TOP 30 JAMS OF 2010

1. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
2. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
3. Harlem - Hippies
4. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
5. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
6. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
7. Best Coast - Crazy For You
8. Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms
9. Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises
10. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
11. Warpaint - The Fool
12. Wolf Parade - Expo '86
13. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
14. Twin Shadow - Forget
15. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
16. Beach House - Teen Dream
17. The National - High Violet
18. Crocodiles - Sleep Forever
19. Gayngs - Relayted
20. Vampire Weekend - Contra
21. Lower Dens - Twin-Hand Movement
22. Wavves - King Of The Beach
23. Woods - At Echo Lake
24. Jesse Malin & The St. Marks Social - Love It To Life
25. The Soft Pack - S/T
26. Wild Nothing - Gemini
27. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
28. The Whigs - In The Dark
29. The Books - The Way Out
30. The Album Leaf - A Chorus Of Storytellers

top 50 of 2010

1. margot and the nuclear so and so's - buzzard
2. band of horses - infinite arms
3. home video - the automatic process
4. delorean - subiza
5. max richter - infra
6. beach fossills - s/t
7. surfer blood - astro coast
8. midlake - the courage of others
9 best coast - crazy for you
10.jesse malin - love it to life
11. butch walker - i liked it better when you had no heart
12. stars - the five ghosts
13. against me - white crosses
14. beach house - teen dream
15. the national - high violet
16. deerhunter - halcyon digest
17. brmc -beat the devils tattoo
18. julian lynch - mare
19. salem - king night
20. vampire weekend - contra
21. joanna newsom - have one on me
22. harlem - hippies
23. the black angels - the phosphene dream
24. tame impala - innerspeaker
25. goldmund - famous places
26. shearwater - the golden archipelago
27. the books - the way out
28. ted leo - the brutalist bricks
29. orion - s/t
30. tallest man on earth - the wild hunt
31. lower dens - twin handed movement
32. emeralds - does it look like i'm here
33. radio people - s/t
34. spoon - transference
35. shout out louds - work
36. interpol -s/t
37. weezer - hurley
38. woods - at echo lake
39. strange boys - be brave
40. sam quinn - the fake that sunk a thousand ships
41. belle & sebastian - write about love
42. jimmy eat world - invented
43. the coral - butterfly house
44. jewel - sweet and wild
45. toyko police club - champ
46. dylan leblanc - paupers field
47. the album leaf - a chorus of storytellers
48. holy fuck - latin
49. bss - forgiveness rock record
50. wild nothing - gemini

2010.5

it is what it is. i've listened to all these fine recordings........ALOT!

1. band of horses - infinite arms
2. beach house - teen dream
3. stars - the five ghosts
4. jewel - sweet and wild
5. orion - s\t
6. butch walker - i liked you better when you had no heart
7. against me - white crosses
8. jesse malin - love it to life
9. shout out louds - work
10. midlake - the courage of others
11. surfer blood - astro coast
12. the national - high violet
13. harlem - hippes
14. woods - echo lake
15. joanna newsom - have one on me
16. sam quinn - the fake that sunk a thousand ships
17. bss - forgivness rock record
18. gaslight anthem - american slang
19. the tallest man on earth - the wild hunt
20. strange boys - be brave

Lady Gaga - A Takedown of 'The Fame Monster'

I once lived in a fairy tale world where the only place I had ever run into Lady Gaga was interweb news articles about how weird she dressed.  Her music?  Limited to less-than-3 second bursts, and watching Cartman do 'Poker Face' on South Park (didn't even know it was a Lady Ga Ga song, until then).  Oh, how sweet those old days were!

You see, back then, I had a strange fascination and appreciation for Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, or Germie, as I like to call her.  I remember the first time I ever saw her was wearing that crazy Kermit outfit that I'd seen previously somewhere else.  Now, it's not easy being green, but Gaga really pulled that look off.  I mean, look at that!  It's just glorious.

Then there was the whole 'Lady Gaga' has a penis thing, which I didn't quite understand...she ain't got no dick, guys!  I mean, she's not exactly the hottest Pop Star, but she's not a fucking man.  I laughed, nonetheless, and would click links that debated whether or not her junk was bigger than Justin Timberlake's whenever I saw them on buzzfeed.com.

I started to appreciate her Pop Sensibility...remember, I had still not paid a damn bit of attention to her actual craft, singing pop music, but rather, I started to appreciate that when she made headlines, it was usually just weird eccentric stuff; crazy outfits, wild live shows, falling down on stage...shit like that.  She's weird, and drives press that way, but she's not exploiting herself in some shameful way, like Jersey Shore and other 'Reality TV' is training the youngsters of today's Pop Culture World to do.

This, to me, was a breath of fresh air.  Even if she sucked musically, at least she kept it truly real.  No drug stories, no sex tape, no sniping with the West Coast Lady Gaga about who has the best vinyl prom dress for their date with the Queen of England.  And hell, we haven't really had a good Pop Diva live show like hers since Madonna's 'Truth or Dare' tour!

So it was with trepidation that I chose to actually wade into her music.  The first chink in my Gaga armor was around the time of Pitchfork's year end lists, when Gaga had something like 3 of the 5 top ranked pop songs, as voted by Pitchfork readers.  I mean, what the hell?  That's just craziness.  I pondered whether there was some value in liking her 'ironically', in some sort of backwards Indie Rock way...like, maybe she drew influences from some lost genre of awesomeness.

Then, I saw the Pitchfork review of her latest album, 'The Fame Monster'.  A 7.6?!?!?!, I mean, that's higher than they scored freaking 'Hazards of Love' last year.  All the while, I'm seeing nothing but crazy images of this chick, playing in front of huge crowds...her album is getting rave reviews from all the media outlets.  It's a 76 on Metacritic, and that's saying something, since some of those outlets don't normally review this genre, and aren't set up to be overly flattering to it.

So I broke down and found a torrent.  My initial surprise at the length of the album (it's only 8 tracks) again made me step back and think about what was going on...Does she have amazing self-editing powers, choosing not to throw three singles in with 7 filler tracks and 2 remixes?  I mean, this is totally unheard of in this day and age!  As Roxio worked it's magic on my blank circular, soon to be obsolete disc, I actually had a moment of anticipation to hear this thing.  I even pondered the egg on my face for having dismissed her all this time, and wondered if we might be ushering in a new era of Pop Music; one where we could actually depend on the artist to deliver on some promises, rather than just suck the (failing) industry's tit.

Then I hit play, and all that came crashing down.  The opener, which I guess is a single, 'Bad Romance'...let's just say it's catchy.  Catchy like the fucking clap.  It's got a rehashed 80's/90's Skate Rink beat, bad Cher-esque 'oh-oh's', and (thankfully) barely recognizable cliched ass lyrics.  That, my friends, is highlight of this clusterfuck.  The second track, which I think is about lusting after a Mexican guy, might be the worst song I have ever heard.  It's like Ace of Base threw up all over Shakira, and Britney Spears's dog lapped it all up.  And I'm being as nice as I can be.  I listened to this whole thing, twice.  I promised myself after the first go that I wouldn't do it again, but I made myself give it another try.  MISTAKE.  It's even worse upon a second listening.

So listen, kids.  When you are looking for inspiration for your next big pop album, take a listen to what Lady Gaga says:

"I spent a lot of nights in Eastern Europe, and this album is a pop experimentation with industrial/Goth beats, 90's dance melodies, an obsession with the lyrical genius of 80's melancholic pop, and the runway. I wrote while watching muted fashion shows and I am compelled to say my music was scored for them."

And then do EXACTLY the opposite.  As a performance art piece, I think she's pretty damned brilliant.  Hell, I want to wear Kermit outfits, and make the Queen of England chuckle, too!  As a musician, she's turning over old leaves...ones that we should have burned and destroyed a long time ago. 

Mountain Man

Everyone needs some good folk in their life. These guys are doing it right

Album Review - Vampire Weekend 'Contra'

I love Contra.  Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start...you know what I'm talking about!  There's not a greater feeling in the world than taking out a huge alien egg pod with the spread gun...Oh, this isn't the place where we talk about Nintendo games from the 80's?  This is the forum for discussion on today's best Paul Simon clone?  My bad.  We can do that too!

I have to admit, the release of Vampire Weekend's new album snuck up on me.  I was still reeling from my enormous undertaking from the end year...writing capsules for those 100 albums nearly killed me.  And the fallout from the peanut gallery...'How could such and such be 3 albums ahead of my favorite album!  Your entire list is compromised!'  Perhaps the most vocal criticism of my Top-100 list was leveled at the placement of Vampire Weekend's first album, which I think I put at #22, conveniently in front of the trifecta of Ryan Adams releases from 2005.  You'd have think I dropped an atomic bomb on Ryan Adams's entire legacy.  Suddenly, this ranking defined my musical tastes in a way that I was not prepared for.  I just dig that Vampire Weekend album...a lot.  It's catchy, has no serious flaws, and reminds me of my childhood safaris in Africa.

So, with trepidation, I listened to this new Vampire Weekend release, worried that I'd have some kind of internal backlash against liking it, since so much of my musical existence suddenly hinged on whether or not it was good.  This, on the backs of low expectations, in general, had me worried that I'd find this album as attractive as a double shot of leprosy and AIDS.  Even before my Top-100 list, I'd have given them 50/50 odds of spitting out total crap for their follow up...I mean, there were many reasons to expect them to fail (or, at least be lackluster).  For instance:

1. The hype factor - My god, the hype!  We all remember 2007, when the 'blue CD-R' floated around with a bunch of tracks from these guys, and everyone 'in the know' hopped directly on the bandwagon.  This was followed by wide release, and a continued 'ZOMG, these guys are awesome' rampage, that included a very high profile small venue tour, and good press from basically every media outlet in existence.  It looked like one of those PR masterpieces, where everything falls together, just like the marketing department drew it up.  Music isn't made for PR, though, so wouldn't two years of getting their dicks sucked by EVERYONE go to their heads, resulting in an abortion of a sophomore release?  Isn't our society built around building people up as high as we can, only to tear them down the second they show themselves to be less than perfect?

2. The douche factor - I bought the new LP, and I half expected it to come with a Ezra Koenig limited edition J Crew sweater vest, a thesaurus, and a coupon for 50% off your next visit to Starbucks.  These guys put the 'indie hipster douchebag' in Indie Hipster Douchebag.  Elitist, pretentious, and excruciatingly trendy.  I sometimes feel like Starbucks threw up on me when I get through listening to them. 

3. The copycat factor - Everybody and your Mom is now putting out syncopated African styled pop beats.  The market is flush with Peter Gabriel retro-love.  14 year olds everywhere are getting into Paul Simon's 'Graceland', instead of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.  This equals backlash, backlash, backlash.  Especially amongst the trendiest of the Indie Hipster Douchebags, who can't afford to buy this year's sweatervests, because they are spending all their money on Animal Collective remixes.

Vampire Weekend, backs against the wall, did the unexpected, however.  They went out and made the 'Eff You' album of the year, revisiting everything they did right on their debut...but reinventing themselves in the process.  They have essentially taken what they do best, and put it right back out there.  I'd call this album 'triumphant', but since they have egos the size of the moon, already, I'd rather go with 'they met their own expectations'.  The pretentiousness?  It's still steeped in here, but it's not quite as Oxford Comma-ish.  The lead track, for example, probably raised the Google ranking of the obscure beverage Horchata well beyond it's cousins Komboucha and Kefir.  Luckily, that shit is catchy, or I'd curse them for that.  If Starbucks is listening, I'd get that crap on your menu ASAP.

Overall, though, I'm impressed with the maturation of the lyrical content.  It doesn't feel like a bunch of poetry some Lib Arts major scribbled on the back of his retro Trapper Keeper, this go-round.  Couple that with stronger production values, and more intricate musical composition, and you can see why I'm high on this thing.  Take the first single, 'Cousins', which is a complex, odd rhythm (ska?  Cali-surf rock?  Where my Africa at, Ezra!?!?), and non-sensical (so it can't piss you off with pretentiousness!) lyrics...I think it's the highlight of the album. 

So, is it as good as their first album?  It's catchy as hell...Horchata, White Sky, Diplomat's Son, Cousins...all these could have found a home on that first album's lineup.  But I don't find it quite as accessible.  This could be due to the fact that I'm a virgin listener to this new one...I've got maybe 5 spins on it.  That first album...hell, it's like the back of my hand, at this point.  Familiarity will determine this one's legacy, but by the Out of the Box litmus test, this release far exceeds my expectations. 

Score: 9.1 Sweater Vests

top 60 of '09

here she is:


1. grizzly bear - veckatimest
2. the antlers - hospice
3. vetiver - tight knit
4. jonsi and alex - riceboy sleeps
5. the rural alberta advantage - hometowns
6. phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix
7. animal collective - mpp
8. mountains - choral
9. the avett brothers - i and love and you
10. atlas sound - logos
11. sonic youth - the eternal
12. holopaw - oh glory, oh wilderness
13. metric - fantasies
14. nurses - apples acre
15. third eye blind - ursa major
16. silversun pickups - swoon
17. our lady peace - burn burn burn
18. gomez - the rising tide
19. the dodos - time to die
20. conor oberst - outer south
21. ducktails - landscapes
22. langhorne slim - be set free
22. the cribs - ignore the ignorant
23. great lakes swimmers - lost channels
24. megafaun - gather form and fly
25. ben kweller - changing horses
26. bonnie prince billy - beware
27. real estate - s/t
28. mum - sing along to songs you don't know
29. andrew bird - noble beast
30. girls - album
31. maria taylor - ladyluck
32. david bazan - curse your branches
33. the veils - sungangs
34. here we go magic - s/t
35. woods - songs of shame
36. magnolia electric co - josephine
37. imogen heap - elipse
38. the maccabees - wall of arms
39. the warlocks - the mirror explodes
40. harlem shakes - technicolor health
41. sunset rubdown - dragonslayer
42. throw me the statue - creaturesque
43. mount eerie - the winds poem
44. jason lytle - yours truly, the commuter
45. sleeping at last - storyboards
46. the blackheart procession - six
47. sea wolf - white water - white bloom
48. devendra banhart - what will be will be
49. built to spill - there is no enemy
50. jay reatard - watch me fail
51. tortoise - beacons of ancestorship
52. dinosaur jr. - farm
53. the fresh and onlys - grey eyed girls
54. sondre lerche - heartbeat radio
55. thee oh sees - help
56. the acrtic monkeys - humbug
57. kevin devine - brothers blood
58. dan deacon - bromst
59. papercuts - you can have what you want
60. volcano choir - unmap