Faronheit

Merry Christmas Eve, my friends. Once again I’ve got yet another week-long dose of mp3s for you in the form of Pick Your Poison. As a quick reminder, in case you needed it, Pick Your Poison will return to daily postings starting January 3rd. Until then, I’m dropping off all the week’s mp3s each Friday for you. There’s a few Christmas tracks in this week’s set, naturally today and tomorrow are the best times to use them, so if you’re putting together a Christmas mix, be sure to check out these tracks from Coconut and the Duke, Goddamn Electric Bill, Hot Sugar, and The Superions expertly remixed by none other than YACHT. Other non-holiday recommendations are for Cowboy Junkies, the Tim Goldsworthy (Thee Loving Hand) remix of a new Cut Copy jam, Danielson, Death, Finn Riggins, Lia Ices and Monotonix. Ah, check them all out. Very few duds to be found this week. Have a great Christmas (or normal weekend if you don’t celebrate), and we’ll catch up again next week in preparation for New Years Eve.

Coastwest Unrest – Rebel Music

Coconut and the Duke – Trim My Tree

Cowboy Junkies – Wrong Piano

Cut Copy – Take Me Over (Thee Loving Hand Remix by Tim Goldsworthy)

Danielson – Grow Up

Death – Can You Give Me A Thrill

Finn Riggins – Wake (Keep This Town Alive)

Georgia Anne Muldrow – Zulu Bounce

Goddamn Electric Bill – Feliz Navidad

Hot Sugar – Don’t Cut Down My Tree

Johnny Hawaii – The Lonely Smurfer

Kopecky Family Band – God and Me

Lia Ices – Daphne

The Lights – New New

Midnight Spin – In the Air (Revival)

Monotonix – Before I Pass Away

Shores – Meanwhile

Sugar & Gold – Bodyaches

The Superions – Fruitcake (YACHT Remix)

Yip Deceiver – Sadie Hawkins Day

Here they are, my Top 10 Albums of 2010. We’ve been down a long and tough road to get here, but these are the ten records that stood out the most for me in the past year. I love the variety, along with the healthy mixture of veterans and a couple newcomers. The last couple entries may only be from some well-established, hotly hyped artists, but to be fair, they did have banner years. If you’re going to read any entry on this site for the next 365 days, please make it this one. A lot of time and thought went into creating this list and I hope you either agree with my choices, or at least understand why I made them. It’s what the paragraphs below the numbers are for. In case you missed the rest of this lengthy Top 50 Albums countdown, here’s some handy links to check out those other entries:

Top Albums #50-41
Top Albums #40-31
Top Albums #30-21
Top Albums #20-11

Before jumping into this, I just want to note quickly that outside of a couple tiny updates, Faronheit will be on vacation through the end of 2010. It’s been an interesting year for this site to say the least, what with my old Blogspot address and 3+ years worth of archives being wiped clean off the face of the earth…but I actually couldn’t be happier with the current layout and the official “dot com” at the end of the address. Been going revamped and stronger than ever since April. 2011 will bring a couple small site tweaks, but nothing you need to worry about, just some added fun perks. Anyways, I hope your holidays are enjoyable and we’ll play catch up officially come January 3rd.

Without further ado, here are Faronheit’s Top 10 Albums of 2010: Read more…

In hindsight, I shuold have continued with Pick Your Poison for the full week this week. Looks like there’s enough music to have sustained an “at least 10 songs per day” rate, but here I am giving it all to you in one fell swoop. Given that there are 50+ mp3s here, highlights are very easy to come by, so let me rattle a bunch off for you. The Asteroid #4, Fergus & Geronimo, Martina Topley-Bird, Maserati, The Mountain Goats, Porcelain Raft, Rachel Goodrich, Solar Temple Suicides, Toro y Moi, Wise Blood, and Yalls all make the cut. That’s just normal music we’re talking about. There’s a bunch of holiday-specific music in this collection as well. Of those songs, I can recommend the ones from Banjo or Freakout, Beach House, Candy Claws, Craig Wedren, I Like Trains, Robbers on High Street, and Tape Deck Mountain. So check all this stuff out, maybe bookmark this page and come back to it when you have the appropriate time to spend looking it over carefully. And depending on how things go next week, I might just have one more edition of Pick Your Poison to deliver before Christmas Eve.

AgesandAges – No Nostalgia

Arbouretum – Destroying to Save

The Asteroid #4 – Wild Opal Eyes

Banjo or Freakout – Frosty the Snowman

Beach House – I Do Not Care for the Winter Sun

Bird Names – It’s Skin

The Brute Chorus – Birdman

Candy Claws – Snow Bridge

Chamberlin – Dust

Colin L. Orchestra – Hold Tite

Craig Wedren – Lollie Holiday

David Lowery – The Palace Guards

Duchess Leo – Bloom

Fergus & Geronimo – Powerful Lovin’

Fukkk Offf – Worldwide (Fukkk Offf Remix)

Geoff Berner – Wealthy Poet

Harlan Pepper – Great Lakes

HolidayHoliday – Hanged

I Like Trains – Last Christmas

In These Woods – Always
In These Woods – Bear

The Invisible Hand – There’s Room In My Will
The Invisible Hand – Coy Trap

Jay Crocker – Super Disease

John LaMonica – A Ghost (Demo)

Keegan Dewitt – Christmas Eve

Kopecky Family Band – Our Remedy (Christmas Song)

Las Resistance – Understanding

Lonnie Walker – Compass Comforts

Lull Water – One More Time

Martina Topley-Bird – Sandpaper Kisses

Maserati – We Got the System to Fight the System

Matthew Carefully – Space Nurses

Midnight Magic – Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Remix)

The Mountain Goats – Tyler Lambert’s Grave

Mount Mole – Little Eyes

Pallers – Arctic Hymn

Pigbag – Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag

Porcelain Raft – Tip of Your Tongue (Blackbird Blackbird Remix)
Porcelain Raft – Tip of Your Tongue (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix)

Rachel Goodrich – After Hours (Velvet Underground cover)

Religious to Damn – Drifter

Robbers on High Street – The Rocking Disco Santa Claus

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion – Speed of Light

Savoir Adore – Loveliest Creature

Siriusmo – Mosaik

The Sky Drops – Explain It to Me

Solar Temple Suicides – Close Your Eyes

Southern Shores – Grande Comore
Southern Shores – Mauna Loa

Tape Deck Mountain – Christmas Time Is Here Again
Tape Deck Mountain – Blue Christmas

Toro y Moi – Still Sound

Way Yes – Dreadlock Holiday

We Wre the Willows – A Funeral Dressed As A Birthday

Wise Blood – Loud Mouths

Yalls – Germs

This is the home stretch, the leg of this “race” just before the final one, where there’s light at the end of the tunnel if you could only make it there. Tomorrow I reveal my Top 10 Albums of 2010, and that should be pretty great. RIght now I’ll give you some subtle hints as to what will be on that list. There are two debut albums that crack the top ten, along with one psych-rock band and a handful of other indie darlings. If you’ve been reading up on your year-end lists, there’s a halfway good chance you can guess most of my list. My #1 album of the year though, I’ve yet to see anybody place it atop their lists yet, so some of you might be surprised (but not REALLY surprised). Anyways, enough about tomorrow, let me make quick mention of what we’ve been counting down the last couple days:

Top 50 Albums #50-41
Top 50 Albums #40-31
Top 50 Albums #30-21

As with thet previous sets of 10, I’ve once again included mp3s with the albums (when allowed) to give you an audio taste should you want one. I’m also continuing to solicit comments from you, either in regards to this list or a list of your own. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the best of the year. So let me delay this no longer, I’m proud to present my Top Albums of 2010, #20-11. Read more…

It’s Hump Day my friends, and it just so happens we’re also journeying over the proverbial hump of this Top 50 Albums list. Today tackles #30-21. If you’re just now stumbling across the countdown and have yet to see the other couple sets that go all the way back to #50, let me introduce you to them via the following links:

Top 50 Albums #50-41
Top 50 Albums #40-31

Great stuff so far, even greater stuff to come. Be sure to check back for the rest of the week until the #1 album is revealed on Friday. As usual, I do encourage commentary from you, letting me know your thoughts on what albums deserved placement other than what I’ve already thrown at you, or what might otherwise be regarded as “underrated”. If you’ve got your own list of Top Albums, by all means share that as well. So here we go, Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010: #30-21! Read more…

With Part One all sealed off in Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010 list, I’m now proud to present a humbling Part Two, in which the game gets just a little more exciting and nothing is exactly what it seems. Just to take a moment to give you a brief insight as to exactly WHY I take 5 days to roll out a list of 50 albums instead of just throwing them at you in one fell swoop, the simplest explanation is that I think you need the slow burn rather than the fast cut in order to have a real appreciation for the year in music. You can scroll past these albums and not read any of the blurbs I’ve written in association with them, but the hope is that if you’ve only got ten at a time, you’ll be more inclined to stop for a minute in your day. Fifty at once, that’ll take you a good 10 minutes to sift through and do you really have that time to take in this “every second counts” world? Also, the slower roll out gives me moments to breathe and ponder these records more closely, rather than just listing them in plaintext. Thirdly, I get a little starved for content this time of year, so taking a week to unveil these choices is easier when it comes to creating content. That’s about as honest as I get. Anyways, there’s still three more parts to go, each one of increasing importance as I count down my favorite albums of the year. Please enjoy #40-31 and the associated mp3s. Perhaps you’ll discover something new. Also, I’m soliciting for comments on your favorite records of 2010, or just your thoughts on this list so far – feel free to leave a note below. Read more…

Welcome to Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010! Every year this is the most exciting list to compose and write, mostly because it requires looking back at what a great year in music it was. 2010 was pretty solid, though arguably not the best year (what is, really?). Difficult though it may have been at times, composing this list was not as challenging as it has been in past years. It’s still early in the week and this thing is being rolled out in installments of 10 through Friday, but I’ll drop you an early hint in regards to my favorite album of the year: not Kanye. Wait until Friday to see how THAT shakes out. Anyways, let’s get started with this list. Full albums released between January 1st – December 31st, 2010 are the only ones eligible for this list, and you may get a brief list counting down the best EPs of the year sometime soon. Today I’m proud to present my Top Albums #50-41. We begin right after the jump, complete with some mp3s to help get you some samples wherever possilble: Read more…

We’ve made it! After one really long week and a TON of writing, this is the final section of Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs of 2010. It’s been a wild ride, we’ve gone through 40 individual artists and songs so far, and I couldn’t be more pleased to put this to bed. Typically there’s at least one artist that has two songs on this countdown every year, but I’m pleased to say that this year there are 50 songs by 50 different artists. All of them are blockbusters, and if you haven’t heard them, I do recommend downloading either for free from the links I’ve provided below (when available), or buying the music via some sort of retailer. Next week begins Faronheit’s Top 50 Albums of 2010, and that’s another gigantic adventure unto itself. Thanks for sticking around and reading this week, hopefully you’ve learned something and discovered something too. Here’s the quick links for a rundown of what we’ve covered so far:

Top Songs #50-41
Top Songs #40-31
Top Songs #30-21
Top Songs #20-11

So without further ado, I’m proud to present my Top 10 Songs of 2010! Oh, and as always I’m interested to hear your comments on this list or your personal list. Just leave them below. Thanks! Read more…

This time I’m sticking to my word – this will be the last “daily” version of Pick Your Poison for 2010. For the rest of December, editions of Pick Your Poison will be on a weekly basis each Friday. Then in January everything returns to normal and we go Monday thru Friday again. But today I’ve got some delightful stuff for you, as pretty much per usual. Asher Roth is not my favorite guy in the world, and I may even go so far as to say I actively dislike him. But he’s collaborated with Nottz for some tracks that are halfway decent, so download one of those below. The Babblers is a new group formed by Will Oldham, who you may also know as Bonnie “Prince” Billy – check out their first mp3. I can also recommend songs by Gospel Claws, Houses, Ringside, and a new one from Wye Oak. Enjoy your weekend, friends, and we’ll be back next Friday with what will probably be an extra large stack of mp3s for Pick Your Poison.

Asher Roth and Nottz – Break Bread

The Babblers – Come Down Here (Kevin Coyne cover)

Bird By Snow – Across the Water

Galleries – Rocket Science

Gospel Claws – Like A Friend (Pulp cover)

Houses – This Is War

Non Ultra Joy – Pushing the Brand

The Open Feel – Still Here

Poster Child – We Don’t Have to Talk

Ringside – Money

Stornoway – Fuel Up

The Waylons – We Are Afraid of the Wrong Things

Wye Oak – Civilian

Young Circles – Sharp Teeth

We’re over the hill and racing towards the inevitable conclusion of Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs of 2010. There’s been a lot of fun music so far, but naturally, the best is yet to come. Today features one of the biggest hits of the year, to the point where the kids from “Glee” have already covered it. Hopefully that’ll be the first and last time such a crossover between that show and this website occurs. There’s also a few pretty hot new artists showing up here that you might also expect to see again next week when the Top 50 Albums of 2010 list gets published. If you’ve yet to see/read about a lot of the other songs in this Top 50 Songs countdown thus far, let me catch you up with some links:

Top 50 Songs #50-41
Top 50 Songs #40-31
Top 50 Songs #30-21

I’m continuing to solicit any comments on things you see on this list or just your own personal opinions on some great songs this past year. As usual, where I’m allowed to offer a free mp3 to you, I have done so. Tomorrow is the Top 10 Songs of 2010, be sure to check back in for those! Read more…

Two days of Pick Your Poison left in 2010, and I’m pretty sure I said that last week. Of course last week I was preparing to put Pick Your Poison on vacation for the rest of the year. That was before my inbox was hammered with fresh music and I couldn’t just keep that flood of mp3s from your ears. But truly, genuinely, after tomorrow, no more of these until January. Highlights today are songs from Anna Oxygen, The Heligoats, The Loveable Tulips, Lumerians and a live cut from One eskimO. The Jenny O. Christmas track is pretty excellent too.

Anna Oxygen – Fake Pajamas

El Ten Eleven – Falling

The Heligoats – A Word From Our Sponsor

Jenny O. – Prettiest Little Present

The Loveable Tulips – Fortune Favours the Brave

Lumerians – Black Tusk

Morning Code – Silver

Neon Hitch – Am I Dreaming (ROBOPOP Remix)

One eskimO – Amazing (Live)

Sam Humans – Hate is the New Love

With mid-week comes the middle of Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs list. Inside today’s 10 songs you’ll find the longest song on the entire list, a couple of serious dance tracks as well as some lo-fi stuff too. If there’s a “theme” that can be derived from most of the songs listed here, it’s that they’re fun and very well constructed. I sincerely hope you’re able to discover something new from this as well. If you’ve not yet done so, feel free to have a look at the other songs among this Top 50 list so far.
Top 50 Songs #50-41
Top 50 Songs #40-31

Once again, if you have any comments, either in regards to this list or just want to talk about some of your favorite tracks from 2010, feel free to leave those below. Also, I’m continuing to include mp3s of the individual songs on this list wherever possible. Just know if I had it my way, you’d be able to download them all without restriction. So here we go, Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs of 2010, #30-21! Read more…