1. Big Boi - “Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty”

Inter-nerd complaint: despite the 3rd highest (non-reissue) Metascore of 2010, this album did not get a single #1 on a critic top ten list. But somehow Contra scored 2?? I really think Big Boi’s lack of self-seriousness masks how fucking ambitious this album is. Sure, plenty of the lyrics are about fucking, but every track is overflowing with “oh shit” production. Altogether it’s relentlessly tight and catchy, never indulging in one mood too long to throw the pace off.

2. Arcade Fire - “The Suburbs”

I’d cut “Half Light I” and “Month of May”. Even so, it’s the best thing they’ve ever done and an instant classic.

3. Kanye West  - “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”

C’mon everybody. “Runaway” goes on a few minutes too long, “Blame Game” drags a little and really, why the extra sample after “Dark Fantasy” seemed like it ended? It’s not perfect but some of it pretty much is (like “Monster”, “Power” and two-part ending.)

4. Los Campesinos! - “Romance is Boring”

I already wrote about this. But I love these guys.

5. LCD Soundsystem - “This Is Happening”

If this is the last album, what a way to go out. “Dance Yrself Clean” in-deed.

6. Menomena - “Mines”

Honestly the most I’ve ever come around on an album after seeing the band live. I thought it was a disappointing follow-up to the stellar Friend and Foe. Spoiler Alert: I WAS WRONG.

7. Wild Nothing - “Gemini”

I think everyone here was pretty worried that this would be a bunch of hazy mediocrity built around killer single “Chinatown” (by everyone I mean me and several of our cats.) But it totally wasn’t!!!

8. Andrew Cedermark - “Moon Deluxe”

On the list of spin-off acts I like more than the original band even though I like the original band (ex: Mirah over The Microphones.) Oh also a bunch of this sounds like The Microphones!

9. Tokyo Police Club - “Champ”

This is hereby known as the spot for “albums that don’t try nothin fancy and I just listen to them a whole lot and sometimes sing along.”

10. Das Racist - “Sit Down, Man”

“Just like, pretend you know what I’m talking about.”
GENIUS.

Honorable mention(s):

DISAPPOINTMENT ‘10:

Favorite Album Covers of 2010 - Without captions cause it’s easier to write comments when I’m being a jerk.

(Alternately titled “The millionth time I post that Romance is Boring cover on my tumblr that I never update.”)

2010’s Bottom Five Worst Album Covers I (Barely) Tolerated.
Another year, another batch of terrible covers from quality albums.

Making lists seems like the easiest way for me to actually write about music. So I am working on my “Toppest Albums of 2010” list. This year is also known as “The Year I Listened to Enough Rap Songs to Get a Steady Flow of Marge Simpson Noises From My Girlfriend.” Anyway, while I try to scramble and listen to a couple more albums, here is an album cover that barely missed my “Worst Covers Imaginable of the Entire Year” list (even though I liked some of the songs.)

I spent more of the week at Emo’s than I originally intended to, but scheduling just worked out that way. The week-long $3 Heineken tall-boy special and overall decent-ness of the venue made it OK though. For all the bitching The Internet does about Pitchfork, they put together one of the most solid showcase lineups I’ve seen in my growing SXSW experience. So it was mostly bands they’ve boosted but still. I crossed off a chunk of “want to see” shows off my list by just walking between rooms.

Washed Out & Best Coast @ Emo’s Main Stage:
Not sure if there is an act right now that sums up what I liked and disliked about the ‘09 chillwavebeachpartyupwiththesun trend more than Washed Out. It’s all pleasant enough but after a few spacey, vaguely-danceable tracks I start to wander. Things picked up a little when Big Black came out to add more to the sound, but I don’t know. I think I only really like “New Theory”. Best Coast picked things up by being shockingly loud. Honestly, the reverb and light fuzz on her recorded singles left me completely unprepared for her live band turning things up to 11 or 12. Highlights “Sun Was High (So Was I)” and “When I’m With You” felt extra-appropriate on a warm Austin day, and tracks from their upcoming LP promise jangly new summer mix-tracks.

Memory Tapes & Neon Indian @ Emo’s Jr:
Memory Tapes’ “Seek Magic” was one of my top ten records last year so I was just happy to see standouts like “Plain Material” and “Stop Talking” live. The lush sounds of the studio were lost in the translation though. Pared down to a stage duo, everything felt a little flatter. Neon Indian on the other hand, did a great job turning their lo-fi Nintendo-synth-party into an engaging spectacle. Alan Palomo took the front-man reigns like a man possessed and turned a hyped-up crowd into sweaty believers. For a record that comes across as a little slight and effortless, it sounded huge and confident live.

[Interlude: where the group sees the tail-end of some more Japandroids songs and goes off to actually eat some food but eventually crawls back to Emo’s.]

The Golden Filter, Dan Black & Royal Bangs@ Emo’s Jr & Main Stage:
The Golden Filter might have been the band that annoyed me the most at this year’s festival. The songs were bland repetitive, quasi-disco. Front-lady Penelope Trappes seemed more interested in fashion and exaggerated hand gestures than actually making a case for her music. Dan Black’s wiki entry classifies him as “wonky pop.” All I have written down is “English” and “sorta funny?” and “eh, I don’t think so.” Royal Bangs were the reason we stayed though. Although I had issues with their song choices (Where was “Poison Control”??) they were an exciting blur of spazzy blip-rock. The more I think about it, they have some sonic kinship with So Many Dynamos, but with less songs about the apocalypse. “War Bells” and “My Car is Haunted” were awesome bookends to their hyper-active set. But more drawn out noodly stuff like “Brainbow” hurt the middle, sapping some of the small crowd’s energy.

“Crucify You” was one of Depreciation Guild’s standouts during the set I caught in Austin. The studio recording from their upcoming LP “Spirit Youth” sells it a little short, but in person the song is a wall of sweet shoe-gaze syrup. The vocals are wispy and androgynous (like the band members themselves) but the layered guitars & laptop texture made them one of my Pleasant Surprises of SXSW this year.

After the satisfying early showcase at Yard Dog and a pizza break, our Thursday adventure hit some skids. (1) Critical error by passing up the opportunity to use the bathroom at Home Slice pizza, after drinking several beers. (2) The people running the French Legation museum venue/park made a crucial mistake re: bathrooms. The mistake was that there were about 4 port-a-johns. For a decent sized park that had no official capacity. We got there 20 minutes before The xx were supposed to go on, and the toilet line was huge and not moving. So the decision that I made and still sorta regret, is that we desperately had to leave the park to find another bathroom. By the time we relieved our squirming, the band was about to go on and we were across the highway. Frustrated that we missed a hyped show in a nice park, we decided to drink our open bar stowaways from Yard Dog. Relaxing with a couple of sneaky beers was a nice chance to recharge and plan the rest of our night.

The GZA @ Eastbound & Found:
I was excited to get in and see that the field wasn’t too crowded yet. I was less excited to see a dude explain that “The GZA just called and said he got held up at airport security, but he’ll be here!” An hour later the Genius finally took the stage…and we had other places to be. All we caught were phoned-in, half-audience renditions of “Liquid Swords” and “Duel of the Iron Mic.” Maybe it got better from there but I headed for Emo’s with a sour taste about the whole experience.

So Many Dynamos, Rogue Wave & Local Natives@ Emo’s:
In a festival full of new jams, it’s nice to take a reliably good sidebar. So Many Dynamos’ brand of busy dance-prog can seem overwhelming at first, but the clutter sinks in and quickly gets awesome. They opened with “Search Party” which is the best intro to the band possible and completely kills live. Outside of a good new song, the rest of the set was what I’ve seen them tour with the past year. Which is great, but it’d be nice to hear “Home Is Where the Box Wine Is” or “Oh, The Devastation!” JUST ONCE.

We switched over to Emo’s main stage partially to see Rogue Wave and partially to set up a decent position for the inevitable Local Natives flood. Rogue Wave opened with “Bird on a Wire”, which made me remember how much I liked their first two albums of melodic, slightly messy indie-pop. They’ve apparently had two records since that I just lost in the shuffle. Honestly, the new tracks sounded sort of overly polished and lyrically light. But earlier cuts like “Postage Stamp World” and “Love’s Lost Guarantee” made me glad we headed over.

There’s plenty of complaining done about how music hype spreads in our embloggened times. But Local Natives put on a hell of a show. The typical comps are The Dodos and Grizzly Bear, but if those reference points don’t mean anything to you: pretty, harmonic vocals + rhythmic craziness. My complaint about their LP was the slow, radio-ready ballads on the back end. But their Southby set stuck to standouts like opener “Wide Eyes” and album standout “Airplanes”. They have a big, beautiful sound live that absolutely warrants their buzz. FULL DISCLOSURE: When they announced “Warning Sign” as a Talking Heads cover I was surprised. So thumbs up to them for making it their own, thumbs down for me not knowing my David Byrne.

Various @ Exhaustion Point:
Ok that’s not a hot new band or a real Austin venue. We got out of Emo’s around midnight with the intention of seeing Broken Social Scene at Stubb’s. After a text that the line was “insane and not moving”, we stopped for pork chop sandwiches. Due to some confusion about venues (Beauty Bar & Beauty Bar Patio are several blocks away from each other??) we ended up seeing part of Free Energy’s set. They were definitely energetic but my first thought-bubble was “cheesy” and they didn’t work hard to change it. The band was way too power-poppy for me and the lyrics really turned me off. If sincerity is the new irony they might blow up, but I’ll pass for now.

Final stop of the night had us catching the last 2 songs of Shout Out Out Out Out at the right Beauty Bar. After faking our way through the line by saying we had artist’s wristbands (there’s physically no difference) we fought our way into an especially drunk, obnoxious crowd. And maybe that poured crap flavor onto the experience but I didn’t find the group’s four-bass, vocodered approach all that body-moving. There’s a certain level of band enthusiasm that’s overkill and the “eh” electro-house they were spinning never seemed to warrant it for me. We thought about staying for The Very Best but ran out of energy.

Which worked out since, due to some disagreeable cabbies, we had a two mile walk home. It was exhausting but as a pleasant twist, it was soundtracked by Broken Social Scene tunes floating from Stubb’s through the Austin sky.

The Rural Alberta Advantage, Japandroids, The Hood Internet & We Are Scientists
@ Yard Dog:

It was pretty cool to get away from 6th St and see the South Congress section of Austin. The RAA were my big discovery from last year’s festival, so it was awesome to see them play to a big excited crowd faithfully mouthing the lyrics. After a couple Hometowns tracks, the band switched to some new stuff, which in a 35 minute set can be a little of a letdown. Luckily they played two exciting songs that justified my high hopes for their followup. The closed out with “The Deathbridge in Lethbridge”, which reminded me that Paul Banwatt is one of my favorite new drummers.

One of my other favorites (segwayyy) makes up half of the ridiculous Japandroids. They are probably the band I was most excited to hear at SX this year, they did not disappoint even a little. Like everyone else, I think the sound they get out of two people is ridiculously impressive. Over-the-top drums, heavy distortion and screaming vocals? That’s how Japandroids kills it and spits on its corpse.

The Hood Internet were a musical left-turn after all that: an indie-rock/hip-hop mashup act (think Girl Talk but less spazzy.) The duo didn’t seem to really click with the audience until halfway through their set with an inspired mix of Grizzly Bear and Dead Prez. Other highlight: The xx vs. DMX.

We Are Scientists wrapped up our Yard Dawg experience. I don’t really know them that well, but they put on a good show. Nothing ground-breaking but funny stage banter + slightly danceable tunes = a-ok in my book. Oh, also there was a decent number of hipster parents with small kids at this showcase. Between the drummer’s Prince Valiant haircut, mustache and pink tanktop, I think I saw a few of them edging towards the door.

BONUS PIZZA REVIEW:
After a few hours of drinking beers and standing adjacent to the sun, we decided to grab some food. My Austin resident friend suggested “Home Slice Pizza” and sold it to me as the best pizza in the area. First off, it was a really cool, friendly place. I really wish there was something like it in New Haven, with good slices and cheap beer. But honestly, the pizza was just decent. Probably really good for Austin but they did that thing where there is a ton of oregano in the sauce (usually a sign that the sauce can’t stand on its own, or has confidence problems.) Again, it kills the closest slice place to my apartment: Planet Apizza, a place so bad that I’m surprised a New Haven mob hasn’t gathered with torches and pizza slicers to get rid of it. Anyway. /pizzarant

Dawes (partial) & Here We Go Magic @ Club de Ville:
We only caught the tail end of Dawes but there wasn’t a whole lot that caught my attention. After a chunk of tightly-performed but blandly classic rock tunes, they did cut loose and closed things out with a decent enough barnburner. Here We Go Magic on the other hand, sounded more relevant to this years crop of Southby buzz bands: pretty gang vocals, a strong sense of rhythm and a couple synths. Opener “Only Pieces” gave me high hopes for the band. Unfortunately the set was weak up the middle, with some meandering ethereal pieces that were frequently overpowered by the craziness of Red River Street. They ended strongly enough to warrant a later listen though. 

Born Ruffians @ The Phoenix:
The first club where we realized the St. Patty’s day crew and the festival crew were going to have to drunkenly coexist. The under-the-breath insults I heard from both sides made it clear that it wasn’t exactly peaceful, but it didn’t ruin the show. Born Ruffians didn’t blow me away but played a solidly enjoyable 30 minutes of jangly indie-rock.  

We actually intended to finished the night out at The Parish for We Were Promised Jetpacks & Frightened Rabbit. Those intentions were derailed by a ridiculous line that only badge-holders were getting through. So we headed to the Wave Rooftop for their 11pm-12am finale.

Depreciation Guild & Surfer Blood @ Wave Rooftop: 
After Depreciation Guild finished up, I was asked “what’d you think?” My honest answer was that I’m a sucker for anything shoegaze. The vocals were a little pop-heartthrob, but the guitars (and extra layer of shimmer via laptop) hit that sweet-spot. Definitely got me interested in their upcoming LP. The relatively small Wave Rooftop flooded with people as Surfer Blood was setting up. To the extent that my girlfriend barely survived returning from a bathroom trip, and the band itself had a tough time getting its gear through the defensive crowd. I’ll say this though, for a band that looks barely out of high school and was of the most hyped of the week, they completely delivered. Even a group of barely interested jerks next to us couldn’t ruin a great run of songs. Album highlights “Swim” and “Fast Jabroni” were given their over the top anthemic due, while deeper cuts like “Anchorage” provided me with hearing a song I really love. It also gave frontman JP Pitts a chance to crowd-surf during his guitar solo. Which, y’know, is always fun.