Best of 2010 - EPs!!!

Oh EPs, so short, so sweet...and 10 of you are the sweetest of 2010!!!

10. Cause & Effect - Artificial Contruct Part One
Surprised to hear these guys are still going at it and making sophist-synth-pop.

9. Hari and Aino - All That Remains
Just sweet indie pop.

8. The Dø - Dust It Off
Haven't had enough time to really register this, but I know it's good!

7. The Hundred in the Hands - This Desert
They opened for The Golden Filter this year and it was lovely. So is this EP! Nice electro, nice!

6. Summer Camp - Young
These relatively new cats are quite the catch! Lovely harmonies...do hear their cover of "Christmas Wrapping" if you get a chance. It's bliss!

5. The Superions - The Superions
Fred Schneider has always been very dear to me and it's music like this that makes it so. "Who Threw That Ham at Me" & the remix of "Totally Nude Island" by The Lolligags are superb!

4. Twin Sister - Colour Your Life
Having one of 2010's best pop songs, this young band is already working their way deep into my soul!

3. Wallenberg - Red in the House of White
Formed in Italy, residing in Sweden, the Swedish influence is ever present in this pop mastery!

2. Little Majorette - Bite the Bullet EP
Ahhhh, so near perfection..."Let's Get Drunk" and my current ringtone "Bite the Bullet" are the two super stand out tracks, but you have two others that really showcase some pop loveliness. Unfortunately, there's the just ok "London" right in the middle to keep this nugget from perfection!

1. CLASS ACTRESS - JOURNAL of ARDENCY!!!
Number one by far...holding two of my Top 34 songs of 2010, this is one of the break-out artists of 2010! She puts on a great live show too. I even had a dream about her last night and she was awesome! Her voice is rad, the synthpop beats make you dancedancedance, and when she slows it down, you get all sultry and ooooh, she's good! Get this!!!

Best of 2010 - CONCERTS!!!!

I only went to 34 concerts this year, a truly disappointing number, but that doesn't take away from the fact that I went to some lovely shows this year...and here they are!

10. The Magnetic Fields - Town Hall, NY. March 11.
The last of three MF shows I attended this year, and the 2nd in NY. All three shows were pretty similar but they played "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" and "I Have the Moon" at this show and that made it the best.

9. Freezepop - Boardner's, Sept 30.
While the encores may have stunk with dumb covers, the new songs sounded fantastic and they played a whole slew of greatest hits that I wasn't expecting! Plus openers Ming and Ping with their awesome dancing monkey-man warrants extra points!

8. Belle & Sebastian - Hollywood Forever, Oct 5.
Belle & Sebastian live is a joy...Belle & Sebastian live in a cemetery after a rainy day and a screening of "Trainspotting" is bliss. Great setlist too.

7. Perfume Genius - Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, Sept 28.
My second show in the Masonic Lodge and what a beauty. Sparse piano and keyboards under lovely emotional vocals in one of LA's finest small venues.

6. School of Seven Bells / Warpaint / Cold Cave / The Blow / Best Coast - Los Angeles State Historic Park, Sept 4.
The stand-outs of this year's FYF were easily School of Seven Bells who closed out my night with some synth beauty! Warpaint also rocked us early on and proved they are an up and coming force! The Blow was super amusing 'cept she didn't play "Fists Up"!

5. Cats on Fire - La Cita, May 29.
La Cita was the home of Hungry Beat! Their stage is incredibly small. How these fours dudes played on it is beyond me but they did and they played an incredible set of music! I danced my butt off!

4. The Legendary Pink Dots - The Echo, Nov 16.
A truly beautiful and masterful performance by these all-time favourites. Magic!

3. The Golden Filter - Spaceland, June 4.
I danced so so much at this show, they played all the hits and played them so fucking well...opener The Hundred in the Hands also impressed!

2. Class Actress - The Echo, Nov 5.
Our darling Class Actress was stuck opening for the shit band Small Black. That didn't stop my Rocks and I from getting front and center stage and dancing and smiling and being in heaven! Her VCR prop was priceless. Talking to us ever so briefly right after her set to explain why she couldn't play "Someone Real" (which I made Rocks yell out) was so amazing! I had Elizabeth Harper's hair on my face bitches!

1. Kelis / Robyn - The Music Box, July 23.
Two divas sharing one stage (though never together). Kelis really did win my heart this night with a non-stop (literally) pop barrage! And even though Robyn wasn't the better player that night (the encores really did bore me), she still played an awesome show, "Cobrastyle" was flippin' brilliant and I danced so hard! Next time Robyn, you play me "Konichiwa Bitches", or else!

Best of 2010 - VIDEOS!!!

Now, I watch even less music videos than I do movies so this is unfortunately a pretty short list...but still magically delicious!! 

7. The Superions - Who Threw That Ham at Me 

Fred Schneider is awesome and this song from his new side-project's EP is truly yumminess! Whenever a song/video can teach me a new move to shimmy on the dancefloor, you know it's gotta be great! DISCO GARBAGE CAN EVERYBODY!!!!

   
6. Klaus & Kinski - Forma, sentido y realidad 

A true piece of art & storytelling.

  
5. Hot Chip - I Feel Better 

This video is hilarious...and kinda scary.

4. Allo Darlin' - My Heart Is a Drummer 

It is very difficult to get any cuter than this in a video!  

3. Goldfrapp - Alive 

Goth heavy-metal dancers, satanic worship, Xanadu, neon glitter glow blood, leg warmers & Alison Goldfrapp!! Those are a few of the simple ingredients needed to make a kick-ass video!!

2. iamamiwhoami - y 

It's hard to pick just one video from this brand new amazing powerhouse of musical awesome magical awesomeness, but this seems to be the best summation of everything they've done thus far. So great!

1. Darren Hanlon - All These Things 

It's very difficult to be cuter than Allo Darlin' did earlier, but Mr Hanlon manages to make it happen in this, my favourite video of the year! Heartwarming loveliness!!

Best of 2010 - FILMS!

I figure I can venture out of the music realm just a little to post my TOP 10 films of 2010! I don't go to the movies much, so this is pretty limited, but all of these movies are sure winners!

10. "Black Swan"
I still don't necessarily get it or care much for the storyline, but it's shot extremely well and the performances are ace, especially the camp mastery of Winona!




9. "The Social Network"
Nice insight into the history of that demon who is a part of most of our daily lives. Plus a nice score by Mr Trent.




8. "Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields"
While I sorta hoped for more detail, this is still a lovely look at one of thee greatest musicians of all time...and now that we know he's in LA, let the stalking begin!




7. "Red"
Helen Mirren with a shotgun in the snow...Helen Mirren with a chain gun in a parking lot...Helen Mirren with a pistol in the kitchen...enough said. If Helen Mirren would have entered the movie sooner, this could have been movie of the year!




6. "Winnebago Man"
I'd never seen the youtube clips or heard of the Winnebago Man before seeing this at a free screening. It's a fantastic and very funny look into this man's life after Winnebago dumps him, he secludes himself in the wilderness and unbeknownst to him, becomes an internet star.




5. "Machete"
Really, it's just fun.




4. "TRON: Legacy"
Computers are scary! Nicely done, not cheesy like I expected. Daft Punk does a lovely job handling the music.




3. "Inception"
An extremely well-made, thought-provoking, beautifully-shot, well-acted mind-fuck.




2. "Burlesque"
While the acting is quite lacking, everything else just makes me want to Burlesque dance and be happy! Xtina gave me the chills a couple times with her vocals...the man guy is sexy...Cher is just Cherrific!! With an Xtina and Cher duet, this would be #1! "Soundtrack of the Year"!




1. "Rabbit Hole"
While Xtina gave me chills through song, the actors in Rabbit Hole sent even more chills and more often through their moving performances alone. No bells & whistles, just straight emotion and it's awesome.

Who Threw That Ham at Me???

Oh helllll yes!!! Nothing better to cure a somewhat sickly me than a great new dance courtesy of the always awesome Fred Schneider!! DISCO GARBAGE CAN!!!! My newest and most favourite dance move!!!



I just found out about The Superions last week thanks to my darling Rockstar. They already have an awesome EP out on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records and have just released a very non-traditional Christmas album called "Destination Christmas!" on Fanatic Records!
I MUST HAVE!!!

iamamiwhoami LIVE in concert!!!!!

WOW! iamamiwhoami - To Whom It May Concern

Twin Sister

Lovely little band Twin Sister and their super neon magical colour beauty video for one of the best pop songs of the year! I want to live here...or at least eat candy & dance for a few minutes here...



The sweet "Color Your Life" EP was released earlier this year on Infinite Best while the "All Around and Away We Go" 7-inch single sees the light of day next Monday on Domino.

You must also check out their song "Meet the Frownies"! It is so so good and available for free download!!

Long Live The Legendary Pink Dots

After seeing a completely gorgeous set by The Legendary Pink Dots last night, I just had to post this beautiful song from their BRILLIANT new album "Seconds Late for the Brighton Line" (out now on ROIR).



Just as the opening band closed their set last night...
"LONG LIVE THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS!"

CLICK ME

YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a Cuchi-Cuchi kind of evening...

My Heart Is a Drummer

This video has simply made my week!! The cuteness is so overwhelmingly wonderful and happy and magical and ahhhhhh. Just saw Allo Darlin' at The Echo on Monday night and they put on a sweet short opening set. Elizabeth signed the setlist that I made Rocky nick from the stage, and just like her name, she really is a Darling...
Their self-titled debut album is out now on the excellent indie label Fortuna Pop! and it is definitely one of the best releases so far in 2010!! And here's the awesome aforementioned setlist!!

Die!

The ultimate bitter song with one of the bestest lines ever: "your girlfriend looks like shit and I know you're aware of it". YES!!! This song is featured on my recently released "Swedish POP Volumes 1 + 2", which has yet to be made available to the general public. Maybe I'll share it here in the near future...until then, dance to South Ambulance with your tambourine!!!

Röyksopp - I Wanna Know

I guess they've played this live for some time, but to me this is a GREAT new song from Röyksopp with guest vocals from the AWESOME Anneli Drecker!!

 

 **Updated in 2022 to fix broken song link**

FLL - The Esplanade

FLL is a Swedish band led by Fredrik Forell and they have recently released a lovely lovely video. I now need blocks of colour on my walls to go with my 7" singles! After Craft Night last night, this video is really striking a chord! =)

Acapella

I just saw this video for the first time at bowling Monday night (thank goodness for music and videos from the FUN league!) Absolutely fantastique!! "Before you, my whole life was acapella"!!! New Kelis is the best Kelis!!

Pearl Fiction - Insomnia

Pearl Fiction's new single "Insomnia" (available at the icky iTunes ... not even the fact that it's Swedish iTunes can save it!) has a lovely corresponding video!! I love the dancing girl in her New Order tank top...I will dance with her tonight in my state of anti-insomnia! I do also quite love Pearl's ace flagmanship!
If my Zeigeist was born in the 80's, this is what they would surely sound like! I love the little ELO, rock opera chorus!
His debut album is due early 2011 (I've now read March).
Enjoy...

Come on, Let's Go

Simply one of the greatest songs of all time! Also, a long time personal anthem.

Regina

Finnish synthpop perfection...
Nice trippy, sometimes freaky video. I particularly love the little egg man popping out of the band members' mouths...



I highly recommend ALL of their albums, especially their most shimmery debut "Katso maisemaa". I mean, how can you go wrong with a cover like this:

Let's get juxtaposed...

I remember discovering this song on a VHS video compilation I got from my old job after college. It had Massive Attack's "Teardrop" on there too! 

Still an awesome song, always an awesome message. Thank you Super Furry Animals! 

Enjoy and love...

"It's easy when you know how 

To get along without Biff! Bang! Pow! 

And if I see that you're fed up 

I'll stop and give you a leg up 

 Over-priced unreal estate, surreal estate 

The highest price they've hit to date 

Creating new divides and tension 

You've got to tolerate 

All those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you 

But I won't hold that against you 

You've got to tolerate 

Some of those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you 

But I won't hold that against you 

This is a tale of two situations 

Mutual appreciation 

Away from narrow preconception 

Avoiding conflict hypertension 

Non-phobic word aerobic 

This was my domain 

'Til someone stole my name 

You've got to tolerate 

All those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you 

But I won't hold that against you 

You've got to tolerate 

Some of those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you 

But I won't hold that against you 

Let's get juxtaposed, juxtaposed 

Just suppose I'm juxtaposed with you 

(I wanna get juxtaposed with you) 

(I wanna get juxtaposed with you) 

(I wanna get juxtaposed with you)

(I wanna get juxtaposed with you) 

You've got to tolerate 

All those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you

But I won't hold that against you 

You've got to tolerate 

Some of those people that you hate 

I'm not in love with you 

But I won't hold that against you 

Let's get juxtaposed"

Klaus & Kinski - Forma, sentido y realidad

Very weird and very awesome and beautiful new video from one of 2010's best releases (and definitely the best Spanish release), Klaus & Kinski's "Tierra, trágalos". Enjoy!



You can buy the album directly from the lovely Spanish label Jabalina or be very lucky and find it at Amoeba!!

Komeda - It's Alright Baby

One of my favourite pop songs ever, with one of my favourite lyrics ever: "...but sure that love existed long before the first word was pronounced."

Come back Komeda!!



Love.

Theoretical Girl

In honor of the beloved "Divided" being released on vinyl this month via Soft Power Recordings, I present you with a flurry of Theoretical Girl videos! AWESOMENESS!!!!






Oh, what the hell...and a Cut-Out Theoretical Girl picture!!







Love.

Dakar & Grinser - Stay With Me

On the way to work the other day, this song popped up on random and I still obsessed about this certain lyric I could never quite catch. Well now, thanks to youtube and the original mix (which I'd never heard), I finally got it! I love this song! Dakar and Grinser are a German duo of DJs (I believe) and they obviously make very interesting videos...

 

 

iamamiwhoami - y

iamamiwhoami! "y"! As per usual, AMAZING!

Darren Hanlon - All These Things

*CUTE OVERLOAD ALERT* Darren Hanlon is Australian. He writes precious folk-pop (for the most part) ditties. He has a handful of albums. His new album "I Will Love You at All" is set for release this week in his homeland (via Flippin Yeah Industries), and due out stateside in September (via Yep Roc).

He's quite the clever fellow, with plenty of wordplay to keep your mind aflutter. I've seen him open for The Magnetic Fields a couple times and even playing by himself, he's quite the pleasure. His first video off the album for the superb little duet "All These Things" is sheer bliss. I have not seen a video this cute or heartwarming in a very long time. I love everything about it, the song, the scenery, the super cute girl, the sentiment, etc etc etc. Behold the preciousness...