Next up in my series on memorable music videos from 2011 is a clip from Superchunk for their song ‘Crossed Wires.’
Unlike some of these artists, I have heard of Superchunk, though I can’t say I’ve ever heard anything by them. They came out of the same ’90s Chapel Hill music scene that produced Ben Folds Five and are notable for eschewing offers from major labels in order to record for their own company, on their own terms.
Over the next two weeks, I’ll feature some of the best videos from 2011. I don’t watch many videos so to come up with this list, I’ve leaned on Pitchfork.com, which did a year-end wrap-up.
Now, Pitchfork is a rather insufferable website, the sort of obnoxious hipster destination that posted a top 50 album list without naming more than three artists I’ve ever heard of. But their video coverage is pretty strong, including interviews with the directors of many of these clips.
Closing out my Paul Simon Weekends is another song from the excellent So Beautiful Or So What. ‘Love and Blessings’ is the album’s penultimate track and one that crept up on me, going initially unnoticed before emerging as one of my favorites.
I was working in the yard one day, listening to the album on headphones, when a line toward the end of this song struck me: “Maple trees just a little but duller than the memory of the year before.”
I have reached my 18th and final installment of Paul Simon Weekends — four and a half months of what I consider some of the finest songwriting ever committed to tape.
It’s fitting that Simon goes out on a high note, with his latest album, So Beautiful Or So What, receiving some of the best reviews of his career. “Best since Graceland” is the popular refrain for those discussing this album, and I tend to agree, though it’s easier and less controversial to say “best since Rhythm of the Saints.”
Top Ten Songs of 2011 – #1
As much as I’d like to throw out a wild card and not echo the sentiments of countless music critics the world over, I can’t see not putting Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ at the top of this list.
I first heard this song performed live on David Letterman nearly a year ago and I knew, when she reached the first chorus, that it would be a monster hit.
