GIHYB's Top Ten Things of 2010

(ed note: a series of collected thoughts from GIHYB contributors on the year that wuz 10)

as always, i know i'm forgettin something. in no particular order, except for TITUS ANDRONICUS!!!!!!!!

like:

the monitor, titus andronicus
as i said in an earlier post "... comically long songs ... pretentious as all get out ... channelling jim steinman songwriting at times …" and easily the best record of the year

brothers, black keys
i liked "attack and release" for the most part (lots didn't), i thought dan's solo record was pretty cool. i thought blackroc was one of the lamest exercises ever (lets all leave our A games at home and see what happens???). i can only listen to this straight through. that's sumthin

pavement live in central park
possibly the perfect reunion concert by a band that (in their legend) should be embarrassed for winning that distinction. guess what happened indie rockers? they turned our to be a (GASP) rock band (who got better with time) with a frontman who can play his ass off. put it this way, they fucking opened with their best song, and i coulda stayed another half hour after they were done ... i was drinking an unlimited supply of free beer, but that's … beside the point?

that amazing arcade fire video
... of course none of my childhood addresses worked, nor did my wife's, but that house a half a mile away from my wife's childhood place that we'd never seen worked just fine. i'd include the album as well, but in reality, each subsequent AF record is a better sounding version of the far superior debut

the big to do, drive-by truckers
requisite amount of patterson filler, leaving the best song off the record ("girls who smoke"), and an almost no-show by cooley stills adds up to a winner. choice cuts: birthday boy, all the songs about death

strychnine dandelion, the parting gifts
greg cartwright should write the phone book, and then he should sing it. google that shit young!!!

completely illegal advance of next record, hunx & his punx
yeah fuckers, i know people. i have no idea when this record is coming out, but, suffice ... i have heard the future of rock and roll and it's a gay dude backed by girls that should be played in phil spector's cell 24/7 to show him what a waste of space he was for the last 40+ years

"bottled in cork" (video), ted leo & the pharmacists
tom scharpling rules in just about any medium. ted leo wrote a great song. scharpling made it epic

my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, kanye west
this stupidly titled record can be pretty fucking interesting

king of the beach, wavves
given this dude's legendary meltdowns … aw, who cares? this was fun

dislike:

my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, kanye west
is this guy fucking retarded?

never fulfilling my wish to spend a day at the OTB. RIP