Top Ten Albums of 2011
10) Pusha T – “Fear of God II: Let Us Pray”
Pusha T continues to elevate the hip-hop game here with a truly fantastic release. Hard hitting and heavy from start to finish each song if full of signature beats combined with Pusha’s rapid fire lyrics. Mixed well and combined with some eclectic guest spots – 50 Cent and Rick Ross, lend to a suburb LP.
9) Neon Indian – “Era Extrana”
Trippy, spacey, airy, spooky, juicy; just pick your adjective to describe the Austin, Texas bred electro band. This third offering is chock-full of fun beats and crazy sounds that entertain. Soothing yet unsettling, “Era Extrana” shows a distinct growth for the band.
8 ) The Decemberists – “The King is Dead”
One might think that the Decemberists style may grow old like Arcade Fire. However, this album came as quite a surprise. Still the Decemberists to a “T,” “The King is Dead” provides some new depth to this band and delivers both crooning ballads and smooth rock.
7) TV on the Radio “Nine Types of Light”
TV on the Radio has always been good, but with their fourth album the band seems to have found a groove. This album is filled with one catchy song after another that lead the listener through a journey that is unlike any the band has presented before.
6) Sbtrkt – “SBTRKT”
This London-based dubstep came out of the gates hot this year with this blistering debut album. Think Burial on acid. This album spread like”Wildfire” as even Drake remixed the hit song. The ethereal sound combined with infectious beats, makes for a great first effort from this group. Innovative and experimental in nature, it will be interesting to see where Aaron Jerome, the DJ, will go from here.
5) Kayne West & Jay Z – “Watch the Throne”
This album got a lot of press, but all the hype aside this is an epic album. Combining the talents of Jay-Z and Kanye West could very well be considered a PR stunt, but the combined talents of these two hip-hop moguls is unparallel. The sprawling epic songs defy conventional verse, chorus, verse styles creating an amazing mix of lyrics and beats.
4) Adele – “21”
After “21” came out Adele was launched into a whole new league, especially in the UK where it’s the bestselling album of the century. Her soulful pop music is carried by her amazing voice. This is just one of those albums that seems timeless. Adele saved the best for last on this album with “Someone Like You.” It is a breathtaking song that encompasses all of what Adele can do.
3) Radiohead – “King of Limbs”
This album is a bit of a departure from Radiohead’s traditional sound. Diving deeper into more dub and ambient territory, “King of Limbs” adds some texture to latent beats that build across the album. It is innovative, provocative, subtle, sweet and basically phenomenal music.
2) Mastodon – “The Hunter”
From the first track this album hits hard. Heavy bass and straight forward power chords make for a sound reminiscent of classic Queens of the Stone Age. However, the album harkens back to classic heavy hard rock. Songs like“Curl of the Burl” comprise the blistering album.
1) Bon Iver – “Bon Iver”
This album is unreal start to finish. When it came out it was all I listened to for a month solid. Forget that it was nominated for four Grammy’s, just listen to “Holocene,” it is hauntingly good. A sonic soundscape that is sparse yet dense, quiet yet loud and sad yet enduring. However Justin Vernon does it, this takes album of the year by a mile.
Top 10 albums 2011 playlist: MOG or Spotify
Top 10 albums of 2010
Top 10 albums of 2009
Top 10 albums of 2008
Bush, Chevelle & Filter Live in Broomfield
Straight out of the 90’s, I will always have a soft spot for all three of these bands, but Bush especially.
It was 17 years ago when I went first saw Bush in Denver at Fiddler’s Green as part of their “Sixteen Stone” tour.
It was my first concert, and when we showed up to buy tickets the day of they were sold out. However as we were standing at the ticket window they opened up five more rows of seats that just happened to be in the front. I got first row tickets and experienced the show of a lifetime.
A lot of time and shows have passed since then. To give you some perspective Veruca Salt opened for them. So when I scored some free tickets to this show I thought it would be fun to come full circle and see Bush again.
The show was in Broomfield at the First Bank Center. Filter, the only one of these three bands I had not seen before, and they were one of the most enthusiastic opening opening bands I have seen. They played all their hits such as “Take a Picture.”
Gavin Rossdale has improved his stage presence and his voice is still as powerful as ever. They opened with the new song “Mirror of signs” before jumping straight into the classic “Little Things.”
While the new material is good, the older hits were still the crowd favorites. Highlights included “Everything Zen,” “The Chemicals between us,” “Machinehead,” and “The Afterlife” where Rossdale ran around the entire stadium though the crowd.
Nearly three hours long, the highlight of the show was a three-song encore that included a cover of “Come Together” by the Beatles and “Glycerine”
A lot has changed since Bush first burst onto the scene. When I first saw them there weren’t iPhones everywhere recording the show from hundreds of angles. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the fantastic force that Bush brings to the stage with each song.
Setlist
1) Mirror of Signs
2) Little Things
3) I Believe in You
4) Greedy Fly
5) Everything Zen
6) The Chemicals between us
7) Sound of winter
8 ) Speed kills
9) The heart of the matter
10) All night doctors
11) Swallowed
12) Afterlife
13) Machinehead
Encore:
14) Come together (Beatles cover)
15) Glycerine
16) Comedown
*Setlist courtesy of Eric Young
Best albums of 2011 thus far
Fall is in the air and that means that the time for 2011 new releases is drawing to an end. With that in mind here is a look, in no particular order, of contenders for this year’s best albums. Weigh in and vote for yourself.
Adele – “21”
Bon Iver – “Bon Iver”
Death Cab for Cutie – “Codes and Keys”
The Decemberists – “The King is Dead”
Neon Indian – “Era Extrana”
Fucked Up – “David Comes to Life”
Kayne West & Jay Z – “Watch the Throne”
PJ Harvey – “Let England Shake”
Beady Eye – “Different Gear, Still Speading”
Radiohead – “King of Limbs”
TV on the Radio “Nine Types of Light”
Shabazz Palaces “Black Up”
Paul Simon – “So Beautiful or So What”
Primus – “Green Naugahyde”
Beastie Boys – “Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2”
White Denim – “D”
Kasabian – “Velociraptor!”
Lil Wayne “Tha Carter IV”
Is Facebook Music a game-changer?
Music is about to get a bit more “social” with a new move by Facebook to integrate a range of streaming music services into the social media site.
The concept is simple. Users of music streaming sites such as MOG and Spotify have the option to link their accounts to Facebook which will then post what they are listening to in a ticker. Their Facebook friends can see what they are listening to in real time, and if they subscribe to the same service, stream the same song right there on Facebook.
The service is still rolling out, but right off the bat it looks interesting, but has its flaws. The ability to see what friends are listening to is great when they are discovering awesome new bands, but can be embarrassing if they go into a three hour long Brittany Spears session.
Then there is the problem of having to subscribe to the same streaming music service that friends use. Right off the bat Spotify, being free, seems to be dominating, but it is a pain to have to open your respective music site and manually play the song. It defeats the entire purpose of integration.
The whole concept is sharing music on a bigger level, and provides the social aspect that many of these services are now lacking.
The idea, in theory, is great but will it work in reality? Time will tell, but this is another nail in the coffin for not just compact discs, but downloading music. Clearly streaming, most likely from a social centralized site such as Facebook, with various companies is the future – music on demand is a digital buffet.
July’s Hits
One thing I have enjoyed with MOG, aside from streaming music 24/7, is it presents a list of everything I have listened to. It also puts those songs into categories of top songs, albums and artists that I’ve been checking out.
Here are the hits for July:
Top Songs:
- Welcome To My Hood (Remix) by DJ Khaled
- Welcome To My Hood byDJ Khaled
- Money by DJ Khaled
- A Million Lights by DJ Khaled
- Sleep When I’m Gone byDJ Khaled
- Legendary by DJ Khaled
- I’m Thuggin by DJ Khaled
- My Life by DJ Khaled
Top Albums:
- We The Best Forever (Explicit Version) byDJ Khaled
- In The Mountain In The Cloud by Portugal The Man
- Diamond Eyes (Deluxe)(Parental Advisory) by Deftones
- The Greatest Story Never Told by Saigon
- H•A•M (Edited Version) by Kanye West
- Within And Without by Washed Out
- LP1 by Joss Stone
- Around The Fur byDeftones
- Universal Pulse by 311
- We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves by John Maus
Top Artists:
- DJ Khaled
- Saigon
- Jennifer Lopez
- Kanye West
- Joss Stone
- 311
- Simon & Garfunkel
- They Might Be Giants
- John Maus
- Poco
Just for fun let’s compare to what Spotify says were my hits last month. It only breaks it down by top songs and artists.
Top Artists
- Beady Eye
- DJ Khaled
- Brett Dennen
- Flux Pavillion
- Simon & Garfunkel
- Nikka Costa
Top Songs
- The Edge of Glory – Sultan & Ned Shepard Remix by Lady Gaga
- Floating (Time isn’t working on my side) by Portugal The Man
- The Cantina by The Sea and Cake
- Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel
- The Roller by Beady Eye
- Sydney (I’ll Come Running) by Brett Dennen
Studying Spotify
The folks over at Spotify must have read my last post because that same week I received three invitations to the new streaming music service here in the U.S.
I immediately signed up and downloaded the mobile app for my iPhone. There I encountered my first disappointment. To use the mobile app you must subscribe and pay for the site’s upgraded service.
So I am tethered to the computer for now. But I was hopeful, if the site is a good as it is rumored to be I was ready to pay and switch from my current streaming music provider MOG.
Almost immediately I was frustrated again. Rather than just use a site online, the company requires you to download their program to your computer which you then launch from your desktop. All other streaming sites I have ever used are web-based.
After taking the time to install the program, I created a profile and signed in. A note on this step, you can’t change your screen name that you choose so take care. It almost is a moot point because to use any of the site’s social options you are forced to use Facebook, which is your main ID.
But I digress.
Initial impressions after logging in were great. The site looked really clean. Great interface and new music was right up front. Everything is easy to play, just click and boom music. The ads are horrible as they move and interrupt the music, but hey it’s free so I can get past that.
I was prepared to dedicate hours to exploring the site and all it had to offer. It took me all of 10 minutes. Spotify is so limited in what it can do.
I’ll start with the strengths. It offers all you can listen to free streaming music. The share options are easy, and playlists are really simple to create. And that’s about it. If you want to check out new releases or listen to some classics, yeah this site is great. But Spotify is supposed to be social and make sharing music with friends fun.
This is where the negatives come in. Spotify social permits you to link to Facebook. I did this and found only two of my friends had done the same. I assume this is because the site was still hard to access. Since then my “social” group on Spotify has grown to four people. This may change when the site opens up but really it does not matter.
To find a user who you’re not friends with on Facebook or who does not have Facebook you have to know their screen name. The point here is that I already know what my friends listen to, I want to be able explore a larger social network as in everyone signed up to Spotify and see what they are listening to then choose who I want to follow based on their tastes.
The bottom line is the site’s biggest strength tuned into its biggest weakness.
The ability to share with my four social friends on the site is great. I can simply click, drag and drop albums or songs into their inbox.
Beyond this the library has a ton of holes and is missing a great deal of music, but again it’s free so for someone who does not want to pay this is the best option.
For those willing to pay, almost every other streaming service I have tried – Napster, Rhapsody, MOG – all beat this.
With the high hopes I had for Spotify, It’s sad to report it’s not all that it was hyped up to be. Even Pandora beats it in respect to streaming radio.
Spotify premiers in U.S.
It’s the day music lovers have all waited for.
Spotify is available in America. But as it is with all things that seem too good to be true, the streaming music service that was supposed to change the game is already exposing its flaws.
Spotify is a free streaming music service that has been available in limited countries for a number of years now. For some time the record companies here stateside haggled and hemmed and hawed over legal rights.
For the longest time it seemed as if the service would never make it here. In that time competition has grown. Services such as Napster, Rhapsody and MOG have taken chunks out of the streaming service market. Each has their strengths and weaknesses.
Spotify was supposed to come in and crush them all. Or so they would have you believe. The biggest disappointment is for now the only way to use Spotify is to pay or to get a special invite.
The biggest claim by Spotify, as you can see in the video below, is that it is all the music in the world at your fingertips for free. But no, it’s not true here in the U.S.. An impact of the record companies I would guess.
Thus the site makes you enter your e-mail for a special invite. This is frustrating because more than two years ago I gave Spotify my email for updates on its U.S. launch. Not only were there no updates, but they gave no advantage to those who signed up in advance of the launch.
We will see if the site can overcome these initial foul-ups. I would even be willing to pay for the service if it is that much better than current sites, but not without a free trial period.
It’s not looking good for the site to start for Spotify.
In related news, MOG has unveiled a new beta user interface for its site. After using it, I must say it is much better than the previous layout. The new site is cleaner and permits users to have “favorite” songs and albums as well as manage their music in a left-hand tab system.
However, the best improvement is an embedded player that eliminates multiple windows to play a song or album.
Beastie Boys star-studded short film
When “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” came out last month I checked it out not expecting much.
The album had been a long time coming, and their recent work has been subpar at best. Admittedly, I was never a big Beastie Boys fan anyway, so I was pleasantly surprised by this effort.
The rhythm rhymes and beats are a throwback to the classic “License to Ill” and “Hello Nasty.” The sound is the signature Beastie Boys, but it’s hard not to bounce your head to these beats and admire the lyrical juggernauts.
Songs like “Nonstop Disco Powerpack,” “OK” and “Funky Donkey” are enough to bring the Beastie Boys back to the table of relevant rap artists.
Perhaps the icing on the cake here is the 30 minute video that accompanies the album. The video titled “Fight For Your Right Revisited” features Seth Rogan as Mike D, Elijah Wood as Ad-Rock and Danny McBride as MCA. It is a bit eerie how much the trio resembles the real rappers.
The short film follows the boys through the streets of Brooklyn as they unleash a beer-fueled party that peaks with a dance off with their counterparts from the future played by Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly.
Other cameos include: Will Arnett, Susan Sarandon, Ted Danson, Will Arnett, Rainn Willson, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi , Amy Poehler, Alica Silverstone, Jason Swartzman and Kristen Dunst.
Check it out:
May’s Hits
One thing I have enjoyed with MOG, aside from streaming music 24/7, is it presents a list of everything I have listened to. It also puts those songs into categories of top songs, albums and artists that I’ve been checking out.
Here are the hits for May:
Top Songs
• Broken American by Dispatch
• Beto by Dispatch
• Sail by AWOLNATION
• Turn This Ship Around by Dispatch
• Melon Bend by Dispatch
• Mighty To Save by Laura Story
• Two Against One (Feat. Jack White) by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
• Bad Romance by Lady GaGa
• Where Them Girls At (Feat. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida) by David Guetta
• The Gambling Priest by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
Top Albums
• Rome by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
• Dispatch Ep by Dispatch
• Turtleneck & Chain (Explicit Version) by The Lonely Island
• Burst Apart by The Antlers
• D by White Denim
• Fits by White Denim
• Megalithic Symphonyby AWOLNATION
• Street Sweeper Social Club by Street Sweeper Social Club
• The Sauce by Panty Raid
• Suck It And See by Arctic Monkeys
Top Artists
• Arctic Monkeys
• Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
• White Denim
• The Lonely Island
• The Antlers
• Panty Raid
• Street Sweeper Social Club
• AWOLNATION
• MGMT
• Death Cab For Cutie
Dispatch reunion tour at Red Rocks
When Dispatch announced they would be playing their first show together in nine years at Red Rocks it didn’t take too long for tickets to sell out.
The band, which has a tremendous underground following, sold-out two shows and had to add a third date at the legendary amphitheatre in Morrison.
Thanks to a membership to a Dispatch fan club, we got first crack at the tickets and picked up five for the Friday night show. I missed the Saturday night show, but was able to go again Sunday when one of my buddies had an extra ticket.
Both shows were spectacular and having not played together since their 2002 breakup, they sounded great.
Both nights the Flobots from Denver opened, and both nights I missed them because we were in the parking lot enjoying some tailgate action. I’ve seen the Flobots before and wasn’t all that impressed so missing them was no big loss.
Both nights, Dispatch came on around 8 p.m. while it was still light. Sunday they had some sound and equipment problems and had to take a few entrances to get things going. But once they did it was a nonstop three hour barrage of hits.
Both Friday and Saturday they played pretty much the same songs, but mixed up the order a little bit and threw in some different guests and dancers.
Highlights from both nights included: The General, Steeples, Two Coins, Bats in the Belfry, Bang Bang, Time Served, Bullet Holes, Prince of Spades, Broken American and Beto.
In all, Friday they played for about three hours with and encore and Sunday a little less. Each night following the intermission, the trio would venture into the middle of the audience and Braddigan and Chad freestyled on “Cut it Ya Match it” while Pete played the guitar. Each night they threw in a little cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mr. Robinson” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.”
One highlight from Sunday was a nice acoustic set of “Carry You” that was absent Friday.
They also played some of their new songs off the Dispatch EP recently released. Songs like Valentine and Broken American were a welcome change and featured a banjo jam session.
A testament to the band’s popularity, Friday a group from Brazil made the trip just to see their first show in nearly a decade.
The trio seemed to really enjoy themselves and be back together playing. Multiple times they commented how amazing it was to be playing Red Rocks, and it was a homecoming of sorts for Braddigan who is from Denver. It was an awesome sight to see Red Rocks sold out filled to the brim with a sea of bobbing heads.
The tour is promoting education and teachers and the group is encouraging fans to bring books to shows to donate.
While both shows were great, I would have to say Friday’s was better. There were fewer technical issues, better playlist and they played longer and more intensely.
That being said, if you are fortunate enough to be on the list of cities they are hitting for this limited tour – go. It may be the last time to see Dispatch for another decade.
DISPATCH @ RED ROCKS, MORRISON, CO – JUNE 3, 2011
SETLIST
Melon Bend
Here We Go
Open Up
Cover This
Time Served
Con Man
Bullet Holes
Bang Bang
Beto
Passerby
Steeples
Valentine
Spades
Flying Horses
Past The Falls
Turn This Ship Around
Two Coins
Broken American
General
Elias
—–
Cut It Ya Match It
Outloud
Bats
DISPATCH @ RED ROCKS, MORRISON, CO – JUNE 5, 2011
SETLIST
Flying Horses
Melon Bend
Time Served
Con Man
Outloud
Past The Falls
Bulletholes
Turn This Ship Around
Two Coins
Beto
Carry You
Spades
Steeples
Valentine
Bang Bang
Passerby
Bats
Broken American
General
—–
Cut It Ya Match It
Elias
