2010 is over, and now... WE LIST!
First off, here is an hour of my favorite songs in 2010. Thank you, 8tracks!
And before we get to the present, let's have a look back at the future?
The future, Michael?
That's right, Kelsey Grammer! All the way to the year 2000!
Best of 2000
When I was 17, there still were no torrents. It was only Napster, and the few people who understood how to use Napster, and the even fewer people who were cool eneough to put cool stuff on Napster. So my exposure to music was still limited to who I saw at shows of my favorite punk and ska bands. 80% of this list I had not heard when I was 17, but the remaining 20% were a pretty big deal.
NUMBER TEN
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Casanova Snake
TMGE never disappoints.
Enjoy: Revolver Junkies (Live)
NUMBER NINE
The (International) Noise Conspiracy
Survival Sickness
Excellent mix of raw lo-fi punk and old school R&B rock and roll.
Enjoy: Smash it Up
NUMBER EIGHT
Boredoms
Vision Creation Newsun
A lot of people have Kid A by Radiohead as their weird artsy pick of 2000. I have Vision Creation Newsun.
Enjoy: ○
Hot Snakes
Automatic Midnight
Hot Snakes were pretty much my favorite punk band ever. Here is why.
Enjoy: Salton City
NUMBER SIX
Grandaddy
The Sophware Slump
This was the best release from a very unique band from Modesto, CA.
NUMBER FIVE
Deftones
White Pony
This was Deftones' best effort to break away from the nu-metal curse. This album was a real eye opener for the 17 year old version of me.
Enjoy: Digital Bath
NUMBER FOUR
Deltron 3030
My favorite hip-hop album. It's like Futurama - The Rap.
Enjoy: Positive Contact
NUMBER THREE
Number Girl
Sappukei
Yet another massive step up from their last release. I've never seen a band evolve on a record to record basis like Number Girl. Sappukei is practically like a genre of its own.
Enjoy: Tattooあり (Live)
NUMBER TWO
At The Drive-in
Relationship of Command
This was the only other album in this list I heard when it released. I had never heard music this wild and energetic in my entire life. It very much opened up my mind to more types of music.
Enjoy: One Armed Scissor
NUMBER ONE
Polysics
Neu
This is my favorite album of all time. It's a brain-melting audio alien death ray of new wave punk rock.
Enjoy: XCT
Getting closer: What I missed in 2009
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Why There Are Mountains
Every song on this album has a little surprise. They never seem to be the band you expect them to be. Pretty cool stuff.
Enjoy: And The Lazy Sea
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Didn't notice these indie poster children until this year. They're like if No Age was good!
Enjoy: Young Adult Friction
Memory Tapes
Seek Magic
Freaking groovy as hell computers + guitar jams. I actually like this more than Ratatat.
Enjoy: Stop Talking
Screaming Females
Power Move
First saw this band in March. Blew me away. As much as this album rocks, its only a fraction of what you get live.
The best game I own on PS3, and it's mostly due to this incredible electropop soundtrack.
Enjoy: Kinetic Harvest
Now that we're caught up, here is The 2010 Disappointment Bin
Gorillaz
Plastic Beach
Ok, at least a half hour of this album is good. So when you chip away the crap, there is still enough there. But even the good stuff seems to be a very one-dimensional take on a once versatile Gorillaz sound.
Dan Sartain Lives
It's been four years since the last Sartain release, but this sounds like it was written in a afternoon. Very little of this album is interesting, and all of it is repetitive.
Buffalo Daughter
The Weapons of Math Destruction
Another release long in the making. The production is good, but this is not representative of their evolution over the past decade. A lot of tricks on this album are old hat.
Foals
Total Life Forever
2008's Antidotes was a post-punk masterpiece. For their sophomore jinx, Foals decides to go mature mumbo-jumbo, with a lot of boring build ups that hardly pay off and a bland vocal approach.
Britta Persson
Current Affair Medium Rare
Persson isn't the only Swedish pop songwriter to plummet in quality me over the past two years, but is the worst offender. Not a single interesting moment on this whole album and lyrics that range from pointless to eye-rolling.
Welcome to the present! 2010's best music videos
Zach Hill - The Sacto Smile
Liars - Scissor
LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
The Birthday - Digzero
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bottled in Cork
Almost there.... Best cover art of 2010
TOP TEN OF 2010
NUMBER TEN
Asian Kung-Fu Generation
Magic Disk
Nothing eye opening about this record, but one of the most solid start-to-finish releases of the year. They know how to write a song that sticks in your head all day.
Enjoy: Magic Disk
NUMBER NINE
LCD Soundsystem
This is Happening
Going out on a high note. Murphy seems to never run out of ideas to put into his songs. I hope he continuities solo, or as part of another act.
Enjoy: Pow Pow
NUMBER EIGHT
Club 8
The People's Record
2010's most improved band. Nothing this year sounds like the calypso dance party Club 8 cooked up. Wonderful summer pop.
Enjoy: Western Hospitality
NUMBER SEVEN
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Brutalist Bricks
Ted's best since Hearts of Oak (2003), and the best use his harder sound. "Gimme The Wire" is my favorite song of 2010.
Enjoy: The Mighty Sparrow
NUMBER SIX
The Bithday
STAR BLOWS
This would have been my number one if the year was only 6 months long. Since better stuff has come out, and I've realized the Engrish lyrics are quite distracting, this album has dropped; but it's still some of the best classic rock jams I've heard.
Enjoy: 愛でぬりつぶせ (Live)
NUMBER FIVE
Screaming Females
Castle Talk
They've mellowed out, but it seems to be for the better. There are songs on this album that are timeless. Wonderful bass and guitar work, as per usual for this band.
Enjoy: I Don't Mind it
NUMBER FOUR
Zach Hill
Face Tat
This is my new favorite noise rock album ever. I love it more than anything by Hella. Zach is continuing to cement himself as the coolest motherfucker on the planet.
Enjoy: Green Bricks
NUMBER THREE
Hot Hot Heat
Future Breeds
Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated. The Canadian new wavers return with a noisy vengeance to be the band I always wanted them to be.
Enjoy: YVR
NUMBER TWO
The Radio Dept.
Clinging To A Scheme
Worth the wait. The Radio Dept. has achieved an immersive collection of songs with enough versatility to make you want to get lost in it over and over again. You can't turn away after only one song.
Enjoy: Memory Loss
NUMBER ONE
GO!GO!7188
Go!!GO!GO!Go!!
It was tough to choose between the more scholarly option (The Radio Dept.) and this surf-punk extravaganza of an album. GO!GO! edged this one out. It just digs right into the pleasure center of my brain and rests there.
Enjoy: ええじゃないか (Live)
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