Nu Rave Brain Wave

I love doing year end roundup coverage and I’m still waiting to put up the bands to watch list, so I thought we’d highlight some of the great bands we discovered over the past year. Some of them made our 2011 bands to watch list, some of them didn’t, some of them aren’t even NEW but rest assured they all rule. As per the usual, you can download a great mp3 from each of the bands at the links.

The Strangers Family Band
Les Rallizes Denudes
Best Coast
Happy Birthday
Neverever
Caitlin Rose
Eternal Summers
Wild Palms
Harlem
Exlovers
White Fence
Spectrals
Cloud Nothings
Hey Sholay
The Invisible Hand
Fair Ohs
Monster Rally
Family Trees
Silver Machine
Tennis
Hot Spa
Fergus & Geronimo
The Jim Jones Revue
Superhumanoids
Jeffertitti’s Nile
Mind Spiders
Shimmering Stars
Young Sinclairs
Son of Rams
Guards
The N.E.C
Balkans
Velvet Davenport
Dominant Legs
The Splinters
Unouomedude
The Vaccines
The Babies
Ducktails
Las Robertas
Heavy Hawaii
Francois & The Atlas Mountains
Myelin Sheaths
Pete Drake
Mess Folk
Black Mekon
Man The Hunter
Navajo Bixby
Wetdog
Demon’s Claws
Cheveu
French Kissing
Whatever Brains
The Castillians
Bass Drum of Death
Dead Ghosts
Swampmeat
Sonny & The Sandwitches
Fanzine
Crusaders of Love
Wombs
Moonhearts
Bleeding Knees Club
Straight Arrows
Hello My Name Is Red
Sauna Youth
School Knights
Tree Hopping
The Meanest Boys
Friends
Ghost Outfit

And due to high demand you can download a track from each artist put into a zip folder right here.

2010 has been a pretty fun year for music. Every year, I discover more music, better music, and sometimes it cracks me up to see how my music taste grows and differs as the years go by, but I think 2010 has been a great year for new bands and kickass albums. I’ve compiled my list of 10 albums that I really loved, 5 EPs that just got to me, and then 30 songs that I’ve called Top Songs, but they’re just 30 songs that I liked a hell of a lot and came to me as I thought about it and scanned carelessly through iTunes. It’s interesting to note that half of my favorite albums are from California bands.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

10 Ty Segall | Melted | Goner

mp3 :: Ty Segall - Melted

09 Woven Bones | In & Out & Back Again | Hozac

mp3 :: Woven Bones - I\'ve Gotta Get

08 Dead Ghosts | S/T | Florida’s Dying

mp3 :: Dead Ghosts - When It Comes To You

07 Heavy Hawaii | HH | Artfag Records

mp3 :: Heavy Hawaii - Teen Angel

06 The Strange Boys | Be Brave | In The Red

mp3 :: The Strange Boys - Be Brave

05 Fool’s Gold | Fool’s Gold | IAMSOUND Records

mp3 :: Fool\'s Gold - Surprise Hotel

04 Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo | Subpop

mp3 :: Avi Buffalo - What\'s In It For?

03 The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack | Mexican Summer

mp3 :: The Soft Pack - C\'Mon

02 Harlem | Hippies | Matador

mp3 :: Harlem - Friendly Ghost

01 Happy Birthday | Happy Birthday | Subpop

mp3 :: Happy Birthday - Girls FM

________________________________________________________________

Top 5 EPs of 2010

05 Monster Rally | Monster Rally EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Monster Rally - Maori Mai

04 Unouomedude | Marsh EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Unouomedude - Buildings

03 Caitlin Rose | Dead Flowers EP | Names Records

mp3 :: Caitlin Rose - Docket

02 Sex Beet | EP | TBA

mp3 :: Sex Beet - Sugar Water

(note: this is totally not the artwork, as this isn’t released yet, but the EP is too good to not be included on this list.)

01 The Growlers | Hot Tropics EP | Everloving

mp3 :: The Growlers - Graveyard\'s Full

________________________________________________________________

Top 30 Songs of 2010:

01 The Babies | Meet Me In The City | Listen

02 Happy Birthday | Perverted Girl | Listen

03 Sex Beet | Stay

04 Friends | Make It Better

05 The Meanest Boys | Strangest Things

06 Tennis | South Carolina | Listen

07 Spectrals | Leave Me Be | Listen

08 Family Trees | Dream Talkin’ | Listen

09 Cee Lo Green | Fuck You | Listen

10 Sonny & The Sunsets | Too Young To Burn | Listen

11 Beach Fossils| Sometimes | Listen

12 Woven Bones | Wanna Tell Ya | Listen

13 Ty Segall | Bullet Proof Nothing

14 Surfer Blood | Take It Easy | Listen

15 School Knights | Lunch Money

16 Happy Birthday | Subliminal Message | Listen

17 The Growlers | Sea Lion Goth Blues | Listen

18 Unouomedude | Buildings | Listen

19 The Strange Boys | Laugh At Sex (Not At Her) | Listen

20 Mind Spiders | World’s Destroyed

21 Fair Ohs | Hey Lizzy | Listen

22 Fergus & Geronimo | Girls With English Accents

23 French Kissing | You Just Don’t Know What Love Is For

24 Sweaters | Fruit On The Vine

25 Demon’s Claws | Fucked on K | Listen

26 Swampmeat | Brand New Cadillac

27 Gaoler’s Daughter | Meet You On The Other Side of the World

28 Shimmering Stars | I’m Gonna Try | Listen

29 My Pet Saddle | Il Fait Beau | Listen

30 Cults | Go Outside | Listen

It’s finally that time, y’all and we’ll start rolling out all our end of year coverage and this year we’re starting with my top 10 gigs of the year. I saw a lot of great music this year, and practically no shitty music, which I think is a decided improvement upon 2009′s showing. 2010 brought me to shows in four states, two countries, seven cities and while my list features predominantly California bands, not one of my favorite shows of this year happened in Los Angeles. Here’s to the greatness of 2010 and the probability that 2011 will put it all to shame:

10 The Entrance Band @ Red 7, Austin, TX | March 18, 2010

Crazy acid rain haze Friday of SXSW ended with a smoky, incendiary set that did half justice to anything Jimi Hendrix started and that’s probably the best compliment I could give. Real psychy.

mp3 | The Entrance Band - Lookout!

09 The Jim Jones Revue @ Komedia Downstairs, Brighton, UK | October 6, 2010

A too-small-for-them, but, perfect-for-the-gig room echoing with real, dirty, sweaty, down home blues rock with spastic keys and the most magnetic front-man I’ve seen in, well, maybe ever. Older dudes showing us young kids how to fucking do it.

mp3 | The Jim Jones Revue - Hey Hey Hey Hey

08 Pavement @ The Fox Theatre, Pomona, CA | April 15, 2010

Pavement. Two hours. Three encores. Everything I wanted to hear except ‘Harness Your Hopes’. Does anything more need to be said?

mp3 | Pavement - Shady Layne (LIVE EUROPATURNÉN MCMXCVII)

07 The Soft Pack @ The Freebutt, Brighton, UK | February 14, 2010

Some of LA’s best garage rippers came to Brighton to brighten (pun intended) the most horrible day of the year and cemented in my mind the fact that they get tighter and catchier every time I see them.

mp3 | The Soft Pack - C\'Mon

06 Happy Birthday, Residual Echoes @ Tin Can Ale House, San Diego, CA | August 10, 2010

Tiny bar on a beautiful San Diego night, 30 people jumping madly for some of the best pop songs of the entire year. Best Happy Birthday show of the year. Subliminal Message!

mp3 | Happy Birthday - Subliminal Message

05 The Strange Boys @ Emo’s Jr., Austin, TX | March 17, 2010

Was a little nervous about hearing material from the 2nd album, which is definitely a grower — The Strange Boys wowed me as usual, converting me to a fan of Be Brave, and played the best material off their perfect first album. Also, this was one of the greatest dance parties I’ve ever had in my life to ‘Woe Is You And Me’.

mp3 | The Strange Boys - Woe Is You & Me

04 Happy Birthday, Fergus & Geronimo, Sex Beet, Thee Oh Sees @ Santos Party House, New York, NYC | September 20, 2010

Gig that wins the award for furthest traveled to see. Fergus & Geronimo were a bit meh, but still have at least two excellent songs; Happy Birthday ripped through some of the most underrated, gold pop songs. Sex Beet converted the sizable crowd of their first ever US show with their noisy and fuzzy as fuck jams that refuse to leave my head. And Thee Oh Sees. Hardest working, if not best live, garage band on the planet ruled the night playing fast and furious through tons of their best.

mp3 | Happy Birthday - 2 Shy
mp3 | Fergus & Geronimo - Girls With English Accents
mp3 | Sex Beet - Stay
mp3 | Thee Oh Sees - Mega-feast

03 The Black Lips @ Village Underground, London, UK | October 29, 2010

Typical crazy Black Lips show featuring a rowdy moshpit, tons of shoving and about a million stage invasions causing the PA to be turned off atleast once. London’s hipsters couldn’t even manage to be a blight upon the Black Lips though, as their countrified new material was the star of the show.

mp3 | Black Lips - Best Napkin I Ever Had

02 tUnE-yArDs @ The Freebutt, Brighton, UK | February 9, 2010

There’s not many gigs where I know nothing of the artist, and end up walking up the wrong stairwell, grinning because of the fantastic showing. tUnE-yArDs wowed Brighton with her simulatenously tender and incredibly powerful voice, altogether homegrown brilliance, and intense and utter modesty. It was moving stuff.

mp3 | tUnE-yArDs - News

01 The Growlers @ Kung Fu Saloon | March 19, 2010

Even on the coldest day of South By, the Growlers set the brick patio of Kung Fu Saloon on fire after a spectacular 5 other showings at SXSW. ‘Sea Lion Goth Blues’, ‘Underneath Our Palms Blues’, ‘Mean People Suck’, fistpumping party, ski ball and cheap ass rum and cokes made this the only 12/10 showing of the entire year, cementing the Growlers are my absolute favorite band in the world.

mp3 | The Growlers - Drinkin The Juice Blues

Their statement, fished from their website which will go off the air on December 15th, is below. Sad times, for real, y’all. Though who knows, someone new might start throwing shows around Brighton pretty soon…

On June 24th 2009, Andy Rossiter, John Fischer, Bootleg Al Murray, and Tom Denney took over ownership on the Freebutt and Penthouse as we currently know/knew it.

Up until July 2010 the Freebutt and Penthouse were responsible for bringing Brighton some of the past years most legendary shows such as:

Tubelord, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Dead Swans, Future of the Left, Six Organs of Admittance, Esben and the Witch, Espers, The Cave Singers, BLK JKS, Dosh, We Were Promised Jet Packs, Twilight Sad, Damien Jurado, The Wave Pictures, My Passion, Themselves, The Invisible, Future Islands, Kayo Dot, Paint It Black, Jeffrey Lewis, Wooden Shjips, Growing, Tune Yards, Shearwater, Japandroids, The Heavy, Xiu Xiu, Gift of Gab, Memory Tapes, Brother Ali, Mount Eerie, Bear in Heaven, Tim Hecker, Dead Meadow, Nina Nastasia, Washed Out, Ariel Pink, The Middle East, Oneothrix Point Never

As you all know, in July 2010 the Brighton and Hove City Council reduced the volume limiter in the Freebutt to a level that meant that amplified music was no longer possible. It was unfair and unjust action brought upon four young music lovers who were ultimately just trying to bring good music to their favourite city.

Dec 1st: Pulled Apart by Horses + Gay For Johnny Depp + Young Legionnaire @ Audio // 7pm // www.seetickets.com

Dec 11th: Furyon + Imicus + Oaf @ Audio // 7pm // www.seetickets.com

We all thank you greatly for your support and belief in our vision of the Freebutt and our sound plight. We all had an incredible 12 months behind the wheel of the Freebutt and hope you enjoyed the shows that we brought to town.

So I penned (using my stunning journalism voice) the following for Drowned in Sound about the great Los Angeles band, Fool’s Gold whose debut album came out on IAMSOUND Records earlier this year. It’s good. People kind of forgot about it, but not me:

Back in January, when I reviewed Fool’s Gold’s debut, self-titled album, I called them a quintessential Los Angeles band, which they are. Their influence, not only through their music, but through side-projects (Foreign Born, especially), but in support of other local bands can still be seen/heard in LA. There was a time when it seemed like I couldn’t go a week without seeing Fool’s Gold, from opening slots to Dub Club to their triumphant Residency at the Echo, they built a pretty sizable buzz (I want to make some kind of vuvuzela joke, but I think it’s too late). Then the album was released and it got very positive press, but now, almost 12 months later, I hardly hear them mentioned, unless it’s the about massive world tour that they’ve been on for months and months now.

I think Fool’s Gold face the live band vs. on record band connundrum. Fool’s Gold are a live band. There’s no two ways about it — their live shows are an experience. Their music is blatantly body music so when you’re in a sweaty club and their rhythms are washing over you like pulsating waves, and you’ve got a crowd full of people groovin’ right next to you — it just works so well. Every time that I’ve seen them, it’s been an extremely communal, joyous experience that encapsulates their ethos perfectly.

And the songs off the album work so well live; ‘Surprise Hotel’, the crowning jewel of their reppertoire, is always wonderfully light and the whimsy of the guitar line is as beautiful on record as it in person. ‘Nadine’ translates just as well, the vocals are longing and floating, the horns just as jubilant, and the mesh of the backing rythms shines perfectly through at the brightest moments.When I reviewed the album, I classified the first half of the album as body music and mind music, and the second half as just body music. Which, in the live arena, works out very well — ‘The World Is All Their Is’ is the perfect example, live it’s soaring and bright, the perfect set-closer; but on record, when your feet aren’t stamping along to the beat and you don’t have someone elses sweat flying at you, it feels drawn out. The second half of the album, which can meander into that wild, lengthy territory, is best seen live.

The album is definitely an album that got swallowed up, perhaps by it’s January release, or perhaps because, while the album shines – it shines just a little less bright than their live show. This is not a story where the live show compensates for a mediocre album, it’s a case of the live show burning so bright, that it sort of eclipses what sounds great on record as well. So, I guess this is a plea — don’t write off the album, Pesacov, Top and company have almost perfected their polyrythmic, melodic, Afropop influence and turned it into 8 tracks that will make you dance. If not around your room, then definitely when you see them live — and if they don’t, well… Then something’s wrong with you.

mp3 | Fool\'s Gold - Suprise Hotel

I don’t think England is as big on Black Friday as we are in America, which is fortunate, because I can tell you from being on the ‘working-on-this-cursed-day-of-infamy’ side of things, Black Friday is the worst day of the year. However, the great people over at Record Store Day are making things better for some of us. They’re quick to point out that this isn’t Record Store Day, RSD ’11 or anything else, it’s just a group of pretty rad releases that can only be bought at your local record store. I guess they’re marketing it as stuff that you’re going to like to give and someone will love to receive, which is cool. So I present to you, the coolest Record Store Black Friday exclusives. If you want to pick me up one… well, I wouldn’t say no.

The Doors
“The Doors”

180 gram mono vinyl reissue
As a stand alone LP, this is EXCLUSIVE to indies and will not be available anywhere else. The Mono release was previously available in the Doors LP Box Set, sold out for over a year.

Cee Lo Green
“fuck you”

12″ Maxi Colored Vinyl is exclusive format. “Fuck You” is up digitally, but there is no other place that the you can get the instrumental version.

Jimi Hendrix
“Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”

10″ green vinyl single
features” Little Drummer Boy,” “Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne”

Roky Erickson/The Black Angels
“Night of the Vampire”

DVD
12″ 180 gram vinyl
Legendary psych rocker and founding member of 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson returned to the stage in 2008 to perform songs from the 13th Floor Elevators catalog that had not been performed in decades. Backed by the neo-psychedelic rock heavyweights, The Black Angels, “Night of the Vampire” captures a special performance Halloween night 2008 from the El Ray Theater in Los Angeles.

Bob Dylan
“The Times They Are A Changin”/”Like A Rolling Stone”

“The Times They Are A-Changin’” from the Whitmark Demos release /”Like a Rolling Stone” (2010 mono version) From the Legacy Mono Box release

That Jimi Hendrix one looks pretty rad, for your information, Little Drummer Boy is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Also, the Bob one would look pretty sweet in my collection. I’m just saying. Also I know Colette would like the Roky/Black Angels and the Doors. Please, get on it someone. Check out the rest of the releases.

Yes, guys, it’s about that time. 2010 is halfway gone, although I don’t know how that happened, and I’ve already taken five 11 hour flights, been to Austin and back, and just generally did the thang, y’all. And I’ve racked up some awesome records that have soundtracked my life lately, and I thought I’d share some of the best one’s of 2010 and the ones that have the best chance of making my end of the year list too. This one has no particular order in mind, just what came to me. If the album name is linked, it’s because you can download a track from the album and hopefully purchase this excellent music.

Harlem | Hippies
Happy Birthday | Happy Birthday
Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo
Monster Rally | Monster Rally
Woven Bones | In & Out & Back Again
Fionn Regan | The Shadow of an Empire
The Strange Boys | Be Brave
Best Coast | Sun Was High 7”
Caitlin Rose | Dead Flowers EP
Fool’s Gold | Fool’s Gold
The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack
The Growlers | Daytrotter Session
Gaoler’s Daughter | The Only Way To Travel
Surfer Blood | Astrocoast
Neverever | Angelic Swells

(this is the first thing that came up when i google-imaged Warlocks)

I’m sorry but the term aughties makes me cringe, I wish we as a collective society could have picked something better. But I guess that’s beside the point.

Anyway, mad mad mad mad mad props to Bobby for mentioning The Growlers–he compared Brooks’ voice to a “wrecked pirate ship” and I have to say that is a perfect analysis. Also props for hating on Radiohead (a little).

Here @ LA Record

Welcome to one of our first previews on SXSW. It struck me the other day that in a month and a half basically everyone who is anyone is going to be showing up in Austin, TX for the best week of the year. Here’s 7 artists that I am super looking forward to seeing in ATX and I hope you’ll check them out and see them live while you can….

Avi Buffalo (Los Angeles CA)

Avi Buffalo is the ringleader/wunderkind of an awesome band that has been making waves in Los Angeles for some time now. He’s going to bring his fresh, vital, youthful sound to Austin for the first time. Personally, I prefer the boy-girl interplay of Avi Buffalo to the much more hyped version that the xx are peddling around town, but Avi’s sound has a really simply melodic, classic beauty to it that got the attention of Sup Pop and a good portion of Los Angeles. This kid and his band of children (they just graduated HS for god sakes!) have it all – it’s going to be a fun ride watching where they take it.
DOWNLOAD ->

Avi Buffao – Whats In It For 7″

Marques Toliver (London UK-ENGLAND)

This guy is just straight up SO. TALENTED. I mentioned before that I had seen him busking on the streets of Brighton (he’s a friend of a friend) and he told me that he was playing a little pub called the George and I was flat out stunned. He plays violin like an angel. His voice works so beautifully with his instrument – its a waltz of epic proportion, I love the interplays between plucking the violin and playing it normally – he just writes wonderful songs that inspire so much emotion and are so stunning they suck the speech right out of the room. I really think SXSW is going to propel this guy to be where he deserves. I don’t know if this will appeal to people who would normally read this blog – but I can only emphatically say GO SEE HIM PLAY. You won’t regret it.

Subway Musician from Cyrus Dowlatshahi on Vimeo.

Beans on Toast (London UK-ENGLAND)

Beans on Toast has been a weird-folk-hero around town for a looong time. Prior to the end of last year, he’d never properly released anything (he gave away his tracks!) and had basically 0 internet presence – the only contact he’d had with America, that I’m aware of anyway, was two visits to SXSW (2008 & 2009 respectively). And then he released his 50-track epic-folk-masterwork ‘Standing on a Chair’ and he’s all over the place with his friends (Josh Weller, Johnny Fynn, Mumford & Sons etc etc). Seeing Beans on Toast live is scuh a pleasure – he’s got such a warm ethos, a hilarious manner and just puts on a great show. He’s definitely not the most skilled musician, but what he lacks in technically skill is made up for with his adorable grin, his songs that draw you in with wittiness and rhyme, and the fact that he literally stands on a chair.

DOWNLOAD -> Beans On Toast – I Fancy Laura Marling

Johnny Flynn (London UK-ENGLAND)

I shouldn’t have to pitch Johnny Flynn to anyone but here it goes. The man makes gorgeous folk tunes – like, really masterful ones. His debut ‘A Larum’ overflowed with beautiful gems with wise-beyond-his-25-years lyrics (sung in his mellow voice) floating over acoustic picking or backed by his country tinged band or over elegent strings. His full band shows, with the Sussex Wit, are more of a fun romp and stomp, but get ready to get your breath taken away when he performs acoustic – ‘The Wrote & The Writ’ is one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful songs I’ve heard in … well, ever. Don’t miss him.

DOWNLOAD -> Johnny Flynn – The Wrote & The Writ

Woven Bones (Austin TX)

Woven Bones is a band that I was surprised to not hear of until they opened for the Growlers. They specialize in fuzzy, primal, intense garage rock. Their live set is ramshackle in all the right places held together by Mo Tucker-esque simple, primal drums and really stong bass. Andy sings with a bit of a southern drawl but it all comes together in a really tight little package. Definitely a band to watch.

Download -> Woven Bones – Your Sorcery

Happy Birthday (Burlington VT)
It’s hard to sell a band off of only one song – that is, unless the song is like, really really great. And fortuntely, for us AND for HB, ‘Girls FM’ (the first track off their forthcoming debut) is really fucking good. It’s got an interesting hook, it’s got King Tuff’s awesome caterwaul vocals and it’s catchy as fuck. With the members, especially King Tuff’s general excellence, it’s hard to imagine this debut not being one of my favorites of the year and making a giant splash at SXSW. If you like this, check out King Tuff’s old stuff – his only album ‘Is Dead’ is actually amazing and you’ll see this kid’s got a loooot to offer. Let’s hope he took some of his garage-blues sensibilities and infused them with Happy Birthday’s stuff, yeah?

DOWNLOAD -> Happy Birthday – Girls FM

Best Coast (Los Angeles CA)
Bethany Constantino = Best Coast. While I love that her moniker says everything that I feel about East vs. West, I also love what she’s doing with Bobb Bruno on drums. Detractors will surely say she’s cashing in on the overdone lo-fi business, but I say fuck them, this is sticky-sweet lo-fi beachy goodness. ‘When I’m With You’ is pop brilliance, and her voice really melds to whatever she’s conveying in each song – raning from darling to a little rough and on ‘The Sun Was High (So Was I), well, soaring. This bitch is encapsulating a part of California that I hold near and dear to me – and it sounds so good. Don’t know what they’re like live, but I’m certainly going to be finding out.

DOWNLOAD -> Best Coast – Make You Mine

Making a top 10 albums of the year post is fucking tough. I’ve been thinking about it for months, and how mere months can change your opinions toward albums, bands, songs etc, so making an albums of the DECADE post is even more difficult. So I’ve got to kind of cover my own ass and say that these are my favorite albums of the decade. Albums that just the mention of them bring to mind images and times in my life that meant something to me or changed me in a way. I’m no authority (not on music and certainly not on anything else) so just enjoy my top 10 favorite albums of the decade.

10) Is This It? – The Strokes (2001)

What is there to say about this album? It’s already been said and glossed over and repeated for years and years. It ushered in a whole new era for music most especially for people who came of age in the 00′s. ‘Is this It’ is my favorite track off this album.

9) Songs The Postman Can Whistle – The White Sport (2004)

This album, sadly, was mostly only listened to by people who are really in the Libertines and Babyshambles. It features Andrew Aveling on guitar and vocals (now in Littl’ans), Pat Walden on guitar (and possibly bass?) who is now in nothing (is Big Dave still around?) but is ex-Babyshambles, and Adam Ficek on drums. It’s definitely a series of dark moments (Aveling’s voice has a natural sort of melancholy quality to it) interspersed with inexplicably white beautiful moments like my favorite ‘I Was Once A Girl’. Pat Walden really leads this album – his guitar work is nothing short of excellent, I could listen to him ramble on at the end of ‘Yur Wrong’ for ever and ever.

8) Paper Television – The Blow (2006)

This was the last album Khaela Maricich and Jona Bectolt did together. Their previous albums were excellent, YACHT certainly has a way with beats and sounds that I never fully appreciated until this album, and sparingly appreciate since; and Khaela’s voice is a bell. A shining, beautiful, angelic shining bell. This album is sparse and romantic and thoughful and just beautiful. ‘True Affection’ was the first ever Blow song I heard, and most certainly the best. It’s 3 minutes and 23 seconds of nautical blips and the heartache of being with someone and never being sure if you’re good enough or vice-versa sung beautifully and written in some of the most off-kilter poetic ways.

7) Back To Black – Amy Winehouse (2006)

This album is a fucking bonafide classic. Amy Winehouse is a crackhead but the bitch can write music – she was more heavily involved than just singing and writing lyrics, she had a lot of sway in the musicality of this album too. Her voice is magnificent. Nothing I’m saying about this is original, but this album will always remind me of my first semester at college and ACL 2007 where Amy pulled out and we were forced to see the Arctic Monkeys instead… big disappointment.

6) College Dropout – Kanye West (2004)

This is probably a choice that 0% of the people that I know saw coming, but I’ve always loved Kanye West. I remember when his first album came out and I just loved it. He was a rapper, yes, but he had something to say and went about saying it in the most hilarious ways. This album was a slice of life that I knew nothing about and still was able to connect with the songs and feel moved by them. ‘We Don’t Care’ amused the shit out of me; ‘School Spirit’ made me sing along (yes, me saying ‘ooh hecky naw that boy is raw’ is a hilarious image!); ‘Breathe In (Breathe Out)’ got me through so many roadtrips over the years. And Kanye, around this time, was an excellent live performer. He is today, I’m sure, but I’ve stopped because he’s not the same – not live and not on record – but this album made him, and it captured a lot of my youth, too. Unfortunately, this statement he made, way back when, is now true… “I’ve always said if I rapped, I’d say something significant, but now I’m rapping about money, hoes and rims again’.

To reflect on my top 5… Those are the ones that I can clearly identify certain moments in my life with. Like, when I play them I have such a smiling case of nostalgia and a good case of the thoughtfuls, but I don’t play them all the time anymore. I’ve moved on. 10 years is a long time, but none of those albums are actually 10 years old. Most are 6 or 5 or 4 years old which really isn’t even that old, but I have Adult On-set ADHD (self diagonosed of course) so it seems really long ago that these albums meant so much to me. However! My top 5 are albums that are just as old (there’s not a whole lot of new albums on this list, 2006 being the eldest) but are so good that they’ve permeated my life in a way that doesn’t stop with certain phases or episodes in my life – they’ve consistently been with me and that’s what, to me, marks an amazing album – not one that appeases the people who read fucking lists (Pitchfork, Kid A par example) or one who is so esoteric that I couldn’t even list it here. So I give to you, my top 5 albums from this decade (note: I hate the fucking word ‘Noughties’)…

5) The End of History (2006)

I was trying to explain to someone the way I feel that Fionn Regan is a good approximation of a semi-Bob Dylan figure and the person I was talking to disagreed heartily saying that it was insulting to say that someone made sub-par Bob Dylan albums – but that’s not what I was getting at. This album to me is a modern folk classic, the same way Freewheelin’ or Another Side Of are perfect records of folk music. It’s beautifully written, with weird, dense imagery; the timing, so off kilter, keeps you in the moment, hanging off of every hyper-literate, poetic word Fionn utters – the same way Bob has us eating out of his hand on the aforementioned albums. But really, ‘Put A Penny In The Slot’ is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. That sounds like such a grand claim, but there’s something about the simplicity of what he’s playing on guitar mixed with the complexitiy of the story he’s telling – complete with tangents, life advice, and literary references, that just makes me swoon. The emotive quality his slightly feminine whispery voice has serves him best on this song, it makes one believe the longing and nostagia, and keep pace with him even though he’s quite obviously further than we are. That said, his new album, will most certainly be a ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ moment. Whether it’s insulting to say someone makes sub-par Bob Dylan albums (even though EVERYBODY does, so how insulting can it be?) or to complement and raise Fionn up to below, but still near, Bob status somehow insulting Bob himself… well, remains to be seen.

4) Down in Albion – Babyshambles (2006)

Now that I’m in the top four, it’s getting harder and harder to make any objective and rational comments about the albums. This album marked such a tumultuous period in my life (fittingly, though, no?) and helped usher in a whole new self that I’d never explored before – and that’s fucking HIGH PRAISE of the affect an album can have without speaking so much as a word about the musicality of it all. Pat Walden’s guitar work on this album will surely go down as some of the most underrated of the decade surely and Pete’s lyrical work on this album, although not as masterful as on any Up The Bracket (thanks, Heroin), still trashes anyone else writing lyrics around this time. I don’t think I can say anymore on an album that I don’t listen to frequently anymore just due to the things it reminds me of…. Shame.

3) Panic Prevention – Jamie T (2006)

God, it pained me to have to put this album in at number three, when in reality, it’s one of the best albums of the decade. I know I professed my love for early Kanye West so it would be unfair for me to say that I strictly don’t like rap but, not so strictly, I don’t like rap. Starting off talking about Jamie T by immediately classifying him as rap is completely off target, because what he does, in my twisted mind, isn’t just rap. I don’t think it’s fair to pin Jamie T to a box because he does SO many things on this album: so many intertwining samples, beats, bass lines, guitar riffs that all meld together to create such layered, textured songs that have so much more to offer than one listen can pick up on. It took me forever to realize that Jamie T is also extremely gifted lyrically – due to his strong accent (FAKE OR NOT, haters) and his like side-cocked way of spitting words, oh and his dense, often confusing, and extremely British storylines it’s often hard to understand exactly what is going on or how anything connects. Like, ‘Alicia Quays’, which is a 6 and a half minute epic which, by god, is an absolute epic about youth and having fun and still having a strong sense of self-reflexivity (What am I, What am I, What am I in my own dear eyes?). So Jamie T writes a ton of songs about going out. He doesn’t do it in the way the early Awkward Monkeys used to – there’s no obvious fake poetic pretense, just the nitty gritty (whether real or fake AGAIN) and his turn of phrase that makes the poetic, epic moments all whilst retaining his youth and his sense of fun and his sense that his music is for himself. This is an absolute gem that probably will be recognized more as the shite from 2006 etc (Fratellis, Kooks, NYPC, other contemporaries) fades away, or maybe not, but it’s a fucking gem.

2) Let It Bloom – Black Lips (2005)

It seems fairly standard that anyone just getting into Black Lips would prefer ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ just due to the fact that it’s cleaner, the melodies more present, and the pop influences out for everyone to see. But ‘Let It Bloom’ is really the quintessential Black Lips album, and the best work they’ve ever done. And I know, by the way, that Black Lips are a fairly easy band to get into – but I think there’s a lot to digest with the album. It works on so many different levels (like peeling an onion, right?): there’s the fuzz on the outside, then it’s the irresistable riffs underneath with the pop hooks, then comes the rebellious, funny, youthful, even (gasp) witty lyrics and then once you’ve gotten to the bottom of that, you can appreciate them all together – or at least that’s how it worked for me. This is just such a modern burnout classic album. Four dudes who couldn’t hack it in school, couldn’t hack it in life, so they got in a band where they could practically not hack it and could hardly play their instruments who then made this brilliant album of flower-punk anthems (Not A Problem? Sea of Blasphemy? Everybodys Doin’ It? Fuck yeah). I’m fully aware that a band with three layers isn’t considered complex or hard to appreciate or get into… but the simplicity of it all, the youth factor (very big with me, if you can’t tell) makes it the classic it is…

1) Up The Bracket – The Libertines (2002)

Life changing, life affirming, poetic masterpiece of youth and mistakes, all wrapped up in sexually frustrated guitar riffs (courtesy: Carl Barat) and melodies (and lyrics and lines) that has been tread and retread by bands over the past decade with little to no success. None of the members have ever come close to making an album as perfect as this since the split of the Libertines, nor will a reunion be able to come near or top this – although the only thing keeping me from a reunion will be my own death.