Record Geek Heaven’s Top 20 Albums of 2012

Thanks to the fact that 2012 was my busiest year ever as a musician, my routine for listening to music changed pretty drastically. As you may or may not have noticed, there were not a lot of posts this year. However, I was still listening to as much stuff as ever, though it was all in little chunks of time, rather than straight on through the year. As a result, RGH’s 2012 list is a little different from previous ones…but I think you all will appreciate it. I have divided the list into four parts to represent what I was listening to the most during the spring, summer, fall and winter. Let’s begin!

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The Top Ten Record Makers of Today

As we enter this new decade, it is already apparent that in the rock production world, a changing of the guard is at hand. There is a whole new batch of producers, engineers, songwriters and arrangers that are setting a new standard for music today, and thanks to them, it seems we’ll have many more years of memorable tune-age to expect. This list compiles the people who, in my mind, currently stand out as the ones to watch, for their future potential as much as their already impressive achievements.

Listening Log: February 22nd 2010

Warner Bros. 1999

2/22/10

Album of the Day: The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin

There’s almost no competing with this album. Even after listening to it for over a decade, I still believe it represents a key evolution in rock music, and that it’s one of the top 5 albums of all time. Is there a better album opener than “Race for the Prize”, one that is more distinct, memorable or awesome? It has become an album of glorious little details that have burrowed into my psyche over the years, like an old movie you watched a thousand times as a kid and every time you hear a sound or a line from it, you automatically get transported back to whatever or wherever you associate it with. Hearing this album helps to move any day up a notch.

Record Geek Heaven’s Top 50 Albums of the Decade (part 2)

Now to finish it off!

25. Bjork—Selmasongs (2000)

Like the film Dancer in the Dark did for the musical, “In the Musicals” reinvents the musical number. It has all the rising, uplifting trajectory of the best Rogers & Hammerstein tunes without being cheesy and overbearing like those were. Sure, musicals were the thing back in the forties, but it can be safely said that their popularity and credibility are slipping these days.

Top 100 Albums of the Decade (part 10)

The Flaming Lips—Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Warner Bros., 2002

There isn’t a whole lot that can be said about Yoshimi that hasn’t been said already, but one thing does have to be reiterated: it is NOT a concept album. It gets tiresome to hear people say something over and over again when it’s just inherently wrong—it’s been confirmed by Wayne Coyne himself, so just let it go already. Besides, it’s not like it has to be a concept album for it to be a great record.