December 2010
22 posts
Top Albums 2010.
3.) Sufjan Stevens: “The Age of Adz”
My ever popular Free Press review from earlier in the year: http://usmfreepress.org/2010/10/sufjams/
Top Albums 2010.
4.) Harlem: “Hippies”
“The ingredients aren’t new, but it is super delicious and, similar to actual occasions I’ve had with bread and butter, Harlem’s version just so happens to be that one time when this simplified recipe seems to hit the spot just that much harder.”
Top Albums 2010.
5.) Deerhunter “Halcyon Digest”
Bradford Cox is continuously establishing himself as one of the most consistent musicians in the world. While Deerhunter dominated 2008 with the best Shoegaze releases this side of My Bloody Valentine, Halcyon Digest, and Cox’s side project Atlas Sounds show that Cox is not only consistent, but versatile in his output and vision.
Top Albums 2010.
6.) LCD Soundsystem “This Is Happening”
James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem fame grew up as part of the first MTV Generation- a fact has never been more abundantly clear than in 2010’s This Is Happening. Time after time, liner notes and Wikipedia pages will be cross-referenced to see if David Byrne, Brian Eno or David Bowie had any hand in the recording or producing of the album,...
Top Albums 2010.
7.) Male Bonding “Everything In Between”
We probably are never going to get back our beloved Wavves, they have been lost to *gasp!* actual recording studios and some semblance of a budget, as seen in this years utterly confusing King of the Beach. So for fans of ultra distorted indie-punk affairs, Male Bonding’s Nothing Hurts was the saving grace of the year. By combining the...
Top Albums 2010.
8.) Frankie Rose and the Outs: Frankie Rose and the Outs
If someone were to ask you who the most prolific and consistent musical outfit of the last three years were, you would hear probably hear the names of Kanye West, Animal Collective and Arcade Fire dropped without hesitation. Here is the thing: none of them compare to the Vivian Girls and their various associated acts separated with...
Top Albums 2010
9.) No Age “Everything In Between”
No longer indebted to the last three years embrace of lo-fi recording, No Age’s Everything In Between steps out of the Sonic Youth praising experimentation on their remarkable debut album Nouns, and instead creates one of the best pure indie-rock records of the last 15 years. Part Pixies crust, part Pavement self-assuredness, Everything in...
Top Albums 2010
10.) Vampire Weekend “Contra”
After the release of the understated genius of Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut album, the question very quickly became “What next?” The album, and the aesthetic of the band as a whole, was so indebted to Paul Simon’s Graceland that it was difficult to imagine what their next evolutionary step would sound like, regardless of...
Critical Differences: Pitchfork’s Lost Archives -... →
“Nirvana is credited with making ’80s hair-metal bands look silly with Nevermind,...”
– Rock Journalist Steven Hyden in the simply great “Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation?” series going on right now at the AV Club.
“Clip your year-end column and put it away for 10 years. See if you don’t feel...”
– Steve Albini, “Three Pandering Sluts And Their Music-Press Stooge,” letters section of the Chicago Reader, Jan. 27, 1994