Top Ten Madness Continues with Nick of Spectra Sonic Sound!

So every year, I sit down to come up with a list of records I've really like from the past year. And every year I find that my list never even comes close to hitting ten. Are my standards so high and lofty that few artists are capable of hitting the peak? Or am I really just a lazy fan and find myself listening to the same six records that I've been listening to since sophomore year of high school?

More than likely, it's the latter. But this year, I did it! I managed to come across ten records that actually held my attention for a calender year, and now I'm gonna list them here, complete with navel-gazing WTITYB mini-reviews too! A Christmas Miracle indeed.

10)
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends

It's absolutely insane to think that the last new record we had from Les Savy Fav was also when I was a sophomore in high school (2002's Go Forth). Inches notwithstanding, it was far too long for me to go without a new record from Les Savy Fav. They've reigned in some of their more aggro tendencies, such as on the beautiful slow build of "Pots&Pans" and the meditative "Brace Yourself," which features some of Seth Jabber's most restrained playing to date. But that doesn't mean they still forgot how to shove a bag full of rocks down your throat. "The Equestrian", "Raging in the Plague Age", and "Slugs in the Shrubs" are all candidates for the LSF hall of fame of ragers.

9)
Health - Health

Heavy as shit without being metal. This is what My War-era Black Flag would sound like if they were still around today. Did I mention it's fucking heavy?

8)
No Age - Weirdo Rippers

What Damaged-era Black Flag would sound like if they were still around today.

7)
Ghostface Killah - The Big Doe Rehab

People may disagree and say it should be the new Wu-Tang record, but I haven't heard it yet (remember what I said about being a lazy listener?). Anyway, It's pretty hard for Ghostface to do anything wrong. And while Fishscale remains the gold standard he's set for the next few years, it's pretty hard to find anything remotely worth complaining about on The Big Doe Rehab, except maybe when that cunt-mop from Fall Out Boy bleats all over "The Prayer." Still though, it's Ghostface, you know it's gonna be good. And that's why it's number seven here.

6)
A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers

Well I say it's about goddamn time we had a shoegaze revival. Chapterhouse have some debts they need to pay off. And this is the perfect soundtrack to the nascent "nu-gaze" movement (you saw it here first folks). Best played at spirit crushing volume.

5)
Magik Markers - Boss

Now that we know they can play their instruments, they can start making albums that are just as arresting and powerful as Boss.

4)
Lil' Wayne - Services Rendered

Does Lil' Wayne sleep at night? I can't imagine that he does. The man is the hardest working rapper on the scene to day, even beating out Tupac (whose output has begun to look less like a geyser and more like a manageable stream). The fact is he's not even that great on the mic when you first hear him! He doesn't have the charisma of a Jay-Z or Snoop Dogg, and his albums are typically mixed bag affairs. So why is he number 4? I have no idea, except that he's managed to lodge onto my brain this year like a fucking STD.

3)
Times New Viking - Present the Paisley Reich

Times New Viking like to get beer thrown on them as they play. Times New Viking sound as though they were recorded in a tin can or in a Perfect Sound Forever afterthought. Times New Viking wrote the best song about being a teenager ever, which pretty much ensures their greatness for all time.

2)
Black Dice - Load Blown

Art school white boy funk for art school white boy people.

1)
Beirut - Fly Club Cup

:Fap fap fap: (Hey, Fuck you. It's good. He's like the indie Michael MacDonald or something.)