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The White Stripes
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Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Das Racist – Swate
Cold Cave – The Great Pan is Dead
Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High
Lil Wayne – Green and Yellow

Today I continue a series of posts dedicated to the best albums of the last decade, posting analysis of one album at a time.

42. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms

The summer of 2009 was fairly lazy and optimistic for me – Obama had just been elected, and music was particularly awesome.  I had a part time job driving around a bingo parlor lot as a “security guard” listening to satellite radio.  And that’s where I first heard “Deadbeat Summer,” the theme song to my life at that point.  I then saw Neon Indian at Monolith, ACL, and Fun Fun Fun Fest, where the show morphed from a mere electronic experiment to a full-blown chillwave dance powerhouse on stage.

The chillwave movement of 2009 was extraordinary in its remarkable presence and almost similarly immediate dissolving – the subgenre is basically dead at this point, or at least in limbo, as prominent chillwavers are trying new sounds other than the spaced-out, 80’s influenced, electro dance music that captivated us a couple of years ago.  Still, Psychic Chasms, my favorite album of that year, is a trippy, upbeat half hour of drug-induced Miami Vice fun.

Alan Palomo’s post-Ghosthustler project turned him into a blog-world superstar almost overnight, as leaked tracks were consistently lauded for their unique mix of sampling (some of which are familial – his father’s compositions, popular in the 1970’s in Mexico), muddy lo-fi production, and infectious melody, even more so than his dream-house effort Vega, which he all but abandoned once Neon Indian took off.  Psychic Chasms is a perfect introduction; either you get it or you don’t, either you’re dancing or you’re scratching your head.  Of course, with toe-tapping songs like “Terminally Chill” and “Should Have Taken Acid With You,” I don’t see how anyone could resist.

Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer

Neon Indian – Terminally Chill

Neon Indian – Mind, Drips

Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.

60. Andrew WK – Party Hard

I love how everyone initially detested this guy, as if I Get Wet wasn’t the most awesome thing they had ever heard ever.  Pitchfork, in their infinite indie wisdom, called this frat boy rock, which it probably is, in all truth, and gave it a 4.0.  Of course, years later, it made their best-of list for the decade.  Most people reneged on Andrew because you just can’t deny badassery, especially when it’s delivered in a completely earnest (but slightly exaggerated), multi-instrumental fashion.  “Party Hard” is the intro message WK seeks to deliver, and as history has shown, it’s anything but novelty.

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Fitz And The Tantrums – MoneyGrabber

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The Go! Team – Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)

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Best Coast – Sunny Adventure

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Purity Ring – Ungirthed

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Yuck – Coconut Bible

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Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Lil Wayne feat. Cory Gunz – Six Foot Seven Foot
Daniel Markham – Across the Water
The Go! Team – Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)
Mind Spiders – Don’t Let Her Go
Sleigh Bells – Tell ‘Em (Diplo Remix)

It just seems right that one of the finest live duos out there would end up performing for a small, raucous crowd at the headquarters of the record label for Jack White, a pioneer of loud, rocking duos all on his own.  Last year, Nashville’s Jeff the Brotherhood stopped at the White Striper’s Third Man compound and churned out an energetic set for those in attendance.  11 songs in 45 minutes, and it’s a nonstop fist-pumping affair.  You can order the madness on wax here.

For my 10th birthday, my uncle bought me this album, Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy, the debut from Tempe, Arizona natives the Refreshments.  Initially, the artwork excited me more than the music, of course.  But upon repeated listens, I fell in love with Roger Clyne, his crew of outlaws, and their one-of-a-kind brand of Southwestern modern rock (think Gin Blossoms with a spicy TexMex seasoning).

The album became a minor hit for the Refreshments, scoring alternative radio hits with “Banditos” and “Down Together,” both featured below.  The boys released the overlooked and underrated The Bottle and Fresh Horses in 1997, then split ways with their major label, which was consolidating and dropping bands minor bands like flies.

Today, the crew record and tour as Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, and, unsurprisingly, have a huge following in the Southwest and Mexico.  They still play Refreshments songs live, and have two yearly celebration concerts for their die-hard fans, the January Jam and Circus Mexicus, both held south of the border.

More album tracks after the jump…..

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