Top 25 Albums of the Decade Part IV

Top 25 Albums of the Decade: Part IV

Funk, Ego, and the decades best Rock.

5. The Arcade Fire – Funeral – Funeral is audio biography of every awkward, lingering, fearful, hopeful, and unresolved emotion of a generation that grew up increasingly digital and detached. The opening chords of Wake Up –  are every bit as powerful and articulate of their generations unique emotional collective as Kurt Cobain’s brooding Smells Like Teen Spirit. Where Nevermind showed the angstful children of Reagans’ America struggling to find what trickled down, Wake Up  is the choiring sound of a generation who grew up social networking, struggling to get degrees – not grow up, and trying desperately to hold on to the emotions they hardly felt before their lives and friends became Myspace pages.
    The Canadian band (named after “Not an actual event, but one I took to be true.” according to the band) formed in tragedy. Funerals name isn’t cryptic; the band was losing family members.
    William Butlers hallowing voice fights gigantic chords and arrangements including a music class worth of instruments. Sounding like all the best parts of Ziggy Stardust – without the space sci-fi theme – Funeral ended up being more about life than death.
Key Tracks: Wake Up, Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Crown of Love.

6. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – It was rejected by AOL Time-Warner. Producers called it a career killer. The Internet buzzed about it. It was set to be released on September 11^th; then mysteriously delayed. With all the myth, circumstance, and hype surrounding the album it would seem the only way for Jeff Tweedy to live up to the hype was for him to pull a Prometheus.

   Yankee Hotel Foxtrot wasn’t fire. But it’s almost as good.

    Wilco hadn’t been the most advanced band. Tweedy channeled the greats (Dylan, Young, Lennon) with enough pop savvy and folk honesty to matter; but they were just another good band. Foxtrot changed that.

    Wilco stretches simple chord progressions and folk melodies tirelessly over 6 minutes, (I am Trying to Break your Heart) layered with a clutter of charming Pink Floyd style clatter.  Tweedy’s quiet tortured-soul acoustics find new depth with the subtle and constant drums and bright keys on Radio Cure. And, the bands ever improving guitar licks on I’m the Man who Love you.

    We at the Vanguard also respect the way Wilco handled their material. The very reason for our list is to demonstrate examples of good media; albums about, and controlled by, the people who made them. Yankee didn’t have a single, was streamed free online for awhile before release, and even when it was rejected by labels, Wilco didn’t let it change their art.

    And as for it being a career killer, it’s their best selling album to date, and made it to 13^th on the billboard charts – pretty good for an album with no radio friendly tunes.

Key Tracks: Radio Cure, I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Jesus Etc.

 7. OutKast –Stankonia – Not Really hip-hop, rock, pop, or funk, but some kind of cool-breathing Chimera of a group. Outkast played their mad-scientist mix to perfection, putting most other bands who specialized in one of its many flavors to shame. No one pushed the beats better than Bombs over Baghdad (B.O.B) and still flaunted pop like Mrs. Jackson on the same disc. And that was in a decade dominated by pop hooks and beats – that has to mean something…Although not on the album, they also had the best song of the decade with the merit-of- divorce anthem: Hey Ya!

 Key Tracks: B.O.B, Mrs. Jackson, So Fresh So Clean.

8. Kayne West –College Dropout – It may seem a strange comparison, but in a lot of ways Kayne West is like Rivers Cuomo. In the early 1990’s Rock was mostly a merchant of downers (Soundgarden, STP, Alive in Chains), but Cuomo sounded more like Buddy Holly – who dropped his amp. He was singing about D&D, falling in love with lesbians, pen pals...nerdy shit.

Kayne made an album about his salvation (Jesus Walks), the dilemma of modern college life (All Falls Down), and how consuming the rap formula can be (Breathe in Breathe out) in an era where hip hop primary function was making girls dance…nerdy shit – for hip-hop.

    Kayne’s ego is something stratospheric, but it protects him. It takes a lot of confidence to allude to Happy Gilmore.in your hit about finding the son of god. It’s that humor, and quirky ego, that made Kayne the first producer turn rapper – that didn’t suck.

Key Tracks: Jesus Walks, All Falls Down, Breathe in Breathe Out.

9. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells – If The White Stripes sounds like they rock too hard for a two person bad – it’s cause their not. Don’t believe Jack White isn’t conjuring the spirit of Jimmy Page, Bob Dylan, or whatever dead delta blues men he can when he plays.

   “Feel in Love With a Girl” made them mainstream, but Jack’s Guitar (Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground), his holler of a voice (The Citizen Kane Tribute The Union), and his charm (We’re Going to be Friends.) made them the best American band of the decade.

Key Tracks: Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground, Fell in Love with a Girl, Hotel Yorba.

Editorial: Comcast Aplogizes for P2P policy.

Our Stance on Comcast's "Sorry"

    Comcast’s CEO – Brian Roberts – admitted their illegal monitoring and throttling of p2p sites was:  “A mistake.” Roberts pointed at during an address on Capitol Hill last week that Comcast changed their policy without government intervention.  However, the apology and the policy change did come after threats from free media advocacy groups.

   We at the Vanguard don’t accept Roberts apology. For years Comcast as cut connections, or dropped the bandwidth speed to p2p users – and denied it. Now that a Democratic congress supports net neutrally  reform, and consumers groups are starting to gain leverage, they apologize.  

(An assessment from The Vanguards staff, not a news story.)

Mother of Four has File Sharing Fine Cut

Had to pay up to $192,000,000 for 24 songs

    

    The inflation rate from 2006 to 2009 was 6.48%, but for Jammie Thomas it was 872.72%. Thomas uploaded some Green Day and Aerosmith tracks to Kazza in 2005.A year later the RIAA sent the mother of four a cease-and-desist letter with a settlement offer. She refused, and was sued for “unauthorized” file sharing to the tune of $9,250 a song (that’s $220,000.)

    4 years after her original case, she got a retrial. It didn’t go any better and she was forced to pay the staggering sum of 1.92 million. Songs are 99¢ on iTunes. 

    But Thomas’s case came in three acts. Thomas filed a motion railing against the court’s decision. Thomas claimed her ruling was unconstitutional (1.92m being disproportionate) and the evidence used against her was inadmissible do to wiretapping violations.

   The motion called for a retrial with suppressed evidence, a reduction in damages to $18,000, or just outright removal of statuary damages. Thomas final won- mostly.

    On January, 25, 2010 a Minnesota Judge adjusted the fine to a more realistic $54,000. A fine she still doesn’t intend to pay. "It's easier for me to wrap my brain around $54,000 than $1.92 million," Thomas told a local Minnesota radio show. "Obviously, I still won't be able to come up with 54 grand to pay this off. But that's a decision that I, right at this moment, I still don't have to make."

Axis and Allies, Jan 18, 2010.

Allies

 1. Google – The undisputed king of the virtual world has begun it’s stare down with one of the emerging powers of the real world: China. For sometime China has demanded Google censor search results on topics such as Thiamin Square. Google has complied.

    However, after China’s recent assault on the email accounts of Human Rights advocates in the country, Google has flexed its moral muscle and revoked its services.

    Although it is unlikely that China will back down – at least not quickly or easily – Google’s actions are a bold first step. Other major sites, such as eBay, have had similar spats with China. In those cases however, the companies simply outsourced their services, instead of denying them.

    The Vanguard applauds Google’s strength in being the first major company to stand up to China’s Human Rights violations as well as being a proponent of an uncensored internet.

2. Alan Ellies  - The Internets second largest file proliferating site – Oink – had its lead engineer acquitted on Thursday by a unanimous jury. Alan Ellies is the first person to be prosecuted in the UK for filling sharing. His case marks a new precedent for the digital movement in the UK, and may result in the death of the Digital Economy Bill currently being debated in Parliament. 

A spokesman for the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) said of the verdict, “It’s hugely disappointing. The Defendant made nearly £200,000 by exploiting other people’s work without permission. The case shows that artist and music companies need better protection”

   We disagree. The BPI is essentially a coalition of the four major recording companies (Warner Music, EMI, Sony, and Universal), the same companies who have already been accused of price fixing this week, and do not have a good track record for paying their artist a fair percentage of record and ticket sales.  

   If the people who’s culture produce the art do not have fair access to the media it produces, The Vanguard will continue to support the Robin Hooding of that media.

3.  Sam Raimi - When Sony tried to wrestle director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man 1-3) into a 2011 release date for 4, he walked. Raimi hated the screenplay and wanted the villain to be the Vulture (played by John Malkovich.) We applaud Raimi for sticking with his Spider-man 4, not Sony’s. So thanks Raimi, we didn’t need this again: 

 Axis

 1. The RIAA - The Recording Industry of America is trying to pressure the FCC to lax its stance on net neutrally and allow for policing of file-sharing sites. If the FCC acts on the comments made by the RIAA, they may change the rules on how they govern ISP and their network traffic.  An exert of the RIAA’s comments:

         “Peer-to-peer file-sharing services -- a favorite means of unlawfully stealing copyrighted material -- represent a huge portion of the traffic on the Internet today. Based on recent estimates, peer-to-peer file-sharing applications represent over 20% of the total bytes that traverse the Internet and 17% of the bandwidth used during peak hours. Moreover, in an average month, the top 1% of subscribers account for 25% of total Internet traffic, and 40% of the upstream traffic; over 46% of top subscribers' traffic comes from file-sharing applications. So too in the mobile context, where, by recent estimates, peer-to-peer file-sharing is the "single largest factor leading to cell congestion," taking up 21% of bandwidth on the average cell and 42% in the top 5% of cells. Put bluntly, huge amounts of the Internet's bandwidth are tied up in unlawful traffic. Piracy wastes scarce network resources and crowds out legitimate uses of the network. It costs more to bring broadband to additional areas because of this inflated bandwidth usage. As we, along with our partners launch music services depending on higher bandwidth, we have a particularly strong interest in ensuring an Internet in which media applications -- which, unlike file-sharing applications, have a low tolerance for network delay - can function smoothly and without the network congestion caused by piracy-inflated traffic.”  

Even if the FCC dose compromise its net neutrally ethics, the A.D.C appeals court may determine they lack the authority to implement such regulation. This is due to the Comcast case - discussed last Axis and Allies - where Comcast  was forced to settle a claim they regulated use of Bittorrent.

2.The  BPI -  As mentioned earlier, there is a bill in British Parliament designed by the media oligarchy to police file-sharing. The bill has cross party support – simply meaning the purse strings of the BPI are non-partisan.

Aside from out obvious complaints, the bill does more than simply limit P2P files sharing. The process of regulating these sites would be in the hands of the record labels, and film studios themselves. They would even have the power to force internet providers to cut off service to its members at their discretion.

   As the bill is written, the burden of proof is on the accused; Pretty backwards.

The kicker: the prices of the regulation will be paid for by the people, with a £2 per month fee!

3.   Bono The U2 front man doesn’t like it that you downloaded your copy of Joshua Tree for your special edition U2 iPod. We think that is kinda lame, so here you go Bono.

   He claims it isn't about his bottom line, he is sticking up for the little guy. That idea is getting harder to protect however with more and more bands using filesharing as a way to make a name for themselves. We think it worked out OK for The Arctic Monkeys. 

Top 25 Albums of the Decade part III

Top 25 Albums of the Decade part III

A few albums get a helping hand from the net,

and the first hip-hop on our list.

10. The Moldy Peaches – The Moldy Peaches – Adam Green and Kimya Dawson can’t really play or sing, and they write lyrics like “Whose pussy hole needs filling.” They wear baggy clothes, look like they probably smell, and have hair they may have literally stole from the 60’s. But from their basement in Port Townsend, Washington they channel their awkwardness childhood-latching souls more honest and raw than anyone.

   Their self titled second album was released cryptically on September 11, 2001 containing the track “NYC’s like a Graveyard.” A song about the fakeness and filth of the city.

   The heads of the Anti-Folk totem pole, The Moldy Peaches, have the peccaries identify of being the leading act in a play about anti-social art. Although they have since split up, they have been summoned from their cold northern basements by Juno and its use of the cutesy duet “Anyone Else but You” to play a few gigs now and then.

Key Tracks: Anyone Else But You, Lucky Number Nine, Steak for Chicken


11. Jay Z - The Black Album – Hip Hop dominated the Billboards and iTunes for most of the decade, but that doesn’t mean a lot of it is worth a damn. Jay Z however, doesn’t know how to make any other kind, and he deviled on her constant boosting as the world’s pound-for-pound greatest with what he claimed would be his last Studio Album (something that has become a theme.) 

   With an army of producers that would rival the JLA in raw power (Timbaland, Rick Rubin, even Kayne West, and even Eminem) the Black Album not only prove proof positive Jay Z lordship, it shaped the genera for the remainder of the decade.

   In what would be the first of his Farwell tours Jay-z took on and demolished everyone from critics to the police – while reminding them all: he was from the streets before he was King.

Key Tracks: 99 Problems, December 4^th, Encore

12.  M.I.A – Kala- MIA mixes her bright beats, with dark themes to make an album so dense and powerful that even rock nerds had to take notice. The Album, named after her mother, is about motherly struggles; how to you provide for your family. But MIA doesn’t keep it there, she expands the metaphor to topics like immigration (Paper Planes), and how easy it is to buy AK-47’s in Liberia (the Pixies inspired and sampled: 20 Dollar.) 

Although her music is far from the shallow club fair that was common this decade, it holds up pretty well if you feel like dancing to songs about problems in the Third World.                                                                                                                                               

Key Tracks: Paper Planes, 20 Dollar, Jimmy

13. Danger Mouse – The Gray Album – Some things are great apart, but don’t mix well (like cheese and chocolate.) For the most part (looking at you Fred Durst), Rap and Rock were one of them. However, Danger Mouse (aka Brian Joseph Burton aka Coolest Person Alive) developed a new method to the mad synthesizes of MC’s and Rock Riffs.

   Sampling from The Beatles’ The White Album and Jay Z’s Black Album, Danger Mouse conjured up something we didn’t even know we were missing out on. 

Aside from the masterful mixing, the Gray Album also prompted a discussion, and even some civil disobedience, about the legality of sampling music. The Gray Album is the father of the re-volution, and his inspired thousands to post their mixs on Youtube. 

    Key Tracks: 99 Problems, What More Can I Say, December 4th

14. The Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I am, I am – The Arctic Monkeys could have become maintains of the British super-hip rock scene on the strength of their savvy guitar licks, charming and precise vocals and Alex Turners candied lyrics.

   But, The Monkeys got lucky. After handing out some burnt CD’s of their EP, fans started networking. The bands fan run Myspace generated an army of fans. Big enough so that when they final did sign to a label, their first LP outsold the likes of Oasis and The Beatles.

   The albums unlikely story isn’t the only reason why Whatever People Say takes the 14^th spot however. Alex Turner turns running away from the cops, the club scene, and prostitution into poetry.

They also rock.

    Key Tracks: I Bet that you Look Good on the Dance Floor, Riot Van, When the Sun Goes Down

Time Warner, Sony, EMI, and more Accused of Price Fixing.

70¢ Floor for Digital Downloads?

By Yams

    All of the four major record labels: Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music North America, are being accused of price fixing. The price: 70 cents a song. Resulting in a 90cent price range for songs on major carriers such as iTunes.

The industry responded that music bought on traditional CD’s or tapes cost about 70 cents per song as well.

Opponents however claim that the costs of distributing music online are significantly less, and that the price is not reflective of that.

   30 cases concerning the legality of the 70 price range are being consolidated in to one law suit. The 2nd Superior Court (in NYC) has agreed to hear the case. The court will hear arguments on the profit structure of digital downloads before ruling on the specifics of each case.

    The complaint began over said record labels' unwillingness to work with eMusic, the second largest online music provider- behind iTunes. eMusic provides music at a whole sale price of 25 cents; The latest law suit has since prompted Warner Music Group and Sony BMG to sign deals with eMusic.

Some analyst predict the case could force the industry to create “fair” prices as a de facto settlement.

Magazine Providers Working on “Hulu” Site.

Major Publications to go Online.
In a joint venture between several major providers, a new site featuring a “Huluesque” digital magazine selection is set to launch. Featuring the content and support of Time Inc., News Corp, Nast, and more the site set will allow users to brose digital versions of publications such as Time, Sports Illustrated, and People.

The site will work in a similar way to ITunes, in that it will allow subscribers the ability to buy in bundles or individually from a digital store; although, the pricing and other specific information is not yet known.

Spearheaded by Time Inc, this site is in an attempt to gain leverage in the digital market. By bring together a mass of publishers Time Inc and its partners may be able to dictate what sources can accesses a wide Varity of publications.

Publications in digital forum are nothing new. PDF version of magazines and novels, have been on the internet for years. Amazon heavily promotes its Kindle, an electronic reading device where users can purchase digital copies of books, magazines, and newspapers from their library. Apple is also heavily rumored to be working on a new digital “tablet.”

There is some concern over the effect the joint venture and the site might have over the control and distribution of these publications. Although it is unlikely Time Inc will be able to monopolize content do to digital privatization.

Top 25 Albums of the Decade part II

Top 25 Albums of the Decade. Part II.

The next Five, in our list of the Decades Best. 

15. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – The Flaming lips are the musical version of Wizard of Oz; they brought color to 00’s  Rock n  Roll. Not only did they bring the fun back to rock With stage props like giant foam hands, alien masks, and New Year’s amounts of confetti, The Flaming Lips crafted a new breed of arena rock.

   Aside from their performance, The Flaming Lips also put together one of the decade most beautiful ballads. “Do you Realize” is an all time classic, with big chords, spacey ambiance, and charming vocals.

    Also…the album has a song about a girl who uses karate to fight evil robots…Awesome!

Key Tracks: Do you Realize, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 1, Fight Test.

16. Elliot Smith -Figure 8 – For as long as there is depression and guitars the two will never be an album that balances despair and pretty better than Figure 8. Elliot Smith learn his melodies from John Lennon, buy his plight is all his own. However, there is something indelible optimistic in Smiths songs. For all the pain and uncertainly that Smith crafts in his songs, it’s hard to fret, when you know even in the darkness of his life something as beautiful as his art was still alive.

   Smith’s tragic suicide is still haunting, as his posthumous works continue to come out, but Figure 8 give us something wonderful to remember him by.

Key Tracks:  Stupidity Tries, Easy Way Out, Son of Sam

17. Beck – Sea Change – If there is one formulaic way to quantify the value of art it is to see how the artist work alters, when his life is in flux. Inspired by the loss of his long time girl friend, Sea Change is a venture from Becks traditional ironic and bizarre style. It’s not small task for an artist who became famous for lyrics like “Dog food stalls, with the beefcake pantyhose” to managed an album full of deep long melodies.

   Although Beck is at his best when he is flexing is bizarre style, his ability to make a heartbreak album as honest and beautiful as Sea Change make it one of the decades best.

Key Track: Lost Cause, Paper Tiger, The Golden Age

18. Radiohead – In Rainbows – Since the Beatles invented the idea of interalbummetamorphosis only one other band has been able to pull the trick off; and they did it twice. Not only dose In Rainbows exhibit the second major change for Radiohead, it also challenges one of Rock n’ Rolls maintains: distortion.

  Although Radiohead doesn’t abounded the machines that helped them revolutionize rock forever with Kid A, In Rainbows features a stripped down guitar section. Often lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, famous for otherworldly leads is playing naked without his army of pedals. The distortion free Guitars and Yorke’s more hopeful lyrics and humming vocals syncopate into an album as colorful, dark, and unclear as the album cover.

    In Rainbows not only stripped the fuzz and crack of modern guitar from the progression of rock, it also change the way we receive it. In an effort we at The Vanguard applaud, Radiohead put the album online where fans could buy the album for whatever price they wished.

Key Tracks: The Reckoner, 15 Steps, Jigsaw Falling into Place

19. Cold Play – A Rush of Blood to the Head – It is easy to overlook Coldplay’s achievements. Their greatest album seemed like it came standard in Jettas, preloaded into iPods, and on auto repeat at Starbucks. But aside from the yuppies gushing, there is some real material to A Rush of Blood.

    Coldplay sounds like U2 and Radiohead. Their lyrics don’t revolutionize, and their style isn’t pressing. But still they are a great band. The secret to Coldplay’s quality is Chris Martins embrace of his idols. Coldplay’s art is collage, and there were no better examples of that craft in this decade than A Rush of Blood…well maybe one.

Key Tracks: Clocks, The Scientist, Green Eyes