Category: Music

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Music

Best of 2010: Music

Hey! It’s my favorite music of the year!

Best New Artist

Das Racist

Brooklyn rap group Das Racist introduced themselves with not one, but two excellent free mixtapes in 2010 (grab them here). Their unique brand of hip-hop bounces from political to irreverent to absurd and back again without warning, creating an odd, yet compelling and completely enjoyable sound.

Runners up: Sleigh Bells, Die Antwoord

Best Albums

10

Trans-Continental Hustle

Gogol Bordello

Gogol’s weakest album (I blame Rick Rubin), but it still makes my top 10. Still some great tracks on here.

9

Sea of Cowards

Dead Weather

This album was a huge improvement over 09’s Horehound. Jack White is single handedly keeping rock music alive at this point.

8

Odd Blood

Yeasayer

Yeasayer stole the psychedelic pop crown from MGMT and ran with it. The multi-layered tracks on Odd Blood are fun and catchy without feeling hollow.

7

Everything Remains (As It Never Was)

Eluveitie

Celtic folk metalers Eluveitie couldn’t top their previous albums this year, but had a solid release with Everything Remains.

6

Sit Down, Man

Das Racist

Like their first mixtape, it’s a bit long and lacks focus, but there are some absolute gems in here.

5

Tron: Legacy

Daft Punk

I love Daft Punk, and I can get into a good score. Combine them and you have something really, really cool.

4

Treats

Sleigh Bells

Without a doubt the loudest and most catchy album of 2010. What it lacks in substance, it makes up for with raw energy.

3

Hard Dream

Copy

Copy’s third and best album takes his familiar electro snap beats in a softer direction. The result is a relaxing, atmospheric album with no need for vocals.

2

Plastic Beach

Gorillaz

Plastic Beach is simply the best Gorillaz album so far. It’s grand scope and multitude of styles somehow fit into a cohesive album where almost every track is a standout.

1

LP4

Ratatat

It’s true that LP4 doesn’t cover as much new ground as LP3 did in 08. But the way LP4 refines and perfects LP3’s sound is just brilliant.

So, there you have it. My top 10 albums of 2010.

Agree? Disagree? What were your favorites this year?

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Music

Frontier Psychiatrist

This music video is full of awesome.

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Music

iPod shuffle, with buttons!

What do you do when all your devices are multi-touch?

Reinvent buttons as a new feature!

Source: Apple

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Music

Coachella 2010, Sunday: Rusko, De La Soul, Yann Tiersen, Gorillaz

The final day of Coachella. The lineup wasn’t as packed as Saturday, but Gorillaz proved to be a fitting end to an epic festival.

But first, it was over to the Saraha for some Rusko dubstep.

Rusko got things going quickly and seemed really excited to be playing.  His mix moved fast, almost too fast, like he was trying to squeeze a much longer set into his 45 minutes.  Even so, each beat drop got the crowd going and it was a party from start to end.

Glitch Mob were a no-show, so we chilled near main stage while De La Soul gets their groove on.  We caught the end of Club 75 which was disappointing to say the least, but they at least played one Justice track so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Next, it was over to the Mojave to see Gary Numan.  Unfortunately, Gary’s flight was delayed by volcanic ash, so the stage was mostly empty. Yann Tiersen had moved into Gary’s slot so we decided to stay for a front row spot.

So glad we did.  Tiersen is know for his work on the Amelie soundtrack, but his band was a great mix of  ambient keys, guitar, violin, and melodica that was amazing to see up close.

And, finally.  Gorillaz.

Nobody was quite sure what to expect from Gorillaz, a ‘virtual band’ that have used different performance methods in the past.  What was going to show up on stage?  A video show?  Holograms? Puppets?

Nope.  Instead, frontman Damon Albarn showed up with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash, Bobby Womack, De La Soul, Little Dragon, and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music to play almost all of Plastic Beach in front of the biggest, brightest HD video screen I’ve ever seen.  The screen showcased Gorillaz visuals, both new and old, to compliment each track.

After killing it for over 90 minutes and 18 songs, the set came to a rather awkward end with Womack’s “Cloud of Unknowing” and Damon leaving the stage without a ‘thank you’ or ‘good night’.  No encore. Oh well.

So ended Coachella 2010.

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Music

Coachella 2010, Saturday: MGMT, Muse, Les Claypool, Devo

Day 2!

Thankfully, parking was not nearly as bad on Saturday.  We got in early enough to catch Old Crow Medicine Show bring some old-timey folk and bluegrass to the main stage.

After that, it was over to the Sahara to see Craze & Klever drop some beats and rock the turntables.  The DJ Kool > Bloody Beetroots drop was way cool.

The crowd for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was huge, so we wandered over to the Mojave to get down with Gossip.

Back to the Sahara for some Bassnectar.  I’ll just say, Bassnectar in the Sahara is quite a different experience than Bassnectar in Bozeman, MT.  He played some tracks I missed before including Churn of the Century and even some Metallica.

We then watched, but couldn’t hear (thanks Do-Lab), Faith No More on the main stage while grabbing a bite to eat, and it was time for MGMT.

I’d heard people say MGMT just isn’t that good live, so I was curious to see what they would do with their new material, and how the fans would react.

Due to the enormous crowd, I had to rely on the video screens to see what was happening on stage.  I think everyone agreed they should have played the main stage.

They kicked things off with Flash Delirium which sounded great, but there was one problem.  The crowd.  It was a  younger crowd, and maybe it was their first concert or something, but there was no dancing, no jumping, and barely any applause.  With a crowd that huge, having dead air in between songs is just wrong.  My hunch that most of this crowd hadn’t even bothered to listen to the new album was confirmed when, after Flash Delirium, I yelled “I don’t think anyone knew that song!”, and a kid turns around and says “Yeah, play what we know, right?”.  I’m pretty sure he wasn’t being sarcastic.

I didn’t stick around long enough to see how upset they’d be when MGMT didn’t play Kids, I needed to get a good spot for Muse.

As expected, Muse’s epic sound was a perfect fit for the Coachella main stage.  The huge lasers and spark showers gave songs like Uprising, Starlight, and United States of Eurasia an extra punch.

After a good hour of Muse, I realized I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I missed Les Claypool, so it was off to the Mojave tent.

Les, who we saw signing autographs earlier, had a relatively small but dedicated crowd who were way into his songs.  The crowd can make all the difference, and Les was putting on a great show for people who really cared.

Next was my wildcard, Die Antwoord.

They might be a parody act, but as stage performers, Ninja and Yo-Landi are the real deal.  DJ Hi-Tek missed the beat drop on Enter the Ninja twice, but it was probably part of the act.  This was a really fun show.  It seemed to catch everyone off guard in a good way.  Die Antwoord may loose some (or all) of their appeal once they hit the mainstream, but I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Devo then closed the Mojave with a good mix of old and new songs.  Despite their age, these guys had a ton of energy and their new material actually sounds really good.  I’ll be picking up their new album for sure.

End Saturday!