New Music!

[Gazoo]

NTM (unearthed by Larry Grogan): a soulful cover of "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by The Kelly Bros (who?) -- very Young-Holt Unltd. Me likey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUFbFwkDI1U

Mr. Grogan has turned out to be right up my alley both in his musical predilections and his political ones.

[sundaygal]

Any of you guys listen to enough new music to still compile year-end Top 10s?  I don't anymore, alas.

Nor I. These days I'm lucky if I buy 10 newly released CDs in a year.

It seems with each passing year, I listen to new music less and less.  This year, I can't even come up with a year-end Top 10 list, so I'll provide a Top 5:

1. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Girl Group sound with the following subject matter: boys, pot & cats.  'Nuff said!)
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (1/4 Blur mixed with 1/2 Clash & shake well)
3. Vampire Weekend - Contra (Um, Preppy Calypso...?)
4. Beach House - Teen Dream (think Siouxsie meets Cocteau Twins meets Mazzy Star and you'll get the gist)
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (OK, I admit I haven't listened to the whole album, per se - but I had a WTF/this is freakin' amazing! moment when a friend was playing it recently.)

[RGMike]

Any of you guys listen to enough new music to still compile year-end Top 10s?  I don't anymore, alas.

Nor I. These days I'm lucky if I buy 10 newly released CDs in a year.

It seems with each passing year, I listen to new music less and less.  This year, I can't even come up with a year-end Top 10 list, so I'll provide a Top 5:

I think most of us are in the same boat. Gaz & I probably both agree on Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' I Learned the Hard Way; dunno how into retro-soul you are but that one's pretty fab.  My record of the year: Cee-Lo's "Fuck You"; way to tell radio it truly doesn't matter any more!   Worst, Most Annoying Song of the Year and Possibly the Decade: Train's "Hey Soul Sister" -- over a year old and still being played as a "current" on radio stations everywhere. Runner-up: their godawful Xmas song/Coke commercial. Humbug indeed.

[RGMike]

Z-100's Top 100 songs of 2010 -- boy do I feel old:

http://www.z100.com/pages/top100/2010.html

[Gazoo]

My year-end top 10 singles, as submitted to the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop:

1. Miranda Lambert, "The House That Built Me"
2. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "The Game Gets Old"
3. K'Naan, "Wavin' Flag"
4. B.o.B. f/ Bruno Mars, "Nothin' on You"
5. New Pornographers, "Crash Years"
6. One Eskimo, "Kandi"
7. Adam Haworth Stephens, "The Cities That You've Burned"
8. Jeremy Messersmith, "Organ Donor"
9. Shane Hines, "It's Not Home"
10. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "I Learned the Hard Way"

Cee-Lo would have gotten a mention if I didn't think he was going to appear on every single other P&J ballot.

[Gazoo]

Other honorable mentions, in addition to Cee-Lo, are Shontelle's "Impossible," the Script's "Breakeven," and Owl City's "If My Heart Was a House."

Glee didn't ruin music in 2010, but it ruined the charts.  If I were still an essayisy I'd elaborate on this point, but for crying out loud, the Glee cast have now had more Hot 100 hits than anyone but the Beatles and Elvis.

[sundaygal]

Any of you guys listen to enough new music to still compile year-end Top 10s?  I don't anymore, alas.

Nor I. These days I'm lucky if I buy 10 newly released CDs in a year.

It seems with each passing year, I listen to new music less and less.  This year, I can't even come up with a year-end Top 10 list, so I'll provide a Top 5:

Worst, Most Annoying Song of the Year and Possibly the Decade: Train's "Hey Soul Sister" -- over a year old and still being played as a "current" on radio stations everywhere.

Ugh.  Makes me wanna smash that ukulele over dude's head.  Don't get me started on the lyrics...

[ggould]

10. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "I Learned the Hard Way"

Martha and I were vicariously enjoying the trendiness of Delfina pizza in the gourmet ghetto, and what should play on the sound system?  Yes, the above tune!  I thought of you guys of course!

[RGMike]

NTM: the original version of the Boyce/Hart compo "Words", immortalized by the Monkees as the B-side of "Pleasant Valley Sunday". This is the Regents version (not the Regents who originated "Barbara-Ann", these guys seem to be Brits):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfx5UDYDFc

[RGMike]

Odd as it may be to be listening to Xmas tunes in January -- I just got Bobby Womack's "Traditions", an 11-year-old holiday CD of his that I was unaware existed. Surprisingly sweet., tho' I coulda done without "Jingle bells" accompanied by Smurf voices.

[Wayback]

NTM: the original version of the Boyce/Hart compo "Words", immortalized by the Monkees as the B-side of "Pleasant Valley Sunday". This is the Regents version (not the Regents who originated "Barbara-Ann", these guys seem to be Brits):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfx5UDYDFc

NTM too, nice version, thanks for posting.  That Monkees single of "PVS"/"Words" was the first 45 I ever bought, so it holds a special place for me.  I still have the record, but unfortunately in late '70s my kid sister decided to cut out the photo of the Monkees from the picture sleeve to put in a collage of her teen idols!

[radical347]

Other honorable mentions, in addition to Cee-Lo, are Shontelle's "Impossible," the Script's "Breakeven," and Owl City's "If My Heart Was a House."

Glee didn't ruin music in 2010, but it ruined the charts.  If I were still an essayisy I'd elaborate on this point, but for crying out loud, the Glee cast have now had more Hot 100 hits than anyone but the Beatles and Elvis.

I liked your list! (Except for Kandi ) But there are still a few I haven't heard of, so that gives me more new songs to look up!

Agreed about Glee not necessarily ruining music but ruining the charts.

[radical347]

It seems with each passing year, I listen to new music less and less.  This year, I can't even come up with a year-end Top 10 list, so I'll provide a Top 5:

1. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Girl Group sound with the following subject matter: boys, pot & cats.  'Nuff said!)
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (1/4 Blur mixed with 1/2 Clash & shake well)
3. Vampire Weekend - Contra (Um, Preppy Calypso...?)
4. Beach House - Teen Dream (think Siouxsie meets Cocteau Twins meets Mazzy Star and you'll get the gist)
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (OK, I admit I haven't listened to the whole album, per se - but I had a WTF/this is freakin' amazing! moment when a friend was playing it recently.)

Good picks  I esp. like Gorillaz (almost made my Top 10) & the Arcade Fire.   I have heard a few singles from Best Coast and Beach house but am not familiar with the entire album.  Vampire Weekend is hit or miss with me, although I do love "Giving Up the Gun."

This year I made a Top 10, though barely.  There were about 14 albums I liked enough to put on a list, though to keep some sense of "best of" felt it was best to round down to 10. Here's my list!

10. The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever
No attempts to be abstract or pretentious here; just straight up rock.

9. Jack Johnson - To the Sea
Jack Johnson drops the child's movie soundtrack nonsense (Curious George) and the political crap (Sleep Through the Static) and returns to what he does best, which is making thoughtful songs about life and the characters that are dear to us as well as those that push our buttons.  In typical JJ style, too; his message:words ratio is through the roof.

8. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Concept album portraying the melancholy of many of us who grew up in cush, cozy suburbs actually pulls it off quite well.

7. Against Me! - White Crosses
Part expectedly childish punk, part amazingly mature life retrospective, all catchy and worth a listen.

6. Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns
Another concept album here, this one a bit more severe being that it pertains to doomsday, but at least it isn't nonsense; the real high point, though, is the instrumentals; Linkin Park dives into a variety of new soundscapes, some of which work better than others, but the best of which are brilliant aned all of which form a perfectly cohesive album and inevitably introduce these types of sounds to alternative radio, as they get automatic airplay given juggernaut that Linkin Park has become.

5. KINK Live 13
Live AAA sampler here, this one from KINK/Portland, OR.  Features some of the more quirky AAA tracks (i.e. Hockey "Song Away," ALO "Big Appetite" as well as new tracks by moderately-to-solidly established artists that don't get love from too many other samplers, for some reason (Howie Day, Jamie Cullum, Bruce Hornsby)

4. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - History of Modern
Don't know where they were when the 80s revival was hot, but 14 years after their last album they're back and musically as astute as ever with a few clever uses of samples.  Vocals aren't great, but was that ever their strong point anyway?  Recommended tracks: "Sister Marie Says," "Pulse."  

3. The National - High Violet
I'm still mad at them for re-releasing their album with bonus tracks after I had bought it right when it came out ( ) but I can't deny this is one helluva album.  His voice is a little too deep to make me think that he isn't trying too hard, but it works and in tracks like "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and "Conversation 16" you can feel a poor jaded soul.

2. KBCO Studio C, Vol. 22
Second and final AAA sampler on this list, from KBCO/Denver (sorry KFOG, LFtA 17 didn't make it; try harder & include better tracks next year!) features some from the more alternative side of things (i.e. Broken Bells, Phoenix, Moby) as well as a few stunning combinations (Ben Gibbard/Jay Farrar and John Hiatt/Lyle Lovett)

1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Groovy electro act that manages to be fun and quirky without having too many pretentious influences or being over-the-top, and plenty of 6+ minute songs well worth the time.  Skip "Drunk Girls" but the rest of the album's a winner.  

Next up...the year-end Annoying List!  The 25 (or 50, depending on how many I can pull up) most annoying, obnoxious, irritating, and/or just plain bad songs of the year with biting sardonic commentary.  And don't worry, that Train song we all love is definitely going to hold a place of honor in the list  

[RGMike]

5. KINK Live 13
Live AAA sampler here, this one from KINK/Portland, OR.  Features some of the more quirky AAA tracks (i.e. Hockey "Song Away," ALO "Big Appetite" as well as new tracks by moderately-to-solidly established artists that don't get love from too many other samplers, for some reason (Howie Day, Jamie Cullum, Bruce Hornsby)

2. KBCO Studio C, Vol. 22
Second and final AAA sampler on this list, from KBCO/Denver (sorry KFOG, LFtA 17 didn't make it; try harder & include better tracks next year!) features some from the more alternative side of things (i.e. Broken Bells, Phoenix, Moby) as well as a few stunning combinations (Ben Gibbard/Jay Farrar and John Hiatt/Lyle Lovett)

Don't remember if you were with us when both KINK and KBCO were doing their own versions of 10@10; both were quirky and interesting and we miss them.

[sundaygal]

It seems with each passing year, I listen to new music less and less.  This year, I can't even come up with a year-end Top 10 list, so I'll provide a Top 5:

1. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Girl Group sound with the following subject matter: boys, pot & cats.  'Nuff said!)
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (1/4 Blur mixed with 1/2 Clash & shake well)
3. Vampire Weekend - Contra (Um, Preppy Calypso...?)
4. Beach House - Teen Dream (think Siouxsie meets Cocteau Twins meets Mazzy Star and you'll get the gist)
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (OK, I admit I haven't listened to the whole album, per se - but I had a WTF/this is freakin' amazing! moment when a friend was playing it recently.)

 
1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Groovy electro act that manages to be fun and quirky without having too many pretentious influences or being over-the-top, and plenty of 6+ minute songs well worth the time.  Skip "Drunk Girls" but the rest of the album's a winner.  

 

Haven't heard the whole album yet, but Drunk Girls and I Can Change have a delicious blend of Cars/college rock/80s synth vibe - in a good way!  Love.