AD's Decade

Aquarium Drunkard just wrapped up their Decade series which began in October. In all, 60 albums were highlighted - tops on their list for the 00's was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (not a bad selection). This was my favorite best of the decade lists. AD not only reviewed the albums, but gave a little history lesson with each by dropping some k on where the albums fit into the artists' careers and the decade as well. Enjoyable (and informative) reads.

One-hit wonders of the decade

Best of the decade lists are in full effect - P-fork, Metro D, AV Club (movies), just to name a few. But sometimes you have to get your hands dirty... stick your hand in the bottom of the barrel, just to see what settled at the bottom. Billboard does just that with their one-hit wonders list. I guess I really don't listen to the radio much... I don't think I've ever heard about half of them.

10. He Loves U Not - Dream
9. Bo Bice - Inside Your Heaven
8. Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!) - Blu Cantrell
7. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
6. You're Beautiful - James Blunt
5. Laffy Taffy - D4L
4. This Is Why I'm Hot - Mims
3. Butterfly - Crazy Town
2. Lean Back - Terror Squad
1. Bad Day - Daniel Powter

If you want more than that, you're gonna have to click a few more times.

Hooray Friday!

- More Best of Lists from P-fork (albums, tracks), Ultra 8201, and Earfarm, MFKWCRG, Let's Sexy Fighting,

- Sign up for Grant Lee Phillips' mailing list by Dec 23rd and download the unreleased track "Jimmy Dean." For free is for me! Thanks to T.O. Snobs Music.

- Seems like I've been hearing about this Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel cover of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" forever. Well, it's finally here and I'm not all that impressed. Oh well, worse things have happened.

- Okay, didn't believe me about Of Montreal in concert. Here's a little taste from Letterman, thanks to P-fork.

Hooray Friday!

- And the Best of 2008 lists keep coming... Metro D (part 1 & 2), NME, SPIN, Rolling Stone (albums, singles), A.V. Club, Drowned In Sound. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you're craving more, more, more, Largehearted Boy's list keeps growing by he day.

- The Shins cover "Strange Powers" and Aquarium Drunkard thinks it's better than the original by the Magnetic Fields. Have a listen for yourself.

- Double-shot from AD... this one from Pavement's stop in Minneapolis on their 1992 Slanted & Enchanted tour.

- Some "reissue" packages really piss me off, mainly because it's obvious that bands or labels are just looking to cash in on the greenbacks. That doesn't seem the case though with Pearl Jam's reissue of Ten in March. While prices haven't been set yet (which may change my mind), they are definitely giving fans options... four to be exact. Seems like some pretty sweet extras if you ask me. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they keep the prices reasonable.

Hooray Black Friday!

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day. Had my first deep fried bird and it was quite tasty. By the way, did anyone catch the Jonas Bros at halftime of the Cowboys/Seahawks game? They can't carry a tune! I guess you have to be a teenaged girl to understand the hype. One more reason to hope for a boy.

- The first wave of 2008 Best Ofs have started to roll in... Filter, Paste, Swanktastic dot org, and multiple ones from KCRW. If you haven't had a chance to listen to some of these, Amazon is offering the 50 most popular albums for $5 each... not bad.

- And the ying to the best ofs yang. The Couch and T.O. Snobs have the most disappointing albums of the year. Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the tip.

- Aquarium Drunkard has a handful of unreleased and live Neil Young diddies and a bonus video from 1975-6.

Hooray Friday!

- Band of Horses played the Accelerator Festival this week in Stockholm and let loose on an unreleased song. Check out the video at P-fork.

- All reports from Bonnaroo are that MMJ killed with a 3+ hour set. I've been back and forth on seeing them when they swing through DC for their "An Evening with..." tour and I think this sealed the deal for me. Have a listen for yourself at You Ain't No Picasso.

- If you're looking for some new music to check out, head over to Sixeyes who has the list of nominees for the Polaris Music Prize which is given to the best Canadian album released in the last year.

- Not sure if I've already posted this, but Radiohead's April concert at the BBC Radio Theatre is available for download on Sixeyes.

- And the trifecta for Sixeyes! Some Shins live tracks from a concert last year are up and available for your listening/downloading pleasure.

- Spoon recorded a Daytrotter session which includes a cover of Paul Simon's "Peace Like a River" and three other songs.

- The Editors cover Calvin Harris' "Acceptable in the 80s". Thanks to Lets Sexy Fighting for the love.

- More covers from Lets Sexy Fighting. Grizzly Bear takes a crack at "Owner of a Lonely Heart" - can't wait to hear to this one.

- Take a listen to Blitz Trappen's title track off of their upcoming release Furr, due out in September. Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso.

- Another Peel Session from Aquarium Drunkard, this one courtesy of Fugazi from 1988.

- Aaaand the first of the 1/2 year lists are out.

Hooray Friday!!

- Man, these Radiohead guys really know how to use the internet. If you happen to be around a computer at midnight on New Year's, check out Current TV. From their website:

Radiohead will join us to play an exclusive live US TV performance of their new
album "In Rainbows" on Current TV, all commercial free. The pre-recorded
performance will include all of the tracks from "In Rainbows" plus some "other
bits" as Thom says.

If you have already made plans, don't fret - Current will archive the show for future watchings on their site. Thanks to P-fork, who also posted the teaser videos. If I had only 1% of their creativity...

- Looking for some new music to sink your ears into? NPR's Second Stage has the best unknown artists of 2007. Metro D approved Yeasayer is on the list... other than that, I've heard of Le Loup, but only because they're from DC.

- More best of 2007 lists (when will it end)... NPRs Bob Boilen, Tom Moon, Will Hermes, Robin Hilton, and Meredith Ochs. Also Let's Sexy Fighting.

- Pearl Jam Christmas Single anyone? Check out I am fuel for the stream.

- Dig, Lazarus, Dig is the latest effort (out in March/April) from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Check out the teaser on Brooklyn Vegan.

Horray Friday!

- More end of the year lists... Product Shop NYC (111 might be a bit much), MFKWCRG, I am Fuel, Ultra8201, A.V. Club and for a little change of pace Let's Sexy Fighting has the top remixes, covers, and b-sides. Metro D also has a best of from the desert, as well as Blender's shit and Billboard's Critic's Poll.

- Ultra 8201 looks forward to some 2008 releases. I'm excited for a few of them as well.

I'm late for Happy Hour. Gonna test out a few Anderson Valley Winter Solsitces and see what all of the hype is about.

Hooray Friday (a day late)!!

- Silversun Pickup remixes?? Okay! The EP with 6 diddies is available Tuesday on iTunes. Thanks to Butterteam for the heads-up and sample tracks. While reading this post, I also uncovered a few acoustic tracks. Eh-niiiiicce!

- More best of 2007 lists at MOKB (1, 2, 3, and 4), Filter, The A.V. Club, Drowned in Sound,
and links to countless other blogs at Largehearted Boy. It's also interesting to see which albums got the highest scores on Metacritic - I've never heard of a few of them.

- I don't get the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's induction process. It seems kind of random for some reason. That being said, I'm glad the LOML and I took advantage and checked the place out while we were in the Cleveland area for Rug's nuptials. Lots of great history in there. In any event, the 2008 inductees are Madonna, John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen and The Dave Clark Five. Random... just like I said.

- Did you hear about Tori Amos giving Das Boot to 2 broads at her concert this week? Check it out at Stereogum.

Hooray Friday!

- My Morning Jacket released At Dawn & Tennessee Fire Demos Package (Amazon link) earlier this month. It combines the At Dawn and Tennessee Fire demos (amazing how that works, huh?) in one neat little 20 track package. From the track listing, it looks like they threw a few live nuggets in there for good measure as well. You can listen to a few of the tracks courtesy of An Aquarium Drunkard here.

- Pearl Jam played their cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" for the first time live this week in Copenhagen (and it was their first return since the 2000 Roskilde Festival tragedy). This cover ranks up there as one of my Pearl Jam favorites. I am fuel, you are friends provides the live audio here.

- Mid-year favorite lists are starting to hit blogs. Check out Metro D's and MFKWCRG's. The standards are always going to be there (The National, White Stripes, Arcade Fire), but what I always like about these lists are the gems you can find. The best of's from last year led me to Silversun Pickups, Clipse and The Format - for which my ears are truly grateful. Guess who'll be hitting up the music store this weekend?

- The Weather Channel is forecasting low to mid 90s in Greece all of next week, which is where the LOML and I will be vacationing. I've added extra baby power to my packing list - I'm sweating just thinking about it.