With the year rapidly coming to a close, and the holiday season fully upon us, we wanted to get the HT Crew together for one last hang to talk music before we throw the cover on BBQ for the winter. Since ’tis the season to reflect back on what went down over the last 12 months, we thought we’d invite the gang over to HT Headquarters to warm up by the fireplace, throw some large hunks of meat on the grill and crack open a few Anderson Valley Winter Solsticeses for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.

This time around, we thought we’d continue our year-end housecleaning by discussing our Break Out Acts of the year, which ranged from new discoveries to some acts that just hit it out of the park with a monster 2010.

Andy Kahn – The Morning Benders

Without a doubt The Morning Benders stood up and demanded to be noticed this year. Particularly on the heels of their sophomore album Big Echo & their relentless touring, the band has proven to be a force in the studio & on the road. The quartet from Berkeley, CA is led by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Christopher Chu, whose impressive songwriting is filled with dreamy lyrics and catchy pop sensibilities. Whether on stage or in the studio the band creates a lush but airy sound tucked into a cool, laid-back vibe.

Excuses, their captivating single off Big Echo, was my song of the year after the first listen and has made it “big” being featured on a television commercial. The band is on a seemingly never ending tour, crisscrossing the States and beyond several times this year alone, opening for acts like Broken Bells, hitting festivals and headlining bills as well. Keep an eye out for these guys there’s a good chance they’re playing your town soon.

READ ON for more of our picks of the Break Out Acts of 2010…

Wow, I can’t believe we’ve made almost three-quarters of the way through the year and we’ve haven’t had the time to get the HT Crew together for a solid hang to talk music, while chowing down on a tasty spread of burgers, dogs, kebabs and whatnot. With summer officially coming to an end yesterday, we thought we’d invite the gang over to HT Headquarters to enjoy the quickly disappearing last warm days of the year, throw some large hunks of meat on the grill and crack open a few Long Trail Harvest Ales for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.

This time around we’re having everyone share with the class what they did on their summer vacation by discussing their favorite show of the summer – which we’ve roughly defined as anything seen between Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends. So with that in mind let’s get to it…

Scott Bernstein – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers / MMJ – August 24 – Izod Center – East Rutherford, NJ

Picking my favorite concert of the summer wasn’t easy as there were about five concerts that all could’ve easily been my choice. While Phish’s second Camden show was fairly epic, God Street Wine’s reunion shows were a blast and catching Squeeze in the middle of Bryant Park was sublime, I’ve decided that the My Morning Jacket/Tom Petty show I saw at the Izod Center on August 24th was my favorite concert of the season. MMJ tore through all of their classics and didn’t hold anything back in tackling their best material, while Petty did a great job of presenting a mini-set of songs from his latest album smack dab in the middle of a flawless greatest hits set.

Not only was the music great but I was very surprised by the enthusiasm displayed by the concertgoers in my section. I expected a crowd of folks who were content to sit all night and instead most stood and danced with joy and excitement. I took great pleasure in watching MMJ win over Petty fans and I do believe The Heartbreakers are extremely underrated as musicians, especially keyboardist Benmont Tench. I tend to focus on the details and watching Tench come up with innovative fills on a variety of vintage keyboards was a revelation. I would’ve never guessed going into the show that MMJ/Petty would be my favorite gig of the summer, but perhaps the lack of expectations and a full, rocking arena led this night to a special place in my heart. Plus, I’m just a sucker for arena rock.

• Scotty’s Review: Tom Petty & MMJ

READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s favorite shows of the summer…

It’s been a few months since the HT Crew got together for an old fashioned cookout. With the cold weather creeping in and the holiday season upon us we thought we’d get the gang together one last time this year to throw some large hunks of meat on the grill and crack open a few Troeg’s Mad Elf Ale’s for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is rapidly coming to a close. Since we’re all live music junkies here, we thought we would share our thoughts on our favorite concerts from the last 12 months. The rules were simple: any show that we attended between January 1 through the beginning of this month were game. So, let’s get at it…

Ryan Dembinsky – Phish – Hampton Coliseum – Hampton, VA

Talk about a no-brainer. Much love goes out to Hartford, Camden, JB3, an intimate surprise Avett Brothers release party in front of maybe 100 people, and a whole slew of great bands I saw for the first time this year, but March 6, 2009 will be branded on my brain forever.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

From the beautiful weather, to taking a much needed road trip away from adulthood, to the friends, to the smothered and covered, to of course the music, Hampton Coliseum pretty much made my year. READ ON for more of the Hidden Track Crew’s favorite concerts of 2009…

The HT family has grown a bit over the course of the year, so we couldn’t fit everyone on the deck for last week’s BBQ. We had to have the rest of the gang over this week for part two of our discussion of the Best Albums Of The ’00s. So, we headed back to the store to pick up a variety of our favorite grillable food stuffs and a few cases of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPAs for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.

As we mentioned last week, the rules are quite simple. Any album released between January of 2000 and December of 2009 (though we’re not quite there yet) are fair game. So let’s not waste anymore time and jump right into our second installment…

Jeffrey Greenblatt: The Strokes – Is This It?

Over the last ten years I can easily say I’ve consumed more music than I ever have. So, with the scores of albums that went through my Discman (remember those kids?) and have been loaded onto two separate iPods this decade, there have been plenty that were easily forgettable, but only a true handful that have, and will, stand up to repeated listens for the years to come. Among that collection is the debut album from The Strokes – Is This It? – a collection of fuzzy, almost dangerous sounding Velvet Underground-inspired songs that came out at a time when rock needed to be saved.

READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s favorite albums of the ’00s…

It’s been quite some time since the HT Crew got together for an old fashioned cookout, and frankly the ol’ grill was getting a bit dusty and feeling neglected. With the summer – and for that matter the decade – rapidly coming to a close we figured we’d round up the gang, throw some large hunks of meat on the fire pit and crack open a few 21st Amendment Brew Free! Or Die IPAs for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.

It’s hard to believe that the aughts are almost in the books, so with that in mind we thought we’d take a look at our favorite releases of the decade. The rules were simple: any album released between January of 2000 and December of 2009 (though we’re not quite there yet) were game. Since we got most of the Hidden Track staff contributing, we’re going to split this topic into two parts, so make sure to check back next Friday for the second installment. So, let’s get at it…

Luke Sacks: Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

It took me about six seconds to decide that Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was my favorite album of the ’00s. The poster child for what was wrong with the record business was not only my favorite album of the decade but the documentary that captured the trials and tribulations of its recording and release, is a masterpiece in itself.

READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s favorite albums of the ’00s…

It’s been quite some time since the HT Crew got together for an old fashioned cookout. With the year rapidly ending, we figured we’d round up the gang, throw some logs on the fire, crack open a few Anchor Christmas Ales and do some grilling for another rousing rendition of At The Barbecue.

About six months back we offered up our favorite albums of the first half of the year, this time around we thought we’d check back in and find out what everyone’s favorite of the entire year was and give our version of a “Best Of” list. So sit back and find out just what’s been burning up our iPods this year. READ ON after the jump to see our albums of the year…

The summer concert season has kept the HT gang busy for the last couple of months hitting amphitheaters, clubs, boats and festies in order to catch great live music. Since we haven’t seen each other in quite awhile, we thought we’d round up crew to crack open some Sea Hag IPA’s for one last summertime cook out and another rousing edition of At The Barbecue – that’s bound to ruffle a few feathers.

This time around we’re going with bands that all your friends love, but no matter how hard you try they still leave you scratching your head wondering just what the fuss is all about…

Chilly Jackwater:

“Generic.” “Ordinary.” “Plain.” These words could be used to describe The Band’s name. But I also enjoy using them to describe The Band’s music. Before you go all “Oh man…The Last Waltz…best doc EVAR…Scorsese…blah blah” Let me tell you: Yes, I’ve watched The Last Waltz. And it’s not all bad. It’s just the parts when The Band are playing their songs that I usually find myself dozing off.

READ ON for more Head Scratchers from the Hidden Track Staff…

With the July 4th right around the corner, we thought we’d get the HT gang together again to slap a variety of foodstuffs on the grill and throw back some Six Point Hop Obama’s for another edition of At The Barbecue. This time around we figured we’d find out what has been burning up the iPods of our faithful HT Contributors as we approach the mid-way point of 2008.

Much like Fight Club there were no rules – the albums could be something released this year, something you’ve just discovered or an old classic that’s just been getting a lot of play. So sit back and enjoy, the Best Music Of ’08 (So Far)…

Neddy:

Favorite album of the year has to be, no ifs ands or buts, John Zorn’s the Dreamers. You won’t find a more talented ensemble of musicians playing more soul-pleasing compositions in such amazing fashion anywhere else — I gar-uhn-tee. Your favorite genre — be it piano jazz, reverby surf, dirty funk or Lou Reed pop — is reinvented, dissected, exploded, imploded, impregnated and otherwise made to feel welcome in that cozy spot between the tiny hairs inside your ears and the squishy gray stuff beyond. All that and free stickers! Enjoy!

READ ON to see what albums your favorite HT bloggers can’t get enough of…

As we enter into the warmer weather months we figured it was once again time to get the HT gang together to crack open some Porkslap Pale Ales, and fire up the ‘Ol BBQ before the summer concert season kicks into high gear and we all head off in different directions.

For our inaugural edition we gabbed about our first favorite song. This time we thought we’d once again take a walk down memory lane with this question: What was your very first concert?

Shane Handler: Having been dragged to the likes of Neil Sedaka, Smokey Robinson and Glen Campbell with my parents as a child, it would be anti-climatic to call one of those my “first concert.” Therefore, my first real concert without my elders took place at the now defunct Sting Nightclub in New Britain, CT.

It was March 1993 and it was Pantera who where just breaking big while in the midst of their Vulgar Display of Power tour. There I was a scrawny high schooler caught in a mosh pit during such Pantera staples as Fucking Hostile, By Demons Be Driven, and Live In A Hole. The venue was an old roller rink, an ideal venue for loud music and a sweaty mosh pit – where shoving your fellow metal brother around served some kind of rebellious purpose. Phil Anselmo was loud and brash while the late Dimebag Darrell supplied the monster heavy riffs. Of course I bought a Pantera t-shirt at that show and still wear it today.

READ ON for more firsts from your favorite HT’ers…

Today, we’re introducing another new sporadic feature around here called Hidden Track: At The Barbecue. This is a chance to get a little loose with the Dead Guy Ales, suck down a variety of tube steaks, and shoot the shit with the gang.

Basically, this is an opportunity for the various HT contributors to talk about the germane on goings in the music world or just chat about who likes what.

So, for this first barbecue, we thought we’d kick it off with a little icebreaker: What was your very first favorite song?

Big Papi: For somebody who grew up in the ’80s, a very first favorite song can easily be Eye of the Tiger or Jump. However, the choices are broad, so favorite song needs to be expanded to the first song that you memorized all the lyrics to, which in my case would be The Beastie Boys’ Paul Revere. Perhaps nothing rolled off the tongue of a pre-puberty fifth grader better than repeating the lines:

The sheriff’s after me for what I did to his daughter

I did it like this, I did it like that I did it with a wiffleball bat

So I’m on the run the cop’s got my gun

And right about now it’s time to have some fun

The King Adrock that is my name

And I know the fly spot where they got the champagne.

Read on to see what your favorite HT’ers got down to as young ‘ens…