Count Blogula vs. 2010: Music

I thought about putting together a list of my favorite albums of 2010, but I soon realized that my list would be the same as everybody else's list. The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Cee Lo Green, and a bunch of other artists put out some awesome stuff last year. I do want to make mention of Arcade Fire's epic album The Suburbs, because it was so good that I invented a rock opera in my head to go along with it. Anywho, here's a list of some great artists and their great songs that I felt needed some recognition for being cool in 2010. Have a listen, and tell me what you think.

"I Wanna Be Adored" by The Raveonettes

"The Ghost Who Walks" by Karen Elson

"Catch a Fire" by The Bug

"Holidays" by Miami Horror

"Ambling Alp" by Yeasayer

"Threshold" by Sex Bob-Omb

"Black Sheep" by Metric

"Skin Tight" by Scissor Sisters

"When I'm Small" by Phantogram

A Nice Day For a Resurrection

It's been so long that I don't even know what to write about. Do I start with my adventures in television watching with The Big Bang Theory, Dexter, and The Walking Dead? Should I explicate my journeys through the digitally rendered world of Fallout: New Vegas? Perhaps I should bring notable news from the world of comic books (I've been particularly enjoying The Stand, American Vampire, iZombie, and The Heroic Age: Avengers). Hmmm....I could also rant about my favorite albums of 2010 (Chief among them would be The Suburbs by Arcade Fire. Best. Album. Ever). And lets not forget books! I've read some good stuff, such as Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, which was a brilliant retelling of The Big Lebowski as if it was written by William Shakespeare (thanks, Sheree). I might also tell you of the fine foods that I have ingested recently. The Machine Gun sandwich from Bruges Waffles and Fries? Dynamite! And I would be greatly remiss if I neglected the fine films that I have seen (I'm having a difficult time deciding whether I liked The Social Network or Inception best....Quandary!).
I suppose I'll just dedicate one blog post apiece to each of my favorite samplings of awesome that I experienced in the last year.

Until we meet again!

Saturday Morning, Circa 1988

I recently purchased an album by a band called The Go! Team called Thunder, Lightning, Strike. It's a good album, and you can hear a few songs from it courtesy of this playlist. However, when you listen to these songs, I want you to remember Saturday mornings circa 1988. I want you to remember the blurry neon colors that blasted through your pre-satellite television. I want you to remember the chatter of a spoon scraping the last of the Fruity Pebbles from the sides of your cereal bowl. I want you to remember Autobots and Decepticons, the "Sandman" story arc from Ghostbusters, and plastic action figures firing spring-loaded missiles into clear blocks that were never included with the action figure itself. I want you to remember the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and the satisfying ache that took over your thumbs after playing Contra all the way to The Red Falcon's still beating heart. I want you to remember these things while listening to these songs because, at the end of the day, it will make your soul happy.

Country Fried!

Below is a heapin' helpin' of my new and improved Country Fried Playlist. Let it fill your arteries with saturated awesome.

1. Everlasting Light by The Black Keys
2. Kick Drum Heart by The Avett Brothers
3. Righteous Heart by Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs
4. Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
5. Tender by Blur
6. Jesus, Etc. by Wilco
7. Skinny Love by Bon Iver
8. Big Sur by The Thrills
9. Everybody Needs Somebody by China Forbes
10. Wildflowers by Tom Petty
11. Right Hand on My Heart by The Whigs
12. Bad Things by Jace Everett
13. A Martyr for My Love For You (Acoustic) by The White Stripes
14. Wishing Well by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
15. Tiger Tiger by The Sadies
16. Someday Baby by R.L. Burnside
17. Stick Around by Jonny Kaplan and the Lazy Stars
18. The Cave by Mumford and Sons
19. You Will Be My Ain' True Love by Alison Krauss
20. Until Morale Improves, the Beatings Will Continue by Murder By Death
21. I Don't Wanna Grow Up by Hayes Carll
22. The Mountain by Heartless Bastards
23. Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies
24. Done All Wrong by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
25. Four Leaf Clover by Old 97's
26. Further On (Up the Road) by Johnny Cash
27. Jolene by The White Stripes
28. Baby I Love You by The Yayhoos
29. Timebomb by Old 97's
30. W.I.A.D.F.Y. by Elliott Brood
31. Kingdom of Doom by The Good, The Bad, & The Queen
32. Bad As They Seem by Hayden
33. I Wish My Baby Was Born by Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus, & Tim O'Brien
34. The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash
35. Country Sweat by Oingo Boingo
36. Great High Mountain by Jack White
37. Goin' Out West by Tom Waits

COOPER: "Do you want to know why I'm whittling?"
TRUMAN: "Okay, I'll bite. Why are you whittling?"
COOPER: "Because that's what you do in a town where a yellow light still means slow down, not speed up."

"Teachers Are the Greatest Freaks On Earth" --Anne Frank

It's been a really long time since I've spent any time on this clunky old blog of mine, but since I'm contractually obligated to be here for another ten minutes, I'm gonna let loose with a bunch of goings on that have been going on:

Created a facebook account.

Saw a car dodge a cardboard box on I-80 and crash through the median, getting tangled up in a mess of steel cables and dust (I got out of my car to assist, and everyone was okay).

Have been listening to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity on my drive home and can now say that they are idiots for myself.

Alice in Wonderland was just okay.

Sherlock Holmes was freaking awesome.

Signed up for gamefly (it's like netflix but with video games). Rented Dante's Inferno. Do not recall a gargantuan topless Cleopatra shooting unbaptized babies out of her ta-ta's in the original story.

Musical taste has veered into alt-country folky territory (Mumford & Sons; Elliott Brood; The Avett Brothers).

Have started watching Dexter. It is very awesome. Have added Michael C. Hall to list of dudes that I have a man-crush on.

Purchased and beat Mass Effect 2, but lost three of my crew members in the process. I've never felt so emotionally distraught after a video game character dies as I did when Grunt got carried off by a pack of pissed off alien bats.

Have eaten chicken feet. I do not recommend eating chicken feet.

Am very close to wrapping up the third quarter of my first year teaching. It's gone by pretty fast, but I kind of feel like I've done a good job so far.

That should about cover it. See you in another three months, blogosphere.

Live Free and Twihard!

Lately I've been pimping the soundtrack to New Moon. I am completely aware of the fact that pimping this album might make me some kind of teenage girl, but hear me out. I haven't seen the movie yet, so my judgment is based completely on the collection of songs themselves. Hopefully the movie doesn't waste such good music, but we'll see. Anywho, what follows is my breakdown of the album. Set faces for stunned.

STANDOUTS (The Ones You Need to Own):

1. Meet Me At the Equinox by Death Cab For Cutie: Few bands can express such acute thoughts about both love and nihilism in just one song. Forgoing the typical, "we're in love and everything's gonna be great" motif, Death Cab punctuates every mention of bodies intertwining with the foreboding reminder that "everything ends." It's beautiful and depressing as hell all at once.

2. Friends by Band of Skulls: I recently purchased a pretty decent album by this band (Baby Darling Doll Face Honey). They kinda sound like a British version of The White Stripes. But I digress. This song is a drunk and disorderly tribute to being irresponsible on the weekends. It's going to the top of the playlist that I'm making for my unit on The Outsiders.

3. Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke: I'm not really gonna get into how intricate and complex Thom Yorke/Radiohead's music is, because to be honest, I don't have the cognitive capacity to even go there. All I know is that Yorke makes music like nobody else, and this song is no exception.

4. Done All Wrong by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: This is a tune in the vein of All You Do Is Talk; a blues-y slow song that drifts into your mind like a cold wind and leaves you slightly more melancholy that you were before.

5. The Violet Hour by Sea Wolf: I've never heard of this band before, but this catchy tune is definitely like the mari ju wanna (you know, like a gateway drug? Heh). I'd describe it as a punchy little number inspired by Belle and Sebastian mixed with a little bit of David Byrne. Coupled with its liberal use of body/nature metaphors, I was caught off guard by how often it pops up in my head when I'm not thinking about anything.

6. Shooting the Moon by OK Go: OK Go sets up some gnarly quirk-rock and bangs it out by beating a big ass drum. This is one I like to crank up in the car to the point where my fillings start to vibrate along with the drum beats.

7. Slow Life by Grizzly Bear: I've decided that Grizzly Bear is a band that you've got to dedicate some time and effort to. Once you've agreed to suspend your disbelief and step into their world, you find something pretty intriguing. On this track, the vocals belong to Victoria Legrand (Yeah, I don't know who that is either), and they compliment Ed Droste's (thanks, Google!) own style. It's slow, pretty, and the more you listen to it, the different musical nuances come into focus.

8. Nothing But the Wind by the Editors: At first, this song was kind of unsettling for me. It's hard to get used to the vocals. But, I gave it some heavy rotation, and it slowly became one of the coolest songs in the world. It's just a dude and his piano busting out some intensely operatic lyrics that make a person want to reinvest themselves in the fight for love!

9: All I Believe In by The Magic Numbers: This song is actually super cheesy. I mean, it even goes off on a Native American-influenced tangent! But, something about this song is charming, and I couldn't help but dig it.

FORGETTABLE (Songs One Would Expect From a Twilight Soundtrack):
I'm not gonna really go into too much detail here. This stuff is the obligatory filler between the awesome songs listed above. If the whole album was as good as the above songs, the fault lines would crack, and humanity would be pulled into a fiery maw of awesome. Or a mawesome, if you will.

1. Possibility by Lykke Li: Six-year-old, chain-smoking depressed girl song part 1.

2. A White Demon Love Song by The Killers: If this song was on "Hot Fuss," it'd be so good! Why? BECAUSE THAT WAS BEFORE THE KILLERS DECIDED TO START SUCKING!!!!

3. Satellite Heart by Anya Marina: Six-year-old, chain-smoking depressed girl song part 2.

4. I Belong to You by Muse: Muse is kind of starting to follow The Killers on their short bus to Suckville.

5. Roslyn by Bon Iver and St. Vincent: I was so very disappointed with this song. Everything on "For Emma, Forever Ago" is ten times better than this dirge.

6. Monsters by Hurricane Bells: Sheree noted that this song sounded like a Muse song. It does. They play it on a loop at a truck stop called The Suckery in a place known as Suckville.

7. Solar Midnite by Lupe Fiasco: Crap! Crappiest piece of crap that ever made its way out of Crapville, sister city to Suckville.

Even though there are seven mediocre songs (which is about half the album), the nine standouts are extremely good. That's why I'm pimping this album. At the very least, illegally download the nine good songs and pat yourself on the back for maintaining an open mind.

Kick-Ass Kicks Ass

Kick-Ass

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