Unicycle Loves You: “Failure”  (redacted by request of the band. replacement song below, which is also great, but maybe you should just go buy the album in any case)

Unicycle Loves You: “Wow Wave Cinema”

The Hold Steady by Mark Seliger

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

- John Lennon

If a band’s albums are the musical path they choose to chart, their b-sides are often the unexpected detours that, I’d suggest, reveal a bit more about their tendencies than the thoughtfully recorded and carefully sequenced documents they release every two years or so. (Except for the White Stripes, who seemed to care not too much at all about being careful or deliberate.)

In the case of the Hold Steady, their debut is the hard-charging introduction, Separation Sunday is the ambitious mission statement, Boys and Girls in America is the beginning of the party, Stay Positive is the start of the come-down, and Heaven is Whenever is a band trying to figure out what to do next. The contemporaneous b-sides and ephemera, however, paint a different picture.

The oddest detour comes right at the beginning, with the 5 tracks included on the Australian edition of Almost Killed Me. I don’t know which songs were written when – it’s possible that all 5 of these songs predate the songs written for Almost Killed Me, hence their exclusion. Either way though, almost all of these songs, with the possible exception of “Milkcrate Mosh,” are superior to most everything on that album. They’re catchier, more fun, and arguably more lyrically deft. They’re also prescient, in a way, projecting much of the band’s future direction – “You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came to the Dance With)” would fit in perfectly on Boys and Girls and “Modesto is Not That Sweet” would slide in pretty nicely to replace a weaker number on Stay Positive (maybe “Magazines”). Meanwhile, “Curves and Nerves” is more of a look back at Lifter Puller than a look forward, and “Milkcrate Mosh” really deserves a proper spot on Almost Killed Me.

The Hold Steady: “Curves And Nerves”

Separation Sunday is the only Hold Steady record to be free of non-album tracks, which makes sense considering how carefully crafted it is.

Boys and Girls is the complete opposite of Almost Killed Me in that it’s the weakest crop of b-sides by far. Every song here makes total sense as a b-side and would displace something stronger on the album, with the possible exception of “Girls Like Status,” which enjoyed a bit of live exposure as well. All in all, the b-sides here are the lazy cousins of what is otherwise the Hold Steady’s strongest album and most purposful distillation of what they do – good time party rock with amazing lyrics.

The Hold Steady: “Girls Like Status”

Stay Positive is a rebound in the ephemera department, with one of their strongest songs so far in “Ask Her for Adderall,” even if it is a bit of a rewrite of “Same Kooks.” The other two are pleasantly boozy and right in the band’s wheelhouse.

The Hold Steady: “Ask Her for Adderall”

It’s a hopeful sign that the band’s weakest album would also spawn the best b-sides, collectively, since their debut – “Ascension Blues” is a speedy, riff-driven banger that would fit nicely between Separation Sunday and Boys and Girls, “Touchless” is textured and fantastic, and “Separate Vacations,” from the band’s iTunes Live EP is the best slow song they’ve done since, well, ever.

The Hold Steady: “Touchless”

In a way, Heaven is Whenever seemed to kind of close a circle – the Hold Steady have done everything that you could imagine being in their mission statement. And so the next step is maybe a little uncertain from a fan’s perspective – do they stretch out, make a throwback record, go full concept… who knows. In the meantime, we have the songs that didn’t quite fit in, but that are, collectively, as fun and satisfying as anything they every committed to LP.

Poster Children: “Chain Reaction”

The narrative for Attack on Memory is that it’s more abrasive, louder, less in thrall to traditional pop tropes, and I guess that’s true, but so far, Baldi (much like Spencer Krug, albiet with a completely different musical vocabulary) seems unable to make music that isn’t endlessly, riotously catchy. This is not a bad thing. And something that can be said for Attack on Memory vs. his self-titled sort-of debut is that the extended song lengths and more outré ambitions give his songwriting and gift for melody more time and space to develop. “Heartbeat” is amazing, as I’ve mentioned before, but it’s also barely a minute long – Attack on Memory is only 8 songs long, and while only one of the songs is actually “long,” the whole effect is bracing and not quite as breathless, this time around.

Anyway, although the whole thing is basically one long highlight, I particularly like “Separation” – a 3-minute instrumental that kind of reads like a mission statement for the record – “bash the shit out of everything in sight, but keep it catchy and tight.” It’s pretty amazing.

Cloud Nothings: “Separation”

Which is why this new Craig Finn record is such a pleasant surprise – it doesn’t sound unlike a Hold Steady record any more than an Extra Glenns (Lens) record sounds unlike a Mountain Goats record (i.e. not much at all) as much as it sounds like an interesting sidestep from the pressure of making a record under the appellations of those bands – the pressure to make something that SOUNDS like a Hold Steady record.

So if it isn’t different, exactly, it’s interesting in its non-difference – the lyrics sound like classic Finn, but almost like he’s auditioning a new cast of characters, to get free of the ones that have haunted Hold Steady songs for nearly a decade. And the music wouldn’t be out of place on a Hold Steady record, but here everything is just a little bit muted, letting things play out calmly – fewer fireworks and more meditation.

Its the kind of thing that, in the end, feels like a risky way to make what is, essentially, a risk-free gambit. After all, I doubt anyone really cared if Mick Jagger made a crap solo album as long as the next Rolling Stones album was good – in the end, these kind of albums are usually, by definition, for fans only. The trick Finn pulls here, in all it’s laconic pacing and soft-rock instrumentation, is to make an album that will actually satisfy those fans as much as if he were releasing a new Hold Steady record. Nice trick.

Craig Finn: “When No One’s Watching”

Mogwai: “White Noise”

M83: “Wait”

(my pick for best album 2011)

Cut Copy: “Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat”

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: “Belong”

Future Islands: “Before the Bridge”

Telekinesis: “You Turn Clear in the Sun”

Maritime: “Air Arizona”

Handsome Furs: “Memories of the Future”

The Joy Formidable: “The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade”

(recycled but still <3)

Explosions In The Sky: “Trembling Hands”

St. Vincent: “Cruel”

True Widow: “Skull Eyes”

Metronomy: “The Bay”

Cults: “Abducted”

Pete & The Pirates: “Winter 1″

Atlas Sound: “The Shakes”

John Maus: “Believer”

With that said – here’s Part 1 of Song-o-Matic’s end of year list:

1) The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck

Named after an apocryphal (read: made up) tarot deck and adorned with entirely three-word song titles, John Darnielle’s latest came calling with all his usual loose concept album trimmings. In the hands of a lesser songwriter, this would be a curse, but for Darnielle, it’s the way he constantly re-invents something that, honestly, would probably still be great without re-invention. This time around, the subjects are less focused but darker – the characters in All Eternals Deck are doomed and tragic, but as always, you can tell that Darnielle loves them. Highlights are many – from the alternate timeline Alpha Couple raver “Estate Sale Sign” to the delicate piano notes of “Damn These Vampires,” and the occasional sonic experiments are well-placed. Most importantly, throughout, Darnielle’s lyrics are as sharp as ever, and if All Eternals Deck doesn’t quite hit the heights of Tallahassee or Get Lonely, that should hardly be held against it. And I don’t.

The Mountain Goats: “High Hawk Season”

2) Telekinesis: 12 Desperate Straight Lines

For his second effort as Telekinesis, Michael Benjamin Lerner lost the exclamation point and some of the boundless summery enthusiasm of his first record, but then he also got a lot better at writing songs (which he was already pretty f-ing good at). 12 Desperate Straight Lines feels like a locomotive of pop hooks and chugging bass, with songs careening into each other while fighting for which one can be the catchiest. Lerner has said much of the inspiration for the album came from getting a new bass guitar and starting the writing process there, but honestly, if you couldn’t figure that out from listening, you should probably check your ears. Every song is propelled forward by the interplay of bass and drums – where Telekinesis! felt lush and warm and friendly, 12 Desperate Straight Lines is all taut energy and yearning, without sacrificing any of what made the first record great.

Telekinesis: “I Cannot Love You”

3) Cloud Nothings: s/t

There are albums that are conceptually satisfying, or intellectually stimulating, or have production quality that just blows you away… and then there are albums that are just fun. From start to finish, as fast as possible, as many hooks as can fit. There were a few albums that fit the bill in 2011, but the best of the bunch by far is the self-titled first full-length from Cloud Nothings. Guitars thrash through melodies, drums fly recklessly off the tracks, and the vocals are basically just another way to pack the hooks in. Lots of bands have more talent, but Cloud Nothings sound like they’re having the most fun.

Cloud Nothings: “All The Time”

4) Big Troubles: Romantic Comedy

The 90s were back in a big way in 2011, which I guess was bound to happen, but the nice thing about that is that even though there was plenty of bad music in the 90s, the parts that came back this year were the excellent parts – the hazy guitars of shoegaze, the companionable hooks of underground 90s guitar rock, even the appearance of a general lack of ambition that must be a signifier of a hell of a lot of ambition. Big Troubles has all these things – it’s not that Romantic Comedy breaks ANY ground, it’s that they took the things that were good about the 90s and made the kind of album that’s only possible with hindsight.

Big Troubles: “Misery”

5) Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital

6) The Dodos: No Color

7) Say Hi: Um, Uh Oh

8) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong

9) Wildlife: Strike Hard, Young Diamond

10) Weekend: Sports

• Wild Flag: s/t
• Moonface: Organ Music, not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped
• Beirut: The Rip Tide
• Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
• Los Campesinos: Hello Sadness

When I broke up with my girlfriend in 1995 and fell in love with someone else, I needed a soundtrack for driving around late at night feeling elated/sorry for myself/whatever. Because it’s downbeat and beautiful and lonely, but still driving and melodic, that void was filled by Seam’s Am I Driving You Crazy, but that’s not my favorite Seam album. That title belongs to The Problem With Me, about which, I have often thought to myself, “I don’t understand how anyone could not like this album.”

I’m older now, and I do sort of understand how someone could not like The Problem With Me, although mostly I think it could be summed up by “bad taste.” Seam occupies a weird space in 90s indie rock – never really that popular, not quite sensitive enough to be emo, not quite loud enough to be post-punk, but some of the most beautiful use of guitars and space I’ve ever heard.

I remember being in the shower in the house I shared with my best friend at the time as he played “Bunch” as loudly as he could and just feeling the bass pass through my body as it slammed through the room. I remember seeing them live in Sacramento and being awed at Soo-Young Park’s pedal board. I remember seeing them in San Francisco and having my ears ring for days afterwards, and also spending several early morning hours in downtown SF due to having our car locked in the garage that we didn’t realize would lock up at 1am. I remember (obviously) getting a tattoo of the golf flag on the CD of The Problem With Me. I’m not super nostalgic about music in general, but listening to Seam always gets me, just a little.

Seam: “Rafael”

Fact 2: they will be coming to Orlando in January, and I live there, and this is good news on a number of levels.

Fact 3: their best album, Tallahassee (no arguments entertained) will have been released 10 years ago next year.

Fact 4: the syntax of that last sentence is a little tortured.

Fact 5: I’m not going to fix it.

Fact 6: a wise man named, improbably, Blade Barringer is putting together a compilation called Tallahassee Turns Ten to celebrate this fact, and he would like the support of all right-thinking people who value the input of John Darnielle in their daily lives.

Fact 7: you can contribute (and should, as I will) to his kickstarter campaign here.

Fact 8: I will be recording a cover of “See America Right” to submit for consideration for this compilation. We’ll see what happens there.

Fact 9: I have covered the Mountain Goats before, to, I think, reasonably good effect. You can listen to that here.

Fact 10: now is a good time to listen to a Mountain Goats song. Perhaps this very excellent b-side from the “Palmcorder Yajna” single? Ok then.

The Mountain Goats: “Butter Teeth”

The Afghan Whigs: “Mr. Superlove”