Moby's Wait for Me Is Pleasant, Bland

This year has been a bummer, but the music's good

(NEWSER) - As the first half of 2010 draws to a close, James Montgomery lists his 10 favorite albums of the year—so far—for MTV :

• Kate Nash: “My Best Friend Is You represents Kate Nash at her most scattershot, squeaky and downright smart,” he writes. She’s made “an album that's rough, sprawling and unafraid to get plain weird.”
• Yeasayer: Odd Blood is “perhaps the most fittingly titled album in recent memory, a wavy, dreamy listen, full of supple, electronic fields that undulate and dip, creating precipitous peaks and delving canyons. Pop music for the 22nd century and beyond.”

Finally, kids music that's actually good

(NEWSER) - Good news, hipsters: You won’t have to trade in your street cred for Radio Disney when you have kids, thanks to “kindie music.” That’s independent kid music, aka stuff parents can listen to—and enjoy—even when their offspring aren’t around. Even as the music industry struggles, kindie music is booming, Time reports. More»

They brilliantly mix 'accessible' and 'avant-garde'

(NEWSER) - The rise of Animal Collective in 2009 is often attributed to concessions to accessibility, Jonah Weiner writes. “Going by the blurbs alone, you might assume that, in a few years, Animal Collective will complete its career-long metamorphosis into ABBA.” But that’s just not the case. The quirky indie band mixes pop and avant-garde in the same measure as ever; but now, it has “expanded the overtures its music makes to our bodies.” More»

Singer channels tumultuous year into great music

(NEWSER) - Rihanna's been through a lot since she released her last album, and the excellent Rated R is all the better for it, writes Greg Kot. After the much-publicized Chris Brown incident, her music has become darker and more serious than the airy pop of "Umbrella" and "SOS." Most of the tracks feel deeply personal, Kot writes, suggesting that "she had a much greater voice in this album than any of her previous efforts, recorded when she was a teenager." More»

Thom Yorke doesn't care if you like him, and honestly, you shouldn't

(NEWSER) - We all listen to them, grin plastered on our face, blocking out “that guilty nagging feeling that actually, in some ways, when you think about it… Radiohead kinda blow.” Everyone’s convinced Radiohead defines the cutting edge, but Chris Norris of Spin isn’t fooled. Go to one of their concerts, and sometime after the fifth vague, open-ended groove-poem, you’ll realize what Radiohead’s become: “an exceptionally well-dressed jam band that you can’t even dance to.” More»