Modern Mystery

A Modern Mystery Holiday Party with Jim Hix of Casper and the Cookies

Welcome to another installment of a Modern Mystery Holiday Party! Today our guest is Jim Hix!

Jim Hix is the phenomenal guitar player of indie rock darlings, Casper and the Cookies.  The band will release thier much anticipated new record this winter, which I personally cannot wait for. Just hearing a few of the new tracks off of the record like ‘Little King’ has me excited to hear the rest.

Jim was so very kind to take time out and share with us his ‘Top Eight’ for 2008. Very clever indeed. Here is what Jim had to say.

I agreed to write this a few weeks ago, but I have since forgotten what exactly it was I supposed to write.  I’m pretty sure it was a list of eight, but exactly what the list was escapes me now.  So, what I’ve decided to do instead is just go ahead and make just a general list, my TOP EIGHT THINGS OF 2008!!!!

Now, first, let me put a few qualifiers in here.  Maybe some of this stuff actually came out in 07 or something, I don’t care, this is stuff I was turned on to in 2008 and it felt current enough to me.  I’m going to try and list these things in some kind of order, but for real, it’ll be pretty random. 

#8:  The Moldy Peaches on the View!

This was real bizarre on many obvious levels, but I have to admit that there was a part of me that was really happy to see the peaches enjoy a little success from their inclusion on the Juno soundtrack, however late and from such bizarre sources, when they appeared on the view in January.  (These feeling, by the way, would not extend to the horrible travel commercial thing that would feature the horrible cover of the mouldy peaches song including a verse changed to, “let’s go swimming with some dolphins!”)  This first time I saw or heard of the mouldy peaches was in 2001 when they opened for the Strokes when I was working at the forty watt.  Their performance that night was awesome plus they left a CD with the cleaning crew that we would jam while mopping the floor for months to come.  I’m afraid they might be one of those bands that’s really good but spawns a ton of horrible bands of imitators, but 08 was the year they got to jam with whoppi.

#7  Girl Talk releases Feed the Animals:

Man, people are always talking about a record that you can put on and instantly start a party, well, this is IT to me!  I’ve never really been all about mash-ups before, I honestly really just didn’t care, but this is something really genius and special.  The way that the guy mixes genres and eras in such comfortable and effecting ways blew me away.  Oh yeah, and it was free!  How killer is that, not to mention, of the time. 

#6  Vampire Weekend delivers their debut record:

There are always these bands that I hear about for weeks and months that I don’t really hear them, but they’re really popular on the blogs, bands like clap your hands and Boris Yeltsin and such stuff, but vampire weekend, for me, really delivered.  I know they’re huge now and probably not at all cool to like anymore, but I thought their debut was excellent and was happy to see them pop up on MTV and enjoy some mainstream exposure.  I agree, I don’t really care for their image, a combination of north east prep, eighties throwback and intellectualism, but the songs are great.

#5  The song Miami Ice by the Icy Demons:

In my perfect world this would have been the biggest hit of the year.  From the crushing opening synth riff, to the delicate harmonies to the pounding interludes, I HEART this song.  It’s one of those songs that from the very first second I heard it, on my friend, Emily’s, myspace page, I loved it and have only grown to appreciate it more over time.

#4  The Internet finally takes over EVERYTHING!:

This year, I really basically abandoned all other forms of media.  All the TV shows I want to watch, old or current, are available almost immediately.    Did you know every episode of Southpark ever is available to be streamed for free online, as is  all the frontline PBS documentaries, and Michael More’s latest film.  Did you know there’s a whole other CNN channel broadcast live on the Internet through the CNN  web page?  I watched that on election night to get my results!  Do you know about sites like hype machine and seeqpod where you can stream songs on demand?  The future is hear, people, and all you need do is take advantage!

#3 MGMT- Oracular Spectacular:

There’s not a lot more to say than this was and is an AMAZING record.  The songs are just so good.  Period.  I almost always wanna listen to them, and this record, produced by the flaming lips’ own David Fridmann, sounds so great!  If you didn’t get this record, I really recommend you give it a try, I think it’s destined to be a classic!

#2 Of Montreal releases the Skeletal Lamping experience onto the world!:

When Of Montreal released Skeletal Lamping earlier this year, some complained that the songs and the sequencing were all over the place.  What they didn’t realize is that the record is only part of the experience.  To truly appreciate Skeletal Lamping, one must see the current Of Montreal live show.  For the uninitiated, let’s just say the show is a bit of a production.  Get on Flickr and look at some pictures, or better yet, watch some live video on youtube.  The pictures and video can’t begin to compare to actually being at a show, but at least you will get an idea of what they’re up to.  I also want to mention the fact that OM released this record in six or seven different formats, experimenting with the business model of selling indie rock records in this post file sharing world we live in now.  The record has been a huge success for them and I’m so proud of them!

#1 Election night 2008

I still find myself smiling uncontrollably when I think about the events of early November.  As September and October crept by, I found myself logging on to CNN.com a couple times a day, then more and more until I was basically on there every ten minutes.  It seemed in those last few months of campaigns that had lasted years, I really had the feeling that, far more than usual, the fate of the world really hung in the balance.  To me, this election really served as an indicator of what direction this country might take for the next thirty years or so.  Obama really did represent change for me, and while my preference was clear immediately, I was very invested in how America, at large, was going to vote.  In the end, we all made history, electing the first African American to the white house, effectively closing a chapter and starting a new one in the book that is the history of this country.  I find Barack Obama to be incredibly intelligent and inspirational and now find myself feeling the very unfamiliar tingle that I assume to be patriotism.  It’s so nice when your country can pleasantly surprise you.  I’m actually looking forward to the next four (eight) years and seeing what progress Obama brings to our nation.

So there you go, my top eight.  I’m sure I forgot some things that should have been on this list, and I’m sure I’m over-hyping some of the things that did make the list, but that was it: my top eight THINGS of 2008.

December 22, 2008 at 12:45 am Melissa Nastasi Leave a comment