okay…new year. still haven't gotten around to some of the posts i planned on making last year. oh well…that's the way the cookie crumbles, i guess. maybe i'll make a new year's resolution to be more timely with these posts. or then again…maybe i won't…

so…let's kick the new year off by doing that thing everyone does: listing my top ten records of last year. here goes (in no particular order except the first one)…

hot snakes – suicide invoice
hands down the best rock record to come out last year. hell…for a couple of years, really. this thing will kick your ass up and down the street and still leave you begging for more.

rocket from the crypt – hot charity + cut and play
it's weird that a reissue of a couple of way out of print rocket records would be on this list while the proper album that they released around the same time is conspicuously missing. did i say weird? maybe i meant…fitting.

the flaming lips – yoshimi battles the pink robots
tripped out space rock/pop about giant pink robots and a little japanese girl that fights them. this record made me smack my head and say "oh yeah…i really like the flaming lips."

wilco – yankee hotel foxtrot
i almost shouldn't count this record since i've had it since 2001, but since it was actually released this past year, i'll allow it. wilco steps up to the plate and refuses to be pigeonholed as "alt-country." an awesome record with enough depth and a wide enough range of sounds to keep even me entertained.

queens of the stone age – songs for the deaf
skullcrushing stoner metal with grohl back behind a drum kit. throw in mark lanegan (ex-screaming trees, an old guilty pleasure) and you have a bona-fide rock masterpiece. now where'd i put that bong?

neurosis – live in lyon, france 11.02.99
the first in (hopefully) a long series of "official" bootlegs from the best live band to ever roam the earth. the sound comes across just as huge on the cd as it does in person.

nirvana – nirvana
who'd think that i'd put a whole record on this list just for one song? well…that song is just that damn good. the other 13 tracks are no slouches, either. damn any of us that forgot that nirvana rocks harder than six hookers on pcp.

shipping news – variegated
the last in the limited run of eps with handmade packaging, this one clocks in as the best of the bunch. throw kyle crabtree's track "haymaker" on repeat and feel the rock.

the roots – phrenology
the roots do rock the old school way. ?uestlove and black thought deliver the album that i've been waiting a few years for, and boy do they do it with style. this should be on everyone's "must-have" list.

the dillinger escape plan – irony is a dead scene
four insanely crushing and elaborate songs from the kings of schizo-core. throw in mike patton on lead vocals and a aphex twin cover and you've got a smokin' little ep that hits you straight out of left field.

there you have it…my top ten. take it or leave it.