Top 10's

Seeing as it's the end of 2010, I thought I'd do lists of all sorts of Top 10s. And without further adieu, let's begin with the Top 10 Albums of 2010 (In my humble opinion).

Top 10 Albums of 2010

1. Sleigh Bells - Treats

This album changed what live music meant to me. Their concert was mind blowing, a moment I don't think I can soon forget. They are one of the few bands that 'own' a particular sound. No one I've ever heard sounds like this, and anyone in the future who does will certainly have been influenced by this album. Give it a listen

Highlights - Everything except Rachel and Run the Heart is jaw dropping-ly great.

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The album that I keep on coming back to the most. Whenever people say that music nowadays is shit, I tell them that only the music they hear on the radio is shit, and I tell them to listen to this album. If it doesn't win album of the year (it's up against Eminem's Recovery and Katie Perry's album [who cares what its called]), than the Grammy's will have completed its final transformation into becoming the MTV Music Awards.

Highlights - The Suburbs, Modern Man, Empty Room, Wasted Hours, Deep Blue, Sprawl II, We Used To Wait, City With No Children

3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

This album might have the two best songs of the year (Dance Yrself Clean and Home). If you haven't listened to LCD Soundsystem, than you haven't listened to one of the best bands of our generation. Too bad this is their last album. Thank God I got to see them live before they disband. For some reason James Murphy, the frontman and brains behind LCD, reminds me of David Byrne. LCD is the perfect mix between real band and electronic. I dare you to listen to Dance Yrself Clean and not like it.

Highlights - Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want, I Can Change, Pow Pow, Home

4. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

This band is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and the front man for the Shins, (Brian Burton and James Mercer respectively). I saw them at the 9 30 club earlier this year and it was an insane show. Danger Mouse would wander from instrument to instrument, playing the drums, piano, and guitar during different songs and jam out.

Highlights - The High Road, Vaporize, Citizen, Ocober, The Mall & Misery

5. J. Period & K'Naan - The Messengers

Earlier this year, J. Period and K'Naan released a mixtape dubbed "The Messengers". It features two discs, One a set of covers/remixes of Bob Marley songs, the other of Bob Dylan songs. When I first heard of the album, I thought that it couldn't possibly live up to the greatness of the songs they were copying, but I was blown away by how the material is dealt with. You can get this album for free at http://www.jperiod.com/knaan/, I'd get it now if I were you. The Dylan side is also stronger than the Marley side. Listen to that one first and DONT skip the intro's to songs, theyre great.

Highlights - My Country/Small Axe, Fatima/Stir It Up, Don't Think Twice, Relationships Lay, Hard Rain, It's Alright, Ma

6. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Highlights - White Sky, Giving Up The Gun, Diplomat's Son (one of the best songs of the year)

7. Beach House - Teen Dream

Highlights - Zebra, Norway, Walk In The Park, 10 Mile Stereo

8. The National - High Violet

Highlights - Terrible Love, Afraid of Everyone, Bloodbuzz Ohio, England, Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

9. Das Racist - Sit Down, Man

Highlights - All Tan Everything, Commercial, Luv It Mayne, Rapping 2 U, Return to Innocence

10. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Highlights - Wide Eyes, Airplanes, Sun Hands, World News, Cards and Quarters

Honorable Mentions

Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon pt 2

Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz

The Third Twin - Homemade

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

Delorean - Subiza

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

MGMT - Congratulations

What would your top 10 be?

Colorado On My Mind

Tonight marks the beginning of the end of the semester. This bi-annual occurrence comes to let us 'people of leisure' know there 'ain't no such thing as a free lunch'. (Especially for us English majors who don't do any work other than papers that seem to pile up like a cars in a Blues Brothers chase scene). But I knew this would happen. Trust me, I am well aware of what a week in hell feels like. It's 12:30AM, I've got an 8-10 page paper due tomorrow that I haven't started, and I'm actually doing this post as a way to procrastinate the paper (two birds with one stone if you ask me). Hopefully that doesn't reflect poorly on me. But anyways, back to the matter at hand. So I've got this damn paper due and a whole slew of papers and exams and presentations and all nighters and all day-ers and chewed pencaps and pages and pages of boringness that I have to somehow find meaning in to conquer over the next two weeks and the only reason I can think of to go through with it all is to get to Colorado. That's actually kind of a lie, Christmas is pretty awesome. But that's expected. So I'm thinking of Colorado. And Snow. And a wooden lodge in a tiny town on the side of a mountain.

And since I'm not writing my paper right now, I'm putting together a playlist for Eff-POP (and for myself) of songs that I will be pumping through my IPOD as I hike/ski/atv through the Colorado wilderness.

Bruce Springsteen

The release of the Promise is the closest I will ever come to time traveling. Other than of course 'actually' time traveling which I plan on doing when I'm older. Bruce fan's were able to hear some new 'old' Bruce songs, not that I don't like his new music (I even love Devils and Dust). But it's certainly better than Outlaw Pete. I still have no idea why Bruce chose that as one of his staple tour songs. These songs though, make you feel like you're hearing something trapped since the mid 70s. The type of songwriting that can only happen during Bruce's early career, when life was as abtruse as it was poignant. Some of the songs us hardcore fans have most assuredly already heard (Racing In the Street, Rendezvous, Because the Night), but there are a few that I can't believe I ever lived without. I should probably start off by saying that I am a die hard Bruce fan. From my senior year of high school to my junior year of college I saw him eight times in five different states, one which included a 10 minute guitar battle with Tre Anasatasio to Wilson Pickett's cover of Mustang Sally and an amazing rendition of Bobby Jean with all of Phish. I could write a 50 page paper about how the Boss's music is important, but seeing as how I have to write a 8 page paper on Asians in American Film I'm just gonna list my two favorite songs from the Promise.

Ain't Good Enough For You

(Jimmy Iovine, the person he pokes fun of, was Bruce's producer. Fun fact, he was credited with giving Dr. Dre Eminem's rap mixtape. No Bruce, No Iovine. No Iovine, No Eminem. Just wanna make that clear.)

City At Night

Taxi Cab, Taxi Cab, at the light

Won’t you take me on a ride through this city of night
I got some money and I’m feeling fine
I ain’t in no hurry so just take your time
Some people wanna die young and gloriously
But Taxi Cab driver, well that ain’t me
I got a cute little baby down at 12th and Vine
And she opens for business just about closing time

It don't get no better than that.

Das Racist

I got to meet these three ridiculous rappers (actually just two of them) at SXSW for a short minute after they played a set in some Billiards bar. My friend Mike went to Wesleyan with them and has been pushin for me to listen to them for a while. After he sent me their 'Sit Down Man' Mix tape, I've been playin them almost constantly. This is a new song I just found today, it's great. I love when they just ramble with pointless noises, who cares what they're saying, it sounds great. Oh and if you do care what they're saying, it's still great music. It's like stupid smart people music. That's the best way I can put it.

You Oughta Know

Mr. Little Jeans

I don't know much about Mr. Little Jeans, but this song is as hot as Dylon from Chappelle show and this girl spits hot fire. That might throw you off a bit with how the song really is, but who cares. You should probably just listen to it.

Rescue Song (RAC Remix)

Bloodhound Gang

You can 'do it like they do' in a whole new way with this song. Super legit dubstep remix, for all those nice winter parties.

The Bad Touch

Broken Social Scene

I don't know much about this band, the only thing I really know about them is a guy I know hooked up with the girl in it (there might be a bunch, theres like 20 people in the band), but I always hear people talking about them. I guess our paths never crossed, until this song. It's pretty legit, and it's already gotten me to start listening to BSS.

Art House Director

Alexander

Alexander is the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's, or really Alex Ebert's side project (the Jesus lookin lead singer). I don't know much about Alexander, but they've released a few singles that I've heard. This song is amazing. It's one of my brother's picks for song of the year, and though I'm not sure yet if I'd put it up there I will say that it's great and only getting better with each listen.

Truth

White Lies

In the summer of 2009, I somehow, despite the rigorous London School of Economics academic schedule, was fortunate enough to hang out with a great group of Londoners at the Secret Garden Party in Huntington. One of them ended up coming to DC to intern for the North Dakota Senator and a few crazy stories happened throughout that season. While we were talking about music, I asked if they had heard of White Lies because I knew they were British. It was kind of a rhetorical question, because their debut album had taken the #1 spot from U2's newest one. But I found out that two of the members went to school with most of the kids and that they were all friends. There were some dreams of being able to go to a concert and party like a rockstar, but those were for the birds. (They ended up touring throughout Asia while we were there). I was amazed cause they have the sound of a band that's been jamming for at least 10 years. The lead singer sounds much older than 23. Anyways, this is one of their new songs and it's a mother effin jam. This type of rock is really dead in America. It died sometime in the late 90s. Great mother effin decade.

Bigger Than Us

(Yay! Real Music Video!)