this is dudical.

#30 (tie). Kanye West & Jay Z – That’s My Bitch

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The world (and Kanye, and Aziz) loves ‘Niggas In Paris‘. I get it, it gets to the heart of the $LOL$ Rich Nigga attitude that Kanye and Jay Z were going for; but ‘That’s My Bitch‘ has Kanye’s perfectionist million-dollar production, a ridiculously catchy synth riff and classic Kanye lyrics (“seen by actors, ball players and drug dealers / and some lesbians that never loved niggas”).

#30 (tie). Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow

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With hints of Bowie and Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush made a record that is more wintery than winter. The 50 words make a Kate Bush amount of sense, but that’s the lark—like Haruki Murakami, she makes the weird normal and the normal weird. ‘50 Words For Snow‘ is…kafkaesque?

#30 (tie). Tyler, The Creator – Tron Cat

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Tyler’s radical post-racial (and post-societal) hiphop expands on the culture-changing modus operandi of late-80s N.W.A. It’s challenging as hell, even for a desensitized postmodern culture, but that’s exactly what socially relevant music should be. ‘Tron Cat‘ references wetbacks, rape and Hitler; and Tyler himself might be satan. Good luck with that.

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This is a series intended to focus on records that were influential or important to music or cultural history in some way. In other words, “albums you should listen to before you die”.

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The Fugs – The Fugs (1966)
The Fugs’ were one of NYC’s earliest garage/proto-punk bands, influencing everyone from the Velvets themselves—Sterling Morrison considered them an “authentic Lower East Side band”—to punk (obvi) to just about everyone in the modern DIY indie landscape—most notably The Brian Jonestown Massacre (practically a Fugs cover band) and Black Lips.

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#15. (Tie) Kurt Vile – Early Dawnin’

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Kvile has been on fire this year; ‘Early Dawnin’‘, which appears on Vile’s exceptional In My Time 7″, combines the emotional fragility and acoustic-electropop tendencies of a Benoît Pioulard or Sufjan Stevens with the devil-may-care cool of Adam Green or Evan Dando.

#15. (Tie) Perfume Genius – Mr. Peterson

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One of the most emotional songs from an incredibly emotionally-charged record; ‘Mr. Peterson‘ details the story of a gay relationship between a student and his teacher that ultimately results in the teacher’s suicide. Mike Hadreas’s delivery is somehow both full of emotion and completely detached, giving this song a white-knuckled tension that is only accentuated by brilliant lyrics like “He made me a tape of Joy Division / He told me there was a part of him missing / When I was sixteen / He jumped off a building”.

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Instead of force-fitting a list to some arbitrary number, here are the albums released this year that I could not live without. There are 17 of them. A few great records that basically all tied for #18: Grinderman, Killing Joke, Hot Panda, No Age, Sleigh Bells, Wavves, Sufjan Stevens, Belle & Sebastian, LCD Soundsystem, Warpaint and Health’s Remix album.

	#17 Arcade Fire The Suburbs It’s no Neon BIble or Funeral, but it’s still Arcade Fire. The title track and ‘Sprawl II‘ are as good as anything the band has written.
	#16 Spoon Transference Transference seems lacking upon first listen, but the tight rhythms and jams are hidden in plain sight (sound?).
	#15 Maserati Pyramid Of The Sun Psychedelic post-rock electro made for double rainbows and booze on summer afternoons.
	#14 The National High Violet By far The National’s best record to date. ‘Anyone’s Ghost’ is one of the most breathtaking songs of the year.
	#13 The Tallest Man On Earth The Wild Hunt Tallest Man’s second full-length is a haunting Dylanesque folkscape with enough originality—and modernity—to break free of Dylan’s shadow.
	#12 Women Public Strain One of the best debuts in years. They had a meltdown on tour, canceled the remaining dates and (supposedly) broke up, but…brothers gotta hug.
	#11 Yeasayer Odd Blood A brilliant 21st-century update of the late-70s/early-80s Talking Heads period.
	#10 Beach House Teen Dream Beach House’s third album is…gorgeous, hypnotizing, dreamy, stunning, incredible.
	#9 Adam Green Minor Love Minor Love shows a tender, stringless, hornless side of Green; stripped down and (almost) emotional.
	#8 Liars Sisterworld One of Liars most potent records; Sisterworld mashes and stomps art+insanity into a fireball of indie hooks.
	#7 Perfume Genius Learning The jawdropping debut from Mike Hadreas confronts pedophilia, abuse and homosexuality and is somehow both hopeless and full of hope.
	#6 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today Less schizophrenic than previous albums, but still an outstanding Encyclopedic collection of music history, and this one comes loaded with hooks and funky 70s-esque basslines!
	#5 Blonde Redhead Penny Sparkle Patience is a virtue on Penny Sparkle. The shoegaze is gone, but a timeless netherworld of ice cold electro-pop remains.
	#4 Les Savy Fav Root For Ruin Tim Harrington over the past few years is as close as an artist can get to “He’s On Fire!” from NBA Jam.
	#3 Caribou Swim A post-everything wintry dance party from the arctic mind of Dan Snaith.
	#2 Deerhunter Halcyon Digest Few bands are as consistently brilliant as Deerhunter right now, and the blissful pop on Halcyon Digest displays Bradford and co. at the top of [his] their game.
	#1 Crystal Castles Crystal Castles They may be dicks, but music doesn’t lie, and every song Crystal Castles has created could have come straight from heaven.

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On to part 8 of my 100 best albums of the aughts list.

You can find part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here and part 7 here.

	#30 Islands – Arm’s Way (2008) ANTI- Former Unicorn Nick Diamonds gets more poppy and less weird on Arm’s Way, but that’s not a bad thing. Diamonds’ hooks are everywhere: the lyrics tend toward macabre; (“Creeper in my home crawled in through the window/I grabbed the kitchen knife couldn’t stick it in no/Creeper had his own shining in the moonlight“), and best of all, that beloved Unicorn eccentricity is still there.
	#29 The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) Warner Bros. The Flaming Lips’ catalogue includes Zaireeka—a 4-disc album intended to be played on four different stereos simultaneously; a front-to-back remake of Dark Side of the Moon; production work for Steve Burns (of Blues Clues fame); years of bizarre costumes and an obsession with robots and UFOs. With the Lips’ love of all-things-weird as context, Yoshimi doesn’t come across as weird for weirdness sake (these songs are seriously good); but Wayne Coyne’s absurdism—as should be expected—is all over it.
	#28 Santogold – Santogold (2008) Downtown Records Santogold (now Santigold)’s debut is a ridiculously catchy, genre-bending mashup of indie-disco, dub and hip-hop (a less in-your-face M.I.A.). Production help includes M.I.A.’s own Diplo and Switch, and Spank Rock makes a guest-appearance on the dub-stepping reggae update, ‘Shove It‘. This record has attitude, but more importantly, it’s a four-on-the-floor dancefloor destroyer.
	#27 Minus The Bear – Menos El Oso (2005) Suicide Squeeze Records Menos El Oso showcases Minus The Bear at their absolute best. Waves of whammy-bar reverb turn every one of these songs into a sun-drenched, boozy jam. Jake Snider’s lyrics are typically day-in-the-life (“A swimming pool with no bodies/Is a problem that we can fix/Dropped his clothes on the chase lounge and asked/’Are you gonna come in?’“), which just adds to Menos El Oso‘s perpetually wasted vibe. The band released an outstanding remix album—titled Interpretaciones Del Oso—as well.
	#26 Witch Hats – Cellulite Soul (2008) In-Fidelity Grungy, debauched, and sloppy as hell; this is Witch Hats. Cellulite Soul—the band’s debut—is a lurching bonfire of post-punk and sneer. Album opener ‘Before I Weigh‘ has the pace of sludge and the sweet, sweet nectar of gloom. The rest of the album is similarly vagrant: ‘Hellhole‘ would make a great backdrop for a prison beating; ‘Doors Film‘ is eight minutes of bad acid.
	#25 New Order – Get Ready (2001) London Eight years after Republic and over 20 years after Ian Curtis’s suicide, New Order finally broke completely free from Joy Division. Get Ready RIPs the band’s post-Joy Division synth-pop palate in favor of crawling, shoegazy distortion. Sumner’s vocals are detached, hypnotic; ‘Crystal‘—New Order’s career apex—is a mind-melting anthem of fragility. Sumner’s lyrics have never been his strongpoint—and they certainly aren’t here either—but that simply doesn’t matter.
	#24 At The Drive-In – Relationship of Command (2000) Grand Royal Records Relationship of Command (At The Drive-In’s final record before splitting into Sparta and The Mars Volta) featured breakneck tempos; split-second time changes; intense, poetry-slam lyrics; and the spastic insanity of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López. As PCP-insane as this record is, though, it’s still poppy as fuck. You’d be singing along to mosh-pit anthems like ‘One Armed Scissor‘ and ‘Sleepwalk Capsules‘ even if you were on fire.
	#23 Pidgeon – Might As Well Go Eat Worms (2008) Cloud Recordings A schizophrenic post-Pixies drug den, Might As Well Eat Worms—Pidgeon’s second criminally underrated album—is a brilliant postmodern adaptation of Black Francis/Kim Deal-ish back-and-forth. Its songs constantly evolve and devolve into strange comedowns and out-of-nowhere harmonies; bits and pieces that coil and weave from shrieks to lullabies and back again.
	#22 Blonde Redhead – 23 (2007) 4AD Blonde Redhead’s followup to the startling pop sensibilities of Misery is a Butterfly—23 expands Misery’s Murakami-dreamworld with more death, more gloom and more shoegaze. Makino’s voice is angelic and delicate; and often simply bone-chilling. The highlight of the record, ‘Spring and By Summer Fall‘, is an icy shoegaze anthem that thunders melody and mood; grabs your soul and doesn’t let go.
	#21 The Microphones – The Glow Pt. 2 (2001) K Records As much as I appreciate the prolificacy of Phil Elvrum—one of the more genuine artists you’ll find today—he will probably never come close to matching The Glow Pt. 2. That’s not necessarily a putdown, it’s just that this album is so…perfect. This is a record dripping with raw emotion, gorgeous melodies, haunting themes; and Elvrum is behind every stunning second of it. The Glow Pt. 2 is as close as lo-fi indie rock will ever come to its own SMiLE.

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Wavves – King of the Beach (2010)
[Fat Possum]

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San Diego beach-punks Wavves’ brand new album, King Of The Beach, has already received rave reviews from Pitchfork; a great first step following last year’s public meltdown and stinging criticism from members of Black Lips and Psychedelic Horseshit.

King Of The Beach dials down the fuzz to focus on surfy Beach Boy harmonies and nostalgic references to the 80s (Nintendo, Super Soakers, baseball cards).

The pot-fueled cover for the album (my favorite cover of the year) was designed by friend-of-the-band Kelly Seagraves. I caught up with her to talk about her inspirations for the cover.

How’d you get hooked up with Wavves? Did you know them?

Yes, I’ve been friends with Billy Hayes (drummer) and Stephen Pope (bassist) for a pretty long time. I did a mural of Stevie Wonder in Billy’s house while he was on tour with Wavves, and the whole band seemed to like it. When they got done recording the album, Billy suggested that me and his girlfriend, Margaret Graves – who collaborated with me on the cover – come up with something. So we started brainstorming.

What inspiration did you have for the cover? Did you have any specific instructions from the band or the label?

I hadn’t met Nathan when Billy asked us to do the cover, so I just asked him, “Well what does this dude like?” Billy gave me a short list. Weed, California, skateboards, cats. When he told me Nathan had a cat named “Snacks”, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The cover is essentially a portrait of some dude’s cat, but I wanted him to look ancient. Like something you’d see on an Aztec calendar stone. I gave him a black halo, magical weed leaf, and an All-Seeing Eye to ward off evil. Margaret did the blinged out step-pyramid background.

Everything was kind of inspired by 2012 mysticism and drug culture. Snacks is now totally equipped for the apocalypse. Shamanized.

Take me through your process. Do you freehand, or is it all digital? Or a mixture of both.

I freehand everything, paint it, ink it, scan it, then make it look sharp.

Do you have an all-time favorite album cover?

I guess I’d have to say [Michael Jackson's] Thriller. It’s not fancy, but it’s classic, and something about having that image around makes me feel empowered.

When I look at the King Of The Beach cover, I can’t help but think of World 2 on Super Mario 3. Did you ever beat that game?

Holy shit. That was my favorite level. Mario motifs. Yeah, it’s all subconscious now. Mario life.

Do you have any sketches or drafts or other stuff you didn’t get to use for this (or for the Post-Acid cover) that you’d like to share?

A few things. We did stuff specifically for the inside of the album too, so I hope people check that out. Some of the little patterns and flourishes are from older drawings. You can see that stuff at my blog.

Quick! What’s the best episode of Saved By The Bell?

The one where Jessie freaks out on pills. “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so scared!” Really hits the nail on the head.

Other work from Kelly:

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The final day of my P4k coverage for RadioK:

I woke up to thunder today, thanking everything holy that it might not be as hot outside. (Not the case! It was hotter than hell) But heat doesn’t matter when a day full of amazing music awaits, and Day 3 was my most anticipated lineup of the entire weekend.

After an awesome late breakfast at The American Depot near Austin, I arrived at the festival just in time to see up-and-coming blog favorite, Best Coast. Led by Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast was a beautiful way to start the day. The crowd was in full-on beach mode, tossing giant beach balls back and forth as Bethany played through most of her upcoming album, including ‘Crazy For You‘ and new single ‘Boyfriend‘. Her voice sounded stunning and angelic, reminiscent of early-50s girl groups. I already loved these songs, but they were even better live.

I left Best Coast’s set early to check out Girls on the A stage. Main Girl Christopher Owens looked ridiculous and amazing in his long-sleeve tropical Hawaiian shirt tucked into tan khakis. They opened with ‘Laura‘—a perfect fit for a sunny Sunday afternoon—and continued with more laid-back beachy jams until playing a sedated version of ‘Lust For Life‘ near the end of the set. Owens seemed legitimately nice (and humbled) too—at one point shooting video of the crowd, telling everybody to “say hi to mom”.

Beach House continued the relaxing summer vibe on the C stage with an absolutely mesmerizing show. They gathered one of the bigger crowds of the afternoon; played ‘Walk In The Park‘ and ‘Norway‘ back to back to hypnotize us all; and finished with a ravishing version of ‘10 Mile Stereo‘ that ended to massive cheers while Victoria Legrand held the final note for 20-some seconds. The stage décor (silver confetti streamers à la Warhol’s Silver Factory) and Legrand’s deadpan, hypnotic vocals reminded me of Nico, which I’d never thought before.

Lightning Bolt hit the A stage next, and it was absolutely: ear-splitting, eye-melting, awesome. If anyone was going to die this weekend, it was going to be during this show, which redefined loud. I still have no idea how these two guys can make that much delicious noise. Drummer Brian Chippendale was the highlight of the show (wearing a mic-outfitted mask and virtually destroying his drumset with ridiculous fills).

Photo by Marty Perez

I had planned to check out the beginning of Major Lazer before heading over to Neon Indian, but Major Lazer’s show was so insane and amazing that there was no way that was happening. Instead of leaving, I moved closer to the stage. Diplo and Switch (Major Lazer’s two main culprits) were outrageous; this was a partyx3. Switch, has to be completely insane at this point; he came out wearing purple suspender-pants and a bleached Mohawk, taking pulls of Hennessy. There were Chinese dragons (later replaced by ballerinas), half-naked dancers, and seXXX-energy everywhere. Rolls of toilet paper thrown into the crowd; goose-stepping ballerinas; oh my god, this is happening. The show was 100% localized, and Switch gave shout-outs to Chicago and Pitchfork in nearly every song. Diplo was killing it on the breakdowns, (a cardboard sign near his DJ decks accurately stated, ‘Diplo Rulz’) and by the end of the show Switch had the crowd waving shirts in the air as he climbed a 10-foot ladder only to take off his pants and jump to the ground.

Pavement finished off the night—and the festival—with a set heavy on classics and heavy on mood. Stephen Malkmus’s slacker hooks were an absolutely perfect comedown from the hi-heat, hi-energy weekend. They started off the set with ‘Cut Your Hair‘, and played just about everything else, including ‘Shady Lane‘, ‘Stereo‘ (which Malkmus dedicated to Pitchfork security), ‘Trigger Pull‘ and ‘Silent Kid‘. Hearing the solo on ‘Stop Breathin’‘ as the Festival came to a close was incomparably awesome.

Top 7 music moments of the weekend:
7. Modest Mouse opening with a 9-minute version of ‘Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes‘
6. Liars covering Bauhaus
5. Pavement playing the solo of ‘Stop Breathin’‘ as the Festival began to shut down.
4. Major Lazer attempting crowd-seizures during ‘Keep It Goin’ Louder‘
3. Beach House playing ‘Walk In The Park‘/’Norway‘ back to back
2. LCD Soundsystem’s four-on-the-floor stomper, ‘All My Friends‘
1. Nine members of Titus Andronicus and Hallelujah The Hills finishing off ‘…And Ever‘

Other loose ends:
-Oldest Festivalgoer: about 60
-Youngest Festivalgoer: about 3 months
-Most ironic band t-shirt: Billy Ray Cyrus
-Best day: Sunday
-Biggest disappointment: Panda Bear
-Overall favorite band/show: Wolf Parade

Top 5 shows:
5. Modest Mouse/Pavement (tie)
4. Major Lazer
3. Beach House
2. Titus Andronicus
1. Wolf Parade

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A continuation of my P4k coverage for the lovely RadioK. Head over there for more exciting things (like interviews!).

Photos by Jules Ameel

The first chills-inducing moment of the day came from Titus Andronicus. On a stage decorated with American flags, Titus slayed the mid-90s heat with cameos by tourmates Hallelujah The Hills, including a full set with Andy Dick-lookalike/keyboard guru Elio DeLuca. These guys turned the stage into a party; I counted 9 people playing during the anthemic ‘…And Ever‘. Trumpets turned choruses into monsters, guitarist Amy Klein had The World’s Biggest Smile Ever glued to her face for the entire show, and Stickles was swimming in sweat by the time the set was up. At one point I looked over to see a guy with the longest handlebar mustache I have ever seen, fully decked out in an overcoat and longpants (in other words, exactly the type of Civil War-era dude Titus sang about on The Monitor).

By the time Titus finished, the heat had almost taken me to the grave, so I checked out some of the vendor tents, which featured dozens of stands manned by great poster artists and booths loaded with enough vinyl to make my hands tremble. Amp was giving away free screened t-shirts, and Toyota Antics (whatever that is) was offering free screened tote bags. I grabbed both.

Wolf Parade was the highlight of the day. The guitars were razor sharp, the songs were somewhat faster…and it was LOUD. Spencer Krug’s yelps seemed to have much more protopunk influence in a live setting. (I definitely got some Stooges and New York Dolls vibes at times.) Awesomely, the band played plenty of older stuff, including a thundering version of ‘Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts‘. They finished things off with the entire 10 minutes of ‘Kissing the Beehive‘, which led to all kinds of freakouts—including dancing makeout sessions in the crowd.

LCD Soundsystem brought the night to a close with a rave-up danceparty extraordinaire. James Murphy pulled no punches, going huge early—the second song was ‘Drunk Girls‘—and turning it to 11 from there. He had the crowd losing its mind 15 minutes into the set with a MONSTROUS version of ‘All My Friends‘ (one of the Festival’s highlights). People were hula-hooping, a six-year-old was dancing on her dad’s shoulders, the crowd was loving every second. The obvious comparison here is Depeche Mode, but LCD more than held their own tonight. After more than an hour of nonstop danceable jams, Murphy put an end to the night with the comedown of ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down‘, which seemed strange at first (but was ultimately perfect).

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Hey all!

I went down to P4k fest this year to blog for the wonderful RadioK. Here is what went down:

Finally, Pitchfork 2010 begins! After eating a 2 p.m. breakfast at Louie’s Diner in Oak Park, I made my way over to the Festival—just as Tallest Man on Earth began his set. His vocals were absolutely spot on; an absolute perfect fit to begin the day. Most of Tallest Man’s set was from the new album, The Wild Hunt, but he played some older stuff as well.

Following Tallest Man, oddly, was El-P, but it took me only a few El-P songs to transition from Tallest Man’s sleepy folksy mood to hardcore hip-hop. He absolutely destroyed his set, bringing probably the most intensity of the day.

Photo by Marty Perez

I was super stoked to see Liars, whose performance-art-piece of a set was as weird as I was hoping. Frontman Angus Andrew was (creepily?) decked out in retro gym shorts and a Men At Work Tee, wailing around with limp wrists and frantic yelps while the band played almost entirely Sisterworld material. Andrew opened the set by telling the crowd to “have a go at the water station in my pants” anytime they felt like getting on stage. I’m just guessing, but I doubt that would have gone over well. His antics seemed vaguely Iggy Pop-ian, though an older woman next to me noted that she heard—and saw—some Korn (yes, that Korn) influence. Toward the end of the set, they broke into a cover of Bauhaus’s ‘In The Flat Field‘, which they seemed more energized by than their own songs. They closed out with a hypnotic version of ‘Proud Evolution‘.

Modest Mouse closed out the night with an amazing show, opening things off right with a superb, near-nine-minute version of ‘Tiny Cities Made of Ashes‘ that sounded almost like an entirely different song. The band almost looked like Broken Social Scene up there at times, with up to seven people playing at once—including trumpets, standup bass, an accordian and Brock’s own banjo. By the fourth song—a sexily slow rendition of ‘Satellite Skin‘—the crowd was throwing glowsticks and dancing and singing along. Other highlights included a Tom Waits-y version of ‘The Devil’s Workday‘ and several songs from The Moon and Antarctica. Modest Mouse definitely played more older material than anyone else on Day 1. After leaving the stage, they came back for a two-song encore, with a haunting version of ‘Gravity Rides Everything‘ and ending things for a good with the kick-in-the-balls of ‘Black Cadillacs‘.

Other odds ‘n’ ends:

-Thank God I saw no one wearing a Greenman suit. Hopefully this means the trend is finally over.

-The crowd was decidedly non-hipster. My Hipster Bingo Card was left virtually untouched.

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On to part 7 of my 100 best albums of the aughts list.

You can find part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, and part 6 here.

	#40 Kings of Leon – Because of The Times (2007) RCA Kings of Leon’s gateway to full-fledged radio-ready arena rock; Because of the Times still has that southern grit (‘Charmer‘), but the brothers-and-cousin are clearly making the shift toward Cheap Tricky sheen here. ‘Knocked Up‘ and ‘Ragoo‘ are both excellent mashups of the band’s old and new tendencies.
	#39 Minus The Bear – Planet Of Ice (2007) Suicide Squeeze Records Planet Of Ice gets a little more proggy than previous Minus The Bear records…and its production sheen is nearly blinding (it works here, but was perhaps an early warning sign for the dreadful followup, OMNI). The blithely sexual lyrics remain; and amidst a sea of neo-prog guitar solos is an after-afterparty for those who don’t dig on LMFAO or 3OH!3.
	#38 The Organ – Grab That Gun (2004) Mint Records Grab That Gun—The Organ’s lone LP—is a voyeuristic joyride through every little sister’s teenage diary. The band’s namesake (yes, an organ) provides a warm breath of CPR for the album’s ultra-simplistic, razor-sharp guitar melodies and not-quite-drama-queen lyrics. Several blistering, hopeless jams from the outstanding Sinking Hearts EP appear—in updated, more fully realized forms—as well.
	#37 Brand New – Deja Entendu (2003) Triple Crown Deja Entendu contains all the trademarks of a post-hardcore record—narratives posing as song titles (e.g., ‘Good To Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die‘); confessionalist songwriting and choked-up vocals; a focus on atmospheric aesthetics. But Brand New is also poppy, and that emo/pop-punk vibe means we can sing along and fake our tears at the top of our lungs. This record is pretty high on my nostalgia scale.
	#36 Spoon – Girls Can Tell (2001) Merge The first of Spoon’s albums to fire on all cylinders. (No single Spoon ingredient seems that great in and of itself, but together…together Britt Daniel’s dry delivery melts into churning rhythms, cymbal crashes dissolve into perpetual jams, choruses form what seem like endless grooves.) On Girls Can Tell, these parts are meticulously calculated, meaning this “whole” adds up to a whole lot—from classics (‘Everything Hits at Once‘, ‘Take the Fifth‘) to Spoon’s version of a ballad (‘1020 AM‘).
	#35 Auxes – Sunshine (2008) Lovitt Records Auxes bear heavy Les Savy Fav influence; but Sunshine isn’t just an LSV knockoff—it’s got punk charm (Dave Laney was an original Milemarker member). And Laney’s raspy vocals are a perfect fit for these lurching bits of hardcore-cum-punk. These tracks—13 in 34 minutes—stagger and jerk with just enough swagger to dance to. ‘Greeting Card Perfume‘ pays homage to Tom Waits, while anthems like ‘Brother‘ and ‘Radio! Radio!‘ recall Milemarker.
	#34 Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand (2009) Vice Records Notorious for puking and pissing and making out onstage, Black Lips’ music actually transitions surprisingly well to a non-live setting. 200 Million Thousand contains all the drug references you’d expect (e.g., ‘Drugs‘) and the vocals are AM-ready (check out the doo-wop of ‘Trapped in a Basement‘); Black Lips are well-versed in music history (knowledgable on African protopunk, attempting to tour the entire world—Iraq and China included) and it shows.
	#33 Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004) Merge It would be impossible to overstate the influence or the acclaim that followed the release of Funeral. A conceptual chamber-pop record about death—featuring a collective of Canada’s best musicians—comprised of high emotions and brilliantly composed songs. Yes, Win Butler and Co. became the critical darlings of the decade with this release, but this record (somehow both somber and uplifting) deserved every bit of praise.
	#32 Kings of Leon – Only By the Night (2008) RCA Only By the Night solidified Kings of Leon’s shift to full-fledged arena rock (you’ve heard Sex on Fire every time you’ve walked into an Urban Outfitters or American Apparel). I am probably in the minority on this, but I prefer the radio luster of these songs over the Taper Jeans Girls of earlier albums. The stadium-ready, starry-eyed opener ‘Closer‘ might be the best track in Kings of Leon’s arsenal.
	#31 Blonde Redhead – Misery is a Butterfly (2004) 4AD Kazu Makino’s voice is otherworldly—something between a dream and a birdsong—giving Blonde Redhead’s hypnotic music an enchanting dreamscape straight out of a Murakami novel. Misery is a Butterfly was the first Blonde Redhead album to seize on the band’s strong pop capabilities, and the result is startling and gorgeous; a murderous fairy tale.

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