The 11 Best Songs By The Editors

My favorite new site has to be The Talkhouse, which made headlines this past week when Lou Reed reviewed Kanye West's new album, Yeezus.  The site has rock stars (mostly) reviewing mostly recent albums.  It's a fascinating alternative look at an album that's not through a critics eyes.  When a critic reviews an album, their intention is to pick it apart and examine its merits purposely for a public audience.  They have an agenda to entertain their audience as much as the album does.  That doesn't mean they're not fair, it just means the reviews aren't always necessarily unbiased.  Nor do they accurately convey the listening experience. When a rock star reviews an album, it comes from a completely personal space.  Musicians are influenced and affected by music in a different way.  Creating music is a personal experience.  It's exposing your heart and soul to the world.  The ability to relate to this can only be gained by experience.  When rock stars bring this experience to their reviews, their perspective is completely unique and unequivocal. Their review is more of a emotional response to the music than a dissection.  After reading some of the reviews, I can honestly say I prefer the rock stars' pov over a critic's review.  The rock stars relay how they feel when listening to the music.  That's what I want to know.  Critics review what went wrong, and that's not really helpful.  Music isn't about examination, it is about an emotional response... how am I ever supposed to know what an album sounds like when the critics are more invested in coming up with clever word play to describe a cymbal crash than revealing whether the music moved them or not?

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Editors:

1. An End Has A Start (An End Has A Start)
2. Papillon (In This Light And On This Evening)
3. Munich (The Back Room)
4. Bricks and Mortar (In This Light And On This Evening)
5. Fingers In the Factories (The Back Room)
6. Bones (An End Has A Start)
7. Alone (Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool)
8. Last Day (Record Store Day 2010)
9. Like Treasure (In This Light And On This Evening)
10. The Boxer (In This Light And On This Evening)
11. Orange Crush (Blood)

Buy The Editors new album, The Weight of Your Love...now!!!

The 11 Best Songs by Jay-Z (of the 00s)

There really is no artist that dominated the decade of the '00s more than Jay-Z.  He helped initiate the mash-up genre with The Black Album ( and The Grey Album).  The Blueprint is easily the best rap album of the decade if not the best album overall.  He's written #1 soundtracks.  He's had #1 rock album (Collision Course with Linkin Park)  He's written best-selling books.  He owned an NBA team and rebranded the Nets to be likable.  He has Obama on speed dial.  For this album, he created his own phone app.  There's nothing Jay-Z can't do.  I hear NASA is sending him to Mars...just so he has a new planet to conquer.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Jay-Z (of the 00s):

1. Heart of the City (The Blueprint)
2. 99 Problems (The Black Album)
3. Roc Boys (American Gangster)
4. Empire State of Mind (The Blueprint 3)
5. Run This Town (The Blueprint 3)
6. Encore (The Black Album)
7. Song Cry (The Blueprint)
8. My 1st Song (The Black Album)
9. Izzo (H.O.V.A.) (The Blueprint)
10. Show Me What You Got (Kingdom Come)
11. Ignorant Shit (Kingdom Come) 

Buy Jay-Z's album, Magna Carta...Holy Grail   ...now!

The 11 Best Albums of 2013 (so far)

It's the 4th of July mid-way point of 2013.  Time to take a little look back at what music we are loving here.

Sorry, I've been out of touch...but with such limited releases at this time of year...I've taken some time off to finish my book (which is based on this blog) so it can be published this November.  More on that to come.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2013 (so far):

1. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
2. Empire of the Sun - Ice on the Dune
3. Capital Cities - In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery
4. Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love
5. The Strokes - Comedown Machine
6. Small Black - Limits of Desire
7. Pickwick - Can't Talk Medicine
8. Kisses - Kids in LA
9. Calexico - Spiritoso
10. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
11. Jim James - Regions of Light

Have a happy 4th!