Honorable Mentions:
The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Let It Sway
Miles Kurosky - The Desert of Shallow Effects
Broken Bells - S/T
Miles Kurosky - The Desert of Shallow Effects
Broken Bells - S/T
20. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
I devote entirely too much thought to the mere imagery elicited by an album title. Monkey butlers, you say?
19. April Smith and the Great Picture Show - Songs for a Sinking Ship
New musical crush. Saw 'em open for Langhorne Slim @ McCabe's, predicted on spot they'd blow up. Now they're in Weeds promos, Colgate spots.
New musical crush. Saw 'em open for Langhorne Slim @ McCabe's, predicted on spot they'd blow up. Now they're in Weeds promos, Colgate spots.
18. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
"Whiskey shakes for 10 whole days"?! These kids look 14; were they even alive when obvious muse Pinkerton came out?!
17. Wild Nothing - Gemini
Always wondered what it must've been like to be high during the '80s...
16. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
The girl earns high marks for liking 'em well before they were selling out back-to-back LA shows. Very Noah & the Whale-ish, which is great.
The girl earns high marks for liking 'em well before they were selling out back-to-back LA shows. Very Noah & the Whale-ish, which is great.
15. The Dustbowl Revival - You Can't Go Back to the Garden of Eden
à la Princeton last year, my "friends' bias band." Daniel, Zach, Alia: you guys make some truly gorgeous (and toe-tappingly catchy) tunes.
14. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
Best album title of the decade? It's up there; Ricky Bobby couldn't name it better. Then again, I don't see him among the typical LCD set.
13. Vampire Weekend - Contra
Another prediction: VW will never as much as touch their first attempt. (No, that's a fact.) But if you think they're popular now...
12. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
This one's been wooing me for quite some time now, yet it continues to turn on the charm. You devil, you.
11. Best Coast - Crazy For You
Visceral female vocals, instantly hummable surf rock? No shocker, brah.
10. Beach House - Teen Dream
More soothing than a pillowcase of Klonopin and marshmallows.
9. The Black Keys - Brothers
Hardly a hidden gem anymore, it should come as little surprise that Hung producers have a raging music boner for this dirty, sexy rock.
8. Girl Talk - All Day
When you can make cultural miscreants like Miley sound good, you're damn good at what you do. Title about sums it up.
7. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Still not sure what draws me to this one; Civil War reference, perhaps. Ideal morning commute soundtrack, when all I want is to punch shit.
6. Woods - Echo Lake
Late gainer. Andrew played this for me driving home through the barren Central Valley after Thanksgiving. Warm, comfy, groovy.
5. Delta Spirit - History From Below
The dreaded sophomore attempt, turned on its ear. Slightly less folky than their swagger-laden debut, little more Helio Sequence. It's good.
4. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
I've seen these Phillies more than any band over the last 5 years; they can do no wrong by me. Wiltern show in Nov: hands down best of 2010.
3. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
First listen, I practically fell asleep in traffic. Must've been bad coffee that morning; favorite hip-hop LP in years.
*Side note: think #3 might've ripped off #4? Longtime SaMoan Adam Kurland directed the former's video, and the latter blogged about it back then. Both videos kick ass, but whether you consider Yeezy a genius, douchebag, visionary, or gay fish (he's all four, and then some), this is the guy who rhymes Coldplay with Coldplay.
2. The National - High Violet
Like Okkervil's Stand Ins followed Stage Names, HV followed monster Boxer with a sublime respect for its predecessor. Love at first listen.
1. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
At first reluctant to love, I figured it couldn't hold a candle to Funeral or Neon Bible. In time, the charismatic, spooky Win wins again.
**In addition to breaking all kinds of ground with their "be your own interactive stalker" video for "We Used to Wait," the Montreal outfit even show up in my favorite tweets of the year (courtesy of Family Guy writer/Sarah Silverman servicer Alec Sulkin).
Rather than rank individual songs, this year I've decided to string my favorite songs from the aforementioned LPs together (and a couple bonus goodies) into a more cohesive mix. Hope you guys enjoy it half as much as I did compiling it. (Sadly, download has been removed per DMCA, so contact me if you'd like your own copy!)
1. Vampire Weekend - White Sky
2. The Morning Benders - Excuses
3. Woods - Blood Dries Darker
4. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Made to Last
5. Local Natives - World News
6. The Dustbowl Revival - Dan's Jam
7. April Smith and the Great Picture Show - Can't Say No
8. Miles Kurosky - An Apple for an Apple
9. Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds
10. The Tallest Man on Earth - King of Spain
11. Delta Spirit - Devil Knows You're Dead
12. Dr. Dog - Where'd All the Time Go?
13. Titus Andronicus - Richard III
14. The Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait
15. The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
16. Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love (feat. Carey Mulligan)
17. The Black Keys - Tighten Up
18. Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside
19. Beach House - Walk in the Park
20. Janelle Monáe - Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
21. Girl Talk - Let It Out
22. Kanye West - Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver)
23. LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted a Hit
24. Wild Nothing - Chinatown
25. Surfer Blood - Catholic Pagans
26. Best Coast - When I'm With You
27. Lissie - Wedding Bells
28. Beck/Record Club - Never Tear Us Apart (INXS cover; feat. St. Vincent, Liars, Os Mutantes)
• • • •
Special thanks to fellow Arizona alum Anna Deem (Pop Apocalypse), Jody "An American in Lodon" Orsborn (When You Awake), and Danielle "Musical Twin" Sills (No Mistake In Mixtape) for your contributions not only to my library and ticket stub collection, but to the way I ingest and perceive music as a whole. You've each got your own remarkable taste, and I'm glad you're so determined to share that with the rest of us.
2 comments:
Thanks for the shout-out! :) However, I remain shocked that our man Miles is only an honorable mention and that you didn't list Broken Social Scene (I'm beginning to think I'm the only person that liked that album), Big Boi (almost as good as Kanye), and Sleigh Bells (perfect for LA traffic roadrage).
As much as I love Miles and relished hugging him after his free show at Amoeba while gushing "I never thought I'd get to hear a Beulah song live!", that's kinda my issue: it's not Beulah. Not even close. I do love 'Apple' and 'She Was My Dresden,' however.
BSS put me to sleep every time I tried to listen (no surprise, even if I love them) and I haven't listened much to Big Boi, who I hate to admit I enjoy more on other peoples' songs (i.e. Janelle Monae, or even better, over Portishead on the most recent Girl Talk).
As for Sleigh Bells, there's a very simple reason: when I installed an iPod hookup in my car, the first song that played every time I started it up was 'A/B Machines,' due to its alphabetical priority. Needless to say, startling and annoying as fuck.
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