Here are my picks for this years best albums and live acts:

Top Ten Albums:

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science.
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
4. The Raveonnettes - Lust Lust Lust
5. Spiritualized – Songs in A&E
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig
7. Guns n Roses – Chinese Democracy
8. Portishead – Third
9. The Breeders – Mountain Battles
10. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

Honourable mentions:

Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer, Opeth – Watershed, Scarlett Johannson – Anywhere I Lay…

Spectrum are playing a show in my city in a couple of weeks….i've never heard them but i'm a fan of Spacemen 3.

Never heard Sonic Boom either…can anyone recommend a good listening starting point or even better let me know what he is like live?

spectrum
sonic boom
spacemen 3
spiritualized

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: 'Nocturama' is a terrible album, and Grinderman aren't including NZ on their current tour down under, bastards.

Holly Golightly: I guess she sticks to formula a bit…even though that formula is great :)

Beck: He's a dirty scientologist, and I have no respect for scientologists.

Queens of the Stone Age: Their new album, while not bad, is their worst yet.

Modest Mouse: ummm I guess their name is a bit silly.

John Frusciante: pretty inconsistent - ie his albums range from brilliant to absolutely terrible.

The White Stripes…

Here are my ratings out of 5 stars for a bunch of albums that I have been listening to (and have mostly come out) this year:

amy winehouse - back to black ***1/2
arctic monkeys - favourite worst nightmare ****
art of fighting - runaways ***
black rebel motorcycle club - baby 81 ****
boris - pink ***1/2
brian jonestown massacre - take it from the man! ****
deerhunter - cryptograms ***
dungen - tio bitar ***
elliott smith - new moon ****1/2
grinderman ***1/2
modest mouse - we were dead before the ship even sank ****1/2
omar a. rodriguez-lopez…

Saw modest mouse do a performance of 'dashboard' on letterman last night, it was cool!

One thing that stuck out though was that they had two drummers? can anyone whose seen them live tell me is that a usual part of their setup recently? I thought it worked really well with the song. Would love to see these guys live sometime.

modest mouse

OK i'm not particularly globally diverse in my listening tastes but was interested to see the results of this:

USA - 61
England - 23
Australia - 4
New Zealand - 3
Canada - 2
Scotland - 1
Germany - 1
Wales - 1
Ireland - 1
Iceland - 1
Belgium - 1
Denmark - 1

only 3 local bands in my top 100 oops
the mint chicks, toy love, the phoenix foundation

Put your music player on shuffle.
Post the first 40 songs that come up.
You can repeat artists if you want.
If you have any repeats, skip to the next track.

01. Ministry - Lava
02. Supergrass - G-Song
03. Nick Cave - Helpless
04. Pixies - Bone Machine
05. Frank Black - Atom in my Heart
06. Ween - Gabrielle
07. P.J Harvey & John Parish - That Was My Veil
08. Nirvana - Old Age
09. Alice in Chains - Nothin' Song
10. Elliott Smith - Independence Day
11. Head Like a Hole - Maharajah
12. N.W.A -…

1. Holly Golightly
First song I heard: Walk a Mile
Song that got me into them: Overtaking
Current favorite song: Tell me know so I know

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
First song I heard: Where the Wild Roses Grow
Song that got me into them: Stagger Lee
Current favorite song: Black Betty

3. John Frusciante
First song I heard: dunno
Song that got me into them: dunno
Current favorite song: pass

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
First song I heard: Y Control
Song that got me into them: Y Control
Current favorite song: Way Out

5. The Raveonettes…

Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

1. How does the world see me?
Handsome Boy Modelling School - Rock And Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)

2. Will I have a happy life?
Beach Boys - I'm Waiting For The Day

3. What do my friends think of me?
Buzzcocks - Something's Gone Wrong Again

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Eagles of Death Metal - Kiss the Devil

6. What should I do…

01. Holly Golightly
02. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
03. John Frusciante
04. Queens of the Stoneage
05. The Raveonettes
06. Weezer
07. The White Stripes
08. The Strokes
09. Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
10. Beck

What was the first song you ever heard by Artist #6?
Buddy Holly video on Max TV

What is your favorite album of Artist #2?
So many good ones to choose from but Tender Prey is my fave.

What is your favorite lyric that Artist #5 has sung?
They don't really have any stand out lyrics

How many times have you seen Artist…