IBS's Best of 2010: Top 50 Songs

Okay, I'm almost done. This is the last list, I promise. I'm not even gonna write descriptions for each one (I think the 3000+ words on the last post should probably tide you over for a while). I would like to say a few things, however. First off, it was extremely hard for me to not put "Runaway" at the top. I feel like it is the best and (by far) the most important song of the year, for reasons given in the last post. But I tried to make these lists personal; I tried to pick my favorites. So when it came down to "Runaway" and "Dance Yrself Clean," I had to make a choice. I went with the song that has served as my motto at times this year. Not that I'm a particularly frequent (or good) dancer, but this song was always there to remind me that sometimes you just gotta drop your baggage and boogie. Plus, it was amazing live. I would also like to acknowledge Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Some people (okay one person) believe they got the shaft on my albums list. While I will concede Before Today is a good album, I just never really liked it that much as a whole. That said, it has two absolutely fantastic tracks, and I believe this list reflects that.

Thanks for reading, please comment, and have a great holiday season.

50) "Power" - Kanye West

49) "Too Much" - Sufjan Stevens

48) "Shutterbugg" - Big Boi feat. Cutty

47) "Learning" - Perfume Genius

46) "Breakfast" - Curren$y

45) "On Melancholy Hill" - Gorillaz

44) "Kids On the Run" - The Tallest Man On Earth

43) "Show Me A Good Time" - Drake

42) "Hang With Me" - Robyn

41) "All Of The Lights" - Kanye West

40) "Zebra" - Beach House

39) "Follow Us" - Big Boi feat. Vonnegutt

38) "Post Acid" - Wavves

37) "Superfast Jellyfish" - Gorillaz feat. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul

36) "Thieves" - She & Him

35) "Cousins" - Vampire Weekend

34) "Locked Inside" - Janelle Monáe

33) "Infinity Guitars" - Sleigh Bells

32) "Madder Red" - Yeasayer

31) "Where'd All The Time Go?" - Dr. Dog

30) "Diplomat's Son" - Vampire Weekend

29) "Be Still" - Big Boi feat. Janelle Monáe

28) "Norway" - Beach House

27) "Marathon" - Tennis

26) "Modern Man" - Arcade Fire

25) "You're Going Back" - The Tallest Man On Earth

24) "A More Perfect Union" - Titus Andronicus

23) "6 Foot 7 Foot" - Lil Wayne feat. Cory Gunz

22) "The Wrestle" - Frightened Rabbit

21) "Helicopter" - Deerhunter

20) "Shine Blockas" - Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane

19) "Vocal Chords" - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

18) "Monster" - Kanye West feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver

17) "Boyfriend" - Best Coast

16) "Bloodbuzz Ohio" - The National

15) "Lost In The World" - Kanye West feat. Bon Iver

14) "Let's Go Surfing" - The Drums

13) "O.N.E." - Yeasayer

12) "Dancehall Queen" - Robyn

11) "Sun Hands" - Local Natives

10) "I'm New Here" - Gil Scott-Heron

9) "Empire Ants" - Gorillaz feat. Little Dragon

8) "The High Road" - Broken Bells

7) "Beverly Kills" - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

6) "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" - Arcade Fire

5) "Ambling Alp" - Yeasayer

4) "Rill Rill" - Sleigh Bells

3) "Round and Round" - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

2) "Runaway" - Kanye West feat. Pusha T

1) "Dance Yrself Clean" - LCD Soundsystem

IBS's Best of 2010: Top 25 Albums

There was a lot of anticipation for me coming into 2010. A lot of expectations. I remember looking at the list of albums to be released in 2010 with my friend Joel as we salivated at the bounty coming our way this first year of the decade. This was going to be THE year for music. We were going to tell our hipster grandchildren about this year. Arcade Fire, Los Campesinos!, Big Boi, Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend... So many albums scheduled for 2010. As you will see, some lived up to the hype and some didn't (I'm looking at you, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim). As any amateur blogger will tell you (and many have reminded me), end-of-year-lists are more about "favorites" than "bests." The same is true here. I cannot honestly declare the best albums of 2010 because I have not heard anywhere near all the albums released this year. I did, however, do the best I could to expand my range of favorites. I listened to albums I heard were worth hearing, and if I liked them, I listened to them again and again and some became my favorites. I also did my best to refrain from influence from other end-of-year lists by refusing to look at them before posting this, as painful as that was. So if you think I copied you, or Pitchfork, or whoever, I didn't. I'll shut up in a minute, but I leave you with this: I don't know if this year lived up to my expectations, but I do know that I have consumed some amazing, beautiful, and at times life-changing music this year, and I am glad I have made music such a big part of my life.

IBS's Best of 2010: Top 10 "Mainstream" Songs

I would like to preface this list by making me sound like less of a tool. My definition of "mainstream" is music that gets substantial airtime on top-40 radio. I am not trying to sound like a douchebag hipster.

10) Nelly - "Just a Dream" - I actually don't like this song that much. It kinda sounds like Nelly plagiarized "Sweetest Girl" by Wyclef Jean on the melody. It was just so awesome to see Nelly on top of the charts again that I had to put it on here. STL represent.

9) Trey Songz feat. Nicki Minaj - "Bottoms Up" - This song sounds like something circa 2004 with its great dirty club feel. Plus, Nicki totally deserves a mention on this list as she tore it up in 2010.

8) Willow - "Whip My Hair" - My neck hurts just listening to this song. There is way too much talent in this family. (And she really does have talent. Take a look at "Baby Rihanna" here.)

7) Jesse McCartney - "Shake" - I don't know how the hell Jesse managed to escape Aaron Carter purgatory, but somehow he did and he brought this catchy single with him. I thought this was the perfect example of how the actual singer was completely indispensable on top-40 songs, but McCartney actually wrote this. Props.

6) B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars - "Nothin' On You" - I was so glad when this song hit the airwaves because it felt like it'd been forever since there was a good male-vocal radio hit. After all the Gagas, Beyoncés, and Ke$has, this was a real refresher.

5) Katy Perry - "Teenage Dream" - I know "California Gurls" was the hit of the summer, but this was my personal 2010 fave from Mrs. Russell Brand. Plus, the Glee cover was one of the few Glee songs I've liked (read: "been able to listen to without purging") all year.

4) Flo Rida feat. David Guetta - "Club Can't Handle Me" - Can't say I've seen Step Up 3D, but this song is in it. It's also damn catchy and has the word "club" in it, which generally guarantees success.

3) DJ Khaled feat. T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross - "All I Do Is Win" - I'm a little partial to this song because they played it all the time at Mizzou's football games (At least while all we were doing was winning. Fucking Nebraska.) Plus, this song has the single most effective use of a whole rest in the history of top-40 radio.

2) Rihanna - "Only Girl (In the World)" - I'm so glad Rihanna is back. Not to be a Rude Boy, but I wasn't a big fan of her last album (maybe I shouldn't be so Hard on her). She's back with a vengeance, red hair, and this track, which has some of the best production I've heard on a dance single in a while and is super infectious in an anthemic kind of way.

1) Justin Bieber - "Baby" - Did I really just put J. Biebz at the top of a list of things that are good? Yes. Let me just clarify: I don't have Bieber fever. I don't even have the sniffles. I hate that 12 year-old lesbian. But this song is actually moderately passable, and by moderately passable I mean really fun and danceable. But in a I-really-hate-this-tool-and-can't-wait-til-his-voice-drops kind of way.

IBS's Best of 2010: Top 10 Album Covers

10) Brandon Flowers - Flamingo - Awwww. Look at Brandon playing with his cuff links. He's so cute.

9) The National - High Violet - It's like an ejaculation of colorful, moody Boss-worhip.

8) Wavves - King of the Beach - It really was a great year for cats (see #6, #1). Shout out to Best Coast.

7) Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here - This makes me want to get lung cancer.

6) Klaxons - Surfing the Void Keyboard Cat, you have been one-upped.

5) Avey Tare - Down There - I don't know why I like this one so much, but I once spent an entire humanities class just staring at it.

4) David Byrne & Fatboy Slim - Here Lies Love - It's former first lady of the Phillipines Imelda Marcos. Duh.

3) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - This reminds me of summer and the suburbs. I like it.

2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Horse Power EP - I really have a thing for outrageous and colorful album covers. I don't even like horses.

1) MGMT - Congratulations - I really wanted to love this album so I could buy it on vinyl. I still might. It's so beautiful, I literally figuratively jacked off to this cover every day for a month.

(Click to enlarge album art above.)

IBS's Best of 2010: Top 10 Concerts

The ten best concerts I attended in the past year:

10) Chiddy Bang @ The Blue Note - Funny story, I really didn't see much of this concert (for various reasons). We left early, but as for the part I did see/do remember: it was really fun. I hope to attend more rap concerts in the future.

9) Arctic Monkeys and Sleepy Sun @ The Pageant - This concert would've been disgustingly mediocre if it weren't for the opener. Sleepy Sun had the 60s running through their veins (literally, judging by the singer's dancing) and gave everyone an awesome "trip" to the past (get it?).

8) Vampire Weekend, Beach House, and The Very Best @ Chaifetz Arena - As mentioned in my last post, Vampire Weekend is very personal to me. The concert was decent—"Cousins" was outstanding and they covered a Springsteen song!—but the best part for me was just seeing my Afro-pop trailblazers in person. Beach House was chilltastic, much to the surprise of the audience (people gave me weird looks for knowing the words to "Zebra."). The Very Best sampled Yeasayer and M.I.A., which was sweet. And they had an African dude.

7) Blitzen Trapper @ Off Broadway - These guys were one of my early favorite "indie" bands, and their folk-rock translated perfectly to this intimate setting. Being in the front row helped.

6) The Hold Steady and Company of Thieves @ The Blue Note - The Hold Steady is kind of like the best bar band ever so seeing them live is quite the experience. Craig Finn might have been the most emotional performer I've ever seen—and quite hilariously so. Check out my full review here. Oh and Company of Thieves was great too. The lead singer chick kept making eye contact with me, which was weird at first, but ended up being probably the coolest way I've ever received music.

5) Phoenix and Toro y Moi @ The Pageant - Phoenix played all of 2009's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, a smart move on their part. The crowd loved it so much, lead singer Thomas Mars was literally speechless after each round of applause (and no, it had nothing to do with the fact that he speaks broken English). Then for the encore of "1901," he brought out his extra-long, neon-orange, glow-in-the-dark microphone and walked out into the crowd. It was cool.

4) Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club @ The Pageant - During Tokyo Police Club's opening set, the crowd started doing this cool lean-moshing thing that just kept building anticipation for what the headliner would be like. If you've ever heard Passion Pit, you can imagine how awesome their music must sound live. Well it sounded that awesome, except a little bit better. It was like a rad dance party where they actually play good music.

3) The Flaming Lips and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti @ The Blue Note (outdoors) - The music was very good at this concert. The experience was fantastic. The Flaming Lips know how to put on an incredible show. I really don't think I can describe it here in a reasonable amount of words (maybe I can: "human hamster wheel") so check out my review here. Even Ariel Pink and the Haunted Graffiti put on a spectacle, what with Mr. Pink's cross-dressing and making out with front-rowers; not to mention the band's awesomely 80s, low-fi vibe that really set the perfect tone for a wild night.

2) of Montreal and Janelle Monae @ The Pageant - Okay I actually can't say anything about these last two right now. Just stay tuned for an in-depth look at why they topped the list. It will come, I promise. [EDIT: It did come]

1) LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip @ Eagle's Ballroom - See above.

Five Concerts I Really Regret Not Attending

5) New Pornographers

4) Los Campesinos!

3) Girls

2) Yeasayer

1) Sleigh Bells

Honorable Mention: Kings of Leon. They got shat on by birds.