Top 25 Albums of the 2000s

I was hoping to get this one done closer to the beginning of the year, but this list is so freakin' long that it took me awhile to write. So here we go.

25. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds (2001)

This album became a go-to album during my first year at Iowa. I remember standing at the bus stop right outside of Burge after dinner, waiting for the bus to get back to my room in Mayflower, and listening to The Ascent of Stan over and over. The harmony starting right around minute 3:00 and especially at 3:10 just floored me, and listening to it now still hits me in a crazy way. There was just so much great stuff on here, and I hadn't heard the piano used in such an effective, pop way before.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Not The Same

2. The Ascent Of Stan

3. Still Fighting It

24. Feed The Animals - Girl Talk (2008)

Watch out boys and girls, this one's definitely not one you play on a family vacation. Girl Talk is just one dude, a computer, and the most brilliant mind for mash-ups ever. Greg Gillis has taken samples of music from the last 60 years and mashed them all together in a way that makes me want to start riots. This whole album is the most high energy thing I've ever heard; it's basically just straight club gangster rap over samples like The Carpenters, The Band, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, etc. The beat never stops. It just goes, and goes, and goes, and the listener is just happy for the seemingly endless onslaught of pure rhythm and movement that is shot like a heroin syringe right into your musical arm vein. Awesome.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Set It Off (the Bubba Sparxx's Heat It Up over a sample of Dexys Midnight Runner's Come On Eileen is pure brilliance)

2. In Step (the Earth, Wind, & Fire sample of September underneath Ludacris rapping in Fergie's Glamorous sounds SO good here)

3. Give Me A Beat (when Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted starts over Daft Punk's Face To Face, it makes me want to dance for seven years straight. Unbelievably great.)

23. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley (2008)

Their first album was good, but man this one was so awesome. It is such a bizarre album; I have no idea how exactly to describe it or label it because it has so many different sounds. It's like soul electro pop cartoon circus music. Whatever you want to call it, it's awesome. Cee-Lo's voice over the production of one my favorite producers, DJ Danger Mouse, fits so perfectly.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Charity Case

2. Who's Gonna Save My Soul

3. A Little Better

22. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse (2006)

Aside from her decadent lifestyle filled with drugs and alcohol abuse, Amy Winehouse belongs in 1968. Or maybe with that stuff too. The reason I loved this album so much is because it has so much Dusty Springfield/Aretha Franklin/etc. soul with just the right pinch of '00s beat. It's really just Motown for Generation Y. And while Winehouse has got one hell of a voice, I have to give credit to Mark Ronson for that incredible production. He pulls some favors here, as you can hear the rich sounds of the Daptone Horns playing on most of these tracks. No wonder there is so much Rhythm & Blues on this record.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. He Can Only Hold Her

2. Back To Black

3. Tears Dry On Their Own

21. Room For Squares - John Mayer (2001)

I loved this album when I was in high school. Listening to it now, it's still good, but certainly a first record. I will say this though, I'm really glad I found this album when I was 16 and not 23. If I heard this record for the first time this last year, I would've probably set it down right away and not even gotten to the good stuff. On it's own, it's a fine album, but compared to his later work, it's pretty bland. Far more poppy than anything else. But if nothing else, it's really a great indication of what a great artist John Mayer is. This was his first album. How does a guy write a song like 3x5 on his first record? Impressive.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. 3x5

2. City Love

3. 83

20. FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake (2006)

This is one of the best second records I've ever heard. Justin Timberlake went from the bubble gum pop of 'NSYNC to pop with a bit more of a hip-hop edge (thank you Neptunes) on Justified, and then holy cow did he upped his game with this one. I didn't get into this album at first, mainly because another of my very favorite records (spoiler alert, it's #1 on this list) came out on the same day (my bday coincidentally). But once I really dug into this, it had so much to offer. There are layers upon layers of sexy, soulful, electro-pop on this album. The interludes alone are worth the purchase price.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude

2. Until The End Of Time Feat. The Benjamin Wright Orchestra

3. What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude

19. 19 - Adele (2008)

I don't want to sound sexist here, but I don't groove on female vocalists as much as male vocalists. Maybe it's just cause I can't sing along. Adele is a grand exception (to the me liking her, not to the me singing along). She has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Period. And to hear a voice of this caliber in our age of auto-tune and paint by numbers pop starlets is just astounding. Adele has such control in her voice, it's remarkable. And on top of being floored by her voice, the music on this record is really great. It's great modern British pop sounds with lots of homage to late '60s soul. Plus one of the best Bob Dylan covers ever.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Hometown Glory

2. Tired

3. Right As Rain

18. Alive 2007 - Daft Punk (2007)

I had a hard time not putting this one higher on my list, but in reality, I only truly fell in love with the first half of this record. But holy cow what a first half it is. I think going to a Daft Punk show would be the best way to burn calories, EVER. They put on a hell of a live show which really just equates to one colossal dance party. This show consists of just a mash-up of killer Daft Punk songs. My only beef with this is my normal beef with Daft Punk: they give us too much of a good thing. Some of the later tracks are too long and too monotonous to stay focused and into the music but that is not the case for tracks 3-5, the most glorious continuous seventeen minutes and thirty-seven seconds in music I think I've ever heard. The triumvirate ofTelevision Rules The Nation / Crescendolls, Too Long / Steam Machine, and Around The World / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is breathtakingly and relentlessly awesome. Awesome the way my grandparents use the word. The whole time I'm just filled with wonder at how incredibly cool these songs sound. It is just an onslaught of sound and beat and melody and robots and guitars and cheering and beauty. Probably great for working out.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Around The World / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

2. Television Rules The Nation / Crescendolls

3. Too Long / Steam Machine

17. The Black Album - Jay-Z (2003)

If you ever want to hear an artist at his zenith, listen to this album. One might argue that The Blueprint is Jay's best work, but I have to stick with The Black Album. The Blueprint was the game changer for Jay-Z, and this one is the one that solidified his status as King of the Rap Game. First off, the production on this thing is just insane. He's got Kanye, Just Blaze, Timbaland, Eminem, the Neptunes, even Rick Rubin produces on this record. What a line-up. And then on top of some of the sickest beats I have ever heard, you've got Jay at the top of his wordplay. This is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball in 1996. His verses are just crazy good. Jay's got swagger cause he knows this is his "last" album and he's going out on top. You can hear a bit of sadness on December 4th when he says "Goodbye to the game, all the spoils, the adrenaline rush." This album was truly Jay's "grand closing."

Top 3 Tracks:

1. December 4th

2. Encore

3. 99 Problems

16. Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future - The Bird And The Bee (2009)

I heard the first single from this album back on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (the original, not Part Deux) and it absolutely blew me away. I even blogged about it I think. Yup I did. This woman's voice is just perfect, so soft and pretty and melodic and overtaking. Her harmonies are gorgeous. The chorus on Diamond Dave has some of the prettiest vocal layering ever. And the music production is so weird, it's like jazz/pop rooted in electronica. It sounds like an odd mix, but the sound combinations produce such a huge wall of breathtaking music.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. My Love

2. Ray Gun

3. Diamond Dave

15. Try! - John Mayer Trio (2005)

Who knew John Mayer could play the guitar? I did. And so many of his fans did too, but this album, along with the arrival of the Trio was the moment we could hold our heads up high and no longer be reviled for being fans. This is a powerful album from the guy whose record company had released Daughters as his previous single. He breaks out of that mold completely though, introducing his young fans to hits by Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, as well as showing them what Daughters was originally written as (slow soul tune). And a seven and a half minute slow blues tune too? From the Wonderland guy? John Mayer effectively avoided getting pigeonholed with this album and started to dictate his own career rather than having it dictated to him by his record label. And in the process, you gave us a pretty bad ass record. Well done, John.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. I Got A Woman

2. Wait Until Tomorrow

3. Gravity

14. X&Y - Coldplay (2005)

The Joshua Tree for my generation. Coldplay had had a small hit with Parachutes, gained some notoriety with A Rush of Blood to the Head, but this was the album with hype. Everybody wanted to see where they would go next and they took it to another dimension with this one. A dimension where bands only play arenas. Every song on this album seems like it would fit a giant stadium better than anything else (coincidentally, Coldplay just performed an acoustic version of A Message on the Hope for Haiti TV special months ago, and it was SOOO great). I fell in love with this album. So many immense sounds and instruments and melodies and harmonies and it's just so great. No one can write emotion that bursts out of your soul into song like Coldplay. And this album proved that.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. What If

2. Fix You

3. The Hardest Part

13. Miles Remixed - The Apple Juice Kid (2008)

This one is maybe the least well known on my list. Okayplayer.com (The Roots website) featured this album as a free download by kind of famous producer The Apple Juice Kid. I had never heard of him but the album cover looked sweet and I had a fairly large Miles Davis collection, which I enjoyed listening to from time to time so I thought I'd give it a try. Glad I did. This is one of the smoothest sounding albums ever. It combines the jazzy melodies of Miles Davis from the '50s and '60s with some beautifully smooth hip-hop beats. AJK has just taken bits and pieces from some of Davis' seminal works and cut them up, rearranged them, and mashed them together in a way that is just so easy on the ears. That's one reason I liked this so much. I listened to this when I studied, I listened to it playing darts in our duplex garage, it was perfect mood music. There were so many nights that Kevin and Colleen and I would stay up late, throwing darts, drinking a bit and just talking while this was playing in the background. It creates a very tranquil atmosphere in which to hang out. Jazz often turns lots of people off due to its grand or seemingly pompous nature. This is an album that takes jazz and makes it completely listenable.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. SnapMusic

2. Masco

3. ViolinGreen

12. Catching Tales - Jamie Cullum (2005)

This album finds its strength by being very catchy pop, but rooted in something that isn't ubiquitous in today's music scene. Jamie Cullum has the jazz piano chops to pull this album off super well. He's got crazy chords all over the place and sexy progressions and melodies, it's just so much fun to listen to. His voice can be a bit grating at first listen, but with time, one comes to realize how much control he's got and how easily he can manipulate his voice. And hoo boy can this guy scat!

Top 3 Tracks:

1. 21st Century Kid

2. My Yard

3. Nothing I Do

11. Parachutes - Coldplay (2000)

It's remarkable that Parachutes is a debut album. Coldplay writes and sings and plays with depth, emotion, and some real sexy piano music. Chris Martin might not have the most technically perfect voice ever, but he does exactly what he needs to do song after song here. Listening back to it, it's amazing to hear how much depth these guys wrangle out of their acoustic guitars. One of my favorite records ever.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Trouble

2. We Never Change

3. Sparks

10. Late Registration - Kanye West (2005)

Another great sophomore album. I liked The College Dropout fine enough, but this is when I knew for sure that Kanye could deliver and his debut wasn't a fluke. There are so many great tracks here, and the music is insanely eclectic. Kanye brought in an outsider not really known for producing hip-hop, Jon Brion. He is known for scoring movie soundtracks such asMagnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (one of my personal favorites), and Synecdoche, New York, among many others. And his influence on this record is key. Kanye is great but pushed the boundaries of his own style with Brion's help. This is a bizarrely eclectic albums with sounds you'd never expect from a huge hip-hop star. Also, Kanye lays down some amazing samples all over the place here, including, but not limited to, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers. How much more soul can you fit onto one record?

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Gone Feat. Consequence and Cam'Ron

2. Crack Music Feat. The Game

3. Gold Digger Feat. Jamie Foxx

9. Heavier Things - John Mayer (2003)

There is so much growth between this record and Room For Squares. He went from writing pretty run of the mill pop songs to songs with some punch to them. Sure, these are mostly all pop songs again, but with just enough soul hidden inside that they can catch you off guard. One of the strengths of this album is that it matches sonically with what he's singing about. The feelings evoked by the words of Wheel is exactly the feeling evoked by the music of the song. And many of these songs just hit bullseye in that regard. Clarity, Something's Missing, Split Screen Sadness. There is emotion that lines up just perfectly between music and lyrics. It is a very satisfying listen.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Clarity

2. Wheel

3. Something's Missing

8. Discovery - Daft Punk (2001)

I know I've written about this album somewhere else. Thinking about it now it might be in an unpublished Top 5 Favorite Artists blog somewhere. Anyway, this album rules. For me, it's the sum of everything good about Daft Punk's strengths. In their older stuff, the "techno" sound of their music overtakes everything and they don't use any restraint. On this album, they take the techno sound and turn it into songs that are listenable. Real songs, not just seven minute club tracks. Songs with different parts, verses, choruses, the occasional bridge here and there. It's that complex of a thing, but when they start writing real songs in their crazy robot sounding style, it's so awesome.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Digital Love

2. Something About Us

3. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

7. Fly Or Die - N*E*R*D (2004)

This album is the summer of 2004 for me. There is hardly anything that makes sense on this album musically, considering who N*E*R*D is and the kind of music they made before this. Since some of N*E*R*D's members make up the hip-hop production team The Neptunes, you'd think this album would be rooted in hip-hop. Not at all. While there are some flavors of hip-hop throughout, this is far more of a crazy pop-rock album than anything else. Am I supposed to dance to these songs or "rock out" as the saying goes? Who knows. You listen and you love it.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. She Wants To Move

2. Maybe

3. Breakout

6. Once - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (2007)

Most soundtracks are comprised of songs from which clips were featured in the movie. This one is different; almost all the songs from the soundtrack are performed in their entirety in the movie. Which, now that I think about it, makes the movie more of a musical than anything. Tangent. These songs are breathtaking. The voices are simple; his voice warbles from time to time, but you can tell he means every word he sings. That is truly a rare trait in music today. Her voice is beautiful; so simple and it fits right where it needs to. She doesn't overpower him and only adds to him. It's perfect. Their combination is so well-matched. It might be such an emotional album for me because it's so intimately tied to the movie. When I hear these songs, I think of the relationship between these two characters and that they are really singing these songs to each other. They are singing about hurt, about loss and pain and failure and love and hope. When The Guy really lets his voice loose in Say It To Me Now, it is chilling because you hear what he is feeling. That is where the strength in this album lies. There isn't anything technically out of this world, it's mainly just two simple voices over simple instruments. The beauty lies within the feeling behind each voice and how much they can communicate with just their voices. Amazing.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Say It To Me Now

2. Lies

3. Once

5. Graduation - Kanye West (2007)

Highest ranked rap album on my list here. Kanye reached his zenith with this album. He had a great sound on The College Dropout, tweaked it just enough with Late Registration and hit the nail on the head with this album. Just great production here, all the way through. The craziest samples ever. Steely Dan, Daft Punk, Elton John, Curtis Mayfield, and one of my absolute all time favorite samples ever, Michael Jackson's P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) samples in Good Life. Maybe the hottest sample ever. So clever too. P.Y.T. is such an incredible pop song, and Kanye just took it and slowed it waaaay down, until it's almost unrecognizable. It took me lots and lots of listens before I realized he was even sampling anybody, and then I had to really focus to catch the sample. So subtle but man the end product is just so hot. And can I talk aboutFlashing Lights for a second? I don't even think I should. This is definitely on my Top 5 Hip Hop Songs list. It is undeniable how great the beat in that tune is. This album isn't perfect (Drunk And Hot Girls and Big Brother are two huge blemishes), but where Kanye gets it right, he REALLY gets it right. Beats and rhymes both. He was completely on top of his game here.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Flashing Lights Feat. Dwele

2. Good Life Feat. T-Pain

3. Homecoming Feat. Chris Martin

4. Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay (2008)

It has to be hard to release albums each better than the last. Coldplay has pulled it off for the last decade. Impressive. I had a lot of high hopes for this album and was totally blown away by it. The sounds here are just crazy. The intro song, Life In Technicolor, just starts with the craziest sounding weird piano instrument and opens into a huge rolling sea wave of sound that overtakes you and doesn't let you come up for air until the end of the album. The band paints so many landscapes with the songs. If I was to make a music video for Cemeteries Of London, I would have the band playing the song amidst a giant Revolutionary War battle. Cannons firing all around them, soldiers bayonetting each other. The song just sounds like a colossal battlefield to me. And how about Viva La Vida? Maybe the most inspirational sounding song I've ever heard. Really though, this whole album boasts songs that are just big. They belong in another universe. Just like X&Y, I feel like the only place they could ever truly live is in a giant stadium arena. I can't imagine Death And All His Friends any other way than the whole band performing it in front of tens of thousands of fans. All the way through, this album just sets my heart on fire.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Lost!

2. Viva La Vida

3. Life In Technicolor

3. Voodoo - D'Angelo (2000)

Remember that sexy music video from about ten years ago of that super buff black guy singing the song with no clothes on? The camera rotated around his whole body, just showing his insanely ripped torso? That was D'Angelo. And that video basically communicates what this album is all about. SEX. But it really is so much more than that too. But the sexy is the most obvious element of this album. I'd never heard music made of silk before this one. Each song is a study in not just how to get a certain feeling behind the music, but how that feeling can be communicated by the musicians. True, the feeling here is sexual/sensual soul, but it's so well communicated by how the instruments are played. The bass is pushed so far back behind the beat, it's like a game between the musicians to see how off kilter they can take the music without completely tearing everything apart. Imagine musical notes dancing around each other like they know some sexy business is going down soon. That is this album in a nutshell. Reading over that again, that's the worst comparison I could come up with but it's the only way I can communicate how much soul this album has. So much.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Greatdayindamornin' / Booty

2. One Mo' Gin

3. Feel Like Makin' Love

2. Al Green - Lay It Down

Al Green is one of those classic artists that has enough credibility from the last fifty years that basically most anyone you ask would say "Oh yeah, I love Al Green!" when really the only songs they know are Let's Stay Together, Love And Happiness, and if you're lucky, Call Me (Come Back Home). I used to be one of those people, at least until two years ago. And then he released this album. After the opening bass riff of the first track, I was sold. Not only on this album, but on Al Green as a musician in general. This was the album that did it though. Produced by ?uestlove and James Poyser, both from The Roots, this album is like the incarnation of the '70s Al Green soul imputed into the R&B of today. Holy moly is it fun to listen to. Soft guitar, bass lines that are just out of this world, horns that could only have come from James Brown's band, and all of this lays the setting for that silky falsetto of Al Green. A few great guest spots too, John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, and Corinne Bailey Rae. And the songs are just good songs. Songs about love. No politics here. No messed up relationships. Just simple love songs, of which good ones are very hard to find nowadays.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Just For Me

2. Lay It Down Feat. Anthony Hamilton

3. What More Do You Want From Me

1. John Mayer - Continuum

It might be a while before Mayer tops this album. This one came at just the right time; he was at just the right spot in his musical timeline to coalesce so many different genres and influences into a modern masterpiece. He touches on blues, jazz, funk, lots of pop, and in general just music that can be enjoyed by such a wide range of humans. And that's just the music. Lyrically, he reaches into the deepest depths of anything he had done (and even stuff he's done since this album). There are truly universal themes here, themes that at some point or another, everybody thinks about this stuff. Everybody has issues with seeing their parents age. Everybody has issues with dealing with the good and the bad in life. Everybody deals with the concept of belief in one form or another. Everybody deals with fighting off the world in order to hold onto their confidence. There is genius writing all over this one. And back to the music again, every song can be traced back to its influence if you listen closely enough. This album sent me on a hunt to find what inspired it. Here's a short list: Curtis Mayfield, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, George Harrison, Steely Dan, Coldplay, and Ray Charles. And that doesn't even cover all of the songs. It's hard to find things that aren't really, really great on this album. And that's why it's on the top of this list. It's so difficult to pull together such a great mix of elements and pull it off so perfectly as Mayer does here. Great album art too.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)

2. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

3. Stop This Train

Metal mouth, tin grin, railroad tracks. I can't think of any others.

I'm starting an experiment tonight. For the next two weeks, I'm going to wear my retainers to bed every single night. I don't plan on this being a pleasant experience. Right after I got my braces off, my orthodontist told me I should wear the retainers all the time for the first six months and then just at night for a year after that. He also said most orthodontists are starting to recommend that former braces-wearers just wear their retainers for the rest of their life.

Ha, I said. We'll see how that goes.

I've hardly worn them every night since that day, much less all the time. My longest streak of consecutive nights wearing the retainers is probably four days. And I can always tell that it helps keep my teeth together, mainly because the mornings after I wear them to bed, my teeth are in excruciating pain. I can hardly chomp on my Golden Maple Quaker Oat Squares.

So hopefully these two weeks won't be awful for me. But they probably will be.

-Jon

P.S. Remember that time that UNI upset the best team in the nation for a school-record breaking NCAA tournament run? That was pretty awesome.

I can hear my stomach grumbling at me.

After I graduated, I challenged myself to write one blog a week. It didn't go well until the end of February, and I think since around then I've kept it up alright. So the only real reasons for this blog are that I want to get my one blog for the week and I'm hungry and don't have much brain capacity for anything deeper than this.

I am very hungry right now. Colleen is meeting her mom out for dinner tonight so I've got to fend for myself. I could just eat a microwaveable pizza, but who the heck wants that when there is truly an assemblage of great fast food places close by? Here's the rundown:

McDonalds:

Great tasting food, but I feel worse after I've eaten a Mickey-D's meal than any other fast food place. Why? Not sure, it might be from that documentary Super-Size Me, which I didn't even see. Thanks brain for ruining a perfectly delicious restaurant. Super cheap and great fries. Except they have Coke products. Bummer.

Burger King:

One of my favorite fast food places. Cheap and good. And again, great fries. Good chicken sandwiches too, all on the dollar menu. Again though, Coke products. But after I'm done I don't feel like I ingested straight fat into my arteries like I do after the golden arches.

Taco Bell:

Hey gang, let's head south of the border! TB is such a great place to eat. A nice change from the normal cheeseburger. And even though every item on the menu is some permutation of cheese, beef, beans, and a shell, it's all still really good. And Pepsi products, so I can get my Mt. Dew. Except for the Mt. Dew Baja Blast they have is awful, tastes like Listerine. Gross.

Long John Silver's:

Anybody want flies on their food? Didn't think so. Granted, I haven't been to LJS' for years and years, and I remember loving it when I was a kid, there just always seemed to be three or four flies cruising around the joint every time I ever went there. Weird. I should give it another go sometime soon.

Hardee's:

Worst ad campaign ever, which is probably why most people I know say they "hate" this place. Too bad for them, because Hardee's is the best fast food joint there is, no contest. It's a bit on the pricier side, but it's so worth it for what you get. Delicious, crispy fries, regular or curly. Giant drinks (even their medium puts other places larges to shame). Huge angus beef patties. I don't even know what angus beef is, but man is it tasty. It's just all fun food to eat. What a great place.

So there's a quick rundown of what's around to eat. I could also just get a large pepperoni pizza from Little Caesar's for $5.35. One of the best deals around. But in the end, who really cares where I go for dinner except me? Weekly blog done.

-Jon

Spring Music Preview '10.

Rolling Stone has published their annual Spring Music Preview, giving its readers a sneak peek at new albums coming out through the summer. Here's what I think.

1. Erykah Badu - New Ameryikah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (3/30)

Weirdest title ever. What is the deal with Erykah Badu? Do I like her or do I not? It's a tough one. Sometimes she's like a female D'Angelo, sometimes her music is just a tish too freaky for me. But I'll probably get my hands on this album eventually. She seems like one of a few truly creative and free-thinking minds in R&B today, and that goes a ways with me.

2. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (4/06)

This one actually isn't profiled by the Rolling Stone article which is weird because it will almost certainly be better than most of the other albums on their list. There are not many groups these days with such an authentic, old-school sound. They are straight soul/funk/R&B. They sound like the JBs have time-warped fifty years and connected with Sharon Jones to make just the purest sounding soul music. I'm sure this album will be no different.

3. Keane - Night Train (5/11)

Another one not profiled by RS. I'm iffy on this album because I haven't even heard Keane's last album, Perfect Symmetry, back from late '08. So I should probably pick that up before getting excited about a new Keane album. That's sort of how Keane is for me though. I don't get excited about their albums, I get them months (or years) after they are released and then I have a quiet appreciation for them. It'll be the same with this album I'm sure.

4. Jack Johnson - To The Sea (6/01)

Considering the change between In Between Dreams and Sleep Through The Static, I can only imagine this is going to be a killer album. And Jack Johnson has long hair now. Weird.

5. Sara Bareilles - Title TBD (Date TBD)

Remember how great Sara's first album was? Word on the Wikipedia is that ?uestlove and James Poyser (both of The Roots) are helping her out with this one. Enough said. It's going to be incredible.

6. Maroon 5 - Title TBD (Date TBD)

Oh wow, Maroon 5 is coming out with a new album? Forget it guys, you released a totally phenom first single, a decently good debut album to back it up, and followed it up with kind of crap. It's going to be hard to redeem yourself after taking like four years between albums. Who do you think you are, Sade?

7. Mark Ronson - Title TBD (Date TBD)

One of the best producers around. Whatever he does with this album is going to be awesome. His second album was great, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black was great, the stuff he does with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings is great, Rhymefest's Blue Collar was great. It doesn't matter what direction he goes in because he can do great stuff in any genre. Bring it Mark.

So those are the albums that stood out. None of my favorite artists have stuff coming out, but man is this year already looking miles better than last year's spring preview. And so far, this year has been waaaay better than last year. Already, we've got new albums from OK Go, Sade, Jamie Cullum, Daniel Merriweather, Corinne Bailey Rae, and in the next month, Broken Bells, Gorillaz, and Jimi Hendrix. While none of these are Top 5 Favs for me, the number of albums I'd like to get is way bigger than normal. Awesome. Cheers to 2010 huh?

-Jon

Another one about music.

First, I know it's been nearly three months since I wrote last. Yikes. I'll see what I can do about it.

In a week, Jamie Cullum's fourth album, The Pursuit, is released in the US. I'm crazy excited, because Jamie Cullum is awesome to begin with, but yesterday I finally listened to one of the songs off this upcoming album. I hadn't heard any cuts yet, and holy cow did this one blow me away. You will almost certainly recognize this song by Rihanna:

OK, so that's a great pop tune, killer MJ sample in the middle, great beat, fun to dance to, the whole bit. It's a fun song. Now, here is one facet of Cullum's genius that blows me away. He can take a song from basically any genre and make it incredible in his own specific way. He takes Rihanna's great song and turns it into this:

Why can't Youtube write embedding codes that work well? I'm not savvy enough to get this video to fit inside the parameters of my blog. Anyway.

Gosh. Hear how he builds into the chorus? It feels so huge. And his chords, oh man does he nail this song. He turns this great pop tune into the most beautiful, jazzy anthem. Unbelievable.

The last album I bought was JM's Battle Studies; before that, Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3. I hardly ever by CDs anymore, and this is one that I am definitely making the trip out to Best Buy next Tuesday to get. You should too.

-Jon

Battle Studies.

Well, that's an embarrassing way to start this review.

Quite an event last Tuesday. John Mayer finally released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, and I got to experience hearing brand new, non-live, studio-made, John Mayer-written music for the first time in three years. Pretty exciting stuff for me. And admittedly, I was a bit nervous, as John's become quite the douche in the last three years, but it turns out my fears were unwarranted.

JM hasn't branched too far out here. If nothing else, he's taken a few steps backwards in regards to his other music. But this isn't a bad thing. His pre-Continuum music is great, so these new songs are really just a nice addition to his body of work. Most of them are anyway. As a whole, Battle Studies isn't as cohesive as Continuum, in terms of musical style and song quality. The only thing that really does bind most of the record together is a general (I use that term loosely, see Crossroads, Who Says, War Of My Life, none really pertain to the ->) theme of breaking up. Musically, he definitely dabbles in quite a few areas, but as a whole he's stepping back towards the pop scene. Continuum was just so soulful; soul emanated from every part of that album. Not so here. Overall it's much more of a pop music, radio-ready type of feel.

OK the songs. If I had my way, I would cut three songs off the record, completely retool one song, and leave the other seven exactly how they are. That's not the best percentage, but still alright. It's the middle stretch that is just plain bad. The triumvirate of Who Says, Perfectly Lonely, and War Of My Life really pains me, and Crossroads might be one of the most disappointing covers I've ever heard. Who Says sounds like an extension of his a-hole lifestyle set to a pretty little acoustic ditty, which is catchy enough that it's annoying how bad the song is. Sorry John, but very few of your fans relate to planning trips to Japan by themselves and canceling them at will. Perfectly Lonely is one of those empowerment songs that I find so inane. It'll be the one at concerts that all the lonely people pump their fists to and sing along too loudly with, trying to fool themselves and everybody around them that they're so happy they're alone. Annoying. I know this might seem like a dumb thing to say since I'm married but why can't he write one song about actually finding love or being in love where there aren't any negative little asides, or "this is great BUT..."? Just one John. I only want one.

Crossroads is a real bummer for me too. When I saw this on the track list I was psyched because of how great his Hendrix cover was on Continuum. This cover sounds like he pulled it directly from Guitar Hero. I seriously think Steve Jordan sat down to a drum kit with four parts, each a different color. And the guitar tone is so awful, which only makes the solo worse than it already is. This is just a really uninspired cover, which bums me out because usually JM does covers so well (see Free Fallin', Bold As Love, Kid A from the old days). He chooses awesome tunes, not always the most well-known, and makes them even better, injects them with something unique. This is just sonic mush. Wish you could have a re-do on this one John.

But if you listen to the good parts of this record, he really starts to shine again. The strongest element of this whole album is his voice, but only when it's bolstered by the melody lines he sings. He has seemed to hit on really quality melody lines, that are not only gorgeous, but fit his voice perfectly. Assassin and Heartbreak Warfare are the two I'm thinking of most here, but also listen to All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye, Edge Of Desire (anybody else think this song sounds like Jimmy Eat World circa 2004?). All beautiful melodies.

Assassin is shaping up to be my favorite song off the album, and thank goodness it's smack dab in the middle to break up all those crap tunes. This one really demonstrates the little things that put John Mayer above most pop artists recording today. Just like 95% of popular music, the first chorus of this tune is underlined by some pretty simple power chords. It's at 3:41 when the second chorus starts right after his guitar solo, holy cow he adds just the second note of each chord to each chord he plays and it elevates the foundation of the song to a whole new level. It's a subtle addition but it really distinguishes it from the humdrum music that we hear so often.

And I have to note the bass playing here. Bassist Pino Palladino is out of this world. To get the full effect of his playing, throw on some headphones, turn them up just a bit more than you normally would, and listen to the introduction up through the first chorus. Listen to the bass. Pino is the most controlled bass player I've ever heard. No matter how many notes he seems to bounce over, every single one fits within each chord and leads the listener along without them knowing where we're going. Listening to this song for the first few times, I could never predict what was coming next in the bass line. So great. Pino kills it here.

One quick note about Half Of My Heart, almost certainly coming to a radio near you very soon. The song is fine, nothing too special, but the back-up vocals are sung by freakin' Taylor Swift. Alright JM, I've got beef with this. She's got a fine voice, clear and pretty, but she's hardly even in this song, and the only reason I can really see that you added her in this is to grab a few new country music fans and tween fans who weren't at music-purchasing age when Mayer released Wonderland eight years ago. At the writing of this, Half Of My Heart was at #7 on the iTunes Singles chart. And I guarantee it's only because the title is followed by (with Taylor Swift). And with all of his clout, all of his street cred in the music community, he gets Taylor Swift to guest on his record? The man has worked with Billy Preston, B.B. King, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, is friends with Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, and he gets pop-tween-queen Taylor Swift to guest on his record. Just kind of a bummer to me.

Other random thoughts: War Of My Life wins the award for gayest John Mayer song title, while Friends, Lovers Or Nothing is definitely a great track and it will be a great show/encore closer. In very much the same vein as I'm Gonna Find Another You, just more Beatles-ish. Bold move too, leaving out that ol' oxford comma.

So I don't think it's not his best work, but overall it fits well into his canon. And now that I've had a week with it, I can say that it's worn well already. The first two days I gave the songs I didn't like five or six listens to give them a chance and then started skipping them, the last few days they've all definitely grown on me. So go buy it. Support good music, because the month of November will have seen album releases from Weezer, 50 Cent, Bon Jovi, Fall Out Boy (a greatest hits compilation, are you kidding me?), Lady GaGa, Adam Lambert, Rihanna, and Lil' Jon. When the music scene is that bleak, you've got to stand up for what's right and good in this world. John Mayer might not completely fit those two adjectives, but he's far better than all of the other stuff I just listed.

-Jon

A thank you letter to J.J. Abrams

HOLY COW CLICK THIS AND READ.

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I have to give all credit to Adam and his friend who linked this article on Adam's blog. I am speechless after reading this. J.J. Abrams has exactly nailed so many genius thoughts in his commentary of modern American popular culture. The Age of Immediacy, what a dead-on phrase. This is exactly why I strive to keep my iTunes library so immaculately organized and complete, and why I was so excited for The Dark Knight before it came out. This is why I don't want to watch Lost on TV, I want to wait until the whole show is on DVD and I can enjoy it in the privacy of my own home, away from prying eyes and spoiler-happy media junkies. I admit, I am absolutely a technophile and love keeping up with the media and the newest trailers and who's going to be in what new movie four years down the road, but there are some things which are so artful, so full of originality and excitement, that I do my very best to save every facet of the adventure so I can enjoy it the way I want. Slowly and each part in its due time. Mystery is such a valuable thing and in our culture of complete publicity and overexposure, where everybody has to know who is dating who, with a few clicks of a mouse button you can find out what your favorite celebrity's next project is, where they shop or even what they had for breakfast, mystery is such a rare and priceless commodity.

Thank you, J.J. Abrams, for bringing mystery back into the American eye and making us love it and long for it. Please don't ever stop making awesome things to watch.

-Jon