Best of 2010: Greg0rb's picksGreg0rb's picks (2010) staff picks
Reviewer Rating: 5
Contributed by: greg0rbgreg0rb (others by this writer | submit your own) greg0rb is a staff reviewer for Punknews.org - ed.
Y'know boys, a good captain needs many skills, such as boldness, daring, and a velour uniform.
I've got a new band to spam you about! Outdoor Velour is the first band I have fronted/played guitar for, and the first in which I am a part of writ.
greg0rb is a staff reviewer for Punknews.org - ed.
Y'know boys, a good captain needs many skills, such as boldness, daring, and a velour uniform.
I've got a new band to spam you about! Outdoor Velour is the first band I have fronted/played guitar for, and the first in which I am a part of writing all of the songs. Being out from behind the kit is scary but it's also been super fun. No proper release yet, but some decent demos are on our Facebook page. My band I spammed you about last year, Take Manhattan, is no more. After two years, much money lost pressing a free CD and an adventure of an east coast tour, things dissolved over the summer.
In other personal news, I decided to finally make my accordion hobby into something more and invested in a piano accordion and started taking lessons in the fall. Soon after, I joined my teacher's accordion ensemble where I play percussion as well as accordion. Don't be jealous. Also, in late September we adopted a five-year-old beagle. Keeping with our Futurama theme we named him Zapp. He is the ultimate cuddler.
Opting not to try and best the groundbreaking Skeletal Lamping in the "freak-aaay" department, Barnes goes straight for pop perfection on False Priest. He almost succeeds with the help of Jon Brion's production and guest vocals from Janelle Monae and Solange Knowles.
17
Sleigh Bells: Treats
Mom + Pop
Arguably the biggest-hyped band in the indie-verse this year, Alexis Krauss and ex-Poison the Well guitarist Derek Miller craft a winning formula so simple, everyone is kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. Without sounding like Brokencyde, they manage to combine speaker-bustin' beats with huge power-chord riffs, all with sweet n' sassy vocals over-top.
They intentionally made this record less pretty, because how can you compete with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? I love the home-recorded tracks, the '60s-style panning, the chop edits, and I love how they try to fuck with awesome songs. Nope, sorry guys. Your songs remain awesome.
I was late to the party with these mopey Ohioans and even then it took me awhile to appreciate Boxer. They are like the modern Joy Division: chill
vocals over tightly-wound, perfectly constructed backing.
While I have progressively dug Arcade Fire's records less each time around, it is likely because my standards were instantly set sky-high with Funeral. The Suburbs is another ambitious hunk of indie rock glory. Not enough accordion, though.
11
Happy Birthday: Happy Birthday
Sub Pop
Some of the most twisted pop-rock ever. I really don't know how to describe this.
10
Belle & Sebastian: Belle & Sebastian Write About Love
Matador
Not sure why The Life Pursuit didn't make my list back in '06; perhaps it was a bit too rockin' or funky for what I expected from B&S. Write About Love dials it back to a bit more of their classic sound, yet still progressing with a lot more female leads and some darker, minor-key tracks.
A modern girl group doing classic girl group melodies and harmonies, but punked-up with cracking drums and muddied-up with reverb to take it into the current indie aesthetic. And it sure doesn't hurt that your producer co-wrote "My Boyfriend's Back."
After putting out a bunch of leftovers and bullshit for five years, we finally get a new studio album, and anyone who thought Stevens would stay stagnant in his folkiness for that long is just naïve. It took some warming up to, but the electronics-dominated Adz is ultimately nearly as satisfying and surely as finely-crafted
as Illinois.
My sister introduced me to these Scots' music after she saw them opening for Maritime (or maybe the Weakerthans? Someone good, in any case) and now
they're on Atlantic Records. Somewhere in between they made this awesome record, which embraces their accents and delivers a tricky mix of churning guitars and folky instrumentation, all with heart-on-sleeve lyrics.
Local Bloomington, Ind., supergroup released one of the most impressively technical and simultaneously catchy records of the year. Triple guitar, synth bass, crazy drumming, gang vocals-this has it all. Gotta namedrop Matt Tobey of Good Luck if only to get more of you to check this hidden gem out.
4
Nana Grizol: Ruth
Orange Twin
Over a year after hearing lead singer Theo Hilton perform with the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour, I finally figured out who he was and what band he fronted. Also the drummer of Defiance, Ohio, here, Hilton crafts sweet nostalgia-driven tunes full of twinkly guitars, buzzing bass, smooth clarinets and blatting brass courtesy of Neutral Milk Hotel's Scott Spillane.
These young Floridians recorded a '90s rock homage in their college apartment and now are on Warner Bros. Crazy. Catchy as vintage Weezer but with big riffs, tons of Afrobeat percussion and more reverb than you can shake a reverby stick at.
Though I heard him in 2009, something about Wild Hunt catapulted him from "amazing guitarist" status to the "amazing songwriter" throne. A man and his guitar, Kristian Matsson nimbly plucks or fervently strums with better-than-Dylan melodies shouted to the rooftops.
At the last second, these crafty veterans dislodge two relatively new acts from their top spots they had in their clutches since the spring. I will fess up: This is the first Superchunk album I've owned (GASP!), but due to the complete ass-kicking it has administered to my posterior, I plan to own their other eight albums by this time next year. Reminding me most of the Get Up Kids, Ted Leo and Ultimate Fakebook, Superchunk combines all of those bands' most rockin-est elements and makes me wonder why I spent time and money on any of them.
A band that sounds like the hippest band blowin' up NYC is actually from 20 years ago. Fuzzy, poppy and sloppy in all the right ways, the short-lived Black
Tambourine is dusted off here and given their due with their complete released output, demos and four newly-recorded tracks from the group who reunited briefly for the hell of it.
Now That's What Greg Calls Music VII
Side A
Nana Grizol - Cynicism
Surfer Blood - Swim
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
Cee Lo Green - Cee Lo Green
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Back in the Saddle
Spoon - Trouble Comes Running
Superchunk - Crossed Wires
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
The Tallest Man on Earth - Burden of Tomorrow
Memory Map - Sew It Up
Sufjan Stevens - Impossible Soul
Side B
Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
Deerhunter - Desire Lines
Frightened Rabbit - Living in Colour
Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La
No Age - Positive Amputation
Happy Birthday - Girls FM
Wavves - Super Soaker
Janelle Monae - Tightrope
of Montreal - Enemy Gene
Belle & Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop
Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union
The Future, Conan?
In 2011, you all will bow down before our king and savior, Andy D. Oh, and Jesus and Mary Chain and My
Bloody Valentine will finally release new albums. This time I'm sure of it.
The dude's name was Cynicality. Thought it worked out nice, him being cynical and all. I don't think you realize I am messing with you too, homie. It's all in good fun, dont worry bout it. You are constantly acknowledging me too so we go round and round. It's a game, and it's cool. I'm on winter break so I got nothin better to do. Get your shots in before I go back Jan 3rd and don't have as much time to dick around.
So someone disagrees with your picks and you call them a cynic?
You say that you get a good laugh out of comments that don't agree with your preferences, and yet I'm sure there are plenty who get a good laugh out of how insistent you are at acknowledging your detractors. I know that I do.
And for the love: when you post lists like this on a (supposed) punk news website, of course you're going to catch a little grief. No one cares how indie you'd like for them to believe you are.
Don't worry about the turds, Zapp. It's cool. I've been writing reviews here since 2002 (yikes) and I was already kinda the 'indie' guy on staff then. The comments used to bug me, now I just think it's funny. I'll keep getting free releases from of all my favorite bands to review, and they can keep whining about it. I win!
Sup Zapp! I gave Personal Life a 7 on my review of it. Albums with 7s rarely make my Top 20 cuz there's too much stuff better. I like the album, but it is the worst Thermals album (still better than most crap out there). It was a bit sad for me that it didn't make the list. Maybe next time! Most likely next time, I couldnt see them missin' twice.
![Japandroids - Art Czars [7 inch]](/images/covers/thumb/japandroids-art-czars-7-inch.jpg)
Among Giants
Old Gods
Druglords of the Avenues
Escape the Fate
Jimmy Islip
Have Mercy
The Wild
Perfect Future
![Lemuria Brilliant Dancer [7-inch]](/images/covers/thumb/lemuria-brilliant-dancer-7-inch.jpg)
Lemuria
![Mike McGonigal Temperature's Rising: Galaxie 500 - An Oral and Visual History [book]](/images/covers/thumb/mike-mcgonigal-temperatures-rising-galaxie-500---an-oral-and-visual-history-book.jpg)
Mike McGonigal
Great Cynics
![Vendetta Red Scripture / Light Year Anniversary [2xEP]](/images/covers/thumb/vendetta-red-scripture--light-year-anniversary-2xep.jpg)
Vendetta Red
Peter Murphy
![Glossary Long Live All Of Us [UK reissue]](/images/covers/thumb/glossary-long-live-all-of-us-uk-reissue.jpg)
Glossary
Manipulation
Talk To Angels
Bad Ideas
The dude's name was Cynicality. Thought it worked out nice, him being cynical and all. I don't think you realize I am messing with you too, homie. It's all in good fun, dont worry bout it. You are constantly acknowledging me too so we go round and round. It's a game, and it's cool. I'm on winter break so I got nothin better to do. Get your shots in before I go back Jan 3rd and don't have as much time to dick around.
Game on, Garth!