GirlsWithSynths2010

IN ORDER. Stars are restaurant stars. One star signals complete recommendation. Two is very good. A three star rating is excellent, shocking even. Four stars are amazing and should transcend taste and time. Feedback/suggestions welcome.


Albums:

****

***Monobloco - Dez Anos. Derek's favorite band comes out with a new album out of nowhere! I really need to go to Carnaval one of these days. Gets better the more you listen to it.
***Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Permanent downgrade to three stars.

**Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid. Remember when Amerie and Beyonce blew our collective mind a few years ago? This is the album that "One Thing" and "Crazy in Love" promised, although there aren't any individual songs that crush on that level.
**Crystal Castles - II. Upgrade, despite the numerous amount of songs that I skip. BTW, I'm still mad there isn't a new Alice Practice.
**Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Happy to thank Pitchfork for this one.
**Little Boots - Hands. Remedy is good enough by itself for two stars! I am very happy that La Roux is popular, but I am a little confused as to why Little Boots did not blow up.
**Kode9 - DJ-Kicks. ** because of the scary parts, although the first half is pretty decent as well!
**Mos Def/Max Tannone - Mos Dub Smashes like an Idaho potato.

*Kitune Maison 9. Definitely the best since Volume 6!
*The Walkmen - Lisbon. SO close. It needs just one more high-powered song (along with "Angela Surf City" and "Victory") to anchor the album. The lack of melody becomes an issue in slow songs. Definitely cannot roll with The Meadowlands, but of the same genre and near its caliber.
*The-Dream - Love King. If, like me, you do not listen to anything before FILA, this album is very good throughout. The obvious highlight is the Yamaha-Abyss suite.
*Sleigh Bells - Treats. Large amount of starred songs, but it has horrible sequencing, and some of the rhythms/riffs repeat to make the whole less than the sum. The production is awful; it needs to be either full wall-of-sound or total minimalism.
*Caribou - Swim. Great high points.
*Deerhunter - Halcyon Days. Mostly for the ending. Like Caribou, but not quite as good.
*Clubland 17 - Disc 1. Coveniently, Disc 1 is mostly good, and Disc 2 is pretty much garbage. Much less work.
*Girl Talk - All Day. I should stop whining about it since I keep on listening. If Night Ripper had had better transitions, it would have been two stars.



Songs:


****Sleigh Bells - Ring Ring (demo version, without the extra sounds). Rill Rill is only three stars.

***Kode9/others - Stiff to Mountain Dread March #2 from Kode9's DJ-KICKS mixtape. If MDM2 does not scare you, turn the volume up. I grow less confident in our defenses against the gathering armies of dark.
***Kanye West - All of the Lights Interlude + All of the Lights f/ everybody. Can't stop listening. This song throws down a solid 2 stars, and then, starting at about 2:30, decides to have like 5 awesome bridges in a row. NYMag claims that there is a better version floating around that doesn't have Rihanna. (I have nothing against Rihanna.)
***Little Boots - Remedy
***Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round.
***M.I.A./Vijay Iver Trio - Galang (Wayne and Wax mashup). This is the full potential of Galang. (Dear Bass: Please hit harder. Otherwise, completely in love. xoxo)
***Kanye West - Runaway. Pusha T really needs to come a little harder for four stars, and although I do get it, the chorus could stand to be a lot less inane.

**Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions.
**Deerhunter - Helicopter
**Beach House - Zebra. Apparently, I should watch Gossip Girl.
**Caribou - Odessa. Needs more cowbell. Seriously.
**Janelle Monae - Cold War. Yeah, yeah, I know. Sort of 2009, but whatever.
**The Walkmen - Angela Surf City
**Mos Def - History Town Are mashups cheating? I have a lot of mashups this year.
**12:00 to 14:44 of the Babe Rainbow Shaved Mixtape by Rico Uno. This is the reggae section. The space between 9:31 and 12:00 is just mood-setting with the main Shaved beat and a tiny beat of reggae intro words after 10:50. Use real speakers!
**Sleigh Bells - Tellem
**The-Dream - Yamaha. It's like if Prince was still excellent!
**Mark Ronson f/ Q-Tip, Amanda Warner - Bang Bang Bang LCD-lite. (Although, let's get real, LCD Soundsystem itself has pretty much always been LCD-lite.)

*R. Kelly - Radio Message. So, the last 20 seconds of R&B this good was the end of "Promise". Also, R. Kelly brings the pipes hard.
*Caribou - Hannibal
*Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes - Home. Is "too much like Johnny Cash" actually a complaint? (Actually, yes, it is. I wish that Johnny would have occasionally used even a slightly different beat/strumming pattern so as not to completely play it out for all eternity.)
*Kanye West - Lost in the World. Downgrade.
*Robyn - Fembot
*LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
*Robyn - Dancing by Myself. My expectations are that most people will rate this around 2-3 stars. I am just a jerk.
*Deerhunter - He Would Have Laughed. Colors, in stereo.
*Sleigh Bells - Crown on the Ground
*Sade - Soldier of Love. SO NINETIES! It even has baby cry samples in the beat.
*8:04 to 9:30 (Snoop section) of the Babe Rainbow Shaved Mixtape by Rico Uno
*Mark Ronson - The Night Last Night.
*Alicia Keys - Unthinkable (I'm Ready). Have you seen the video? Alicia is so pretty!

Downgrades:
Goldfrapp - Rocket,MIA - It Takes a Muscle, Sam Amidon - I See the Sign (album), Taylor Swift - Speak Now (album), B.O.B. f/ Hayley Williams, Kanye West - Monster, Annie - My Love is Better, Diddy-Dirty Money - Coming Home, The Walkmen - Victory, Snoop's rap from Shaved Rainbow, La Roux/Major Lazer - Magic (Falling Soldiers Dub), Alcazar - Burning (Cahill mix), La Roux (***, but 2009, oops), The New Pornographers - Challengers (** but 2007, lol), Janelle Monae - Wondaland (draggy removed from context).