Oy, Shnuggy, nothing says Idol like a few choruses of Fiddler. Your karaoke place or mine?
Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset Shrill notes pierce my ears One season crappy as another Vocals as deft as stripping gears
Matchmaker matchmaker make me a match Find me an idol From this new batch Month after month AI cold turkey So find me a kid who’s not jerky. Or too perky. I’d take quirky.
Shout Out Louds – Speak Softly, Carry Retro Shtick
Shout Out Louds Work Merge Records. 10 Tracks. Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Musically speaking at least, the 1980s was a benevolent decade. Many of today’s hit-makers owe their very existence to pioneers from the golden age of new wave and synth pop.Madonna bequeathed her style-over-substance act unto Lady Gaga. Duran Duran gave us the Killers. And Chris Martin borrowed A-ha’s falsetto warbles while the Norwegian trio was off fjord-hopping and poof! Coldplay was born.
Corinne Bailey Rae The Sea Virgin/EMI. 11 Tracks. Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
I’m ashamed to admit that I kind of dreaded hearing this album.
When Corinne Bailey Rae’s debut dropped in 2006, it landed like sunshine on a murky musical landscape.Here was a pop-soul chanteuse who eschewed the pungent vulgarity of fellow Brit Amy Winehouse, not to mention the manufactured beats of the Top 40 hitmakers, to focus on upbeat themes and warm, organic arrangements.And with the smash single “Put Your Records On”—just go ahead, let your hair down!-- she created an enduring balm for the blues.
Vampire Weekend – Indie combo’s Contra rebels against second-album slide
Vampire Weekend Contra XL Recordings. 10 Tracks. Rating: 4½ stars (out of 5)
Of all the bands in indie-pop’s recent freshman class, Vampire Weekend seemed destined to be voted most likely to suffer a sophomore slump. As energetic, amusing and catchy as the 2008 debut by this Big Apple foursome was, it was also perilously gimmicky.
tdoug’s slightly belated (and, as ever, unsolicited) top 10 albums of 2009
10.Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear The third album by these Brooklyn-based indie darlings loses the plot a little in the middle, but the high points are exhilarating. Mixing pop classicism (dig those Beach Boys harmonies) with the avant-garde ‘tude that defines the music scene in their home borough, the Bears have concocted a sound that’s as hummable as it is intricate. Top tracks: “Southern Point,” “Two Weeks.”
9. Tonight - Franz Ferdinand Libidinous, literate dance rock from Scotland’s cheekiest combo.Released in January of ’09, Tonight still sounds like the sexiest party on the planet a year later.Why the irresistible singles “Ulysses” and “No You Girls” didn’t storm the Top 40 with the force of their biggest hit, “Take Me Out,” is an exasperating mystery. Get these songs a Timbaland or David Guetta remix, stat!
Here is my highly biased list of the best albums of the decade. Leave your picks in the comment section below!
10. Pocket Symphony – Air
Released in the midst of a full-on Air backlash, this 2007 album was unfairly dismissed by critics. It’s the lone “serious” work by this cheeky French chill-out duo, and I think it’s gorgeous from beginning to end. Bonus points for deadpan guest vocals by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon.
Shout Out Louds
Corinne Bailey Rae
10. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear 
Here is my highly biased list of the best albums of the decade. Leave your 
The Bromance:
So You Think You Can Dance, Season 5 by Murghi & Zsus
