The 11 Best Songs By The Great Lake Swimmers

The best time of the year is coming closer.  Record Store Day.  Finally!! the official list for the states has been released. Waiting for the list was like staring at the clock at work...waiting for it to hit 5:00...only to be told by your boss right before clocking out time that you had to stay late. Thankfully, your boss can't keep you over night and the list has arrived.  It's interesting to be sure. Some real nuggets in there.  And though there doesn't seem to be as many big releases...mostly 7"...I think I have about three times as many wishlist items as I did last  year.  It's Christmas in April for sure...and wait only gets more exciting.

One of my favorite past RSD releases is the Great Lake Swimmers Legions Sessions.  It's only fitting that it goes hand it hand with their newest release.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Great Lake Swimmers:

1. Your Rocky Spine (Ongiara)
2. Bodies and Minds (Bodies and Minds)
3. I Saw You In the Wild (Bodies and Minds)
4. Palmistry (Lost Channels)
5. Song For The Angels (Bodies and Minds)
6. Moving Pictures Silent Film (Great Lake Swimmers)
7. Various Stages (Bodies and Minds)
8. Pulling On A Line (Lost Channels)
9. Gonna Make It Through This Year (Hands In Dirty Ground)
10. This Is Not Like Home (Great Lake Swimmers)
11. Before They Make Me Run (Alt. Country Tribute to the Rolling Stones)

Buy The Great Lake Swimmers new album...New Wild Everywhere...now!

The 11 Best Albums of 2009: 34-44 (Part 2)

With the end of decade sending everyone scrambling to make decade topping lists, let's not forget all the good music that made this year one of the better musical years of the decade.

Don't forget to vote in our annual "best of." Just send us your top 20 albums of the year...or as many as you can think of, if you can't think of 20. We take all albums...all genres...just be sure they were released in 2009. To vote, just put your list in the comments section of the blog...or email us.


Here 11 Best Albums of 2009: 34-44 (Part 2):

34. Moby - Wait for Me (Shot In The Back of the Head) - only $5.00
35. Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon
36. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light - only $5.00
37. Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11 -only $5.00
38. Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti...is a Skyscraper
39. Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen (What Have I Done)
40. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (East Jesus Nowhere)
41. The Editors - In This Light and On This Evening
42. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
43. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
44. Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

The 11 Best Albums of 2009 (so far):

I'm off on vacation for a couple of weeks...but will return. Until then...here's a snapshot of the first half of the year. These are my favorites. I can't belive I picked Morrissey at the top. But it's the album that's had the most play in my 2009 library. So...it's hard to argue with that.

The 11 Best Albums of 2009 (so far):

1. Morrissey - Years of Refusal (Black Cloud)
2. Samantha Crain - Songs in the Night
3. White Rabbits - It's Frightening
4. The Antlers - Hospice
5. Metric - Fantasies
6. Cut Off Your Hands - You & I
7. Wilco - Wilco
8. Crystal Method - Divided By The Night
9. Dangermouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul
10. M. Ward - Hold Time
11. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

The 11 Best Songs By The Great Lake Swimmers

I think what I love about the Great Lake Swimmers is they remind me of everything I loved about My Morning Jacket when I first discovered them. That bare bones approach to songwriting, where emotion far exceeds production value. Now that MMJ is using a production studio like it was a fulltime member of the band, there's been something lost from the days where they recorded in a grain silo. Though GLS has also ditched the days where they recorded on porches with the sounds of crickets keeping time, there is still something pure to the way they are making their music. No one wants to make pretzels and cheese all their lives. I get that. And I think the world would be a much better place if bands like Great Lake Swimmers and My Morning Jacket were dominating the airwaves over the Nickelbacks and Fall Out Boys. But it's nice to hear band through out a few nuggets to let the fans know they still remember what made them great in the first place.

Here are The 11 Best Songs By The Great Lake Swimmers:

1. Bodies and Minds (Bodies and Minds)

2. Your Rocky Spine (Ongiara)

3. I Saw You In The Wild (Bodies and Minds)

4. Moving Pictures Silent Films (Great Lake Swimmers)

5. Song For the Angels (Bodies and Minds)

6. Moving, Shaking (Great Lake Swimmers)

7. Gonna Make It Through This Year (Hands In the Dirty Ground)

8. Changing Colours (Ongiara)

9. Let's Trade Skins (Bodies and Minds)

10. Imaginary Bars (Bodies and Minds)

11. I Could Be Nothing (Bodies and Minds)

Buy the GLS new album, Lost Channels.