Tuesday, December 20, 2005
I'll go first...Best of '05
Alright since no one was ready to step up I'll bat lead off. My shit is gonna look a little different than most of y'alls. I'm not really into psych-folk or folk-folk or psych-noise or noise-noise or art-psych-noise-folk, but whatever. Different strokes for different folks.
From the bottom.
10.Oneida - The Wedding
These dudes are one of my favorite live bands and bring it everytime out. It was cool hanging with them in Boston. Their new album was pretty arty, but still jammed out way hard. Probably should spend more time with this one. I got an ipod in August and haven't put it in there yet, but the music director at All the Hits Q100 was jamming on Anthem of the Moon when I was playing in at the office. Totally sweet.
9.LCD Soundsystem - s/t
OK so their major label debut was a double album featuring a best-of. WTF...Tight. "I've got 15 cases at my house"...dude when can we come over? Amazing live, and James Murphy is the only dude in recent memory to evoke Mark E. Smith without sounding too much like the Fall. Excellent record. Nominated for 2 Grammy's. Fuck to the Yeah
8.Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
Without a doubt THE BEST live band I've seen in the past couple of years and a band that continuously put out amazing albums that get better and better with every listen. No Grohl or Oliveri this time out, but were still able to craft great songs when everyone thought they were done. Josh Homme is an amazingly cool dude and these guys give commercial radio friendly major label rock a good fucking name, even if Crews hates them. Sit on it old man. This album is waaaay awesome. Oh and the drummer used to be in Danzig....YES!!!!
7.Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
So everyone and their mother has talked about this record way too much. It's great, even if they aren't so hot live. Not too much to say about this that hasn't already been said. I think it's awesome, hopefully the next album doesn't suck, wouldn't be suprised if it did though. That would be a shame if they couldn't follow this near masterpiece up. Angular dancable guitar rock is pretty tired, but these dudes do it better than just about everyone.
6.Young Jeezy - Thug Motivation 101:Let's Get It
So raps about selling cocaine might not be the most interesting thing in the world to you and you may think "Soul Survivor" sucks, but you're missing the point. Jeezy tells awesome stories about hustlin', stackin' flows and reppin' his hood. He invited the world into the hood of the A-Town and showed you what was really going down. Telling great stories and bringing an intensity and honesty to the game that transends a weak breakthrough single. There are so many great songs on this album that really need to be heard..."...And then What," "Go Crazy," "My Hood" and "Trap Star" among may others show that this guy has alot to bring to the table. Amazing debut. He and T.I. shut it down Thanksgiving Night. Best Turkey Day Ever!
5.Black Mountain -s/t
Uhhh these guys opened up for Coldplay and listen to Wu Tang alot. Sweet. They were also the only band that could take the best parts of High on Fire, the Stones and Neutral Milk Hotel and put out a record that doesn't sound derivative in the least bit. Fresh, fun and jammin'. Fuck Yeah Black Mountain rule. Somone needs to buy me the Pink Mountain Tops album for Christmas. I need more than 8 songs. I'm jonesin'.
4.V/A Run the Road comp.
The ultimate in UK grime rap. This highlights some of the best work from Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Wiley, Jammer. Lady Sovereign, The Streets and more. I don't think I've ever heard a comp before that highlights an entire mucal genre as well as this. I'm sure there are some obscure reigonal punk comps from back in the day that may, but punk comps suck and rap comps with this many awesome future stars of the rap game don't. The ultimate mix tape. Get this and get with it. "Just lend me he mic and let me get raw." Okay...here you go dude, keep spittin' mad fire.
3.Kanye West - Late Registration
Finally a hip hop record that has everything that you could ask for: intellect, artistry, club jams, chopped and screwed shit, appearances from the best of the best (the Game, Paul Wall, Jay-Z, Nas, etc.), and a big dick for your mouth. Kanye rocks dope sweaters, hates George Bush and hasn't listened to the new Paul Mccartney album yet, but is gonna get around to it before he declares himself the recipient of this years Album of the Year. I would say he is the Denzel of the rap game. Give the dude the trophy.
2.MIA - Arular
Some crazy Sri-Lankan lady put together one of the craziest records I've ever heard. This shit will move your ass, make you think, and cave your roof in. I really wish I had gone up to Athens to see her show, damn I must have been trippin' balls that day. What the fuck is an Arular anyway? Actually I don't care whatever it is, it's awesome and if you haven't heard this yet because it was all hyped out earlier this year, well you're trippin' too. Shit is bananas.
1.My Morning Jacket - Z
These guys and Queens are the two best american rock bands today. Great songs, great lyrics, great live show and really cool dudes to boot. I really have a hard time thinkning of great touring american bands these days. Dudes that play hundreds of shows a year, total road warrioirs and do it for the love of the game. These guys remind me alot of baseball for some reason. They play for 8 months out of the year, relax for a few months, spend spring training writing a new record and then back out on the road night after night. Mad respect for the Jacket. Great album even if Darkness doesn't agree. I love this band and you should too, they are amazing. The national anthem should be changed to "Off the Record" so they could play if before every baseball game. I'd take my hat off for that shit.
Alot of you guys will probably disagree with alot of these, but if you haven't heard some of these records, you should give them a spin, they're totally worth it. None of them are flawless, but each one is awesome for it's own reasons. I'll also go ahead and say there about a bagillion albums that I haven't heard, so some of these records could be bumped lower at a later date, but as of 12/20/05 at 11:25p.m. these are my favorite. Looks like I just took ball four, who's next, there's a runner on first.
Alright since no one was ready to step up I'll bat lead off. My shit is gonna look a little different than most of y'alls. I'm not really into psych-folk or folk-folk or psych-noise or noise-noise or art-psych-noise-folk, but whatever. Different strokes for different folks.
From the bottom.
10.Oneida - The Wedding
These dudes are one of my favorite live bands and bring it everytime out. It was cool hanging with them in Boston. Their new album was pretty arty, but still jammed out way hard. Probably should spend more time with this one. I got an ipod in August and haven't put it in there yet, but the music director at All the Hits Q100 was jamming on Anthem of the Moon when I was playing in at the office. Totally sweet.
9.LCD Soundsystem - s/t
OK so their major label debut was a double album featuring a best-of. WTF...Tight. "I've got 15 cases at my house"...dude when can we come over? Amazing live, and James Murphy is the only dude in recent memory to evoke Mark E. Smith without sounding too much like the Fall. Excellent record. Nominated for 2 Grammy's. Fuck to the Yeah
8.Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
Without a doubt THE BEST live band I've seen in the past couple of years and a band that continuously put out amazing albums that get better and better with every listen. No Grohl or Oliveri this time out, but were still able to craft great songs when everyone thought they were done. Josh Homme is an amazingly cool dude and these guys give commercial radio friendly major label rock a good fucking name, even if Crews hates them. Sit on it old man. This album is waaaay awesome. Oh and the drummer used to be in Danzig....YES!!!!
7.Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
So everyone and their mother has talked about this record way too much. It's great, even if they aren't so hot live. Not too much to say about this that hasn't already been said. I think it's awesome, hopefully the next album doesn't suck, wouldn't be suprised if it did though. That would be a shame if they couldn't follow this near masterpiece up. Angular dancable guitar rock is pretty tired, but these dudes do it better than just about everyone.
6.Young Jeezy - Thug Motivation 101:Let's Get It
So raps about selling cocaine might not be the most interesting thing in the world to you and you may think "Soul Survivor" sucks, but you're missing the point. Jeezy tells awesome stories about hustlin', stackin' flows and reppin' his hood. He invited the world into the hood of the A-Town and showed you what was really going down. Telling great stories and bringing an intensity and honesty to the game that transends a weak breakthrough single. There are so many great songs on this album that really need to be heard..."...And then What," "Go Crazy," "My Hood" and "Trap Star" among may others show that this guy has alot to bring to the table. Amazing debut. He and T.I. shut it down Thanksgiving Night. Best Turkey Day Ever!
5.Black Mountain -s/t
Uhhh these guys opened up for Coldplay and listen to Wu Tang alot. Sweet. They were also the only band that could take the best parts of High on Fire, the Stones and Neutral Milk Hotel and put out a record that doesn't sound derivative in the least bit. Fresh, fun and jammin'. Fuck Yeah Black Mountain rule. Somone needs to buy me the Pink Mountain Tops album for Christmas. I need more than 8 songs. I'm jonesin'.
4.V/A Run the Road comp.
The ultimate in UK grime rap. This highlights some of the best work from Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Wiley, Jammer. Lady Sovereign, The Streets and more. I don't think I've ever heard a comp before that highlights an entire mucal genre as well as this. I'm sure there are some obscure reigonal punk comps from back in the day that may, but punk comps suck and rap comps with this many awesome future stars of the rap game don't. The ultimate mix tape. Get this and get with it. "Just lend me he mic and let me get raw." Okay...here you go dude, keep spittin' mad fire.
3.Kanye West - Late Registration
Finally a hip hop record that has everything that you could ask for: intellect, artistry, club jams, chopped and screwed shit, appearances from the best of the best (the Game, Paul Wall, Jay-Z, Nas, etc.), and a big dick for your mouth. Kanye rocks dope sweaters, hates George Bush and hasn't listened to the new Paul Mccartney album yet, but is gonna get around to it before he declares himself the recipient of this years Album of the Year. I would say he is the Denzel of the rap game. Give the dude the trophy.
2.MIA - Arular
Some crazy Sri-Lankan lady put together one of the craziest records I've ever heard. This shit will move your ass, make you think, and cave your roof in. I really wish I had gone up to Athens to see her show, damn I must have been trippin' balls that day. What the fuck is an Arular anyway? Actually I don't care whatever it is, it's awesome and if you haven't heard this yet because it was all hyped out earlier this year, well you're trippin' too. Shit is bananas.
1.My Morning Jacket - Z
These guys and Queens are the two best american rock bands today. Great songs, great lyrics, great live show and really cool dudes to boot. I really have a hard time thinkning of great touring american bands these days. Dudes that play hundreds of shows a year, total road warrioirs and do it for the love of the game. These guys remind me alot of baseball for some reason. They play for 8 months out of the year, relax for a few months, spend spring training writing a new record and then back out on the road night after night. Mad respect for the Jacket. Great album even if Darkness doesn't agree. I love this band and you should too, they are amazing. The national anthem should be changed to "Off the Record" so they could play if before every baseball game. I'd take my hat off for that shit.
Alot of you guys will probably disagree with alot of these, but if you haven't heard some of these records, you should give them a spin, they're totally worth it. None of them are flawless, but each one is awesome for it's own reasons. I'll also go ahead and say there about a bagillion albums that I haven't heard, so some of these records could be bumped lower at a later date, but as of 12/20/05 at 11:25p.m. these are my favorite. Looks like I just took ball four, who's next, there's a runner on first.
