Tuesday, December 21, 2010

022: Year-End Wrap-Up Blog-Post

Not that anyone reads this, or even posts on it anymore, but what the heck, I've been anticipating this post for a good month or so now. Without Further Ado... Manley's Music Best of the Year:

Best concerts:

1) Titus Andronicus + Free Energy @ Il Motore, August 22
2) Vampire Weekend + Beach House @ Metropolis, September 8
3) The Sainte Catherines @ L'Esco, December 4 (Secret Show!)
4) Shad @ Jazz Fest, June 25 (Bilingual Freestylin'!)
5) Titus Andronicus @ Green Room, April 10

Only went to nine shows this year. These were all the bomb diggity though. That August Titus Andronicus show especially; that was their second pass through Montreal of the year, the first one being somewhat hampered by frontman Patrick Stickles being on the verge of death due to having the flu. Free Energy was also totally surprisingly amazing that night! And I got to chat with T.A. afterwards and got a setlist and errything. Prospective future concert-of-the-year-winners take note: going the extra mile for the fans is always worth it. Chuuuch.

Best Singles:

1) Japandroids - Art Czars
2) Japandroids - Younger Us
3) No Trigger - Be Honest

Japandroids had an interesting year, putting out a compilation of old EPs called No Singles, which was quite good if not as impressive as their 2009 debut, Post-Nothing. They also put out three singles, each containing an original and a cover. Two of those were fantastic and appear here. The other one was Heavenward Grand Prix, which is an awesome title, but it kinda sucked.

Best EPs:

1) Girls - Broken Dreams Club
2) United Nations - Never Mind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures
3) Propagandhi - The Recovered EP

I got into fewer new bands this year (Not sure whether listening to less new music generally stemmed from this, or caused this. Will report back later.) but Girls was one of them, right near the end of the year when Broken Dreams Club started showing up on Best Of lists everywhere. Well, I slept! I admit it. It's good shit. As for United Nations... three tracks of tight, powerful brutality, followed by possibly the title track of the year. (Also: album art of the year for sure).

1-Hour Mixtape:

Against Me! - "Because of the Shame"
Beach House - "Norway"
Crime in Stereo - "Drugwolf"
The Gaslight Anthem - "The Diamond Church Street Choir"
Japandroids - "Art Czars"
Joanna Newsom - "Go Long"
Kanye West - "Gorgeous" (feat. Raekwon & Kid Cudi)
Sage Francis - "The Best of Times"
The Sainte Catherines - "Chub-E & Hank III / Vimont Stories, Pt. II"
Shad - "Yaa I Get It"
Titus Andronicus - "Four Score and Seven"
Vampire Weekend - "I Think Ur a Contra"

After a brief intermission, on with the show.

Best Albums of 2010, according to my ears:

1) Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
2) Vampire Weekend - Contra
3) Crime in Stereo - I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
4) The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
5) Girl Talk - All Day

6) Shad - TSOL
7) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
8) Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
9) CEO - White Magic
10) Beach House - Teen Dream

11) Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
12) Fake Problems - Real Ghosts Caught on Tape
13) The Sainte Catherines - Fire Works
14) Japandroids - No Singles
15) Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

I think these pretty much speak for themselves. Also, neither you nor I want me to talk about them, because that would just take way too long. Trust me when I say these are all awesome albums that you should check out, though.

Runners-Up: Woods - At Echo Lake, Dessa - A Badly Broken Code, Gord Downie & The Country of Miracles - The Grand Bounce

That's all, folks! See you again in 2011!