This show began like any other, but without the transition difficulties. All was smooth. The music, on the other hand, was not. After a long, satisfying week, I was in need of some loud, abrasive rock music. But it wasn’t all like that. Due to the cold weather, I mixed in some beach pop, fuzzy dream pop and good old garage rock and pop.

Fishboy returns after giving us Classic Creeps with a new video from “Aspen2k” off the album and a tour, which includes a number of performances around the Seattle area. “Aspen2k” is one of the more upbeat tracks off Classic Creeps and it features Fishboy main man Eric Michener, a look-a-like hand puppet, and some fun indie pop art.

Oh Fishboy, you never fail to amuse. We interviewed Fishboy’s Eric Michener a few months back about his new LP, Classic Creeps, which finally came out this week. Yeah, we’ve been rocking to it since January and can contest to its total awesomeness. Well, in celebration of the release, Michener, aka Fishboy, put together a video for the album’s fifth song, “Alyson Revere”, and it goes a little something like this…

The paths of Erich Michener (the man behind Fishboy) and myself (Andrew Fenstermaker) crossed in October of 2007 at a little dive somewhere on the south end of Manhattan. It was the annual College Music Journal festival and HHBTM was having an event. They crossed again sometime later in Seattle, a visit that, oddly enough, included a troll, fish sticks and Gassworks Park. That is, unless I’m joining two trips together, which is entirely possible; there was that show at Comet Tavern which may or may not …

When I saw there was a new compilation devoted to hailing one of the greatest northwest bands of all time (yes, Tullycraft), I got pretty excited. When I saw that the tracklist included bands from famed labels like Tullycraft’s very own Magic Marker Records, as well as HHBTM, Matinee, and even recent favorite weePOP, my excitement blew through the roof. Look down the track list (it’s at the end of this review… I’ll forgive you for pausing to check it out) and you’ll see some of the greatest …

Tonight I hit the kitchen to compile the second FensePost podcast, or FenseCast, while cooking up one of my signature dishes: spicy steak enchiladas with homemade sauce. For desert, a delicious slice of gluten free cake courtesy Andi (the girlfriend), whose cake photo you can see in this post. Unlike the first podcast, this one had a range of bands that stemmed into several genres rather than focusing on garage rock and pop. Within I reminisce on one of my favorite bands of all time, occasionally hover …

Let me tell you a story. In 2007 some notable things happened. I attended the annual music festival SXSW (the image above is of myself and The Lovely Sparrows’ Shawn Jones, taken by Abandoned Love Records/Virgin Of The Birds’ Jon Rooney), I grew a mustache, and I met a beautiful girl named Andi at the Capitol Hill Block Party. We hit it off and ditched the after-party to get a sprite (her) and coffee (me) at Denny’s in Ballard (sadly no longer there) at 1:30am. I …

In retrospect, Fishboy‘s Albatross should have garnered my #1 album slot for 2007. Seriously: the album remains one of the most-listened-to albums even today. The oft dubbed Twee Rock Opera was a truly brilliant concoction. And, as front-man Eric Michener quietly hints at a follow-up, he releases Nom, a nine-song EP consisting of rejects from the original concept album.

I’ve made a decision: come end of year 2009, I’m going to re-visit my 2008 best of list and repopulate the list based on a year with what I’ve deemed the top albums. Why? Simple, Albatross by Fishboy should not have been my number 2 album of 2007. No, it should have been number 1.