Where the only rule is one song per artist.

71. Tinie Tempah - “Wonderman”

I’m only taking the list deep enough where it remains interesting for me, so by no means is Deerhunter the worst show I saw this year. As the top indicates, 2011 was the year of the non-tour, special occasion show.

27. Deerhunter - The Wiltern (August 9th)

26. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Coachella (April 15th) & The Echoplex (November 11th)

25. Dinosaur Jr. Play ‘Bug’- Music Box (December 14th)

24. Wild Flag - The Mohawk (March 19th) & Troubadour (November 3rd)

23. Best Coast w/ Wavves - Music Box (February 24th)

22. tUnE-yArDs - Music Box (November 2nd)

21. Twin Shadow - The Mohawk (March 19th) & Troubadour (November 21st)

20. Yeasayer - Music Box (May 24th)

18. Fleet Foxes w/ The Walkmen - Greek Theatre (September 14th)

18. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - The Phoenix (March 16th) & The Echo (June 3rd)

17. Les Savy Fav - The Echoplex (January 28th)

16. Sleigh Bells - Coachella (April 15th)

15. Odd Future - Scoot Inn (March 18th)
The honeymoon is over. They are insufferable and Tyler is a legitimately bad person who says terrible, unforgivable things. So here’s to seeing an insane OFWGKTA show before realizing their legitimate insanity. 

14. Menomena - Central Presbyterian Church (March 18th) & Edgefield (July 22nd)
Churches remain my venue of choice. Rock & roll as religion.

13. Flaming Lips Play ‘The Soft Bulletin’- Hollywood Forever Cemetery (June 14th)
Only the Flaming Lips could take so long to play ‘The Soft Bulletin’, but it still had lasers and a giant vagina, and I don’t mean Betty White (HELLO!). 

12. Arcade Fire - Coachella (April 16th)
I’m anxious for a world where their sets aren’t so damned predictable (specifically the music, i.e. the glow balls were concert porn). #seenarcadefiretoomanytimes

11. Robyn - Coachella (April 15th)
I don’t think I can hang with her.

10. Big Boi - The Mohawk (March 19th) 
So. Much. Outkast. 

9. TV on the Radio - Music Box (May 11th) & Edgefield (July 22nd) & The Mohawk (March 19th)
A TVOTR show is more event than concert for me, and they are the career-spanning set list kings. I get chills every time out of every time.

8. Portishead - The Shrine (October 18th)
The lone show I’ve seen whose sound quality holds candles to NIN’s.

7. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Staples Center (December 13th)
Lasers! The visual spectacle of the year, and the lone show I’ve seen whose visual pyrotechnics hold candles to NIN’s. Shows 4-7 could be in any order, and the only reason I put this 7 is because if they brought the same show back in six months I don’t think I’d go, which isn’t the case for the other three.  

6 . Bon Iver - The Shrine (November 19th)
Live » album. Go big. Take notes, groups who don’t tour with 9-piece bands. 

5. The National - Coachella (April 17th)
There’s only one set of the fest, and this one damaged my vocal chords. They are still carried in the arms of cheerleaders. 

4. WU LYF - The Echo (July 26th) & The Troubadour (November 22nd)
Shows 4-7 could also be #1 any other year. The Troubadour show was announced shortly after The Echo show, and I bought four tix sans hesitation, a cake that was iced by spotting them playing skee-ball at One Eyed Gypsy three nights later, where they confirmed themselves for Coachella 2012 while underage drinking.  Gonna make you sweat.  

3. Kanye West - Seaholm Power Plant, SXSW (March 19th)
Everyone else on this list whom I saw more than once has both shows listed, but, with apologies to Coachella, this was harder, better, faster, stronger. See: the event (closing SXSW in a power plant at 2 AM for a mere 3,000 peoples), the party (killer crowd roaring thanks to the spectacle + an open bar), the supporting cast (John Legend, Justin Vernon, Kid Cudi, Pusha T) and the surprise guests (a marching band playing the hook to “All the Lights” and—ahem—Jay-Z). 

2. Prince - The Forum w/ Gwen Stefani (April 30th) & The Forum w/ Janelle Monae & Stevie Wonder (May 13th)
Some nights you see one of the greatest of all-time. Other nights you see one of the greatest of all-time AND STEVIE WONDER SURPRISE GUESTS TO PLAY “SUPERSTITION ON HIS BIRTHDAY! I’d still be at the Forum waiting for the sixth encore if they hadn’t made us leave.

1. LCD Soundsystem - Madison Square Garden (April 2nd)
I would have an easier time pitching this as the greatest show I’ve ever seen than pitching that Prince, arguably the best performer on Earth, was better. 

You love Drive. You hate Drive. Less likely you’re ho-hum about Drive. Maybe you hate the violence, in which case you have company. Maybe you hate the silence, in which case let’s talk.

I love Drive. I love its hyper-stylized direction and all the unusual camera play, editing and looks that come with it. Some gripers gripe that the story lacks substance (you and your gangster-heist flick expectations), and that it’s little more than the vehicle (see what I did there?) for the visuals. I beg to differ, primarily because of the silence.

Needless to say, spoilers ahead. 

For most of us, silence is awkward. You’re in the minority if you look forward to sharing a 60-floor elevator ride with one stranger, and there’s even a term for people who fear silence: sedatephobia.

He didn’t found the awkward, but Ricky Gervais perfected it into the mainstream on The Office. His inappropriate and embarrassing demeanor as office manager David Brent caused many a silent and horrified response, and much like Drive, its reaction was polarizing but successful with its core.  For Brent, his lack of discretion brought tension-filled silence, a tension he often broke with an even more tasteless joke that made you laugh or hate the show (the traditional and opposite way some sitcoms deal with these silences is to fill them with laugh tracks).

In Drive, silence creates tension via its unexpected awkwardness. The awkwardness of Drive’s silence ratchets up the tension significantly, most notably in scenes that, typically, wouldn’t have tension. When Driver first meets and gives Irene a ride, it takes him many blocks to come up with, “Want to see something?” That’s how we know he likes her (wink-wink). By the time he finally gets her home, nary a once does she say thanks, which I’ll dub “Midwest manners drama.” 

Later, Driver meets Irene’s husband, Standard, and there’s a lengthy pause in which Standard is almost certainly considering how to quash Driver’s adulterous feelings toward his wife, but which is diffused when he plays nice.

And as Shannon pursues money from Bernie as an investment in Driver’s racing career, Bernie subjects Driver to an informal interview, which seems certain to fail but seals the deal despite Driver’s reticence.

Drama pays off best when it’s paid off with the unexpected, and silence is rarely expected.  Driver goes so far as to tell one character, “How about this—shut your mouth or I’ll kick your teeth down your throat and I’ll shut it for you,” and when Bernie kills Shannon by suddenly slicing him open, he tells him, “It’s done,” and Shannon dies without making a sound. It’s unusual, and it’s creepy, as if the filmmaker, Nicolas Winding Refn, is taking the old “show, don’t tell” mantra to weird extremes. 

In conclusion, it’s easy to see Steve Buscemi having this conversation with Driver (starting at 0:45) in the sequel to Drive, Drive II: Riding Shotgun.

Eyeballs

Bob’s Burgers

Give me Archer, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock and Bob’s Burgers as my only TV ha-has for the rest of my life and I’d make it work (albeit while wondering what kind of screwy scheme my kidnappers cooked up to make this the case). Bob’s Burgers’ spin on the mom + dad + daughter + daughter + son = cartoon family formula thrusts the entire family into Bob’s workplace as all are expected to help the fam meet its modest means. Simpsons + Office? Sure, sort of. Bob’s Burgers thrives in territory formerly owned by the Simpsons but never touched by Seth MacFarlane’s empire: dry, deadpan humor. Though sporting its share of MacFarlane blueness (it is, after all, on Fox at 8:30 Sundays), its great writing is only outdone by its genius voices. Oh, those pipes. These characters wouldn’t work with self-awareness, which is why you hire comedians instead of actors, and which is why we are laughing at them, not with them; it’s the part cartoons were born to play.

Earholes

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Two years ago they murdered SXSW on the heels of their very strong debut. I’m fired for expecting anything less with album deuce and more SXSWing. SEE THIS DAMNED BAND! Ahem, Coachella. Ferocious acoustic lead guitar + twee keys/glockenspiel + inhuman drumming that would make Animal’s jaw drop. You will shout choruses and you will pump fists and you will be jealous of talent.  Early song of the year candidate:

 Earholes

The Head and the Heart

It appears we’ve hit a cycle of music ripe with Wilco-influenced rock, and it’s certainly superior to all Wilco-less cycles. Fleet Foxes? Boom. Local Natives? Kablamo. Batter up, The Head and the Heart. They’ve mastered melodies with swooning, sing-a-long finishes against a hot mess of guitars and keys and strings and harmonies. The live show will leave you crooning and will leave the last song they play lodged in your brain. Just ask Austin. Their debut re-drops this weekend on Record Store Day and on a bigger label (Sub Pop), so use your head and follow your heart to blissful knowledge, Dorothy. They will get large.

Peepers

Win Win

I think this is the first movie I’ve seen in the theater in 2011. 1992 me can’t believe that, but he can believe how heartable this film is.  It’s part Wes Anderson (it does, after all, feature high school grappling), part Alexander Payne and the rest and best to auteur Tom McCarthy, whom I’m ready to christen with his own brand of filmmaking that shouldn’t be called McCarthyism (his first two efforts, The Station Agent and The Visitor, should be watched by your face right now). This one’s a deft look at how we struggle to find happiness in our everyday lives, be it through little things like sports or bigger things like family. Humor + Heart = McCartheater. And oh that National song.

Hear

PJ Harvey, Let England Shake

Earth doesn’t need me to tell it Radiohead released new tunes, so instead I’ll tell it not a joke: I’m ready to say The King of Limbs was the second best album released last week. Despite being about England and the great wars, this is Polly Jean’s genius at her most playful and fun since her pop masterpiece, 2000’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. It’s easy to picture PJ sporting a cunning, wry smile as she sings, “Why don’t I take my problems to the United Nations?” and her backup chorus pipes, “These, these, these are the words, the words that maketh murder.” It’s weird in a pleasant, welcoming way. Early frontrunner for album of the year and “The Glorious Land” is the song of its first two months.

Radiolab Podcast, “Lost and Found”

I REQUIRE YOU TO AT LEAST LISTEN TO THE LAST STORY, “FINDING EMILIE”! Non-negotiable. It will ruin you. It’s heartbreaking in a way that I’m willing to bet the movie based on it gets a best picture nod in 2018. 

This podcast is generally worth your listen. Think This American Life crossed with Malcolm Gladwell.  

Read

Patton Oswalt, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland

Someone paid to rewrite countless movies with nil byline can be called someone who can make anything funny. That man is Patton Oswalt. He’s too smart and too hyperaware of what’s funny for this part memoir, part silly riff collection not to wallop you in your laugh box. 

Eyeball Stimulus

Breaking Bad

AMC is rerunning every episode, and they’re into season three, and few and far between are the shows who’ve managed increasing returns over each of its first three seasons. Season one is good (and its defense was cut short by the strike), season two is great and season three is series defining. Walter White warrants inclusion in any list of the most interesting main characters to grace the tube of boobs.

I watch so much scripted TV that given said quantity (and my perceived quality of it), I could argue that my cable bill, though expensive considering I reside solo, is a steal. Despite my love, and despite my love for comedies, I don’t love a lot of comedies in today’s ether. When 30 Rock dipped past its peak (which it’s arguably regained this season), I was thrilled Parks & Recreation proved a suitable heir to TV’s comedy throne.  

Then came Archer (FX, Thurs, 10 PM, witness). I would define the term *classic* as referring to some nebulous mix of quality, importance and perceived re-watchability in 25 years, and I would say the only classic sitcoms I’ve watched in my lifetime are Cheers, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Arrested Development, 30 Rock and now Archer.  

It’s a cartoon, but it decidedly takes place in the real world (i.e. there’s no talking dog a la Family Guy). It accomplishes more via animation in terms of big budget spy chicanery than trivial cartoonish silliness. Also important: though its tone is A+ irreverent, Archer is no bumbler. He’s confident to the point of being careless and unprofessional, but he doesn’t catch perps with Pink Panther-like flukes.  

Its likability peaks with its real world quotability (“Password? Hmm, how about ‘guest’? No way, it can’t be. That is just babytown frolics,” and, “Who gives a shit about a baby?” and, “Because how hard is it to poach a god damn egg properly? Seriously, that’s like eggs 101, Woodhouse,” and as Kenny Loggins says, “You’re in the danger zone.”), but where, say, the equally quotable Lebowski was more of a comic take on Chinatown’s P.I. Jake Gittes, Archer is Sideshow Bond (Bond being a character so prominently dignified in the pop canon it’s incredible there hasn’t been a memorable spoof—the Pink Panther and The Naked Gun’s Frank Drebin were more bumbling detectives than legit spies). 

Also pitch-worthy is that it features the voices of two Arrested Development alums (Jessica Walter and Judy Greer), and that H. Jon Benjamin (Archer—also Bob on Bob’s Burgers) has surpassed Alec Baldwin as the guy most likely to wring something hilarious out of every line.

18. The Pee Wee Herman Show (Club Nokia, 2/5)

Best set of the year, and by set I mean the Playhouse.  

17. Pavement/Sonic Youth/No Age (Hollywood Bowl, 9/30)

Triple your pleasure, triple your fun. Sonic Youth played zero songs recorded in the last two decades. 

16. Mayer Hawthorne (Sunset Junction, 8/22)

Keep an eye on your ladies, fellas, because they will want this Caucasian soulster. 

15. Hercules & Love Affair (Echoplex, 8/14)

Sweaty dance funk. Wear a shirt you can throw away post show. 

14. Blonde Redhead (Music Box, 11/16)

Their headlining grasp exceeds their albums’ reach.  

13. Thom Yorke (Coachella, 4/18) 

I can’t justify not giving his set my full attention other than having seen him six months earlier, but I, like you, am appalled to see a set that included “Everything in Its Right Place” so low on this list.

12. Matt + Kim (Make Music Fest, 6/19)

If you don’t have fun at Matt + Kim, you officially hate fun. Those smiles. Goddamn those infectious smiles.

11. Belle & Sebastian (Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 10/5) 

A foggy fall night at the cemetery was the show locale of ‘11. 

10. Pavement (Coachella, 4/18)

Where all reunion concerns were given a proper “in your face.” Biggest relief in Coachella history.

9. Menomena/Suckers (El Rey, 9/16)

My, what a big saxophone you have. 

8. Broken Social Scene (Music Box, 5/3)

Arena-worthy indie rock. Guitar + guitar #2 + guitar #3 + guitar #4 = ear sex. 

7. Muse/Faith No More (Coachella, 4/17)

I remember it as a double bill, but mostly I remember lasers. 

6. Robyn (Club Nokia, 11/17)

Do the d-a-n-c-e, 1-2-3-4-5. 

5. Jay-Z (Coachella, 4/16)

Oh no ‘e didn’t! He out arena-ed Muse. He did, he did! 

4. Local Natives (Music Box, 9/17; Coachella, 4/18)

See, hipsters aren’t all bad.

3. Arcade Fire (Shrine Auditorium, 10/7 + 10/8)

I have quibbles with this tour, but they have everything to do with having seen these kids so many times, so those quibbles would only make the best even better. 

2. Los Campesinos! (El Rey, 5/8; Glass House, 5/10) 

Thank gravy for the 5/9 day of rest. I leave their shows a hot, sweaty, voiceless mess.

1. LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip/Sleigh Bells (Hollywood Bowl, 10/15)

 I can believe how easy this choice was, because it’s LCD. 

I don’t go to the theater enough to justify a best ‘10 flicks list considering there are plenty I’ll still see, so maybe I’ll follow-up with a proper list in a few months, but in the meanwhile: 

Movie Event of the Year: The Social Network

Seeing this movie was like seeing a goddamn rock show, an adrenaline high I haven’t had at the Cineplex since There Will Be Blood. I was so hopped up on love that immediately after seeing it I asked my chums if they thought it could touch Avatar’s box office record, and before you dismiss me as a yahoo (which you should still do, just not until after I make my point), realize that my rationale was that the movie kinda sorta has a built in audience of 500 million people, and if it gets on the buzz train…. So that won’t happen, but that doesn’t make it not the best movie of 2010. 

Most Fun Movie Event of the Year: MacGruber

I know my friends think they’re saving face with me when they tell me, “I’ll rent it,” but welcome to fail. It’s your fault movies like the funniest movie I’ve seen since Superbad won’t get made given the financial egg it laid. 

BUT HOW CAN THEY MAKE A MOVIE BASED ON A TWO MINUTE SKETCH! Did your face really say those words? 

1. It’s not the same two minute joke repeated forty times in a small, locked room (you’re thinking of Burial—ZING!).

2. They gave it a narrative.

3. They created an actual villain.

4. They added supporting characters.

You should consider taking your head out of your ass and considering the answer to your own question before asking it.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Winter’s Bone, Inception, The Fighter, Scott Pilgrim, King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, True Grit, The Other Guys, Kick-Ass, Greenberg and Despicable Me.

I’m not saying I don’t have OCD, but the reason this and other lists don’t go up to cuter numbers like 25 is because, par example here, the drop-off from #29 to #30 was tangible enough that cutting the list at 29 seemed the move. 29 great albums is a lot. Cheers, 2010:

29. Sonny & the Sunsets, Tomorrow is Alright

Your own personal summer soundtrack, assuming your summer originates in a garage.

28. The Morning Benders, Big Echo

It’s not doing much beyond aiming for indie rock’s Brooklyn sweet spot, but it hits it.

27. Tame Impala, Innerspeaker

I don’t like stoner rock, but every year seems to have one great stoner rock album, and this is this year’s.

26. The Drums, s/t

I don’t surf, but “Let’s Go Surfing” is both a song and a phrase that perfectly captures the pleasantly catchy vibe of this one.

25. Phantogram, Eyelid Movies

Sexy songs. Really sexy laid back dance-y. And boasting the best (albeit unsexy) song title of ‘10: “Futuristic Caskets.”

24. Los Campesinos!, Romance is Boring

My favorite band on Earth. Ear candy. And no, these Brits are not a mariachi band.

23. Beach House, Teen Dream

Chill, baby, chill.

22. Wavves, King of the Beach

You’ll know if you like this ten seconds into track one. Remarkably catchy and polished relative to their debut.

21. Gorillaz, Plastic Beach

Damon Albarn is an easy inductee into my Rock & Roll HoF, and if Plastic Beach suffers from anything it’s following one of my all-time favorites by anyone.

20. Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest

If Bradford Cox wasn’t so talented his prolific work ethic would be sad and annoying.

19. Hot Chip, One Life Stand

They have safely graduated into the lonely land of Bands We Know Will Reliably Crank Out Great Album After Great Album. Chip is the hottest.

18. Kings Go Forth, Outsiders are Back

Here’s to great soul music never going away. The official genre of sustainability.

17. The Roots, How I Got Over

We should all sound this fresh nine albums in.

16. Admiral Radley, I Heart California

Earth misses you, Grandaddy, but this side project from Jason Lytle and members of Earlimart fills the void nicely. 

15. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Before Today

It’s chock filled with weird elements going back to psych rock of the sixties and other genres I’m not keen on, but the sum total > its individual parts. It ultimately settles in as a fantastic sixties pop record.

14. Wolf Parade, Expo 86

I have a fierce dude crush on Spencer Krug and someday expect to induct his efforts into my personal Rock & Roll HoF. Wolf Parade have put together a five year catalog I’d put up against anyone’s. They wouldn’t win, but they’d be among the last standing.

13. Janelle Monáe, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)

I stood next to her in a La Guardia security line ~2 years ago, and it was before 6 AM, and she still had her look done up and perfected hours after finishing one of her first NYC shows. This is the work of an artist who has her shit together.

12. Sleigh Bells, Treats

The notion that so many people think Sleigh Bells is derivative makes me think I’ve missed an entire genre of music. And I don’t think that. You’ve really heard hard rock dance music with many of the hooks of the year?

11. Robyn, Body Talk

Robyn at #11 strikes me as the most flagrant example of how much heat 2010 brought. If you like dance music, you’ll love her. If you don’t like dance music, you’ll still probably love her. Throw your hands in the sky, and wave ‘em from side to side.

10. The Walkmen, Lisbon

Every album they’ve dropped makes me consider if it’s their best, and five albums in that’s a hell of an upward trend. They’ve created a lounge-y vibe nobody does better. 

9. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Earth misses Outkast. More than they missed Jay-Z during his “retirement.” Dre was the clever one, but Big Boi made it a party, and Big Boi gets this party started right. Perhaps more impressive is that he actually manages a hilarious hip hop skit (“the David Blaine”).

8. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

Three albums, three great albums and a deserved spot among rock’s elite. The question is whether or not they have a second classic album in them, and I think this one indicates yes, but I don’t think this is it. To get hokey, “The Sprawl” is both a song on the album and describes its 16 tracks. Four months later and there are a few songs I can guiltlessly skip.

7. Maximum Balloon, s/t

Am I the only person who got this album? Where is it on other 2010 bests lists? TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek makes a dance record with la crème de la guest vocalists. Dear Earth, What do you need, a roadmap? 

6. Yeasayer, Odd Blood

It doesn’t add up. Psychedelic + Folky + Hippy Bleeps and Bloops = Indie Rock Dance-off. 2011’s most successfully inventive effort.

5. Menomena, Mines

I’m obsessed with this band. I liken them to Animal Collective strictly by the fact that you’re not going to digest it in one listen, and it’s going to take some work, but there are a lot of pop elements intertwined with weirdness (saxophone!) and hot damn if it doesn’t pay off once it clicks.

4. LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening

I couldn’t argue against Sound of Silver as being the best album of the last decade, and this is a plenty worthy follow-up, and that’s the ravest of reviews. See future list: Favorite Show of 2010.

3. Local Natives, Gorilla Manor

Who needs Brooklyn when L.A. is blossoming so? Okay, that’s not remotely valid yet, but Local Natives nail the best of the best harder rocking moments from your Wilcos and your Fleet Foxes. Top five Coachella 2011 act, and the cover of 2011 is their take on The Talking Heads’ “Warning Sign.”

2. The National, High Violet

I listened to this album more than any other this year. They’re the band I’d hire to write the soundtrack to my life.

1. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The only thing more annoying than Kanye West is Kanye West’s talent. His worst album is great, and this is his best, and it’s the only album released this year I’m certain will be considered a classic in ten years. It’s Kanye’s love letter to his critics, but he’s not saying I’m sorry or fuck off or I’m a misunderstood artist. What he finally is is self-aware:

“I thought I was the asshole,

I guess it’s rubbing off,

Hood phenomenon,

The Lebron of rhyme,

Hard to be humble when you stuntin’ on a jumbotron,”

Or

 “God said I need a different approach,

‘cause people is looking at me like I’m sniffing coke,

It ain’t funny anymore try dipping jokes,

Tell ‘em hug and kiss my ass, X and O,

Kiss the ring while they at it,

Do my thing while I got it,

Play strings for the dramatic and end all that whack shit,”

or

“I don’t really give a fuck about it at all,

‘cause the same people that tried to black ball me forgot about two things: my black balls,”

or

“I embody every characteristic of the egotistic,

He knows he’s so fuckin’ gifted,

I just needed time alone with my own thoughts,”

and the list goes on and on and on and on and on. As much as people shit on him, lest we forget the countless hip hoppers the last few years who have spent time locked up for literal crimes. When your worst quality is thinking you’re the best and you are the best, where’s the crime?

We have 2007 to thank for the above-the-bar year of music that was 2010.  2007 was my favorite year of music in the last decade, if not ever, and the success of those great albums afforded their creators three years to follow-up, and by and large (i.e. everyone but M.I.A.) delivered. 

Favorite album list forthcoming, but fortunately the waiting room is playing my favorite songs of 2010. I would love to link to all of them but instead encourage you to search for them at Hype Machine or elsewhere. On with the trophies!

53. The New Pornographers, Your Hands (Together)

52. Belle & Sebastian, I Didn’t See It Coming

51. Mayer Hawthorne, Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’

50. Matt + Kim, Red Paint

49. Scala & Kolacny Brothers, Creep

48. The Drums, Let’s Go Surfing

47. The Deadly Syndrome, Doesn’t Matter

46. The Roots, The Fire

45. The Joy Formidable, Cradle

44. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Beverly Kills

43. Tame Impala, Lucidity

42. Liars, Scissor

41. Blonde Redhead, Here Sometimes

40. Beach House, Used to Be

39. Hot Chip, I Feel Better

38. John Legend & The Roots, Hard Times

37. Spoon, Got  Nuffin

36. Dead Weather, Old Mary

35. Deerhunter, Coronado

34. No Age, Valley Hump Crash

33. Mark Ronson & the Business Intl, Bang, Bang, Bang

32. Flying Lotus, Do the Astral Plane

31. Frightened Rabbit, The Loneliness and the Scream

30. Admiral Radley, Sunburn Kids

29. Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone

28. Caribou, Odessa

27. Wavves, King of the Beach

26. The Corin Tucker Band, Doubt

25. Broken Bells, Vaporize

24. jónsi, Animal Arithmetic

23. The Black Keys, Howlin’ For You

22. Broken Social Scene, All to All

21. Vampire Weekend, Giving Up the Gun

20. The Walkmen, Blue as Your Blood

It’s laid back but has momentum. This is what would happen if The Walkmen scored a western.

19. Gorillaz, Empire Ants

Shades of Blur’s Think Tank.

18. LCD Soundsystem, You Wanted a Hit

Yes. Yes, I did.

17. M.I.A., Born Free

Take this song off the album and the album gets downgraded from bad-for-M.I.A. to bad.

16. Janelle Monáe, Faster

Her music’s as stylish as she is.

15. Kings Go Forth, Fight With Love

Cream of 2010’s modern soul crop.

14. Big Boi, General Patton

It had me at hip hopera.

13. The National, Bloodbuzz Ohio

Like a slow burn that crescendos into insanity.

12. Los Campesinos!, We Got Your Back

Song most likely to make me rupture my vocal chords at a concert.

11. Menomena, TAOS

It’s so clearly a single but so clearly unlike anything else in the ether.

10. Wolf Parade, Cave-O-Sapien

Spencer Krug writes the best album closers on Earth. 

9. Sleigh Bells, Crown on the Ground

How did M.I.A. hiccup that Sleigh Bells sample?

8. Cee-Lo, Fuck You

The last hook this hooky was quite probably “Crazy.”

7. Maximum Balloon (w/ David Byrne), Apartment Wrestling

Confirming what we suspected after last year’s Knotty Pine turn with The Dirty Projectors: Byrne’s still a party starter.

6. Yeasayer, Ambling Alp

Listen, love, buy album, love album.

5. Robyn, Dancing on My Own

I could’ve easily included at least five Robyn cuts. Dance party of the year.

4. Suckers, Black Sheep

If Animal Collective preyed on huge guitar hooks…. The video is shatrageous.

3. Arcade Fire, Ready to Start

The Suburbs may have better songs (We Used to Wait) and it may have more inventive songs (The Sprawl II), but this fist pumping chorus is, after all, why we first fell in love with them. A huge showstopper they’ve started their shows with to XL effect

2. Kanye West, Power

I’ve followed the one-song-per-artist approach, which is a good thing for all non-Kanye artists else he’d have had at least three of the top ten slots. Banger of the year and damned if he’s not spot on: no one man should have all that power.

1. Phantogram, When I’m Small

That sexy dance hook coupled with being my ringtone for six months without withering seals this deal.

Too many people equate being opinionated with being a snob. They’re wrong (another opinion): being opinionated = being impassioned. Such passion means labels like “my favorite” aren’t haphazardly hurled about. Choosing my favorite band warrants miles more deliberation than choosing my pick for president, so the following list of my favorite bands over time (starting at the age of ten) took 23 years to write. 

INXS: 1987-1988

Listen, I was ten. Kick was the first new album I bought that was endlessly trackable, which shape-shifted my listening habits forever ever.  It is, however, a great album that doesn’t sound as dated as most eighties rock.  

Beatles: 1988-1991

Everyone needs a hip uncle. Immediately after getting my first discman, my uncle Steve handed over a stack of Beatles discs.  There’s no rational argument that a better band has happened or will happen again.  As a kid it already sounded familiar.

Nirvana: 1991-1993

There are few things lamer in rock than cliches, but I was the cliche: I was the perfect age and had the perfect sensibility such that my first 20 years of life had two music eras: pre- and post-Nirvana. This album kicked my ass. Of course I remember where I was when Cobain died.  But I also remember where I was when John Candy died, so read into it what you like.

Smashing Pumpkins: 1993-2000

Let’s call this era The Favorite.  I have and will never love a band with the intensity that I loved Corgan & Co here, which speaks largely to my being at the right age where music became more than music for me (to get trite, it was then that music wielded the ability to improve my quality of life), but make no mistake: I was obsessed.  During SP’s first iteration, Corgan was one of the most prolifically gifted guitarists in Earth’s history, and I had every track, every b-side, dozens of bootlegs and creepy accoutrements (I have two vinyl copies of Pisces Iscariot for reasons that certainly didn’t make me normal). 

Radiohead: 2000-2005

I’m not so me-centric as to suggest that my favorite band is the world’s best, but I am Radiohead-centric enough to insist that by 2000 Radiohead were the greatest band on Earth, and that it’s a title they have yet to relinquish (though I think contenders for their inheritor are staking claims, and it’s something I’ll post about sometime in 2011).  In a word, they are important. In a sentence, they will influence music for the rest of our lives.

Arcade Fire: 2005-2008

Yes, Funeral was that good. And if Funeral = landing on the moon, Funeral live = landing on, colonizing and building a circus on Mars.

Los Campesinos!: 2008-Present

And the heavens parted, and the God of Rock gave us a band comprised of this guy’s favoritest elements of rocking: multi-instrumental ensemble + huge hooks + sticky melodies + choral shouts + hand claps + wit = this guy’s glee. Do you like fun?  

Hear

Spinning Anew

Lou Reed, Transformer: Like I said: it’s been a Velvet Underground obsessed 2010, and wanting more after cashing their catalog took me to the most satisfying VU posthumous effort. If describing an album as “Velvet Underground as interpreted by David Bowie” sounds orgasmic, it’s because that album causes orgasms, and that album is this album (Bowie had a hand in its genesis). Lou’s effort is more successful at quenching his quintessential band’s fans more than anything Lennon or McCartney managed post-Beatles, though not quite the grand slam that was Harrison’s All Things Must Pass.  As thrilling as such an album sounds, it’s depressing in the fact that it guarantees Lou still had a classic VU album or two in his brain. It’ll do because it’ll have to do, and it’ll do because it’s classic. 

Currently Spinning

Many of the artists mentioned in the worth-your-while NYT piece Can a Nerd Have Soul?

Words

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Timequake and Mother Night: Most writers think of stories and then plant their ideas and determine their execution. Most of Vonnegut’s work works the opposite: here was a man who came up with ideas both genius and ingenious, profound and silly, with an execution even further left of center than the idea. Maybe there’s a narrative. More likely a series of situational, smaller stories build the whole, and Timequake is an ingenious example of such. In 2001 a timequake zaps Earth ten years prior, forcing Earth people to relive those ten years exactly as they had before. After ten years sans freewill, nobody quite knows what to do with it when they get it back. Genius.

Mother Night is less cerebral in its idea but plenty profound, and as such a great starting point for Vonnegut virgins. Here our hero was an American spy in Nazi Germany, and as any good spy’s role dictates he’s tasked with acting like a Nazi. With the war long over, he’s put on trial for his acts. Is he guilty?  

Special shout-out: my hometown just opened the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. You should support it. 

See

Boob Tube

Luther (BBC America): Sure we’ve seen it countless times: the homicide detective who’s wired a little too much like the kooky killers (s)he chases, but that doesn’t compromise Luther (although perhaps in part because you’re only signing on for six episodes). The British shows of this sort that I’ve gotten behind (namely MI-5) seem more successfully creative in concocting twisted bad guys than Sherlock Holmes type heroes, so it’s fun watching future Earth star Idris Elba tangle with a cop killer who calls 9-1-1 only to go Charles Whitman on the responding cops and a woman who’s committed the perfect crime in killing her ma and pa. Fans of the genre will be fans of Luther. 

Plenty has been written about the televised decade that is the naughts going down as the introduction of the antagonistic protagonist. Not enough has been written about The Shield, FX’s grisly take on the police procedural. Detective Vic Mackey is more corrupt than his Tony Soprano led forbearers (he is, after all, a cop), yet still you root for him. The pilot alone lays down a thread woven many times prior and proceeds to shove a grenade down its throat while making you French kiss it.

Chiklis as Mackey joins Gandolfini’s Soprano and Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen as antagonist heroes of the naughts, but from the file of the should be famous are supporting superstars Walton Goggins as a Mackey lackey and Jay Karnes as Detective Wagenbach (easy spinoff: Wagenbach’s interrogations).  Glenn Close’s turn as chief in season four is predictably punchy, and remarkably her go is topped in season five by my choice for guest turn of the decade: Forest Whitaker as Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh. How series creator Shawn Ryan (currently: Terriers & Fox’s upcoming Chicago Code) has you rooting for evil Mackey against the clearly morally superior Kavanaugh feels corrupting, manipulative, mischievous and fantastic fun.

Ryan keeps the effort top shelf throughout all seven seasons, and more so than its TV brethren of The Sopranos and Deadwood and The Wire, Mackey’s curtain call is a jaw-dropping feat of the perfect, the appropriate and the unpredictable. The good guy can’t always win in a world without good guys.