While we aim to be proactive around these parts when it comes to discovering new music, sometimes bands slip through the cracks even after we’ve seen other sites gushing about
Since we’ve spent the entire week recounting our favorite albums of 2010, and quite frankly you’re probably tired of reading about them, seemed like a no-brainer to end the week
For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.
To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.
We’ve got just ten albums to go on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 6-10…
10) Beach House – Teen Dream
Key Tracks: Zebra, 10 Mile Stereo and Norway
Sounds Like: The music a female version of Neil Young would make while fighting the effects of Ambien
The Skinny: Beach House’s Sub-Pop debut, the band’s third full-length album, showed a major progression in the band’s sound as the duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally put together an album of dreamy originals that draws you in during the first few seconds of opening track Zebra and doesn’t let you go until the final notes of the closing Take Care. In between, Legrand and Scally take us on a tour of diverse soundscapes with layer upon layer of goodness that you’d never expect from a two-some. Whether using organs, slide guitar, or lush harmonies – Beach House put together a masterpiece of atmospheric rock.
READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…
It may seem a bit early to start thinking about the holiday season, since we’ve barely even made it to Halloween, but believe it or Hannukah is right around the
It’s been quite the year so far for psych-pop revivalists Dr. Dog with the release of their critically acclaimed, and quite possibly their best studio album to date – Shame,
As we have been mentioning the last couple of months, September is stocked with a ton of great releases and next Tuesday in particular comes the mother-load with a staggering
With the first six months of 2010 beginning to feel like a distant memory, I figured it was time to continue a tradition by taking a look at my favorite six albums of the first half of the year with the Top 6 Of The First 6.
6) Cornershop – Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast
Cornershop sure seem to like taking their time in releasing studio albums, managing only two in the 13 years since their critically acclaimed When I Was Born For The 7th Time
READ ON for more of my Top 6 Of The First 6…
While it’s looking like the sixth annual Mountain Jam Festival is off to quite the start, there was some unfortunate news that did surface earlier today, that for once didn’t
Dr. Dog & Deer Tick @ Terminal 5 – May 15
If I was forced into seeing one concert, and one concert only in 2010, I may very well have picked the double-bill of Dr. Dog and Deer Tick that took place at Terminal 5 in NYC last month. I’ve repeatedly championed these two acts, not only for their stellar studio work, but also for putting on great live shows – albeit with quite different approaches. Both bands, who had been on the road together for several weeks, pulled into the spacious venue located on a desolate industrial stretch of Manhattan’s Upper West Side for a sold-out, tour-ending show that saw both bands expressing their affinity for each other throughout the evening’s festivities.
[All Photos By Jeremy Gordon]
Sporting their finest sundresses for the occasion, the boys of Deer Tick ambled onto the stage to the strains of Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York. The group’s always entertaining frontman John McCauley crooned the last few bars and greeted the rapidly filling venue by declaring the band Dr. Dog’s prom dates for the night before launching into the winding guitar intro of Easy. McCauley & Co., who will release their third studio album The Black Dirt Sessions
READ ON for more on Jeff’s thoughts on the night…
Deer Tick staged an impressive opening for the headliner Dr. Dog who seamlessly kept up the momentum by firing up the crowd in a way this band is becoming legendary for doing!
