My best of 2010 write up

[ScottyC]

I do this as a Christmas present for many people and finished this week and with everyone else throwing out their opinions I thought I would add mine as well, let me know your thoughts if you want:

The ScottyC best of 2010 Music review

Another Christmas can only mean one thing, not egg nog or mistletoe, but the highly anticipated best of album from ScottyC. The year started slow but picked up steam and I think it turned out very nicely.

So here you go, they are in the order I will put them on the CD, they are not listed in a top 15 style. It is more how if I were a music producer they would be tracked.

#1: Repo Man – Ray Lamontagne – God Willin & the Creek Don’t Rise: First song on that album and one of my favorite songs to ever start an album. When a songs builds with intensity to a great tune to begin an album and then you put one of the greatest white person voices ever over it you can’t go wrong.

#2: Depression – Ryan Bingham – Junky Star: An amazing talent who is starting to get the publicity he deserves, including the work in Crazy Heart. I put this album a notch below his first two releases, but this song is up there with his best. My “brother” and I both have a deep love of “f” words placed into songs where you don’t expect them and this is a great example.

#3: Nobody Gets Me but You – Spoon – Transference: I love Spoon, although sometimes I cannot explain why. There seems to be a number of indie bands doing a lot of retro lo-fi 80’s sounding music that I hate, but Spoon is one band that can pull off multiple styles and do it well. Plus they were one of my top 3 concerts of the year, at the Mohawk in Austin at ACL.

#4: Next Girl – Black Keys – Brothers: If you are reading any of these lists this year, then this is not the first time you have seen anything about the Black Keys, they are everywhere. They are on commercials regularly and selling out larger and larger venues. They have taken old school blues and mixed with the Muscle Shoals sound (even if they are from Akron OH) and it is a beautiful thing. This album is a fuller sound than their first few but still amazing, its great to see them progressing.

#5: Christchurch Woman – Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues: Here it is!!!!! The best song released in all of 2010. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song and this album. Steve Earles son will have a bigger career than his old man. This album is amazing and clocks in at just over 35 minutes so you can go buy it on your lunch break and still have time to eat. “She may be pretty, but one day I will get sick of her sh##.”

#6: The Curse – Josh Ritter – So the World Runs Away: Most of you know I have a real soft spot for Josh Ritter (if you don’t know search youtube for Josh Ritter and my Son and you can see my son Harper on stage with him). Regardless of that event, the man is among the best songwriters alive, and does it from a completely different place than most. This song is about a mummy who comes alive and visits museums with the curator and they fall in love………Nobody else attempts this or can pull it off.

#7: Hit em up Style – Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig: One of the top memories for the year was going to Cleveland (I know but let me finish) with Mandy and the kids and going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The night we went there was a sunset concert by these guys, and they absolutely killed and we all danced as the sun was setting over Lake E(e)rie. They are a group of three very talented musicians who are trying to teach the masses that black people play string instruments and have for centuries, while making sure you cant stand still. And yes this is a cover, but it doesn’t sound anything like the original.

#8: White Blank Page—Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More: They have been overplayed in the last 6 months, but I love these guys. Around May I remember listening to XM and hearing this song and heading to the record store right away and the listening non-stop for about a week. Some people have killed this album (I am lookin at you pitchfork), but I still love it. I am hoping because of their success the record company doesn’t pigeonhole or kill them like so many bands.

#9: Cant Feel a Thing – Lucero – 1372 Overton Park: Guess what its my list so I will take freedoms where I want and if you want to be on my best of list, then don’t release your album in the last 2 months of the prior year. Yes this was released in 2009, but I started listening this year, so there, if you don’t like it make your own list. I am completely into this band and have been for about half the year. My new years resolution is to see these guys live…….It aint exactly curing cancer I get that. I love bands that love punk music who make country music, and Ben Nichols voice is just that dirty gravelly voice that a 30 something shouldn’t have.

#10: Angela Surf City – The Walkmen – Lisbon: So if you follow me you will remember that two years ago You and Me by the Walkmen was my favorite album of 2008, their follow up is very solid as well. This song always makes me feel like driving at dusk in the summertime and windows down. There are two bands on this list that I listen to for the drummer more than any other and it’s The Walkmen and………

#11: Bloodbuzz Ohio – The National – High Violet: …….The National. Matt Berninger has a buttery baritone voice and because he doesn’t sing out every note he has the ability to do some things lyrically that other artists cannot and he does it over my favorite drummer playing (Bryan Devendorf). And no I don’t play drums, unless you count the steering wheel but watching this guy live is worth the price of admission (although he looks a bit like Chris Hansen might be asking him to take a seat).

#12: Home – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros—Up From Below: I don’t know why I love this song. Maybe its being on the road so much and spending so much time singing with Mandy (although only one of us really can sing). There is really nothing else that I heard that sounds like this, it has a very seventies feel to it but much richer musically than the cheesy music from that time period.

#13: Let the Whiskey Take the Reigns – Old 97s – The Grand Theatre Vol 1: Rhett Miller just keeps on doing it, putting out music for over a decade he still steps onto stage like its his first show. I really like the freaky, stalker, pervy side of this song. We have all seen this guy at a bar that just wants to keep pouring liquor down a girls throat just so he has a chance.

#14: Get Downtown—Drive-By Truckers – The Big To Do: Guess what, DBT is my favorite band, so the years they release an album they are going to make the list. Here is a preview for a year from now, somewhere on that list will be Go Go Boots by DBT. This song I first heard at the homecoming shows in Athens and couldn’t stand still, it sounds like something maybe Chuck Berry would have jammed. Also I really like the word “uglying”

#15: The Dreamer—The Tallest Man on Earth—Sometimes the Blues is a Passing Bird: So he is the not the tallest man on earth, he is really only about 5’4” and English is not his first language, it is Swedish. But the man is an amazing songwriter and obviously was influenced by Dylan, but most of his stuff is so stripped down it is mesmerizing.

#16: Kiss with a Fist—Florence and the Machine—Lungs: Shes everywhere now, even Glee ( I don’t watch, I do need to keep my man card for another year, thanks), but the album is very very good. I love people who sing with passion, its like Fiona Apple at the beginning of her career, but with more diverse instruments. And no I am not promoting domestic violence.

#17: Murder in the City – The Avett Brothers – Live, Volume 3: Again its my list, this song was originally released a few years ago, but this version was released this year and this is one of the most special songs in my life. I have two sons and the middle verse will always remind me of how special they are in their own special ways, and in the third verse I hope my daughter knows how much I love her.

So there it is, let me know what you think, like or don’t like. Also, 2011 is shaping up to be amazing with releases scheduled from: Iron and Wine, Wilco, DBT, Jason Isbell, Bright Eyes, Fleet Foxes, Hayes Carll, The Decemberists, MMJ, Amos Lee.