Moving forward by looking back

Moving forward in my case, means making another attempt to keep this blog alive and active. Those that know me know my work days are 13 or 14 hours with commute and I don't have a laptop to work on this as I ride MAX for a combined 2.5-3 hours a day. Believe me, I would definitely welcome that opportunity. That lack of time, coupled with my wife's present health issues (occurring for the past two months and still going strong), makes me wonder what I will have to devote to this in 2011.

2010 was the year I forgave Kanye West for that whole Taylor Swift thing. HA!. Let's face it. I really never cared he did that. Was he an ass? Sure. But I'm not gonna stop listening to someone who has flashes of brilliance just because he's an asshole that can't obey simple social constructs. To get back in my (and everyone else's) good graces, Kanye released a (pretty damn good) new song every week for three months. Not really a full-on stinker in the bunch. Then, for an encore, he put out his most realized, most complete album to date.

Yes, it was the year I fell back in love with 'Ye for realizing his full potential. It was the year I quietly clapped for Eminem as he enjoyed the biggest success of his career while truly not giving a shit about anything he put out for the first time since he told us what his name was.

It was the year the flirting between Best Coast and I developed into a full-on love thing. 2010 also marked the time I finally got my shit together and called it quits with Interpol, My Chemical Romance, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Dr. Dog, and the saddest breakup of all, Kings of Leon.

I do have the hope (and the desire) to do this personal passion of mine and it has to start somewhere. So here it resumes, with a look back at my favorite music of 2010. Reliable favorites like LCD Soundsystem, The National, and Deerhunter mixed it up with new discoveries including Best Coast, Bear in Heaven, and jj to fill my ears with the sweet sounds that simultaneously drowned out the voices inside my head while making the reality outside of it much more bearable.

The Mixtape's Top 50 songs of 2010

1. I Can Change / LCD Soundsystem
2. Desire Lines / Deerhunter
3. Bloodbuzz Ohio / The National
4. Lovesick Teenagers / Bear In Heaven
5. Angela Surf City / The Walkmen
6. Up All Night / Best Coast
7. What Would I want? Sky. / Animal Collective
8. What Did My Lover Say? / Wolf Parade
9. Glitter / No Age
10. Flash Delerium / MGMT
11. Bad Vibrations / Black Angels
12. Home / LCD Soundsystem
13. Runaway / Kanye West (and Pusha T)
14. Golden Town / Super Wild Horses
15. Power / Kanye West
16. Drunk Girls / LCD Soundsystem
17. Walls / Shout Out Louds
18. Hellhole Ratrace / Girls
19. My Way / jj
20. Revival / Deerhunter
21. The High Road / Broken Bells
22. 11th Dimension / Julian Casablancas
23. Go Outside / Cults
24. Monster / Kanye West
25. A More Perfect Union / Titus Andronicus
26. Laredo / Band of Horses
27. World Sick / Broken Social Scene
28. Brought It Out / BRAHMS
29. When I'm With You / Best Coast
30. Cousins / Vampire Weekend
31. Shutterbug / Big Boi
32. Tell 'Em / Sleigh Bells
33. All Summer / Best Coast, Kid Cudi, and Rostam (of Vampire Weekend)
34. Stylo / Gorillaz
35. The Last Prom on Earth / Gayngs
36. Solitude is Bliss / Tame Impala
37. Soldier of Love / Sade
38. Dance Yrself Clean / LCD Soundsystem
39. Helicopter / Deerhunter
40. GOOD Friday / Kanye West
41. Round & Round / Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
42. Marathon / Tennis
43. The Day / Curren$y (w/ Mos Def and Jay Electronica)
44. Congratulations / MGMT
45. I Think Ur A Contra / Vampire Weekend
46. England / The National
47. Always On My Mind / Reading Rainbow
48. Mickey Mouse / Wavves
49. We Used To Wait / The Arcade Fire
50. Crystallized / The XX

The Mixtape's Top 10 Albums of 2010

1. Halycyon Digest / Deerhunter

The last thing I needed to grasp on to and call friend during one of the darkest times of my life was this introspective musing on nostalgia. I didn't need to have the notion that the best times lie behind burned into my brain while I fought to make it through each repetitive, answer-less, depressing day. While my wife spent most of a month in a hospital and my zombie-like carcass trudged to work before most people were awake, I thought I needed the complete opposite of this album.

Despite it's few pop-leaning moments, I thought I needed more of the shiny, polished hooky goodness of "Fountain Stairs" and "Revival." To counteract the hazy mental malaise that I still find myself under, I believed I required more of those happy sing-along moments and much less of the sparse, insular ones that comprised the core of "Earthquake", "Helicopter", and "Sailing".

What I found, aside from irony finding yet another way to say "howdy", was a sanctuary in sound. Musical consonance wrapped around lyrical dissonance. A temporal pleasure rooted firmly in nostalgic tendencies. What I've found in the three months since it was released and put in my ears, is that I've played every song on Halcyon Digest at least 45-50 times with "Revivial" and "Desire Lines" approaching the 150 mark. What I found was the most complete, most expertly sequenced, incredibly perfect sounding collection of songs at the exact moment I needed them. My album of the year, by a mile.

2. This Is Happening / LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy and company continue to mature and evolve with each amazing release. This time out may be their last according to rumors, but if so, they're doing so at the top of their game. No other band makes dance music this cerebral and elegantly produced. Every plink, pluck, snap, bump, and crash are precisely where they need to be, all the time.

No one else makes precision and densely layered instrumentation feel looser and more natural than Murphy and this ridiculously tight band. Most importantly, the end result never feels forced or over-wrought. It just makes you want to move. I'm still happily worshiping at the Church of LCD.

3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy / Kanye West

America's douche-bag or hip-hop's savior? Selfish, ego-driven asshole or misunderstood multi-talent? Idiot savant or just straight idiot?

For me, everything that has been covered by the media about Kanye in the media is eclipsed by the fact that he is really, really good. Since he shifted from full-time producer to artist in 2004, Mr. West has been releasing good, sometimes great albums that revealed his biggest flaw to be an lack of editing. The music, not what passed his lips. As he bridged the distance between old soul, rap, hip-hop, and pop, West often tried to be too many things to everyone at the same time.

This album is a result of Kanye keeping the best of what he's done this past year in one place. His dozen or so songs that were released each Friday or Saturday on his GOOD Friday blog were all pretty amazing and you could put those all on another album that would be almost as good as MBDTF, but he picked the right songs with the right guests and put them in the right place. I hope when all is said and done, Kanye is remembered for his work more than being a jerk. His musical output in 2010 eclipses 75% of his catalog in terms of production and overall quality. Not what we expected from Mr. West, but he's rarely predictable.

4. High Violet / The National
5. Everything in Between / No Age
6. Lisbon / The Walkmen
7. Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty / Big Boi
8. Treats / Sleigh Bells
9. Contra / Vampire Weekend
10. Congratulations / MGMT

The Mixtape 11-20-09

Julian Casablancas and his 80's emulating synth ode, "11th Dimension," tops the Mixtape for the fourth week in a row. That reign may be coming to an abrupt end soon. Girls has ascended to #2 in three short weeks with their seven-minute epic, "Hellhole Ratrace" and have another, slightly shorter, song on deck outside the top ten at #11 in "Lust for Life". They, along with the rebirth of the rock power-trio/super-group Them Crooked Vultures - at #s 3 and 6, poise the biggest threat to the Strokes' lead-singer extending his stay at the top.

Seven new entries keep things interesting further down the chart including familiar names: Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, No Age and Neon Indian as well as first time Mixtapers: Wolf People, Real Estate, and Beach House.

Animal Collective has had a huge year - "My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes" both went to #1 - and with the latter set to finally fall off after a half-year on the 'tape, it would appear that AC's year is done. Not true. Fall Be Kind, a five song EP out 11/23 , is Animal Collective's last call for their year long coming out party. Though "Summertime Clothes" will most likely drop off next week, I fully expect at least one of Fall Be Kind's tracks to replace it. Because it's been that kind of a year for them.

1. 11th Dimension / Julian Casablancas (4 weeks @ 1) iTunes MySpace
2. Hellhole Ratrace/ Girls iTunes MySpace
3. Mind Eraser, No Chaser / Them Crooked Vultures iTunes MySpace
4. You're a Target / No Age iTunes MySpace
5. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
6. New Fang / Them Crooked Vultures iTunes MySpace
7. At the Bottom/ Brand New iTunes MySpace
8. Summer Song / Yacht iTunes MySpace
9. Swim Until You Can't See Land / Frightened Rabbit iTunes MySpace
10. Shine Blockas / Big Boi (w/ Gucci Mane) iTunes MySpace
11. Lust For Life / Girls iTunes MySpace
12. Cool Jumper / Wavves iTunes MySpace
13. Lovesick Teenagers / Bear in Heaven iTunes MySpace
14. Bye Bye Bayou / LCD Soundsystem iTunes MySpace
15. Ambling Alp / Yeasayer iTunes MySpace
16. Quick Canal / Atlas Sound (ft./ Laetitia Sadier) iTunes MySpace
17. Worm Mountain / Flaming Lips iTunes MySpace
18. Rollerskate / Matias Aguayo iTunes MySpace
19. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
20. The Sea is on Fire / Stardeath and White Dwarfs iTunes MySpace
21. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
22. Mud/ Peaches iTunes MySpace
23. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
24. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
25. 4 Chords of the Apocalypse / Julian Casablancas iTunes MySpace
26. True Love / Spiral Stairs iTunes MySpace
27. Hell / Tegan and Sara iTunes MySpace
28. Forever / Drake (w/ Kanye, Lil Wayne & Eminem) iTunes MySpace
29. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
30. Autumn / Surf City iTunes MySpace
31. Ready, Able / Grizzly Bear (NEW) iTunes MySpace
32. Empire State of Mind / Jay-Z (ft. Alicia Keys) iTunes MySpace
33. All of the Fire / Acrylics iTunes MySpace
34. Genie / No Age (NEW) iTunes MySpace
35. Psychic Chasms / Neon Indian (NEW) iTunes MySpace
36. Norway / Beach House (NEW) iTunes MySpace
37. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
38. Cousins / Vampire Weekend (NEW) iTunes MySpace
39. Beach Comber / Real Estate (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. October Fires / Wolf People (NEW) iTunes MySpace

The Mixtape 11-6-09

Yes. It's been nearly two months. Computer issues, illness, and work all played a part in the unplanned hiatus of The Mixtape. Mostly the computer thing. But just like Jon Gosselin and swine flu, we won't go away. It's been far too long. Let's get to the music.

The last time The Mixtape appeared, Arctic Monkeys were spending their eighth week on top with “Crying Lightning.” Truth be told, had we been cranking out a new ‘tape for the past six weeks, “Crying Lightning” would have remained on top…until this week.

Julian Casablancas, lead singer of the “what in the hell ever happened to” band of the last decade The Strokes, has a solo album and a quick ascent to the top with Phrazes for the Young’s first single, “11^th Dimension.” The first week on the chart is the first week at number one for Mr. Casablancas’ entry into the resurgence of synth-driven rock that is more than merely dotting our landscape these days.

Reflective of the downtime we’ve experienced, there are twelve other new entries that, despite not being as high-charting and high-profile as “11^th Dimension,” are indeed noteworthy. Rock is well repped in the debuting dozen; Surf City and Spiral Stairs deliver it pretty straight-forward, the Flaming Lips bring their spaced-out uniqueness to the table (with MGMT backing them up), and Frightened Rabbit do what they do best – sing of desperate souls and vivid imagery filtered through a Scottish accent and Scott Hutchinson’s poetic leanings. Atlas Sound…well, no one does indie/bedroom rock quite like Bradford Cox.

Big Boi, one half of the artist formerly known as Outkast, brings Gucci Mane along for the ride on "Shine Blockas" and joins Jay Z, Mos Def, The Roots, Drake, and Gucci Mane himself in reppin' hip-hop and rap on this week's 'Tape.

Hip hop is not the only genre aside from rock spending time in our ears. The last six weeks have brought an influx of dance music into the, errr... mix, and this is played out with new entries from LCD Soundsystem, Matias Aguayo, YACHT, and Peaches.

The 13 new entries this week look to be joined by Girls, Them Crooked Vultures, Tegan & Sara, and Death Cab for Cutie amongst others as the refreshing of The Mixtape continues. Six weeks is a long time and there is just too much good new music fighting for earspace. It's good to be back and back on Fridays.

1. 11th Dimension / Julian Casablancas (NEW) (1week @ 1) iTunes MySpace
2. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
3. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
4. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
5. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
6. You're a Target / No Age iTunes MySpace
7. Cool Jumper / Wavves iTunes MySpace
8. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
9. At the Bottom/ Brand New iTunes MySpace
10. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
11. Empire State of Mind / Jay-Z (ft. Alicia Keys) iTunes MySpace
12. Be My Girl / Smith Westerns iTunes MySpace
13. Bye Bye Bayou / LCD Soundsystem (NEW) iTunes MySpace
14. Forever / Drake (w/ Kanye, Lil Wayne & Eminem) iTunes MySpace
15. How I Got Over / The Roots iTunes MySpace
16. Casa Bey / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
17. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
18. Seasun / Delorean iTunes MySpace
19. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
20. Cheat On Me / The Cribs iTunes MySpace
21. Stillness Is the Move / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
22. My Sweet Lord / Yim Yames iTunes MySpace
23. Uprising / Muse iTunes MySpace
24. Swim Until You Can't See Land / Frightened Rabbit (NEW) iTunes MySpace
25. Flowers / Flight iTunes MySpace
26. Sun Was High (So Was I) / Best Coast iTunes MySpace
27. Quick Canal / Atlas Sound (ft./ Laetitia Sadier) (NEW) iTunes MySpace
28. Shine Blockas / Big Boi (w/ Gucci Mane) (NEW) iTunes MySpace
29. Rollerskate / Matias Aguayo (NEW) iTunes MySpace
30. The Ruminant Band / The Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
31. Action/Reaction / Choir of Young Believers iTunes MySpace
32. Something in Common / Free Energy (NEW) iTunes MySpace
33. Mud/ Peaches (NEW) iTunes MySpace
34. Summer Song / Yacht (NEW) iTunes MySpace
35. Madagascar/ Lake iTunes MySpace
36. Overboard/ Gucci Mane iTunes MySpace
37. All Yr Songs / Diamond Rings (NEW) iTunes MySpace
38. Worm Mountain / Flaming Lips (NEW) iTunes MySpace
39. True Love / Spiral Stairs (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. Autumn / Surf City (NEW) iTunes MySpace

The Mixtape 9/9/09: Crying Lightning 8 wks at #1.

Rather fitting that on this day of Beatles recognition and re-release that a British band sit atop the Mixtape. For the 8th week in a row. Honestly, Arctic Monkeys are my favorite band to come out of the UK since Oasis blew minds in the mid-nineties. Like Oasis, Arctic Monkeys came out with a bang and blew the UK music world open with their debut. Also like Oasis, AM is still branching out on their third album and making great music. For Oasis, album #4 was where it started to go downhill. Not saying the same will happen with Arctic Monkeys, but their three albums thus far have been impressive. The Mixtape sincerely hopes they string together a career's worth of albums that aspire to the Fab 4's level of creative output.

The top three remain the same this week. It's one of those weeks where it's about the setup for future Mixtapes that matters. Wavves is looking to crack the top ten next week with "Cool Jumper," up from 19-11 this week. No Age, whose Losing Feeling EP is highly anticipated here, flies from last week's debut at 28 to this week's number ten. The Sub Pop noise duo is maturing nicely and any output from them should see even more Mixtape action.

Four new entries this week including Jigga/Hova/Greatest Rapper Alive...hell, let's just call him Jay Z shall we? "Empire State of Mind" enters at 32 as The Blueprint 3 officially dropped yesterday. Portland band, The Shaky Hands have a new single, "Allison & the Ancient Eyes" which bows at #40. Magic Kids (39) and Sea Wolf (37) round out this week's new entries. Again, this week is more about what's to come than what is happening. Six songs look to be dropping off either next week or soon there after. Look for things to shake up soon. It might even start next week. Which is when the Mixtape will drop again. Happy Beatles Day!

1. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (8 weeks @ #1) iTunes MySpace
2. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
3. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
4. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
5. How I Got Over / The Roots iTunes MySpace
6. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
7. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
8. At the Bottom/ Brand New iTunes MySpace
9. Casa Bey / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
10. You're a Target / No Age iTunes MySpace
11. Cool Jumper / Wavves iTunes MySpace
12. Be My Girl / Smith Westerns iTunes MySpace
13. Stillness Is the Move / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
14. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
15. Seasun / Delorean iTunes MySpace
16. Sun Was High (So Was I) / Best Coast iTunes MySpace
17. Sour Milk, Salt Water / Port O'Brien iTunes MySpace
18. Action/Reaction / Choir of Young Believers iTunes MySpace
19. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
20. Never Forget You / The Noisettes iTunes MySpace
21. Cheat On Me / The Cribs iTunes MySpace
22. Uprising / Muse iTunes MySpace
23. Madagascar/ Lake iTunes MySpace
24. My Sweet Lord / Yim Yames iTunes MySpace
25. Overboard/ Gucci Mane iTunes MySpace
26. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
27. Bull Black Nova / Wilco iTunes MySpace
28. Fables/ Dodos iTunes MySpace
29. Easy / Deer Tick iTunes MySpace
30. My Unusual Friend / Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
31. Forever / Drake (w/ Kanye, Lil Wayne & Eminem) iTunes MySpace
32. Empire State of Mind / Jay-Z (ft. Alicia Keys) (NEW) iTunes MySpace
33. The Ruminant Band / The Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
34. Flowers / Flight iTunes MySpace
35. I Can't Get Away / Stardeath & White Dwarfs iTunes MySpace
36. Upside Down / Banjo or Freakout iTunes MySpace
37. Wicked Blood / Sea Wolf (NEW) iTunes MySpace
38. Bones/ A Mountain of One iTunes MySpace
39. Hey Boy / Magic Kids (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. Allison & the Ancient Eyes / The Shaky Hands (NEW) iTunes MySpace

The Mixtape 9/2/09: Monkeys for 7

Arctic Monkeys make it 7 weeks on top, but some challengers to the throne have revealed themselves. Most notably, Arctic Monkeys themselves. "Dance Little Liar" moves from 16-8 in its third week on the Mixtape, giving AM a decent chance of knocking themselves out of number 1. Neon Indian (3) and Atlas Sound (5) continue their slow but steady climb upwards while Mos Def (2 and 6) and The Roots (4) continue to linger. Brand New join Arctic Monkeys in cracking the top ten this week at number nine with "At The Bottom."

After spending three months in the top ten, Animal Collective finally fall to 12. Summer has a few official weeks left in it, but the Mixtape's summer officially closes with the two juggernauts of the last three months finally both out of the top ten. Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks," which spent 11 weeks in the top ten and AC's "Summertime Clothes" are prime candidates for Summer Song of 2009, both being on repeat from June-September. Of course there's the little issue of "Crying Lightning" having spent half the summer at #1, but, if hard pressed to pick a single song that defined 2009's summer, "Summertime Clothes" (regardless of its title) gets the nod. How can you deny a song that spent 4 weeks at number one and embodied the feeling of standing in the sun with only the respite a few ice cold drops of sprinkler-created rain?

Ok...enough about the past three months, the Mixtape is always about what's happening now. And what is happening this week is four new entries from No Age (28), The Cribs (32), Drake (34), and the Fruit Bats (39) with their second song on the 'Tape.

No Age and the Cribs are both hitting the Mixtape in advance of their respective Fall releases. The Cribs' Ignore the Ignorance - the band's fourth full-length in five years - will be released on iTunes Sept. 8 and in physical formats Nov. 10. No Age's Losing Feeling EP is set to be released Oct. 6 on Sub Pop.

Drake's first Mixtape foray is a "Swagga Like Us" style four-way battle between himself, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Eminem). Drake holds his own, but that's mainly because neither Wayne or West's lines are anything to brag about. Eminem, who could use a little reason to brag given that his most recent album, Relapse, wasn't particularly a stellar comeback bid, drops the most fiery verse of the four.

Wavves (19) and Choir of Young Belivers (24) are this week's big movers while the Fiery Furnaces (38) and Metric (40) both drop fifteen look to say goodbye to the Mixtape next week. Which is when you will see a new 40 with, possibly, a new number one. But I wouldn't hold your breath for that quite yet.

1. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (7 weeks @ #1) iTunes MySpace
2. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
3. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
4. How I Got Over / The Roots iTunes MySpace
5. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
6. Casa Bey / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
7. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
8. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
9. At the Bottom/ Brand New iTunes MySpace
10. Never Forget You / The Noisettes iTunes MySpace
11. Stillness Is the Move / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
12. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
13. Seasun / Delorean iTunes MySpace
14. Be My Girl / Smith Westerns iTunes MySpace
15. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
16. Sun Was High (So Was I) / Best Coast iTunes MySpace
17. Bull Black Nova / Wilco iTunes MySpace
18. Sour Milk, Salt Water / Port O'Brien iTunes MySpace
19. Cool Jumper / Wavves iTunes MySpace
20. My Unusual Friend / Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
21. Easy / Deer Tick iTunes MySpace
22. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
23. Overboard/ Gucci Mane iTunes MySpace
24. Action/Reaction / Choir of Young Believers iTunes MySpace
25. Uprising / Muse iTunes MySpace
26. Madagascar/ Lake iTunes MySpace
27. My Sweet Lord / Yim Yames iTunes MySpace
28. You're a Target / No Age (NEW) iTunes MySpace
29. I Can't Get Away / Stardeath & White Dwarfs iTunes MySpace
30. Fables/ Dodos iTunes MySpace
31. Upside Down / Banjo or Freakout iTunes MySpace
32. Cheat On Me / The Cribs (NEW) iTunes MySpace
33. Bones/ A Mountain of One iTunes MySpace
34. Forever / Drake (w/ Kanye, Lil Wayne & Eminem) (NEW) iTunes MySpace
35. Chosen Armies / Children Collide iTunes MySpace
36. The Other Side / AM iTunes MySpace
37. Flowers / Flight iTunes MySpace
38. The End Is Near / The Fiery Furnaces iTunes MySpace
39. The Ruminant Band / The Fruit Bats (NEW) iTunes MySpace
40. Gold Guns Girls / Metric iTunes MySpace

8/26/09: #1: Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (6 weeks).

Nothing too new or exciting this seek. Arctic Monkeys on top for week #6. The rest of last week's top five just change places (2 & 3, 4 & 5 swap spots). Actually, this is only the third time this year where the top ten didn't seen any new songs in it. Add to that the fact that #11-13 remain as they were last week and there just isn't a lot of movement happening. Until you go down a bit further.

Arctic Monkeys' second Mixtape entry off Humbug is moving toward the top ten (surprise surprise). "Dance Little Liar" is up from last week's debut at 27 to this week's 16. Brand New get the biggest jump of the week honors with "At the Bottom" moving from 32-17.

Only three new songs on the 'Tape this week. Hey, every week can't be as crazy as the last month or so. New bands Flight (40), Wavves (30), and sort of new act Yim Yames (35) all make their entry this week.

Yim Yames is actually Jim James of My Morning Jacket. "My Sweet Lord" is indeed a cover of the classic George Harrison track and James or Yames or whatever you want to call him has recast the tune (along with five others on his Harrison love letter, Tribute To) as meditative and solemn, something Mr. Harrison would no doubt give his blessing to. The Tribute To ep was recorded in 2000 and brings back to light the early sound of MMJ; highly reverbed vocals and a warmly hushed vibe that has all but disappeared from the band's more recent work.

1. Crying Lightning / Arctic Monkeys (6 weeks @ #1) iTunes MySpace
2. Life In Marvelous Times / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
3. How I Got Over / The Roots iTunes MySpace
4. Deadbeat Summer / Neon Indian iTunes MySpace
5. Casa Bey / Mos Def iTunes MySpace
6. Walkabout / Atlas Sound iTunes MySpace
7. Stillness Is the Move / Dirty Projectors iTunes MySpace
8. Summertime Clothes / Animal Collective iTunes MySpace
9. Got Nuffin' / Spoon iTunes MySpace
10. Never Forget You / The Noisettes iTunes MySpace
11. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear iTunes MySpace
12. Easy / Deer Tick iTunes MySpace
13. Bull Black Nova / Wilco iTunes MySpace
14. My Unusual Friend / Fruit Bats iTunes MySpace
15. Seasun / Delorean iTunes MySpace
16. Dance Little Liar/ Arctic Monkeys iTunes MySpace
17. At the Bottom/ Brand New iTunes MySpace
18. Be My Girl / Smith Westerns iTunes MySpace
19. Sun Was High (So Was I) / Best Coast iTunes MySpace
20. Sour Milk, Salt Water / Port O'Brien iTunes MySpace
21. I Can't Get Away / Stardeath & White Dwarfs iTunes MySpace
22. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
23. The End Is Near / The Fiery Furnaces iTunes MySpace
24. Upside Down / Banjo or Freakout iTunes MySpace
25. Gold Guns Girls / Metric iTunes MySpace
26. Overboard/ Gucci Mane iTunes MySpace
27. Chosen Armies / Children Collide iTunes MySpace
28. Uprising / Muse iTunes MySpace
29. Madagascar/ Lake iTunes MySpace
30. Cool Jumper / Wavves (NEW) iTunes MySpace
31. Fables/ Dodos iTunes MySpace
32. Bones/ A Mountain of One iTunes MySpace
33. Lost Words / Ganglians iTunes MySpace
34. My Sweet Lord / Yim Yames (NEW) iTunes MySpace
35. Silver Trembling Hands / The Flaming Lips iTunes MySpace
36. The Other Side / AM iTunes MySpace
37. Catch and Release / Silversun Pickups iTunes MySpace
38. Break Bones / Internet Forever iTunes MySpace
39. Action/Reaction / Choir of Young Believers iTunes MySpace
40. Flowers / Flight (NEW) iTunes MySpace