WMSE Picks of 2010 POSTED:: December 24, 2010
FILED UNDER::
Top Airplay
FILED UNDER:: Top Airplay
Maybe there are almost too many a best-of list by years’ end, but it must be said, that as far as Milwaukee music aficionados go, no group of people knows music, front-to-back, across all genres, than the DJs of WMSE. You see it on our weekly top charts and hear it for yourself on your radios and through your headphones and computer speakers. WMSE DJs are volunteers because they love music, and it shows: each three-hour program is designed, per DJ, to introduce the listener to both old favorites and newly-becoming classics.
Already got a favorite WMSE DJ? Take a peek at what they liked this past year, then check out the rest. You might find your own tastes aligning with DJs whose shows you might not be familiar with. Here’s the best of the best from us, to you. Thanks for another great year of Frontier Radio.
Tim Noble and Paul Host: Saturdays, Why My Head Hurts/Milwaukee Rock Posters, 3pm-6pm
Testa Rosa: II
Underculture: Ice Cream Socialism
The Wildbirds: Sunshine Blues
The Break (Brian Ritchie w/ Midnight Oil Members): Cylinders
Zola Jesus: Stridulum
The New Loud: Heaven (Mad Professor remix)
F***face: LA Song
Cyberchump and Janzyk: Regrooved
Aimless Blades w/ melaniejane: Christmas in Soledad
Boy Dirt Car: La Familia
Burning Sons: 7” single
Animal Magnets, live at Linneman’s
Red Stuff: s/t
Jason Ellis: Team Metal, Wednesdays, 9pm-12am
Hooded Menace: Never Cross the Dead
Incredible horror-based death doom.
Sargeist: Let the Devil In
Orthodox black metal featuring members of Horna and Behexen.
Ludicra: The Tenant
Black metal-ish stuff from the west coast. Really awesome.
The Body: All the Waters of the Earth Turned to Blood
OTT doom from the northeast. Super-intense.
Swans: My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
It’s Swans.
Hooded Priest: Devil Worship Reckoning
Doom-y/trad metal stuff from the Netherlands.
Watain: Lawless Darkness
Swedish dissection worship done totally right.
Hail of Bullets: On Divine Winds
It has Martin Van Drunen.
Maniac Butcher: Masakr
First record in ten years. Maniac Butcher is essential black metal.
Ondskapt: Arisen From the Ashes
Moody/bleak black metal with a poorly-named album title.
Arckanum: Sviga Lae
Arckanum is easily one of my favorite bands on the planet. Essential black metal.
Hell Militia: Last Station On the Road to Death
Weird/bleak black metal from France.
Storm Legion: Desolation Angels
Orthodox/methodical black metal from Portugal. Has Nocturnus Horrendus from Corpus Christii in its ranks.
Van Goat: Septic Illumination
Primal/low-fi black death from the originators of USBM.
Christian Mistress: Agony and Opium
70’s rock worship that I usually wouldn’t like, but I’m totally into. “Home in the Sun” is probably my favorite song that came out this year.
Owlscry: Le Demon est Venu du Nord.
Milwaukee’s own. Depressive/twisted black metal, reminiscent of Xasthur, Leviathan and Bethlehem.
Father Befouled: Morbid Destitution of Covenant/Encoffination-Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh
Both bands share members. FB is intense Onward to Golgotha worship done properly, and Encoffination is similar, but with more doom involved. Both needed.
Interment: Into the Crypts of Blasphemy
Awesome throwback Swedish death metal from guys who were there in the day.
Darkthrone: Circle the Wagons
People hate on newer Darkthrone too often. It’s awesomely-done, simple heavy metal. Catchy head-nodding parts with great choruses.
Paul Cebar: Way Back Home/Urban Fantasy, Wednesdays, 9am-12pm
Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
Black Dub: S/T
Bruce Springsteen: The Promise
Various: Soundway: Nigeria Special Vol. 2
Various: Soundway: Nigeria Afrobeat Special
Various: Soundway: Ghana Special
Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street reissue and augmentation (especially “Plundered My Soul”
Various: Soundway: Palenque Palenque Columbian comp
The Definitive Collection of Federal Records: Rare Rock Steady and Reggae
Cumbia Beat Vol 1: Vampisoul Peruvian Cumbia comp
Scott Lucey: No Show Name Show, Wednesdays, 6am-9am
Dirty Projectors + Bjork: Mount Wittenberg Orca
Two of my favorite artists get together and spill their all. I first stumbled upon this project as a YouTube video of their live performance. It’s chillingly good. Superior vocals meet enchanting storytelling. I could listen to this 1000x over.
Maximum Balloon: S/T
The energy that this album creates is through the roof. Most of all, the tracks have supreme dancibility. My favorite track is surely “Groove Me”, but the album is star-studded with other Greats, such as David Byrne and Little Dragon.
Beach House: Teen Dream
Honestly thought this would be my number one album and to say it’s captivating is an understatement. Other understatements include beautiful – you can put your headphones on and this album will make a grey day gorgeous, or try it as background to the migratory bird story “Winged Migration”. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Matthew Dear: Black City
Again, I thought this would be more so close to the top – I could and will say that I have a sweet tooth for electronically-framed music; this album riddles me with musical cavities.
Baths: Cerulean
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
Gold Panda: Lucky Shiner
Twin Shadow: Forget
Glasser: Ring
Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma
Another album that’s better listened to as a whole rather than picked apart one track at a time. It’s as if there’s a secret code within, a point at which you’re ‘inside the album’ going to a place Flying Lotus wanted you to see.
Kings Go Forth
I also have a sweet tooth for the soul/funk/r&b, and there’s no doubt that Milwaukee’s own KGF nailed it with this release – this album should be on many people’s lists.
Miniature Tigers: Fortress
A sleeper band I didn’t hear much of, but this album Fortress, is much fun.
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Here We Go Magic: Pigeons
Just a damn good indie rock/pop/call it what you want album. HWGM fans were excited to see the group crank it up a notch or two with Pigeons. This album gets your foot tapping, your hips shaking and your head bobbing.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
Four Tet: There is Love in You
Bruck Haack: Farad: The Electronic Voice
Com Truise: Cyanide Sisters
Caribou: Swim
Efterklang: Magic Chairs
Mickey C: Wax Addicts, Mondays 3am-6am
National:
The Black Keys: Brothers
Aloe Blacc: Good Things
Gonjasufi: A Sufi and a Killer
Willie Nelson: Country Music
Gil Scott-Heron: I’m New Here
Local:
Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back
Fatty Acids: Stop Berries, Berries and Berries, Berries
Def Harmonic: Figs
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
Raze: Living in Technicolor
Jeff and Deb Duris: Sundays, 12am-3am
Jeff:
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Film School: Fission
Tears Run Rings: Distance
Spoon: Transference
Uncle: Where Did the Night Fall
Black Angels: Phosphene Dream
Black Keys: Brothers
Broken Bells: S/T
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Soundpool: Mirrors in Your Eyes
Menomena: Mines
School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire
Deb:
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
!!!: Strange Weather, Isn’t It?
Galactic: Ya Ka May
Balkan Beat Box: Blue Eyed Black Boy
Film School: Fission
Uncle: Where Did the Night Fall
Broken Bells: S/T
Interpol: S/T
Foals: Total Life Forever
John Newhauser (The Good John): The Chickenshack, Fridays 9am-12pm
Jamey Johnson: The Guitar Song
Kasey Anderson: Nowhere Nights
Whitney Morgan and the 78’s: S/T
Dale Watson: Carryin’ On
Marty Stuart: Ghost Train
Elizabeth Cook: Welder
Ryan Bingham: Junky Star
Two Cow Garage: Sweet Saint Me
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House: Sounds of Dying
Justin Townes Earle: Harlem River Blues
Alejandro Escovedo: Street Songs of Love
Mike “Buzz” Bereiter: Buzz’s Garage, Mondays 6pm-9pm
Cheap Time: Fantastic Explanations (And Similar Situations)
Tennessee has really become the hotbed for cool music and Cheap Time is at the surface. More reminiscent of a shaky Brit-mod sound like the Kinks, but with kind of a sneering slur. A friend heard this album and said they sounded drunk. If that’s the case, I say “drink up!”
Personal and the Pizzas: Raw Pie
These Guys put on a front as greaser disco shirt-stylin’, bling-wearin’ d.b.’s from Jersey, but the songs are from a different origin. They are from Hoboken, but sound more like the Ramones with a pizza obsession. Not all of the songs are about pizza, but it doesn’t hurt including them into the mix.
The Stooges: The Complete Funhouse Sessions reissue
When Rhino first released this years ago, I jumped on it. This box set sold out and went out of print faster than the Stooges’ contract lasted with Elektra Records. After enormous public appeal, Rhino re-released it in the fall. This is a must for the completist Stooges fan, loaded with every stinkin’ take of every song on the “Funhouse” album. Get it before it’s gone…again.
Tyvek: Nothing Fits: In the Red
Tyvek’s follow up to their first album on Slitbreeze. Now they’re back and really angry. Stripped down, quick riffs. Have you ever heard someone upset to the point where their voice gets a bit louder and they stammer? It makes for great vocals here. Every track is a winner. I especially like “4312″ which seems like an answer to Wire’s “12XU”.
Various Artists: Their Hispanic Majesties Request
Norton Records has been doing a glorious series of split singles featuring bands covering the Rolling Stones. This year they offered up a 2×7 of bands covering their songs in Spanish. Los Peyotes, Davila 666, Luis and the Wildfires and Los Vigilantes pay their tributes in great fashion. The variation on the “Satanic Majesties Request” gatefold cover art is a bonus.
Woven Bones: In and Out and Back Again
When I first saw these guys perform at Club Garibaldi a while back I was hooked. Fuzzy, creepy and incredibly good. A lot of reviewers have been throwing around Spaceman 3 comparisons but I think they’re grittier than that.
The Overnight Lows: City of Rotten Eyes
I’m almost ashamed to admit that this band has been around for 15 years and that I just found out about them a couple years ago. Every song is quick, sharp and snotty. When you search them out make sure it’s the Jackson, MS Overnight Lows, not the L.A. Overnight Lows. Big difference. Trivia: Their drummer Paul was a featured chef on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives”.
White Wires: WWII
This one is probably the most pop-oriented entry on my list but totally worth mentioning. It JUST made the list after being released this month. The songs are all under three minutes and extremely catchy. Favorite title: “Be True To Your School (‘Till You Get Kicked Out)”.
The Who: Live at Leeds Super Deluxe Edition
I know, I know…another reissue on my list. But it’s the 1970-Keith Moon-and-everything Who. When originally released, Nik Cohn claimed in the New York Times that this was “the best live rock album ever made” (It’s in my top 5 of live albums). This set has the Leeds recording plus the complete show recorded in Hull prior to the Leeds gig. The band originally wanted to release the Hull show as the album. They felt the crowd was great, acoustics were great and that they were totally on. But it was thought John Entwistle’s bass lines were lost from the recording. It took 40 years to find out they weren’t. Must’ve been a rookie at the mixing board.
The select local bands that have released some great stuff this year, singles and albums, and made my “Local Sizzler” segment. We need more bands of your caliber. Please keep it coming.
Dr. Sushi: Free Jazz BBQ, Tuesdays, 9am-12pm
Ballister: Bastard String
Full Blast: Crumbling Brain
Vijay Iyer: Solo
The Bad Plus: Never Stop
Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green: Apex
Stanton Moore Trio: Groove Alchemy
Stanley Clark: The Stanley Clark Band
Nels Cline: Dirty Baby
Garaj Mahal: No More Mister Nice Guy
John Ellis & Double Wide: Puppet Mischief
Craig Mertes: The Shape of Rock, Tuesdays, 6am-9am
Call Me Lightning: When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free
Now this is an album…and it’s been a while since I’ve heard a true album. On When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free, Call Me Lightning has crafted a collection of songs that are cohesive, musically, and also manage to stand out on their own. Their arena-rocking tendencies create a bombastic, catchy-as-hell rock album.
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses: Junky Star
Ryan Bingham has always created a very rewarding combination of traditional country and folk (read: Bob Dylan). On Junky Star, he builds on that foundation and creates an album that is overflowing with raw emotion.
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
So, you probably know the story by now. Local band, Jaill, signs to indie powerhouse Sub Pop Records and releases this gem of an album. Jaill delivers hook-laden garage-flavored pop that is absolutely fun to listen to.
The Books: The Way Out
The Books: Indefinable Genius. The Way Out finds The Books at best, mixing slower and almost ambient collages of found sound and acoustic instrumentation with complete mish-mashed spazz-outs of cut up sound. It’s incredibly fun and rewarding music to listen to.
The Midwest Beat: At the Gates
Madison/Milwaukee’s The Midwest Beat dropped a great album on a Milwaukee label. While Jaill pulls some influences out of the 80’s, The Midwest Beat goes back a little further with catchy pop songs that draw from 60’s jangly pop goodness.
Fahri: Perfect Present
Milwaukee guitar-driven rock that takes me back to the late 90’s and early 00’s indie rock sound I love so much.
Peter Wolf Crier: Inter-Be
Peter Wolf Crier is a two-piece from the Twin Cities that delivers sparse, mostly-acoustic pop on guitar and drums. I’ve found myself coming back to this album again and again to take in the melodies.
Neil Young: Le Noise
Neil Young’s latest album absolutely smolders with distorted guitars and confessional stories of love and life on the road. This album rocks in a very slow way while managing to sound exactly like Neil Young.
The Goodnight Loving: The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
Delicious garage pop/rock – something Milwaukee (and Wisconsin) seem to be up it’s elbows in right now. I’m loving it.
At Latl: Safe Sound and Temporary
At Latl combines pop sensibilities with indie rocking goodness and some psychedelic trappings. It all works out. They give a slight nod to early Flaming Lips in a very good way.
Sonia, the Blues Drive, Fridays, 3pm-6pm
Various Artists: Classic Appalachian Blues (Smithsonian Folkways compilation)
Eddie C. Campbell: Tear This World Up
James Cotton: Giant
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks: Tangled Tales
Buddy Guy: Living Proof
Bettye LaVette: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Charlie Musselwhite: The Well
Pinetop Perkins and Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith: Joined at the Hip
John Primer; Call Me John Primer
Junior Wells & the Aces: Live in Boston 1966
Shopkeeper Ken: The Five & Dime Show, Thursdays, 9am-12pm
Evan Caminiti: West Winds
Steve Gunn/John Truscinski Duo: Sand City
Barn Owl: Ancestral Star
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me
Neil Young: Le Noise
Black Angels: Phosphene Dream
Moon Duo: Escape
Guanaco: Sky Burials
Brian Eno: Small Craft On a Milk Sea
Group Doueh: Beatte Harab
Eric VonMunz, The VonMunz Vinyl Variety Show, Tuesdays, 3am-6am
It should be common knowledge that Milwaukee brought it with both sonic barrels this year: Jaill on Sub Pop! New amazing LPs from Call Me Lightning and The Goodnight Loving! Drugs Dragons and Death Dream keep it bubbling up from the crypt for good measure. No Future? Let’s just see about that! But that’s only the rock chapter, there’s plenty of funkytechnotriphoppy beats in town to shake your booty as well! Viva Milwaukee!
Japanther: Rock and Roll Ice Cream
They ride bikes. I ride bikes. They write awesome songs, and they rock, even while singing about a broken heart. Does that make me Emo? The best track on the album is unairable, so you’ll just have to buy it. I’ll play the Emo track though…
Devo: Something For Everybody
All right, spuds. No, it is NOT 1979. We all knew that it wasn’t gonna be “Are We Not Men/Duty Now…” And it isn’t. But for a few guys that got together in…1974 (?!?), the record is rather strong. Personally I would have lost the “Don’t Tase me bro” line, but I was left out of the focus groups.
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
I may come across as biased, having made posters for each band that the members hail from, but combined this quartet trumps them all. Wry and raucous lyrics with a backbeat to match. Intense live show. Jack White’s swagger with Alison Mosshart’s attitude made me a believer. Even better than the studio release, and I surprise myself by stating this, was the Third Man Records Vault Member Live Release, where they perform the album cut-for-cut, live in Nashville. It is awesome. And I air it!
Grinderman: 2
The wolf in the living room cover image sums this delectable slab up nicely. Heavy. With teeth. Nick Cave is a genius. This is proof. Not for the weak.
The Black Angels: Phosphene Dream
Their third, and by far most accessible to the masses release of psychedelic sweetness yet. Gooey guitars and tough drums combined with smart songwriting make every track a winner, in my humble opinion. “Telephone” still makes me wonder why it wasn’t penned in 1967. These cats from Austin ride Roky’s Elevator well. Mind expanding.
In the same line is…
OFF!: First Four EPs
I just picked this up. I love the Circle Jerks, and early Black Flag. If you do too, I strongly advise this little doozy. Sixteen tracks. Maybe twenty minutes. So punk, I’m gonna shave my head, and dye the rest blue! Because I still can, and Keith Morris still brings it. Instant classic.
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
I brought up the Emo thing already, okay? But wow. Classic Eno/Bowie spun with tales of, well, not being all that young and naive anymore. I can relate.
Queens of the Stone Age: Feel Good Hit of the Summer (Record Store Day 10”)
Really?! Yeah, I know that record stores are…what? Do you expect me to say dying? Record stores rule!!! Say what you will about downloading. Record stores are any city’s connection to cool. Without record stores, actual record stores, would anyone be clued in to the next big thing? Before that video of that basement show goes viral, someone needs to show up, or the gig’s a bust! Record stores provide that.And so does WMSE. We have it pretty good right now, Milwaukee. Its up to us to keep it going! Oh, their cover of Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” was totally worth it!
Other awesomeness of 2010…
Seeing: A Place To Bury Strangers…Ghostland Observatory…Devo…the Headache City/Bare Wires show at Cactus and being thrust onstage with Jack Oblivian during Radio Summer Camp to attempt to play the tambourine. Oh, and seeing that guy, you know who you are, that first guy that just shot his hand up in the crowd and caught the first piece of fried chicken flung out by Southern Culture on the Skids. That ruled.
Can’t wait for Summer Camp 2011! Stay tuned, spuds…
Elisabeth Albeck [DJ Era], The Blues Drive, Monday 3pm-6pm
Note: I’m one of those people who listens to albums singularly, for weeks at a time. This is why I only have a few CDs to speak about. Most of them are Canadian…
Arcade Fire: Funeral (2008)
As soon as I picked up the ‘burbs, I was spiraled back in time to Funeral, their 2008 release. Perhaps it was because I never fully absorbed the greatness of Funeral, but upon listening (on repeat. for a month…), there was more for me to relate to in Funeral. Though The Suburbs is far and away one of the most solid albums of the year, and has been the delight of movers and shakers the world over (number one album in the US! Hot diggity), what was achieved in Funeral seemed perfectly crafted and charged just for this autumn, and just for me. I think anyone who has been affected by it will agree. Forget comparisons to other albums: Funeral is rock music at its best. The album is a slide show of gently rocking, and sometimes dramatically shifting narrative poetic anthems. Damn, I am a sucker for stories! There are rich, rich stories, characters and relationships buried in the intimate lyrics, which, once set upon the bounding momentum of hypnotically-lilting melodies, rock you like a baby in a cradle on a high tree limb, wind howling all around you. Drawing you in with a conversational, almost diary-esque tone, the lyrics typify the mood of the music, and vice versa. The music is light and airy in moments with dreamy xylophonic charm, and then excites in other moments with drums and guitar riffs that quicken the heartbeat. Listening passively or actively, you will be submerged in the themes of the lyrics and music: images of winter, family, innocence, detachment and attachment, the struggle to keep warm, keep sane, keep learning and loving. In listening we hear of heavy-hearted topics, referenced in poetic but not indiscernible terms:
…”Somethin’ filled up / my heart with nothin’ / someone told me not to cry / but now that I’m older / my heart’s colder / and I can see that it’s a lie / children wake up, hold your mistake up / before they turn the summer into dust / if the children don’t grow up / our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up / we’re just a million little gods causin’ rainstorms / turnin’ every good thing to rust / I guess we’ll just have to adjust / with my lightnin’ bolts a-glowin’ / I can see where I am goin’ to be / when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand / with my lightin’ bolts a-glowin’ / I can see where I am goin’ / with my lightin’ bolts a-glowin’ / I can see where I am go-goin’ / you better look out below!”…
This album draws on the power of memory; it is bittersweet in the same way as growing up, but ultimately, like growing pains, it charges the listener with the power of emotional clarity.
Bill Frisell: Blues Dream (2001)
The music from this album is how I was introduced to Bill in the famed, darkened Village Vanguard Club in New York. I was but a high schooler, having no idea what I was getting into. If you don’t know of him, Bill Frisell is considered a preeminent contemporary “jazz guitarist”. The truth is that he is so much more. I consider him a blues guitar philosopher; a seer. He is a musician who is able to use tone, tonal quality and time to exact the ambient and unplaceable. He travels the world and collaborates with a huge range of musicians: everyone from Elvis Costello to Ricki Lee Jones and Loudon Wainwright III. With Blues Dream, commissioned by Walker Art Center inMinneapolis, Minnesota, and released on Nonesuch Records in 2001, Frisell evokes ancient feelings within the specific context of our young country. This guy weaves intricate and dazzling guitar compositions with high art precision and a salt-of-the-earth distinctly American sensibility. In speaking about his musical process, Frisell emphasizes the role of observing and absorbing. In this album, Frisell unfurls what what he has witnessed and more: using the idioms of Delta blues, country music and jazz timing and contemporary distortion tools, he exercises a mystical sense of how make guitar tell its stories.
Timber Timbre: S/T (2009)
Timbre Timbre is the musical project of Canadian musicians Mika Posen, Simon Trottier and Taylor Kirk.The album was crafted in 2009, of course, in a cabin somewhere in the woods in Canada. In listening to the dark, powerful tracks, you are there with them in the candle light, wrapped in flannel, conjuring ghosts whether you want to or not. You will never fully come out of those woods. The instrumental and lyrical combinations leave your ears and head dwelling in eerie spaces, delighting in the simple, wondering and waiting. The instrumentation is comprised only of voice, guitar, lap steel, autoharp, bass drum and violin. The sparse, controlled and bluesy quality of what they created makes the album a mood-altering experience, a creeping string of stirring revelations, not a casual soundtrack (I think some people call it tripping)? In any case, this album is minimalist *freak folk music at its finest, especially the track “Lay Down in the Tall Grass”. They’ll come to Milwaukee soon if they know what’s good for ‘em.
*Freaky stuff. Really. But in the good way. Remember when I said you’d feel like you were in the cabin with this guys? Well, if you were to step outside of the cabin, the woods would go on forever, the starry sky would pulsate…
Dan Auerbach: Keep it Hid (2008)
Whatever. Just listen to this. He’s in the Black Keys, you probably have heard their latest release, Brothers. You’ve seen his hip, intense little self on the cover of rock magazines. Just because he’s commercially successful doesn’t mean he’s full of shit. Dan Auerbach is gripped by genuine blues. Certainly he’s come into his own by absorbing and imitating the lineage of important blues musicians, yet Dan has been able to create contemporary blues music that is both an homage to these artists, and a unique, hearty strain of blues for listeners now. It’s obvious that this guy can’t stop making music…he’s the kind of musician who gets the hooks and riffs stuck in his head and quite simply just has to work them out. Thanks, Dan! Especially for “I Want Some More.” If you like his stuff, you’re only going to “want some more,” and come away with a taste for the all the blues that he stands on, unleashing you into a whole universe of gritty singers and musicians who know to have sweet for sweet and salt for salt.
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks (1968)
I scarcely know how to start writing about this album. The reason it is on this list is because I’ve never been able to put it down, since it was lent to me by someone who fell in love with me when I was sixteen. I often play tracks from it on the Blues Drive, and that’s because it dawns and re-dawns on me, and I like to play songs that matter to me. Music is something we can appreciate in a lot of ways: listening, inferring, imagining and knowing and feeling all come into play. I only recently learned about the process of Van’s recording of this album: the fact that he recorded all the vocals by himself, without the accompaniment of the ensemble that you hear on the tracks. What I had considered to be very beautiful compositions were not quite composed, or premeditated at all. Van Morrison recorded all his vocals wit , with only his guitar, alone in a studio. Later he invited the instrumentalists to listen to what he had done and told them to “do with it what they wanted.” Learning of this true legend has refracted the way I think of Van’s music, overall. I’ve always loved his voice: so instrumental itself, stand alone, strange and far away. But it’s all the more haunting and impressive to think of him singing those lines alone in a studio, clutching his guitar. The fullness you hear in his voice wasn’t pressed by the presence of other instruments: it was singular. What he came out with was innate and profuse. He was in the pocket, and it’s quite honestly one of the most comforting reflection of solitude that I’ve ever heard. The musicians who responded to those naked tracks must have felt heartened, humbled and awed by it too, because out of the collaboration came some of the most powerful songs ever recorded.
Andy Turner: Zero Hour, Fridays 12pm-3pm
Wheels On Fire: Liar, Liar
Various Artists: Daddy Rockin’ Strong:A Tribute to Nolan Strong & the Diablos
The Parting Gifts: Strychnine Dandelion
Hoodoo Gurus: Purity of Essence
The Goodnight Loving: The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
The Ding-Dongs: S/T
The Sugar Stems: The Sweet Sounds Of…
Tandoori Knights: Curry Up
Nick Curran & the Lowlifes: Reform School Girl
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3: Northern Aggression
Jerry Glocka: Sounds of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, Fridays, 6pm-9pm
Drive-By Truckers: The Big To-Do
Southern, working-class rock ‘n roll. Crunching guitars, clever lyrics and plenty of attitude. What’s not to like?
Charlie Musselwhite: The Well
One of the best blues albums of the year. All-original, muscular tunes and a great backing band (Dave Gonzales, John Bazz and Steven Hodges) and superb harp and vocals from Charlie.
Neil Young: Le Noise
Neil still continues to amaze. Just how many more directions can Neil take his vocals and guitars? Daniel Lanois produces and lays on the atmospherics.
Peter Wolf: Midnight Souvenirs
Another fantastic release from Mr. Wolf (yes, the former J. Geils front man and bad wamba jamba). Choice covers and originals, including collab’s with Merle Haggard, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. Outstanding alt-country, blues and soul.
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
More cool 70’s soul vibes from Sharon and the boys. “Better Things” should have been a top ten single, if there were still such a thing. If you saw her performance at the Pabst in May, you had to come away a believer.
Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
Staples A glorious blast of rootsy blues, gospel and soul. Jeff Tweedy produces and writes a couple of new tunes to compliment the choice covers from Alan Toussaint, Randy Newman, Little Milton and John Fogerty. Her voice is just as strong as ever. Flying to the races. Oh, yeah.
R.E.M.: Fables of the Reconstruction (25th anniversary reissue)
With its rural southern feel, Fables is perhaps the last of the original jangly, ethereal and cryptic R.E.M. releases. The re-issue brings all of the instruments forward and clears up some of the murkiness without diluting the albums spooky tone. Songs like “Feeling Gravity’s Pull”, “Driver 8”, “Maps & Legends” and “Can’t Get There from Here” all contribute to the dark, moody feel.
Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (40th Anniversary reissue)
The Holy Grail of jazz/rock fusion. Annoying the purists while shaking things up, Miles pushes the boundaries once again. Backed by Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Harvey Brooks and Lenny White, this 1970 release remains one of the coolest records ever made. Includes un-released tracks and a DVD of a 1969 Copenhagen performance of the material.
Bruce Springsteen: The Promise
A treasure trove of previously un-released songs from 1977-78. A sensational collection of bar-band music, ballads and summer fun from Bruce’s most prolific period. These should have been released right after Darkness but instead, sat in the vaults until now. Still, glad to have them now.
The Rolling Stones: Exile on Mainstreet (deluxe edition, reissue)
This 1972 double album of garage-y rock, steamy blues, gospel and country still holds it’s bad voodoo well. Recorded mainly during the summer of 1971 in Keith Richards “dirty filthy basement” at Nellcote in the south of France, much of its allure was the buried vocals and raw feel. Although this re-issue sounds a bit overly compressed, the real treat is the 10 unreleased songs from that period. Mick Taylor was even brought in to overdub some guitar parts. Delightfully “Torn and Frayed”.
Erik Void, Everything That Rises Must Converge, Wednesdays, 12am-3am
Ceremony: Rocket Fire
Tears Run Rings: Distance
Wild Nothing: Gemini
A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Autumn Again
Black Tambourine: S/T
Tamaryn: The Waves
Luke Abbott: Holkham Drones
Soundpool: Mirrors in Your Eyes
Signaldrift: Two Agents
How to Dress Well: Love Remains
Pat Buckley (alternate for Grant), Mondays, 6am-9am
Dum Dum Girls: I Will Be
Wonderful production this album gets back to why we love pop music that can be classy and dangerous simultaneously.
Tame Impala: Innerspeaker
This album proved that these 20 year olds from the left coast of Australia are more than just an amazing Cream sound alike. Building on their early EPs, Innerspeaker retains all the joy of rock and roll- energy, harmony, clarity and sincerity.
Pantha du Prince: Black Noise
It builds at first- simple rhythms, bells, thumb piano and then turns into a simply-textured soundscape that sounds both like Old World and the future. A great mix of organic and manufactured sound. Noah Lennox of Animal Collective’s appearance is a high point.
Beach House: Teen Dream
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Walkmen: Lisbon
I loved Jonathan Fire Eater. I have always been severely underwhelmed by the Walkmen. I saw them live once at the Cactus Club and it was the most unmemorable, unspectacular show that I have ever seen at that venue. Until Lisbon I had counted them out, now they deliver a mature album with an expansive, bittersweet world view.
Local:
This was a fantastic year for local music. Some great national releases form local acts, but I am most excited about the early efforts from upstarts like The Fatty Acids and Faux Fir.
Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders are Back
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
The Fatty Acids: Stop Berries Berries and Berries, Berries
Faux Fir: S/T EP
Eric and Magill: All Those I Know
Robert G and DJ E: Reggae Vibrations, Thursdays, 9pm-12am
Cherine Anderson: Talk if Yuh Talking
Alborosie: Stepping Out
Etana: I Am Not Afraid and Blessings
Queen Ifrica: Lioness On the Rise
Burning Spear: Slavery Days and Old Marcus Garvey
Vybz Kartel: Clarks
Busy Signal: One More Night and Night Shift
Gyptian: Hold Yuh
Shabba Ranks: Telephone Love
The Best Albums:
Strictly the Best 42 and 43
Reggae Gold 2010 and 2009
Alborosie
Etana: Blessings
Dr. Fell: Jing Jong Triple Play, Fridays, 6am-9am
The Books: The Way Out
Peggy Sue: Fossils and Other Phantoms
Menomena: Mines
Junip: Fields
Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz
Sleighbells: Treats
Dosh: Tommy
Aloe Blacc: Good Things
The Walkmen: Lisbon
Martina Topley Bird: Some Place Simple
Jonny Z: The Chickenshack, Fridays, 9am-12pm
Nick Curran and the Lowlifes: Reform School Girl
Lil’ Band O’ Gold: The Promised Land
Carolina Chocolate Drops: Genuine Negro Jig
Yvette Landry: Should Have Known
Southern Culture on the Skids: Kudzu Ranch
Old 97s: The Grand Theater Volume One
The Ragadors: BlackInkySwells
Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Medicine County
Johnny Moeller: BlooGaLoo!
E-Form, various shows
Top Ten Albums:
Janelle Monae: The ArchAndroid
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
Jonsi: Go
Of Montreal: False Priest
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire
Beach House: Teen Dream
Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh
Sleigh Bells: Treats
Top Ten Shows:
Milwaukee:
LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip at the Eagle’s Ballroom
Jonsi at The Pabst
Devo at Summerfest
Of Montreal and Janelle Monae at The Pabst
Chicago:
xx and Hot Chip at the Riviera
Flying Lotus and Thom Yorke at the Aragon
Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae at the Chicago Theater
Sleigh Bells at p4k
Minneapolis:
Miike Snow and Delorean at the Varsity Theater
Austin:
Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club
Hal Rammel: Alternating Currents, Sundays, 6pm-9pm
The Jason Moran Trio: Ten
As the trio commemorates their tenth year together they continue to reconstruct the classics (like Monk’s “Crepsucule with Nellie”), their own classics (as in a recasting of “Gangsterism”) and even two versions of Conlon Nancarrow “Study No. 10”. An old vaudeville-days Bert Williams’ tune for the 1920s slips in at the end as a bonus track. It all flows together beautifully and with remarkable originality.
Vijay Iyer: Solo
Iyer released a fantastic solo disc this year called Solo (ACT Music) with lush, complex versions of Ellington, Monk and Strayhorn. Whenever I hear “Human Nature” it’s stuck in my head for days, but a friend challenged me to retain Iyer’s “Autoscopy” with the same obsession. That’s not so easy, but I’m working on it. Beautiful record!
The New York Art Quartet: Old Stuff
I’m heavy on reissues this time around and the best just may be Old Stuff from the New York Art Quartet. This was a short-lived free jazz group with two records in the mid-60’s featuring Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Lewis Worrell and Milord Graves. They had one record on ESP, then another appeared called Mohawk on the hard-to-find Dutch Fontana label. Then, the band broke up; no gigs anywhere to support them. This year, two radio broadcasts from Europe recorded on that same mid-60’s tour (but with Louis Moholo on drums) resurfaced and Cuneiform released both in a two-CD set! Now, thirty years after their demise, the group has a new major free jazz classic. Don’t miss it!
Bassekou Kouyate: I Speak Fula
In Studio A’s library, move one shelf up and over from the jazz section and you can pull out I Speak Fula by Bassekou Kouyate and listen to the best set of Malian strings I’ve heard in a long, long time. These are killer grooves that could last into eternity. Bluegrass has been described as folk music in overdrive, but ‘overdrive’ is too mild a word for the power of this band. Check it out and be reminded of what life is all about.
Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms
Reviewers have made reference to Bobby Hutcherson’s older Bluenote records when commenting on this new disc from Jason Adasiewicz in trio with Mike Reed and Nate McBride (called Sun Rooms on Delmark), but I hear something much different here, less tied to post-bop and a wider palette that can encompass early Sun Ra tunes alongside a great new touch to Billy Strayhorn’s lyricism.
Robb Mazurek: Robb Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra
[This album] includes a huge roster of fantastic players with a rich orchestration that reveals greater and richer depths with every listen. I have many more hours to spend with this one to uncover its powerful mysteries. It’s less a big band of soloists and more a mix of brilliant ensemble give and take.
***I have four more recordings to mention separately but the first two are by friends so that is one very important disclaimer. The second two recordings didn’t find their way into the station’s library, but they have to be included on any honest ‘Best of 2010’ list.
Jon Mueller: The Whole
In both its LP and CD/Olivia Block remix package, Jon has exceeded his already-powerful collection of solo works with this one. Listen many times and the structure and heartfelt assemblage of parts reveals new depths to his work. There will be much, much more to come from this Milwaukee composer and it is all foreshadowed, here.
Tom Hamilton: Music For Kohn/Formal & Informal Music
Tom Hamilton began his formal studies in electronic music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before heading to Washington State University in St. Louis. There, his experiments with synthesizers and live instrumentalists blossomed and he put out two LPs that were just reissued by KVIST as Music For Kohn/Formal & Informal Music. These reveal direct links to his present day work while sounding like they were recorded yesterday, not thirty years ago. A couple weeks ago, Tom Hamilton played in New York with Muhal Richard Abrams as part of the celebration of Muhal’s 80th birthday. The saga continues.
The second two:
Ahmad Jamal: The Complete Argo Sessions 1965-1962
Mosaic Records gave the deluxe treatment to Ahmad Jamal this year with an 8-CD box that covers his years with Argo. This is the box that I will grab as the world comes crashing down in hopes that if I survive, I’ll find a functioning CD player somewhere. One of the many marvels here is that unlike so many piano trios, even the greatest ones, the tunes may begin to sound the same over the length of a record. Here, due to the magic of drummer Vernel Fournier and bassist Israel Crosby, each take is a new universe. This is the most inventive and soulful rhythm section the world could ever imagine.
Henry Threadgill: And This Brings Us To volume 2
Mosaic Records also saw fit to honor Henry Threadgill with a box set collection that runs through the later period of his trio Air onto the music of his sextet and all the groups that followed. He’s one of our greatest composers in the ‘jazz’world of the 21stcentury, unrelenting and musical and inspiring. Start anywhere in his discography, like with this box set, and have your musical life transformed. Then you will be well-prepared for volume 2 of Threadgill’s And This Brings Us To that just appeared on Pi Recordings.
Rich Mars: City Rock Showgram, Wednesdays, 6pm-9pm
Bobby Bare Jr.: A Storm, A Tree, My Mother’s Head
Bobby’s most consistent and rewarding album in a while. Backed by My Morning Jacket. Funny and deep and not serious and good.
Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do
If this world was right, this would have been a smash hit. A classic album with a variety of styles and great lyrics all in the general arena of DBT’s gothic southern rock.
Black Angels: Phosphene Dream
Best psychedelica from Texas since Roky Erickson. Loud and proud.
The Goodnight Loving: The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
These guys grow on me more all the time. Jangly and homespun. Their most consistent effort to-date.
Galactic: Yakamay
Live the funk. Feel the funk. Organic and modern all at once with a variety of guest vocalists.
The Fall: Your Future Our Clutter
Who woulda thought Mark E. Smith had this in him – the brains to work with a kickass band that rocks its arse off while he warbles about ex-pats and other stuff.
Neil Young: Le Noise
You either love Neil or you don’t get him. If you love Neil, this features some mighty fine gee-tarr chords and nifty songs. New approach, thanks to producer Daniel Lanois.
Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
Every tune I’ve heard on this is expertly-crafted and delivered. Bradford Cox rox.
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
I’m looking like a homer, here, with two Milwaukee bands on my list, but the first three tracks on this release were one of the best starts to any CD I heard this year. A few other gems on here, too. Straight-ahead alt rock.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
This one doesn’t jump out at you like some of their previous works, but after numerous listens, it’s got some great material.
Honorable mentions: Gil Scott-Heron, Clinic, Walkmen, Sleigh Bells, Black Keys, Dum Dum Girls
Brian Janssen: World Music Hour, Mondays, 9am-12pm
22-20’s
Flaming Lips
Devo
The Black Keys
Call Me Lightning
Lucero
LovaNova
Luisa Maita
Alex Cuba
Rupa and the April Fishes
AfroCubism
Zack Holder, WMSE music department assistant
Albums:
Call Me Lighting: When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free
Crime In Stereo: I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
The Goodnight Loving: The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
I, Crime: Spread Like Water/Block the Sun
Dan Kwas: Dreams Die Hard
Murdocks: Distortionist
Red Sparrowes: The Fear is Excruciating But Therein Lies the Answer
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band: The Wages
Shining: Blackjazz
Street Dogs: S/T
EPs/7”s:
Arkady: I Am Become
Burning Sons: Masquerade
The Flips: I Just Don’t Know Where I Stand
Muy Cansado: Love and Fear
Juniper Tar: The Howl Street EP
Swinging Utters: Brand New Lungs
Teenage Moods: S/T
Grant Killoran: The Grant Show, Mondays, 6am-9am
Top Albums:
The National: High Violet
Jonsi: Go
The Black Keys: Brothers
Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back
New Pornographers: Together
Eels: Tomorrow Morning
Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back
Caribou: Swim
Jesca Hoop: Hunting My Dress
Brian Eno: Small Craft On a Milk Sea
Top Singles:
The National: “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
Jonsi: “Go Do”
Eels: “Spectacular Girl”
Caribou: “Odessa”
Top Album Artwork:
Brian Eno: Small Craft On a Milk Sea
Jeff Joy, The Blues Drive, Wednesdays 3pm-6pm
Dr. John: Tribal
Stevie Ray: Texas Flood (reissue)
Bettye LaVette: Interpretations:The British Songbook
Derek Trucks: Roadsongs
Albert King: In Session
Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
James Cotton: Giant
Buddy Guy: Living Proof
JJ Grey: Georgia Warhorse
Black Keys: Brothers
bts.wrkng: Mondays, 9pm-12am
Mark E: Selected Works 2005-2009
Brian Eno: Small Craft On a Milk Sea
Thomas Fehlmann: Gute Luft
Grovesnor: Soft Return
Lorn: Nothing Else
Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: Epic
Seefeel: Faults EP
Sun Araw: On Patrol
Prins Thomas: S/T
Visti & Meyland: S/T
Jon Blick: The Overnight Sensations, Thursdays 12am-3am
Sugar Stems: The Sweet Sounds of the Sugar Stems
Perfect Power pop, emphasis on pop. There is so much energy here that I get tired listening to it, which is not to say that I ever get tired of listening to it.
Richard Thompson: Dream Attic
Always a killer in concert, his albums can be somewhat hit and miss. Here’s a batch of great, new songs recorded, live, with his amazing band. What could be better?
Wildbirds: Sunshine Blues
I had heard these songs, live, several times before this came out and was blown away in both cases. “Like a Cigarette” gets the prize for the most stick-in-your-head riff of the year.
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Hawk
Gorgeous vocals, great songs, nice stylistic variety. Not a bad track on it.
The Whigs: In the Dark
This rocks from start to finish. These guys just keep getting better.
Deadstring Brothers: Sao Paulo
It was either this or the deluxe reissue of “Exile on Main St.” “Sao Paulo” is pretty much the same album, but it actually came out this year.
Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Spacy, dense, powerful. “And This is What We Call Progress” is one of my favorite songs of 2010.
Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
Is this really about the Civil War? Who cares? Loud, snotty fun.
Superchunk: Majesty Shredding
Put this on at your next party.
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
No, on second thought, put THIS on at your next part.
Honorable mentions:
Trapper Schoepp & the Shades: Lived and Moved
Grinderman: 2
Warpaint: The Fool
Old 97s: The Grand Theatre
Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
Mary Bartlein: Instrumental Saturdays, Saturdays, 6pm-9pm
Ludovico Einaudi: Divenire
This is a guy who sells out the Royal Albert Hall in London and he stopped here in Milwaukee for a solo concert this year. All of his music is really my desert island favorite.
Ludovico Einaudi: Nightbook
David Helping and Jon Jenkins: The Crossing
This is a great follow up to their first CD together, Treasure.
Bombay Dub Orchestra: 3 Cities
I really like Bombay Dub Orchestra, but this CD is one of my favorites of theirs.
Phil Keaggy and Jeff Johnson: Friosuite
Another great collaborative team.
Robert Rich: Ylang
All the Waveform Transmission compilations are great.
mary’s brother: Custom Fidelity
Darshan Ambient: A Day Within Dyas
Peter Jennison: Longing For Home
Maria: Female Focus, Sundays, 10:30pm-12am
Janelle Monae: The ArchAndroid
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
Sia: We Are Born
Audra Mae: The Happiest Lamb
Clara Luzia: Ground Below
Erin McKeown: Hundreds of Lions
She & Him: Volume Two
Anais Mitchell: Hadestown
Hayle Taylor: One Foot in Front Of the Other
Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
Honorable Mentions:
Nellie McKay: Home Sweet Mobile Home
Lana Mir: S/T
Melissa Czarnik: Raspberry Jesus
WMSE STAFF
WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford
Algernon: Ghost Surveillance
Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra: Kollaps Tradixionales
Gil Scott-Heron: I’m New Here
Call Me Lightning: When I’m Gone My Blood Will Be Free
Triptykon: Eparistera Diamones
Maserati: Pyramid of the Sun
Horseback: The Invisible Mountain
The Vita Ruins: A Day Without A Name
Sailors With Wax Wings: S/T
Vijay Iyer: Solo
Wolf Parade: Expo 86
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
Pivixki: Gravissima
Blurt: Cut It!
Jon Mueller: The Whole
WMSE Music Director Erin Wolf
Top Ten:
Crocodiles: Sleep Forever
Land of Talk: Cloak and Cipher
Javelin: No Mas
Archie Bronson Outfit: Coconut
Sharon Van Etten: Epic
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Gayngs: Relayted
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
Cotton Jones: Tall Hours in the Glowstream
Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
Close Seconds:
Lookbook: Wild at Heart
The Goodnight Loving: The Goodnight Loving Supper Club
Junip: Fields
Black Mountain: Wilderness Heart
Ceremony: Rocket Fire
Superchunk: Majesty Shredding
Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra: Kollaps Tradixionales
Beach House: Teen Dream
Tyvek: Nothing Fits
OFF! First Four EPs
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me
Signaldrift: Two Agents
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Call Me Lightning: When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be Free
Burning Sons: Masquerade 7”
Tamaryn: The Waves
Faux Fir: S/T EP
Richard Skelton: Landings
Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back
Glasser: Ring
Eric & Magill: All Those I Know
Mountain Man: S/T
Black Keys: Brothers
Ty Segall: Melted
The Soft Pack: S/T
The Fatty Acids: Stop Berries, Berries, Berries and Berries
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: I Learned the Hard Way
WMSE Promotions Director Ryan Schleicher
Best of 2010
The Tallest Man On Earth: Wild Hunt
Sharon Van Etten: Epic
Junip: Fields
Call Me Lightning: When I Am Gone My Blood Will Be ree
Felice Brothers: Mix Tape
Tallest Man On Earth: Sometimes the Blues is Just a Passing Bird
Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
Damien Jurado: Saint Bartlett
Nathaniel Rateliff: In Memory of Loss
Strand of Oaks: Pope Killdragon
Superchunk: Majesty Shredding
The National: High Violet
Moondoggies: Tidelands
Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
Ben Sollee/Daniel Martin moore: Dear Companion
Black Keys: Brothers
First Aid Kit: The Big Back & the Blue
Megafaun: Heretofore
The Acorn: No Ghost
Delta Spirit: History From Below
School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire
Jaill: That’s How We Burn
Besnard Lakes: Are the Roaring Night
Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
Postdata: S/T
The Walkmen: Lisbon
Admittedly Haven’t Spent Much Time With:
LCD Soundsystem
Justin Townes Earle
Big Boi
Kanye West
Phosphorescent
Sam Quinn
Harlem
Los Campesinos
Marnie Stern
Yeasayer
Woods
Jamie Johnson
Dum Dum Girs
Futurebirds
Wolf Parade
WMSE Development Director Jason Mohr
Damien Jurado: Saint Bartlett
Heligoats: Goodness Gracious
Strand of Oaks: Pope Killdragon
MGMT: Congratulations
Jason Adasiewicz: Sun Rooms
Nathaniel Rateliff: In Memory Of Loss
Spoon: Transference
Conrad Plymouth: S/T EP
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
Red Stuff: Best of Hot Rod Love
WMSE Underwriting Director Dori Zori
Rafter: Animal Feelings
Jamie Lidell: Compass
LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
Los Campesinos: Romance is Boring
Pezzettino and LMNTlyst: LubDub
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
Yeasayer: Odd Blood
Groove Armada: Black Light
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Def Harmonic: Figs
The Bird & the Bee: Interpreting the Masters (Hall & Oates)
Gogol Bordello: Transcontinental Hustle
Foals: Total Life Forever
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
Sleigh Bells: Treats
Black Keys: Brothers
Sia: We Are Born
Underworld: Barking
Juniper Tar: The Howl Street EP
Robyn: Body Talk
Scissor Sisters: Night Work
The Walkmen: Lisbon
Delorian: Subiza
Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back
Tune into 91.7 FM WMSE on Thursday, December 30th from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. as WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford plays from the WMSE DJs’ 2010 picks on The Jules Show for WMSE”s monthly Radio Drill Time segment. Missed out? Catch the show in the WMSE archives.