Buy New or Used via amazon 1. The Black Keys / Brothers (sounds like: John Lee Hooker + Hendrix + T. Rex). This fuzz-laden, distortion-heavy, heartbroken blues-rock masterpiece hits you like a gut punch. Goddamn.  Buy New or Used via amazon 2. The Tallest Man On Earth / The Wild Hunt (sounds like: Dylan + Mississippi John Hurt + Destroyer). Passion, and acoustic psychedelia, via rural Sweden. Truly transformative. (Also a great EP out this year.)  Buy New or Used via amazon 3. Spoon / Transference (sounds like: Wire + Pixies). Edgy, punky, percussive alley anthems, self-produced this time with…

I wasn’t going to write a screed about how I didn’t give new artists enough of a chance and how I tend to be contented within a cocoon of comfort. I have been able, or perhaps, more aptly, unwilling to embrace new acts. I swore this year I would investigate, instigate and embrace the new. However, everything I heard seemed sadly second-rate from where it would originate. Why seek works influenced by or in debt of that which I love when I can simply enjoy the superior original? Oh well, our leader needs a new knee and I’m pressed hard…

 Buy New or Used via amazon Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – I Learned the Hard Way Of course, it’s a little retro, but she doesn’t mimic the Motown or Stax mold. The songs are subtle with no killer bridges or gloss; yet they slowly take hold. It’s mature music about love and relationships gone bad. It’s soul. Buy New or Used via amazon Buy New or Used via amazon The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme Wonderful melodies, the Pet Shop Boys but less smarmy Four tet – There is Love in You Ambient techno that is…

 Buy New or Used via amazon Black Keys – Brothers I really thought the last Black Keys record, “Attack and Release,” was pretty darn good. But the Black Keys guys take it to the next level on “Brothers.” You’ve got three killer songs to start things off: “Everlasting Light,” “Next Girl,” and “Tighten Up.” This is followed by the stomp of “Howlin’ For You” and “Now She’s Gone.” And then you also get soulful tracks like “Only One” and “Never Gonna Give You Up.” The album closes with a “Little Wing” influenced “These Days.” Sweet.  Buy New or Used via amazon…

 Buy New or Used via amazon Robyn – “Body Talk” [Konichiwa/Cherrytree ] The three shortish CDs/longish EPs which go to make up this release were by far my most loved and listened to items over the year. The combination of dance and pop is nothing new, of course, but the addition of Robyn’s nasty attitude is what makes the difference here. After all, the first track on Body Talk Part 1 was “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do”, and while it is actually the second track on the full length CD, moved down the running order to make room…

 Buy New or Used via amazon 1 – THE BLUE SHADOWS – On the Floor Of Heaven Unreleased in the US until this year, this 17 year old record out of Canada (sweetened with a bonus disc of extras) is a real alt-country classic. Great melodies falling somewhere between the Beatles and the Burritos, ringing early R.E.M. guitar tones, Phil and Don-like harmonies, thoughtful arrangements. How the hell did this fly under the radar? This clicks on every level. Thanks, Irv.  Buy New or Used via amazon 2 – ROBERT PLANT – Band Of Joy Plant has invented his own…

 Buy New or Used via amazon Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God) Back after 13 years, and still on their own plane entirely. Epic, beautiful, and, yes, LOUD. Like earlier editions via Gira’s later Angels of Light. Sorry, kids: older = wiser.  Buy New or Used via amazon Various Artists – Brazilian Fuzz Guitar Bananas (Tropicalia in Furs) Most insane psych comp in recent memory, easy. Scare singles ca. late ’60s/early ’70s deal an extra-warped Dada mind-blow by being in a foreign (acid-dipped) tongue. Crazy!   Oxford American Various Artists –…

 Buy New or Used via amazon 1. JUNIP – Fields [Mute] Jose Gonzales reforms his old band of Swedes who have a thing for 70s keys and synths that John Paul Jones must have leant them.  Buy New or Used via amazon 2. THE BESNARD LAKES – The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night [Jagjaguwar] Blissed-out, droney heaven that Kevin Shields would thoroughly approve. The album Low should have made right after “The Great Destroyer”.  Buy New or Used via amazon 3. BOB DYLAN – The Witmark Demos [Columbia] Spare, nuts & bolts versions of songs we all know, but…

I don’t think I’ll make it this year. I think I’ve heard only one new thing Brian Wilson does Gershwin and Mom said if you don’t have anything nice to say. Oh wait a minute Crowded House “The Intriguer” sounds to me more of a group effort that a Finn project,very polished, melodic with nothing to hang their heads about. There’s lack of pretense and application of proficient chops I found musically satisfying for pop music which is a feeling I didn’t find much for what was presented to me in 2010. I find returning to works like Buster Williams…

Favorite Things ~ 2010 ALBUMS  Buy New or Used via amazon Daniel Bjarnason ~ Processions (Bedroom Community) 2010’s list begins with a one-two punch from the Bedroom Community label: two albums released on the same January day. As the director of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Bjarnason had won numerous national awards for his insightful arrangements, but had only produced one original song, the stunning “All Sounds to Silence Come”. Processions presents his genius to the rest of the world. His wild atonal leaps and forays into dissonance are balanced here by passages of intense sweetness and flickering light. The…

What I Listened to in 2010 Greetings from my new home in Florida. I must admit that I did not listen to much music this year – first I was preoccupied with selling my house and then by the actual move. In fact, my sound system has not been hooked up since probably August or September. It is still not hooked up – but will be this week. So, I really have no idea what I should have been listening to this past year. To make matters worse, I usually segregate potential POOP list albums during the year, but they…

 Buy New or Used via amazon 1. THE ABOVE – The Above  Buy New or Used via amazon 2. THE SADIES – Darker Circles  Buy New or Used via amazon 3. NICK CURREN & THE LOWLIFES – Reform School Girl  Buy New or Used via amazon 4. STEVE WYNN & THE MIRACLE 3 – Northern Aggression  Buy New or Used via amazon 5. LEN PRICE 3 – Pictures  Buy New or Used via amazon 6. THE SIGHTS – Most Of What Follows Is True  Buy New or Used via amazon 7. THE BLACK ANGELS – Phosphene Dream  Buy New or…

2010: a year in media by Patrick Kennedy TOP MUSIC  Buy New or Used via amazon (1) LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening  Buy New or Used via amazon (2) Sleigh Bells, Treats  Download Free at Illegal Art (3) Girl Talk, All Day  Buy New or Used via amazon (4) Delorean, Subizia  Buy New or Used via amazon (5) Superchunk, Majesty Shredding  Buy New or Used via amazon (6) Tame Impala, Innerspeaker  Buy New or Used via amazon (7) Robyn, Body Talk  Buy New or Used via amazon (8) Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty  Buy…

I felt like I was playing musical dodge ball this year; every time I moved there was some great music to be heard. Maybe it was my purchase of this electronic device this past year that enables me to reach out and touch the world in a sonic way and not have to wash my hands afterward. I never had trouble finding good, new music, though. One thing I noticed was how much of my favorite music, this year, rocked. Fat riffs, shiny hooks, sing-a-long lyrics, 50’s throwbacks, power pop punches…and some of the usual sad bastard stuff and discordant…

 Buy New or Used via amazon The Len Price 3 – Pictures (Wicked Cool Record) This disc has some seriously great energy and harmonies. Any early Who fans will definitely enjoy this disc.  Buy New or Used via amazon Hoodoo Gurus – Purity of Essence (Hoodoo Gurus Records) The award for greatest comeback release goes hands down to the Gurus. This is their best disc in 25 years. There are plenty of amazing hooks to go around.  Download mp3 from amazon Nightmares for a Week – Don’t Die (Academy Fight Song) This is the first full-length release from our local…

poop 10 . . .wire 29 . . .so little to get excited about in this banana republic awash in oil, cancer, campaign money, boehner’s tears, and palin’s illiterate army of Tucson terrorists. . . Maura Kennedy’s darkly ebullient ‘Parade of Echoes’, the Trapps ‘Cheap Seats’ and rediscovering Dexter Gordon’s 60’s Blue Note Sessions Box. . . . the rustic sensuality of Eliza Blue. The ‘Exile’ remaster was a scream ‘n a hoot until Glenn Beck marched on Washington. Providing a needed smile on a tired progressive’s face, The Sails,’ ‘A Headful of Stars’ proves that head Sail Michael Gagliano…

  Buy New or Used via amazon 1. KORT – Invariable Heartache   Buy New or Used via amazon 2. Tommy Guerrero – Lifeboats & Follies   Buy New or Used via amazon 3. The Sadies – Darker Circles   Buy New or Used via amazon 4. Leatitia Sadier – The Trip   Buy New or Used via amazon 5. Bambi Molesters – As The Dark Wave Swells   Buy New or Used via amazon 6. Bei Bei & Shawn Lee – Into The Wind   Buy New or Used via amazon 7. Funki Porcini – On   Buy New or Used via amazon 8. Lee Perry &…

I realized this year that I just don’t like “new” music anymore. I still like the same old stuff I always liked, and anything that sounds like the same old stuff I always liked. I have become an old curmudgeon. Just go through the old lists. You’ll see what I mean. About half way through the year, I got tired of trying to find new stuff that sounds like the old stuff. As a result, my music obsession morphed from old school reggae to Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Go figure. I am pleased to report that my son Declan’s…