Best of 2010 - Rock Music

Welcome back to my annual roundup of music findings for 2010! I'm honored and privileged that of all of the crap you could be reading on the Internet, you are taking the time to read MY crap. Muchas gracias.

This year, instead of a list of top 50 songs, I'm going to give you my picks from various genres of music. Why? Because I'm lazy and oversubscribed. I strive for efficiency and looking at each genre was alot easier and faster to do. Also, while I love most music genres, I'm clearly biased towards certain ones. This approach allows me to give fair "airtime" to multiple genres and makes me appear more worldly and diverse-- which is a great segue into the Rock category...

Note: These songs are not in preference order. Also, these songs are not necessarily new in 2010--some were released sometime in the last 5 years. I will have a separate posting for my favorite "old school" music that I discovered in 2010.

1. Kandi | One eskimO | One eskimO. Kandi is a pseudo-cover of Candi Stanton's cover of Patsy Cline's He Called Me Baby Baby. Got it? This is one of those rare songs that physically pulls and tugs at my heart every time I hear it and that makes me very uncomfortable. It also makes Kandi probably my favorite song of the year.



2. Diplomat's Son | Vampire Weekend | Contra. I'm somewhat loathe to put this song in the Rock category and anyone familiar with Vampire Weekend understands why. Unfortunately, I don't have an African-Indie-Pop category, so we'll have to keep it here. Like most Vampire Weekend songs, I don't exactly know what they are singing about and I don't care because Diplomat's Son makes me feel like I'm having a good day even when I'm not!



3. Bury Me In Smoke | Burnt Ones | Black Teeth & Golden Tongues. This grimy tune might be the only song in this list that could truly be called "rock and roll". I explored alot of glam and garage rock in 2010, but I found myself repeatedly banging my head on the steering wheel every time Bury Me In Smoke came on in my car. If I only had long hair to thrash to and fro...



4. Bonny Doon | Gamble House | Gamble House. I really love how Gamble House mixes multiple styles and melodies in this song. It's all over the place, yet still holds together well. Sure, its questionable to call this rock, but Bonny Doon is unquestionably superb.



5. Leo | Barb | Barb. Uhhh... errr... I don't know how to explain this song or this twisted video. My understanding is that it's a young fanboy's expression of admiration for Leonardo DiCaprio. The lyrics are so ridiculous, yet serious, so it's hard to tell if Barb is making fun of the boy, themselves and/or the talented Leo. Inexplicably, this quirky track got lots of play on my iPod and PC and will continue to do so...



Next, let's take a look at my R&B/Soul picks...