Vikings & Beekeepers

1. Ghostface Killah FishscaleI know, oh, maybe three people who actually like hip hop. It’s a damn shame that the rest of you have to miss out just because of an irrational fear of “black people music.” I love Supreme Clientele, but sometimes RZA’s hazy production gets tiresome. I much prefer the variety found here. Ghostface is in full flight as he spits with precision and emotion over some absolutely huge beats courtesy of Just Blaze, MF Doom and the late J Dilla, among others. The results are nothing short of astonishing. Potentially huge singles abound with monster bangers like “Shakey Dog,” “Kilo,” “The Champ,” Back Like That” and “Be Easy” (awesomely streaming after the jump!). All that without mentioning an essential Wu Tang reunion, a duet with a beyond the grave Biggie Smalls and an MF Doom produced track that recalls the best of Ghostface’s Supreme era Dadaist rap. This is the best rap album since The Blueprint, and honestly, if it weren’t for the unnecessary skits, it would be even better than The Blueprint.2. The Hold Steady Boys and Girls of America If it’s not the riffs, it’s the lyrics. If it’s not the lyrics, it’s the harmonies. If it’s not the harmonies, it’s the keyboards. If it’s not the keyboards, it’s the sheer whisky fueled tenacity. With a at least one quotable line per song (my favorites: “She was a real good kisser / But she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian” or maybe “Everything was spinning then I came to in a chillout tent / They gave me oranges and cigarettes”), and one memorable musical hook per song (the bridge on “Stuck Between Stations,” the token Thin Lizzy tribute on “Southtown Girls”), there’s absolutely no reason not to love this album.3. Comets on Fire Avatar Another bong curdler from these Santa Cruz noise monsters. A softer affair than usual - the full-on noise assault only comes in one 2-and-a-half minute outburst - but with decreased noise comes increased dynamics. The opening noodling of “Dogwood Rust” is a perfect soundtrack to your burgers, Pilsner and Hookah pipe barbecue, but it’s the bloozed up “Lucifer’s Memory” that really scorches. Most underrated album of the year.4. The Evens Get Evens True story, Ian Mackaye is my hero and almost never does anything wrong. I glibly dismissed the Evens as “Fugazi for girls” last year, but that is inaccurate. The Evens are Fugazi for all moods. When Mackaye and Drummer/singer Amy Farina synch up vocally time stops, heads turn and people go out of their way to listen. Jittery and nervous, but also loose and angry, the Evens are the logical next step for a punk rock lifer who refuses to embrace (no pun intended) irrelevancy.5. The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine Man I used to hate these guys. With their tinny lo-fi sound and vocals so nasal that “Weird Al” Yancovic would complain, The Thermals were little more than just another shitty Northwestern punk group. But I was wrong. With some slightly higher-fi production courtesy Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, the Thermals reach a potential I never even realized existed for them. Some of the tracks on this album seem transcendent, which is ironic given the theme of the album. 6. Boris Pink This is the kind of fuzzed out psych-metal that I’ve been dreaming of for so long. Thank God for Japan. These guys and Acid Mothers Temple are as good a reason to visit the land of the rising sun as the beer vending machines that exist on every block of Tokyo. 7. Mastodon Blood Mountain I’m on the fence as to where this stands in comparison to the face-melting Leviathan, but I think that the very fact that I’m still debating it already says a lot about this album. These guys do everything right with their genre.8. Band of Horses Everything All the Time A less jammy My Morning Jacket? A more ethereal Shins? Guys who rock neck tattoos and make music videos non-ironically showcasing the band members’ softball skills? Yes, please. 9. Plastic Constellations Crusades What if Avail returned to music with a newfound love of hip hop and Les Savy Fav? Well, that would be fuggin’ amazing. But they don’t have to, the Plastic Constellations already exist. This other Minnesota band have been able to combine the youthful jubilation of mid-90’s skate punk, the anthemic instincts of Fugazi (where have we heard that name before?) and the frenetic, critic-bating spirit of those post-punk, pre-dance-punk east coast bands (LSF, Dismemberment Plan, Q and Not U) of the late 90’s, early 00’s. I would kill to see these guys live.10. Islands Return to Sea From the ashes of the Unicorns comes…Paul Simon’s Graceland? Not many people I played this album for jumped on the bandwagon, but for those of us who were down, we were down in a big way. Hell, even the hip hop tracks are inspired. No other Canadian indie band sounds like this. Islands are a Gem. 11. Belle & Sebastian The Life Pursuit I own a few of Belle & Sebestian’s earlier, more highly regarded albums, but to be honest, they do nothing for me. It’s their later, 70’s am radio hamminess that I’m a sucker for. Every year needs a masterful pop album and since the New Pornographers were on tour, someone had to pick up the slack. Belle & Sebastian are taking the ball and running as fast and hard as they can with it.12. Destroyer Destroyer’s Rubies Dan Bejar made the soundtrack to my early summer and I can’t really place what it is I like about this album so much. Bejar isn’t exactly my favorite singer, but his lyrics and music are equally ingratiating. This album will find a way to hook you in and sink its teeth into for a long time.13. TI King TI was rap’s breakout star of the year (that Justin Timberlake song didn’t hurt either), and with good reason. The guy’s a stellar rapper who enlisted some stellar production and made an album that was almost front to back (”side to side”) great. No other rapper was even remotely this catchy. These tracks will get stuck in your head for a long ass time. 14. Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood The voice has always been there, but the songs have not always followed suit. This is the first album where the quality of Neko’s songs have started to catch up with her jaw-droppingly powerful voice. 15. Futureheads News & Tributes A less energetic affair than their self-titled debut, but it also bordered less on the grating. Swapping the early XTC influence with a “Train in Vain” style Clash influence, the Futureheads have applied more backbeat in favor of the herky jerky guitar bounces of the first album. These stupid details don’t quite matter though, because the harmonies are still what sets this band apart. 16. Mission of Burma The Obliterati Kicking ass well into their senior years, these recently reunited cranks offer up a new batch of angry, atonal, twisted punk anthems. “2wice” is a definite highlight, but “Nancy Reagan’s Head” is the song that you go home humming. If only the former first lady were dead, then she could be spinning in her grave.17. Tapes n’ Tapes The Loon No more than the sum of its part, but when the sum of your parts are Pavement, Modest Mouse and the Pixies, well, then you’re doing pretty alright. 18. The Decemberists The Crane Wife Typically, when the Decemberists release an album, I really fall in love with one song (”July July” from Castaways and Cutouts, “Red Right Ankle” from Her Majesty the Decemberists, “Engine Driver” from Picaresque) and then find the rest of the album to be diet-Neutral Milk Hotel at best and cloying and cute indie mediocrity at worst. But then the band signed to a major, released a prog album and made me finally admit that these guys were more than just a one song per album wonder. This made me a believer.19. Danielson Ships Danielson takes his screechy, off-kilter, oddly endearing weirdness, wraps it in a consumer-friendly expansive and lush indie pop sheen a la Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois and poof! A Danielson album for everybody.20. Young Jeezy The Inspiration “Let’s get it!” “Ehhhhhhhh!” “Jeya!” “Deeeeaamn!” “Hey!” “That’s Riiiiiiiight!” “Jeya! Jeya!” “Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”Any more questions?21. The Game Doctor’s AdvocateDoctor’s Advocate may not have The Documentary’s access to Fiddy’s mumbled hooks, but it does improve on its predecessor in a couple of key ways: First, the constant name-dropping and West Coast big upping are backed up by a stronger, more assured flow. Secondly, the Game’s life sized man crush on MIA Dr. Dre (look at the album title) provides the listener with one of the most complex and compelling psychodramas I’ve heard in years.22. Girl Talk Night Ripper Hey, is that Neutral Milk Hotel? Is that Kanye West? Is that Pavement? Is that Young Jeezy? Is that the Rentals? Is that Elton John and Notorious BIG together? Is that Boredoms? Is that Weezer? Is that Fall Out Boy? Is that the Game? Is that Jay Z? Is that the Pixies? Is that Sophie B. Hawkins? It is? Jeez, what kind of party is this?23. Earl Greyhound Soft Targets Okay, so it’s essentially hip swaggering rock in the same vein as other 21st century classic rock revivalists (my first thought was “Lenny Kravitz, but if he weren’t the worst artist in the history of everything.”). But these guys hit their instruments hard and the songs swagger with a minimal amount of ironic pretense. 24. I’m From Barcelona Let Me Introduce My Friends I think this video says it all.25. Maritime We, The Vehicles Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson and Promise Ring frontman Davey von Bohlan form like voltron to create…reflective, liquidy, skinny white boy indie rock in the vain of Death Cab For Cutie. B-b-but-but, it’s pretty good, actually. Von Bohlen’s pop instincts mesh nicely with Axelson’s slippier bass and the songs provide a sufficient pallate cleanser after a night of Mastodon, Young Jeezy and Girl Talk.

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