Once again, I’ve made an attempt at mixing all these songs together in some sort of discernable and enjoyable way. Enjoy that.

1. Pedro The Lion – “Progress” (Control)
2. Nicki Minaj – “Roman’s Revenge (feat. Eminem)” (Pink Friday)
3. Mumford & Sons – “Sigh No More” (Sigh No More)
4. Flying Lotus – “Camel” (Los Angeles)
5. Killabits – “DSGSTNG” (DSGSTNG single)
6. Smith Westerns – “Still New” (Dye It Blonde)
7. Tom Waits – “Heartattack and Vine” (Heartattack and Vine)
8. Wanda Jackson – “Thunder on the Mountain” (The Party Ain’t Over)
9. Wu-Tang Clan – “Pencil/MyPiano/Firehouse (Soroka Remixes)” (Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep)
10. Kanye West – “Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver)” (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
11. Wu-Tang Clan – “Alphabets (Dakimh instrumental remix)” (Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep)
12. Britney Spears – “Hold It Against Me” (Hold It Against Me single)
13. Wilco – “Reservations” (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)

It also saw me getting a full version of Ableton Live, with which I hope to improve on my DJ/producer skills (of which I have almost none, but hey), so for that reason you can listen to little bits and pieces of all these songs as a DJ mix (with admittedly poor transitions at times; working on it).

1. LCD Soundsystem – “Disco Infiltrator” (LCD Soundsystem)
2. LCD Soundsystem – “Losing My Edge” (LCD Soundsystem)
3. Nosaj Thing – “Us (Jon Hopkins remix)” (Drift Remixed)
4. Teebs – “Moments” (Ardour)
5. Tranqill – “Payroll (Paul White’s clean dub)” (Mary Anne Hobbs: Wild Angels)
6. Monopoly – “Red and Yellow Toys” (Mary Anne Hobbs: Wild Angels)
7. Salem – “King Night” (King Night)
8. Salem – “Sick” (King Night)
9. Delorean – “Real Love” (Subiza)
10. Flying Lotus – “Clock Catcher” (Cosmogramma)
11. Salem – “Trapdoor” (King Night)
12. Titus Andronicus – “A More Perfect Union” (The Monitor)
13. Titus Andronicus – “Theme From ‘Cheers’” (The Monitor)

So, instead of my favorite records of 2010, here are some records I loved that didn’t get the attention they deserved.

The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever

They’ve been a mainstay among the fist-pumping classic rock lovers for a few years now but, aside from a decent amount of publicity right when it came out, this album seems to have fallen flat for a lot of people compared to past successes. Granted, Heaven Is Whenever was a stylistic departure from past albums. But after four releases of fairly straightforward American bar band rock and roll and heavy touring, a band with die-hard fans should be permitted a chance to try something new.

Sonic evolution aside, the writing on this album is some of the best Craig Finn and company have concocted thus far. Finn has consistently produced some of the most honest and soul-searching wordplay that’s seen the light of day in recent years.

Listen: The Hold Steady – “We Can Get Together”

Various Artists: Get Darker Presents: This Is Dubstep Vol. 2

Posting a compilation might be cheating, but considering my attraction to all things electronic this year, the Get Darker This Is Dubstep series — a who’s who in the UK dubstep scene — was both thrilling and educational for me. Get Darker pulled together a grab bag of club bangers, remixes and some of the darker, headier material most of America’s “bro-step” fans tend to overlook. Highlights include Caspa’s remix of TC’s “Where’s My Money?” and Chasing Shadows’ Weezy-sampling track “Ill.” To top it off, DJ Darkside then took all fourty (yes, fourty) tracks on this two-disc set and make continuous DJ mixes out of them. Start to finish it works great as energetic background working music or the soundtrack to a killer dance party.

Listen: Chasing Shadows – “Ill”

Four Tet: There Is Love In You

Minimal techno at its finest. Four Tet gained some attention for a few Radiohead remixes a while back, and his own material only continues to improve. “Love Cry” was one of my most-played songs of the year, and the album as a whole is a finely crafted work of art that is compelling, intricate, delicate and worthy of any introvert’s headphones.

Listen Four Tet – “Love Cry”

Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma

I never could get into jazz, but a blood relative of the Coltranes who collects off-kilter beats, Dilla-worthy hip-hop production, impressive collaborations and an Adult Swim sense of humor is hard to ignore. It has a Coltrane spirit to it in a very psychedelic, new age sort of way. Also, if you’re looking to kill some time, FlyLo is one of the most compelling producers to watch do his thing live.

Listen: Flying Lotus: “Clock Catcher”

Local Natives: Gorilla Manor

Like it or not, “indie” has a formula now. The big record labels know it sells and people making iPod commercials and films for twentysomethings take full advantage of the ubiquity of The Indie Band. Local Natives somehow fits this cookie cutter quite well, but simultaneously uses the stage in a pretty clever way. I couldn’t really tell you what makes this dance-friendly guitar pop different than your average indie band, but they manage to maintain a unique sound within that bubble. They also put on one hell of a show.

Listen: Local Natives – “Airplanes”

Gold Panda: Lucky Shiner

Some are calling it glitch or a fun take on the dubstep craze. I’m not sure what to call it, but Gold Panda does it well. His remixes are worthy of some attention, but Lucky Shiner, his debut LP full of jumpy beats and tweaked vocal samples, is better than all those remixes from start to finish.

Listen: Gold Panda – “You”

Max Richter: Infra

Richter spans the gap between modern minimalist classical and ambient. Infra is going to please anyone who likes that chunk of the musical spectrum. It’s of a type normally reserved for background music, but Richter manages to keep it interesting and yawn-free. Think of it as expanding on the territory where Philip Glass began.

Listen Max Richter – “Infra 1″

Infinite Body: Carve Out the Face of My God

Another entry in the ambient spectrum. This is more droney, using a lot of toothy synths and gritty pads that are clearly electronic but flirt with the edges of more guitar-based drone and sludge. Again, this is another one good for background music. But I would submit that such music is good for anyone doing knowledge work where long periods of focus are essential.

Listen Infinite Body – “Dive”

Freelance Whales: Weathervanes

It’s quaint, quirky, modern, relevant to a young twentysomething, merges folk and light electronics and is delightfully lighthearted. Shoot me in the face, right? Yeah, probably. But it’s good. And it’s entertaining. And repeated listens reinforce how damn good every song on the album actually is.

Listen Freelance Whales – “Hannah”

Junip: Fields

If I didn’t know better, I’d just call this José González’s next album. You might know him from his impressive solo work — which is mostly acoustic folk with some simple precussion — or his collaborations with semi-supergroup Zero 7 — who is mostly known for being a total snoozefest that causes me fall asleep. But Junip is great. It’s upbeat and folky all at once, and González’s vocals and lyrics are a gentle, yet driving, force of nature.

Listen Junip – “Sweet & Bitter”

Salem: King Night

I literally just found this one a couple weeks ago. Right in the nick of time. People are tossing it into this whole witch house genre, which is basically a bullshit way to pigeonhole people making electronic music that sounds evil, spooky and often a bit campy. However, I don’t particularly care what you call Salem as long as you call it good. It sounds like someone making a “chopped and screwed” hip hop remix album on even more quaaludes than a normal “chopped and screwed” remixer would be taking, then filtered through some toothy synths from your favorite Halloween sound effects record that got warped when you left it out in your mom’s hot garage.

Listen Salem – “Sick”

Hammock: Chasing After Shadows…Living with the Ghosts

They’re a Nashville favorite and they belong in that ever-growing ambient genre. This record came out days after my move to Nashville, which also happened to be mere days after a massive flood, which turned out to be a pretty good time for this record to come out. While not as strictly backgroundy as their last record, this one had a great, watery, 80s new wave/gothy vibe thatfelt dark and uplifting all at once. Also, I kind of like that a member of Hammock is also a member of The Choir, and they collaborated with a member of The Church on this record.

Now, if only we could get them to play a show in their own hometown.

Listen Hammock – “The Backward Step”

Sorry there’s no 8tracks playlist this time. They changed some of their rules so I can’t grab music from “the cloud” any more. I tried to link to tracks or YouTube videos where I could.

1. Jon Hopkins – “Small Memory (Tuung remix)” (Seven Gulps of Air)
2. Robyn – “Dancing On My Own” (Body Talk)
3. Born Ruffians – “I Need a Life (Four Tet remix)” (DJ KiCKS: Moderat)
4. The Tallest Man on Earth – “Love is All” (The Wild Hunt)
5. Joker – “Snake Eater” (The Big Pink: Tapes)
6. Tobacco – “Sweatmother (feat. Height)” (La Uti)
7. TC – “Where’s My Money (Caspa remix)” (Get Darker Presents: This Is Dubstep 2)
8. Barn Owl – “Ancestral Star” (Ancestral Star)
9. Kanye West – “POWER” (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
10. Kanye West – “Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver)” (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
11. Kanye West – “Runaway (feat. Pusha T)” (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
12. Girl Unit – “Wut” (Wut)

Sufjan’s new album is worth a listen or seven.

Brian McBride of Stars of the Lid is keeping the ambient torch lit.

And the rest is all new releases and old favorites. Make sure to check the streaming player below or on the 8tracks site.

1. Buke and Gass – “Revel in Contempt” (Riposte)
2. Young Money – “BedRock (feat. Lloyd)” (We Are Young Money)
3. Mumford & Sons – “Timshel” (Sigh No More)
4. Sleigh Bells – “Infinity Guitars” (Treats)
5. Junip – “Sweet & Bitter” (Fields)
6. Andreya Triana – “Lost Where I Belong (Flying Lotus remix)” (Ninja Tune XX: Volume 1)
7. Gold Panda – “You” (Lucky Shiner)
8. The Field – “The More That I Do” (Yesterday and Today)
9. Swans – “My Birth” (My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky)
10. Mount Kimbie – “Serged” (Chilled Deep Dubstep)
11. JFB – “Duck Jam” (Chilled Deep Dubstep)
12. Breakage – “Vial (feat. Burial)” (Chilled Deep Dubstep)
13. Brian McBride – “Mélodrames Télégraphiés (in B major 7th) Part 1″ (The Effective Disconnect)
14. Sufjan Stevens – “Too Much” (The Age of Adz)

1. Dabrye – “Special (feat. Guilty Simpson and Paradime)” (Two / Three)
2. Deadmau5 – “Reward Is More Cheese” (Reward Is More Cheese)
3. Bobby Bare Jr. – “A Storm – a Tree – My Mother’s Head” (A Storm – a Tree – My Mother’s Head)
4. The Two Man Gentlemen Band – “There’s Something in My Trousers” (¡Dos Amigos, Una Fiesta!)
5. The Two Man Gentlemen Band – “Me, I Get High on Reefer” (¡Dos Amigos, Una Fiesta!)
6. Venetian Snares – “Posers and Camera Phones” (My So-Called Life)
7. Venetian Snares – “Ultraviolent Junglist” (My So-Called Life)
8. Broken Social Scene – “World Sick” (Forgiveness Rock Record)
9. Flying Lotus – “Camel” (Los Angeles)
10. bellflur – “Gasoline Heaven” (Asleep.Asleep.)
11. Neil Young – “Heart of Gold” (Harvest)
12. Neil Young – “Old Man” (Harvest)
13. Manchester Orchestra – “Shake It Out” (Mean Everything To Nothing)
14. Lil Wayne – “What’s Wrong With Them (feat. Nicki Minaj)” (I Am Not a Human Being)
15. Lil Wayne – “Gonerrhea (feat. Drake)” (I Am Not a Human Being)
16. Neil Young – “Hitchhiker” (Le Noise)

Listen up for a few of these songs here (or if you have Rhapsody, the whole thing is here):

1. J Roddy Walston – “Full Growing Man” (J Roddy Walston and the Business)
2. Arcade Fire – “Rococo” (The Suburbs)
3. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit of Happiness (nightmare) (feat. MGMT and Ratatat)” (Man On the Moon: The End of Day)
4. Taio Cruz – “Break Your Heart (feat. Ludacris)” (Rokstarr)
5. Arcade Fire – “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” (The Suburbs)
6. Smith Westerns – “Girl In Love” (Smith Westerns)

And here’s all the songs but one in a handy-dandy playlist, plus a few bonus ones for the heck of it.

Need any more proof that Craig Finn is a genius? Aside from writing a song essentially about the Catholic concept of heaven coming to earth every time we perform Mass (though his communion is over vinyl rather than bread and wine; no complaints here), check out the research done by some Hold Steady fans to uncover ten or fifteen references in four and a half minutes.

The way Finn weaves countless cultural, religious and personal reflections into a single song that means the world to a lot of people (well, at least two that I know of) is endlessly comforting.

I’m reminded of Scott Adams’s theory of God’s debris: that, as time moves forward, the world at large slowly converges back into a single consciousness that is the consciousness of God himself. Finn might be the patron saint of this idea, if for no other reason than to prove we’re getting better at massive consciousness in compact form. It’s a beautiful thing.

The beginning of the month brought a re-run epiphany that Pavement succeeded at what Nirvana was trying to do. Long story for another post. And then I found the This Is Dubstep comps and got hopelessly lost in electronic music for the rest of the month. I only took breaks for some new releases, like the new New Pornographers, the new M.I.A., Admiral Radley, Acacia Strain, Best Coast and Max Richter. And in the middle there somewhere was a phenomenal Hold Steady/Whigs show in Memphis. Needless to say, I’m a bit music saturated in my current environment and I am not going to complain about it.

1. Pavement – “Here” (Slanted and Enchanted)
2. Chasing Shadows – “Ill” (GetDarker Presents: This Is Dubstep 2)
3. Tes La Rok – “Darkness Falls Upon Us” (GetDarker Presents: This Is Dubstep)
4. Drumsound & Bassline Smith – “R U Ready (Dubstep Mix)” (GetDarker Presents: This Is Dubstep 2)
5. Fused Forces – “Chemical Reaction” (GetDarker Presents: This Is Dubstep 2)
6. Lung – “Afterlife” (GetDarker Presents: This Is Dubstep 2)
7. The New Pornographers – “Crash Years” (Together)
8. The New Pornographers – “Valkyrie In the Roller Disco” (Together)
9. The Hold Steady – “Positive Jam” (Almost Killed Me)
10. The Whigs – “Right Hand On My Heart” (Mission Control)
11. M.I.A. – “Teqkilla” (MAYA)
12. M.I.A. – “Meds and Feds” (MAYA)
13. Admiral Radley – “I Heart California” (I Heart California)
14. The Hold Steady – “Soft In the Center” (Heaven Is Whenever)
15. Beach House – “Walk in the Park” (Teen Dream)
16. The Acacia Strain – “Btm Fdr” (Wormwood)
17. Max Richter – “Infra 5″ (Infra)
18. Best Coast – “Summer Mood” (Crazy For You)

And here is your playlist, as usual.

1. Mumford & Sons – “Winter Winds” (Sigh No More)
2. Wye Oak – “That I Do (Mickey Free remix)” (My Neighbor / My Creator EP)
3. The Polyphonic Spree – “Section 2 (It’s the Sun)” (The Beginning Stages of…)
4. N.A.S.A. – Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith)” (The Spirit of Apollo)
5. Iron & Wine – “Peace Beneath the City” (The Shepherd’s Dog)
6. This Will Destroy You – “Brutalism & the Worship of the Machine” (Field Studies)
7. The Hold Steady – “Rock Problems” (Heaven Is Whenever)
8. Sarah Jaffe – “Clementine” (Suburban Nature)
9. mewithoutYou – “Timothy Hay” (it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright)
10. Zomby – “Spliff Dub (Rustie remix)” (Mu5h / Spliff Dub single)
11. Burial – “Shutta” (Ghost Hardware EP)
12. Sleigh Bells – “Tell ‘Em” (Treats)
13. Wye Oak – “For Prayer” (The Knot)

And, of course, here’s your free, streaming playlist of all the songs above.