TOP 10 OF '10, YA'LL.

so i wrote up a list of my top ten releases for the year for the chirp website. it'd been on my to-do list for quite some time, and the fact that it took me as long as it did to get around to it kinda bummed me out. i had been thinking about the list all year, as i always am a nut with music and wonder, 'but does this have any longetivity? will i listen to it to death for the next 2 weeks and then shelf it into oblivion?' kinda bums me out to say 2010 was a bit lackluster of a year for releases. sure, there was shit i dug and listened to to death. like, the new nicki minaj album and even girl talk, i like them both immensely now - but did either of them make the cut for this list? negatory.

plus i guess i spent a lot of time this year revisiting older shit, like my massive siouxsie and the banshees phase this summer. oh well. ramble rant aside, i did manage to come up with a list of ten albums. this isn't to say i didn't enjoy additional records, i guess i could say some honorable mentions would be peter wolf crier (inter-be), yeasayer (odd blood), atmosphere (to all my friends/blood makes the blade holy), and stars (the five ghosts). but man, here's to hoping 2011 has some more 'blow my face off' ammo than this. too bad kanye only dropped one record this year, otherwise he'd have all ten of my slots fo sho.

1) Beach House/Teen Dream/Sub-Pop


No other album could possibly come close to the heavy rotation Teen Dream got on my iPod this year. The combination of Victoria Legrand’s lush vocals and dream pop instrumentation is seriously too good to be true. Tracks like the dizzying “Norway,” epic “Zebra” and the surreal “Silver Soul” are twistedly abstract, romantic and damned enchanting.

2) Kanye West/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/Def Jam

Love him or hate him, Kanye knows how to get your attention. After a pretty rough couple of years, West came hurdling through the haters with his most epic release to date, dropping My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as his musical redemption. West proves he’s got power with his sleek beats, addicting hooks and rhymes (seriously, who else can get the masses singing toasts to ‘douchebags’?) and featured partners in crime ranging from Elton John, Jay-Z to Bon Iver.

3) Robyn/Body Talk/Cherry Tree

Released just in time to secure a spot on my top 10 of ’10 list, our favorite Swedish pop princess compiled her Body Talk trilogy into one cohesive album. Body Talk as a cumulative whole, vs. the three separate eps, rivals the greatness that was her breakout self-titled 2008 comeback. Dropping dance party anthems like “Hang With Me,” “Dancehall Queen” and “Indestructible,” girlfriend proves she won’t be dancing on her own any longer.

4) Arcade Fire/The Suburbs/Merge

While we will sadly never again experience the epic greatness of another Funeral, Win Butler and crew made a damned fine attempt with The Suburbs. Blowing away their sophomore release Neon Bible, The Suburbs was one consistently memorable collection of epic instrumentation and overall indie goodness. Tracks such as “Month of May,” “Sprawl II,” “Ready to Start” and “The Suburbs” are undeniable examples of awesomeness.

5) GAYNGS/Relayted/Jagjaguwar

Not such Broken Social Scene has the indie music scene witnessed such a superhero line-up. The debut release from Midwesterners GAYNGS, Relayted is such an irresistible compilation of sleek, synth heavy, 80’s throwback baby making music that George Michael was pretty much forced into retirement. Who knew the dudes from Bon Iver, The Rosebuds and Solid Gold had such a seductive side to ‘em? Burning hot.

6) Phantogram/Eyelid Movies/Barsuk http://goo.gl/cHLwl

The majority of male/female duos are shiny, happy pop music. (See YACHT, Mates of State, Matt & Kim, etc). Phantogram is not one of those bands. Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter make musical love into mystery, driven with their synth and bass driven melodies and gaspy, seductive shared vocals. Eyelid Movies is eleven tracks of electronic indie dance bliss.

7) Gorillaz/Plastic Beach/Virgin

Anything Damon Albarn touches turns to gold (or at least it should). Even after just releasing the greatness that is Plastic Beach in 2010, Albarn has already announced his intentions of a follow-up album, which was recorded on their current tour—on an iPad. Not sure how he’ll get guest artists like Snoop Dogg and Lou Reed onboard with this current method, but by now I’m pretty sure whatever Albarn’s got up his sleeve is destined for greatness.

8) Vampire Weekend/Contra/XL Recordings

Who knew some random Polaroid photo from the 80’s would blow up into the biggest indie lawsuit of the year? Luckily for the gentlemen of Vampire Weekend, it turns out there’s much more to Contra than their obscure album art. Tracks like “Giving up the Gun,” “Cousins” and “Holiday” are just a few of the album’s upbeat pop ditties, proving these prep rockers are more than a one album success act.

9) LCD Soundsystem/This is Happening/DFA

James Murphy is a pretty righteous dude. This is Happening was one of the year’s biggest hypes, and if you’ve listened to the record, you’ll see why. “You Wanted a Hit,” “Dance Yrself Clean” and “Home” are several exemplifications of how Murphy and co. have raised the bar on electro-indie bangers once again.

10) Caribou/ Swim/Merge

Daniel Snaith is a mathematician by trade, but he’s better known to the masses as the indie electro composer Caribou. Swim is his best release to date, bursting with formulaic layers of samples, reverb, synth, bass and whatever other magical components he throws into the mix. Impossible to stand still while listening to, this album is consistently mind bending from start to finish.

you should probably listen to this: robyn (duh).

BODY. TALK. PT. TWO. in tha houssssse. if any of you know me. have read any of my ramblings. or even seen me. you know. robyn is my shit. like, disgustingly so. and at first, i'll be the first to admit i thought body talk pt 1 was a bit blah and lacked the banger anthems i know bitch is capable of busting out. but then, yeah yeah yeah, we all know, shit grew on me. and i progressed into her once again biggest fan ever. (minus that shitty swedish lullaby garbage).

wellll. for those of you who are curious, YES, the new robyn ep is fantastical. it picks up where the first installment of the body talk trilogy left off. follows a very distinctive formula. there's an obvious super dancey single, (pt 1 - 'dancing on my own,' pt 2 - 'hang with me'); said single was an acoustic version on prior disc ('hang with me' -- acoustic pt 1, 'indestructable' is chosen acoustic number on pt. 2, but is obviously going to be MIND BLOWING as a single on pt 3). there's a monotone robotic yet dancey repetitive joint (pt 1 - 'don't fucking tell me what to do,' pt. 2 - 'we dance to the beat.') and of course, some cheesey ass filler (but i still love it so much it doesn't even matter how 8th gradeish the lyrics are.) Oh, and need I mention there's a cameo by Snoop? For realz. This album is the dancey equivalent we were missing with part 1. Can't even begin to imagine the possibilities for how tough pt. 3 will be this winter. . . .

track listing and jodiriffic star rating:

Body Talk Pt. 2
1. In My Eyes - PERFECT album opener. So good, prob best song on album. 5/5 stars
2. Include Me Out - Another fun dancey banger, kinda cheesey but who gives a fuck 4/5
3. Hang With Me - At first I was mad this was the single. Not anymore. 4.5/5
4. Love Kills - Lame ass lyrics. Booty shaking madness regardless. 4/5
5. We Dance to the Beat - A little less tempo, heavier BASS. i'm ok with this. 4/5
6. Criminal Intent - Hilarious lyrics. (Somebody alert the authorities, I've got criminal intent). Really? 4/5
7. U Should Know Better (ft Snoop Dogg) - No description necessary. Robyn was present at Watergate. The Vatican knows not to fuck with her. Snoop likes to chill in Amsterdam. 6/5
8. Indestructable (Acoustic) - 4/5, but that's only because it will be so fucking HUGE on part 3.

omg.jodiluvsrobyn.com

that is all. you really all, should probably most definitely be listening to robyn. body talk part two drops  september 7th.

p4k : day one

wow. so i gotta say all in all, last night's set at pitchfork was probably the most consistently awesome single night experience i've encountered with my 3 years of p4k under my belt. so many great performances, awesome people that came through, just fun all around. i'm now laying in bed filthy and exhausted, but about ready to throw on some coffee, scrub off the dirt and do it again. i can't imagine how i would have survived last night had i attempted to venture to the dark room for dickfork, so i guess being older and opting to go home to bed has its perks. . .

post bfast at the milk factory (potatoes, salad and pbr), dara and i head to the park to figure out my dilemma. (i, like a dumbass, bought my tix the day they went on sale and then threw the envelope in my jewelry box to sit for 4 months without ever opening them. opened them up friday night, and boom! the tix were all stuck together face to face, tried peeling them apart and they just ripped all the info off. i was freaking out.) luckily for me, the p4k box office dude was not a douche, but smiled, handed me 6 new tix and told me to have a good time. thank god.

strolled in time just to catch a couple of the drippy drowsy, pretty, (yet kinda boner kill) love songs of miss sharon van etten. she sounded good, just not dancey. stocked up on brew tix and made it to the c stage where the tallest man on earth wooed the crowd with his swedish folksy bluesey indie ditties. when he busted out 'the king of spain,' the crowd loooved it. (me too). i never really heard much of this dude before, but i've read about him everywhere - it's for fans of bon iver, peter wolf crier and maybe slower stuff like what you'd find on the jagjuwar label. pretty, ecclectic, but very bare bonesy minimalistic acoustic rock. dude gave a shout out to robyn, so i love him on this alone.

post tmoe, el-p was kicking things off on the adjacent stage. i gotta say, i was kinda looking forward to el-p as p4k needs a good mix of hip hop, but like last year's doom set, it failed to impress. it just reminded me of being at debonair on a monday night with any of the regular rehab djs, nothing HORRIBLE, but nothing new by any means. just recycled booty bump whatever jams. i was giving him the benefit of the doubt though, and was having a really good time with my girlz, so i tried to ignore his lyrical content and just kinda chug brew shake my booty combo. but i couldn't really continue into my dance party oblivion when i heard homeboy keep repeating 'eat my dick.' what? did he really say that? yep. yep he did. 'EAT MY DICK' indeed.

next up: liars. never seen these guys live either. heard a lot about em, know they're super hip and kinda chaotic. loud, ruckus. indie rock. whoaaaa, so off the formula kinda shit. i actually dug em. i only heard a couple of their album recordings from a few years back, so i knew it was time i checked em again. i thought their live set was pretty rad and decent, but the two dudes i was with kept insisting their indoor performances are way better and that they were dragging. talked to a couple other peeps later who said the same. so i guess, for neutral or new fans, good times (like myself). for hardcore fans, could have been better. whatever, i grabbed another brew and just kept hopping around.

THEN IT WAS TIME. ROBYN!!!!! seriously, i know i'm way super biased b/c i love her to death and am like one of those twilight girls who splooge when they see robert pattison, but god damn girl KILLED IT! post set i checked my cell and got like 16 some text messages from diff people agreeing with me saying damn girl ruled, slick!, 'glad im not dancing on my own,' etc. shit was insane. i know i lost it. dara and i were cutting shit up and post show some dude grabbed my arm, 'you were like the biggest robyn fan here! you knew all the words! looked like you had the time of your life!' my response? 'DUH!'

seriously. so good. even if she was lip synching. i don't give a shit. she played a bunch of jams from her new album, opening up the set with the super slick production electro drum filled 'fembot,' then she played everything from 'with every heartbeat,' 'don't fucking tell me what to do' (or should i say she just rubbed her back and stretched, rather than performing to this one, didn't really get it), 'cobrastyle,' 'hang with me,' 'none of dem,' 'dance hall queen,' and closed things out with my absolute fave fave fave 'be mine!'

danced so hard. my feet are permanently black from boogying on the ground. i don't care that was exactly the stress release i've needed from the past year. if only every day had a robyn dance party. i swear. couldn't top that if we tried. . .

but we tried, of course. i strolled to the world's longest beer tent line EVER! (seriously p4k kids, try to smuggle in booze if you can, bag dudes are not that hardcore, and the evening lines suck! day lines, not so bad). . . so i really only got to hear broken social scene's set instead of joining my pals up close, but from what i heard they played a good representation of forgiveness rock record, including 'texico bitches' and some older shit from the last few albums too. they did play the 'pacific theme'. this is my jam, so that was super cool.

then, to top off an already magnificent evening, i joined a new group of pals to the upper right hand side of the a) stage to catch the closers for the eve, modest mouse. lots o' bros. lots o' weed smoking. i just ignored all that, chugged another brew, and focused on my barefeet dancing. they played a good assortment of shit from their latest ep, noone's first and you're last, (including satellite skin), we were dead before the ship sank (including their single dashboard), good news for people who love bad news (quite a few songs actually, but i gotta say i lost my shit a tiny bit when they played the view and i just started sputtering and bouncing into bros).

feet are super sore. my body is probably dehydrated, and is most definitely tired. but i think it's time i go scrub up, head to the milk factory for some delicious bfast (beer), and do it again. today i'm hoping will be stellar as well, but sunday's the real hot ticket. might check out panda bear, lcd soundsystem, delorean and a few others today. . .

what a shitty dream!

i don't know if it's b/c i indulged in alcohol last evening, got a tiny bit emotional, am super scared of getting my haircut today or if it's simply anxiety in anticipation of my hubby coming to visit me today (A-R-L-O!!! come to liar's club tonite for delectable shenaniganry), but i could not sleep worth a damn last night. and when i did, well, i had this really shitty dream.

i was writing for venus, which i do. and my girlfriend got a writing assignment with them too. cool! but her one assignment was only about 15 words. and she got priority over me in any future assignments even though she made it blatantly clear she didn't give a damn about the publication. ok. well, she got hired! permanently! as a full staff writer! ok. this STILL isn't the shitty part of the dream. apparently, i had an assignment to write a feature on robyn. (which i did in real life! zany, yes?). and something here or there got mixed up and i had a phone interview with her and noone told me about it so i nearly missed it! i told my editor i was done with the assignment, she accepted it and was like, "well how is this complete without the interview? it's supposed to be in 20 minutes."

i freaked out! and then the editor called robyn and said i wasn't feeling well and we'd have to reschedule. but then i got an email directly from robyn wishing me health and to feel better and that we'd talk soon. then i was elated. but then my editor realized she made a mistake and i wasnt supposed to interview robyn, she cancelled the interview, i didn't get to talk to my dream pop goddess, and then i was at a girl i knew in grade school's grandma's house and the girl came out as a lesbian and i had to eat some nasty ass strogenoff.

THE HORROR!!

so i woke up this morning, blue mascara caking my eyes shut. throbbing headache. scared to get my haircut. anxious to see my boo. sad about dumb shit. and now i'm laying in bed feeling gross wishing robyn was my friend in real life, but grateful that my real life friend doesn't have my dream job.

weird. word. what?