Hey, Effers, it’s been a while. Hope everyone is doing well. I haven’t posted in a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been listening to music. Like I’ve told you before, the music is always on in my world. I’m sure most of you have a favorite shirt, right? In fact, you’ve [...]
Dear Kings of Leon: As I watched the 2010 Grammy Awards a few weeks ago, I realized something: you have gone from being an indie rock band with a southern flavor to a straight up pop-rock band. And of course, that isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it’s encouraging during an age of R&B and [...]
Hey, Effers, and welcome back to the Triple M at its regular time! I bet you thought/were hoping that I was finished with my Best of the Decade musings. Well, not quite, I’m afraid. See, the past ten years have been rather remarkable ones, musically speaking. Say what you will about the decade itself; a [...]
10) PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Polly Jean Harvey’s “New York” album, is the most accessible record in her extraordinary catalog. In comparison to the melancholic and frenzied moods of her prior work, Stories could almost be considered light-hearted. It [...]
20) The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come for Free (2004) On the surface, A Grand Don’t Come for Free is the story of a thousand British pounds – that’s even more in dollars, Effers – that go missing from the protagonist’s house without explanation. But that’s only part of the story; Mike Skinner does [...]
30) MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (2008) Oracular Spectacular stands as definitive proof that “serious” music can also be fun. A mish-mash of 80’s synthpop, 70’s disco, and a 60’s hippie mindset, this was one of the decade’s most exciting records. Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser were able to mine their varied influences and come out [...]
40) Florence & the Machine – Lungs (2009) On her debut album, Florence Welch deals in unhealthy relationships, violent mood swings, revenge fantasies, and generally miserable subject matter. Yet Lungs is rarely depressing. The Annie-Lennox-meets-Kate-Bush aesthetic of Welch’s music creates an uplifting mood that is irresistible. “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” is a prime example: [...]
50) Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009) It took four albums for French rockers Phoenix to break through here in the States. It makes you wonder what we were waiting for. In 2009, Phoenix garnered well-deserved attention with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, a record loaded with melodies that refused to be denied. “Countdown” was an insightful, [...]
60) Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator) (2001) In 1992, Gillian Welch moved to Nashville on the basis of her record collection. There she met David Rawlings, together with whom she would form a successful songwriting partnership, creating music that incorporated elements of Americana, folk, bluegrass, and gospel. On 2001’s Time (The Revelator), the pair [...]
70) The Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops (2006) The Secret Machines second full-length was a marked evolution from 2004’s Now Here Is Nowhere – which itself had garnered critical attention. The laid-back, extended jams and krautrock of that record were present here as well, in the form of songs like “Daddy’s in the Doldrums” [...]