Monthly Listening Post - January

Welcome to an expanded monthly music feature. In addition to posting the newest releases that I'm listening to, I'll also get more into other music news as well as concert and expanded album reviews. So here it goes:

Coachella's lineup is out today (finally) and it's pretty much what I expected. There are plenty of solid acts in the supporting slots but as usual the headliners don't do much. Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure don't make me want to go anymore than the quality of acts below them. Bonnaroo's announcement is Tuesday and the rumor mill is buzzing of two nights of Phish and Bruce Springsteen as headliners. I've never been much more than a casual fan of Phish and have seen them live (they're not bad) but I'm skittish about them at Bonnaroo. It's surely going to bring out the young fans who have never seen Phish before are going to come out, which in turn will bring out the drugs, and those who don't know how to handle themselves. I'm not against drugs, you can do 'em if you want, but I have no sympathy or patience for those who take more than they can handle. Still, if Springsteen is on the bill, it's an automatic go. And I hope some of those bands on the Coachella bill come to Tennessee in June.

The other big news for me in the music department is the Spring reunion tour for The Dead. A lot has been posted at Jambase among others complaining about the high ticket prices. It's the same old bitching and moaning by some in the "jam band" scene that if anything doesn't adhere to what some mythical standards are, they are labled corporate and a sellout. This has been a standard complaint of Bonnaroo, that they have sold out or gone MTV (which is complete BS) because they've moved beyond the base. This is reason number one why I've lost almost all my interest in that style of music, with The Dead the only real exception to that. The simple fact is that there is a demand for tickets. They have certainly earned the right to charge whatever they want. There are people willing to pay that price. I did. I was only fourteen when Jerry Garcia died, I never got to see the Grateful Dead live. This is the closest to that experience I could get. I will gladly pay the ticket price for that opportunity.

Enough with the ranting, here are the albums:

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound (Every year there is one album that I discover after posting my year-end list. This album, had I found it earlier, would have been a probably top ten album.)
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Bon Iver - Blood Bank Ep
Derek Trucks Band - Already Free