And one final word: While it’s been a fantastic year for new music, the absolute best albums released this year are the Beatles’ long-awaited remasters. Over four decades later, they remain the best albums ever made, and to these ears, they’ve never sounded more totally fucking stunning than their sorely needed new incarnations. There’s not enough hyperbole on Earth.
With that said, happy holidays, and I’ll see you in 2010, Rawkers!
After a year where I avoided making a best-of for six months, I’m thoroughly excited to bring you this year’s albums of the year list. After the jump, the 40 finest albums of the last year of the decade — a list full of fresh faces and modern heroes alike. Read the rest of this entry »
All due apologies to Animal Collective, Mandy Moore really brought it in the singles department this year. My top 54 pretty young white people playing guitar and singing earnestly after the jump. (Note: Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” not included.)
I’m not doing a songs of the decade list quite yet, but when I do, this one is going to rank extremely highly. Mia has one of the best voices in the world; unfortunately, this song is lightning in a bottle that, to my knowledge, she’s never managed to recapture. (Via LA Underground)
Next week: Best Songs/Albums of 2009 coming Monday and Tuesday. Maybe some more goodies, too. See ya then.
You may remember Los Angeles power-pop favorites the Broken West, well, breaking up earlier this year. Think again. The band backed Jason Segel on Forgetting Sarah Marshall muppet jam “Dracula’s Lament” on his Tuesday night The Late Late Show appearance, though don’t get too excited about a full-fledged reunion — a Merge spokesperson tells me they’re not playing shows, so it sounds like this may have been a (hilarious) one-off. At any rate, now Segel and I have something to talk about the next time we bro down at Chateau Marmont.
Just over a year ago, I decided to turn my concert photography from hobby into a considerably more expensive hobby and bought a DSLR. It’s the most satisfying purchase I’ve ever made. So this year’s best concert photos are, hopefully, a few steps up from their predecessors and a document of my growth as a photographer. Along the way, I documented greatbands on the verge of break-ups, the Rawky Awards pick for the year’s worst band in one of his first (and worst) concerts, and Thom motherfucking Yorke. In 2010, I’m looking forward to shooting SXSW and hopefully selling some photos (holler at me if you want to buy prints, folks), but for now, 10 shots I love from 2009. After the jump — my 10 favorite shows of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
R.I.P. to Cardinals member Chris Feinstein, who apparently died recently of undeclared causes. The bassist replaced Catherine Popper in the band in 2006 and added an able low end on Ryan Adams’ Easy Tiger, Follow the Lights EP and Cardinology.
