Hobo Keith 2014: Transmissions from Inside the Cardboard Box

The homeless one is back with a new outlook on life. The man did what he could to park his humble, corrugated abode outside the windows of anyone who listened to music, pulling his best-of list from whatever his roughshod ears could garner. It's like aural "On the Road". Enjoy! 

10. Secret Sisters – Put Your Needle Down (April 15)

Two sisters with immaculate voices sounding at times uncannily like the Everly Brothers doing country and folk standards. This should be better than it is, but I think the problem lies mostly in the choice of material they do. Although they were given an unfinished Dylan song from 80’s to record (likely due to their connection with T-Bone Burnett). So it can’t be all bad, can it? Ultimately, a bit of a let down but half the album or so is killer.

9. Guardians Of The Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (July 29)

Not sure if this actually counts or not since it’s not new music but a collection of old songs, but I don’t give a fuck. This soundtrack almost created as much buzz as the movie and that’s saying a lot for previously released 70’s AM gold type of music. It was everywhere at the end of the summer. I never seemed to care about most of the songs on here previously, but somehow the context of the movie made me want to listen to them more. Job well done, James Gunn job well fucking done.

8. She & Him – Classics (December 2)

When I first heard She & Him were doing an album of standards with a 20 piece orchestra, I got really excited. The end result was not exactly what I had thought; I was expecting sweeping strings on everything and old songs that I actually knew.  Neither of those are true, the sound ended up involving more horns and such which is fine and all just not exactly what I hoped for. It’s a fine album over all, very low key and laid back which makes it a pretty perfect Sunday morning album. They’ve been on the downward swing over the last 3 albums but this is an enjoyable listen never the less.

7. Olivia Jean – Bathtub Love Killings (October 14)

She was the lead singer/guitar player for a garage pop band full of hot goth chicks that I liked called The Black Belles (see my 2011 list). They only made one album so this is the next best thing. Olivia is in the Third Man Records house band (Jack White’s label) and plays guitar and other instruments on most recordings they put out. That being said this album kind of sounds like Jack White lite, which I’m strangely ok with it. Cool hooks, lots of guitar, macabre lyrics and a lot of pure awesomeness. 

6. Black Lips – Underneath the Rainbow (March 17)

At first I was disappointed with this album compared to their previous 2011 album, Arabia Mountain (possibly their best) but it’s grown on me a bit. This is another fun drug fueled 60’s garage rock stomp. It’s worth it alone for the first 3 songs. There are usually 2 singers that dominate the album, but this time a third singer gets a huge chunk of the songs and he’s not nearly as good as the other two. This might be part of the problem, also the song “Do The Vibrate” with the hook, “put your phone in your crotch and set on vibrate”. Yea.

5. Foxygen - …And Star Power (October 14)

This album is a glorious mess. I was pretty thrilled when Foxygen announced they were doing a double album and simultaneously released the sublime single “How Can You Really” so soon after their awesome first album.  This is a complicated but often fantastic album. I applaud these guys for purposely crafting an entire experience, something that is benefitted from listening to in one whole sitting. That seems to be a lost art these days. I would have preferred an album of just the pop hits, but the darker noise pieces help put things in perspective (it sounds even better if you’re listening to the thematically structured sides of vinyl).

4. Velvet Underground – The “Lost” 1969 Album (November 24)

Well this is a weird one. This album was recorded between the 3rd Velvet Underground album (self titled) and Loaded. The band recorded master takes but were ultimately dropped by their label who got to keep said takes. These tracks were eventually released in the 80’s spread out over the compilations VU and Another View and prior to that many of the songs had ended up being re-recorded and released by Lou Reed. I also had meticulously researched which tracks were supposed to be on this a few years ago had made my own playlist for it. It’s nice to finally get a whole version of it (this is part of the Velvet Underground album deluxe box set) with original mixes that helps bridge the gap between the 3rd and 4th albums. While it’s easily the most dispensable of all their studio work there is certainly a lot of charm to it and some fantastic tracks. I have a serious obsession with the song Andy’s Chest, which I’ll admit may cloud my judgment for this album. 

3. Jack White – Lazzaretto (June 10) 

I was really anticipating Jack White’s first solo album and was ultimately disappointed by Blunderbuss. It just wasn’t what I had been hoping it would be. So when Lazzaretto was released I was skeptical. By the time I listened to the second song/title track I knew this was a different beast. This was the album I had expected him to make all along. It has a much more seamless integration of country music into his signature sound. I’m a fan of any album that can reference Columbo in the lyrics…

2. Woods – With Light & With Love (April 15)

A close contender for #1 and it would have been if the bombshell that is my first choice wasn’t dropped out of nowhere. It’s got 60’s pop melodies, cloaked in pedal steel country flavor with tons of psychedelia.  This album was made for me. These guys have evolved from purposely shitty lo-fi bedroom freak folk recordings to subtle pop grandeur. Looking forward to hear what they put out next.

1. Bob Dylan & The Band – The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete (November 4)

Do I need to elaborate? I’ve been waiting a good 15 or so years for this. While I did have a bootleg that had about 80% of this unreleased stuff collected that had been circulating over the years this is a dream come true. Getting it all in one place in the best possible fidelity with tons of songs no one (no matter how hardcore of a collector you were) had ever heard. The release was a complete out of nowhere surprise and lives up to the hype. It was very rare for the Dylan camp to release a bootleg series entry in back to back years (i.e. never). Totally worth it just to hear 150(ish) songs with Robbie Robertson playing guitar on.