Premature Year-End Roundup

I have been more plugged in to the music scene this year than I have in recent years. Perhaps it has to do with using a passion for new and exciting music to replace all that time I spent doing school work. Maybe it's that I spend far too much time listening to NPR's All Songs Considered and Chicago Public Radio and PRX's Sound Opinions while I drive around for work. It's probably a combination of those things. But I've already picked my five favorite albums for this year. I am well aware that there is more music yet to be released, and that some of it that I am unaware of may just blow these five out of the water. But, that having been said, these five are great. Granted, only the top two of these would have made it onto my "Best of the Decade" list if they had been released last year, which would have put the grand total of 2009 releases on that list up to five (a third of that list, wow...) but, in the months since I made that list, I realized I made errors. First off, Radiohead's Kid A should have been much higher on the list. Also, there was a noticeable lack of OK Go's Oh No which is a horrible oversight.

But, the list was subject to my mind frame at the time. I'm sure in six months when I think back, I'll have even more quibbles with it. Which only serves to remind me that this list of five could be the subject of ridicule in years to come, but for now, this is what I like, so this is what you get.

Also, sorry for the lack of posts about writing, and the lack of excerpts. When I'm writing but not working on the novel, I'm blogging, so I don't have much of anything else to share with you all. So, here goes; top five albums of 2010, mini-reviews of each, and a short list of what else you should listen to. I hope you find something you enjoy on here. Oh, and a note to a particular reader who criticized my Best Albums of the Decade list for its lack of female artists; I do apologize. It was not my intention to be misogynistic and, for the record, there are women who are members of The Decemberists, women in Sufjan Stevens' band, women in DeVotchka, and the first time I heard The Mars Volta, I thought the singer was a lady. Hopefully, I've remedied that by having a female artist in my top five and two more rounding out the list. Check it!

Top Five Albums (So Far) of 2010


5. Dark Night of the Soul - Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse
Picks: "Little Girl (Featuring Julian Casablancas)" "Insane Lullaby (Featuring James Mercer)" and "Grim Augury (Featuring Vic Chesnutt)"

The world has been waiting for this album for over a year. We waited through legal battles with Danger Mouse's label. We waited through a very limited release of David Lynch's companion book (complete with a CD-R labeled "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will."). We waited with sadness through the suicides of contributing artist Vic Chesnutt Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous. It was finally released in July of 2010, with more emotional weight and poignancy than originally intended. With that backdrop, it's hard to criticize the album too much. There are gems on this, like Chesnutt's contribution "Grim Augury" and James Mercer's "Insane Lullaby" (recorded before Mercer and Danger Mouse collaborated on Broken Bells). Jason Lytle makes a great appearance, but then you've got David Lynch's vocals on the title track, and Black Francis' contribution "Angel's Harp" feels a little forced. Still, the album packs an emotional punch in a beautifully produced package.



4. Of The Blue Color of the Sky - OK Go
Picks: "This Too Shall Pass" and "End Love"

OK Go understands the role the internet plays in selling music; they proved this with the video for their hit "A Million Ways" in 2005. The song was off their second album Oh No and the video became a viral sensation. Within a year of its release, the video had been downloaded over nine million times. It's still one of the all-time most watched videos on youtube. With this latest album, EMI and Capitol records took steps to block youtube videos from being embedded on other sites (such as this blog) in an effort to keep ad revenue. The way it works, apparently, is that every time you watch a music video for a Capitol Records artist on youtube, advertisers pay the record company. When the video is embedded on a different website, the advertisers do not pay. The band was furious with Capitol's decision to block embedding, as the embedding of "A Million Ways" and the second video from Oh No "Here It Goes Again" were crucial to the success of that album. OK Go split from Capitol, re-releasing the record in April (originally it had been released in January). By way of announcing this newfound freedom, the band recorded a new video for their first single "This Too Shall Pass" which remains one of the greatest videos ever released (check it out below). The DIY feel of the video is perfect for the band's brave new world. But on top of their amazing video-making skills and their new-order business savvy, OK Go has turned out a fine album which has been compared to both Radiohead's OK Computer as a turning point in their career and to the best work of Prince (listen to "White Knuckles" and you'll see what people mean). "End Love" is a personal favorite for its mood, and the video is, again, pretty sweet.



3. The ArchAndroid: Suites II & III - Janelle Monáe
Picks: Whole Album

This album is an anomaly in multiple respects. A) It is a concept album released in the era of the single digital download. B) It is a concept album released by a hip-hop artist. C) It is a concept album with a Sci-Fi theme. The strangest thing you can say about this album is that it's a hip-hop sci-fi concept album that was released at the height of the digital download explosion. Just say that to a random passerby, and watch the look of sheer incredulity they'll give you. This album is a follow up to Monáe's 2008 EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite (a hip-hop sci-fi concept EP released at the beginning of the digital download explosion). The underlying story is that Monáe herself is from the year 2719, where she was cloned and sent back in time and now resides in a mental institution for the creatively insane (are you with me so far?). The clone is a human/android hybrid which has become the savior of the human race in the future (got it?). Sounds strange, I know. But this album is solid, cohesive, smart and beautiful. The cover is a clear tip-of-the-hat to Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. The first fourth of this album is a great onslaught of dance-beat underneath some of the best hip-pop released in the last year. Monáe (along with indie-rap artist Kid Sister) is doing a more artistic, less mass-market version of Lady Gaga; create a pop persona independent of your personal life. I would argue that Monáe does it with a bit more artistry and less attention to grabbing media attention. Monáe would never show up anywhere in a meat dress, but she might show up in futuristic garb, ready to churn out energetic dance-pop and inspired, soulful rapping.



2. Broken Bells - Broken Bells
Picks: Whole Album, with special attention to "Sailing to Nowhere" "The Ghost Inside" and "The Mall and Misery"

I reviewed this album back in March and speculated that it would still be at the top of this list at year's end, and while that isn't so, the album is still one of the best pop albums I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. You can read the original review for more in depth, but sufficed to say I would classify this as 2010's perfect indie-pop album. With this and Dark Night of the Soul both landing spots in my top five, I think it's safe to say that in today's music scene, you're nobody if you haven't collaborated with Danger Mouse on an album. If you like the idea of hot androids (like, say, if you really liked the look of the cover of the number 3 album), you can check out the video for "The Ghost Inside" with Mad Men's Christina Hendricks below.


1. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Picks: "The Suburbs" and "Modern Man"

I have already talked about how this album has had a particular effect on me at this particular point in my life. But there's more to it than the one line in the title track. There's the idea that this record is not about the suburbs but from the suburbs, as singer Winn Butler has said. And I hate to compare another album to OK Computer, so I won't except to say that this is the same kind of step from previous work that Radiohead took with their third album, only this is better. This is 2010's second perfect pop album, and is only hampered in its accessibility by its scope and ambition. I would say that it's the aural equivalent of reading D.J. Waldie's Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir (2005). Having grown up in, and now still living in, a suburb (I would go so far as to say that my current home is more suburban than my previous one, as I now live on a cul-de-sac on a street with fifty more or less identical houses), I see beyond that initial, forceful impact the album had on me to its second punch. Not that we were in great need of any validation of our angst and fears, but this is an album for anybody and everybody who grew up in the suburbs and find life in the real world slightly off-center from where we thought we'd be. Maybe we thought we'd be like Winn Butler, the rock star. Maybe we thought the college degree would guarantee us the perfect life. Maybe we were so blinded by the promise of what was to come that when we were growing up, we didn't take the time to notice that whatever "the perfect life" is, we had it pretty well made. Or not. There's a great line in the song "Modern Man" that goes "Like a record that's skipping I'm a modern man/and the clock keeps ticking I'm a modern man." I listen to that, and I decided, no more skipping. No more standing still. I've got a wonderful family and still plenty of opportunity in front of me. It's time to start taking advantage of that. And that, my friends, is why this is the album of the year.


Rounding Out the Top 10 of 2010:
Transference - Spoon

Hawk - Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan

Gorilla Manor - Local Natives

Brothers - The Black Keys

I Learned the Hard Way - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Also Mentioned in this Post:

When I Say I'm In a Guild, Do Not Get Out Your WoW Nerd Glasses

I went to my first ever St. Louis Writer's Guild meeting tonight. I kept wanting to go to events, but decided that family came first, especially since my family has just expanded.

But, Juliette turned six weeks old today. Pfft, old hat now! Daughter, I am so over you (For the record, extreme sarcasm, I will never, ever be over Juliette).

Well, every other month they have a speaker on a Thursday night, and tonight's speaker happened to be St. Louis Writer's Guild Historian Brad Cook's lecture about researching your novel. So, I figured I'd attend, it sounded interesting enough.

It was a lot of fun. It seems like it would be boring, a bunch of writers sitting in a Barnes & Noble, talking about methods of researching period-specific clothes, events, houses, etc. But it wasn't...it was a good time. And, I made a good impression on the people, I think. Everybody was happy to have somebody young there, anyway, so I guess it's up to me to bring some other young people in.

So, young readers (who are also writers maybe), anyone want to join the Guild with me? They have fun events, including readings in the Eliot room at the Schlafly Tap Room. So, a good excuse to hang out with other writers and drink beer...eh? Eh?

My training as a real estate record researcher came in handy, tonight. One of the other members of the guild asked how she could go about finding out who owned a particular house in the late nineteenth century. I talked to her afterwards about how to go about doing that, and she was very happy to have asked the question because I was so knowledgeable. Unfortunately, I can not take time out of my schedule to go do this search for her in Springfield, IL, which I think she was secretly hoping for, but the research experience will be good for her, I maintain.

Anyway, since I was out until nine this evening, there are some things that need to get done around the house which must get done before bed. And since it's almost bed time, I should get to it. So, I'ma go get to it.

See you all later.

New

So, regular readers and link-clickers will be aware that my sister has a blog that is dedicated to her family, and in particular her daughters Madeline and Lydia.

I contemplated doing similar posts on this blog. I mean, why not? If anything, it would make me post more. But then, you'd probably get a lot of "Holy Crap, there was crap everywhere!" posts which, if you're coming for the writing, may not be what you're looking for.

Those who are glad to avoid reading such posts need read no further than the next sentence. You can keep coming here to read all about my writing, trials and tribulations with writing, excuses why I'm not writing, and occasional odd excerpts from my writing. Those who do want to read the kind of family oriented whatnot, can head over to StL Hipster Dad. The first post is actually a review of Arcade Fire's new album The Suburbs thinly veiled as sentimentality and love for my daughter. Enjoy!