True confession: I liked the O.C..  I liked everything about it: the music, the cheesy acting, the cheesy story lines, did I mention the music?  The thing is, while there weren’t future Oscar winners in the show, they were perfectly effective for what the show was.  The pacing of the show and the music made it thoroughly entertaining.

I also like Gossip Girl.  Same reasons.  Rather than go for the top 40 hit d’jour, these shows took little known bands and used their songs effectively.  It made it edgy, yet fun at the same time.  I would argue that the O.C. started the trend of using small bands to move the message long before Apple and every other company started doing it via commercials.

So….this means that Josh Schwartz (who created both shows and Chuck) is our hero.  We pace the halls at night waiting for him to call us and ask our opinion on what bands to use in his next shows’. (I’d go “Slow Burning Crimes” by East Hundred.  I can see Lonely Boy walking down the street after his latest break-up with this as the soundtrack.  I’ll give you that one for free Josh.)

When I heard that Josh Schwartz had created a webisode series, I was intrigued.  Once I watched it, I was in love.  The show, Rockville, CA is set in a club and it’s characters are obsessed with music.  I likey.  Here’s whatcha get:

1)Episodes that average 5 minutes.  Easy, quick and entertaining.

2) The usual Schwartz wit.  The opening of the first show includes a rant on how fickle blogs are and how bands rise and fall in a heartbeat.

3) Great.  Music.  You’ll be scrambling to identify the background songs and because of the premise of the show, you get love bands.  Who? Among many, are TDOA favorites: The Kooks, The Duke Spirit, White Lies, Passion Pit, Kaiser Chiefs…..did you leave yet?  Are you watching it yet?  What are you waiting for?

http://www.thewb.com/shows/rockville-ca/

One of my pet peeves is the number of websites who post their “best of” lists beginning in mid-November.  With albums still being released and still plenty of opportunity to give an album a couple more spins, why rush?  Having said that, I’ve seen the release schedule for the last couple of weeks in December and there’s nothing coming out that has the slightest chance of being on this list.  As I get older, I hate hear my (older) friends say that there isn’t as much good music coming out.  Unfortunately, this year seemed a little sluggish.  The top three on this list would make my list any year, but beyond that I struggled.  Good news is that there are quite a few bands who put out amazing singles (I’m looking at you White Lies and It Hugs Back) and will be releasing great albums in 2009 (not that I’ve heard leaked versions or anything…).

I’ve tried to do something that’ll seperate my list from the masses.  Not only have I posted one video for each of the albums, I’ve tried to steer clear of the “official” video.  This presented challenges since the “live” videos tend to have bad sound quality.  In almost every case I was able to come up with something that is a little special.  Enjoy!

…and with that, here’s the list:

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Virgins- The Virgins

3) Darker My Love- Darker My Love 2

4) Steve Malkmus & The Jicks- Real Emotional Trash

5) The Kooks- Konk

6) The Late Greats- Life Without Balloons

7) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

Fujiya & Miyagi- Lightbulbs

9) We Are Scientists- Brain Thrust Mastery

10) The Bronx- The Bronx 3