Coachella 2010

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PAVEMENT!
that is all.

2000-2009

In an attempt to assess the mass amounts of music that has been created since the year 2000, I have found myself writing a memoir of my adolescence instead of a simple blog post listing some noteworthy albums. The truth is, there were just too many good albums to choose from. While I just might post my homage to the past decade of music elsewhere-- I'll keep it simple and straightforward for this blog. I wouldn't even call this a "best albums of the decade" list. Each album presented here is quite different. This is more like a "albums I found myself listening to over and over in this decade" list.

I present to you (some of) my favorite albums of the past ten years, in order of the year in which each album was released.

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Radiohead / Kid A (2000)



Wilco / Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)



Sufjan Stevens / Michigan (2003)



Death Cab for Cutie / Transatlanticism (2003)



Arcade Fire / Funeral (2004)



Sufjan Stevens / Illinois (2005)



Bright Eyes / I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)



Margot and the Nuclear So and So's / The Dust of Retreat (2006)



M. Ward / Post-War (2006)



Snowden / Anti-Anti (2006)



Panda Bear / Person Pitch (2007)



Radiohead / In Rainbows (2007)



Berlin Whale / Berlin Whale (2007)



Of Montreal / Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007)



That Ghost / Young Fridays (2008)

Salvation is Created

I just found out last night about Bifrost Art's latest Christmas album entitled Salvation is Created, thanks to a friend. The compilation, which is a follow-up to Come O Spirit!, features Sufjan Stevens, J. Tillman, The Welcome Wagon, Damien Jurado, David Bazan, and many other great artists.

To quote from Bifrost Art's site, "Bifrost Arts is a sacred music non-profit that exists to enrich the church and engage the world with beauty and truth."

This sounds rather excellent to me. I hope to be purchasing this soon. For more information about the album and Bifrost Art, click here.

New Arcade Fire album in 2010!

All speculation has finally been confirmed. Yes, that is correct. The Arcade Fire are finally returning with a third studio album in 2010. The projected month of release is in May. According to Billboard.com, "[t]he band is weighing multiple offers for live shows in the spring, and will likely take a top slot at one or more of the major North American summer festivals."

This is information that I, along with many other Arcade Fire fans have been waiting to hear since their 2007 release, Neon Bible. Needless to say, I am very excited about this. Could it mean a headlining spot for the band at Coachella?

New song from That Ghost: "In House"

Upon listening to "In House" by That Ghost, I was immediately transported to the Roosevelt Hotel in the 1920s. Images of the ghosts of actors and actresses of the day as they roamed about the hotel filled my mind, and sepia tones abounded.

It's a wonderfully sleepy track with earnest and somewhat haunting vocals. The lightness and subtlety of the song itself called to mind Grizzly Bear, ever so slightly, in their earlier days. Furthermore, the song casts a somber yet very warm and inviting tone, beckoning to be listened to more than once. If you have been following Ryan's music at all, you will notice his pleasant progression as an artist from his early recordings to now. However, if you are not so familiar with That Ghost, I urge you to take a listen.

myspace.com/thatghost

Los Angeles Freeway Opera

It could be purely coincidental, but I seem to be noticing a trend here when it comes to projects having to due with concrete lanes and automobiles. First, it started in New York with The BQE from Sufjan Stevens, which was originally commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Now, we move to the West Coast, where the Los Angeles Opera is undergoing a project entitled "The 110 Project".

Commissioned by the Education and Community Programs department of the LA Opera, "The 110 Project" is centered around four main characters as they make their way through seventy years worth of Los Angeles history, which according to Current.com, begins with "the birth of the space program in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco in 1939 to downtown Los Angeles at midcentury. It concludes at the port of San Pedro in the present day."

Keeping true to the history of LA, the company has decided to include true events and authentic documents. As for the music, multiple composers are on board and the final project will be comprised of various original scores. Of course, it wouldn't be a true freeway opera without the use of freeway sounds. According to the L.A. Opera, the singers will form "a freeway chorus that scats and honks its commentary."

photo credit: nimarazfar.com

New EP from Animal Collective

According to Paste Magazine, Animal Collective is set to release a five-track EP entitled Fall Be Kind. The digital release will be available November 23rd, and a physical copy (either in compact disc or vinyl format) can be obtained in stores on December 15th.

Remember when Animal Collective made headlines this summer by gaining rights to a Grateful Dead sample? The song ("What Would I Want? Sky") featuring the sample will be available on this EP, as well as "Graze", a more recent live track from the band.