My Thirty Three and 1/3 Records of the Year

I'm obsessed with music. Almost as much as I'm obsessed with checking my facebook page, figuring out Tiger Woods approval rate with the general American public, and which member of MTV's "Jersey Shore" will be the first to murder "The Scenario." Needless to say, I surround my self with music. As a younger man, I wish I would of had the gall to actually learn a "real" instrument (no, the recorder does not count). I've learned that my dreams of forming a supergroup are on the decline. Thus, my love for other people's music has grown.

I present you with my top 33 1/3 records of the year. Why 33 1/3, you ask? Well this is the ratio a vinyl spins on a record player. It also forces me to really eliminate certain records I might of enjoyed this year (I listened to something like 115 new records this year). Not to offend anyone, this list is strictly personal so certain records might be placed higher or lower than how you viewed them (or in the case of some of my friends, what the fuck are you listening to exactly?). Without further ado, here's my list.

Records 331/3-20

33 1/3. Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele-"The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele"

I actually stumbled across Dent May by accident. While in Philadelphia, a good friend of mine dragged me to the show. Dent May's music is a combination of Beach Boy Harmonies, with a lyrical bent relatable to Stephen Meritt (The Magnetic Fields) or Jens Lekman. Gloriously awkward and heart-felt, his songs are the perfect soundtrack to a loner's attempts at courtship.

Listen to this:

33. The Obits- "I Blame You"

Who will save rock n' roll, cried the overzealous NME magazine, we have chosen many to lead but none have taken the reigns. Swooping in like a sign from little baby Jesus, came Rick Froberg (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes) to save the day. Never one to concern himself with the fads and pretensions of much younger groups, Froberg's new group focuses on rock, plain and simple. One can draw a line from Howlin' Muddy Waters to MC5 to X to The Obits. And don't forget kiddies, Froberg still hates you.

Listen to this: "Two-Headed Coin"

32. Mos Def- "The Ecstatic"

Many probably forget that before Mos Def was a actor, he was one of the most reputable MC's around. After falling off (one can blame that squarely on his Hollywood dreams), Mos Def returned with a fury with "The Ecstatic." To the Mary Poppins influenced opener "Supermagic" (it's a lot cooler than it sounds), to the Iraq-riding on a Hummer flow of "Auditorium" aided by Slick Rick, the record simply bounces from one extreme to the next. His best work since "Black on Both Sides."

Listen to this: "Auditorium"

31. Health- "Get Color"

It's never a good sign when your best song is a remix (Crystal Castles' "Crimewave") that only contains a snippet of the original's vision. A band that showed a lot of potential but lacked, you know, songs, Health's "Get Color" is a step in the right direction. Using their keyboards as abrasive tools, the band sculpts the sound of "The End" (Nice Girls, Eat Flesh) but also as a calming agent (In Violet), the sound after all the bombs have fallen. Plus lead single Die Slow sounds like Stabbing Westerward on steriods, which is never a bad thing.

Listen to this: "Die Slow"

30. Manic Street Preachers-"Journal for Plague Lovers"

Many people forget (0r simply don't know) that the year that Kurt Cobain ended it all, the alternative scene lost another hero in Ritchey James Edwards. Lead singer of the Preachers, Edwards was well-read and angry and the group produced their magnum opus "The Holy Bible" with him. Shortly after it was released, Edwards left his car and his belongings behind and was never found again. The band soldiered on as a threesome but always lacked the punch that they had when Edwards was in the group. The solution? Hire Steve Albini to produce and use Edwards last notebook to inspire their new songs. Instead of being the dire purge that "The Holy Bible" was, "Journal for Plague Lovers" is a swan song of sorts, full of hope and inspiration that would make Edwards proud.

Listen to this: "She Bathed Herself in a Bath of Bleach"

29. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart- "Self-Titled"

It's no secret that being a nerd is hip now. From Flight of the Conchords, ironic wolf sweaters, and smoking pipes, hipsters have fully embraced the geek in all. So with that mind, a revival of late 80's/early 90's twee pop should follow along with it considering that twee was the music for the awkward who cared too much. Signed to Slumberland Records (the American home of twee) and produced by Archie Moore (who also produced Velocity Girl/Black Tambourine), The Pains of Being Pure At Heart had it all going for them. But don't shrug them off as weak or lo-fi. Check out the thundering drums on "Young Adult Friction," the JMC jangle of "Come Saturday," or the noisy guitar bridge during "Stay Alive." This band might be indie pop but they got bite.

Listen to This: "Young Adult Friction"

28. St. Vincent- Actor

A lot can be made about Annie Clark(St. Vincent)'s face. Porcelain white with blue eyes, she looks the part of the ideal hipster girl, someone you might stumble across in the Strand bookstore and swear you need to spend the rest of your life with them just by looking at them. But beyond her face, lies one deranged soul. Her juxtaposition of Disney like strings with sci-fi paranoia (done mostly by her ace guitar playing), St. Vincent's music is confusing. It always starts off lovely but somehow Playboy magazines, domestic fights, spills that cause internal bleeding fight their way in. "Actor" sounds like the movie score of a romance movie directed by David Lynch.

Listen to this: "The Strangers"

27. Bill Callahan-"Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle"

My dad tries to stay hip with the latest music. God bless him. He's always stealing my recordsand giving me his critique on them later. When he stole my copy of Bill Callahan's second record under his real name, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, he only commented on how much he hated his voice. It's true. Bill has a deep baritone of a voice that is so majestically him it's hard to get over. It doesn't help that their isn't much to the music either-just his voice, strings, simple percussion, and an acoustic guitar. But that is what makes the record so fantastic. It's so simple. Yet no one other than Bill could of done it.

Listen to this: "Jim Cain"

26. Fuck Buttons-Tarot Sport

To be quite honest, I hated the first Fuck Buttons record. I downloaded the St. Patty's Day and tired to get into it. I couldn't. I listened to it the next day. No avail. I listened to the record five times in the span of one week and I really couldn't dig it. Everyone was drooling over it but to me it sounded like a couple of art school dropouts who rediscovered their Playskool Cassette Player with Microphone. But their second record, Tarot Sport, clicked with me right away. Instead of being a record of noise for noises sake, this is a noisy-dance record. Check out the expanding, swirling, early 90's techno sound of opener "Surf Solar." Or the mid-record highlight "Olympians," which builds into a euphoria-inducing wash-away. Hey who said anything about a sophomore slump?

Listen to this:"Olympians"

25. The Flaming Lips- "Embryonic"

I was starting to wonder what happened to The Flaming Lips. After releasing the masterpiece The Soft Bulletin, the Lips became predictable, releasing record after record of "isn't life so mysterious and precious." These guys use to be an acid rock group man! They released a record that you were supposed to play on four speakers, at the same time! The Lips, sadly, seemed like a group more focused with perfecting their hippie-love fest they called a live show. But then they go and drop a bomb like Embryonic and fuck my shit up (in a good way). Dark, massive, bleak, and sounding like it was recorded on a burnt speaker, the Lips haven't sound this vital in years (ten to be exact). Just check out the charging, paranoid swoon of "Silver Trembling Hands" or the worldisgoingtoendbutscrewit jungle boogie of "Watching the Planets" if you don't believe me. Now the interesting thing is going to be, how is Wayne going to justify writhing around in a gerbil ball onstage to this doom opera?

Listen to this: "Watching the Planets"

24. Handsome Furs-Face Control

It's amazing to me that both singers of Wolf Parade (Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner) released better solo projects this year than the disappointing At Mount Zoomer last year which combined both of their talents. Up first is Dan with his group Handsome Furs and their sophomore release Face Control. (Very) Loosely based on the process of "Face Control" in Russian night clubs where people get in based solely on their looks, the song cycle is just an excuse for Boeckner to show off his talents. Dan has always been the Springsteen on Wolf Parade and when he says stuff like "Heaven was a place we built out of stone," you tend to believe him. Behind his wife Alexi's gooey synths, Boeckner generally does what he does best, forms great pop/rock songs built on his heart of his sleeve earnestness and his we-are-marching-forward charging guitar playing.

Listen to this: "Radio Kalinigrad"

23. Neon Indian-"Psychic Chasms"

It's amazing to me how caught up music journalists in labeling new music. This was the summer of day-glo/chill wave/bedroom dance/polka extreme (alright, the last one was made up) according to every journalist who wanted to characterize this type of music. By running themselves ragged coming up with terms for the music, they should of just appreciated the music for what it is, head-bopping. Using samples, keyboards, and guitars that seem stuck permanently in the eighties, Neon Indian's "Psychic Chasms" has an supreme cheesiness to it. But it also has a warm, fuzzy feel that reminds one of hot summers by your best friends pool when the only trouble was thinking of which girl you though you liked. And coming in under thirty minutes, it's over much faster than you would want it to, much like those summer romances.

Listen to this: "Deadbeat Summer"

22. The Rural Alberta Advantage-"Hometowns"

Hey, your thinking. Hey, your thinking, this guy sounds a lot like someone I know. Hmmm.....ohmygod this guy sounds like the dude from Neutral Milk Hotel! And it doesn't help that Nils Edenloff writes heart-tugging songs in leu of Jeff Magnum. But while Magnum seems to focus on death and the after-life, The Rural Alberta Advantage seem possessed with what happens after you leave the small-town behind. What happens to your friends, your family, the places you use to hang out, the loves you left behind. Hometowns never stalls in one sound either; there's the Modest Mouse crunch of "The Deadbridge in Lethbridge", the ramshackle oft-kilter pop of "Don't Haunt This Place", or the Cars-like New Wave of "Sleep All Day." A band well worth the hype.

Listen to this: "In the Summertime"

21. Dinosaur Jr.-"Farm"

Dinosaur Jr. seemed like a band that would never re-unite. J. Mascis pretty much called Lou Barlow a prick in a interview after they broke up and Barlow even recorded a song with his new group Sebadoh called "The Freed Pig" inspired by you-know-who. So when the group stormed back with Beyond, which was a return to form, many a critic where left wide-mouthed. Well, they better get use to it because Farm, their second record since re-forming, builds on the successes of Beyond. From it's wacko artwork, Mascis off-the-wall guitar noodling, and aw- shucks songwriting, the band sounds more like its younger version. But along the years, Mascis has grown confident (check out "I Want You To Know" if you don't believe me) and his guitar playing has gotten more ballsy (the loner anthem "Said The People" which clocks in over seven minutes, half of which is a guitar solo). The band (and album) can be sorted out best in "Over It" which quotes the mantra "I use to be weird, I got over it."

Listen to This: "Pieces"

20. Fever Ray-"Self-Titled"

It's really hard to distance oneself as a solo artist when your original group has such a distinct sound to it. Such is the dilemma for Karin Dreijer Anderson. The Knife is one of the most original sounding groups to come out in the 00's and Silent Shout sounds like nothing before/after it. With Fever Ray, Anderson must of thought, well, if you can't beat them, do it even bigger. She uses the voice modulator in almost every song (a staple of her singing in the Knife), the beats are more claustrophobic and clanging, and her on stage persona the ever more dramatic. Even when she's singing about growing up to be an adult and all the fun things she would do (the excellent "When I Grow Up"), there's something macabre about it all. And using the music video as an outlet, her videos are just as memorable as her songs.