By Amanda DK

For the past couple years I have been involved with 826LA – the local branch of a national organization helping kids improve their writing skills. Founded by Dave Eggers, 826LA offers a variety of programs including after school tutoring, field trips, student publications, in school tutoring, and my favorite, weekend workshops. Workshops are taught by volunteers who work with the Director of Education to develop an idea or area of expertise into a full fledged two hour experience, culminating in a final, writing-related, product. One such workshop I recently taught explored the relationship between the writing, performance and music.
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I’ll be honest, I wasn’t going to put a list together – it just seemed too daunting, I was bound to forget important ones, definitely haven’t gotten a chance to listen to many of the most lauded – but then a friend called me out and I naturally I had to rise to the challenge.

I don’t want to call this a “Best of 2010” list, because I feel kind of like a fraud saying that.  Music is so subjective.  To this day I still don’t really understand the mad mass love of Beach House.  Maybe I’ll discover what I’m missing in 2011, but for the moment it is not music that grabs me personally.

That being said, I now present my favorite 25 albums and 5 EPs of 2010…

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by Andrew Thomas

I’m going to just come out and say it: I’m a Coldplay fan. Like, actually. Their music is on my iPod and everything. I know Coldplay has become the popular target for pot-shots from those who would like to distinguish their musical taste as “above” that of the masses, but I’d contend that that’s largely due to their enormous popularity. If, instead of playing sold out stadiums worldwide, Coldplay was unknown, and you caught them at your favorite local hole-in-the-wall, I believe most current haters would come away from the experience with a new best kept secret.

Or perhaps I simply like Coldplay for sentimental reasons. Coldplay’s A Rush Of Blood to the Head is the first album that I ever truly loved. All of my passion for music since can be traced to the moment when my ninth grade self put that disc in my CD player, and I heard the primal, repetitive two-chord banging of the album’s opening track, “Politik.” It seemed so simple and uncreative at first, but as the song progressed, it became something more. The band played with this theme, turning it from something basic into something beautiful. After a gorgeous ethereal bridge, the song returns to it’s initial theme, using it to build to a powerful crescendo, then suddenly dropping off. I was stunned, and I couldn’t wait to hear more.

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I am so extraordinarily thrilled to announce my very first show – not only featuring great bands, but all proceeds are going to a great cause!

**And if you RSVP to rockout2beatcancer@gmail.com or on Facebook, admission is only $10!**

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Hankering for more tidbits on music used in film & TV shows?  Want more of my witty and charming writing style in your life? And most importantly,  have you been looking for one interweb destination where you can go to learn about the latest and greatest new tracks, artists, albums, mixtapes, etc.?

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