Then I drank my coffee / and listened to records. / And when I say records, / I mean mp3s.

December 20, 2012 9:43 AM

The year's finest one minute and fifty-two seconds of rock'n'roll: crunchy and childish, clever and determined, the work of a dynasty that will take over every palace in the land. – Said the Gramophone on Birthdays by The Mouthbreathers
posted by Rory Marinich (15 comments total)

The entire album is great, by the way. Short and great.
posted by Rory Marinich at 9:44 AM on December 20, 2012

Whoa - I just bought and downloaded this album last night, based on the inclusion of "Birthdays" in the Said the Gramophone Top 100 Songs mix. I was listening to it not 10 minutes ago. It's a GREAT album, and sort of depresses me that it's only available on Bandcamp.
posted by 235w103 at 9:55 AM on December 20, 2012

I'm working my way through the Gramophone Top 100 right now too, and finding a lot of great artists I didn't know about before -- Plan B is a lot of fun, and Andy Stott is blowing my mind. I haven't even gotten to following up on the Mouthbreathers yet!
posted by Shepherd at 10:01 AM on December 20, 2012

This is not on Spotify and that makes me angry.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:34 AM on December 20, 2012

I liked, and thanks for the introduction to Said The Gramaphone. (I should really have my passport taken away for my ignorance.)
posted by maudlin at 10:39 AM on December 20, 2012

Nice. Catchy too. I'm not sure what the song's about, though that's admittedly not too important. Sounds like a Birthday party gone to the dogs...

Anyone else think of the song Mouthbreather by The Jesus Lizard? Give yourself a chummy punch in the arm from me...etc..
posted by Skygazer at 10:46 AM on December 20, 2012

Oh found some lyrics on that Ask Said the Gramophone site:

At parties sometimes you drink some punch, and the punch is spiked, and you do not know it is spiked until you have drunk it down. And sometimes you do something, and you do not realize you are growing up until you have finished the something, and you have lost that friend or felt that feeling. And when you form a band you don't know what the band is until you've formed it. You have drunk a drink, you have grown up a little, you have formed a band. These things happen when they happen. Like a birthday, like the end of a song.

Like some zen hipster koan. I do like it. Indeed I do.
posted by Skygazer at 10:53 AM on December 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Said the Gramophone is one of my favorite music sites and contains nearly the only music criticism I enjoy reading. It also introduced me to last year's incredible Colin Stetson album. Thanks for the reminder to check in on it again.
posted by ardgedee at 11:27 AM on December 20, 2012

Yeah, I concur, Said the Gramophone is pret-ty darn-ed cool.
posted by Skygazer at 12:05 PM on December 20, 2012

I like StG, and although our tastes are somewhat different, I download the mix every year, and always discover a gem or two.

My vote for best rock anthem of the year is Japandroids' "House that Heaven Built", although it's not short at 4 minutes.

The chorus is especially great:
When they love you, (and they will)
Tell em all theyll love in my shadow
And if they try to slow you down (slow you down)
Tell em all to go to hell
posted by sauril at 12:22 PM on December 20, 2012

Birthdays is a bit infectious. But it's a little precious for my taste, and a little too sloppy/no chops in that sort of uninteresting way. Plus that steady eighth note strumming on low open fifths sound is just a sound that I can no longer stand and it makes me want to smash guitars and tell people to just try even a little bit to compose some remotely interesting music to go along with your cute lyrics.

That said, I listened to the damn thing four times, so...

I generally really like Said the Gramophone. But I can't really abide their best song list this year, because, well, I am currently sulking that Lilies or Laura by Bat for Lashes aren't getting the ubiquitous year-end list attention they deserve. And so therefore everyone is wrong, wrong I tell you.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:55 PM on December 20, 2012

That's plant of the fun of StG, though: they have immaculate taste that's almost certainly not the same as yours. Their yearly lists remind me of how dull and uninteresting other reviewers' lists tend to be – I find such better things here than I do anywhere else. At the same time in a hundred tracks I am overwhelmed by the variety and selection, to the point that I start feeling a bit uneasy. And every band they don't mention is just proof that I am still more tasteful than they. *cough*

Anyway, I love that they're willing to promote local bands, ambitious lesser-knowns, and even some obscure avant-garde stuff now and again, but still declare Call Me Maybe the best song of the year. And it's not even like their top song is always a pop hit either.
posted by Rory Marinich at 4:27 PM on December 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

oh wow, thanks everyone!
posted by Marquis at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I used to download the entire StG compilation each year, now I work through each song methodically. Sean does an amazing job and although not everything he enjoys is for me, his taste is impeccable. This year's winner for me is Plants and Animals - The End of That.
posted by furtive at 8:56 PM on December 20, 2012

The songs StG finds are sometimes interesting, but the mini-"reviews" read like entries in an upcoming Bulwer-Lytton competition.
posted by SomaSoda at 7:18 PM on December 26, 2012