To state the obvious, we here at WKNC love music. A lot. We also love live music. A lot. Most, if not all, of us attend many concerts and music festivals each year. What follows are lists of some of WKNC’s deejays’ favorite shows of the year. They range from national to local acts, regular shows to festivals. Some (myself included) went to so many it was hard to narrow it down to five, so we listed ten. Some lists are in numerical order, others are not. Caribou, Future Islands, and the inaugural Hopscotch Music Festival were some of the most common favorites, among dozens of other acts. Check it out:

Synthesiser Patel (Daytime/Afterhours)

- Chromeo/A-Trak/Kid Sister/Theophilus London @ Congress Theater (Chicago)

- The National/Owen Pallett @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

- Metric @ Lollapalooza

- of Montreal @ Cat’s Cradle

- Born Ruffians/Winter Gloves @ Local 506

DJ Mensch (Daytime)

1. The National @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

2. Minus The Bear @ Lincoln Theatre

3. Max Indian @ Hopscotch Music Festival

4. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

5. The Rosebuds @ Hopscotch Music Festival

May Day (Daytime)

1. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Camera Obscura @ Duke Gardens

3. Surfer Blood @ Cat’s Cradle

4. Yeasayer/Javelin @ Cat’s Cradle

5. OK  Go @ Lincoln Theatre

DJ Mollypop (Daytime)

1. Paul McCartney @ Sprint Center (Kansas City)

2. The Weepies @ Lincoln Theatre

3. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

4. Crooked Still @ Casbah

5. The New Pornographers/Dodos/The Duchess and the Duke @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

The Noobhammer (Chainsaw)

1. Scale The Summit/Devin Townsend Project/Cynic/Between the Buried and Me @ The Fillmore Charlotte

2. Sons of Liberty/Iced Earth @ 9:30 Club (Washington, D.C.)

3. Powerglove/Firewind @ Volume 11

4. Valient Thorr/Between the Buried and Me/Mastodon @ Lincoln Theatre

5. Boris @ Cat’s Cradle

Iris G (Daytime)

- Mumford & Sons @ 9:30 Club (Washington, D.C.)

- Ratatat @ MeetFactory (Prague)

Audity (Daytime)

- Active Child @ Hopscotch Music Festival

- Cassis Orange @ Duke Coffeehouse

- Veelee @ Duke Coffeehouse

- Old Bricks @ Kings

- Deerhunter @ Cat’s Cradle

Sarahnade (Daytime/Post Rock Block)

1. Trans-Siberian Orchestra @ RBC Center

2. Local Natives/The Union Line @ The Grey Eagle (Asheville)

3. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

4. The New Pornographers/Dodos/The Duchess and the Duke @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

5. The Temper Trap/The Kissaway Trail @ Cat’s Cradle

6. This Machine Kills Cancer benefit

DJ Ones (Daytime)

1. Phoenix @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre

2. The New Pornographers @ Memorial Hall (UNC-CH)

3. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

4. The Big Pink @ Cat’s Cradle

5. Sharon Van Etten @ Hopscotch Music Festival

DJ Hammerhead (Chainsaw)

1. Municipal Waste/Double Negative/Zeus @ The Milestone (Charlotte)

2. Overkill/Forbidden/Gama Bomb/Evile/Bonded By Blood @ Volume 11

3. D.R.I./Final Curse @ Amos’ Southend (Charlotte)

4. Nemesis/Chainsawdamy/Avalon Steel @ Tremont Music Hall (Charlotte)

5. Exmortus/Vektor/Final Curse @ Charlotte’s Underground (Charlotte)

The Blog Lady (Blog Editor/Staff Photographer)

1. The Avett Brothers @ Asheville Civic Center Arena

2. Lost In The Trees @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Mandolin Orange @ Troika Music Festival

4. The Rosebuds @ Hopscotch Music Festival

5. Chatham County Line @ Troika Music Festival

DJ Vice (Daytime)

1. Benji Hughes/The Old Ceremony @ Cat’s Cradle

2. Passion Pit @ The Fillmore Charlotte

3. The Avett Brothers @ Asheville Civic Center Arena

Just John (Daytime)

1. Caribou/Phantogram @ Governor’s Island (New York City)

2. Beach House @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Every Future Islands show

4. Joanna Newsom @ Carolina Theatre

5. Ponytail @ Siren Music Festival

The Cosmic Cowboy (The Church of Bluegrass and the Truer Sound)

1. John Prine @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

2. Joanna Newsom @ The National (Richmond) and Variety Playhouse (Atlanta)

3. Cedric Watson and the Bijou Creole/Red Stick Ramblers @ Reynolds Industries Theater (Duke)

4. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy @ Borque’s Social Club (Scot, LA)

5. Charlie Louvin @ Borque’s Social Club (Scot, LA)

DJ Elly May (Daytime)

1. Delta Spirit @ Cat’s Cradle

2. The Rosebuds/Megafaun @ The Pour House

3. Holy Ghost Tent Revival @ The Pour House

4. Minus The Bear @ Lincoln Theatre

5. Turbo Fruits @ Local 506

Lucretia (Chainsaw)

1. Eyehategod/Nachtmystium/Withered/Haarp/Stripmines @ Volume 11

2. Kreator/Voivod/Nachtmystium @ Jaxx (West Springfield, VA)

3. Slang/World Burns To Death/Devour/Stripmines @ Slims

4. Immolation/Vader/Abigail Williams/Lecherous Nocturne @ Volume 11

5. High On Fire/Torche/Kylesa @ Cat’s Cradle

6. Atakke/Parasytic/Devour @ Slims

7. Pentagram/Cough/The Gates of Slumber/Windham @ The Hat Factory (Richmond)

8. Alice In Chains @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

9. Hate Eternal/Cannabis Corpse/Malebolgia @ Volume 11

10. Glass Casket/Wrath & Rapture/Malebolgia @ Johnny & Junes (Winston-Salem)

Agent Orange (Daytime)

1. Broken Social Scene @ Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Yeasayer/Javelin @ Cat’s Cradle

3. Caribou/Toro Y Moi @ Cat’s Cradle

4. Annuals/The Light Pines @ Tir Na Nog

5. Ra Ra Riot/Givers @ Cat’s Cradle

Riff Raff (Daytime)

- Hopscotch Music Festival

- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ Cat’s Cradle

- Veelee/Lonnie Walker/Future Islands @ Kings

- Beach House/Washed Out @ Cat’s Cradle

- Ludacris @ Reynolds Coliseum

DJ Kligz (Daytime/Local Lunch)

1. Hopscotch Music Festival

2. Future Islands/Lonnie Walker/Veelee/NAPS @ Kings

3. Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

4. Beach House @ Cat’s Cradle

5. Caribou/Veelee @ Cat’s Cradle

Chuck (Daytime)

1. LCD Soundsystem @ Pitchfork Music Festival

2. Massive Attack/Jonsi @ MoogFest

3. The National @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

4. Wilco @ Durham Performing Arts Center

5. Caltrop/US Christmas/The Curtains of Night @ Nightlight

6. Titus Andronicus/Spider Bags @ Local 506

7. Deerhunter/Schooner @ Cat’s Cradle

8. Deakin @ Hopscotch Music Festival

9. GWAR @ Lincoln Theatre

10. These Are Powers/Lemonade/MNDR @ The Pinhook

What were your favorite shows and/or music festivals of the year?

Another year is practically in the books, and with it comes time to recapture our favorite moments in music from the past year. I sought to get a large number of Daytime deejays to give us their favorite albums of the past year. And what a year it was! Below is the collection of great albums as decided by a great deal of Daytime deejays. See you next year!

Just John

1. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
2. Beach House – Teen Dream
3. Future Islands – In Evening Air
4. Caribou – Swim
5. Sharon Van Etten – Epic

May Day

1. Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
2. Beach House – Teen Dream
3. Vampire Weekend- Contra
4. Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
5. Twin Shadow – Forget

DJ Elly May

1. Bob Dylan – The Original Mono Recordings
2. The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream
3. Dark Dark Dark – Wild Go
4. Spoon – Transference
5. Jimi Hendrix – Valleys of Neptune

LOLCait

1. Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
2. Various Artists – Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: The Songs of John Prine
3. John Prine – In Person & On Stage
4. Megafaun – Heretofore
5. Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt

N!cole

1. Cotton Jones – Tall Hours in the Glowstream
2. Y La Bamba – Lupon
3. Breathe Owl Breathe – Magic Central
4. Casiokids – Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar
5. Harlem – Hippies

DJ Jacoblivion

1. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
2. The National – High Violet
3. Ratatat – LP4
4. Bassnectar – Timestretch
5. Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit

SarahNade

1. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
2. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
3. The Black Keys – Brothers
4. Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
5. Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Anastassia

1. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
2. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
3. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles II
4. Warpaint – The Fool
5. Phantogram – Eyelid Movies

Professor X

1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
2. Owen Pallett – Heartland
3. The Books – The Way Out
4. Beach House – Teen Dream
5. Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Hurricane Julia

1. Peggy Sue – Fossils and Other Phantoms
2. Tallest Man on Earth – Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird
3. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
4. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the Cairo Gang – Wonder Show of the World
5. Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas – Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas

DJ Ones

1. The National – High Violet
2. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
3. The Black Keys – Brothers
4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
5. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

Agent Orange

1. Yeasayer – Odd Blood
2. Hot Chip - One Life Stand
3. Caribou – Swim
4. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
5. Twin Shadow – Forget

DJ Mensch

1. The National – High Violet
2. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
3. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
4. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
5. Ra Ra Riot – The Orchard

DJ Ray

1. Beach House – Teen Dream
2. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
3. Sharon Van Etten – Epic
4. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
5. Julian Lynch – Mare

Hot Tamale

1. Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
2. The Black Keys – Brothers
3. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
4. The National – High Violet
5. Blair – Die Young

The DONoftime

1. Tame Impala – Inner Speaker
2. Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo
3. MGMT – Congratulations
4. Spoon – Transference
5. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Mollypop

1. Crooked Still – Some Strange Country
2. Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
3. Steeldrivers – Reckless
4. Chatham County Line – Wildwood
5. Darren Hanlon – I Will Love You At All

DJ Kligz

1. The Tender Fruit - Flotsam and Krill
2. Future Islands – In Evening Air
3. Sharon Van Etten – Epic
4. Beach House – Teen Dream
5. Sleigh Bells – Treats

Lovely Lucia

1. The Love Language – Libraries
2. Future Islands – In Evening Air
3. Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
4. Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
5. MGMT – Congratulations

Riff Raff

1. Future Islands – In Evening Air
2. Beach House – Teen Dream
3. The Morning Benders – Big Echo
4. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
5. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Monsieur Mêmes

1. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
2. Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo
3. Yeasayer – Odd Blood
4. Bear Hands – Burning Bush Supper Club
5. Four Tet – There Is Love in You

Tommyboy

1. Future Islands – In Evening Air
2. Beach House – Teen Dream
3. Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
4. Caribou – Swim
5. Four Tet – There is Love in You

Goof

1. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
2. LCD SoundSystem – This is Happening
3. Beach House – Teen Dream
4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
5. Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt

Major Tom

1. Matt and Kim - Sidewalks
2. Suckers – Wild Smile
3. Future Islands – In Evening Air
4. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner
5. Band of Horses – Infinite Arms

Synthesiser Patel

1. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
2. Broken Bells – Broken Bells
3. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
4. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. Maximum Balloon – Maximum Balloon

AndyQ

1. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
2. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
3. Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
4. Vampire Weekend – Contra
5. Broken Bells – Broken Bells

Chuck

1. Salem – King Night
2. Beach House – Teen Dream
3. The National – High Violet
4. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
5. Zola Jesus – Stridulum/Valusia

Jacob

1.  Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
2.  Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone
3.  Free Electric State - Caress
4.  Various Artists – Scott Pilgrim VS the World
5.  Royal Baths – After Death

What are some of your favorite albums of 2010? Leave your comments in the comment section below.

	Artist	Album	Label
#1	SLEIGH BELLS	Treats	Mom and Pop
#2	CRYSTAL CASTLES	Crystal Castles II	Universal
#3	RATATAT	Lp4	XL
#4	LCD SOUNDSYSTEM	This is Happening	EMI
#5	RUSKO	O.M.G.!	Mad Decent
#6	M.I.A.	XXXO: The Remixes
#7	BORGORE	Borgore Ruined Dubstep [EP]
#8	NINJASONIK	Art School Girls	Green Owl
#9	UFFIE	Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans	Because
#10	N.E.R.D.	Hot N Fun The Remixes

	Artist	Album	Label
#1	CRYSTAL CASTLES	Crystal Castles II	Universal
#2	RATATAT	lp4	XL
#3	SLEIGH BELLS	Treats	Mom and Pop
#4	LCD SOUNDSYSTEM	This is Happening	EMI
#5	GORILLAZ	Plastic Beach	Virgin
#6	TORO Y MOI	Causers of This	Carpark
#7	BASSNECTAR	Timestretch	s
#8	M.I.A.	(single)	XXXO
#9	RUSKO	O.M.G.!	Mad Descent
#10	NINJASONIK	Art School Girls	Green Owl

	Artist	Album	Label
#1	CRYSTAL CASTLES	Crystal Castles II	Universal
#2	SLEIGH BELLS	Treats	Mom and Pop
#3	GORILLAZ	Plastic Beach	Virgin
#4	HOT CHIP	One Life Stand	Astralwerks
#5	BESSNECTAR	Timestretch	Amorphous
#6	RUSKO	O.M.G.!	Mad Descent
#7	CROOKERS	Tons of Friends	Anticon
#8	RATATAT	LP4	XL
#9	SUGAR AND GOLD	Get Wet!	Antenna Farm
#10	TORO Y MOI	Causers of This	Carpark

It’s that time again: at the beginning of the year, every year, everybody offers their opinions about the music/books/movies/events of the past year.  Personally, I love reading other people’s opinions about the best music of the past year.   However, I also think that it’s a fairly ridiculous practice.  Ultimately, it’s just an opinion, and nobody really cares about anybody else’s opinion anyway.  Even the biggest award show in music, the Grammy Awards, is full of shit, and pretty much everybody knows it.  So, in order to avoid putting together yet another meaningless top-10 list, I’m going to parody those stupid awards by giving you 10 top-1 lists.  Yes, the commentary you are about to read is satirical (I’m only putting this under the assumption that if I don’t, moronic fanboys will be upset that I trashed their favorite album of 2008), but the albums I’ve chosen are actually some of my favorites (except for whichever section of commentary offends you most – that one’s serious) of 2008.

Best album nobody put into their top-5/1o/20/25/50/100 list of 2008:  Radio Retaliation by Thievery Corporation – personally, I think that this was a great album.  The first half is a world-tour of incorporating the music of various cultures into an upbeat-downtempo format that Thievery Corporation is known for, and the second half is a bit more reminiscent of their previous work.  That sounds basically like they put out yet another album of the same shit you’ve heard before, and it is.  (Also, this album wins 2 more awards: best packaging and worst packaging for the cardboard sleeve and poster liner notes – it’s catchy and environmentally friendly, but you’ll never be able to actually use it to package the album once you open it).  Actually, I don’t think it was a great album.

Best “more-hipster-than-thou” album of 2008: Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles – another album I greatly enjoyed (if only we could have kept it in the studio for more than 48 hours), this award is somewhat pointless because everybody already knew that this was the hipster album of the year (Passion Pit‘s Chunk of Change E.P. being a close second).  Which is oddly appropriate, seeing as how pointless this album was.  The best song on here was “Courtship Dating”, which is basically a dance song with repetitive lyrics (which are screamed, by the way) that don’t make a whole lot of sense, as if we’ve never heard that.

Best album put out by a band from Australia of 2008: In Silico by Pendulum – it seems like Australia puts out a good album about once a year.  Last year, we were blessed with the “albums” known as Attack Decay Sustain Release by Simian Mobile Disco and Guns Babes Lemonade by Muscles (and maybe a few others as well, but who knows).  This year, we in the US got Pendulum’s sophmore effort.  Is it just me, or are they actually trying to make music for video games?  The first time I heard them was when I heard their song (from their first album Hold Your Colour) on Dance Dance Revolution, and several songs here sound like extras you could buy for Rock Band or Guitar Hero (though none of them are good enough to be included, and you’d be better off saving the money anyway).  Sophmore slump much?

Best album of 2008 by a bald vegan in his 40s that has long lost all cultural relevance: Last Night by Moby – to be honest, I kind of feel like this album was like Play-lite(to the point where the title seems a bit unintentionally ironic), but it’s still a fun album overall with a few songs that actually approach being listenable.  I like to joke with a few of my friends who are also avid fans of electronic music that I enjoy listening to “American techno”.  And we (my friends and I) laugh about it because American techno (that is, good electronic music from this side of the Atlantic) doesn’t exist, and this CD proves it.

Best album of 2008  that proves Americans are uncultured: Mardulce by Bajofondo – pencil this band in under “artist/band with the most commonly mispronounced name” (next to Björk).  This is also the only band (on this list, or possibly anywhere) that features a member that plays the … bandoneon.  Now, I’m going to be honest with you: I don’t consider myself to be a stupid individual, but I don’t even know how to pronounce that instrument, let alone what it actually is.  Judging from the album, something that sounds like an accordion.  God damn, that doesn’t even need a punch line…

Best album of 2008 that relates drugs to electronic music: Fucked Up Friends by Tobacco – Not only is the artist’s name an addictive substance, but the album title is a suggestion for both how and with whom you should listen to the album (for the dumbfucks out there, you should listened to it while you’re fucked up with your friends).  Not only that, but the album itself, from the time you see it, is addictive.  It comes with a crazy cover that looks like a broadcast of Tobacco himself getting electrocuted, as viewed through a malfunctioning cheap TV built in the 70s.  Also on the packaging front, the tray for the CD itself isn’t the usual black, white, or clear – Tobacco or whoever packaged this aural version of herion opted for a very subtle hot pink instead.  The music itself sounds like something god-awful from the 80s, using only analog tape devices and synthesizers (along with the equivalent of a First Act talk box), that’s been cut one too many times with bleach and cement mix.  This album actually wins several other awards, such as: Best album of 2008 for which I’ll require rehab, Best album of 2008 for which I’ll require therapy, Best album of 2008 for which I’ll require medication, and Best album of 2008 for which I’ll be pleading temporary insanity.

Best Album of 2008 which could have and probably should have been made in the 80s: In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy – The best band whose name consists of actions you can take in Microsoft Word (even though they got things kind of backwards – if you cut, you don’t have anything to copy, so you should probably copy before cutting, but that’s getting a bit technical) released this tribute to yuppies and disco this year that’s been getting a lot of acclaim.  Frankly, I don’t see why this whole “80′s” thing has been a trend for the past couple of years – is our creativity as a culture really that bankrupt?  If this is all we had to go on, the answer would undoubtably be a most-emphatic “yes”.

Best Album of 2008 that used only screechy guitar riffs and various noises that sound like animals growling and snarling: LP3 by Ratatat – this is the sort of sound that Ratatat has been cultivating for their entire musical career, and even I have to admit that it’s really come into its own on their third crime against humani… err, album.  On the other hand, being the best in the world at creating “music” that consists of what sounds like a 5’5″ hipster wearing Converses and girl pants savagely beating squirrels into his amplifier with a Fender Squire is a bit like … well, it’s not really like anything else, which is the only reason why Ratatat will win anything this year (assuming they’ll win anything, which is dicey to begin with).

Album with the Best Bullshit Story behind their sound on their one-sheet in 2008: Never Trust the Chinese by Mr. Meeble – Basically, the fabrication here is that this band was hired by a French cosmonaut to create this album for him or her to listen to while in space.  I wouldn’t really call this the best bullshit story in the sense that it was the most plausible or the most entertaining (although it’s up there for the latter), but it’s certainly the best bullshit story in terms of how ludicrously ridiculous it is.  A French Cosmonaut?  Do the French even have a space program?  According to the wikipedia category “French Astronauts”, there have been 9 French astronauts who are noteworthy.  This compares to 362 noteworthy “American Astronauts”.  Now, if we compare the populations of France and America relative to the number of noteworthy French and American astronauts there are on Wikipedia, we find that American astronauts are about 8.5 times more common than French astronauts.  Now, let me ask you something: how many astronauts do you know?  That’s what I thought; the answer’s a big fat zero isn’t it?  Now that means that you’re 8.5 less likely to come across a French Astronaut, thus proving that French Astronauts do not exist and making this story officially impossible.  Oh, and did I mention the offensive album title?  Seriously, I could go on and on about this thing.

Best album of 2008 that’s electronic but tries to bill itself as so-called “instrumental hip-hop”: Magic Monday by Michna – C’mon, this album was produced by a god damn trombone player for Christ’s sake.  I’ll be up-front about it; I don’t know anything about hip-hop, and even I know that nobody plays trombone in hip-hop.  Hell, people haven’t played trombone in popular music since at least the 50′s.  Even then, did anybody anywhere ever front a band as a trombone player?  I honestly have no idea, but my instincts tell me “probably not.  probably fucking not.”

So that’s it, my ten top-1 lists for 2008.  I hope that the swearing and what not didn’t offend people (I only do it because the FCC doesn’t want me to).  So, before I conclude this post, I’d just like to add a few honorable mentions of 2008 (for which I primarily didn’t have any jokes):

Brightwhitelight by Sounds from the Ground

Thought So… by Nightmares on Wax

Hercules and Love Affair by Hercules and Love Affair

Saturdays=Youth by M83

Apocalypso by the Presets

-Dischord

UPDATE: This blog took forever to get posted because it took me a long time to come up with the material I used for it.  That and Caid took forever approving this blog (something about providing links to the artists – it’s all really murky to be completely honest).