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I think this may be my favorite year end roundup. It’s from Pop Waffle and they did a comprehensive look at 2008 with sticky notes and crayons. For whatever reason it reminds me a lot of the old Nickelodeon shows I used to watch in third grade.

All in all it was a great year. I mean in this context, my first thought is “wow what a crazy great year.” Even if it didn’t seem that way when I was actually living it. So much great stuff guys.

Mp3: Los Campesinos! – “Ways to Make it Through the Walls”

More end of the year goodness.  I particularly enjoy reading the NY Times Magazine Year in Ideas.  It always strikes me as the most eclectic year-end list.  It also acts as a nice primer for forgot or overlooked stories, for example: elderly airbags.  Seriously.  Who knew?  Certainly not me.  [Year in Ideas 2008]

Matt at Unlikely Words has created a time capsule of sorts for the 2008 election.  He’s rounded up just about everything dating back to the speculation of who would even run for the presidency.  It’s pretty impressive.

I wanted to create something to look at a couple years from now to remember the election and hopefully present a good representation of what both sides of America were feeling on that day as evidenced by the response in the press and on the blogs. I didn’t capture everything, though I’ve certainly tried. I want to consume all of this information, have it put on a microchip in my brain. Until that’s possible, I just read a lot. I don’t know how many of these links will work in a year or 5 years, (when this doc might be helpful to show younger people who may not have ever remembered having a president who isn’t black), but here’s what I’ve got.

“Included are lots of videos, links to articles, reactions from the author’s friends, and even Facebook status messages as the election results rolled in, covering a nice cross-section of citizens from top politicians to the big media, to blogs, to normal people celebrating on the streets. However, I have a feeling that due to linkrot, much of this may not even be available online,” so says Jason Kottke.

Which will probably be true in a year or five years time.  But you can’t blame Matt for trying to put something like this together.

Just wanted to do a quick post on the few other videos I collected from the weekend.� It’s fairly random and mostly from the first two nights.� Security was tighter than tight (wow that’s a bad metaphor) on Friday and Saturday, which means there’s is no video of John Vanderslice, Vampire Weekend, Lackthereof, Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Menomena or Helio Sequence (those last four bands all played at the same show Saturday night!� My face melted clear off and I still haven’t put it back together. I look worse than Joan Rivers).

I’m particularly upset about this because my final memory of MusicFest Northwest was Menomena coming out to play with Helio Sequence, a band they dubbed “The Helio Unsequence.”

Also Danny Seim is a world class fucking drummer.� I’m not sure you could definitively say he’s the best drummer right now, but between Menomena and Lackthereof, if you’re having that conversation it definitely starts with him.

Anyway, some video from the week that was.� We’ll have a final “thoughts” roundup about the fest with some photos to touch on all the good stuff.

1900’s

The 1900’s are a Chicago outfit and became one of my favorite acts. They have about seven members and sound similar to numerous tweepop bands like Belle and Sebastian or Camera Obscura, Essex Green, etc. However, their brand of psychpop with boy-girl harmonies and upbeat melodies was catchy as hell.

The played one extended jam to close their set and at times I kept thinking “wow they sorta remind me of Velvet Underground or Zombie.” Not that they were beholden to any of those influences, only that you could parse them. I’ll be keeping my eye on them, as I think they have a full length that’s out Oct. 2 from Parasol Records.

They played Berbati’s Pan and it was the first set I caught on Wednesday to kick things off. Great way to start.

M. Ward

Like Mr. M. Ward needs any introduction at this point. He closed Thursday night and delayed coming on by about 45 minutes. The crowd, usually patience reigns in Portland, became agitated with this and you could see it everywhere – the mumblings and grumblings, the loud cheering and clapping anytime the house music songs ended and the rapture when M. Ward finally strode out on stage.

He played songs from across his entire catalogue, played solo for a bit and I was shocked by how much he rocks out. His albums are generally quiet, contemplative affairs – even the uptempo tracks – but here he let loose just noodling his guitar and having fun.

I left a bit early to try and catch Starfucker and Deerhunter across town. My last mistake in trying to leave a show for another one. Needless to say, lines suck.

And this one got cut off unfortunately due to the ever vigilant security. *Sigh* Don’t they know?

Eskimo and Sons

These guys and gals are from Portland and only have one EP and a 7″ to their name, but it’s a gloriously awesome set of songs. Unfortunately, they are going on indefinite hiatus, well they are on hiatus as of Sunday morning. Saturday at the Towne Lounge was their last concert. I caught them on Thursday and it was an emotional show for all involved. They played with friends The Old Believers.

Bittersweet is the word. I’m glad I caught them though and hopefully they’ll come back under a different name or lineup or something. Too much enjoyment and talent involved to just walk away.

And the song “No Shit” which I incorrectly typoed as “No Shirt” when I uploaded the vidoe. Grrrrrr.

Okay, that’s it for video. We’ll be back with some closing thoughts on the rest of the bands we saw this past week, possibly tonight, as well as an open letter to Vampire Weekend. We hope the band might take some steps to alleviate what we would call their “fan base problem.” Unless they take steps they are going to become the next DMB with a fan base of 15 year-old girls and college asshat dudes. The crowd just about ruined their set for me. Just sayin’

Britt Daniel is one of us.� Yeah sure, he’s the front man for Spoon and that makes him nothing like us on a certain level.� But seeing him kick around Portland at shows, whether it’s checking out White Rabbits or Los Compesinos!, I get the impression he’s one of us.

Wearing jeans, red chucks and t-shirts he blends in more than most of the crazy fashionistas here, except it’s Britt Daniel and he stands out because of who he is.� Still, I get the sense that Britt Daniel was the most popular guy in high school.� Not in that captain of the football team kind of way, but the kind of guy who floats between cliques, excels at everything, is loved by cheerleaders, teachers and moms alike.� He’s that guy.

And we’re all the better for it.� Nowhere were these traits on display more than during his solo set at Wonder Ballroom for MusicFest Northwest.� He was charismatic and coy, often laughing at his mistakes and having fun.� He came on the stage with a simple “thanks for coming to my show” (as if noone would show up?) before blasting into “The Beast and the Dragon, Adored.”

His set was rife with material from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction and Kill the Moonlight. But the highlights were the three new songs he debuted.� One was “Writing to You in Reverse,” a song Spoon played at Pitchfork Music Fest that’s been kicking around; the second had no name but it was an aggressive uptempo number in the vein of their Telephono days.� You could almost here the Pixies influence in the tune’s rawness.� Unfortunately, I didn’t get great video of the song; a shame because it was the best of the three.� Finally, he played “Who Backs Your Money?”

But over the course of the hour that he played there is no doubt that Britt Daniel is one of the biggest rock stars we have, even if he refuses to act like it.� His mini-set with Quasi/Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss was one of the highlights of the entire music fest, just an awesome surprise.

He left the stage with an even simpler slight wave of the hand and “goodbye.”� In five years I doubt I’ll remember most of the music I caught this week, but Britt Daniel solo isn’t one of them.

Mp3: Britt Daniel (w/Janet Weiss) – “Who Backs Your Money?” (new!)

Mp3: Britt Daniel – “Underdog”

Mp3: Britt Daniel – “The Beast and Dragon, Adored”

Mp3: Britt Daniel – “Something to Look Forward To”

More videos from the set after the jump.� MORE »

Both ends of the Hollywood spectrum were celebrated late last night and early this morning. I can remember waking up in college to watch the official Oscar announcements, don’t know if they still do that. Especially this year with the strike and all. Without further ado here are your major category nominees for The Oscars.

�Best picture

Atonement. The sweeping saga of a World War II-era romance doomed by false accusations.

Juno. The story of a precocious, pregnant teen locks up the slot that voters seem to reserve each year for a low-budget comedy.

Michael Clayton. The George Clooney thriller that affirms audiences’ worst attitudes toward lawyers.

No Country for Old Men. Writers and directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s bloody, contemporary Western.

There Will Be Blood. A ruthless tycoon’s struggle with a small-town preacher over drilling for oil. A gusher for nominated lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

(I’d say this is a two horse race between There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, but don’t count out the dark horse love story in Atonement)

�Best actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

George Clooney, Michael Clayton

Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd

Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Julie Christie, Away From Her

Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Laura Linney, The Savages

Ellen Page, Juno

�Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War

Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

�Supporting actress

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There

Ruby Dee,American Gangster

Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

�Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton

Jason Reitman, Juno

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Oscar Award Ceremony will take place on Feb. 24, with Jon Stewart as a host. For those who care There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men led the way with eight nominations each. However, one of those nominations wasn’t for Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood’s amazing score for There Will Be Blood. It was disqualified from competition because it contained previously composed material.

Also: Lindsay Lohan swept the nominees for The Razzies. Good for her!