Franz Nicolay’s Top 5 of 2010

Tim Fite – Under The Table Tennis

Simply the best protest record I’ve heard in I don’t know how long. Not that all records based on social and political anger are successful by any means, but sometimes I think it’s disheartening that given the sheer number of heartbreaking and infuriating things we’re faced with every day, that more musicians aren’t at least taking a stab at it. Maybe it’s that things like being uninsured, working three jobs, losing your house to foreclosure, income inequality, and the hustle of the blue-collar artist require more personal detail and anger than simple anti-war or anti-capitalist sloganeering. It’s an unclassifiable album: performance art and Public Enemy crossed with “Nebraska” and Crass. Do yourself a favor and get this record – it’s for free download on his website, so you can’t afford not to. As he puts it, “If you don’t support Tim Fite, who will?”

Sam Amidon - I See The Sign

Really, on my list of favorite records of 2010, there’s Sam Amidon & Tim Fite, then there’s everyone else. And this one is all about the arrangements: the word “tapestry” is the worst kind of music-critic cliche to talk about this sort of thing, but that’s really how this record feels, that is to say, plush, textured, and subtle. Over, under, and around Amidon’s simple folk presentation, Shahzad Ismaily and Nico Muhly hover, jab, cushion, caress, and disorient. It’s gorgeous and comforting. And, no small achievement, the rare successful deployment of flutes in a pop orchestration.

Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel

Leatherface is the kind of band where you don’t just like them, you REALLY LIKE THEM; and this was my Leatherface year – I’d been aware of them, of course, but for whatever reason it really struck something in me this summer and it was all I wanted to listen to. For all their crust-punk following, they’re unabashedly romantic (they, or singer Frankie Stubbs, have covered songs like “You Are My Sunshine” and “Moon River”) and melodic under the Husker Du fuzz and Tom Waits growl, and their first release under their own label and first in over five years brings back the virtuosic guitarist Dickie Hammond and gives them the majestic production their giant hooks always implied. It opens “God is dead/He’s definitely dead,” but the biggest sing-along retorts, “Is there a little bit of light? Is there a little bit of hope?”

Andy Prieboy – The Questionable Profits of Pure Novelty

Second singer in Wall of Voodoo, author of a musical based on the life of Axl Rose called “White Trash Wins Lotto,” describes his music as “Gilbert & Hooligan,” writes choral songs from the perspective of a gang of drunks looking for an eclair, and who points out that if you look around, it’s clear that “God wants the pricks and cunts up front.” How am I not going to love that?

Corey Dargel – Someone Will Take Care Of Me

This is a two-disc set from the post-classical splash-makers New Amsterdam Records, which compiles two of Dargel’s song cycles: “Removable Parts,” a collaboration with pianist Kathy Supove on the topic of voluntary amputation; and “Thirteen Near-Death Experiences,” an ironic meditation on hypochondria and pathology with the International Contemporary Ensemble. It’s the latter that interests me most, in which Dargel’s customary soundworld – electronic cross-rhythms, skittering piano obbligato, and deadpan despair that lies somewhere at the intersection of art song, early Magnetic Fields, and Momus – is re-scored for acoustic chamber ensemble and drum kit, and holds itself, coyly, just short of anthemic. (Or maybe I’m just into flutes this year?)

Honorable Mention:
Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood
Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
Dan Reeder – This New Century
The Extra Lens – Undercard
Truckstop Honeymoon – Homemade Haircut

These fall under the category of “reliably awesome” – artists who are good at what they do, doing what they do really well. One doesn’t get the thrill of discovery, but resist the urge to take them for granted! Who is a more steadily jaw-dropping lyricist than John Darnielle, paired in The Extra Lens with multi-instrumentalist Franklin Bruno (who for my money made the last few Mountain Goats records with his tasteful piano parts, and here gets to stretch out a little)? Frank Turner’s taken up the Billy Bragg banner of dead-sincere pairings of the personal and the political to heartwarming effect. Truckstop Honeymoon are a pair of New Orleans refugees to the midwest, documenting a life of marriage and family in a funny and honest way you don’t really see outside of classic country records. Dan Reeder is an American expat in Germany whose songs play like a straight-faced but dirty-minded Mississippi John Hurt. And with the Divine Comedy, every record is like a songwriting and arranging class taught by Bacharach, Brel, and Noel Coward.

Madison’s Top Musical Moments, Top 10 Albums, and Most Anticipated for 2011

Top Musical Moments of 2010:

Iceland Airwaves
It is very popular to drink until you vomit in Iceland. I saw this at many show and clubs. It was awesome.

The Postelles
Who are cute! The Postelles rocked it in a really killer venue that was like an old theater on a lake called http://idno.is/

Coachella 2010
Bobby Womack onstage with Gorillaz.
Wobblin’ hootin’ wailin’ and shufflin’ all over the place.
Anyone who can squeeze in several owwwwwws!!!!! and lookouts! for no reason onstage are #1 in my book.

Muse
The mid-performance change of pants was definitely a pretty chic move.
No one can say this band is not killer live, even if you’re not a Muse fan, they kill it  and Matthew Bellamy has rock star chops. He changes his pants mid set.

Flying Lotus
Makes me smile because he obviously loves what he is doing and it shows. He jams so hard in a nonchalant kind of way… Like, ‘oh this old beat, nah!’
http://www.flyinglotus.com

Phoenix
Sundown. Twilight. Magic hour. Spark up doobie. Perfect warm mellow vibe. When they started their set it was like a tribal call to the wild: “come hither. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the words.”

CMJ NYC 2010
Electric Tickle Machine
Mid-day, Mid-week upstairs at Pianos can be lame but not with this band bringing the fire. In particular the tambourine man, a tall drink of water — sassy as all get out! I see you shakin’ that ass.
http://www.electiricticklemachine.com

Top 10 Albums/EPs of 2010:

Twin Shadow – Forget
The Morning Benders – Big Echo
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Matt & Kim – Sidewalks
Jamie Lidell – Compass
Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Rihanna – Loud
Keegan Dewitt – Nothing Shows

Albums I Can’t Wait For:

Magic Wands
Life in Film
Chappo

http://noiseofmadison.com/home/

7″ releases from Dead Western Plains

Dead Western Plains is a collective of young artists hailing from Tucson, AZ.   They piece together copious influences to create a widely colorful and rich sound; using rhythms that often favor reverie while adding emotive melodies and maverick lyrics that leave behind a sense of wonder and charm.

“Alta” b/w “Gift Horse in the Mouth”, recorded for Fort Lowell Records , is Dead Western Plains ‘ expressionistic debut.   The group handcrafted 10+ minutes that lead the audience over hill and dale through winding musical tales of pivotal loss, Armageddon, brotherly love, haunted houses, and passionate crimes.   The well-garnered compositions have a kaleidoscope of influences spanning postmodern and romantic composition, pop, hip hop, and electronic artists.   “Alta” swells from beginning to end telling the story of a lonely Jesus, a botched attempt at camaraderie, and the epiphanies that come with failure.   “Gift Horse in the Mouth”, which summons a darker timbre from the quintet, entangles raucous guitars and ominous organs which provide the soundscape for a dire realization; everything comes to an inevitable end and the horrors that arise when one takes this certainty into their own hands.

“Alta” and “Gift Horse in the Mouth” corroborate how Dead Western Plains renders their individual experiences into an imaginative and novel sound.   These two tracks, being released as Fort Lowell Records fourth installment (FLR004), shed merely a speck of light on what Dead Western Plains will offer in the future.

ORIGINAL TRACK:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Info at: http://www.jamestritten.com/flr004/

---

Martin Holm (The Home Current/Second Language Records) – Top 10 of 2010

Sam McLoughlin & Alison Cooper – Natural / Supernatural Lancashire (Disposable Music)
This is the sort of record that just makes you stop in your tracks whenever you put it on. Sounding in parts like a lost Roger Eno session, an instrumental Vashti Bunyan album and an obscure twin record to The Wickerman soundtrack, Disposable Music has released something that truly violates the label name in the most criminal way. This is in short Indispensable Music. A stone cold classic and my album of the year.

Sophie Hutchings – Becalmed (Preservation)
Australian pianist Sophie Hutchings’ pearl of a debut album was put out by the ever reliable Preservation label. Anybody who takes even the slightest interest in modern classical music and solid songwriting skills should stop doing whatever they do and hunt down a copy of this magnificent album, which I will be returning to for years to come… Head and shoulders above so much else out there.

Roll the Dice – S/T (Digitalis)
Ever wondered how it would sound if Emeralds did an album with Eric Satie? Try rolling these dice then… A sublime exercise in analogue synths carefully treated (without computers) and merged with mainly piano creating absolutely wonderful melodies. This self-titled debut album from Peter Mannerfelt (of Fever Ray fame) and Malcolm Pardon makes it THE synth album of the year for me – picked out from a sea of many other great 2010 synth adventures.

Anna Rose Carter – Silver Lines (Schedios Records)
In an almost solo piano oversaturated market, this fairly compressed opus from the Welsh Anna Carter proved a stand out release within the genre.  Bold instantly agreeable melodies, which could at first be mistaken as being perhaps a bit too lightweight, are here done in a timeless – and quite brave – manner. You need to really believe in your materials in order to spell it out this specifically.  Anna more than gets away with it, leaving me destroyed in the best possible way every time I listen.  Solo piano album of 2010.

Originalljudet – S/T (Kalligrammofon)
This Swedish band is the only band I know which actively seeks gigs in order to play for animals living in barns…! Rather sympathetic if you ask me.  And when you take the quality of their music into account, there has to be some quite discerning creatures tucked away in the barns of Sweden.  Coming across like the soundtrack to a part obscure circus movie /part Eastern European film noire with hints of Jan Johannsson and Moondog, Originalljudet has orchestrated a life-affirming warm selection of tunes that sit in perfectly with – well – I assume the secret record collections of barn animals everywhere.

Tape & Bill Wells – Fugue (Immune)
Tape happen to be one of my absolute favourite Swedish bands and this collaboration with Scottish composer Bill Wells just oozes of slippers, red wine and an open fireplace, in a strictly non granddad way mind you.  Four sublime pieces of music that would never dream of insulting you but which do their best to gnaw their way into your heart. This heart succumbed rather swiftly and is all the better for it.

Julian Lynch – Mare (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Olde English Spelling Bee has been on a serious roll in 2010 and this second album from Julian Lynch is no exception. Landing somewhere between pop, jazz, ambient, collage, narcotics, folk… and then some, it’s one of those albums that defies genres and pigeonholes and just simply demands to be listened to. If you like your Ducktails and Real Estate, Mare is a double must.

Hauschka – Foreign Landscapes (Fat Cat)
Volker Bertelmann is out on a mission. On every release he seems to build carefully on his previous endeavours and this – his third album for the esteemed Fat Cat imprint – is in my book probably his best body of work yet. His trademark prepared-piano is still at the centre of things but with the addition of a twelve piece string/wind orchestra, Foreign Landscapes proves richer and more realized, seeming to be the natural progression from its beautiful predecessor Ferndorf.  At times recalling Flemish composer Wim Mertens, Foreign Landscapes is quite frankly not to be missed.

Eluvium – Similes (Temporary Residence)
Similes sees ambient artist Matthew Cooper venturing into new territory, as Mr. Cooper puts his voice to work gracing his well-crafted sensitive soundscapes. The album seems to divide his faithful followers into those who think he should have stayed silent and those who welcome this step. I belong to the latter…

Autre Ne Veut – S/T (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Probably the strangest and most infectious pop record I have heard in ages. Think Prince, Alexander O’Neal and Lionel Richie in the studio of Oneohtrix Point Never and you might (perhaps) get a clue about what this is all about. Even at its most baroque it remains insanely addictive.

Brent Amaker’s Top 5 Albums of 2010

1. The Sword – Warp Riders

I like me some good heavy metal music.  I also like a good science fiction film.  So when The Sword released this heavy metal science fiction concept album, I was first in line to snatch it up.  I bought it on vinyl and would recommend you do the same.  The artwork is beautiful, the music is even better, and it plays like a true album.  Grabbing an MP3 off the internet would be a big mistake.  This record is meant to be digested as a full length record.  Hang out in a comfy spot with a cold beer and a powerful sound system.  Try syncing it up with David Lynch’s sci-fi epic “Dune” on the big screen.  It works!

2. Dungen -  Skit I Allt

Dungen has been a Brent Amaker and the Rodeo fave since our first European tour.  We spent countless hours being driven from show to show while living in a small town in Belgium.  My guitarist brought a cassette tape of an early Dungen release and we put it into heavy rotation.  Since that time I have bought every Dungen release available and caught as many of their live shows as possible.  The new record is a bit of a departure from the others, but I expect that from Dungen.  If you aren’t into a band that challenges you with their music, you probably wouldn’t like Dungen anyway.  Some people describe Dungen as Swedish Jazz Metal.  I just call them GREAT.  This record is as good as anything they have done previously.  Dungen is back in heavy rotation, but this time it’s on my turntable.

3. The Young Evils – Enchanted Chapel

I live in Seattle and one of the advantages of living in this city is that I am surrounded by so many great up and coming bands.  The Young Evils released their debut LP Enchanted Chapel earlier this year and I can’t get their songs out of my head.  This record is well crafted, the songs are catchy, and if you hear it once, you want to hear it again.  Local writers like to compare them to the Vaseline’s.  If I had to choose between the two bands, I’d pick the Young Evils every time.  Get on line and check them out:  http://www.myspace.com/theyoungevils.  They are already a big deal in Seattle and I suspect their success will spread around the globe very soon.

4. DEVO – Something For Everybody

I love DEVO.  They are a big influence for me and my band.  So much so that we traded in our cowboy clothes for DEVO outfits in one of our music videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkxjAYL50Y8. I gotta say, I didn’t expect much from DEVO at this point in their career. Let’s face it, DEVO hasn’t released a new record in years.  And guess what?  After all these years, they’ve still got it!  This record may not be as good as Freedom of Choice, but it’s damn close.  If you ever liked DEVO;  If you ever sang a verse of  ”Whip It” or “Gates of Steel,” you should own this album.  DEVO is back, and this is a GOOD thing.

5. The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream

This is my first Black Angels record.  I saw their live show earlier this week and was blown away.  I may have been the only person at the concert who was not a hardcore Black Angels fan.  Let me clarify.  I wasn’t a hardcore fan before seeing them live, but I certainly am now.  I don’t care if their earlier stuff was darker.  I don’t care how their music may have changed over the years.  This record kicks ass!  Buy it.

Brent Amaker and The Rodeo
www.brentamaker.com

Third album from Jumpel out now

Hidden Shoal Recordings is excited to announce the release of the third album Europa by German minimal electronica maestro Jumpel. Inspired by Jo Dürbeck’s travels around Europe, Europa transforms Dürbeck’s personal memories of 11 different European locations into a gorgeous suite of minimal ambient electronica. The album acts as a kind of abstracted sonic diary, painting the intangibilities and romanticism of memory and travel using sparse yet resonant sound. A simple idea – and one that has produced Jumpel’s most restrained and unified effort to date.

The album includes the stunning single ‘Edinburgh‘ featuring the exquisite guest vocals of Chloë March married to Jumpel’s inimitable melancholic ambient pop. ‘Edinburgh’ is an exercise in elegance and restraint, filling out the shadows and backstreets with ennui.

MP3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Video on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/16203866
Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSBhIDaq3sw

Michael L. Clamp (Lazarus Clamp) – Best of 2010

Bottomless Pit – Blood on the Bridge

The other records on this list are in no particular order; I’ve enjoyed them all a lot. But the Bottomless Pit album is exceptionally, intimidatingly good. It’s a denser record than its magnificent predecessor (Hammer Of The Gods), and it has taken me longer to appreciate.  Partly this is because it doesn’t work particularly well as a single piece; it comes on four sides of vinyl, and heard in this way as four pairs of songs, it makes perfect sense. Listening to the CD [which I did, in the car, to start with] is a more confusing experience – but even then, I doubt if there is a band currently making ‘better’ music with electric guitars and drums. By ‘better’ I mean a combined function of: more engaging, better executed, more aesthetically-coherent, recorded with greater attention to detail, more musically interesting, more lyrically thoughtful, and more rewarding of repeated listening.

In case the name means nothing to you – or in case you are under the impression that I’m describing a death metal band – Bottomless Pit combine the pop sensibilities which emerged on the late-period Silkworm records, with the clean precision of, say Bedhead, and the measured aggression of any number of their fellow Chicago bands. On top of that, you get an interest in texture, repetition and disruption which reminds me of Neu! and a willingness to create awkward, empty, contemplative spaces in the music, which I find hard to characterise as anything other than their own. And you get two singers [always a plus], some tremendously thunking loping drumbeats and some breathtakingly intricate guitars. The most perfect and immediate track on Blood Under The Bridge is the opener, “Winterwind,” which sounds like a grown-up Joy Division [imagine how they might have sounded if they'd made that fateful trip to the US, and come home loose-limbed and in good spirits, after a bit of exercise, fresh air and sunshine out on the coast] covering Galaxie 500′s “Fourth Of July” [this is an effect which is much more impressive than G500's own cover of “Ceremony”]. I’ll spare you a blow-by-blow commentary on the rest: the album is a conundrum best explored in person.

As a sometime musician, I find that I react to most of the music that I love in a fairly consistent way: when the needle starts to scrape around the inner groove, I am torn between flipping over to side 2, and picking up a guitar. Toss a coin. But the Bottomless Pit LPs belong to a small category of records that are suffocatingly, dispiritingly, good [Marquee Moon is another that springs to mind].  As a listener, I still haven’t tired of the first LP; I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this one – and I’ve yet to share them with someone who hasn’t enjoyed them, regardless of their musical preferences. But the bar is set incredibly high on these records. Few bands are capable of making such detailed, focused and coherent work, entirely indifferent to the pull of the mainstream, and bringing the listener along with them.

Medications – Completely Removed
Chris Brokaw and Geoff Farina – The Angel’s Message To Me
Clem Snide – The Meat of Life
Curtis Harvey – Box of Stones
Tre Orsi – Devices and Emblems
Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises

Lazarus Clamp – “The Hard Work Of Simple Things”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dearling Physique album scheduled for January

Unlike your typical scruffy indie band, fashion plays an integral role in the Minneapolis band Dearling Physique, allowing the band members to assume multiple roles and identities, or as band front man Domino Davis terms it in the most elegant sense, to “become numerous.”

This sense is brought to life in Dearling Physique’s upcoming video for “Discipline Your Hands,” (

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

) the first single from the band’s Deadeye Dealer album, out January 11, 2011.  The production is an intensely detailed one with gorgeous knitwear garments created especially for the shoot by rising fashion star Kevin Kramp (www.kevinkramp.com).

The “Discipline Your Hands” production stills shot by fashion photographer Shuttertrip (www.shuttertrip.net) give a glimpse into Dearling Physique’s visual interpretation of the altered concepts of memory and identity that haunt the characters on Deadeye Dealer.

The “Discipline Your Hands” single by Dearling Physique is out now.  The video for the clip and the Deadeye Dealer album are set for release on January 11^th, 2011.

Artists on ’10

A variety of musicians jump in to the year-end festivities with their favorite albums, EPS and songs. Check out what these artists were listening to in 2010. Look for expanded lists from other artists later this week!

Jake Orrall’s (JEFF the Brotherhood) Top 10:

Heavy Cream – Danny
Ty Segall – Melted
Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now
Oh Sees – Warm Slime
Mariah carey – Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Katy perry – Teenage Dream
Dam Funk – Adolescent Funk
Die Antwoord – $0$
Heavy Cream – Danny

http://www.myspace.com/jakeandjamin

http://jeffbrotherhood.blogspot.com/

Caleb Bird’s (Tweak Bird) Top 5:

1. Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder
2. The Soft Pack – S/T
3. Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
4. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
5. The Roots – How I Got Over

http://www.tweakbird.com/

http://www.myspace.com/tweakbird

Tweak Bird – “Lights in Lines”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Steve Wynn:

Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM
Dirtmusic – BKO
Tame Impala – Inner Speaker
Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy
Dungen – Skit I Allt
The Slummers – Love Of The Amateur
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
Hallogallo 2010 – Drone Schlager b/w Blinkgürtel (7” Single)
Chris Cacavas – Love’s Been Discontinued

Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 – “Resolution”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jason Torbert (Goddamn Electric Bill):

Sadly, I’ve gotten into the trend of not listening to full albums anymore. Because of this, here are my super all-time favorite songs that I’ve listened to in 2010 (in no particular order):

Empire of the Sun – “We Are The People”
Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”
The National – “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
Röyksopp – “Silver Cruiser”
Wild Beasts – “Devil’s Crayon”
Delorean – “Seasun”
Two Door Cinema Club – “Do You Want It All?”
Bon Iver – “re:Stacks”
Temper Trap – “Love Lost”
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – “40 Day Dream”

Goddamn Electric Bill‘s new album, Jazz, will be released Feb. 7, 2011 on Pro.Con Records.

Dean Wareham:

Jane Birkin – Di Doo Dah (reissue)
MGMT – Congratulations
MGMT – “It’s Working” (remix by AIR)
Hot Chip – “One Life Stand”
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
Albrecht Mayer – Voices of Bach
Various Artists – Greenberg (soundtrack)
David Bowie – Station To Station (3-disc reissue)
Sand Pebbles – Great White Wonder (7″ single)
Cee Lo – “Fuck You”

Dean & Britta – “Not A Young Man Anymore (My Robot Friend Remix)”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Ross Flournoy (previously of the Broken West, now of Apex Manor):

Favorite Records of 2010 (In No Particular Order)

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks
Kenseth Thibideau: Repetition
Teenage Fanclub: Shadows
Radar Bros: The Illustrated Garden
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
The Parting Gifts – Strychnine Dandelions
Le Switch – The Rest Of Me Is Space
Scott Claassen – Indio Sun & Other American Ballads
The Whigs – In The Dark
Robert Plant - Band Of Joy
Quasi – American Gong
Superchunk – Majesty Shredding

Old Records That Were New For Me (That I Fell In Love With)
Johnny Jenkins Ton - Ton Macoute!
Chuck Prophet – Soap And Water
Wreckless Eric – Greatest Stiffs
Los Lobos – Colossal Head
Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It
Rocket From The Crypt – Group Sounds
The Magnetic Fields – Holiday

Ross Flournoy is the singer and guitarist for Apex Manor. Their debut album, The Year of Magical Drinking, will be released Jan. 25th on Merge.

Apex Manor – “Under the Gun”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chris Brokaw:

Stare Case – Eroded Brain (one-sided 10″)
Prurient – Palm Tree Corpse (3 cassette box)
Thomas Koner – Permafrost (3CD reissue)
Kevin Drumm – Necro Acoustic (5CD box)
Tamikrest – Adagh(LP/CD)
Conqueror/Black Witchery (split-LP)
Burzum – Belus (LP/CD)
Darksmith – Total Vacuum (LP)
Robert Turman – Chapter 11 (8 cassette box)
Relay For Death – Birth Of An Older, Much More Ugly Christ (LP)

http://www.chrisbrokaw.com/

Patrick Gough (Imperial China):

1. Aloha – Home Acres
2. Medications – Completely Removed
3. Hume – Penumbra
4. Maps & Atlases – Perch Patchwork
5. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
6. Maserati – Pyramid of the Sun
7. Die Antwoord – $O$
8. Foals – Total Life Forever

http://www.myspace.com/imperialchina

http://impchin.com/

David Armes (Last Harbour/Little Red Rabbit Records’ benevolent dictator):

2010 was the year Little Red Rabbit became busier than ever.  I had less money and more time but still not enough time.  So far away from enough time.  More listening dedicated to our own releases in order to check/comment/write press releases. This was/is a great thing because the bands we work with are so fantastic.  But a bad thing because in 2010 I listened to less ‘other’ music than ever before.  Thus, this list contains what stood out.  I allowed myself only three words to say why.  Sometimes the words expanded on each other; sometimes they looked like the band; sometimes they argued with themselves.

1. Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky (Young God)
Brutal. Punishing. Transcendental.

2. The Ex – Catch My Shoe (Ex Records)
Hectic. Danceable. Red.

3. Brave Timbers – For Every Day You Lost (Second Language)
Tender. Direct. Empathetic.

4. Clogs – The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton (Brassland)
Exquisite. Poised. Changeable.

5. Rowland S Howard – Pop Crimes (Liberation)
Yearnsome. Wiry. Regretful.

6. Richard Skelton – Landings (Type)
Timestretching. Fleeting. Windblown.

7. Barn Owl – Ancestral Star (Thrill Jockey)
Spacious. Lavalike. Tunnelised.

8. Kirsty McGee - Number 5 (Hobopop)
Patient. Careful. Intimate.

9. Lilium - Felt (Glitterhouse)
Tundralike. Ochre. Harsh.

10. Dan Heywood’s New Hawks – s/t (Timbreland)
Hebridean. Ornithological. Primitive.

Last Harbour – “If They’re Right”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Best Albums of 2010: 10-1

10. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record (Arts & Crafts)

If there were one thing that we can surely blame Canada for, it would be the role it played in birthing some of the most unprecedented rock bands in the past decade. Broken Social Scene formed in Toronto, Canada during 1999 and started a wave of artsy grunge rock that would sweep the music world out of their sneakers. Their latest album, possibly the pivotal point in their career, Forgiveness Rock Record, features some of the best BSS songwriting to date and a refreshing clarity in production that they have never dabbled in before. The record features ex members Feist, as well as other notable guests. It also showcases hits like “Texico Bitches” and a ruggedly grooving “Art House Director,” featuring an epic afro-jazz horn section. If this album was meant to be a comeback, Broken Social Scene has blown their agenda out of the water. Too soon to call it a masterpiece? You decide. ~ Ryan Egan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwkJYv_TATY

9. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)

“You might think you’ve peaked the scene…you haven’t. The real one’s far too mean,” are the opening words of advice streaming through Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. After 2007’s victorious Graduation, just one year later found West with sadness on the gorgeous 808s and Heartbreak; and while there is little to be said about some of the latter’s follies, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a celebrated return to form.

Back are the days where West can get away with lines like, “How you say broke in Spanish? Me no hablo,” as long as there is a menacing beast contained within it, as he does on the aforementioned opener “Dark Fantasy.” Through it’s weaving songs – all extendedly long and yes, entirely purposeful – West showcases his masterful abilities in the studio with pounding drums when needed (“Power”) and understated nuances (“Blame Game”) where strings clash with forceful, evocative words. The latter features what’s probably John Legend’s best vocals of the year and regarding guests, “Monster” is arguably going to be remembered as one of 2010’s greatest collaborations. Two years later and things look a lot brighter for West; if the scene really hasn’t been peaked yet, here’s to what’s ahead. ~ Bryan Sanchez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudkeNEJk_s

8. Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

You know what you’re getting with Beach House because it doesn’t change much. However, that sound that runs fluidly through Teen Dream is somewhat dreamlike because there is no way to really describe how it makes for such a wonderful album. Many complain that artists have cheapened the industry with lackluster lyrics and consistently mopey albums that don’t do or mean much. However, Beach House prevails from that notion and Teen Dream is the best example. This record is heartfelt in the most realistically and devastating ways. Between the dreary layering of the keyboard and guitar mixed with the harshly beautiful voice of Victoria Legrand, this album transcends to a place of disparity in love and only a small hope for things that are better to come. Teen Dream is their magnum opus, a passionate masterpiece that evokes the true emotions of all of us. ~ Ashley Saupp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbtR8uO81M

7. The Black Keys – Brothers (Nonesuch)

Take away their powerfully built, manly reputation and you’re left with The Black Keys’ characteristic driving energy of bands seemingly forgotten. The Keys blasted the rust off yesteryear’s homegrown blues rock almost ten years ago, and Brothers demonstrates their aptitude at preserving its glory single-handedly. Brothers is genius, and not the Al Gore “I invented the internet” genius…we’re talkin’ “we created a spaceship, flew to the moon and walked on it.” And like the U.S. made claim to the moon, The Black Keys owns Brothers. This is their album and I feel like we’re just borrowing it when we turn it on to break out our air guitars, tap our toes, and just chill out. It’s like the band exists solely for the purpose of creating the music the world needs in order to keep Miley Cyrus pop music from taking over completely. Thankfully, The Black Keys’ raw and satisfying sound is drowning all that nonsense out and taking over everyone’s eardrums. How do we know? Well, they’re on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack and Brothers has a good chance of winning four Grammy Awards this year. ~ Adam Matthews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpaPBCBjSVc

6. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (DFA/Virgin)

It’s frustratingly hard to describe LCD Soundsystem’s This Is Happening without being completely personal because of the unanimously huge love I have for it. Maybe it’s because James Murphy and Co. tangle a fantastic story about getting lost in the city, going out for one terrific night after another, coping with the vicious after-effects and establishing some kind of decent personality with the everyday world outside of you. Murphy invites us on an expansive ride that incorporates driving drums, superbly created synthesized compositions and stories that will live with you for as long as you allow them.

Throughout the album’s brilliant theme of HOME and how everything always leads to safety, the group collects nine of the most diverse songs to back-drop illustrious songwriting. “Pow Pow” alone features some of 2010’s best one-liners, none being more needed than: “But honestly, and be honest with yourself: how much time do you waste? How much time do you blow every day?” In the end, This Is Happening is perhaps meant to be something intimate, as Murphy sings on the standout opener: “Break me into bigger pieces, so some of me is home with you” –maybe that’s exactly what’s so amazing about it after all. ~ Bryan Sanchez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xT6cdfP_cM

5. Caribou – Swim (Merge)

Swim is quite simply, a tour de force. After a decade of Dan Snaith, Caribou, releasing albums that didn’t seem to live the longest life, he released Swim. When the record was released it came with such force it knocked down the expectations for anything to come that was electronic in 2010. It isn’t simply a dance album but rather, a record with calculated purpose between transitions.  When I received it early this year, I was shocked with the amount of power on the first track, “Odessa,” as it was the driving force for me to listen to the rest of album. This is without a doubt, Dan Snaith’s pinnacle album and challenge. Even with the release of other projects this year (Remixes, Caribou’s Vibration Ensemble) it indicates Snaith might not backtrack to another similarly sounding album as Swim. Nothing has had the same veracity that this album has and I think it’s a gamble as to what is next. ~ Ashley Saupp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiSa7THgxrI

4. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty Records)

From the outset – before we get too deep into the conscious wave of love, relationships, maturing, reflecting and more – Sufjan Stevens’ calls out, “I do…love you” on “Futile Devices.” Providing us time to ready for what’s ahead, Stevens begins his latest album with one of the year’s finest lullabies. And to be frank, abandoning any pre-conceived ideas and any sordid requests, The Age of Adz is an utter masterpiece.

Stevens delivers a stunning display of exceptional songwriting and radiant, prosperous orchestration. The album’s title track presents some of the album’s starkest array of sounds – everything from choral chants, to myriad bleeps and beeps, to Stevens’ aching and fragile voice – but it’s on moments like the poignant “Now That I’m Older” that places Steven’s abilities on a pedestal. His voice sounds assuredly strong and visceral, never the more important. “I Want to Be Well” is the perfect song to lead into the remarkable symphony that is “Impossible Soul;” Stevens bangs around fluttering flutes and a looming synth line before declaring, “I’m not fucking around!” It’s fitting and glorious in every conceivable manner; in a way, his “Monster” moment of the year and like everything else on The Age of Adz, there aren’t nearly enough superlatives to describe its sheer beauty. ~ Bryan Sanchez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO17WyaU2mE

3. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (4AD)

Bradford Cox, including Atlas Sound, has gotten better with each release. Deerhunter, in particular, kept pulling itself out of avant-garde and into the pop world, a transition that handled beautifully. Halcyon Digest stands as their crown jewel, capped with the fantastic closer, “He Would Have Laughed.” The psyche-jams that used to make up good portions of Deerhunter’s music were now used to make fully-formed, dream-pop songs. The affected guitars created memorable drowsy soundscapes for Cox to give his brilliantly lackadaisical melodies life. They woozily coax you into slipping into their dense, textured world, and it gets more pleasant every time. After three straight albums that flirted with Top 10 recognition, Deerhunter have firmly planted themselves as one of the leaders of this decade’s music scene. ~ Bradley Hartsell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5RzpPrOd-4

2. The National – High Violet (4AD)

For more than a decade now, dour Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati quintet The National has been steadily building an acclaimed reputation on the strength of its anthemic indie rock, with songs that are often as devastating as they are dramatic. After the fractured beauty of 2007’s Boxer resulted in some airtime with the Obama campaign and modest success on the U.S. charts, the band seemed poised to make a power play. With this year’s High Violet, they’ve crafted the rare album that balances swagger with vulnerability, where robust performances mingle with rueful sentimentality. Such is the case on standout tracks like “Afraid of Everyone” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” in which the gravitas of frontman Matt Berninger’s exotic baritone lends itself well to reflections on the anxieties of fatherhood and returning to your roots, respectively. Working in tandem with the brothers Dessner and Devendorf, it’d be hard to imagine any other act out there right now who could pen a tune about the fear of becoming a zombie (“Conversation 16”) and mean it with such disarming sincerity. ~ Adam Costa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8-egj0y8Qs

1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Merge)

From the immensely popular indie rockers, Arcade Fire, comes their sprawling third release, an enthralling album that surpasses every expectation. While heavy and haunting in the same way their sophomore album Neon Bible was, The Suburbs doesn’t leave you hopeless and hurting, but instead harkens back to Funeral by weaving in a thread of youthful, anthemic hope. As shiningly earnest and grand as ever, whether they’re singing about a sense of existential absence in the quieter “Modern Man” (“in line for a number but you don’t understand / like a modern man”), frantic with the almost violent punk in “Month of May,” or painting the ominous and empty landscape of “Sprawl (Flatland).” With every subsequent listen the songs unfold, reveal subtle connections, hidden flavors, and somehow grow larger than themselves. If not most people then at least most of their fans have experienced the hidden isolations of suburbia, as well as the pressure to commercialize and conform, and The Suburbs is a thoughtful take on these issues. Both disillusioned and hopeful, it issues forth with an addicting and stunning collection of songs that are both strong on their own and serve to make the album a great experience as a whole. ~ Emily Graham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oI27uSzxNQ

Next Page »