Here we go then - my Top Ten albums of 2010 in their own little blog for the first time, hindered somewhat by my marathon distraction that was the Top Fifty countdown of the Noughties that meant I didn't listen to anywhere near enough new music this year as I should have done. (New Year's resolution: listen to all of
Euan's recommendations!). So with that little proviso (and with the normal 'I didn't buy or hear enough of these to form an opinion but suspect they're not half bad' namely
Two Door Cinema Club, Kings of Leon, Bombay Bicycle Club, Laura Marling) on with the ten....As usual, comments and your own top however-many encouraged in this new bloggy-thing.
UK Chart high : Number 17 in September
Kicking things off, an album as mad as a box of frogs. Channeling XTC if they had been driven mad by constantly having to play their tunes at double the speed, Everything Everything have created a gem of a debut that really is rather unique. Sometimes that can go too far, and to be honest, after the twelfth track is finished you do feel a tad relieved. But that's partly because you really can't tell where the music or vocals are going to go next. Skittering beats, high-speed falsettos and off kilter melodies are the order of the day, but what makes it eminently listenable is the band's keen ear for a good pop hook. Case in point the frankly brilliant 'MY KZ, UR BF' (My keys, your boyfriend for those over 25) a clear contender for tune of the year and 'Photoshop Handsome' that deliberately sounds like a Sega game put to music. The lyrics too add to the feeling of disorientation - did they really say 'sitting with the parachutes on, but the airports gone' and 'I'm as giddy as a baby in a centrifuge' - well yes, they did. I also learned what a Faraday cage is! Who says bonkers music can't be educshonal.
Look at MY KZ, UR BF ; Schoolin' ; Suffragette Suffragette ; Photoshop Handsome
Number 9
'Acolyte' by Delphic
UK Chart high : Number 8 in January
Yes, Delphic were saddled with the 'hotly tipped' curse slash blessing at the start of the year but they were swiftly able to dampen expectations by actually releasing their record. That's not to say it's no good - far from it - just that they immediately quashed any hype about them being the next...(mainly New Order) by demonstrating what they actually DO sound like. And yes, they do come across like a New Order for the rave generation and 'Acolyte' mixes the best of prime-period New Order and, it has to be said, a little of the worst of bog-standard Electronic. Thankfully, the latter is only in smidgeon-sized quantities. With the release of 'Doubt' in January my list of Top Ten's was underway. 'Doubt' is just brilliant; a modern/80's hybrid but in a genuine rather than over-worked fashion with a video full of shimmering, beautiful people and odd special effects - and a keyboard line and guitar that acknowledges rather than rips off their Manchester forefathers. The instrumental title track is actually one of my favourites - anthemically building and building until it zips away without outstaying its welcome. Their videos also were excellent, though not doing much to dispel the New Order comparisons. Have I mentioned New Order enough in this review? Shall I stop?
Look at Doubt ; This Momentary ; Halcyon ; Counterpoint
Number 8
'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' by Band of Skulls
UK Chart high : Did Not Chart
Bit of a cheat this one, as it's from 2009, but I'm comforted that it passed most people by, not just me. The authentic sound of southern, gutsy, grungy rock n' roll... if by 'southern' you mean Southampton. 'I Know What I Am' wore me down from always being on the radio to be honest - and the fact that 'Death By Diamonds and Pearls' was put to great effect advertising Britain's Next Top Model on Living TV. No really, look
here! and see Elle MacPherson give new meaning to the words 'wooden clothes horse'.
Sometimes you don't need music to be over-intellectual, ironic or complex, you just want to jump up and down and punch the air. As well as the rockier singles, the album showed a just-as-effective tender side too (helped along by the male/female sharing of vocal duties - especially on 'Honest' and 'Impossible'). Lovely album artwork, awful album title and a lyrical callback to the 'Magpie' theme tune on 'Patterns'.
Look at Death By Diamonds and Pearls ; I Know What I Am ; Fires
Number 7
'Contra' by Vampire Weekend
UK Chart high : Number 3 in January
The first album purchase of year for me is always a treasured affair, those 12 months stretching out before you with the potential to be the best ever year for music (insert eventual disappointment here). It's also a clever ploy for acts to release their album in January too - all that Christmas money sloshing about and not much competition in the charts except for the greatest hits collections from bands who've only released two albums anyway. But I digress. I loved VW's debut (it did rather well in my
Top Fifty of the Noughties countdown) and was hopeful and intrigued by where they'd go next. 'Vampire Weekend' was so unique sounding that it could end up as a Strokes-sized albatross around their New York preppy necks. Well, somehow VW managed to release a follow-up that was both very similar and rather different from their first. There's still that sense of fun and sun present, although they do seem a bit more serious and grown-up here, so some of the exuberance is missing unfortunately as well the surprise of the new we had with 'VW'. I saw them live only a week after this release (on a cold, dark, wet February night) which I always dislike doing as you've not had time to really get to know the tunes. Consequently I was left a little underwhelmed and didn't go back to 'Contra' for a while. The singles saved them though. 'Cousins' had already proved to be a storming first single but 'Giving Up the Gun' (complete with star-studded cameo video) was genius. Cue going back to the album and loving it. They also came out with some of the best vids of the year. Bizarrely the most controversial-yet-innocent-looking album cover of the year too - currently subject of many a lawsuit over image rights.
Look at Cousins ; Giving Up the Gun ; Holiday ; White Sky
Number 6
'Odd Blood' by Yeasayer
UK Chart high : Number 64 in February
Outweirding MGMT and The Klaxons in the same year is certainly a fine achievement - both in music and video. 'Odd Blood' from New Yorkers Yeasayer starts off with 'The Children' sounding like it is literally being hammered into shape by an army of underground orcs whilst singing in falsetto and overseen by David Sylvian - and actually it probably was. But it's the singles 'Ambling Alp' and 'O.N.E.' that steal the show and deserve their own entry to be perfectly honest. The former channeling OMD (if that could be in a good way?) wrapping around its key line 'You must stick up for yourself son, nevermind what anybody else done'. The latter would certainly be a contender for single of the year if not for my self-imposed 'only one entry on both album and singles charts' rule - it's an absolutely sublimely weird slice of pure pop. Then you have 'Madder Red' with the best use of 'oooh-oooh-ooohs' since 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. But if these comparisons are....well...offputting the best way to think about 'Odd Blood' is that this album actually sounds like what people in 1980 thought music was going to sound like in 2010 - and gosh, that makes them right after all! A bit of caution over their videos though open-plan, office-based employee friends! Not least because Peaches Geldof makes an appearance.
Look at Ambling Alp ; Madder Red ; O.N.E.
Number 5
'Interpol' by Interpol
UK Chart high : Number 10 in September
'What?!?!? It's TTT - surely Interpol have to be number one?' you cry! Well, proving that I don't completely have a blind (deaf?) spot when it comes to this fabulous band that have grabbed the prime spot every time they've released anything, here they are at Five. Because of their previous highs it's hard to view 'Interpol' as being a success getting halfway up my chart and I can't help thinking that you'll only like this if you already love Interpol. But let's focus on the positives first. By any average band's standards it's still a fine effort. It also contains some cracking moments that I can see will really flesh out their sound live - notably the 'Interpol in catchy chorus shocker!' of 'Barricade' complete with out-in-the-sunshine video and the ironically titled, darkest song they've ever made 'Lights' with it's treble-meaning lyric 'That's why I hold you here' - sexually charged, tender or refering to a captor and prisoner? Then there's opener 'Success' with the foreboding 'I have two secrets, I've only told you one'...crikey! 'Interpol' is a much more stripped back, sparse, piano-led affair ('Try It on' and 'Summer Well' cases in point) with only a few killer riffs to satisfy the likes of me. It's often a bad sign when a band releases a self-titled album that isn't their debut - mainly because it's often after they've released a greatest hits the previous Christmas and have ran out of ideas. Interviews with the band, ominously following the departure of 'iconic' bassist Carlos D, heard them state how this was 'going back to basics' which frustrates me terribly considering their previous release 'Our Love to Admire' was so damn good because they'd done the exact opposite and expanded their sound. That said, admirable effort - but where to next boys?
Look at Lights ; Barricade ; Summer Well (live)
Number 4
'The Drums' by The Drums
UK Chart high : Number 16 in June
Another one of those pesky 'ones to watch' at the start of the year - The Drums were NME cover stars for the first week of 2010 where we were categorically told they were the perfect indie/pop group. Beneath all the hyperbole and the confident posturing though, there was a genuinely joyous band eager to get out. 'The Drums' is probably one of the poppiest, sunniest longplayers you'll find this side of Justin Bieber (just don't check round his other side). You might have been tempted to file under 'just annoying' if that was all they had to offer though. Instead, there's a depth to the album not immediately evident in the bouncy, pogoing singles - not least because you eventually realise you've been singing along to premature deaths of best friends and talk of life getting harder and harder and it all ending in tears - all set to an uptempo surfer beat obviously! In this way, and also in Jonathan Pierce's vocal stylings, there's more than a tiny hint of The Smiths, just crossed with a west coast vibe and delivered with Brooklyn attitude. Looking at things that way you can see what NME might have been talking about. To stop events getting too lightweight on the album The Drums also try their hand at a more mournful vibe (echoing 'Stand By Me' on 'Down By the Water' and in the beautifully plaintive 'I'll Never Drop My Sword'). Whatever their mood though there's an underlying message to just let go (either in happy abandon or to forget your troubles) exemplified in going home and giving everything away in 'I Need Fun in My Life' after reading that old adage 'the more you own the less freedom you have'. They don't hang about themselves either, rushing through the twelve tracks here in a little under 45 minutes, possibly conscious that if they hung about for much longer you'd want to slap 'em when you realise they're every bit as good as they say they are. You swine!
Look at Best Friend ; Lets Go Surfing ; Me and the Moon ; Forever and Ever Amen
Number 3
'High Violet' by The National
UK Chart high : Number 5 in May
Believe it or not, I can sometimes be a little stubborn. So people telling me that I should like something normally gets me digging my heels in. Case in point with The National. Thing is, I'm not even sure I'd actually heard any of their tunes before this year and their...what is it, fifth (?) long player. Then 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' came along and I realised how foolish I'd been. Maybe the change of attitude was partly because Matt's baritone now sounds so unique in today's falsetto/whiney heavy music scene and demands you take notice - voice of 2010 definitely. I can only put it down to an ability to make you think that he's confiding in you, telling you all his 'white collar angst' (as I saw it rather unfairly described as in one review) but not in a drunken pest in the bar sort of way - we've all been there. Or maybe it's because he sounds like Bryan Ferry and looks like my old A-level Geography teacher? 'High Violet' is spellbinding and could well be this year's entry that I've under-rated most, considering I'm still finding new bits to enjoy even now. Lyrically it's just plain intriguing 'we’ll play nuns versus priests until somebody wins' on 'Little Faith', 'I was afraid I'd eat your brains because I'm evil...I'm a confident liar, had my head in the oven so you'd know where I'll be' on 'Conversation 16' - dark, sardonic but with a touch of humour. Standout track to me, besides the singles, is 'England' which I interpret to be the tale of regret of an American about to get married yet pining for a lost love 'who must be somewhere in London'. You can just feel the hurt in both music and vocals - brilliant. I wasn't crying, it was dusty in the room. 'Terrible Love' is equally as emotive, complete with an army of pounding drums to...well, drum the point home. For a band over ten years old, they just might be my new favourites. And they have a mean brass section!
Look at Bloodbuzz Ohio ; Terrible Love ; England (live)
Number 2
'Total Life Forever' by Foals
UK Chart high : Number 8 in May
Foals already did quite well in the Noughties countdown so it was pretty obvious they stood a good chance of featuring on here with their follow-up as long as they didn't completely drop the ball. In some ways this is a typical second effort from a young band - a fuller sound, more instrumentation and less exhuberance. That said, the songs on here are far from typical. Stand out track is the stunning 'Spanish Sahara' which NME just recently named their track of the year and attempting to describe it really doesn't do it justice. Suffice to say it starts off quiet and slow and builds to a string and beat-laden climax, full of dark energy, mournful guitars and the refrain 'Forget the horror here, Leave it all down here, It's future rust, It´s future dust'. It's tempo change at 4:14 is probably my favourite second in music this year too, if you needed to know! Radiohead comparisons have started to be bandied about (not least because they're a quintet from Oxford) and this is certainly their very own 'Paranoid Android'. 'Black Gold' is another one of my favourites, following a similar pattern but with a rhythm to dance to and full of neat touches and little surprises. I managed to see them this year (thanks Chris!) and they truly lived up to their hype as an excellent live act, the atmosphere in the crowd absolutely charged, everyone really getting into it and abandoning the 'stand still and take photos with your phone' position that seems so common now. For that alone they deserve to be Number Two. It's not all shifting tempos and bleak lyrics though - 'This Orient' is the brightest and catchiest they've been, evoking a Far Eastern love affair through the plucking strings. Perhaps the Radiohead comparisons are premature, but I do have exactly the same anticipation for wondering what they'll do next. 'Total Life Forever' has enabled them to leave their limiting math-rock tag far behind and opened up massive possibilities.
Look at Spanish Sahara ; This Orient ; 2 Trees ; Miami ; Blue Blood
Number 1
'The Suburbs' by The Arcade Fire
UK Chart high : Number 1 in August
Let's get one thing straight, any end of 2010 chart that doesn't have 'The Suburbs' at its summit has been written by monkeys or people wilfully trying to not do the obvious (Hello NME!). Quite simply, it's a modern classic, one of the Great American Albums and I can't heap enough praise on it (though I will try). What's even more stunning is the level of quality maintained over 16 tracks, practically a double album. Starting off with the title track, reminiscent of a '30's US piano singalong and perfectly reflected in Spike Jonze's video, you're straight in to this feeling of misty nostalgia for a childhood in a place you couldn't wait to escape from and yet now pine for. Those mixed feelings play throughout the album, this isn't a scathing attack on the suburban way of life - that would be too easy for them. The differents moods and feelings are also reflected in the variety of music styles on show, all Arcade Fire but with a slightly different twist. We then launch into 'Ready to Start', a juggernaut of a track that hurtles along, false starts and then careers off again. Its video was shot at Hackney Empire, a gig I was at which probably ranks as the best ever gig I've been to, just a few rows away from a band in rejuvenated, cracking form. The side of my head (0:28) and forehead (0:41) are now signing autographs. They crank up the energy further with 'Empty Room' and 'Month of May' echoing Gary Numan and The Ramones respectively. 'City with No Children' directly addresses the sanitisation of where and how we live in 'a garden left for ruin by a millionaire inside of a private prison' over a fantastic guitar progression. The following tracks are the first of two pairs (Half Light I and II and later Sprawl I and II - something they're really fond of doing). In Halflight I, there's a real sense of regret of over-protecting our children, with Regine singing sadly 'our heads are just houses without enough windows, you say you hear human voices, but they're only echoes' and in II the regret is reflected by Win revisiting the place he grew up in and thinking 'now that you have left me here, I will never raise my voice' - as if looking back at the perspective shown in the previous song. It's 'Suburban War' though that is the album's critical point, where childhood is shattered by emerging adulthood, told from the perspective of music which 'divides us into tribes'. Never has a haircut been given so much emotional weight - it's practically heartbraking - and when the booming drums kick in halfway through you know the innocence has left the suburbs altogether - it's a really remarkable song. I've gone on enough, but I have to mention the other highlight - 'Sprawl II''s joyous Regine-fronted electronic tour-de-force - the firecracker of rebellion felt in every syllable of the line 'they heard me singing and they told me to stop, quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock'. We should be very, very thankful that they chose not to.
Look at Ready to Start ; The Suburbs ; We Use to Wait ; Sprawl II (live)
Listen to the Top Ten on Spotify - three hours of splendid music - apart from The Arcade Fire - you're just going to have to buy that one!
