Best Of 2009: By Emily Carney

Gogol Bordello at The Ritz in Ybor City, July 2009

Gogol Bordello put on a fantastic show despite the gymnastic theatrics of kiddie fans who only wanted attention and to “shock.” Ukrainian gypsy punk folk hero Eugene Hütz did not disappoint; his on-stage exuberance electrified the crowd for a full 90 minutes. The rest of the band gave it their all as well.

. . . And so did the crowd, unfortunately. I managed to leave with no fewer than 35 bruises on various parts of my anatomy from overeager crowd surfers. Despite all of this, I left happy and quite dazed, as the band happily greeted fans back at their tour bus and enthusiastically welcomed our requests for autographs and some music chatter. Everyone was overwhelmed by this superstar band’s European brand of generosity, both artistically and otherwise.

Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft finally releasing re-mastered hits

I had the rare opportunity to interview Robert Görl, one-half of the German duo Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF), for the March/April issue of Popshifter. I again extend my thanks to Robert for being a great interview subject. . . but enough of my fangirl blabbering. DAF released Das Beste Von DAF earlier this year and I was absolutely thrilled.

Even though I have all of DAF’s classic Mute albums (Alles ist Gut, Gold und Liebe, and Für Immer are the seminal “trio” the band released circa 1981-1982), it was great to hear songs like “Rote Lippen” and “Prinzessin” (my favorite DAF song ever, by the way) in re-mastered form.

According to Robert, he and singer Gabi Delgado haven’t ruled out making new music, so of course that generates excitement in all of us die-hards out there who remember stomping around in heavy black boots and dancing wildly to “Der Mussolini” as teenagers.

No Good For Me

For those obsessed with style, culture, and music, this website is an amazing find. I was excited to see references to Kevin Ayers, Stephen Malkmus, Duncan Browne, and Soft Machine within the same post a few months back. But they’re not hipsters: the ideas and references just reflect what the site’s contributors happen to be diggin’ on at the moment. Plus, their obsession with bad Beatles photos is always hilarious.

The style ideas on No Good For Me transcend the average “How to Make Your Body Look Thinner!” or even worse, “How to Make Your Nose Look Smaller (LESS ETHNIC)!” posts that most fashion web writers often resort to. Their treatises on teacher chic and the style of “sexy, lazy” writers are always inspiring.

Kittysneezes

This is another site full of great tastemakers, enormous artistic generosity, kindness, dignity, and an assortment of odd, interesting articles. The Webmaster has been nice enough to let me post some of my own rants/articles/random scattered and disjointed thoughts throughout the last year (SHAMELESS PLUG ENDS HERE).

Seriously, if you want to find articles that encompass subjects from Duran Duran to the travails of Alcoholics Anonymous, look no further.

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck’s “Heaven Can Wait” (from Charlotte’s upcoming album IRM)

This song sounds like something that Robert Wyatt would have dreamed up in the mid-1970s while smoking a cigarette and chilling with a glass of red wine. . . albeit with a more feminine touch, as actor/singer/generally amazing person and style icon Charlotte Gainsbourg does half of the singing here. This is certainly not a bad thing—the melancholic mood of the song is uplifted by soaring choruses and a horn section.

Ms. Gainsbourg, arguably the heiress to the of French Pop music throne, has a new album coming out in early 2010 called IRM (the reverse of MRI (that scary tubular machine) which references her terrifying brain hemorrhage in 2006 after a bad ski accident). Thus far the songs debuted from this record are as stylish and as straight-up trippy as Charlotte herself. This album will be on heavy rotation worldwide in 2010. Oh yes, and the video is quite amazing and mind blowing as well. . . see for yourself.

Honorable Mentions:

Marshalls, the discount store which generously sells perfume and smell-pretties at cheap-ass prices
Marshalls is a store that sells discount clothing and home items at ridiculously cheap prices. They also have an extremely impressive perfume section. Where else can you get Cacharel’s Anaïs Anaïs and Cabotine Rose by Grès for less than 30 bucks a pop? For those like me with fragrance OCD, this place is both HEAVEN and a total nightmare from hell because you want to buy everything there.

Humectant shampoo and conditioner by Suave. Yes, I know they test on animals (not cool), but the price is very cheap (less than $4.00 for huge bottles), plus the combination does wonders for chemically-processed hair. And it smells like Hawaiian coconuts, which makes you want to smell your hair all day long. It makes me feel like John Cale on the cover of his Caribbean Sunset album, lying down on a random beach breathing in island smells (on a side note, that was his most embarrassing album ever, but oh well…) Done with the insane recessionista talk. . .

For more of Popshifter‘s Best Of 2009 lists, go here.