Jan
4
2011
Jan
3
2011
Top 200 Tracks of 2010 – 200-151
200. The Golden Filter – Solid Gold
199. Delorean – Real Love
198. Band of Horses – On My Way Back Home
197. Games – Heartlands
196. Cults – Oh My God
195. El Guincho – Bombay
194. Marnie Stern – Nothing Left
193. Interpol – Barricade
192. Ke$ha – Your Love Is My Drug
Dec
31
2010
2010: The Year In Music
The trend I’ve noticed these last few years, and this is just my opinion, is the years with an Olympics (every other year) isn’t as good musically as the year prior. 2007, in my memory, was way better than 2008. And so, unfortunately, the trend continues with 2010. Last year was ripe with up-and-comers and a new exciting indie subgenre called chillwave. This year was the aftermath, as most of those up-and-comers were featured on car commercials, and this year’s bright new stars were slower and more acoustic-based – Beach House and Best Coast seem to be the two critical darlings.
Not that there weren’t some great releases this year, as we will see in the next few days. Like most years, bands got bigger and disappointed (Kings of Leon), others continued to stay at the top of their game (Kanye West), and some even managed to blow our minds with a new progressive sound (Star Slinger). Arcade Fire was nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy, an award they are sure to lose to someone less deserving, but hey, still, pretty cool, right? Perhaps the biggest notable trend, though not surprising, is the inevitable transformation of indie into mainstream culture thanks to the festival circuit, television advertising, and TV/movie soundtracking.
As the years progress, I too find my musical tastes to favor the more popular sounds, akin to how they were when I was in grade school. I attribute this to the simple fact that, thanks to the spotlight the Internet shines on deserving artists, popular music is getting better, though old mediums like FM radio would have you believe otherwise. Sure, there’s still plenty of shit out there, but the kids’ ears are being exposed to more sounds than ever before, and that’s never a bad thing. Much like the revolutionary period of the grunge/alternative wave of the early 90’s, it’s not uncool to like what you hear on a Kia commercial.
In an oversaturated world of media, the term “selling out” doesn’t really mean anything anymore. Exposure is always a good thing in this day and age, even if it’s used to move a product. Just my .02….anywho, I hope you’ll join me for the next couple of weeks as I count down my favorites in music from 2010. Here’s what the blog posting schedule looks like:
Jan. 1 – Quarterly Review
Jan 2. – 10 Best Videos
3 – Top Tracks 200-151
4 – 150-101
5 – 100-51
6 – 50-21
7 – 20-1
8 – Top Remixes
9 – Honorable Mention Albums
10 – Top Albums 50-41
11 – 40-31
12 – 30-21
13 – 20-11
14 – 10-1
Enjoy, and here’s hoping 2011 rocks hard.
Dec
30
2010
Top 10 TV Shows of 2010
This list is more comprehensive and accurate than yesterday’s Top 5 Movies list – needless to say, I am a big fan of appointment television. So without further ado, here are my picks for this year’s best TV shows.
10. How I Met Your Mother
9. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Watch Lethal Weapon 5 here. You’ll be glad you did.
8. Modern Family
7. Conan
6. The Walking Dead
5. Community
4. Boardwalk Empire
3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| A Look Back – October 2010 | ||||
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2. Mad Men
1. Breaking Bad
Dec
29
2010
Top Five Movies of 2010
2010 was a great year for movies, and in the coming weeks/months, I’ll be doing a post of films I missed this year and didn’t get to watch until later. Awards season is usually the time I catch up on my movie-watching, and this year is no exception. Even living in an art-centric city like Austin (with an amazing venue for movie viewing like the Alamo Drafthouse) I still slacked on my film viewing in 2010, so obviously I feel this list is incomplete. But nevertheless, here are my picks for the Top 5 movies I saw in 2010.
5. Shutter Island
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop
3. Toy Story 3
2. Inception
1. The Social Network
Dec
15
2010
My Year In Live Music – 2010
This year I made the big move from Lubbock to Austin, and the transformation has done wonders for my live music fix. I should have been writing down all the awesome bands I saw this year (and the years before, for that matter) but alas, hindsight, she is 20/20 once again. I think this post covers the highlights more or less, however. There’s plenty of great live music I saw this year that I’m leaving out, but after the jump, in no particular order, are twelve of the best shows I witnessed in 2010, eleven of them right here in the Live Music Capital of the World.
And for the record, I wanted to put the Sleigh Bells show on here, as fun as it was once they finally started playing, but everyone who attended knows Beauty Bar is at fault for that show’s omission. What a disaster.
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