Year in Music, 2010 - Part II

My other musical obsession this year, and my pick for best album of the year, was Miranda Lambert's Revolution. My computer, my mp3 player, and probably my roommate can all attest to the fact that this record never got much of a rest, that I kept going back to it again and again, sometimes just listening to it multiple times in a row. If country is the new pop, I really think that Miranda Lambert's dirtier, grittier, catchier, more honest version of country is the new rock. I love the way that she can be the Southern trailer park princess who sings to her prissy rival, "I don't have to be hateful / I can just say 'Bless your heart' ... We're just like you / only prettier," and just as easily slip into a soft love song like "Makin' Plans" or rock out on John Prine's hilariously absurd "That's the Way that the World Goes 'Round." Miranda Lambert is fantastic, the kind of tough, scrappy girl that you want on your side in a bar fight, with the kind of uniquely wonderful and versatile voice that you would want singing at both your wedding and your wake.

Other albums that I really enjoyed this year included:

Arcade Fire's The Suburbs

The National's High Violet

MGMT's Oracular Spectacular

Dierks Bentley's Feel That Fire

The Soundtrack from 500 Days of Summer

A Fine Frenzy's One Cell in the Sea

fun.'s Aim and Ignite

Vampire Weekend's Contra

David Bazan's Curse Your Branches

Besides the most excellent Sufjan Stevens concert, I got to see a few other cool shows and acts this year: The Weepies were a huge highlight at a small, intimate Phoenix venue called Rhythm Room, Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum were great together earlier this summer out in Glendale, and seeing the musical version of Billy Elliot on stage just before I left Chicago was awesome.

And of course, how wildly remiss I would be if I didn't give a big time hat tip to Glee for making my year extra-specially musical. I've listened to many of the songs from the first season repeatedly this year, and the Finn and Rachel duets of "Faithfully" from the season finale and "Borderline/Open Your Heart" from the Madonna episode are probably my favorite stand-alone songs of the year. I haven't found the songs from season 2 to be quite as catchy, memorable, or worthy of my attention, but hopefully that's just a little sophomore slump.

Currently Listening to

Carlos Baute & Marta Sanchez, "Colgando en tus Manos"