1. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
My Favorite Tracks: Kids, Time to Pretend, Weekend Wars, Electric Feel
Talk about a cohesive album that can be listened to all the way through over and over. It helps that my favorite song of the year was also on Oracular Spectacular. As into electro-house as I am, its rare that I like an original more than the remix banger. However, in the case of Kids and Electric Feel, I enjoy MGMT's versions to that of Soulwax and Justice. My friend Max pointed out to me that the lyrical content really resonated with him during the period between highschool and college. After he said this, I realized thats part of why I love this album so much.
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
My Favorite Tracks: A-Punk, Oxford Comma, Walcott, M79
Vampire Weekend's debut is basically a tie with MGMT's for me. However, due to the fact that my mother found this band before me, I will put it at number 2 (ivy league punk is how she described it to me). Their live show at Pipeline back in Hawaii is one of the best shows I have ever been to if not the best. They make I like music, that sounds like nothing else out there. While they aren't "punk" as my mother stated, they might as well be, in that they do their own thing their own way. I like their name, I like their clothes and I like the fact that they went to Columbia. Take that!
3. In Ghost Colours - Cut Copy
My Favorite Tracks: Feel the Love, Lights and Music, Hearts on Fire, Out There on the Ice
I really think more people need to get into Cut Copy. They have a very accessible sound, that spans a number of genres. I love this album, and saw it as a significant step up from "Bright Like Neon Love." It elevated Cut Copy from a band that I knew and sort of liked to one of my favorites. Often I read raving reviews by various indie establishments, and find myself convincing myself to like the album. From the first song, I knew this wouldn't be the case.
4. Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
My Favorite Tracks: A Milli, Got Money, Let the Beat Build, Mr. Carter
C3 was my vindication for being a hardcore hip-hop head for all of middle school and junior high. I used to be really into Lil Wayne during the Carter I era (yeah what you know about that?!?), and it makes me feel like perhaps young Drew was on to something. I should have realized that I would one day become an Indie fan due to the fact that I had an obsession with finding rappers that others didn't know about or like, and calling them my favorite. Seemingly things have come full circle, and now not only does everyone like Weezy, but I kind of dig rap again. Now if the Clipse and Cam'ron's next albums go huge, I might start going by the Nostradamus of Rap.
5. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
My Favorite Tracks: Untrust Us, Crimewave, Courtship Date, Knights
Crystal Castles are so fucking cool. This band is essentially my personal Tyler Durden. "All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not." It really is true, you can tell that CC are making the kind of art that they want to, and are not being constrained by critics, fans or anyone else. If I DJ'd purely the music that I liked, I doubt I'd have anywhere near as much success.
6. 808's and Heartbreak - Kanye West
My Favorite Tracks: Heartless, Love Lockdown, See You In My Nightmares, Robocop
I really am confused whether I like Kanye West or not. Late Registration was and probably still is one of my favorite post-Pac rap albums. His talent as a producer and rapper is undeniable. I was turned off by the fact that if you wanted to be an alternative hip-hop fan, you just listen to and dress like Kanye and Lupe Fiasco. His arrogance is a bit annoying too, however in the case of this album, thank god for that arrogance. His belief that he is "the future of music", allowed him to experiment with some incredibly un-hip-hop sounds. This resulted in an album that hopefully points Hip-Hop in a different direction.
7. Made in the Dark - Hot Chip
My Favorite Tracks: Ready for the Floor, Touch Too Much, Made in the Dark
I really just wish that their lead singer didn't look like such a child predator. That aside they make really good electro-pop music. I really attribute Hot Chip with allowing me to see 80's synthpop through a new lens. Ready for the Floor is such a banger, just like "Over and Over" on Hot Chip's previous album. You can essentially play that song with the bass turned up at any electro-house party, with much success. I guess the reason that some people like the 80's so much is that a band like this, could have been popular back then. Come on guys, if we elected Obama we can like good dance music too. Yes We Can!
8. Pillowface and his Airplane Chronicles
My Favorite Tracks: Scanners Remix, Shake & Pop, Dance Remix
So Pitchfork gave this album a 2.3/10, well fuck you Pitchfork! (Jk, we are BFFS 4eva!!!). Steve Aoki is the man, and kind of my idol. What he tries to do in this mixtape is encapsulate a very diverse and complex scene (the electro/blog-house, indie rock, hipster one) into a single album. This leaves it seemingly very ADD, and not very cohesive. I see why some people think this is a rather poor effort, but to me it shows a greater vision. An increasing fusion of the indie scene with that of electro-house is a pretty exciting thing, and definitely something I'm down with. Viva La Aoki!
9. You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
My Favorite Tracks: We Are Rockstars, Dawn of the Dead, Battle Royale, Weird Science
Sometimes I just like a band or album for an un-explainable reason, and I bullshit a deeper meaning to make myself feel better about myself. In regards to Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s debut, I have no such bullshit excuse for liking them. They make music that's a lot of fun, equal part British Indie, Electro and Punk, a la the Klaxons but with much less tact. It's probably my repressed punk rock ego latching on to dance punk as a way of staying alive. Hmm, that sounds pretty good, lets go with that.
10. The Rhumb Line - Ra Ra Riot
My Favorite Tracks: Ghost Under Rocks, Too Too Too Fast, Dying is Fine, Can You Tell
Ra Ra Riot really evokes a similar feeling to listening to Vampire Weekend. There are a lot of similarities actually between the two. Ra Ra is composed of a number of Syracuse classmates, and the lead singer's vocals sound strangely like Ezra Koenig's at times. I still would like to see this band get more notice, not from the mainstream, but from Indie fans, blogs and the like. I thought I might go to college and find myself in a band like this eventually. I think we all know that I'm headed down a much different path now.
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