Entries categorized as “Best Albums of the Year” 494 results

Dylan Peterson writesDylan Peterson’s Best of 2010

CHIRP Radio's Best of 2010 continues with a list from DJ Dylan Peterson.

1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   A lot of great albums came out in 2010, but none with quite as much hype as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In an age when downloading a zip file is the primary means of adding to our music collection, Kanye took advantage of our eager-to-download habits instead of pretending it's still the 1900's. He says it best in "Power": "I'm livin' in a 21st century, doin' something mean to it, do it better than anybody you ever seen do it." He's still just as audacious as he was on College Dropout, and the bravado is as entertaining as ever.
   
   The marketing alone clued us in that this album was going to be huge. Releasing a free song download on his website every week. Directing his own short film. Orchestrating the most memorable live music performance on TV this decade. By the time we're able to even hear the album, it's a miracle we're not underwhelmed. But great albums deserve a lot of hype. Over the last decade, I almost forgot that truth. Kanye made me anxious for an album in 2010. I can't remember the last time I felt that.
2. Delorean – Subiza (True Panther Sounds)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Subiza is the soundtrack for summer days at the city beach, dethroning whatever Beach Boys album that was there for the past 40 years. I had the pleasure of seeing Delorean live this year, which is always a helpful way to more fully understand a recorded album. After seeing their show, I realized that the purpose of Delorean's music is pure enjoyment. Subiza is a bringer of happy thoughts and pleasant dreams, whether it's heard in headphones or a live show.
3. The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt and Sometimes the Blues is Just A Passing Bird [EP] (Dead Oceans)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   The Wild Hunt alone is enough to garner a top three spot, but a five song EP never hurt anybody either. The Tallest Man On Earth stretched just a little bit from his acoustic finger-pickin' debut, Shallow Graves, playing more electric guitar and even a little piano in 2010. But the strongest skill of the artist isn't his playing style, which can be heard by the most boring classical guitar virtuosos of the world, Matsson is first and foremost a songwriter. His songs have a timeless quality that seem neither old or new, but just right for whatever time they're being heard.
4. Menomena – Mines (Barsuk)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   I didn't expect a "grower" for the new Menomena album, but in retrospect, I guess they were due for one. The band's first three albums hit immediately and satisfyingly. Mines is different. It requires repeat listens. Its beauty is subtle, but possibly more potent than any other Menomena album.
5. Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   I'm still surprised by this ranking. I never really cared about Beach House, but I can listen to Teen Dream at any time of the day, during any season, and I won't skip a track on the album. There's a quiet magic in this music, something simple but something that plunges deep into my psyche. It doesn't transfer over to the live setting very well, but if I can enjoy an album for 12 months out of the year it automatically gets a spot in the top 5.
6. The Books – The Way Out (Temporary Residence)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   One of my favorite bands remains. I trust the Books. I can't imagine this gimmick's effect wearing off anytime soon either. The staple that will always keep the Books interesting is their humor. As long as they're funny, and not topically so, we'll remember this music. A surreal absurdity blesses their music in the same way Monty Python had the good graces of silliness. The effect is universal and timeless, and occasionally a laugh riot.
7. Here We Go Magic – Pigeons (Secretly Canadian)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   We're too suspicious of musicians. We see talented players, and we condemn them for not having enough heart. But when I listen to Here We Go Magic, I set aside my suspicions. These talents are well placed, like the best Frank Zappa or Radiohead albums. Patience and intelligence are epicenters of Pigeons, prophesying a world of auditoriums and amphitheaters for future Here We Go Magic concerts. And the bigger the better. This is the sort of band I wouldn't mind becoming more popular than Coldplay. They have what it takes too.
8. Laura Veirs – July Flame (Raven Marching Band Records)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   July Flame is one of those nearly perfect albums that nobody will remember in a few years. But whenever it comes back on in the shuffle we'll still smile. It's an example of songwriting as king. There is no marketing tactic, no hype machine that can compete with a skilled songwriter. Veirs is one of the best working today, and even if no one recognizes it, the music gods will remain with her and keep her listeners at peace.
9. Wolf Parade – Expo 86 (Sub Pop)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   If Canadian power pop could be epitomized, it is Expo 86. By LP number three, Wolf Parade sounds less interested in proving themselves, and more apt to just rock out. It's the Wilco effect, for Canada. Whereas Arcade Fire felt the same old pressure to create a powerfully anthemic album for their day in age, Wolf Parade simply turned their dial up to 11. In my opinion, it's much more enjoyable to simply rock well, for wisdom knows that even grandiosity can become monotonous.
10. Janelle Monáe – The Archandroid (Atlantic)
    BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
    Like a good Kanye West album, Janelle Monae created something paradoxically eclectic and accessible. The ArchAndroid doesn't follow the formula of a typical pop record, and that's why we love it. All of the hooks and melodies are there for mainstream radio success, but the unpredictability of the album is what earns Janelle heaps of respect from critics and the more stingy listeners like me.

Kilo Wattson writesMicha Ward’s Best of 2010

As we celebrate the end of the year and our first year on the air, throughout the month of December CHIRP Radio will be featuring our members' Top 10 Albums of 2010. Our first list comes from CHIRP Radio DJ and Volunteer Coordinator Micha Ward.

1. Junip – Fields (Mute)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   There’s something subtle but unsettling about this record from Jose Gonzalez and band. Calm before the storm, the eerie silence before it starts to snow, the tick tick tick before the bomb goes off. Junip has melted its brand into my brain. My best of 2010. Best Song: “To The Grain”
2. The National – High Violet (4AD)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Every single song is about pain or sadness. It’s been that kind of year for me. The National puts it in words I can’t. Best Song: “England”
3. Land of Talk – Cloak and Cipher (Saddle Creek)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Hailing from Montreal, Land Of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell can bear her soul and shred on the guitar- often within the same song. And look damn good doing it. I never heard much from them until seeing them at Lincoln Hall and was instantly a fan and tracking down their entire catalog. Best Song: “Quarry Hymns”
4. Sharon Van Etten – Epic (Ba Da Bing)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   I simply fell in love with Sharon Van Etten this year. That’s really all there is to say. Best Song: “One Day”
5. Superchunk – Majesty Shredding (Merge)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Hometown band hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It sounds like 1991 again and it’s never sounded better. Best Song: “Crossed Wires”
6. First Aid Kit – The Big Black & The Blue (Wichita)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Swedish indie folk from sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg. Brutal, honest lyrics and voices that make you ache. Best Song: “Heavy Storm”
7. Megafaun – Heretofore (Hometapes)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Another North Carolina band playing moody Americana with a sound steeped in Appalachian folk, alt-country, and the blues. You say you wouldn’t like it, but you will. Best Song: “Heretofore”
8. The Hundred in the Hands – The Hundred in the Hands (Warp)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Post punk, neo-80’s dance music. Reminds me a little of what I think Berlin would sound like if they were around today. Yeah… exactly. Best Song: “Commotion”
9. Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill (4AD)
   BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   There is such a richness to the record. More texture than sound. Best Song: “The Coldharbour Road”
10. Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL)
    BUY: Amazon / Insound / iTunes
    Yeah…I know there will be a lot of backlash on this one. I dare you to see this band live and not come out of it blown away. These guys can play. Best Song: “Giving Up The Gun”

CHIRP DJ writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2009

Throughout the month of December we’ve been posting Best of lists from CHIRP’s volunteers, board members and DJs. Now that the month is over, as is the year, we’ve compiled all of those lists into one, did some maths and ended up with the Top 30 releases of 2009 as determined by CHIRP as a whole. Here’s to more great music in 2010, and to bringing it to you via CHIRPradio, launching Jan. 17th, 2010.

If you missed any of the lists, or just want to see them all again, you can get a full list here.

Mike Scales writesMike Scales’ Best of 2009

Throughout the month of December we’ll be posting lists of the best music of the year as determined by the volunteers that make CHIRP what it is. Today’s is from CHIRP DJ, Mike Scales.

1. Baroness – Blue Record (Relapse) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   First in a trilogy of Georgian metal acts on this list, Baroness breathed energetic new life into their signature roar and dizzying riffage on this year’s Blue Record. Fine-tuned, dynamic arrangements and soulful acoustic passages make for an instantly classic and cohesive feel to the work as a whole. I’m beginning to expect nothing but the best from this band.
2. Blakroc – s/t (V2) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Blues-based, ass shakin’ beats courtesy of the Black Keys with off-the-cuff rap performances by the likes of Wu-Tang’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Raekwon & RZA, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Ludacris, Q-Tip, etc. What more could you ask for?
3. Eyedea & Abilities – By The Throat (Rhymesayers) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   This record from the veteran Rhymesayers Entertainment emcee/DJ duo took me a couple listens to get into. But once the noisy, distorted rock guitars and half-sung songs sunk in, I was hooked. By the Throat is a grand testament to the power of innovative indie hip-hop; can’t wait to hear what these guys do next.
4. Kylesa – Static Tensions (Prosthetic) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Georgian sludge maidens Kylesa have really come into their own with Static Tensions; their signature co-ed vocals and dual-drummer attack more melodically and structurally sound than ever. And, truth be told, I just can’t get enough of sultry guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants. She simply rules.
5. Mariachi El Bronx – s/t (Swami) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   L.A.’s punk rock scorchers the Bronx strip-down and suit-up for their new project: a traditional, full-blown, honest-a-god Mariachi band! Cowbells, mandolins, horns and all! It is simply awesome! Do yourself a solid and also download their version of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U.” It’s a shame it wasn’t included on the album, might just leave you speechless.
6. Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Reprise) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   One of the biggest buzz bands of the metal community and beyond this year, Mastodon has proven themselves truly epic and progressive better than any of their prior output. A record inspired by personal tragedy, out-of-body travel through space and time and good ol’ Rasputin, Crack the Skye can and will be studied on many levels by heavy music aficionados for a long time to come.
7. Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   True old-timey soul revival in its purest form. Well, as pure and true as a 30-year old white dude from Ann Arbor, MI, can get at least. Hawthorne wrote, arranged, produced and played most of the instruments on this heck-of-an album for the Stones Throw label. Listen to “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” now!
8. Priestess – Prior to the Fire (TeePee) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   I simply cannot say enough about Montreal’s hard rock/metal masters Priestess! The band churns out tunes with the kind of wide-open, barnstorming rock riffs and old school metal swagger that will instantly have you singing along and banging your head in delight. Prior to the Fire may just be near-perfect record #2 for these guys.
9. Serengeti & Polyphonic – Terradactyl (Anticon) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   With his genre-defying funny/strange flows, one of the most unique and prolific unsung heroes of Chicago hip-hop, Serengeti, is an emcee in a world of his own. And yet somehow dude found and equally eccentric producer in Polyphonic to perfectly compliment his style. Their second full-length together, Terradactyl, is also some of the best left-field hip-hop to come out of the Anticon label in years.
10. Slayer – World Painted Blood (American) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
    What can I say? I have to give love in 2009 to thrash titans/Hot Topic whores Slayer for proving once and for all that reuniting with original drummer Dave Lombardo and putting out a beast as badass as 2006’s Christ Illusion was no mere fluke. The righteous riffage of World Painted Blood is as uncompromising as any of Slayer’s last 20 years of work and, lyrically, these old ass dudes are still as pissed off as ever. Hail.

Austin B. Harvey presents: The Liquid Diet writesAustin Harvey’s Best of 2009

Throughout the month of December we’ll be posting lists of the best music of the year as determined by the volunteers that make CHIRP what it is. Today’s is from CHIRP DJ, Austin Harvey.

1. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   A classic example of an album that seems to touch all the bases without trying too hard. Phoenix manage to marry catchy choruses with an inherent dancefloor sensibility, tying the whole thing together with an unmistakably French cool.
2. Fanfarlo – Reservoir (Atantic) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Picture this: Arcade Fire fronted by a Swedish David Byrne, in London, without electric guitars. Sounds like a noble experiment if anything else, right? Kitchen sink instrumentation and irresistible melodies all come effortlessly on an album that can’t possibly be a debut.
3. The Antlers – Hospice (French Kiss) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   If 2009 was a complete bummer of a year for you (as it was for me), then maybe a heartbreaking album detailing the protagonist’s struggle – watching a lover die in a cancer ward – brought a little bit of release into our seemingly bleak existence. At once hauntingly intimate and stunningly epic.
4. Pisces – A Lovely Sight (Numero Group) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   A frequent member of my cohorts’ top 10 lsits, this rediscovered local nugget from the 1960’s serves as a fitting companion to the rest of the decade’s lost gems. Come for the psychedelic freakouts, but stay for “Are You Changing In Your Time”, and “A Flower For All Seasons”, two of the finest ballads from any decade.
5. Montee – Isle of Now (Strømland) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Combining the danceable bliss of Duran Duran’s Rio with the polyrhythms and musical deftness of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light. This might be the best new wave album made in 25 years, and it’s from a bunch of harmonizing Norwegians who care little for anachronism. Self-assured, yet precocious.
6. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (Domino) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   “Cannibal Resource” was my summer jam, especially that part in the opening guitar riff where the Moogerfooger effect takes over. “BITTE ORCA / ORCA BITTE” was my scream-along lyric of 2009. it was a weird year. pop at its most disjointed and unhinged. lovely.
7. A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Ashes Grammar (Mis Ojos Discos) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   A shoegaze album worth getting excited about? From Philly? Yes. They do it with dream-pop interludes between the longer tracks, and heaps of sonic depth. An added bonus: this album also knows how to dance, check out “Close Chorus”.
8. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue (Warp) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Wikipedia’s genre classifications for this album are “Ambient music” and “Jangle Pop”. You could throw in “Alternative Hip-Hop” and “Folk” into the recipe for this incredibly singular and exciting album from Stephen Wilkinson. The VGM-inspired “Sugarette” jumps to the gorgeous folk of “Lovers’ Carvings” without a chance to catch your breath.
9. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career (4ad) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
   Tracyanne Campbell sounds more assured with each record, and with good reason. Her band is peaking on this collection of chamber pop tunes with plenty of blue-eyed soul influence, perhaps even a bit of country. The upbeat songs, though, steal the show with a time-honored mix of heartbroken lyrics and euphoric instrumentation.
10. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love (4ad) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
    Though I’m not the biggest fan of Robbie Furze’s vocal style, I can’t argue with the gigantic hooks on this album. They don’t sound much like The Band, but I hear Screamadelica-era Primal Scream fed through electroclash’s brattiness, or a more hard-rocking version of Cut Copy. Whatever the description, the results are lush and highly rewarding.

Reissue of the Year:
The Vaselines – Enter the Vaselines (Sub Pop) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
I will admit that I missed the boat on these guys when I was first getting into Nirvana back in middle school. I’ll turn in my indie-rock cool-kid card and write “‘Son Of A Gun’ might be the best song ever written” 50 times on the chalkboard. This is truly ahead of its time, indie pop clatter that’s at once catchy, messy, and irreverent. Perfect.