The second installment in the 2009 edition of our annual Auld Lang Syne series features reflections from a range of musicians, writers and Relix staffers. Which member of moe. had a kick ass 40th anniversary party? What rising band spent time on the road with the Flaming Lips? Who figured out how to use an iPhone? Scroll down to find out and be sure to click here to read the previous installment of Auld Lang Syne
JO JO HERMANN (WIDESPREAD PANIC)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Musically, the thing I will remember most about 2009 is meeting and jamming with Alfred “Uganda” Roberts at UNC Chapel Hill. He was Professor Longhair’s conga player on all those records I grew up listening to. Playing the old Fess tunes with him was an experience I will never forget.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
My I tunes file filled up this year with every single track ever recorded by Dr. John. I delved into his music and life this past year, and discovered why he’s one of the greatest and most important musical artists ever.
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
I play in a band called Widespread Panic and we toured with the Allman Brothers last fall. Sitting in with the band while Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks were jamming out on guitars ten feet in front of me was unreal.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
I attended Bonnaroo for the first time as a fan wandering from stage to stage and I got turned onto two bands that really blew me away and took away my “it’s all been done” jadedness instantly. They played back to back on the Which Stage. They were Band of Horses and Andrew Bird. I play their records over and over, as do many of your readers I’m sure.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
There’s only one band that can claim the title to “band of the decade” which is probably obvious to everyone—Radiohead
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LOGAN KROEBER (DODOS)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Probably recording Time To Die (our third record). That will be the biggest accomplishment of the year I’m sure. But I’ll probably reminisce most about skating the Potrero Park in San Francisco with my friends then meeting our wives/girlfriends at the bar down the street and eating po’ boy sandwiches with an Abita amber ale.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
I looked at the playcounts on my itunes before we left on tour and it looks like the song “Gust Of” by The Album Leaf has a crushing lead. It’s been the first song on a sleep time playlist my girlfriend and I have had for over five years. For everyday listening this year I bet it’s either Sunday Coming by Alton Ellis or the Pop Ambient comp from 2008.
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Our American tour with The Ruby Suns was probably my favorite tour, but as a spectator our current crew in Europe just went to the Le Guess Who festival in Utrecht, Holland. Highlights were seeing The Very Best and The Field with a live band.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Megafaun. We just finished playing a bunch of shows with those guys and I’ve never seen a band with such a gentle approach get a crowd to shut up, absolutely silent, and tune in to what the band is doing so well. I think they’ll be pretty busy next year.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Animal Collective. There are other contenders (Interpol, M.I.A., Arcade Fire, dozens more I’m sure) who put a stamp on the decade, but AC were this constant, evolving presence that has continued to grow in fascinating ways up until the final buzzer of 2009.
VINNIE AMICO (MOE.)
What will you remember most about 2009?
My 40th birthday party….
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Green Day at MSG
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Them Crooked Vultures.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Probably Springsteen
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JOSEPH D’AGOSTINO (CYMBALS EAT GUITARS)
What will you remember most about 2009?
I will remember most vividly stepping onstage at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July and opening Saturday’s proceedings with the first track from our record. I can’t really say how many people were there, but it was surely the largest audience we’d played in front of up until that point and the largest since.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
I so rarely find myself sitting at a computer listening to music, but I would estimate that my most listened-to records were Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen, Microcastle/ Weird Era Cont. by Deerhunter, Either/Or and New Moon by Elliott Smith, The Evening Descends by Evangelicals, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, On Fire by Galaxie 500, Songs For A Dead Pilot by Low, Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear, Any Other City by Life Without Buildings, April by Sun Kil Moon and a bunch of other stuff.
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Favorite tour…Our American tour with The Pains in Sept. and Oct. was everything a first tour should be.
Favorite show… the second night we opened for The [Flaming] Lips in London, unquestionably.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
I am not the right person to consult. I’ve had my head in my ass and my ass in a van for pretty much the whole year.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Wilco, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Radiohead
TIM CARBONE (RAILROAD EARTH)
What will you remember most about 2009?
The election of Barack Obama as President.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Right now it’s Buddy & Julie Miller’s Written In Chalk
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Opening for the Allman Bros. at Red Rocks and being asked to sit in with the Bros. What’s not to love?
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
I’m not sure you’d consider them “emerging” as both have been around for a little while but both Great Lake Swimmers and The Low Anthem are on my radar.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
I guess excluding the obvious (U2, Radiohead, etc.) I’d say Conor Oberst for the shear ubiquitous factor.
COLE BOYLE (RELIX, VICE PRESIDENT SALES & MARKETING)
What will you remember most about 2009?
The fact that it won’t happen again! Viva 2010!
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
In no particular order…
Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health
Jessica Lea Mayfield – With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
M. Ward – Hold Time
Taylor Swift – Fearless
Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
In no particular order…
Phish – Hampton
Dead Weather – Outside Lands Music Festival
Phoenix – Bonnaroo
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Wellmont Theater
Aretha Franklin – Radio City Music Hall
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
In no particular order…
The Futurebirds
Harlem Shakes
Justin Townes Earle
Sean Bones
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
When I am old and gray, I think I will remember the artists who made me dance, laugh and sing through the good and bad and will look fondly back at the artists who used their star power for good – bringing NYC back to life after 9/11, rallying around New Orleans after Katrina, campaigning for political candidates, fighting hard to keep the arts in schools and so on and so forth. This decade saw the artist as activist come back in a big way and that is what I take away from the music of this decade.
ZACH ROGUE (ROGUE WAVE)
What will you remember most about 2009?
I stopped getting lost all the time. Got an iphone. Also, I gave up eating meat. Good riddance. I started using Twitter. I twote. I lived in Mississippi most of the year. I had a dream and saw most of my future laid out before me, woke up, and forgot most of the dream. Most of the really high-growth, open-hearted significant stuff I won’t tell you, though. It’s none of your damn business. Plus, that would give away most of what I’ll be up to in 2010.
What album or albums appeared most often in your itunes?
The Big Pink A Brief History of Love, The Clash London Calling, Monsters of Folk, Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Tim Hardin _Collection _, Beach House Devotion, Deerhunter Microcastle, Richard Hawley Coles Corner, The Horrors Primary Colours, The XX/XX, Two Sheds EP, John Vanderslice Romanian Names
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
I was in the studio or at home working on our record for most of the year, so really this was a year of me missing almost every show I wanted to see. Would have been nice to have caught Wavves or Animal Collective in Oxford, MS when we were there recording, but I missed both of those by 1 day. I really liked hearing Two Sheds at a street fair in SF. It was one of those beautiful summer days in SF, where people walk around smiling, kissing each other, drinking obscure coffee, and sort of patting themselves on the back a bit because the music scene in SF is so deep and endless.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Seems like girls will be exploding. You can sort of taste it in the water. I’ve got a feeling Wavves have the ability to make something pretty fantastic. But really, our new album drops 3/2, and isn’t that what most readers are watching out for?
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Modest Mouse, Animal Collective, Rogue Wave, Shepard Fairey, Danger Mouse, Rogue Wave, The Shins, Jack White And All Of His Pets, Rogue Wave, Flaming Lips, Wes Anderson, Rogue Wave, Spike Jonze, Sophia Coppola, Rogue Wave, Arcade Fire, TV on The Radio, Rogue Wave, Judd Apatow, Whatever Evil Person Created Any/All Of Those Law And Order/CSI Shows, Rogue Wave, JJ Abrams, Kevin Drew, Collin Melloy, And Rogue Wave
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DEANNE “SUPER DEE” BERKOWITZ (JAMBASE.COM, CID ENTERTAINMENT)
What will you remember most about 2009?
I got married. So did a few of my best friends. Oh! And Phish came back!
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Avett Brothers I And Love And You
Wilco Wilco (The Album)
Lonely Island Incredibad
Beyonce I am Sasha Fierce
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Phish.Summer.Tour.2009.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Phish? Just kidding. Furthur? Just kidding again (not really).
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Jay Z / Beyonce, My Morning Jacket and Ryan Adams So, what do we call this decade, anyway?
