BEST OF 2010: Albums

Not sure where to start with this one, so I will say the most generic thing possible. We here at Fell In Love With A Drummer love music and this year brought some really fantastic music. Not sure if everyone had that same experience, but making my top 10 was pretty clear cut the whole year. I am sure others have noticed, but I found a lot of records that I liked the most to be either a super ambitious release from a seasoned veteran, such as Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs to list a few, pitted against many debut albums, such as Fang Island’s Self-Titled debut, Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast, and Local Native’s Gorilla Manor . I have found this trend in years past, but this tendency seems to really stick out this year.

Most of you will notice that this list is coming pretty late in the year; in fact, every blog that I read has already put out their end of the year lists, but I am not sure why so early. For one, there are other albums that come out past mid-December that may possibly make my top albums list. Two, why not give yourself an extra couple of weeks to listen to the albums that you considered best? What’s the rush? This seems to be rather obvious, but I guess most bloggers are just so excited to let readers know what they liked in 2010 that they put it up in mid-December. I am not complaining, just an observation.

If you are curious how we comprised our list, being that this list is both a combination of both Mike’s and Greg’s (me) top 50 albums of the year lists, I will fill you in on that. It’s pretty simple. Mike emailed me his top 50, I made mine. I gave a number to the each album based on where they placed (pretty difficult math actually, the top album on the list was assigned the number 1 and so on, so forth; then I added albums that were on both lists together). Whatever  25 albums had the lowest 25 scores made the list in order from the lowest point total to highest point value. This seemed to be the fairest way to put this list together, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have albums on our respective lists that didn’t make it, which we later cried about.

That being said, these lists are complete subjective crap. I am sure all of you realize this, but there are still those people who comment, “Where’s (insert indie band HERE)?” Just because an album doesn’t make the top 25 doesn’t mean we didn’t like it or have zero taste. It just means it didn’t fill our criteria of what were our favorite 25 albums of the year. If you think about it, with the amount of music that is out there and the amount of albums Mike and I listened to combine in the past year, making a top 25 is a pretty exclusive list. Our goal in making this list is to let you know what we dug in 2010 most and hopefully you give some these records a listen. I hope you enjoy!

 

 25. Wild Nothing -- Gemini

 24. The Black Keys -- Brothers

23. Warpaint -- The Fool

22. Dungen -- Skit i allt

(note: my favorite album title of the year. The title translatses to "Fuck it all" in Swedish.)

 21. Glasser -- Ring

20. Surfer Blood -- Astro Coast

  

19. Big Boi -- Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty 

18. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings -- I Learned the Hard Way

 17. Antony and the Johnsons -- Swanlights

16. Delorean -- Subiza 

 

15. The Radio Dept. -- Clinging to a Scheme 

  14. Titus Andronicus -- The Monitor

13. Fang Island -- Fang Island 

 

 12. The Tallest Man on Earth -- The Wild Hunt

11. MGMT -- Congratulations

  

10. Avi Buffalo --  Avi Buffalo

9. Yeasayer -- Odd Blood  

8. Local Natives -- Gorilla Manor

7. LCD Soundsystem -- This is Happening

  

6.  Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -- Before Today

5. Arcade Fire -- The Suburbs

4. Kanye West -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

3. Beach House -- Teen Dream

  

 2. Tame Impala -- Innerspeaker

1. Deerhunter -- Halcyon Digest

BEST OF 2010: Songs

30. Atlas Sound -- "Mona Lisa"
29. Frieghtened Rabbit -- "Swim Until You Can't See Land"
28. Sleigh Bells -- "Rill Rill"
27. Delorean -- "Real Love"
26. Girls -- "Heartbreaker"
25. Free Energy -- "Bang Pop"
24. Arcade Fire -- "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"
23. MGMT -- "It's Working" 
22. The Black Keys -- "Tighten Up"
21. Kanye West -- "Blame Game" (feat. John Legend)
20. LCD Soundsystem -- "Dance Yrself Clean"
19. The Morning Benders -- "Excuses"
18. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -- "Round and Round"
17. Superchunk -- "Crossed Wires"
16. Sufjan Stevens -- "Too Much"
15. Beach House -- "Silver Soul"
14. Warpaint -- "Undertow"
13. Surfer Blood -- "Floating Vibes"
12. The Tallest Man on Earth -- "The Wild Hunt"
11. Titus Andronicus -- "A More Perfect Union"
10. Avi Buffalo -- "What's In It For?"
9. Deerhunter -- "Helicopter"
8. Beach House -- "Walk in the Park"
7. The Radio Dept. -- "Heaven's On Fire"
6. LCD Soundsystem -- "All I Want"
5. Big Boi -- "Shine Blockas" (feat. Gucci Mane)
(Yes, I realize "Shine Blockas," along with Yeasayer's "Ambling Alp," were realeased in 2009 as singles. However, they were realeased on albums in 2010.)
4. Yeasayer -- "Ambling Alp"
3. The National -- "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
2. Tame Impala -- "Solitude is Bliss"

1. Cee Lo Green -- "Fuck You"




-- Greg & Mike

BEST OF 2010: Videos (No Order)

Gayngs -- "Cry"



Antony and The Johnsons -- "Thank You For Your Love"



Clinic -- "Bubblegum"



Arcade Fire -- "The Suburbs"



Pogo -- "Wishery"



Canyons -- "My Rescue"



Foals -- "Miami"



Band of Horses -- "Dilly"



The Black Keys -- "Tighten Up"



Nightlands -- "Suzerain (A Letter To The Judge)"



Ólöf Arnalds -- "Surrender"



Local Natives -- "World News"



Duck Sauce -- "Barbra Streisand"



Animal Collecitve -- "Guys Eyes"



Avi Buffalo -- "What's In It For?"



Fool's Gold -- "Nadine"




-- Mike

Shuffling on a Sunday Afternoon: The Troggs -- "With a Girl Like You"

A good friend of mine posted this on my facebook page a few days and I haven't gotten out of my head since. The Trogg's "With a Girl Like You" was a number one hit single on the UK charts for about 2 weeks in 1966, but since then has gotten greater recognition with covers by David Sitek (of TV on the Radio) and Alex Chilton (RIP). There is just something about that song that I marvel at. I can never get tired of this song. Enjoy!


-- Greg

BEST OF 2010: 15 Album Covers

15. Titus Andronicus -- The Monitor

14. Flying Lotus -- Cosmogramma 

 13. Vampire Weekend -- Contra

12. Toro y Moi -- Causers of This 

 11. Brian Eno -- Small Craft on a Milk Sea

10. Wild Nothing --  Gemini

9. Women -- Public Strain

 8. Fang Island -- Fang Island

 

7. Spoon -- Transference

  

6. Kanye West -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 

  5. Weekend -- Sports

4. The Radio Dept. -- Clinging To a Scheme 

 3. Tame Impala -- Innerspeaker

2. Erykah Badu -- New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh) 

1. Damien Jurado -- Saint Bartlett

  

-- Greg 

Suffling on a Sunday Afternoon (Night): Blur -- "Tender"

Haven't listened to this song in a while and boy did I miss it. Just a brilliant song. So powerful. Put on a smile on my face and I hope it does for you as well.





-- Greg

BEST OF 2010: 10 Drumming Performances on an Album

10.) Titus Andronicus -- The Monitor

9.) No Age -- Everything In Between

8.) Marnie Stern -- Marnie Stern 

7.) The Roots -- How I Got Over

6.) Kaki King -- Junior

5.) Little Women -- Throat

4.) The Bad Plus -- Never Stop

3.) Warpaint -- The Fool

2.) Tame Impala -- Innerspeaker

1.) Fang Island -- Fang Island




-- Greg  

YOUTUBE: PVC Instrument

Really amazing stuff... just awesome.

WORST OF 2010: Album Covers... oh christ these are bad

- Greg

Snoop Dog gets Prince William the best bachelor party present ever

Who's got two thumbs and knows how to party?!
THIS GUY!

Sigh....Little brothers.

What is it with younger brothers throwing bachelor parties? My brother is only 16 and, according to him, he has my bachelor party all set. I don't know whether it's excitement, raging hormones, or the fact that they can be the horniest little shits on the planet. But this isn't just constrained to your run-of-the-mill siblings--the royal family gets in on it as well.

Apparently, Prince Harry, the younger brother to the recently engaged Prince William, has recruited Snoop Dog to perform at his bachelor party. Because of this truly joyous occasion, Snoop Dog has written a theme song for Prince William's party, a song that reportedly "will get the club smoking."

Oh yeah, and the song's name is "Wet." (I have so many images in my head right now, it's disgusting.)

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Snoop Dog - Wet by DJ.BOSTON GEORGE

Listen Now//Atlas Sound: Bedroom Databank Vol. 1, 2, 3, and 4

How the hell do you write a song?

Do you start with an intro? What do you write about? How do you know if it's good or not? It's hard enough to write out one line of a lyric never mind a whole compilation of songs.

Well, Bradford Cox, lead singer of Athens, Georgia band Deerhunter, writes songs like a New York City carriage horse shits. For Cox, its not a hard process; in fact, you can tell he thoroughly enjoys it. Fresh from releasing Halcyon Digest to critical acclaim, Cox has now switched gears, once again recording as his solo project Atlas Sound. Cox has released Bedroom Databank, four volumes of home made, bedroom recordings. Each volume has a surprising large number of songs on them, which makes you wonder how the hell so many ideas come out of one man's head. The songs range from the hooky to the obscure, with some songs sounding like b-sides to Halcyon Digest. Cox's covers of Kurt Vile's "Freak Train" and Bob Dylan and The Band's "Wheel's on Fire" have essentially been reconstructed brilliantly. Some songs get a bit boring with random beeps and bloops, but nothing anyone can't handle. The songs once again, introduce Cox as a master of his craft; an artist who clearly shows his care for what he's doing and how its done. And if Sony doesn't like it, they can shove it.

To download each volume, click here:
http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/

--Mike

REVIEW: Kanye West // My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

With most albums that get released, I try to not let the musician’s personal flaws or public mishaps get involved in my opinion of the album. But with Kanye, how the hell do you not do that? He is easily the most prominent celebrity since… Michael Jackson? John Lennon? Ok-- maybe that’s a stress, but still, his antics are absurd, he is a huge prick according to most who don’t understand him, but yet our society keeps running back to him for our entertainment. And that entertainment is not just comedy. When he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” people (including myself) were in joy because, to a great degree, he spoke the truth. Anyway, a few months ago I would ask myself, “Why do we even care about Kanye West?” Since 808s and Heartbreak came out (I wasn’t a huge fan), I almost forgot why people gave two shits about Kanye, but with My Beautfiul Dark Twisted Fantasy, I remember why: the man is a genius. This is his Sgt. Pepper (and yes, like Sgt. Pepper, it will be the only album of this man’s illustrious career that will win “record of the year,” but nobody cares about the Grammys anyway). This album will “runaway” with album of the year, even more so than Merriweather Post Pavillion did last year. Is it my album of the year? I think so.

The album is meant to represent his life. People fantasize about fame and stardom, but when we get to that plateau we realize how dark and twisted it can be. Kicking off the album with “Dark Fantasy” is just brilliant, especially noting that the first line is, “I fantasized about this back in Chicago,” kicking off his hour plus story of his fame and life. It’s easily one of the best opening tracks I have heard on any album this year. The prolific gospel singing is just chilling. I get goose bumps listening to it. I can run track to track and explain why this album is just amazing, but I will just stick to a few to keep you from shooting yourself. “POWER,” which was the public’s first preview of what the album would sound like, continues on the notion of Kanye West’s domination. It’s obnoxiously arrogant, but man is it catchy and the PRODUCTION is just out this world! I will get to that later, but “POWER,” with its sample of King Crimson’s "21st Century Schizoid Man,” is just startling. Only Kanye could think of using that as a sample (and yes I KNOW that Kanye wasn’t the only one to produce the whole album, but IT'S HIS ALBUM… that’s a completely different stupid argument anyway). Furthermore, from “Monster” to “So Appalled” to “Devil In a New Dress,” there is not a single unlikeable second (besides Nicki Minaj’s verse on “Monster,” sorry… not a huge fan of hers).

My only gripes with this album are that A.) “Runaway” goes on too too long. B.) “Lost in the World” just doesn’t really fit into the album well to me. Besides that… I will just continue to explain why I love this and you should too.

A lot of haters get on Kanye’s rapping, but A.) Kanye is not that bad… he doesn’t have the flow of Big L, he doesn’t have the wordplay of Weezy, he doesn’t rap about things as intense as Biggie or Pac, but who cares… he is still better than most people rapping today. B.) Many rappers that are better than him ARE ON THE ALBUM! Jay-Z, Raekwon (put out the best rap album of last year), RZA… plus many others like Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Pusha T (this not to say that the three previously mentioned are actually better in my opinion) I don’t think you’re listening to the lyrics (probably because the production is just so much better than anything else that have come out in a long long time) if you don’t think that Kanye is an above adequate rapper.

- “Too many Urkels on your team, that's why your winslow”

- “They rewrite history, I don’t believe in yesterday and what’s a black beetle anyway? A fucking roach?”

- “Is hip hop, just a euphemism for a new religion, the soul music for the slaves that the youth is missing”

 If you don’t think Kanye is a pretty damn good rapper, I think your just listening to My Beautiful Dark Twisty Fantasy to just not like it and be ironic (aka hipsters).

I think it goes without much saying that what makes this album special is the production. The album sounds better than anything I have heard all year… by a long shot. For one, the samples used on the album are just phenomenal. From King Crimson to Manfred Mann's Earth Band to Smokey Robinson to Aphex Twin to Bon Iver to Gil Scott-Heron the album’s sample choices are not just eclectic and unique, but also fit the flows and styles of many of the rappers featured excellently. Two, the production and beats used create an atmosphere where every artist flourishes. Every verse on the album is immaculately put together. I can’t think of a verse that sounds half-assed in any sense.

In closing, this album has everything you could have asked for from Kanye. It’s catchy and exciting at some points, prolific and gorgeous at others, but above all, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is his most ambitious album to date. More so, it’s the most ambitious album to be released in the past five years. Without a doubt, this is one of the best albums of the year, if not, the album of the year.

-- Greg

RATING: 95/100

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by louis scolnick

French New Wave Dylan--Bare with me on this

I was introduced to French New Wave pop singer Jacques Dutronc while en route to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity with the roommates. The six hour long bus ride was getting to me, and without an iPod, it was unbearable. My roommate Daniel gave me his iPod and suggested I listen to a guy by the name of Jacques Dutronc. The album artwork that popped up showed a good looking guy who looked like he could of appeared in a GQ spread. The picture did not match the music. After the first song, I was immediately hooked and thought of Bob Dylan's performance of when he went electric at the Newport Folk festival in '65. Dutronc shares the same kind of sarcastic, shit-grin style Dylan had evoked that day, with a straightforward jangling band that knocked the living hell out of people. Dutronc is dry with some songs sounding the same, but the majority of the songs have upbeat, dancy tunes on them that feature music stylings way before it's time.

--Mike

Take a listen: Jacques Dutronc--"Les Cactus"


"Et moi, Et moi, Et moi"

Esther Caulfield Orchestra--"Industrial Good Day Mantra"

Dayton, Ohio collective the Esther Caulfield Orchestra take the best from The Kink's Village Preservation Society and back roads country rock and revamp it for 2010. They're American, but have English accents. They dress like dandies/hobos. They have beards. A formula for success in my opinion.

--Mike

Take a listen: "Industrial Good Day Mantra"
http://www.myspace.com/ecorchestra