Lines of Oration Presents: My Top 30 Songs of 2010

IT'S BETTER LATE THAN REALLY LATE

30. "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys
29. "Kentucky Pill" by Johnny Flynn
28. "Written in Reverse" by Spoon
27. "Boy" by Ra Ra Riot
26. "Lucky 1" by Avey Tare
25. "Vesuvius" by Sufjan Stevens
24. "Boyfriend" by Best Coast
23. "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons
22. "Beautiful Mother" by The Dirty Projectors
21. "I Want to Be Well" by Sufjan Stevens
20. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" by Arcade Fire
19. "Barricade" by Interpol
18. "All For Myself" by Sufjan Stevens
17. "Terrible Love" by The National
16. "Lights" by Interpol
15. "Windstorm" by School of Seven Bells
14. "Zebra" by Beach House
13. "Mr. Fingers" by Animal Collective
12. "Excuses" by The Morning Benders
11. "Walk in the Park" by Beach House
10. "Stick to My Side" by Pantha du Prince (with Noah Lennox)
9. "You and I Know" by Ra Ra Riot
8. "Giving Up the Gun" by Vampire Weekend
7. "Oliver Twist" by Avey Tare
6. "White Sky" by Vampire Weekend
5. "Flash Delirium" by MGMT
4. "Airplanes" by Local Natives
3. "Siberian Breaks" by MGMT
2. "Impossible Soul" by Sufjan Stevens
1. "Odessa" by Caribou

Note: I did not count any song that was realeased for Panda Bear's Tomboy as a song for this year because I consider it a 2011 album, but yes, I am counting ODDSAC for songs.

Lines of Oration Presents...My Top 10 Albums of 2010

10. Transference by Spoon: Spoon has never released something unlistenable or just average, and Transference was no exception. It took the best parts of their previous album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and expanded and formed them into 11 tracks of simple and enjoyable classic Spoon sounds.

9. Gorilla Manor by Local Natives: For a debut, this album strikes you like a brick. It’s an hour of hard-hitting, emotionally intense indie folk. And with a song like “Airplanes”, one of the most beautifully moving songs I’ve ever heard, only on their first album, they can only continue on a path of sheer greatness.

8. The Orchard by Ra Ra Riot: The Rhumb Line was, seemingly, a difficult album to follow up, but Ra Ra Riot did a pretty great job. With newly dramatic and more serious sounding songs, they are definitely showing strong maturation as a band without compromising their fun and charming sound.

7. Interpol by Interpol: After the release of the let down that was Our Love to Admire, Interpol could only go up. They came back with an improved and innovative version of their old sound, with catchier-than-ever songs containing pulsing basslines and their signature dramatic guitar drones; Interpol gave the music world renewed hope.

6. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire: After the long hiatus following Neon Bible, it was a huge joy to receive this album. It’s an hour of empowering grandiosity, with a strong dose of nostalgia. The Suburbs has a lasting quality, with each successive listen drawing you closer to the emotion Arcade Fire succeed in transmitting.

5. Down There by Avey Tare: With everyone expecting Panda Bear to release an album this year, it was a huge surprise that the world got to hear solo work by Avey Tare instead. Down There is like a blast from the Animal Collective past, but this time with swampy filters and strong dance influences. It gives a stunning insight into Avey Tare’s artistic capability as well as his musical potential.

4. Teen Dream by Beach House: Beach House has succeeded very strongly in creating a totally original and innovative album. They have a sound of their own, created by glorious soundscapes of lovely synthesizer drones, Alex Scally’s intricate bright guitar, and Victoria Legrand’s poignant croon.

3. The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens: After an illness and a long hiatus, Sufjan Stevens released his very long awaited follow up to the critically acclaimed Illinois. It was as far away as possible from his normal folkiness, with heavy electronica and layers upon layers of interweaving melodies. It is a brilliant ride through bold orchestration and raw human emotion, all ending with a glorious 25 minutes of the beautiful “Impossible Soul”.

2. Congratulations by MGMT: Well before its release, Congratulations was already being deemed a disgrace by every possible critic. Needless to say, it beyond destroyed those expectations. With nine songs of endless innovation and glorious whirlwinds of psychedelia, MGMT has created the most underrated album of 2010, with every listen causing it to grow more and more on you.

1. Contra by Vampire Weekend: For a hugely hyped up band, Vampire Weekend could have easily repeated their debut or fell flat on their faces. But they didn’t. They added new elements and evolved their style to make a wonderfully energetic and vibrant album that I have not been able to stop playing since the day it came out.







Thank you so much for reading this! In the next few days I will have my top 25 (maybe 50) songs posted, so, stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

New Video for Holiday by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend have released a video for their song "Holiday" from their new album. They really surpassed themself this time, getting all colonial on everyone. Even they make powdered wigs gangsta.


Holiday

The Friday Thing: A-Punk by Vampire Weekend (+poll results)

I remember back in early 2008, I saw previews for a Jools Holland episode with Vampire Weekend and The Kills as guests. I ended up tuning in a little late so the only thing I saw in that episode was the last performance which was "A-Punk". I had never heard anything at all by them before that moment, so when I did I was completely enthralled and couldn't believe how good they really were. I loved them so much that I went out the next day and bought their album strictly on this performance-now, 2 years later, I finally will be going to see them.


A-Punk

POLL RESULTS:
In January I put up a poll to see what you guys liked most about what I offer on this blog, and an overwhelming amount of you (3 of you) have voted. Based on the results, I will start trying to post more news items and music reviews. Also, I'm thinking about stopping these Friday things, or making them more infrequent. Next week, I'm going to a show, so I won't have a Friday Thing, but I will have a concert review! Opinions?

New Video for Giving Up The Gun by Vampire Weekend

Well, the title says it. Vampire Weekend have released a video for their Contra song "Giving up the Gun" today. I feel confused yet happy: It stars a Jonas brother and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively, who play a girl in a tennis match. Other than that, the band look cool, and the over all feel of the video fits that of the amazing song.


Giving up the Gun

(I feel so violated posting a video by someone named "FanaticForJonasB")

The Friday Thing: Cousins, Have I The Right?, California English, Walcott, Horchata, and A-Punk by Vampire Weekend

This week, Vampire Weekend did a set of songs for a small audience for La Blogotheque. It's a very intimate setting, with the four of them playing amongst a small group of people sitting around them, which makes it such a great performance. Their nerdyness and quirks come out to an extreme, and the acoustic-versions are very nice to hear; they make California English bearable! The energy is great, and if you have 23 minutes to spare, you won't be disappointed.


Cousins, Have I The Right?, California English, Walcott, Horchata, and A-Punk

CONTRA-Vampire Weekend

Contra-
Vampire Weekend
Label-XL Recordings
Status-Out as of 2010
2nd Studio Album
Rating-4 feathers

From the start of their career, Vampire Weekend were one of the few bands that were nearly unconditionally critically acclaimed. Hoisted so high on the indie pedestal, when it came time for them to make a second album, many thought that there was no way they could pull it off again. Well, they have. With a significantly mellower sound, and slightly more synthesizer in place of guitars, Vampire Weekend are back with their sophomore album “Contra”.

The carefree “Horchata” starts off the album with their signature bubbly synthesizer and vocals. It’s an inspiring and powerful beginning that will leave you singing “Here comes the feeling you’d forgotten” long after it’s over. “Holiday” offers you the same immensely catchy and bouncy synthesizers that you’ve come to love about Vampire Weekend, except with much more force and massive sing-along ability. There are very few things to really despise about this album, especially after hearing the last few songs. However, there’s usually something, and that something is “California English”. It’s like the “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)” of Contra, except the violently annoying part is the irritating use of auto-tune. It makes it almost unlistenable. The only redeeming part of it is the clever lyrics, except you’d never know that unless you were reading the booklet; the auto-tune obscures them that badly. “Taxi Cab” conveys the exact opposite of what the last song did. It’s like a sadder, and significantly more somber “I Stand Corrected”. Both the slight but effective cello and the non-falsetto singing makes it that much more moving. “Run” is nicely upbeat, and provides you with endless hooks. The fuzzy drums and fanfare punctuated by the new synth creates a bittersweet yet very bright symphony of sound. “Cousins” is all over the place, but in a good way. It’s completely manic and never ceases in force, and it’s amazing that they kept the frantic sound so tight. Then you have “Giving Up the Gun” which is the perfect example of their maturity as a band. They combine a reflective attitude with a grandiose mix of synthesizers and glittery sound effects that swell to build their most epic and encouraging song so far. With songs like that on this album, “I Think UR a Contra” is a pretty disappointing ending. I don’t like what Ezra does with his vocals and the dreamlike echoe-y instrumentation in the background makes it just way too fantastical for me. Also, the grand piano really doesn’t sound right. At the end, when it sounds like the instruments are breaking down, that’s when it finally gets interesting.

As a whole, Vampire Weekend have created a pretty good answer to their debut. It’s a very mellow collection of songs all of which embrace rawer synthesizers and a fuller sound. However, they did completely rid of their minimalist and baroque pop sound in exchange for a sometimes annoying electronica sounding one. Yet, I applaud them for building on their sound and for still sounding as fresh as they did two years ago. I have no doubt that future albums will continue on the same bubbly and brightly paved path.

"It's easy to write a song that just takes down easy targets--there were songs like that on the first album, though some people misinterpreted them. It's more of a challenge to write a song that's about compassion toward people that you disagree with or people that represent something you think is rephrehensible."-Ezra Koenig

Video for Cousins

Recommendations: Horchata, Holiday, Run, Giving Up the Gun
Vampire Weekend's Official Website
NOTE: YAY! I wrote a review. Start thinking of this as a more regular thing again. Next up is Spoon. In regards to the album, I really didn't like White Sky. I know it was a song they've played for a really long time, but I'm just not convinced on it's greatness. I hope you enjoy!

Contra and Heartland Out Today!

If you didn't know, Contra by Vampire Weekend and Heartland by Owen Pallett (formally referred to as Final Fantasy) were released today. Go out and support your bands!

LINES OF ORATION PRESENTS: The Top 21 Music Videos of the 2000's

To kick off the New Year, I bring to you what I think are the 20 best music videos of the aughts. Look out for part three of the countdown. Enjoy!

21. Girl by Beck-This is pretty poor of me to put this in after the fact, but it deserves a mention. Beck is just cool, he really is. This video demonstrates that. It's clever, and I think you should watch it.


20. You Only Live Once by The Strokes-I love how they are all in white when the disgusting "sewage" comes pouring in, but I thoroughly enjoy how Julian Casablancas's hopping around never ceases.


19. I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab For Cutie-It's a nice, and slightly sad song, but I like how the hole symbolizes the songs meaning.


18. Summer Song by Yacht-You don't have to see it to know your already crazy about it.


17. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service-I'm not entirely sure what is happening in the video, but I think it fits with the electronic-ness so well.


16. The Hardest Button to Button by The White Stripes-The general smoothness of the stop motion is really good, but it has to be the sheer amount of equipment they used.


15. Here it Goes Again by OK GO


14. My Girls by Animal Collective-Them only having lips and the fact that they soon begin to melt shows that Animal Collective are very weird without being stupidly outrageous. Also, the fact that they seem so into it makes the song that much more enjoyable.


13. Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games) by of Montreal-of Montreal would take an already cutesy song and make such a seemingly more adorable yet so morbid video out it.


12. Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim-Who knew Christopher Walken could dance so well?


11. Australia by The Shins-The concept of freeing helpless balloons by releasing them back to the atmosphere is adorable. This video is both comical and creative, and isn't the image of all the balloons at the end beautiful?


10. Evil by Interpol-Norman the puppet is the creepiest and coolest puppet, and the dancing is just too creepy for words. I think what did it for me was the fact that Norman fits Paul Bank's vocals eerily well.


9. D.A.N.C.E. by Justice-I'm not a fan of Justice. At all. However, this video is really great. The constant redesigning t-shirts are way cool, and the concept is purely unique. Do you not want some of those shirts?


8. 1901 by Phoenix-Not only was this one of the best songs of the year, it was definitely one of the best videos of the decade. Most of the videos here aren't too fancy, and this one really isn't. The projector idea fit the song insanely well and it's so wonderfully original.


7. A Million Ways by OK GO-You have to love OK GO. Before they were jumping around on treadmills, they were dancing in back yards. To the video that started it all.


6. A-Punk by Vampire Weekend-The endless thought of "How'd they get the lip-synch like that?" will never leave my mind.


5. Window in the Skies by U2-A lot of bands do music videos that compile footage of the band with a live performance or take random videos that "go" with the song. U2, however, took clips of performances by everyone from The Smiths to The Clash to Arcade Fire, and synched it up perfectly to the music. It's a walk through music history, and that, with the perfect lip-synch, is enough reason to love it.


4. Another John Doe by Thenewno2-You may not like Beatles's children's bands, but if you ever had any reason not to love Thenewno2, this video will far overshadow those thoughts. Directed by the bands own Oli Hecks, it's not just any stop motion. I mean, have you ever seen one that's this smooth?


3. Easy/Lucky/Free by Bright Eyes-This is the prime example of the simpler, the better. All he does throughout the video is write down some of the lyrics on a pane of glass. What's so genius is that he thought to do it, and it the product came out so well. It's simple, effective, and gets the songs message across without getting too serious.


2. Obstacle 1 by Interpol-No matter how many actors you hire or how facny the effects you use are, it will always be difficult to beat a band simply just performing the song. This is one of those videos. Interpol all look so cool and a song like "Obstacle 1" just shouldn't be messed up with an overdone video. The slight effects really add to the classic feel and I feel it just adds to the subtle brilliance that is "Obstacle 1".


1. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys-Simply the best music video of the decade. When you first heard "Fluorescent Adolescent", you surely didn't think of homicidal clowns or a torn friendship, but once you saw the video, you cannot think of anything else. Jamie Cook himself has said "[it's] probably one of the best videos in the last, like, 10 years", and in my mind, it is the best.

New videos for In the Flowers by Animal Collective and Cousins by Vampire Weekend

About a week ago, I found out Animal Collective released a video for "In the Flowers", their mind-numbingly amazing 1st track off of this years Merriweather Post Pavilion. I didn't see too much talk about it, so I'm bringing it to you now. I don't like it. It's too trippy for me, and it's not a good fit for the song as "My Girls" or "Summertime Clothes" was. I think it'd be way hard to encase the song's glory in a video.


In the Flowers

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Unlike the last song, the new video for "Cousins" by Vampire Weekend is being talked about on numerous music blogs. The song gives hope that the album will be just as great as their debut. The video looks like they had a lot of fun making it and it fits the energetic-ness of the song perfectly! I hope you enjoy!


Cousins

NEW: Horchata by Vampire Weekend

On Saturday, I noticed on Vampire Weekend's website they had what appeared to be countdown. Well, the countdown ended today to unveil the 1st song of the band's 2nd Album 'Contra' entitled 'Horchata'. I'm really liking their sound. It'll take a few listens to completely embrace it, but otherwise it shows great promise for a hopefully great album. Listen to make your own opinions and if you really like it, it's up for free download on their site. Enjoy!

Vampire Weekend is...CONTRA!

Vampire Weekend have (finally) announced their 2 album entitled Contra! It's due out January 12th, 2010. So far, I'm liking the fact that their 'style' doesn't look like it's changed too much from their first album, but I think the cover is a reeking too much like Ivy League preppy. I'm stilldefinitely itching to see how this one sounds.


CONTRA
1. Horchata
2. White Sky
3. Holiday
4. California English
5. Taxi Cab
6. Run
7. Cousins
8. Giving Up the Gun
9. Diplomat's Son
10. I Think UR a Contra

Also, The Dodos's 'Time To Die' and Muse's 'The Resistance' are out today. Go get them!

The Friday Thing: Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend, though somewhat surrounded by hype, is not all that well known. Those who heard them seem to absolutely love them. I chose this performance because when I saw their set on this episode of Later...With Jools Holland (Mansard Roof, Oxford Comma, A-Punk), I went out the very next day and purchased the album based solely on this performance. Their sound just pulled me in and I had to hear more. I hope you enjoy!
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Mansard Roof

(I'll have some reviews out this week)

VAMPIRE WEEKEND-Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend-Vampire Weekend

Status: Out as of 2008

Label: XL

Rating: 4 Feathers

In a world of Fall Out Boys, Amy Winehouses, and Panic(!) At the Discos, Vampire Weekend is a huge breath of fresh air. Straight from New York, these four Columbia University grads combine afro-pop, indie, and a basic sound to produce a new style. The album starts off with 'Mansard Roof', which gives you a beach-y sort of vibe. The simple sound is very evident but effective. 'Oxford Comma' comes next. I don't care what the pricks on MTV say, this song is perfect. Though the title is a grammar concept, the song is not just about that. It mentions ideas of travel and insubordination. Chris Tomson's heavily African-influenced drumming couldn't be any better. 'A-Punk' is what got me hooked when I saw it performed on 'Later...with Jools Holland'. Possibly the catchiest song of the album, Rostam Batmanglij's keyboards produce some addictive hooks using a flute like sound. Based on frontman Ezra Koenig's travels to India and Africa, 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' features unprocessed guitar and falsetto vocals (that make me giggle) allow for the raw talent to shine through. 'M79' uses a combination of strings, keyboards, and subtle harmonies to produce a happy, sunny product. 'Campus' talks about, don't you know it, school. 'Bryn' just doesn't stick out to me. It doesn't have really any special sound. It just drones on and on with little variation that leave you with no memory of actually listening to the song. 'One (Blake's Got A New Face)' just flat out irritates me. The beginning is great, you know, with the drums and all, but once the keyboard kicks in and the backing vocals say 'Blake's got a new face' after Ezra does, really just doesn't fly with me. 'I Stand Corrected' is captivating. The keyboard at the beginning, reminiscent to the synthesizer in '505' by Arctic Monkeys, brings you in and the somber sounds hold you there. 'Walcott' paints a dismal picture of Cape Cod and Hyannis Port than one would expect, but the sound is far from it. It's a fan favourite probably because of it's catchy-sing-along nature. 'The Kids Don't Stand a Chance' closes the album with a gloomy, but hopeful sound. Chris Baio's bass sets the mood and keeps it that way throughout. The melancholy strings add the perfect effect and leave you saddened, possibly because the album is over. Although there are a few kinks, Vampire Weekend is a band that does not disappoint. With references to Peter Gabriel, India, and The Holy Roman Empire you know this album must be good. I have high hopes for the future of Vampire Weekend.

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"We want to bring things together that haven't been brought together before."-Ezra Koenig

Video for A-Punk

Vampire Weekends Official Website

I took the picture myself. Sorry if it were a little ruff, but I hope you liked it.