“A great listen, and may be the best record I have listened to this year.” – Chris Martin for The Examiner

Truckers, Gardeners and Baptists; the best records from the first half of 2010

THE BACK ROW BAPTISTS / BROKEN HEARTS & BAD DECISIONS

The Baptists are a group out of Alabama, their music tells stories dealing with the age old battle of good vs. evil, god vs. the devil, insert your “vs.” metaphor here. After listening to their album Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions I thought it was OK, but nothing great, then about a week later I listened to it again, and again and again and it was as if I was listening to a whole new record. The gritty vocals of Chris Porter and the melodic sounds of Sarah Green are balanced perfectly and go well together. A mix of instruments ranging from guitar to stand up bass to washboard gives the record the right amount of country, right amount of rock and right amount of jug band. The real key to why this record is good is the lyrics. Vivid stories about trying to be good even though being bad is so much more fun. Lyrics such as “sold my soul in Muscle Shoals” from “Wood and Steel”, “me and the Devil and a bottle of whiskey” from “Me And The Devil” and “I went out and got drunk as hell a pretty little baby come pay my bail” from “Miles Away” illustrate this point while painting a mental picture. This record is one of the few records these days that I will put in the cd player or fire up on the iPod and listen to front to back, over and over again. A great listen, and may be the best record I have listened to this year.

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We are now half way through 2010 and a lot has been going on. Not talking about the economy or oil spill or World Cup, I am talking music. In the first six months of the year a lot of really good tunes have come out and I am going to lay down what I feel are some of the better records to hit the market, and are worth picking up. I am not going to touch on every single one, just my 6 Month Top 10 List.

So here are 10 records that I think stand above everything else that has come out so far during 2010:

THE MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS / TUNE IT UP, DIME IT OUT EP

Up first is a five song EP by the Madison Square Gardeners, Tune It Up, Dime It Out. While only five tunes, these dudes from Brooklyn have filled this EP full of infectious guitar hooks and classic pop/rock lyrics that please the ears. This EP delivers from start to finish, but the tunes “Trouble” and“Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me” definitely stand out. Give it a spin, you will not be disappointed.

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS / MOJO

T.P. just keeps on delivering the kick ass tunes. The new record MOJO is not you typical Heartbreakers album. It is not radio friendly rock tunes from his past nor is it theJeff Lynne inspired Wilbury sounds from his solo work. This record is a down and dirty bluesy southern rock spectacle. Petty’s lyrics are sharp and the music is smooth. Mike Campbell jams some serious blues on this record, check out “Jefferson Jericho Blues”, “I Should Have Known” and“Candy” and you will understand what I am saying. The track “U.S. 41” could have come straight from Robert Johnson while“Running Man’s Bible” and “High This Morning” fuse Benmont Tench’s classic keyboards to create some sick sounds. This record sounds like they all got together for a jam session and ended up making a record out of it.

SPOON / TRANSFERENCE

Spoon has made a career out of creating a sound all their own, and lucky for us it is a good sound. With their new record Transference, they keep on rolling with 11 more killer tunes. Britt Daniels’ distinct voice is what makes these songs work. His distinct sound gives them their flavor, from the rough sound of “Written In Reverse” to the smoothness of “Who Makes Your Money” and the beatlesque piano ballad “Goodnight Laura”. Anyone else singing these tunes just wouldn’t sound right. Musically they make more with less, “I Saw The Light” is a tune making use with some good guitar, but a very minimalist piano and a repetitive drum beat, yet it sounds much bigger. I still do not understand how these guys are not huge, especially with all the crap music out there that is popular these days.

DEAD RABBITS / THE RABBIT THAT ROARED

This Georgia duo tears it up. Loud, crunchy, guitar, powerful pounding drums plus a raw, raunchy voice, equals a sweet psychedelic garage rock record. Do they sound a lot like The Black Keys and the White Stripes, yeah, they do, but is that a bad thing? Their debut album The Rabbit That Roarsgrabs you by the ears from the first note of “Tomorrow’s Gonna Rain” then holds you until the very last note of “Chain Down The Sun”. When it is all over you ask yourself, what the f#@k just happened, and then you do it all over again. “Perfect Demon”, “Get Well Soon” and “Wasted Blues”highlight this record and are the proverbial “cherry on top” of one damn good sundae. Give it a listen, you will not be disappointed.

SLASH / SLASH

This is a good old fashioned, play real loud in the car as you fly down the highway, ass kicking rock-n-roll record. I don’t know how else to explain it. Slash has put together a collection of songs using various lead singers that I think most of you have heard of, Ian Astbury, Ozzy, Lemmy, Kid Rock,Myles Kennedy, Iggy Pop, and Chris Cornell to name some. What makes this record so good is how each tune sounds like it was written for that singer; this is not a collection of songs where everyone is just singing over Slash’s guitar. “Ghost” (Astbury), “Crucify The Dead” (Ozzy) and “We’re All Gonna Die” (Iggy) are great tunes, but nothing compares to “Doctor Alibi” with Lemmy’s gruff vocals growling about doctors telling him this or that. Another track that stands out is the instrumental“Watch This”, Dave Grohl on drums and Duff McKagan on bass, this sounds like a G’n’R’ tune waiting for the vocals. A scratch your head moment for the record is a tune which Fergie sings, but you know, it actually is not half bad. This album meets all daily recommend servings of rock-n-roll, now get back to finding a new lead singer for VR Slash.

DAVID BARBE & THE QUICK HOOKS / LOVE IT, DON’T CHOKE IT TO DEATH

I have always been a fan of David Barbe, from Buzz Hungry, Mercyland, Sugar to the stuff he worked on with Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers, the dude knows his shit. For the past couple of years word spread that he had been working on an album with his band the Quick Hooks (they opened for Kevn Kinney at the EARL about 6 yrs ago, good show) and this year it finally saw the light of day, it was worth the wait. These nine tunes cover it all, rock n roll, fuzzy garage rock, indie rock, alt-country twang, haunting melodies, beatlesque pop tunes, you name it. Songs like “The Broadcast Spreader”, “My Shiny Bird” and “Blacker Than Blue” punctuate the range of his musictude…..yeah I made that word up. This is an album most will not even know exists, which is a shame because it is pretty damn good.

THE WHIGS / IN THE DARK

After their first two albums, I wasn’t sure they could do anything better…man I was wrong. In The Dark, starts off with a bang and does not let up for the rest of the album. The garage rock trio from Athens, GA throws everything they have at us and just about all of it sticks. “Hundred/Million”blasts off right from the start into some power guitar licks and never stops, it is fast, furious and jammin’. Other tunes such as “Black Lotus”, “Someone’s Daughter” and the final track “Naked”anchor this solid release, but the track that stands out is by far “Kill Me Carolyne”. This song is one of the perfect rock songs that come along every so often mixing great lyrics with catchy hooks along the line of songs like “Surrender”, “Bastards Of The Young” and “September Girls”. This album needs to be a part of your collection.

THE BACK ROW BAPTISTS / BROKEN HEARTS & BAD DECISIONS

The Baptists are a group out of Alabama, their music tells stories dealing with the age old battle of good vs. evil, god vs. the devil, insert your “vs.” metaphor here. After listening to their album Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions I thought it was OK, but nothing great, then about a week later I listened to it again, and again and again and it was as if I was listening to a whole new record. The gritty vocals of Chris Porter and the melodic sounds of Sarah Green are balanced perfectly and go well together. A mix of instruments ranging from guitar to stand up bass to washboard gives the record the right amount of country, right amount of rock and right amount of jug band. The real key to why this record is good is the lyrics. Vivid stories about trying to be good even though being bad is so much more fun. Lyrics such as “sold my soul in Muscle Shoals” from “Wood and Steel”, “me and the Devil and a bottle of whiskey” from “Me And The Devil” and “I went out and got drunk as hell a pretty little baby come pay my bail” from “Miles Away” illustrate this point while painting a mental picture. This record is one of the few records these days that I will put in the cd player or fire up on the iPod and listen to front to back, over and over again. A great listen, and may be the best record I have listened to this year.

THE BLACK KEYS / BROTHERS

This record, Brothers by The Black Keys, flat out rocks! There is not a bad song on it. Dan Auerbachand Patrick Carney weave a mess of tunes that grab your ears and make them their bitches throughout this 15 song odyssey. Their raw, grungy, nasty blues sound is best represented in tracks like “Next Girl”, “Tighten Up” and “Howlin’ For You”. They can also slow it down and show their soulful side, Auerbach’s vocals on “Unknown Brother” and “Too Afraid To Love You” rival that of the R&B singers of the past. My words cannot do this record justice, the only way to grasp the funkiness of the Black Keys is to listen to this album, then repeat.

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKRS / THE BIG TO-DO

The Big To-Do is another masterful album by the sons of the south, Drive-By Truckers. Songs of death and heartache and drinking and life in the south dominate this record, but then isn’t that expected? Patterson Hood’s haunting vocals bring to life the stories in each tune he sings, “Daddy Learned To Fly”, “Fourth Night Of My Drinking” and “This F**king Job” are perfect examples of this. Tunes sung by Mike Cooley such as “Birthday Boy” and “Get Downtown” are hard rocking and party friendly and Shonna Tucker throws in a nice change of pace with “(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So” and “You Got Another”. With their southern gothic storytelling expertise the Truckers just keep getting better and better.

There you have it, ten albums from the first half of 2010 that kick ass, BUT WAIT, a bonus, here are five honorable mentions.

1 - Truth & Salvage Co. / Truth & Salvage Co.
2 - Blitzen Trapper / Destroyers Of The Void
3 - The Dead Weather / Sea Of Cowards
4 - Widespread Panic / Dirty Side Down
5 - Surfer Blood / Astro Coast

I better stop here, I could name a few more because there has been some good music hitting the stores so far this year. Now go check these records out. Enjoy the music, jam out to the tunes. Hit your local indie record stores and drop some cash on these killer albums. OH yeah, check back in 6 months and I will list my best of the year.