Thirty is one of those ages that causes reflection on the people, events, and decisions that got you this far. Personally, if only for my own curiosity, I wanted to take a look back on the songs and artists that made an impact on my life. My favorite feature over at Pitchfork is called “5-10-15-20″ and consists of musicians talking about their biggest influences over the years. Full credit to them for the idea as we explore 3 to 30:

Age 3

Elvis Presley – “Suspicious Minds”
While I can’t claim to have any specific memories of this song (or any song) from when I was three years old, I know that my parents listened to some specific artists. My dad never actively listened to music when I was around, but we talked about music quite a bit. He saw early concerts by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, among others, but his most memorable was catching Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in the late ’60s after returning from Vietnam. He once told me that “Suspicious Minds” was his favorite song of all time, so I have to figure the tune found its way into my ears at young age.

Age 4

The Beatles – “Yesterday”
Similar to the Elvis entry, this song stems from my parents’ taste. My mom was a huge Beatles fan and – since girls had to take sides back then – a huge Paul McCartney fan. She often recounts the two times she saw the Beatles perform, where she no doubt screamed “Paul!” for two hours straight. There’s not much to say about “Yesterday” other than the fact that it might be Paul’s best song. If not the best, I feel like it’s the one most closely associated with him. Regardless, it’s a great song and as the Beatles have influenced countless others, they definitely factor heavily into the development of my musical tastes.

Age 5

Foreigner – “I Want to Know What Love Is”
I wanted to start this list at age three because it was a good number to match up with 30, but I didn’t have any additional “sentimental” songs to include prior to my earliest musical memory. That’s where Foreigner comes in. In my last music discussion with my dad, while watching a performance of an ’80s song on “American Idol”, he mentioned to me that “I Want to Know What Love Is” was his favorite song from the decade. I couldn’t help but laugh because in a time with so much exciting music, this song oozes with AOR cheese: backing choir, airy synth, big, but brainless, sing-along chorus. I have to admit that upon further listening, I actually started to like parts of this song. The opening vocal melody is great and the dreamy pop style is reminiscent of a lot of bands that are popular right now. Furthermore, the song is way better than Foreigner’s adult contemporaries Styx, Journey, et al.

Age 6

Billy Joel – “Uptown Girl”
Okay, now we’re on to my legitimate first musical memory. I had probably heard this song many times prior, but I have a specific memory of sitting in my mom’s car listening to “Uptown Girl” while we were at a gas station. Aside from being masterfully written and performed, the song is an incredibly infectious pop jam. In turn, I remember singing along in my head to the catchy “whoa-oh-oh-oh” bridge part repeatedly instead of switching back to the verse. When that phrase repeats at the end of the song, I was shocked to find that what I was singing matched up exactly with the song. I wouldn’t learn what a time signature was for many years to come, but learning what rhythm was from Billy Joel is my earliest and possibly most profound musical memory.

Age 7

Phil Collins – “Two Hearts”
This is another song first heard in my mom’s car. We’d just moved to Yorba Linda and my mom had the cassette soundtrack to the movie “Buster”, which also starred Phil Collins. I actually have still never seen the movie, but what I remember most distinctly about this song was the way his voice sounded. There was a richness to it that I was attracted to and would appreciate later in vocalists like Jeremy Enigk and Ben Gibbard. I went on to listen to a lot of Phil Collins, which led to Genesis, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, and the other logical connections, all because of this song.

Age 8

New Kids on the Block – “Step by Step”
As embarrassing at it is, Step by Step was the first CD I ever owned and I listened to it a lot. I wasn’t obsessed with individual band members or their dancing and didn’t even really like or know their other albums aside from the singles, but I genuinely liked this album’s 12 songs. I remember being particularly interested in the strings on “Tonight” and was quite curious about the “rapping” on “Call It What You Want”. My favorite song was the lead single “Step by Step” because of its vocal melody, propulsive beat, and synth parts. Listening to these songs again is a challenging experience and I can’t specifically say what influence this album had on my tastes (maybe my enduring love for Justin Timberlake?), but for at least a year this was the whole of music to me.

Age 9

The Simpsons – “Do the Bartman”
Having already been banned from watching The Simpsons at home, I was ecstatic when one of my buddies in the 4th grade dubbed me a copy of the Michael Jackson-penned song from the show’s soundtrack Sing the Blues. After listening to the song on repeat for days on end, my mom eventually caught me and threw the cassette away. It was too late, however, as the damage had already been done. No, I did not follow Bart’s lead and challenge the authority of my elementary school staff. I had become a life-long fan of the The Simpsons. Although, I did get my friend to make me another copy a few weeks later, so maybe Bart was a bad influence on me.

Age 10

“Weird Al” Yankovic – “Fat”
Perhaps because of my love for “Do the Bartman” – or maybe the simple fact that I was a kid – the first genre of music I started exploring extensively was novelty music. A couple friends and I would listen to and record Dr. Demento’s radio show as often as possible and swap tapes with each other if we missed a week. Weird Al is obviously the undisputed king of the genre and it’s no question why. His talent is genuine and, as anyone who has attended one of his yearly OC Fair appearances can attest to, he is an impressive performer. In addition to his talents, Al has always had a finger in the pop culture zeitgeist. “Fat” is a great parody not just because it’s clever, but because it came at the height of Michael Jackson’s pop relevance. Another great example is his “Trapped In the Closet” parody.

Age 11

Pearl Jam – “Oceans”
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Pearl Jam, so it should go without saying that the first moment I heard their music changed not just the way I think about music but changed the course of my life. Their impact on me in my most formative years is too profound to go into here, but my first steps into understanding music, art, poetry, and even things like love and death started the day my new brother and best friend Hesam walked across the street with the Ten cassette. Ten was released a week after my 10th birthday, but the night I heard it was another year or so later. That was just fine with me at the time because the wait for Vs. was a lot shorter.

Everything about Ten was magical to me: Eddie’s voice, the crazy guitar sound, the live footage in the videos, the handwritten liner notes with their scratched out words and secret messages. The songs are permanently burned into my brain. Two years after hearing it, my schoolmates and I sang the album a cappella, start to finish, on a particularly long walk through Madrid. Twenty years later, I still hold the same revelry for the album, even though I don’t listen to it very often. I don’t really need to.

My favorite moments on Ten aren’t found in “Oceans”. Those moments would be the impassioned bridge in “Black”, the ferocity of “Porch”, Mike McCready’s guitar solo in “Even Flow”, and the beauty of “Release”. “Oceans”, however, was the song that always stood out to me the most on that album. At the time, I remember it sounding like nothing else I’d ever heard before. I loved how circular the song sounds – almost like being caught in an ocean swell. The open-D tuning, the flanger effect on the vocals, and unconventional percussion (tympani, pepper shaker, and fire extinguisher) all left me flummoxed at the time. I still can’t wrap my head around the mysterious bass tone. “Oceans” also opened the set the first time I saw Pearl Jam live in November of 1995.

Age 12

Nirvana – “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”
I was probably a little too young to be in the social position of picking sides between Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but we all know which team I’d end up on. To be honest, I didn’t understand Nirvana at first. I liked all the radio singles well enough, but I didn’t have the necessary frame of reference to understand Kurt Cobain’s music. Had I been five years older, Nevermind would have resonated much more deeply than it did as a middle-schooler. While I would grow to love Nirvana, their MTV Unplugged in New York television show and album were an instant hit with me.

The acoustic format made all the songs a little bit more accessible to me, but the covers were really what grabbed my attention. The Meat Puppets songs were my immediate favorites, but there is one special moment in “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” that sticks with me to this day. In the last line of the song, right after Kurt sings “the whole…”, he pauses and looks dead ahead in this insane and intimate moment of clarity before continuing the song. It’s as if all the emotions of that entire song, the Unplugged performance, Nirvana’s career, and his own life came together in a singular moment. It’s haunting. Even more so considering he was dead five months later. It affects me to this day and I’m hard pressed to think of a better live moment in all of music.

Age 13

Weezer – “In the Garage”
While I might not have had enough angst built up to fully understand Nirvana, I could definitely relate to the youthful alienation in Weezer’s self-titled debut. I felt like “In the Garage” was speaking directly to me – swapping KISS for Pearl Jam, of course. This was my final year of middle school and the stars aligned to give me a great soundtrack to my waning adolescence. Dookie, Diary, Jar of Flies, Vitalogy, and the “Blue Album” all got me through a really tough year.

Age 14

Radiohead – “High and Dry”
I don’t need to tell anyone how good Radiohead or The Bends is. To put it simply, “High and Dry” is the song that made me want to learn to sing and play guitar. I never really accomplished either of those things, but I can certainly bust out an identifiable rendition of this fantastic song. “The Bends” was the first album to spark my musical imagination; I wanted to be Eddie Vedder, but Radiohead made me want to make music. They still inspire me to this day as they undoubtedly do to countless others.

Age 15

Tool – “Ænema”
I listened to a lot of metal during the second half of high school. I mean, like, a lot. It just seemed right at the time and I’m sure teenagers still listen to metal – or Odd Future – as an outlet for their frustration. Nevertheless, amongst all the shitty nu-metal (which I still listened to) there was a number of great heavy albums that came out in the later part of the 90s. I will defend to this day acts like System of a Down and Deftones, but the best of the bunch and the band I still listen to the most is Tool. Ænima is their best album on many levels: the right balance of prog and metal, acerbic lyrics, and a fresh style. “Ænema” is the perfect song for an angsty teen in Southern California – so satisfying were the images of all the “fake” people in the city meeting their death in the Pacific.

Age 16

Mineral – “Gloria”
I went to Palm Desert one weekend to visit my childhood best friend (a very talented and successful guy) and while discussing Queens of the Stone Age, he told me about three records I had to hear. They were At the Drive-In’s In/Casino/Out, Pinback’s debut, and The Power of Failing. Those might have been the best music recommendations I’ve ever received as they helped me discover music that I still cherish today. Mineral has many detractors, but they are one of my all-time favorite bands and Chris Simpson may be my favorite lyricist.

Unlike most of the 2nd wave emo/post-hardcore indie rock/whatever-you-want-to-call-them bands, Simpsons lyrics weren’t about girls and the inability to talk to them, they were about deeper, more meaningful scenarios. I can’t listen to “Gjs” without being brought to tears thinking of my own father and “Slower” perfectly encapsulates the helpless feeling of realizing that life isn’t fair, but we’re stronger because of that fact. “Gloria” might be Mineral’s most “emo” song, but Simpson handles unrequited love in a much less juvenile and more poetic way than his peers. The song’s chorus remains the high water mark for the genre: “Cause I just want to be something more than the mud in your eyes / I want to be the clay in your hands.” I could probably talk about this band for hours so I’ll cut it short, but Mineral is a big part of my musical identity and I’ll always be grateful to Joseph for the tip.

Age 17

Sigur Rós – “Svefn-g-englar”
I heard Sigur Rós during my first week of college. My music composition teacher also performed in an avant-garde chamber group and one of his bandmates had turned him on to this otherworldly outfit from Iceland. He played “Svefn-g-englar” for our class and we were all left speechless. It was alien music – the sound of an endless, beautiful dream. Its very existence seemed impossible and I often wish I could hear Sigur Rós again for the first time. A handful of my friends and I had the opportunity to see them play at the Wiltern in 2002 and I’ll never forget looking down our row of seats at all of the rapt faces and watery eyes. The fictional languages and twee mannerisms make it easy for some to call the band contrived, but anyone with the power to move that many people to tears – or even to feel something – cannot be dismissed. There is always a place in my world for beautiful, timeless music.

Age 18

Modest Mouse – “3rd Planet”
Back in the day on LA’s local metal station, KNAC, there was a recurring segment called “Mandatory Metallica”. When I started doing a radio show at KUCI in 2003, I did a weekly feature called “Mandatory Modest Mouse”. That was several years after my first encounter with the band, but upon hearing The Moon and Antarctica for the first time, I knew I’d be a fan of the band for life. I was already familiar with the Pixies and Built to Spill at this point, so the music wasn’t exactly “new” to me, but Isaac Brock’s voice, lyrics, and bizarre phrasing hooked me in a way few singers ever have. The lyrics on “3rd Planet” were so out there that I couldn’t stop listening to them until I’d wrapped my head around it. After all these years, I still find Brock pretty inscrutable – the mystery and magic of “baby cum angels” and hearts dripping pitch stick with me.

Age 19

Neutral Milk Hotel – “Oh Comely”
Best album ever? Probably. I don’t have any great stories about how I discovered this album and there are no romantic stories about my very first listen. I got the album online, listened to it at my desk, and had my mind blown. The album’s insane and morbid tale are well known, and no song represents all the themes of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea better than “Oh Comely”. I remember being immediately enthralled by the lyrics – much like the aforementioned Modest Mouse song – but it was the two-chord simplicity in which the dense story unravels that had me in awe. I had several folk records, but never before had I heard something so simple and so complex at the same time. I’d always regretted getting into Neutral Milk Hotel a couple years too late to see them live, but thankfully I’ll get to rectify that at the beginning of October. Excitement does not begin to describe the way I feel.

Age 20

The Books – “Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again”
Aside from some 30-second clips online, I really had to work to listen to this album. Thought for Food was released on Tomlab at a time when they didn’t have great distribution in America – I couldn’t even order from their website! Left wanting so much more after the snippets I’d heard, I finally found a link to Amazon where someone was selling the imported album for upwards of $40. I quickly ordered it and have never regretted that purchase. In fact, looking back, I would have paid hundreds for that album (assuming I had hundreds at the time).

The Books have come to define what I think music should sound like. The perfect marriage of art, tone, musicality, and outré ideas. Throw in some digital knob-fuckery and some sparse but bizarre lyrics and you’ve got one of my favorite bands. “Enjoy Your Worries…” was the first Books song I’d ever heard and it is still my favorite of all their myriad winners. The sample of the lady talking about her checks, the frantic, swirling music, and bizarre instrumentation will stay with me forever. I suppose if every artist made music like this I’d be less enthused, but, to me, the Books have stood alone as one of the best bands of the last ten years and perhaps ever.

Age 21

Iron & Wine – “Lion’s Mane”
Oh, Sam Beam… the love I have for that hirsute man. The Creek Drank the Cradle was a revelation to me in a similar way as Neutral Milk Hotel. The songwriting and melodies were so simple, yet there was a startling mix of darkness and beauty in the songs. However, whereas Neutral Milk Hotel felt alien to me, Iron & Wine seemed to come directly from the earth. Before seeing him live for the first time, I was convinced that his voice naturally sounded like a scratchy piece of vinyl. The subtle charm of “Lion’s Mane” made me want romance in my life – I’d soon go get it – and, more so, made me wish I wrote that song. It’s lovely and perfect.

Age 22

Four Tet – “No More Mosquitoes”
I’d always listened to electronic music, but not to the extent of my brother. He was listening to a lot of Chemical Brothers and their ilk in high school while I was listening to shitty metal. I’d always liked the Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin, the Pi soundtrack, etc., but I never thought seriously about electronic music until I was introduced to Four Tet. I actually heard “No More Mosquitoes” for the first time on a CMJ sampler CD that they included with their monthly magazines. The strange titular sample and the laid-back groove were compelling to me and showed me a side of electronic music that I hadn’t considered before. I practically wore out that CMJ disc just listening to one song. Ironically, “No More Mosquitoes” ended up being one of my least favorite songs on Pause when I finally got the album, which should be a testament to how great a record it is. More importantly than the album itself, Four Tet was the gateway for a lot of music. I quickly devoured the rest of the IDM scene and moved on to glitch and ambient, followed by experimental and straight up noise. The radio show I started a year later, which featured mostly experimental electronic music, wouldn’t have existed were it not for one Four Tet song.

Age 23

Sufjan Stevens – “To Be Alone with You”
If you’ve read the handful of posts on this blog, then you know my relationship with Sufjan Stevens is strained as of late. When Seven Swans was released, however, I had nothing but pure, unwavering love for the man. I’d heard his Michigan album prior to this and really enjoyed it (and bought it for my Michigander mom for Christmas), but it was this sacred album disguised as secular music that truly won me over. I am not a religious person, but I’m always interested in the art created by the devout; whether it be massive cathedrals or insane outsider paintings, individuals who believe in something so strongly usually create at an equally extreme level. “To Be Alone with You” is one of the best love songs I’ve ever heard and the fact that it’s about [g]od doesn’t change the sentiment or impact of Sufjan’s words. And the whole album is like that: intense, passionate songs that move you despite your relationship with the subject. Additionally, the banjo and acoustic guitar interplay over the course of the album matches the tone perfectly. Seven Swans is my favorite in a catalog of great records, but I truly hope Sufjan returns to these sounds and ideas sooner rather than later.

Age 24

Joanna Newsom – “Sawdust & Diamonds”
It took me awhile to get past Joanna Newsom’s Lisa Simpson-esque voice and really enjoy her first album. However, upon hearing Ys – and this song specifically – I became her biggest advocate and a fan for life. It was like hearing Björk for the first time (who also deserves a spot on this list, but probably lost out to Pearl Jam or Nirvana). The combination of Newsom’s harp and the orchestration from Van Dyke Parks was transcendent and moved me in a unique way. The bizarre lyrics and twisting melody captured my attention immediately and made the song feel like one minute instead of ten. What’s with the door? The bell? The mystery of the song keeps it magical and keeps me listening time and time again. Despite the track’s length, I’ve probably listened to this song more than any other in the last six years.

Age 25

Clipse (ft. Slim Thug) – “Wamp Wamp”
This list is woefully short on hip-hop, but that shouldn’t be a reflection of my tastes. Albums like Deltron 3030, Madvillainy, Dr. Octogynocologist, and cLOUDDEAD changed my perception of what the genre is capable of. Tupac, Jay-Z, Aesop Rock, and Lil’ Wayne get frequent “spins” on my iPod. And, according to this blog, Kanye West released my favorite album of last year. It’s Clipse, however, that I listen to and celebrate the most. All the guys I listed have great wordplay, flow, and production, so it can’t be that. It’s certainly not the lyrical content, which is not only unrelatable, but also ably delivered by guys like Ghostface. It’s something intangible that I still have yet to figure out.

Nevertheless, Pusha and Malice have perfect rap voices, swagger, and egos. I don’t believe them for a second when they talk about how they’re still cooking crack, but I’m helplessly compelled by the world they’ve created. They rhyme about an insulated world and unattainable wealth, but their songs are all inclusive. Whereas I know that Immortal Technique would hate on a personal level despite my love for his songs, I feel like Clipse would welcome all comers to “ball around the world” with them. Still, like I sad, I can’t put my finger on the exact reason I love these guys so much, but Hell Hath No Fury is my favorite hip-hop album. *insert Pusha T ughck noise*

Age 26

The Dodos – “Fools”
In 2008, I’d just returned from South America and found myself dealing with some bouts of listless depression. Not the suicidal, “I hate my life” depression, but indifference towards my job, my living situation, my direction in life. In an uncharacteristically reactionary move, I quit my job and spent the summer on a couch in San Diego playing video games and eating Korean BBQ. Okay, only one of those things is uncharacteristic. Nevertheless, the soundtrack to my summer was The Dodos’ Visiter. I honestly listened to this album multiple times a day for three months, only stopping occasionally to check out the new Immortal Technique and Clipse mixtapes. The Dodos sounded completely fresh to me and it was the perfect sound for that time in my life. The unhinged acoustic guitar, drum rim percussion, and possessed vocals lodged themselves in my brain and helped keep me sane during a really strange time in my life. That aural psychiatric help really worked for me because life only got weirder after that, but I didn’t compromise my new life plan. I’m sitting in a cafe in Brighton, England, listening to Visiter and refusing to compromise.

Age 27

Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
I’ll keep this entry short since it seems like there’s a growing backlash towards Justin Vernon and I don’t want to drag myself into some kind of debate because, honestly, the guy doesn’t deserve it. So his songs are in Twilight, so he gets tween panties wet. So what? The guy is amazingly talented and For Emma, Forever Ago is one of the best examples of a musician being so completely immersed in his craft he creates a timeless piece of art. This album found me at time in my life filled with tragedy and loss – I’d already given up on romance and love – but I related to the heartbreak and isolation inherent in the songs and found solace in the music. Say what you will about the oft-told log cabin story or the Bruce Hornsby sound of Bon Iver’s new album, but For Emma… deserves a lot of respect.

Age 28

Dirty Projectors – Cannibal Resource
I first saw Dirty Projectors open for Xiu Xiu at the Echo back in 2006, I believe. A couple friends at the radio station said that they had the most amazing live show, so I had to go early and catch them. Not only were my friends right, but Dirty Projectors only gets more amazing over time. I think I saw them four times in 2010 and they still haven’t gotten old or failed to impress me. The line-up has changed a bit since I first saw them, but Dave Longstreth seems to have found the best group of musicians to fully support his sound and vision. If Longstreth is the brain then the three female projectors, Amber, Haley, and Angel – oh, how I love Angel – are the backbone. Their intricate harmonies, hocketing, and other vocal calisthenics complement Longstreth’s crooning, but they are also critical to the artistic success of the project as a whole. I could have picked any song from Bitte Orca but “Cannibal Resource” felt like as good a choice as any. It’s the first song on the album and the introduction to a musical masterpiece. This will always be one of my favorite bands.

Age 29

tUnE-yArDs – “Bizness”
Technically, I’m still listening to this record all the time as I didn’t pick up until the twilight of my twenties. But, I anticipate listening to it all the time for years to come because it’s fucking awesome. I have to admit to judging tUnE-yArDs purely on aesthetics – I thought the band name and spelling was stupid and the female lead of the project was ugly. I know how awful that sounds, especially when the only other female artists on this list are really pretty, but I’m happy to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong or ignorant. Merrill Garbus is incredibly talented and this record is easily one of the standouts of an already great 2011.

I still don’t like the spelling of the name, but it is indicative of the frantic and constantly changing sounds of the album. I feel like “Bizness” is tailor made for my own musical taste. I mean, it opens with cut up vocals! That’s one of my three favorite things in music, along with handclaps and boy/girl harmonies. Of course, the song has much more than that, including manic and arhythmic screaming, a catchy chorus hook that sticks in your brain for days, and a bridge part where the song almost derails by eating itself alive, demonstrating that it isn’t just a song, it’s a living entity. As I’m writing this now, I actually have just returned from seeing tUnE-yArDs live in London and they were fantastic. While the sound isn’t as big as the record, the stripped down instrumentation was tight and Merrill emits pure, infectious joy onstage.

Age 30

Girls – “Honey Bunny”
Since I’ve only been 30 for a couple weeks, there hasn’t been that much compelling new music, but I have a feeling that if I wrote this a year from now, the new Girls record would still be my pick for the year. I loved their debut and the subsequent EP, but they shattered my expectations when I saw them play at FYF last weekend. I found myself watching the show and wondering what kind of music Kurt Cobain would be writing if he had stuck around a little longer. It might sound something just like this; Christopher Owens is the real deal. The new songs are bright, alive, and stick to your soul. This is the best pop/rock album I’ve heard in a long time.

Honorable Mention

Jonah’s Onelinedrawing – “14-41″
I hate relegating Jonah to an honorable mention section, but he holds a unique place in my musical life that doesn’t quite fit the theme of this exercise. While I love his music, his real impact on me has more to do with changing my definition of performance, the relationship between audience and artist, and my own music “career”. If you’ve seen Jonah play, you probably know what I’m talking about, but there’s one specific example that illustrates all of these things.

In 2001, just days after 9/11. Jonah came through town with New End Original and decided to book a one-off gig in Fullterton. He put out on open call on his message board for local guys to play short sets before he went on. I decided to participate despite having never played live before and not really liking my own songs very much, but, looking back, I couldn’t be happier that I mustered the courage. Maybe one hundred folks showed up and everyone was still reeling from the attack days earlier and there was a real tension in the room. Jonah set the tone before anyone played and said that we’d have night of communion, share songs, and try to help each other make heads or tails of our feelings. The crowd was silent through all the songs – we were all warmly received – and when Jonah played, in his typical fashion, he would stop mid-song and have open discussions with us.

Needless to say, it helped all of us make a little more sense of a very confusing time. That sort of performer is rare, but it’s something there needs to be more of. Yet, of course, there can only be one Jonah. As for my own songs, I never really played again after that. It just didn’t seem worth it. The memory of playing that show is more than enough of a music “career” for me. As for the song choice, what better tune to end a post all about age?

I suppose it’s about time I wrote something new in this poor abandoned blog. It’s funny, I’ve spent innumerable hours completely redesigning this site three times over the years – in addition to all the necessary back-end tweaks required after being away for months at a time – but I can never manage to post consistently. I guess I never feel that my life is interesting enough to share with others (reality: I’m really lazy). Truth be told, a lot of interesting things have happened over the past six months, all culminating with my *gasp* thirtieth birthday a couple weeks ago. I’ll start at the beginning.

Better Homes and Kegerators

My brother and I were each paying ridiculous amounts of money in rent and getting virtually nothing in return, save for a roof (albeit a nice one) over our heads and, at least in my case, a very reliable air-conditioning unit. My apartment was nearly 1200 square feet and I had five total pieces of furniture. It goes without saying that a lot of our money was being wasted on housing. Our business provided us with an opportunity to put together enough cash for a down payment on a house, so we jumped on the chance and immediately started house shopping.

As children, we were dragged through an unending labyrinth (or so it seemed) of model homes by our mother and grandmother, who held a fascination with such places despite the fact that we always had a nice place of our own. Andy and I feigned interest by playing young prospective buyers: evaluating closet space to determine the level of hide-and-seek fun and testing the durability of staircases by sliding down them head first on our bellies. Somewhere along the line a strange thing happened. I actually began to enjoy my tours of those ghostly houses, carefully studying the placement of fake electronics and counting off the square footage of rooms with my feet to see if they could fit larger beds. I liked it so much, in fact, that I had designs (forgive the pun) to become an architect and even took two full years of drafting courses where I created blueprints of everything from condos to fire stations. When one of my teachers started paying me to build websites during class, I quickly abandoned my dreams of becoming William Pereira and the rest is history (the “rest” being me accomplishing precious little over the last fifteen years). Nevertheless, I still love home tours and the prospect of actually purchasing one was a really exciting idea.

I couldn’t have been more ignorant to just how miserable house shopping is. Invading the living spaces of imaginary people and sketching fantasy homes on vellum is a far cry from inserting yourself into the residences of real humans. The people and places we visited were awkward at best and unsettling at worst. Faded, framed pictures of Jesus, shrines to dead family members, and rooms piled high with junk are one thing, but when we met the elderly couple on Mardell, we nearly abandoned the search altogether. Both the husband and wife had to be in their 90s, with the former permanently confined to the sofa, unable to get a sentence out clearly, while his wife, the communicator, was sadly diamond-hard of hearing and overcompensated by threatening our own aural capacities. Her yelling and his guttural utterances were certainly off-putting, but the house they lived in was a perfect example of why finding the perfect house was so arduous.

The place looked great on paper: nice square footage, corner lot, large driveway, recent renovations, large kitchen. In reality, there was virtually no front or back yard and the square footage was wasted on the “renovations”. I want to meet the individual that did the remodel; a hallway led to a bathroom, which opened to an office, which opened to a laundry room, which opened to the backyard. So, if someone had just completed work in the office, they’d better hope no one was in the bathroom or they’d have to walk out back and around to the front door just to get to the rest of the house. And then the kitchen… it’s defining characteristic was a mail slot in the wall through which you could pass small bits of trash to an open bin outside. We were privileged enough to see this demonstrated by the lady of the house.

We actually put in an offer of a different house than the [better] one we ended up with. Both homes had some specific similar traits, not limited to the owners being hockey (GKG!) fans and having built-in kegerators. Yep, we based one of the biggest investments of our lives on beer and hockey. Well, mostly beer. The new place has been great despite a few headaches with broken appliances, etc., but that presumably goes with the territory. We have some remodels of our own to get done (so I can have a bedroom), but we’ll get to that eventually. I think we’re just so relieved to have a place and not to have to go through the shopping process anymore that it’ll be a year before it actually looks like people live here. We did get good use out of the kegerator at our housewarming party, however; a few kegs of Racer 5 were polished off in seemingly record time.

I should briefly add that our real estate agent, who is also the mother of one of my dearest friends, is an absolute saint. If it weren’t for her seemingly infinite patience and genuine concern for the needs of her clients, we might still be going broke in Irvine, trading vodka futures to stay alive.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I had the pleasure of seeing several of my friends get married this summer. Brian and Jessica had a beautiful wedding at a winery and I had a blast meeting some new people and drinking the free-flowing wine and Stone beer. At this point, I’d been growing my hair since March 2009, with a few trims along the way. I’d become pretty hirsute with my hair the longest it had ever been – including my grunge/metal days as a 15-year-old – reaching well past my shoulders and down to my chest, and my beard disheveled and uneven (figure 1.1).

I had become used to looking like a member of Fleet Foxes, but the daily upkeep on hair that long is nearly unbearable. Every day I felt like I was brushing out handfuls of snarly hair and was afraid I’d be left bald if it continued much longer. With my best DDR Spencer’s wedding on the horizon and the fact that I had to have my picture taken and actually participate in a capacity beyond keeping a watchful eye on the bar’s gin supply, I decided to chop off my mane. The process itself was relatively painless and I was more relieved than anguished. In fact, I was almost like the anti-Samson; I seemed to be livelier and have more strength in the days following my “operation”. My hairdresser gave me the necessary tools to donate two ponytails of my hair to Locks of Love, so hopefully there’s some little girl out there rocking out to Elliott Smith, imbued with the spirit of survival. Wait, that doesn’t make sense.

I feel vain mentioning my friends’ weddings only to talk about my hair, so I suppose I should spend a few sentences singing the praises of their nuptials. One might think that my favorite part about a wedding is the open bar and one would be correct in thinking so. My second favorite part, however, is that weddings bring together large groups of friends that might not get to see each other very often. Spencer and Brian both scheduled their weddings away from home (Palm Springs and San Diego, respectively), so it was even more of an event to get away to beautiful places for a couple days, spend quality time with treasured friends, and celebrate our hosts’ love.

Speaking of love, I occasionally find myself missing the companionship of being in a relationship. But whenever I think about it too deeply, I remember that it’s not worth the hassle of all the other crap that goes along with being committed to someone. And when I really think about it, all I want is to foist my music, movie, etc., tastes onto someone who is forced to receive them. It’d also be nice to have a ready and willing model for my photography. The irony is that I have always been and remain a true romantic; I wholeheartedly believe in love, but want nothing to do with it. Yep, still vain.

Thirdly: Thirty

I’ve been mostly oblivious to my own aging, other than finding it increasingly easy to be a curmudgeon without excuse or remorse. Accordingly, I found myself stunned as I noticed how much my hair has thinned. It was a couple days before Independence Day and I was in Michigan visiting family. I’d just gotten my hair cut and the moment in question came just after one of my first showers with short hair. As I dried off, I noticed something shining a blinding white in the mirror – my own scalp! Perhaps my hair has been thinning for years and I just never noticed it because of the length. Or, perhaps, my daily hair-brushing had simply yanked a ton of hairs from their follicles. Either way, it was shocking.

I blankly stared at my head for a little while, my nose nearly nudging the mirror, before my eyes landed on another new imperfection. I seem to have developed a new crease line around my mouth. Instead of continuing to panic, I just started laughing uncontrollably. I’m not sure what prompted that response, but the aforementioned curmudgeon in me assumes I subconsciously processed the triviality and absurdity of life and reacted the only logical way. My appearance hasn’t troubled me since.

My actual birthday passed uneventfully; we drank some gin at Arun’s house and then I went home and watched a couple episodes of Star Trek: TNG on Netflix. Andy generously bought me dinner at our new favorite sushi restaurant, Sushi Ohshima, which is walking distance from our house (well, walking distance if we drank too many Asahis). The meal was another epic omakase exercise in gluttony. We were at the sushi bar for a good three and a half hours before Shige-san starting testing our will with a giant, broiled amberjack head and collar. We sucked out the eyeballs, devoured the cheeks, and stripped the bones like piranhas. Shige-san gave us some victory barracuda and we got out of there. Age will not temper my lust for raw fish.

Last week, my mom was kind enough to treat Hesam and I to a late birthday dinner at Hatfield’s. I’d visited the new Hatfield’s location shortly after it opened and was disappointed when the tasting menu didn’t compare to the original location’s impressive spread. After hearing some positive things from friends, I decided to give them another try and was pleasantly surprised with the plates we received. The hamachi croque-madame on brioche with prosciutto and quail egg (which has been on the menu since the original location) was still the star of the meal and is the kind of dish you dream about months after eating it. Hesam and I got the wine pairing, which we found to be adequate (nothing compares to wd~50′s wine pairing magic), and then proceeded to get blackout drunk around Hollywood.

When I say blackout drunk, I literally mean it. I woke up in my hotel room at the Roosevelt the next morning with five separate mini-bar bottles of water, all opened with a gulp taken out of each, and a text message from Hesam asking for help putting the pieces back together. We played Memento all morning, retracing our steps to no avail. We had cab receipts and valet tickets, but somehow the car teleported from one location to another over the course of the night. There are still unanswered questions, but I suppose I’m lucky that there were no strange people in my room with me when I woke up, aside from the giant photo of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.

I guess I’m getting too old to drink. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

My Facebook friends will probably recall my drunken post-show rant after I saw Sufjan Stevens at the Wiltern back in October. I will quote and paraphrase what I posted then, so this may not be news to some of you. I should start at the beginning of this story: the new record.

The Age of Adz seemed to be pretty divisive among listeners, but, despite its change in direction, I enjoyed it a great deal. I found the album to be his most personal — and possibly his best — with songs like “I Want To Be Well” and “Age of Adz” saying more about Sufjan than any of his previous efforts, not to mention the grand, artistic gesture of the 25-minute album closer “Impossible Soul.” The lyrics are heartbreaking and introspective and I became transfixed upon my first listen. I sent the following tweet after a couple play-throughs: “I really wish I could be horribly dumped by the love of my life right now so I could totally relish in the new Sufjan record. It’s so good.”

The first song I heard from the album was the dizzying yet melodic and catchy “Too Much.” The song had so many layers and intricacies that I couldn’t wait to see how he would pull it off live. Needless to say, I should have stayed home the night of the show; his garish performance and bewildering monologues changed the definition of the new songs and took something away from me (and kind of made me feel like an idiot).

Don’t get me wrong: musically, everything was near-perfect. Sufjan has always assembled talented musicians for his shows and is always on point, himself. I’m also a sucker for multiple drum kits, but that’s a different story.

The problem was that Sufjan’s antics and the show’s production were unabashedly self-indulgent. The Williamsburg hipster girls awkwardly dancing around in spacesuits and the floor-to-ceiling video screens were totally distracting and downright silly (particularly the Sufjan-as-Morrissey leather jacket fashion photos and the over-the-top “THIS SONG IZ ABOUT FIRE!!!1! DID U NOTICE??” visuals during “Vesuvius”). I nearly lost my shit when Sufjan began performing his own choreographed moves along with the two girls. It was like he was intentionally mocking his own songs. I think this photo should tell you everything you need to know about what the show looked like.

Worse than the misguided (to be kind) stage show, his speeches to the audience are really what killed it for me. In his first words to the crowd, he literally called himself a prophet and referenced the coming “end times.” Later, in a nearly 15 minute prattle about Royal Robertson — who he explained was a fellow prophet, but then didn’t understand why the crowd was laughing so hard when he said Robertson was schizophrenic — he again made mention of the end of the world and said that he believes his personal heartache causes natural disasters around the world. He said when he would get sad a snow storm would begin and when his heart would get broken an earthquake would happen and he knew it was because of his pain. When everyone laughed at him and he stared stone-faced back at the crowd, it became very clear that he was not kidding. Even then, however, I’d just dismiss it with, “Okay… dude lost his mind. I’m mostly fine with that.”

The deal breaker came as he continued rambling on for another several minutes telling the audience how, in writing the new album, he was focused mostly on the “sound of things” and the “idea of sound.” In doing so, he said, he had given up on “meaningless” things like song structure, standard instrumentation, lyrics, and poetry. To me, I took that as, “Hey, you know those emotional connections you made to my songs? Remember how you really felt what I was talking about? Didn’t you love how the composition, style, and sound of the new songs was so deliberate and impactful? Yeah, well fuck you!”

I was in total disbelief, but that quickly turned to outrage. How dare he? He really did strip me of my respect and enjoyment of the new songs, which isn’t fair for an artist to do. Even if the songs mean the exact opposite thing to Sufjan as they do to me, he diminishes his art by destroying my connection to it. I will concede the fact that his words might have come out totally wrong, but what he said that night, combined with the dancing and video projections, was indeed “too much.” I had to leave the show early before, god forbid, he ruin “The Dress Looks Nice on You” by saying that banjos are a social construct or that he’ll never play “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” again because B minor is the devil’s key.

I didn’t listen to any of Sufjan’s records for months, but in writing my “Best of 2010″ post, I put on The Age of Adz to see what I thought of it now. You know what? I still like it. There are some very well-written songs on there and, poetry or not, the lyrics still mean something to me. However, I can’t separate the album from his performance and discussion of it — his words are forever stuck in my mind — and as a result, I found myself moving on to another record after only a couple tracks. I anxiously await his next album and hope that this was all just a phase. In the meantime, The Age of Adz is going to be collecting some digital dust in my iTunes.

It might be too far into 2011 for this list to have any relevance, but this blog is new, I haven’t written anything in years, and I need content! By most accounts, 2010 was a pretty good year for music and it definitely deserves bonus points for the strong follow-up to an incredible 2009. The year was marked by underwhelming efforts from old standbys (I’m looking at you Antony, Gorillaz, and Hot Chip), while a bevy of new artists released some fantastic music.

2009′s indie rock onslaught carried into the first few months of 2010 with great releases from Surfer Blood and Local Natives. A slew of awesome summer jams like “Fuck You” and Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot… soundtracked some great pool parties and vacations. The latter part of the year got dark and weird, but that made things all the better on albums by Kanye West and Deerhunter. Looking back on 2010, the best records of the year all contained a mix of ego, ambition, and just a touch of crazy.

Best Album

1. Kanye West -My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
There’s not much that can be said about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that hasn’t already been said by just about everyone. Even without this album, Kanye was everywhere in 2010. Conveniently, there was no better time to drop a record than when his omnipresence as MTV villain, Twitter deity, fashion and style connoisseur, and dick-pic sexter virtually guaranteed that everyone was watching and listening. But Kanye is a special kind of egomaniac: one with ambition. He isn’t an attention whore — he genuinely wants to be the best at everything and dominate culture. That drive combined with a high level of artistry is what makes MBDTF the best album of the year. Only someone like Kanye could ever pull it off.

Where Kanye found the time to make an album is beyond me, but he didn’t just write a record, he also assembled a huge and varied cast of characters to help fulfill his vision and craft his masterpiece. Artists as diverse as Jay-Z and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon appear on “Monster” together, while eleven different vocalists including Rihanna, Elton John, and Kid Cudi turn in performances on “All of the Lights.” Kanye has always been a better beat-maker than a rapper, yet, while the production is flawless, it’s the lyrics that make good on the promise of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy‘s title. Hidden amongst the clever wordplay and typical rap bravado are deeply personal — and often dark and twisted — disclosures. What makes My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the year, however, is that listening to it is a revelatory and mind-expanding experience not just for fans of the hip-hop genre, but for all art lovers. This album alone will influence countless artists and could change the direction of this decade’s music the way OK Computer and Kid A did for the last. If public scrutiny and media over-saturation are the driving forces behind Kanye’s musical abilities, then let’s never keep him far from our minds.

2. Owen Pallett -- Heartland
Owen Pallett ditched his Final Fantasy moniker for the release of Heartland, but his role-playing game and high fantasy influences are still firmly intact. His last full-length, the under-appreciated He Poos Clouds, had a loose narrative concept involving the schools of magic found in Dungeons & Dragons. Pallett followed that release with the Spectrum, 14th Century EP — a collaboration with members of Beirut that introduced his listeners to a strange imaginary world called Spectrum. That world is revisited on Heartland, which chronicles the travails of protagonist Lewis as he leaves his farm to spread the word of his god, to whom he is devoted and has a mild homoerotic love for. The violent and shocking tale sees Lewis battle a cockatrice, commit uxoricide by throwing his wife off a mountain, and become drunk with power and conquer the land before ultimately climbing towards heaven to kill his creator. Oh, by the way, the cruel and indifferent god just happens to be named Owen Pallett.

While the real-life Pallett may sound a little nuts after that description, the lyrics actually reveal his own questions and struggles with faith and love as told through Lewis, the farmer. Rarely are any premises this high-concept and ambitious successful, and Pallett really nails it on Heartland. He’s helped along by stunning orchestration from members of Arcade Fire, Nico Muhly, and the Czech Symphony Strings, along with his own virtuosic strings and piano. Stylistically, the songs move between measured chamber pop pieces like “E is for Estranged” to the upbeat, electronic pulses of “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt.” Knowledge of the story behind the lyrics isn’t a prerequisite for enjoyment; the vocal melodies of Heartland are contagious and will stick with you for days. Although, you might distress others if you’re walking around singing “the stony hiss of cockatrice has cast us into serfdom / I close my eyes, and spur Imelda down the mountainside” under your breath.

3. Joanna Newsom -- Have One on Me
Have One on Me can be exhausting. Its eighteen tracks span over two hours and Newsom quite often moves through multiple motifs in just a single track. It’s understandable why many critics missed this album at the end of the year or just stuck it haphazardly on a list because it seemed like the right thing to do. Have One on Me is a subdued affair, with lots of varied terrain but no real peaks or valleys; it’s assertive but not aggressive, diverse but not adventurous, and expansive but not overwrought. The triple-LP requires your time and will reward you for it, but only if you’re up for the journey.

Newsom’s voice has never sounded more confident and polished — gone are the Lisa Simpson comparisons — and she uses her instrument to great effect as she adds a distinct identity to each of the compositions. Though her harp still figures largely, the songs are less reliant on it as she seems to move to the piano more often. The instrumentation has been expanded to include full band elements with greater frequency, including drums, horns, banjo, strings, and even backing vocalists, all of which add new depth and character to the sound. Newsom delivers her take on several styles — often in the same song — such as jazz on “You and Me, Bess,” country rock on “Good Intentions Paving Co.,” chamber pop on “’81,” and folk on “Go Long.”

While the album can easily be enjoyed as a whole, I’ve found the best way to listen to Have One on Me is to start it in a different spot each time and immerse yourself in the music. There are new discoveries to be made on each listen, no matter how many times you’ve spun the three records around. Even though it was released in the earlier part of 2010, like a good book, this is one I couldn’t wait to get back to over and over again.

Honorable Mention: Big Boi -- Sir Luscious Left Foot…The Son of Chico Dusty, Local Natives -- Gorilla Manor, Deerhunter -- Halcyon Digest, Girl Talk -- All Day

Worst Album

Lil’ Wayne -- Rebirth
I don’t think this one needs any explanation. Wayne is saying that The Carter IV will be released in the next couple months, so this will soon just be a hazy memory like Virtual Boy and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.

Most Overrated Album

1. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti -- Before Today
At first I thought I just wasn’t cool enough to understand this album. I don’t mean that in some kind of hipster-bashing way; Before Today felt like a record that required prior knowledge of the artist which I didn’t have. I’ve seen a lot of indie press calling this album “accessible,” but even after doing my homework on Ariel Pink I have to disagree. There are some pretty great sounding moments on this album (the bass/keyboard breakdown in the middle of “Beverly Kills;” the familiar chorus melody of “Round and Round”), but they’re fleeting and unrewarding. The dark lyrics and obvious musicianship are undermined by pastiche and insincerity. Pink is clearly not an artist that is out to simply make deranged or damaged art-pop; he’s keenly aware of what he’s creating and his attention to detail is apparent. Whatever effect he was going for is completely lost on me, however, and I just can’t buy into something that sounds so artificial and disposable, no matter how deliberate.

2. Arcade Fire -- The Suburbs
Let me start off by saying that I like and respect Arcade Fire a lot. I remember when the “Neighborhood #1″ 7-inch came into KUCI in the summer of 2004 and within a week everyone who spun that record on a whim had their mind blown. The band and their cohorts are obviously very talented (I think I mention Owen Pallett somewhere in this piece) and I think they’ve influenced the sound of the last five years in positive ways. I only mention any of that because Arcade Fire really doesn’t deserve some dude on the internet shitting all over their album for no apparent reason (not that they care), but I feel like the problem is less with them and more with the music press.

The Suburbs stays true to the formula that Arcade Fire has utilized since their inception, but breaks no new ground. Are the songs good? Yes. Are they exciting? No. Will fans of the band and fans of rock music be happy with the album? Yes. Will anyone care about this album a year from now? No. The blogs and magazines who put this record near the top of their year-end lists are kidding themselves if they think The Suburbs has any longevity. The same thing happened a year ago with Animal Collective and Merriweather Post Pavilion and now bloggers seem to be mustering as much faux-interest as they can in the new Panda Bear, but it’s obviously half-assed. Here’s my point: Arcade Fire make good music not genre-defining music. I’m cool with that and you should be too.

Most Underrated Album

1. Julian Lynch -- Mare
I knew nothing about Julian Lynch when I picked up this album, but I immediately fell in love with its diverse sounds, eclectic instrumentation, and nontraditional song structures. Mare treads ground somewhere between folk and neo-psychedelia, but is so unique and well-crafted that it transcends definition. Having taken classes in ethnomusicology (Lynch is a graduate student in the field) and simply by loving all sound-making devices, I have to admit to getting geek chills when picking homemade wind instruments, tablas, and gamelan out of the intricately layered mix. I could gush about this record for days — I can’t recommend it enough.

2. Four Tet -- There Is Love In You
After half a decade of side-projects and mixtapes, Kieren Hebden’s most recent release under his Four Tet moniker is one of his best. It’s also one of the best compilations of electronic music in an era where awful, disposable dubstep, Eurodance, and house are dominating the genre (if there’s something else out there, by all means, please let me know). On There Is Love In You, Hebden demonstrates why his front-running peers don’t deserve to be called artists, let alone musicians. He imbues each song with such heart and musicality that it’s easy to forget you’re listening to a guy behind a laptop after just a few seconds.

Most Overrated Artist This Year and Every Year

∞. LCD Soundsystem

Best Song

1. Cee-Lo Green -- “Fuck You!”
Cee-Lo has always been one of my favorite eccentrics in music, but in 2010 he aspired to and achieved pop culture dominance with his single “Fuck You!” The song first hit via a text-based YouTube video (that dropped on my birthday — what did I do?) and immediately went viral. The foul language-laden video isn’t what kept people talking about this song, however; it was the infectious 60′s soul sound, the lyrics about an awful break-up dealt with in the most joyous way, and the strong vocal turn by the dynamic Green. Oh yeah, and it was catchy as all hell.

2. Kanye West (ft. Pusha T) -- “Runaway”
MTV made this out to be Kanye’s redemption/apology for the Taylor Swift debacle when he debuted it at the VMAs — the “douchebag” chorus lends itself to their argument — but “Runaway” has nothing to do with Swift and is probably most self-effacing and confessional song that Kanye’s ever written. “Runaway” is all about Kanye’s weaknesses: women and himself. He realizes that he’s never learned how to properly love someone and that no matter how good his partner is for him and even though it’ll break him if he loses her, he’ll still ruin their relationship through his usual dalliances (e.g. “hoodrats”). In this admission, he also makes it clear that he doesn’t really know how to love himself either, so he keeps undermining his own happiness because he doesn’t know any better. That he lays his vulnerability out on the table (not a reference to the “picture of [his] dick”) is most of what makes this song and album truly remarkable. Pusha T, meanwhile, remains “young, rich, and tasteless” and the best rapper in the game.

3. Superchunk -- “My Gap Feels Weird”
Leave it to the genre’s elder statesman to deliver the finest indie rock song of the year. Mac McCaughan’s vocals are pitch-perfect with just enough grit to properly reflect the sarcastic tone of the lyrics. The palm-muted power chords and propulsive drums wouldn’t be feel out of place at any point in Superchunk’s 20-year career. In other words, this is a timeless classic and perhaps the anthem for the aging hipster population. It took me a bit to figure out that McCaughan’s titular gap was in fact the generation gap with the current scene, but don’t fret Mac, I don’t get the kids of today either.

4. The Body -- “Empty Hearth”
I won’t pretend to know anything about the mysterious duo known as The Body. I do know that they often appear onstage wearing canvas bags over their heads and nooses around their necks. I know that 32 people were credited with contributing everything from generic “noise” to sousaphone on their most recent release All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood. I also know that they put out the best heavy album of 2010 and “Empty Hearth” is the best song on that album. I’m also fairly ignorant of doom metal or whatever The Body should be described as, but that name seems appropriate as this music is genuinely frightening. “Empty Hearth” starts of with a sample of invocations chanted by the Church Universal & Triumphant (the cult co-founded by Elizabeth Clare Prophet) that, while ominous on its own, gets cut up and time-stretched over the course of the song. Meanwhile, one of the band members wails over an industrial drum beat and guitar feedback while something (maybe it’s the “noise” guy) drones in the background. Seemingly at random, the song will glitch, fluctuate in volume, or just stop altogether. The tension built is immense and each time something “goes wrong” it makes me jump just a little bit… okay, a lot.

5. Big Boi -- “Shutterbugg”
If Sir Luscious Left Foot was released in any of the years it was supposed to come out in, it certainly would have dominated year-end lists and topped hip-hop lists. Instead, it got pushed all the way to the year of Kanye. Unlike Mr. West, however, Big Boi isn’t trying to make self-aware art, he’s simply concerned with getting the party started — and no song hit harder last summer than “Shutterbugg.” Scott Storch turns in the best beat of his career: gurgling vocal bass, funky talk box, slinky electric guitar, and crisp drum hits. But Big Boi is the one who brings it home with tight rhymes, a Soul II Soul reference, and the explicit instructions to “cut a rug” and wave to the paparazzi. “Shutterbugg” will make you forget just how long you’ve been pining away for that new OutKast album and that’s no small feat.

Honorable Mention: Surfer Blood -- “Floating Vibes,” Joanna Newsom -- “Good Intentions Paving Co.,” Owen Pallett -- “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt,” Jónsi -- “Animal Arithmetic,” Perfume Genius -- “Mr. Peterson,” Sleigh Bells -- “Infinity Guitars,” Sufjan Stevens -- “I Want To Be Well,” Dom -- “Burn Bridges”

Worst Song

Train -- “Hey, Soul Sister”
“Ubiquitous” doesn’t even begin to describe the endless reach of this awful, awful song that brought aural anguish to so many people over the last year. It was playing in every supermarket, every gas station, every movie theater, and every restaurant. Thanks to my DVR, I could fast-forward through all of the commercials the song was featured in (every single one), but even TiVo couldn’t save me from the sadistic television music supervisors that stuck it in the background of every show. Furthermore, this song does for the poor ukulele what Hitler did for toothbrush mustaches. If there was ever any hope for the YouTube-fueled uke renaissance, Train killed it in one fell swoop. Perhaps the only thing more depressing than this song’s success is the fact that it is one of only three “rock” songs in the 2010 Billboard Hot 100, along with the pathetic company of tunes by Paramore and Kings of Leon.

Best Björk Collaboration

1. Dirty Projectors and Björk -- Mount Wittenberg Orca

2. Antony and the Johnson (ft. Björk) -- “Flétta”

3. Untitled Michel Gondry and Björk IMAX 3-D “scientific musical” project

Best New Artist

1. Active Child
In just six songs, Active Child’s Curtis Lane EP encapsulates just about everything I love about music. The vocals melodies are soaring and dramatic without ever feeling over the top. The songs feel organic and sparse at their core despite electronic flourishes and dense layering. The lyrics are simple in a way that makes them very relatable; every song seems to leave you with a palpable sense of longing or heartbreak, like the description of being “somewhere between making love and being friends” in “When Your Love Is Safe.”

Custis Lane initially reminded of Joanna Newsom and Owen Pallett and the way that their music straddles the line between classical compositions and modern pop music. It made more sense when I learned that Active Child is the work of LA-based multi-instrumentalist Pat Grossi — a former member of the Philadelphia Boys Choir. Grossi’s background in choral and sacred music is apparent in the first seconds of his debut EP, but what makes him my favorite new artist of the year is the way he balances those influences with keen pop sensibility and deft storytelling.

Honorable Mention: Surfer Blood, Perfume Genius, Baths.

Best Live Band

1. The Books
I’ve been in love with the Books since I first heard them in 2002, when I was forced to import Thought for Food from Germany, even though they’re an American band. That album got a domestic release shortly thereafter, but I’d still go to the ends of the Earth to obtain their music. The same can be said for their live performances, which tend to be few and far between. I first caught them in 2005 at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood (R.I.P.) and was blown away by how polished and controlled their sound was — so accurate that the music synced flawlessly to the sampled visuals that played during the set. Somehow I missed their LA appearance in 2007, so when I heard they were going to be playing the Music Box last November, I immediately jumped on the tickets and patiently whiled away the days until the show.

The most noticeable change in their stage show was the addition of a third member, touring multi-instrumentalist Gene Back. He fit in with the band perfectly if simply for the fact that he is an insanely gifted musician. Before the band launched into “Tokyo,” Nick Zammuto mentioned to the crowd that they were never able to perform the song live before until Back came on board. It was immediately evident want Zammuto meant as Back worked his way flawlessly through the song’s intricate acoustic guitar part.

The centerpiece of the Books live experience has always been the video screen and — since I’d seen them last — the visual aspect has only become more refined and integral. Each song performed had an accompanying video that wasn’t only syncopated to the music, but was often the source for many of the sampled elements. The effect of the video on the audience isn’t distracting from the music, it’s an essential piece of the performance — adding depth, meaning, and humor. When the video screen turned off and the lights came on at the end of the show, I didn’t immediately know what to do; the audience and I were transported somewhere special and witnessed something so unique that it can only be provided by one small group of musicians.

2. Dirty Projectors
Dirty Projectors have been the perennial “best live band” for me since the first time I saw them open for Xiu Xiu five or six years ago. Despite their recorded work being mostly “love it or hate it” experiences, just about everyone who’s accompanied me to one of their live shows has been blown away by this talented group of musicians. I had the chance to catch them three times last year, including a set at Coachella and a headlining show at the Glasshouse, but it was their show with Alarm Will Sound at the Walt Disney Concert Hall that was the most notable.

Dave Longstreth led the musicians through a reworking of his 2005 “glitch opera” The Getty Address. The audience was given a libretto featuring lyrics as well as notes on the convoluted narrative which is story of love and manifest destiny and features Don Henley (of the Eagles) as the protagonist. The updated instrumentation featured the vocal talents of the current Dirty Projectors line-up in addition to beer bottles, rolls of duct tape, and more traditional orchestra elements. Despite the flushed out arrangement, the material was still as rough as it was when originally released, but no less inventive and exciting in its new form. It’s the frequent moments of brilliance and the edge-of-your-seat anticipation that make Dirty Projectors such a fantastic live act year after year.

3. Japandroids
The Japandroids live experience can be summed up pretty succinctly: they destroy. Beyond that, it’s actually quite an impressive technical accomplishment that two guys can sound like a full five-piece band. As far as I can tell, guitarist Brian King splits his guitar through an assortment of effects pedals — that he never seemed to touch during the show — before routing the signal off to multiple guitar and bass amplifiers. King and drummer David Prowse share vocal duties as they blast through their high-energy setlist (that includes a righteous Mclusky cover). I had the opportunity to catch them twice this year, both in an opening slot for the Walkmen and a headlining set at Detroit Bar. I was sold after the first song and will definitely be in attendance at every area show in the future.

Honorable Mention: Coachella 2010 had the best line-up the festival has had in years. The highlights were Fever Ray, Jónsi, Owen Pallett, and the original line-up of Sunny Day Real Estate. Joanna Newsom and Robin Pecknold (of Fleet Foxes) put on an intimate and engaging show at the San Diego Women’s Club that I won’t be forgetting any time soon.

Worst Live Band

1. Sleigh Bells
Though Treats, the debut album from Sleigh Bells, has its detractors — I remember Arun comparing it to Toni Basil with electric guitars — I think it’s a lot of fun. I’ve never been the type to move or dance at concerts, but I’ve broken a sweat at Girl Talk and Coalesce shows, so I figured seeing Sleigh Bells would probably be a similar experience. I will give Sleigh Bells the benefit of the doubt in one regard: they had tough sledding (horrible pun intended) from the start as the show was taking place at Detroit Bar. Don’t get me wrong — Detroit Bar is an essential local venue that books quality acts. The problem is the performance space has horrible acoustics and the sound system always seems pushed to the limit to get the right mix (the vocals are never loud enough). When the roadies uncovered four Marshall full-stacks, I knew I was in for either a life of deafness or a technical disaster.

So, it came as no surprise when part way into the first song, the PA speakers started shorting out and failing. The real shock was when the speaks did die, there was barely any audible guitar coming from the 32 12-inch speakers on the stage. What’s the point of that much firepower if no one’s going to hear it? When the speakers kicked back in, it was clear that there was a guitar part built into the backing track as well, so it’s questionable why they bothered playing any of it live. Aside from the “guitar” and the average vocals, everything else was prerecorded. I understand that there are only two people in the band, but at least use your opening act or hire a couple guys on keys and drum machines to perform the songs. The whole thing came off as lazy and amateurish and I won’t be back to see them anytime soon.

Sleigh Bells are a young band and I’m sure they’ll improve their live show over time. When I tweeted my disapproval after the show, the band actually responded via Twitter by stating, “had to roll back amps to make room for the track. bummer. updating our tech rider to avoid this type of thing in the futuresz [sic].” Then they deleted the tweet shortly thereafter, probably not wanting to publicly admit to a disastrous show. I get that, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was the worst performance I saw all year.

Best Cover Song

1. Dirty Projectors -- “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine,” “As I Went Out One Morning,” & “Dark Eyes” (Bob Dylan)
Those who know me don’t need the full disclosure, but Dirty Projectors is one of my favorite bands and I’m partial to their idiosyncratic song stylings. Bob Dylan covers are pretty ubiquitous — Blitzen Trapper have made a career of them — but what is remarkable about Dave Longstreth and company’s reworkings is that they don’t make the effort to turn them into Dirty Projectors songs. The best counterpoint is their Black Flag cover album, Rise Above, where the original songs are virtually unidentifiable behind Longstreth’s crooning and angular guitar. These Dylan covers remain faithful to the originals and add just enough new elements to make them feel fresh.

Longstreth — who himself has a strange voice — does his best impression of Dylan on “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine,” but it’s Angel Deradoorian’s harmony that provides a much needed low end and balance to the verses. The song moves gently along without changing much, using sparse guitar and drums in a similar manner as the original, but it’s simplicity is what makes it the best of this group of covers. “As I Went Out One Morning” is the most “Dirty Projectors”-sounding of the three songs. The original melody and plodding rhythm are still intact, but the trademark vocal stabs of the three female Projectors are added to great effect. They played this version on their last tour and it fit in nicely with the rest of the set. “Dark Eyes” is the only one of the three that didn’t appear on Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and it’s the least adorned of the bunch. Longstreth delivers the most straightforward vocal and guitar performance he’s ever done, accompanied only by Deradoorian, Amber Coffman, and Haley Dekle’s gorgeous three-part harmonies.

2. Cee-Lo Green -- “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Band of Horses)
Despite Band of Horses’ lackluster 2010 album Infinite Arms, they should be raking in some pretty good royalties off the high-riding Cee-Lo Green. Cee-Lo improved upon their indie rock make-out jam by tweaking the pacing and melody and adding some dramatic strings, turning it into a soulful pop gem. This one should be popping up in the background on Grey’s Anatomy and Skins in no time. Also of note: much like Violent Femmes rebutted Gnarls Barkley’s “Gone Daddy Gone” cover with one their own, Band of Horses returned fire with a great take on Green’s “Georgia.”

3. Jimmy Fallon (ft. Bruce Springsteen) -- “Whip My Hair” (Willow Smith)
It truly hurts my soul to positively acknowledge the terminally awkward and unfunny Jimmy Fallon, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Before I get to the performance, however, I have to mention the epic source material. In retrospect, Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” turned out to be a flash in the pan, but for a while the song and its technicolor A.D.D. nightmare of a video seemed to embody the tween zeitgeist of 2010. Fallon, in a moment of unheralded genius, recognized the hilarity of Smith’s song and made it even funnier with his spot-on Neil Young impersonation. Add in Bruce Springsteen doing his best impression of Darkness on the Edge of Town-era Bruce Springsteen and you’ve got an incredible TV moment and outstanding cover song.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Mangum -- “Sign the Dotted Lines” (Tall Dwarfs), Horse Feathers -- “Drain You” (Nirvana), Mates of State -- “Sleep the Clock Around” (Belle & Sebastian), Bon Iver -- “Come Talk to Me” (Peter Gabriel), Josiah Wolf & Liz Hodson -- “Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me” (Mississippi John Hurt), Sun Kil Moon -- “I’ll Be There” (Jackson 5)

Best Music-Related Thing Made By a Friend

1. May McDonough -- Spilt Milk
It was no secret that May was working on an album and had been for quite a while, but despite my numerous requests, she never let me hear any of it. In fact, I didn’t hear a single note until her record release show. Ultimately, it wouldn’t have mattered either way because if I did have expectations, they would have been shattered. May’s voice is smoky, brooding, and — I hate to say it because she’s like a sister — sexy as she weaves her way effortlessly through blues, ragtime, jazz, and rock influences. The lyrics are dark and clearly inspired by personal tragedy, but the mood is never grim and is more akin to New Orleans funeral dirges; it’s whiskey for the soul. As good as the record is, her current live show the best way to hear the songs, so be sure to follow her on Facebook find out when she and her band will be playing next.

2. The Black Keys -- “Tighten Up” video
I have to admit to being woefully ignorant of the Black Keys despite all the acclaim that’s been thrown their way over the last year. They were brought to my attention by way of the “Tighten Up” video which was directed by a creative and talented guy I went to high school with named Chris Marrs Piliero. As it turns out, this cute and clever video won Chris the MTV Video Music Award for Best Breakthrough Video. Congrats to Chris and the Black Keys!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpaPBCBjSVc

Best Album Downloaded From Facebook

1. Doctor Bird -- Meet Doctor Bird
A rad dude I used to work with at KUCI posted this album on Facebook with a note that mentioned it was new to the station and he really liked. I didn’t know anything else about the band, but decided to check it out anyway because Sam has interesting tastes and, knowing me, I probably had absolutely nothing better to do. As it turns out, Doctor Bird is a San Diego band that makes quirky, fun, and rough around the edges pop-punk. The songs are highly infectious and often pop into my head days after listening. My friend Debra apparently knows the singer for Doctor Bird and said he also plays under the name Jehovas Fitness. If anyone has more details, please share.

Best Music Video

1. Kanye West -- “Runaway”
There is so much wrong with this video that it shouldn’t work at all. First, it’s essentially a glorified album sampler or EPK — snippets of the record appear in sequence, anchored by the full-length song “Runaway.” Then there’s the “story,” which is ostensibly about Kanye falling in love with a phoenix that has fallen to Earth, yet — despite teaching her to appreciate fine dining and mid-century modern furniture — all of his white-clad friends disapprove of her because she’s a bird. In one of the worst-acted scenes I’ve seen in awhile, the phoenix (presumably sick of Kanye’s narcissism) explains that her immolation is imminent as she has to return to her world, Kanye protests, and an auto-tuned Justin Vernon croons in the background. Oh, and let’s not forget the 8-minute ballet scene, the domesticated farm animals, and the giant paper-mâché Michael Jackson bust. Despite all that nonsense and more, “Runaway” is shot beautifully and each scene has striking color palettes and meticulous design. It’s basically a 35-minute primer to the world of Kanye West and call it art, trash, vanity, whatever… it’s fantastic and incomparable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA

2. Hot Chip -- “I Feel Better”
While I love their older work, I wasn’t really feeling the poppier songs Hot Chip presented on their 2010 album “One Life Stand.” Whatever edge the music might have lost, the band definitely hasn’t deviated from its near-perfect track record of producing outstanding music videos. “I Feel Better” addresses and embraces the pop criticism head-on before taking a hilarious and horrifying turn. The surprise is better left intact, but I must say, any video featuring the disembodied head of Carl Winslow is a winner in my book.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ybufq1T5io

3. Earl Sweatshirt -- “Earl”
There is perhaps no better song or video to sum up the entire OFWGKTA collective than the eponymous track from the gang’s currently “incarcerated” member Earl. In fact, this is allegedly what got Earl locked up — his mom saw the video and sent him to boarding school. Whether they’re just a bunch of disaffected teenagers fucking around on the weekend or the great new hope for hip-hop (or both) has yet to be seen, but there’s no doubt that the Odd Future kids are talented and entertaining. The video plays like a 2010 version of the movie “Kids” and while most of the antics seem obviously staged, it’s not hard to imagine these guys actually living like this. I think the highest rated comment on YouTube sums it up pretty well: “If it’s real, they’re fucking crazy. If it’s fake, they’re fucking crazy.” Fuck Steve Harvey.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_loMbmKJ8

The Leftovers

There were a lot of artists that put out excellent music in 2010 who I didn’t mention anywhere above because, honestly, 6000 words is already pretty excessive for something no one is going to read. I’m just going to rattle off a list of them here for posterity’s sake: Dan Sartain, The Diamond Rings, Flying Lotus, Girls, Harlem, J. Tillman, Janelle Monáe, Jonah Matranga, The New Pornographers, Robyn, The Roots, Trash Talk, and Xiu Xiu.

Most Disappointing Musical Experience

Oh, Sufjan! You didn’t think I’d make it through this whole post and then just let you off the hook, did you? Guess what, buddy? You get your own post!

I’ve completed work on my photo blog, which is called farewelltransmission:. This new site is an avenue for me to share my favorite and best photographs without anyone having to click through the thousands of images over at Flickr. It will also serve as a portfolio of sorts for my photography and maybe in the future I’ll add the option to order prints, etc. I will be updating the site regularly with new shots and old favorites, so be sure to bookmark the home page or add it to your RSS reader.

The site is titled after the John Vanderslice song of the same name from his album Pixel Revolt. Aside from loving the name, I find the song to be particularly beautiful and haunting; but, the real inspiration I drew from it is how sparse the production and instrumentation feel. I made the site as minimal as possible while still being functional with the hope that it will better highlight the photos.

I’ve written more “first” posts for this site than I ever should have. Failed relationships, career changes, and personal tragedies always seem to get in the way of the really important things in life, like eating more vegetables and updating a blog that no one reads. Those who know me best are aware of the bizarre rut I’ve been in the last couple years and, while I won’t get into it here, it’s high time I dig myself out of the hole and do something. That’s the impetus for relaunching this site; I’m trying to get my hooks into as many things as I can with the hope that something sticks and I can move on with my life.

If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.

— Ernest Hemingway

This redesign marks the third incarnation of icebergprinciple.com. When I created this site in 2005, I chose to name it after Ernest Hemingway’s theory of omission and his famous iceberg metaphor from Death in the Afternoon. I was a much different person then (as I have been each time I’ve started and stopped writing here) and took the name as a literal mission statement for what I wanted to achieve as a writer. In fact, I mastered the concept so successfully that zero-eighths of my writing was visible to the reader. In 2011, however, I find myself in the role of the iceberg — I have so many thoughts and ideas frozen in me that go unnoticed, undocumented, and unfulfilled. Sharing all those things might cost me some dignity along the way, but at least I won’t sink any ships.

I’m going to use Iceberg Principle for all of my quasi-personal ramblings, whether they’re about music, movies, or what I ate for breakfast. I’m also going to use the site as a launchpad for all of my other endeavors. Here’s some of what’s on the way: a photo blog which will highlight some of my favorite shots; a food website covering restaurants, bars, home cooking, and more; a travel site with narratives from my time away from home (which should increase dramatically this year).

I’m making a conscious effort to involve myself more in the act of living. For me that includes writing more, spending more time on photography, traveling with purpose (seeking out meaningful experiences), and seriously practicing music more often. It also includes maintaining healthy and active relationships with my friends, which you can help me with by holding my feet to the fire if I retreat back inside and start spending too much time with my Netflix instant queue.