Music: Best songs of 2010 downloadable playlist

(right click any track to download, left click any song to stream entire playlist)
1. Deerhunter "Helicopter"
2. Kanye West "Power"
3. Titus Andronicus "A More Perfect Union"
4. Surfer Blood "Floating Vibes"
5. Pomegranates "Skull Cakin'"
6. Cults "Go Outside"
7. Arcade Fire "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"
8. Black Keys "Everlasting Light"
9. Beach House "Silver Soul"
10. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Round and Round"
11. Sleigh Bells "Rill Rill"
12. Spoon "Written in Reverse"
13. Broken Social Scene "Water in Hell"
14. Jenny & Johnny "Scissor Runner"
15. The Morning Benders "Excuses"
16. LCD Soundsystem "Dance Yrself Clean"
17. The National "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
18. Yeasayer "Ambling Alp"
19. Girls "Carolina"
20. Avi Buffalo "Remember Last Time"
21. Teenage Fanclub "Baby Lee" 
22. The Hold Steady "The Weekenders" 
23. Harlem "Tila and I"
24. Dr. Dog "Jackie Wants a Black Eye"
25. Deerhunter "Coronado"

Music: Best of 2010

Best Albums 
(included streams/downloads aren't necessarily my favorite tracks from the records, just the ones I could find hosted online)

1. Titus Andronicus "The Monitor" A
Titus Andronicus "Four Score and Seven (Part 2)"
2. Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest" A-

Deerhunter "Revival"

3. Surfer Blood "Astro Coast" A-

Surfer Blood "Swim (To Reach the End)"

4. Beach House "Teen Dream" A-

Beach House "Norway"

5. Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" A-

6. Black Keys "Brothers" B+
7. The Walkmen "Lisbon" B+

8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Before Today" B+

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Round and Round"

9. Sleigh Bells "Treats" B+

Sleigh Bells "Crown on the Ground"

10. Tame Impala "Innerspeaker" B

11. Avi Buffalo "Avi Buffalo" B 
Avi Buffalo "What's in it for?"
12. LCD Soundsystem "This is Happening" B

13. Spoon "Transference" B

14. Arcade Fire "The Suburbs" B
Win is still riding on the coattails of "Funeral." Honestly, if this was anyone else do you think this record would make the top of any best-of lists?15. Teenage Fanclub "Shadows" B

Good
Warpaint "The Fool" B

Male Bonding "Nothing Hurts" B
Male Bonding "Year's Not Long"
Jaill "That's How We Burn" B
Jaill "Everyone's Hip"
The Hold Steady "Heaven is Whenever" B
The National "High Violet" B
The National "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
Dr. Dog "Shame Shame" B-

Yeasayer "Odd Blood" (the first half, at least) B-

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "I Learned the Hard Way" B-

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "I Learned the Hard Way"
Harlem "Hippies" B-

Wavves "King of the Beach" B-
No Age "Everything in Between" B-

No Age "Fever Dreaming"
The Vaselines "Sex with an X" B-
The Vaselines "Sex with an X"

Meh

The Morning Benders "Big Echo" B-
The Brooklyn via San Fran group led off its second album with perhaps the song of the year, "Excuses," a glorious amalgamation of glee-club harmonies, bluesy strings and soaring melodies, but then let Chris Taylor's (Grizzly Bear) production drag the following nine tracks through the tasteful, reverbed sludge that makes Taylor's outfit so damn boring. Only the occasionally fuzzed-out guitar struts through the languid, hung-over drapery, heard on the second track on the top-loaded record.
Listen (at least to "Excuses,") here:
http://www.themorningbenders.com/

She & Him "Vol. 2" C-
Everything M. Ward does deserves a listen. At a certain point, though, even if I recognize something as quality work (mostly the production and instrumentation) doesn't mean I have to like it, or force myself to listen to it on the reg. I just don't see the point of She & Him. Zooey doesn't write quite good enough songs, they are pleasant enough, but I'd rather just go dig up some old records.

Foals - Total Life Forever C

Overrated

Robyn "Body Talk Pt. 1"

Robyn is terrible and I'm tired of all these hipsters saying otherwise.
AV Club and Pitchfork readers who like Robyn, for the most part, talk shit about American pop music, meaning either A.) they would also like American pop music if it wasn't popular, or B.) force themselves to like Robyn instead because she is not a house hold name here (and therefor "cool"), and that's pathetic.
For those who like Robyn and also like American pop music, that's fine, you're honest with your tastes and I don't dislike you, I just dislike your music. 

Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"
I don't like modern RnB, even modern RnB with touchstones in classic soul, and thematic inspiration in Fritz Lang's dystopian masterpiece Metropolis. Janelle's got style, enthusiasm and a fantastic stage presence, but I find her voice thin, her melodies less-than-memorable and the production sterile. I'll pass. Give me Sharon Jones any day.

Best Coast "Crazy for You"
At first I thought, 'maybe there is more to this if I keep listening.' After several spins, the melodies were finally in my head and I liked her voice, so I posted a stream of the album on this site, and kept listening, hoping I would form some sort of summer bond with the record. Shortly after that near honeymoon, it hit me that, nope, there is nothing more and my first instinct was absolutely correct. She sings about her cat, getting high, and boys. There's nothing here to warrant multiple listens, praise or scorn. It's jangly pop, and it's borrrrrrring as fuck.

Disappointments

Vampire Weekend "Contra" C
I think yr a contra. NO! yr a contra ... this album stinks.

Wolf Parade "Expo 86" C
Broken Bells "Broken Bells" C-
M.I.A. "Maya"
The Thermals "Personal Life" C-

Like, but haven't listened to enough of yet

Gorillaz "Plastic Beach"
Pomegrantes "One of Us"
Dum Dum Girls "I Will Be"
Broken Social Scene "Forgiveness Rock Record"
The Tallest Man on Earth "The Wild Hunt"

Did not hear

New Pornographers "Together"
Band of Horses "Infinite Arms"
MGMT "Congratulations"
Joanna Newsom "Have One on Me"
... and thousands more

Shitlist:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/ref=pd_ts_nav

You lazy, cheap, good for nothin' trixters

Hear the new Deerhunter in its entirety, streaming thanks to those do-gooders and passive whisperers at NPR:

Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest"
Out Sept. 28 on 4AD


http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129866612&m=129870848

September: the best month in music since May

I've yet to settle my party line on music 2010: is it a year of mediocre workmanlike releases by older, established indie acts? Is it the year when millennials (ugh) finally gave up on the future and turned towards a half-remembered past via navel-gazing, stomach-turning nostalgia, manifested as self-indulgent bedroom-brat pop? Whatever it is, it surely can't be summarized in either of those sentences, or anything else that reductive. Hopefully several upcoming releases help fill in my Swiss-cheese best of list for 2010.

The Walkmen "Lisbon"
Sept. 14 (Fat Possum)
The classiest gents in the early 2000s NY rock revival, The Walkmen were largely an afterthought to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes, but Hamilton Leithauser and crew steadily refined their waltzing post-punk-meets-Dylan sound until releasing career defining effort "You & Me" 2008.
"Lisbon," due Sept. 14, promises to continue that hot streak with more sad trombones, warbly organs, dusty heartbreak and reverb-drenched guitars. I got his pre-ordered a vinyl, I urge everyone else to do the same.

Hear "Stranded" here.

Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest"
Sept. 28 (4AD)
Bradford Cox' first band has a restless ambition. Each album digs into more accessible regions of the record crate than the last for inspiration, meaning that Deerhunter's noisy, dissonant shoe-gaze of yore is slowly sounding more like his solo project's (Atlas Sound) sampled psychedelia. If "Revival," the first single from "Halcyon Days," is any indication of the record as a whole, Deerhunter's gone into full-blown '60s pop mode (with some subversive fuzz under the surface, natch). If the rest is anywhere near as strong, it could be an album of the year contender.

Deerhunter "Revival"

The Thermals "Personal Life"
Sept. 7 (Kill Rock Stars)
They wont ever make another album as incendiary as 2006's punk masterpiece "The Body, the Blood, the Machine," but not many others will either. That record still kicks my ass. Hutch has said in interviews that Cathy wrote songs for this record, a first for the Thermals, so we'll see where that takes them.

The Thermals "I Don't Believe You"


Other notable September releases:
Sept. 7
The Clientele "Minotaur"
Interpol "Interpol"

Sept. 14
Superchunk "Majesty Shredding"
Black Mountain "Wilderness Heart"
The Black Angles "Phosphene Dream"
Bear in Heaven "Beast Rest Forth Mouth"
Fucked Up "Year of the Ox" (single)
The Vaselines "Sex With an X"
Justin Townes Earle "Harlem River Blues"

Sept. 28
No Age "Everything in Between"
http://soundcloud.com/subpop/no-age-glitter 

New Deerhunter song: Free Mp3 download

Deerhunter created a game: if you go here http://halcyondigest.com/revival/ and enter a password, you get to download the new single "Revival" (and the B-side!) from their upcoming "Halcyon Digest." I did some googling and found the password, it's "tapereel." Enjoy. Once the page loads, click on the tape recorder.

 "Revival" has a fairly clean (outside of the shoegaze-y vocals and a fuzz guitar lurking in the background) and poppy '60s vibe, not unlike Atlas Sound's standout 2009 track "Walkabout."

End of Summer/Fall music preview (updated)

2008 might not be such a boring year for music after all. Notable self-titled debuts by Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend got the ball rolling and the momentum continued with good releases by the Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket. Even with that, the year hasn't been as strong as 2007. Maybe a few of this fall's new discs can change that.

August 19
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
I haven't made my mind up about this group yet. They have been getting some buzz from the blogs and music magazines. It sounds a little generic, but they do incorporate a smorgasbord of noises - violins, synth sirens and acoustic guitars. "A Manner to Act RAC mix" is catchy, sounds a lot like Vampire Weekend, but not all the songs do.

You can listen to tracks on their myspace page here:

http://www.myspace.com/rarariot

September 9
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Okkervil River isn't just another one of the innumerable indie rock bands littering the Austin, Texas landscape. Released last year, "The Stage Names" introduced me to the band and their sneaky-clever lyrics, gloomy lead singer and surprising guitar. They are a happy middle ground between the Arcade Fire's all-of-the-universe-in-a-pop-song-sound and Spoon's economic perfection.

Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
Ray's sandpaper voice goes great with the conventional acoustic guitar and soul-flavored folk he's been peddling for a while now. I only have one of his discs, "Trouble," but I think I will get this new one, if not just for the strength of that album's title track.

September 23
Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
In 2007 the brothers Followill continued to smooth out their raunchy southern rock on "Because of the Times" with (gasp!) 7 minute songs and bass lines reminiscent of U2.
The band is starting to write songs about things other than fucking groupies, not fucking groupies or thinking about fucking groupies.
You can hear two tracks off the new disc here:

http://www.kingsofleon.com/

The sound is becoming a little more conventional with each release. Caleb Followill's previously inaudible squawk/scream sing might actually be based on the English language after all.

Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
Critics love to comment how the Cold War Kids have some blues in their sound, likely because so much indie rock is so fucking white. But, there's probably more blues in concept than in execution. You can tell these guys like the blues, but this is not a White Stripes or Black Keys garage-blooze band. Honestly, they sound like another bunch of guys who likes Spoon as much as the rest of us, and that's ok. "Loyalty to Loyalty" is the follow up to the debut that featured "Hang Me Out to Dry," one of the better songs of '06.

You can hear "Something is Not Right With Me," the first single off the new album at the band's myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/coldwarkids

or download the mp3 here: http://coldwarkids.com/

Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
Another release by the buckets-of-gloom/fun blue-grass outfit.

October 6
Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
The seventh album from the Brit-pop group.

October 14
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Former Tribe Called Quest emcee's latest release.

October 28
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Deerhunter is wild. Fans of Animal Collective and Panda Bear need only apply. Cole Alexander of the Black Lips has a guest turn on a track named "Saved by Old Times."
Many of the new tracks are available here:

http://www.myspace.com/deerhunter

The songs feel less ambient, more straightforward than 2007's "Cryptograms."

Other fall releases:
Mogwai, Metallica, Gym Class Heroes, Of Montreal, Keane, AC/DC, Ben Folds, Travis, Rise Against, TI, Nelly, T-Pain, The Game, Missy Elliot, Sixpence None the Richer (haha), The Verve, Young Jeezy, Calexico, The Cure, Blessid Union of Souls (haha), Pink, Plain White Ts