Z on Year End Lists

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.columbusalive.com/2005/20051228/122805/12280501.html

4. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO)

On this, My Morning Jacket's fourth volume, honey-throated Jim James and company harness the big-sky psych and shadowy melancholy of their live show into a concise and affecting package. Turns toward Radiohead-esque atmospheres, as on "It Beats for You," and the Southern-fried Disney Sabbath of "What a Wonderful Man He Was," lend an ominous balance to the album's more soaring and playful moments. With Z, it's safe to assume that one day My Morning Jacket could become America's most beloved classic rock band.

[LaurieBlue]

//www.grimeys.com

The CHART!

Hooo Weee!   We sold some CDs this past week!  Ryan Adams had the only high-profile new release of note so he handily owns the top spot but everything in the top 20 reflects significantly higher totals than usual, probably because we were playing so many of these records in the store while you were doing your holiday shopping.  We also made a few mix CDs of Grimey's Staff Faves featuring all of our favorite songs from our favorite albums.  That was fun.  We should do some more of that.  Here's the final tally of our sales leading up to Christmas Day...

 

GRIMEY'S SALES CHART 12/18 – 12/24, 2005

 

1.  Ryan Adams - 29

2.  My Morning Jacket - Z

3.  Feist -- Let It Die

4.  Sufjan Stevens -- Illinois

5.  Iron & Wine / Calexico -- In the Reins

6.  Wilco -- Kicking Television

7.  The Budos Band—The Budos Band

8.  Clientele -- Strange Geometry

9.  Broken Social Scene -- Broken Social Scene

10.  Beck -- Guerolito

11.  Animal Collective -- Feels

12.  Ray Lamontagne -- Live From Bonnaroo 2005

13.  Bright Eyes -- A Christmas Album

14.  Bright Eyes -- Motion Sickness

15.  The Selmanaires -- Here Come The Slemanaires

16.  Sun Kil Moon -- Tiny Cities

17.  Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane -- Live at Carnegie Hall

18.  Fruit Bats -- Spelled in Bones

19.  Johnny Cash -- Live at Folsom Prison

20.  Death Cab for Cutie -- Plans

21.  Imogen Heap -- Speak For Yourself

22.  Magic Numbers -- Magic Numbers

23.  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah -- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

24.  Decemberists -- Picaresque

25.  Ryan Adams -- Jacksonville City Nights

26.  Wolf Parade -- Apologies to the Queen Mary

27.  Rogue Wave -- Descended Like Vultures

28.  Silver Jews -- Tanglewood Numbers

29.  Deerhoof -- Runner's Four

30.  Fiona Apple -- Extrodinary Machine

31.  Bettye Lavette -- I've Got My Own Hell to Raise

32.  Various -- Elizabethtown: Songs from the Brown Hotel EP

33.  Various -- This is Americana 2

34.  My Morning Jacket -- Acoustic Citsuoca

35.  White Stripes -- Get Behind Me Satan

36.  Spoon -- Gimme Fiction

37.  Kate Bush -- Aerial

38.  White Stripes -- Walking With a Ghost

39.  Akron/Family & Angels of Light -- Akron/Family & Angels of Light

40.  Go! Team -- Thunder, Lightning, Strike!

41.  Franz Ferdinand -- You Can Have It So Much Better

42.  Blue Merle -- Live at Bull Moose

43.  Flaming Lips -- Here It Is LP reissue

44.  Bob Dylan -- No Direction Home

45.  Sigur Ros -- Takk

46.  New Pornographers -- Twin Cinema

47.  Clutters -- T & C

48.  Death Cab For Cutie -- John Byrd EP

49.  John Prine -- Fair & Square

50.  Bright Eyes -- I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15842164&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=553365&rfi=6

The Daily News - PA

1. Sage Francis, "A Healthy Distrust" (Epitaph) Feb. 8 - When anger, disappointment, sadness and sarcasm are delivered this beautifully and precisely, it's impossible to ignore. The Rhode Island poet/rapper Sage Francis not only picked the right people to put beats to his rants, but he managed to say just the right thing at the right time to connect with those who also feel like nothing ever will go right no matter how hard they try.

2. The Modey Lemon, "The Curious City" (Birdman) Aug. 16 - These three Pittsburgh dudes kept their psychedelic stomp in place, layered it with a heaping pile of fuzz and ear-splitting distortion and experimented just enough that it might make their music more palatable for most indie rock fans. The 16-minute closer "Trapped Rabbits" is a brilliant, fitting, chaotic ending to a record that just may be the band's best yet.

3. Sleater-Kinney, "The Woods" (Sub-Pop) May 24 - Who says bands can't evolve and produce their best work a decade into a recording career? The prevailing sentiment seems to be most groups do their best stuff early on, but these Seattle ladies proved that's not always the case by pretty much pounding the hell out of their instruments and pushing their vocal ranges to their limits.

4. Bright Eyes, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" (Saddle Creek) Jan. 25 - Conor Oberst managed to top his already revered back catalog with this largely acoustic, countrified disc that tells tales of heartbreak, loneliness and emotional disengagement with a war-hungry nation. There are a handful of true tear-jerkers on this record, topped by "Poison Oak" and "We Are Nowhere and It's Now."

5. The Decemberists, "Picaresque" (Kill Rock Stars) March 22 - It's tough to say if this Pacific Northwest band is trying to write geeky, dramatic rock songs or score some bizarre stage production in their heads. Either way, "Picaresque" is a rousing, exciting platter that gets better with every listen. I spin this disc at least once a week, usually more.

6. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA) Oct. 4 - Many thought My Morning Jacket would implode after two-fifths of the band's members bolted after "It Still Moves." But Jim James and his southern-fired crew carried on, plugged in and produced their most dynamic and diverse record ever, highlighted by malt shop rocker "What a Wonderful Man," Elvis Costello-style "Off the Record" and blazing closer "Dondante."

7. Minus the Bear, "Menos el Oro" (Suicide Squeeze) Aug. 23 - They may have left the silly song titles at home (well, mostly), but their cleanly jerked guitars and prog-pop stylings have remained intact. It may take a few spins to get the groove, but once the magic is discovered it's hard not rocking the hell out of "The Game Needed Me," "The Fix" and "Pachuca Sunrise."

8. Giant Drag, "Hearts and Unicorns" (Kickball) Sept. 13 - I admit it: I'm in love with Annie Hardy. But it's not for her looks (which are just fine, thank you) but instead for her raspy, girly delivery and fist-in-your groin messages on songs such as "Kevin is Gay," "Cordial Invitation" and not-as-vulgar-as-the-song-title-indicates "yflmd."

9. Atmosphere, "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having" (Rhymesayer) Oct. 4 - Sean Daley, or Slug, never is at a loss for words, and that doesn't change on the funny, biting "You Can't Imagine." But as powerful as Slug's raps are this time around, Ant's beat and sample selection is so top notch, Kanye West might be sitting somewhere taking notes. Make sure to visit "Watch Out," "Pour Me Another" and the shocking, sobering "That Night." It's a true story.

10. Between the Buried and Me, "Alaska" (Victory) Sept. 6 - It's been a bad year for metal, so thankfully BTBAM whipped together this prog-death psychotic attack. There are even more tempo changes, guttural-growl-into-angelic-crooning moments and bombastic guitar solos than both of their other albums combined. Plus, they have song titles such as "Selkies: The Endless Obsession." What?!

Honorable mentions: Fiona Apple, "Extraordinary Machine"; High on Fire, "Blessed Black Wings"; And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, "Worlds Apart"; Erin McKeown, "We Will Become Like Birds"; Tegan and Sara, "So Jealous"; Comrad (self-titled). (Brian Krasman, entertainment editor)

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122900364.html

Washington Post

My Morning Jacket: "Z" (ATO). Louisville's post-Southern rockers throw off generic shackles, wisely hire an outside producer to tighten and solidify their once sprawling sound; they also overcome key personnel shifts and the pop impulse to make records longer than they need be (40 minutes serves MMJ perfectly). Jim James's otherworldly vocals and surreal lyrics are nowhere better served than in the weirdly beautiful waltz "Into the Woods," in which he notes, "A kitten on fire, a baby in a blender/Both sound as sweet as a night of surrender."

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.livedaily.com/reviews/2005s_Best_Albums_My_Morning_Jacket_warms_critics-9390.html?t=98

liveDaily - #1

2005's Best Albums: My Morning Jacket warms critics
 
December 30, 2005 09:42 AM
by Rob Evans
liveDaily Editor
Louisville, KY-based My Morning Jacket (music) has been kicking around in relative obscurity since the late '90s, but the group appears headed for bigger things on the heels of its lauded 2005 release, "Z."

liveDaily critics were asked to list their 10 favorite albums of 2005, and six placed "Z" on their list, as close to a consensus as we got this year. Coldplay (music)'s "X&Y" appears on five lists, making it a clean sweep for the last three letters of the alphabet.
Releases by Kanye West (music), The White Stripes (music) and Beck (music) turned up on four lists, while three critics singled out the efforts of Bright Eyes, Queens of the Stone Age, Shelby Lynne and Spoon. M.I.A. Placed high on two of our critics' lists, enough to sneak into 2005's Top 10.

Overall rankings were determined by first grouping albums by the number of ballots on which they appeared. Ties were then broken by weighting votes based on where albums ranked on individual lists.

Critics Picks: liveDaily's top albums of 2005

1. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO)
2. Coldplay, "X&Y" (Capitol)
3. Kanye West, "Late Registration" (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
4. The White Stripes, "Get Behind Me Satan" (V2)
5. Beck, "Guero" (Geffen)
6. Bright Eyes, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" (Saddle Creek)
7. Queens of the Stone Age, "Lullabies to Paralyze" (Interscope)
8. Shelby Lynne, "Suit Yourself" (Capitol)
9. Spoon, "Gimme Fiction" (Merge)
10. M.I.A., "Arular" (XL/Interscope)

See  http://www.livedaily.com/news/9389.html for Individual Lists and comments

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/2005/12/best_of_2005/

Spin Magazine

13. My Morning Jacket, Z (ATO/RCA)
Perfectly balancing their indie-rock weirdness with their classic-rock soul, MMJ are so convinced of their badassness they named their best record for the sign of Zorro. Never mind that the letter is a softball for haters to dismiss it with snores, or that frontman Jim James rocks a Flying V. The title also represents the tingling zzzz you get from everything this album delivers: beautiful melodies, fizzy dual-guitar jams, soaring soul-man falsettos, convincing reggae grooves -- and an unexpected shout-out to Madonna. W.H.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2006/01/0206.cfm

Chart Attack


9. MY MORNING JACKET Z (RCA/Sony BMG)
Early in their career, My Morning Jacket riffed on standard alt.country arrangements, centred upon the prowess of Jim James, whose echoing falsetto haunts even the most brightly played guitar. Even their third studio album, It Still Moves, was a similar affair, mixing slow melodic ballads with more classic rock songs. As a follow-up, Z marks the simultaneous evolution of both the vocals and the music behind them into something unique and more polished. Taking more cues from Radiohead than Johnny Cash, MMJ expanded their repertoire to include styles ranging from classic rock and alt.country to space rock and dream pop. From the first melodic pumps of "Wordless Chorus," the album shows off its moody and dark face. But it slowly evolves, with a few bumps in between, into a quasi-jam band affair with "Off The Record." Bettering scores of artsy rock on the shelves, My Morning Jacket prove on Z that they can be inventive and tortured — plus, they can still light it up with good old-fashioned guitar riffs and a lap steel. Mike Armitage

[Meddle]

billboard.com rated mmj best of the year...
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/2005/top10/index.jsp

[CC]

billboard.com rated mmj best of the year...
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/2005/top10/index.jsp

the voters:

JIMI GOODWIN
Doves vocalist/bassist
1. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). They've gone and done it again. Just brilliant.

PATTERSON HOOD
Drive-By Truckers vocalist/guitarist
2. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). My favorite album "released" this year.

MIRANDA LAMBERT
7. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). This sounds so fresh; it hooked me immediately after one listen. I love what these guys are doing, and I can't wait for the follow-up.

JERRY DePIZZO
Saxophonist O.A.R.
3. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA).

ADAM OLENIUS
Shout Out Louds vocalist
9. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA).

JONATHAN COHEN
Billboard.com news/reviews editor
3. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). Kentucky rockers break away from the pack with genre-blurring masterpiece.

BRIAN GARRITY
Billboard business editor
3. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). MMJ tones down the jams, delves into soul and rock.

JILL KIPNIS
Billboard staff writer
8. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA).

SVEN PHILIPP
Billboard Radio Monitor online editor
2. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). Stratospheric.

BRAM TEITELMAN
Billboard Radio Monitor managing editor
2. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). MMJ have a knack for creating songs that sound like instant classic rock. If only they could capture their live sound.

RAY WADDELL
Billboard senior touring editor
3. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). Think Coldplay, but with guitars and balls.

ERIC WARD
Billboard.com brand manager
1. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA). Expansive and stunning, yet concisely delivered. Jim James and company have created a masterpiece.

top 10 albums of 2005 as chosen by our panel of critics:

1. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO/RCA) -- 52 points
2. Tie: The Rolling Stones, "A Bigger Bang" (Virgin) and M.I.A., "Arular" (XL) -- 43 points.
3. The New Pornographers, "Twin Cinema" (Matador) -- 41 points
4. Common, "Be" (G.O.O.D. Music/Geffen) - 39 points
5. Sleater-Kinney, "The Woods" (Sub Pop) - 37 points
6. Sufjan Stevens, "Illinois" (Asthmatic Kitty) - 36 points
7. Tie: Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane, "At Carnegie Hall" (Blue Note/Thelonious Records) and Queens Of The Stone Age, "Lullabies To Paralyze" (Interscope) - 31 points
8. Spoon, "Gimme Fiction" (Merge) - 28 points
9. Tie: Jack Johnson, "In Between Dreams" (Brushfire/Universal) and Mariah Carey, "The Emancipation of Mimi" (Island Def Jam) - 26 points
10. John Legend, "Get Lifted" (G.O.O.D. Music/Columbia) - 25 points

[LaurieBlue]

O u t s t a n d i n g !   :o

[cjordan]

Z was voted the #2 album of the year by WXPN listeners in Philadelphia.

http://www.xpn.org/Top50_2005.php

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.2894.html

Filter's Top 10 of 2005, Day Twenty Three: Liz Phair
by Staff & Liz Phair | 01.03.2006

 With a father who is Chief of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago and a mother who is an Art Instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago, it is expected that a talented child will emerge from this duo...enter Liz Phair. When she's not making hit albums such as 2005's Somebody's Miracle, Liz is fully busy being a mother and wife, and looking gorgeous in the process.


Liz Phair


1. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (Vice)
2. Kanye West – Late Registration (Roc-a-Fella)
3. Bright Eyes – I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek)
4. Missy Higgins – The Sound of White (Reprise)
5. Dave Matthews – Stand Up (RCA)
6. My Morning Jacket – Z (ATO)
7. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans (Atlantic)
8. Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine (Epic)
9. Gorillaz – Demon Days (Virgin)
10. Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams (Universal)

[Meddle]

Jambase's best of

1. My Morning Jacket - Z [rhapsody]
2. Beck - Guero [rhapsody]
3. Mars Volta - Frances The Mute [rhapsody]
4. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan [rhapsody]
5. Dungen - Ta det Lugnt [rhapsody]
6. Steve Kimock Band - Eudemonic [rhapsody]
7. Wilco - Kicking Television [rhapsody]
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl [rhapsody]
9. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - The Sameness of Difference [rhapsody]
10. Devandra Banhart - Cripple Crow [rhapsody]

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=8695

Johnny Loftus

1. Drones Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By (ATP): Desperation, a forked tongue and white phosphorus distortion.

2. Jim White, Various Artists Music from Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Luaka Bop/Ryko): Tears are just a stupid trick of God.

3. Boris Akuma No Uta (Southern Lord): This Japanese trio once named an album Amplifier Worship. Really, do you need any more?

4. MIA Arular (XL): Sleeps whole winters, wakes up and spits summers. Also sells Hondas.

5. Kinski w/25 Suaves & Oneida Live show at 2500 Club 8/19: Heat, manic intensity and Judas Priest covers in the looming shadow of the Masonic. Righteous.

6. Evens Evens (Dischord): Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina make terrific pop that's modern, wiry and, yeah, still pretty angry.

7. My Morning Jacket Z (ATP): MMJ are bootgazers drifting in from the back 40 on a fog of comforting reverb.

8. Sights The Sights (New Line): For anyone who has ever been loved, drunk or robbed.

9. Richard Hawley Coles Corner (Mute): More romantic than anything Hollywood's ever come up with. Overstated? Listen to those opening strings ...

10. Ellen Allien Thrills (Bpitch Control): The future came early in Berlin.

Top Tin: Nickelback All the Right Reasons (Roadrunner): For all the right reasons.


Fred Mills

1. Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 ...tick... tick... tick (Blue Rose): Issued in Europe, this is a rock 'n' roll pipe bomb wrapped in plastique and dipped in gunpowder.

2. My Morning Jacket Z (ATO): Fans have frequently characterized MMJ concerts as ecstasy-inducing rock tent revivals. The group's fourth is bold, confident, ecstatic — and, yeah, a bit holy too.

3. Black Merda The Folks From Mother's Mixer (Tuff City): Pairing early '70s LPs Black Merda and Long Burn the Fire, it's a black rock thang, a soul-stirred stew of Hendrix, Funkadelic and War, and some incredibly thoughtful, politically conscious lyrics to boot.

4. Sleater-Kinney The Woods (Sub Pop): With world-gone-wrong lyric desperation and a sinewy, shuddery sonic brawn, this dangerously physical record moves at a terrifying clip.

5. Flamin' Groovies Shake Some Action (DBK Works): 1976 power-pop template sees its first U.S. digitization.

6. Otis Taylor Below the Fold (Telarc): "Appalachian griot" delivered with the fluidity of funk and the viscosity of punk. Spooky and scary, seductive and sublime — blues by any other name, but no one else is making blues like this.

7. Pernice Brothers Discover a Lovelier You (Ashmont): Aglow with lush melodies and cinematic textures, and dipped in echoes of Brian Wilson, the Beatles and New Order, Joe Pernice's latest is 2005's purest pop platter, period.

8. Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out (Bar/None): Every detail of the original Who classic — vocal harmonies, guitar riffs, even the fake between-song commercials and the vinyl run-out groove — is reproduced a cappella by Haden, who in the process brings out previously overlooked nuances.

9. Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham Moments from This Theatre Live (Proper): Criminally overlooked upon its initial release in 1999, the Penn-Oldham summit brings a whole lotta Memphis to UK stages and goes down as sweet as a honeyslide.

10. Dandy Warhols Odditorium (Capitol): Prince on a bad hair day? T. Rex recast by 21st century boys (and girl)? Spacemen 3 minus the opiates? Creedence Clearwater gone shoegaze? All of the above, and more.

[CC]

No Depression - Top 40 Albums of 2005
...
7. My Morning Jacket - Z

[LaurieBlue]

Jambase's best of

1. My Morning Jacket - Z [rhapsody]
2. Beck - Guero [rhapsody]
3. Mars Volta - Frances The Mute [rhapsody]
4. White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan [rhapsody]
5. Dungen - Ta det Lugnt [rhapsody]
6. Steve Kimock Band - Eudemonic [rhapsody]
7. Wilco - Kicking Television [rhapsody]
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl [rhapsody]
9. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - The Sameness of Difference [rhapsody]
10. Devandra Banhart - Cripple Crow [rhapsody]

A lot of other good comments, lists, best concerts, etc. are on the site as well -


http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=7668&pageNum=2

[vatro]

Z is number 3 in Croatia's largerst daily newspaper Year End List.

Z, strongly marked with the angellike falsetto of Jim James is the fourth album by this extraordinary Kentucky outfit. Here, Neil Young's melancholy and The Band's vision of panamerican music is interrmixed with contemporary americana and production of r'n'b and soul music...

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?section=AE&volume=53&issue=21&artnum=03

No. 1: "Z" - My Morning Jacket

One of the most difficult obstacles for a young band to overcome is finding a balance between traditionally tested music and the new sound it wants to pioneer. For the Louisville band My Morning Jacket, that six-year struggle ended with the release of "Z," the bands most progressive release to date. Pairing modern, almost Coldplay-esque, songs like "Gideon" (the albums U.S. single) and "Wordless Chorus" with songs like "Lay Low" and the Crazy Horse-like "Dondante," both of which sound more like the bands rootsy, earlier work. Sprinkled between are three minute pop/rock songs that bring a new sound to the table. Over all, "Z" was the most interesting, talented, listenable and complete album released this year. It took the band, especially singer/songwriter Jim James (who has the coolest name in music) to the next level. Watch out for My Morning Jacket. "Z" proved they belong on top, and they have the potential to be around for quite a long time.

[CC]

Feb28 #6

This is one of the most talked about albums of the year. It is popping up on more and more top ten lists and deservedly so. The more I listened to it, the higher it got on this list.

But the first time I heard Z, I honestly thought, "What's all the fuss about?" Funny thing, I've talked to other people who thought the exact same thing.

The first time I listened to this album, it reminded me a little too much of Pink Floyd. My lingering punk rock youth demands that I hate anything Floydian, but I fought the impulse to put the album aside (probably because I spent good money on it) and listened to it again. And then again. And then again. Something tells me this album can't be fully appreciated before being listened to at least three times in a row.

It now stands as a classic. Simply put, My Morning Jacket just did it right. At the risk of sounding like a music critic, each track is a perfectly crafted adventure. There are elements of oldies rock and roll, classic rock, modern indie, agressive metal, grunge, Bruce Springstein style arena rock, and everything in between.

Z may go down as being be the best rock album of the decade. It is a crime (and totally baffling) My Morning Jacket was missed by the Grammys. How the big wigs who decide those things missed this album is a total mystery.

http://www.feb28.com/feb28/article.php?story=top10-6

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Z may go down as being be the best rock album of the decade. It is a crime (and totally baffling) My Morning Jacket was missed by the Grammys. How the big wigs who decide those things missed this album is a total mystery

Easy to miss when (gasp) Mariah Carey released a new record!   ;)