Best Of 2010: Honorable Mentions - Part 1

As is customary with the end of the year, bloggers get to wind down and phone it in by making lists entitled something like "Top ** of ****" or "Best Songs/Albums/Videos/etc. Of The Year". I am, of course, no different. Of course, we obsess and shift the positions of our list like it means something more to anyone else besides the list maker. However, we do not write about music for the money (if you make any) or the posterity (although getting compliments is always sweet), but for the undying gratitude we have for these artists who slog away at their craft for the same, intrinsically motivated reasons. You know that old saying/slap in the face that goes: "Those who can't do, teach"? It is always been my opinion that the real version of that saying should be "Those who can't do, critique" without being nearly as dismissive. Maybe a lot of critics tried to become musicians/filmmakers/chefs but couldn't make it happen in the end, so this is the best way to keep connected to their former labors of love. As for me, I am not blessed with the ability to play an instrument and could not carry a tune if I tried. Yet I have been a fan of music since I was a kid and, finally, I feel like I can give back to the artists and share with the world my...err..."well-aged" opinions.

Since this is my first year blogging, this is my first year end of the year list. Honestly, I liked a lot of stuff for different reasons. These are a grouping of my honorable mentions for the best of 2010 that I felt deserved some sort of a tip of the hat. The honorable mentions will be given in alphabetical order. My Top 25 of 2010 will be out next week. Enjoy!

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Part 2 :: Part 3 :: Part 4 :: Top 25

The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Purchase The Suburbs here.

A lot of people will have this album in their Top 10, but not me. This love/hate ode to a simpler life feels forced and heavy handed and many of the tracks make the album bloated and even more self-conscious than the band's other efforts. However, there are a few great tracks on The Suburbs and their earnest nature always gets me in the end. Also, this is Example 1 of "Artists in 2010 Who Will Never Match Their Best Effort, Despite Trying". Sadly, there are a lot of these.



The Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait

Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea

Purchase Small Craft on a Milk Sea here.

A truly surprising return to form from this Godfather of Electronica, Chillwave, Indie, Glam and whatever else you got. Although coming off as theme music for muscle relaxers at times, this has enough variations on a theme to keep you listening and intrigued. The best moments are the breaks from the atmospheric expressions where Eno puts a left turn in to keep you on your toes. As all good albums, Small Craft is meant to be listened to front to back.


Brian Eno - 2 Forms Of Anger

Caribou - Swim

Purchase Swim here.


This album was in the early running for being in my Top 25, but just didn't make the cut. Dan Snaith's dark little trip is much different than his earlier efforts and that is why it is probably my favorite Caribou/Manitoba album. You can almost dance to a couple of these tracks. However, this album is best listened to on headphones while traversing the city making your way to the next late night adventure.




Caribou - Jamelia

Delorean - Subiza

Purchase Subiza here.

This Spanish group's first album is a perfect reminder of the summertime and it's carefree nature. As I am listening now, I am remembering their standout performance at this year's Pitchfork festival. Definitely under the influence of the joyful beats of Madchester and house genres, Subiza never tries to do too much or stretch to far from it's good time aesthetic. That is definitely a good thing.



Delorean - Grow

Three Crazy Videos From The Arcade Fire, Klaxons and Egyptrixx

A bit of a diversion for me. Three really strange videos (in contrasting ways) were just released. I am putting them together because of there stark differences and, well,  because I can. The first two are NSFW, so watch with discretion please.

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The Arcade Fire track "The Suburbs" kickoffs the album with a loving yet fearful ode to trying to find a safe haven for your children, but never quite escaping the fear. This Spike Jonze directed video accurately represents the sentiment of this song (and the album).

Klaxons are a strange band in their own way. Using a mixture of rock and electro with off key vocals, they concoct abrasive, yet at times successful, dance music. The video for "Twin Flames" is an orgy of people with no end or beginning making for a creepy vision for all of us to witness. Not for the sensitive viewer.

Seeing as the link below has been inconsistent, please click here to check it out. 




Finally, this video from minimalist recording artists Egyptrixx is described as such: "The video examines the relationship between the simulated image and its physical manifestation." Sounds good to me. Try blowing this one up to full screen and turn up your volume so you feel the subwoofer in your belly. Thanks for the link on this one, Meandre!

Album Review: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

When a band's first release is considered to be a pinnacle of music for the times, where does the band go from there? It has happened before to indie rock with outfits such as Pavement and The Strokes, but their anti-success temperament has given them the freedom to shrug it off without giving in to obsessing over topping their brilliant first effort. The Arcade Fire on the other hand is the antithesis of the slacker ideal; they are earnest to the point of being self-justified in their grandiosity and make no apologies for getting weepy about their music. They are the type of musicians that relish the nature of achieving their goal of success, then surpassing their greatness. That emotional attachment makes sense for an album that accurately and effectively addressed the pain of loss and the subsequent fear of living life like their debut album Funeral. But we are talking about The Suburbs now and the obsession over this theme seems heavy handed.

The self-titled kickoff to The Suburbs begins appropriately accessible, like a calm weekend drive with no real direction. The duality of singer Win Butler's feelings on his reoccurring theme pops up right away. Desiring a better life for his family yet questioning his choices is a feeling that is easily understood. He immediately regrets his decisions in the next overlapping tracks "Ready To Start" and "Modern Man".  Butler doesn't strive for poetry exclaiming that businessmen drink his blood in the second track, then settling for a life endlessly waiting as one of the masses in the third. These work as praise to a father who sacrificed dreams for comfort and are handled with a compassionate voice. It is with the next tracks that set forth a string of songs that become too bloated to keep the theme afloat. The best of the middle half such as "City With No Children" and "Half Light II (No Celebration)" have enough of a singular sound that makes the weighty middle listenable. On the other side is "Rococo" that pokes a hypocritical stick at the arty elite using aggressively ineffective strings and drums. "Month Of May" is The Arcade Fire's interpretation of punk rock, a song going on two minutes too long that would have been better placed as a b-side. After that, The Suburbs comes together again with its best stretch of music. "Wasted Hours" keeps it simple with a country/western chord over plaintive lyrics for a hopeful future. A catchy "Deep Blue" opens "We Used To Wait", the album's representative that would have fit best on Funeral.  The slow burn of insistent piano, the swirl of strings and the lyrical ode to patience and enjoying life's winding path make this the album's appropriate crescendo. However, the album's finale tracks "Sprawl" are exactly that, a preamble of desolation introducing a remodeled 80's anthem that would not seem so awkward for a band that didn't take their art so seriously.

The topic of a mundane suburban life has been utilized in pop music since the Talking Heads mused on letting their days go by. However, this subject of comfortable living is often one that is discounted or even vilified by the discerning open-minded artist. The Suburbs however seems conflicted about it's perspective on simpler times, choosing to be forlorn in one song then disdainful in the next. The missing element on The Suburbs isn't the lack the narrator of choosing a side. The album shares the same problem as the suburbs itself; the 16 tracks intentionally run on like tract housing in a 60's era subdivision with the only difference in the buildings being the shade of beige. The best songs on The Suburbs are the ones that got past the front door to best represent the album's theme with grace and simplicity. Harsh, yes. Yet The Suburbs was made in a post-Funeral world with no sophomore slump to use as an excuse. There is flashes of the lightning that was caught in 2004. In 2010 The Arcade Fire are being held to the highest standard and my guess is that they would have it no other way.

Purchase The Arcade Fire -The Suburbs here.

New Arcade Fire Song Makes Everyone Lose Their Minds, Websites

It has been a long time coming, but notice what a little well-placed hype can do? Their has been a lot of chatter regarding the new album from The Arcade Fire and when the public would hear something resembling a full song. The band's website has only featured an odd little widget playing a snippet of music.Well, a couple of songs finally got played today on Radio BBC1. As fast as you can say "radio rip", both the a-side "The Suburbs" and its flip "Month Of May" hit the internet via blog Rock It Out. Indie powerhouse promoters Pitchfork posted the link, thus crashing the site of the originator. Then, another blogger tried to lend a hand using Soundcloud, but that file is not working so well. Finally, on-air radio station 107.7 in Seattle stepped in and posted both songs on their website. Obviously, their servers had a little more behind them, because I finally was able to stream them with little consequence. The songs are very raw, underproduced and of negligible quality, so it is hard to make an assessment. Judge for yourself below.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs


Arcade Fire - Month of May

My favorite albums of the decade.

The “00’s” and the advent of the computer and Internet as our primary source for information made music easier to hear about, make, produce, sell, share and remix. It is more than downloading a song or torrent; this new era has been a cultural and artistic revolution. The albums listed below, and many others, are so good that it reaffirms my belief that the best music will still never be on traditional radio (another dying institution), so why bother with the expectation. Be happy you were here for it.

1. Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People (2003)

Broken Social Scene is a collective of musicians who each bring something special to You Forgot It In People. Instead of getting a structured rock album, we are given a statement of each musician’s expression like a declaration of love of his or her music and, in fact, life itself. What comes from this community is raw rock music that is emotional and passionate. It feels grandiose and orchestral like an opera, even when it is just a meager handful of voices and instruments. The whole album (as many of these albums do) play out best beginning to end, like a movie or a great TV series where you can’t start watching in the middle of second season. No surprise that many of these songs were used in one of the best movies of the decade, Half Nelson. The songs hit a wide range of emotions. Sometimes the songs are sweet and tender like a kiss on your neck and a whisper in your ear. Other moments they are breaking bottles and tear soaked cuss words after a passion-fueled fight. This album has half dozen virtual instrumentals as well that say more with the distant hums and wails, percussive piano and insistent drums than most lyrics can. It moves me every time I listen.

Standouts: Stars and Sons, Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl, Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)

Purchase the album here.


2. LCD Soundsystem – Sounds of Silver (2007)

I am reminded of that classic Dave Chappelle (please come back!) skit where he tackles why white people can’t dance. It isn’t that we can’t dance; we just need the right kind of music. Of course, he ventures of into silly rock stereotypes, but the sentiment rings true. White people can dance and here is Exhibit A. Sometimes disco, sometimes techno, sometimes dub, sometimes punk, James Murphy brings it all together in a package of flashing lights and cowbell. All of the songs are great, but the standouts are epic lengths of 6 to 8 minutes, which is how long you wish all of your favorites songs were. The topics of the songs, however, are often far from dance anthem material. Getting older, being proudly ashamed to be American or aching to be with another (ok, that is pretty common) is where he takes us, but quickly puts us right back on the dance floor where we belong. I can’t even remember why I ever stopped dancing, but looking at 40 coming like a freight train, I want to make sure I can dance as long as I am able. Children of all nations, please join me there.

Standouts: All My Friends, Get Innocuous, Us Vs. Them

Purchase the album here.


3. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)

Blah, blah. Joy Division was better. The truth is that they came along suddenly and ended too soon, so why not try and pick up where they left off? There has been a wave of Joy Division inspired music recently and not unlike the grunge explosion of the 90’s, not a lot of it is worthy of comparison. Interpol’s first full length takes that obvious influence and dresses it up in a $1000 suit. The post-punk jabs and stabs are undeniable, the bass and drums relent for our attention, the vocals are deep, brooding and abstract and the keyboard washes over it all like midnight surf and smoke. Turn on the Bright Lights is dim, hazy and steely cool yet comfortable like your empty bed after a late night. This album proves that imitation and influence, when done right, makes greatness.

Standouts: Untitled, Obstacle 1, The New

Purchase the album and preview a song here.


4. The Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)

I am going to say it; this is the album U2 wishes they could still make. Ever since Bono got people to sing along about “a mole digging in a hole”, I could see the bottoming out of popular radio rock rapidly approach. Thus we are given The Arcade Fire’s Funeral, an album that is passionate and earnest without a moment of embarrassment for doing so. They have gotten a lot of backlash and bad press recently, but if I stopped listening to a band because they were found to be pretentious, my life would be a quiet one. This band loves their music and wears it on its rolled up, sweaty collective sleeve. You can almost picture them crying as they play and sing their hearts out. Man, if I could do what they do, I would weep as well from the sheer joy. You all can shell out the $100+ for the light and stage show covering up the aging rock star; I will be at the Arcade Fire concert saving my money and time for something better.

Standouts: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies)

Purchase the album and preview a song here.


5. The National – Alligator (2005)

A fine example of how Pitchfork can often be dead wrong. Luckily they admitted it in their later posts that they missed the mark by calling this a “grower”. To me, that description still discounts the watershed moment for a truly great band. This is the most tuneful and musically straightforward album in my Top 10 and could easily play next to anything in someone’s classic rock catalog. However, there is a lot going on here beyond the traditional. These songs are aching, upset love songs soaked in booze and turmoil. The music is uncomfortable and tense and sweeps you away from your comfortable home to the nearest forlorn bar. However, the true gem is the vocals: deep, masculine with the confidence of a man who has been hurt many times. If you like your lyrics poetic and picturesque, strap on your headphones and shut your eyes.

Standouts: Secret Meeting, Karen, All The Wine

Purchase the album here.


6. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)

If everyone says it is great, then it must be great. I try not fall into the trappings of rock critics and taste-making bloggers who have already listed their faves and sung the praises time and time again of Radiohead. Here is my take. Radiohead is quite simply the best band over the past 15 years with no one else coming close. Most groups ebb and flow between solid and suspect or have one remarkable album to then succumb to the expectation. Yet Radiohead rolls out a new album every few years while never failing to reach that level of greatness. And Kid A is their best album. Some will argue for the prog-rock, standard setting OK Computer, some even speak of The Bends or In Rainbows are their crowning achievement. But where OK Computer reinvented the rock concept album, Radiohead went ahead and reinvented it again. That is the stuff of the Beatles. If they manage to not get too serious or pressured by this whole greatness thing (and there is no sign of that), they might just do this for a long, long time.

Standouts: Everything In It’s Right Place, Optimistic, Morning Bell

Purchase the album here.


7. Girl Talk – Night Ripper (2006)

A lot of people hate Andy Warhol. His exploitation and blatant stealing of mundane items and events for his own personal statements on culture makes many question whether it is viable art. I argue that the purpose of art is to invoke those polarizing discussions and that in itself makes it the most important kind of art. Enter Greg Gillis, a guy who loves all music; rock, hip hop, new, old, beautiful, profane; so much that he wants it all together in one song and, damnit, he wants everyone who feels the same way right next to him. Like many great artists, he takes a pseudonym, in this case the disarming title of Girl Talk. He then takes pieces of his favorite songs and lays them over a drum machine beat and makes a joyfully blurred barrage of music without the borders of culture or genre. It is equal parts social commentary, methodical trashing of fair use laws and boundless dance party. Sure, there are arguments and lawsuits over Girl Talk, but that is just one more instance on the growing list of how the dinosaurs of music distribution and ownership will never get it, even as they are sinking in the tar pits of their own making. When the big record companies eventually crumble, we can play Girl Talk at the funeral so it won’t be so sad.

Standouts: Smash Your Head, Bounce That, Overtime

Purchase the album here.


8. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004)

Have you ever watched a sci-fi movie or a film takes place in the future and they try to define the ultramodern setting with REALLY BAD INDUSTRIAL/HARD ROCK MUSIC? Think of the final Matrix film or Strange Days. I know, ugh. Your heart need not yearn any longer, for TV on the Radio is that futuristic music and it is happening right now. They have been picking up fans and critical accolades over the more recent albums, but this is the one that has captured the most spirit, energy and intensity. Their sound is the bastard mix of space age trance and doo-wop harmonies that causes each new listener to sit back upon first listen. They are taken aback when they hear shards of each song’s surrounding ambience: bleating horns, machinery hums, bass and guitars interweaving like car crashes. Just when it is almost too intense, those reassuring, soulful vocals rise above the thump and grind. And it is beautiful.

Standouts: The Wrong Way, Dreams, Ambulance

Purchase the album here.


9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell (2003)

Sometimes music just has to be nasty. It could be John Lee Hooker growling “boomboomboomboom” or John Lydon spitting on you with utter disdain. Whether the crotch grabbing, bedroom groaning vocalist is Peaches or David Lee Roth, you sometimes need a little raunch in your rock. That is what this album is, strutting, seedy and sexy music to sink your teeth into. The songs are short and straight ahead, a stripped down drum and guitar combo fronted by Karen O, exotic and glamorous as she coos and howls like an overheated sports car. There is no time wasted as the lyrics and music dually plunge into each track to bring up taboo topics such as rough sex, incest and ambiguous gender roles sung about without a hint of shame over a pummeling beat. Even the calm tracks still glisten with the sweat of long, hot evening that went so right, even when it went a little wrong.

Standouts: Black Tongue, Maps, Y Control

Purchase the album here.


10. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods (2005)

The final choice on a list is always the most difficult. All considered albums have such strong qualities, but none had the sledgehammer of emotions of this swan song from the best all female rock band ever. By the time The Woods came out, Sleater-Kinney was well respected and had grimy handfuls of indie cred. Like all great bands they wanted to push their boundaries to play and sing in a whole new way. With the help from some seriously overdriven production, they bore this album of edgy stress and dark fury. The best example is on the first track, where the lyrics are as simple as a child’s nursery rhyme but are delivered with an overt display of unrestrained anger as the instruments pummel in their best attempt to cause you pain. There is such blatant anger here that I am literally scared to consider what personal demons were summoned for this album. Maybe they were close to breaking up when they recorded this album or maybe this album literally drove them apart, but I am hard pressed to find a better way for a seminal band such as Sleater-Kinney to leave the stage.

Standouts: The Fox, Rollercoaster, Steep Air

Purchase the album here.