Pitchfork Staff Lists

Pitchfork has an excellent section on their site called Staff Lists.  These are more  or less  rankings over songs, albums, music videos, etc. picked by Pitchfork writers, usually broken down by year or decade.  I just read this blurb about 1979 and thought it was a perfect description of the song and video.

21. The Smashing Pumpkins
"1979"
[Virgin; 1996]

It seems very wrong to reduce an important band's highest-charting single to one sound, but sorry, that whooshing progression that repeats through "1979" is amazing enough to hang a whole career on. That floating guitar figure seems to hold all the wistfulness, sadness, hope, and redemption that the Smashing Pumpkins wanted to get across in the 1990s, and everything else-- and they released a ton of great music then, don't let the last 10 years obscure that-- was pretty much gravy. Somehow that riff and the song's title-- '79 was a pivotal year for Corgan's generation, signaling the end of the last decade that would be spent only in childhood-- must have motivated Billy Corgan to speak in straightforward and human terms. Here he wasn't whining, he wasn't throwing a tantrum, he didn't want to be the voice of a generation or be someone's therapist. Instead, he put together a cluster of images that was more about an undefined feeling than a message, and it happened to be the most universal sentiment he'd ever manage. "1979" was Billy Corgan asking, "You know this feeling?" and the second you heard that guitar line the immediate answer was, "I do-- tell me more." --Mark Richardson

Daft Punk- Tron Legacy

As promised here is Daft Punk's Tron Legacy Soundtrack

Calverton & Tim Healey- Back to the Ghetto (Kraft Kuts remix)-  great song and kudos to Rand on the find.

Top 5 Albums of the Year

Alright I know the year is not over yet and some albums have yet to be released, but right now these are my favorite albums of 2010.  Without further ado I will channel my inner John Cusack to present my first top 5 list:

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs:  You can find this album in my last post, which is what actually inspired me to create this list because The Suburbs is such an amazing album.  If you didn't read the last post, go back and download this album immediately.

The Chemical Brothers- Further:  Ed and Tim are back with this one.  I would compare Further to Robot Rock in terms that it is repetitive and not necessarily as good as the classic albums such as Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole, but it still quality. Check out Snow, Escape Velocity, and Dissolve.

LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening: Supposedly the last LCD Soundsystem album as James Murphy has stated that he wishes to no longer create music under the LCD Soundsystem moniker.  If this is true, then what a shame for music.  Like Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem has  only released 3 albums, but each has been a significant contribution to music.  While my personal favorite All My Friends is not on this album, this is the best LCD Soundsystem album from top to bottom.  Way to go out with a bang James.

The Black Keys- Brothers:  The Black Keys are blowing up this year and I have heard them on about 3 different commercials (which I have mixed feelings about).  While in my opinion Brothers is not as good as Chulahoma, Thickfreakness, of Rubber Factory, it is still a great album and probably one of their more accessible albums.  Case in point Everlasting Light (Brothers) vs. Thickfreakness (Thickfreakness).

Fang Island- Fang Island:  I posted this album a few months ago and I still find myself enjoying this album

Honorable Mention:

Daft Punk-Tron Legacy Soundtrack:  I'll be honest, I have only listened to it once and I wasn't blown away,  but  I am just excited that they have put out some new music.  Plus, it's not even available yet, I'll throw it up here tomorrow, but I have to get back to this paper.

Arcade Fire

Sorry I have not been updating the site, no excuses, I have been just been lazy.  So to make up for my lack of interest in the site lately I present the entire Arcade Fire catalog.  Arcade Fire is a band out of Montreal led by a husband and wife.  They have only released 3 albums, but I would argue that they are three of the most important albums of the last 20 years.  Most recently they released The Suburbs this summer and it is one of my top 5 albums of the year.  In addition to creating phenomenal music in the studio Arcade Fire put on a fantastic, spirited live show.  I saw them this past summer at Lollapalooza and I must say that it was a transcendental experience.

Arcade Fire & David Bowie- Wake Up

Intervention

Neighborhoods #3 (Power Out)

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Neil Young- Tonights The Night

There is no artist that I associate more with fall than Neil Young. While for many people the feeling of winter is creeping in and fall is ending; here in Virginia it is in full swing.  Tonight's The Night is a classic album from Neil Young.  While it may be not on the same commercial recognition level as Harvest, it has significant personal relevance for Young as it is somewhat of a tribute to two people lost from the Crazy Horse crew.  This also features my favorite Neil Young song in Lookout Joe.  This album will get significant play on my trip up to Canton for Thanksgiving.

Albuquerque

Halloween Recap

Well it feels good to finally be 21, but I am kind of sad because I have no birthday milestones to look forward to in the future.  Here are some videos relating to Halloween shows/events from last weekend.

Little Feat- Fat Man in the Bathtub- as with every Phish Halloween show since 94 the show consisted of three sets of music.  The first and third set comprise of original or standard covers that Phish performs.  The middle set since 1994 has consisted of a "musical costume" of  a famous album.  1994 they covered The Beatles "The White Album", 1995 was The Who's "Quadrophenia", 1996 was The Talking Heads "Remain in Light", 1998 was The Velvet Underground's "Loaded", 2009 was The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main St", and this year Phish covered their first live album in Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus."  My favorite song from this album is Fat Man in the Bathtub, but rather than give you the version from the album, the above video is a better version from the 1976 Pinkpop festival.

Dee-Lite-Groove is in the Heart-  A few of my friends made the trek over to Hampton to see The String Cheese Incident perform at the Hampton Coliseum.  While Cheese does not perform a musical costume such as Phish,they usually bust out some interesting covers.  Their cover of "Groove is in the Heart" was less than overwhelming, I still really love this piece of early 90's house/pop.

House Lights set to Thriller- every year people put up videos of their Christmas lights set to music, but this guy set his Halloween lights to Thriller.  The result is very cool.

Vanilla Sky Soundtrack

Some people think Vanilla Sky is a fantastic movie, I on the other hand think that it's just ok and the fact that Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz are in it make it tolerable to watch. Either way most agree that it has an absolutely fantastic soundtrack, and it's no surprise being a Cameron Crowe (Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Almost Famous) film.  The movie is definitely worth a watch just to see how Crowe expertly uses this great soundtrack in his film.

Here are some of the songs included  on the soundtrack.

R.E.M.- Sweetness Follows

Radiohead- Everything In Its Right Place

Peter Gabriel- Solsbury Hill