Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — August 24 by Matthew Berlyant

The White Stripes

For over a decade now, the duo of JACK and MEG WHITE have been cranking out high-powered, lo-fi garage rock with country and blues-rock flourishes and along the way, they somehow became one of the biggest bands of this decade. I recently went back and listened THE WHITE STRIPES’ entire discography from their first album all the way up to last year’s Icky Thump. It’s interesting to note that of all the bands touted in the “garage rock revival” of the early ‘00s, they’ve fared the best and have consistently put out the best records. I think their music will be remembered fondly decades from now. In any case, here are 10 of my favorite songs of theirs and the respective album each song is on and some commentary on each track.

Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — August 17 by Matthew Berlyant

Radiohead with Grizzly Bear - Susquehanna Bank Center (Philadelphia, PA) - Tuesday, August 12, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

If there were any surprises, it was that they played so much material from The Bends.

Wilco with Jennifer O'Connor - Grand Opera House (Wilmington, DE) - Sunday, August 10, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

For the second and final encore, it was a return to the older, more straight-ahead rockers.

Rogue Wave with Neil Halstead - Johnny Brenda's (Philadelphia, PA) - Friday, August 8, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

ROGUE WAVE came out for an encore and proceeded to play THE SMITHS classic “What Difference Does It Make”.

Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — August 10 by Matthew Berlyant

The Effigies with EDP - Maxwells (Hoboken, NJ) - Saturday, July 26, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

I don’t want to have to wait another 20 years to see them again!

Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — August 3 by Matthew Berlyant

Old, New, Borrowed and Jazz

A few months ago, my friend STEPHEN BUONO lent me a whole bunch of CDs. Most of it is jazz, some ‘60s and ‘70s and other, more recent artists like JOHN ZORN, BILL FRISELL and other stalwarts of the old Knitting Factory/Tonic Lower East Side scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Naturally, I’ve been listening to a lot of it lately. Here are 10 of my favorites of these discs.

Pitchfork Music Festival (Day 3) - Union Park (Chicago, IL) - Sunday, July 20, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES were just pure, animalistic, rocking garage punk fun!

Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — July 27 by Matthew Berlyant

Pitchfork Music Festival 2008

This is a list of 10 terrific artists that I saw play this past weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park.

Pitchfork Music Festival (Day 2) - Union Park (Chicago, IL) - Saturday, July 19, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

It started raining during JAY REATARD’s set, but it didn’t matter. In fact, it might have even made it that much more intense.

Pitchfork Music Festival (Day 1) - Union Park (Chicago, IL) - Friday, July 18, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

Despite being absent for “Bring the Noise”, FLAVOR FLAV emerged right before they were set to perform “Don’t Believe the Hype”.

Jay Reatard with Dark Horse and the Carousels and The Tough Shits - Johnny Brenda's (Philadelphia, PA) - Monday, July 14, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

I never got to see BAD BRAINS or D.O.A. in their prime, but this must be similar.

Sonic Youth with The Feelies - Battery Park (New York) - Friday, July 4, 2008 by Matthew Berlyant

Playing all of Daydream Nation last year must have really sunk in as SONIC YOUTH played nearly a third of that amazing record.

Matthew Berlyant’s Top Ten — July 13 by Matthew Berlyant

Half SONIC YOUTH, half other stuff

I’ve been listening to SONIC YOUTH a lot lately, so half of this week’s list consists of some of their records. The other half consists of other stuff that I’ve been digging lately.