(Doing The Sums 2010) Are You Joe Average?

The Bawley crew love (or is it love to hate) the triple j Hottest 100, which-ever. The only thing we love more than the Hottest 100 is our own (Doing the Sums) Are You Joe Average quiz. (see: 2007, 2008, Hottest 100 of all time, 2009)

Here is how it works:

1. Write out a list of the songs you voted for in the triplej Hottest 100.

2. Write down the position each of these came in the triplej Hottest 100

3. If a song did not make the list put down 101.

4. Add up the scores, and divide by the number of songs you voted for.

5. Post your results as a comment to this blog entry.

How to interpret your score:

1-13: Paint me a rainbow there must be lots of (Little) Red and (Cee-Lo) Green in your life.

14-27: Your Radar Detector is tuned to Austereo?

28-40: Very vanilla

41-52: "Here I am stuck in the middle with you"

53-65: Pretty pedestrian, but you probably have one weirdo friend who is rubbing off on you more than you realise.

66-77: Kinda quirky in a cute way.

78-89: Kinda quirky in a "slowly back away..." way.

90-100: You're a f***ing freak, man

101: Did you vote for songs, or flavours of ice cream????

The Bawley 100 top 10 scored:

Hot Chip - I Feel Better - 85

Crystal Castles - Celestica - 101

The Jezabels - Mace Spray - 16

Grinderman - Worm Tamer - 101

Jónsi - Go Do - 96

LCD Soundsystem - Home - 10

Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - 101

Hot Chip - One Life Stand - 50

The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio - 31

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill - 42

72.4 Kinda quirky in a "slowly back away..." way. - I am happy with that.

How did you score?

The Bawley 100 – New Years Eve 2010/2011

The world of end-of-year lists has been thrown into disarray by the release of several private files stolen from deep within the usually secretive Bawley community, available to view on the notorious website BawleyLeaks. One Bawley contributor condemned the leaks as “an attack on his freedom to judge the artistic merits of others”. Another Bawley representative has dismissed the release as imperialist propaganda.

The stolen data, which has subsequently appeared on ipod and spotify playlists, contains a number of not so shocking revelations.

It is thought that the Bawley crew now faces a personal and professional crisis following the publication of the information in the public domain. So damaging are the leaks that the original Bawley team has returned to their Bawley Point base to plan their next move of music snobbery.

Friday, 31 December 2010, 23:59

C L A S S I F I E D LIST 100049

EO 12958 DECL: 3/24/2019

TAGS OVIP">>OVIP (BAWLEY, 100), PREL, JAZZ, ROCK, MINIMAL, INDIE, ELECTRO, WORLD

SUBJECT: (B) Bawley 100 – New Years Eve 2010/2011

The 2010 Bawley 100:

100 Kanye West - Runaway

99 Stonefield - Drowning

98 M.I.A. - XXXO

97 Tame Impala - Solitude Is Bliss

96 Flight Facilities - Crave You

95 Boy And Bear - Fall At Your Feet

94 Grizzly Bear - Boy From School

93 Eels - Looking Up

92 Laura Marling - Devil's Spoke

91 Sia - Bring Night

90 Groove Armada - Paper Romance

89 Kort - Incredibly Lonely

88 Mgmt - Congratulations

87 The Chemical Brothers - Swoon

86 Warpaint - Undertow

85 Amaya Laucirica - This World Can Make You Happy

84 Gotye - Eyes Wide Open

83 Band Of Horses - Laredo

82 Mark Ronson (feat. Boy George) - Somebody To Love Me

81 Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun

80 Blur - Fool's Day

79 Jackie Q - Ring Round

78 The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

77 Chiddy Bang - Truth

76 The National - Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

75 The Hold Steady - Barely Breathing

74 How To Destroy Angels - The Space In Between

73 Deftones - You've Seen The Butcher

72 Gorillaz - Stylo

71 Wire - Two Minutes

70 Mogwai - Rano Pano

69 Pendulum - ABC News Theme (remix)

68 Beach House - Zebra

67 Old Man River - Norway

66 PVT - The Quick Mile

65 Broken Bells - The High Road

64 The Drums - Forever and Ever Amen

63 The New Pornographers - Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk

62 Laura Marling - Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)

61 Pantha du Prince - Stick To My Side

60 Little Dragon - My Step

59 PJ Harvey - Written On The Forehead

58 Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Tuning Out

57 The New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)

56 Cloud Control - Meditation Song #2

55 Yeasayer - O.N.E.

54 Beach House - Silver Soul

53 Grinderman - Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man

52 Crystal Castles - Baptism

51 Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love

50 The Dead Weather - Blue Blood Blues

49 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Morning Light

48 Sufjan Stevens - Now That I'm Older

47 Yeasayer - Madder Red

46 The Bench Warmers - Football (In The Goal)

45 Deerhunter - Helicopter

44 Deftones - This Place Is Death

43 Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You

42 Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime

41 Kele - Tenderoni

40 British Sea Power - Living Is So Easy

39 The Naked And Famous - Punching In A Dream

38 Gayngs - The Gaudy Side Of Town

37 Kele - Everything You Wanted

36 Delphic - Doubt

35 Gogol Bordello - To Rise Above

34 Grinderman - When My Baby Comes

33 Massive Attack - Girl I Love You

32 Gypsy And The Cat - The Piper's Song

31 Tame Impala - Lucidity

30 Robyn - Dancing On My Own

29 Arcade Fire - Modern Man

28 Klaxons - Echoes

27 Cut Copy - Where I'm Going

26 Janelle Monae - Tightrope

25 Massive Attack - Paradise Circus

24 Cut Copy - Take Me Over

23 Bag Raiders - Way Back Home

22 DJ Shadow - I've Been Trying

21 Crystal Castles (feat Robert Smith) - Not In Love

20 The New Pornographers - Crash Years

19 Little Red - Slow Motion

18 Whitley - Killer

17 Sufjan Stevens - I Walked

16 Deftones - Sextape

15 Hot Chip - Hand Me Down Your Love

14 LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean

13 Arcade Fire - Ready To Start

12 British Sea Power - Zeus

11 Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Hand Covers Bruise

10 Hot Chip - I Feel Better

9 Crystal Castles - Celestica

8 The Jezabels - Mace Spray

7 Grinderman - Worm Tamer

6 Jónsi - Go Do

5 LCD Soundsystem - Home

4 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

3 Hot Chip - One Life Stand

2 The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

1 Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Can you keep a secret?

Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Top 3 Concerts of the Year: Hummer

This year I missed both the European and Australian summers which (as well as leaving me with the whitest skin I have had in my life) means I also missed the chance to see a lot of touring bands in 2010.

I saw too few shows to produce a Top 5, but a few of the live acts I did see stood out from the rest. Here is my Top 3 concerts of 2010:

3. LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, Horden Pavilion, Sydney, 26/07/2010

The LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip show delivered everything it promised and more. Hot Chip called the otherwise absent Joe Goddard in via video conference to recreate the highlights of their brilliant One Life Stand album. LCD Soundsystem again proved that they are the best live dance band, with the best songs. (full review)

2. Whitley, The Maram, Erindale, 18/08/2010

One of the best but also one of the strangest shows I attended all year, Whitley's final ever Canberra show was full of beautifully depressed songs, artist audience clashes and suicidal ramblings.

"this one is about suicide" (full review)

1. Band of Horses, Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 29/07/2010

A serious stomach bug kept me from seeing Band of Horses at Glastonbury in 2008, two years to the day later I have my first chance to see the hirsute band in action. The band's huge set stamps along at a great pace, new songs stand their own, but it was seeing this band play There Is A Ghost, The Funeral, and Ode To LRC that made tonight worth the two year wait. (full review)

Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Bottom 5 album covers of the Year

So many bad album covers this year, Devo and Brian Ferry went for glamor mag gloss, Yeasayer had some kind of brain seizure, Kings of Leon explored phallic island and Kanye West showed us way more than we ever wanted to see. Still nothing was worse than these my Bottom 5 album covers of the year.

5. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

The CD sleeve notes state that the album cover is a photo of X Tecumseh Clark taken by his father, avant-garde composer and poet Todd Tamanend Clark.

Yep about as interesting as it sounds.

4. Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Sadly this is not the soundtrack to Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

3. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2. MGMT - Congratulations

MGMT do what Nintendon't - pitchfork media

This scratch and sniff disaster was my early favourite for worst album cover of the year. Who could of thought that worse was still to come.

1. M.I.A. - /\/\ /\ Y /\

The cover art on M.I.A.'s /\/\ /\ Y /\ is a bigger disaster than the album itself. The YouTube progress bars had been outdated before this album was released, the Tetris brick walls are horrible and can anybody tell me why MIA has spelt her name out in gold bullion?

One part hilarious ten parts hideous , congratulations to M.I.A.; runaway winner for 2010's worst cover album art.

Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Top 5 album covers of the Year

Most of world may have moved to digital downloads, that doesn't mean we can't continue to enjoy good album cover art. Here are five of my favorites from 2010.

5. Kele - The Boxer

Kele Okereke the muscled prize fighter. I dare you to tell him that you preferred him when he was in Bloc Party.

4. Massive Attack - Heligoland

Designed by band member (and former graffiti artist) Robert Del Naja who poured over 100s of photos, stencils and original art works before coming up with the street art inspired cover.

The London underground then banned Massive Attack from advertising the album in any of the city's Tube stations, because the art work looks too much like graffiti.

3. Grinderman - Grinderman 2

"Like a wolf showing its teeth in the front room"

Is there any better way to describe Grinderman's second album?

2. Klaxons - Surfing the Void

When a band uses an internet meme as their album art the result is usually uncreative, uninteresting and entirely lame. On the front cover of Surfing the Void, Klaxons have used the greatest meme of them all the lolcat, but somehow it works.

I think it is the dull stair in the cat's eyes; where is he going what adventures will he have when he gets there, will he make it home safely - we will never know.

1. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (re-issue)

The new artwork is little more than an update of the original album's cover but it is the story of lost originals, double blind searches and high-res drawings and 1989-like filters that makes this my favourite album cover art of 2010.

Slevage has the full story, http://sleevage.com/nin-pretty-hate-machine/

A New (Years) Music Resolution

A friend of Bawley recently pointed me to Andre’s Resolution 2010. In short, Resolution 2010 is a positive commitment that in 2010 you only listen to music released in 2010.

The rules (exceptions to):

• Re-issues and re-masters released in 2010 count as 2010 releases.
• For the month of January you are allowed to listen to anything from 2009. (edit: I suggest the Bawley 100 – 2009)
• I will probably come up with more rules as I think of them because not listening to Bad Brains for a year is starting to make me sad.

This got me thinking, could I do this? What would I miss? Would 2010 be a better year for new music than 2009? Such negative questions are not really in the spirit of Resolution 2010 so I turned the question on its head: if only listened to music released in 2010, what would I have to look forward to?

There are the already released albums from Vampire Weekend (Contra) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (IRM). Contra is more of the same preppy afro-beat indie-pop that made Vampire Weekend’s debut album so enjoyable, while IRM (sung by Gainsbourg but written and produced by Beck) is as good as anything Beck has done since Sea Change (2002).

On February 9th Hot Chip will release One Life Stand. With great reviews so far and the title track sitting on the high rotation list at triple j, BBC Radio 1 and 6Music, One Life Stand could be the album that sees Hot Chip break into the mainstream (without losing the their status as a critic’s favourite).

Daddy G returns for Massive Attack’s first album in five years, Heligoland, also set for a February 9th release. The album drops a lot of what made 100th Window pants and picks up a massive list of guest vocalists and collaborators including Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird, Horace Andy, and Tunde Adibempe. If the Splitting The Atom preview EP and last year’s live shows are anything to go by, Heligoland should be brilliant.

Back in September The Knife provided the soundtrack to a Danish opera based on the life of Charles Darwin. The opera was called Tomorrow, In A Year and a studio version of the soundtrack is due for release on March 1st. I doubt anything stranger will come out all year.

After some time spent writing Chinese operas and fronting the re-formed Blur, Damon Albarn is back with Gorillaz third album: Plastic Beach, out March 8th. Once again the list of collaborators is impressive, drawing big names from hip hop (Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, De la Soul), rock (Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Mark E Smith, Gruff Rhys) and soul (Bobby Womack). Albarn is promising it will be Gorillaz "most pop album".

No dates yet, but LCD Soundsystem are also due to release a new album in March. Sadly, it may also be the band’s last album. Main man James Murphy told NME "I know I said (LCD Soundsystem was over) last time and things changed, but I don't like to repeat myself."

Tipped for an early 2010 release is the next album from Interpol. Drummer Sam Fogarino has said it will be more Turn On The Bright Lights than Our Love To Admire which is a good thing.

Later in the year, details of upcoming releases get sketchier. But there are some exciting albums on the horizon: The National and Band of Horses are both suggesting they will have new releases, as are The Avalanches and The Panics.

Despite the retirement of Nine Inch Nails as a touring band, Trent Reznor has said “2010 has a number of things planned including new material from nine inch nails and something else that isn't nine inch nails.”

I know I could not go a year without listening to The Cure. Luckily they also have a 2010 release planned, the 21st anniversary remastered re-issue of Disintegration. Due in the first half of the year, the release will be a three CD set, containing the original album (remastered) , twenty previously unreleased b-sides and demos from the era, and a remixed and extended version of the Entreat live album.

While 2010 looks like being a great year for new music I still don’t know if I am up for the Resolution 2010 commitment, what about you?

What are you looking forward to in 2010? What would you miss if you were to take up the challenge?