LPC Mixtape Series, Vol. 3, November/December 2010: Christmas Morning

Depending on how old you are as you're reading this, you're probably several years past the unmatchable excitement of waking up on Christmas morning to see what you've received from family, friends, other relatives, and, of course, Santa.

What were some of the best gifts you received during your childhood? There's always that one gift that you'll always remember because it was on a different level compared to the rest. Likewise, you'll also remember the gift you received from a (presumably) distant relative who was either a cheapskate, unintelligent, or thought you were five years old.

While this mixtape isn't strictly Christmas-themed, I'd like to think it is with several Christmas-related tracks (most of those, thanks to T_R_A, being comedic) and a general thought of Christmas morning in mind (except for the Odd Future stuff, of course!).

Because of the lack of a mixtape for the month of November, we decided to combine the two months into one giant mixtape for both November and December; we think you'll like this a lot.

With that, we'll let you enjoy 30 selections from our staff for the months of November and December.

1. Afrirampo - Miracle Lucky Girls
2. Clive Tanaka y su Orquesta - All Night, All Right
3. Tame Impala - It's Not Meant to Be
4. Bad Veins - Gold and Warm
5. Earl Sweatshirt - EARL
6. Dean Martin - Baby, It's Cold Outside
7. Girl Talk - That's Right
8. Max Bemis and the Painful Splits - Do the Dohnk
9. Sun City Girls - Space Prophet Dogon
10. Tyler, the Creator - French! Featuring Hodgy Beats
11. Vince Guaraldi - Linus and Lucy
12. Killer Bong - Are There Any Complaints
13. Half Man Half Biscuit - All I Want For Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
14. Girls - Carolina
15. NoMeansNo - Big Dick
16. One Ring Zero - Half and Half
17. Weezer - Trampoline
18. Ducktails - Killin' the Vibe
19. The Residents - Dumbo, the Clown (Who Loved Christmas)
20. Stellar OM Source - Island Best
21. Captain Beefheart - There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Evenin' Stage
22. Electric Six - The Rubberband Man
23. Atlas Sound - This Wheel's on Fire (Dylan)
24. Man or Astro-man? - Mermaid Love
25. Nuclear Rabbit - Santa Claus Is Selling Crack
26. Jad Fair and Naofumi Ishimaru - Santa's Knee
27. Big Troubles - Bite Yr Tongue
28. Das Racist - Who's That? Brooown!
29. Medecine - Christmas Song
30. Vince Guaraldi - Skating

Download (197 MB)

With this post, I would like to thank everyone who has had a helping hand in the foundation or continuation of this blog. Every writer on this staff that contributes does a great job in writing and it's hard for me to not be happy with the writers we have.

Without the visitors and readers of the blog, though, we wouldn't be able to do any of this. Thanks to all of you for making this possible.

Now let's look at 2011 as the year we can make this improve in so many ways. Good night and Merry Christmas.

A short sample of what LPC writers thought were the best tracks of 2010

Because we only got a few submissions for this one, I'll just post what I have. Mixtape coming tomorrow.

tweedsmatic:

10. Belle and Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop
Classic Belle and Sebastian.

9. Beach House - Lover of Mine
Not the most recognized song on Teen Dream, the keyboard riff gets me.

8. The Roots - Now or Never
Really brings out the optimistic side of How I Got Over. Such a powerful chorus.

7. Crystal Castles - Empathy
The highlight of CC's second album. Production doesn't get much tighter than this.

6. Kanye West - Runaway
Of course Yeezy has to make a sincere song with ridiculous lyrics. But it's sincere nonetheless. Pusha T delivers a killer verse, the song has a powerful beat and dat outro.

5. LCD Soundsystem - All I Want
Definitely this album's 'All My Friends' or 'Losing My Edge'. Just gets more powerful with each verse. The guitar goes so well with the backbeat.

4. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
It's just so... smooth. The production is smooth, big boi's flow is smooth, and Gucci Mane's chorus, we're talking baby-bottom smooth here. The exact sort of hip-hop song I expect to hear about once a year.

3. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The title track really sets the tone of the album in a similar way to how 'Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)' establishes Funeral. In my humble opinion, The Suburbs is the most memorable track on the album. The piano riff at the beginning, the chorus especially, and the guitar in the outro. It my not be the most intense, hard-hitting song on the album, but it sticks.

2. Broken Social Scene - Romance to the Grave
The last song of the 'Strong point' in Forgiveness Rock Record, Romance to the Grave is how a crescendo should be done. It doesn't drag on and it's climax isn't too over the top. It just steadily builds up to a powerful and memorable finish.

1. Girls' Generation - Hoot
Haters gonna hate, simple as that.

CaptainCommonSense:

10. Arcade Fire - The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
9. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
8. Deerhunter - Helicopter
7. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People
6. The Black Keys - Tighten Up
5. Electric Wizard - Black Mass
4. World's End Girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis
3. Sleigh Bells - Tell Em
2. Kanye West - Runaway
1. Flying Lotus - Galaxy In Janaki

NomNomNomHayweePierce:

10. Tennis - South Carolina
9. Arcade Fire - Sprawl 2 (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
8. Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
7. Titus Andronicus - To Old Friends and New
6. Deerhunter - He Would Have Laughed
5. The National - Lemonworld
4. The Books - All You Need Is A Wall
3. Panda Bear - You Can Count On Me
2. James Blake - CMYK
1. How To Dress Well - Decisions (feat. Yuksel Arslan)

JTRobertsNY:

1. "Monster" - Kanye West feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver
2. "Impossible Soul" - Sufjan Stevens
3. "Somethin"- Devo
4. "Fuck You" - Cee Lo Green
5. "Dog Days Are Over" - Florence and the Machine
6. "Little Lion Man" - Mumford & Sons
7. "POWER" - Kanye West feat. Dwele
8. "Brave New World" - Weezer
9. "California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
10. "Un-Break My Heart" - Weezer

moazzam23:

Balkan Beat Box - Dancing With The Moon
Gogol Bordello - Immigraniada
Arcade Fire - Sprawl II
Big Boi - Tangerine
The Roots - Dear God 2.0
Kanye West - All of the Lights
M.I.A. - Born Free
Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave
Neil Young - Angry World
No Age - Fever Dreaming

Myself/cedarpoint13:

10. Women - Eyesore
9. Big Boi - Shine Blockas
8. Sufjan Stevens - I Walked
7. Big K.R.I.T. - Hometown Hero
6. Panda Bear - Slow Motion
5. Mark McGuire - Brothers (For Matt)
4. Beach Fossils - Vacation
3. Brothertiger - Lovers
2. Flying Lotus - Galaxy in Janaki
1. Arcade Fire - Half Light II (No Celebration)

Sorry for the mediocre post, but it's all I've got this time around. Next year, this should be more well-organized.

Thanks for reading. Mixtape is coming tomorrow and it's looking great. As a side note, this may or may not have a cheesy Christmas title.

The 2010 LPC Readers' Poll

Hello and welcome to the first annual Loving Peter Cetera Readers' Poll. Because readers only had a few days to submit ballots, the final tally may be somewhat small because there were only 48 ballots submitted. However, this is just a start - next year's poll will be bigger and better.

Here was the system used:

• Readers were asked to submit a list of their top five albums for the 2010 calendar year.
• For the top five lists, there were 5 points given for #1, 4 for #2, 3 for #3, and so on.
• After all ballots were submitted, I added up every ballot into the mix and came out with these final numbers.

On to the poll.

9 (tie). Vampire Weekend - Contra and The National - High Violet (13 points)

Due to a coin flip, the album by Big K.R.I.T., K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, was left out due to space issues for the top ten poll.

Not too big of a surprise here as both Contra and High Violet were found on many top ten lists to end the year. High Violet had the higher points per ballot average (was on four), but Contra was on more top five lists.

8. The Roots - How I Got Over (14 points)

This surprised me by coming in at #8 as I didn't think the hip-hop heads could push one album up this much. While I still haven't heard it, I find the Roots listenable so I'll be checking this out if nothing else.

7. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (15 points)

I'd still like a new OutKast album at some point, but I guess this great release can hold me over for some time.

5. (tie) Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest and Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (18 points each)

No surprise here either - you'll find both of these albums on many of the end-of-year top albums lists, including my own. Both albums are excellently crafted and both are unique (at least to me, anyway).

4. Curren$y - Pilot Talk (19 points)

Never would I have thought at the beginning of 2010 that a line about playing NBA Live and eating chips would become one of my favorites of the year.

3. Beach House - Teen Dream (44 points)

This album showed up on several of the ballots and was one of the clear-cut top albums, having over twice the points of Pilot Talk. A fantastic album and one I would label "can't-miss".

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (54 points)

Had a lot of points and normally could've contended for #1, but it didn't even come close to the runaway winner, which was...

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (122 points)

Yes, 122 points. It was included on nearly 2/3 of the ballots, beat the Suburbs by 68 points (!) and wasn't contested whatsoever.

Thanks to everyone who voted and everyone who helped make this happen. Hopefully, we'll be doing this at the same time next year.

The Official LPC 2011 Hype List

With just nine days left before the new year and no more new releases in 2010 outside of two new OFWGKTA releases in the final week, it's time to look forward to what 2011 has to offer. Release dates are not final and can change at any time, but for the most part they should be accurate.

Considering that there are currently no release dates determined for notable albums after the end of March, we'll stop there for now. However, at the end of the list, there will be a list of albums with either general release dates (such as sometime in February/March/summer 2011/etc.) or albums that are to be released in 2011 without a release date.

January

January 10th: Ducktails - Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics
White Fence - ...Is Growing Faith

January 11th: British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
Rye Rye - Go! Pop! Bang!
Tim Buckley - s/t (1966 reissue)
Tape Deck Mountain - Secret Serf EP
MillionYoung - Replicants
N.E.R.D. - The Best of N.E.R.D.

January 18th: The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Braids - Native Speaker
Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks
Tennis - Cape Dory

January 24th: Demdike Stare - Tryptych

January 25th: Sic Alps - Napa Asylum
Cloud Nothings - s/t
Destroyer - Kaputt
Iron & Wine - Lick Each Other Clean
Gang of Four - Content
Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil
Talib Kweli - Gutter Rainbows
Thank You - Golden Worry

January 28th: Faust - Something Dirty

January 31st: The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts
Hercules & Love Affair - Blue Songs

February

February 1st: Kompakt Records - Pop Ambient Collection
The Dirtbombs - Party Store

February 8th: Cut Copy - Zonoscope
The Babies - s/t
James Blake - s/t

February 14th: Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake

Lifelover - Sjukdom

Dornenreich - Flammentriebe

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

February 15th: Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Yuck - s/t
Asobi Seksu - Fluorescence
Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines

February 22nd: Adele - 21
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
Porcelain Raft - Gone Blind EP
The Cave Singers - No Witch
The Books - The Lemon of Pink (2003 reissue)
Danielson - Best of Gloucester County

February 25th: Heretoir - Heretoir

Mani Neumeier and Kawabota Makoto - Samurai Blues

March

March 1st: Papercuts - Fading Parade
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
Rainbow Arabia - Boys and Diamonds

March 4th: Kreidler - Tank

March 7th: Burzum - Fallen

March 8th: Lupe Fiasco - Lasers
Wye Oak - Civilian
R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
Parts & Labor - Constant Future
The Dodos - Untitled

March 15th: A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Cervantine
J. Mascis - Several Shades of Why
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Heidecker & Wood - Starting From Nowhere (yes, Heidecker = Tim Heidecker from Tim & Eric/Tom Goes to the Mayor)

March 22nd: Belong - Common Era

March 29th: Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Peter Bjorn and John - Gimme Some
Mars Classroom - The New Theory of Everything
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Cotonou Club

That's it for the release dates that have been determined. Now, here's the second half to your hype list for 2011.

Albums With Undetermined Release Dates by Month

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Don't Say We Didn't Warn You (January)
Dr. Dre - Detox (February)
Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now (February)
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (February)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong (March)
The Strokes - TBA (March)

Albums With Undetermined Release Dates by Season

Virus - The Agent That Shapes The Desert (Winter... more than likely)
Vivian Girls - Share the Joy (Spring)
Hunx and His Punx - TBA (Spring)
Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 (Spring)
Black Lips - TBA (Spring)
Death Cab For Cutie - TBA (Spring)
Fiona Apple - TBA (Spring)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - TBA (Summer)

Albums With No General Release Date Determined (i.e., due sometime in 2011)

Battles - TBA
Blakroc - Blakroc 2
Man Man - Live Fantastic
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne
Santigold - TBA
Yelawolf - TBA
My Morning Jacket - TBA
Games - TBA
M83 - TBA
Pusha T - TBA
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Radiohead - TBA
Big K.R.I.T. - Return of 4eva
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
The Cars - TBA
Coldplay - TBA
The Cool Kids - When Fish Ride Bicycles
Fleet Foxes - TBA
Franz Ferdinand - TBA
Kraftwerk - TBA
No Doubt - TBA
Rush - Clockwork Angels
The Shins - TBA
Seaweed - Small Engine Repair
U2 - Songs of Ascent
The Wrens - TBA
Wilco - TBA (rumored to come out in either late 2011 or early 2012)
The Feelies - TBA (rumored for spring)

Lantlôs - Agape

Thränenkind - TBA ("Trying" for an end of 2011-beginning of 2012 release)

Albums That May or May Not Come Out in 2011 But Are Heavily Rumored to Do So

None of the bands listed (to my knowledge) have said anything about a new album in 2011 yet, but the general opinion is that each release listed will be out by the end of the year. This could fall in the above category of albums that WILL come out in 2011 at some point, but as stated in the first sentence none of the artists listed have officially mentioned anything about a new album to this point.

Air France - TBA
The Avalanches - TBA
Grizzly Bear - TBA
Neon Indian - TBA
Memory Tapes - TBA
Real Estate - TBA
Cults - TBA
Aphex Twin - TBA
Lil Wayne - TBA
The Lonely Island - TBA
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - TBA
Beck - TBA
Bon Iver - TBA
Burial - TBA
Crystal Stilts - TBA
Explosions in the Sky - TBA
Peter Gabriel - New Blood
Gorillaz - TBA
Islands - TBA
The Kills - TBA
Circle Takes the Square - TBA
Jens Lekman - TBA
Low - TBA
Portishead - TBA
VEGA - TBA

Well, I think that's everything. If I missed something, let me know in the comments section and I'll add it. Hopefully, as these albums come out, we'll have a review of each one here on LPC.

Look out for the following this week:

Later Today - 2010 LPC Readers' Poll (the readers' top ten albums of 2010)
Tomorrow - LPC Writers' Top Ten Tracks of 2010
Christmas Eve - The LPC November/December Mixtape
Christmas Day and the day after - Link Day (we'll be posting anything and everything that we feel like posting)

Hopefully this all goes smoothly. Hope you enjoyed the Hype List and look for the Readers Poll either later this afternoon or tonight.

Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids (2010)

Rounding out 2010 is the latest installment from Wu-Tang superstar Ghostface Killah. Arguably the most consistent rapper in the game, with a total of 9 albums, 7 of them being at least very good and 3 classics of the rap genre. Apollo Kids does not disappoint, as Ghostface proves yet again why he's one of the best MCs around.

Overall, Apollo Kids is a great album, with many high moments and few lows. It may have scraped into my top 10 list, depending on how many times I listened to it beforehand. Assuming no one is expecting another Fishscale, hip-hop fans will be satisfied. The production is solid and Ghostface's flow is as smooth as ever. Opener 'Purified Thoughts' has strong verses from both GZA and Killah Priest, which begins what is a very consistent run for guest rappers on the album. Busta Rhymes, Cappadonna, The Game and Raekwon all have great guest spots. Not to be outdone though, Ghostface just spoils his listeners with witty rhymes. On '2getha baby', Ghostface rhymes "momma" with "Obama" and "no no" with "go" and "Tony Romo". The sampling is top notch as well, with a nice little Tears for Fears sample in 'Starkology'. 'Street Bullies' my personal highlight of the album, has a delightful Spongebob reference from guest rapper Sheek: "I'm infatuated with money like Mr. Krabs."

To put it simply, Ghostface has delivered with style once again. It's a great album to close off what has been a solid year for hip-hop and a tremendous year for music in general.

Buy it

Wiki

Stellar OM Source - Trilogy Select (2010)

Short review since I'm in a hurry, but what you're looking at is more excellent drone/electronic/experimental in the style of Oneohtrix Point Never. Christelle Gualdi makes nice soundscapes under this handle, using four selections each from three albums of hers released in 2009. Very 80s nostalgic-like. "Rites of Fusion" is a collab with Daniel Lopatin/Oneohtrix Point Never. "Island Best" has this really awesome video.

Try it
Buy it (ctrl + F "trilogy select")
MySpace

The Advantage - Elf Titled (2006)

For a blog that came to be from a video game website, I think it would fitting to put up an album that does some math rock-esque style covers of classic video game soundtracks. They have covered songs from numerous video games, including Mega Man, Batman, Castlevania, Contra etc. The cover of the album also does the justice of what you would expect.

There is little intrinsic cheesiness to the original compositions - most of the songs are wiry and ambitious on bass and guitar with interesting counterpoints, such as the extremely frantic bass and high, graceful guitar soloing of the Batman stage 1 music, or the stumbling, disorienting time changes of the Contra themes.

Overall this is a fun release from some dudes that love their childhoods enough to form a band and cover some of their favorite songs from their NES/Super Nintendo games. All of the albums tracks are fun with the second half of the album owning more standout tracks that seem to fit the Math Rock mold almost perfectly. The songs are all translated quite well and there is almost no way of telling a difference, for better or worse.

Download

Buy