The Year-end List

This time it is easy for me to identify the things I have heard, seen and done since the beginning of this year (2008), as there was a significant event in my life in January and I can clearly distinguish everything pre- and post-Jan’08.

In music, it was a comeback year for the album. I listened to more albums (start to finish) than in last 3-4 years, instead of listening to hit/single mp3s. I am glad that I did. Didn’t listen much of radio this year (almost nil), while 2007 was dominated by NPR and Worldspace.
Here is a list of some impressive albums I listened to in 2008 (most of them released before 2008)
1. Wilco- Sky Blue Sky (2007)
After hearing them on the Woody Guthrie Project, I picked this album which is a bunch of soft, melodious, piano and steel guitar driven songs.
2. P J Harvey – White chalk (2007)
Eerie. Harvey sings in a spooky tone throughout the album; piano driven rock and absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, I can’t play this album very often as its songs are centered on the theme of abortion; the darkness which the album successfully conveys through its music and words, which my partner and now even I can’t stand.
3. Pegi Young – Pegi Young
Neil Young – Chrome Dreams II
Both albums released in 2007, individually by the Youngs. Neil’s stuff is mostly from a long time abandoned project.
4. Johnny Cash – American Recordings III: Solitary Man (2000)
Started listening to this for the cover of Bonnie Billy’s I see a Darkness, but the other covers -One (U2), Solitary Man (Neil Diamond) and Mercy Seat (Nick Cave) - are equally good.
5. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I see a Darkness (1999)
Undoubtedly, my best find of the year.

Honorary mention: Fleet Foxes’ self titled debut. Haven’t listened to the whole album yet, but I liked what I heard. Winter Hymnal is a must-listen.
Update: I played the Fleet Foxes' album yesterday and realized that my fav tracks on this, as of now, is "Blue Ridge Mountains".

Albums I have listened to before but found a new dimension while listening to it this year:
1. Steely Dan – Aja
2. DMB – Live at Folsom fields
3. Allman Brothers – Live at Fillmore (A perfect weekend start would be having English breakfast and coffee listening to this album. No hurry at all!)
4. Dire Straits – On every street

Indian Music: I got addicted to Kathaklai music this year, which has a stunning percussion (Chenda and Edaikka); something you don’t find in Carnatic and Hindustani music. I realized that listening to Kathakali music is as good a treat as watching it.

And for books, not much of reading this year. Read two graphic novels which were outstanding. Sarnath Banerjee’s Corridor and Amrutha Patil’s Kari. The dark and disturbing Kari had more text than any conventional Graphic novel. Both, Banerjee and Patil, have contributed to the year-end special edition of Tehelka which has “Short Fiction” as its theme.

Books I wanted to read this year but never got to it (and will definitely read someday):
1. What I talk about when I talk about running – Haruki Murakami
2. Imagining India – Nandan Nilekani

My best find: Malayalam literary critic K. P. Appan. I picked up a book with the transcript of an interview with Appan-sir (as he is widely known) back in September and was craving to read his essays on The Bible (book titles given here are roughly translated from Malayalam), which I picked up this month.
1. “Bible – The armour of light” – His reflections on the Bible and its impact on his life.
2. “So Sweet, Your life” – Appan talks about the significance of Mother Mary in Christianity and introduces to Malayalees, a relatively unknown stream of thought in Christian studies– Mariology.
K. P. Appan passed away on Dec 15th 2008, 10 days before Christmas – a festivity he loved the most in his life, even though he was not raised a Christian.

Movies: The most memorable movie was In Bruges, which for me was “a perfect movie”. The AV Club reviewer sums it up: "When it's funny, it's hilarious; when it's serious, it's powerful; and either way, it's an endless pleasant surprise."

This year also marked the 10th anniversary of the Coen Brothers’ legendary, hyper-intellectual stoner noir film, The Big Lebowski.
The 2008 NYT article on achievers, here.

Outstanding Blog: Song of the Waves – Parayil A. Tharakan shares his view on current affairs, anecdotes and trivia on anything Keralan (flowers, spices, traditions) and it is frequently updated! A blog where every other post is a collector’s issue!

State of Pecos

I owe a lot to Pecos, the dingy little pub on Rest house road in Bangalore. I would be there at least 5 days a week, with my friend. We would drink flat beer by the gallon, eat Kerala beef and listen to the Dead, Steely Dan and Creedence for hours. We would check out by 11:30, come home and eat Maggi noodles for dinner.

The music system was the worst in town, but the music just the opposite. One day you could see Paul at the bar, next day he was gone. Elango, the pub manager, never cared much for guys without girls, so we didn’t care much for him either. Technology took over, they got a CD player. But they still played the tapes.

Years passed, my visits became less frequent- thanks to the traffic situation in Bangalore. In the last one year, probably I went there 10 times, and may be only once I could feel the good old Pecos. All the other days, they played the same music: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley-almost in the same order too! Though there were familiar faces in the waiting staff, the regular crowd was different – not just the faces, but the people too.

Pecos is history. Maybe we need a Rick Rubin to save Pecos - getting it back to where it once belonged. :)

For old times’ sake, let me compile a quintessential Pecos play list. Making a list of “singles” for Pecos would be blasphemous, as the tradition is to play albums – start to finish. But these are the songs that define Pecos (for sure, I would have missed many–I just put a cap at 10 songs).

1. Bad moon rising – CCR
2. Ruby Tuesday – Rolling stones
3. Truckin’ – Grateful Dead
4. Homeward bound – Simon and Garfunkel
5. Locomotive breath – Jethro Tull
6. Boston Rag – Steely Dan
7. Domino – Van Morrison
8. Free as a bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Riders on the Storm – The Doors
10. Heading for the light – The Traveling Wilburys

PS: I didn’t include any Jazz tracks here (pity, they don’t play Jazz anymore) and deliberately kept the Floyd, Zeppelin and Marley out.