Andy Gapin

It’s a Christmas miracle! I got my top 10 albums of the year list done! I kept forgetting about this and putting it off so much that I didn’t think I’d have it done by Christmas, but I buckled down and made it happen.

In years past, I’ve done bigger lists and/or had honorable mentions and all that jazz. Mostly this was fueled by hosting The Playlist, but without having a radio show to host a top albums of the year countdown on now, I had less drive to make a list that I could fill an hour (or two) with.

This was an odd year for me, I barely spent any time listening to music. Even though I still hosted the radio show up until September, I felt less connected to the music than I used to. I think this is a temporary thing, but I really found myself never listening to music at home and listening much, much less at work. I’m putting the blame on trying to do too much and having too much going on. It used to be that the biggest thing in my life was the radio station. Most of what I did was connected to that so I was surrounded by music. Before that, I ran a venue. Before that, I did little besides going to shows. So up until recently, most of my time and hobbies were music  related. That’s changed a lot this year, I spend more time doing non-music related things now. It’s changed a lot for me, but I think things will even out sooner or later. I hope at least.

Because of all that, I think I missed out on a lot of music this year and even stuff that I did check out, didn’t get the time that it deserved. Making a list this year was hard, but I’m pretty happy with it.

So here it is, the albums I was most into for 2010…

So after seven years, The Playlist is over. It’s hard to believe that something that’s been a large part of my life for so long is gone, but it’s true. Almost fittingly though, last night’s show was the most fun I ever had doing a radio show. It reminded me of everything I loved about doing college radio, much of which got lost in a cloud of jadedness. Hosting an all new music show was great, but it was often hard to fill the entire show with music I was excited about. There’s only so much great stuff that can come out each week. I’d get to play a few great records and fill in the rest with average records. That was always the biggest struggle, but last night had none of that. Last night’s show was nothing but music I love.

I spent the night before running some really custom queries against our database–you get this luxury when you’re the sucker that wrote the software that the radio station relies on for music databasing and logging. I found the artists that I played the most over the last four and a half years and built a playlist from there. I would have liked to go all the way back to when the show first started, but we were still using paper logs up until the beginning of 2006 and there was no way that I was going to try to hunt those down…assuming they still exist. The playlist I created was over two hours long so I had more than I was able to play, but it was alright, I was able to prune down as I was doing the show. I decided not to order anything, I didn’t want to make a pre-planned show and just sit there on autopilot. Instead, I burned two identical MP3 CDs–works out better than playing everything from a computer–and stuck them in the CD players. I had a list of the tracks and switched between players selecting what felt right at the time and what was going to create a solid flow. It’s the way that I always did my show and I didn’t want to change that. I’ve always been about going with the moment and what songs just feel right together. I feel like I nailed this as well as I ever have last night.

I was lucky to be able to score a second hour for last night. It was the first time in two years that I’ve done a two hour show, but it was great, I was able to fit in 34 songs along with a lot of stories about the last seven years and about the music I was playing. I always tried to talk about what the bands I played meant to me, but it wasn’t easy when much of the music was coming from new artists and not just new albums by artists I already was into. Last night, I was able to tell many stories about the bands and what they meant to me. It was great and it made me remember why joining the radio station was my first priority when I started college nine years ago.

The decision to end the show wasn’t easy, I knew it would come eventually, but I could never bring myself to do it. Once I finally made that decision, it was a tough back and forth between knowing how much I’ll miss it and being relieved that I could end it positively and free up a little bit of much needed time in my personal life. Though, as I progressed through the show, I felt myself becoming sadder and sadder that it was ending. By the end, I was feeling almost like I was going to cry. I knew walking away wasn’t going to easy. So I’m sad that it’s over now, but I do know that it was the right time for me and that the show had an amazing seven year run. I had many dedicated listeners and got to expose them to over 1500 different artists and bands over that time. I don’t know how many different albums I played, but my best estimate puts it well over 2000. To me, that’s pretty impressive. That’s a ton of new music. I can walk away knowing that the show was very successful in doing what I created it to do, push new music.

Over the last week, I’ve learned that beyond doing what I set out to do with The Playlist over the airwaves, I also was able to extend that via my blog for the past few years. I learned that I not only had listeners who looked to the show for new music, but I also had readers that couldn’t listen to the show and instead came here to see what I played and found out about the music that way. So awesome.

So last night’s show was a seriously stacked playlist, there was a ton that I still wanted to play, but I couldn’t get it all in. I dediced to end the show with the band that had the most spins on The Playlist. I was surprised when I found out it was The Loved Ones, but thinking back, I did play Keep Your Heart in its entirety when it came out. I wanted to post a big list of the most played artists, but I didn’t know where to cut it off. I may save that for a future post to milk one last entry about the show here. We’ll see, but if you’re really interested, let me know and I’ll make it happen.

The show wasn’t entirely hiccup free though. Just as I was about to start, the internet in the studio went out and for a while, I had to do the show entirely old school. I had to log on paper and couldn’t look up album info. I guess it was an appropriate reminder during the last show of what it was like when the show first started. It was surprisingly fun. However, this seems as though it may have messed up the beginning of the recording of the show. I haven’t verified this yet, but if it’s true, I will almost definitely cry. It was such a memorable show for me and to not have a recording of it would be seriously upsetting.

I’m staying an active DJ at the station so I don’t plan for this to be the last time I have a radio show playlist to post, but when it comes down to it, only the future knows how much I’ll actually end up subbing shows when needed. So for the very last time ever, here’s the playlist from last night’s The Playlist…

• Cheap Girls – A Lesser Rate – Find Me A Drink Home
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Me And Mia – Shake The Sheets
• Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died – The Dirty South
• Minus The Bear – Knights – Planet Of Ice
• Spoon – Don’t You Evah – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Electric Six – Night Vision – Switzerland
• Tilly And The Wall – Bad Education – Bottoms Of Barrels
• Feist – So Sorry – The Reminder
• Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed – Poetry Of The Deed
• Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band – Air Mattress – Outer South
• The Thermals – I Don’t Believe You – Personal Life
• Maritime – Parade Of Punk Rock T-Shirts – We, The Vehicles
• The Pipettes – Pull Shapes – We Are The Pipettes
• M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You – Hold Time
• The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy! – Boys And Girls In America
• The Copyrights – Knee Deep – Make Sound
• The Steinways – Arena Rock – Gorilla Marketing
• Against Me! – Thrash Unreal – New Wave
• Murder By Death – Rum Brave – Red Of Tooth And Claw
• Coconut Records – Microphone – Davy
• Neko Case – The Next Time You Say “Forever” – Middle Cyclone
• The Lawrence Arms – The Revisionist – The Greatest Story Ever Told
• Radiohead – 15 Step – In Rainbows
• Okkervil River – Pop Lie – The Stand Ins
• Lucero – I Don’t Wanna Be The One – Rebels, Rogues, And Sworn Brothers
• She And Him – I Was Made For You – Volume One
• Bryan Scary – Macedonia Hotel – The Shredding Tears
• Lemuria – Pants – Get Better
• The Measure [SA] – Portland – One Chapter In The Book (A Collection Of Standard Waits And Measurements)
• The Gaslight Anthem – Orphans – American Slang
• Rilo Kiley – The Moneymaker – Under The Blacklight
• Mclusky – She Will Only Bring You Happiness – The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire
• NOFX – Seeing Double At The Triple Rock – Never Trust A Hippy
• The Loved Ones – Living Will (Get You Dead) – Keep Your Heart

90.3 The Core

First of all, getting into the city last night was way too easy. The drive from the office up to Hoboken during rush hour took an unfathomable 50 minutes, which is even less than Google says it should take with no traffic–their with-traffic estimate was 82 minutes, but I wasn’t expecting anything less than 90. I guess a lot of people took off of work for a four-day weekend. No complaints. Then, in Hoboken, there was available parking all over the place, my only mistake was taking the first spot I saw. Finally, there was a PATH train sitting there waiting for us and my MetroCard already had money on it. Wins all around.

Now, She & Him…were alright. Not great, not bad, just alright. I think I would say that the first time I saw them was better. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely their fault. The sound was rather inconsistent, sometimes too much on the high-end,  sometimes way too much on the low-end. Of all the shows I’ve ever attended at Terminal 5, this had the worst sound by far. On top of that, Zooey’s keyboard wasn’t in tune and this seriously frazzled her. On no less than three occasions, the band started to play a song only to stop a few seconds in for Zooey to try to figure out a way to play it with her keyboard.

The set was long, an hour and a half including the encore. Normally, that would be quite a bit more than I would like to see from a band, but it didn’t feel long at all. When M Ward and Zooey left the stage after the regular set, I looked down at my phone expecting it to only be 9:45ish (they went on promptly at 9), but I was surprised to see that it was already ten after ten. Those 90 minutes a pretty solid collection of almost everything the band has to offer across both volumes. 24 songs, to be exact. They included a few covers, as should probably be expected, and even played an M Ward song which was pretty sweet. In the end, there was nothing left that I wanted and didn’t get. (The setlist is at the bottom of this post).

Oddly, Zooey seemed a little out of her element on stage. Maybe it was just that she was thrown off by the keyboard problems, but she seemed to have to keep reminding herself to smile and look like she was having fun. At one point, she seemed somewhat annoyed with the crowd taking pictures and asked everyone to turn their flashes off. Apparently, there was a strict no pictures policy for the night even though when I had called the venue earlier in the afternoon, I was told that point and shoots were okay. Zooey seemed to not care that pictures were being taken and claimed that the flashes ruined the vibe, but also tried to frame it as a helpful advice that the pictures would come out better without a flash (which is true). I don’t know, it did feel a little bitchy which is very disappointing to someone with a crush on her as large as mine (you already know all about that, I’m sure). All around, it just seemed like she was having an off night, though her voice sounded right on throughout the show.

Sorry for the crappy picture above, it was the best I could get with my iPhone 4 from where I was. Even with the improved camera, there’s only so much you can do from halfway back at a venue the size of Terminal 5 with dim lighting throughout the entire set.

1. Change Is Hard
2. I Thought I Saw Your Face Today
3. I Was Made For You
4. Black Hole
5. Thieves
6. Lingering Still
7. Me and You
8. Take It Back
9. Home
10. Riding In My Car
11. Over It Over Again
12. You Really Got a Hold on Me
13. Brand New Shoes
14. You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio (Joni Mitchell cover)
15. Sentimental Heart
16. Rave On! (Buddy Holly cover)
17. Gonna Get Along Without You Now
18. In the Sun
19. Don’t Look Back
20. This Is Not a Test
21. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Encore:

22. Magic Trick (M. Ward cover)
23. Fools Rush In (Ricky Nelson cover)
24. I Put a Spell on You (Nina Simone cover)

Good show last night, nothing really worth mentioning, but it was an all around good show.

• Drive By Truckers – After The Scene Dies – The Big To Do
• The Like – Wishing He Was Dead – College Radio Sampler
• Night Driving In Small Towns – Get Free – Serial Killers
• Undersea Poem – Bacocho Sunsets – Undersea Poem
• Fanfarlo – Finish Line – Live [EP]
• The Whigs – Automatic – In The Dark
• Title Tracks – No, Girl – It Was Easy
• The Press – Fine China – INTEOTWIJTEOAE
• She And Him – Over It Over Again – Volume Two
• Murder By Death – As Long As There Is Whiskey In The World – Good Morning, Magpie
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Birds’d Crash – True Love Cast Out All Evil
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy And The Cairo Gang – The Sounds Are Always Begging – The Wonder Show Of The World
• Roadside Graves – Jail – You Won’t Be Happy With Me
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]
• The Fall – Mexico Wax Solvent – Your Future Our Clutter

Source: 90.3 The Core

Good show last night! I had a lot of great new stuff to play again even though much of the playlist this week was the same as last week’s. I think I had my mic breaks dead on with where I wanted them to be and I was really happy with my music selection. The amount of new stuff to listen to lately has been crazy. I can barely keep up with what’s officially been released in the past month or so and the upcoming releases that have leaked. Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death, Minus The Bear, Hold Steady, Against Me!, Drive-By Truckers, and She & Him. And that’s just a few of the bands taking up all my time right now. So much great stuff to listen to. Anyway, here’s the playlist from last night’s show…

• LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls – Drunk Girls [Single]
• Murder By Death – Foxglove – Good Morning, Magpie
• Jason Collett – Love Is A Dirty Word – Rat A Tat Tat
• The Mynabirds – Give It Time – What We Lose In Fire We Gain In The Flood
• The Like – Wishing He Was Dead – College Radio Sampler
• Roadside Graves – Everything – You Won’t Be Happy With Me
• The Whigs – Kill Me Carolyn – In The Dark
• Drive By Truckers – Drag The Lake Charlie – The Big To Do
• Elliott Smith – No Name #3 – Roman Candle (reissue)
• Title Tracks – Hello There – It Was Easy
• She And Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Skeeter Davis Cover) – Volume Two
• Seabear – In Winters Eyes – We Built A Fire
• Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova – I Know You – One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels (Reissue)
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams – True Love Cast Out All Evil
• Tom McRae – Told My Troubles To The River – The Alphabet Of Hurricanes
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night’s The Playlist was possibly the most insane edition of the show that I’ve ever done. You’ll see what I mean when you take a look at the playlist from the show. I think I can safely say that I’ve never played that many established (indie) bands on one show ever. The show was kind of too epic for its own good. I struggled to keep up and to fit it all together. There was so much more that I wanted to fit in, but nothing else really stood much of a chance. And because I was struggling to fit so much in, my segues from song to song didn’t flow as well as they normally do.

On a related note, I blasted the monitors in the studio while playing I Was A Teenage Anarchist and I have to be honest about the fact that I gained a huge level of appreciation for that song after doing so. Maybe this new Against Me! record still has more to offer. We’ll have to see.

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
• Drive-By Truckers – After The Scene Dies – The Big To Do
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Even Heroes Have To Die – The Brutalist Bricks
• Title Tracks – Found Out – It Was Easy
• Seabear – Wolfboy – We Built A Fire
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]
• Rocky Votolato – Fragments – True Devotion
• The Weakerthans – Tournament Of Hearts – Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre
• Murder By Death – Yes – Good Morning, Magpie
• MGMT – Song For Dan Treacy – Congratulation
• The Apples In Stereo – Told You Once – Travellers In Space And Time
• LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls – Drunk Girls [Single]
• Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova – Happy Accident – One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels (Reissue)
• She And Him – Home – Volume Two

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night’s show wasn’t too shabby, I kicked it off with a Gorillaz track again for something like the third week in a row, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I’ve been listening a lot to the new albums from She & Him, Against Me!, and Ted Leo recently. I’m still totally in love with She & Him’s Volume Two, but Against Me’s White Crosses has only slightly grown on me. As much as I try to love it, I only feel lukewarm about it. There are songs I like a bit, but overall, it feels like the kind of album that I would be more positive about if it was from a different band. The Ted Leo record is kind of the opposite though, I think I’d like it less if it were from any other band. It’s a bit too polished, but for some reason, I’m not that bothered by it.

I finally got my hands on the new Murder By Death and Drive-By Truckers records as well. I’m about three songs into Drive-By Truckers as I type this. Not bad so far. Murder By Death’s Good Morning, Magpie feels like a solid record from the few times I’ve listened to it already. Not as good as Red Of Tooth And Claw, but still a nice offering.

Alright, back to last night’s show. It was the first show in a while where I didn’t get a listener request. I was almost disappointed by it, but overall, I was pretty happy with the show. I know the Weakerthans song I went with from the new (and probably unnecessary) live album was kind of the obvious choice, but it’s a great song either way.

• Gorillaz – Glitter Freeze – Plastic Beach
• MGMT – Flash Delirium – Flash Delirium [Single]
• Go Find, The – Running Mates – Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen
• One For The Team – Every Little Thing – Ghosts
• Postelles, The – White Night – White Night [EP]
• Weakerthans, The – Plea From A Cat Named Virtute – Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre
• Family Of The Year – Stupidland – Songbook
• Archie Bronson Outfit – Chunk – Coconut
• Whigs, The – Automatic – In The Dark
• She & Him – Over It Over Again – Volume Two
• Frightened Rabbit – Nothing Like You – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
• Drink Up Buttercup – Gods And Gentlemen – Born And Thrown On A Hook
• Rocky Votolato – Red River – True Devotion
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – The Mighty Sparrow – The Brutalist Bricks
• Liars – Scissor – Sisterworld

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night’s edition of the The Playlist was a bit mediocre. I started off great, but felt like I started losing steam quickly. Overall, the show was a little more artsy/experimental than normal. Not much, but a little.

I ended up playing a double dose of the Gorillaz. “Rhinestone Eyes” was a great intro for the show, but a listener IMed in a request for “Feel Good Inc.” and I didn’t want to rob him of that. Oddly though, that album somehow hasn’t been ripped into either of our computer based audio systems so I had to go dig out the CD from the library. It was kind of a pain, but completely worth it.

• Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes – Plastic Beach
• Dum Dum Girls – Lines Her Eyes – I Will Be
• Frightened Rabbit – Nothing Like You – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
• Archie Bronson Outfit – Hoola – Coconut
• Bird And The Bee, The – Private Eyes – Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates
• She And Him – I’m Gonna Make It Better – Volume Two
• Broken Bells – Vaporize – Broken Bells
• Postelles, The – Looking Glass – White Night [EP]
• Donora – I Think I Like You – Donora
• Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc – Demon Days
• White Hinterland – Begin Again – Kairos
• Joanna Newsom – Jackrabbits – Have One On Me
• Liars – Scarecrows On A Killer Slant – Sisterworld
• Bundles, The – Metal Mouth – The Bundles
• Aloha – Cold Storage – Home Acres

Source: 90.3 The Core

I had a lot of fun with last night’s show, probably because my mic breaks were just me gushing over Zooey Deschanel. I got a double dose of She & Him in there, but I may have considered playing the whole thing in its entirety. It’s an awesome record. I also finally got my hands on the new Ted Leo/Pharmacists album. It’s okay, I’m not super in love with it.

The rest of the show was pretty poppy and fun. The Black Keys song was a request and I ended with a song off of Pavement’s new best of album. I’m not the biggest Pavement fan, but the album was there waiting to be played.

• Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes – Plastic Beach
• She & Him – Don’t Look Back – Volume Two
• Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt – Ride Friendship – I Love You! I Love You! I Love You! I Love You And I’m In Love With You! Have An Awesome Day! Have The Best Day Of Your Life!
• Archie Bronson Outfit – Hoola – Coconut
• Black Keys, The – Remember When (Side B) – Attack And Release
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Woke Up Near Chelsea – The Brutalist Bricks
• Happy Birthday – Subliminal Message – Happy Birthday
• Drink Up Buttercup – Gods And Gentlemen – Born And Thrown On A Hook
• Joanna Newsom – ’81 – Have One On Me
• She & Him – Over It Over Again – Volume Two
• World Atlas – The Winter Stories – World Atlas [EP]
• Broken Bells – The Ghost Inside – Broken Bells
• Bird And The Bee, The – Maneater – Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates
• Aloha – Searchlight – Home Acres
• Local Natives – Camera Talk – Gorilla Manor
• Pavement – Cut Your Hair – Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

Source: 90.3 The Core

Okay, so Against Me! and She & Him are not two bands that you’d normally talk about together, but they’re two of my favorite bands and they both have records coming out.

Against Me!’s new record will be called White Crosses and is due out in the beginning of June, but it’s already leaked. No, I don’t have a link for you, the one I used is dead already, sorry. Tom Gabel doesn’t really seem to care too much, he said there was “no drama” and even posted all the lyrics on his blog. I’ve only listened to it once so far and to be honest, I’m not really impressed. Like many people, one of my favorite things about Against Me! is that everything they do is a progression over where they’ve been. They don’t stick with anything too long and always push forward. I really love that about them. But, I’m not quite sure that I like this push. When they signed to Sire and worked with Butch Vig for New Wave I don’t think anyone really knew what to think, but the product was stellar and really exceeded a lot of expectations. But this time around, I feel like everything I feared was going to happen with New Wave did happen. White Crosses feels very polished and major labely. I’m not going to say that that’s inherently a bad thing, but I’m not sure that it’s what I want in an Against Me! album. However, Against Me! is one of the few bands that I have learned not to judge too quickly. I hated Searching For A Former Clarity when it first came out, I thought it was going to kill them for me. It wasn’t until shortly after its release when I saw them at a party at CMJ that I feel in love with the record. Based on that, I’m willing to give White Crosses some time, but that first listen was horribly disappointing.

On the opposite end of the expectation fulfillment spectrum is She & Him’s Volume Two. This record comes out next week, but it’s currently streaming in its entirety over at NPR. This album is everything I could have hoped for in a sophomore release from She & Him. They pick up right where they left off with Volume One, yet avoid regurgitating the same songs back to us again. There are thirteen songs and, this time, only two covers. Each of the songs is cute and sweet and Zooey Deschanel’s vocals continue to the best by any female singer out there. Friends and long time readers of this blog know my obsession with her–my fiance refers to her as my girlfriend–so I am pretty biased, but if you can listen to this record and not fall in love with her voice like I have, then you’ve got no business listening to music at all. You’re going to want to pick this one up.

In the meantime, check out the video for the first single, “In The Sun.” It’s pretty much the cutest thing you’ll watch this month.