A friend of mine and I were discussing the awesome awesome lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest this year, and recently, they announced their schedule for our viewing pleasure. My friend was excited, but admitted he knew only a few bands. Where, he wondered aloud, could he find a comprehensive rundown of each band, a sampling of their musical chops, so he could further educate himself before the finest weekend of his year? I assume the Fun Fun Fun website has such a playlist, and they do, and it’s cool, but I wanted to make my own. So every Friday, from now until the fest (that’s nine weeks), I will be posting a playlist for your educational purposes for each stage and day, excluding the Yellow stage, which is mostly comedy.
This week’s playlist covers the bands playing on the Orange (Indie) stage on Sunday – Lenuria, Le Butcherettes, Asobi Seksu, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Mates of State, The Budos Band, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Architecture In Helsinki, Hum, and Blonde Redhead.
Missing From Playlist (not on Spotify yet): Crooks
My Stage Pick: Hum
Take a listen to You’d Prefer An Astronaut, the classic breakthrough album for this underrated shoegaze 90’s band, and you’ll hear why I’m so excited these guys are reunited. Hearing “Stars” live is one life-long ambition I can cross off my list after November.
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.
Tomorrow I begin my listings of the top albums of 2010, but before I do, here are twenty great albums, listed alphabetically, that just barely missed the cut.
