Top 20 Albums of 2010 (a Tasty Ears production)

I'm back to finish the list I started on the last edition of Beard About Town. The Tasty Ears Top 20 of 2010 is finally here. Go!

20. Wavves - King of the Beach
19. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
18. No Age - Everything In Between
17. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
16. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
15. How To Dress Well - Love Remains
14. Girls - Broken Dreams Club
13. Broken Bells - self-titled
12. Twin Shadow - Forget
11. Beach House - Teen Dream
10. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
09. The National - High Violet
08. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
07. The Drums - self-titled
06. Vampire Weekend - Contra
05. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
04. Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing
03. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
02. The Black Keys - Brothers
01. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor



Disagree? Let me known where I went wrong and leave a comment below.

It goes without saying that not everyone can be in the Top 40 but there are a few bands that deserve a shout out none the less. A band I listened to a lot this year is Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, there self-titled album is very well conceived. In particularly the track called Home is a favourite. The album was actually released in 2009 so I did not consider it this year but it sure got a ton of play around here. They also put on one of the best shows I saw this year down at The Gorge. It was a beautiful day at the Sasquatch Festival mid-afternoon when they took the stage and stole the show. Hit play on the mixtape now!

Another band (or I guess more of an ensemble really) called Gayngs put together an amazing album titled Relayted. Featuring members of Solid Gold, Bon Iver, Megafaun, Rosebuds, Doomtree, and more Gayngs have the soft-rock genre dialed. They have a very groovy video for my favourite track The Gaudy Side of Town too so look for that. They did a small tour in the U.S. this year ending in Texas where there bus was unfortunately stolen. Kenny G stole the soprano sax from music, Gayngs is stealing it back.



Music Playlist at MixPod.com


Finally, a little what, what for the hip sounds of local band Watasun. Check out the video below for there song Let's Go Shopping. A cool video of them playing in downtown Vancouver where anything can happen (like bubble guy). Keep posted to them on Facebook for many more videos from them soon. Keep 'er goin' boys.





Don't forget to subscribe. See you next year. Go!

Blog of Lists

"T'was the morning after a long night and I was trying to think of something to write." A little shout out to the "Season". A time when we all look back and look ahead and speaking of "a head" (what? am I supposed to apologize for liking puns); I'm sure many of you have heard about the girl below. Her name is Ann Kirstin Kennis and she is most recently famous for donning the cover of Vampire Weekends Album Contra (she was a busy model in the 80's). She claims that she never gave permission for her photo to be used (despite her signature on the release form). She is now suing for $2 million. What I want to know is did she illegally download the album? I could go on about about artists rights and how musicians get a raw deal but... instead I'll just encourage you to tell me what YOU think in todays reader's poll.

Now for the lists

Top 3 Local Record Shops

3.Red Cat

2. Scratch

1. Zulu

Top 5 Local Venues for Live Music

5. The Media Club

4. Venue

3. The Rickshaw Theatre

2. The Commodore

1. The Biltmore

Top 10 Concerts of the Year

10. The Cave Singers

9. Matt & Kim

8. Broken Bells (The Morning Benders opened)

7. The Drums and Surfer Blood

6. The Tallest Man on Earth (S. Carey opened)

5. Bear in Heaven and Cymbals Eat Guitars (Freelance Whales opened)

4. The Black Keys

3. J Roddy Walston and the Business, Phosphorescent and Deer Tick

2. Free Energy and Titus Andronicus

1. Sasquatch (I know this is technically not a concert but a festival and it's not local but it's the best)

Top 40 Albums of the Year (40-21) (Stay tuned for the top 20 soon)

40. Woods - At Echo Lake

39. She & Him - Volume 2

38. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

37. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

36. Joanna Newsome - Have One On Me

35. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

34. Warpaint - the Fool

33. The Roots - How I Got Over

32. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

31. Surfer Blood - Astrocoast

30. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

29. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

28. Spoon - Transference

27. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

26. Best Coast - Crazy for You

25. J Roddy Walston and the Business - Self Titled

24. Diamond Rings - Special Affectations

23. Sleigh Bells - Treats

22. MGMT - Congratulations

21. Crystal Castles - Self Titled

Check out Joanna Newsome here and Tame Impala here

All other bands should be on the  Tasty Top 40 (40-21) playlist below

Check out the video from local band Zoomafloome. Go!

Kanye West Hates Tasty Ears

Hot 100 tracks (updated daily)    
 Check the Tasty Ears Channel on YouTube (or click the pictures at the top of the page).

Now I am aware that my musical tastes don't tend towards top 40, or even "pop" music (whatever that means) but recently I feel a bit like I passed into some "Bizarro World" (more Seinfeld than DC Comics). The Grammy Awards announced their nominees (which is generally a list of all the albums I would never listen to) but this year Arcade Fire's The Suburbs is up for Album of the Year (personally I wouldn't say album of the year but top 10 sure) and Florence and the Machine are up for Best New Artist (a year too late but non the less an excellent choice). Ray Lamontagne is up for Song of the Year with Beg, Steal or Borrow (not all that surprising due to his more adult contemporary vibe lately) but best of all is The Black Keys up for Best Rock Performance. The Black Keys=amazeballs live, so tight. The Grammy's actually choosing a few deserving artists is just the beginning of Bizarro world though, enter Pitchfork, generally a site I strongly agree with. They call 'em like they see (hear) 'em and aren't afraid of calling a turd a turd. As taste makers Pitchfork is often ahead of their time (I'm sure they would agree that Florence and the Machine should have been nominated a year ago) and perhaps it is me who is behind but.... Pitchfork just gave Kanye West's new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a perfect 10. That's the only album this year that Pitchfork gave this distinction to. WT f@$k? I've tried to get my head around how this could be but I can't. I've listened to the album several times but.... I don't get it. Someone please explain this to me. The best moments of the album aren't his music or his "rapping" (he samples Black Sabbath, Smokey Robinson, Aphex Twin, etc. and borrows Justin Vernon's (among others) voice on several tracks). Kanye takes Bon Iver's beautiful Woods (how Autotune should be used) and immediately ruins it with a beat that probably came with his 808. Everywhere I turn somebody else (Tiny Mixtapes I'm pointing at you) is stoked on this album. Why are all of these reviewers so quick to s@$k Kanye's d@$k? -end rant

Upcoming local highlights:

Tonight at The Media Club is Miami Device
                  Blim has Synthcake
Sunday night at The Vogue is Books w/ Black Heart Procession (should be epic)
Dec. 8 at The Biltmore is Tame Impala (I wish I wasn't out of town)
Dec. 9 at The Railway Club is Aunts and Uncles
Dec. 10 The Media Club has Bloody Wilma (rockers from Vic)
and The Biltmore has Bison
Dec. 16 is local band Topless Gay Love Tekno Party at The Biltmore
Dec. 18 Local's Mariana's Trench is at The Orpheum
Dec. 20-21 at The Biltmore is Kid Koala

Go!

Today's mix tape is actually just one new song by local's Mimi, Me called Reckless. Check it.
Go!



Music Playlist at MixPod.com