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 WheneverNo attempts to be abstract or pretentious here; just straight up rock.
9. Jack Johnson - To the SeaJack 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 SuburbsConcept 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 CrossesPart expectedly childish punk, part amazingly mature life retrospective, all catchy and worth a listen.
6. Linkin Park - A Thousand SunsAnother 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 13Live 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 ModernDon'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 VioletI'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. 22Second 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 HappeningGroovy 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
