Jonny Leather’s 25 Best Concert Photos of 2009
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- Echo & The Bunnymen @ All Points West
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- Black Lips @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- Ponytail @ Bell House
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- Fucked Up @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- The Walkmen @ Summerstage
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- Thee Oh Sees @ Bell House
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- Elbow @ All Points West
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- Grizzly Bear @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- The Raveonettes @ Siren Festival
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- Ponytail @ WIllamsburg Waterfront
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- Crystal Antlers @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- Health @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- Gogol Bordello @ All Points West
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- Thee Oh Sees @ Siren Festival
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- Akron Family @ All Points West
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- Gogol Bordello @ All Points West
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- Motel Motel @ Market Hotel
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- The Dears @ Bell House
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- Apache Beat @ Santos Party House
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- OKGO @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
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- St Vincent @ All Points West
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- Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ Southpaw
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- Dirty Projectors @ Williamsburg Waterfront
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- Foreign Born @ Bell House
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- Mission of Burma @ Williamsburg Waterfront
Jonny Leather’s 100 Favorite Records of the Decade: 2000-2009
It's all arbitrary. Ask me again in a month and this list will be in totally different order, and a a few different records will be on the list. Actually, give me 5 minutes and this list would be different. This is just a list of my favorite records. I can't even imagine the procedure in ranking them as "best records of 2000s". I don't know if Kid A is the best record of the decade or how anyone would be able to measure something so subjective, but I know that I like Kid A better than any other record of the decade. I would love for publications such as Pitchfork, NME, and Paste to really elaborate on their processes in measuring the rankings of their year-end and decade-end lists, because to say something is the greatest album of an entire decade is a pretty huge honor. In other fields it's a bit less subjective to measure greatness. For example, Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player ever based on his superior stats and the awards and championships he won, but it's not that easy with music. Ranking music is like ranking food. We all have different tastes, and there are a lot of different categories that are tough to judge against each other. Sure, we all know Nickelback sucks and some burgers taste like hockey pucks, but how do we decide if one incredibly succulent steak is better than another? We can't really.
Jonny Leather's 100 Favorite Records of 2000-2009:
- Radiohead - Kid A
- The Avalanches - Since I Left You
- Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
- The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows
- Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
- The Arcade Fire - Funeral
- The Strokes - Is This It?
- Radiohead - In Rainbows
- Beulah - Yoko
- The Walkmen - You & Me
- The Wrens - Meadowlands
- Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
- Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
- Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
- Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
- Liars - Drum's Not Dead
- Fugazi - The Arguement
- Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
- Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
- Panda Bear - Person Pitch
- The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
- The National - Alligator
- Pulp - We Love Life
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
- Blur - Think Tank
- The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone
- Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
- At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
- Radiohead - Amnesiac
- Sigur Ros - Takk
- Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
- Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
- Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
- Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
- The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
- Wilco - A Ghost is Born
- Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
- The Dears - Gang of Losers
- Explosions in the Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
- Blonde Redhead - Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons
- The Veils - Nux Vomica
- The Libertines - Up The Bracket
- Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
- Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
- Nada Surf - Let Go
- Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
- Elliot Smith - Figure 8
- ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
- Shellac - 1000 Hurts
- Tomahawk - Tomahawk
- The Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love
- Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
- The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
- The Microphones - Mount Eerie
- The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
- Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Animal Collective - Feels
- Spoon - Gimme Fiction
- Bjork - Vespertine
- Motel Motel - New Denver
- Capybara - Try Brother
- Elbow - Cast of Thousands
- Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
- Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
- Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
- Walking Bicycles - GO
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- Hooray For Earth - Momo EP
- Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
- The Dears - No Cities Left
- The Veils - The Runaway Found
- TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
- Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
- Flaming Lips - Embryonic
- Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
- Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
- The Faint - Danse Macabre
- Hot Chip - The Warning
- The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
- Clinic - Internal Wrangler
- Man Man - Six Demon Bag
- Hot Snakes - Suicide Invoice
- The Microphones - The Glow pt 2
- Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
- The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
- Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
- Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
- Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
- The Joggers - Solid Gold
- Liars - Liars
- Black Mountain - In The Future
- French Kicks- The Trial of the Century
- Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone
- Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Built to Spill - There is No Enemy
- Destroyer - Rubies
- Beck - Sea Change
- Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers
Jonny Leather’s 25 Favorite Live Performances of 2009
I spend about 75% of my nights at concerts, watching bands I already love but also catching bands I've never heard before. A million things can go wrong with a performance, but when everything clicks a live performance can be a spiritually transcendent experience. A lot of factors beyond the performers control play into the experience. If you're in a crappy mood, tired, or in the mood for something different, in all likeliness you'll hate what you're seeing. When a band can somehow overcome all of these elements fighting against them, something magical happens, and that's why I spend so much time watching live performances. I'm not claiming that the following 25 performances were the best of the year, but they definitely were my favorite thanks to a mix of underlying circumstances, emotional states, and mostly great bands.
25. Paul Holmes (solo) @ Bell House
Opening band, Fugitive Souls were forced to cancel an hour before they were supposed to play after arriving to Bell House to find out that all of their gear had been stolen from their truck earlier in the day. Paul Holmes was at the venue to see friends Hooray For Earth and play a couple songs with them, but I was somehow able to convince him to play a solo set. With no time to prepare and no real plan when he took stage, Holmes played an incredible stripped down set that let his powerful voice shine.
24. Animal Collective @ Prospect Park
The combination of Animal Collective's bizarre electronic psychedelia and laying on a grassy hill staring at the stars with my biggest crush made for an unforgettable experience. I couldn't tell you what songs were played, or much about their actual performance, but I can tell you that I loved every second.
23. My Bloody Valentine @ All Points West
To watch a bunch of angry Tool fans cry for mercy during the earthshaking "You Made Me Realise," made it worth sludging through a day's worth of mud which led me me throwing away a pair of sneakers.
22. Grandchildren/Rad Racket @ Death By Audio
I was ready to leave but decided to wait to see if Grandchildren was an good. As soon as they played a song, I knew I wasn't going anywhere. And then they switched instruments and a member or two and played another set as Rad Racket. I was blown away.
21. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ Bowery Ballroom
I had no idea what I was in store for, but was instantly convinced Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will be stars in no time.
Read my full review for NY Press here.
20. Phoenix @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Best pop rock band of our time.
19. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ Bell House
Raw, energetic, and talented, Shilpa Ray is the frontwoman this city has been lacking.
18. Pete & The Pirates @ Bell House
About a half hour after this performance my life totally fell apart, but while the Pete & The Pirates played I was still on cloud nine.
17. Hooray For Earth @ Bell House
There's probably not a band I've seen more than Hooray For Earth this year, so picking one performance is hard, but with Paul Holmes joining them for this one, I think it was my favorite.
16. Harlem Shakes @ Southpaw
A triumphant return after a long hiatus.
15. The Walkmen @ Central Park
Best band in NY. Hamilton Leitheuser sang with an extra level of intensity that day.
14. Motel Motel @ Bell House
A perfect birthday isn't complete without a live set by my favorite unknown local band.
13. Echo & The Bunnymen @ All Points West
Playing most of the best songs they ever wrote, McCulloch and the Bunnymen informed the Coldplay fans what great British rock is all about.
12. Tallest Man on Earth @ Bowery Ballroom
How can one man with an acoustic guitar have such an incredible stage presence?
11. Thee Oh Sees @ Bell House
The perfect garage rock band, Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer displays a connection with his guitar like no other I've ever seen.
10. The Dears @ Bell House and Bowery Ballroom
Two nights in a row, I got to be present for the religious experience that was The Dears' opening number, "Saviours." Singer Murray Lightburn emerged in the crowd singing with soul-moving emotional depth, connecting with every person in the crowd.
9. The Drums @ The Annex
This performance singlehandedly got me out of a nasty funk, and put a smile on my face ten miles long.
8. Deleted Scenes @ Cake Shop
Grizzly Bear and Beach House might've played outside to a giant crowd earlier in the day, but Deleted Scenes played the best set of the day hours later in front of a very very small crowd.
7. Bling Kong @ Bell House
I somehow convinced this band to reunite just because it was my birthday, and although one member came down with swine flu hours before the set they pulled it off.
6. Unicycle Loves You @ Union Hall
After being struck by terrible misfortune in my life less than a day earlier, I nearly broke down when Unicycle Loves You dedicated future hit "Justine" to me.
5. HOLAS @ Bell House
How did I get an Indiana-based duo to drive across country to make their live debut? Well, the drummer just happened to be my older brother and it was my birthday.
4. Paul & The Patients @ The Studio
I still don't know what it was about that made performance so much better than other PATP shows but there was just an extra intensity in every guitar riff, every drum beat, and especially Paul Holmes' emotionally driven vocals.
3. Music Tapes @ Bell House
Julian Koster makes his concerts into something much more than a live music experience. They are imaginative events that are incredibly hard to describe. Amre Klimchak wrote a perfect description of the night here.
2. Your Vegas & Fugitive Souls @ Ronald McDonald House
It's not often you get to see a bunch of rockers play "Old MacDonald" while little kids climb up onto their laps and sing along. This was completely unforgettable.
1. Zambri @ 88 Palace
After dragging myself through a long day where I battled severe depression and a menacing hangover, I went home and took a nap, waking up just in time to run to 88 Palace (a performance space inside the Chinatown Mall). It's amazing I even made it to the venue, but was totally worth it when a quarter way through their set, Zambri dedicated their set to me. It's not every day I have a set dedicated to me. It was incredibly heartwarming, and the actual music performance was also amazing.
