From: Cory Brown <fatkid AT sirius.com>
Subject: 1997, electricity and the single male
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 03:53:48 -0800

Hey Doug,

My year end list.  Tally as you will.  Hope all's well.
_______________________________________

Well, in spite of days and weeks that sped by like passing traffic, this
was one of the longest years I can remember.  It's nearly gone and it turns
out it was a very good year too (and I don't mean that in a nostalgic
Sinatra way either).  I look at my favorite records that came out this year
and I think "Too many, too white, too quiet, too bad nobody knows who Simon
Joyner is."  These lists are ludicrous anyway, but I'm a sucker and a
hopeless record headed sucker, at that.  For starters, I spent a lot of
time listening to old soul records this year, discovering Terry Callier,
Ruth Brown, and William Bell along the way.  I was late on the draw with
last year's Dr Octagon CD on Bulk, but it was all over the stereo in '97. 
I'm saving the Apples record for next year's list, not to mention Kid
Koala.  Old new wave got a lot of spins too, especially all that Crispy
Ambulance stuff I acquired this year at Mod Lang, the Mission Of Burma
reissues on Rykodisc and the Marine Girls reissue on Cooking Vinyl.  Those
Os Mutantes CD's that Aquarius scored from Brazil, a Neutral Milk Hotel
bootleg, the Monks reissue on Infinite Zero - wow.  And then came the
children:

1. Simon Joyner - "Songs For A New Year" (Sing Eunuchs!/Shrimper)
  He hated parties.  His brother kept telling him he should get out, meet
people, loosen up.  It was all ridiculous.  He would feel more dejected at
the end of these "bashes" than if he'd simply stayed home.  Eventually, he
just stayed home.  Thank goodness.

2. Belle And Sebastian - "If You're Feeling Sinister" (Enclave/Jeepster)
  Because Nick Drake only made three proper albums and I don't like Al
Stewart, late-period M*A*S*H Alan Alda, or Jane Fonda movies made after
1970.

3. Elliott Smith - "Either/Or" (Kill Rock Stars)
  I believe in a higher power.

4. Yo La Tengo - "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One" (Matador)
  Ira Kaplan and Southside Johnny were friends since childhood until that
fateful day when Johnny got jealous of Ira's record collection and told him
that he put the "Hack" in "Hackensack."  Ira told him to put up his jukes. 
Johnny made a crass comment about Ira marrying outside his religion and Ira
beat the crap out of him.  Southside Johnny can't make the rent these days
while Ira and his friends made this.  Thank you Ira.  Fuck off Johnny.

5. Thingy - "Songs About Angels, Evil, And Running Around On Fire"
(Headhunter/Cargo)
  Okay, I say "math" and you say "Slint" and I say "no, math can be fun
too" and you say "I failed math" and I feel bad and buy you a malted.

6. Grandaddy - "Under The Western Freeway" (Will)
  The year was 1974 and people wondered which way Bowie went, even when
Angela was in tow.  Lou Reed was dating a transsexual and man, they made a
good couple.  It would be another five years before Gary Numan would make
his first record with Tubeway Army, so it's not too difficult to understand
why nobody noticed that he was sleeping with every guy in Crazy Horse.  It
probably wasn't easy when they were younger, but you can sure make a good
record when your mom is Ralph Molina.

7. VSS - "Nervous Circuits" (Honey Bear)
  Never before has black eyeliner held such menace.  Beware the art fag, my
friend - he carries a blade and it will cut you!

8. Bjork - "Homogenic" (Elektra)
  There can be only one.

9. New Bad Things - "Ennui Go" (Pop Secret)
  Hey, check out what I found in the garbage!  Nice!  Why do you think
somebody threw it away?  Who cares?  It's cool.

10. Modest Mouse - "Lonesome Crowded West" (Up)
  Contrary to popular belief, I have never been seen "doing the cockroach."

11. Grifters - "Full Blown Possession" (Sub Pop)
  It was 'electronica,' that word of unknown and distant origin, that
coated their lips and flavored their words.  But in their hearts, there was
only rock.  And they knew where to find it.

12. Archer Prewitt - "In The Sun" (Carrot Top)
  Lobbying diligently for legitimate use of the word "groovy" and winning
at my house.  Beautiful like that breakfast I'm imagining eating tomorrow.

13. Delgados - "Domestiques" (March/Chemikal Underground)
  When we were kids, my cousins and I used to run around our grandparents'
condo complex in Boynton Beach, Florida, trying with our small fish-tank
nets to catch these tiny tropical lizards.  Sometimes we did.  Most of the
time, they were too fast for us.

14. Run On - "Scoot" (Sonic Bubblegum) and "No Way" (Matador)
  They'll understand one day.  I know they will.  I swear they will.      I
hope they will.

15. Sleater-Kinney - "Dig Me Out" (Kill Rock Stars)
  The greatest all Jewish rock band ever (oh, so Corrin's supposedly only
half-Jewish, but so what?)

16. Danielson - "Tell Another Joke At The Ol' Choppin' Block" (Tooth &
Nail)
  That higher power I mentioned in #3 - just so we understand each other -
that higher power is God and I do love Him with all my heart.

17. Lambchop - "Thriller" (Merge)
  The first song was originally called "Maxwell Unplugged, My Ass" but was
renamed "My Face, Your Ass" due to an unstable Asian economy.  Other than
that, this album is spot on, especially after I got over being pissed that
it didn't have "Billie Jean" or "Beat It" anywhere on the disc.

18. Geraldine Fibbers - "Butch" (Virgin)
  This is probably the best album of the year, but I hid it here at #18
because of the principle of a Can cover.  Nobody said it'd be easy.

19. Mountain Goats - "Full Force Galesburg" (Emperor Jones)
  Because fiber is a necessary element in any healthy diet and it's
probably what you're missing too.

20. Sloan - "One Chord To Another" (Enclave)
  I thought Canadians couldn't be any friendlier.

21. Smog - "Red Apple Falls" (Drag City)
  Remember what I said in #16 about God being the higher power?  Well, Smog
is not God, but he's up there.  I wish I knew what to say to that guy. 
"Hey Bill, I stayed home last night and stared at the speakers while your
record played.  I wouldn't answer the phone either, even if somebody had
called."

22. Dieselhed - "Shallow Water Blackout" (Amarillo)
  This is the best record of the year without a Can cover and not made by
one guy who nobody's ever heard of.  Nothing I could write about this
record could be better than its lyrics.
 
23. Various Artists - "The Bahamas: Islands Of Song" (Smithsonian Folkways)
  I feel like I'm playing a game of Which One Of These Does Not Belong. 
This may seem like some sort of token world title on my list, the sole
representation of ethnic color (Sleater-Kinney aside) in a mass of pasty
white boys with strong sensitivities and aggressive lesbians with guitars,
but I assure you it is not.  It is the most consistently high quality
compilation I've ever heard and it sneaked up on me after a curious listen
when I found it used.  Nat Saunders rules.

24.Quasi - "R&B Transmogrification" (Up)
  My roommate tells me this record's got nothing on their live show, but I
wouldn't know since they didn't make it down here due to Elliott Smith's
hemorrhoids or something.  One divorce short of Fleetwood Mac, but eons
ahead sound-wise.  

25. the extremely long imaginary mix tape (because who listens to whole
albums anymore?):
	Side A
	1.that fucking Chumbawamba song, the "Electric Avenue" for 1997
	2.Atari Teenage Riot - "Deutchland (Has Gotta Die)" 7" (DHR/Grand Royal)
	3.Stock, Hausen And Walkman - "Stripper" 7" (Eerie Materials)
	4.Cradle Of Filth - "Dusk And Her Embrace" from the album of the same
title (Fierce)
	5.Beck - "Deadweight" 7" (Geffen)
	6.Broadcast - "Book Lovers" from "Work And Nonwork" (Drag City)
	7.Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her - "Pink Soda" 7" (Pamgrier/Detector)
	8.Fuck - "Dirty Brunette" from "Pardon My French" (Matador)
	9.Aphex Twin - "Girl/Boy Song" from "Richard D. James" (Sire/Warp)
	10.lowercase - "Severance Denied" from "Kill The Lights" (Amphetamine
Reptile)
	11.Shizuo - "Sweat" (DHR/Grand Royal)
	12.Panel Donor - "Falco Likes It" from "Surprise Bath" (Sonic Bubblegum)
	13.Longstocking - "Teenage Angst At 27" from "Once Upon A Time Called Now"
(Chainsaw)
	14.Murder City Devils - "Boom Swagger Boom" from "Murder City Devils" (Die
Young Stay Pretty)
	15.Sonic Youth - "Bee-Bee's Song" from the "Suburbia" soundtrack (Geffen)
	16.Mecca Normal - "Who Shot Elvis?" from the album of the same title
(Matador)

	Side B
	1.Aphex Twin - "Come To Daddy" from the record of the same title
(Sire/Warp)
	2,3,4.Trackstar - "Alien Idea"; "These Horses Carry Blood"; "All Hands"
from "Communication Breaks" (Die Young Stay Pretty)
	5.Built To Spill - "Randy Describes Eternity" from "Perfect From Now On"
(Warner)
	6.Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - "Miniature Kingdom" from "Barafundle" (Mercury)
	7.Glyn Styler w/Lydia Lunch - "I Won't Stop Loving You" from "The
Desperate Ones" EP (Truckstop/Atavistic)
	8.Portastatic - "Spying On The Spys" (7" version) 7" (Merge)
	9.Tipsy - "Space Golf" 12" (Asphodel)
	10.Beatnik Filmstars - "Artist V Star" from "In Hospitalable" (Merge)
	11.The Need - "Crown" from "The Need" (Chainsaw)
	12.Mouse On Mars - "Cache Coeur Naif" from the EP of the same name (Thrill
Jockey)
	13.Mumbles - "Oceania" from the compilation "Audio Alchemy V.1" (Ubiquity)
	14.Tindersticks - "Rented Rooms" from "Curtains" (London)
	15.Long Hind Legs - "A Perfect Day" from "Long Hind Legs" (Kill Rock
Stars)

Sell my records for a real life?  Are you crazy?  And in answer to your
other question, yes, a couple of times in February.

xxoo,
Cory