Where to begin? Last Thursday seems like so long ago, the start of a very long weekend of incredible music. With the Harvest Of Hope festival bringing bands by the boatload to Florida, many of them played shows throughout the state before and after the weekend. I (with my girlfriend and a few other friends) went to four shows in six days across the state. I did my best to document all of this with pictures and video; and even managed to score a short video interview with Bryce Dessner of The National.

Thursday, March 5

First up was the legendary Bad Brains at a sold out State Theatre in St. Petersburg. The opening band, Propaghandi, played a strong set of socially-conscious punk rock. While many of their contemporaries tend to be a little preachy (for my taste) about their political views and being vegan, Propaghandi keep it snarky and fun. If you don’t buy into all of their beliefs, you can still have a good time the show. Bad Brains, however, is a whole other beast. The original lineup reformed in 2007 and released one helluva new album, Build A Nation. While some friends at the show complained that singer HR “phoned in” his performance, I strongly disagree. Back in the early 1980s, HR was one of the most volatile persons to front a band. These days, he and the rest of Bad Brains are older and most certainly wiser. The band played as well as they ever have, mixing their groundbreaking hardcore songs with some of the best dub/reggae this side of Jamaica.

Propaghandi at the State Theatre

Bad Brains playing Banned in DC at the State Theatre

Friday, March 6

Friday night, we were off to a sold out New World Brewery for David Dondero and Lucero. Dondero’s opening acoustic set was one of minimalist beauty. There are no frills with him; just a man, his guitar and his songs. Lucero, for all intensive purposes, are a country band; they just play really loud. Their set was about two-and-half hours long and never lost energy or the interest of the crowd (a rare feat for any band). Lucero mixed in several new songs (from their forthcoming major label debut due out later this year) with fan favorites, requests from the audience, and their killer cover of Jawbreaker’s “Kiss The Bottle”. (Listen here.)

David Dondero

Lucero

Sunday, March 8

On Saturday morning, my girlfriend had to go to Houston for work, so I took the day off from shows. She flew back to Tampa on Sunday and we hit the road to St. Augustine for the last day of the Harvest of Hope festival. The first thing we noticed upon finally arriving (thanks for the wrong directions, Google Maps!) was the stench of the camp ground wafting into the parking lot. Dirty punks, dirty hippies and even a few dirty ravers all stinking together as one. Unity, baby! Can you smell it? As far as festivals go, this one was well-organized. All four stages were running according to schedule. Really good yet inexpensive food (the $6 soba noodles and veggies was the deal of the weekend, two of us could hardly finish one serving!) and beer were readily available. Great music was happening all around and everyone was having a good time. I found that photos were hard to get at the festival. Even when I was close enough to the stage, my flash was reflecting off the dust in the air. Oh well. Below are the video highlights of the day (and some photos)

The sun seting while Ra Ra Riot plays.

Beer! Double fisting was the way to go!

Fashion Fun at the HOH fest!

Jonathan of SUNBEARS!

I almost stepped on these folks that were sleeping on the ground.

Diplo laid down a very fun DJ set.

Chris singing along to Diplo’s set.

Jacksonville’s The Black Kids tore up the main stage with booty shaking indie rock.

KRS1 did an almost all freestyle set that was simply amazing.

I implore you to watch both KRS1 videos.

The National played what was arguably the best and most inspired set of the weekend; here they are performing “Baby, We’ll be Fine” and “Slow Show.”

After their set, The National’s Bryce Dessner was kind enough to chat with me for a few minutes about their new record (he says it won’t be out until early 2010).

Tuesday, March 10

On Monday, my girlfriend and I bummed around St. Augustine and got home that night. After sleeping most of the day, we hitched a ride with some friends to Orlando Tuesday night to catch Lucero (again) at The Social. I decided to not take any photos at this show as I took plenty of them in Tampa. My friend, Andy, took this video of the end of Lucero’s set. It involves drunk, half naked, interpretive dance. It was a nice way to wrap up an insane but wonderful six days.

On February 18th, both the Chicago Tribune and Pitchfork ran stories that put a knife through the heart of the punk/indie world. Venerable Chicago label, Touch and Go Records would be closing it’s distribution wing and massively scaling back it’s own output. This decision, that I’m sure was made after all other options were exhausted, effects more than just T&G’s roster. They provided distribution for 23 other labels; but more on all that later. First let me give you a little background on Touch and Go and their importance to the punk and independent music world.

Touch and Go started as an east Michigan fanzine back in 1979. In 1980, the Necros (an Ohio punk band) were looking to release a 7″record. Necros bassist, Corey Rusk, turned to his friends at T&G for help. In 1981, T&G released it’s first two records, the 7″by the Necros and then a 7″by Michigan punk band The Fix. Rusk then came on board and helped to run the label’s business end. By 1983, Rusk had left his band, took over T&G with his wife and moved operations to Detroit. After a successful run in the Motor City (which included opening a club in conjunction with the label), Rusk moved the label again, this time to Chicago. This all may seem mundane, but Touch and Go would prove to be an integral part of the punk scene in the 1980s.

While indie labels were popping up on the east and west coasts, there wasn’t much in the middle of the country. These labels all started with the purpose of releasing records from bands in their area. As some of these bands grew and embarked on larger tours, they relied on the indie labels and bands in other regions for help in booking shows and for a place to sleep while on tour. Touch and Go provided a crucial link between the east and west coast. Not only were they releasing records from bands that may not have had the means, Corey Rusk routinely gave bands a place to crash when they came through on tour. These bands would return the favor when T&G bands would head out to Los Angels, New York, Boston and the like. These bands and labels assisted each other in booking tours and helped each other with distribution in places one might not have contacts in. Would labels such as Dischord, SST, Alternative Tentacles, Sub Pop and Merge been as successful as they were without Touch and Go? Maybe, but Touch and Go was the final piece of the early 80s punk scene puzzle that made it all possible.

After 28 years of being a model independent label and distributor, Touch and Go is falling victim to the horrid economic conditions that have been plaguing the world. While other indie labels have come and gone, Touch and Go kept growing and was one of the good guys. They treated their bands with respect and paid them, too. They have been responsible for countless legendary releases and have introduced the world to bands that have gone on to greatness.

Below is the full roster of Touch and Go’s bands:

The official statement from Corey Rusk is as follows:

“It is with great sadness that we are reporting some major changes here at Touch and Go Records. Many of you may not be aware, but for nearly 2 decades, Touch and Go has provided manufacturing and distribution services for a select yet diverse group of other important independent record labels. Titles from these other labels populate the shelves of our warehouse alongside the titles on our own two labels, Touch and Go Records, and Quarterstick Records.
“Unfortunately, as much as we love all of these labels, the current state of the economy has reached the point where we can no longer afford to continue this lesser known, yet important part of Touch and Go’s operations. Over the years, these labels have become part of our family, and it pains us to see them go. We wish them all the very best and we will be doing everything we can to help make the transition as easy as possible.
“Touch and Go will be returning to its roots and focusing solely on being an independent record label. We’ll be busy for a few months working closely with the departing labels and scaling our company to an appropriate smaller size after their departure. It is the end of a grand chapter in Touch and Go’s history, but we also know that good things can come from new beginnings.”

So what exactly does this mean? Here is the list of the labels that Touch and Go distributed:

What this means is that it may be harder to find records by Nels Cline, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Silver Jews, Alkaline Trio, Jets To Brazil, The Thermals, The Decemberists, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Superchunk, M. Ward, Arcade Fire, Dinosaur Jr. and hundreds more. Are you starting to get the picture? The Chicago Tribune quoted Mac McCaughan, of Superchunk and co-founder of Merge Records:

“Corey Rusk is the most meticulous, cautious, thoughtful business person I know, which is what makes this whole thing so unbelievable and such a bad portent for the rest of the independent music business,” McCaughan said. “If a company that did everything the right way can’t survive in this environment … then who can?”

One would hope that the labels Touch and Go distributed won’t go anywhere any time soon. Some of them have been around for quite some time and have talented artists to help keep them afloat. I’m sure that most indie labels are currently pouring through their books to make sure they’re on solid ground. The independents labels have always been trend setters and risk takers. Now, they’ve become the canary in the coal mine. The record industry has been in trouble for some time. One could argue several causes, but it’s moot. A craptacular economy coupled with new digital means (both legal and not) to get music have started to take their toll. The major labels have significantly more capital on hand to hide their struggles in hopes they’ll pull through. The indies don’t have this luxury. The “release it yourself online like Radiohead” method is a route worth investigating, but it’s not perfect. And for the record, Radiohead didn’t pioneer this. There are plenty of “digital download only” labels out there. Radiohead just happen to have enough money in the bank to take that risk and ATO Records handled the LP and CD hard copy releases of In Rainbows. Ok, back on track…

What this signals is that a huge shift as to how the indie labels operate is going to take place. The indie record buyers and audiophiles will keep the LP format alive, but prices will undoubtedly rise. Digital only releases are cheap and easy to do. The CD format seems like the expendable one in all of this. As changes in the indie world happen, we’ll probably lose one or more of the major labels along the way. At some point, the economy isn’t going to be willing or able to sustain yet another Brittany Spears comeback. The record buying public at large is being forced by the economy to be more discerning about what they albums purchase and what concerts they go to.

It’s not going to get better any time soon. Hopefully, Touch and Go will come out of this relatively unscathed and will continue to provide an outlet for the underground. After all that Corey Rusk has put into T&G, I don’t think he’s going down without a fight. I’m sure he’s doing everything possible to insure that the labels he distributed don’t get screwed in all of this. Hopefully those labels will find new distribution soon. Touch and Go’s situation should serve as a wake up call to the indie labels and the music industry as a whole. They need to adjust and cater to the economic conditions that dictate what you and I spend on music.

The current state of the music industry and the economy raises several questions. Some, but not nearly all are mentioned here. There were a few more things I wanted to bring up, but I don’t expect you, the reader, to spend all day reading my ramblings. Over the next few weeks, be on the lookout for more pieces related to the declining health of the music industry. Please comment below, let get a conversation going about this. If you read this far, you obviously care about music, so let’s hear what you have to say. Thanks!

The Thermals

I flew into La Guardia on Saturday January 31st at about 2pm. The temperature was in the mid to upper 20s and slowly dropping. The Thermals were playing a late show at The Bell House in Brooklyn. How cold was it going to be when the show started at 11pm? I didn’t care. I was in New York and was going to catch The Thermals play a one-off show before jumping the pond to the U.K. for a small tour. Now We Can See, the new disk from The Thermals, is set to drop on April 7th via Kill Rock Stars. My hope, beyond getting to take in a great show, was to get a preview of the new album. But this would be a waiting game of sorts before the payout.

The show was set to start at 11pm. Upon arrival, the early show was still in full swing. The folks at The Bell House were kind enough to let everyone inside to escape the falling temperature, which was now hovering around or slightly below 20 degrees. After an hour wait and the quickest sound check I’ve ever heard, we were let into the main room. The only thing standing between this sold out crowd and The Thermals was the opening band.

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice took the stage about 12:15am and promised to play their set as quickly as possible. Fortunately, P&N are pretty good. Musically, they almost seem a patchwork of indie rock sub genres. There were pinches of XTC mixed with Ted Leo and sprinkled with noise; but the Leo hints may have really been Elvis Costello… Angular guitars and a spastic yet danceable rhythm section kept the crowd more than just interested. With the show over an hour behind schedule, P&N played one helluva set. They even won over a few people I overheard saying they had hoped the opening band wouldn’t play at all.

The Thermals don’t make grand entrances to the stage. They finished setting up their gear while singing and dancing along to Hall and Oats’ “Maneater” and Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough”. As soon as things were ready, they launched into “Returning To The Fold” from 2005’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine. The crowd, now comfortably lubricated, was hanging on every word and every chord. There is something about this band that makes you fall in love with them, something that is almost intangible. It’s a simple formula: loud guitars, endearing vocals, smart lyrics, catchy melodies, (mostly) fast songs, no filler. So many bands try and so few get it right.

The set was heavy on tracks from The Thermals’ forthcoming album. The new songs don’t seem to be as socio-political as their last album (The Body, The Blood, The Machine) but they are unmistakably Thermals. The band doesn’t intentionally follow a format, they just do what they do best: loud guitars, endearing vocals, smart lyrics, catchy melodies, (mostly) fast songs, no filler. Six of the twelve tracks from the new album were played. Based just on hearing half this album live, I can say without a doubt that Now We Can See will make my “Best of 2009″ list eleven months from now. The band also served up large chunks of both The Body The Blood, The Machine and 2003’s More Parts Per Million. The energy of the crowd and band kept feeding off each other throughout the night. Every song was a sing-a-long psalm. After a blistering nineteen punk rock epiphanies (that included a cover of Nirvana’s “Verse-Chours-Verse”), the band took a short, needed break. Upon hitting the stage again, they covered Nirvana’s “Sappy” and The Breeders’ “Saints”. The closer was the band’s quasi theme song, “Everything Thermals”.

Yeah, everything Thermals
Straight from the pages of your journal
I know nobody’s ever seen it
The Thermals know all your secrets.

There is something about this band that makes you fall in love with them.

Click on any picture in this post for a larger version.

Special thanks to Joe Price at Inland Empire Touring for making this show possible for me!

Over in the record reviews section, I’ve posted a write up of the new Dälek album, Gutter Tactics. Haven’t heard of them?

Give it a read and check them out. Here’s a teaser for you:

Dälek is not your typical rap group; in fact, they are something completely different altogether. Sure, there are beats and rhyming, but it’s not the sort of music that would pass for hip-hop on MTV or in dance clubs. There are no guest rappers littering every other track. There is no hook while the DJ revolves it. This is not 50 Cent pretending to be a thug. Dälek’s closest relatives in the mainstream rap world are Public Enemy. But where PE looped the most abrasive funk samples they could find, Dälek take their cue from My Bloody Valentine and John Cage.

Click here for the full review.

Bad Brains are playing The State Theatre on Thursday, March 5. Need I say more? For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, let me fill you in.

Bad Brains was originally a jazz-fusion band called Mind Power formed in 1975 in Washington D.C. They soon became enamored with punk rock and changed their name, taking it from a Ramones song. Most bands in the first wave of punk were not experienced musicians, but Bad Brains were. They played faster than any band that had come before them. They were also an all-black punk band in a very racially divided city. By 1979, they relocated to New York after being barred from playing in D.C. area clubs (spawning the song “Banned in D.C.”). They self-released their first 7″ in 1980 with a full length following in 1982.

Not only were Bad Brains the most volatile punk band of the day (fronted by the unpredictable and explosive singer H.R.), they were also devoted Rastafarians. This shone through via several reggae songs in their catalog. After seven albums, a few line up changes and several break-ups, the original Bad Brains returned in 2007 with a new album. Build A Nation was a return to form for this legendary group. Sorry about this extremely abbreviated history of Bad Brains, but it is truly difficult to do them justice in words. There have been countless imitators, but there is only one Bad Brains. Go to this show.

Bad Brains Banned In D.C. (Live at CBGB’s 1982)

On Monday, which was one of coldest nights of the year in Tampa, Los Campesinos! and Titus Andronicus shared the stage at The Orpheum in Ybor and warmed the crowd with blisteringly hot tunes. Its rare for Tampa to get a chance to see two young bands in the early stages of their careers on the same bill. Click here for the full review of the show by B.Treotch (Campesinos! part) and myself (Titus part) . Click on any picture for the full sized version.

Titus Andronicus

Los Campesinos!

Aleksandra Campesinos! double fisting it after the show.

]]> http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/01/21/in-photos-los-campesinos-and-titus-andronicus/feed/ 0 http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/01/06/ron-asheton-stooges-guitarist-rip/ http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/01/06/ron-asheton-stooges-guitarist-rip/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:30:09 +0000 Gabe Loewenberg http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/?p=3666
The legendary guitarist dies at age 60.]]>

Ron Asheton, the legendary guitarist for The Stooges, has passed away. There really isn’t much more that needs to be said. Ron was a guitar god in the eyes of those who had rejected the conventional, mainstream guitar gods (Clapton, Hendrix, Page, ect). The scope of his influence is larger than most realize. His sound was unmistakable; like a rusty dagger ripping through his guitar strings. He defined the Stooges psych/garage aural assault. Since The Stooges reformed several years ago, I’ve been hoping that I would get a chance to see this reconstituted power house; but alas, that day will not happen. Rest in peace, dear Ron; I’ll play extra loud for you this weekend.

The Stooges – T.V. Eye (live 2004)

So, you thought you were going to be cooler than your iPod worshiping friends and buy a Zune? Well, if you bought a Zune 30gig you are SOFL right now. Around midnight on 12/31/08, it seems that every Zune 30gig stopped working. Who’s cool now? Microsoft, the maker of Zune, had this to say on the Zune support site:

Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware.  We’re aware of the problem and are working to correct it.  The Zune Social might be slow or inaccessible. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!

I guess it sucks even more to be part of the Zune support team. Looks like those poor schlocks will be working tonight instead of partying like it’s 2009. So far, the best theories are that it had something to do with a recent firmware update or that the internal calendar is wonky because this year was a leap year. The later seems like a stretch unless someone really fucked up the programing. Being that it’s a Microsoft product, I wouldn’t completely toss that possibility out the window yet.

Good luck if you’ve got one of these things; and if you’ve gotten it to start working again, let us (and the rest of the small, Zune-loving world) know what you did!

In the event that this is an unfixable problem, just be glad you’re not this guy!

I don’t even have words…

In 2008, I tried to take pictures at almost every show I attended. It’s a daunting task. Sometimes the lighting sucks, you may get stuck far from the stage or some venues may not let you bring a camera in at all. But when all goes right, you can go home with some swell shots of the bands.

These are my photo highlights of the year. Click on any image to view as full size.

(For my favorite albums of 2008, just click here)

Neptune 3/19/08 @ New World Brewery

Tailgunner Joe & the Earls of Slander 5/24/08 @ The State Theatre

Vampire Weekend 6/07/08 @ Firestone (Orlando, FL)

Apes & Androids 3/29/08 @ The Cuban Club

The Hold Steady 1/19/08 @ Czar

No Age 12/6/08 @ Czar

Les Savy Fav 12/6/08 @ Czar

Wussy 9/27/08 @ Midpoint Music Festival (Cincinnati, OH)

Bonus Pic: Me photographing Wussy (photographer unknown)

Dumbwaiters 11/22/08 @ New World Brewery

Kingsbury 11/22/08 @ New World Brewery

]]> http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2008/12/23/gabes-concert-photo-highlights-of-2008/feed/ 6 http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2008/12/19/gabes-top-10-albums-of-2008/ http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2008/12/19/gabes-top-10-albums-of-2008/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:41:24 +0000 Gabe Loewenberg http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/?p=2671 Being the music snob that I am, these are my favorite albums of 2008.]]>

It’s that time of the year again. The humidity levels are way down, sometimes. The night air is peppered with the smell of fireplaces, sometimes. Christmas,  Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shopping is going as well as can be expected in our thriving economy. It all points to one thing…

Time to break out those “Top 10″ or “Best of” lists for 2008! Being the music snob that I am (obviously everything I listen to is far superior to the crap [alternate crap links, i couldn't decide between them, so you get 'em all! Crap,and even more crap!] you listen to), these are my favorite albums of 2008. As of starting to type this, I’ll say that I’m aiming for a list of ten, but it may turn out to be more or less. So, in order of release date, this is what I couldn’t stop listening to this year. I’ll name my favorite after the list. There can be only one…

Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Orlando 2008

Vampire Weekend – S/T (XL Recordings; 1/29/08) – Ok, these guys have been on everyone’s list since 2007 when an early version of the album leaked, but who cares? They really are that good; and catchy as all hell, too. If the one new song they played in Orlando this year is any indication, their follow-up to this great debut should be even better.

Why? – Alopecia (Anticon; 3/11/08) – This is one of the most cerebral albums I’ve heard in a while. The lyrics are smart, personal and sometimes quite funny. The instrumentation is somewhat non-traditional (as far as a “rock” band goes) and the music is full of playful and danceable counterpoint rhythms and melodies. Why? are “indie” but not quite “rock”; maybe at little like They Might Be Giants; if TMBG were Rhodes Scholars in addition to being super smart and clever. I caught these guys live this year and they more than delivered the goods in concert. If you get the chance, go see them.

Be Your Own Pet – Get Awkward (Ecstatic Peace; 3/18/08) – BYOP’s second album turned out to be their last and no real reason was given for the break up. The fact that their major label distributor pulled three tracks from this album because they were deemed “to violent” coupled with constant touring may have been a few of the nails in the coffin. And that’s too bad as this album is raw angst at it’s finest; plus it includes a zombie love song!

No Age, Tampa 2008

No Age – Nouns (Sub Pop; 5/6/08) – This album straddles a fine line between noise and pop. You get sucked into the wall of sound created by this two piece and then, out of nowhere, a melodic hook smacks you in the face. I’ve listened to this album countless times and still find nuggets hidden in the layers of guitar swirl and pounding drums. To top off their very successful year, this album got a Grammy nomination… kind-of.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down in the Light (Drag City; 5/12/08) – William Oldham has been been releasing albums under various names (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music) since 1993. His first album in two years is sparse and hauntingly beautiful. Oldham hates labels for his music, but frail Appalachian folk is close. This album is best chased with whiskey at night while sitting on your porch swing.

Burning Brides - Anhedonia (Cobraside Records; 5/27/08) – The Brides’ latest album is their most diverse to date, but they don’t lose sight of what they do best; which is play rock and roll. No frills or gimmicks to be heard here. In my opinion, they are one of the best rock bands to debut in the last 10 years. They know their roots (The Stooges, The Sonics, Sabbath) and push ahead, taking no prisoners along the way.

Girl Talk – Feed The Animals (Illegal Art; 6/19/08) – Gregg Gillis has perfected his ADD/mash-up/collage stylings with this, his fourth album. This is my soundtrack for weekend (or weeknight) adventures. If I’m going out, this is blasting in the car on the way there and on the way home. It’s like there’s a party in my iPod and everyone’s invited!

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn, Tampa 2008

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (Vagrant; 7/15/08) – This is another one that will undoubtedly be on many a “Top 10″ list this year, and for good reason. I’ve been a huge fan of this band since their first album and they just keep getting better. This album is a triumph of rock style and substance. The listener is rewarded for paying attention, and doubly rewarded for knowing their previous albums.

Oxford Collapse – BITS (Sub Pop; 8/5/08) – Played with a blissful sense of abandon, OC’s fourth album is a barn burner. For as much as they sound on the verge of falling apart, they are spot-on tight. This is what “independent rock” should sound like.

Vivian Girls - S/T (In The Red; 9/30/08) – Their sweet yet dark vocal harmonies paired with fuzzed out garage/surf guitars would make both Steve Albini and Phil Spector proud. Some folks I know have tried to argue the point that “these are cute girls who play sloppy and that is the only reason people like them.” I disagree. Though the playing may be a little loose, it’s consistent and intentional. With everything drowning in reverb and all the tracks pushed into the red on the level meter, this album will melt your ear drums.

So there you have it. The list is ten albums long. I had twelve for a hot minute, but knocked a few off for a variety of reasons; none of which were trying to keep the list to just ten. These albums have treated me very well this year and if you haven’t heard them, please check them out.

As far as my favorite album of the year goes, it was almost a tie. Of those on my list, I think Why?’s Alopecia could be the best (on technical merits) of the bunch; but it’s not my favorite. My favorite has carved out a hole in my heart and now resides there. I truly love this band and this album. I have immersed myself in their folklore. I’ve followed them since their inception.  I saw this band play their first show in the city where they fictionally reside; it ranks high amongst the best shows I’ve seen. The Hold Steady adopted Ybor City as their home in song, we adopted them into our lives. Craig Finn (singer of THS) commented upon the release of Stay Positive that “A great American philosopher named D. Boon once said “Our band could be your life”. I think that is true. But “Your Life could be Our Band” is also a true statement. I know this because we have lived it.” I completely identify with their songs and stories. I feel like I’ve lived them just as they have. Stay Positive has The Hold Steady pushing into new territory, both musically and in subject matter. Though they aren’t dramatically breaking new ground, they aren’t remaining stagnate either. Old story lines are concluded up and new ones birthed. This album sets the bar higher for rock music. And make no mistake, this is rock music. It’s not “indie” or “alternative” or [insert lame category here]. It is popular rock music that is intelligent, engaging and emotive. That’s why it is my favorite album of 2008.

(For my 20008 concert photo highlights, click here)