out the least popular ones in an effort to accomplish the mission undetected.

Don’t tell Emily.

Emily was very tired tonight after having played all afternoon in the park with her friend Natalie. We survived all of the bedtime preparations with minimal drama and, for her bedtime story, I read The Giving Tree.

When the story was finished, I put the book back on the shelf, turned off the light, tucked her in, and kindly kissed her goodnight. As I was kissing her head, Emily said to me, “You know those songs about trains? The ones with people on the trains?” I had no clue what she was talking about so I smiled kindly and told her so. She looked me in the eyes and continued, “Those train songs? I have it stuck in my head.” She tapped her head to show me where this song was stuck. “And Can You Feel The Love Tonight. That’s stuck in my head. And stumps. And trees. And wives and daughters and Emilys.” I kindly laughed, said goodnight once more, and legged it out of there before her stream of consciousness picked up any more speed.

Emily is three years and three months old today.

Jan was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen when I walked into the living room this evening. Emily was diligently picking up all of the toys on the floor (and there were a lot of them) and placing each and every one on the couch. I stood there and just watched her for a moment until she noticed me. Then I asked, “What are you doing?” Without breaking her stride she told me, “I’m tidying up.” Surprised and impressed I said, “That’s great, Emily. Why are you tidying up?” “Because a messy house is not a good thing.” And then she looked and me and smiled and started moving her little chairs into the middle of the room. I didn’t even have a chance to ask her before she informed me, “I’m making a film. I sit here on my bench and you can sit here and mummy can sit here on the red chairs. We’re going to watch videos.” I sat down, Sebastian sat on my lap, and Emily had us watch a series of Feist music videos that she told me we could stream from YouTube onto the TV. So we did.

Here is a song that Emily wrote last week. It’s called The Falling Song.

If I am not mistaken, parents are contractually obliged to inform the world when their child begins to walk. At least I think that’s what the tiny print said.

Well, “walking” is such a relative term. Sebastian, who has been pulling himself to standing for weeks now and, more recently, has been standing unassisted for minutes on end, has officially transitioned from quadruped to biped in that he took one full unassisted step last week and then fell on his face. OK, maybe that’s not really “walking” but it’s a step in the right direction!

I just noticed that I haven’t posted many photos recently. Here are a few goodies from a lunch we went to last month:

Scooting Along

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Upsy Daisy

Table Manners

Termite Training

I Walk The Line