Best Albums of 2010 – through the first quarter – Part One

With the first quarter coming to an end, I thought it’d be cool to do a 2010 list of the top albums through this part of the year. I’ve said it before and it’s true, it’s been a massive year for music. Today, I'll release albums #12-9 and I will do some more tomorrow. All great albums, in my opinion.

12. Spoon – Transference (Merge)
The Austin-based rockers have always been criminally overlooked for lazy reasons. Their consistent brand of solid rock with hook-laden riffs is so unbelievably consistent that if we’re not careful, we may just take them for granted. You see, Spoon aren’t just an awesome band but they’re one of the finest acts in the last ten years and with Transference, everything is again, solidified and proven. The music is brilliant and it even hones in on what they perfected before: strikingly good rock music that can be loved by all.

11. Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
Beach House’s duo has always been able to create music to pair with feelings of nostalgia but they’ve somewhat, in a way, perfected their dream pop with Teen Dream – an album that flows like the beach and cascades with lush melodies, harmonies and fantastic gentleness. And while their craftiness starts and ends with Victoria Legrand’s magnetic singing, it reaches farther than you’d expect. It’s a step up and justifiably so, its expressional devotion towards good music shines all around like a radiant day at the beach.

10. Four Tet – There is Love in You (Domino)
Regarded by the likes of Radiohead as a musician we should all be on the look out for, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden constructed something magical with There is Love in You. In a day and age where more and more music is being dumbed down for the masses, Hebden contrasts that notion with music that is both intelligent and soaked with gripping melodies and harmonies. Electronic music is still on a high note and it’s because of forward-thinking musicians like Hebden that we can even say that.

9. Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté – Ali and Toumani (Nonesuch)
The second and seemingly last album for these two guitarists as Touré passed away and is sadly, no longer around, is a collection of fascinating music. Not only do they weave their way around their guitar-based instruments with splendid ease but their strong sense of melody and harmonics is astounding. It’s refreshing to see them attempt slower, gentle tunes and then rip into highly-energetic jubilant songs: bottom line is that Ali and Toumani is a startlingly beautiful album, rich with poise and craft.

The song for today comes from the aforementioned Beach House album. It’s the first song, “Zebra,” and it’s pretty awesome; just let it wash over you. – Bryan

UTEP Basketball Update/Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté – Ali and Toumani

First off, the UTEP basketball team ended up losing the C-USA tournament and Houston went on to pull off an upset to gain the automatic bid. I’d like to say that I had a feeling this would happen since we had one conference loss the whole season and it was against…wait for it…yep, Houston. But hindsight is 20-20 or something or other.

Either way, we got the shaft from the tournament committee. We received a #12 seed and play Butler in the first round; in fact, us and Utah State were the last at-large teams to get in the tournament. But not only is Butler a very good team but they were in the top 25 for most of the season and had quality wins against Ohio State, Xavier and Siena, to name a few. But hey, one of their four losses was against UAB, a team we beat twice during the year, except from the loss to Houston we were riding a hot streak and it’s the NCAA tournament and anything can happen. The game is this Thursday, March 18 at 2:55 PM our time – I smell a chance of leaving early from work this day?


Now onto music: please check out the new album by Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté, simply titled, Ali and Toumani. It’s the second and seemingly last album for these two guitarists as Touré passed away and is sadly, no longer around. Not only do they weave their way around these guitar-based instruments with superb ease but their strong sense of melody and harmonics is astounding. It’s refreshing to see them attempt slower, gentle tunes and then rip into highly-energetic jubilant songs: bottom line is that it is an amazingly beautiful album. Below is the digital single, “Kala Djula,” that World Circuit offered for the aforementioned new album. R.I.P. Ali Farka Touré

We missed the beginning of Surreal Week today but I should be there tomorrow to watch some shows but for those that were there for The DA’s show at The Garage on Saturday, was that awesome or what?