The best albums of 2010

Here it is, finally, my list of the best discs of the year…

15. Teenage Fanclub, Shadows

14.The Delta Mirror, Machines That Listen

The Delta Mirror, Going to Town

13. The Radio Dept, Clinging to a Scheme

12. Sleigh Bells, Treats

11. Chemical Brothers, Further

10. M.I.A., ///Y/

9. Belle and Sebastian, Write About Love

8. Shout Out Louds, Work

7. Underworld, Barking

6. Vampire Weekend, Contra

5. Goldfrapp, Head First
Solid pop tunes with an 80’s sensibility.

4. Scissor Sisters, Night Work
Never sexier and just what the disco doctor recommends.

3. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Listening to this the other day, it truly does make sense from end to end. A little heavy towards the late half of the disc, but very good over all.

Arcade Fire, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

2. Beach House, Teen Dream
Dreamy, beautiful, haunting.

1. LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening
Hands down, from start to finish, the best disc of the year. It’s smart, catchy, infectious.

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And now, the Why? Awards…

Most boring disc, or Haven’t we heard this before? award:
Interpol, S/T
Bad production and mediocre song writing. And we wonder why Carlos D. left the group.

It’s so bad that it’s funny award:
Liz Phair, Funstyle
She raps on it, and I think that should say it all.

Great song but worst title award:
Kele, Tenderoni
Just bad. So bad, that Kele doesn’t even say it in the song. He has to spell it.

Overrated and full of shit award:
Kanye West
Just because. It’s funny ’cause it’s true.
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and finally…

Best reissue of the year- TIE:
The Cure, Disintegration
Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine

A great trip back to 1989

The best in music 2010 part 2

Here we are again, this time bringing you my top 10 songs of 2010. They are all awesome tracks. My top 5 was the toughest to make finite, simply because I’m so torn between the tracks depending on my mood. So sit back and listen, and enjoy!

and just a remind, Jon’s blog is a Beiber-free zone…

10. Shout Out Louds, Walls

…feel so much better now, getting rid of my rage…

9.Kylie Minogue, All The Lovers

… dance, it’s all I want to do, so dance…

8. M.I.A., Born Free
(Warning, video content is explicit and disturbing, NSFW)

…I throw this shit in your face when I see ya, cause I got something to say…

7.Goldfrapp, Head First

…my whole world in light, head first in love…

6. Underworld, Diamond Jigsaw

…premium tequila, diamond jigsaw makes me feel fine…

5. Robyn, Dancing On My Own

…yeah I know it’s stupid, I just gotta see it for myself…

4. Beach House, 10 Mile Stereo

…they say we can throw far but we don’t know how far we throw…

3. Scissor Sisters, Invisible Light

…painted whores, sexual gladiators, fizz filled party children…

2. Arcade Fire, We Used To Wait

… but stranger still, is how something so small can keep you alive…

1. LCD Soundsystem, Home

…Forget your past, this is your last chance now/And we can break the rules, like nothing will last…

THIS is why M.I.A. rocks

I have to admit, to the untrained eye this would appear to be a train wreck. I myself was pumping along to it. It’s brave, it’s a big f.u. to the traditional Late Show music fare, and it was trippy with all of the dancing clones. It’s M.I.A. live on Letterman performing Born Free. Love it.

Brent DiCrescenzo strikes again

I’m seriously considering canceling my subscription to Time Out Chicago. I don’t think they realize that one of their editors are single handedly destroying their circulation.
If you recall a few weeks back, Brent DiCrescenzo, the music editor (*cough*) of Time out Chicago and the arch nemesis of good taste in music, ripped to shreds my beloved LCD Soundsystem album, This is Happening. As the situation went, I raged and wrote a letter to the editors of Time Out, calling Brent out for his lack of actual music reviewing and more on his blatant attack on the character of the artist. If a music editor is supposed to review the qualities of a albums’ musical merits, why then was so little time spent on that and so much spent on belittling the talent for theft and cribbing other artists, which may or may not be the case but is beside the point. Brent’s emailed response to me was to call my attack on his review petulant. I guess blatant character assassination is a job only he can do and get away with, while the rest of us who complain are relegated as a group of cry babies.
Well he’s at it again. In the recent July 8-14 issue of Time Out, on the front of the music section, is an article consisting of Brent and Joshua Ferguson, another Time Out hack, in conversation over with the artist M.I.A. is a big phony.
M.I.A. (born Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam)- is from Sri Lanka by way of the UK, and is know to many for her huge single ‘Paper Planes’. It’s well documented that M.I.A.’s father was a dissident in Sri Lanka working for the Tamil Military, and she spent her first several years hiding from the Sri Lanka Army. She moved to London, where she was educated and began a career in graphic design, fashion and eventually music. Her first disc, Arular, was named for her father’s adopted name during his time with the Tamil. Kala was her second disc (named for her mother), and one of my favorites from 2007, a brilliant fusion of hip hop, rap and dance hall with electro thrown in. Her new album, // / Y / , a typographic creation of her name that was designed as a diss against Google, is scheduled for release this week.
To give you an idea, this is her video for Born Free. Warning, NFSW as it shows some disturbing imagery.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Which brings me to my question. Why wasn’t the album reviewed, and instead we get this dissection on how M.I.A. is a hypocrite and a non-artist? Brent and Joshua go down this path of calling her “and idiot”, comparing M.I.A.’s history in Sri Lanka to Sarah Palin’s ‘I can see Russia from my backyard!’, and overall calling her a media whore for over exaggerating her father’s anti-government history. The purpose for all of this? According to Brent and Josh, it makes her music less attractive:
BD: With M.I.A., it goes beyond personality. She’s a hypocrite. Her entire stage act is this guerilla, radical figure. Now she’s revealed to be completely unknowledgeable about politics.
JPF: Taking her authenticity to task does make me less interested to hear what the album is about.
Read more: http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/music/87044/the-mia-debate#ixzz0tNpnxTNZ

Well bully for you two, but guess what? I don’t give a fuck what you two think of M.I.A. personally. I did not subscribe for a bunch of pretentious dissing of artist, or even to read that you are ‘reluctant to call her an artist.’ Sorry Brent, but when I last looked, M.I.A. has a record label, designs her own album cover art, and performs music. She kind of falls into the artist category. But to counter your reluctance, if it makes you feel better, I’m reluctant to call you a music critic.
I’m also surprised you can get anyone to interview with you, since you’re more likely to skewer them than not. And when did you two turn into Bill O’Reilly and become the expert du jour on foreign politics? Do I see your commentaries on CNN? No. Then I don’t need your half-assed political hack analysis here.
Furthermore, why does everything need to be so fucking deep and meaningful to matter? M.I.A. herself is quoted as saying “Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs. Every bit of music out there that’s making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. And it kind of worked.”
Finally, to answer your burning question on how much of her album is her or her producer, Diplo? Diplo produces two tracks on the new disc. Maya produces nine of them. She also handles creative direction, art direction, photography, A & R, executive producer and mixing on the album. I’d say she’s all over the place. Hope that clears that up for you.
So in effect, Brent and his minions over in the ‘music department’ of Time Out have proven how ignorant they actually are. I think the icing for me was a few pages after this article where Brent reviewed, surprisingly favorable, a new track by Of Montreal. The final line discounted the entire review for me: “Duh. Bowie never worked in his garage.” It seems our boy Brent can’t find a modern day artist that lives up to the glory that is David Bowie (of whom he defended so vigorously against those thieves LCD Soundsystem). In fact, since Kevin Barnes did record in a studio this time, why isn’t he accused of aping Bowie like James Murphy was? The Bowie worship and comparisons are just a tad tired, and really show what a shallow basis for his music expertise Brent actually has. I just hope TimeOut Chicago
realizes this sooner rather than later before their readership migrates for greener pastures.

A Decade in Music: The best of 2000-2009

On the final day of the year and of the decade, I finally get around to sharing with you all what I consider the stand outs, the dare I say classics to be, of the decade that is about to be.
The albums speak for themselves. Each one, I can go back to again and again. Every one has a moment or moments that I associate it to, and whether the moment was great or not, they are locked to my memories. Each one is artistically impeccable.
The singles are those that get stuck in your head and are still rattling around years later. They are tracks that when I hear them when I’m at a party or at a bar, I’m giddy. They are the most played in my collection, some I will just listen to on repeat depending on the mood.
Ok, enough preamble. Here they are:

The Best Albums of the Decade
1. Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)

2. Doves, The Last Broadcast (2002)

3. Radiohead, In Rainbows (2007)

4. Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (2005)

5. Interpol, Turn On The Bright Lights (2004)

6. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours (2008)

7. M.I.A., Kala (2007)

8. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?(2007)

9. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (2007)

10a. The Killers, Hot Fuss (2004)

10b. Scissor Sister, Scissor Sisters (2004)

Singles of The Decade
(other than my top three, not necessarily in order. Maybe. Not exactly)
1.Daft Punk, One More Time (2000)- Everytime I hear this I just want to dance. Sheer joy.

2.Arcade Fire, Neighborhood #1 (2004)

3. Bloc Party, This Modern Love (2005) – reminds me of the summer Alan and I trained for the North Shore Century, riding our bikes through the forest preserve.

M.I.A., Paper Planes (2007)

Doves, There Goes The Fear (2002) – January ’02 after the Super Bowl, sitting in Alan and Erin’s kitchen above the funeral home;Alan introduced me to this for the first time. Still amazing.

Interpol, NYC (2002)- The guitars get me everytime, just the ache of the song. Brilliant.

Ladytron, Destroy Everything You Touch (2005)- Venomous and electric. Janada and I bonded over this at Big Chicks one nights.

James, Hey Ma (2008)- I think this video that a YouTuber made completely embodies the meaning of the song.

Kelly Clarkson, Since U Been Gone (2004)- bubblegum and still delicious.

Fischerspooner, The 15th (2003)

Silversun Pickups, Lazy Eye (2006)- Billy Corgan wishes he was as good as this song…Thanks Frank for the intro.

MGMT, Kids (2008)

Ting Tings, Great DJ (2008)- Another Big Chicks Wednesday night memory.

Saint Etienne, Stars Above Us (2005)

Avalanches, Since I Left You (2000)

Lady Gaga, Bad Romance (2009)-No apologies about this. She is spectacle, she is artistic, and damn is this song the catchiest thing ever (even more than Poker Face)

The Killers, All These Things That I Have Done (2004)

Madonna, Hung Up (2005)- The best thing she has done in years.

Chemical Brothers, Star Guitar (2002)

Coldplay, Lovers In Japan (2008)- The original video is terrible, but someone made one using Lost In Translation, check it at You Tube…

Jurgen Paape, So Weit Wie Noch Nie (2004)

Missy Elliot, Work It and Gossip Folks (2002)- couldn’t make up my mind on these two, they are both genius. Wednesday nights before euchre, Chris C and I loved these two tracks. Good times. Love Ludacris’ rhyme!

Modest Mouse, Float On (2004)

Basement Jaxx, Romeo (2001)

The Rapture, Out Of The Races And Onto The Track (2001)

Mew, Comforting Sounds (2003)- Epic. To hear this track live literally brought me to tears.

Nine Inch Nails, Beside You in Time (2005)

Pink, So What (2008)

Underworld, Two Months Off (2002)- Euphoric.

Phoenix, 1901 (2009)- My favorite of ’09 deserves a spot in the best of the decade too…

And with that we say goodnight to a decade gone by. Here’s to the next one…

A Decade In Music, part 6: 2007

We’re in the final stretch of my trip down melody and noise lane as I share and expound some of my favorite music bits from the past decade, year by year.

It’s was only 2 short years ago that I wrote the following list and shared it with my friends. It was a pretty spectacular year in music: Radiohead did the unthinkable, said fuck you to the labels and released ‘In Rainbows’ all on their own. MIA’s Kala was named Rolling Stone’s Album of the Year, and this was still months before ‘Paper Planes’ REALLY took off and the whole Slumdog Millionaire phenom. The Fiest/ iPod commercials were everytime you turned on the TV, while Peter, Bjorn and John got a big push when ‘Young Folks’ popped up on Grey’s Anatomy. And then there was the freak show that was Of Montreal, that released a brilliant and mindblowing concept album about love and depression. Pretty damn good year, definitely one of the best of the decade.

So once again, with only one more year left before we hit this year’s list, I bring you Flashback: 2007.

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jon’s best of 2007

Discs:
1. Radiohead, In Rainbows
2. Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer?
3. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
4. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
5. MIA, Kala
6. Interpol, Our Love to Admire
7. Feist, The Reminder
8. Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero
9. Stars, In Our Bedroom After the War
10. The Sea & Cake, Everybody
11. Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City
12. Lily Allen, Alright Still
13. !!!, Myth Takes

Singles:
We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling, Of Montreal
All My Friends, LCD Soundsystem
All I Need, Radiohead
Object of My Affections, Peter Bjorn and John
Songs for Clay (Disappear Here), Bloc Party
Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
1234, Feist
Love Today, Mika
Umbrella, Rihanna
The Beat Goes On, Madonna
Black Mirror, Arcade Fire
God Given, Nine Inch Nails
Knock Em Out, Lily Allen
Do It Right, the Go! Team
Atlas, Battles
Paper Planes, MIA
Australia, the Shins
The Weight of The World, the Editors
The Night Starts Here, Stars
No I in Threesome, Interpol
Is There a Ghost, Band of Horses
Pictures Of You, The Last Goodnight
Fucked Up Kid, Kevin Drew
Someone Great, LCD Sounsystem
She’s A Rejecter, Of Montreal
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Radiohead
I Feel It All, Feist
Young Folks, Peter Bjorn and John

Best Track Not from this Year:
Ceremony (Joy Division cover from Webcast), Radiohead

The WHY, or WTF Award:
Smashing Pumpkins, Zeitgiest

When bad discs happen to good Artist:
Tie: Underworld, Oblivion with Bells/ The Chemical Brothers, We Are The Night

Overrated, or Sick of it by February Award:
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

Next time… we’ll step back just a year ago and remember what made 2008 so great.

Kanye West is the Anti-Christ

I am way past being over hearing about the ego himself, Kanye West. I cannot, I mean, CAN NOT stand this asshole.

And yes, ranting about him just adds to the publicity, but he’s long overdue to be called out by me.

Who else honestly says in public that he is the greatest thing since sliced bread? Then acts like a two year old who didn’t get his way when Grammys go to… someone else more talented. On the same token, is so lazy that when he types HE ONLY TYPES IN CAPITAL LETTERS BUT NOT BECAUSE HES ANGRY IT BECAUSE HE… well is a moron with no skills.

This all comes on the heels of the fact that his new cd debuted at #1 on Billboard, which of course days a great deal for the discerning musical taste of the American CD buying public. Meanwhile, three other artist who are actually more talented (arguably, yes, but as opposed to Kanye, by miles), Ludacris, the Killers and even the long awaited Guns and Roses discs, didn’t fare as well.

It also reminds me of an article in the Red Eye (Chicago’s free daily from the Tribune) just two days ago, when Steven Colbert was also calling out Kanye’s ‘voice of a generation’ boast, dissing him about not really singing and using a vocoder all of the time. Ouch. love it!

On the flip side of music, it a pleasant surprise to see that the Grammy contigents saw fit to recognize Radiohead with their nomination for Album of the Year for ‘In Rainbows’, and M.I.A. for ‘Paper Planes’ as Song of the Year. Although it’s unfortunate that the Grammys stopped being relevant when they awarded Milli Vanillian award, Nicely done with recognizing some real talent! And no Kanye noms!! I’m sure he’s bitter.

Too bad we still have Coldplay in contention as well. I mean, really? Do people still find them interesting still? That disc was beyond terrible.