Tk’s Top 10 Albums of 2010

23Dec10

2010 in music was marked by a few things: *It was the year that Americans finally learned how to party like the rest of the world. That’s right… trance/dance beats and riffs have taken over pop music charts and every self-respecting party animal and nightlife layperson is better off because of it. Hell, even Enrique [...]

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Tags: amelie, arcade fire, auto-tune, caribou, enrique iglesias, gold panda, jack rose, javiera mena, joanna newsom, local natives, pitbull, steve reich, sufjan stevens, t-pain, tallest man on earth, these new puritans, vampire weekend, wildbirds & peacedrums, yann tiersen

Fatal Omissions: 2010

18Dec10

The music industry is a battlefield. I realize that’s an easy metaphor to pull out of your back pocket, but it’s more true than ever. However, it’s no longer the sort of battlefield where two opposing armies walk toward each other until they are close enough to swing swords. No, this battlefield is the kind [...]

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Tags: 2010, acorn, against me!, alkaline trio, anberlin, animal collective, annoying abuse of alliteration, annuals, antoine dodson, arcade fire, band of horses, belle and sebastian, bjork, bleach, bloc party, brandon flowers, broken bells, caribou, ceo, christina aguilera, chromeo, coheed and cambria, danger mouse, david byrne, dead weather, deconstructionism, dinosaur feathers, dirty projectors, double rainbow, dr. dog, eclipse, fatboy slim, five iron frenzy, free energy, freelance whales, fun, games, ghoti hook, girl talk, gregory brothers, gym class heroes, hold steady, imelda marcos, jack johnson, joanna newsom, jonsi, kele, laura veirs, lcd soundsystem, los campesinos!, m.i.a, mars volta, mates of state, maximum balloon, mgmt, michael jackson, mortal kombat, motion city soundtrack, my chemical romance, national, peter gabriel, phantogram, plants and animals, ra ra riot, rihanna, robyn, rocket summer, roots, sasquatch, sasquatch! music festival, she & him, shins, shout out louds, sigur ros, something corporate, spoon, stupid personification tricks, sufjan stevens, taking back sunday, thermals, travie mccoy, tv girl, tv on the radio, twee, twilight, vedera, wale, weekend, weezer, white stripes, wolf parade, yeasayer, young veins

2010 in music: CK’s Second Quarterly Report

01Jul10

Here we go again! It’s now officially halfway through the year 2010. TK is busy hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, so I’m holding down CKTK duties while he’s gone. During the first half of this year, we officially launched our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Check those out for more frequent updates. Also, I just launched [...]

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Tags: 2010, acorn, against me!, alkaline trio, andrew wk, angels and airwaves, animal collective, annuals, antony and the johnsons, arcade fire, archie bronson outfit, balmorhea, band of horses, big boi, black keys, blaqk audio, blink 182, blitzen trapper, bloc party, broken bells, broken social scene, caribou, carolina chocolate drops, ceo, childish gambino, christina aguilera, coheed and cambria, coldplay, crystal castles, cut copy, daft punk, david byrne, dinosaur feathers, dominique young unique, dr. dog, drake, drums, dum dum girls, eclipse, fatboy slim, fleet foxes, flying lotus, foals, free energy, freelance whales, girl talk, growing, gym class heroes, hercules & love affair, here we go magic, hives, hot chip, how to destroy angels, I can make a mess like nobody's business, interpol, jack johnson, jack's mannequin, jaguar love, janelle monae, jimmy eat world, jj, joanna newsom, jonsi, katy perry, kele, kid cudi, knife, laura veirs, local natives, los campesinos!, m.i.a, mark ronson, mgmt, michael jackson, morning benders, motion city soundtrack, national, neon trees, new pornographers, of montreal, owen pallet, panda bear, panic! at the disco, pantha du prince, pendulum, peter gabriel, plants and animals, punch brothers, ra ra riot, radiohead, rocket summer, roots, saves the day, she & him, shins, shout out louds, sleigh bells, spoon, stan ipcus, strokes, tallest man on earth, travie mccoy, vampire weekend, vedera, we have band, white stripes, wolf parade, yeasayer, young veins, zola jesus

2010 in music: TK’s quarterly report

02Apr10

As the resident realist (ooh, band name) I will state rather matter-of-factly that the new decade in music is off to a thoroughly mediocre start. CK disagrees and you can read about it here. Need evidence? Well, for starters, Samantha Fox has yet to release an album. If you’ve been following this blog, you already [...]

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Tags: archie bronson outfit, besnard lakes, broken bells, carolina chocolate drops, charles darwin, charlotte gainsburg, cocoa puffs, crime in stereo, dr. dog, eluvium, erland and the carnival, field music, frightened rabbit, jack rose, jaga jazzist, jj, joanna newsom, jonsi, liars, local natives, midlake, pantha du prince, polar bear, richard skelton, richmond fontaine, samantha fox, she & him, shearwater, spoon, the knife, these new puritans, vampire weekend, vedera, xiu xiu, yeasayer

2010 in music: CK’s quarterly report

31Mar10

Here it is, folks: My report on the first quarter of 2010. It’s been a solid year so far. This list is presented with minimal commentary; just know that you’ll see many of these records in my “Best of 2010″ post nine months from now. But you don’t have to take my word for it… [...]

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Tags: 2010, 3oh!3, afi, alkaline trio, american idol, andrew wk, angels and airwaves, animal collective, annuals, arcade fire, archie bronson outfit, balmorhea, band of horses, blaqk audio, blink 182, broken bells, broken social scene, childish gambino, coheed and cambria, coldplay, daft punk, david byrne, fatboy slim, final fantasy, fleet foxes, free energy, freelance whales, gym class heroes, hot chip, hot hot heat, interpol, jack's mannequin, jimmy eat world, jj, joanna newsom, jonsi, ke$ha, knife, laura veirs, local natives, los campesinos!, mgmt, michael jackson, national, of montreal, owen pallet, panda bear, panic! at the disco, pantha du prince, peter gabriel, radiohead, reading rainbow, rocket summer, saves the day, she & him, shins, shout out louds, sigur ros, spoon, strokes, vampire weekend, vedera, white stripes, yeasayer

A Starch-Free Update

03Mar10

Once again, the following comments will make a lot more sense if you’ve read previous posts. I would recommend starting here and, once the headache has worn off, trying on these spectacles. And so the conversation continues… It seems that CK and I agree that Joanna Newsom is best enjoyed in smaller doses. However, our [...]

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Tags: falling in love, gal, joanna newsom, quantity, spectacles, starch

“Have one on me” anytime, Joanna: a rebuttal to TK’s callous insult of the artist

25Feb10

If you’ve been following CKTK on Facebook (shameless plug ahoy), you would already know that TK and I have differing opinions on Joanna Newsom’s magnum opus Have One On Me. He eloquently stated his thoughts in the previous post, appropriately titled, “Less is More (or the Tale of an Artist-Insulting Curator)“. I began to write a [...]

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Tags: joanna newsom, sketchy food metaphors, this blog

Less is More (or the Tale of an Artist-Insulting Curator)

24Feb10

Let me start with a disclaimer about my musical beliefs: I believe an album is a singular piece of experiential art that should be taken as a whole. This is especially important when approaching musical releases as a critic but is also the approach that I find to be more rewarding as a consumer. Like [...]

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Tags: curators, joanna newsom

tk’s top 40 albums of the decade

03Jan10

I pity the poor suckers who unleashed their “Albums of the Decade” lists before midnight on January 1st, 2010, because they ALL MISSED THIS ONE! This album (the one that I linked with pink ink before the exclamation point and after the word “they”) did MORE than just convert me to Epistemological Luddism–it also reminded [...]

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Tags: animal collective, antlers, apr financing, arcade fire, bad plus, battles, bill callahan, brian wilson, broken social scene, decemberists, devendra banhart, dj tiesto, doves, epistemological luddism, fleet foxes, fuck buttons, iron & wine, joanna newsom, johann johannsson, jose gonzalez, knife, lcd soundsystem, liars, m83, murder by death, national, noughties, old crow medicine show, panda bear, radiohead, sigur ros, silversun pickups, strokes, sufjan stevens, tallest man on earth, tv on the radio, war on drugs

tk’s top 10 albums of 2006

25Nov09

2006 was an outstanding year for music. If you disagree then you’re not my friend anymore. I have elected to share my list from that year rather than 2005 for two reasons: 1) A strange and inadvertent hibernation I experienced in 2005 within the caves of Malaysia. 2) My recent obsession with one-upping everyone around [...]

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Tags: 2000s, 2006, band of horses, belle & sebastian, decemberists, islands, joanna newsom, knife, liars, malaysia, strokes, sufjan stevens, thom yorke