Song of The Day #197

"Manic Depression" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Trying to continue the push towards SOTD 200. Trying to post more frequently. Happy SAG Awards.

Song of The Day #196

"It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits

Alas, second-semester-seniordom has rendered me so lazy I don't even have the will to take three minutes to craft Il Buono's Song of The Day posts. But, as of today, January 24, I will try to keep up the blog a little better. Today's SOTD is "It's Your Thing," which is an organ-driven, more or less instrumental (there's some unintelligible humming and mumbling) funk jam from Cold Grits, may sound familiar seeing as it's sampled on Kanye West's "POWER." Great sample notwithstanding, though, "It's Your Thing" is a great song, fraught with wah and grease like any good funk tune from a band with "grits" in their name should be.

Song of The Day #195

"Maria Callas" by Christian Marclay

The only thing more beautiful than a recording of Maria Callas's voice is several recordings of her voice played at the same time in warped speeds on records that are broken and stapled together and stuff. Right? Well, sort of. Christian Marclay does just that--the many recordings I mean--and creates, with Ms. Callas's voice, a very bizarre but nonetheless beautiful track.

Song of The Day #194

"The Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

...and we're back! After a much needed vacation (yes, even bloggers who write blogs that are high on brevity and low on readers need vacations), Il Buono should be pumpin' out Songs of The Day at a, well, daily rate as usual. Today's song isn't necessarily a song--a piece perhaps, or an aural story. Whatever you call it, it's awesome. "The Dead Flag Blues" was the first I ever heard from GY!BE, and it struck me like few other pieces of music ever had. (That I was alone in a dark basement when I was fourteen blaring it at a deafening volume may have had something to do with it...) Regardless of circumstance, "The Dead Flag Blues" was, and still is, so affecting less because of the story it tells--a horrifying story narrated by an Anton Chigurh soundalike--and more because the swirling, spiritual cacophony that envelops the narration pulls the listener (a.k.a. you) into the story. You're trapped. When that train comes, you feel like you're standing on the platform, you know?

My Most Anticipated Albums of 2011

In under eleven hours (as of press time), it will be 2011. Whoa. Happy New Year, everyone. And if there's one thing that a new year means to a semi-dedicated music blogger, it's a clean slate--a tabula rasa--musically speaking. My Top Albums of 2010 playlist will exist no longer, and in its place I'll create a Top Albums of 2011 one. But what, my friends, will be on that playlist? What will be the best albums of 2011? Well, I don't know--but it's fun to speculate, which is why I've included my fifteen most anticipated albums to (potentially) be released in 2011. Several of these are indeed speculations, as many don't have names or release dates or anything, but all of the albums below, if released, should be awesome. Hopefully. The albums are listed alphabetically by artist, and have their release dates in parentheses (if their release dates are known). Cheers to a happy, healthy, good music-filled new year! See you in 2011.

My Favorite Albums of 2010 (Odds & Ends)

So I've already reflected on my favorite proper albums in this post (which you could also just scroll down to see), but here I'm giving some love to some neat-o 2010 albums that aren't quite "normal" albums--i.e. EPs, mixtapes, compilations, reissues, improvised music albums, and, well, "other." These are albums (around forty in total) that I've loved and listened to throughout 2010 and that deserve recognition. I've listed them in clusters based on the aforementioned categories, and the albums are organized alphabetically within each cluster, which is to say they're not ranked according to favorite. That said, I have bolded my #1 favorite of each bunch and italicized my second favorite. First and second favorite are obviously subject to change, but I feel pretty good about my bolds and italics, so... whatever. Anyways, enjoy (after the jump, obviously).

My Favorite Albums of 2010

This is the best list to make. The album, as a format, is just the most interesting, the most nuanced, and the most fun to discuss of any long- or short-form piece of media. Period. Over plays, operas, movies, whatever. A truly great album is an unparalleled experience, aural or otherwise. That's why this blog exists. That's why I'm eager and able to articulate what I like and how I feel. Albums. They're awesome.

2010 was/is a big year for this writer. He turned 18, which means he's an adult. And he has no idea how to be an adult. (He will now switch to first person narrative.) I truly don't. I mean, I'm perfectly capable of waking myself up, taking the el to school, eating meals on my own, etc. but the intricacies of adulthood--how to manage money, relationships, time, jobs, whatever--are completely beyond me. That I'll be going to college (in the country's biggest, busiest city no less) in the fall only further exacerbates these insecurities. How will I manage to live in the standards in which I'm accustomed to living, and, more importantly and more dauntingly, how will I do something worthwhile--especially in a place where everyone is basically an equal, and often better, version of myself? What's my duty, and how will I accomplish it? Or do I have a duty to fulfill at all? It's a scary world out there, and reading copious amounts of Gide doesn't necessarily make me feel better.

I do have one constant, though. One thing that'll be there for me in New York or wherever I end up. That, as lame as this is to say, is music, is these albums listed below and their brethren from the past and future. As someone who kind of shy and uncomfortable with emotion, I've found something, in music, to let me buckle down and also explain how I think and feel. I can hear something and interpret it and apply it to my life, thereby helping me explain and articulate the emotions that I often try so desperately to hide... I'm getting too over-the-top with this post, aren't I? Anyways, I'll just say that these albums--and albums in general; audio stories and journeys and experiences--have greatly enhanced my life and others', and I look forward to taking them with me as I try to face being a grown-up. Oy.

The albums in question cover plenty of stylistic and emotional ground. 2010's most omnipresent trend seemed to be that of chillwave/H-pop, which in and of itself has many different strains. The whole hazy bedroom pop strain (Wild Nothing and whatnot) didn't really do it for me, so you won't see much of that below. The more kraut-influenced, new age-y strain of the movement does certainly interest me, as it presented a new form of non-abrasive drone that's atmospheric, beautiful, and weird when done correctly. There's the batshit crazy psychedelic strain of H-pop, which I rather enjoy as it's, well, batshit crazy psychedelic music. And then there's the surf-obsessed, chilled-out rock n' roll, which is kinda boring. Right? Right. 2010, though, for me, was a lot about the old guard--or my own personal indie rock old guard. Artists that have delivered genius in the past delivered again (cough, Kanye, LCD, Joanna, Arcade Fire, Robert freakin' Wyatt, cough)... But putting albums by time-proven artists at the top of the list can be a bit unsettling, as I often question whether I'm just putting them at the top because it's easy, because it feels right, because I was anticipating their albums and they were satisfying so they must be the best, right? Maybe right. I don't know. There were enough young'ns, enough new artists, to keep me pleased, I suppose. So who really cares. Right? Right.

In terms of this particular list, it's a list of my 45 favorite studio LPs that were released in 2010. No EPs, compilations, etc. on this list--those will come in a separate list to be published later this week. Also, I know I've waited a little longer to publish the list; however, that's for a variety of reasons: 1) because I've been in school and taking exams and having existential crises about my future that I alluded to above, but now I'm past all of those things (sort of), 2) the year still isn't over, and it was much less over at the beginning of the month when lists started coming out; what happens if a great album comes out on December 21?, and 3) the longer I wait, the more time I have to reflect on certain albums. It's a proven truth that year-end lists are weighted towards albums that came out nearer to the end of the year; new albums are fresher, and they're the ones we're all listening to over and over again in November and December. By waiting a tad longer, I get to reflect, unbiased, a tad longer. Also, I get a chance to pick up and familiarize myself with albums that came out earlier in the year that I hadn't heard and then subsequently hear due to their high placements on certain other publications' year-end lists. Anyways, the point is: here is my list. Here are my albums of 2010.