Usually, this winds up as Top 10 list, but we decided to go for 15 this year.
Well, I guess Matthew Houck really enjoyed himself making that Willie Nelson covers record last year ("To Willie"), because here he is with another 9 Willie Nelson co...what was that? These are original Phosphorescent tunes? Oh, right. But honestly, all the right country influences are shining through here. So much so that I'd swear just by listening to it that Houck has packed it in & moved from his adopted home in Brooklyn back to Athens, Georgia, where he got his start. This record is musical proof that you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy, "Here's to Taking it Easy" does just that & frequently plays off like a musical raise of the glass from the head of the class to declare this here a PARTY. Like any other kind of party where country music gets played, Houck also dials in homages to pride, foolish decisions & love gone awry. 'Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)' is a conversation of self-defense for an unabashed yet not unaware heartbreaker, & 'The Mermaid Parade' sees Houck, plane ticket to visit his sweetheart in hand, getting distracted on his way to the airport & heading to Coney Island instead. Not surprisingly, that appears to be the end of that particular relationship. 'Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)', an airy organ & slide guitar ballad, fittingly follows it up. These are songs about people doing damage unto others because they're too focused on having a good time. Life is short & this is about me, they shrug with half-hearted apology. Which is to say it's an enjoyable album but doesn't exactly offer up some lessons you'll want to carry along with you if you're looking to make it work.
The Tallest Man on Earth is actually quite short. Swedish singer/songwriter Kristian Matsson, grating voice aside, is not Bob Dylan's latest disciple. Or perhaps he is, but word is he's not so keen on the seemingly inevitable comparison. Matsson croaks & picks his guitar like the best of early folky Dylan, minus the social commentary. How that translates in the 21st century is this: If you love the likes of Bon Iver but would love to sub out some of Justin Vernon's very heavy emotional baggage for a bit of old-timey rail-riding troubadour a la Dylan & Guthrie, Matsson is your man. These are songs about leaving, & while there's sadness at the very root of the idea of doing so, Matsson focuses on the undying promise of the open road. He sings that his 'Troubles Will be Gone' & goes on declare that he wants to be the 'King of Spain', provoking the bulls with words while the senoritas sigh. A dreamer, perhaps, but he sounds like he's got enough wanderlust to will these dreams to reality. Fittingly enough, Mattson closes with a sparse, echoey piano ballad called 'Kids on the Run'. Keep running, dude. Keep running.
13. Surfer Blood - "Astro Coast"
In its best moments, Surfer Blood's debut is one of the most enjoyable records to listen to in 2010. It's ripe territory for volume nob cranking, window rolling & drumming on the steering wheel. There are moments here that give me an overwhelming feeling that the kids are alright. "Astro Coast" borrows from a lot of the right places, & in its best moments winds up shoving me back into "it's 2001 & I've just listened to The Shins' 'Oh Inverted World' for the first time" territory. Which is to say that kids all over will be using this record as a gateway into a LOT of great music. That said, while Surfer Blood choose their influences very well, they at times borrow a bit too directly. Take the beginning of 'Harmonix', which sounds like the beginning of Arcade Fire's 'Neighborhood #2' note for note. 'Anchorage' also borrows heftily from "Daydream Nation"-era Sonic Youth at points. Still, there's a lot of promise here, & "Astro Coast" in its best moments sounds like it's been written by a bunch of kids who are planning on moving to California & are looking to capture the essence of their relocation by watching the first two seasons of The O.C. all in a row, then writing a record about their trip. That's not supposed to sound backhanded, the first two seasons of The O.C. kicked ass & you know it. 'Floating Vibes', 'Swim' & 'Take it Easy' are arguably the best three opening tracks on a record in 2010. Despite the fact that they show their age here & there, Surfer Blood are quite promising & you can expect big things from them in the years to come. Oh, & the cover art is probably my favorite of the year as well.
Pardon me, but exactly HOW are Vampire Weekend at all controversial? This band seems to inspire a lot of strong feelings from people, & frequently draws the ire of Hipster Nation for...what? I'm stumped here (perhaps Hipster Nation's 4Loko has been spiked with Haterade?). Yeah, they're a bunch of rich kids singing songs, the subject of which usually centers around other rich kids. Many of their songs have been featured in advertisements (most recently a holiday ad for Tommy Hilfiger). They absolutely leapfrogged many other bands who paid their dues & took the fast track to 'indie darling' status before their debut album even came out in 2007, but really...what gives here? Do people hate them because they're not good? Impossible, I contend. Vampire Weekend most certainly are quite good & possess a full understanding of the whos & whats on their long list of influences. In other words, if you've got an axe to grind, you should be looking elsewhere. Don't hate them because they're young, talented & successful. Honestly, I can understand the sentiment but it's a losing battle. Top to bottom, "Contra" is light, airy & enjoyable. It really never stops being interesting. This is not a band that wears their flaws on their sleeve. Maybe that got drilled out of them at prep school when they learned their manners, but I wouldn't expect to see any rockstar antics or drunken shenanigans from these dudes anytime soon. If you're familiar with their eponymous debut (you are), you know the influences: 'Wes Anderson' wunderkids with a penchant for trim whiteboy afrobeat rhythms. Which is to say wayy too precious but at the same time frequently irresistible. I'm open to a 'too precious'/'too overproduced' argument against "Contra" at certain moments. And there are moments here where it's too much ('Taxi Cab'), though they manage to make up for it. 'Cousins' is certainly one of my favorite songs of the early part of this year, & the video is pretty awesome as well.
Man, are these dudes EVER going to make something that doesn't kick ass? I was a bit hesitant about this one because let's face it, noise-loving skater punks don't tend to age well, musically speaking. But they manage to hang onto their trademark breakneck thrasher hooks & squealing feedback while also foraying into familiar struggling-to-get-one's-shit-together territory ('Common Heat'). While these moments are unfamiliar coming from No Age (& wow, some of these songs are almost quiet), they somehow manage to drop their usual sneer in favor of the sincere. As always, they stir into the mix a nice batch of noisy, distortion-heavy songs that would make Sonic Youth proud ('Skinned', 'Katerpillar', 'Dusted', 'Positive Amputation') between a scattering of songs that feel like an Evil Knievel rocket bike jumping from a ramp, complete with heroic crash on the other end. 'Sorts' is a sneering, punked up Bron-Yr-Aur stomp. 'Shed and Transcend' gives us a long & aggressive lead in of nearly 2 minutes before the lyrics kick in, & 'Glitter' is a tour de force clinic designed to showcase everything which makes this band so awesome.
"White Magic" kicks off with a very faint organ cutting through a dark cloud of sound (which comes off like a sword of light slicing through a failed approach of The Nothing in a scene of 'The Neverending Story' left on the cutting room floor). It is then joined by a lone violin & a swell of vocals. A hero has arrived to save the day. Judging by 'All Around', the opening track on this solo project from Eric Berglund of The Tough Alliance, we may be in for an epic adventure pitting good against evil. And the results are not very far off, albeit slightly smaller in scale. "White Magic" winds up feeling more like a personal journey of jolly self-preservation in the face of the bleak & oft unforgiving darkness of Swedish winters. In early 2009, the world suspected Berglund as one of the culprits behind the (then quite mysterious) breakout Swedish band jj. And thematically, who could blame everyone? The Tough Alliance (& CEO by virtue of being a sortof extension of them) have a certain identifiable groove goin' on: Positivity, or rather songs about sad things written in a joyful manner. It's a theme that goes back awhile. Hello, has anyone ever listened to a genre called The Blues? Ok, so these aren't exactly the blues. This is dusky, happy Swedish dance pop -- plenty of synths & pulse-pounding beats & handclaps here -- not to be confused with the likes of Jens Lekman or Robyn, but a bit closer to a much sunnier sounding version of The Knife. Maybe if you spliced The Knife's genes to Duran Duran's, with a sprinkle of Owen Pallet (AKA the artist formerly known as Final Fantasy). That's close enough. CEO isn't for everyone, but if you're on their wavelength you'll probably love it.
This is winter music. "Ring" is the kind of record best listened to in a dark place where you can see your own breath in front of you. This record is like being lost in the snowy woods in the dead of winter. Cameron Mesirow (AKA Glasser), creates shadowy, experimental electro pop in the same vein as Fever Ray. Actually, that obvious connection aside, she sounds more like the musical lovechild of Bjork, Berlin (of 'Take My Breath Away' fame...think Top Gun here) & The Books. This doesn't outwardly feel like a playful record, & she does seemingly take herself very seriously on it, but it's clear she's enjoying this journey in circles through the snow, fully aware of the fact that she's passed the same tree three times today. Mesirow's voice is haunting & the center of attention on anything that works here, which leads me to believe that she is also the most dangerous thing in these woods. Her voice is the black hole around which this cold, whispy galaxy is swirling. At times incorporating tribal & tropical-sounding influences, "Ring" occasionally finds itself stepping into very traditional Japanese-sounding song structure ('Glad' has got that Far East feel, for sure, & 'Treasure' touches on it a bit). At the risk of overstating things, the best moments on the record happen when Mesirow gives her voice some space to spread its wings, like on the absolutely incredible 'Home' & the stunning 'Mirrorage'. While this might be great mood music for Superman's ice fortress bachelor pad if he had an artsy Asian girlfriend, it's also flat out stunning in its best moments, & easily one of the most arresting new artists I've heard all year.
Oh, Deerhunter...I didn't really get exactly what was so special about you for the longest time. Actually, I didn't have much patience to "discover" that thing & none of the (very limited) selection I heard from your early work really jumped out at me. But "Hacylon Digest" had me the first time I heard to it in headphones. This record possesses a certain sonic quality that most bands aren't really capable of...the ability to create atmosphere. This is on full display on songs like 'Desire Lanes' & 'Helicopter', both of which drag you immediately into themselves. They're capable of producing the kinds of songs that make you notice what's happening around you as if these scenes are part of the storyline. I can remember listening to Radiohead's "Amnesiac" once while walking in Manhattan just a few short months after 9/11. I was commuting from Long Island to my publishing job in the city at the time, & the National Guard stood post at all the entrances to Penn Station with AK-47s in hand. As you can imagine, the stress & paranoia of that particular record was in perfect symmatry with my surroundings (given the time & place, you can imagine just how surreal it all felt even when I wasn't listening to Radiohead). Great bands know how to drag you down into their undertow. Deerhunter does this very well. Everything I've read about frontman Bradford Cox only underscores this point. He is incredibly prolific. He has very intense personal problems. He sometimes lacks the ability to control his own feelings. The demons he sings about seem real & with a well-placed clacking off-key burst of sound he can effectively release a single drop of blood into the holy water. Singers who announce that they keep no company & are tired of their pain tend to put me off, & this kind of sentiment doesn't play well most of the time, but when Cox says it, you believe him. 'Memory Boy' is pure pop perfection, with an 'E-Street Band on ludes' undercurrent to compliment Cox's halting lyrics & awkward mid-word ghasps for breath. 'Coronado' touches on that off-kilter E-Street Band vibe as well but this time with an unmistakable strut (Cox channels his inner Julian Casablancas "Is This It" moment) & absolutely rad sax accompaniment. 'Basement Scene' feels like exactly that & you find yourself imagining the band sitting in a circle getting stoned. One of them is probably playing video games. Someone else is sitting atop a washer with a tambourine (it almost feels like they're doing a cameo on "That 70s Show"). The closer, the 7+ minute long 'He Would've Laughed' is absolutely gorgeous & then the record abruptly stops mid-note as if it's just thrown itself off a cliff. Deerhunter seem to prefer the abrupt stop or the shape shift over the deconstructed fade out, & that bodes well for people who enjoy interesting music.
7. Sufjan Stevens - "All Delighted People EP" / "The Age of Adz"
After a hiatus which lasted way too long, Sufjan came out of left field to dump an EP & a full-length on us this late summer into fall. It was a mixed blessing. Sufjan's main career problem -- of which he is well aware -- is, in fact, the level of prolific production he heaped upon the world in the first half of the '00s. In short, his aspirations were so overwhelming that they swallowed him in & regurgitated an exhausted, embarrassed creative genius. Once upon a time, Sufjan talked about writing a state-themed record for each of the 50 states. He knocked off Michigan & Illinois to much fanfare while still managing to release regular material around them. But that kind of overarching ambition is doomed to cave in upon itself -- & it did -- so Sufjan went on hiatus. For awhile he talked about not making music anymore. Going in full retreat from celebrated material can have that effect, I suppose. But as with any creative genius, these songs have got to pour out somehow. With absolutely no warning, Sufjan delighted all people (yes, I just said that) with "All Delighted People," an EP of more than an hour of delicate yet much more personal songs. For the Sufjan fans out there, it's a bit like "Seven Swans", no? This EP was one of my musical benchmarks of the year, not because it was groundbreaking, but because it brought back from the brink one of my favorite artists, & he was actually singing about himself & his thoughts on the world. 'Enchanting Ghost' is a conversation with a lover who has already left...words which took too long to form & said long after the door has closed, & 'Heirloom' is part flashback, part eulogy. Sufjan knows how to write a goosebump-inducing pop song, & this is one great example of that. 'From the Mouth of Gabriel' gives us an unwitting taste of what's to come on "The Age of Adz" with an abrupt synth attack mid-way through which dissolves into a delicate pleading & almost desperate-sounding piano ballad (incredible) "your face has changed, I hardly know who you are" Sufjan pleads before a small church choir joins him. 'Arnika' is the hidden gem on this record...& what little is left of Sufjan's hand is played. He's tired & alone, & he wants comfort. The song damn near gets suicidal in the second half, & finishes with him fantasizing about accidents. But this desperation is mostly just there to shake the memories loose. "All Delighted People" is absolutely stunning, & by that same token I could say "The Age of Adz" is stunning, absolutely. Not because of the sheer beauty or breathlessness of it, but because it's an assault on everything you think you know about Sufjan Stevens. The Sufjanophiles out there who watched (or read about) "The BQE" -- an interactive music/film/art piece about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway which just may wind up being his final homage to Americana; a freeway, how fitting -- may have seen some shades of this shift. Still, it doesn't play off smoothly. And why should it? By all indications, Sufjan is going through some sort of personal crisis (or a 'transitional period,' perhaps) on these two records. Delicate bookish fictional pop songs with violin flourishes just won't do. The record begins with 'Futile Devices' a small slice of vintage Sufjan, though that's where the comparisons to old Suf end. The beginning of "Too Much" is a lit powderkeg of crunchy synths that slowly snakes through the sand. The title track kicks off with what sounds like the theme music for an emerging cartoon world destroyer, with Sufjan's superman standing colorless & small, cape flapping on a dark rooftop surveying the beast. And this record IS a beast to get through. It seems he's trying to shed his old self almost entirely & yet not sure how to do that (as evidenced by his occasional use of a vocoder; don't go there Suf). While Adz can be a tough pill to swallow, it never ceases to be exciting & different. I just hope Stevens continues being different...in different ways.
If I were a betting man, I'd tell you to put all your money on Broken Social Scene never making a mediocre record. Unfortunately, the odds on that particular bet are not favorable for you to make a ton of money off it. No matter how high you set the bar for these damn hosers, they always manage to clear it. The best part about BSS is how they continually manage to deliver the sort of record that hooks you just enough at first with a few standouts, & then delivers over time with songs that seem to grow & develop with further listening. "You Forgot it in People" was a true classic, the self-titled follow up somehow one-upped it, & "Forgiveness Rock Record" is their most mature & diverse effort yet, flowing from aggressive to dreamy & back with an ease few bands can pull off. 'Highway Slipper Jam' starts off with a crazed scat of some kind & quickly dissolves into a meandering front porch classic (incidentally, one of my favorite moments of the year was listening to this song on a drive up the Sonoma Coast to Sea Ranch for a wedding this summer). Hot on its heels, 'Ungrateful Little Father' is bitey head-bobber which, frankly, doesn't sound very forgiving. But there is clearly a method to Forgiveness' madness & that's the simple fact that it is created out of madness. Not legitimate insanity, but out of a frantic collaborative 'lock everybody in the same room & see what happens' creative approach. It's the only way they know how to operate. Broken Social Scene are the sum of their moving parts, a tour de force & veritable Hall of Justice of Canadian Super Friends. "Forgiveness Rock Record" plays out like a big party in the studio & finds the band at a place in adulthood where they're trying to come to terms with their shit & let their bygones be bygones. It once again reiterates what they do best & comes off like a mess of different styles & influences shoved into the particle accelerator & pushed to light speed. One never knows where their influences will collide, but men in white lab coats somewhere are sitting around pulling apart their findings, which somehow always manage to be unexpected. While they appear to thrive in chaos, all the building blocks for life are here. Like everything they've done before, "Forgiveness Rock Record" is a grower. The more you listen, the more it reveals itself.
A band I once considered extremely over-hyped somehow managed to win me over with their sophomore effort, "Congratulations," an overtly psychadelic (read: way different than their first record) effort. Like a merry band of strolling minstrels having a dance party through a pre-Industrial Revolution English countryside, Ben Goldwasser & Andrew VanWyngarden sing of cobblestones & cauldrons, graciously overdubbing spooky vocals & swelling call & response at will...it truly takes what sounds like a village. "Someone's Missing" starts out innocently enough with a few trips to the cabinet, probably for some toad wart & boar toenail. After some purple smoke, things quickly bubble over into, you guessed it, a PARTY. 'Flash Delerium' is one of my favorite songs of the year -- & probably my favorite rhythm section in a song of 2010, I really do envision a band of filthy villagers backing them up. For chrissakes, there's a flute solo. And it kicks ass. Lemme tell you, they had a LOT of fun turning knobs in the studio as they made this record. The result of their efforts is a modern day "Their Satanic Majesty's Request" (itself, the Stones' attempt at their own "Sgt. Pepper"). As for you, well, you finally have a modern record fit for listening under the blacklight. Congratulations.
"Before Today" kicks off just as the action starts. In some New Weird American acid test party gone horribly awry, Ariel Pink invites you into his hot tub. Did the scene just flip to a porn set? No, no, this hot tub is a time machine, & although "Before Today" feels very 2010 in it's retro vibe, it definitely flies through a groovy psychadelic 60s cat club, & melts down into a crazy Zappa Camper Van Beethoven Thin Lizzy thrill ride that goes on to terrorize imagined 70s Southern California smooth sailing soft rock marinas. This record is like substituting Christopher Cross for Benicio Del Toro (as Dr. Gonzo) in the White Rabbit scene of 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas', only the jam on the radio is Pink's 'Can't Hear My Eyes' (a 'Summer Breeze' for 2010) & the man threatening him with the broomstick isn't Johnny Depp (as Hunter S. Thompson), but Steely Dan's Donald Fagan. If you think about it, Ariel Pink & the Chillwave movement are very strange bedfellows. Pink has always just been a spoiled LA rich kid trying to be weird enough to effectively piss off his parents & make nearly inaccessible yet arguably (very arguably) brilliant music. For chrissakes, he once wrote a song which began with an angry voicemail from his father regarding unpaid parking tickets & then launched into the most incencere apology from a spoiled brat son to his a father since Harry Chapin's 'Cats in the Cradle' (though in this case, who knows if his dad deserved that level of dickishness). He approaches each song more as a performance art piece than anything. So it's weird for me to say this, but "Before Today" is a supremely mature record. Pink is taking control of this shit. All these chillwave kids want a demigod? Whatever, sure, Ariel Pink is not a role model. But a demigod, he can do that. In short, "Before Today" is a yacht rock record on acid, & the smoothest, funkiest, weirdest thing made extremely well in 2010. Many others tried, & many of them failed embarrassingly. 'Round and Round' is also in top contention to be my Jam of 2010. It's spectacular. Listen to this record. It's every bit as good & every bit as weird as you've heard. Top to bottom -- from the hot tub invitation to 'Revolution's a Lie,' a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder flashback jam -- this record stays weird & awesome.
Oh, Beach House. You had me at 'Saltwater' (the first track on their eponymous debut), sent me over the moon with "Devotion," & like meeting up years after that magical summer romance (Devotion was so 'Summer of '08), at first it was hard for me to wrap my heart around the slicker, more carefully produced "Teen Dream". Victoria Legrand's trademarky haunty sultry Stevie Nicks style is more well-evolved this time around, & she lays it on thick with a newfound force she lacked on the first two records. Additionally, the abandoned mansion they squat in has been fixed up with some nice flower-patterned drapes & aromatherapy candles. Those black & red candles were tough to scrape from the floors & as for the drapes, they're in need of some positive reinforcement. Because you see, although "Teen Dream" cleverly masquerades as a makeout record, it's more of a running chronicle of the dissolution of "Devotion," & the bad & sad decisions & confessions that come with it. At times, these songs feel as if they're being played underwater ('Norway') in a deep blue & somewhat suspect lake. The sparkling 'Walk in the Park' (the highlight of the record) feels less a lament on love lost than a newfound maturity of letting it go. Walks in the park help for that sort of thing. With the exception of 'Take Care,' which seems almost like a "Devotion" hold-over, the vast majority of these songs are confessionals. Here is why I can't love you anymore: It's me. It's you. It's us. I'm different now & so are you. It's a growth record, & while Beach House perhaps won't be laid quite so bare before us on the next one, they'll be wiser.
Wow, where do I even start? Arcade Fire have caught some flack in the past for being a bit heavy-handed (yes, from me among many many others). Call it what you will, but I think I see now as earnestness. The Butler boys (& Regine & pals) would really just like to have an open conversation, they just so happen to often choose to discuss the types of subjects that can't reach any kind of easy, agreeable solution. These are not dinner party conversations. These are house party conversations, & they will swing on your chandelier to prove a point. The types of problems they want to talk about have been problems for a long time & will most likely continue to be problems until you & me & everyone we know are long dead. There are few things strong enough to challenge the desperation one feels in the downshift, & while I'm sure it seems silly later on, that first moment realizing that maybe you're not so young anymore is pretty difficult. As huge of a decision as it is for anyone, the reluctant retreat to the suburbs where you can afford to buy something to call your own (imperfect as it may be) -- & the arrival at a decision to do something that rages against everything you thought you knew about yourself -- is a rite of passage like any other. This is a band hitting their stride even as the very foundation of their selves begins to show cracks. There are few things strong enough to challenge that desperation. Love. War. That's probably it. "Sometimes I can't believe it, I'm moving past the feeling," crows Butler on the opening/title track. We saw them live at The Greek in Berkeley this year, & they pour themselves into these songs with the kind of sincere reckless abandon few can match. The Springsteen comparisons are valid, minus the blue collar imagery & broken down twice-rebuilt old 60s muscle car (I've got them pegged as more of a "refuse to own a car until reluctantly conceding to a minivan purchase" folks). These are songs about the struggle. Minus the poetry, minus the bitterness, but rather with an earnest reservation in the declaration, & an almost two-faced rage against the decision in real-time. You can almost imagine Win Butler slamming the front door of his new construction home behind him & looking out upon his trimmed-down cul-de-sac, then angry dancing through a nearby field before coming to rest under a sign by a freeway announcing that the field is available for development. This is not a coming of age record, this is not a record about being pulled kicking and screaming into the life your parents had that you swore to never replicate...this is a record about coming to terms with the inevitability of it all, & figuring out how to make the most of it.
Hands down my #1 record of 2010. The best thing about Tame Impala is that you immediately know exactly what you're getting yourself into, & the silver lining is that it never never gets boring or stale. When I brag about how amazing this record is (note: this happens A LOT), I explain very quickly that Tame Impala sound like Cream fronted by John Lennon in a Scooby Doo episode. So, basically, the cartoon version of that band. But don't get me wrong, there is nothing cartoonish about them (& besides, in that era cartoons kinda knew how to rock). They're mean, & the Mystery Machine has been tricked out a bit (mostly the sound system). That's pretty much what you get here. 'Lucidity' is the gem of the record, with crunchy acid-drenched guitars, pulse pounding bass & vocals that lose pressure, get sucked out a window & fade out screaming. The video is simply the band -- set up somewhere on a mount of red clay in the middle of the Outback -- attaching a camera to a high altitude weather balloon & letting it fly. The balloon soars through the stratosphere to the very edge of space & begins its rapid descent back to Earth during a particularly blistering solo. Honestly, there isn't a better way they could've made this video. It's all at once fascinating, incredibly cool & totally mesmerizing. 'Solitude is Bliss' sounds like a lost Love (the band) classic if Arthur Lee had been a paranoid schizophrenic. Overall, "Innerspeaker" is psychadelic rock n' roll music the way it used to be, which is to say minus all the electro/neo-tribal noise of the Animal Collective set. It's the kind of record your dad would've told you about if you'd gone to college together. And we're all old enough to know there's nothing wrong with that. Also, Esme & I have tickets to go see Tame Impala in San Francisco TONIGHT at The Independent (which is incidentally right down the street from our place). The bar is set impossibly high & there's pretty much no way they will ever meet our expectations in the live setting, so it's best to play it safe & put this list out there today. If they wind up sucking live I don't want to discount the huge role "Innerspeaker" played on my 2010.
A nice list and somewhat similar to that by Spinner. Here is a mix with music from our (BuyMyPlaylist.com) list of top albums. Enjoy it
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Here is my .02:
ReplyDeleteSurfer Blood - agree that they made a nice little album. I'm not usually into stuff that sounds cheerful, but I found myself enjoying this more than I thought I would. It has enough noise to give it some bite, and enough pretty to give it lasting power.
Vampire Weekend - funny you mention controversy; I used to get into it over this band with Evy and my music-minded friends. I couldn't like their first album, no matter how many times I force-fed myself and no matter how much I loved "A-Punk." BUT with this album, once something I blew off became a pleasurable go-to. Still a little cheerful, but not annoyingly so like their s/t. The videos don't hurt, either.
No Age - really? Haven't heard it, but I swore I wouldn't spend any more money on another No Age album after Nouns. I mean, a noise-punk album like that is SUPPOSED to be my THING...but I was just put off by the lack of melody and fuzziness. And this is coming from someone who used to listen to F Minus! It made me feel like an old person, complaining about the young whippersnappers and their gol-darned racket in the basement. Since the new one's on here, I'll listen to it if someone sends it to me, but....we'll see.
Sufjan - moved up the list, eh? It sounded like, when we talked, it wasn't gonna make the list. I'm glad to see it on here, even if there are subtle jabs at the grandiosity of Adz (a beast? Say it ain't so!). It'll probably be on a similar place in my list. Oh, and, yeah, Sufjan, lay off the vocoder/auto-tune...Justin Vernon did it way better, and Kanye threw it over the shark.
BSS - Yes.
MGMT - whoah whoah whoah WHAT?!? I too once thought MGMT were overhyped, but then Oracular Spectacular grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let go. I was giddy as a schoolgirl for Congratulations, and then the fuzz washed over me and I was gripped by melancholia. Where were the dance beats? Where was the catchy synth? Where were the subtly poignant lyrics mixed with top-40 dribble? And THEN I saw them at Coachella. Never again, my friend, never again. My most disappointing album of the year.
Beach House - inspires me to say "eh." I mean, I like it...I guess I'm not getting what everyone else is getting. Whenever a BH song comes up on shuffle, I think, "Oh, who is this? This is kind of nice." Then I check and go, "Ah, yes." Going through the whole album bores me. I promise, I've tried my best to understand the universal laude, but...
Arcade Fire - Absolutely. A grower for me, too, for sure. I LOVE bombast and a little heavy-handedness, so even better. I was not disappointed, except for the fact that I'll probably won't hear anything as good as Funeral for another 10 years. Earnestness is the new cynicism.
Tame Impala - I'm glad you turned me on to these guys, and I really like this album. Like I've said, it won't be my number 1 (it might not make my top 10 or 15 either), but it's darn good and doesn't get tiring. I think your description of the sound is pretty darn near perfect, actually, and I'm happy that I actually like a psychedelic record. Not a bad #1 pick, bro.
As for Glasser - I'm on it! I haven't heard the albums by CEO, Deerhunter, Ariel Pink, or Phosphorescent, but I'm interested in all but the latter. As far as Tallest Man - I heard a few tracks a while back and dismissed it as something for which I didn't have time, but since you're into it and my friend Maz is a huge fan, it looks like I'd better take a listen. I could be missing out on my next favorite artist :)
Thanks for the awesome list!
Robin! Firstly, this is inarguably the most epic comment our blog has ever seen. Thanks for the most excellent feedback, dude!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to another music convo soon (y'all in V-town for the holidays?) & we can't wait to see the 2010 Power List!
Pete
No. Except for No Age.
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