It's always fun to go back home and see family and create new memories in the same places where you had some of your first. Although it's been years since I lived at home there are still traces of my youth in my old bedroom and in the garage. One of things I found this time around were a collection of basketball posters that I had inherited from my brother in the late 80s, early 90s; Posters of Jordan, 'Nique, and the occasional Phoenix Sun (Larry Nance). My favorite poster out all them was from the Jordan/Mars Blackmon (aka Spike Lee) advertising campaign. In it, Jordan is palming Lee's head with the caption "The Best on Earth, The Best on Mars". Jordan was the best and always will be. The commercials were always fun as well. Below are a couple of my favorites.
Like I said in my previous post, this year I haven't been as dilligent as years past in exploring new music. So, while on break in AZ, I decided to try to get caught up as much as I could in a few weeks. I looked at several end-of-year lists and listened to a lot of music. What I discovered during this short time was that great music was more abundant in 2010 than I first realized. Here are a few of the artists I really enjoyed over the past few weeks and that I am excited to listen to more.
Wild Nothing - Live in Dreams (album: Gemini)
Emeralds - Candy Shoppe (album: Does it Look Like I'm Here?)
Zola Jesus - Night (Stridilum EP)
Tamaryn - Love Fade (album: The Waves)
Warpaint - Undertow (album: The Fool)
Lower Dens - I Get Nervous (album: Twin Hand Movement)
The Fresh & Onlys - Waterfall (album: Play it Strange)
Since 2010 is now over I thought I would try to share some of my favorite music from the past year. Honestly, this year has been different from past ones in that I have not dedicated myself as much to exploring new music. Yes, I have been finding things here and there but I haven't been as consistent as previous years. Nevertheless, 2010 has proved to be a great year in music. New stuff from familiar names, an array of good hip hop, and an abundance of new artists to enjoy. Here is some of what I listened to this year.
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio (album: High Violet) - Possibly my favorite band right now. Everything they put out is amazing and this is no exception.
Yeasayer - Madder Red (album: Odd Blood) - This wasn't high on a lot of lists this year. It was dismissed as being contrived and overproduced. Yes, a couple of the songs bordered on cheesy but the rest was great. I couldn't stop listening to it.
Big Boi - Aint no Dj (album: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty) - First of all, this gets my vote for album title of the year. Second of all, it's a great album. Enough said.
Kanye - Runaway(part) - album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) - On the top of a lot of end-of-year lists, Kanye proved that he is still at the top of his game. I thought this was a great album but I found myself enjoying peoples reactions to it almost as much as the music itself. Hailed as brilliante and genius by some and shallow and beyond arrogant by others, for me it was somewhere in the middle. I loved a lot of it, but not all of it. Maybe not even the best hip hop album of the year.
