(Sometimes) Sunny California

I've spent most of the last two weeks in California. I miss my apartment.

Flew out here (Orange County) Monday for a client visit. Came back Thursday night and went straight to volleyball and then some beer & wings at Zipps, and then straight to bed. The next morning I went to work for my usual 7AM Friday meeting (ouch), worked all day and went straight to Enotria for another evening of sophisticated debauchery. (Can't decide which of those teo last words is more filled with irony...)

Saturday morning I flew out to LA with two of my wine buddies for a Bordeaux tasting at the Hyatt. It was an incredible event. During three hours I tasted 99(!) different wines - all of them from 2005 or 2006; most of them red, a handful of whites, and about 20 dessert wines. And, I actually skipped about half of the wines.

After the event we went to Manhattan Beach for a nice dinner at Mangiano's. We didn't have a reservation and they were fully booked but my friend managed to somehow sweet-talk the hostess into a table. We shared a great tuna tartare as an appetizer. The main course was less memorable - I can't even remember what I had. When we were there it was too dark out to see it, but we could smell the ocean and I later learned we were merely steps away from it: Google StreetView

Sunday I explored Long Beach. There's a nice, but touristy, area called Shoreline Village with some restaurants and shops overlooking the small-boat harbor. You also get a good view of the RMS Queen Mary - the retired ocean liner, now turned into a museum and hotel.

Then, I've been back at work in Irvine this week and am looking forward to going home tomorrow. Yeah, I miss my apartment. And my bed.

So, sunny California? Well, sometimes. We've had a lot of overcast weather and this week has been downright chilly. Last week was nice and in the 70s (20C+) every day, but this week we only hit 50s (10C+) and I totally wasn't dressed for that. And, having made the flight here from Arizona many times now, it seems like at least half the time it's clear to the ground until we cross the mountains and after that it's a thick cloud cover as far as the eye can see. On the other hand, they have green plants here. And mudslides, earthquakes and enormous annual wildfires. It's a tradeoff.

My Top 2008 Albums

Ok - so a couple of weeks ago I posted the top 10 new albums in 2008 based on what I listened to the most. Well, now I've compiled my list of top 10 favorite albums of 2008. And, this time I've limited them to albums actually released in 2008. Here we go:

1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2. Emilíana Torrini - Me and Armini
3. Portishead - Third
4. Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
5. Robin Lore - Fickle Girl
6. Frida Hyvönen - Silence is Wild
7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
8. DeVotchKa - A Mad & Faithful Telling
9. Brazilian Girls - New York City
10. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

And, here's a little something about each of the Top 5:

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Apparently, they describe their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams" and I can't improve on that description. But, what an impressive debut! I got the album in July and it's been in constant rotation ever since. I maintain a playlist where I keep my new music until I tire of it or decide I don't like it, and most songs drop off within the first several weeks, but a mighty seven of the eleven tracks are still there with no sign of dropping off any time soon.

My favorite songs: White Winter Hymnal, Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, Oliver James.

Emilíana Torrini - Me and Armini

Like many people, I first discovered Emilíana in the movie theater; during the end credits of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which featured the heartbreaking Gollum's Song. I sought out and enjoyed the popular, but uneven, 1999 album Love in the Time of Science (you've got to appreciate the García Márquez reference), and I absolutely loved her cover of Jacques Brel's If You Go Away, but then she got lost in the shuffle until Me and Armini. It's a great album overall, and I never seem to tire of her playful and engaging voice.

My favorite songs: Fireheads, Ha Ha, Jungle Drum.

Portishead - Third

The first time I heard Portishead in college (in 1994) I thought it was some of the strangest music I'd ever heard. In my infinite idiocy, I quickly dismissed Dummy and it wasn't until three years later when a Swedish friend told me I had to listen to the follow-up album Portishead. He said: "you're not going to get it at first, but don't give up, because when you do it will change your life." Well, long story short, he was right. The first two studio albums, and the 1998 live-album Roseland NYC Live (with the NY Philharmonic Orchestra strings), comprise the tightest collection of hauntingly beautiful music I've ever heard. Each track leaves me, to steal a phrase from Ani DiFranco, shivering and stunned.

Third is the first new album from Portishead in a decade and, needless to say, my expectations were atmospheric and, hence, impossible to meet. After listening to the album about a dozen times after its April release I concluded that it was a good album, but nowhere near the heights of their previous efforts. I shelved it and didn't think much of it until songs started coming up on my iPod shuffle several months later, and I absolutely loved them. I'd thought it wasn't what I was looking for, but, again, there was an incubation period, of sorts, before I was ready for it. I still haven't come around enough to put it in the same category as the other albums, but it's still growing on me and I'm looking forward to a beautiful friendship.

My favorite songs: Does not apply to Portishead

Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too

First of all, what a great title for an album. I discovered Martha by listening to her brother Rufus. If you're not familiar with his work, he's worth checking out as well: probably best described as chamber pop with bits of opera, show tunes and jazz standards. For example, in 2006 he paid tribute to Liza Minelli's classic 1961 comeback concert at Carnegie Hall by recreating the entire show song-for-song.

As on several of his other albums, Martha appears as a guest vocalist, and caught my attention so this summer I checked out some of her solo work, and I've now come to enjoy her more than her brother. While Martha generally stays within the acoustic folk rock genre, her dynamic and emotional voice captures your attention and wins you over with its intensity and beauty.

My favorite songs: Bleeding All Over You, Jesus and Mary, Tower Song, In the Middle of the Night

Robin Lore - Fickle Girl

I went to two Ani DiFranco concerts this year and both of them were phenomenal. At first I didn't know she would come to Phoenix so I got tickets at the Orpheum i LA in April. Then, she announced the rest of her tour, which included Phoenix, so I went to a second show in September. Robin Lore opened for Ani at the Phoenix show and I was immediately intrigued by her expressive, sometimes broken, voice.

A few days later Robin played at the Old Town Scottsdale Borders bookstore so I went to check it out. The audience consisted of some Borders staff, about five other customers and me, which made it a very intimate experience. She'd brought copies of Fickle which I bought (and Robin signed) and I've been listening to it since.

My favorite songs: Nothing in my Closet, I Don't Know Why, Fickle Girl

Honorable Mention (albums from 2008 that didn't quite make the top 10):

• Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
  
• Lykke Li - Youth Novel
  
• Duffy - Rockferry
  
• Sun Kil Moon - April
  
• Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
• Sia - Some People Have Real Problems
  

Also Worth Mentioning (found in 2008, but released in 2007):

• Oh Laura - A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed
  
• Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
  
• M.I.A. - Kala
  
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago [Edit: I learned later that this was actually released in 2008. My ID3-tags said 2007. Had I known when I created my list it would probably have snuck in behind Vampire Weekend.]