Music - Best Of

I promised music reviews when I started this blog, but so far I haven't even mentioned music. I thought I'd give my top five records of 2006, 2007, and 2008, so you can get an idea of what I like.

Best of 2008 (so far)

5. Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
My take: Hypnotic, droning, awesome rock 'n roll, complete with a sitar.

4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Genre: Folk, Pyschedelic Folk
My take: Hymn-like voices meet pop hooks to create this wonderful pseudo-folk record.

3. No Age - Nouns
Genre: Noise, Punk
My take: Addicting, experimental and fun noise-punk.

2. Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue
Genre: Indie Pop
My take: The hookiest, catchiest, most wonderful pop in a long time

1. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Genre: Lo-Fi, Indie Pop
My take: Funny songwriting, hooky choruses, awesome guitar.

Best of 2007

5. Fiest - The Reminder
Genre: Pop, Singer/Songwriter
My take: Brilliant pop - no more, no less.

4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
Genre: Rock, Electronic
My take: Some of Radiohead's best songs, and an intriguing business model to boot.

3. The National - Boxer
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Punk
My take: Following in the footsteps of Interpol, this is Joy Division for Generation Y.

2. Yeasayer - All Hours Cymbals
Genre: Indie Rock, Experimental
My take: So many influences, this is pop music of the future.

1. A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers
Genre: Shoegaze, Noise, Post-Punk
My take: The Jesus & Mary Chain had a rock battle with Joy Division, and it sounds like this. It's loud and great.

Best of 2006

5. Ratatat - Classics
Genre: Electronic, Rock
My take: Catchy & original, it's party music in the best sense.

4. Okkervil River - Overboard and Down EP
Genre: Indie Rock
My take: Literary songwriting and a haunting version of one of Okkervil River's best songs.
3. The Drones - Gala Mill
Genre: Rock, Psychedelic Rock
My take: This is regional, delightfully droning (ha) Australian rock. Recorded in a ancient mill, the sound is as expansive as the storytelling. Like nothing else.

2. Ghost Mice - Europe
Genre: Folk, Punk
My take: Purely acoustic, it's a folk sound with punk lyrics and sensibilities. More integrity than most any other band out there, and killer songwriting as well.
1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
Genre: Folk, Classical
My take: This is, in my opinion, one of the most important and best albums released in my lifetime. Incredibly intricate storytelling backed by a brilliant symphonic arrangement and Newsom's unique harping. It blows my mind at least once a week.

Hyalite Peak

Friday the fourth was Kassy's birthday, and we wanted to do something cool. Enter Hyalite Peak. It's 10,298 feet tall, making it one of the higher peaks in the area. It's a a 7 1/2 mile hike (one way), making it a day-long adventure. It's still pretty snowy up there, which made the ascent and descent somewhat adventurous.

Here are some pictures:

This is near the beginning - We're still in the temperate forest.
A few miles up the trail, and it's no longer July.This is the basin and the top of the valley. This picture was taken looking Northeast, from the beginning of the hike up to Hyalite Peak.
Here we are on a rocky outcropping, planning our assault of the peak.The assault. The trail goes straight up the middle of the bowl (to the right of the image pictured), which would make a lot of sense if there weren't any snow. There was still a cornice at the top and the snow was softening quickly, so we thought being smack in the middle of a snowy, melty bowl would be irresponsible move. We instead decided to go (almost) straight up. We minimized our on-snow travel, mostly scrambling up the rocky patches that you see. Here we are, spaced out.Spenser leading the way.
Looking down the valley from the peak. You can see the reservoir from here, which is pretty much where we started. In the background lies the rest of the Gallatin Valley and a glimpse of the Bridgers. It was a little hazy, which we blamed on California.Here we all are at the peak. The camera is looking Northish.Also, wildlife is awesome. These were both on the peak.Alfred giving a perfect example of the proper way to descend a snow-covered slope when skis are absent. Note the avalanche shovel, for safety. We descended in this manner almost all the way down to the lake (not the reservoir).When we got home we made a delicious pizza, but unfortunately couldn't find candles to put in it.
Happy Birthday, Kassy.