Best Songs of 2010

In the order they appear on the official FTM iTunes playlist, these are my favorite songs of 2010, one selection per artist maximum. The bold shows my 10, errr 11, no 12 absolute favorites. Some of the songs have links and others have embedded YouTube vids where you can give them a listen and judge for yourself.

Against Me! - Suffocation

Alan Jackson - Taillights Blue

Arcade Fire - Modern Man

Austin Collins - Centerpiece

Band of Horses - Older

Big Boi - Tangerine

Blitzen Trapper - Below the Hurricane

Cee-Lo Green - F**k You

Danzig - On a Wicked Night

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Gold Teeth on a Bum

Dirty Sweet - You've Been Warned

Drew Kennedy - We've All Got Our Marks to Make

Drive-by Truckers - The Flying Wallendas

Elizabeth Cook - Mama's Funeral

Eminem - Cinderella Man

Emory Quinn - Hand in Hand

The Fox Hunt - When the Roll's Called

The Gaslight Anthem - Bring it On

Great American Taxi - Unpromised Land

Hellbound Glory - Be My Crutch

High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine

I See Hawks in LA - Shoulda Been Gold

Jamey Johnson - Can't Cash My Checks

Joe Pug - Not So Sure

John Moreland - Stoned

Kanye West - Monster

Kasey Anderson - I Was a Photograph (Blake's Song)

My Darkest Days - Set It On Fire

The National - Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Nightjar - Check Your Mirrors

Paul Thorn - Love Scar

Phosphorescent - The Mermaid Parade

Randy Houser - Addicted

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Loose

Reckless Kelly - Thelma

Retribution Gospel Choir - Hide it Away

Rodney Hayden - Waiting on the Pain

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Window Shopping

Spoon - Written in Reverse

Surfer Blood - Slow Jabroni

Trampled by Turtles - New Orleans

Trombone Shorty - Hurricane Season

Truth & Salvage Co. - Call Back

Two Cow Garage - Lydia

Yelawolf - Pop the Trunk

Have an enjoyable non-specific midwinter holiday time!

Just kidding....

And if you don't celebrate Christmas, have a nice Saturday!

And now for something a little more worthy of space on the blog....

Movember!

Huh?? you ask....

Well, I'm plain lazy, so I'll just steal borrow the text from Drew Kennedy's website:

"I’ll keep the background history of this marvelous movement short– basically a few fellows in Australia created it as a way to raise awareness about prostate cancer. Just how is awareness raised, you ask? Well, it’s raised by sporting that classic of all facial hair styles, The ‘Stache.

They call them ‘Mo’s. I’m trying to get used to that. I’ve always gone with ’stache, but ’stache can’t easily be worked into the name of a month… but I digress.

So, Josh and I signed up, and trimmed away. The end result can be seen in the photo above. Movember doesn’t only raise awareness, but it also raises money for two charitable organizations: The Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.

We’ve committed to these ’staches (’Mo’s… ‘Mo’s… working on this….) for the entire month (and really, who wouldn’t? look at how SWEET it looks!!), and we hope that you’ll commit a little bit of cash to our quest to ’stache out prostate cancer one ‘mo at a time."

You can support this awesome effort by kicking in a little do'(nation) at Drew's page or Josh's page. Do it!

Great Sugarland article

You really need to read this article about Sugarland's new album, from my like-minded Saving Country Music compadres.

Excerpt:

"This is the bottom of the slippery slope, the payoff for years of desensitization and subtle creeping toward pure pop and arena rock where no more tributes to the traditions of country are necessary."

Ryan Bingham for cheap!

The new Ryan Bingham album, Junky Star is only $3.99 this week at Amazon (mp3 download). I've listened to it twice so far and I'm fairly certain it will find a high ranking on my next top albums chart. Seems to be much better than Roadhouse Sun. Give it a shot. Can't go wrong at that price!

My trip to Little Rock

I'm still too tired from the weekend's festivities to do much of a wrap-up or review, but I had a great time at Little Rock, Arkansas' Riverfest. I made a little fun of the state to my northwest along the way, but the city of Little Rock is a really nice place, clean and aesthetically pleasing. The festival was also set up and run very well. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I was only able to attend Saturday's performances but wow. Lucero more than held their own alongside the legendary Black Crowes who followed. This little band that could sounded fantastic and had the crowd under their spell for the hour to hour and a half set. The Black Crowes were just awesome. I'm so glad I finally got to see them, especially since there's word that they plan to take a long hiatus after their next tour.

A band with a quite Google search unfriendly moniker, The See, was the first band we saw. I'd never heard of them, but I'd like to hear a lot more from them. They were somewhere in the realm of Replacements, older Kings of Leon... uh, I dunno... just punky alternative bar rock or something, but they would have made a great opener for Lucero. Instead, that honor went to aspiring country singer, Kid Rock lite Uncle Kracker (pictured below).

While I was prepared to unleash all sorts of hatred upon his performance, it was actually fairly entertaining. No, he can't sing that well. Yes, he's Kid Rock lite. Yes, half his hits are cover song. But he was better than I expected. His segue into country music is at its apex, as he opened with a Hank Jr. cover, did his Kenny duet (sans Chesney of course) and mixed in Kenny Rogers and the inescapable "All Summer Long" by his buddy Kid R.

Lucero (pictured below) was next and blew us all away. The band rocked through old favorites like "Tonight Ain't Gonna Be Good" while mixing in plenty of tracks from their latest record. They had a horn section that was a great addition after some sound difficulties got worked out. It was really cool to hear some of their older songs with the new horn flourishes. Lucero finished their set with a killer take on their "All Sewn Up," with Luther Dickinson of the Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars coming on to lend some help with guitars. Ben threw in a little advertisement for his parents' local (Nichols is a Little Rock native) furniture store, much to the crowd's amusement.

The Black Crowes closed out our night, playing what was obviously their "festival setlist" of all their major hits with a few non-hit favorites and one song from their latest album "Before the Frost..." They played long versions of "Been a Long Time," "Wiser Time," "Thorn in My Pride" (the highlight of my night) and others, showing off the musical chops of one of the most underrated bands of the last 20 years. While there was almost no stage banter from lead singer Chris Robinson, he nonetheless connected and interacted with the crowd with his movement, gestures and soulful singing. He was magnetic.

All in all, Riverfest was a great experience and except for a little Waffle House excursion, I had a fun and safe time. I got to hang out with local (local to me, not Little Rock) sports talk host, lightning rod Kevin Broughton and his lady-friend for most of the evening and they were very cool to watch the show with.

An aside, I saw this 18 wheeler as we were headed back to Memphis this morning. Yes, Kix was driving. Poor guy.

Next post is...

Country Day: March '10

All new parody album covers featuring Blake Shelton, Clay Walker, Reba, Colt Ford, Lonestar, Burns & Poe, Rascal Flatts and more!

Next post is....

Regular Guy Reviews: Great American Taxi - Reckless Habits

In the history of Farce the Music, I've only done about three proper reviews of albums. Usually, I'm laying on the derision and snarkiness and generally making a fool of myself and my subjects. In the past, I've felt as though doing reviews would be a sellout of the premise of FTM, but this year I've resolved that if I'm going to continue pointing out the shortcomings of mainstream music (country in particular), then I'm going to have to be a tiny bit of the solution as well.

Never you fear, FTM will not become a review site, a vehicle for genre promotion or a shill for any band that emails me an album. I just want to take a moment each month to let you know about some good music that's out there, usually beyond the mainstream.

You don't expect "the usual" from FTM, so don't expect the usual reviews. I doubt many of them will exceed twenty sentences. There will be no Pitchforkian references and no music-snob contempt for the reader or people who'd dare listen to commercial radio. There will be few five-dollar words. There will be no butt-kissing, despite the fact that I'll only be writing about stuff I enjoy.

While I did well in my college English courses, I am not a trained writer, nor a music historian by any stretch of the imagination. I just love good music. As such, you can expect pretty "regular guy" reviews here. The only difference is that my taste skews a little left of center from the average joe... but that's where a lot of the best music is. I know what I like and I'll try to convey that to you and hopefully you'll find something you never knew you'd enjoy!

As I stated earlier, these will only be once or twice a month, tops. Here's the first!

Great American Taxi - Reckless Habits

Release: Tuesday, March 2

This is good-time music... sitting at a Bourbon Street bar, sipping a pale ale with sweat dripping down your cheek, tapping your foot to the tune without a worry in the world music.

It's a laid back and loose session, skillfully reined by great musicianship. Country, bar rock, jazz, bluegrass, country rock and jam band are all hanging together under the big tent of Reckless Habits. There's a little twang for the hicks, a little sonic stew for the hippies and a lot of fun for us all. I hear 70's Jimmy Buffet, Grateful Dead by way of The Byrds, some Dr. John and early Wilco in their music.

"One of These Days" leads off the album with an ode to the Big Easy. It's a piano plunking, trumpet punctuated singalong that rolls along like the paddlewheel of a riverboat. Speaking of Wilco, Great American Taxi turns in a fantastic take on (members of Wilco's former band) Uncle Tupelo's "New Madrid," giving it a more thoughtful emotional context. "Unpromised Land" wouldn't sound out of place on a Steeldrivers album, with its rollicking, banjo-driven newgrass. The title track is a steel guitar laden country song that wouldn't sound out of place on a honky-tonk jukebox. Even the most lightweight song on the album, "Tough Job," still makes you want to get up and shake a buzzed leg.

Reckless Habits is a swampy boogie, entertaining enough to likely be accessible to all but the most mainstream of tastes. Fans of the Black Crowes, Widespread Panic, Old Crow Medicine Show, Delbert McClinton, Gram Parsons and Dr. John should definitely grant this record an ear.

Free, legal download: One of These Days

Great American Taxi's Myspace

Buy the album

Thanks!

Farce the Music passed the 100K hit mark sometime last night (not counting the previous incarnation of the blog, Photocrap), most of that coming in the last 4 months. I just wanted to thank you for visiting and revisiting this goofy spot on the Interwebs. I never thought it would last this long, much less get such a consistent following.

As a tiny token of my thanks, I've got a brand new Lucero - 1372 Overton Park or Miranda Lambert - Revolution (by brand new, I mean, only opened to look at the artwork) CD for the first person to send me (photocrapper at gmail.com) or post a link (in the comments) to an album cover I've never farced and need to. Also, for the second successful submission, I'll give you the remaining CD if you want it.

Thanks again everybody!

Farce the Music now has a "proper" Facebook page

Now you can become a "fan" of FTM (haters are welcome too!):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Farce-the-Music/292945983273?ref=mf&v=wall

The next post will be...

Country Day January - parody album covers, featuring Clay Walker, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Tanya Tucker, Josh Turner, Garth Brooks and more!

Before FTM and Photocrap...

I'd forgotten that I attempted a "serious" country music blog back in '07, several months before finding my calling as a satirist and hater. Anyway, I just found that old blog... I had no idea it still existed. In the grand scheme of things, it's not bad and I still like the name, but there are enough straight commentary and review blogs in the world that do it so much better, so I'm glad I got bored with it. If you're bored, here's a link: http://onryandmean.blogspot.com/

The Farcie Awards: You Vote for the Worst of '09!

With December trudging along, all the other blogs are doing polls and lists of their favorites and bests of 2009's music (as well as the decade's best). Of course I'll get around to doing a few of those myself, but really, what is Farce the Music about but telling you about the worst the music world has to offer? I have a list or two of my own personal least favorites of the year to come, but here's a chance for you to tell me what songs, albums and artists sucked the most.

I culled the nominations for this poll from my own personal hatreds as well as popular opinion and some thoughts stolen from other blogs. I don't have an option for write-in votes on this poll, but if you want to write your own in the comments of this blog post, I'll count 'em.

Without further adieu, here is the first ever Farcie Awards poll! Results will be announced on Monday.

Note: you can make multiple choices in the Worst Album category.

Click Here to take survey

I'm Thankful for: Free Music

Thanksgiving will be the general theme this week on FTM.

I'm always thankful for free good music! And here are a couple of (perfectly legal!) freebies from the good folks at Big Bullet Records!

Dandelion Snow - "It's Just A Bad Dream" - Indie-folk from Brooklyn-based band that has worked extensively with the members of
Anti-Flag!

Album download (FREE!) -
http://www.mediafire.com/?azdwu11fzbv
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/dandelionsnow

Greg Loftus - "Heathens In Disguise" - Acoustic-folk from Boston, in the vein of Drag The River/Cory Branan.

Album download (FREE!) -
http://www.mediafire.com/?znwzyttoi1y
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/gregloftusmusic

Drew Kennedy - An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel

Singer/songwriter and generally cool guy, Drew Kennedy releases his new album An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel Tuesday. I'll leave the reviews to the pros, but trust me, this is a great album (already in FTM's top 15 of the year), filled with soulful vocals and thoughtful lyrics. Drew may be a part of the Texas scene but he's a different animal altogether. Far from frat-country, his songs are well-crafted and literate. His rich voice may take some getting used to for some, but once you get it, you love it. Give Drew and his new album a listen!

http://www.drewkennedymusic.com/album/

http://www.drewkennedymusic.com/store/

http://www.myspace.com/drewkennedy

Lucero: Goodbye Again

FTM's favorite band, Lucero, unleashed their major label debut 1372 Overton Park Tuesday. For the uninitiated, Lucero is an emotionally charged Memphis rock band with a country twang and a punk aesthetic (whatever that means) and you should definitely check them out. ninebullets.net has a great review of the new album here and here's the video for the ballad "Goodbye Again." Tomorrow night/Thursday's blog post is a 13+ entry themed album cover day so make sure to make a return visit.

Lucero "Goodbye Again" from Lucero on Vimeo.

Farce the Music Sells Out #4: Scott Warren

Scott Warren - Quick Fix Bandage

Scott Warren is a singer-songwriter with a charming folksy pop-rock sound that probably could have garnered him a hit or two back in the 90's when folks like Del Amitri, Duncan Sheik and Toad the Wet Sprocket still graced the airwaves. On Quick Fix Bandage, that sound is pulled towards the Americana genre with some subtle sweeps of steel guitar, mournful lyrics and Scott's warm Westerbergian rasp.

There's also an obvious AAA contemporary bent that makes it easy to imagine nearly any of the songs on the album playing in the background of an overly emotional scene on One Tree Hill or Melrose. Mind you, they would be among the best tunes to ever set that schmaltzy mood. Never fear guys, only the slightly annoying "Laugh Through the Pain," with it's repetitive "I love you's," sounds overly chick-oriented. There are enough touches of harmonica and rustic atmospherics to maintain a degree of alt-country cred.

The opening "Before You Say Goodbye" is a moody but catchy pop rocker that should be a hit, but likely won't ever get enough attention to pull it into the mainstream. "Along for the Ride" is a standout track, reminiscent of Buffalo Tom's most commercial output. Another of the album's highlights is the down-tempo cover of America's "Sister Golden Hair" which bestows a completely different emotional personality on the classic tune.

QFB, to me, feels like the soundtrack to a wistful fall afternoon. It's a solid, memorable album that pop-rock lovers along with fans of the likes of Ryan Adams, Rhett Miller and Pete Yorn should definitely enjoy.

Check him out here: http://www.myspace.com/scottwarrenmusic

Free, legal song download here: Before You Say Goodbye

Buy the album on iTunes or at Amazon

$4.99 Review - Zac Brown Band

Zac Brown Band "Live From Bonnaroo"

None of the recent singles on iTunes have struck me lately as anything interesting to blog about (including tolerable tunes by Tim McGraw and Easton Corbin that I didn't feel all that snarky about) as a 99 Cent Review, so here's a review of an EP.

The People's Take:

just ok (3 Stars) – the zac brown band is good, but they should stick to their own stuff. "free" is a great song, but their version of "devil went down to georgia" was not good at all. charlie daniels band did that song so much better. stick to the more popular country.

-fill in da blank

absolutely stunning (5 Stars) – There's nothing better than ZBB live and these few tracks really sum it all up. My fiance and I have been trying to come up with a first dance song and we were torn between Free, Whatever it Is and Into the Mystic by Van Morrisson among a few others. What could be better than the live version of Free with Into the Mystic featured?!?! It's the best of both worlds, you just can't beat it! What an amazing small collection of live tracks. Only wish there were more.

-soxfanjp

My Take:

I need to come clean on a complete change of opinion. I've made more than my share of sport of the Zac Brown Band in the past. Not Chuck Wicks level sport, but they've been in the crosshairs no doubt. To be honest, I based my entire initial opinion of the band on "Chicken Fried" and then filtered their album The Foundation through that skewed opinion. I didn't care for The Foundation after a few listens because of that. Maybe even hated it, aside from a couple of songs.

Time has been a friend to this album, because for some reason I kept being drawn back again and again to give it more chances. Now The Foundation is a friend to my ears. I still skip "Chicken Fried" though.

So anyway, I was something of a fan of ZBB even before I heard about this EP. After purchase and play, I'm a big fan. "Toes," their current hit single is the opening track here and it's even more fun live. While the band isn't flamboyantly entertaining in concert by any means (thank goodness), they bring a warmth and joy to their performance that's hard to describe.

"Free" which flows into a cover of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" is the centerpiece here. It's a hypnotic display of ZBB's ability to slow it down without boring it down. It's such a compelling track, I defy even the hippest hipster to say they hate this. Applause and backpats are in order for this tune. Awesome.

There's a jam band-ish feel to the proceedings that's not as noticeable on their studio recordings, but don't take that as a red flag. Uh oh, just lost half the audience. In no way do I mean they noodle on the guitar and rub their bleary eyes amid the patchouli smoke. I just mean there's a laid back atmosphere but a real focus on the playing, not the showing off.

There's also a reggae bounce going on, especially in "Who Knows" which is, well, a reggae song. Oh crap, now I've lost the other half of readers. Never fear, ZBB aren't trustafarians or posers, they just happen to incorporate a lot of those elements into their overall package. The blending never sounds awkward or fake, it's an organic experience.

Besides the three songs already mentioned, the EP also includes ZBB's able rendering of CDB's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (which includes no reggae bounce) and a video of the performance of "Who Knows" that really adds to the package and helps those of us who haven't seen ZBB live get a feel for what it's like. It's like... really good, because it's obvious they love what they're doing and they do it well. Hope they come around here soon.

A lot of bands and artists these days make me worry for the future of country music. Zac Brown Band is not one of them.

Total Value: 4.15/4.99

The Checklist:

N/A

Farce the Music Sells Out #3

Here's another rambling, so-called review at FTM. Though straight reviews shall remain relatively rare here, there will be two more tomorrow - Zac Brown Band and Scott Warren - before we return to the funny with the next edition of "31 Country Themes" and a "Bigger in Texas 2" honest album covers day. For now, please check out this fine album.

Old Californio - Westering Again

Westering Again is a killer country rock album with something for nearly everyone who reads this blog. There is an obvious Beatles influence in many of the melodies and harmonies. There's also sweet jangle pop reminiscent of the Jayhawks going on with some Calexico-esque mariachi spicing things up. In the mellower moments, some of the same dusty landscapes of Richmond Fontaine's story songs are visited here, but the mood rarely gets that somber. Can't help but hear a little Gram Parsons every now and then as well.

The opening track, "Mother Road," is a great, uh, road song (too obvious?) that taps the toe and fills the soul with sunshine. Cheesy description - great song. "From the Mouth of Babes" sounds like Oasis by way of Dylan and features an earworm of a chorus. The only real misstep is "Warmth of the Sun," an over-thought rocker whose mid-tempo groove finally resolves itself into an unfulfilling coda. Fortunately, Westering Again brings it home with three great songs including the epic (in scope not scale) "Lazy Old San Gabriels" and the thoughtful but lilting "California Goodness."

Despite the fact that I played "spot the influences" and "name the similar sounding artists" with this review, Old Californio has its own vibrant personality and fills out this record as a fully realized artist, not just a mockingbird of a "genericana" band. Well worth the purchase. Even fans of more mainstream music would find a lot to love here - this is a very accessible listen.

Check 'em out here: http://www.myspace.com/oldcalifornio

Free, legal song download: "Mother Road"

Buy the album on iTunes or here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oldcalifornio