December 2010
28 posts
3 tags
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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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. ...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...