Fikak! Best of 2010!

It's that time again, skillets. 2010 has been filled with new babies, school, work, and, unfortunately, maybe a little less blogging than we would've liked, but the end of the year is upon us, and Howard Hughes insatiable hunger for the mother of all list-making opportunities is not to be denied. And so Fikak's first "best of" list as a triumvirate will cap off 2010 with our 10 favorite albums and 10 favorite tracks from the past 358-ish days. Maybe next year we'll do 11. Enjoy, and tell your friends.

ALBUMS!

a.k.a "I DON'T EVEN LISTEN TO RAP. MY APARTMENT IS TOO NICE TO LISTEN TO RAP IN."

10. Arcade Fire The Suburbs

"We Used To Wait"

09. Girl Talk All Day

"Jump on Stage"

08. Junip Fields

Junip: "Always"

07. Local Natives Gorilla Manor

"Who Knows, Who Cares"

06. Gorillaz Plastic Beach

"Rhinestone Eyes"

05. Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

KanYe West: "Lost in the World"

04. Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot

"Shine Blockas'' ft. Gucci Mane

03. Salem King Night

Salem: "King Night"

02. Sleigh Bells Treats

Sleigh Bells: "Crown on the Ground

01. The National High Violet

The National: "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

TRACKS!

a.k.a. "I HAVE WORKED WITH CHRIS MARTIN AND THE MAN IS A GENIUS. AS A PERFORMER AND A SONGWRITER HE IS ON THE SAME LEVEL AS JOHN LENNON."

10. Deerhunter "Helicopter"

09. Aloha "Moonless March"

08. Black Keys "Sinister Kid"

07. Broken Bells "The High Road"

06. Cee-Lo "Forget You"

05. KanYe West "Monster"

04. Salem "Trapdoor"

03. Sleigh Bells "Tell 'Em"

02. Big Boi "Shutterbug"

01. Arcade Fire "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

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The National (and Some Other Guy) Perform "Afraid of Everyone" on Letterman

I'm going to be up front: This is not an objective post. If you've followed this blog at all, I've made it pretty apparent what I think of The National and their music. In fact, a few weeks ago I referred to them as "the best band this side of the Atlantic". I know, that's a pretty lofty declaration. I also know that anything I say beyond this point will probably now be chalked up to fanboy bias. But don't allow that to distract you; the proof is in the music. High Violet has done nothing but solidify their status as one of the best bands out there. And, by the way, if you somehow need more proof, look no further than their performance on The Late Show last night. They brought Sufjan-freaking-Stevens on stage with them, tossed him over to the side, had him oooooh and ahhhhhh and shake a tamborine a little bit, and that was it. His name was never even mentioned! I realize the guy isn't a household personality, but he did manage to produce one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 00s, didn't he? Anyway, this song is filthy good. Check it:

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New Videos: The National & Ratatat

Two great songs that've already been featured at Fikak! (deservedly) get some visual added to their audio. Enjoy:

The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio" from High Violet

Ratatat's "Party With Children" from LP4

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New Music; AKA: Completely Overwhelmed

Life has been busy as of late, and so have some of the best bands that are out there. I literally can't keep up with all the music that's been released recently, and I'm experiencing some anxiety over making sure all these albums get a fair shake. Thought I'd share some very vague first impressions from this carnival of musical awesomeness:

• The National High Violet - Probably my frontrunner for album of the year at this point. Great album, and it gets better with every single listen. In other words, it's the balls.

• Gorillaz Plastic Beach - You might recall me expressing my boredom with this album back in early March. You've probably also seen this thing get nearly universal acclaim everywhere else. Well, there's an easy explanation for that: I'm an idiot, and I got a hold of the fake leak with a bunch of remixes of b-sides, etc. Forgive me. This thing is legit.

• Medications Completely Removed - It's a little more poppy than you might expect, but it's probably the best thing yet from the guys who used to be in Faraquet.

• Minus the Bear Omni - I think this is a pretty solid bunch of songs, but it's definitely not what you expect (or maybe want) from a MTB album. The synth/guitar-shredding ratio is just way out of whack. Not sure what they were shooting for here, but I'm not giving up on it yet.

• Band of Horses Infinite Arms - I'll go ahead and say it. I was about 90% sure this album was going to totally suck. And you know what, I think I was absolutely wrong. These guys are definitely in a different place than they were back in 2006, but aren't we all? Besides, I'm a sucker for those Beach Boys-ish harmonies and Ben Bridwell's voice.

• Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record - I think the consensus on this one is that nobody knows what the crap is going on with BSS. But, at the same time, nobody ever really knows what's going on with these guys, and that's kinda what makes them awesome. I'm reserving judgement until a later date.

• Jonsi Go - This has been out for a few weeks, but I haven't had a chance to say much about it. So here you go: It's really friggin' good. Get it. The end.

• The New Pornographers Together - Just got a hold of this, but it sounds like it's right on par with everything else these guys have done, which is saying a lot.

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New The National: "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

Thankfully, The National's High Violet will finally be released the 10th of May, and, little by little, pieces of the puzzle are being set loose. We've already had the privilege of hearing "Terrible Love". Today, "Bloodbuzz Ohio" was made available as a free download. In case you can't tell, I'm absolutely giddy. Enjoy:

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The National Perform New Track on Fallon

The Late Night pipeline to great music is still breathing. The latest: The National, who as of right now might be the best band this side of the Atlantic, performed "Terrible Love" last night. It's a new track from High Violet, which comes out in May. Enjoy:

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New (and Semi-New) Music Roundup 3/6/10

The Weekend = get caught up on new music. Gonna keep this short and sweet:

• New Rogue Wave album Permalight was released this week. After extensive listening, I find it to be a pretty solid pop/rock record all the way through, even the semi-cheesy tracks ("Permalight" & "Good Morning"). Favorite track, so far, "Right With You":

• Peter Gabriel's indie cover album, Scratch My Back, is mostly just kinda weird, but his cover of Bon Iver's "Flume" is really, really cool:

• Really looking forward to Broken Social Scene's Forgiveness Rock Record (out May 4). Check out the first released track, "World Sick":

• Broken Bells self-titled album hits stores next week, and they've released the second best song on the album, "Vaporize", as a single since the last time I mentioned them:

New album confirmations: The National (High Violet, May 11), Minus the Bear (Omni, May 4), Band of Horses (Infinite Arms, May 18).

Gorillaz' (?) new album Plastic Beach is out there floating around in cyberspace. Gotta say the initial listen left me unimpressed. The first single, "Stylo", sounds like it was ripped straight from my favorite Super Nintendo game Top Gear 3000, which is cool, but it doesn't have much else going on. That being said, the video is really cool, if you're into that sort of thing:

• Last but not least, Spoon were on Letterman recently. "Got Nuffin'":

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Old News/Music Roundup

Things have been moving a little slowly around here as of late, but that's ok; we're more concerned with quality than quantity, anyway. New music releases have hit a bit of a lull recently, other than the excellent new Retribution Gospel Choir album (thanks to Kyle for giving us the heads up on that one). There have been a few interesting developments here and there, though, so here we go:

1. The National is releasing a new album in May. No title, tracklist, or artwork yet. There's an interview with lead singer Matt Berninger @ Pitchfork discussing the album, etc.
2. Ditto for The New Pornographers. It's also coming out in May (4th to be exact); they do have a title ("Together") and artwork ready to go. Check it.
3. Our buddies in New Ruins have posted a couple new tracks on their myspace page, and they're really good. I especially dig "Stance". If you've never heard them you really should check them out. Look for big things from these gentlemen in the near future...
4. Broken Bells (The Shins' James Mercer and Dangermouse) have released a video for the ridiculously good track "The High Road" (their debut is set to be released in March). It more or less consists of the two encountering various whacked-out events as they walk along a road at night, which is actually cooler than it sounds:
   The High Road
   
   Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos
5. Jimmy LaValle's one-man project The Album Leaf is set to release a new LP in March, entitled A Chorus of Storytellers. It's floating around out there in cyberspace already, and it's more of the same (in a good way). If you've never heard of LaValle or his "band", his claim to fame is doing some work with Sigur Ros. His music is predominantly instrumental, and when he does sneak vocals in there, they're usually used as part of the landscape as a whole.
   
   "Falling From the Sun"
   
6. Finally, the "Hope For Haiti Now" Telethon aired on pretty much all of the major networks last Friday, and there were several notable performances. In case you missed it:

Coldplay "A Message"

Justin Timberlake covering Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah"

Jay-Z, Bono & The Edge of U2, and Rihanna with a new track, entitled "Stranded"

There were several other notables as well, and you can check them all out here.

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Fikaked! Tracks: The Raveonettes, Thom Yorke, & The National

"Suicide" is one of the more upbeat tracks I've heard from The Raveonettes, and it really suits them. From their 4th album, In and Out of Control, which is due out October 6:

Download from Pitchfork (Right Click & "Save As").

Ciao My Shining Star is a compilation that was assembled to provide financial relief for Mark Mulcahy, the former frontman of Miracle Legion (who, amongst other things, is responsible for the theme song from Nickelodeon's Pete and Pete). Mulcahy's wife died suddenly about a year ago, making him the single parent of twin 3 year old girls. Over twenty artists contributed exclusive tracks, including Thom Yorke, The National, and Michael Stype. Yorke's "All For the Best" is another electronic track in the same vein as his Eraser material, and The National can't seem to put out anything that isn't completely awesome. Enjoy.

Thom Yorke's "All For the Best":

The National's "Ashamed of the Story I Told" (Polaris Cover):

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TGIF: The National's "Apartment Story"

From Bandwidth Films:

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Pitchfork.TV Does "Dark Was the Night"

Dark Was the Night, a charity compilation benefitting the Red Hot Organization, might be my album of the year at this point. Artists like The National, Jose Gonzalez, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, and The Decemberists (just to name a few) participated, and pretty much everybody turned in something really good.

Pitchfork Media's internet video channel, Pitchfork.TV, is currently broadcasting three "Special Presentations" that feature conversations with different bands who took part in the project, as well as live renditions of the tracks they contributed (they managed to pick three of the very best tracks, too). The first video to be released features The National, whose Aaron and Bryce Dessner (one of the two pairs of brothers in the band) co-produced the entire project. They perform "So Far Around the Bend", which just might be the best song of the entire bunch. Yeasayer and Dirty Projectors are also featured:

(By the way, if the interviews aren't for you, I highly recommend skipping past them to hear the performances; they're worth it.)

The National "So Far Around the Bend"

Yeasayer "Tightrope"

Dirty Projectors "Knotty Pine"

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