I've been following the flow of decade-end top albums lists and find myself disagreeing with about half of their selections. Now I've been given the arduous endeavor to sum the whole decade up. In other words, I'm summing up my entire music catalogue and tastes into one list. I'm summing up my pre-pubescent/adolescent/teenage/college years. I'm not sure if you're going to get a good look at my tastes because a lot of the albums on this list I haven't listened to in more than a year. My state of being is in the "current" so if I was a dumb enough to conjure a top 10 list of the decade, most of the albums would be from either 2008-2009. But leaving that aside was tough, hence It took me two weeks to come up with this so here it is, in no order:
1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
No band did more for indie-rock in the 00's than Canada's own Broken Social Scene. Bold? Yes. Before "You Forgot It In People", BSS dabbled with post-rock and ambient song textures. The songs were beautiful little nuggets, well-suited for indie-film soundtracks than your stereo player They were tame and very modest instrumental songs working with electro-acoustic tendencies and minimalism. They were playing with the same type of soundscapes Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Sigur Ros were playing with.
But "You Forgot It In People" marked a growth. It was a move from introverted long-songs to anthemic tunes for a generation. It gave BSS a voice... actually more than one. Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Leslie Feist, Emily Haines, Amy Millan, etc. They are indie-rock personified: a rag-tage collective of musicians willing to experiment and produce something different with each others' help. Broken Social Scene is here to stay and perfectly summed up my childhood: teen angst, youthful abandon, and a life with the people you love. We're all in this together.
2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Panda Bear never really did anything new. It's not like sampling old songs was some new-found innovation. It's a beautiful artifact that from afar seems pretty frustrating to me: keeping up a tempo and having to deal with copyright and permits. But what made Person Pitch a distinct jam was how it exerted a feeling of sunshine and joy that's forgotten in our post-9/11 world. The Animal Collective member used the samples, not as the primary, but as background for his voice. The Brian Wilson comparison is tired but makes sense. For some reason, I see baby boomers and modern hipsters really bonding over this album. A record that plays with Beach-Boys arrangements of old and techno sensibilities of new.
3. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Brooklyn will always serve as a beacon for indie-rock creativity and experiments. If you want to find inspiration and live in a community of musicians, just walk down the Williamsburg neighborhood. TV on the Radio evolved from this NY borough and their album Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes recalls Brooklyn better than most bands. Many argue the Young Liars EP is their strongest effort, but it seems Desperate Youth is their most misunderstood. It's the harshest they'll ever sound without coming off too abrasive or melancholy. Songs like "King Eternal" and "Bomb Yourself" paint a pretty vivid picture of the world in Brooklyn's eyes. Not to mention Sitek's production is heavy and loud, emphasizing bass and electronics. It was a mid-2000s triumph.
4. M.I.A. - Kala
M.I.A. is a really strange person. I feel she used to be some kinda political blogger who was given a Casio drum machine and a microphone. If you follow her on twitter or read her blogs, you'll see she writes in CAPS. I'm guessing she's upset about something. She went on Bill Maher to talk about the Tamil Tigers and came off a bit ditzy. Her lyrics aren't really too complex, yet they're said with such ferocity and anger that it resonates. Kala is probably the angriest I've ever seen her and if she wouldn't have appeared on television or in magazines, I would be really intimidated by her. Kala marked a transition from the simple electro-bass aesthetic used on Arular, to a more a global African/Carribean perspective. With the help of Diplo, Switch and Timbaland on the production tip, M.I.A. made a rough and abrasive dance record with tons of genre variety including dub-step, reggaeton, dance-hall, grime, and house. It's my go-to club record. 5. The Strokes - Is This It?
It seems like New York City, in general, was a source of inspiration for many indie-rock bands in the 00s and the pivotal one that comes to mind was the Strokes. Their debut "Is This It?" sat as some kind of weird landmark for rock. Watching them live, you'll be fooled as to how bored they actually are with their music: a group of NY lads standing around strumming and drumming their instruments with little to no showmanship. But that's the type of attitude they resurrected with their brand of hipster 60s and 70s resurgent rock. A reckless abandon that kick-started indie-rock back to fruition when it was down. Is This It? is arguably one of the most important albums of the decade.
6. Ghostface KIllah - Supreme Clientele
I had trouble deciding which Ghostface album was superior this decade: Supreme Clientele or Fishscale? Fishscale was a nice little album about cocaine and robbery that had Tony Starks at his most nonsensical via stream-of-consciousness. It was fun, and above all totally awesome. But Supreme Clientele had Ghost at his most confident. It really felt like his album. His solo debut Iron Man was about as much his album as Only Built For Cuban Linx was to Raekwon; they were both two sides of the same coin. Supreme Clinetele was truly Ghostface Killah's album and he had fun with it, complete with Iron Man cartoon clips and a sharp tongue. Also, Nutmeg is probably the best song to start with on an album.
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral
I feel like all the music released this decade was a response to September 11th. Funeral by Arcade Fire definitely felt like an album you can mourn to. With it, the band introduced the most original sound this decade: a blend of baroque pop, chamber orchestrations, and shout-out punk. At the time, I didn't think much of the album because I hadn't really dealt with any deaths. But soon after a relative of mine died, Funeral made perfect sense. Honestly, this is the best album of the decade because it paraphrases this bittersweet 10-year period in less than an hour.
8. Kanye West - Late Registration
Jon Brion multi-instrumental production? Check. A plethora of guest spots including Cam'ron, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, Nas, and Paul Wall? Check. A seven minute-long, progressive rap song about retrospection and success? Check. Seriously, Kanye West's Late Registration is the best hip-hop album of the decade. Up to that point, he really only flaunted his production chops, which he had on lock. In terms of rhyme, he could really only add "mayonnaise-colored benz / I push miracle whip" to his resume of amazing lines. Though, songs like "Gone" and "Drive Slow" had him at his most creative and most clever. Kanye West hasn't really shown any sign of slowing down, minus the whole Taylor Swift thing, though I feel West is constantly experimenting. The guy is about as consistent as Animal Collective, meaning he is never consistent. He's constantly growing, and whether that means he is evolving into an egotistical narcissist or a maniacal genius, you can't really deny his importance in the 00s.
9. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
You can blame Zach Braff or Natalie Portman all you want for making The Shins a household item. In reality, there are a lot of people who still don't know who they are. Chutes Too Narrow is The Shins' sophomore LP and it's exemplary indie-pop leaning more towards the pop. James Mercer is a master at writing traditional pop records but Chutes stands out next to their first record Oh, Inverted World, which relied on atmosphere rather than song structure. Chutes moves with a precise hand and each song never fails. You, also, can't deny their indie gateway appeal, which definitely had sway over me and my fellow youth cohorts.
10. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
If you're feeling overly pessimistic or sad after listening to Funeral, then pop in Since I Left You by The Avalanches and watch your day go from overcast to ridiculously shiny. An album pieced together by samples taken from television shows, old records, and field recordings-- it's a giant jigsaw puzzle with a picture of a animals, cartoons, and friends dancing at a beach party. The whole frustration with sample-clearing I talked about on Person Pitch is multiplied by a hundred with this record. Strangely enough, the The Avalanches haven't released a sophomore album to accompany this gem, yet Since I Left had a glee about it that's hard to recreate.
if there's one thing I've learned in my 21 years of life, it's that any song sounds wayyy better chopped and screwed. not that UGK's International Players Anthem wasn't good before.
Best Coast is a band led by Bethany Constentino? Constantino? Cosentino? Every blog misspells her last name and I don't wanna write her last name wrong so I'm gonna just omit it for the time being.
She was a former drone contributor to NY group Pocahaunted. Then she moved out to the west coast to do some straight-up hustling and chillin.
It was there that she started making surf-rockish pop w/ major love-based songwriting.
This blog isn't really about how much I love her music, because, honestly, her music is amazing and doesn't really need any extra praise from some blog nobody reads.
This blog is essentially a love-letter to her. I follow you on Twitter and you sound pretty much like me except punkier. We should be friends and maybe date, depending on how we hit it off.
I like Beyonce and Jay-Z. Pimp Chronicles is pretty awesome. Sun is High and so am I! I also say totes all the time. But anyway, you seem like a normal person and it'd be cool to chill, yknow?
Hope you make it out to Miami for Art Basel, for we will definitely chill if you come.
Noise-rock and metal are two genres that, for some odd reason, have a blurry, grey distinction. The two are abrasive, experimental, and angry. Classifications between the two strands of rock deal mostly with aesthetic. Noise-rock bands usually affiliate themselves with a broad D.I.Y. mentality arguably introduced and influenced by 80's hardcore punk. It's a more humble approach to playing shows than your glossy arena-rock concerts. Metal, however, has always carried a type of grandiose, almost biblical vision of popularity where small clubs aren't big enough to house such walls of dark sound.
But if the line between noise-rock and metal are already cloudy, then Lightning Bolt's new album Earthly Delights does not help the cause. The pummel-throbbing Providence, Rhode Island noise giants released their 5th album; an album so rough and droney, it can easily be passed off as some kind of post-metal oddity.
Lightning Bolt comprise Brian Chippendale on drums/vocals and Brian Gibson on bass guitar, sorta. See, Gibson modifies his bass guitar to hold both guitar and bass strings, then passing that sound through pedals and effects. The work of one guitar player now sounds like eight. Not to mention Chippendale's unreal, power-drumming and voice effects give the band a collective sound. The product is rough, fast, and really noisy.
Earthly Delights begins with the suitably titled "Sound Guardians". The song is Lightning Bolt in a nut-shell: stony, violent, and harsh. It's the tone LB play with since their beginnings in the late 90s.
The beginning of "Colossus", clocking in at seven minutes, can be confused with an Electric Wizard or Melvins song, but as soon as Chippendale starts his parade of hell-drums, it becomes pretty distinct as LB fodder. The song does sound a bit restricted. Lightning Bolt is supposed to sound like a full-fledged band, but the presence of only two members can easily be heard.
They experiment with proggy-country riffs ("Funny Farm"), and wreak total chaos with unconventional song structures and call-and-response vocals (S.O.S).
Yet, I've always thought of Lightning Bolt as a "metal band". Song-titles like "Dracula Mountain", "Ride The Sky", and "Riffwraiths", border on exaggeration and epic fantasy. There's something to be admired about that. A band working on a consistent grass-roots aesthetic confused with delusions of Melville-like epics.
The album's sound is pretty consistent. But consistency might not be Lightning Bolt's most flattering characteristic. Though, it's this kind of anarchic consistency that makes Earthly Delights one of the best rock albums of the year. Just don't call it an earthly delight.
so next semester i'm taking "Print News Reporting", a course into my journalism major. it's hella interesting and not like your average reporting class, but then again I really don't know what an "average" reporting class is. but the professor is taking on a new, experimental curriculum. the goal for the class is to create an online newspaper where students will report and write stories for the publication. what will we be covering exactly?
Liberty City, Miami.
it's kind of a dangerous area in the city, but it's ignored by major newspapers and television news stations. the only kinda of newsworthy headlines that come out of the area are shootings or corruption. so my professor feels that someone should give voice to Liberty City. a voice that isn't completely interested in crime and shady business. i mean he's right. Americans live in this impoverished little community and they've got a story.
but FUCK.
it's exciting but terrifying. i don't like to talk to strangers and i'm gonna be forced to do just that. especially in a city that's predominantly black... i just wonder how people will react to me. a hipster talking with impoverished citizens. i don't know what to expect.
i mean look at me!
i can't show my whole face now! cmon!
at the same time, how awesome is it gonna be to hang out in a really poor part of town?! i'm gonna feel like the journalist in the fifth season of The Wire who writes a feature story on Bubbles, the crackhead. maybe i'll make friends with people like Omar and Bodie?!!
i've already thought of some awesome scenarios that could happen. i'm probably gonna make friends with a crackhead and he's gonna want help at like unreasonable hours. he's gonna call me at 2 a.m., because i had told him that if he ever needs anything to gimme a call! he's my tip so he scratches my back and i scratch his. while i'm sleeping he calls and asks me a huge favor. so i agree and drive all the way to liberty city (a 45 min. drive). it turns out he wants money, because he got robbed and needs the cash to buy meth. i'm gonna give him a talk and stuff... and i'm probably gonna give him the money. i'm gonna have a face of disappointment while he walks away into an alley, and I'll leave.
yknow stuff like that! real-world stuff, people! i'm scared of talking to these people, though... so i can't imagine doing that and having to gather information from them. i feel like i'm fooling them. should i talk to them about rap music? that's racist, but i do know a lot about hip-hop and rap. maybe that can be some kind of social lubricant? i don't think our professor will have us going to the city at dark, since it can get real ugly at that time. surely in broad daylight.
all of this is terrifying, but my friend told me to look at the grander scheme of it. think of the possibilities that can come from starting a student-run online newspaper that covers an impoverished, forgotten area of Miami. we can go on to win awards, and it can probably give me some kind of edge when applying to grad schools. like, "hey, this guy was music director at a radio station, staff writer for the school newspaper, journalism grad w/ an english minor, and he worked on an award-winning student newspaper that covered Liberty City. and he's a totes cutie!!!" IMPRESSIVE. probably not, but you never know. i'm an idiot :)
miami's got a home-grown local music scene and within the scene comprises a broad group of local hipsters. a lot of them went to either your high-school, middle school, or your friend's high-school, etc.
im not too involved in the scene down here, but i would say i contribute what i can to it. and if i have any idea what the scene is, or who participates in it, it would only be a view from afar. what i'm trying to say here is that i use the internet to gaze at the scene and i hardly actually hang out with any of the people in it.
i lurk on facebook or myspace or blogger or tumblr or flckr and look at amateur photography, bedroom blog-diary entries, and miscellaneous links posted on facebook. these are the things that paint the identity of miami hipsterdom, at least for me. i can't speak for everyone.
so it's very strange for me when i see photos of local hearthrobs or well-known scenesters back in their middle-school/early high-school haydays looking not so alt (as hipster runoff would call it) as they do now. i would glorify these local hipster images and make these people untouchable in my eyes.
i would follow the goings-on of a punk-hipster who dresses really grimey and dirty; she pretty much looks like a homeless girl. she has photos of her travels (she's gone all over the world, seriously). then i find out she's actually really rich. and her parents are really nice people.
it was all a facade. and that disappoints me a bit. all these "cool" people have a history and are actually pretty normal when it comes down to it.
i can't wait for some of them to grow out of the whole hipster thing so we can be friends. i feel like we're not at the same level.
maybe i've grown out of trying to be cool. i guess im trying to say that i'm pretty touchable ;)
