January 2012
1 post
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Guided By Voices: Reunions & Returns
Fact: When Guided By Voices, my favorite band of all-time, announced that the classic line-up was gonna release their first new album in 15 or so years, I wasn’t excited. I wasn’t surprised, either, but I also wasn’t jumping up and down. I told friends and such that I didn’t want this to happen, I wanted them to just keep playing all the classics. Bob had my permission...
December 2011
2 posts
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THE 11TH ANNUAL "RUSTY PICKS THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF...
And so here we are, my annual list of what I think are the 50 best albums of the year that is coming to a close, in this case 2011.
For this year’s big reveal, it is all here at once. Rather than draw it on posting and rambling on about one album a day, I’m tipping a nod to my days writing for Stranded In Stereo. I give you the whole list, with some detailed insight on my Top...
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THE 11TH ANNUAL "RUSTY NAMES HIS TOP 30 SONGS OF...
Welcome to the annual edition of the big reveal, my lists of my favorite songs and albums of the year that is about to finish. Here is the schedule of said events:
TODAY: RUSTY NAMES HIS TOP 30 SONGS OF THE YEAR, 2011 EDITION *complete with Spotify playlist* TOMORROW: RUSTY NAMES HIS TOP 50 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, 2011 EDITION
So, without further ado, click away already!
With all this talk of...
October 2011
1 post
3 tags
THREE FALL JAMS.
These are three songs I can’t get enough of right now, from album’s I am pretty fond of at the moment.
1. Atlas Sound - “Modern Aquatic Nightsongs”
2. Future Islands - “Balance”
3. Real Estate - “Green Aisles”
That is all.
September 2011
1 post
1 tag
FALL. 2011.
This mix started right after the last one went up around my birthday. It started as a summer mix, songs slowly creeping together on a playlist to eventually make some sort of order. As the summer went on, songs came, songs went. As of a few weeks ago, i came up with the idea of the mix being more of a transitional thing: the first half being more end of summer songs, leading in to a more...
May 2011
1 post
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BIRTHDAY MIX: A STACHE FOR ALL SEASONS
I’m turning 27 this weekend, and I thought I’d share a mix with you that I have been slaving over for the past few months. Is started out as two separate mixes: the first a collection of poppy catchy tunes, the other being a noisy racket. I started with a handful of songs for each, most of which didn’t even make the final cut after many changes (the final change being...
January 2011
1 post
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SONG DU JOUR: "BULLFIGHT" BY WOMEN
Last Fall, the Canadian group Women (which features no women at all, mind you) got in to a little bit of a fight onstage and apparently broke up. Or went on an indefinite hiatus. Either way, members of the band were pinning back others from socking themselves anymore and I have been sad ever since.
And then today, I heard this new song, “Bullfight”. Assumptions are that it was...
December 2010
28 posts
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ALBUMS 2010: #1/#2
1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Roc-A-Fella
2. Foals - Total Life Forever - Sub Pop
If you know me really well, the first thing you are probably asking yourself is “Really?” And the answer fair friend and reader is yes, I really did pick this as my Album of the Year. Sure, everyone else has picked it, so I can too, right? I agree though, it is this .....
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ALBUMS 2010: #3/#4
3. Menomena - Mines - Barsuk
4. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks - Matador
One of my favorite things any band can do on an album is start things off slow and peaceful. Menomena do that with “Queen Black Acid”, one of my many favorites of theirs that I’ve been living with since Pitchfork posted footage of them performing it a year ago. It’s...
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ALBUMS 2010: #5/#6
5. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest - 4AD
6. Twin Shadow - Forget - Terrible/4AD
Before this year I never really spent much time with Deerhunter. I had listened to Microcastle once or twice and thought it was alright. But there’s something about this new album, something that excites me to no end. “Revival” is the key point of this album; it’s this amazing pop song that...
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ALBUMS 2010: #7/#8
7. Suckers - Wild Smile - Frenchkiss
8. Beach House -Teen Dream - Sub Pop
Wild Smile holds a title that I can’t remember giving to any other record. I had written this thing off entirely back in May; I listened to it once on a drive to Philly and that was it. It bored me; I don’t even remember paying any attention to the last two or three songs. It was on my dead list when I...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #9/#10
9. Here We Go Magic - Pigeons - Secretly Canadian
10. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - Merge
Like the great Grizzly Bear before them, the songs of Here We Go Magic’s sophomore album are songs I lived with for months, a whole year practically, before its release. I was lucky to see Luke Temple’s band four times last year (three opening for the Griz, and the first time opening for Griz...
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ALBUMS 2010: #11/#12
11. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening - DFA/Virgin
12. Rogue Wave - Permalight - Brushfire
Fact: if LCD Soundsystem really is done, and James Murphy meant what he meant, they definitely went out on top. I do find it hard to believe, and he himself said they’d still create and release music just not in album form, but at least they have a legacy. Sure, they only have three albums and...
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ALBUMS 2010: #13/#14
13. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding - Merge
14. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms - Fat Possum/Columbia
With every listen to this new Superchunk album, their first in basically a decade, I always find a new song to obsess over. Right now it’s “Slow Drip”. It’s a big, sunny, fucking jam that is so summery down to it’s summer camp lyrics: ‘Cut my feet on the rope...
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ALBUMS 2010: #15/#16
15. Spoon - Transference - Merge
16. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast - Kanine
Rather than remake another pop opus like Gimme Fiction or Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon kinda pared it down or add another phrase for doing it different with Transference. It sounds rough, rougher than the usual recorded talk backs and on the edge hand claps. I mean the album’s finest moment, “Trouble Comes...
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ALBUMS 2010: #17/#18
17. Wolf Parade - Expo 86 - Sub Pop
18. The National - High Violet - 4AD
I still regret initially looking over Apologies For The Queen Mary in 2005. What was sorely relegated to my honorable mention list instead of probably being in my top 10. At Mt. Zoomer, the second album, was ok, but this is easily their best. With Expo 86 the Canadian men of Wolf Parade pare in down to basics. The...
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ALBUMS 2010: #19/#20
19. The Walkmen - Lisbon - Fat Possum
20. Abe Vigoda - Crush - Post Present Medium
When they started to talk of Lisbon, the Walkmen explained a record that I understood was going to be completely different from before. Multiple sessions around the country with various producers brought various results they said, rockabilly, bizarre punk, and more traditional Walkmen structure. So what was...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #21/#22
21. Hot Chip - One Life Stand - DFA/Astralwerks
22. Broken Bells - Broken Bells - Columbia
If Made In The Dark was an uneven piece of work, One Life Stand makes up for it with rapid cohesion. It’s an album that is a moodier piece, even very calm at times for a band who’s biggest club smash talks about the joys of repetition. Songs like “Alley Cats” and...
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ALBUMS 2010: #23/#24
23. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach - Virgin
24. Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This - Carpark
No musical act is a bigger machine of hype than Gorillaz, and they succeed with that title very well. On the release of its third album, Plastic Beach, we find Damon Albarn fully realizing the sonic palette of this animated band of his. The production aesthetic is near perfect, fully linear, and rich to...
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ALBUMS 2010: #25/#26
25. Interpol - Interpol - Matador
26. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame - Anti-
For awhile I thought Interpol were done. After 2007’s maligned Our Love To Admire and it being awhile since we had heard anything from them, I considered the towel was thrown in. Then “Lights” came around, and the band announced they were returning to their roots, not only musically, but in terms of...
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ALBUMS 2010: #27/#28
27. Small Black - New Chain - Jagjaguwar
28. Yeasayer - Odd Blood - Secretly Canadian
One of the “bigger” bands on the chillwave front of 2010, Small Black had a huge single in “Despicable Dogs” from their self-titled debut EP. When it came time to record a proper full length, they debunked to Delaware setting up in a band member’s parent’s house. Using a...
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ALBUMS 2010: #29/#30
29. The Love Language - Libraries - Merge
30. The Morning Benders - Big Echo - Rough Trade
“Lalita” was easily one of greatest pop songs of 2009, and after lots of exposure and hype the boys and girls of Raleigh’s Love Language got their wish: Merge signed them. Last winter amidst NC blizzards, Stuart McLamb and co. holed up in the studio with quickly becoming local legend...
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ALBUMS 2010: #31/#32
31. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever - Vagrant
32. Jamie Lidell - Compass - Warp
Full disclosure: I spent two weeks on tour with the Hold Steady back in April. What a landmark experience that was. What was even more fun was getting to hear their new album played out live before it was released. I was never a huge fan of the band; sure I had a few choice songs I enjoyed, but I...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #33/#34
33. Gayngs - Relayted - Jagjaguwar
34. Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils - Captured Tracks
When I heard about Gayngs and the super-duper-group line up (Justin Vernon? Ivan Rosebud? The guys from Megafaun!??) I couldn’t wait. And I was on tour when I first heard it. I remember telling Pat about it, how every song was recorded at 69bpm and their main influence was 10cc’s classic...
4 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #35/#36
35. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band - Where The Messengers Meet - Dead Oceans
36. The Drums - The Drums - Downtown
When they debuted in 2009 with their self-titled album, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band brought about this quirky quality missing from music. The band was lead by a married couple, but the quirky part was that his adopted 13 year old brother Marshall played the drums. He is a force, a...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #37/#38
37. Les Savy Fav - Root For Ruin - Frenchkiss
38. Perfume Genius - Learning - Matador
My introduction to this punk/art/indie/whatever genre band was a reissue of their first album in college. I listened to it once, I moved on. Root For Ruin, on the other hand, was in my face for days. Played at work, songs like “Let’s Get Out Of Here” came at me with some force, such...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #39/#40
39. Eels - End Times - Vagrant/Eworks
40. Wild Nothing - Gemini - Captured Tracks
A mere six months after the blues rock of Hombre Lobo, E shocked his fans with a new Eels record that spanned another genre. Tackling a folksy approach, End Times is an album full of despair. From the opening moments of “The Beginning”, where it’s just E and an acoustic guitar, to the many...
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ALBUMS 2010: #41/#42
41. Title Tracks - It Was Easy - Ernest Jennings Record Co.
42. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record - Arts & Crafts
It seemed with every project he was a part of, John Davis got closer to what he really wanted to be doing. He played drums in Q And Not U, the math-y/angular indie band from DC. After they split up, he formed Georgie James with singer/songwriter Laura Burhenn. ...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #43/#44
43. Deftones - Diamond Eyes - Warner Bros.
44. Weezer - Hurley - Epitaph/=W=
Deftones, what solid little album you have here. Most cohesive and abrasive thing you’ve made since White Pony by chance? “Rocket Skates” is so lethal; “Royal” is skull crushing. Love the more melancholic moments like “Beauty School” and “Sextape”. Must say...
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ALBUMS 2010: #45/#46
45. Glasser - Ring - True Panter
46. Sun Airway - Nocturne Of Exploded Crystal Chandelier - Dead Oceans
These two albums represent a few debut albums on the list. Glasser takes that only in thing at the moment (chillwave) and amps it up a bit with trippy dub sounds and beats with Cameron Mesirow’s angelic voice swirling all around. I remember when Ring began streaming online and they...
3 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #47/#48
47. Women - Public Strain - Jagjaguwar
48. Jimmy Eat World - Invented - DGC
Apparently amidst infighting, Women broke up or as the press calls it the dreaded “indefinite hiatus” after a fall tour supporting this sophomore effort. I wonder if the physical altercation that may have happened onstage was anything like the racket of Public Strain. While not immediately as catchy but...
4 tags
ALBUMS 2010: #49/#50
49. Minus The Bear - Omni - Dangerbird
50. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue - Nonesuch
One of these albums features some of the best songs blasted through many a car stereo this summer (or at least one would hope - “Summer Angel” is MTB’s most anthemic song yet and most appropriately titled). The other features our modern day piano man and one of our generations...
6 tags
THE ANNUAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING RUSTY'S PICKS...
This year’s honorable mentions, as voted by myself. The big reveal of the Top 50 begins tomorrow.
Electric Sunset - Electric Sunset - K Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager - Universal Motown
Kings Of Leon - Come Around Sundown - RCA
Of Monteral - False Priest - Polyvinyl
Vampire Weekend - Contra - XL
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THE ANNUAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF RUSTY'S "THE 10TH...
When I sat down with the list of final contenders I noticed a trend: multiple songs by the same artist. Lots of bands put out great songs this year, both on the album format and the single format (digital and non), but I feel that a number of albums were just full of so many great songs that I couldn’t just pick one. Eventually, I did, narrowing down a field of nearly 60 finalists to half...
THE ANNUAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING THE ANNOUNCEMENT...
[this is what 2009 looked like in case you forgot.] Ah, December - here you are again. My beard is back, my nails are longer, my love is lovelier than ever. But what’s the most important thing about December? That it’s time for me to now take on what looks like is become my annual exercise in writing/blogging anymore: The Big Reveal! The End All, Be All List of Albums and Songs that...
September 2010
2 posts
1 tag
THE HAPPIEST FALL EVER.
Work in earnest on the annual Fall mix, one that I think is always my best, started out a month ago. It began with the beginning and the ending: to start and end with the same song, a cover and its original counterpart. I then had a few other songs in mind on the running list to include and thought it was going well. At the same time, I was making a separate mix for a special someone and...
1 tag
A "RUSTY BEATLES MIX"
This all happened because I got my iPod stolen. True story.
With no iPod around, I was left to my iPhone as my source for music while commuting. Not knowing what to load it up with (2010 albums that are favorites/on the fence, personal favorites, or just random things), I turned to Twitter and the best friend proposed a challenge.
He tweeted at me that he was on a Beatles kick and told me to...
May 2010
1 post
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Rustymade Vol. V: May 2010
On this day in 1984, at the exact minute this post went up [6:36am - don’t worry, I’m asleep, too], I was born. Today I turn 26 and with that I offer you the greatest birthday gift I could muster up - a mix of epic proportions.
The actual “Vol. V” is 13 brand new songs, all from the year 2010. Ranging from a song on the newly anointed album of the year (look to...
April 2010
1 post
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Rustymade Vol. IV: Apr. 2010 [epic slow burner]
This month’s mix comes with a title. Epic Slow Burner. It’s been in the works since last July. In my final days of living in Boston, I had started a mix, pairing up the first two tracks: Yo La Tengo’s late night drive “Blue-Green Arrow” and the hazy Sunday afternoon that is Desolation Wilderness’ “Come Over In Your Silver Car”. Quickly, the...
March 2010
2 posts
1 tag
RUSTYMADE VOL. III: MAR. 2010
Long story short: This mix is concise to me. It’s full of new songs and old songs. The original idea for a sequence was to have it go new song/old song the whole way through, but then it didn’t. And then, there was a plan for it to be a chillwave-esque mix, and it’s not entirely but there’s some chillwave jams on here. Either way, it’s done, and now it’s...
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LCD SOUNDSYSTEM: "OH YOU (CHRISTMAS BLUES)"
Now that Shutter Island has come and gone (and for me - I’ve gone and seen it twice - bless you Scorsese y DiCaprio!) the next film on the Most Anticipated of 2010 list would have to be that of Greenberg. Why you ask? For many reasons. One: Ben Stiller taking another dramedy-tastic turn; Two: Noah Baumbach hopefully recovering from the shitfest (or so I heard it’s a shitfest)...
February 2010
4 posts
4 tags
SMALL BLACK: "DESPICABLE DOGS"
Chillwave is a good thing. Fuck it’s a great thing. Kimmypants would disagree with me, calling it a made up word. It is a made up word, but it’s a word that, like I said to her last night, was a term coined by the fine folk who enjoy this visiting to the past. It’s stripping everything down, taking it back in time to a more simplistic, basic time. Back to before even the...
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Rustymade Vol. II: Feb. 2010
Since the inaugural Rustymade monthly mix barely made it in time, I decided to get the February one out to you people right in the middle of the month, or as close to it as possible! March will probably be that way too because I’ve already got songs lined up for it! Hooray!
For Rustymade Vol. II, I’ve started the trend of working in 2010 songs, balanced out with other songs to fit...
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JOHN RODERICK of THE LONG WINTERS: "NOT MOVING TO...
Part of my regular internet routines involve snooping out record label websites to see what my favorite bands are up to, or when they have new albums coming out and what have you. I was just on the Barsuk site hoping they’d finally say “oh, hey, new MENOMENA coming” but instead I did find something else of worth!
I love my some Long Winters, absolutely. John Roderick,...
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THE 10 OF '10 ARE ALIVE!
So, for 2010, I’m going to try something different. On the first day of every month for the rest of the year (save for December, which is reserved for the daily reveal of the Top 30), I’ll post what I believe are the Top 10 albums of 2010. I’ll post cute little jpgs over on the left there, and will update it every month. Get it? Gota(it)? Good!
January 2010
9 posts
2 tags
VENTING FROM THE PAST: THE 2009 GRAMMYS
With this year’s Grammys but a few hours away, I thought I’d recycle my thoughts on last year’s shitshow of an awards program. The great thing about this year is that no old man and woman are nominated to take the Album of the Year. I’m thinking the academy will be taking the tragedy route and giving in to the Dave Matthews Band. That, or Taylor Swift.
Until then,...
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SKIPPED A BEAT: DESOLATION WILDERNESS
Skipped A Beat = Looking back at records that missed out on getting the annual recognition treatment.
DESOLATION WILDERNESS - NEW UNIVERSE - K
I feel like a damn idiot for this record not being in my Top 30 from last year. This album sat on my desk, literally for months, before it’s release even, before I played it. I was cleaning and packing things up in Boston and decided to put this...
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Rustymade Vol. I: Jan. 2010
With the month of January just days away from being a thing of the past, I thought now would be the best time to start making good on my promise, that I’d post a mix for every month of the year. Better late than never, I say!
For Rustymade Vol. I, there is no theme. Or is there? It starts out with a few jams from the 80s, before flashing forward to present day and there’s some...
THE GRIZ COVER THE CHIP! YES!!
We all know I love me some Grizzly Bear. We should also all know that I love me some Hot Chip. So what happens when The Griz covers The Chip? Amazingness! Here’s the Album of the Year winner’s chilling rendition of “And I Was A Boy From School” that you must hear. Droste sings the lead, Rossen sings back up, and the Bear comes in and does his best Joe Goddard at the end...
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LATE LAST NIGHT: SPOON
As Conan winds down his final nights sending us off to sleep on The Tonight Show, the musical guests sure keep me tuned in. Last night, Spoon stopped by to perform new single “Written In Reverse.” Watch for my favorite part around, 3:50, when the crowd starts to applaud because they mistake the false ending for the real one. Looks like Conan’s audience isn’t as...