Music For Dolls

After countless hours of narrowing the play list, making the hard decisions of which great music to cut and which to keep, unspeakable quality time with rubber cement and stampers, here's the track listing and liners for this year's current music round-up:

1. "The Diamond Church Street Choir" by The Gaslight Anthem
Jersey band with punk roots and an audible appreciation for anything from Wilson Pickett to the Clash, a bridge that suggests a Springsteen reference. In fact, the Boss sat in with them at the 2009 Glastonbury festival and had their singer share vocal duties on "No Surrender" during the E St. Band's headlining set later that night. Their previous stuff is good but a little derivative, and 2010's American Slang is where the Gaslight Anthem has found its sweet spot.

2. "F**k You" by Cee Lo Green
Until the first Gnarls Barkley album came out, I knew of him but for some reason had associated him with the kind of modern hip hop that doesn't agree with me, and even then I was primarily interested in the other half of Gnarls, a DJ and producer named Danger Mouse who I'd seen DJ before. Turns out, Cee Lo is a great soul singer who gives the classic Al Green stuff a run for its money (where was I getting the hip hop association?) This song was released initially online and while I bought the mp3 on amazon, one of my rules on the annual mix is that everything must come from a CD or record. In early December, he released the Album of the Year. Half the songs on it could have been included, especially a great duet with Phillip Bailey. But "F**k You" was such a defining song of 2010, I chose to go with it. Also, it sonically serves the flow of the mix with its tempo and familiarity.

3. "Fresh" by Devo
Picked up the 12" single at Record Store Day in April and then got the CD later. Their first album of new material since '96. To me, this sounds not like they picked up where they left off but more like what they'd sound like in 2010 had they never taken that long break from the studio. I really love the stuttering thing in the chorus. They changed the color of their funny hats from red to blue. Marketing geniuses!

4. "Night Work" by Scissor Sisters
One of only 3 or 4 artists here who've previously appeared on this mix, these guys were on the 2007 edition. Or was it '06? Fun, bouncy disco style dance music, I'd describe them as part Bee Gees, part Elton John. In '04 they were playing 500-capacity clubs. In '07, they'd graduated to the 1100-1200 capacities. Now they're headlining theaters, and currently playing arenas opening for Lady Gaga. Don't knock Gaga, her show at the Tacoma Dome was one of the best I've seen in years.

5. "War Again" by Balkan Beat Box
This was a tip from a guy I know in Indiana, we've been posting on the same music board since '02 (Sound Opinions) and I've found he tends to have a taste in music that's reliably compatible with mine and he has a knack for getting onto good stuff pretty early. Don't know much about these very eclectic Israeli-born New Yorkers. This song is the single, whatever that may mean at a time when radio is on its death bed. But given the short attention span of 21st Century listeners and the related tendency for virtually every artist to sequence the lead single within the first three tracks of the album, these guys had the stones to make this the last track on the album.

6. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" by Arcade Fire
These guys are huge, arena-headlining pop stars. Their '04 debut (Funeral) had every indie music fan head over heels, and I just didn't get it. It bored me to tears. I skipped their follow-up, then got the 2010 release (The Suburbs) because it was getting too much praise to ignore. I really enjoyed the album, and particularly this track which (I think) is just one of two with the female lead vocal. This song reminds me of something Blondie might have done and I like the trance-like vibe of it.

7. "Thieves" by She & Him
She is actor-singer-songwriter Zooey Deschanel, He is Portland-based singer-songwriter M. Ward. Technically, this is their first appearance on my year-end mix, but the two did a duet on M. Ward's solo album last year which made the mix, so it's sort of a Page & Plant v. Led Zeppelin thing. They're currently in a Christmas-themed Hyundai commercial which is quite catchy.

8. "The High Road" by Broken Bells
A "super group," if you will, featuring Danger Mouse and the Shins' James Mercer. When two artists you like get together and make an album, you get it.

9. "Something, Somewhere, Sometime" by Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore
Another tip from someone on the Sound Opinions board. Had never heard of either of these guys but it was described as "accessible bluegrass-oriented music." I figured, eh, I'm game for that. Wonderful album. Both guys are from Kentucky, Sollee a classically trained cellist and Moore a folk singer-songwriter. Sollee had previously been in a band with Bela Fleck, and this collaborative effort was produced by their fellow Kentuckian, Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The great Seattle label Sub Pop put it out. Bluegrass State in the Hizzouse!

10. "Folk Bloodbath" by Josh Ritter
This is one of those artists I've intended to check out several times in the past but never did. Maybe I'd get distracted by other titles in the record store, or decide that I'd already reached my singer-songwriter threshold for the year. He's a 30something from Idaho but is most often associated with the folk scenes in Boston and NYC as well as the Irish pub circuit. Over the summer, I DJ'd a wedding in which the couple's first dance was to an older Josh Ritter song, and while getting that album I thought it was a sign that I was supposed to also get his 2010 release. If I had to rank my Albums of the Year this one may register at #2, and it's certainly the one I listened to the most, almost every Saturday night while cleaning the house. I was going to close the disc with this song, but didn't want it to get buried. So, instead took a cue from Mr. Ritter who placed it right in the middle of his album where it's not only hard to ignore but serves as a centerpiece.

11. "Dust Bowl Dance" by Mumford & Sons
A fine display of how out of touch I am. This was a mid-year tip from a college roommate, the award-winning journalist and veritable Renaissance Man, Jeff O'Brien. I'd never heard of them. This very quirky album blew me away on first listen, which happened to be a day in which I had about four hours of windshield time at work. Which is to say, I cranked it start to finish four times that day. I told Jessica about this great find and she said, "Oh, you're a little late to the party, dear. They're the 'It Band' of 2010 - couldn't get arrested last year, and they'll probably get a Grammy nomination this year." I suck!

12. "When I’m With You" by Best Coast
Saw this in a record store and liked the cover art. Simple as that. Great album which opens with an uncredited sample of the drum intro from Springsteen's "Badlands." I love the lo-fi echo chamber approach here, and the jangly way the song picks up and motors along.

13. "Dirty Thing" by Telekinesis
A cool new band based out of Seattle but with my old friend Jason Narducy from Chicago on bass and backing vocals. Jason is one of those musicians, whether he's fronting one of his own great bands (Verbow, Jason & Alison, Rockets Over Sweden) or playing with Bob Mould or Liz Phair, I'll check out anything he's involved with. They were coming through town, on tour with Superchunk and Teenage Fanclub, and their opening set sent me straight to the merch table to say, "Hi, I'll have one of everything, please."

14. "Get Over It" by The Young Evils
Local Seattle band generating a nice little buzz. Mark Pickerel (ex Screaming Trees) on drums. Delightful male-female vocal pairing here, and the groove has a nice kick that a non-musician like me can best describe as something that trots along as nicely on the ones and threes as it does the twos and fours.

15. "Heart Is Strange" by School of Seven Bells
This was a random recommendation and I'm glad I picked it up. Dreamy electronica by former Secret Machines member Ben Curtis with a pair of twin sisters on vocals. I can dig it, and it flows well into the next song.

16. "Stay Close" by Delorean
Indie pop, electronic dance house band from Barcelona. I vaguely recall meaning to check them out a few years ago but it passed me by, then while looking for something else in a record store I came upon this and grabbed it.

17. "Kitchenette" by Grinderman
The second album by this Nick Cave side project which has enjoyed a cult following, probably a subset of Cave's core audience with his primary band, the Bad Seeds. I missed the first album but jumped on this one. As fate would have it, my friend Ross toured with Grinderman, managing their merchandise, and Jessica and I were getting back into town from our honeymoon the night of the Seattle show. As we spent the evening hanging with Ross in the lobby with the painfully over-sold concert hall upstairs (note to promoter: if the room holds 1200, then sell 1200 tickets, not 1600 - if the place caught on fire we'd all be toast), we refer to this as the best show we didn't see in 2010. Sounded great from the lobby, though!

18. "Me And The Devil" by Gil Scott-Heron
He's best known for his black militant activism and 1971's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." This is his first album since '94, and that was his first since '82. He's been described as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan." GSH has kept a low profile in recent years, partly due to his on-again, off-again incarceration. This song is a super cool Robert Johnson cover.

19. "You Won’t Let Me Down Again" by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
As great a pair as they are unlikely, this musical marriage between ex-Belle & Sebastian cellist and keyboardist Isobel Campbell, and former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age singer Mark Lanegan is one of the most compelling projects I can think of. Their stuff together doesn't sound too much like their stuff apart, and I love their stuff apart, but I really love this. Bluesy, haunting, and Lanegan's voice... dude should be in horror movies. Definitely among my Top Five Albums of 2010.

20. "There’s Still Time" by Peter Wolf
Hard to believe it's been 8 years since his masterpiece Sleepless. This year's Midnight Souvenirs is a very good one, and it's nice to see the Wuffa Guffa Momma Tuffa still vital at 64. This song made it because it's a good closer with a cool lyric and a sweet melody.

Also-Ran: as we don't want to throw the babies out with the bath water, here are some of the artists who released interesting music and were considered for inclusion but for one reason or another, didn't quite make it: the Black Keys, Beach House, the Roots, Court Yard Hounds, Jakob Dylan, Massey Ferguson, the Hold Steady, Gogol Bordello, Menomena, Hot Chip, Gorillaz, the Moondoggies, New Pornographers, Phantogram, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, and the Dead Weather.

Each year, the meltdowns and temper tantrums associated with this project become fewer and less stuff gets broken.