it`s the most, wonderful time, of the yeaaar (lists and reviews season!)
Already ran through the whole preamble in my previous post, so look there for an explanation of how my Top 25 works (otherwise: Hey, here's 25 albums I thought were pretty great this year!).
25 | Delorean | Subiza | The album that knocked Band Of Horses out of this last spot is a cheery and upbeat musical portrayal of a night out in the Mediterranean.
Highlights: "Real Love", "Stay Close"
24 | James Blake | Various EP's | Probably the closest I'll come to dubstep, this guy takes everything that makes dubstep good (at least to Londoners) and mixes in snippets of R&B as well as his own voice to craft haunting flashes of warbling beats and eerie vocals. "I Only Know (What I Know Now)" may be one of the songs of the year, off his Klavierwerke EP.
Highlights: "I Only Know (What I Know Now)", "CMYK"
23 | Gayngs | Relayted | Have you ever wondered what would happen if a bunch of guys from the Midwest got together to craft an homage to the cheesiest beats/songs/musical ideas of the late 80's and early 90's? This is what. Call it a guilty pleasure, but also call it one of the most interesting and unassumingly engaging albums of the year (neat feature, if not overdone: the end of each song has around a 30-second lead-in to the next). The kitsch is all over this one, but Gayngs know it sounds that bad - which doesn't really allow us much room to make fun of them. So just appreciate the musicianship -- as well as the great Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) cameos.
Highlights: "Faded High", "The Gaudy Side Of Town"
22 | Free Energy | Stuck On Nothing | Pop-rock like you probably haven't heard in years, these guys are what mainstream radio sorely needs right now, and which alarmingly few American bands are offering (instead acts like Down With Webster and Bruno Mars are dominating the airwaves). A lot of it is sugar-sweet, with none of the comedown usually associated with a treat like that; it's an earnest effort by a group of kids who know how to craft catchy, timeless tunes.
Highlights: "Bang Pop", "Young Hearts", "Dream City", "Free Energy", "All I Know"
21 | Crystal Castles | Crystal Castles II | It doesn't have the immediate appeal of their debut album, but II makes up for that with more depth, and a greater reliance on Alice Glass' always-haunting vocals. There's not as many party-starters on here, but I guess it shows a more polished and balanced side of Crystal Castles. Meh, dunno if you can notice, but maybe I ranked it too high; either that, or it's just not outdoing Crystal Castles I. Whatever. Oh, but just remembered, the version of "Not In Love" featuring Robert Smith (of The Cure) isn't on this album, so it's missing a little something. Definitely check that song out, great addition with his stellar vocals over an otherwise solid track. Yes I write in stream-of-consciousness.
Highlights: "Empathy", "Baptism", "Celestica"
20 | Black Keys | Brothers | Would probably rank higher if I'd had more time to listen to it, but since it's only been with me for a couple weeks now, this is a decent position. My sister opined that it's an album that keeps its pacing throughout, which is definitely true. It's also one of the few collections of music that makes me appreciate blues-rock, in a way The White Stripes never could (because even they don't get nearly this bluesy). The instrumentation is great, the song concepts are well-done, and there's a few standout tracks to be enjoyed on repeat. "Tighten Up" especially makes its mark with the transition halfway through between a healthy dose of soul, to something more rocking and slightly darker, but no less engaging.
Highlights: "Tighten Up", "Next Girl"
19 | PS I Love You | Meet Me At The Muster Station | Possibly the most annoying album name on this list, even though the group name gets an A+. I was missing my Japandroids this year, with not much other than singles coming out from that duo, so these Kingston boys did well to fill that void. Lo-fi has its rightful place in rock (not pop, which has been a year-long peeve of mine due to "chillwave"), and PS I Love You does a great job with that style: quick-hit headbangers with echoes of deeper feelings filling the space between the endlessly banging drums and effects-pedaled guitar.
Highlights: "2012", "Facelove", "Get Over"
18 | Diamond Rings | Special Affections | Coincidentally, this guy and PS I Love You split an EP in the summer of 2009, and they're here side-by-side as well. John O'Regan's alter ego, Diamond Rings, manages to craft one of the best synth-pop albums of the year, while at the same time drawing on his fantastic songwriting to produce some of the most memorable lines of the past 12 months. There's probably not a weak song on this album, and it has the added perk of being completely gender neutral: every song could be sung by a girl for a guy, guy for girl, guy for guy, or girl for girl. An album that really has to be listened to for the clever lyrics and impeccable backing tracks.
Highlights: "All Yr Songs", "Wait & See", "Something Else"
17 | The National | High Violet | Yes, I ranked this one probably 10 spots lower than just about everybody else doing their year-end lists. It's great, don't get me wrong, but it's not totally my cup of tea...though I have to say the album would go over well alongside a spot of that and some biscuits. It's not coincidence that one of the best songs on here is called "England"; The National are a regal band, and no more so than on this album. Even their stadium-big anthems maintain a sense of propriety, made all the more imposing by Matt Berninger's always-impressive baritone. Unfortunately, the downtempo nature of a lot of the music on High Violet didn't garner many replays with me. I can still more than appreciate the talent and skill The National possess however. So 17 on paper, 17 in my head, but probably a 7 in my heart.
Highlights: "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Afraid Of Everyone", "Lemonworld", "England"
16 | Wolf Parade | Expo 86 | I swear I started them off in my Top 10, probably even Top 5. But then I thought about it, kept re-doing my lists, and they had to drop down to here. There are enjoyable songs, but nothing possessing the immediacy or shout-out-loud lyrics of their exceptional Apologies To The Queen Mary (think "Grounds For Divorce", "Shine A Light", "This Heart's On Fire"). There's still standouts, but they all seem to drag their feet a bit, and in the end they still come out a bit too dark to become timeless indie anthems (something entirely within Wolf Parade's wheelhouse, and both Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug individually, considering Handsome Fur and Sunset Rubdown's work). As I've said before, this album leaves them mired in a decent middleground between ATTQM and follow-up At Mount Zoomer...but short of what they're truly capable of.
Highlights: "Ghost Pressure", "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)", "In The Direction Of The Moon"
15 | The Besnard Lakes | ...Are The Roaring Night | Another group that got bumped down as I wrote and rewrote my Top 25. It's a great album (I still think it should have won the Polaris Prize), and works amazingly as a whole. Individually, the songs are hard to get in to without the context of the rest of the album, one highlight aside. But where four of the songs are split into "Pt. I" and "Pt. II", I think you catch my drift. The harmonies and space-rock (a term I've never really liked for this genre, but which seems oddly appropriate) are maxed out here, and it's easy to get lost listening to the album in its entirety. That's more of a testament to the complexity and enjoyability of the work than anything else though.
Highlights: "Albatross", "Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent, Pt. I and II"
14 | Yukon Blonde | Yukon Blonde | From deep rock orchestras emanating from the throes of space, to this album of down-to-earth rock done right. Yukon Blonde just kills it, with some of my favorite guitar solos and lyrics of the year (yeah, I guess it was a good year for lyrics...not so much for solos though?). If you look at it one way, this is simply an album of songs from a guy to a girl, set to artfully executed drum hits and guitar plucking. That would ignore how it all meshes together so well though; I can throw this thing on and listen to it all the way through and not feel a hint of boredom. Yukon Blonde manages to keep you locked in in the same way as The Besnard Lakes, but a manner just different enough that it really makes you marvel at the various veins of rock that are out there to enjoy. For good measure, they even throw in some Fleet Foxes-like harmonies on a few tracks.
Highlights: "Brides Song", "Rather Be With You", "Babies Don't Like Blue Anymore", "Wind Blows"
13 | Javelin | No Mas | The first of three darkhorses on this list, this is one of the albums I'm truly thankful for discovering this year (as usual, courtesy of Pitchfork). It's 15 tracks of expertly mixed samples and snippets, but instead of party-accentuating bangers from the likes of Girl Talk, it's a collection of some of the most chill beats (and even funny lyrics) I've had the pleasure of throwing on this annum. So much on here makes you think you've heard the song before, or at least a part of it. Javelin's cut-and-paste style has a lot to do with that, but you still can't shake the familiarity of a lot of the tunes, and it's in the most comforting way - not the nagging kind where you're killing yourself to come up with the name of that five-second rip. I'm just disappointed more people and lists didn't pick up on this gem; the 13 ranking is modest: it deserves to be higher. For hilarity's sake, the vibes conjured up listening to this album range from Hercules strutting down the street in Anicent Greece, to The Chipmunks hitting on a girl in a disco. I'm not kidding.
Highlights: "Vibrationz", "Intervales Theme", "Susie Cues", "Shadow Heart"
12 | Holy F**k | Latin | I'm lumping +Ghost in with this too, the companion EP, because there's not much theme variation between the two works. All that matters though is that they work. I'm a big fan of instrumentals and electronic music as it is, so it's easy for a group like this to please me; some tracks venture to blow me out of the water however, in the same way "Lovely Allen" by these guys did a couple years ago. Holy F tries and succeeds at what they do best, which is make the best beats from the simplest things around them - from Casio keyboards to unaltered drumsets. These are two albums that keep pulsing and throbbing, leaving you wanting more, but knowing there's still enough to tide you over (yes, it's "tide"...I looked it up).
Highlights: "Stay Lit", "Latin", "Jungles", "SHT MTN"
11 | Land Of Talk | Cloak And Cipher | This one flew under the radar for me way too long, even though I've had it for a while. It was pretty prominent around the time I broke up with my ex, and the sombre tone of a lot of the tracks didn't mesh too well with the difficulty the breakup brought emotionally. Anyways, I digress, because this is an expertly done album. The songs are long and enjoyable in a micro-Broken Social Scene way; much was made of them being tourmates and having it rub off on Land Of Talk, but I'm not totally buying that, because they don't go for the grandeur BSS so masterfully exhibit. This is like Broken Social Scene-lite if anything; one main vocalist, chugging guitars and drums, and just the right amount of variation that the good songs on here are really good in their own different ways. That's the problem with some of the albums ranked lower than this one: the good songs on those albums are almost undifferentiated from the lesser tunes, which makes it tough to pick standouts - when everything is just solid, can anything really be that much greater than everything else? Land Of Talk answers that question by avoiding it altogether, and crafting a great collection of midtempo crooners.
Highlights: "Blangee Blee", "Quarry Hymns", "Swift Coin"
10 | The New Pornographers | Together | My eyes lit up glancing at this one as the next entry on the list. That's the problem with this album: I kind of forgot about it during the year, the same way I did just doing this list. But as I usually do, I throw on each album as I write its review, and my eyes lit up realizing I'd get to listen to Together for a bit. Now, what I'm getting at is that The New Pornos had the bad luck to release this album the same week as another Canadian juggernaut ranked higher up on this list - a group receiving a fair bit more spins from me the last half of this year. That takes nothing away from this great compilation; I wouldn't call it their best as some have, but I think it lived up to expectations for the most part. There's the old-standard ballads, the AC Newman-led upbeat tunes, the requisite wordy and lamenting Dan Bejar tracks, and the uplifting Neko Case anthems. It's status-quo for a band that does this kind of thing with ease; I don't really think they can or even should get out of their comfort zone when they team up for New Pornos records like this.
Highlights: "Crash Years", "Up In The Dark", "Valkyrie In The Roller Disco", "We End Up Together"
09 | LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening | Yes, I just ranked a Top 3 album at number 9. I can't seriously contend that it's any better than Sound Of Silver, and yes I'm going to measure it by that exemplary 2007 effort. Heck, I'll even put it up against their earlier work. Everyone has waxed eloquent about how James Murphy has found his voice and his touch, and while I agree wholeheartedly that he has on about half the songs here, the other half are seriously lacking for my tastes (and I love LCD Soundsystem). The anthems and slow-burners on This Is Happening are done impeccably, and certainly show off the maturity Murphy has attained these last few years, but: what the hell happened to his party-starting abilities? I mean, I know the guy is getting old, but you can't put out more than one banger on this album? The highlights are real highlights -- unfortunately, the rest of the songs don't deliver like their older material did. It's not a case of selling out, it's not a case of going in a different direction...it just seems like James and his usually-impeccable rhythm section didn't bring it on half the songs on the album. So that's why it's at number 9.
Highlights: "All I Want", "Dance Yrslef Clean", "I Can Change"
08 | Kanye West | My Beautifual Dark Twisted Fantasy | Heretofore known as MBDTF, it's probably also known as the be-all-end-all of albums this year, a perfect 10 from Pitchfork needed to drive home that idea. I love the fact that Kanye returned to his College Dropout roots, focusing on his legendary production touch and letting a litany of guests provide a good portion of the vocals. Even on the songs where he's the primary vocalist, he's matured enough from 808's & Heartbreak's (autotuned) singing that he can more than hold his own the handful of tracks he's featured in. As mentioned, the rest of them are more than adequately buoyed by guests ranging from Rihanna (good), Fergie (horrible), Elton John (surprising), and Jay-Z (honestly: disappointing on the whole); a smidgen of the kind of guest list that was sorely lacking on his last couple efforts. The reason I can't rank it any higher than this is the same as the reason LCD got ranked so low: it didn't consistently blow me away. If this got a 10, and College Dropout didn't, I can still listen to College Dropout almost the entire way through. MBDTW on the other hand, has too many songs I'll skip through, especially for a 13-song album. One thing has to be mentioned before I finish though: Nicki Minaj's verse on "Monster". My sweet Lord Jesus did she ever blow everyone out of the water on that song.
Highlights: "Power", "Monster", "Runaway", "Lost In The World", "Gorgeous"
07 | Tokyo Police Club | Champ | Case in point: this album delivers throughout, deserving of its ranking above Kanye. It's good in the same way Land Of Talk's Cloak And Cipher is: consistent themes, great songs throughout, and the really great ones stand out enough from the just-great ones that the album works perfectly as a whole. Tokyo Police Club do a great job here of keeping 90% of the songs uptempo and dynamic, something I thought was missing from previous release Elephant Shell -- for every good song on that earlier album, there's two on Champ. Either way, I'll keep this short: great album; the only reason it's not higher is because it's not particularly awe-inspiring or epic music.
Highlights: "Breakneck Speed", "Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)", "End Of A Spark", "Bambi"
06 | Caribou | Swim | I like how these are leading in to each other, because Swim truly is epic and awe-inspiring. A few tracks from the album had me in a trance-like state when I saw Dan Snaith and company live (two drumsets and all!), as they do an amazing job of improving on the album material with live instrumentation and dream-like meanderings. I guess between the title and interviews with Snaith, he wanted an album that was very fluid dance and electronic, and he easily succeeds. The beats drip with sound, the vocals are smooth and slippery, and the whole thing seems to be under a layer of heavy water, if not a thin layer of ice. There's a coldness to Swim that's not there on his other albums (why would there be, on something titled The Milk Of Human Kindness?), but it succeeds, in part because there's a common thread of fragility and ethereal feeling that doesn't allow us to get too close to Snaith or his subject matter. The instruments do a good-enough job of conveying anything Dan doesn't emote on his own, as they slither and clink their way in and around his oft-haunting vocals. By the end of the whole thing, you don't know where Snaith stands with his love(rs), but you at least know he's not standing on dry land.
Highlights: "Odessa", "Jamelia", "Lalibela"...various other names that would sound great attached to a Russian hooker
05 | Future Islands | In Evening Air | Darkhorse number two. What I love about this Baltimore group, affiliated with Dan Deacon, is that they take what could be the latter's electronic instrumentals, and infuse them with heartfelt lyrics and vocals, in a way Deacon's well-intentioned squelches and beeps never could. The singer wavers between an out-of-place English accent and a deep and gravel-y baritone, even on the same song at some points. The tracks are all distinct and varied in their delivery, and it's so out-of-the-ordinary on the whole that I can't help being enthralled every time I listen to a song from In Evening Air. It's a rare gem that works very well front-to-back, but also when you pull bits and pieces from it to listen to casually. The subject matter is dark enough, but the keyboards are endlessly pacing the tunes, allowing your emotions to keep a comfortable distance from the heavy material. On that note, there's a veritable sadness throughout this album, one resulting from loss, and also from fearing impending loss. The greatest highlight however is the singer's voice - I can't say I've ever heard anything like it, and as eccentric as he gets, he makes this album. I can't say much more than it wholeheartedly deserves this Top 5 ranking.
Highlights: "Walking Through That Door", "Long Fight", "Inch Of Dust", "Swept Inside"
04 | Rah Rah | Breaking Hearts | I can't really call these guys darkhorses, as they've been decorated with a couple iTunes awards that would make any upcoming band blush for their good fortune. I just had to double-check that this album came out this year, because where the hell have I been?! I heard their songs on CBC Radio3 a handful of times, and was instantly intrigued. Once I won a $50 gift certificate to iTunes from said radio station, I bought Breaking Hearts, and it's been my most-played album in the two months or so since then. It's simply expertly crafted, supremely earnest, and innovative pop music, with just the right twinge of Canadian rock to it. Top to bottom, the album deftly navigates the highs and lows of love and life through near-perfect sequencing (putting two of your best songs at the start is my only qualm with it) and a great balance between rockers and ballads. The main vocalists have an endlessly endearing interplay between guy and girl, their call-and-response working to perfection on a tune like "Ghosts", definitely the standout here. It's like they mix the hard-rocking attitude of Ladyhawk with the pop sensibility of The Ghost Is Dancing, while placing their own unique stamp on the outcome. They sound like everything pop music should be.
Highlights: "Ghosts", "Arrows", "Salty Cites", "Breaking Hearts"
03 | Arcade Fire | The Suburbs | I wrestled with this one for a while, starting it off at number 10 and moving it up in subsequent lists. That's a microcosm of how I've felt towards this album since it came out: I was probably unimpressed at the start, and it's seemingly grown on me ever since. After repeated listens driving back and forth to surfing over the summer, I came to realize (and vocalize to my friend) that The Suburbs is a truly and thoroughly good album, front to back, top to bottom. That's saying something for a 15-song work, because it's always easier to trim the fat and put out a solid 10-song effort. While there are indeed five songs on here I could probably do without, I know there are others who hold those as favorites and couldn't do without them. This is the effort I've been needing from Arcade Fire, who I honestly don't hold as dear as many other Canadians, or indie music fans in general. Their forays into synth-pop and increased use of Regine Chassagne's beautiful voice (the combination of the two could hang with Robyn or any European pop songstress) certainly put The Suburbs over that edge for me, as did many of the more uptempo selections from the album. All in all, epic songs about a not-so-epic life spent in the 'burbs.
Highlights: "Ready To Start", "Half Light II: No Celebration", "Sprawl II: Mountains Beyond Mountains", "Empty Room"
02 | CFCF | Continent | If you're thinking "who/what the fuck?" I'd totally understand. This is darkhorse number three, a kid from Montreal in his early 20's who seems to have found the auditory magic required to turn Italodisco into relevant, contemporary, and enjoyable music. On an almost-entirely instrumental album that can be alternately useful for study sessions, dinnertime music, reading, low-key parties, and even writing essays, I definitely found the most versatile and thoroughly graceful album of the year. I first came to know about CFCF through his artful remix of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.", but I would have never expected an album of this magnitude from the still-young Canadian mixmaster. It's so unlike anything else I've heard in a long time: it's not the bangers of the aforementioned Frenchmen, it's not the downtempo croonings of Junior Boys (though they would absolutely murder some of these tracks had they considered adding vocals to them), and it's so far removed from any crunchy electronic that it doesn't even merit a comparison. At an hour long (first time reference I've made, been trying hard to avoid them), it's a longer and very rewarding listen, but it's the least you can do to support such astounding homegrown talent.
Highlights: "Raining Patterns", "Monolith", "Invitation To Love", "You Hear Colours"
01 | Broken Social Scene | Forgiveness Rock Record | I've spoken at various lengths about my unwavering love for these guys, so it should come as no surprise that I've ranked them number 1 for 2010. No other album was this complete, this chock-full of talent and superior execution, this wide-ranging, this artfully constructed, this well-sequenced -- this deserving of number 1. Where other BSS efforts following You Forgot It In People have been drubbed for being too lackadaisical and unfocused, the supergroup (there's really no other word for such a talented collection of individuals) really got their act together for this album, churning out 13 of the most solid tunes on one album this year ("Me And My Hand" expressly not included...whether or not it's an ode to masturbation is irrelevant; it's the most skippable and only boring song on the album). There's epics here in good measure, poignant social commentary, ethereal instrumentals, hard-rocking instrumentals, and vocal affectations so late 80's/early 90's that I get severe nostalgia for years I wasn't even alive for.
There's the requisite female-driven tracks with Emily Haines, Feist and Amy Millan starring, and Kevin Drew's dependable pained-like delivery, maybe this time for the mournful state of his fellow man and his many shortcomings. Just a solid, solid album throughout, and other than the one previously mentioned song, I would not change a single thing about it. The material surrounding the album has been similarly well-done, from the jarring fan-made video for "Meet Me In The Basement" to the cool-as-shit Starslinger remix of "Texico Bitches" (also a candidate for Best Song Title of 2010). There is unequivocally nothing lacking on the stellar record, and now it's just a matter of deciding whether or not 2010 albums qualify for Best Of The 2000's, or if Forgiveness Rock Record has to wait for a 2019 list to receive any higher accolades.
Highlights: The whole thing, but specifically "Romance To The Grave", "All To All", "World Sick", "Meet Me In The Basement"
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