1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 2. Sleigh Bells - Treats 3. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor 4. The National - High Violet 5. MGMT - Congratulations 6. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach 7. She & Him - Volume Two 8. Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing 9. Surfer Blood - Astrocoast 10. Vampire Weekend - Contra
Other Notables:
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record The Black Keys - Brothers Hot Chip - One Life Stand Local Natives - Gorilla Manor The Heavy - The House that Dirt Built Gaslight Anthem - American Slang Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever Caribou - Swim
With the year being half over tomorrow, I was thinking about a similar thread. I may be speaking for many on this board when I say my personal listenings this year have been almost entirely composed of Sasquatch bands, so I can't really make an unbiased list yet. Here would be a partial:
1. LCD Soundsystem 2. The Black Keys 4. The National 6. Gorillaz 7. Phantogram 10. The Roots
(made this for another forum) As it turns out I've only really listened to eleven albums + one EP from this year, so HERE THEY ALL ARE. yeah
12. Bomb The Music Industry!, Adults!!! It's an EP so it gets last by default, but it's an awesome, awesome EP. BtMI! consistently produces "fuck yeah!" moments, and here I count at least three: the end of "Slumlord," the duet in "All Ages Shows," and "FIRST PUNK ROCK SHOW!!!" Best Tracks: Slumlord, All Ages Shows
11. Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me On the upside, it's a truly beautiful piece of music. In the perfect situation, when there's time to sit down and just listen, it apparently reveals something new on each listen. Unfortunately, a lot of it is really fuckin' boring. Best Tracks: '81, Have One On Me, Kingfisher, although it's remarkably consistent for two hours of music
10. Streetlight Manifesto, 99 Songs of the Revolution vol. 1 Hey, if you're a band that only releases one album every three years after constant delays, don't make a covers record. Streetlight has made two of my favorite albums ever (and re-made a third), it's about time they recorded the Linoleum cover, and if they had a new record coming out next year this would be a fantastic appetizer. But we all know they're not coming out with anything after this for a while, and this is not gonna last the half-decade between releases. Best Tracks: Hell, Linoleum, They Provide The Paint...
9. Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record Technically great, but so what? I love them live, but the only songs I can get into are the ones I've seen them play. Maybe it's a production thing, but I don't feel the energy that I know is in this. Best Tracks:Meet Me In The Basement, World Sick, Texico Bitches
8. Titus Andronicus, The Monitor Between this and Gaslight Anthem, I should probably start listening to more Springsteen. Eh, whatever, I live in New Jersey, it'll all find me eventually. Anyway, this isn't a punk record. It's just a rock record that gets really angry once in a while. Best Tracks: A More Perfect Union, No Future Part Three, The Battle of Hampton Roads
7. Sleigh Bells, Treats I made the Sleigh Bells topic in NMD and wrote about them in the "bands that no one knows about" thread a while ago, and yet I still haven't actually bought this album. I've just listened to it on YouTube and the like a whole bunch. Also, it scares how popular they got in so little time. Best Tracks: Tell 'Em, Crown On The Ground, Infinity Guitars (especially that last bit)
6. Local Natives, Gorilla Manor A bunch of amazing, every-mixtape-I-will-ever-make-for-anyone songs, a couple of boring ones, and a Talking Heads cover. Good enough for me! Best Tracks: Airplanes, Wide Eyes, Cards And Quarters, Airplanes again because wow
5. Vampire Weekend, Contra This is kinda awful, isn't it? The guitar solo in Holiday just ruins what could've been a fun song, they've gone way too far pop, fucking auto-chune hipsters, they make me dance stupid, and speaking of dance - White Sky. Wow, that's a fun song. Really builds. But that's it; the only good songs are Horchata, White Sky, Run, Cousins, Diplomat's Son, and the other ones. Every song is good in its own way. This is kinda great, fuck the haters. Best Tracks: White Sky, Cousins, Diplomat's Son
4. The Tallest Man On Earth, The Wild Hunt Suck it up, you'll get used to the voice eventually. It's like the Local Natives album except the worst songs are merely good as opposed to skippable and the best songs are just as good if not better. Best Tracks: King of Spain, Love Is All, You're Going Back
3. The National, High Violet Quote:
I can't say that I have a top 10 yet because this year has been full of disappointments so far from some of my very favorite artists like (...) The National.
I disagree. Best Tracks: Conversation 16, Bloodbuzz Ohio, Afraid of Everyone
2. Los Campesinos!, Romance Is Boring More explosions than Titus Andronicus ("Is anyone here staying for Titus Andronicus later on tonight?" asked Gareth during a volcano-postponed mid-afternoon show in Hoboken. Titus Andronicus was playing the same venue seven hours later. People cheered - not me, Streetlight Manifesto was coincidentally playing nearby and I was going there instead. "Bunch of dicks, those guys. We've toured with 'em." I'm sorry to waste your time with this interjection, please don't key my car.) and at somewhat superior lyrically to BtMI: they both mix humor and melancholy equally well, but the Campesinos have an edge when it comes to wordplay. Oh, and long song titles. The longer your title, the better a songwriter you are. It's kid606 101. lol Best Tracks: Romance Is Boring, There Are Listed Buildings, Straight In At 101
1. LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening The king wears a king hat and lives in a king house, or something. I dunno. Best Tracks: Pick any of the remaining six after you exclude One Touch, Somebody's Calling Me, and Home
There's another dozen (at least) albums on my to-do list, so this list will hopefully change some by December.
here's my list that I put up on facebook recently... it's my TOP 25 thus far...
1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 2. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record 3. Massive Attack - Heliogoland 4. The National - High Violet 5. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor 6. Phantogram - Eyelid Movies 7. Vampire Weekend - Contra 8. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast 9. The Black Keys - Brothers 10. Broken Bells - Broken Bells 11. Freelance Whales - Weathervanes 12. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History 13. Spoon - Transference 14. Caribou - Swim 15. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms 16. The New Pornographers - Together 17. Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing 18. The Kissaway Trail - Sleep Mountain 19. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 20. Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto 21. The Constellations - Southern Gothic 22. The Morning Benders - Big Echo 23. Minus the Bear - Omni 24. MGMT - Congratulations 25. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
(made this for another forum) As it turns out I've only really listened to eleven albums + one EP from this year, so HERE THEY ALL ARE. yeah
12. Bomb The Music Industry!, Adults!!! It's an EP so it gets last by default, but it's an awesome, awesome EP. BtMI! consistently produces "fuck yeah!" moments, and here I count at least three: the end of "Slumlord," the duet in "All Ages Shows," and "FIRST PUNK ROCK SHOW!!!" Best Tracks: Slumlord, All Ages Shows
11. Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me On the upside, it's a truly beautiful piece of music. In the perfect situation, when there's time to sit down and just listen, it apparently reveals something new on each listen. Unfortunately, a lot of it is really fuckin' boring. Best Tracks: '81, Have One On Me, Kingfisher, although it's remarkably consistent for two hours of music
10. Streetlight Manifesto, 99 Songs of the Revolution vol. 1 Hey, if you're a band that only releases one album every three years after constant delays, don't make a covers record. Streetlight has made two of my favorite albums ever (and re-made a third), it's about time they recorded the Linoleum cover, and if they had a new record coming out next year this would be a fantastic appetizer. But we all know they're not coming out with anything after this for a while, and this is not gonna last the half-decade between releases. Best Tracks: Hell, Linoleum, They Provide The Paint...
9. Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record Technically great, but so what? I love them live, but the only songs I can get into are the ones I've seen them play. Maybe it's a production thing, but I don't feel the energy that I know is in this. Best Tracks:Meet Me In The Basement, World Sick, Texico Bitches
8. Titus Andronicus, The Monitor Between this and Gaslight Anthem, I should probably start listening to more Springsteen. Eh, whatever, I live in New Jersey, it'll all find me eventually. Anyway, this isn't a punk record. It's just a rock record that gets really angry once in a while. Best Tracks: A More Perfect Union, No Future Part Three, The Battle of Hampton Roads
7. Sleigh Bells, Treats I made the Sleigh Bells topic in NMD and wrote about them in the "bands that no one knows about" thread a while ago, and yet I still haven't actually bought this album. I've just listened to it on YouTube and the like a whole bunch. Also, it scares how popular they got in so little time. Best Tracks: Tell 'Em, Crown On The Ground, Infinity Guitars (especially that last bit)
6. Local Natives, Gorilla Manor A bunch of amazing, every-mixtape-I-will-ever-make-for-anyone songs, a couple of boring ones, and a Talking Heads cover. Good enough for me! Best Tracks: Airplanes, Wide Eyes, Cards And Quarters, Airplanes again because wow
5. Vampire Weekend, Contra This is kinda awful, isn't it? The guitar solo in Holiday just ruins what could've been a fun song, they've gone way too far pop, fucking auto-chune hipsters, they make me dance stupid, and speaking of dance - White Sky. Wow, that's a fun song. Really builds. But that's it; the only good songs are Horchata, White Sky, Run, Cousins, Diplomat's Son, and the other ones. Every song is good in its own way. This is kinda great, fuck the haters. Best Tracks: White Sky, Cousins, Diplomat's Son
4. The Tallest Man On Earth, The Wild Hunt Suck it up, you'll get used to the voice eventually. It's like the Local Natives album except the worst songs are merely good as opposed to skippable and the best songs are just as good if not better. Best Tracks: King of Spain, Love Is All, You're Going Back
3. The National, High Violet Quote:
I can't say that I have a top 10 yet because this year has been full of disappointments so far from some of my very favorite artists like (...) The National.
I disagree. Best Tracks: Conversation 16, Bloodbuzz Ohio, Afraid of Everyone
2. Los Campesinos!, Romance Is Boring More explosions than Titus Andronicus ("Is anyone here staying for Titus Andronicus later on tonight?" asked Gareth during a volcano-postponed mid-afternoon show in Hoboken. Titus Andronicus was playing the same venue seven hours later. People cheered - not me, Streetlight Manifesto was coincidentally playing nearby and I was going there instead. "Bunch of dicks, those guys. We've toured with 'em." I'm sorry to waste your time with this interjection, please don't key my car.) and at somewhat superior lyrically to BtMI: they both mix humor and melancholy equally well, but the Campesinos have an edge when it comes to wordplay. Oh, and long song titles. The longer your title, the better a songwriter you are. It's kid606 101. lol Best Tracks: Romance Is Boring, There Are Listed Buildings, Straight In At 101
1. LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening The king wears a king hat and lives in a king house, or something. I dunno. Best Tracks: Pick any of the remaining six after you exclude One Touch, Somebody's Calling Me, and Home
There's another dozen (at least) albums on my to-do list, so this list will hopefully change some by December.
A. I still can't get behind the song Airplane. It keeps reminding me of "Across the Sea" by Weezer, but much cheesier. Getting cheesier than Weezer is tough to do. I'm usually pretty good at picking the radio friendly hit(s) from an album, but this one has me baffled. I'd still rather listen to "Your Sex Is On Fire."
B. I forced myself to listen to the new Vampire Weekend, and I can't hate it anymore. It's probably that I've listened 20-30 average albums this year, Vampire Weekend's is just good.
C. Tallest Man on Earth, agree 100%.
D. Speaking of Titus Andronicus, has anyone else seen them live? To sum up my opinion, a couple dudes playing loud power chords, head banging, jumping up and down, spinning around, and screaming. The lyrics were not legible, nor where the notes or songs. Would I see them again, of course.
I saw Titus Andronicus open for Vampire Weekend this past January. And THEN I listened to the Monitor. They're near me in August and I'm considering it.
here's my list that I put up on facebook recently... it's my TOP 25 thus far...
1. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 2. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record 3. Massive Attack - Heliogoland 4. The National - High Violet 5. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor 6. Phantogram - Eyelid Movies 7. Vampire Weekend - Contra 8. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast 9. The Black Keys - Brothers 10. Broken Bells - Broken Bells 11. Freelance Whales - Weathervanes 12. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History 13. Spoon - Transference 14. Caribou - Swim 15. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms 16. The New Pornographers - Together 17. Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing 18. The Kissaway Trail - Sleep Mountain 19. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 20. Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto 21. The Constellations - Southern Gothic 22. The Morning Benders - Big Echo 23. Minus the Bear - Omni 24. MGMT - Congratulations 25. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
After listening to the Big Echo a couple times, I recall thinking the album was decent, but with a couple really good songs. The album is really growing on me, but,
By the fourth listen, "Stitches" is cemented in my brain, and should be one of the top ten songs this year.
01. The National - High Violet 02. Pantha du Prince - Black Noise 03. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening 04. MGMT - Congratulations 05. Wolf Parade - Expo 86 06. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record 07. Beach House - Teen Dream 08. Massive Attack - Heliogoland 09. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms 10. Vampire Weekend - Contra
I would rebut by pointing out which merits make an album annoying, overproduced, and alienating to fans of an established sound. But no, you're right, you're not interesting in debating.
I would rebut by pointing out which merits make an album annoying, overproduced, and alienating to fans of an established sound. But no, you're right, you're not interesting in debating.
Congratulations sounded way more like what people liked about whatever the hell the first MGMT album was called than Odd Blood sounded like All Hour Cymbals.
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