Music

2007 Music Year in Review

Continued from page 6

Many St. Louis musicians hightail it out of the city as soon as they can, in hopes that the sunnier pastures of Los Angeles or chillier climes of Chicago will be more welcoming than our fair city. Save a short stint in New Orleans, Son Volt founder Jay Farrar has lived in south St. Louis for the last 15 years, and he's not going anywhere.

"St. Louis is still very much a city of immigrants and that — coupled with distinctive, historic neighborhoods — makes for a good quality of life in my estimation," he says. "I'd rather be where the action is percolating, as opposed to where the action is hyped and purported to be."

That low-key attitude informs Son Volt's latest album, The Search. Issued earlier this year, the solid release finds jaunty horns and burbling organ adding soulful color to the band's trademark dusty alt-country and gentle twang. Farrar and a four-piece band toured heavily around Search this year; Son Volt also released a limited-edition, extended-vinyl version of the album, On Chant and Strum, and recorded a version of the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" for an ESPN commercial touting David Beckham's arrival in L.A.

Farrar's 2008 calendar looks fairly busy already: a few NYC solo shows early in the year, a spring Son Volt tour and the release of another Gob Iron record. (As a matter of fact, that band's Anders Parker reminded Farrar of a 2007 fave: PJ Harvey's White Chalk.)

Still, his packed schedule perhaps explains why Farrar goes out of his way to apologize that many of his 2007 favorites weren't released this year: "It usually takes six months for a new record to get to me, and then another six months of really letting it sink in, and by then it's often a different year."

Beck, "Strange Apparition."

"It seems Beck is always good to keep things interesting. I like it when he channels songs or artists, and this time it's the Rolling Stones song 'Torn and Frayed' spit back out as an idiosyncratic cautionary tale as seen through the windshield of a Mercedes Benz."

Lee Hazlewood

"Plenty of incongruous instrumentation and lyrical non sequiturs to ponder. [Son Volt guitar tech] Jason Hutto and I spent the better part of a five-hour drive from Chicago soaking up a Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra compilation. We found out the next morning that he had died the same day we were listening."

Jimmie Rivers, Brisbane Bop

"This CD was recorded live by the drummer. Is it Western swing or hillbilly jazz? I don't know, but to me it always sounds fresh and intriguing."

Richard Buckner, "Town"

"Richard makes good with this lyrical equilibrium-buster, fueled with a looking-back-20-years audio landscape."

Richard and Linda Thompson, Pour Down Like Silver 

"This was an 'album' when it was released in 1975, and to me it represents the idea of the 'perfect' album. I always listen straight through, and often listen to the whole thing twice in a row. The level of musicianship on this record is a marvel. And there is an element of mystery to it, down to the Sufi garb on the front and back covers."

PHOENIX

Diana Taurasi's Mercury Rising
By Niki D'Andrea

Two thousand seven was a stellar year for basketball star Diana Taurasi. The six-foot Phoenix Mercury guard helped lead the franchise (and the city of Phoenix) to its first-ever basketball championship, toppling defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock on its home court in the final game of their best-of-five series. The Mercury made it onto a Wheaties box, Taurasi re-signed a half-million-dollar deal to play in Russia during the off-season and now has one of sports Web site yardbarker.com's most popular athlete blogs at www.yardbarker.com/dianataurasi.

One of the reasons Taurasi's blog rocks is her candid banter about all sorts of things, but most often music — plus, she often carries on conversations about music with her fans in the comments section.

Because Taurasi's bundled up B-­balling in the former Soviet Union right now, here's some of her Yardbarker commentary on what rocked her world in '07.

Kanye West (posted 9-11-07)

"So here we are, on the eve of 9-11 — still at war — and we're presented with one of the most important questions of our generation: Kanye or 50?

"Really. Kanye. Seriously. I'm buyin' that one and burnin' a copy for the car. Is there really a comparison? Fiddy? Are there recording studios at Shady Acres? For real, 'Stronger' is the jam of the summer. While you can question the sunglasses indoors, you can't fight Kanye's creativity. I won't venture to say lyrical genius (nobody is touching 'Pac in my book, most likely ever...in life), but the guy has undeniable talent. I like him. In the wasteland of what has become hip-hop (who can even listen to the radio anymore?), Kanye delivers."

Alicia Keys (11-13-07)

"The Alicia Keys/Ross Hogg reggae remix? What do you think? I didn't think it was possible to improve on the original, but this is the joint! In short, it's dope. I'm also not sure smoovely is a word, but I think it's tremendous and I plan to use it. Smoove it out on the laptop. If somebody figures out how to download the thing, holllerrr."

(11-19-07)

"We left off at Alicia Keys. Did you hear her stage name was going to be Alicia Wild instead of Alicia Keys? Yeah. Good call on whoever told her to swap in Keys for the stripper surname. She's killing it right now, isn't she? Did you see the American Music Awards last night? If given the choice, I would have passed on that mess they had Beyoncé up there doing, but is it coincidence that Alicia had the reggae performance? I think not. She must have seen the massive response my blog got and decided to [go in] that direction. And who knew a unitard could be so fly. I suppose if you add Beanie Man to most anything, it's dope. If he performed at a Mercury game, I think I might dunk."

ORANGE COUNTY

Aquabat Christian Jacobs Gets Eastbound and Down
By Dave Segal

Christian Jacobs lives in a world of boldfaced, DayGlo images, a realm in which all sentences end in exclamation marks and fun is as common as oxygen. A founding member of the Huntington Beach, California, synth-pop-punk-ska band the Aquabats! and co-creator (with Scott Schultz) of new children's television show Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jacobs (a.k.a. the MC Bat Commander) assumes a cartoonish personae with earnestness, and revels in goofiness with as much gusto as Jay-Z and 50 Cent luxuriate in their self-­perpetuated, overblown mythologies.

As frontman for the Aquabats!, Jacobs and his bandmates don superhero garb as they act out a comic-book-style storyline in which the group combats evil through its damnably catchy and ludicrously peppy songs that fall somewhere between Oingo Boingo and Devo at their most accessible. They've been doing so since 1994, over four studio albums and several international tours.

Weathering several personnel changes since then, the Aquabats! continue to soldier on in their quest to subdue nefarious nemeses; to that end, they're currently recording a new album and touring ­sporadically.

Recently, however, Jacobs's time and creative energy also have been channeled into Yo Gabba Gabba!, which debuted on Nick Jr. in August and will be aired on the Noggin cable channel starting New Year's Eve. One of those rare kids' shows that appeal to adults, it's become a cult favorite, garnering much YouTube synergy. YGG! appears destined to launch its on-air talent, including DJ Lance Rock, Ricky Fitness, the toy monsters Brobee, Foofa, Muno, Plex and Toodee, and Jacobs himself, reprising his MC Bat Commander character into something verging on mainstream stardom.

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