Sidney Jayne's Guide to the Best Albums of 2010

2010 has been a banner year for some fresh beatz and sick hooks, my friends. Let me share a few with you. In no particular order.

Florence + the Machine - Lungs
I love this album. So do five kajillion other people. I crossed the finish line to my first half marathon to "Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)", so it holds a special place in my heart. Aw, barf.

Sounds like: That weird ethereal British chick in your class who you made fun of in 3rd grade,but then she got really talented and you're like 'OH SHIT'. I don't know what that really means.

Favorite Tracks: "Cosmic Love" & "Between Two Lungs"





Foals - Total Life Forever
Foals are finally getting some recognition. Good for them. I feel they've grown so much as musicians, that they'll have to change their names to Mares. HAHAHAH OH SIDNEY.

Sounds like: Aggressively eating cookies when you're high, and you're chowing down HARD. Sweet, yet hardcore. I don't know what that means either.

Favorite Tracks: "Total Life Forever", "This Orient", "Black Gold"



Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
My dad loves this album. So do I.

Sounds Like: Some early 70s southern folk rock band that your dad listened to, but never got any radio play. Womp wommmp.

Favorite Tracks: "Below the Hurricane", "Destroyer of the Void"

Passion Pit - Manners
Okay, so I may have not been in a completely coherent state when seeing them at Sasquatch this year, but I had a moment where I fell head over heels in love with them. Could have been the tequila, but listening to this album sober makes me think it was more than that. Mmmm.

Sounds Like: The bridge between cool music and popular music.

Favorite Tracks: "Moth's Wing", "Little Secrets", "Make Light"



S. Carey - All We Grow

This album is good. It's especially good when you're lying on your bed, and thinking 'Yeah man, I get it. Hrrrnnngggggggggg'. Just like that.

Sounds like: Bon Iver's slightly embittered brother

Favorite Tracks: "In the Dirt", "In the Stream"





Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Record Collection

Say what you want, but this album is THE SEX. IT IS JUST SEX. I am not even ashamed. It makes me want to dance in ways I didn't know were kinetically possible.

Sounds Like: Funky sexy time

Favorite Tracks: "Bang Bang Bang", "The Bike Song", "The Night Last Night", "Lose It (In the End)"



The Head and the Heart - S/T

Aw, Seattle. You have such great rising talent. These guys are getting big really quickly. You still have a little time to listen to this and say you heard them way back when.

Sounds Like: Crosby, Still, & Nash screamed too loud so their voices were hoarser. And then they were like 'hey, let's add a chick to the band'.

Favorite Tracks: "Down in the Valley" "Cats & Dogs"


Mad Rad - The Youth Die Young

More Seattle awesomeness. I still feel sort of like I'm not allowed to listen to hip hop, like I'm not cool enough to be in the club. Whatever, I DO WHA I WAN.

Sounds like: Hip Hop + Electronic + Crooning

Favorite Tracks: "Love in a Strange World", "The Machine", "I Want Your Blood"


Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

I have to admit, when I first heard this album, I was like 'WHAT IS THIS TOMFOOLERY?'. But then I simmered, listened again, and began to enjoy the aforementioned foolery of tom. I feel like I'd like this album more on some sort of barbiturate, but it'll do, pig.

Sounds Like: Sufjan Stevens parents gave him a MIDI synth for Christmas. And drugged his egg nog.

Favorite Tracks: "The Age of Adz", "Vesuvius"


The Courage - Fearful Bones

Formerly Noah Gundersen & the Courage, these Seattle kiddos are superb. And they just keep getting better. No pressure, guys.

Sounds Like: The Von Trapp Family singers, if they kicked ass and threw in some killer fiddle. Also, they sound nothing like the Von Trapp's. Whatever

Favorite Tracks: "Frequency", "Chances", "Summer Sky"

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Okay, I'm getting too lazy to upload more photos and awkwardly try to format them (Blogger, you need to step it UP. Ugh), so here are the rest:

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
Favorite Tracks: "Something Good Can Work", "I Can Talk"

Viper Creek Club - Letters
More local awesomenesssss.
Favorite Tracks: "Eliza", "Doubt"

The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Well, duh.
Favorite Tracks: "City With No Children", "We Used to Wait"

Sleigh Bells - Treats
WHOA.
Favorite Tracks: "Tell 'em", "Treats"

Symmetry & Ryan Lewis - S/T
Ulllllltra awesome local hip hop / funky jamz, even if you don't think you like hip hop.
Favorite Tracks: "Down", "Feel Right"

Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer
Aw, yeaauuhh.
Favorite Tracks: "No One's Gonna Love You", "Fuck You"

Dan Black - Un
Think Mika + even more electro goodness. Super guilty pleasure. But it's good, shut it.
Favorite Tracks: "U + Me =", "Symphonies" , "Cigarette Pack"

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm kind of over it too. And yet, it's still good. Goddammit, general population, stop ruining good albums for me.
Favorite Tracks: "Awake My Soul", "White Blank Page"

Hey Marseilles - To Travels and Trunks
Seattle is just pumping out some great music this year. GO SEATTLE! This album is pretty great.
Favorite Tracks: "Rio", "Goodbye Versailles"

Washington - I Believe You Liar
This one is sort of hard to track down, but it's totally worth it. Think Laura Marling if she had more lady balls. And throw a little Florence in there too.
Favorite Tracks: "The Hardest Part", "Rich Kids", "Lover/Soldier"

Congratulations - MGMT
That lead singer is hot. I shouted that a lot when seeing them at Sasquatch. Om nom nom.
Favorite Tracks: "Congratulation", "I Found a Whistle"

And there you have it. Go forth, young music lovers. Go forth and listen.

TOMORROW!

Yes. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I leave for Europe tomorrow. I want to have a drink and toast it to morrow. To morrow!

I will be updating my blog through internet cafés, and hopefully the largess of my friends who ARE taking their computers. With my track record of damaging expensive electronic equipment, I thought it wise to perhaps leave the ol' Macbook at home.

To those who are unaware, I'm about to embark on a 6-week trip to France, Scotland, and England. I will be studying acting at the Pontelevoy Abbey in the Loire Valley for 4 weeks with a group of UW students, and then we're going to Edinburgh for 2 weeks to experience the Fringe theatre festival! Words are not enough to explain my excitement, despite our rigorous training schedule (9am to 10PM Monday-Friday!!!! Ahhh!!!!). That's saying a lot.

And so, I must finish all those last minute to-do lists.

À bientôt!

Thoughts on a rainy day

Rain like this just makes me want to dole out a big snifter of brandy and go to town on a paperback novel. I don't think I've ever really drank brandy, but it seems a fitting libation for shitty weather. Or good weather, for that matter. Not mediocre weather, though. That's what gin is for.

I rub my lips with my fingers. Constantly. I rub them between my fingers, back and forth, collecting little crescent rolls of dead skin. It’s not a pleasant sensation, nor a wholly painful one. I think of it more as the white noise of pain; I am oblivious to my little exfoliation ritual, or at least until I start bleeding. Which I just did. Ouch.

On Writing

The thought of sharing any sort of creative writing terrifies me. I've never really had any burning desire to write, though that probably stems from the fact that 95% of what I've written in my life was research based.

Bland. Facts. Figures. Annotations. Soul deadening. Kill. Me. Now.

It's not that I find researching worthless - au contraire! I love learning everything there possibly is to know about Neoclassicism or the Narwhal or even Nehru (alliteration aside, I have written papers on all three topics), but why the hell do I have to then proceed to write about it? Sure, I'll read a book on the topic, but that's good enough for me! Done! No more thx! You want to verify that I learned enough on the topic? Why don't we just go out for a drink and talk about feminist semiotics over a Cosmo. We can even talk about the genderification of cocktails. Don't worry professor, I'll pick up the tab. You just pick up my GPA.

Sure, we had weekly 'free write' assignments in high school, during which we'd turn off the lights, light some candles, and read our assignments out loud if we felt so inclined. Sounds great, right? Well, I never wanted to be the kid reading the painfully awkward sci-fi/fantasy fan-fic, so I mainly used these assignments as a medium in which I could verbally regurgitate all my shitty teenage angst. Or I'd do a bunch of 'Top 10' lists. Sometimes the two would overlap. For example:

'TOP TEN WAYS IN WHICH I WOULD LIKE TO DESECRATE THIS TEXTBOOK'
'TOP TEN BLOOD BROTHERS SONGS I'D LIKE TO MAKE OUT TO'
'TOP TEN REASONS WHY I AM A SAD LOSER (WITH ILLUSTRATIONS)'

And so on.

College was no different. Sure, maybe the topics got more interesting (If you ever want to know about every single filmic motif in "The Departed", I'm yer girl), but none of it really quenched my creative thirst. I stuck to pen and paper, but instead of words, I created stories with doodles. I give each little creature I draw a back story: When was their first kiss? What veggie do they go for first on the snack platter? What is their typing speed? Are they upset with me for giving them such a large, unsightly nose?

And so on.

I never took creative writing classes, because I was always so bogged down with all the research papers for my other classes, I couldn't possibly add more to my load. While in high school, I always had grand fantasies of college as a place where you could just learn WHATEVER you wanted. Oh, such foolhardy naïveté. I never dreamed I'd end up in a Watershed Resource Management class just to fulfill some bullshit general education requirement. The only thing I got out of that class was free coffee and the ability to do an entire Wednesday crossword puzzle without cheating.

So what am I getting at with all of this? What I'm trying to say is that I've finally found that desire to try and write something, but at the risk of being terrible at it. I guess you've got to start somewhere. And I'm starting here, sitting cross-legged on my bed, eating yogurt and putting off the paper I have to write. The research paper I have to write. The only writing I've ever done til now.

Wish me luck.

It's that time again!

I guess the New Year always brings in that itchy feeling in my fingers that tells me I should start updating my blog again. And who am I to resist such temptation?

So. 2009. I have a feeling it's going to be substantially better than 2008, because in all honesty, I don't know how it could get much worse than 2008. That was some pessimistic optimism for you, folks (aka, "The glass is HALF. Not empty, not full, just half. Just shut up."). At least my resolutions have been sticking well. My first resolution was to drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day, and with that goal brought the desire to start running again, and also to cut out diet sodas from my diet. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day where I'd politely decline a Diet Cherry Coke, but that day finally came. And it was a Tuesday.

I feel like sort of a fraud though, because 80% of my motivation for working out is so I can just finish ooone more episode of Law & Order while I'm on the treadmill. None of that "Feel the burn" "Love the pain!" "Push it!" crap, I'm more like "What hilarious comment will Jerry Orbach say THIS time? Guess I better keep running until I find out!". And that is how I've been running at least 7 miles a day.

In other news, I've started working with the Night Zero team (www.nightzero.com), which is a zombie apocalypse photographic novel that kicks ass. My character's name is Jezebel, and apparently has a penchant for leather and being a total bitch. It's cool.

Well, I have a splitting headache and a need for more protein in my diet, so I guess I'll be off!

Until I feel inclined to write again, adieu.

Tenenbaums & Enchanters

I attended a surprise birthday party last week, themed so that everyone had to dress as characters from the birthday boy's favorite movies. And obviously, I was Margot Tenenbaum, because I had the hair. The rest of the costume wasn't perfect (e.g. lack of stripes on my dress, et. al), but it was fun. Please note my fabulous wooden finger.

Here is Markie as Max Fischer from Rushmore, another wonderous Wes Anderson film


It's fake.


My face is too round to be like Gwyneth's

...

I think I'll go to France the day after tomorrow.

Just a thought.