another sucker on the vine

This blog.

2011-01-31T19:57:00.000-08:00

This blog is basically over. I'm not going to update it, but I won't delete it because there is some good shit on here.

I migrated here: http://inawhiteroom.wordpress.com

It'll be better, I promise.

Top 50 Albums of 2010

2010-12-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Here we go now here we go now, I'm not doing big reviews, I already did this and am cross posting from a message board, DEAL WITH IT.

1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

I just can't even put into words really how I feel about this album. I've said a million hyperbolic things, but I think this album is truly something special and will go down as one of the more important albums in electronic music, period. Big words, sure - but this album has it. It's schizophrenic, it's spacey, it's fucking nuts and it's deep throughout. If Flying Lotus continues this upward swing, he's gonna be the best dude in music ever. I can't even listen to this record that frequently because it's exhausting, but when I do - I'm always amazed. Who even thinks of this shit?

2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The consenus, critical #1 album of the year and most deserving too. Following an ingenious media campaign and near-Kanye overkill, the dude released the best album of his career. Combining everything that made his past 4 albums good and throwing them in here and creating something that hasn't been seen in hip hop. It's audacious, but it's still pop. It's just little things and not every song is perfect (I don't actually like "So Appalled" very much) but everything flows just great and Kanye is at the top of his game. I can't really even explain why I like it so much, but since it's leaked, I can't stop listening. Brilliant stuff top to bottom.

3. Beach House - Teen Dream

This album leaked back in 2009 I think and from the get go I knew it was going to be among the top albums of the year. And it hasn't let up yet. If anything, it keeps getting stronger. They're writing the best songs of their career, Victoria is singing better and more confident than ever, the instrumentation is just beautiful. I mean this is dream pop done right and done as well as anything since the heyday of the Cocteau Twins or Slowdive or whatever and it sounds nothing like either of them. Even though it's sleepy music, if you turn it up loud then the effect is better. Great pop record truly.

4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Originally, this album was vying for that #1 spot. I probably played the album out, but going back to it now - I'm still in love with it. However, it's not in the top 3 because it's not quite perfect. I think all the songs are good, but some of the choices on a couple of the tracks (yea yeah, Vonnegut on "Follow Us") have gotten to me - but I also realize I hardly know the last few songs on the album. When it's strong (the string from "Shutterbugg" to "Be Still") - it's the best album of the year, but the fringe tracks leave a bit more. Still, so glad he finally released this and that it is so fucking good.

5. Four Tet - There Is Love In You

I can understand why people who liked Four Tet's earlier releases found this one to be a big snore. Whereas his other albums were sparse, less dancey and pretty unique in the whole electronic music spectrum, this release is made for the dancefloor. It's not quite techno, it's not quite dubstep, it's a sum of a bunch of dance music influences and reduced to only the bare essentials. Maybe experts will find this overrated, but I listened to a lot of dance records this year, and this is my favorite. The songs just connect with me, even if they just seem like the same loop over and over for 8 minutes. Every little nuanced sound just seems perfectly chose. I lose myself in most of these songs.

6. Curren$y - Pilot Talk & Pilot Talk II

To me, this is the first record in a long while that really reminds me of the golden age of hip hop. Without intentionally trying to sound like a throwback ala most terrible backpack and underground rap or even a lot of Stones Throw - Mr. Ski (producer of "Reasonable Doubt" and "Uptown Saturday Night") came back out of nowhere to team with dirty south rapper and create two albums that just sound laid back and cool. Curren$y isn't the best rapper, he's not the most charismatic rapper and it doesn't matter because what he is fits perfectly for the production. Totally smooth, every song just sounds like you already lit up. Love this shit

7. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Took awhile for this record to sink in, but once it did - I hadn't been so excited about a rock record that I could remember. I just fuckin love how loud this record gets, how anthemic the songs are - how literate the lyrics are. Its just pump your fist music and it's huge and I really enjoy it. All themes and concepts aside, this is some of the coolest indie rock I've heard in the past few years and it still gets me to rock out.

8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

Even after my surprise of how much I enjoyed this record, I still can't seem to enjoy Ariel Pink's back catalogue. That shit is too lo-fi, too weird and there seems to be very few actual songs there. This record though - this is the coolest/weirdest pop music to come out in a while. It truly sounds like nothing else ever, yet you could try to point to a bunch of influences that went into making it. It's just far out and totally enjoyable. The climaxes in the songs are the best of the year too.

9. Mike Stinson - The Jukebox In Your Heart

To me, this is without a doubt the best country record of the year. I don't know Mike Stinson's backstory very well other than he has written some songs that were performed by some big names - but this is the country music I like. Witty storytelling, bar songs, California songs, almost a John Prine-y voice. Honky tonk style but not trying too hard to be retro - just thorough, excellent country music. It's 9 here, but I foresee myself listening to this as much or more than anything higher on the list in the future.

10. Patty Griffin - Downtown Church

When I heard that Patty Griffin was foregoing her typically excellent songwriting for a gospel covers record, I didn't expect much to come from it. I love Patty Griffin, but have never been head over heels over any of her records - this one though, I am. Buddy Miller's production is top notch, Patty's voice is top notch. Sounds nerdy and will drive people away but it reminds me of the high points of Eva Cassidy's career. It just really works for me, gospel or not. Beautiful record.

11. Twin Shadow - Forget

Maybe the most promising debut of the year, I just find this particular homage to pop music of the 80s to work a lot better than most others. I think it's probably because his array of influences is wider, so he doesn't just stick to one solitary sound throughout the album, though it is unified. Furthermore, he's writing actual songs with verses and choruses and the like rather than just burying his vocals under the atmosphere of the music. It's really invigorating pop music.

12. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid

As an artistic statement and a display of wide-ranging skills, this might be the best record of the year and one of the most ambitious pop records in some time, but I've discovered that while I thought this was one of the very top records of the year initially, I sometimes have a hard time making it through every track. It's still enjoyable, still really engaging and I'm really glad to see it atop some lists around the internet, but maybe scale it down just a little bit (even like 1 or 2 less songs on each suite) and that would probably serve it better. Also of note: I can't fucking stand Of Montreal any longer.

13. Rick Ross - Teflon Don

When Rick Ross got outed by 50 Cent as a phony gangster - he only got better. His stories, his bragging and his beats only got crazier. He is rapping about more ridiculous things than ever to the point where it wouldn't be believable for anyone in history, and it's great. He's basically a giant loveable comic book gangster backed by some of the best beats in the game. And everyone I've played this album for, I've tried to bring to light how strange some of these songs are. Random breaks, rapping off the beat, non-hip hop sounding music. Some of it is totally awkward and almost avant-garde for gangster rap, and that's why this is Rossy's best album. And if you haven't yelled "I THINK IM BIG MEECH" by now - you're too late.

14. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt

I basically forced myself to finally enjoy this album, because I was really hesitant at first. His newfound confidence that was displayed in his vocals really put off initially, it was uncomfortable even. But I grew to love it, grew to know just about every word and loved blasting this shit when I was alone. Still don't think you should see this guy live, but this record is very good.

15. The-Dream - Love King

He was never going to be able to top "Love Vs. Money" which was just about the best r&b record of the modern era, but he came pretty close. While there are more throwaway tracks here - the record is still some of the best pop music being put out there and a blast to sing along to. Love his production, love his awkward voice. The suites are still there, but and he goes into full on Prince mode for awhile, and it all works. Pretty brilliant stuff for his market.

16. Caribou - Swim

I love that Dan Snaith can wear so many hats. From a krautrock album to a sunshine am pop record to this, where his always apparent Arthur Russell fascination really comes to the forefront and gives us what might even be his very best record. This is indeed dance music that sounds like it was meant for listening to underwater, just the way he wanted. It's a lot of fucking fun, it could be better, sure - but it's still one of the best electronic albums of the year.

17. The National - High Violet

This album should probably be even higher than I have it - but whatever, I can't get myself to do it. The fact is though that this is my favorite National album, the first one that I loved immediately and the one I've listened to the most. I've enjoyed but not really understood the praise this band received, but this record just fucking did me in. You all know the National by now, you mostly love them, whatever. Anyone who said this was a step down from their last two is wrong. This band is great.

18. Sam Amidon - I See The Sign

Sam Amidon's last record "All Is Well" was in my top 10 of the past decade, a perfect record, incredibly beautiful and fragile. I still listen to it a lot and it exposes me everytime. I had the pleasure of seeing Sam live finally this year and he was incredible and it really boosted my appreciation of this record too. I was initially let down by this one, but it's really been moving up the ranks lately. Still beautiful, just not as immediate as his past record. Sparse, beautiful, and there is an R. Kelly cover too. Amazing stuff.

19. The Souljazz Orchestra - Rising Sun

There were only a few jazz records this year that really caught my ear, but when it came time to make this list - the only one I could remember specific moments from and look back upon and think about true enjoyment, this is it. As much a funk and worldbeat record as a jazz record, I find this to be so much better than like-minded records like The Budos Band. Great blend of Afro-Latin influences and american funk and jazz - it was my go to record to play this year when I was with people in my car or house who I didn't really know to well. You can't help but move your body a bit. Really fun.

20. The Alps - Le Voyage

I've liked The Alps since they debuted a few years ago, but in a year where I barely listened to experimental/instrumental music, "Le Voyage" managed to stick out. Perfectly blending acoustic, countryish instrumentation with sci-fi, synth-based washes and drones, and kraut rock, I just find this record really pretty. Jefre put out a solo record this year also that might even be better than this, but this is the album I stuck to, a great dose of bizarre psychedelics.

------

21-50 Unranked and Alphabetical!

Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit

Always ignored Agalloch because of the name and because the praise that was thrown them by the people I thought were throwing it - I made them out to be some prog rock death metal, math-rock hybrid bullshit. Boy was I wrong. I don't know their back catalogue, but "Marrow of the Spirit" is the best heavy album I've heard in years. Blast this shit through the roof.

Ali Farka Toure & Tomani Diabate - Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Another one of those records that just sounds good when nothing else does. Just so relaxing and great anytime of day when you need a break from life. I was really into African music the past couple years, but have really weaned myself off. This is just too good to pass up though, undeniably gorgeous. Maybe boring for some people, but it's probably not meant for intense, scrutinizing listening.

Aloe Blacc - Good Things

I was ready for this to be another record of failed potential like most of Stones Throw's records over the past 5 years and after the mess that Aloe's first solo album was. Especially when I realized he was not going to rap at all on this release. What I've discovered is my favorite evening album of the year. Perfect music to cook to, to enjoy and it's probably the best straight up soul record I've heard this year. And it keeps on growing. Throwback stuff that doesn't just sound throwback for effect - this is good soul music.

ASC - Nothing Is Certain

Was certain this was going to be higher on my list after becoming obsessed with it during the beginning of my review thread. I've since fallen out of favor with it a little bit, but it's still among the best electronic music I've heard this year. Really deep, has a nice old-school DnB vibe, but filtered through some of the more exciting downbeat Dubstep stuff. Great played on good speakers and in headphones. Total night time music though.

Bare Wires - Seeking Love

Sadly, I would've never downloaded this record if it were not for the album cover, which prominently displays an infamous Oakland building I happen to drive by every day on my home from work. I'm sure glad I did download this record though, it's one of the more exciting rock n roll records this year. Total skuzzball rock, could fit in with the lo-fi movement, could be hip in some punk circles, would work in the NY scene of the early part of last decade. Just shitty, fucked up rock n roll and a whole bunch of fun.

The Black Keys - Brothers

This is probably the best Black Keys record, or second best at least. (I still think "thickfreakness" is probably the best). And if I would've made this list in the summer months, this would probably be top 10. As of now, it just barely missed the top 20. Just a monster record, love this sound so much more than the Danger Mouse recorded album. Huge sound, thick, soulful. Aw fuck, time to fall back in love with this record.

Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now

This one caught me by surprise, but it's just so goddamn pleasant, that I probably can't even count the number of times I've put this one during my morning commute because everything else was just going to stress me out. Just solid, slightly hip folk rock revivalism. Not weird, not hippy, not a front, just good stuff in the vein of the 70s folk pop scene. Totally enjoyable.

Danny Paul Grody - The Fountain

Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, and the Sun City Girls all had records this year - just to name a few of the instrumental folk dudes, but while I love all those musicians typically, the one instrumental album that really stuck with me for the whole year was this. It strikes a balance of instrumental folk passages and mixes them with ambient and drone but is never "noisy". It's just interesting and really calming.

Demon's Claw - The Defrosting Of...

Their debut on In The Red is such a huge improvement over "Satan's Little Pig" - I don't even know where to start. Their still chaotic and nutty, still sound like a southern white trash band (though they're from Canada) hell bent on drugs and alcohol and raging against everyone, but there is some more control here. There are actual songs and they sound like all your favorite 80s and 90s cow-punk bands and the early Rolling Stones. It's rock and fucking roll and it's great.

Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame

Someday in the future, we're going to look back at this era of music and realize that Dr. Dog is truly one of the best and most definitive rock bands we have going. I mean, they write great pop rock songs in the vein of history's best bands. "Fate" might still contain some of my favorite tracks of theirs, but for whatever reason, I've connected with "Shame, Shame" better than any of their other records. Some tracks remind me of the Beatles still but they're becoming their own band. They're never going to create a masterpiece, but they're as solid as it comes.

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

This fuckin record just makes you feel dirty. Huge, dark trip-hop beats from yesterday and Gil-Scott's weathered and weak voice singing on top. The dude may have gone through a ton of shit in the last 20 years, but this is his comeback and it's a huge statement but I'm hoping that it is just a taste of what's to come. Short, not much to it - but still so good.

Grinderman - Grinderman 2

I pretty much hated the first Grinderman record. It was too grimey for me in a way that I didn't want. The followup sounds a little more conventional, is a little fuller and the songs are really solid all the way through. It's still dark (I mean c'mon it's Nick Cave and Warren Ellis), but you're not going to be terrified of this record. Definitely my favorite Nick Cave thing in a while (I know he's ALWAYS good but this one was immediate). Really feel like this was slept on.

Guido - Anidea

I don't know anything about this producer or this record. I don't know if it was well received, if it made waves in the dubstep scene or if it was shat on. I don't know why I like this record better than just about all other dubstep and electronic releases - it doesn't sound that different, but it somehow straddles the line between all the various sub/post-dubstep shit that becomes hip every other week. It just slaps in my car and it's awesome in my headphones and I enjoy it a lot. I can't always get through it in one sitting, but it hits hard enough that I dont give a fuck.

Jakob Dylan - Women + Country

I initially even deleted this album, but it came back when I was reviewing all the awesome things T-Bone Burnett produced this year and even then, I thought this was probably the weakest of all those records (except for Robert Randolph). But it just kept growing and it just stuck with me. It's easily the best Jakob Dylan related record. It's warm, it's sparse and it has Neko Case and Kelly Hogan on backing vocals in every song. It's a slow folky record like that Robert Plant + Alison Krauss record, but a bit more youthful. Really solid and easy to put on.

Joe Pug - Messenger

Recently reviewed this record, I know - but I just want to reiterate that when this dude is on, he's on. And he needs to stick to just acoustic based music. He can add some other instruments to the mix, maybe some pedal steel or light drums or something, but the orchestrated, full band sound at the bookends of this album bother me, while his stripped down stuff reveals one of the most promising young singer/songwriters in a while. Should be the next Josh Rouse.

Lorn - Nothing Else

Fuck that whole witch house thing, this is the real shit right here. Not so much dark for the sake of being dark, this is still essentially dance music or club music or head music whatever, but it's not so far removed from awesome bass heavy stuff that's been coming out lately. Dude is gonna be on the Flying Lotus level soon, he's just darker and not as glitchy. Really heavy stuff, play extra loud.

Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

Took me a while to take a chance on this record, but it's definitely one of my favorite punkish records of the year. I love that the music is just straight-forward pop-punk stuff, but the vocals are distorted and buried in the mix - gives an interesting effect. Nice and short and nothing to really dislike here. It's just solid, fun guitar music - really look forward to where these guys go.

Math And Physics Club - I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do

I guess in a way this is still a disappointment considering that their last record was probably the best twee/indie pop record that I can think of since "If You're Feeling Sinister" - but I actually initially thought this record was actually bad. Like that the songs weren't even catchy or just annoying. I was really wrong and this just keeps getting better. The hooks aren't as immediate, but it's still ridiculously fey, cute, indie pop music and I'm a sucker for it.

Nobunny - First Blood

Even if Nobunny ditched the ridiculous bunny head/mask that he wears, he'd still be making waves in the underground scene, because his brand of glammy power pop is like lo-fi T. Rex at the very best and it's just too much fucking fun. This might even be the most fun record of the year. Simple lyrics, simple music, but thats the Ramones too. Love this guy a lot, perfect summer music, perfect party music.

Quest For Fire - Lights From Paradise

I was pretty distraught after Comets on Fire broke up after "Avatar", which was my favorite record of theirs. I just love these psychedelic, stoner bands that try new things rather than just ape the same thing that Kyuss andd all these others have been doing forever - and on this record Quest For Fire is doing that. There are some real symphonic moments on this record that are totally new and a welcome change. But let's be honest, this record is great because it really rocks. Awesome guitar solos and everything is just cranked up. Light up and play along.

The Roots - How I Got Over

Or when ?uestlove featured all the bands that Jimmy Fallon loves. Dirty Projectors, Monsters of Folk, and Joanna Newsom are all on this record and none of them sound out of place. I actually didn't give this record enough play this year, but every time I listen to it, I'm reminded at how good it is (as is the case with just about every Roots record). I just like that this one has enough experimentation to make it interesting, without losing me.

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

I've still yet to delve into Superchunk's storied back catalogue, but this record was the soundtrack to a good portion of my indian summer and I really am glad that I finally checked out this band. I don't know where it ranks among their other things, but I can't imagine it's that much worse, because it's one of the best rock records I heard this year. Catchy, fun, loud, everything great about rock.

Tamaryn - The Waves

I think of all the records not in the top 20, this has the best chance of shooting towards the very top soon. I've only listened to this record like a half dozen times and somehow always forget it exists, but it's really really great. My favorite style of shoegaze music, it's pretty, but it shreds too. Great music for the winter, relaxing, but also great for driving. Her voice is pretty, it floats above the guitars too. More people should check it out for sure.

The Morning Benders - Big Echo

"Excuses" and "Promises" are two of the best tracks of the entire year, "Excuses" probably being my single favorite song. The rest of the album is good but not outstanding and it's mostly uneven. I fall in and out of love with this record, but I think that the band definitely has potential to be something really really special. Should do more orchestral stuff though, because they do it right.

The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme

This record could never live up to the hopes I had for it. As one of my most anticipated albums of the past 5 years, I had already doomed it to be a failure. Others did the same unfortunately, which is sad because this is still a record of some of the best pop music of the year. Trying a few different things than they were doing in the past, which is nice but ultimately is the downfall that stops this from being a classic.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

This record totally deserves to be in the top 20, but as is the case with this band as always - I neglect to give them enough proper listens. I tried with this record and in my earlier review stated it might even be my favorite Walkmen record. I still think that and I still think it's brilliant, but I just don't listen to it much. One day soon I'll go through and listen to the Walkmen records and probably never wanna listen to anything else ever again, just not yet.

Voice Of The Seven Thunders - S/T

Didn't see much talk of this one anywhere and when I did, people seemed pretty lukewarm about it. But it fucking rocks and it's stuck with me just about as long as any other record on this list. Their last record "Voice of the Seven Woods" was the folky side of psych music and this is just long, drawn out, distorted electric guitar and rock songs. Probably hits cliches, doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but it fuckin rocks and it's short. A blast.

Wavves - King Of The Beach

Far and away his best record yet. Cleaned up a bit, better written songs, better hooks, not killing my ears quite the same. Great pop punk stuff and definitely starting to earn his title as the dude who basically started this whole beach craze. Was expecting to hate this record, but I throw it on here and there and it always sounds great.

Willie Nelson - Country Music

Grossly overlooked record. Willie's recent output has been spotty. The Asleep At The Wheel and Cindy Walker records were pretty excellent, the reggae and update on Stardust were not. This one is more covers of very famous songs, but they're all country classics. It's produced by T-Bone, it's bare, it's pretty, it sounds the way country music should sound and it's the music that Willie's voice sounds best for. And it just so happens to be about my favorite voice.

Wiz Khalifa - Kush & OJ

Anyone who tries to tell me that other Wiz mixtapes are better than this is flat wrong. This should just be a full length retail album, because it plays like one and it's one of the best and most enjoyable hip hop releases of the year. Wiz is barely trying, sounds high all the time and is one of the more charismatic dudes in the game right now. I love this whole "weed rap" that has come about in the last year or so and this is about the first thing of Wiz's that I've really liked.

T-Bone Burnett in 2010

2010-09-04T12:37:00.001-07:00

Maybe this makes me sound like a Grammy delegate or an old, clueless man - but T-Bone Burnett has had quite a great year so far. Dude has been reviving tired acts and producing albums that all in the top-tier of Americana/Country records I've heard in 2010. Good for him, making me excited about roots music again.

It started with the much talked about soundtrack to "Crazy Heart" which suddenly threw Ryan Bingham into the spotlight and showed off a talent that we didn't know Jeff Bridges had. The originals T-Bone produced for the album are almost all excellent and the tracks he threw into the movie and soundtrack with them fit perfectly. Not a great movie, definitely a great soundtrack.
Jeff Bridges - Hold On You

He then went ahead and made Jakob Dylan relevant for the first time since the "One Headlight". Teaming him up with some of the best female vocalists in roots music and stripping the music down to a real minimal level, Jakob finally has music to accompany his voice. Simple, effective. A real surprise. I wanted to dislike "Women + Country" but it happens to be one of those albums that keeps getting better.
Jakob Dylan - Everybody's Hurtin' (Live at WNYC) with backing vocals by Neko Case and Kelly Hogan

One that slipped under my radar somehow was Willie Nelson's "Country Music". Now, if you know me, you know that Willie is probably among the 5-10 people I would consider my favorite musicians and as far as personalities go: he's probably at the very top. The last few years of Willie's music have been hit and miss, often within the same album. Two years ago he put out an "old timey" record with Asleep at the Wheel that was fun but ultimately left me yearning for something different. He put out a terrible reggae inspired record, another tin-pan alley inspired record, etc. He's still great when he's great. but his source material just isn't working - he's not quite in Rod Stewart territory, but sometimes he might get a little close. This album though, with only one of his own songs puts him back into that great 70s era Willie. Obviously it's not as classic as some of those early 70s releases, but by today's standards and the fact that it was cut by Willie Nelson at his age: this is definitely an album that deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. If you like country music and it's history - you should probably find this album.
Willie Nelson - Freight Train Boogie (Delmore Brothers) Live on Letterman

I don't really care for Robert Randolph & The Family Band on record (nor do I really care about them live) but he also produced their latest record which is gathering mixed reviews as those records always do. I didn't like it - you might.

The real surprise of the year and maybe the best of all the records T-Bone has produced this year is "No Better Than This" by none other than John Mellencamp. Yes, the Cougar. Now, Mellencamp has had a comeback lately, Rolling Stone gave his last album like the 5th best of 2008 or 2009. But the thing that is truly cool is that I've never really liked Mellencamp. I respect him, what he stands for, the content of many of his songs - but he just came off as a cornball most of the time. But this album works for one reason: mono. Recorded in mono, with vintage equipment, Burnett makes Mellencamp sound like old folk 78s. It's a novel concept that will turn a lot of people off, but really works for me. The songs are good - the sound is awesome. It's just a lot of fun and suits Mellencamp's voice a lot better than the glossy productions he is usually backed by.
John Mellencamp - Love at First Sight

Lastly, T-Bone has reconnected with up and comer Ryan Bingham and produced the given him the finest, most cohesive album of Bingham's career. I've liked Bingham a lot since he came out a few years ago - "Mescalito" was a bright spot in 2007; a really strong year for country and folk music. His followup "Roadhouse Sun" was a mixed bag, with shades of future genius intespersed with cheesy production and songs that tried a little too hard. But "Junky Star" is his best album yet. It's dark, it's pretty minimal, and Bingham's gravelly voice is always at the front. His backing band is great and the songs have lyrics that quite often shock. It's a solid record and definitely worth a listen.
Ryan Bingham - Making "Junky Star"

So I'm not claiming any of these albums to be among the very best albums of the year, but as I said earlier - they're all good and all have moments of greatness. For a year where I'm not finding nor really looking for much Americana and roots music, T-Bone Burnett has stepped forward to produce some of the strongest work of his production career.

Oh - and there's still an album yet to come out by Elton John & Leon Russell which will be...interesting.

NIGHT BUS

2010-08-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

NIGHT BUS IS IN ALL OF US. NIGHT BUS IS US. RIDE THE NIGHT BUS.

(fictitious genre made up primarily by I Push Miracle Whips and other boarders of HPN. Music that sounds like the bus at night.) Take from it what you will. Chris Ott's mixes are at his blog. And here are mine:

1. Tangerine Dream - Trap Feeling
2. Material - Silent Land
3. Tricky - Hell Is Round The Corner

4. Robert Hood - The Color Of Skin
5. John Martyn - Some People Are Crazy
6. Roisin Murphy - Scarlet Ribbon
7. Prince - Under The Cherry Moon
8. Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Winds Over Neo-Tokyo (Akira)
9. Junior Boys - Teach

Me How To Fight

10. Willie Hutch - Mother's Theme
11. Prodigy (Of Mobb Deep) - Dealt With The Bullshit
12. Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - We Almost Lost Detroit
13. Aaliyah - It's Whatever
14. King Midas Sound - Miles & Miles
15. Simple Minds - Film Theme
16. Vangelis - My Face In The Rain
Playing Time: 55:39

Download Single Mixed File Here
Download Individual Files (as album) Here

1. M83 - Slight Night Shiver
2. Orchestral Manuevers In The Dark - The Beginning and the End
3. Blur - Sweet Song
4. Nicolas Makelberge - Choose Your Own
5. Pleasure - Nightvision
6. Robin Thicke - Dreamworld
7. Wiz Khalifa - Up
8. Guru - Backstreets (Ft. Lonnie Liston Smith)
9. Robert Fripp - Midnight Blue
10. Japan - Ghosts
11. David Sylvian - Nostalgia
12. Lou Reed - The Gun
13. Portishead - Humming
14. Four Tet - My Angel Rocks Back and Forth
15. Vangelis - Tears in the Rain
Playing Time: 58:10

Download Single Mixed File Here
Download Individual Files (as album) Here

Now that it's done

2010-08-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Let's go enjoy music again. I'm probably going to start my discography project next where I will go through particular artist's discographies for various reasons and am planning on starting with Rush - since they are a band who I used to think were the worst ever.

As a recap and of note back on the lists. I'm not going to make an actual Top 10, but these are the albums I gave 5 stars to on RYM:

2000 - Radiohead - Kid A
2001 - Jay-Z - The Blueprint
2001 - The Strokes - Is This It?
2003 - Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Master and Everyone
2003 - The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
2005 - Eluvium - Talk Amongst The Trees
2009 - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

There is a lot that got 4.5

Ok, no more lists.

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2009

2010-07-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

So I guess this is the last one. Even though I just did this list like 8 months ago, things have changed and even since I made this top 10, things might have changed a little bit more. Whatever, this is what I'm going with - it's what I'm satisfied with. Sometime after this, I might do like an overall top 10 without the reviews, perhaps. Probably not though. Hey, blog time.

10. Ryan Leslie - Ryan Leslie / Transistion
(Universal Motown)
Rank in 2009: 24

Ryan Leslie's debut albums are two of those few pop albums that with every subsequent album seems to reveal more to me than the previous listen. They are not a particular deep duo, sure - lyrically, they are definitely straight-forward - even if you DO try to decipher "Gibberish". But his production, taking cues from all the big name producers of hip hop and r&b of the last 5-10 years seems to grow constantly. His singing has grown on me, and his hooks have revealed themselves to be just outrageously addicting. I can't count the number of times I've started singing "Diamond Girl" or "You're Not My Girl" out of the blue - and these aren't songs still on the radio. I can't really decide between the self-titled record and "Transition" - they both have high points, they both have low points - the production is always top notch and reminds us of things we have heard before, while still retaining a unique "Leslie" sound - a sound of now. Ryan Leslie succeeds as an r&b singer and performer for exactly these reasons. There is no doubt the man is talented, but he's not trying to completely change the game, he's not trying to innovate too much - he's using his skills to finely tune the genre. We can hear his influences all over the place - but more than any other singer out there right now - Ryan Leslie reminds me of what made much of the r&b of the 90s so damn exciting.

9. Hudson Mohawke - Butter
(Warp)
Rank in 2009: N/A

I gave this album a lot of chances in 2009. I would download, delete and repeat over the course of a couple months. I tried to find something interesting, but couldn't. I didn't get the little hype the record received and thought that the record was just too incoherent to work. Then I heard "FUSE" outside of the context of the record and became obsessed. Without trying to connect it to the rest of the record, I noticed what a monster of a track that was - I then followed up by listening to "Rising 5" and becoming obsessed with that and before long, along with my current fascination with the LA-based Brainfeeder-esqu electronic music scene, I turned around on "Butter" - and it has become one of the most listened to records in both in my headphones and in my car over the last 6 months. And somehow I'm understanding the album. I still understand how I could view it as a mess, but what a fun and funky mess it is. The album goes all over the place - but if you don't get it, don't understand people who enjoy it - the odds are you aren't playing it loud enough. This album bumps like few albums can and like few albums will. Incredibly fun and dense record, I'm glad I gave it the chances I did.

8. The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
(Domino)
Rank in 2009: 7

It's still hard for me to reconcile the fact that I enjoy a Dirty Projectors album so much. I mean for the two releases that I knew of them, they might have very well been my most hated band that regular people actually enjoyed. I didn't understand their different time signatures, the bullshit that Lonsgtreth was putting into songs, the singing - nothing. Somehow it all changed with "Bitte Orca". Sure it's cleaner, louder, prettier. But it is still the Dirty Projectors. The album is great, with some of the most inventive pop songs I can think of. The obvious highlight is "Stillness is the Move", which was likely the best song of 2009 and one of the coolest pop songs of the entire decade. Listening to it now, it hasn't worn thin and still grooves super hard. My most listened to track is the almost-too-hilarious "Two Doves" which is achingly beautiful yet warrants the game of making up nonsensical lyrics to accompany it. I don't love all 9 tracks, but I do enjoy and appreciate them all. If nothing else, the band is a success for turning my opinion on them around and for leaving me for something to look forward to in the future - something that should be very special.

7. Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
(Domino)
Rank in 2009: 16

What was initially a disappointment from one of my favorite music acts of the 00's, has since turned into a record that keeps growing on me and has become one of my favorites of 2009. It's not quite as immediate as "Last Exit" or "So This Is Goodbye" and the songwriting might not quite be up to par, so this album alienated a lot of fans, but the groove, the dance factor and the beauty of Greenspan's work is still there and it's still really good. You can't listen to this and think "hey this song would be great as a single" or just point out the one that would work in the club. If nothing else - this album blends together almost too well. It's like one really good song upon first listen, but repeated listens, under the right atmosphere reveal an album that is just about the equal of their previous releases. However you slice it, if you slagged the record when it came out - give it another spin - it keeps getting better.

6. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
(V2)
Rank in 2009: 8

At this point, one thing is certain about the state of pop music. Any year in which Phoenix is set to release a new record, we can be absolutely sure that said record will contain at least two of the best and catchiest songs of that year. Opening "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" with the behemoths that are "Lisztomania" and "1901" was a dangerous thing for the band to do because...well...how do you follow up pop perfection? Sure the rest of the record doesn't hold a candle to those two tracks, but they are all exceptional. Even the five-and-a-half minute long instrumental is invigorating. The album blends and moves along better than any of their previous albums, a complete vision of how to make excellent pop music in this decade. It's a joy to listen to, almost impossible to dislike and a true vision in a stale landscape of music that contains little sounding like it. Here's to hoping Phoenix stick around for a long time - they might very well be our most important band. Serious.

5. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
(Downtown)
Rank in 2009: 4

Let me say this flat out: I may very well like this album better than "Black On Both Sides". Furthermore, I probably would consider this in the top 10 hip hop releases of the decade. No one expected a record this fucking awesome from Mos Def in 2009. Everyone just wants to write him off as a singing goofball. On "The Ecstatic" Mos has proved that he in fact one of the best rappers there is, he knows the best producers and he can do a simple, no-frills album and make it good. What do you need to know about this record? Spacey, vintage sounding samples. Mos just spitting all sorts of nonsense. Short songs, minimal guests who come correct when they actually appear. The best record to play in your car. This is the album lots of people have been wanting Mos Def to create from day one. It's unfortunate that some of those very same people still don't consider this album great. It's everything good about hip hop, too hard to criticize.

4. Mountains - Choral
(Thrill Jockey)
Rank in 2009: 2

Mountains have been one of my favorite ambient acts of the last few years primarily because the music they create straddles the line between organic and inorganic sounds better than anyone. Sure there is lots of electronic distortion inherent in their compositions, but the way it is executed somehow seems like it would be appropriate soundtracking a rainy day in a cold cabin. It's warm, almost human. "Choral" is their best album yet, and far and away the best experimental / drone / ambient album of 2009. Sounding like a mixture of Eluvium's earlier ambient soundscape work with the guitar work found on some of Robert Fripp's ambient recordings, Mountains have created something special. It's not entirely new, but it is done with precision. They don't build huge crescendos or create loops of the sort that will make you weep, but they do relax you, and they do make you marvel in their beauty. There is acoustic instruments, washes of synths, darkness, lightness, and everything sounds clean without being overproduced or going on for too long. A beautiful record from beginning to end and almost the very best record of the year.

3. The-Dream - Love Vs. Money
(Def Jam)
Rank in 2009: 3

The-Dream has written and produced some of the biggest songs of the last 3 years. Most notably he is the man behind the powerhouses of "Umbrella", "Single Ladies" and "Touch My Body". The dude can write a song. Apparently he can write an album too, because his second full length "Love Vs. Money" is the best r&b/pop record of the last 10 years. I can understand that The-Dream hasn't really blown up as a solo artist. He's not a good looking dude, he doesn't really have a good voice, his songs are somewhat bizarre, and to be honest most songs on this album don't really sound like they should be singles. However, the 2-3-4 punch of "Rockin That Shit", "Walkin on the Moon" and "My Love" should have occupied the top 3 spots on the Billboard charts. "Love Vs. Money" is easily my most listened to record of the 2009. It's silly, it's weird to like male r&b, but The-Dream is making music in a genre that hasn't had anything remotely this good in a long long time. Also, let's be truthful: this is an ALBUM. This isn't a typical r&b album, this is really thought out. It builds, it has song cycles, it fades, it's basically perfect.

2. A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
(Mis Ojos)
Rank in 2009: 5

Anyone who doesn't hear the sonic brilliance in this record is just deaf. That's the only explanation I can come up with. It's all over the place, it's loud as fuck, it's dreamy, it rocks, it grooves. This is the sound of a band picking up the pieces after sort of falling apart and making a record that collects and these different sounds and influences and somehow makes a fucking near masterpiece. I can barely contain my love for this record and the band members and what they are trying to accomplish - pushing and blurring the limits of shoegaze, dream pop, psychedelic and nearly venturing into trip hop. Just a band that is the right amounts of a lot of different styles and one of the best bands going right now. And they're young, they're still nearly rookies. I'm prepared for something truly special next.

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
(Domino)
Rank in 2009: 1

"Merriweather Post Pavilion" is Animal Collective's best record.

"Merriweather Post Pavilion" is the best record of 2009.

"Merriweather Post Pavilion" is the best record of the 2000's.

I didn't think I was going to say that. I didn't think there was going to be a record better than "Kid A" or even "The Blueprint" - but MPP is the record to defeat other records. All hype aside, all backlash put away - the album is a masterpiece and every time I start to feel I overrated this record, all I have to do is put it on. A masterpiece. A masterpiece. Take that.

K, Have fun!

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2008

2010-07-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Getting closer to the end. Let's just keep it moving.

10. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
(Gravitation)
Rank in 2008: 21-50

I have this weird love/hate relationship with Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth. On one hand, I love that he is doing bare bones, heart on the sleeve folk music with his rasp and swedish accent and just fucking put himself out there, no frills, just hooks. On the other hand, I sometimes get pissed off or embarrassed that I even listen to him in the first place. Some of the lyrics are truly atrocious (not TOO BAD), and the general sound is something that I don't want people around me knowing I listen to...loudly. But there lies the conundrum. I've found that the best place to listen to TMOE's music is in my car, volume turned all the way up so that I can sing those very same lyrics at the top of my lung, pretend I'm a folksinger and tell the world my story. Do I do it with the windows up or down? He's fun - sort of. Take it in small doses and it's the best thing there is, in large doses - well...I probably don't want to know you.

9. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
(XL)
Rank in 2008: N/A

At this point it's probably ok to freely admit just how fucking fun this record is and always has been. Back when Ezra and co. jumped/splashed on the scene and were the biggest thing since the Arctic Monkeys, I was a bit hesitant to reveal how much I liked them, my mistake. Perfectly fun, capably, pop music. The whole thing about NPR saying it's world music is a joke, sure they have African rhythms, sure much of the albums sounds like it wants to be a "Graceland" b-side, but guess what? "Graceland" is one of the best albums ever - and this is just really fuckin fun. It's sunny, its hot, you're with people, put on Vampire Weekend, open some beers, stop being pretentious and just fucking move around, have a conversation, sing along. Good chillout music, good beach music, good driving music. A really fun band and here I'll say it: a landmark record.

8. Small Sur - We Live In Houses Made Of Wood
(Tender Loving Empire)
Rank in 2008: 8

Since I've ceased listening to music when going to bed, I've listened to Small Sur a whole lot less. Due to an obsession and almost a "need" to listen to this album before/while falling asleep, it became one of the most played albums in my entire collection. The lushness of it all, always close, but never quite bubbling up over the calm. It's eerie, it's pretty, it's dark. It's one of my very favorite folk records in a decade filled with weird, slow folk music. It's a shame this release didn't get more press or positive reactions, because just about everyone I've introduced it to has enjoyed it a great deal. It's not something to listen to during the day time, unless you find yourself constantly surrounded by overwhelming trees or perhaps intense desert, but it is a great nighttime record, perfect for the comedown, or relaxing, drinking, reading. One of those albums where you don't want to admit quite how much you truly love it, but know that it's going to stick around in your rotation for a very, very long time.

7. Juana Molina - Un Dia
(Domino)
Rank in 2008: N/A

One of the most overused words that amateur music critics like myself employ is "ethereal". Due to a lack of ability to accurately describe music that is so unlike anything else out there, yet gives the listener a sense of calm, we use this word. Other-worldly, beautiful, extravagant, dream-like. All of these things describe Juana Molina, an artist who should be among our most important and critically acclaimed, yet somehow remains the status of being looked over when all boils down. Her songs often revolve around her spanish-sung vocal loops, using her voice as percussion, filling the spectrum of sound with seemingly dozens of vocal tracks playing off of each other. There is always a groove, there is always hints of instruments that keep the music rooted in the real world. It doesn't sound bizarre or futuristic, it doesn't sound archaic either, despite the chanting. It seems to be the sound of now, a constant experiment in sound and a true joy to listen to.

6. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
(Warp/Brainfeeder)
Rank in 2008: 21-50

In which, in 43 minutes Flying Lotus creates the most exciting subgenre currently in electronic music. Various dj's had been experimenting around LA for a couple years, mixing 70s funk and jazz with truly abstract rhythms, cranking up the drums, maxing out the synths, giving us a new wave of psychedelic music that we can groove to. But Flying Lotus is the master, a role he well deserves. It took me a while to get into this album when it first came out, due primarily to its density, just how hard it hits - but that's the greatness of it. It's far out, it's a trip and it's just terribly exciting. Upon first listen, many of the tracks can sound repetitive, but once you start to learn the album, learn what to look for - where the songs are going, where the interludes are - it really reveals itself as a complete work. Just a very exciting direction for electronic music that has since spawned dozens of other great dj's mixing techno, dubstep, broken beat, jazz, hip hop, trip hop, etc.

5. Fennesz - Black Sea
(Touch)
Rank in 2008: 3

There is something about much of the music that Christian Fennesz is a part of that really makes my ears prick up. "Endless Summer" was a legendary album, "Venice" was comforting, I just underplay it and "Black Sea", since it's release has become some sort of "safety blanket" record for me. I mean this in two ways: back when it came out, I foolishly, though truthfully claimed that the sounds on this album were some of the first that I truly felt a blanket effect with. It's droning ambient soundscapes, some cold, some warm - but somehow the compositions on this record just were so right for me, they just warmed me - they sounded like the best thing I could possibly hear. The other way this record effect me stems from this - it has slowly become a near comfort record. One that is almost always on my Ipod for those times when I need to drown out everything - work, the day, the hustle and bustle of people on a train, whatever and just zone out - listen to something I can compare with my breath. Somehow, one of Fennesz's darkest records has become a record that comforts me. I still love it.

4. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
(Universal Motown)
Rank in 2008: 2

The reason this record succeeds as one of my favorite hip hop records of the past decade is in fact due to it nearly reaching a plateau of too much of a feel good record. It sounds hopelessly out of place among hip hop music in the 2000s, both underground and mainstream - everything considered. It's jazzy, but not too much, it's smooth, but not too much. It's positive - it's not very political, it has r&b hooks. It's Q-Tip doing hip hop that could almost find its way to adult contemporary radio - and I say this all as praise. This is a hip hop record I can just throw on it's dope - but it doesn't require a lot. Obviously Tip's voice is one of a kind, so smooth (and funny), and the beats on this record are just smooth enough. Jack Johnson rap? I don't know - terrible description. The fact remains that this is a hip hop album that doesn't belong to 2008, it's just out of place. It also happens to be the best hip hop record of 2008 and one of the very best of the entire decade. Smooth.

3. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1 (4th World War)
(Universal Motown)
Rank in 2008: 10

I've said many times that just about everything Erykah Badu puts out is amazing. She is unquestionably one of the rawest, most inventive and most important female musicians of the last two decades, becoming someone who is looked at with an almost diety-like awe. She is a queen, the only true superstar in soul music since soul music was a real genre. And with only a few albums officially released, she has nevertheless remained important, untouchable and always pushed the envelope. "New Amerykah Pt. 1" definitely pushes the envelope, and the reason why this isn't an album I wouldn't immediatly consider among the very best of the entire past decade is because it often pushes it a little too far, veering into the same awkwardly abstract territories that make records by Georgia-Anne Muldrow "almost good". But let's be frank here: most of this album is on another plane. When New Amerykah was released, it was such a breath of fresh air into the whole "neo-soul" scene, sounding unlike anything else before it. It's out there, it's influenced by many of our best acts and its political. It's a daunting listen, and it's almost pure genius. But not quite.

2. Shed - Shedding The Past
(Ostgut Ton)
Rank in 2008: 6

When I try to review techno albums I really enjoy, I start to speak in a level of hyperbole that really only makes sense to me. Without the skills and knowledge to be able to describe the music accurately, I basically judge dance music on a scale of "I like it a lot" to "This sucks." "Shedding the Past" by Shed, for the most part happens to be the best full length techno album in my collection. Without an appreciation for the art of dancing in a club, not taking drugs, not being versed in even having many LPs, there is not really anything in my entire techno collection that has revealed itself time and time again like Shed has on this album. Mixing some far out dub and ambient techno with some hard hitting drums (I mean, the drums really hit) and just straight up coasting through what seems like all the essential techno albums that I have, Shed has created an album that works as just that. In a genre where it seems like LPs are often a collection of individual tracks or are so centered around a theme that the music gets lost, "Shedding the Past" works the same way that all great albums work. It has it's quiet moments, it has great tracks that built to epic tracks, it mixes a lot of different influences, resulting in tracks that sound unique from one another but the album is still held together. Every track is sequenced in its proper place. It's a masterful album, one that keeps growing on me.

1. Sam Amidon - All Is Well
(Bedroom Community)
Rank in 2008: 1

"All Is Well" might very well be the prettiest record I've ever heard. The songs aren't Sam Amidon's, the arrangements are only partially his, but his voice, his renditions of these classic American folk songs just take my breath away every single time. It's ridiculous, it's a ridiculous concept, but it is just so good. There is no doubt in my mind that "All is Well" is one of my favorite records of the past decade, one of the most personal records I have in my collection, it just conjures up images in my head - whether they are memories of mine or memories I wish were mine. Strikingly beautiful and heartbreaking. I've probably listened to "Saro" close to 200 times and "Wedding Dress" about the same. I've thought about playing his rendition of "O Death" at my fantasy funeral. I just love everything about this record and I don't see my opinion changing on that ever. It's one of those records where I just know it's mine. It may not be for you, but it's definitely for me.

Bonus Comparison For Laughs: Top 20 of 2008
1. Sam Amidon - All Is Well
2. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
3. Fennesz - The Black Sea
4. Ulaan Kohl - I and II
5. Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies
6. Shed - Shedding the Past
7. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
8. Small Sur - We Live in Houses Made of Wood
9. Posessed By Paul James - Cold & Blind
10. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1
11. Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte
12. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
13. Ellen Allien - Sool
14. The Dodos - Visiter
15. Charlie Haden - Family & Friends: Rambling Boy
16. Marilyn Mazur & Jan Garabek - Elixir
17. Nico Muhly - Mothertongue
18. Gentleman Jesse & His Men - Gentleman Jesse & His Men
19. Blueprint - Blueprint Vs. Funkadelic
20. Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2007

2010-07-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Been busy, haven't wanted to do this. I like to finish things though. So here is 2007, about 3 weeks after the last one. My bad. Btw, if you want - you can go into my archives and look at the first posts ever made on this blogger account - they are my original 2007 list.

10. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
(Merge)
Rank in 2007: 22

According to Metacritic, Spoon is the best (or most consistent) band of the past decade. I certainly don't agree with that assessment, but there is definitely truth in there somewhere that Spoon is at least a notch above most of the indie rock crowd. Though many of their early albums blend together for me and don't remain very memorable, something about the songs on GaGa, etc. just stick out from their accomplished discography. For a band that already sounded like they knew what they were doing, everything seems event tighter on this one. Listening to hit single "The Underdog" is a revelation to me every time. Every intricacy, instrument, every piece of the song seems placed so perfectly, it just astounds me, and is a song I consider to be among the best of the entire decade. Elsewhere on the record, "Rhythm & Soul", "Eddie's Raga" and "Finer Feelings" have this great underlying funk groove behind them. This funk is accompanied forays into great powerpop, some more experimental, arty stuff and just great hooks throughout. For my money, it's the best Spoon record thus far.

9. Jay-Z - American Gangster
(Roc-A-Fella)
Rank in 2007: 12

I'll come out and say that I think "American Gangster" is an unfairly overlooked album by perhaps the best rapper to ever hold a microphone in his hand. After retiring, coming back, putting out a bullshit album, Jay then got inspired by the movie/story of the same name and released this album - a loose concept featuring some of the fiercest rhyming of his career. Filled to the brim with top-notch production and samples (the Little Beaver sample on "Party Life" is one of the smoothest fucking things in hip hop), Jay comes out the doors and just exudes why he is one of the best. Rapping about the streets, gloating, proving that he is more dynamic that he is sometimes given credit for, this is Jay-Z at his most confident, an album I can imagine that he is truly impressed with. Listen, the dude is one of the absolute biggest names in the history of music, let alone hip hop - a true mogul. But he has put out a lot of terrible things in his long career. "American Gangster" was the album where he says, "I still got this." Killer.

8. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
(DFA)
Rank in 2007: 13

A lot has been said about this record in the past few years. LCD Soundsystem is the ultimate critics band. James Murphy writes tongue-in-cheek, clever lyrics, produces songs that are incredibly danceable, references sounds from throughout the history of cutting edge pop music and ultimately creates music that only he can, stuff that is uniquely his. That being said, while I like every full-length LCD has put out, I've always preferred Murphy's lighter, slower songs rather than the really intense dance workouts that fill most of his records. "Sound of Silver" happens to have perhaps the two best songs of the entire decade stuck right in the middle of the record, surrounded by intense workout songs. I don't need to say anything other than if you haven't heard and fallen in love with the brilliance of "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" almost 4 years after they originally came out, then you have missed out entirely on two of the most essential tracks of the past 10 years. I'm barely being sarcastic when I say this record could be surrounded Toto and Styx covers, but still have these two tracks and remain one of the very best records of 2007. Anthems.

7. Uncle Earl - Waterloo, Tennessee
(Rounder)
Rank in 2007: 3

If my listening habits of 2007 could be categorized into any one overarching genre, it would've been what some call "Americana." I'd always been a big fan of the twangy country, lots of the modern folk coming about and was slowing developing an obsession with bluegrass, new-grass and old-time revival music. I made a really impressive 2-disc mix of the best of the stuff from 2007, a year that seem ripe with great bands in these various subgenres. One of my very favorite records from then (and still today) is the second album by accomplished solo folk musicians coming together as Uncle Earl. Banjo, guitar, fiddle, tapshoes, everything you want. The songs on here go all over the place, there is some Mandarin language song via Abigail Washburn, there are covers of classic old-timey songs, there are more modern sounding originals, instrumentals, the album is an exercise in everything that folk music has been and should be and it's a masterful record. It's one of my all-time most listened to albums and though I still appreciate it a great deal, much of the appeal it once had on me is slowly diminishing. Maybe I have to get out of the city and back to the rural counties, because musicians as good as these 4 lovely women deserve all the praise I can give.

6. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
(Notenuf)
Rank in 2007: 9

I've listened to A Sunny Day in Glasgow a lot since I first heard this album. Singles, videos, albums, remixes, live. My friend is in the band now, but I still don't understand how the sounds that come out on their records get to sound the way they do. How they can simultaneously make songs that sound some amazingly pretty and surreal also seem to paranoid and well...loud. Sure a lot of the best 80s and 90s bands did similar things, but A Sunny Day in Glasgow has a sound that is all their own. I want to dance to it. Strike that, I want to convulse to it. It's perfect convulsion music and I love it. One of the most creative and overall best bands in existence right now, I can't wait to see where A Sunny Day in Glasgow continues to grow, because with every single thing they are putting out (which isn't a whole lot), they improve greatly. Just a truly impressive band.

5. M.I.A. - Kala
(Interscope)
Rank in 2007: 19

Some records are just so much fun when played loud that you just can't help but love them. I've had this love/hate relationship with M.I.A. since she started hitting blogs back and her mixtape came out. The thought of "what the fuck is this" is usually the first thing that pops in my head, followed by the most ass-shaking this side of a 2 Live Crew track. MIA is fun, I don't pay attention to her lyrics, I pay attention to the bass, the beats, the chanting, the rhythm. I barely pay attention to her and the controversy and praise that surrounds her. I liked the debut, I love Kala. The production is kicked up a notch, everything is louder, hits harder, but still has this nice worldbeat groove to it. "Boyz" is a workout, "Jimmy" is a great comedown, "Paper Planes" deserves the anthem status it has achieved, "XR2" is one of the dopest dance tracks I've heard and even the ridiculously out of place Timbaland track is tight. She won't top this record, it pushed the limits of her musicianship to their brink without overdoing it and because of that she made a incredibly fun record.

4. Feist - The Reminder
(Cherrytree)
Rank in 2007: 23

We all have albums in our collections that we turn to when nothing else seems to sound good. When we have those days where we try to find the perfect record to put on, or something we should listen to - but everything just sounds grating and annoying. When this happens, I've put on "The Reminder" on a number of occasions and it has done the trick perfectly. The light, breezy sounds that Feist puts out on this album, without being cheesy is to me, truly transcendent. Big words, I know - but there are few pop vocal records that are executed as well as this. Catchy songs (you've obviously heard many of them on tv), mixed with slower ballads, all accompanied by Feist's breathy voice - it's just a great mix. I can't front - this album actually probably deserves to be higher than #4 on this list, but I somehow get slightly embarrassed expressing how much I enjoy this record. It does similar things to me that records like "Rumours" or "Abandoned Luncheonette" do - it's forward thinking pop music that doesn't stray too far from what is popular at the time, just expertly crafted and the perfect crossover.

3. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
(Ramseur)
Rank in 2007: 1

Considering the obsession I once had with this album, the fact that I haven't completely burnt out on it is a feat in and of itself. I know every word to every song on this album, I scream when the brothers scream, I sing along, I mock playing the banjo or stand-up bass, I love this record. That being said, I realize now that not all the songs are brilliant, some are just ok, some are actually sort of grating at this point. Still though, the opening 3 songs for my money, rival the opening of any record in history. So much fun. I like these guys, hell, I love these guys and even though they are pretty huge now, I'll continue to support them if they continue to make good music. I didn't enjoy their followup very much, but "Emotionalism" will always have a special place in my heart and list of formidable albums from my early days as an adult. Great playing, amazing singing, great songwriting. I think the Avett Brothers are going to continue to grow in popularity, and more power to them. They should be one of the biggest bands on the planet.

2. Kanye West - Graduation
(Roc-A-Fella)
Rank in 2007: 4

LIKE WE ALWAYS DO IT THIS TIME, I GO FOR MINE, I GOT TO SHINE, NOW THROW YOUR HANDS UP IN THE SKY. With "Graduation" Kanye officially made the transition from a dude trying to bridge the mainstream with the backpack and became a bonafide "turn that shit up" superstar. Kanye goes electro, creates hilarious party rap songs, samples Daft Punk and Michael Jackson, gets rid of all the skits, keeps the record short and includes guest appearances from some of the biggest country's biggest pop stars. Along with the upbeat stuff, Kanye also released tracks like "Everything I Am" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (which might be the very best Kanye song and one of the single best hip hop songs of the new decade), which go a little deeper like vintage Kanye. The album just slaps hard, it's a blast. Not everything is great and it doesn't really show the artistic vision of his first two albums, but this is Kanye saying, "Ok, I've made it, you haven't" - and it is a joyous listen.

1. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
(Domino)
Rank in 2007: 2

I'll admit right now that I'm in that ever increasing group of people around the world that consider just about everything that Animal Collective touches to be brilliant. I find myself undoubtedly considering them the best and most important band of the past decade and perhaps the only true innovator in music this entire decade. I like just about all shades of Animal Collective, but I really gravitate towards their more overtly pop records, which is why "Strawberry Jam" is one of my very favorites. Brilliantly catchy songs, audible lyrics, incredibly fun music. Many longtime fans scoffed at this record when it first came out because it was accessible, or not challenging enough. "Fireworks" is a legitimate pop song (one of the best of the past decade), but nothing that Animal Collective does here sounds like anything else around it. And even though their popularity towards the end of the decade resulted in hundreds of bands trying to incorporate their sound into their music, no one yet has been able to distill the pure joy and...brilliance with which Animal Collective has. I won't say they CAN'T do no wrong, some side projects have been terrible, but I'll go ahead and say that they are in fact the best band in the world right now - with no other band even in sight.

Bonus Comparison for Laughs: Top 20 of 2007 in 2007
1. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
2. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
3. Uncle Earl - Waterloo, Tennessee
4. Kanye West - Graduation
5. Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
6. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
7. Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
8. Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter From The Ash
9. A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Scribble Mural Comic Journal
10. The North Sea - Various releases
11. Dungen - Tio Bitar
12. Jay-Z - American Gangster
13. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
14. A Broken Consort - Box of Birch
15. Huckleberry Flint - Good Night Darling
16. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
17. Erik Friedlander - Block Ice And Propane
18. Rachel Unthank and the Winterset - The Bairns
19. MIA - Kala
20. Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2006

2010-07-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Slogging through this at this point. Thanks Scott for being the only person reading/commenting as usual. 2006 was an interesting year. I remember my list heavily leaning on pop/indie pop. My top 2 records of that year aren't in this list, as you'll see. In fact, only 3 of my top 20 are going to be in this list and while I know that there are other records from this year that I deeply respect and enjoy, as with the other lists, this is based primarily on whether or not I've listened to these records a lot since they came out and how they have affected me in different ways. In retrospect, it was a decent year, not my favorite, not my least favorite.

10. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
(Friendly Fire)
Rank in 2006: 30

You can basically point to one thing and one thing only that makes "Citrus" an awesome album: the guitar. Sure Yuki's high-pitched, dreamily poppy, Japanese singing is a lot of fun, but the guitar sounds that James Hanna concocts on this album are incredible. Think of it as a sound that is about dense as your favorite shoegaze records, but twice as rooted in pop music. This is one of those albums where I remember the guitar crescendos more than the vocal hooks, anticipating the freakouts and washes with every listen. It's not overly complicated - but Hanna just does it RIGHT here. He makes me want to get a guitar, effects pedals and just bathe in distortion all afternoon. It's a very fun and accomplished record from a band that otherwise seems to never quite live up to their abilities. "Citrus" though may just go down in history as a landmark album in the all-time shoegaze list. Great stuff.

9. Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo
(Big Dada)
Rank in 2006: N/A

Back when Spank Rock was making waves in 2006, I had this tremendous love/hate relationship with them. I re-downloaded and re-deleted the album upwards of at least 6 separate times throughout the year, trying to figure out why I didn't figure out why the album wasn't as fun as my peers were claiming. Then I realized I went much of 2006 without a car stereo. Once that was remedied, my opinion on the album was remedied and now we have the album that is responsible blowing 3 of my 4 car speakers over the years and yet remains one of my very favorite records to listen to on blast in the car. The bass is about as heavy as you can get, the misogyny disallows the album from being playable in just about any sort of public setting, and overall the album just keeps you awake, keeps you dancing and is just one of those "holy shit" fun albums. Listen to loud with a big subwoofer, or you're not doing it justice.

8. J Dilla - Donuts
(Stones Throw)
Rank in 2006: N/A

I've had this weird relationship with "Donuts" since it's release in 2006. Surely the music world lost a true pioneer and legend when Dilla tragically passed away right before his true vision as an artist was evolving to even more radical extremes than the rest of his already fantastic career. "Donuts" was his send off, one of the most praised and namedropped albums of the past decade. "J Dilla saved my life"...yea yeah, I know. Here's how I truly see "Donuts": I don't love it. I think overall - that it is a bit overrated and has become the singlular album that people who "aren't into" hip hop can point to and say "I wish hip hop was more like this". That's great, you do that. My appreciation of it? It doesn't run deep. I think the beats are dope, I think as a beat tape made into a complete album, there are not really any other that can compete with it (though I wouldn't necessarily call it my favorite instrumental hip-hop album), but sometimes throughout the album I find myself looking at my watch and being like "ok only 15 more tracks until it's over." I know it has to be taken as a whole, that's how it works. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I honestly don't think I am. I think it's a dope album, it's definitely one of my very favorite albums of 2006, but in my endless crusade to tell everyone I know about the music they find, I have to admit that I do not think it quite as dope as the world has made it seem. But don't get me wrong, I still have a positive view on it. After all, J Dilla changed my life.

7. The Format - Dog Problems
(The Vanity Label)
Rank in 2006: 46

If you can get past the coy vocals, the visions of Laguna Beach or The Hills or any other teenage-based MTV or CW reality show, and the heart-on-the-sleeve nearly uncomfortable lyrics, "Dog Problems" by The Format reveals itself to be one of the best (and most polished) pure guitar-based pop albums in a very long time. This is just an album that I can't deny. I was into the band back before they had released a full length, following some singles here and there and seeing the duo grow as songwriters and producers, but when "Dog Problems" came out in 2006, I just could not stop playing it. Ultimately catchy, almost to the point of annoyance. I can't think of another band that was writing more memorable hooks, or more poignant one-liners. Listening to The Format is like letting it all go, freeing all your grown-uppedness and just remembering what it is like to be a teenager with ranging emotions again. Broken hearts, angry breakups, putting yourself out there and ultimately not accomplishing what you want. It all sounds melodramatic, ridiculous and can be arresting upon first listen - I mean this sounds like real fun, out of control pop music. But it's not dumbed down, it's brilliantly arranged, and masterly composed. Shame they broke up.

6. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
(Sub Pop)
Rank in 2006: N/A

It was no shock when "The Funeral" wound up in a car commercial. Listening to "Everything All The Time", you get this feeling at every song's climax that the entire album is one giant promotional tool for various different hip big-name products. It's cool music, with airy vocals and really loud guitars and quiet moments that build to huge choruses. Songs like "Part One" seem like they could accompany some scene in the early morning, "The Great Salt Lake" is played during some season finale of a teenage drama, one character happy and about to enjoy their sumer while the other is hopelessly miserable, wallowing alone in their bedroom. I enjoy Band Of Horses, I think that this is a very good album, it's inoffensive but not boring. Loud and quiet, it goes all over the place and tries to play at all our emotions without ever actually being emotional. Just something to enjoy, to accompany your life as you experience the scenes that we see so often in ads and television. Soundtrack to a generic life for the every person, and darn good.

5. Nicolas Makelberge - Dying In Africa
(Rico)
Rank in 2006: 13

It's a shame this album wasn't bigger. Even within the context of the huge Swedish pop revival of the mid-2000's, Nicolas Makelberge's debut was but a blip on the indie-landscape, when it should have been among the top-tier records. For my money, it might be my single favorite album from this new wave of amazing pop music. All amazing synthesizers and beats, hooks that go for days, three of the best songs of the entire decade "Too Young", "South America", and "Dying in Africa" and some good instrumental passages to connect them. It has this slight sleazy vibe as illustrated by the incredible (and c'mon this should be ICONIC) album cover. This album sounds like one of the best album that would've come from the whole new-romantic era of new wave when synth was taking over, and it would've been legendary then. It's an immensely enjoyable album where the charm of it only seems to grow on me.

4. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
(Domino)
Rank in 2006: 4

For "So This Is Goodbye", the Junior Boys updated their sound, added more of an underlying dance groove to their tracks and while the tempo was still slow and screaming of night overall, tracks like "The Equalizer" and "In The Morning" were born to be dancefloor screamers. The album still sounds little like anything else that was out at the time, all sort of cold synths and distant drumbeats, Greenspan's vocals all forelorn and cute. Perhaps more than anything, the updated and slightly expanded sound really harkens back to more popular synth-pop bands of the past, songs like "Caught In A Wave" are utterly beautiful, but the vocal delivery reminds me of many songs I've heard over the years. While some people argue that "So This Is Goodbye" was the Junior Boys harnessing their artistic potential into something more neat than "Last Exit", I must say I disagree. It's a good, if not great, album but doesn't quite live up to the legendary status that "Last Exit" achieved.

3. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
(Interscope)
Rank in 2006: Somewhere in the 30s

In high school, I had a couple of really good friends who obsessed over Brand New and were promptly made fun of by me. I thought it was a silly band name, I thought they were a silly band that didn't have anything new to offer that the hundreds of other pop-emo bands popping up at the beginning of the decade were already offering. I liked a couple songs here or there, but was nowhere near taking the band seriously. So imagine my surprise in 2006, when 2+ years after high school and conversations about this band I claimed to hate, they release an album that might very well be my very favorite record you can attach an "emo" tag to. The album shows a mastery of the genre by blending some traditional pop-emo lyrics and choruses with instrumental passages and song structures that allows the band to truly stick out from their peers. It's akin to what Radiohead did when they broke apart from the rest of the alternative rock crowd in the 90s, what Refused did by fusing nu-metal and pop-punk on "The Shape Of Punk to Come" and creating something better than anything else in those genres. Brand New just did something very correct with this album, it hits huge when it needs to, it has strings and quiet moments, it wears its heart on the outside, but god damn the album just WORKS. Maybe it requires repeat listenings, but it shouldn't - it's one of the best records of 2006 and one of the best of all-time for this "emo" based genre, and that should be apparent upon first listen.

2. The Radio Dept. - Pet Grief
(Labrador)
Rank in 2006: Somewhere in the 20s.

Some albums just know how to perfectly capture a mood. They present an album that sounds unique from everything else and so cohesive that this one particular album is associated with one particular emotion/memory/season/event. For it's 37 minute running time, The Radio Dept's "Pet Grief" is the only album I know of that is made almost exclusively for a rainy day, yet wouldn't be considered downtrodden or sad. In essence, it's a pop record, and a glorious one at that. But the haze and dream-laden sound that permeates in, around, and through each song on this record makes it work best on those overcast days. It's one of those few albums where with every listen, you just sit back and say "yeah, this is exactly what I need right now." You put it on and you know it's good, you know it's great and it just keeps getting better. Nothign is going to blow your mind, it's subtle for the most part, but it is just unbelievably perfect in the right setting. A truly masterful record and one of the finest pop records of the 2000s.

1. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
(Star Trak)
Rank in 2006: 3

"Hell Hath No Fury" will go down in history as the 2nd best hip hop album of the 2000's. After a long hiatus with their label, a string of absurdly good mixtapes and guest spots, the brothers returned in 2006 with "Hell Hath No Fury", one of those rare albums that actually delivered on offering everything fans could have hoped for. Pharrell and the Neptunes are in top form here, with some of their best productions to date. I have this theory that while The Neptunes sound started to grow stale over time, they always saved their very best beats for Clipse, and this album proves that (c'mon - listen to "Trill" and tell me that isn't one of the most killer things you've ever heard). Minimal other than that, with hard pounding drums and synths, able guest spots, and the brothers spitting as good as they have ever spit. This is one of those albums that I can sing (rap) along to from front to back. One of the all time best car albums, the apex of the coke rap scene, everything in between. Just put simply: one of my very favorite hip hop albums ever. Period.

Bonus Comparison For Laughs: Top 20 Albums of 2006 in 2006:
1. Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem Of 12 Stars
2. Math & Physics Club - Math & Physics Club
3. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
4. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
5. The Brother Kite - Waiting For The Time To Be Right
6. The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
7. William Elliott Whitmore - Song Of The Blackbird
8. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
9. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go
10. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
11. Ladyhawk - Ladyhawk
12. Chris Smither - Leave The Light On
13. Nicholas Makelberge - Dying In Africa
14. The Elected - Sun Sun Sun
15. Amel Larrieux - Morning
16. Yasushi Yoshida - Secret Figure
17. The Roots - Game Theory
18. Ramblin' Jack Elliot - I Stand Alone
19. Arborea - Wayfaring Summer
20. Comets on Fire - Avatar

Dang there are some really great albums in there I never listen to anymore.

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2005

2010-06-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

I feel like 2005 might be the weakest year for new albums from 00-10. This is a working thesis, but right now I'm keen to believe it. Nothing in my top 10 is an album I'm obsessed with or would consider an all-time classic, though everything is good. This is the year where my number 1 album back in 2005 isn't even in the top 10 any longer. Either are #2, 3, 4 and 5. 2005 was also the year I created an mix cd at the conclusion of every month, highlighting new music. Many of the albums the songs on those mixes have come from have long since been removed from my music library and would be forgotten entirely if not for these mix files on my computer. Regardless, here's another Top 10. I'm burnt out doing this - I'm sure the reviews are unreadable at this point.

10. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter II
(Cash Money Records)
Rank in 2005: 8

I was obsessed with Cash Money for awhile in middle school. I repped Juvenile lyrics on my binder, the beacon of everything a middle schooler stood for. On Wednesdays, I tried to organize "White Tee Wednesdays" where my friends and I would rock white tees before it was cool, though they never bought into it. I would rap along to every Big Tymers single, pretend to push a nice whip, all of that. Cash Money was my joint and back then - we never foresaw what Lil Wayne was going to become. Apart from the plethora of mixtapes leading up to it (and maybe 1 or 2 after it), "Tha Carter II" shows Wayne at the apex of his abilities. Before the autotune became a regular occurence, this album shows Wayne looser in his raps, but still understandable. He's not just spitting random shit on two bottle of purp like "Tha Carter III" or lots of his freestyles. This is a coherent album, the songs work - whether he's telling a story of (more likely) doing the braggadocio rap. It's hard to not be memorized by some of his verses, by his confidence on this recording. Before he went over the top, "Tha Carter II" may have just proven the point that Wayne and millions of others were claiming at the time, that he might very well be "The Best Rapper Alive".

9. Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor
(Thrill Jockey)
Rank in 2005: 20

Back in 2004 and 2005, all the money I earned, I spent on music. This was life before bills, before rent, before groceries. I'd head to whatever store I felt like hitting up on release day and pick up a cd or two. Every week I'd have a list of about 5, which I would somehow wittle down. I'd had some Sea and Cake albums on my computer at one particular time ("Oui", "Nassau" and "One Bedroom") and though I never really listened to them, I decided that Sam Prekop's solo album was one that I was going to buy on that trip. (I'm unsure, but the other might have been Fiery Furnace's "Blueberry Boat" which I proceeded to listen to like what...4 times?) "Who's Your New Professor" is the sound of a pleasant record. Perfect in the springtime, perfect during the summer mornings, summer picnics in the yard, fitting in the misty fall. Prekop's voice is so likable, the smoothness of his music so enjoyable, upon hearing this record for the first time, I immediately fell in love with it. It was around this time that my mom and I got close and I accompanied her on some of her sales trips for work. The cd that I brought along that we both enjoyed a lot was this. Fond memories of driving to the beach with "Who's Your New Professor" just capturing the serenity of the Oregon Coastal passages, of being the right amount of pleasant and intelligent and interesting to appeal to both of our wildly different tastes. It's not the best album ever, but it's one that I come back to every so often and always enjoy.

8. Edan - Beauty And The Beat
(Lewis)
Rank in 2005: 21

I view "Beauty And The Beat" in a unique light. On one hand, I recognize the album as an gigantic artistic triumph. Edan has taken all kind of obscure psychedelic and soul samples (and vocal snippets) and created tracks that hit hard. This doesn't sound much like any sort of hip hop that had existed prior. It's futuristic, rough and a huge mind-fuck. For that, this album is great. On the other hand, even though it's only 34 minutes, I usually get exhausted about halfway through the album and therefore can't quite consider it a masterpiece or an essential hip hop album or even my favorite hip hop album of 2005. Edan's rapping is good enough, his flow fast and sharp, his voice earnest and mean. Maybe it's just one of those albums where I have to be in the exact mood to listen to it. When that mood comes, this is one of the best albums of the past decade, that mood just comes rarely. When I listen to hip hop, my ignorant ass usually wants something it's familiar with. Something that will bump in my car or make me think back to the golden age, I don't want music that shreds my speakers like Hendrix. Whatever is the case, this is an album that should be in everyone's collection and deserves the recognition it gets as one of the best hip hop release of the 2000's.

7. Robyn - Robyn
(Konichiwa)
Rank in 2005: N/A

Robyn's big comeback album in 2005 has since seemingly been reissued countless times. Some indie publications recognized the brilliant pop music contained within during 2005, the UK started to pay attention in 2006 when she gave vocals to the huge Kleerup track "With Every Heartbeat", which led to a reissue in 2007 and then finally there were added tracks, reshuffling of tracks, and an finally an American tour and success (in small part due to helping out Snoop with a "Sexual Eruption" remix and a sketch on The Daily Show), but she still hasn't really broken through to the mainstream in the states. It's a crime really. Every song on this album should concievably be a smash single. Sung with attittude, with heart, with hurt, this might very well be the single best pure pop album of the past decade. Excellent production, just a load of fun. Robyn's come a long way, and with more and more releases being added to her repetoire - she might even finally break through (again) like she deserves.

6. Mountains - Mountains
(Apestaartje)
Rank in 2005: N/A

The music of the duo Mountains (Koen Holtkamp and Brendan Anderegg) always captivates me. Sometimes it puts in a rapturous state, I'm so smitten and in awe of the near-spiritual aura that their music can convey. Other times, it makes everything I'm doing better - from laundry to walking around to (and perhaps most often) going to bed. The samples they choose always seem to be just the right samples, the ambient, synth-based stuff they play is always reposeful, the guitar and strings are just so god damn pretty. And that is why they are good - they make really, truly pretty music - without being over the top on the emotional scale, trying to draw every aching filtered, twisted string. It's a music that speaks to your every day parade and it is really outstanding.

5. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
(Matador/Merge)
Rank in 2005: 16

I can say right now, in 2010 that I believe every M. Ward album to be good. Every M. Ward solo album that is. From his debut "Duet For Guitars #2" out through 2009's "Hold Time", Matt Ward has become one of the most consistently excellent musicians in music. While his side projects and general project seems to get more and more Starbucks-centric however, "Transistor Radio" his old-timey concept record from 2005 remains amazing. Opening with an acoustic, instrumental cover of The Beach Boys' "You Still Believe In Me" on through modern folk songs sounding like they are being filtered through a tin can during the dust bowl, "Transistor Radio" is a complete effort - one that stays strong throughout, holding with the theme, giving the listeners memorable folk songs, memorable guitar lines. It's mostly gentle, some songs have been recycled from past releases, but overall the album is a ridiculous success. "Here Comes The Sun Again" should be a folk classic, "Paul's Song" is a song that stays stuck in my head for days upon hearing, it's just a magical album that is truly hard to not enjoy.

4. Common - Be
(GOOD Music)
Rank in 2005: 11

"Be" will go down as the last good Common album. Released after the uneven (though oddly charming) mess "Electric Circus", this album was Common's most straight-forward release of his career. Eleven tracks, nine produced by Kanye, two produced by Dilla. His lyrics suffer on some songs, but on the whole, it's Common spitting decent enough rhymes over some of the best beats Kanye was offering at the time. The album-titled opening track is one of my favorite beats ever, was my cellphone ring for years and sets the stage. "The Corner", when it was released as a single announced Common back from the love ballads that had been dominating his rise to fame recently. From there, we get a mixture of uplifting (sometimes corny) rap, street-conscious stuff, fun stuff, whatever. It's a short album, it's sequenced properly and it's no frills. It's just solid hip hop through and through and in a genre that is often so bloated with bullshit recycled and terrible "new" ideas, "Be" was a breath of fresh air in 2005.

3. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
(Arts & Crafts)
Rank in 2005: 6

If "You Forgot It In People" was an exercise in how to make a lot of musicians and a lot of noise sound coherent, even beautiful, then Broken Social Scene's self-titled followup is how to add even more musicians, making it's loud points way louder, making it sound less coherent and capturing the spirit of too many beers in the studio. "Broken Social Scene" is a glorious mess, mixing anthemic indie rock songs like "7/4 (Shoreline)" and "It's All Gonna Break" with somber, even depressing sounding numbers like "Bandwitch". Nothing sticks out quite like the previous album, but as a whole - it still sounds good. Turn up the speakers loud, rock out when you can, rest when you can, enjoy the sounds of this conglomeration of musicians. Some people slandered this album as garbage compared to the previous release and that could partially be true, but that's what makes it good. It just sounds like a good time, people wanting to get invovled, a million ideas bouncing off the wall and all being played at once. It works in its own right, which is remarkable in and of itself. But seriously, play it loud.

2. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
(Mute)
Rank in 2005: N/A

For a long while I've considered this to be the best album of 2005 and one of the top 5 best albums of the entire decade. I cannot even count the number of late nights this album has kept me company since it's release. "Oh look, its midnight and I have to be up another hour or 2 - let's listen to Coles Corner"...and that would turn into 2 or 3 listens. The voice, it's so...alarming. So smooth, saturated with cheese, sleaze - the record doesn't really make sense if you have your lights on. The songwriting is top notch, the production is top notch, it's a great record that just doesn't hold my attention like it used to. "The Ocean" is likely one of the 10 best songs of the past decade, and there are a lot of other really strong tracks as well, but I find myself now not being quite as mesmerized by it as I used to be. A great album to listen to alone, not with people.

1. Eluvium - Talk Amongst The Trees
(Temporary Residence)
Rank in 2005: 17

I can't actually explain what it is about Matthew Robert Cooper's ambient albums that make me love them that much more than everyone not named Brian Eno. I've talked about his compositional skills, the humanity of his music, all of that - but let's be honest - this isn't truly that much different from the hundreds of other ambient artists out there, it is just somehow a lot better. I don't know how, I don't know why. He must have a really selective ear, he must have really specific visions that he has to conjure up when selecting music to put on an album, but the fact is that "Talk Amongst The Trees" might very well be my single favorite ambient album of all time. It just fucking gets me. And it does it every time. It could be the cover, it could be all the feedback, whatever. It's beautiful, haunting, and perfect. Is it actually more skilled or better than releases from the other masters of the genre? Probably not in any objective sense, and I can't really argue a subjective point either. This album was just made for me, that's all there is to it.

Bonus Comparison for Laughs: Top 20 Albums of 2005 in 2005:
1. Why? - Elephant Eyelash
2. Jesu - Jesu
3. Jack Rose - Kensington Blues
4. Sunn 0))) - Black One
5. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights
6. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
7. Animal Collective - Feels
8. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter 2
9. Slim Thug - Already Platinum
10. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
11. Common - Be
12. XXL - Ciautastico
13. Sigur Ros - Takk...
14. Birchville Cat Motel - Chi Vampires
15. Dalek - Absence
16. M.Ward - Transistor Radio
17. Eluvium - Talk Amongst the Trees
18. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
19. Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls
20. Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor

Kraven's Last Hunt

2010-06-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

6-issue Spider-Man series that is so unbelievably good (and fucked up), it will have you reevaluating all other comics you read. Scary, dark, twisted. I don't even care about Spider-Man - but with all the stuff that's happening in the current timeline with Kraven's family, you should read this whether or not you care about comics or Spider-Man or anything. Amazing series.

Wiki
Amazon

Download Here

While we wait

2010-06-17T21:31:00.001-07:00

While we wait for more lists to be posted (oh boy!), and if you were curious as to what I think the best album of 2010 is so far: It's "Cosmogramma" by Flying Lotus.

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2004

2010-06-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

Continuing on through the decade. 2004 was another exciting year, the year I can point to where the obsession with new music became overwhelming, where I was "acquiring" more albums than I could posisbly enjoy, where I took my knowledge and my foresight to mean something (it doesn't) and where I continued to write about and review music to my liking. I believe this was the year that I started my first music only blog as well - not with uploads (the occasional single song), but more of a "what I listened to today" blog with like 2 sentence reviews.

10. Annie - Anniemal
(679 Recordings)
Rank in 2004: 5

The single album that made me re-evaluate my take on pop music was "Anniemal". I was an angry teenager, pretending to be too cool for anything that would be considered pop - unless it was overly ironic or the occasional hip hop single. Something about the production, the almost-out-of-breath vocals, the hooks themselves just hooked me. There was no basis for why and in retrospect, much of my love for this album is probably due to praise from Pitchfork. Regardless, the first time I heard "Chewing Gum" I knew it should be a hit stateside. When I heard "Heartbeat" I knew I needed the album. And it was a bare to get. I ordered through some bizarre website from a record shop in the UK, but did so through an e-mail. I never got a response, and one day about 4 months later the cd arrived. (Of course I had downloaded it prior). I loved this record, and I still really enjoy it. I don't think it to be the apex of early 2000's female pop music as a whole album, but the highs of this record are the highs of the genre and remain so.

9. Cam'Ron - Purple Haze
(Roc-A-Fella)
Rank in 2004: 40

I tried to ignore the whole Dipset/Byrd Gang/dude dressed entirely in pink and purple era of Cam'Ron and crew for a few years. I didn't follow the slew of mixtapes they were selling out the back of vans that jumpstarted the now thriving mixtape culture. I didn't catch their videos or youtubes, I didn't get excited when I heard "Oh Boy" on the radio, I thought that Juelz Santana was the worst rapper of all time. This, despite the fact that I loved Cam's first album and various guest appearances in the 90s. The lazy flow, the nonsense rhymes. The whole "no homo" and rhyming a word with itself is what through me off. And then I heard "Purple Haze" and everything changed. My entire concept of hip hop at the time was flipped upside down. Now the mainstream, fun, heavy production was what I wanted to listen to. Fuck the underground, get me that piff. Of course, this whole movement has died down, my interest in the clique has faded, somehow Jim Jones has become the only bonafide superstar out of Dipset, and Juelz Santana is the only one I like. While I acquired just about every Dipset related album for a couple years there - none can hold a candle to "Purple Haze". Some of the best production of the decade throughout the album and just fucking fun. Throw out all pretensions, all conceptions and just feel the sound of it. The silliness of it. It's great.

8. De La Soul - The Grind Date
(Sanctuary)
Rank in 2004: 10

For awhile there I was considering "The Grind Date" to be one of the most underrated and overlooked albums of the past decade. I claimed it to be a near hip-hop classic, up there with De La's best. Truth be told, it's still overlooked - but my opinion on this record is not what it once was. Some really outstanding production, some of the best flows I've heard from from De La, but overall as an album it doesn't really have the consistency or feeling that their best records have. Regardless, De La Soul remains one of (if not THE) best hip hop groups in the history of the genre, evolving, changing their sound, staying relevant. I still love these guys and eagerly await something new.

7. Shuttle 358 - Chessa
(12K)
Rank in 2004: N/A

It is funny that we can consider a music with no specific form to adhere to but whatever one hears in their own head as "soulless", yet many releases within this genre are exactly that. Dan Abrams aka Shuttle358 is anything but soulless. All positive reviews of ambient music make reference that a particular release is good because of the "warmth" and "humanity" that the music brings up for the listener. Specific memories in time are recaptured, current moments in the present are captured for the first time. Chessa is warm, Chessa is human. Recorded and released during the apex of the click-and-beep madhouse of 2004, Shuttle358's third album on 12k has spoken to me for 5 years now. The fuzz, the chimes, the buzzing sounds, the looped guitar - these are all elements that can be found on releases by any ambient composer - and yet, this release sticks out from the others. I listened to this album four times this afternoon as I watched the rain come and go out my window. As night set in, earlier than it should have, the music continued to soundtrack my evening. Every track seems to find itself matching my breaths as it clicks along, every track placed perfectly in context with the exact emotion I encounter upon this experience.

6. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
(Nonesuch)
Rank in 2004: 7

I have trouble determining which era of Wilco I like the best. Though I'm hesitant to admit it in this day and age, the fact is likely that Wilco has been and will remain one of my very favorite bands I've ever known. At one point or another I've loved every single thing they've put out and thought it to be their best (including the outtakes cd packaged with "The Wilco Book"). Part of me wants to consider the alt. country sound of "Being There" to be my favorite, with just a couple tracks of experimentation for good measure. The critic in me wants to quantify the Jay Bennett-era as the best for Wilco - the perfect blend of sonic experimentalism, pop, and a little country twang for good measure that we find in "Summer Teeth" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and though generally I tend to think they've been on a downward slope since those years, another part of me just fucking love and adores the Nels Cline era, loves the guitar freakouts, the "dad-rock" sound and the strength of the songwriting of the last 3 Wilco albums. "A Ghost Is Born" cannot be considered "dad-rock", but it can't quite be put in the same area of their career as YHF. Long songs with meandering guitar, full-on speaker blowing solos, short and soft songs, this album is all over the place. I don't know if I give it the due it deserves, I think it's time to fall in love with it again.

5. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
(Paw Tracks)
Rank in 2004: 14

The thing about "Sung Tongs" in relation to other Animal Collective releases is that there a handful of tracks on here ("Who Could Win A Rabbit?", "Winters Love", "Sweet Road") that I would probably put in the top 10 AC songs of all, if not the top 5. There just also happens to be a few tracks on this album that over time I have felt are worth skipping over. Sonically, the album is beautiful. It introduced Animal Collective to the world, it was acoustic sounding in a sense (especially compared to the stuff they have done since), it was pastoral (oh that word), serene, and just weird. It still is all of those, but the effect this album has isn't the same as their other albums. If I ever wanted to put on an Animal Collective album for background music, "Sung Tongs" might be the one to do it. In 2004, there wasn't much like it. Nowadays, we've heard them, we like them, we can ignore them. I'm making this review sound negative. Listen, there are times when I think "Sung Tongs" is the absolute best Animal Collective release, that its among the finest albums of the entire decade, but those times are very few. It's a great album, but it doesn't blow my mind like it once did.

4. Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
(New West)
Rank in 2004: 11

If you've ever read any of my reviews other than this one, you would know that I am unforgivably hyperbolic in many of them. "This band is the best ever", "This is one of the best albums ever for this", "If you want to rock out like no one else..." Here's my hyperbolic statement for the Drive-By Truckers: Since 2000, they are the most consistent and best straight up rock n roll band in America. A string of critically acclaimed southern rock albums, awesomely written songs, bizarre concept albums, the DBT were doing it all. And then they dropped "The Dirty South" which stripped away some of the pretension, and just gave us a solid, unifying southern rock powerhouse that few other albums that sound anything remotely like it can even reach. Definitely one of my favorite rock records of the past 10 years, some of the most memorable songs, fun, depressing, great. My favorite Truckers album - and they've yet to put out a bad one.

3. Madvillain - Madvillainy
(Stones Throw)
Rank in 2004: 1

When MF Doom and Madlib teamed up for Madvillainy in 2004, there were no two bigger names in independent hip hop. Doom was back after years of silence, once again creating outstanding concept albums that made the underground (and some mainstream mags pay attention). Madlib was finally beginning to get the respect he deserved, fresh off Jaylib, known as the prime producer at Stones Throw and releasing a dope album of remixed Blue Note Records tracks. Madvillain changed the game. A loose concept album surrounding a bad guy from a comic book, the beats, the mood, the rapping, how fucking weird this album is...it all adds up to be one of the best rap albums of the entire decade. An instant classic in the eyes of many, Madvillain might very well be the last thing I remember hearing that I truly, deeply became obsessed with. Preorders, t-shirts, dvds, everything. Doom and Madlib reignited my love for hip hop like no other album could and though in the past couple years I've started to feel that the album isn't quite as special as I remembered...listening to it recently has revealed my initial reactions: this is a classic album, up there with the best of the entire genre.

2. Kanye West - The College Dropout
(Roc-A-Fella)
Rank in 2004: N/A

I burnt myself out on Kanye West back in 2004. There are 21 tracks, including skits and back when this album came out, it didn't long for me to be able to recite the entirety of the album front to back. Like much of the world, I loved "The College Dropout", I loved the anticipation of the album, I loved the rough versions of songs I'd had on my computer for a year, I loved the remixes that happened after the album came out, I sought out all the samples. With one album, Kanye West became THE premier recording artist in the world. And then I suddenly just got sick of him. Suffice to say, that didn't stay, I just needed to take a break. "The College Dropout" is a classic. That's all that needs to be said, really. You've heard it, you know the singles, you have a favorite track, but every moment on this album is a blast. Kanye when he was still establishing himself as a rapper, sounds exciting, refereshing, his beats before they were electro-ed out. A truly great album by a truly great artist.

1. Junior Boys - Last Exit
(Domino)
Rank in 2004: N/A

The smoothest, grooviest record. Equally great on a hot, summer day as a cold, winter night. Jeremy Greenspan is in top form here, singing over the icy, minimalistic beats that set Junior Boys apart from all the other electronic indie bands of the past 10 years. Instantly memorable. "High Come Down" sounds like the best new romantic song you've never heard. "Last Exit" is so smooth, you'll melt. "Birthday" gets stuck in my head for a week just about everytime I hear it, the perfect combination of hook and creepy beat. "Teach Me How To Fight" might very well be in my top 5 songs of the past decade. This is a masterful album, one that succeeded in sticking out from the rest of the vocal-based electronic music of the time. It still stands out now and though the Junior Boys have gone on to create two more albums of pop magic, nothing can top "Last Exit" - an album that should be regarded as a masterpiece in any age.

Bonus Comparison for Laughs: Top 20 Albums of 2004 in 2004:
1. Madvillain - Madvillainy
2. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake The Sheets
3. Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks
4. Elliott Smith - From A Basement on the Hill
5. Annie - Anniemal
6. Interpol - Antics
7. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
8. Air - Talkie Walkie
9. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
10. De La Soul - The Grind Date
11. Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
12. Espers - Espers
13. Joanna Newsom - Milk-Eyed Mender
14. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
15. Frausdots - Couture, Couture, Couture
16. Yesterday's New Quintent / Monk Hughes - A Tribute To Brother Weldon
17. Jason Forrest - The Unrelenting Songs Of A 1979 Post Disco Crash
18. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands / Nino Rojo
19. Ty - Upwards
20. John Legend - Get Lifted

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2003

2010-05-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is where things start to get really fun for me. 2003 was the transitional year in my musical listening. Branching out, discovering the blogosphere and all the different indie review websites, and the first year that I made my since annual end of the year list. Back then it was 40, now it's 50. I don't have a copy of that entire list but I know a printed out copy is somewhere in my bedroom back at my mother's home. Anyway, from here on out I'll include where an album was ranked on each year's given list when I wrote them for comparison. (I don't have a copy of the 2003 list, so I'm doing my best guess at rememering). Interesting to track taste/preferences that way and all and what eventually became important on unimportant to me. So...2003:

10. Ellen Allien - Berlinette
(BPitch Control)
Rank in 2003: 29?

When I first started listening to this album back in 2003, I believe that I wrote something along the lines of it being the best purely electronic album I'd had the pleasure of hearing up to that point. Of course, that statement didn't really have any validity - but recalling the effect the production of "Berlinette" had on me back then is quite astounding. Before I was versed in almost any electronic music, I somehow took a chance on this one. The bounciness of the tracks, the complacement vocals and the plethora of interesting glitches that added to the melody, rather than took away, really allowed me to immerse myself in the beats. At the time, I didn't realize there was other music that sounded similar to this, I thought that Ellen Allien was in a world her own. Now that I know she's not and that I've heard many records that have similar aesthetics to this has almost stricken itself irrelevant. The fact remains for that "Berlinette" will remain one of the most engaging and best "IDM" records for quite some time, blurring the lines between dance music and head music and occupying a place at the top of my preferences.

9. M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
(Mute)
Rank in 2003: 12

At various points since the release of this album, I have been ready to surrender myself to its noise and consider it the very best album of the decade. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Back in the days of AOL Instant Messenger, I think I had an profile status/info that said something like "If the insides of my body were capable of music, they would sound an awful lot like M83." How I ever got the idea of my body being able to create harsh keyboard and feedback sounds is lost on me now, but I do remember wanting to be able to literally consume this album. To open my mouth, take it in and see what it would do. It's dense, terribly dense and while that was what got me to love this album in the first place, it has sense had an opposite effect on me. I like it a lot, and I like it a lot more than their subsequent releases, but it doesn't have the emotional weight I thought it once had. Loud sounds are delayed keyboard and organ sounds still sound wonderful to me - but there needs to be a little more. Still, for a pure sonic experience, few albums match M83's breakthrough.

8. Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
(Mute)
Rank in 2003: 7

One day I'm going to have to go back and really examine the Belle & Sebastian discography. I can understand the people who obsess over "If You're Feeling Sinister" and "Tigermilk" so much to call those albums some of their favorites ever, I just don't share the sentiment. I've listened to those albums a handful of times, "The Boy With The Arab Strap" less, "Fold Your Hands..." a couple times and have never listened to "Storytelling". If not for the "Books EP" which stems from his album, I've listened to "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" more than any other Belle & Sebastian album and can honestly say that it's my favorite. Sometimes you just want to hear good pop music, stuff you can sing along to, have fun to, forget about and just enjoy. Clever, wistful, it's everything Belle & Sebastian do better than just about everybody, but bumped up a few notches (they went further with their followup) and made a little more experimental, a little louder. It honestly rocks during a few songs. Anyway, like this album a lot. Don't love it like I once did, but it's still a great springtime album.

7. The Black Keys - thickfreakness
(Fat Possum)
Rank in 2003: 19

At this point in their career, I have to consider "thickfreakness" the apex of The Black Keys version of rock n roll. Taking just guitar and drums, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney shred their way through fuzz-induced blues music. Dan's guitar sound on this record is one of my favorite of the entire decade (and when I saw it live way back when, it blew my mind), Patrick Carney makes the most of his position at the drums and rather than just accompanying the guitar - he battles it. The album is 11 tracks of straightforward blues rock, memorable chorus and verses, memorable riffs. The soundtrack to your summer, every summer. Few albums have harkened back to an older rock n roll sound quite as well as "thickfreakness" and while since this album has been released, the band has basically released one great album after another - this remains the most fun, the most traditional, and the most memorable. One of the best pure rock albums of the entire 00's.

6. Jay-Z - The Black Album
(Roc-A-Fella)
Rank in 2003: 1

Remember when Jay-Z retired? "Maybe you'll love me when I fade to black!" he told us. His retirement lasted for what - a year and a half? And then he came back and became an even bigger superstar than he was now. The king of hip hop, pop, everything. "The Black Album" would've been a great sendoff, then again "American Gangster" would've been a great comeback (we can try to forget about "Kingdom Come"). The fact about "The Black Album" is that about 2/3 of the album are among the very best hip hop of the entire decade, including two singles which have become common use phrases (even if they were jacked from other sources). "PSA" might very well be Jay's single best track (much of the credit due to Just Blaze's production of course), but the other 1/3 or whatever is just throwaway, again much of it due to the production. You decide what they are, I shouldn't need to tell you. Anyway this album is placed near the top of Jay's output, either 3rd of 4th. Solid album, solid fake send off, but not quite an all-time classic.

5. Jaylib - Champion Sound
(Stones Throw)
Rank in 2003: N/A

The result of two of hip hop's best producers at the peak of their individual powers, teaming up, choosing and then rapping over each other's beats in an effort to make one of the most bass heavy, most blunted, hardest hitting and best hip hop albums of the past decade. The focus here is on the beats, as would be expected, but Dilla and Madlib both give their fair share of decent verses, they just take some time to get used to. Dilla is a more traditional rapper, sounds a bit like a hype man. To the unititiated, Madlib can sound distracted, rambling one liners off his head while his attention is elsewhere. Apt description, but he can come up with lots of clever quips within his rhymes. The guest spots are ok, none are anything to write home about - but the beats are some of the best that either producer has put forth. Dilla at his most abstract (this is pre-Donuts days), Madlib beats that sample eastern music, african music, and everything else that the loop digga can get his hands on. It's a car record, as the cover indicates, one of the very best.

4. Four Tet - Rounds
(Domino)
Rank in 2003: N/A

"Rounds" is one of those albums that strips away all that was required to make it: studio trickery, electronic programs, samples, the lifeless medium of the computer and somehow reveals an intimate album, organic in sound, full of life and character. Keiran Hebden's releases prior to "Rounds" were good, but failed to deliver on the promise of the cohesive sound he was searching for. On "Rounds" Hebden manages to find that sound and the result is one of my personal favorite electronic records. The ultimate riding the subway album, cleaning the house, lounging on a weekend afternoon. It's not invigorating music, but it is not glorified wallpaper either. The tracks breathe, speak, but they reveal themselves much in the way the classic Satie tracks do. Stark minimalism, but never boring. It is an album to feel comfortable listening to, one that should cure any alienation out of a room. It is an album to grow with and album to grow on you. Over the past half decade, I've listened to this album dozens of times and yet, I've never enjoyed it more than I do now.

3. Eluvium - Lambent Material
(Temporary Residence)
Rank in 2003: N/A

The primary reason that "Lambent Material" is the most listened to album in my itunes is for its sleep inducing quality. 5 tracks, 4 of a certain delicacy and beauty that only Matthew Robert Cooper and one long, fairly harsh drone. For years now, this Eluvium release has been my go-to ambient album. Study music, sleep music, early morning waking up music. Eluvium succeeds as an ambient artist (and no I don't like the new stuff he is doing) because of the different emotions that his compositions can conjure up. His work most readily identifies with the late night comedown - but it works in so many other ways too. I can listen to "Under The Water It Glowed" on infinite loop and consider it my heartbeat, for sure one of my favorite ambient compositions. This collection of work is a masterpiece and while "Zerthis..." definitely breaks up the gentle mood with its long and harsh sound, there is still beauty found within it. It is my belief that Eluvium succeeds as an effective ambient musician because he is a true musician. He's not just twiddling knobs and distorting guitar and piano, he has a true vision and know how of composition and how to structure a piece of music. Striking and beautiful, "Lambent Material" will go down as one of my very favorite ambient recordings.

2. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Master And Everyone
(Drag City)
Rank in 2003: 40

For an artist I feel can basically do no wrong, it means something for me to claim a particular work as a favorite. For Will Oldham aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy aka the artist I'm most likely to identify simply as "the best" - choosing a favorite is quite easy: "Master and Everyone", his quiet, stark and expertly produced release from 2003. This was the first album I ever listened to, after reading an interview and profile on him in some magazine (I want to say it was Paste - but it wasn't). The article talked about the emotional context of many of his songs, about the success of his 1999 release "I See A Darkness" and the part that really got me was the talka bout production for "Master and Everyone" where Will talked about how, while the album has a very minimal sound - often just him and guitar, the way that it is recorded is such that microphones are picking up everything around the room. Listen closely and you might hear his foot gently tapping along, empty airspace adding ambience and weight to the songs. To me, this is as close to a perfect folk record as one can get. Placing this record as my second favorite record of 2003 is a difficult task, as the top 2 records of this year are likely my very favorite of the entire decade of their release. "Master And Everyone" is an underappreciated masterpiece, a dark, haunting but still lovely record.

1. The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
(Dirtnap)
Rank in 2003: N/A

Losing 3/4 of The Exploding Hearts in that tragic car crash in 2004 is one of the most disheartening music stories of its era. Losing a band that had released one album to their name and had yet to gain the recognition they were sure to receive. The fact that they still don't have that recognition is baffling because "Guitar Romantic" - the only true studio release from this young Portland band is not only the best record of 2003, it is likely the best record of the entire 00's, as well as one of the best pure power pop/punk records ever released. I'll say it. The Exploding Hearts were able to combine the sound of The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Cheap Trick and all the other great pop-based punk bands of the late 70s and then harken back to singalong choruses of the 50s and still keep their sound modern enough to be unmistakably a 00's release. One of the all-time best records to sing along to, to party to, to drive to. There are few records in my collection that are as much fun as "Guitar Romantic" in all its thrashing noise, immature lyricism and incessant beat. A perfect record.

Bonus Comparison for Laughs: Top 10 Albums of 2003 in 2003:
1. Jay-Z - The Black Album
2. Outkast - Speakerboxxx / The Love Below
3. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
4. Josh Martinez - Buck Up Princess
5. Ben Harper - Diamonds on the Inside
6. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
7. Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
8. Why? - Oaklandazulasylum
9. Youngblood Brass Band - Center:Level:Roar
10. Hymie's Basement - S/T

Haha

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2002

2010-05-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

The weirdest thing about this list is that looking at it right now, the 10 albums I've selected might be the weakest set out of all the years - and there are a whole ton of really great albums from this year that are not even on this list. Whatever, here it is:

10. Badly Drawn Boy - About A Boy OST
(XL)

Badly Drawn Boy's debut album "The Hour of Bewilderbeast" was a totally fresh example of what the new decade in pop could be. Pleasant enough vocals, fresh, ever-changing music and memorable hooks. It's a good, if not almost great, album - but I've always preferred "About A Boy" more. This might stem from the fact that the movie in which this album soundtracks is one of my favorite "guilty pleasure that I'll watch and enjoy every single time it is on tv" but the reality is that the songs and sequencing that Damon Gough employ through this album make it a fully realized, unique pop-music vision. Featuring both short and long songs that can be both seriously sentimental and fairly silly, "About A Boy" is responsible for leaving songs stuck in my head for days as much as any other album I've known in my life. It's not perfect, but it is great and it's just pleasant enough to never cringe when it's on. Badly Drawn Boy has gone on to release some pretty decent singles since this album, but not much more, his subsequent albums being a mess, unlike the almost too-clean feel of this release. Not essential, but definitely not a bad way to spend a sunny day.

9. Scarface - The Fix
(Def Jam)

The late 90s / early 2000s Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam domination of hip hop was a truly exciting one. The proliferation of and introduction producers Kanye West, Just Blaze, The Neptunes to name a few were pumping out equal amounts of pop hits and new street anthems every week. When Scarface became the head of Def Jam South, teamed up with Roc-A-Fella and released his most polished solo album of his career, "The Fix" the world of rap critics took notice. Considered by many to be one of the certified classics of the decade, including 5 mics from The Source, the album bridges the world of this new east coast "throwback" style production with Face's constantly engaging voice and lyrical themes. Never one to listen to in the background, Scarface is in top form on this album. Rapping about the things he raps about best - the street, some spiritual themes, some depressing themes, hating people, backstabbers, etc - this is a hip hop album to digest. It mixes hard and soft songs and throws in a couple of brilliant singles along the way ("Guess Who's Back" and "My Block" set me off back when they were on the radio). Some songs on the back side start to drag (maybe too many sentimental numbers) but overall its a great hip hop album now, just as it was then.

8. Andrew WK - I Get Wet
(Island)
Note: Somehow I never noticed this was a 2001 release. I had it tagged as 2002 and have always considered it so. It just never caught my eye that this is 2001, that obviously changes things and would be on that list instead. Oh well, not going to change it now. What would get substituted in? Probably "Fantastic Damage"

I've never really been paid to dj. I've done it here and there for parties or get togethers and I threw a ton of different dance parties at the youth camp I worked at, but I'm not a real dj. Regardless of that, there is one song that has ended almost every set I've ever done: "Party Hard" by Andrew WK. The ultimate teenage (or fratboy) anthem, overly loud production, an instantly catchy theme you can get behind and just a song in which you are bound to get a terrible case of rock neck with. Play it for kids who don't have much of a concept of what is danceable other than the music they know - and they still go nuts for it. "I Get Wet" and Andrew WK in general divide a lot of people. It's mindless rock, dance, party music. It's probably the single most fun album I've ever known and whether or not the whole thing is contrived, it's irrelevant. The point is that for 35 minutes you can be lost in non-stop party climax after party climax, soaring chorus after soaring chorus. An album to celebrate to. Lose your inhibitions, your taste, and just rock out people. It's of the utmost importance.

7. Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi
(Warp)

We could scour the internet and find reviews long enough to be essays about the brilliance of Boards of Canada and "Geogaddi". The way it transports the listener to far away places in their mind but gives them feelings which are vaguely familiar. It's music that brings up memories - yet somehow leaves you feeling cold. The reviews will say it flows perfectly, that the melodies and the synth lines and samples are placed with just enough space and thought that it is hard to believe this work of art was actually recorded and put to tape by human beings. It's music to take into your soul, live with a while and then baptize the world in its glory. And no doubt, "Geogaddi" is great. It does many of these things and reviews will tell you about these things more eloquently than I, but this isn't an all-time classic the same way "Music Has The Right To Children" is. And for what it's worth, I can't separate the albums and look at them on their own terms. That album is perfect, this album is very good. VERY good.

6. N*E*R*D - In Search Of...
(Virgin)

In 2002, Pharrell could fart on a record and it would become a hit. Dude was on top of the world and with good reason. No one had injected so much creativity into pop music in many years and although the Neptunes sound eventually became oversaturated and boring (only to be taken over again by Timbaland who is coincidentally at an all-time low), I can still listen to some of those classic songs (I mean c'mon they made Britney Spears dope) and enjoy them a lot. When Pharrell and Chad teamed up with their buddy Shay for NERD, they released an album different from everything else they were doing. The UK release of this album is just beats and little guitars - the US release though is a whole different story. Punk-Funk-Rap-Soul workouts. The album is best played loud and even though the party tracks like "Lapdance", "Brain", and "Rock Star" are fun as hell, the album really shines on the subdued tracks where Pharrell's awkward voice actually works. Bunch of great pop songs. I still enjoy the Neptunes and Pharrell but this is definitely the high point that isn't Clipse related. (Side note: Like a week after this album came out, for state writing tests in high school I listened to "Bobby James" over and over and interwove that song with some writing prompt I turned into an end-of-the-world story and got really good scores. Thanks Pharrell.)

5. The Notwist - Neon Golden
(Domino)

Along with Dismemberment Plan, Ted Leo and Belle & Sebastian, The Notwist was one of the first "indie" bands that I really "got into". "Neon Golden" is a huge reason why. It was the first album I'd heard up to that point to mix indie pop and electronic sounds in such a pleasant sounding way. Markus Archer's restrained, sad, fey voice really stood out from the unique music that was backing him and I loved it. "One Step Inside..." slayed me the first time I heard it, "One With The Freaks" was my favorite song for about a year, but it's "Consequence" that still kills me now. Maybe it sounds contrived, wussy, whatever. For one album The Notwist perfectly blended "sad bastard" indie music with pleasant sounding electronic beats and other live instruments and put out a great recording. I find it hard that anyone can actively dislike this. I can understand it I suppose, but it is just so pleasant, so reaffirming and inoffensive that I just imagine it takes some work to dislike it. The whole Morr Music sound hasn't put out anything better, either.

4. Beck - Sea Change
(Universal)

Growing up, I always liked Beck. His singles were fun, his videos were funny, he seemed like the kind of dude I would want to hang out with. All this said, I never cared about a Beck album until "Sea Change". Looking back on that idea, I still don't really care about any Beck albums BUT "Sea Change". Creating THE definitive break-up album of my generation by channeling his emotional turmoil into a concentrated sound, rather than careening experimentalism, 2002 allowed for Beck to create the spiritual successor to "Blood On The Tracks" and "Shoot Out The Lights". Sad, somber, beautifully produced by Beck and Nigel Godrich, this album got me through many nights as an overly-analytical teenager. Listening now I just hear an artist at the peak of his powers, proof positive that musical genius doesn't have to come from non-stop forward thinking and taking pop music to places where it hasn't been, but real musical genius can often come down to doing something others have done - just doing it better. One of the ultimate late-night albums.

3. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
(Matador)

It's hard to believe now that I was at one point in the small group of people who claimed fervently that "Antics" was the better Interpol album. More hooks, louder bass, a bit more upbeat. This is what I wanted - a dark album that didn't sound out of place when the sun was out. What a moron. "Antics" is still a good album, but it doesn't really hold a candle to "Turn on the Bright Lights" which happens to be the best album that sounds the way it sounds of the past decade. What I mean is without trying to mention a certain band that Ian Curtis fronted, that Interpol is (well was) a very good bad. Insanely tight musicianship, intensely dark and depressing lyrics and a competent, pretty vocalist. When they popped up on the NY scene back in 2002 and the forefront of the "good music" scene as the compliment to The Strokes, it was a good time. This album is expertly produced, expertly executed - I just don't really listen to it that much and my love for it is relatively recent considering it's release date. Another band we'll never see reach the heighth of their debut again, which for Interpol is really high.

Note: The next two albums basically flip flop back and forth. One is probably the most important albums in my maturation process as a music listener, the other is one that has maintained it's grip on me since I first heard it 8 years ago - it's only now that I realize it might very well be the best album of the 2002.

2. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
(Nonesuch)

No album was of greater importance in my musical maturation than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". Experimental, sonically-inventive music rooted in alt. country and Starbucks-branded soft rock. We could talk about the the history of this album's release, but there is a great documentary you've probably already seen or own that tells the story way better. The fact remains that Wilco became a real force with this album. It's hard to deny how great the production, the singing, the songs are on this album but right now to my ears it doesn't excite me like it once did. It could be because after hundreds of listens over the years, knowing all the words and instrumental parts, the album might just be played out for me. More than likely it's because at this current stage I want something more. I want Wilco (who are still a great band) to go back to sounding like this but then...turn it up. Whatever, historically this will go down as one of the most important albums I'll have known in my life. PS. One good thing about this record is that it is one of those records where your favorite song on it changes constantly. That says something about great songwriting.

1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
(Arts & Crafts)

I'll go ahead and say that "You Forgot It In People" might have one of my favorite first halves of any record I've heard, ever. The melancholy intro fading into the anthemic, heart-and-fist pumping "KC Accidental" into a song that is somehow experimental indie rock yet funky enough to work as a dance song with "Stars And Stripes" to a track that goes all over the place and features some of Leslie Feist's best vocals in "Almost Crimes" back to cool down on "Look Just Likes the Sun" just kills me everytime. I love the back half too, but these 5 tracks usually warrant a repeat before I then get to the back half. And then that back half has some classic cuts too. The creepy, sad, "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl" is probably the song most closely associated with BSS and etc etc. This just a seriously great, exciting album that takes a million different influences, musicians and ideas and throws them at the wall where they some how coalesce and form a coherent sound that alternates between messy and clean, riveting and calming. Oh and then the album closes with the beautiful "Pitter Patter Goes My Heart" which Itunes tells me I've listened to approximately 4 billion times more than any other song I have. Every listen is exciting, the way a great album should be.

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2001

2010-05-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

We can continue now. 2001 was a decent year. For many people that I've talked to, they consider it one of the best of the entire decade. Looking at my list - I don't readily agree. But a favorite is a favorite and some of the albums in this top 10 were huge obsessions of mine back in those days.

10. Maxwell - Now
(Columbia)

I always found it somewhat baffling that Maxwell didn't receive the critical praise of a D'Angelo. Commercially, he had some big hits - but even so, in a more remote "slow-jam only" crowd. The fact remains in 2010 that every Maxwell release has been excellent. Laced with solid soul and funk production and his super smooth vocals laid on top. Sex jams? Sure. In the vein of the slower Prince songs, latter day Marvin Gaye, and the sound that most neo-soul practitioners try to cop. "Now" feature "Lifetime" the song that I most asssociate with Maxwell, it also has the Kate Bush cover that made some waves. It's not mindblowing and the record doesn't reveal anything new about this genre of music or the artist in question - but it's still good. It's still enjoyable and I've still listened to it a lot since it's release.

9. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Ease Down The Road
(Domino)

Most people know that I can boil both my favorite modern songwriter and musician down to one person: Will Oldham. Following his true breakthrough "I See A Darkness" with "Ease Down The Road" Oldham went even more direct. Not entirely as dark, but maybe a little more sparse. Songs dealing with love (yes I can tell you that "May It Always Be" is a special song for me and my girlfriend), silly songs, sad songs. Oldham's voice and minimal instrumentation throughout. It's not my favorite release of his, but it's one of the easiest to listen to. Ultimately, it's a calming release, it just happens to have some great songwriting along the way.

8. Kylie Minogue - Fever
(EMI/Parlophone)

Kylie Minogue's re-emergence and conquering of the American charts in 2001, more than a decade after putting out some successful, cheesy pop singles overseas is one of best stories of the early part of the decade. Teamed up with true dance music producers and reaping the benefit of promotion from Madonna, Minogue stole the chart with "Can't Get You Out of My Head" the song with the "na-na-na's" that were impossible to escape for years. I hated that song. I like it now, but hated it then. The rest of the album though is some of the best produced pop music of the decade and some of the best dance-oriented pop music ever produced. "Love at First Sight" has to be one of the best singles of the entire decade. The rest of the album is just an example of pop music done right. Terribly catchy, immaculate production and just a lot of fucking fun. Is it embarassing to be a Kylie Minogue fan as an adult male? Not if the music is this good.

7. Fennesz - Endless Summer
(Mego)

There are times when I think that "Endless Summer" might very well be the best album of 2001 and one of the most important and relevant albums of the entire decades. There are other times when I don't understand why I am so fascinated with this record. A glitchy, ambient, obscene and serene take on sun, seen through the eyes of the inimitable Christian Fennesz. I don't hate this record ever, don't get me wrong, but I don't always love it. It's a "when the mood is right" type of record for me. It almost always sounds pretty (though the harsh glitches on "Shisheido" and "Before I Leave" wake me from my daydream), but about one out of every 4 listens reveals a record that stands on its own, with few sounding like it. The mixture of guitars, fuzz, and samples just hits the right emotions. One of the very few ambient that does indeed work on a sunny day. Keep it around, listen to it every now and then, you'll become obsessed eventually.

6. Daft Punk - Discovery
(Virgin)

The definitive party album for the new decade. Daft Punk expanded their already amazing house music to other planets for "Discovery". Whether or not you have this album, whether or not you're a fan of Daft Punk - it is nearly impossible to have not heard most of the tracks on this album. It's even weird for me to think that most of these songs are only about 9 years old at this point. This is soundtrack to your life type music, or someone's life anyway. The samples are amazing, the tracks are blazing, this is the ultimate pop music. For me, "Discovery" basically made creating a playlist for a party unnecessary. Every track is an anthem, the fast and the slow. It's not as though it's my favorite album ever, but it will always be one of the most memorable. Every reasonable person should have this be an obsession at some point in their life.

5. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Tyranny Of Distance
(Lookout)

Ted Leo is one of those musicians you just want to root for. Non-pretentious, infinitely talented, clearly a big fan of music and he just seems like an incredibly nice guy. These were some of the reasons why I obsessed over Ted Leo so heavily in 2001-2004. I think I saw him perform 4 or 5 times during this time period and every time was an incredibly fun concert. Ted Leo writes catchy, witty, sometimes breathtaking songs and never is this more evident than his undeniable "The Tyranny of Distance" Whether he is forming a straight up pop/punk song, something in the vein of Elvis Costello or if he slows it down ("The Gold Finch and Red Oak Tree" has got to be one of my favorite songs ever, really), Ted Leo put out an album of guitar driven, hook-laden indie rock music that was rarely matched by anything else during this decade. It's not simple, but it's not all that complex either. Regardless - you'll remember these songs and you'll want to come back for more.

4. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
(Def Jux)

As I've said before, although I was a hip hop fan prior to 2000-2001, I didn't really start to pay attention to many independent releases until this time. Most of this is thanks to a website that used to exist called something like HipHopInfinity, that specialized underground hip hop reviews and often included Real Audio files of a lot of the songs. This is prior to when bitrates mattered, before soulseek had taken off. This was the last time finding hip hop was truly exiting to me. It seemed every day I was finding a new release that whet my appetite for forward thinking hip hop. I'd heard of El-P before as part of Company Flow, but didn't know what he was doing since then, and when I read a review of "The Cold Vein" by some group called Cannibal Ox - this website I deemed better than all others gave it a perfect score. Listening to this album, it's not hard to see why. One of the single most inventive, bizarre sounding hip hop albums I've ever heard - "The Cold Vein" has become THE Def Jux release that matters, surpassing El-P's on albums and other lauded release of the early 00's. Vast Aire and Vordul Mega spit with this nasty, mean, gangster flow. El-P's production is street music from 2035 and the whole mix just sounds rough. It works great, it bumps incredibly hard and it never sounds like a "futuristic" or gimmick-laden album. It sounds like a gangster rap album. Just unlike any other before or since.

3. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
(Acony)

When I'm talking about Gillian Welch, I have a couple big statements to make. First, she is one of those few musicians who has a voice that is utterly timeless. Put Gillian Welch into any decade since the inception of popular American folk music and she would be a star. Haunting, sad, ultimately beautiful. Second, I'll go ahead and say that Gillian Welch (and Dave Rawlings) are the most important thing to happen to folk and country music over the last 20 years. The two have set the bar not only for great songwriting in folk music, but also in production, style, touring schedule, off-stage banter, fanbase, just about anything that is relevant and important to a musician - Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings have done right. They're not superstars and they're not household names. Even to this day, with 4 critically acclaimed albums and countless covers of their songs, Gillian is probably still best known as one of the voices of the sirens in "O Brother Where Art Thou?" But we should get this straight: "Time (The Revelator)" like all other Gillian Welch albums is a masterpiece of what folk music in the modern era should sound like. Harkening to old time music, but never sounding like a throwback. Timeless music, timeless voice, I can think of no other musician more satisfying to have around than Gillian Welch.

2. The Strokes - Is This It?
(RCA)

Masked as a obscure, independent, greasy bunch of New York brats without a car in the world and creating rock n roll because there's nothing else to do, it took The Strokes a mere 35 minutes to completely rewrite the rock n roll scene and the music being produced. Remember the first time you saw "Last Nite" on MTV? What the hell was this? As a 14/15-year old this was music that was unlike anything else I was listening to at the time and I became instantly hooked. This was what partying was all about. We wanted to BE The Strokes. And not just us, but judging by the hundred of "The" bands that popped up on major labels in the year that followed, The Strokes made an impact on rock music that hadn't been seen since Nivana and hasn't been seen since. Always referred to as a throwback to the 60s mod scene or New York underground, the truth is that "Is This It?" sounds unlike any other album that I've ever heard. Sure the guitars are not terribly fuzzy, the vocals sounds lo-fi (although it's expensive production that gets it to sound like that), but this music could have only come from The Strokes and it could have only come out in 2001. 35 minutes of non-stop pop. You don't listen to this album once and call it good. It's so well sequenced, so fucking catchy that you have to repeat it once, twice, maybe three times before you can finally shake it off. A legendary record and one of the few that deserved all the hype it received.

1. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
(Roc-A-Fella)

For my money, the only hip hop album of the 00's whose classic status cannot be disputed. "The Blueprint" is Jay-Z's finest album (all you "Reasonable Doubt" people can tell me otherwise, I love that one too). "The Blueprint" is the perfect album that matched Jay-Z's pop-rap style with the right beatmakers. Just Blaze, the introduction of Kanye West - this album still blows my mind right now. I can probably recite every word to every song here and I can't pick a favorite. Undeniably the best hip hop album of the decade, one of my favorite of all time. One of those albums where the mood matches the raps, the beats stay at the front and all the songs contained within are just masterpieces in themselves. Perfect.

Top 10 Albums of the Year 2000

2010-05-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Might as well start with the first year of the last decade. This is a great year and as this list will demonstrate, pretty hip hop heavy. In fact, I recently made the proclamation that 2000 was the last good year for hip hop full lengths. Every year following seems to have gotten progressively worse. Debate if you want, but this is a great year for hip hop and many other things as well. Let's start.

Note: I had originally started a while ago writing pretty long reviews of these albums but realized I'd never get any of this list done right now if I did that, so I'm going to do really short ones instead. They are probably better anyway.

10. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
(75 Ark)

Probably the best hip hop concept album that I can think of. For my money, this is the peak of both Del and Dan the Automator's work. When I was just entering high school or even back in middle school and first saw the Flash video for "Virus" it blew my mind. The record is still terribly enjoyable, fun, and just well thought out. Nothing really sounds like it.

9. Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun
(Motown)

To me, Erykah Badu is queen of modern soul. From the moment I first saw the music video for "On and On" back in '97 as a young white kid in the suburbs, I realized the music she was putting out was different from the stuff that Brandy and Monica were putting out at the same time, dominating airwaves. "Mama's Gun" isn't quite as anthemic as "Baduizm" nor a forward thinking as her later albums, but as a snap-shot of the neo-soul scene in 2000, it is perfect. Great Dilla production and help from ?uestlove and The Roots - the album just breezes along. Consider it Badu's jazz album.

8. At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
(Virgin)

When all is said and done - "Relationship of Command" has to be considered the apex of the emo sound. Infinitely better than what spurned out as The Mars Volta and Sparta, "Relationship of Command" is ATDI's swan-song. A great blend of nonsensical, unintelligeble yet sing-alongable lyrics, crunchy guitars and enough shrieking to become 13 again with every listen. It's fun, one of my all-time favorite records to listen to when driving alone.

7. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
(Bloodshot)

If we take the time and attempt to ignore all the bullshit antics that Ryan Adams has given us over the last decade, what remains is the fact that somewhere down there in that dirty, nerdy, egotistical skull of his is a great singer/songwriter. His tenure with his band Whiskeytown showed he was capable of country brilliance, but his crowning achievement to this day is his debut solo record "Heartbreaker." A mixed affair of traditional country rockers, sappy ballads and a bluegrass influenced number or two - "Heartbreaker" was a record that changed ME more than almost any other record on this list. Early in high school, I was obsessed with this outlandish headcase and though that has changed nowadays, I can still listen to those first few solo records of his with much of the same awe I had back then.

6. D'Angelo - Voodoo
(Virgin)

Over the past ten years - I'd be hard pressed to think of an album that is more anticipated than D'Angelo's eventual followup to "Voodoo" has been. Every bit of news we get about D'Angelo makes it rounds on the internet - every guest spot on a hip hop album presents good news that maybe, just maybe, he is back in the studio working on something new. We act this way, because at one point in just about everyone's life that has ever heard it - "Voodoo", D'Angelo's 2nd album has made the listener stop in their tracks and say "...whoa." Undeniably oozing sex, (you obviously remember the "How Does it Feel" video), heavy bass - this record is more soulful than many records in the 60s soul canon, yet for whatever reason - it doesn't sit as well with me these days. I find myself enjoying "Brown Sugar" more, maybe because the songs are more pop-oriented, I don't know. But regardless - "Voodoo" is a crazy album, a complete vision of what a soul album can and should be.

5. Common - Like Water For Chocolate
(MCA)

In 2010 we can look at Common as an over saturated cornball. Currently, he's staring alongside Queen Latifah in a romantic comedy about baskeball. Prior to that, he's become some big movie star in various films - been the focal point of Gap commercials and released two terrible albums back to back. But going back to 2000 - when Common released "Like Water For Chocolate", he changed the game. Already a name on in the underground scene for years, this album started his propulsion into stardom. Singles "The Light" and "The 6th Sense" were on MTV regularly, but they were actual hip hop songs. My favorite memory of this record is back in 8th grade, during our last week or so when we had like nothing to do in school and various field trips, I probably listened to this album close to 50 times in the span of a few days, just constantly playing it on my discman. More than Mos Def or Kweli or Del or Heiro or J5, no other act straddling the line between commercial and underground caught my attention and gained my love quite like this one.

4. Gas - Pop
(Mille Plateaux)

One of the first "ambient" albums I had in my collection. I don't remember where or how I heard of this album and what's more - it took me years to even listen to the full thing and revel in how great it is. But it is great. There is nothing else much out there that sounds like it - even music in the often stagnant ambient subgenre of electronic music. Some tracks have a little beatpulse to them, most don't. Most sound like you're being transported through serene waterways or being transformed into dew on the ends of leaf tips. This is an album (much like all of Voigt's work) that takes time to get into, to appreciate. There's more to it than just being "pretty" - it is a dense work, one that will continue to reveal itself to me in many years to come.

3. Outkast - Stankonia
(La Face)

There are times when listening to this record in my car still that I think to myself (or vocalize to my girlfriend) that this might very well be one of the absolute best hip hop albums of all time. It's all over the place and contrary to what other people say, Outkast's masterstroke. All their albums prior to this were great, I won't debate that and for a pure hip hop feeling they might be superior, but artistically it is hard for me to think of any other hip hop album that can touch what "Stankonia" accomplished. The ultimate crossover album of the early 00's, the idea of Outkast being pop stars is ludicrous, but probably the best decision that the masses made in the past 10 years. Great track after great track, funny skits, and somehow this prevailing feeling throughout the entirety of the album that only Outkast can conjure. It's not a concept album and the tracks don't sound the same, yet they are unmistakably songs that could only be created by Andre3000 and Big Boi.

2. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
(Sony)

I will be eternally grateful for my older brother's taste in hip hop while growing up. He exposed me to a lot of good records (and a lot of terrible ones too), but when it came to stuff from the East Coast - I was listening to Wu-Tang at a young age, made a copy of Ghostface's "Ironman" on a casette in elementary school, had "Ready to Die" on constant play, etc. etc. I still remember when my brother brought home "Supreme Clientele", Ghost's second album and thinking right then just how good it is. Too this day, I rarely ever understand what Ghost is rapping about, but there are few hip hop albums as raw as this one. Produced primarily by a bunch of young, unknown producers - they all come correct, sounding more like RZA than RZA does. Ghost just goes off for an hour, spitting, literally spitting (I swear you can hear his saliva in a lot of his songs), rapping circles around any other rapper out there. Guests come correct, drums come correct, this record is just hard and brings back a lot of memories too. I was a cool kid. Classic record, one the Wu-Tang camp will never top again.

1. Radiohead - Kid A
(Capitol)

As if anything else could be considered the best record of 2000. Like most kids trying to transition into the world of indie rock and "good music" I basically started with Radiohead. I liked their singles in the 90s, but when "Kid A" came out during the first real age of filesharing over the internet, everything seemed to be well "in its right place." This is my favorite Radiohead album and more or less the only one that I still listen to with any regularlity. This record still slays me and its place among the top of many other critics and publications lists as the best record of the entire 00's is well-deserved. No other record showcases what this decade was about, what it could be, and no other record can be considered more of a masterpiece. Just about every song is a 5/5.

Lists lists lists

2010-04-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Back in December and in January and maybe even into February just about every music publication and message board dude was putting together "best of the decade" lists.

I tried back then but I decided not to. I've been thinking about doing it for awhile and I've actually got a bunch of albums selected, but I'm going to do it different.

I figured that making a list 1-100 would be even more arbitrary than my usual year-end top 50. Therefore, what I have done is made a NEW top 10 for every year between 2000 and 2009. I started making my top 50 or 40 back in 2003 (what a funny list that was) and I've published it on a website or this blog every year since (except 2005, in which I just made a top 20 and posted it on a couple message boards).

So anyway, I've made a new top 10 for every year and most of them are drastically different - because well, we change. The general criteria for making the list is whether or not I listened to the given album a lot after its release or if I forgot about it as the year changed. There are at least two #1's entirely missing from these lists, so there's that.

I'll post these with reviews or whatever in the near future with no promise of when they will come out or whatever and no one really cares anyway - its more for me than you. I've been rediscovering some past loves this past week and a half and it's been really great for me.

After I post all these, I might just make an overall top 20 or 15 or 10 or something for the sake of doing it myself and seeing if I value any of the years more than any other.

Anyway - stay tuned if you want. I'll probably post some A-Z's here and there too.

A To Z - New Wave Hot Dogs

2010-04-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

I waited way too long to lose myself in Yo La Tengo.

Losing yourself seems an appropriate and essential stage of life when it comes to listening to Yo La Tengo. Often hailed as the quintessential "critic's" band, I had heard their name tossed around for years. I bought "Prisoners Of Love" when it came out - essentially figuring a 2-disc retrospective would be the best introduction to this storied band.

I never listened to it.

Then this past summer I decided to truly explore the band. It started with an obsession with the guitar-based tracks they lent to movies. Particular the forelorn echo in "Old Joy" that made me want to figure this band out. I started at the beginning, I worked my way up.

I loved everything.

Yo La Tengo is a band to obsess over. I can't call them my favorite band, I still don't know their music well enough and the summer obsession didn't last but a month. But when I decided I wanted to write about "New Wave Hot Dogs", I suddenly rekindled this obsession. I mean, this album is often considered one fo their weakest in their catalogue. It might be, I don't know. I'm not comparing. It's not a masterpiece, but chronilogically, this is the first full album to feature Ira as the lead guitarist and jesus fuck do I love his guitar playing. Sloppy as all hell, yet somehow it reaches places that many other guitarists can't. I dropped my dreams of wanting to play electric guitar when I was 16. Listening to Yo La Tengo rekindled that. The vocals are average, the melodies are great. The Velvet Underground comparison is very apt on this release, but man none of that matters. For some reason the guitar on this record, even more than some of their more notable releases, really gets to me. Whether its the gentle instrumental "Lost in Bessemer" or the feedback-drenched "Let's Compromise" - somehow Ira Kaplan is able to make the guitar relevant to me. I listen to many of these songs and say "yeah, that's exactly how I'd do it."

I waited way too long to lose myself in Yo La Tengo.

I'm glad I finally did though.

Download Here.

A To Z: Music For Listening To - B.E.F.

2010-04-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

In 1978, Brian Eno changed our perceptions of what the purpose of popular music can be when he released "Ambient 1: Music For Airports." I use the term "popular music" arbitrarily, because while Brian Eno was indeed until then known primarily as a pop music pioneer, this new direction was something different. He released music that was almost like "program music" that would have been used throughout the classical lexicon, but he stripped it of almost all elements. With "Music for Airports" Brian Eno had made a statement that music is as much an internal part of us as an external experience, he captured our breath and our thoughts by creating pieces of music that didn't go anywhere, that served merely as a peaceful repose from our daily grind.

In 1981, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh shattered this concept, took Eno's basic aesthetics and instruments as their own and created "Music For Listening To" as what appears to be a direct response.

Fresh off their departure from burgeoning superstars The Human League and while already supporting "Penthouse and Pavement" as Heaven 17, the duo took a detour towards experimental electronic music as the British Electronic Foundation (or B.E.F.) and showed the world just exactly what the synthesizer was capable of.

I'll say right now that this collection of songs really set the blueprint for much of electronic dance music that followed during the next 20 years. It's not as spaced out as the music Kraftwerk was making at the time, but kick drums and synth lines apparent throughout this release helped catalyze where synth-pop was heading in the immediate 80s and can be looked upon as the most direct starting point for what would become industrial music (and thus spin out many early house releases and even some of the early Warp stuff).

"Groove Thang" which was already known with additional vocals from "Penthouse and Pavement" is a classic right off the bat. With it's rapid-fire percussion, there are additional guitar and bass parts added by John Wilson that really set this track apart. It sounds like LTJ Bukem 15 years prior to his prime as the DnB master. The bass is all over the place, expertly played and providing a solid groove. Almost 30 years after it's initial release, the track doesn't sound dated like many early electronica and can still rock a party.

"Uptown Apocalypse" is dark. Synth sprinkled throughout and very deep sounding steel drum percussion. The title is the perfect fit. This sounds like the soundtrack to a pending fight scene in and 80s action film. Walking down the deserted streets, chains wrapped around your arms and looking to destroy anyone who gets in your way.

"B.E.F. Indent" is an interesting, albeit quick, take on classical music. Equally beautiful and futuristic. This is the music that Vangelis' best productions are in line with. Simple synth-based organ sounds, with an ending that comes to quick. "You wanted a break? Too bad."

The rest of the album touches on many sounds within the electronic music canon for years to come, allowing the listener to make connections as they listen. "The Old at Rest" is a direct connection the music Eno and Tangerine Dream were already making. Beautiful, ambient soundscapes that on its own can serve as aural wallpaper, but taken in the context of the rest of the album, really keep the listener engaged. You are seeking the changes in modulation, you are counting the keys as they echo through your speakers. Enlightening sure, but not boring.

The closing track, "Decline of the West" is just altogether special. Another fitting title for the music contained, the track brings images of decimation, loneliness, despair. Or maybe its just something you are going to put up with.

"Music For Listening To" is exactly that. This isn't background music, much of it is too fast-paced for that, much of it contains little shifts within the tracks that you don't catch unless you listen closely. It's almost entirely synth-based and some of it will sound dated. But it's an important release if you are at all interested in the history of electronic music. It may not have grandfathered every genre or been the only release of it's kind, but its a classic nonetheless and can surely hold your attention.

Download Here

A To Z: Lemon of Pink - The Books

2010-03-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

2003 was a bit of a revelatory year in music for me. It was the year in which I discovered indie music blogs, review sites, and discussion forums. I tracked Pitchfork reviews tirelessly, even going through their archives at the time. I followed Fluxblog updates everyday, downloading whatever new song that was uploaded. Like many teenagers of the time, I grew into adulthood at a time when information availability was expanding and knowledge of new and relevant music seemed entirely too vast to ever attempt to conquer.

Sometime during that year, I read a review about "The Lemon Of Pink" by The Books. Earlier, I had already lost much time during an obsession over the divisive "Ether Teeth" by Fog, a record that I found mentioned through Anticon message boards. A description of The Books sound seemed that it would fall in line with the abstract samples and acoustic instrumentation found on "Ether Teeth"...but you know, this record was actually critically acclaimed and deemed "good" by just about everyone. Therefore it should have been my favorite record ever.

"The Lemon of Pink" isn't my favorite ever, but it is very good. As the spring months have been approaching and the spring weather seems here to stay, I can think of few experimental records from this decade that fit the time so perfectly. The acoustic strings present throughout, the ethereal original vocals that float above the shimmering tones, the random vocal samples that seem to appear out of nowhere, sneaking up on your like a person yelling from across the street. This is a folk album that breaks all folk tradition.

There are few albums that that float by as quickly as "The Lemon Of Pink." From the first female voice stating the title of the record out through "That Right Ain't Shit" and even "PS", this album comes together best as a whole piece. It is rare indeed that one would put a song from this record on a mixtape, other than with the intention of breaking apart whatever the general theme of your mix was. As individual songs, this music is pretty - but doesn't make a whole lot of sense. As a 37-minute album, everything comes together, bleeding into one another, creating memories of past picnics, spring sports, setting suns over the beach.

Perhaps I romanticize this record too much. I don't adore or obsess over this record and rarely listen to it 7 years after it's initial release. However, when I do take the time to listen to it, to remember why I enjoyed it so much all those years ago and the positive impact it had on broadening my listening tastes in the years that came after, I am overjoyed with what The Books have accomplished with this album. It's not a perfect recording and in 2010 there are records that are similar that might do part of this sound better, but it is one of those records that can be conditionally perfect. Sometimes you just have to wait to find that condition.

Download Here

A To Z: King Biscuit Flower Hour (Live 1976) - The Band

2010-03-23T17:35:00.001-07:00

If THE BAND were any other band, their name would be audacious, obnoxious and forgettable. As it turned out, The Band aka The Hawks deserve the title of THE quintessential group of musicians and calling themselves THE BAND is as fitting a title as any.

I've loved The Band since high school. I'd seen The Last Waltz, more for the other musicians involved than The Band themselves. I found an old copy of their self-titled second album at a garage sale among the first week or two that I started collecting records. I knew "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Weight" and a couple of other songs before I knew who sang them. I didn't know their story and I was hardly even into Bob Dylan at the time, but The Band was something special to me in those formative years.

Or rather, I claimed them to be.

After my initial exposure to The Band, I loved a handful of songs and appreciated what they were doing but I didn't really get it. I knew liking them was cooler than liking CSNY or CCR or other similarly styled bands that blurred the lines of rock, country, blues and folk. These scraggly dudes were accomplished musicians, that is what the internet told me. Robbie Robertson was one of the best songwriters of his generation, or so I heard. It took me years to finally succumb and agree.

This radio broadcast recorded live in 1976 isn't the best live document in The Band's catalogue, but for my money nothing they ever performed live was bad. It's good for a bootleg, but not the best audio quality ever. There is some major riffs and solos, but few instances that show what these musicians are actually capable of. The organ on this recording seems louder than actual studio albums which gives the songs a bit of a unique sound. They perform the songs you know, maybe some you don't. Good overview but no Last Waltz.

If you are a fan of The Band though, you should probably have this.

This is from The Last Waltz, but it still gives me chills, so I included it.

Download Here

A To Z: Journey In Satchidananda - Alice Coltrane

2010-03-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

When you listen to a lot of different avant-garde jazz releases, you have to mentally prepare yourself. You don't listen to Cecil Taylor or Albert Ayler as background music. You don't put "Interstellar Space" on and just go ahead and do the dishes. Free jazz, spiritual jazz, vanguard jazz, this is is music literally created to combat the passive and often dismissive nature of people wanting to "listen" to jazz. With a notion of jazz being for the beatniks and the coffee shops, the idea was struck down quickly by these very masters - finding new ground in the same way that many psychedelic rock bands were allowing hippies to reach higher astral planes.

Alice Coltrane fits in with these masters perfectly. She created difficult music with her husband before his untimely death, and made a career of perpetuating different experiments that crossed various genre lines. However, with "Journey In Satchidanda", you don't have to mentally prepare yourself for the listening experience. It's not grating, it's beautiful. And regardless of where you are, it will pull you in. It works as both background music and as one of the most engaging listens in your library. It's a crossover record in the most personal way. And it gets better every time. Of all the spiritual jazz pioneers, perhaps none were quite as spiritual as Alice.

Oh and she plays the harp.

Alice also employs the piano in her repetoire, and on this album is joined by two of my favorite musicians: Pharoah Sanders on soprano sax and Charlie Haden on bass. These three create a dynamic nucleus that is engulfed by the constant drone provided by middle-eastern instruments the oud and tamboura. There have been many attempts at bridging traditional middle-eastern or indian instruments with western jazz music and I will say right here: "Journey In Satchidanda" is likely the best.

This is the rare album that expands the loose definition of jazz yet remains an accessible album. For those who like traditional jazz numbers or the lighter side, they are unlikely to feel too alienated with this release. For those who only like jazz that transports them places, that takes a while to understand - they will feel right at home here too.

The beauty this record can stop you in your tracks. It can cause obsession. It truly is a "journey".

Download Here

Planetary

2010-03-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Planetary by Warren Ellis is quite possible the best comic book series I've had the pleasure of reading. The series weave through many different tales, creating an overarching story that still has room to breathe. It's not a point A to point B narrative, but rather one told through various flashbacks, outside characters and constantly revealing (and solving) new mysteries in the strange world we live in. By uncovering the absurd as fact, employing characters that are equal part pulp and hard sci-fi and making references to many different more famous comic book heroes throughout, the team of Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer become a team that you want to root for. You won't make a solid connection with any one character in the story, but at the pace that the story moves and the tales it unfolds, it won't matter. A thoroughly engaging read and just one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had with comics. And don't forget it's drawn by John Cassady, who won an Eisner Award one year for his art in this book. There's a reason for that, the art is fantastic.

The zip collects all 27 issues of the main series as well as the 3 crossover comics (that I don't particularly care for).

Enjoy.

Download Here

PS.

2010-03-07T20:20:00.001-08:00

Ps. I realize that my reviews never really say anything about the music and just seem to be snapshots into the last 23 years of my life. It's probably pretty boring, I'm working on it.

Pps. "Working on it" is why I seem to only be posting one thing a week. I could just post AMG reviews or other things I find on the net and post a couple albums a day, but I restarted this site to try my hand at writing reviews again, and while I am far from happy with the way they are turning out, I still think it's more exciting to visit a blog you like and get that person's thoughts or why they posted it then ANOTHER review by Thom Jurek.

A To Z: Incunabula - Autechre

2010-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

I first decided I wanted to delve into the world of electronic music somewhere around the year 2000. This was the beginning of my teenage years, the time in our lives where we are finding out our likes and dislikes, why we like the things we do and more importantly - we are getting bored of things we have always assumed to be "good."

High school became the place for me to become the music snob of my friends. Not so much in a formal setting, but within my own mind I was discovering new things daily. Electronic music was one of these things. Like many people my age, I was inspired by Radiohead's "Kid A" album and the bleeps and bloops that were found consistently through that record. I fell in love with "Idioteque", learning the words and wanting to devour more music like it. I didn't know where to start, so I asked around the internet.

The first album someone told me to get was "Music Has The Right To Children". I loved it instantly and still consider it one of my very favorite albums of all time. Through my own narrow investigation I was discovering that my preferences heavily leaned on the side of abstract, experimental dance music. Somewhere I ran into the term "IDM" which I hung above my peers as a beacon of how I was better than them, because I listened to INTELLIGENT dance music, none of this trance shit. I soon found my way to "Tri Repetae++" a collection that is about as out there as IDM got and perhaps the genre's finest offering. I liked the album a lot, but never fell in love with it. The years have carried on and while I've recognized that Autechre fans are some of the most dedicated that I talk with, I've never quite understood the hype. Until very recently.

Over the past few months, I've begun to delve into the early days of Warp Records. I mainly credit people like Flying Lotus and the other Brainfeeder artists for this, but the Warp20 compilation is an amazing collection of music and I wanted to go back and revisit all the things I wasn't around for during the "Artificial Intelligence" days.

"Incunabula" didn't do a whole lot for me the first time I heard it. But I listened to it while commuting around for work the following day and it made sense. You've heard it before: you're driving in the rain, the traffic is start and stop, you get a few stretches of open road and the music that is playing through your car stereo is just the most perfect thing you could be listening to at that point. I've been hooked on this record a bit for the last few weeks, pulling it out about every other day during work or at night to listen to.

It may be the most "accessible" of Autechre's work, it may also be the best. It can sound a bit dated compared to today's standards and it's hard to recognize the duo that created this record in 1993 is still putting out cutting edge electronic music in 2010 that is completely different.

I'm going to fill the gaps in my Autechre collection in, but for now - "Incunabula" will strike me as the high point in what many consider to be the most forward thinking act in electronic music.

Download Here

RIP Mark Linkous

2010-03-07T09:31:00.001-08:00

Though he seemed to live a life of pain, it's sad to see such a talent choose to leave us. Rest in Peace.

A To Z: Heart Food - Judee Sill

2010-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

There are certain musicians who can take pop music and completely flip it on its head. Brian Wilson's "teenage symphonies" were extra lush song cycles meant that somehow appealed to the rock and roll crowd more akin to liking two-and-a-half minute standard pop tunes. Prior to Brian Wilson and his brothers, Phil Spector created the now infamous "wall of sound"- literally throwing everything into the mix that his recording capabilities could handle. Despite the noise, the songs maintained a feeling of completely literate, interesting and downright intelligent pop music. The Ronettes were making music for high school dances, yet there was artistry there. We can go through every decade of pop music and find specific examples of musicians and bands (and perhaps more appropriately, producers), whose knowledge of what pop music can and should be has constantly pushed the envelope. By synthesizing the best parts of different subgenres of popular music, many of our greatest artists are just that because somewhere in their career they put out music that was unheard of before then. Something new, something unique and ultimately, something that has a lasting impact on the listeners, who find meanings through the sheen of pop and obsess over the music in their own ways.

I've heard the name Judee Sill for years. I'd seen her two albums talked about many times throughout my forays and obsessions into the world of 1970s California Folk Rock. It wasn't until recently, however, that I finally took a chance at giving Judee a listen. Imagine my surprise when I heard music that could be likened those late 70s Beach Boys recordings (my favorite), instead of what I expected to be a mediocre Joni Mitchell or Carly Simon carbon copy with some heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics.

On Heart Food Judee Sill created what is one of the most unjustly unheralded achievements in all of contemporary folk music. Everything is based primarily on guitar and piano, but other stringed instruments get added to the music, giving her otherwise personal and intimate songs a grandiose sense. Sill's singing has a unique quality, often starting her verses at a quieter, softer timbre before barring her teeth and singing as though she has a case to plead to God.

In fact much of the album has religious conotations, references to God and spirituality without being overly zealous. The comparison to Brian Wilson applies in this aspect as well. Story-like lyrics that reference a troubled soul, allowing herself to breathe in the only way she knows how: creating beautiful music.

It's a shame that Judee Sill's Heart Food isn't considered by more to be one of the best records of its time. It's a record unlike any others. It's clearly folk music, but it's clearly pop music. References could be drawn, similarities between Judee and other artists could be attempted, but Heart Food is a record that is all it's own. A record of epic scope, rooted in the most minute details of the artist's voice.

Download Here

A To Z: Ghetto Music - Eddie Gale

2010-02-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

If seeing the cover photo of this album doesn't make you want to listen to it, obsess over it and consider it one of the coolest things in your collection - you just might not be human.

Eddie Gale standing hooded with shades, his trumpet in hand, with a canine ready to rip your skull off. His backing musicians for the record, similarly hooded, with different instruments, expressionless facades on their face. They have attained a higher power through music and their look is forcing you to follow suit. Powerful.

During the late 60's, every important jazz musician tried their hand at the spiritual jazz movement that Coltrane spawned and mastered. While this resulted in some of the most exciting and invigorating jazz music that exists today, it also caused a plethora of great musicians to release lackluster work just for the sake of being "experimental."

Prior to 1968, Eddie Gale was known as a backing musician of various forms of Sun Ra's Arkestra, as well as playing on Cecil Taylor's Blue Note debut. These are big names and by the time that Gale was set to release his debut under his own name - the recording was entirely funded by Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff, who believed that what Gale was accomplishing with this record was something that could truly shape what jazz is perceived to be and where it can go.

And with good reason. Despite the fact that Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music remained one of the most obscure Blue Note releases for years and has since been remastered on an entirely different label, the album continues to stick out amongst a catalogue of some of the best music the world has ever seen.

The deeply moving album opens with "The Rain" beginning with acoustic guitar and Eddie's sister Joann singing in a style that doesn't seem far removed from Fairport Convention. At 40 seconds, the rest of the 17-member ensemble reveals themselves, a jazz beat pushed along by the two basses and two drummers, the 11 member chorus preaching the gospel. The song alternates between these pastoral folk passages and the louder ensemble moments, with Eddie's trumpet soloing in between. Soon Eddie and his sister find themselves in a duet, his trumpet much louder than her voice. The track builds and builds, repeating "Stop the rain...Stop the rain." When listening, it is hard to think of a more powerful opening track through any genre of music. The next 4 tracks continue the wave of blending gospel and jazz and a little funk, create mass amounts of cacophony that never quite sound like "noise." Gale retains the ability to reign his ensemble inward at the proper time, continuously create musical passages that layer themselves to the point of bursting, before stopping and allowing breath. The chorus keeps things interesting throughout the 40-minute duration, making themselves apparent and noticeable, but never the center of attention, which rightly belongs to the amazing instrumental work.

Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music is one of the best spiritual / protest jazz albums that exists. A snapshot of life in 1968 and one that can still ring true as a snapshot of life in 2010. Powerful music.

Download Here

A To Z: Freedom Flight - Shuggie Otis

2010-02-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

What did you do when you were 18?

When I was 18 I graduated high school without a desire in the world. I worked my first real job - getting my hands cut up by sheet metal, my lungs filled with asbestos and my hair filled with fiberglass filaments. I started college, or rather, attended classes at a university for a quarter before transferring to a community college that offered me nothing more than the high school I had just left. I lacked motivation, the most creative thing I did was write my 2nd of what has become 7 "Top 50 Albums of the Year" list, in which I claimed Madvillain to reign supreme.

When Shuggie Otis was 18, he released what has become what I consider to be one of the most complete albums of the 70s and perhaps one of my very favorite releases of all time.

At it's heart, Freedom Flight is a blues album - but unlike those albums that came before it, it is a blues so forward thinking without sounding entirely alien, it is hard to pinpoint influences or relatable musicians. Blurring the lines between psychedelic, orchestral pop, floor-stomping blues, Hendrix and jamming in a sundazed haze, Shuggie presents 7 tracks (plus a bonus cut) ranging from lengths of 2:30 to 13:00. The longer tracks that close out the album, "Purple" and "Freedom Flight" might very well be the best instrumental rock songs to have come out by this time on albums that were not completely instrumental.

Shuggie's guitar playing is essential listening. You can hear influences of Santana and other Woodstock luminaries in his plucking, but perhaps the most striking thing is the direct line you can draw from many of his licks to some of Prince's best moments (and yes I know they look alike). Shuggie will almost certainly be remembered as the kid who wrote "Strawberry Letter 23" which was later popularized by The Brothers Johnson or maybe he will be remembered as the guy who put out Inspiration Information a few years later, inspiring many of the best musicians and jazz groups of the next 20 years. Despite this and despite the legacy of influence that Shuggie has left in his short career (he hasn't recorded much over the last 30 years), I honestly think that Freedom Flight is his most important moment. It's an album that says "hey I can do what you do better than you can, and check this out too..."

Freedom Flight is a treasure of an album, and a vision rarely matched.

Download Here

Another Electronic Musician - Inflationary

2010-02-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

I quite like this new AEM album. Like this video too. Nothing special, but it works. States of Space is out now on n5md. Favorable review on CMG too.

Bedroom Community

2010-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

I would like to see this tour. But hey, I live in California.

Bedroom Community releases have gotten some backlash around the internet. I don't care, these are the best musicians on the planet as far as I'm concerned.

Erykah Badu - Window Seat

2010-02-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well this is going to be another great album.

A To Z: Eccsame The Photon Band - Lilys

2010-02-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

There are certain records in all of our collections that we might praise, but ultimately undervalue. "Yeah, wow that IS a great record, I almost forgot about it!"

I've had Eccsame the Photon Band for years and listened to it quite a few times. At the behest of some friends and contemporaries I was constantly reminded that I should give this album it's due, but typically brushed it aside. It's underrated, under-mentioned, nearly unheard in comparison to similar records of the era. I knew it was good, but it wasn't until recently that I actually realized how good this record actually is.

Always placed within the confines of the shoegaze genre, the Lilys foray into the wonderful world of distorted guitars sounds nothing like Loveless or Nowhere. Listening to the record, you can make out individual guitar chords, hear the lyrics and never feel overwhelmed by the oft-suffocating limits and compression of records that employ sounds we typically deem "shoegaze." Eccsame sounds and feels like it has room to breathe. These are ostensibly pop songs hidden beneath the veil of distortion and slow-tempos. There are instances of extended guitar flourishes and electronic washes, but the pop songs remain just under the surface - seeking their way out of the haze, embedding themselves in your head.

No, this isn't My Bloody Valentine or even Slowdive - this is a less epic Stone Roses, a Byrds album recorded for the autumn, it's almost Yo La Tengo. This album could only be a product of the middle 1990's, a product of every band doing similar things at that time AND those bands' influences. This isn't party music, it's not music to listen to while hanging out with friends. The album is taken in best when you take it in alone. That's what I've done many times over the past week. Do I think it's an all-time classic now? No I still don't, but I don't think I'll ever undervalue Eccsame The Photon Band again. It deserves a place among the giants of the genre and the giants of your collection.

Download Here

A To Z: Doremi Fasol Latido - Hawkwind

2010-01-30T08:44:00.000-08:00

1972 is an absolutely incredible year in music history. I cannot help but think what it would've been like to be the age I am now back then. Where would I have stood musically? Would I find myself part of the increasingly popular Glam Rock scene? Would I find myself with long hair and a hog, listening to Deep Purple? Would I be at crux in my life - rejecting traditional rock n roll for the likes of the classical influences inherent in Progressive Rock? Could I be cool enough to have connections to people following the apex of the Brazilian music scene? Maybe I would just be listening to the popular stuff by Elton John, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder.

37 years past that particular year, I find myself wanting to be a part of all these scenes, loving many albums released during this year retrospectively. I have no context of what it would have been like to actually have BEEN THERE. I've seen concerts, I've read anecdotes, I'm jealous to not have lived through this time, just as I'm jealous to not have lived through any significant time in pop music history.

As a natural extension and rebirth of the hippies at the end of the 60's, perhaps the burgeoning Space Rock, psych folk, Glastonbury scene would've been the scene for me. These people held true to what they wanted to do, mixing pop, rock and electronics to create music that was similar to that being created in Germany at the time - but distinctly different.

The difference was Hawkwind.

Doremi Fasol Latido came out on the heels of the massive UK single "Silver Machine" - a song that was not found on any Hawkwind album at the time, but still featured a sound that would soon define them. Lemmy's vocals sound like Roger Daltry, the guitar and bass chugging is reminiscent of the heavy rock found in Uriah Heep and Deep Purple - yet there was this ambience added to the music. A constant humming sound that gently slid up and down the scales, not distracting from the music but definitely noticable. Imagine your rock band performing in the middle of a hurricane, attempting to send it back from where it came. You get the point.

Doremi was 7 tracks the first time it was released. Alternating between hard rock, proto punk, kraut rock, and a handful of British folk moments - many consider this their masterpiece.

I've never really understood the genre title of "Space Rock" beyond the occasional synthesizer whirlings. To me, I think of the serene, minimal, bleep blopp fizz captured perfectly in the soundtracks to movies like Solaris, Moon and Sunshine as something "true" to space. I see The Orb as much more indicative of the loneliness I imagine space to be rather than what Hawkwind present it as.

A party. A huge, drug-fueled, week-long, awesome party.

If those soundtracks (or even perhaps the 2001: A Space Odyssey score) are what I imagine the true sound of space to be like, Doremi Fasol Latido is the quintessential soundtrack for teenagers traveling to space in rebellion against their aging parents. You see, there is a sense of urgency and defiance found throughout the album. The guitar is harsh, the recording is shit and everytime lyrics and singing are introduced I can't help but feel that Hawkwind is trying to write some melodramatic space opera.

But the drawn-out, mind-melting, feedback laden instrumental passages rock. This isn't space music to float around to. This is the your soundtrack to conquer space.

It's not a perfect album, I don't think it's even the best Hawkwind album, but it's fun to pull out every now and then and listen to loud. Grow your hair out, put on some bizarre threads. Hell, paint your face if you must. It might not be your version of space, but it's theirs. And it is one hell of a fun vision to have.

Download Here

PS. Album includes 4 bonus tracks - none of which I find as good as the any of the preceding 7.

Annihilation War and Annihilation Conquest

2010-01-23T17:47:00.001-08:00

I have zipped up all the comics you need for the Annihilation War story arc of the Marvel Cosmic universe as well as the subsequent Annhilation: Conquest arc. The original Annihilation arc is better, but the Star-Lord mini that is a prelude to Conquest is probably the best mini out of the 8. Everything is in order or includes a reading list. Includes the preludes, tie-ins and everything else.

Reading comics on your computer is easy. You can use Jomic if you have a mac. Or Comical if you have Windows. Have some fun, I like these arcs and I find the space-based Marvel stuff much more intriguing than most of their other comics. Anyway if you want a review or whatever, look em up online. Shit is fun, art is mostly good, so just download and read them over time.

Download Here

Multiupload, etc.

2010-01-21T18:56:00.001-08:00

Another update post. Apparently multiupload went down sometime today, which is where all my recent files are mirrored, so if you're trying to get the 4 new things I've posted, you can't. That blows.

I'm hoping it goes back up soon, because it's a good service. I have some posts planned out and will get back to posting once this is resolved.

A To Z: Chessa - Shuttle358

2010-01-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

We tend to give ambient music two distinct purposes:

1. To serve as inoffensive background noise for activities like studying, sleeping or perhaps barely waking up.
2. To serve as a special soundtrack to a unique situation we may find ourselves in: weaving through travelers at an airport, riding on a morning train, watching the snow fall outside.

I know of few people who choose to listen to ambient or drone music as a means of sparking lively conversation or who elect to share their new favorite microtonal artists with their peers. It is not an entertaining music, nor is it a significantly artistic music. Yet somehow these sound sculptures can manage to be the most quiescent or the most absorptive music we listen to.

We have heard over the last 30 years of the brilliance found within the minimal compositions of masters like Brian Eno and Harold Budd. In half the time, we have been able to add artists like Wolfgang Voight, William Basinski, Christian Fennesz and Stars of The Lid to that list. What was once a genre that few tread within, dominated by tape loops, hazy guitar pedals and the tinkling of keys on a synth or piano, soon blossomed during the laptop age of the early 2000's. Anyone could be a sound musician. I tried, you tried, we failed.

And though the genre of microtonal ambient music is far from dead - it is altogether saturated by carbon copy artists, all clawing (softly) for that one standout review handed out by a major publication every year.

I love ambient music, and while I'm in no way someone who follows the actual scene (and there is a true art-based minimal scene in every corner of the western world), nor am I even learned enough to be able to write for mapsadaisica l, I delve into many new releases every year that happen to catch my attention during the hyperbolic ramblings of their press releases or Boomkat reviews. Every year many of them are nothing but boring, soulless electro-acoustic meanderings that start nowhere and go nowhere. "A guy, a laptop and a guitar walk into a bedroom..."

It is funny that we can consider a music with no specific form to adhere to but whatever one hears in their own head as "soulless", yet many releases within this genre are exactly that. Dan Abrams aka Shuttle358 is anything but soulless.

All positive reviews of ambient music make reference that a particular release is good because of the "warmth" and "humanity" that the music brings up for the listener. Specific memories in time are recaptured, current moments in the present are captured for the first time. Chessa is warm, Chessa is human.

Recorded and released during the apex of the click-and-beep madhouse of 2004, Shuttle358's third album on 12k has spoken to me for 5 years now. The fuzz, the chimes, the buzzing sounds, the looped guitar - these are all elements that can be found on releases by any ambient composer - and yet, this release sticks out from the others. I listened to this album four times this afternoon as I watched the rain come and go out my window. As night set in, earlier than it should have, the music continued to soundtrack my evening. Every track seems to find itself matching my breaths as it clicks along, every track placed perfectly in context with the exact emotion I encounter upon this experience.

It is a quiet album, a beautiful album - one that has many situational uses. It just turns out that its beauty has not allowed me to tie it to one situation in particular, but many. And few albums can do that.

Download Here

Totally or Totally Not: 80's

2010-01-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

New compilation just released by my bros over at Hipinion. 80's covers. Halfway through, its the best one they've released.

1. spaghettiandblankets - steppin' out (joe jackson)
2. overoverover(shermer) & mai - would i lie to you (eurythmics)
3. baba o rly - head over heels (tears for fears)
4. hat and beard - candy (cameo)
5. phillistine - when 2 r in love (prince)
6. nathan kozyra (ft. erik cheer) - you're the best (karate kid) (joe esposito)
7. uberwear - i'll be where the heart is (kim carnes)
8. arepa - what's inside a girl (the cramps)
9. fuckles - girls (beastie boys)
10. thrdklla - stand an deliver (adam and the ants)
11. Genius Sir - girl u want (devo)
12. sunglasses - no surrender (bruce springsteen)
13. black sandwich - dirty mind (prince)
14. eugenics - ceremony (new order)
15. buboclot - aqua (eurythmics)
16. fresh salad - love is a stranger (eurythmics)
17. legibet - orinoco flow (enya)
18. miss black america - girls just wanna have fun (cyndi lauper)
19. dragon jeans - self control (RAF)
20. sonicgabe - love is a battlefield (pat benatar)
21. nathan kozyra (ft. erik gloom) - cherry coloured funk (cocteau twins)
22. sad pandas - hey hey spaceman (guided by voices)
23. thrdklla - bark at the moon (ozzy osbourne)
24. contristo - i wanna be adored (stone roses)
25. ernie anastoz - atlantic city (bruce springsteen)

Download Here

A To Z: Bravebird - Amel Larrieux

2010-01-13T21:34:00.001-08:00

*Note: I got a DMCA takedown notice for this, but you should still like Amel Larrieux, so I won't delete the post.*

I was 9 years old in 1995. I grew up in the first age of youth that began to make mix cds rather than mix tapes. I was of the first generation to see the MP3 and digitally available music become mainstream and readily accessible. I don't even own a cassette player anymore and I sold every single one of my cds over the 2009 holiday break. Music is as enjoyable to me in 2010 as it was in 1995, though the way I take it in is so different.

To top things off, the first time I heard Amel Larrieux was in 1995, a little song by Groove Theory called "Tell Me"

In high school I wrote a 5-page "personal" essay reflecting on my past in which I would scour my family's cds and cassettes and make mixtapes. I described the amount of time at the ages of 8, 9 and 10 that I would spend listening to popular radio stations in Portland, Oregon, waiting for the precise song to play so that I could record it onto tape at the right place. The primary inspiration for this essay and a large chunk of it consisted of me discussing my obsession to "Tell Me." I can't say that it was the first song I fell in love with, but it is definitely possible that the song was my first true, conscious musical obsession.

I didn't listen to the entire Groove Theory album until 2005, I hadn't listened to any of Amel's solo albums until 2004. I didn't even connect her to being the singer of what may have been the primary song of my youth.

I still can't really explain why I love that song. It's simple in structure, chorus and production. Amel's vocals are wonderful, but hardly hold a candle to the things found on her later solo efforts. "Bravebird", her second solo album, released in 2004 isn't my favorite work of hers, but the fact is that it is an Amel Larrieux album, and it's still very good.

The album shifts between jazzy numbers, more upbeat-almost Alicia Keys in 2007 style numbers, more traditionaly grrl-centric Neo-Soul, a song with a distinct Bossa Nova feeling, and a couple of tracks harkening back to the Acid Jazz styles of Groove Theory. Throughout the whole album, the production feels like ?uestlove and The Roots, the haze just barely hanging there.

Amel's voice sticks out though, as it should.

There is no doubt in my mind that Amel is one of the most gifted singers we have right now, with the ability to cover all the above-mentioned genres and still sound entirely herself. A more poppy Sade, a less menacingly pleading Mary J. Blige. If Erykah Badu wasn't already near perfect, Amel would hopefully be THE voice of the neo-soul movement.

The album isn't perfect and I won't pretend that it is. Some lyrics are ill-fitting, some messages are to heart-on-sleeve. Amel is trying to spread hope through her words and that works for some people, it would've worked on a younger me, maybe it'll work on you.

Regardless, it's an album you should listen to. She's a musician you should love.

Linked Removed By Request of Label

A To Z: Aerial Boundaries - Michael Hedges

2010-01-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

In the last few days, I have uploaded a number of albums in an effort to revitalize this blog and to try my hand at getting better at writing music reviews (for what purpose? I don't know.)

Instead of starting with those albums, I thought that I might go ahead and start a new A to Z series just for the sake of doing it. It forces me to choose albums I want to post and write about. I'll intersperse other things in the blog while this is going on, but it at least gives you something concrete to look forward to, rather than just updates saying I'm going to update.

I recently watched three BBC4 90-minute music documentaries. The first focused on synth-pop and the synthesizer. The second was about Krautrock and its influence on popular music of the mid-70s. Then this past weekend I finally caught the year-old Prog Rock Britannia, chronicling the rise and fall of bands like King Crimson, ELP, Yes and Genesis. These documentaries are all immensely entertaining, and though their oversites are numerous, they still beat just about everything that I can find here on American television.

I tell you this because towards the end of the Prog Rock documentary, the mood that the musicians and contributors possess suddenly changes. They talk about excess, of saturation, of near stagnation in their genre. They talk of punk rock, the simplistic rock n roll model that was triumphing over their preposterous "art." Within a number of years, these musicians went from being some of the biggest, most recognizable names in rock music worldwide, to bands whose allegiance spurred immediate damnation. As writer Johnathan Coe puts it so bluntly: Prog Rock became THE genre in which people were suddenly saying "it's all shit."

Where I come from, who I grew up with, who I look up to: they would disagree. Genesis could be cool, Yes wrote some good tunes, Keith Emerson is a godsend. Instead people would look at me, point at the music labeled "New Age" and tell me "now THAT is all shit."

Like progressive rock music, new age music has more than its fair share of stereotypes. Long hair, nature photos, instrumental passages that don't really go anywhere or accomplish much other than serve as auditory wallpaper. Like many stereotypes, there is some truth in these intimations. Despite knowing better, somewhere a 16-year old me cannot help but envision Tim Robbin's character from High Fidelity whenever anyone mentions the genre by name. Just relaaaaaxxx man.

I'm not reaching beyond my grasp here, this isn't an attempt to validate the artistic merit of music labeled as "new age" nor is it an attempt to brainstorm a better title. It is my guess that somewhere within the souls of each and every musician within this genre, part of them truly is attempting to raise the listener up to a new level of peace, understanding, maturation, perhaps a "new age" of being. However, where many musicians fail and come off as wonky, uninspired synthesizer experimenters with source waterfall tape recordings (say, is that going to be on my Top 50 of 2010?), there is one artist in particular that has the ability to transcend the genre while staying firmly within and his name is Michael Hedges.

Long considered one of the most important figures in solo acoustic guitar instrumentation, Michael Hedges released a string of albums in the early 80s and into the 90s that displayed a fingering style that truly didn't exist before him, but has been found in every coffeehouse since. Often sounding like 3, 4, sometimes 5 guitarists at once, Michael Hedges creates music that is rooted in old-America folk and John Fahey stylings while bringing the otherworldliness factor up by 10. He has often been noted as playing a guitar with two sets of strings, one for bass. He's also known for playing strange instruments no one but elves play. He's also known for braids.

Michael Hedges is a solo act. And what's more is that Michael Hedges is a solo LIVE act. Aerial Boundaries, his second and best album is said to have been recorded live, just Michael in the studio (how much of this I believe is another story). His musicianship is astounding and the hours of preparation that likely went into getting the sound just right for recording is evident. Even on the tracks where Michael has used electronic equipment ("Spare Change"), or has created sounds that aren't guitar (the flute on "Menage a Trois"), everything falls into place the way it was supposed to. It is clear that the album accomplishes the vision that Michael set out with before recording.

I've seen this album considered the best solo acoustic album of all time. Whether or not I agree is irrelevant, the sound is likely the best and the vision is perhaps the clearest. It is new age music. It can serve as audio wallpaper, dentist office music, elevator music. But it can also be a terribly engrossing listen. I've fallen under it's spell 6 times today.

And it's a masterpiece.

Download Here (VBR)

Hudson Mowhawke - FUSE

2010-01-09T16:23:00.001-08:00

I guess I should try this album again. Did not like it at all when it came out (I doubt I still will), but FUSE has been on constant rotation over the last couple days. Epic song.

New layout - Going to start posting things

2010-01-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Hey I downloaded a layout because I'm too lazy to code one myself. I guess I edited it though and changed some colors.

Will probably start uploading some things this weekend.

If you have a blog you would like linked here, leave a comment and I'll review it.

Top Albums of 2009: 1-10

2010-01-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

Let me just preface by saying a few things: First, if you've been following my lists for any amount of times or years, you've probably noticed a theme in which the reviews tend to get shorter the closer we get to the end. This may happen again, but it's not out of boredom or being "done" with the list. It's the fact that my top 10 this year features records which have mostly been talked about to death, and you can probably go around google and your favorite review sites and find praise for them in other places. I realize my reviews are not very good, despite what anyone says, but mostly that's just because they're rushed. I'm rushing through these next 10 too. 2009 was good. Not great, but good. Thanks for reading the list, if you did.

#10

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware

(March 17) (Drag City) (Myspace)

RIYL: Bill Callahan/Smog, Neil Young

As far as Will Oldham superfans go, I reckon that I'm a bit different. You see, there is almost no question that Will Oldham in all his various incarnations and psuedonyms is my favorite musician, yet you'd be hard pressed to call me obsessive. Back when I had a Last.fm account (as many of you still do, I'm sure), Bonnie "Prince" Billy was my most

scrobbled artist by a large amount, while the rest of my top 10 consisted primarily of ambient musicians and a little band called The Beatles. Furthermore, my favorite Oldham records are not any of his work with Palace, nor some obscure rare EP. I don't think that I See A Darkness is his best album, and might not list it higher than number 5. My favorite album of his is the somber, intimate, though often overlooked Master and Everyone. In fact, that could very well be my favorite album of the decade. All this is irrelevant other than the idea that as a huge fan of Oldham, I tend to praise some things that others seem to cast aside, and tend to merely like those things that garner the most praise. Beware follows this pattern. Upon first listen of this album, I may have liked it more than any other record on first listen this year. I love Will doing solo acoustic stuff or songs with minimal accompaniment, but I also really enjoy his stuff with a full band. This album fits that mold. I gushed to my girlfriend about it for days, and when she finally played it, she liked it, though couldn't stand the out-of-tune fiddle. Fair enough, that's a reasonable complaint and I notice it now too, though somehow I personally love it, as well as most of the other backing music and what it sounds like. The songs themselves don't really rank up there with his best, but the music is wonderfully different from most of his releases (I said "most" so don't talk to me about Sings Greatest Palace Music) but whatever. It's Will Oldham, it's a good album that I enjoy more than most. It's also one of my most listened to records of the year. And it's cool to listen to a Bonnie "Prince" Billy song that seems to have sing-along choruses.

Jon Hassell - Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street

(Feb. 10) (ECM) (Myspace)

RIYL: Brian Eno, Popol Vuh, Terry Riley

Jon Hassell has been making awesome experimental jazz and "fourth world" styled ambient music for almost 40 years. Somehow, despite this fact, his latest album is one of his very best in a career of very bests. Taking his trumpet and a traditional jazz lineup, adding a lot of effects, laptop tinkering and mixing live and studio tracks, Last Night... is one of the coolest records of the year. Trance-inducing night music. Beautiful ambient tracks, funky bass. Hassell continues his vision of creating a music that pays debts to all world cultures (in this case, lots of Middle Eastern music), without actually sounding anything like it. He has jazz influences, he has Brian Eno influences, but as with most of his music, Hassell has his own sound, and it happens to be a sound that no one can replicate. Fantastic album that didn't get the praise it deserved. Some people might throw it out calling it new age bullshit. It's not. You might call it new age, it's not far away from that, but it's one of the most beautifully composed records I've heard in a long long time. How exciting that someone as prolific as Jon Hassell and with a career as influential as his, can still make some of the best music of his life when the odds are against him.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

(May 26) (Glass Note) (Myspace)

RIYL: Hot Chip, Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, Pop music

Phoenix was bound to crossover at some point. Though the momentum was hitting hard, and it seemed that Phoenix was going to become one of the biggest bands of the year on the strength of their two stellar singles "Lisztomania" and "1901", they didn't quite make it. That's ok. Those who know and love Phoenix have known the same thing for years: They're the best pop band working. Their music is insanely catchy. Where wereyou the first time you got "If I Ever Feel Better" stuck in your head? How often have you sung the chorus to "Napoleon Says"? How may times did you watch the music video for "Lisztomania" that was synched up to a bunch of Brat Pack movies? Phoenix writes the song that appeal to the youth in each of us that slowly disappears all the time. Phoenix fights to keep us enjoying ourselves, loving music, embracing huge choruses, high voices and lyrics that don't really mean anything but sound a-ok. Phoenix is the quintessential pop band, the likes of which don't exist in the 2000's, and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is their best album to date. There's no reason for you to not love this band. There really isn't.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

(June 6) (Domino) (Myspace)

RIYL: Yeasayer, Magnetic Fields, I don't know who else really

Nothing surprised me more this year than how much I loved Bitte Orca. I could attribute it to the hype machine, but the Dirty Projectors have had some hype for a few years now and if were around when Rise Above came out, their Black Flag covers record, you would have known there was no band I hated more than this band. I checked out one of their earlier releases out of curiosity, hated it just as much. When Bitte Orca came out and some of my peers were praising it, I was spamming message boards and review sites telling them how bad this band was, before actually hearing the record. I listened on a whim. I liked it a lot. I listened a second time, I liked it more. I then probably listened 3-4 more times (in a row, this is a huge deal for me), and I grew to love this record. My opinion about The Dirty Projectors changed in almost a complete 180 in a few hours. They went from one of my least favorite hyped indie bands to a band that I knew had just released a record that would appear in my top 10 of the year. If anything, the record's effect hasn't lessened either, the album is just really strong. I like the tracks that the females sing more than when Longstreth sings, but his voice isn't bugging me as much as it should. The music is just engaging. It's crazy, all over the place, but fuck is it good. I never would've expected it. Maybe I'll go back and listen to those old records and see if I like them now. I don't know if I will, and it doesn't matter. Bitte Orca is a great record full of great songs and deserved all the praise it received in the press this year.

Mastodon - Crack The Skye

(March 24) (Reprise) (Myspace)

RIYL: Isis, Black Sabbath, Rush, Metallica

How fitting that the only metal record on this list is the least metal album of Mastodon's career and not even considered "metal" by many people. Progressive Metal? Alternative Rock? Progressive Rock? Who the fuck cares. Crack The Skye is THE BEST rock record of the year and the best album by a band who many would consider to be one of the decade's very finest. The music is tighter than ever, the vocals are cleaner than ever, the concept is crazier than ever. What doesn't lack is just how awesome this music is. Go to Rateyourmusic and read the opinions of nerds, I don't need to tell you anything. I've always enjoyed Mastodon, appreciated their musicianship, but this album just puts them right to the top of rock bands for me. It's funny, lots of moments on this album would fit right into modern alternative rock radio, except everything seems to be done just THAT much better. I just love this shit. Turn it up loud, rock out, dream of time-traveling Russians and Rasputin and whatever else. Awesome awesome record and no metal critic can tell me otherwise.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Ashes Grammar

(Sept. 15) (Mis Ojos Discos) (Myspace)

RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, M83

Even though this album is at #5 on this list, I will come out and say that this is the only other album on the list that could conceivably be considered the best album of the year. I didn't listen to it as much as the 4 albums ahead of it, but every time I do listen to it, I am almost stopped dead in my tracks thinking about how good it is. I thought the last ASIG album was good. It placed high on my 2007 list, where I stated that I had a love/hate relationship with it, where sometimes I thought it was terribly annoying, but other times I thought it was the absolute best album of the year. Ashes Grammar however, I'll have a hard time saying anything negative about. The band still revolves around Ben Daniels, but his sisters Lauren and Robin are pretty much gone. The band picked up Annie Frederickson for this album to do vocals, and they now currently also feature a good friend of my girlfriend, Jen Goma (awesome when a friend joins one of your favorite bands). What do I even say about this record? It's dreamy beyond dreamy. Hazy and beautiful, inventive, shoegazing, a masterpiece. If you like dense sounds on your records, you like guitars and effects and ethereal vocals and amazing everything. Pick up Ashes Grammar and let the 22 tracks just transport you. I could try to write a real review for this record, but it would take time. This is a truly great record.

Mos Def - The Ecstatic

(June 9) (Downtown Records) (Myspace)

RIYL: Hip Hop

Let me say this flat out: I may very well like this album better than Black On Both Sides. Furthermore, I probably would consider this in the top 10 hip hop releases of the decade. No one expected a record this fucking awesome from Mos Def in 2009. Everyone just wants to write him off as a singing goofball. On The Ecstatic Mos has proved that he in fact one of the best rappers there is, he knows the best producers and he can do a simple, no-frills album and make it good. What do you need to know about this record? Spacey, vintage sounding samples. Mos just spitting all sorts of nonsense. Short songs, minimal guests who come correct when they actually appear. The best record to play in your car this year. This is the album lots of people have been wanting Mos Def to create from day one. It's unfortunate that some of those very same people still don't consider this album great. It's everything good about hip hop.

The-Dream - Love Vs. Money

(March 10) (Def Jam) (Myspace)

RIYL: Usher, R. Kelly, almost any good r&b song on the radio

Mountains - Choral

(Feb. 16) (Thrill Jockey) (Myspace)

RIYL: Fennesz, Harmonia, Eluvium

Mountains have been one of my favorite ambient acts of the last few years primarily because the music they create straddles the line between organic and inorganic sounds better than anyone. Sure there is lots of electronic distortion inherent in their compositions, but the way it is executed somehow seems like it would be appropriate soundtracking a rainy day in a cold cabin. It's warm. Choral is their best album yet, and far and away the best experimental / drone / ambient album of 2009. Sounding like a mixture of Eluvium's earlier ambient soundscape work with the guitar work within some of Robert Fripp's ambient recordings, Mountains have created something special. It's not entirely new, but it is done with precision. They don't build huge crescendos or create loops of the sort that will make you weep, but they do relax you, and they do make you marvel in their beauty. There is acoustic instruments, washes of synths, darkness, lightness, everything but it sounds clean. A beautiful record from beginning to end and almost the very best record of the year.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

(Jan. 20) (Domino) (Myspace)

RIYL: Doesn't matter

It couldn't be anything else. There is no possible way that I could pretend this isn't the best record of 2009. Go ahead and look around the internet for the next hour, this is the undisputed record of the year. The critics are right. In my mind, this is the first guaranteed "masterpiece" of the last many years and likely the absolute best record of the past decade. Masterpiece's deserved to be recognized. Animal Collective solidified the notion that they are the best band of the 00s by putting out their best album. If you haven't heard this album, where have you been? If you don't like this album, who are you? Nothing come closes. The album leaked on Christmas of 2008. It's been #1 since Christmas of 2008. It was #1 on Christmas of 2009. It could probably be #1 on Christmas of 2010. Merriweather Post Pavilion is undoubtedly the best album of 2009.

K, bye.

note

2009-12-31T19:12:00.001-08:00

Hey, I'll get the top 10 up in the next couple days, for those who are still paying attention (have received a few messages, so there are a few out there). But more importantly, just reminding you all that following that, I do plan on resurrecting the blog by uploading regularly, hopefully working on writing better reviews and coming up with a better layout in the world of boring blogspot basic designs.

Happy New Year