I’m starting a new series of posts listing my top 15 bands or artists that I have only recently heard of. These posts will highlight the artists and include an example of their work along with reasons as to why you should listen to them carefully crafted by yours truly.
It’s often that you don’t get the same experience from listening to a single song that you do when you listen to an entire album. There’s a story being told that you miss out on when you listen to one or two random songs. If I like an album, I listen to it over and over until I digest it as best as I can. Each of these albums was there for me through thick and thin, through any kind of weather, through road trips, through heartbreak, through life, death, what have you. However, I’m tired of putting things in a numbered order. It doesn’t matter. Each of these records is amazing. I thought “this is the best record I’ve ever heard” while listening to each one of these albums. Putting them in a numbered list seems fucking ridiculous now. In no particular order:
This is my last list for LISTS WEEK. I am announcing here and now that I will be taking a break from the blog to regain whatever hours I’ve managed to shave off of my life from not sleeping. Call it a period of hibernation. I will be back sometime in January. Until then, if I don’t see you tonight or tomorrow, Happy Holidays!
I listened to a lot of songs this year. I’m talking A LOT. A few stuck with me, a few didn’t. This list was hard to pin down. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked each and every one of my friends’ heads off about at least one of the songs on this list. I have a habit of going “HEY EVERYBODY, LISTEN TO THIS” when I hear something I really like. Sometimes my exclamations are met with indifference, sometimes they’re met with “Yeah, we know”s. Other times they’re met with “QUIT YELLING”s. Just the same, I love these songs. Feast your ears on
McAllen’s Dignan one of the hardest working bands I know. I mean, they practically live on the road. Luckily, they recently came home to relax for the holidays and start working on their follow-up to 2009’s Cheaters & Thieves EP. They were kind enough to contribute today’s second list. Here are their
Top 10 Albums of 2010
10. St. Vincent – ActorDignan: Though this was released in 2009 we couldn’t stop listening to it in 2010. Layered with so many interesting textures, I always find myself hearing new sounds with every listen. If this were released in 2010 it would be no. 1 for sure.
9. Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted PeopleEPDignan: Have always been a fan of Sufjan, so naturally couldn’t wait to hear his new stuff. Though Age of Adz is very good, I personally liked the more acoustic instrument approach to All Delighted People.
8. Jason Collett – Rat A Tat TatDignan: I’d never really been a fan of Jason Collett besides his Broken Social Scene stuff, but after seeing him showcase Rat A Tat Tat at SXSW I fell in love with this CD.
7. The National – High VioletDignan: Some of the simplest songs done right! Although not a huge fan of some of the lyrics, the music itself is so tasteful.
6. Deerhunter – Halcyon DigestDignan: Bradford Cox makes some of the best pop songs! I really love the recording quality of Halcyon Digest, it’s very diy but still refined.
5. Dr. Dog – Shame, ShameDignan: Had always heard their name from everyone, but never really gave them a chance until this last tour. Our drummer showed them to me and I couldn’t stop listening to this album.
4. Zeus – Say UsDignan: Saw these guys at SXSW by accident and loved their live performance,
I couldn’t stop telling everyone about this CD afterward! And they turned out to be Jason Collett’s backing band.
3. The Morning Benders – Big EchoDignan: I listened to this CD on repeat for about two months straight! They write some very dense, deep songs on this album, and really blow their previous releases out of the water.
2. Arcade Fire – The SuburbsDignan: Arcade Fire never does anything wrong, this album is put together so well! Enough said.
1. Beach House – Teen DreamDignan: This cd made it to the no. 1 spot on so many people’s lists, and for good reason. It’s easily the best album of the year. With a style all their own they craft some great dreamy, dark, pop songs, that you can’t get out of your head. And they’re talented enough to do it flawlessly live too!
One of the best things about life is meeting people. Almost a year ago, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Jeff Smith aka Jeff the Smith. He is an up-and-coming experimental electronica artist here in the Rio Grande Valley and, to this day, remains one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met. Here are his
Top 5 Albums of 2010
5. Avey Tare – Down ThereDavid Portner’s primal screams have made an all-too-brief cameo again. I bought Down There wanting it to be the ying to the yang of Panda Bear‘s Person Pitch. Such a ying would necessarily have some Avey Tare shrieking. But Down There is as primal as a father rocking his baby to sleep. Nevertheless, I always want to hear more. This record employs all the sampling and sonic texture one expects of an AC record. All in all, it’s another artsy (read: less-accessible) effort for the AC family’s catalog.
4. Gorillaz – Plastic BeachYears ago, Blur’s Damon Albarn found a new home for his poppy hooks and compositional pacing. (Its name was Gorillaz.) The musical mage is at it again on Plastic Beach. On the album’s second track, the National Orchestra for Arabic Music settles the listener into a breezy, seaside hammock, peppered with the wind-blown chirps of a nearby piper…the listener’s hammock is flipped, and when he wipes the sand from his face, an infectious rap beat and a pair of tea-sipping rappers signal that a beach party is under way. Ultimately the rap beat and the classical Arabic score merge in a seamless mash-up to wind down the track. The listener sighs. Then the Gorillaz-brand bad-assness bursts back in on “Rhinestone Eyes,” which, like the record’s first single, “Stylo,” reminds us of the band’s first hit, “Clint Eastwood,” whose synth-rock made Gorillaz a household name in the first place.
3. MGMT – CongratulationsA Pitchfork review said Congratulations was a major departure from the debut album. It wasn’t. There’s no dance songs on Congratulations, but if you take “Kids,” “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” off Oracular Spectacular, that disc becomes Congratulations. I love both albums.
2. The Ruby Suns – Fight SoftlyThis is the more dancey follow-up to the New Zealand band’s sophomore-but-far-from-sophomoric album, Sea Lion. Despite the festive mood of Fight Softly, the album manages to squeeze in a reference to tween alcoholism (the opening lyrics of “Olympics On Pot”: “Today I met a 12-year-old whose favorite beer was Coors Lite”). Hurray for emotional complexity. Hurray for indie Down Under. Hurray for non-Western instrumentation.
1. Of Montreal – False PriestThree albums ago [Sunlandic Twins], Kevin Barnes’ funk was confined to bass lines. Two albums ago [Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?] he cut loose his falsetto, ghetto-fab spirit and introduced the narrator Georgie Fruit. One album ago [Skeletal Lamping], Georgie Fruit (who in one song told us, “I’m just a black shemale/and I don’t know what you people are all about”) took center stage. On the current album, half of which owes to George Clinton, Kevin Barnes goes so far as to enlist Beyonce’s little sister for a roller-derby duet, dubbed “Sex Karma.” Barnes has soul, but he’s not a soulja. Of Montreal began life as a Beatles cover band. The indie icons have come a long sonic way from the acid-drenched ramblings of their mid-catalog in the early 2000s. And we can only hope for more transformations to come. Lyrics plucked from the nonsense chanting toward the end of Hissing Fauna became titles for the two albums that followed (Skeletal Lamping and False Priest). It’s worth noting now because the varied and cluttered soundscapes of False Priest probably hold the seeds from which Kevin Barnes’ next perceptible identity mutation will spring. I, for one, can’t wait for the next dispatch from his freak-flag empire.
If you like a band you hear about or listen to on here, go to their shows and purchase something. A shirt, a record, even a meal. Give back to the artists that ever-so-willingly give to you.
Contact: thephotongod[at]gmail.com
McAllen’s Dignan one of the hardest working bands I know. I mean, they practically live on the road. Luckily, they recently came home to relax for the holidays and start working on their follow-up to 2009’s Cheaters & Thieves EP. They were kind enough to contribute today’s second list. Here are their
Dignan: Though this was released in 2009 we couldn’t stop listening to it in 2010. Layered with so many interesting textures, I always find myself hearing new sounds with every listen. If this were released in 2010 it would be no. 1 for sure.
Dignan: Have always been a fan of Sufjan, so naturally couldn’t wait to hear his new stuff. Though Age of Adz is very good, I personally liked the more acoustic instrument approach to All Delighted People.
Dignan: I’d never really been a fan of Jason Collett besides his Broken Social Scene stuff, but after seeing him showcase Rat A Tat Tat at SXSW I fell in love with this CD.
Dignan: Some of the simplest songs done right! Although not a huge fan of some of the lyrics, the music itself is so tasteful.
Dignan: Bradford Cox makes some of the best pop songs! I really love the recording quality of Halcyon Digest, it’s very diy but still refined.
Dignan: Had always heard their name from everyone, but never really gave them a chance until this last tour. Our drummer showed them to me and I couldn’t stop listening to this album.
Dignan: Saw these guys at SXSW by accident and loved their live performance,
Dignan: I listened to this CD on repeat for about two months straight! They write some very dense, deep songs on this album, and really blow their previous releases out of the water.
Dignan: Arcade Fire never does anything wrong, this album is put together so well! Enough said.
Dignan: This cd made it to the no. 1 spot on so many people’s lists, and for good reason. It’s easily the best album of the year. With a style all their own they craft some great dreamy, dark, pop songs, that you can’t get out of your head. And they’re talented enough to do it flawlessly live too!
One of the best things about life is meeting people. Almost a year ago, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Jeff Smith aka Jeff the Smith. He is an up-and-coming experimental electronica artist here in the Rio Grande Valley and, to this day, remains one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met. Here are his
David Portner’s primal screams have made an all-too-brief cameo again. I bought Down There wanting it to be the ying to the yang of Panda Bear‘s Person Pitch. Such a ying would necessarily have some Avey Tare shrieking. But Down There is as primal as a father rocking his baby to sleep. Nevertheless, I always want to hear more. This record employs all the sampling and sonic texture one expects of an AC record. All in all, it’s another artsy (read: less-accessible) effort for the AC family’s catalog. 
Years ago, Blur’s Damon Albarn found a new home for his poppy hooks and compositional pacing. (Its name was Gorillaz.) The musical mage is at it again on Plastic Beach. On the album’s second track, the National Orchestra for Arabic Music settles the listener into a breezy, seaside hammock, peppered with the wind-blown chirps of a nearby piper…the listener’s hammock is flipped, and when he wipes the sand from his face, an infectious rap beat and a pair of tea-sipping rappers signal that a beach party is under way. Ultimately the rap beat and the classical Arabic score merge in a seamless mash-up to wind down the track. The listener sighs. Then the Gorillaz-brand bad-assness bursts back in on “Rhinestone Eyes,” which, like the record’s first single, “Stylo,” reminds us of the band’s first hit, “Clint Eastwood,” whose synth-rock made Gorillaz a household name in the first place.
A Pitchfork review said Congratulations was a major departure from the debut album. It wasn’t. There’s no dance songs on Congratulations, but if you take “Kids,” “Time to Pretend” and “Electric Feel” off Oracular Spectacular, that disc becomes Congratulations. I love both albums.
This is the more dancey follow-up to the New Zealand band’s sophomore-but-far-from-sophomoric album, Sea Lion. Despite the festive mood of Fight Softly, the album manages to squeeze in a reference to tween alcoholism (the opening lyrics of “Olympics On Pot”: “Today I met a 12-year-old whose favorite beer was Coors Lite”). Hurray for emotional complexity. Hurray for indie Down Under. Hurray for non-Western instrumentation.
Three albums ago [Sunlandic Twins], Kevin Barnes’ funk was confined to bass lines. Two albums ago [Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?] he cut loose his falsetto, ghetto-fab spirit and introduced the narrator Georgie Fruit. One album ago [Skeletal Lamping], Georgie Fruit (who in one song told us, “I’m just a black shemale/and I don’t know what you people are all about”) took center stage. On the current album, half of which owes to George Clinton, Kevin Barnes goes so far as to enlist Beyonce’s little sister for a roller-derby duet, dubbed “Sex Karma.” Barnes has soul, but he’s not a soulja. Of Montreal began life as a Beatles cover band. The indie icons have come a long sonic way from the acid-drenched ramblings of their mid-catalog in the early 2000s. And we can only hope for more transformations to come. Lyrics plucked from the nonsense chanting toward the end of Hissing Fauna became titles for the two albums that followed (Skeletal Lamping and False Priest). It’s worth noting now because the varied and cluttered soundscapes of False Priest probably hold the seeds from which Kevin Barnes’ next perceptible identity mutation will spring. I, for one, can’t wait for the next dispatch from his freak-flag empire.
The Photon God 