Albums
of the year
2010
I felt it appropriate this year to change the title of my annual best albums post by replacing the word KILL with LIVE. It has the same effect I think, but with a positive slant. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to do this post at all since, as some of you know, my Mom passed away last month from a 15+ year battle with congestive heart failure. My original intention was for the first time to actually write my own reviews (who would have thought, right?), but the events of the past couple months have had the bulk of my free time. So instead of not abandoning my yearly tradition (when there are so many great albums which must be heard by all of you!), I figured I would do it as I have in years past. To compensate, however, I created a companion playlist you can stream at Grooveshark so that you can effortlessly listen to tracks from this year’s esteemed “winners”! I picked two tracks from each album, which was a tough call as there really aren’t any bad tracks on any of these albums. For the album from Janelle Monáe I picked 3 songs to be fair, as the album is so incredibly long and every track is fantastic. I believe in my heart of hearts these albums would be rewarding for each and every one of you to pick up and listen to, in full, and as loud as possible. These are also in no particular order, except for the first album by Radio Dept, which is without any doubt the best of the year. Enjoy, and drive with aloha …
9
Summer Camp
Young EP
“It’s hard not to imagine that these bedroom recordings have been put together in between repeat viewings of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Their association with John Hughes’s films is so heavy that you’d be disappointed if Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick didn’t teleport in live to complete the band. All of the references are present and correct, from Say Anything to Teen Wolf and Heathers. Production wise, the Young EP sounds fuzzy, a little bit shambolic, and scratchy as fuck, which is how you’d expect it to be. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the result is nostalgic to the point that it comes close to being a self-indulgent geek-fest. Fortunately, the songs more than stand up for themselves.” – Muso’s Guide