once again for 2010

These re-assessments usually happen over the summer, such as last year's One More Time For 2009 where we claimed that nobody was having a good 2010... and while that may have been true at the time, the music of that year now seems surprisingly badass in hindsight...

What sets apart 2010 and 2009 from many previous years lies in the heavy weight on outstanding non-p4k/bandcamp artists, or artists who are not (yet) on Spotify. While 2011 seems like a slight bummer at the moment, this may prove to be the case once again, after looking back on 2011 from a future perspective. That's usually how it is.

For all intents and purposes, Mary Kate & Ashley Olson's “Gimme Pizza Slow” is without question the culmination of all things that make our world a great place to live, and should have been considered the best song of 2010... But somehow it didn't seem fair to place the greatest thing ever in a list of music by actual recording artists.

Additions that were not on 2010's Greatest Hits include Waka Flocka Flame, a few Pill tracks, Ke$ha & Bieber... most of this is just reorganizing...

50 Pill “Hear Somebody Comin’”
49 Gucci Mane “Lemonade”
48 Ringo Deathstarr “Imagine Hearts”
47 Liars “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant”
46 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Can’t Hear My Eyes”
45 Washed Out “You and I”
44 Janelle Monae “Cold War”
43 Big Boi “Daddy Fat Sax”
42 Earl Sweatshirt “epaR”
41 Pill “On Da Korner”

40 Big KRIT “Somedayz”
39 Big Boi featuring Yelawolf “You Ain’t No DJ”
38 Wiz Khalifa “Black and Yellow”
37 Lady Gaga “Alejandro”
36 Japandroids “Sex and Dying in High Society”
35 Ke$ha “Your Love Is My Drug”
34 Merchandise “Worthless Apology”
33 The Morning Benders “All Day Day Light”
32 Big Boi featuring Cutty “Shutterbug”
31 Big Boi “General Patton”

30 No Age “Common Heat”
29 Earl Sweatshirt “Stapleton”
28 No Age “Glitter”
27 Hooray For Earth “Surrounded By Your Friends”
26 Japandroids “Art Czars”
25 Happy Birthday “2 Shy”
24 Happy Birthday “Subliminal Message”
23 Waka Flocka Flame featuring Roscoe Dash and Wale “No Hands”
22 Beak> “Wulfstan”
21 No Age “Fever Dreaming”

20 Ke$ha “We R Who We R”
19 Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith “Not In Love”
18 The-Dream “Yamaha”
17 Tyler the Creator featuring Earl Sweatshirt “AssMilk”
16 Vampire Weekend “Giving Up The Gun”
15 Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
14 Happy Birthday “Girls FM”
13 Waka Flocka Flame “Hard In Da Paint”
12 Japandroids “Heavenward Grand Prix”
11 Earl Sweatshirt “Earl”

10 Earl Sweatshirt featuring Ace Creator “Couch”
09 The Arcade Fire “We Used To Wait”
08 Justin Bieber “Runaway Love”
07 El Guincho “Bombay”
06 Caribou “Sun”
05 Merchandise “I Locked The Door”
04 Robyn “Hang With Me”
03 Tyler, The Creator featuring Hodgy Beats “French!”
02 Japandroids “Younger Us”
01 The Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”

albums from 2010 that were nice

I didn't get to post this yet...

#20 Japandroids "No Singles"
#19 Liars "Sisterworld"
#18 Various Artists "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" (Movie soundtrack)
#17 Big Boi "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty"
#16 Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"
#15 OFWGKTA "Odd Future Present Radical"
#14 Superchunk "Majesty Shredding"
#13 Caribou "Swim"
#12 The Arcade Fire "The Suburbs"
#11 Waka Flocka Flame "Flockaveli"

#10 Robyn "Body Talk"
#9 Happy Birthday "Happy Birthday"
#8 DJ Drama & Pill "1140: The Overdose"
#7 Oneohtrix Point Never "Returnal"
#6 BEAK> "BEAK>" (2009)
#5 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Before Today"
#4 No Age "Everything In Between"
#3 Tyler The Creator "Bastard"
#2 Merchandise "Strange Songs (In The Dark)"
#1 Earl Sweatshirt "EARL"

And also Big KRIT, Deftones, Sun Araw, Free Energy, Flying Lotus, N*E*R*D, Pet Milk, Broken Water, Crash City Saints, Morning Benders, Wolf Parade, Harlem, MellowHype, Surfer Blood, Male Bonding, and I guess I would even put Nachtmystium in there but really only because I feel like justifying the $18 I spent on the vinyl...

The 10 best songs that should been in 2010's Greatest Hits but we forgot

We're stuck at the airport. Yes... all of us. So this has become a golden opportunity to work on some quick updates... First and foremost, these 10 songs probably would have been fine replacements for the least impressive songs .. most of which were discovered (or, mostly re-discovered) throughout the past week after the Pazz & Jop results were posted and other various end-of-year nonsense...

#1 Superchunk "My Gap Feels Weird"
A third Superchunk track in the list wouldn't have hurt.. After a few more listens this one turned out to their best new song.

#2 Surfer Blood "Floating Vibes"
These dudes are still overrated, but this is the song that should have been included instead of sleepy "Harmonix."

#3 Bat For Lashes feat. Beck "Let's Get Lost"
Finally got around to seeing New Moon last night and holy fuck is this movie awful... I would almost rather not see Eclipse at this point as the decent songs within the movie's context might taint their goodness. For example, I might never again be able to hear Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" ever again without thinking of those damn Twilight kids fuckin around on the softball field. Yeah anyway...

#4 Some of that Flying Lotus shit.

#5 Willow Smith "Whip My Hair"
Somehow this wasn't obvious right away. It shouldn't be long before someone decides to turn her into a "career artist" and forces her to sing boring bullshit.

#6 Pill "On Da Korner"
Fuck, there just wasn't enough Pill in this year's list... We called WXCI's Sunday hiphop show recently just to see if they really knew what was up, and we're like "Do you guys have any Pill?" And to our surprise the DJ called him one of the best new artists to watch for in 2011, and that they apparently featured him on last Sunday's show. Swag.

#7 Ke$ha "We R Who We R"
The earworm wins. Fuck, this should've been top 30 at least. Late Night Noise is still on the hunt for our big Ke$ha interview in 2011. Details are on the way...

#8 More shit from "Bastard"
Tyler's coming to NY Feb 15. I got my tix good and ready.

#9 Mary Kate & Ashley Olson "Gimme Pizza Slow"
How exactly did the #1 best thing that happened on the internet in 2010 slip our minds?? Not only is this the apex of Youtube's existance, but the beat is kinda like hot cum and if it were by Ween this would have easily made Top 10.

#10 Justin Bieber "U Smile (Ambient Version)"
This was technically cited but did not place. Whatever.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

2010's Greatest Hits #10 to #1

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

It's done.

We noticed one somewhat glaring omission so far... "Let’s Get Lost" by Bat For Lashes and Beck from the most recent Twilight CD, which would've been in the lower half of the list anyway so it doesn't really matter. Most of the other stuff that got the most spins at our offices in 2010 was late-2009 music... In fact, here’s a quick top 10 of that before moving forward (in no particular order)...

2009 Shit With Lots Of 2010 Spins
- Japandroids Post-Nothing
- DJ Burn-One & Pill 4180: The Prescription
- Neon Indian “Should’ve Taken Acid With You” & “Deadbeat Summer”
- BEAK> BEAK>
- The XX XX
- Black Dice Repo
- The Hood Internet
- Silversun Pickups “It’s Nice To Know You Work Alone”
- Clipse “I’m Good”

Can’t recall much else receiving extensive spins... Perhaps ’09 was weaker than we thought.. Moving on now with the top 10, as promised... This shit took fucking forever to finish and no one’s ever going to read it. Awesome...

10 Earl Sweatshirt “Earl”
For a lot of us, it seems like the “Earl” video may have been OFWGKTA’s gateway moment, or their equivalent to “Teen Spirit.” Mainstream hiphop needs a Nirvana very badly, and this could be it. Because of internet and faster exposure, it’s become more difficult than ever for any kind of Nirvana-moment to happen ever again in rock music. However, chronologically speaking, the history of rock and hiphop have unfolded very similarly. such as the naivety matching 50’s rock and sunshiny 80’s hiphop.. And the same goes for the “arrival” moments, when it was finally no longer just for the kids.. which happened to rock in the late 60’s and hiphop in the early 90’s. If Odd Future is any indication, the future of underground hiphop might be able to eradicate its bad name, and maybe the future will repeat itself. A huge part of Nirvana’s success was due to proper timing. If the cards are played correctly, Odd Future couldn’t have arrived at a better time. P.S. FUCK STEVE HARVEY. THAT NIGGA CAN’T READ.


09 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Round And Round”
“Back in the 70’s, it was all about the drugs” (From the intro of Kool Keith’s “Drugs” off the Spankmaster LP). Ariel Pink has managed to tap into all aspects of what was happening in music in 1978 (the year he was born) and place them into a single song, including but not limited to the soft rock of Paul Davis, the campiness of Bat Out Of Hell, the chill-aura of Bob Marley, the falsetto of the BeeGees, the non-conformist but more mature post-punk attitude of Wire and Television, the vocal harmonies of Steely Dan, the disco of Solid Gold, the sweeping lush and complex arrangements of E.L.O., and the saxophone solos of “Baker Street” (R.I.P. Gerry Rafferty), among many others. And this mostly persists throughout the entirety of Before Today - quite an achievement considering the strength of its songwriting. We’re tempted to label it Ariel Pink’s Sgt. Pepper.


08 Japandroids “Art Czars”
Japandroids seem to have built their own bizarro-universe with the release of “Art Czars.” In this world, Japandroids have achieved a similar fate to Green Day, in which they their punk-rock origins eventually resulted in them becoming the biggest band in the world, responding to the fans cries of “SELL OUT” with this single, containing the chorus “Here’s your money back! Here’s your punk rock back!” It might be a vengeful attack (almost as brutal as this song’s intro) against those who previously depended on them, which can also be applied to any situation of vengeful heartbreak. “I’m really sorry that you thought this feeling / Was the fire keeping your heart beating?” Also within this bizarro-universe, scientific journals have published several articles displaying proof that Post-Nothing contains the best Side B since G’N’R Lies, which is possibly true in our universe as well.


07 Big Boi “Shutterbug”
I know the issue was mostly label bullshit, but still, six years is way too long to have to wait for a new record. Outkast released four amazing albums within their first seven years. Tracks like “Shutterbug” prove that Big Boi’s still got what it takes to create some new magic. Southern rap has mostly turned to shit over the past year, and Outkast needs to understand their importance here, and produce some worthy comeback singles. Pleeeeease make it happen??


06 The Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”
Back in like 2004/2005, these dudes were pretty amazing. I recall being genuinely jealous as fuck after learning that people I know got to see the Central Park show where they were joined by David Bowie. Then Neon Bible happened... They got all dramatic. Most fans still totally dug it for some reason, even though their influences switched from awesome Echo & The Bunnymen shit to significantly less awesome Bruce Springsteen shit. And then last year they re-recorded “Wake Up” in the style of Neon Bible so that it could be included in the movie Emo Island Adventures, whose title was later changed to Where The Wild Things Are, which was incidentally the least fun children’s movie of alltime. So by the time The Suburbs was announced, a lot of people cared, but likely not those who enjoyed the rock aura on Funeral. It didn’t seem likely that they could possibly redeem themselves by borrowing some laziness from The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon,” but oddly enough that’s exactly what ended up happening with the song “The Suburbs.” Intensified a few months later by an outstanding video, Arcade Fire are now very relevant again in our estimation. And since our opinion matters the most, we congratulate them on a job well done.


05 No Age “Glitter”
Whoever said No Age isn't for the kids? I mean, it says right in their album title.. "Everything Be Tweens." jklol. One can only imagine the excitement in the studio when slowly discovering more and more layers to add onto the intro of “Glitter,” starting with a familiar drumbeat that may or may not have been stolen from Toni Basil, but is possibly from some 60’s jam. The noise layer matches the song’s title, just before a huge distorted C-chord tops it all off. The dark combination backs up the monotone vocals, whose lyrics echo most of Everything In Between’s self-doubt and yearning... “I don’t fear nothing / unless it’s broke” and possibly longing for a time when life felt larger, returning to someone or something that physically or emotionally was felt deep down: “I want you back underneath my skin.” This muddy volcano cannot be tamed.


04 Japandroids “Younger Us”
Bittersweet nostalgia... Based on the guitar chords and the yearning vocals, we’re gonna take a wild guess that the era referred to in “Younger Us” is circa-2000, around the time of The Anniversary and Jimmy Eat World. The majority of Japandroids’ catalogue (so far) does not sound like this, although this is turning out to be one of their most popular songs, so it’s not a huge surprise that douchebag naysayers have been dismissing them with a scoff claming that they’re too emo or whatever... These people should stick to the concerts where everyone stands around with their arms folded and stay the fuck away from truly ass kicking rock.. Do the kids a favor and GTFO. One of our associates asked us to submit “Give me that naked new skin rush” as one of the best lyrics of 2010. This song might also now possibly surpass “I Quit Girls” as Japandroids’ best ballad (albeit a faster than average ballad). There’s a old story regarding John Peel: He was driving one day in 1978, previewing some music he had been sent, and he finally got around to hearing The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks” for the first time. The song so strongly affected his emotions that he could barely see the road and was forced to pull over his car to collect his composure. I’m pretty sure he would’ve dug “Younger Us.”


03 Merchandise “I Locked The Door”
Interpol’s weird bass player dude quit the band this summer, and their last 2 albums have been less than impressive. However, if Merchandise might find some good management, they could fill Interpol’s void tremendously, as they are undoubtedly the most impressive of any recent 80’s-goth-sounding group. “I Locked The Door” is driving way too fast down a vacant 3AM highway, combining the Bauhaus/Ian Curtis elements with the immense weight and loudness of The Jesus And Mary Chain and a tremendously strong vocal melody vaguely reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine’s “You Never Should,” but not so similar that it raises any suspicions. If I worked at a big label, I’d snatch these dudes the fuck up, like NOW.


02 Tyler, The Creator feat. Hodgy Beats “French”
Earl Sweatshirt’s still apparently grounded. His parents haven’t allowed him out since last summer. In the months since whatever incident resulted in this, “FREE EARL” t-shirts and tweets have been unrelentingly ubiquitous to any fans of OFWGKTA, as well as being a common chant at their concerts. His “missing in action” status has done wonders for their mystique. Earl’s brother Tyler is relatively out-of-his-fucking-mind bonkers, so Earl must be doing time for some dark shit. Whether Tyler’s antics are an act or not, there exists a strong possibility that he’s a motherfucking genius, and probably the most impressively prolific human currently producing hiphop. (And no, we haven’t forgotten that Lil Wayne released 12 mixtapes in 2008. How many people actually still listen to any of those? Besides Da Drought 2.. that one was pretty tight...) “I’m opening a church to sell coke and Led Zeppelin...” 90% of Tyler’s lyrics are strong enough that really any of them could have been considered for the best songs of 2010, but at the moment, “French” is the stand out since it’s their nastiest backing track - distorted synth-bass tones designed to vibrate cars at top volume. It’s very difficult to not turn this shit up… like all the way up...


01 The Arcade Fire “We Used To Wait”
Ali G used to call it “techmology.” Apparently it’s been improving. Was anyone aware of this? Apparently “we used to write letters,” and now we text our friends instead, because it’s infinitely more convenient, albeit far less romantic. Granted, all these constant upgrades can definitely become overwhelming after a while. Strangely enough, this seems to be a common theme on third albums... Not sure if anyone remembers this, but another weird band used a similar theme a few years back on some record called OK Computer, which may or may not have been a huge influence on Arcade Fire’s “We Used To Wait,” lyrically and structurally. On “The Tourist,” Radiohead sang “Hey man, slow down...” whereas Arcade Fire sings “Now our lives are changing fast...” While its theme isn’t exactly among the uncharted waters of alt-rock, it’s become as universally meaningful to our lives as songs about love, or say, religious speculation. OK Computer and “We Used To Wait” also both have multiple sick-as-fuck bass lines. Arcade Fire teases the listener into waiting for the amazingly all too brief chorus that appears early in the song, and then again towards the middle, never to return. However, those cheaters instead inserted a Chorus B (“Ooohh, we used to wait...”) and then close the song with a huge sweeping coda (not unlike the structure of “Karma Police”). I suppose they could have placed Chorus A just once at the beginning, which would have been almost as frustrating as the “Patience” episode of Wonder Showzen. “WAIT FOR IT!”


| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

2010's Greatest Hits #20 to #11

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

We took a quick look through Pitchfork's top 100 "tracks" of the year. Yeah... "tracks." Real cool, guys. So it turns out that our "greatest hits" share a few songs with theirs.. which is not incredibly typical, and makes us seem all the more boring. In truth, the only boring songs are the 80 or so from the P4k's "tracks" that we don't share. So in case anyone was wondering, the P4k list is shit. And ours is THE shit. Truth.

20 No Age “Common Heat”
Lots of awesome bands do this thing where, somewhere in the first half of their third album, there's one song that somewhat stands out, representing some unexpected atypical formula deviation. In this respect, "Common Heat" shares sonic parallels with The Strokes' "Ask Me Anything" from 2006's First Impressions Of Earth, sharing a musically subdued nature to present the theme of late-20’s distress. The Strokes’ only lyric of its first chorus, “I’ve got nothing to say” is only interrupted towards the end with “I’m in utter dismay.” No Age agrees, repeating “I’m in trouble.” "Nouns Part 2" would have been welcomed by fans with open arms, but instead, Everything In Between receives its own separate weight, due in no small part to the shadow cast specifically by this song, acting quite possibly as the key (or glue... or gel...) to the entire record. Also, "There's no way I can get out of debt now.." A lyric like this could easily have been thrown in as some type of economic commentary, but it cuts deeper.. There's pain involved with money issues, contributing to the moments when you actually feel your soul begin to crush itself... "Everyone around me knows..." Yes, because we're all in this together.


19 Justin Bieber feat. Raekwon & Kanye West “Runaway Love (Remix)”
A brief Twitter thread sparked the creation of Kanye’s most unheralded triumph of 2010, combining elements of mash-ups and remixes in one huge summery badass package of fun. Somewhere between RZA’s drum sampling and Kanye’s new piano section (a somewhat ingenious improvement from the original “Runaway Love”) surfaces a return to the same sunshine heard in early 90’s pop hits like Tevin Campbell’s “Round And Round” or Shanice’s “I Love Your Smile.” The results are brilliant enough to wonder if there's any shot of Top 40 production returning to this anytime soon.


Also narrowly missing out on the top 100 was Bieber’s 2nd best song of 2010:


18 Lady Gaga “Alejandro”
The common critique regarding "Alejandro" confuses plagiarism with inspiration. Granted, it really does sound like the three big singles from Ace Of Base's The Sign combined with Madonna's (somewhat annoying) "La Isla Bonita." The big difference lies in "Ale-Alejandro's" intricately complex song structure, which is probably LGG's most underrated talent. After hitting such an enormous artistic and commercial homerun with last year's "Bad Romance," her momentum has only increased. Now waiting for the leak of Born This Way with eager anticipation...


17 BEAK> “Wulfstan”
This band was co-formed last year by one of the members of Portishead, and they're now prolly the best Krautrock band of the past 2 decades, if not longer. Their record came out last November, and while it still kicked ass throughout 2010, mindfuck moments such as the apocalyptic brick-wall-explosion bass-guitar attack on "Ham Green" unfortunately missed out due to being released in late-'09. A similar but more groove-oriented bass attack appears in their only new song of 2010, the A-side “Wulfstan,” along with generous amounts of balls-tripping chants. Here’s hoping BEAK> sticks around long enough to release more original stuff at some point soon. P.S. This is def not a popular opinion, but we’re kinda loving this way more than the last Portishead record.


16 Robyn “Hang With Me”
If "Be Mine" and "Dancing On My Own" were both about watching a love interest from afar, "Hang With Me" might be considered the prequel to these, in which she gets some action from her desired love interest (double score!), although it sounds like she has to lie in order to make it happen, telling him it's ok for them to be just friends, and "don't fall recklessly headlessly in love with me" even though that's exactly what she wants to happen. Also, the "single" version of "Hang With Me" is the one referred to here.. The one from Body Talk Part 2 with the lovely synths (as opposed to the sorta-ok "acoustic" version on Part 1). The newer version is somehow reminiscent of "I'll Fly With You" which is only really noteworthy since no one has heard or thought about that song in probably ten years.


15 El Guincho “Bombay”
Disassociating this song from its retardedly brilliantly outstandingly NSFW-defining promo video has become somewhat of a challenge. But here goes nothing: El Guincho figured out how to beat Panda Bear at his own game. The beachy-fun summer-pop vibe is there, and the "weed" aspects are there, but the reverb is turned down (as opposed to Panda Bear who is drenched in reverb) so it sounds initially less "weed" and more "beach," which is way cool. Also since many Americans are lazy and stupid and have little-to-no time or desire to learn whatever language he's speaking, it becomes enjoyable to imagine he's singing about the same amount of lovely summeriness that the music conveys. Or maybe he's singing about titties and guns, like in the video.. Yeah, see right there.. it's a challenge. Fuck it. I just spent 10 minutes Google-image searching for a picture of the girl from the video who holds the sparklers. I'm thinking about asking her to bear my children. If anyone can help out with this, please leave a comment with the info.


14 The-Dream “Yamaha”
Fun facts regarding The-Dream: He writes songs for Bieber. He hails from the Hotlanta. He worships Prince, to the extent that most of his best songs are Prince homages, such as “Yamaha,” yet another one of these epic future-classics with multiple choruses and refrains, as opposed to a strict verse/chorus structure, with each new section better than the one before it. Also, more sick drums... The-Dream's interests veer towards the artistic and monetary aspects of the music biz, and not so much superstardom (or else there would probably be a video for "Yamaha"), which is good for those of us who enjoy our R&B talent shining brilliantly under the radar. Oh, and also he stole my wife away from me. He's a right bastard, that Dream...


13 Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith “Not In Love”
“Not In Love” will probably not be signaling a new direction for The Cure in the same way that “Wrong Number” incorrectly suggested in the late 90’s, although it’s probably the best song Robert Smith has sung since then, if not earlier. As for Crystal Castles, congratulations on justifying your career past hipster cred. Also, what's up with all the outstanding covers in 2010? It was that kind of year... (as opposed to a shitstorm of godawful covers, which usually happens every year...)


12 Japandroids “Heavenward Grand Prix”
Once upon a time, The Pixies also started a song with "HEY!" The Pixies years were a very strong period for music, when it wasn't uncommon for outstanding rock bands to follow a near-perfect album with even more brilliant non-album tracks. Remember those crazy pre-internet days (lmao) when quality control meant something? Obviously, the ways music gets released has changed, and by today's standards, Japandroids aren't (yet) quite huge enough for their B-sides to be heard. So in the interest of maximum exposure, three apparent throwaways from the Post-Nothing sessions emerged as A-Sides in 2010, with "Heavenward" displaying their most breathtaking dynamic changes, and an intro build-up that almost forces the listeners to close their eyes. Perhaps "thrill of living" music is finally back, nicely demonstrated by this song along with "Crazy/Forever" and "Sovereignty." With due respect to The Cure and Smashing Pumpkins, these are the new makeout jams.


11 Caribou “Sun”
Most of our feelings for "Sun" echo our assessment of its video. It's good to know people still listen to stuff like this, or that musicians still actually make this kind of music. Although this song's most intriguing aspect has to be its lyrics, the word "sun" repeated at least 170 times. So profound. So much meaning. The music conveys nighttime far more than daytime or sunlight.. However, it def also sounds like "warp-speed through outer space" so the "sun" referred to in this song might not necessarily be our own. Although far less superficially complex, this is 2010’s "Windowlicker." The outros are similar too.


|Continue to Page 10|

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

2010's Greatest Hits #30 to #21

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

This is really starting to get annoying and time consuming. Why is it so difficult to finish these things?

30. Ringo Deathstarr “Imagine Hearts”

This is some of the best MBV/JAMC spirit channeling we’ve heard in years. Very excited for the full length coming in February. Austin-bound? Hmmm...


29 The Morning Benders “All Day Day Light”
Brian Wilson + Grizzly Bear + big pop choruses + radio-friendly hooks = Not commercial friendly enough. But we love them anyway. By the way, Futurama is not funny at all.


28 Big KRIT “Somedayz”

Seeing as how “93 Til Infinity” is such an alltime classic, wouldn’t anyone else sound just as good spitting some verses over it? It’s possible, but in this case, KRIT nails it, creating something of his own while paying due tribute. Best mixtape track of the year. Swag that shit out.


27 Wolf Parade “Ghost Pressure”
Krug’s keyboard attacks and Boeckner’s wail shall go down as one of the great musical combinations of the past half-decade, and were never more prominent than in “Ghost Pressure.” Leave it to a bunch of Canadians to form possibly the least egomaniacal supergroup of alltime. We’re gonna miss these guys.


26 No Age “Valley Hump Crash”

Traditional bland intro. Then comes the drums and the drone. Bury those vocals. Deep. So deep. And finally, get ready for it, here it comes.. the BANGER outro coda! “Catalina!” This has way more structure than anything on Nouns, and yet still punk as fuck, in that Sonic Youth kinda way. Still completely No Age. Always evolving; never changing.


25 Big Boi “General Patton”

“Massively fucking huge” might be a slight understatement.


24 The Arcade Fire “Ready To Start”
With a title like The Suburbs, it didn’t seem as likely for The Arcade Fire to return to their more rocked out Echo & The Bunnymen roots as opposed to the working man’s uber-melodramatic Bruce Springsteen impression from Neon Bible. They made the right choice.


23 Wiz Khalifa “Black And Yellow”
As DJ’s become more adept at pop structure, “musical hiphop” is quickly becoming a thing, increasingly the likelihood for Top 40 dominance. Wiz Khalifa fittingly banged out the catchiest hiphop chorus since “What You Know About That.”


22 Earl Sweatshirt “Stapleton”
Has there been a sloppier loop in the history of the genre? With keyboard drums barely hitting their mark underneath an amazingly off-time organ fill, dripping with rawness unheard since probably the 90’s. What’s even weirder is that it’s a fucking earworm. (For me, it was in-and-out stuck in my head for weeks, and I loved every minute of it.) And then there’s that chorus... I start to truly feel like I haven’t even started maturing past high school when I can relate to lyrics by 16-year-old rappers about trying to pick up girls with boyfriends and having them run away after seeing the white stains on my jeans. Odd Future Wolf Gang are mostly still in high school, growing up in the city, hating sports and loving horror movies. Not exactly the homophobic hazing types, despite gratuitous usage of "f*gg*t." "Rapist in training" comes from a naive place. They're very young and don't yet know the true horror of such a phrase, mostly included here to project their Eminem worship if nothing else. How extreme can they be? They already “get” the storytelling aspects of hiphop. Just dope swag.
21 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Can’t Hear My Eyes” Grocery store jams are back. |Continue to Page 9| | #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 | | #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

2010's Greatest Hits #40 to #31

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| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

Last post of the year prolly...

40 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Butt-House Blondes"

Side B kicks off with some balls trippin' shit, with the intro sounding almost as abrasive as MBV's "Only Shallow" before leading to a verse section that crosses Radiohead's The Bends LP with Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" (keeping with the AM Gold flavor)...


39 Janelle Monae “Cold War”
Seems like it's much longer than only 3:23, with so many hooks and ideas packed inside it's almost ready to burst, (possibly) matching up with the (possible) paranoia suggested by its lyrics (which might possibly be what this song is about but haven't really analyzed it enough to know for sure). When her band opened for Of Montreal like 2 years ago, I recall being impressed by the Jimi Hendrix looking guitar dude who played a nasty solo with his teeth while holding the guitar behind his head all at once, which required some crazy head acrobatics in order for him to get his teeth to the back of his head.



38 Nachtmystium “No Funeral”

It’s blackmetal for non-blackmetal fans, or more adventurous “outside of the box” metal listeners, or maybe for Rammstein fans who are more accustomed to darkness and church burning with a heavy injection of pop structure and techno beats.


37 Japandroids “Sex And Dying In High Society”
Remember when b-sides meant something? Leave it to Japandroids to breathe new life into the double-sided 45. (Is it worth campaigning for a return to calling them 45's instead of 7-inches?) They're currently 3 for 3 with choosing outstanding covers that fit their noise perfectly. The only thing I knew about X prior to this cover was how they presented themselves in The Decline Of Western Civilization, so their cover choices are educational as well. Think about the kids.


36 Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
More guilty pleasures.. "Teenage Dream" is one of those that required a complete turnaround from "blah Katy Perry slutwave lol" to "holy fucking shit Single Of The Year?!" within the span of about 3 weeks back in September. Unsurprisingly, Katy Perry and her songwriting collaborator had a decent amount of help from Swedish uber-genius Max Martin when throwing this one together. After that point, a complete listen through the entire LP was considered, up until a month or two later when the abysmal follow-up single "Firework" flooded the airwaves.


35 Superchunk “Waiting For Something”
Much like the relief of Dinosaur Jr's reforming 3 years ago, the most refreshing aspect of the new Superchunk album is that it sounds just as good as the old school indie-kids who screamed out "The Question Is How Fast" and "Slack Motherfucker," although it's definitely more of an extension of the sound on their last few records circa-Y2K (the more "mature" sounding stuff) as opposed to the snotty immature stuff. Awesome video too!! Kinda bummed that "My Gap Feels Weird" just barely missed out on this list, but def check it out anyway because it's AWESOME.


34 Jay Reatard “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle”
I’d rather not Google whether or not this is true, and just keep it part of Jay Reatard’s mythic legend, but someone told me that after receiving his $100,000 advance from Matador, he paid off his parents house and his sister’s college education before spending all that was left on white lines. At the end of the statement that was his music, “Frances Farmer” could be considered his exclamation point, a final gift to the fans, tragically sealing closed an asskicking decade-plus of widely assorted punkrock. He wasn't trying to become a legend, but it happened anyway.


33 Earl Sweatshirt feat. Vince Staples “epaR”

“Wolf with a t-rex cock / Less talk while I invest stock in wet rock.” Reason #563 why Odd Future needs to blow up in 2011: The return of the 2-word rhyming scheme. Let’s make it happen, people.


32 Happy Birthday “Subliminal Message”
Just realized now that the lead singer from this band is also in Witch with J Mascis. Happy Birthday is also on Sub Pop. The grunge connections are there, but not as many as what any reviewers might suggest. With different production, this might have been an outstanding grunge album, with “Subliminal Message” potentially as some kind of sugary Smashing Pumpkins homage. But instead it's more fuzzy-guitar-based indie-pop.


31 Gucci Mane “Lemonade”
Holy fuck, the chorus of this was stolen from an album track from The Turtles. That's some fuckin swag right there. There's a new king of mushimouthness. Treat your mixtapes like albums. Treat your albums like mixtapes. Blackanyellow blackanyellow blackanyellow blackanyellow. Fuck.


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| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

2010's Greatest Hits #50 to #41

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

Can't ring in the New Year without throwing up a few more pages of this shit.. Who's ready for some fuckin JAMZ?

50 Liars “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant”
Liars are the only modern band I can think of who reference both Can and The Jesus Lizard on nearly every release, any yet every album is so different. They're also like the David Lynch of rock, in that their songs are often the types that would probably be playing at some crazy warped concert in someone’s dream. How can you tell if you're dreaming or not? Are you dreaming right now? Wake the fuck up and turn this shit up LOUD.


49 Happy Birthday “2 Shy”

Tortured bedroom confinement tears. Evan Dando, J Mascis, Teenage Fanclub, Sloan and Sebadoh finally have some real modern contemporaries instead of more severed hearts pushing 50. As Dando would sing, “it’s about time.”


48 California Swag District “Teach Me How To Dougie”
’06 had Chicken Noodle Soup. ’07 had Soulja Boy. ’09 was all about jerkin. But ’10 was The Year Of Dougie. And I personally know zero people who can accurately perform any of these dances. That’s how white I am, people. P.S. Did you know the drums in this song are fucking ridiculous? P.P.S. Here's one of those rare jams with something to look forward to in both the dirty AND clean versions.. Dirty starts out with "You know why? Cuz all the bitches love me," while the Clean (posted below) has "errbody love me err errbody love me" in the chorus. It's WIN/WIN with Dougie.


47 Vampire Weekend “Giving Up The Gun”
White people lol. Yo, these dudes got REAL fuckin paid this year. Has anyone else been in more car commercials than VW? Fuck, just read those initials! It’s almost as if they knew.... More hot drums, btw.


46 Of Montreal feat. Solange Knowles “Sex Karma”
Some truth regarding Of Montreal:
#1 Kevin Barnes has now developed his knack of combining super-white with super-groovy to the point where inserting occasional “street terms” hasn’t yet become totally embarrassing, although the gratuitous use of “playa” in “Sex Karma” is really pushing it.
#2 “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” is without question one of the 10 most overrated songs of the past decade. Sorry kids; we only speak truth here.
#3 Their 2005 LP The Sunlandic Twins has remained their unheralded masterpiece which has yet to be topped in terms of dancable, syrupy, mellodramatic radiance, although an album full of “Sex Karma’s” would get the job done nicely. It’s probably their best song since “Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da.”


45 Drake “Find Your Love”
“Find Your Love” is all about its subtleties, which have far more to do with Kanye than Drake, such as that keyboard ring after the 2nd chorus, sounding oddly nostalgic for late-80’s pop. Is it Janet Jackson or INXS or something? Fuck, it sounds so good that it hardly matters where it was stolen from.


44 Weezer “Getting Up And Leaving”
I’d have to guess this is probably the first time since at least 2002 that a single Weezer track appeared in the top 100, let alone three tracks, all of which were (unsurprisingly) recorded between 1995 and 1998.

Throughout the early 2000’s, the most coveted of Weezer’s unreleased “holy grail” of 90’s demos was “Lullaby For Wayne,” finally uncovered after years of patience in the form of a live video on their 2002 DVD, and then later in studio form on 2004’s Deluxe Edition of "The Blue Album," which was met to enormous fanfare from hardcore fans. (Personally, I think it’s one of their 10 best songs.) Rivers Cuomo wisely decided to carefully plan the unveiling of the remaining demos with various leaks on the "Alone" compilations. However, one last key track remained. Originally planned as a b-side on the never released "Pink Triangle" single, the long fabled "Getting Up And Leaving" finally saw release in November 2010, and definitely lives up to its legendary status, completing a trilogy of sorts along with "Devotion" and "Waiting On You," as probably the most Pet Sounds-influenced stuff Weezer would ever unleash.


43 Robyn “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do”
Poor Robyn. When she’s not tortured by her love interest, she’s getting fucked over by her managers and fans pushing her around, or “killing” her, as it were. I understand; my job sucks too. I might feel more empathy if the beat of this song wasn’t so distractingly hot, or if it weren’t so fun to sing along with “my penis is killin’ me.”


42 Earl Sweatshirt feat. Ace Creator “Couch”
“I got you nervous like virgins flirtin’ with uncle Mervin.” It’s been years since the last time we heard Dawson’s Creek, Twilight, Kelly Clarkson and Miley Cyrus all namedropped in the same song.
41 (tie) Pill "Ho Out" & Pill "Action" DJ Drama & Pill wisely re-released this summer's outstanding mixtape 1140: The Overdose without the excessive and annoyingly loud DJ tags. The Youtube files below are unfortunately from the scarred 1st version. Word on the street is that Pill has been "taking his time" with the debut full-length, a very good reason why he did not blow the fuck up in 2010. The streets are ready for some real fire spittin' shit. As long as he keeps up with hooks like these, he’s set to become the next Ludacris or Big Boi. Pretty sure he's already signed to Warner Brothers, so yeah... Get fuckin' ready... Ho Out: Action: |Continue to Page 7| | #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 | | #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

2010's Greatest Hits #60 to #51

| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |

Once again we find ourselves trapped... The list has been started. There's no turning back until it's finished. And it would never have started had it not been for the blizzard. BLAME THE BLIZZ.

60. Japandroids “Shame”
In these parts, the idea of the great JPNDRDS covering PJ Harvey can generate some serious chubbs action.* Luckily, they killed it, and the chubbs were justified.

[Note: This may require some explanation. When popular music-crit news pages hear of certain artists releasing covers of other well-known artists, we the readers get the opportunity to witness a phenomenon known as “the chubbs,” which results in a given “news” section immediately crowning it with top story priority. For example, Jann Wenner got “the chubbs” when he heard that Alanis Morrisette covered Fergie. Even though really nobody cared about this at all, it became top news at RS.Com. Wenner’s chubbs turned into full sex-splosion when he heard about Green Day covering John Lennon. “Chubbs” has far more to do with idea of two artists merging than it does with the way the cover actually sounds. Like My Bloody Valentine covering Wire... That’s some fuckin’ chubbs action right there.]


59 Merchandise “I Get Lost”
This album just came out not even two months ago, and there’s already a huge disclaimer at their label's website under the album cover stating “SOLD OUT” in huge capital letters!? I'm not kidding here, I was all damn good and ready to make a $9 purchase with actual money to have this unit shipped to my doorstep so that I could own a physical copy and won’t have to feel like I’m stealing from an asskicking new rock band. But nope; "SOLD OUT." This is what it's come to. This is why illegal downloads exist. The good shit is not sold at Best Buy. However, the good shit is usually downloadable from blogs such as icoulddietomorrow.. And seeing as how there is no internet web stream for "I Get Lost," we might as well post this here:
http://icoulddietomorrow.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-katorga-works-releases-merchandise.html
Thank me later.

58 No Age “Fever Dreaming”
It’s 100% No Age, but it’s also 50% Ramones, 63% “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter,” 26% The Fall, and 19% Nuggets boxed set, which adds up to 158%, which is 58% more than the average song. I’m not sure what this means. Read Pitchfork’s review instead. It's equally nonsense, but they get paid and we don’t.


57 Wolf Parade “What Did My Lover Say (It Always Had To Go This Way)”
There’s a few Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown tracks that you can totally tell would sound that much better performed by Wolf Parade, for example when they took the Sunset track “I'll Believe In Anything,” already awesome to begin with, and then Wolf Parade rocked that shit the fuck out and turned it into one of the greatest songs of the past ten years. This is what I’ll miss most in the wake of their recently announced “indefinite hiatus.” I somehow can’t imagine “What Did My Lover Say” being improved as a Sunset Rubdown track. With all due respect to their side projects, they’re best within Wolf Parade and simply greater than the sum of their parts.


56 Pet Milk “Cherry Outline”
I really know absolutely nothing about this band whatsoever, other than their 4-song demo EP is super rad. That’s literally it. I’m assuming they’re unsigned. No webstream either, but this song does have a video...
http://vimeo.com/16384090

55 Hooray For Earth “Surrounded By Your Friends”
Hooray For Earth toured this year with Surfer Blood, which is really the only reason they're being compared here. When Surfer Blood was discussed back at #84, it was noted that their music suffers from wussy-production, whereas Hooray For Earth, with their spacey/dreamy synths, received a correct balance of wuss/rock ratio, one that serves their music adaquately. “Surrounded By Your Friends” is their best song yet, and there's a good vibe going around that there's more where that came from. New LP in 2011 hopefully...


54 Stars “I Died So I Could Haunt You”

Their most recent album highlight includes the drums from The Cure’s “Close To Me,” which also made a recent appearance on the No Age album. Along with the Hooray For Earth track at #55, "I Died So I Could Haunt You" is surely among the loveliest synthpop tracks of 2010.


53 Big Boi feat. Yelawolf “You Ain’t No DJ”
Big Boi was clearly not choosing his guest-vocalists based on how "cool" they look. "Bewildered" might be an adequate term to describe a first viewing of the videos from Chico Dusty and realizing the extreme lack of "cool" exuded by the likes of Vonnegut and Yelawolf. In the case of "You Ain't No DJ," the beat was luckily so blazing hot (courtesy of none ofter than that genius mofo Andre 3000 himself!) that it pretty much made 0% of difference. Also of note: I thought the skit at the end of this one might have been the "David Blaine" one, but sadly that was from a different song. Sursly tho.. David Blaine: Skit of the year.


52 Robyn “Dancing On My Own”
No one is really sure if she’s actually the heartbroken introvert she so convincingly plays on her albums, but Robyn’s brilliant Letterman performance of this song touched our hearts like almost no other TV performance this year. A few weeks later, someone decided to try and recreate this magic on the VMA’s, a program which hasn’t made a single correct decision in 6 or 7 years, so of course it was a bit frustrating to witness her 15 seconds of lipsynching and dancing like a crazy girl... as they segwayed into more Kia and Taco Bell commercials. Thanks for nothing, MTV. Stick to what you’re good at, a.k.a. sucking Snooki’s dick.


51 The Arcade Fire “Rococo”
“Using great big words that they don’t understand.” The American Suburbs is not exactly uncharted lyrical or musical territory, which may have come to an alltime peak somewhere between The Monkees’ “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane” single. In this case, Arcade Fire have invoked musical elements from all three of these, most noteably the “chaotic outro” motif, signified in “Rococo” with some lovely, ferocious guitar feedback.


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