In a Converted Rumpus Room

Our good intentions crackle


Beneath the surface,

A specimen underneath

     the cover glass.

How to explain this tiger-eyed desire

Silhouetted across the wall?

One night cap becomes

     one morning-after text

An un-anesthetized folk song

     for an audience of one.
By: Jacob Adams

The Top Records of 2011

The end of the year is always a bittersweet time for music fanatics. On one hand, the barrage of top-ten lists and end-of-year features that permeate the interwebs have the potential to function as joyful celebrations of all the artists who made music worth listening to in the past 365 days. On the other hand, I always bemoan the fact that there’s so much music I haven’t had time to listen to and even more that I haven’t had time to let settle in. I listened to hundreds of albums this year, yet barely scratched the surface. Nevertheless, following is my list of the 20 records from 2011 that I’m most excited about at this moment, accompanied by a brief explanation in haikuish form. Why not?

I would also encourage everyone to check out the end-of-year record features on Spectrum Culture (http://spectrumculture.com/2011/12/the-top-20-albums-of-2011.html) and PopMatters (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/152303-the-75-best-albums-of-2011/), both of which I contributed to.

Happy holidays!

20. The Civil Wars- Barton Hallow
Passion in each note
Cali natives do folk right
Pains of love revealed

19. Real Estate- Days

Used to be lo-fi
Recollections of childhood
Innocence abounds

18. Fort Frances- The Atlas
Underrated band
Sings songs about love and loss:
Quiet and subtle

17. Wild Flag- Wild Flag
Explosive power--
Odes to music and longing
From skilled veterans

16. Drake- Take Care
Therapy session,
The death of rap bravado
Lil’ Wayne sounds fine, too.

15. St. Vincent- Strange Mercy
Annie Clark seems nice
Reveals a darker edge, though--
Cheerleading days are over.

14. The Decemberists- The King Is Dead
No prog rockers here—
More like folk minimalists.
Apt simplicity

13. The Antlers- Burst Apart
Dark and brooding sounds
The art of cool depression
Through each synth-filled note

12. Radiohead- The King of Limbs
A humble statement
A brief, danceable fable
The return of kings

11. Destroyer- Kaputt
The ‘80s as art
Saxes and synths blow us down
All a dream to me

10. Yuck- Yuck
Derivative fun
Sonic Youth-guitars and such
Adolescent rock

9. The Weeknd- House of Balloons
A party from Hell
The morning-after regret
Danger in the ‘phones

8. Wilco- The Whole Love
Boys from Chi are back.
“A Ghost is Born” plus feeling.
Transcending almost.

7. Bon Iver- Bon Iver
Impressionistic,
Sax and steel guitar make love
On memory-vistas.

6. The Men- Leave Home
Coughing and screaming,
Death never sounded so hip.
More fun than you think.

5. We Are Augustines- Rise Ye Sunken Ships
Common-man stories,
The truth of pain in hard times.
Hope is eternal.

4. Shabazz Palaces- Black Up
Innovative rap;
What Odd Future wants to be--
Without the rape, though.

3. Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
Betwixt and between,
Odes to twenty-somethingness.
There’s worlds beyond me.

2. The Roots- Undun
A life in reverse--
?uestlove lays down grooves of year
Song cycle, or not?

1. tUnE-yArDs- whokill
Merrill Garbus tunes
Sizzle with fresh prescience.
Bass sounds good as well.

After

When time holds tomorrow hostage,


Demanding a payment for services rendered,

Interpretation should not be left to

sages and architects.

We must find a new urgency with which to build,

A structure for future muses

to demolish.

Inspiration must come in coffee cups

and tin cans,

Not to mention this forgetting to kiss

goodnight before sleeping.



By: Jacob Adams

This Forgetting Not To Grow Up

To lie sleepless with the ferment of joyful thoughts


Like it never happened

Settling is just another word for everything left to lose,

A manifesto about the future

That you discover

when you stand still.

You roll over, asking for the remote control.

Surfing for Leno, Jon Stewart, the Home Shopping Network.

A fractured montage--

A quality of being thrown together

Like strange names at railway stations through the night.



By: Jacob Adams