Esquire: 50 Best Lyrics of 2010

Some are poetic, some are so simple that they are profound, and others aren't that great, but here is what Esquire mag says about the 50 best song lyrics of the year.

Quoting other works of art in song lyrics: so in right now

New Sufjan X-Mas Music

If you're like me and 5 discs of Sufjan Christmas isn't enough for you, here's some early Christmas cheer.

Thanks to the wonderfully-titled Between hipsters and God there is Sufjan Stevens blog, you can find download links to TWO MORE discs-worth of Christmas songs.

Songs for Christmas, Vol. 6 : Gloria!
Songs for Christmas, Vol. 8 : Astral Inter Planet Space Christmas

Where's Vol. 7?
No idea.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

1) Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz
2) The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
3) S. Carey - All We Grow
4) Vampire Weekend - Contra
5) LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
6) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
7) Owen Pallett - Heartland
8) Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
9) Yellow Ostrich - The Mistress
10) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Honorable Mention:
Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
Land of Talk - Cloak and Cipher
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Songs that Blow Hard

At request of Nicole Silverberg, I made this mix of songs with badass trumpet parts. Though entirely unrelated to my year-end 2010 lists--it's a pretty fun collection.

Check It Out!

1) You Are The Light - Jens Lekman
2) Giant - Vampire Weekend
3) Scenic World - Beirut
4) Mr. Tough - Yo La Tengo
5) Love Is The Law - The Suburbs
6) The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders - Sufjan Stevens
7) The Fool - Neutral Milk Hotel
8) North By Northwest - Blue Scholars
9) The Underdog - Spoon
10) Oh My God - Mark Ronson
11) A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene - Okkervil River
12) Junior Kickstart - The Go! Team
13) Spottieottiedopalicious - Outkast
14) Fake Empire - The National (last 30 seconds...)
15) Did I Step On Your Trumpet - Danielson

Top 25 Jams of 2010

1) Impossible Soul - Sufjan Stevens
2) On Melancholy Hill - Gorillaz
3) In The Dirt - S. Carey
4) Boyfriend - Best Coast
5) Fuck You - Cee-Lo Green
6) All I Want - LCD Soundsystem
7) Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
8) Quarry Hymns - Land of Talk
9) Crown on the Ground - Sleigh Bells
10) Shutterbugg - Big Boi
11) Horchata - Vampire Weekend
12) Burden of Tomorrow - The Tallest Man on Earth
13) Lewis Takes Off His Shirt - Owen Pallett
14) Hold On - Yellow Ostrich
15) Ready To Start - Arcade Fire
16) World Sick - Broken Social Scene
17) Norway - Beach House
18) O.N.E. - Yeasayer
19) What's In It For? - Avi Buffalo
20) Tighten Up - The Black Keys
21) Cry - Gayngs
22) Where'd All The Time Go? - Dr. Dog
23) Lady Daydream - Twin Sister
24) Brides Song - Yukon Blonde
25) Go - Jónsi

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (in brief)

The Suburbs has now played twice through consecutively on my laptop. The 16-track album has a lot of well-crafted rock tunes that seem like they will require many more listens before they can be fully appreciated. The majority of the album does not sound like too much of a departure from their previous two releases, but "Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)" takes the band into an 80s synth pop world (reference: Blondie "Heart of Glass)-a jarring contrast. Yet upon further exposure, it begins to seem fitting that a song about suburban sprawl and shopping malls is performed in such a gaudy, synthesized manner. As the album comes to a close with the haunting "The Suburbs (continued)" that follows, the sad reality of the previous song becomes apparent. Minimally accompanied by melancholy strings, the chorus that began the album echoes and echoes "sometimes I can't believe it, I'm moving past the feeling--again." The sprawl out of the city and into the gated community is shown as the sprawl from feeling to fake; from art to artifice-- A fantastic ending to a solid concept album.

Jam o' the Week - Cut Copy

Cut Copy - Where I'm Going

it's just good.