Matt Galligan

That’s an experiment that might be attempted!

This Saturday, @mg (me), @mm and @mh are throwing a party we call Party M. We’re working on making it a hell of a time, but one thing that we don’t want to skimp on is music. And sure, there’s plenty of great DJ’s out there that might be able to play the party…and that might be the final route we go.

But I wonder if there isn’t another option…can Turntable.fm DJ a party? I’m posting this to see who’d be interested in DJ’ing. We’d be looking for five DJ’s that can man their laptops and play for a few hours and get the (real) crowd going. I’d personally want to toss my hat into the ring of people that can play. The crowd is going to want to dance (for real) and so we’ll need the best dance tunes, pop, electro, dubstep and the like. We’d like for DJ’s to have at least 80 DJ points before stepping up to the tables.

If you’re interested, leave something in the comments here.

First off, if you haven’t heard of Turntable.fm, what rock have you been hiding under? It’s the new killer music site started by Stickybits founders Seth Goldstein and Billy Chasen. Basically you join a room, where up to five DJs are spinning their tracks for an audience, sometimes upwards of a few hundred people. It’s the ultimate in music discovery. Audience members can then vote for the songs that are being played.

Photo credit: TechCrunch

The service is only a few weeks old, but is already the bee’s knees. But seeing as how it’s just barely off the ground, there’s a ton of cool features that I’d love to see them add. Rather than sit on them, I thought I’d compile a list of the things that I’d love to see the most (and some criticisms). So here it goes:

• Change “My DJ Queue to My Playlists: First off, queue is just a bit confusing. Sure it’s a queue of the songs that you’d like to play, but that’s commonly known as a “playlist” to most people. For mass adoption, calling it playlist may work better.

• Multiple Playlists: Having only one playlist of songs can be crappy if you like to join many different rooms. I like to play all kinds of music. From Electro House to Dubstep to Rap to Metal. The reality is, if all of those songs were in the same playlist, I’m not sure that a Dubstep track would go over that well in a Metal room. Maybe unless it was the new Korn track.

• “Get in line: One of the most annoying things is finding a room where 5 DJs hog the turntables. I’d love to be able to put my name on a list and when a DJ leaves their turntable, rather than having to constantly watch for when they drop off so I can snag the spot, it’d put me in automatically. This is similar to how all open mic nights are run.

• DJs get a set number of songs: While starting a room, it’d be awesome if you could define how many tracks a DJ gets to play before they’re kicked off the tables. Hogging is really shitty as it doesn’t give the audience members a real chance to participate if they’d like.

• Custom Avatars: One of the most annoying thing is having a DJ lineup where all the DJs seem to look the same. It’d be awesome to have a custom avatar builder where I’m able to make something that looks like me (or not at all). That way, the DJs are more recognizable when you roll into a room. After all, how recognizable would Daft Punk be without their iconic helmets?

• Custom Rooms: Let’s face it, a dance club looks a little different than a rock bar. It’s be awesome if you could choose the “venue” when starting up a room. Something that looks like a house club would be a lot more convincing while playing some french house tracks. It’d be really cool to include branding as well, so that if a company like SimpleGeo is starting up a room, we’d be able to drape the logo everywhere.

• SoundCloud/YouTube/HypeMachine Integration: Rather than relying on the library that Turntable has, it’d be great to pull in music from other music providers and drop in whatever you want. This would dramatically open up the amount of songs available to DJs.

• Vote out the trolls: In some rooms that have gotten big, I’ve noticed some serious trolls in the chat making the experience not so fun. It’d be great if there was a voting mechanism where they weren’t able to chat in a room because of bad behavior.

• Mobile App: This is a total no-brainer. How awesome would be it to tune in while on the go? The other cool second order effect from this would be plugging in a set of speakers to a computer or phone and then letting the audience of a party join up as a DJ to play some tracks. This would make bars, parties, etc. pretty killer.

• Change settings of the room after it’s created: One of the most annoying things is that after a room is created, the settings can’t be changed. This includes limiting the number of DJs, name changes, etc. It’d be great if the person that created the room, or a moderator could do this.

Well that’s it. What else did I miss?

This is the first year that I’ve done anything like this, but seeing as how good some of the music released this year was, I felt compelled. I’m a unapologetic music fanatic (say that three times fast). Most every day, the only time I’m not listening to something is when I’m sleeping and the few minutes I’m walking to work. Because of that, I have plenty of hours in the day dedicated to enjoying and discovering music.

Thanks to my friend, Christie I was re-introduced to the wonder of electronic music and I quickly became insatiable for it. From progressive trance, to electro house to glitchy dubstep, I loved it all, and it certainly shows in my list of albums below.

So without further adieu, here are my top ten favorite albums of 2010:

#1 BT - These Hopeful Machines

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

It took me no time at all to decide what my #1 was going to be. Simply put, this album is an absolute masterpiece. Clocking in at over two hours for just twelve tracks, it’s quite a journey of tunes. It’s no surprise that These Hopeful Machines has been nominated for the “Best Electronic Album” Grammy for 2011.

Favorite Track: Every Other Way

#2 Deadmau5 - 4x4=12

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

This year I discovered Deadmau5. He’s been around for a few years, and sure, I’ve seen promotions for his concerts and such, but never really showed much interest in checking out his music. Early on in the year, in prep for the Coachella music festival, I picked up his album “For Lack of a Better Name” and was promptly blown away. His music would be considered “Progressive House” which basically means that it’s got a pretty standard beat throughout, but is far more complex than other electronic music sometimes. 4x4=12 is no doubt his best album to date. He departs just a bit from his Progressive House roots and explores Electro House, a bit of Trance and even some Dubstep.

Favorite Track: Tie between Cthulhu Sleeps and Raise Your Weapon

#3 Tron: Legacy Soundtrack (Daft Punk)

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

Tron + Daft Punk. How could you not love it? I’ve not historically been a huge Daft Punk fan, but this album takes the cake. It’s expansive, symphonic (I know, I know, it’s a soundtrack) and very entertaining. Seeing the movie only made this album better, knowing where all of the music synced up to the film. I wouldn’t be surprised if this got a Grammy nod as well, and I certainly hope it wins.

Favorite Track: Recognizer

#4 Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

This album came out of absolutely nowhere and proceeded to blow my mind. I saw Skrillex open for Deadmau5 in Denver just a month ago. When I go to dance shows, I generally prepare myself for the opening acts kind of sucking a bit. This show couldn’t have been further from that. Skrillex is some weird mashup between Dubstep and Electro House and isn’t afraid to toss a bit of glitchy Nintendo-esque sounds in there from time to time. His debut EP is one wild ride from start to finish. It’s hard to describe exactly how this album makes me feel when I listen to it, but the best way to put it is “energized”.

Favorite Track: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

#5 The Graduate - Only Every Time

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

This one is a bit sentimental to me. That’s because I’m actually friends with the guys in this band. I’ve known them for years. Back in the day when I had a band, we would always find an excuse to play with their precursor, J.A.C.K. Needless to say, these guys have grown up a lot. “Only Every Time” is the follow up to their debut album, Anhedonia. The sound is much more mature and departs a bit from their pop punk roots. There’s a healthy dose of U2, a bit of Arcade Fire, and a dash of Muse. This album should be listened to from start to finish with nothing but a pair of headphones and zero distraction. It’s that good.

Favorite Track: Pull Me In

There’s a little bit of a story behind this favorite track. This year I moved from my beloved home of Boulder, CO to San Francisco. As I was heading to the airport for the day of my move, I looked back at the mountains and just then these lyrics came on. I teared up a bit:

“We traded everything and left the countryside / Metal tower skylines over lucid star-lit nights / Found a north-side neighborhood that we could call our own / I’m just fine, I’m alive, I am home.”

#6 Pendulum - Immersion

Listen on Rdio | Note: This album is not yet for sale in the US yet. It was released in the UK in 2010, but won’t be available in the US until January 25, 2011.

My good buddy Jeffrey introduced these guys to me a few years ago. Back then they sounded a bit like hip-hop heavy Drum & Bass. It was pretty entertaining, but not quite very deep. Then with their album In Silico, they ditched the hip-hop feel for a bit more rock and it was very welcoming. Got a chance to see them in concert (they play all live instruments) and they were beyond awesome.

Fast forward to this year, and their new album Immersion came out in the UK. I found my ways of getting ahold of and dug in. Every song on this album is awesome, but there are a handful that stand out. I can’t wait to see them live in January.

Favorite Track(s): The Island pt. 1 and pt. 2

#7 Armin van Buuren - Mirage

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

Like Deadmau5, I only found out about Armin van Buuren this year. I’ll have to chalk this one up to Christie. I can honestly say that Armin van Buuren was purely the reason that I’m so into electronic music these days. I quickly amassed all of his albums and listened to his stuff nearly exclusively for a good while. Got a chance to see him live early on in the year and I was hooked. My excitement for when this album came out was intense.

Favorite Track: Orbion

#8 Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

Another album that came out of left field. One morning I was listening to Sirius’s “XM U” station while getting ready and “Little Lion Man” came on. Within seconds, I sat down and just listened, not doing a thing. Right after the song was over, I sped to my computer to learn about these guys and download their stuff. I then proceeded to tweet to all hell about how great this was. As far as I can tell, I was among the first of my friends to discover them, so it was quite awesome spreading the news far and wide about this band. I’ve yet to get a chance to see them live but I can’t wait until I do.

#9 Jónsi - Go

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

I’ve been a Sigur Ros fan for years, so I wasn’t expecting that their lead singer, Jonsi would ever put out a bad album. I wasn’t disappointed. “Go” takes a lot of where Sigur Ros seemed to be heading, but tightened the sound up a bit to more of a pop flavor, departing from the long and drawn out songs that Sigur Ros is so well known for. Seeing him perform “Go” live at Coachella was nothing short of an emotional experience.

Favorite Track: Tornado

#10 The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

Having known nothing about this band, I was pretty pleased when I saw them live last year at Red Rocks. This was their first official album and it’s quite a first album at that. These guys definitely fit within the “electronic” space, but the sound is less constant beats and more of what I’d describe as “breathing, driving, gyrating” tunes. This is a great album for a work day.

Favorite Tune: Dream Within a Dream

Honorable Mention: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Listen on Rdio | Buy on iTunes

I generally like Kanye’s albums, so I was stoked to see that he was going to have a new one out. 808’s and Heartbreak was pretty rad, and this one destroys it. It explores just about every other genre, with a hip-hop flavor added to it. I would have put this in the top 10, but the others just barely beat it out.

Favorite Tune: Tie between All of the Lights and Lost in the World

Conclusion

So that wraps it up. I’m excited to see all the albums that will come out in 2011. If it’s half as good as 2010 for music, we’ll be in for a treat.

I’ve got three more top ten lists to go before I’m done with this meme.

This is freaking amazing.