Torche isn’t a metal band. There, I said it. That’s a thought I’ve entertained in the back of my head for a while now — but I couldn’t bring myself to broach the topic for fear of ridicule. “Torche…not a metal band? How dare you, dirty brigand. Have you ever listened to music?” Or at least that’s the reaction I imagine.

But seriously, after the Guided By Voices songs they covered, the general trajectory of Songs for Singles, and now with Kicking — the first track from Harmonicraft — it’s become apparent that Torche is no longer a “metal band.”

Sure, the riffs are present and there’s just enough peripheral sludge these days to fool you. That’s a given. Plus Meanderthal was flush with metal signposts. Then, when you take into account the band’s collective musical heritage (Floor, Shitstorm) and former label home (Hydra Head), I can see why you’d use the M word.

Really though, if you strip away the exoteric correlations and listen to Kicking, U.F.O or even Fat Waves — you can’t say, “This is obviously a metal band.” I’m not saying you’ll find no trace of metal in Torche these days. Far from it. Far, far from it. But calling them “metal” is no different than calling Fucked Up “hardcore” or Ted Leo “pop punk.”

Those assessments would be technically correct if you’re using a particular rubric. However, I think we all know that contrary to Central Bureaucrat No. 1′s opinion, being technically correct isn’t always the best kind of correct. At the very most, you could say that Torche is an aggressive, metal-informed rock band with pop tendencies. That’s definitely not the same as “metal band.”

Now that I’ve wasted your time with my inane conjectures, listen to Kicking. It’s a badass jam.

I say it every year, but Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin is my favorite festival. And that won’t change in 2011, thanks in part to a badass lineup that includes Danzig playing Misfits tunes, Public Enemy playing Public Enemy tunes, the fucking Hot Snakes, Reggie Watts, M83, Slayer, Ted Leo, Russian Circles, Del the Funky Homosapien and Touché Amoré, just to name a few.

Last year was doubly special, since I got to meet up with Josh, Sammy, Don and Sergio for the first time during the trip. Hopefully I get to see them again, both on the road and at the festival.

Get out of there, Ted! That room is too flammable for electronics.

:: Kevin Devine recently stopped in for a Nervous Energies session with Ryan Russell.

:: Did you see the interviews Ted Leo did for IFC at SXSW?

:: Sign of the apocalypse number 5,201,874.

:: Eels is heading out on a two-month tour that spans the globe.

:: Autopsy IV listed the top three bands he’d travel to see live over at Nine Bullets. For some reason, Heart wasn’t included.

:: If you want to move to a super cool city to do free work for one of the most prestigious music tastemakers, you’re in luck. Or you can stay where you are and do free work for us. A much less appetizing proposition, I know.

:: Random tracks that don’t suck:

I know it’s already 2011, so this is a little less timely, but I figured we’d start off the new year lightly before getting back into the full swing of things. It’s looking like 2011 will include some potentially awesome (read: potentially awful) projects from us, and we’ll try to celebrate our 10th birthday in style.

All that said, here’s what 2010 looked like on my end. I hope it was as good a year for you, too. I was asked to do this year in review alongside some other music folks in Louisville for Peter Berkowitz of the Velocity, a local alt-weekly. I’m lazily re-printing it here for you:

I think 2010 for me — and for many others — was marked by the concerts I saw. And not just any concerts, mind you. I’m talking about bands I never thought I’d get to see: Guided By Voices, Descendents, Cap’n Jazz (both their first and last reunion shows), Devo, Snapcase and maybe a couple others I’m forgetting because of the sheer number of shows I’ve seen. It was certainly a whirlwind 2010 in that regard.

But it wasn’t all teary-eyed reunions and boxing matches with Ted Leo. In 2010, Buzzgrinder hosted its first SXSW party with over 20 bands, celebrated nine years of ruining music for everyone, broke some news stories, had a hand in bringing some killer bands to town (Titus Andronicus, High on Fire, Torche, mewithoutYou, Murder By Death to name a few), made some people mad and helped Glenn Danzig prolong his memeness on the nets.

All that said, I think the best part of 2010 for me was turning online relationships I’d forged through Buzzgrinder into real-world friendships. Sometimes when you do something day in and day out for years — regardless of your resolve — you wonder, “Why? What purpose does this even serve?”

Then you actually spend time with awesome people who share a similar outlook on life and have found a genuine camaraderie with you and other folks because of a dumb website that probably sucks. That’s why you do it. That’s what it’s all about.

And here are my top albums of the year. Not in any particular order, and no specific number. They’re pretty much just the handful of records I listened to this year that I still remember:

– Titus Andronicus — The Monitor
– Coliseum — House With a Curse
– J. Roddy Walston and the Business — J. Roddy Walston and the Business
– Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore — Dear Companion
– Ted Leo and the Pharmacists — The Brutalist Bricks
– The Seedy Seeds — Roll Deep

:: It looks like we have the title and track list for a new Decemberists album.

:: If there’s one thing Steve Earle is good for, it’s a quote: “I’ve written a lot of songs, which I guess happens if you don’t die.”

:: TV Casualty — the best Halloween-time supergroup that only covers Misfits songs — made an appearance this year.

:: Ryan Adams is getting back up on that horse. The joke about Mandy Moore goes here.

:: The New York Times got all spiritual with Salome.

:: The good news? Cristofer Drew is breaking up Never Shout Never. The bad news? Cristofer Drew is starting a new band instead.

:: If I see the phrase “I’m with the brand” one more time, I might just… well, I might just do something hyperbolic to illustrate my distaste for seeing that written quite often by a vast array of people and organizations who think they’re saying something witty and/or unique with the conjuration of said motif.

:: Even Roseanne Cash gets down and dirty by playing house shows here and there.

:: The Los Angeles Guided By Voices show is available for free download, but only for a limited time.

:: WFMU is auctioning off a bunch of awesome stuff. Go buy something.

:: As soon as The Jesus and Mary Chain finished Psychocandy, the band was already second guessing the record. Good thing it was left as is.

:: Ted Leo: karaoke superstar.

:: Madball frontman Freddy Cricien is detailing his 10 favorite non-hardcore bands.

:: The frontwomen from Iwrestledabearonce and Eyes Set to Kill are doing a series of videos together. Not those kind of videos, you creep.

:: Spotify is adding a new feature, but it doesn’t matter since it’s still not available in the U.S.

:: Looks like everyone was partying hard at Municipal Waste‘s Pop Montreal show.

:: Random tracks that don’t suck:

The seemingly epic, summer-long AV Club Undercover Series recently drew to a close with The Walkmen taking on R.E.M. (and not incredibly well, for that matter), and now all 25 installments are available for your scrutiny. The AV Club is asking, nay begging, you to vote on your favorite video, whether it’s Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump covering The Wedding Present (it probably is, right?), Ted Leo doing Tears for Fears, Ben Folds recalling Elliott Smith or Coheed and Cambria taking a stab at The Smiths.

And to make it a little easier on you, we’ve compiled all 25 videos here in one place. Watching them all at once might be a daunting task, but it’s not like you want to do those TPS reports anyway.

Watch the AV Club Undercover Series videos.

With all the superstars in this Ted Leo and the Pharmacists video — and there are a few — Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles steals the show with his understated, nuanced performance.

I found out the classic Epitonic was back online the other day, and I’ve subsequently been scrounging around there, waxing nostalgic about all the awesome music I discovered throughout the years thanks to Epitonic. With all the reminiscing, I thought it might be good to compile a mix of — if memory serves — the first song I heard from 10 different bands I found on the site.

This list is in no way comprehensive, but these 10 were definitely situated in the forefront of my mind when poking around. I still listen to a good chunk of these bands regularly, with some discoveries fueled obsessive fascinations that are firmly planted in my dome to this day.

And to complete this little trip down memory lane, I decided to include the circa ’01/’02 photo above — from the days when I would hop on Epitonic, wait 10 minutes for a song to download halfway, then get pissed when I realized it was the one I’d already heard — which is one of the few times you’ll ever see me without a beard… or with a full head of hair.

Have you been lounging around on Epitonic recently, remembering your past musical conquests? Are there specific songs you from your days on the site you’ll never forget? Send me the list and links to the files, and I’ll get your Epitonic discovery mix up sometime soon on Buzzgrinder, too.