Thursday, December 16, 2010

Top 20 Albums of 2010






















Download: HERE


#20 Cloud Nothings - Turning On





Cleveland kid somehow made garage rock feel heartfelt, without losing a single, care-free riff.










#19 Gorillaz - Plastic Beach




Damon Albarn finally branched out beyond quirky hip-hop, and went places (Little Dragon tracks especially) where no one thought he could go.







#18 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs





Arcade Fire continued to let down their detractors.









#17 LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening






James Murphy proved that he is having more fun than anyone else.









#16 Hot Chip - One Life Stand





Indie geeks quit beating around the bush and finally make an all-out dance club record.








#15 Twin Shadow - Forget






The 80's just keep getting better and better.









#14 Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record






Broken Social Scene have become the Harlem Globetrotters of indie music: constantly changing cast; continually performing cool, new tricks.





#13 Vampire Weekend - Contra






Like a vintage cardigan: even with all the hype, Vampire Weekend continue to feel great.








#12 Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts





Did anything rock harder this year? Wait, what? Sorry, I couldn't hear you because my ears are still bleeding.








#11 The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme





Much to the dismay of Cinemax, The Radio Dept. produced the best softcore of the year.








#10 Sleigh Bells - Treats




Hubris can take you far, and nonstop guitar shredding can take you all the way. This was the most confident album of the year (yes, even more than Kanye), and also the most bad-ass. Like M.I.A. before her, Alexis Krauss shows what it sounds like to be a woman that men look up to.




#9 Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy




If this wasn't the most pre-hyped album in history, this album could have easily been #1 on this list. But the bar was set so high, by critics and by Kanye, himself, that no one could live up to it. But, damn, Kanye sure did get close. Infinitely beautiful and quotable, this is why there are still hip-hop albums, and not just mixtapes. This isn't just a collection of songs, it is a zeitgeist; complete with Rihanna, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and . . . Bon Iver? Who else could have done this (would have done this?) other than Kanye?

#8 Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils




The reason people make fun of dudes that are "chill" is because everyone would be "chill" if they could. Rare is the person that could not forgo some of his daily stresses. This is why people that are truly comfortable with themselves are disconcerting to us normal folk, who are sane enough to have stuff to worry about. Beach Fossils may have worries in their personal lives, but as a band they have none. Each jangly guitar strum sounds right. The persistent drumming sounds effortless. I'm not saying they figured out the meaning of life like Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko. What I am saying, is that it sure sounds like they did.


#7 Maps & Atlases - Perch Patchwork




Who knew math rock could be so catchy? Why has no one done this before? Maybe this is so revolutionary because no band has appreciated people as much as guitars before. Rock music has certainly seen extremes on both ends: artists that love themselves, or their abilities, or are incapable of doing either.

Perch Patchwork reads like a letter to a long-distance girlfriend, despite the fact that their live show leaves the band barely looking up from their guitars. But, perhaps, this is not so difficult to reconcile. Maps & Atlases are just some guys that speak more clearly when there are guitars playing in the background.


#6 Delorean - Subiza




Spanish beats were very fashionable this year. So fashionable, in fact, that Delorean's balearic affinity appeared to be no different than any American artist, despite their actual Spanish origin. It is not that Delorean blended into the crowd. Actually, it was quite the opposite. But it wasn't their beats that made them stick out. They used their native rhythms naturally, without accentuation; no gimmicks. Instead, the hooks (there are many) lie in Subiza's warm, swirling pop. If there was a better summer album, I didn't hear it. And like a hot, August wind, Subiza felt overpowering.


#5 Beach House - Teen Dream






Beach House provide a very specific feeling for the listener. It is the same feeling you get when you walk into some dusty, old room that does not give you the creeps. Maybe it's your attic, or basement, or an old church; wherever it is, the history gives you comfort instead of the creeps. Victoria Legrand's voice is timeless, in the agnostic sense of the word. Her voice, and all of Beach House's dusty warmth, belong to neither this century, nor the last.


#4 Drake - Thank Me Later






We live in a post-Kanye world, where hip-hop artists rap as often about their most recent breakup as they do about gang life. It isn't revolutionary when Drake raps about his parent's divorce or his crush on Nikki Minaj, but it is affecting. That is because of the way Drake discusses his personal life. He talks about these things poetically, but still in a way that you feel like he's giving it to you straight. I've never met Drake, and I doubt I ever will, but I have a good idea of what he was feeling when he made Thank Me Later.


#3 How To Dress Well - Love Remains






This album feels like ghosts falling in love. Love Remains is a haunting rehash of early '90s R&B. The vocals are distant, the production is scratchy; the kind of cryptic remains a ghost would leave behind. HTDW seem perfect for a collaboration with Burial (and certain for a mashup). What is so mesmerizing about this new "ghost-wave?" Is it strangely familiar while disconcerting, like a heavy deja vu? Or is there just something inherently romantic about life after death?


#2 Local Natives - Gorilla Manor






At some point, flannel shirts will retreat back to military surplus stores, and hipsters will stop being young. They will leave behind their music, like the hippies did before them, and it will stand as a reminder of the temporal culture it reflected. The whole "he's/she's a hipster," "I hate hipsters," "what are hipsters?" questions are still too fresh to fully understand.

Local natives are full-blown hipsters. They are from Silver Lake, L.A. They are drenched in ironic facial hair, painfully tight pants, and hilariously colorful, retro clothing. All of this helps to identify them, pick them out of a crowd (or rather, helps them blend in). But if this were any other time, they would still be making amazing music. Like how Adrian Peterson inexplicably runs through defenses each year, they are just that talented.

Gorilla Manor sounds like indie rock. Their sound is too "now" to sound much like anything else. But it is not uniqueness of their sound that made this album so great, nor is it how current it feels. It is just that they are so good. They all sing well, they all play multiple instruments--well--and they are all very creative. The fact that they are huge hipsters just means that this album came out in 2010.


#1 The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt





Why can't this guy be our Bob Dylan? Why are his Bob Dylan comparisons seen as overly simplistic? Is it because they both have a raspy voice? Is he not a good enough storyteller? Are lyrics like "Oh I was sent to find the lonesome place. Where I was lost but left to trace. By Carving riddles on the lonesome vine." not good enough to be the best singer/songwriter of our generation? Is it because he is Swedish?

The Wild Hunt is not much more than the voice of Kristian Matsson and his guitar. And that is shocking to me. Never do I hear this album and believe that one, single person could have made this all by himself. Matsson is a master. He may have a voice too unique, too unpolished in a time of auto-tuners and Katy Perrys to ever have wide appeal. But this does not make him any less influential on those souls who let him in. His story-telling is too crystal clear, his guitar-plucking too piercing, his voice too ingratiating for him to not be who I think he is.

Awe is what people use to fill in the blanks when they do not understand the beauty around them. Maybe there is an algorithm somewhere that explains why this album sounds like something that will sustain, and maybe someday it will be revealed. In the meantime, I cannot help but be fascinated at how The Tallest Man On Earth have made simple folk sound new. The Wild Hunt is a gem to keep beside yourself like a good friend; a friend you admire.





Monday, December 6, 2010

Top 20 Songs of 2010



















Download: Here


*This list does not take into account those songs which belong on any album in next week's show: Top 20 Albums of 2010.



#20 Morning Benders - "Cold War (Nice Clean Fight)"

Wins the award for the most efficient use of 1 minute and 44 seconds during the past calendar year. The Benders put out an indie-pop gem in an age when they are supposed to be extinct.



#19 The Roots - "Dear God 2.0"




A most memorable track from the most complete album yet by the greatest hip hop band of all time.








#18 Perfume Genius - "Mr. Peterson"




The most affecting--and haunting--piece of songwriting of 2010.








#17 The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio"



Ohio's sweethearts make a love song for their home state, yet everyone swoons.







#16 Here We Go Magic - "Collector"


A sprawling masterpiece with more going on than perezhilton.com.






#15 S. Care
y - "We Fell"





Wisconsin continues to dominate falsetto.







#14 Caribou - "O
dessa"




Another musical collage from the genius, Daniel Snaith.





#13 Gold Panda - "Snow & Taxis"



The best trance song of the year. It will make you forget where you are, and be happy being nowhere at all.





#12 Marvelous Darlings - "I'll Stand By Her"


In a year when Rock & Roll was largely absent, Marvelous Darlings reminded us that it will always be waiting for us to find it again.





#11 Max Richter - "Infra 5"



Continuing the art of composition with fine-tuned German precision.






#10 Aloe Blacc - "I Need a Dollar"




During a soul revival, one artist clearly floated to the top.









#9 Beat Connection - "In the Water"





These Pac-Westerners took Spanish-infused dance beats to create the catchiest song of the year.





#8 Wild Nothing - "Chinatown"




The 80's live on, and they look dreamy.






#7 Baths - "Maximalist"





The most cerebral moment of 2010. If you decide to listen to this track with headphones, please be sitting down.









#6 Gauntlet Hair - "I Was Thinking"


The exciting new band of the year. Completely raw; and have already made a statement with just three songs released to their name.




#5 El Guincho - "Bombay"
Takes you over like a good punch in the face. "Bombay" is fueled by a rhythm that makes you wish you could dance better, and a beat that knows you could. Balearic is being mimicked around the world, but El Guincho put out the real thing.



#4 Sun Airway - "Oh, Naoko"

As shiny as pure hope. This was the closest any song got to perfect this past year. It glitters and sparks from beginning to end. And like a Salinger story, it goes exactly where you need it to, exactly when you need it to.




#3 Foxes In Fiction - "15 Atvian (Song for Erika)"

This song was written for me. Well no, it wasn't, but it sure feels that way. And I bet I'm not the only one.
Straight from his bedroom to yours, "15 Atvian" is as awkwardly personal, and instantly rewarding, as 2010's favorite new game: chatroulette.




#2 Tanlines - "Real Life"
In an age when everyone feels like they "understand" dance music, some pros decided to show everyone how it's really done. Crafted in Brooklyn in a year when that really means something, "Real Life" is as creative as it is formulated.

This is the kind of song that makes you want to roll your windows down even if it's only twenty degrees outside; these beats are that hot. This song will never, ever become stale. I will dance to this song when I am 85 years old. And when I attempt to do "The Dougie" in my elastic-banded, beige leisure suit, I will laugh as I hear the present twenty-somethings swear they had heard this one before on satellite radio.


#1 Shout Out Louds - "Walls"
We are in a time when the world is truly at flux. Power is shifting all over the world, be it political, economic, or environmental. It isn't too general to say that the world is in more of an identity crisis than usual.

This song captures that feeling of when you don't want to go to sleep because you finally figured out how the world works. At long last, things are going your way, and you know how you got here. But in that fleeting moment, you are aware of how ephemeral your newfound understanding of life really is. Tomorrow will bring change, and you'll have to relearn how to put your pants back on.

Shout Out Louds aren't the greatest band in the world. They aren't even the best band in Sweden. But for three solid minutes on "Work," they proved they could make a showstopper as good as anybody. For the most part, "Work" is a straightforward rock song. But the SOLs insert a piano line that will fill your dreams, and a closing climax that feels more well-earned and honest than anything else released this past year.

The world will continue to change. But we all have those moments when it feels like everything stands still, even if just for a few seconds. We all have our brief victories against time. "Work" closes with a full minute finale of fist-pumping, glorious tragedy that ends before you get to say goodbye. I first heard this song almost a year ago, and I still wish it had never ended.