Top 10 Albums of 2010

Hello everybody! It's my favorite time of the year again... Time for things to end, beginnings to come, and more importantly - time for Cameron to put ten of this year's albums into a list! So, without further adieu...

10.) Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova - One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels

Originally released in 2004 on Crank! Records, 2010 saw the revival of this wonderful collaboration EP in CD/LP/Digital format through my second favorite label, Saddle Creek. It features 4 new tracks from Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova, which is what puts it in the running for a "new" album of this year - such great tracks, new and old!

9.) Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away

The latest album from Josh Ritter feels more like an emotional viewing of the music South Pacific than a typical Josh Ritter album(ironically, there's a son

g titled South Pacific). So Runs the World Away is Ritter's orchestral folk masterpiece - judging on his comments of this album marking a "new point" in his musical career, I'm more than interested in seeing where he takes this full-music mentality in the next few albums.

8.) Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - Buzzard

2008 - 2010 has brought Margot & the Nuclear So and So's plenty of attention from hipsters and music afficianados alike(heck, we're all hipsters here). Sure, Buzzard isn't the Margot we know and love from The Dust of Retreat anymore, but taken from a separate mindset this album is surprisingly simple and enjoyable. Sometimes befriending distortion isn't all too bad.

7.) Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

I'm an "electronic musician," so naturally I'm interested in the new movements of electronic sound creation and the like. This year, Gold Panda's Lucky Shiner struck me as the most intuitive and sincere electronic albums I've heard in a long time(possibly ever). This glitch DJ has a way of mashing sounds in a way that can completely surprise the senses. It's a wonderful thing.

6.) letlive. - Fake History

It's not often that I actually enjoy and am

able to sit through an entire hardcore record, but letlive. has definitely pulled it off. Such raw sound, comparable to a faster Glassjaw.

5.) Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Broken Social Scene has always had a way of making music sou

nd much fuller than need be. Their album You Forgot It In People will forever be marked in my mind as the first album I deemed worthy of converting to .flac, and this album follows front. Although it gets a bit slow at times, there's always a sense of weight in each song. Great stereo music.

4.) Tim Kasher - The Game of Monogamy

A change from his usual routine in Cursive and The Good Life(I'm wearing a Good Life t-shirt as I write this), Tim Kasher's reflections on modern commitment is written in an almost satirical format. Tending towards a more orchestral(and sometimes ska-ish!) sound, this release is both beautiful, hilarious, and heartwarming.

3.) Jaguar Love - Hologram Jams

I'm a huge fan of anything Johnny Whitney related, so as soon as I heard of Jaguar Love I knew I'd be in love. Cleaning up my tears from Blood Brother's ashes, Hologram Jams was the perfect electro-pop pick-me-up. Whitney's shrill vocals layered into hip-hop beats and electro synth is just plain perfect.

2.) Drivan - Disko

Maybe it's because I'm learning the Swedish, or maybe it's because Drivan isn't really a band; either way, there's something I really love about this album. Filled with lo-fi riffs and glitch-pop beats, this is the perfect sleep album even if you don't understand what they're singing.

1.) Steel Train - Steel Train

After plenty of problems with major labels and Jack Antonoff having some fun.(oh gosh Cameron you're so hilarious), Steel Train decided to take their hand at a self-release for a change. What a difference it made! Taking influence from 90's pop and denim jackets, this is exactly the album that I imagine pop rock to be. So much energy, so much emotion.

Honorable Mentions:

Jenny and Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Land of Talk - Cloak and Cipher

Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Soundtrack

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Tron: Legacy OST

Warpaint - The Fool

FlubCast 12/09 Tracklisting / Mentioned Links

Listen to the podcast here if you missed it live!

"Jaglin' (RAC Mix)" - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

"Sparrow" - Young Professionals

"There Must Be Something I've Lost" - Tim Kasher

"Psalms 40:2" - The Mountain Goats

"Coin-Operated Boy" - The Dresden Dolls

"Sun Down" - Nik Freitas

"Will" - Maps & Atlases

"You Are What You Love" - Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins

"Hand of God" - Jason Boesel

"Det gor ingenting" - Drivan

"Calm" - C418

"Cats" - Kupek

Operation BSU - SquidLord's podcast, back from the dead!

Team Love Library - free albums galore, including some played tonight

Also, search "FlubCast" on iTunes and download any episode for free!

FlubCast Playlist / Mentioned Links

HERE'S A LINK TO THE EPISODE IF YOU MISSED IT LIVE

"Cherry Soda" - Jaguar Love

"Don't You Evah" - Spoon
"Golden Shackles" - Flowers Flowers

"Heart Sweats" - Japandroids

"Love Song" - Andrew Jackson Jihad

"Starring" - Freelance Whales

"Manana" - Desaparecidos

"Cartoons and Forever Plans" - Maria Taylor

"Touch Me Bad" - Steel Train

"Does You Cat Have a Moustache?" - The Format

Mentioned links:

http://elyagurlukovich.tumblr.com (guest host Elya Gurlukovich's new blog)

FlubCast - Return of the Flub

HERE'S A LINK TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE IF YOU MISSED IT

The Good Life - "Lovers Need Lawyers"

La Dispute - "The Castle Builders"

Josh Ritter - "Orbital"

Sex Bob-Omb - "Threshold"

Hunting Hat - "Seventeen Years (As A Rocket)"

MC Lars - "21 Concepts"

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Man O' War"

Hellogoodbye - "I Never Can Relax"

Kupek - "It's All In Your Head (C'mon C'mon)"

Simon Joyner -

letlive. - "Homeless Jazz"

Broken Social Scene - "Art House Director"

Anamanaguchi - "Power Supply"

Bright Eyes - "I Woke Up With This Song in My Head This Morning"

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - "Paper Kitten Nightmare"

Mentioned links:

http://www.radiomaru.com/kupek/ (For free Kupek music)

http://www.2prestart.com (dest747's webcomic, the guy who made our beautiful new logo)

http://newguysreviews.blogspot.com/ (Braden and a few members of the chat's review website, worth checking out)

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/11/anamanguchi_hel.html (NSFW GAIZ)

A Live Set by Downstate

I just came across this through someone's signature on the 8bit Collective forums that said "New album of dusty lo-fi songs out now," and of course if something is "dusty lo-fi" I'm probably going to want to check it out(mostly for the ironic value, but oftentimes I do run into some good self-proclaimed "lo-fi" albums). I'm always into live electronics so when I saw the live set album, it was a match made in heaven. This is really well done, I would have killed to have been at this show.

Best explained by the artist himself on the bandcamp page:

A forty minute live set, recorded digitally from mixer to computer on the 18th of september 2010, Shanghai.

Running Reaktor 5, Ableton, Controlled via midi.

All the beat mashing, mixing of the tracks,sample triggering was done live. Most of the synths were also played live, any pulse wave, sine, piano, you hear is probably being played live (slightly messily i'll admit in places).

The set is almost entirely one hundred bpm head nod speed.

This was during a night of live electronics from many other great artists. A wicked crowd, heavy on music nerds made it a really nice one.

We had the artists performing on glitchy tv's and a VJ doing some head-phucking live visuals and databending.

I hope you enjoy this live set, please feel free to spread the word like a nasty little STD.

Good things to you all.

Downstate

Click here to download "a live set by downstate"

Capgun Coup - Brought To You By Nebraskafish

I apologize for kind of giving up on reviews for a while, come December I'll probably have a bunch more up. BUT in the nature of uploading albums I love, here's one of my favorites from the band that turned me on to the world of Team Love and the newer Omaha-New York sister scene that is oh so wonderful. It also houses the song I stole the title for this blog from. Be sure to check this album out if you're into alternative yelling schizophrenic genre-shifting noise jam surf bands.

Click here to download Brought To You By Nebraskafish

Counter-Protest Counter-Playlist

(Do I win an award for lamest playlist title ever?)

Today, in Spokane, the infamous Westboro Baptist Church paid us a visit; queers and fans of queers alike, in the name of tolerance, are putting on quite the counter-protest. In that vain, I made this playlist full of songs I've been listening to all day to "set the mood." So, without further adieu...

Click here to download the Counter-Protest Counter-Playlist

1.) "For Fish" - Capgun Coup

2.) "Favorite Cities" - Azure Ray

3.) "Love" - Air

4.) "Wish I Was a Fag" - Capgun Coup

5.) "Wet Diamonds" - Flowers Forever

6.) "The Hate I Won't Commit" - Land of Talk

7.) "Someday" - Tegan & Sara

8.) "Dakota" - Steel Train

9.) "The Prodigal Husband" - Tim Kasher

Hunting Hat - Vampire Xmas

I apologize for the lack of updates(and the lack of Tim Kasher reviews, I promise I'll finish writing it some time soon), community college IS SO DIFFICULT OH MY GOD I'M DYIN'. not really. I've just been busy with schoolwork and trying to catch up with Jadusable which has resulted in me not paying much attention to the blogosphere. So sorry.

Here's a free download of Hunting Hat's new EP "Vampire Xmas" - the best mellodramatic basement noisepop around, straight from Bellingham, WA.

Click here to download Vampire Xmas

Cursive - What Have I Done?

I've got an advance copy of Tim Kasher's new album "The Game Of Monogamy," but unfortunately I'm running a little behind with school so I'll put the review up tomorrow afternoon. To hold you until then, watch this video of the greatest Cursive song ever written...

Here's to hoping The Game of Monogamy is just as wonderful!

Free Music is Good, Good Music is Free

SO HERE'S WHAT'S GOIN DOWN GAIZ

This blog is going to be updated on a (pretty much) weekly basis, alternating weekly with recently-released album reviews and not-recently-released free downloads of albums that are well worth hearing. Since a new album was reviewed last week, here's your fix for this week: Philip Schaffart's Jesus and Einstein. See for yourself, but this record changed the way I view acoustic music. Perfect Indian summer pick-me-up.

Click here to download Jesus and Einstein

Azure Ray - Drawing Down the Moon

It's been seven years since Azure Ray's released an album. Seven years ago, I listened to Eiffel 65.

Drawing Down the Moon starts just like every other Azure Ray record - lo-fi, groggy, ready for bed. "Wake Up, Sleepyhead," with its minor harp and vinyl scratching, feels just like something out of an early 50's teenage dream. As the record progresses, the mood hardly changes. Songs like the lonely girl anthem "Larraine"(which is suspiciously similar to Bat For Lashes' "Sarah"), the head-bobbing saw solo of "Love and Permanence," and the country drum beats of "Shouldn't Have Loved" provide some mixing up of sound, but as a whole this album works as a single entity.

The major difference between now and then for Azure Ray is the split musical personalities between Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink. While Maria Taylor's songs are prominently acoustic and full of ghost-like harmonies, Orenda Fink's tunes are mostly electric, simple drum machine beats and square waves taking most of the focus. Although Orenda's songs are the most diverse instrumentally as well as progressively, they seem to lack the substance once so favored in the world of Azure Ray. Notably, "In The Fog" seems as if it were taken from an O+S album before being stripped of all emotion - a dangerous thing to do early on in the record, creating a sense of anxiety towards the outcome of the rest. Fortunately for us, "In The Fog" is the only true filler song.

Possibly taking influence from Cassadaga and David Dondero tracks, the album ends on a sweethearted note. "Walking In Circles" is the perfect track for a burdened mind - Mellotron and Casio tones escalate into what seems like an orchestral ending to what simply be described as Azure Ray, with the voice of Maria Taylor softly passing through.

After seven years of solo as well as various collaborative efforts, Saddle Creek's famed duet of indie goddesses pick up exactly where they left off - tired, alone, drenched in reverb. This is a great album for crying yourself to sleep, falling asleep at the wheel, or just plain going to bed.

Click here to download Drawing Down the Moon