What popular keyboardist has children’s music in constant rotation? What band thought everyone played great at Wakarusa? Who boils the past twelve months down to the word hipster? Read on to find out…
Also, be sure to read Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four of our Auld Lang Syne series to see what Widespread Panic, Galactic, Drive-By Truckers, Danny Barnes moe., Brett Dennen, Tea Leaf Green, Railroad Earth, Rouge Wave, Dodos and a number of other musicians have to say about the past twelve months.
KYLE HOLLINGSWORTH (STRING CHEESE INCIDENT)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Balloon boy—I knew that kid was hiding somewhere.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Children’s CDs. My little one has me listening to Putumaya compilations all the time, like every hour of every day.
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
I saw a lot of great music at Rothbury this year. Also the Flight of the Conchords show at Red Rocks was cool.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Ryan Montbleau and Euforquestra rock!
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Man that is hard, but I think I would say Radiohead.
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FUZZ (DEEP BANNANA BLACKOUT, CARAVAN OF THIEVES, TOM TOM CLUB)
What will you remember most about 2009?
My first earthquake. I was in Tokyo for Summer Sonic Festival with Tom Tom Club. That and MJ’s passing of course.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
It is always changing but I think Decembrists’ Hazards of Love got quite a few spins
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Cirque Du Soleil – Kooza in NYC
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Not sure…Caravan of Thieves is emerging, so look out!
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
These guys seemed to be everywhere I turned for the past ten years: White Stripes, Coldplay, Wilco
JEFF COFFIN (THE FLECKTONES, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Is it 2009 already? What happened to 2008?
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
All the DMB music I was learning all year long. That and the new Rokia Traore CD Tchamantche. I think this is an incredible recording.
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
My tours with DMB, the Flecktones & the Mu’tet were really great in 2009, and I feel very lucky to be able to make music with such great musicians! In particular, playing the Montreux Jazz Festival and Fenway Park with DMB were highlights for sure. Playing with the Tuvan throat singers with the Flecktones was very special. I also had the opportunity to play some original music with the Mu’tet as well as doing lots of clinics and working with young players too…I enjoyed those a lot.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Alash Ensemble…throat singing from Tuva! This is some of the most beautiful and haunting music I have heard. If you have not heard them, you have no idea how incredible they are….
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
For me…Bettye LaVette, Oumou Sangare, Radiohead, The Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, Charles Lloyd, Dafnis Prieto, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Bert Wilson, Alice Coltrane…
AMY JACQUES (RELIX, COPY EDITOR)
What will you remember most about 2009?
-Phish reunion at Hampton, String Cheese reunion at Rothbury, adventures with the pham (esp. at The Gorge); also, Obama’s inauguration as president, Michael Jackson’s death, news going viral via social media
What album or album appeared most often in your iTunes?
Hockey – Mind Chaos, Harlem Shakes – Technicolor Health, Passion Pit EP – Chunk of Change, Avett Brothers – I and Love and You, Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk, Wilco – Wilco (the album), Phish – Party Time; (also – King Sunny Ade, Yeasayer, The National, The Clash, The Octopus Project, Cloud Cult, The Whigs, Widespread Panic)
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Phish at The Gorge, the Dark Was the Night benefit at Radio City, Allman Bros 40th Anniv. shows at The Beacon, David Byrne at Radio City, DBT and Booker T/Band of Horses/Hockey at Bonnaroo, Phish at Fenway Park
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Hockey, Fanfarlo, Brazos, Pretty Lights, The Whigs, Toubab Krewe
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
The Strokes, Radiohead, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Wilco, MGMT, The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Outkast, U2, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon
TODD NANCE (WIDESPREAD PANIC)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Touring with the Allman Brothers
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Bloodkin
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Panic’s show in Oakland
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Band of Horses
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WENDY DARLING BAND (GROUP RESPONSE)
What will you remember most about 2009?
Hipsters
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Lil’ Wayne— The Carter III
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Wanderlust
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Company of Thieves/Rachel Goodrich
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Kanye West, Lil Wayne
PETER SILBERMAN (THE ANTLERS)
What will you remember most about 2009?
I will remember that by the time the year ended, my entire life had changed. Everything.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Low – The Great Destroyer
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Though it wasn’t our best show by a long shot, my favorite was, mere hours beforehand, getting the call to play the Walkmen / Beach House show at Webster Hall in May. That was the beginning of many months of insanity.
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Holly Miranda.
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
It has been a very long decade….I don’t know that there’s a single artist that ties it all together, though it sort of seems as though Arcade Fire & Animal Collective are those bands—at least in indie rock.
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AARON KAYCE (JAMBASE.COM)
What will you remember most about 2009?
The collapse of our economy and the restructuring of The American Dream. Things won’t ever be the same.
What album or albums appeared most often in your iTunes?
Broken Side of Time – Alberta Cross
Dark Night of the Soul – Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
There Is No Enemy – Built to Spill
Crack The Skye – Mastodon
Mountain Meadows – Elliott Brood
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
Them Crooked Vultures at The Fox in Oakland, CA
The Mars Volta at Outside Lands (and anywhere else I saw them)
And I saw one of the best Widespread Panic shows I’ve seen in years on Friday 11/13/09 at The Fox in Oakland, CA
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Big Light and Yeasayer
What artist or artists will be most synonymous with the past decade?
Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, Jack White, Wilco, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Kanye West and Jay-Z
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BOOMBOX (GROUP RESPONSE)
What was your favorite show or tour in 2009?
The first night of All Good was all good, Wakarusa—everybody played great, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer at Trinumeral
What emerging band should readers watch out for in 2010?
Two Fresh, Grown Folks Band, and MC Sparkplug.
