A Year 2000 Wrap Up

As we approach the new millenium (the truth is that the first year of the new millenium is 2001), I am going to take this space to recognize certain individuals for the things that they contribute to our world that is melodic music in general, whether it be an artist, label head, writer, webmaster, fan or whatever they want to call themselves.

Labels

In the label category, you have to start with Bruce Brodeen at Not Lame. This year, his releases continued to be outstanding, from Ken Sharp's Happy Accidents to Doug Powell's Utopia/Rundgrenesque More to Myracle Brah's The Myracle Brah, a stunning Lennonesque soundscape that should quiet anyone who says that there were no good pop releases this year. What I see from Bruce is what I believe made him a visionary in the first place: his releases seem to be reaching beyond standard pop trappings. The melody is still there, but the artists are pushing the envelope with new sounds and styles of writing.

Consider Michael Carpenter's Hopefulness, a crisp, heartfelt melodic gem that merges a melodic sound for the new millenium with Brother-era Beach Boys influence. Of course, you have to mention the new Shazam CD, Rev 9, which to these ears sounds like a classic Faces CD with less blues and more melody. Is it pop? According to the Fufkin definition, yes indeed. If The Shazam had consistent exposure in the UK, they would be as big as Oasis.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the people at Parasol who this year have released Matt Bruno's Punch and Beauty, Bettie Serveert's sultry Private Suit, a great sampler including a beautiful June and The Exit Wounds and the great Shalini CD. Mitch Easter is one of the finest artists in the world notwithstanding his noteworthy production skills. Congratulations to Parasol, Shalini and Mitch on a very cool release.

You have Greg Dwinnell at EggBERT who released one of the best CDs of the year in Jupiter Affect: instructions for the two ways of becoming alice along with releases by the jigsaw seen and others. JA was significant to me because it brought back to us the immense talents of Michael Quercio, a gentleman who has delivered great songs over a career that spans decades at this point. Indeed, his past and present is a proud legacy.

To M'Lou delivered the surprise of the year in The Masticators. A great L.A. band equal parts Chrissie Hynde, Kiss, Gene Pitney, Lesley Gore, Tracy Ullmann and The Runaways. Sound impossible. It's not.

There's Permanent Press who proudly stands in Walter Clevenger's corner. Walter is an artist who understands the influence of Chet Atkins, Buddy Holly and early rock n roll on the music that we love. It seems simple, but simple songs like the ones written by the Marshall Crenshaws, Nick Lowes and Clevengers of the world are hard to write well. Mastery of simplicity makes Clevenger one of the best songwriters in the world, period.

You have Rainbow Quartz, last we heard working with Cotton Mather. Their next recording is a most anticipated release, and a band that could really become huge if this were a perfect world.

Jeremy at Jam Records had a great year as an online retailer and a label. Anna Borg at TallBoy released some excellent vinyl this year, all soon to be collectible.

In the alt country area, Bloodshot has blown me away all year. From the smoldering Blacks CD to the classic roots rock of The Riptones to Robbie Fulks, I have not heard a release that I didn't love. They deliver every time. Checkered Past should also take a bow with The Ass Ponys release. Not a label, but maybe even a bigger entity than that is Miles of Music. Their catalog is a comprehensive encyclopedia of alt country and roots music. A great online and mail order retailer.

In the garage area, Get Hip and Sundazed came through again. The Gants reissue on Sundazed was a real gem this year. Sundazed's whole reissue catalog is a treasure trove of recordings that I wasted most of my youth trying to dig up in used bins. You know what I'm talking about.

SubPop continued to be a major label pipeline for good music, with the Damon and Naomi CD and others. They have people that "get it" there, and it gives us all a little hope. Frigidisk put out a couple of excellent recordings this year with the newest Anton Barbeau and The Solipsistics. Franklin Castle rereleased the '60s classic by Margo Guryan. Gadfly contributed Robert Crenshaw, Kimberley Rew and Western Electric, all fine releases. Optional Art released a great summer song compilation, Burnt Marshmallows and Teeny Bikinis. SpinART continues to impress with the Apples in Stereo, while Brobdingnagian came through with The Guthries. Bullseye Records in Canada also had a fine year.

Major label congratulations should go out to Dreamworks for Elliott Smith's Figure 8, Capitol for doing justice to The Beach Boys Brother reissues, Columbia for Teenage FanClub's Howdy and for The Jayhawks Smile, Asylum for Kasey Chambers debut, and Rhino for being Rhino.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no conspiracy by major labels to keep good artists down. They just have to be picky about what they sign because the artists must ultimately sell lots of records. Lots of money is spent on Britney Spears because she sells records. Do they listen to Britney at home? Probably not. But the labels cannot afford to have even one recording that loses money in this corporate age. There are a few star major label A & R persons I could mention, but none of them need more unsolicited material, so they can read between the lines here. If you're involved with the above bands or labels, congratulations and thanks to you.

Artists

Other than the artists mentioned above, kudos to The Posies for busting their asses on a cross country acoustic tour. Joe Pernice worked hard this year, releasing Big Tobacco and a Pernice Brothers ep that he sold on tour. Both Big Tobacco and the ep are great. Brian Wilson gets an award for working hard on tour this year, bringing joy to so many people. Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, Jeff Foskett and the rest of Brian's band deserve a big thanks for being great musicians, and being the right kind of supportive personalities to allow Mr. Wilson to feel comfortable enough to take Pet Sounds on the road to our collective public benefit. Congrats to Frisbie for releasing a fine CD and inspiring more debate than the verbal sparring between Lincoln and Douglas.

For those not mentioned here, if you are reading this and you released a CD this year, you should be proud. To write, record, produce and manufacture your own recording is a herculean task whose payoff is sometimes only that you accomplished the task. To have made your recording is a far better alternative than to have sat back and wondered how it would have sounded. To proclaim that you could do it better without ever having done any recording is a tired tune. Perspective and a healthy admiration and respect for those artists that you really love comes from personal experience recording your own material, and these are things that have tremendous value.

Websites/Lists

The Audities list continues to be the barometer of what is "good" in the world of music. Only those with an informed perspective post and lurk here, and if you are a frequent poster, thanks for hours of reading and salient information. It is the best list serv on the internet thanks to Michael Coxe.

For website of the year, Sarah Zupko at PopMatters deserves the award. It is becoming the internet standard for music, movie and other pop culture e-zines. Having written for Ms. Zupko for over a year, I became inspired to design Fufkin.com in a similar organized, easy-to-navigate style free from excessive graphics and plug ins. There is a place for advanced web design, but if you want to reach the person who has a 14.4 modem on a 486 processor, html with small jpg images is the way to go. PopMatters is a beautiful site with impeccable design and content.

Claudio Sossi's Shake It Up website continues to be one of the most informative and beautiful examples of new media on the web. His informed writing is equalled only by his web design skills. Alan Haber must be mentioned for his Pure Pop site. His erudite reviews, along with the reviews of his staff will be sorely missed. Pop Palace should be recognized for its multiple reviews of the same release concept. I know I have read the reviews and have found them very objective and useful. Mike Nicholson's PopNet is still around. A very sad mention is the demise of Consumable Online. They were one of the first music 'zines of note on the web, and their writing was top notch. A void is left where they used to be. There's Cosmik Debris. A great e-zine.

You have Fufkin's own Kurt Hernon and his Bangsheet Online. If you read Kurt on Fufkin.com and like it, you'll love Bangsheet. Kurt is one of the best writers in America in my humble opinion even if he writes on Fufkin.com. Don't hold that against him. Gary Pig Gold of Fufkin.com also composed some excellent content on the internet this year in various forms. Fufkin.com's Kevin Mathews has outdone himself this year with Power of Pop. All of these sites are linked on our links page. If you have a question about any of these sites, send us an e-mail at david_fufkin@fufkin.com

Print Media

Jack Rabid at the Big Takeover continually inspires me with the diversity, quality and volume of music content. If a CD is good, it makes BT. If it's not in BT, well...it may not be worth looking for. Joe Joyce at Amplifier boasts some of the most knowledgable writers around, and this year marked some impressive issues. Mojo remains the standard upon which every glossy magazine is judged by me. My only complaint is that I don't have time to get through all of it. The content and design is pure eye candy. No Depression is still the first and last source of print media in alt country. Revolver shows promise, but I'd like to see a little more Barney Hoskyns and Jim DeRogatis, and less of a lot of what I saw in Issue 2. Please don't sell out to the man. Revolver is our only Stateside glossy print magazine hope. Tape Op is one of my favorite indie music/pro audio mags. It's like a dream to read about Neve pre amps next to music reviews next to engineer and artist interviews. Another example of media convergence. The sites above are linked either in the Links page or Music Reviews Page. If you have a question about any of these sites, send us an e-mail at david_fufkin@fufkin.com

Writers To Read No Matter What The Medium

David Bash, John Borack, Bill Holmes, Jim Derogatis (congratulations on the great Lester Bangs biography), Barney Hoskyns, Dan Epstein, J.R. Taylor, Dawn Eden, Rick Cornell, Wendy Shea, John Holcomb, Stewart Mason and any of the Fufkin writers deserve to be read and absorbed because they live what they listen to and write about.

Totally Unrelated But I Have to Bring It Up Area: Television Commercial of The Year

The demise of the hair band "Danger Kitty", and how poor financial planning forced them to take bar mitzvah gigs. The bored kid with the paddle and the rubber ball at the bar mitzvah is classic! So VH-1 Behind The Music!

A Final Note

I want to thank all the writers for a great month, and all of you who continue to visit and make us stronger. Please have a safe and happy holiday season. All the best this month and in 2001.

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