Manic Pop

I haven't done a "year-end" list in a long while - mostly because I haven't been moved to in a while - but I think the time has come to list albums and songs of 2010. It's a new decade with new sounds. A music buzz word I picked up on this year was "chillwave", likely coined by hipster satire blog HipsterRunoff.com and redistributed across various blogs and websites across the world. The music is characterized by "their heavy use of effects processing, synthesizers, looping, sampling, and heavily filtered vocals with simple melodic lines" according to Wikipedia including such bands as Toro Y Moi, Memory Tapes, and Neon Indian. Wikipedia also mentions that these bands derive musical styles from the 80s "often with a laptop at their very core", but re-interpret it with a less-aggressive, soft-focus and low-fi version of 80s synthpop, with a more "chilled out" sensibility, hence "chillwave". I had the chance to see To...

20 Feet Tall - Erykah Badu "Create Something to Love" - Oreaganomics Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/oreaganomics Call Me - Aretha Franklin Nothin' On You [feat. Bruno Mars]- B.o.B Seventeen Years - Ratatat The World Should Revolve Around Me - Little Jackie

Probably the most conceptual of Rhode Island’s albums so far, it personally blows my mind about how well-orchestrated every piece of the music is and how the lyrics and storyline read effortlessly. This is an album that is better played all the way though rather than shuffled and listened to separately. The EPs, which are intended to complement one another do well one right after the other, reading much like a satisfying movie with a great soundtrack that guides you – something like The Virgin Suicides in a way, but Rhode Island’s own narrative, whether based on a real or imagined story. There includes lots of talk about Switzerland throughout the two EPs – “I’ll never go back to Switzerland” sings Turner in a stronger, more anguished voice in “Hugh Person” much like he just realized he really never will go back, but always thought that Switzerland would be there and had time to return. The band shares the fact that the album is loosely based on “assisted suicide in Switzerland”, yet ...

Tessa Her song pick: Christina Her song pick: Zebra - Beach House

Something super-cheesy I dug up from my last.fm music journal. Maybe I should continue posting on there, but I feel like this one may be a bit more "anonymous" than that one. So... and ex-boyfriend of mine and I spent about an hour coming up with this one day, laughing our asses off at how ridiculous this was. It still is ridiculous. Originally written: July 3, 2008. As if a clothing line, a record label, and a bar in the East Village weren't enough, Pete Wentz goes ahead and opens up a restaurant in Chicago, stupidly titled "Angels & Kings". {"Fueled By Ramen" was even dumber though, so I suppose I should be grateful for the upgrade.} And he has enough money, so why not, right? In 2 years when his band breaks up, he'll at least have a healthy income coming from those investments - people who are still "die hard" Pete Wentz fans even though the trend is over... Dave and I were talking about all this this morning for whatever reason wh...

Space Oddity - David Bowie The Very Modern Dance by Destroyer More Destroyer music on iLike Commando of Love - The Anals

Kasia Din - Deru At First Sight - Jay Brannan Your Funeral My Trial - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Knock Knock - Lenka

On the streets of Wicker Park and also outside the MCA. Soon I'll be asking people that I take photos about what they're currently listening to as well ... but for now, this is one of my personal favorite songs and probably one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard: Bloodstream - Evangelicals