Edinburgh and Music

Went to Edinburgh with David last weekend and had a blast. Joe missed his flight. Oh well. We climbed Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh, and David got blown off by the wind. R.I.P. David.

But seriously, the wind was strong and David ALMOST got blown off. We also saw a semi-nude man jog by, no joke. Later that night we went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh and got the shit scared out of us...literally. I didn't bring a change of underwear so it was quite unpleasant to walk around Edinburgh after the tour. Eventually we slept in some smelly girl's room that was out of town. The end.

If you're at all interested (thought I don't expect you to be), I've come up with my top ten albums of the year :

10. Liars by Liars - Much more listenable than Drum's Not Dead, but much less innovative. Nonetheless a fantastic album.

9. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire - Not as good as Funeral. If you disagree with me then you're wrong...end of discussion. Poor production quality hurts these otherwise phenomenal songs.

8. Spiderman of the Rings by Dan Deacon - Easily the weirdest album on this list. For some reason Dan Deacon's geeky-ass music avoids being cheesy, which is quite a feat. Wham City and Pink Batman are two of the best songs of the year.

7. Friend Opportunity by Deerhoof - Further solidifies Deerhoof as one of the best bands of the past decade. It seems they can do no wrong.

6. Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? by Of Montreal - Works equally well as a collection of singles and as an album, which is quite a feat. Best live act at Pitchfork as well. Oh, and I figured out the answer to the the title, it's "yes"

5. Mirrored by Battles - Damn this album rocks my socks off. That's all I can ask for really. I love the part in Tonto that's all like "da da da da da da da, da na na, da na na"

4. Boxer by The National - 'Mature' music. This album seems meticulous yet completely effortless. I can tell I'm getting older because I love this shit.

3. Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective - WTF???? I thought Matt hated Animal Collective?? I do, kind of, but I don't hate Strawberry Jam. In fact, I like it quite a bit! Bonefish.

2. Friend or Foe by Menomena - Fucking spectacular album. I never would have guessed that it could be topped by another album this year until a certain band released a colorful album.

1. In Rainbows by Radiohead - duh

Honorable mentions - Cross by Justice, Cease to Begin by Band of Horses, Year Zero by NIN, and the middle third of Our Love to Admire by Interpol.

Thanks for reading!