I don't wanna explain my shit.
Realistically, I spent *way* more time listening to old music than I did music released during 2010. Maybe it's because I'm old and bitter, but it's not like I'm just harping on the musics of my youth, but have rather been blown away by new (to me) material that's decades old. I don't feel like the bulk of contemporary artists are making the same caliber of music. Except Janelle Monae (and Joanna Newsom, even if I don't find myself listening to her too much).
Albums of the year:
1. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
2. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
3. Wiz Khalifa - Kush and Orange Juice
4. Xiu Xiu - Dear God, I Hate Myself
5. Aziz Ansari - Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening
6. Ariel Pink - Before Today
7. Die Antwoord - $0$
8. Julian Lynch - Mare/James Black - CMYK
9. Sleigh Bells - Treats/Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)
10. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Honorable Mentions: Tame Impala, Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi, Kanye.
Full Disclosure: I woulda been way more open to Kanye if he hadn't been the winner of 2010's unnecessary-hyperbolic-acclaim award. Flying Lotus and Gonjasufi are on Warp records, which could have been easily predicted simply by listening to 30 seconds of either, and since I've been listening to Warp records for the past decade, neither were really that new or surprising sounding (to me). They still get honorable mentions, however. I prefer the Gonjasufi, to be honest.
Tame Impala: nice heavy psych. I like it, but just didn't have enough room on the list.
Hey, speaking of that list, I just feel that the Sleigh Bells/Crystal Castles are too similar to give separate entries. They've both banging, they've both nasty, they're both one hard-working dude with a charismatic bitch for people to fawn over.
James Blake/Julian Lynch are both good, both really similar in my mind. Julian Lynch especially is making music that sounds like I could make it at home on my computer. So I am. (Watch for 2011's list to be full of my own projects, natch).
Naturally I didn't/couldn't listen to everything this year. This is what stands out among what I listened to. I'm gonna keep on being a crank, and submit that maybe some of these artists don't deserve "best of year XXXX" honours, save for the fact that their competition is so weak. Except for Janelle Monae. Unless someone gives me a reason to say otherwise, Imma keep up with my claim that it's the "best album" of the past 5 years or so.
Showing posts with label Xiu Xiu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xiu Xiu. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week 3: Sweet Willy Rollbar
Still playing relatively exhausted. It's been a trying few weeks, but even during the worst of times there is always music. This week was very much a continuation of last week, as well as a sort-of elaboration, but that will likely become more evident in week 4.
Our total plays for this week come to:
and minus last weeks totals, that gives us 669 plays for the week. I figure I should, without cheating, be able to average about a thousand plays a week when I'm on my 'A' game.
The story this week is gonna be best illustrated by looking at the top-artists of the past 7 days:
As you can see, the big winner this week was the Kinks, whose 60's and early 70's output I figured I needed to acquaint myself with. If you want the early impressions, I like their first album, You Really Got Me, but the next couple are weaker. However, by the time the 60's become psychedelic the Kinks had picked up again. So far, my votes go to The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation society.
Besides the Kinks, as I anticipated, Melvins had another strong showing this week, pushing up their totals, and securing them a solid 8th place, biting ever-so-closely at the boot-heels of one of this lists more powerful artists: Xiu Xiu.
But if you want my predictions, Melvins wont get as many plays this coming week, though they'll still end-up one of the most played artists.
In terms of Top Songs, no changes this week. These competitors are so entrenched that it'll be hard to dislodge any of them, especially considering my own aversion to listening to songs or albums on repeat. I usually like to give them a little time to sink in. Otherwise, two tracks that you may end up seeing climb this list are "Sweet Willy Rollbar" by Melvins, and "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" by Gil Scott-Heron, the latter of which has the distinction of being a song I actually can listen to repeatedly. Otherwise, here's this weeks Top Songs:
Otherwise, other changes amongst the Top Artists:
Sonic Youth climbed ahead of Pavement this week, but still trails Madlib by 13 plays. Patton Oswalt jumped from 24th place to become tied for 18th with Hossein Alizadeh and Madjid Khaladj. Otherwise we can see that as a result of my recent Kinks binge, they've broken into the Top Artists list for the first time, at 32. All the while No Age remains the border-guard of the Top Artists list at 35th place with 167 plays as the benchmark to beat in order to break in. (We can also see, however, from last weeks list that No Age still shares this position with Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Our total plays for this week come to:
and minus last weeks totals, that gives us 669 plays for the week. I figure I should, without cheating, be able to average about a thousand plays a week when I'm on my 'A' game. The story this week is gonna be best illustrated by looking at the top-artists of the past 7 days:
As you can see, the big winner this week was the Kinks, whose 60's and early 70's output I figured I needed to acquaint myself with. If you want the early impressions, I like their first album, You Really Got Me, but the next couple are weaker. However, by the time the 60's become psychedelic the Kinks had picked up again. So far, my votes go to The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation society.Besides the Kinks, as I anticipated, Melvins had another strong showing this week, pushing up their totals, and securing them a solid 8th place, biting ever-so-closely at the boot-heels of one of this lists more powerful artists: Xiu Xiu.
But if you want my predictions, Melvins wont get as many plays this coming week, though they'll still end-up one of the most played artists. In terms of Top Songs, no changes this week. These competitors are so entrenched that it'll be hard to dislodge any of them, especially considering my own aversion to listening to songs or albums on repeat. I usually like to give them a little time to sink in. Otherwise, two tracks that you may end up seeing climb this list are "Sweet Willy Rollbar" by Melvins, and "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" by Gil Scott-Heron, the latter of which has the distinction of being a song I actually can listen to repeatedly. Otherwise, here's this weeks Top Songs:
Otherwise, other changes amongst the Top Artists:
Sonic Youth climbed ahead of Pavement this week, but still trails Madlib by 13 plays. Patton Oswalt jumped from 24th place to become tied for 18th with Hossein Alizadeh and Madjid Khaladj. Otherwise we can see that as a result of my recent Kinks binge, they've broken into the Top Artists list for the first time, at 32. All the while No Age remains the border-guard of the Top Artists list at 35th place with 167 plays as the benchmark to beat in order to break in. (We can also see, however, from last weeks list that No Age still shares this position with Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
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