Top Ten Albums of 2011
10. Weatherbox, Follow The Rattle Of The Afghan Guitar
9. Yuck, Yuck
8. The Shore, Light Years
7. The Damnwells, No One Listens To The Band Anymore
6. Low, C’mon
5. Ringo Deathstarr, Colour Trip
4. Dawes, Nothing Is Wrong
3. The Morning After Girls, Alone
2. The Horrors, Skying
1. Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, Hurtsville
Kamtin Mohager is The Chain Gang Of 1974. Their most recent album, Wayward Fire, was released on June 21. For more on the band, check them out on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Here’s a list of stuff I was really into in 2010.
Electric Six, Zodiac: This album arrived in the mail a few months before its actual release. When it arrived, I was so excited that I actually felt sick. So instead of listening to it right away, I read all the press notes that accompanied it. I listened to it the next day. I have listened to this album over 245 times. This is not a lie. Drive somewhere with me and you’ll hear it twice.
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Anamanaguchi, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Original Videogame Soundtrack
Wild Nothing, Gemini
Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (except for the song “Runaway,” which is the Emperor’s New Clothes of songs)
Anything Nicki Minaj does or is “feat.”-ed on
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A science fiction comic series that echoes “Mars Attacks!” and other two-fisted adventures, but with a serious emotional core. Drunken space cowboy Heath Huston finds himself pitted against robots with human brains and amoeba creatures. Swashbuckling adventure in space! The art, by Tony Moore and Jerome Opena, is first-class, and Remender’s writing is both fast-paced and deliberately plotted.
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2010 was a great year for releases, particularly for the “oldies;” there were strong albums from such long-running acts as Killing Joke, Devo, Helmet, Scorn, Young Gods, and Melvins. I’ve picked my very favourite albums of the year, as well as a standout track from each (these are definitely not in order of best to worst or whatever, like that matters one way or the other).
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Fancy Space People EP: I haven’t been this excited about a band in I don’t remember how long . . . this three-song EP is, for me, the best new thing I have heard in years. I love it! Check them out here.
Seeing Don Bolles sing in his early-era-Alice Cooper tribute band THEE EARWIGS was incredible! What a setlist! What a voice!!
The Redd Kross/Fatih No More show December 1 at the Hollywood Palladium featuring Sparks as special guests during the FNM set doing “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us” . . . seeing Patton and Russel Mael sing that together . . . wow.
Getting a photo taken with Sparks after the show! Not as good was me flipping out like a 15-year-old girl in front of them . . . for the third time. Can’t help it. Sorry.
The movie I Think We’re Alone Now (about stalkers)
Daiquiri released Flower Shaped Num Nums on December 6 via their Bandcamp website. You can download the magic for just five dollars! Find out more about Daiquiri on MySpace.
Here is some popular music I have been absorbing this year. Some on this list came out this year and some didn’t.
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2010 was ridiculously limp regarding any newly released tangible media; I enjoyed older stuff much more. There were plenty of mediocre bands with new albums, boring reunion tours, and remakes of films . . . and I can’t even comment on books because the only ones I ever bother to read anymore are reference materials (travel, art, or kitschy humor).
However, here is some 2010 entertainment that I did enjoy!
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By Brenna Chase
There’s no need for a list. Devote all of your listening attention to Janelle Monáe’s The ArchAndroid. It was conceived by a twentysomething theatre major from Kansas, executive-produced by Sean “Diddy” Combs and Outkast’s “Big Boi” along with members of Monáe’s own creative outfit, The Wondaland Arts Society, and released on Bad Boy Records. If this seems a bit of a random selection, know that nothing about this album is typical.
The ArchAndroid is the epitome of risk and eccentricity. It’s a schizophrenic experience of genres, moods, characters, and themes. And, I promise you, it’s the only concept album released in 2010 that truly matters.
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Hope you enjoy . . . following my advice on these picks is optional and I will not be held responsible for the damages.
The Black Angels, Phosphene Dream (more…)