Top 2010 Sounds

[Swish]

I so need an external drive.... and to reformat my laptop.... Maybe I'll clean up the disc tonight - see if I can squeeze some more space out of it.

If you need more than 1000 gigs of storage, buy two of them lol!

[jonnyhambone]

~Rae

^ I totally love this album too...going to see them at the Cedar on Wed. (w/ Dark Dark Dark).
I just posted my Best Of 2010 list on my blog, with commentary, some good lil' links and stuff...

jonnyhambone's Best of 2010 list

in short:
Joanna Newsom
BruteHeart
Grinderman
Mogwai
Charlie Parr
Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs
Superchunk
James Blake
Deerhunter
Sun City Girls
White Sands/Badlands
The National

[Rae]

Haha, whitesands/badlands. Awesome.

~Rae

[nobody]

Guadalupe Plata

Damn, just came across this thing and it ****ing kills. Nasty swampy bluesy trash from Spain. Recommended for fans of stuff like the Gun Club or anyone interested in dirty grimy blues.

[Mr MidFi]

My Top 10 this year is dominated by bands that are either Canadian (e.g. Arcade Fire, Besnard Lakes) or who sound like they should be (e.g. Broken Bells, The National). Overall, it’s been a decent year… but nowhere near as good as last year (for reference, see http://forums.audioreview.com/rave-recordings/mr-midfis-musical-year-review-2009-a-32600.html#post309485 ). Anyway, here goes…

1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
This one captivated me right from the get-go, and has continued to hold my interest with each successive listen. Musically, it’s really got a lot going on. And I mean that in a good way. Lyrically, it speaks to me on a very personal level. This is an album I could have written. No, strike that… this is something I should have written, but didn’t. And that pisses me off.

2. Broken Bells
As I type this, I am still groggy after having seen them at the Vic Theater in Chicago last night. Nice show, no doubt, but at its best it was merely recreating the sound of this remarkable album. I think I like this better than anything these two guys have done separately, before. And that’s a bold statement. “Mongrel Heart” is my song of the year.

3. The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
A remarkable mix of art-rock, shoegaze, riff-rock, espionage and romance, held together with an oddly Brian-Wilsonesque production sensibility. Took a few listens to grow on me, but grow it did.

4. Spoon – Transference
This is Spoon, man. You know if you like them or not. As far as Spoon albums go, it’s not quite up to the same standards as the last two (IMO), but arguably that’s an impossibly high standard to live up to.

5. The National – High Violet
That’s three excellent releases in a row from these guys now. Like The Boxer, it reveals its pleasures deliberately, and on its own terms.

6. The New Pornographers – Together
Look, another Canadian band! I really like what these guys do, and this is a good album. That said, being merely “good” makes this the worst album they’ve ever released.

7. Band of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
At first, this sounds a lot like Jack White’s latest side-project. But then, it turns a couple of corners. By the end, it almost sounds like someone’s mixed disc of songs by 4 different bands. Note: I’m still getting used to it, and it may well move up the list in time.

8. Black Keys – Brothers
I really like these guys in small servings. And there are a lot of songs to like on this disc. But it seems a bit much after 15 songs in a row.

9. The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever
If you took the best bar band playing in downtown Chicago on a given Friday night and put Graham Parker in front of them, it would sound a lot like this. And sometimes, that’s exactly what I want to hear.

10. (cheat) Company of Thieves – Ordinary Riches
This one was actually released in 2009, but I’ll include it here. Chicagoan Genevieve Schatz stole my heart at Lollapalooza, and I bought this disc the next day. It’s like, I dunno, if Bjork had a knack for songcraft. Or if Regina Spektor could rock. Or if Fiona Apple was interesting to anyone but herself.

It’s worth noting that, out of this list of 10 bands/artists, I saw 7 of them live within the past year. That’s not bad, man.

Disappointment of the Year:
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Mojo album was hailed as a “return to form” by the press. And I had high hopes after downloading a couple of pre-release songs that sounded pretty good. Unfortunately, that turned out to be about 66.7% of the good songs on the disc.

[3LB]

I so need an external drive.... and to reformat my laptop.... Maybe I'll clean up the disc tonight - see if I can squeeze some more space out of it.

I bought a 500g portable harddrive from Ratshack for $79.99 (sale). All I put on it is music

[dean_martin]

All I know is i'm diggin' Slosh's YEC. I picked up a couple of albums represented thereon. I'd have more (and his belated recommendation for Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter) if it weren't for Christmas and the need to shop for others.

[Jim Clark]

I am a bit surprised that I didn't see any love for LCD Soundsystem. Nice to see The Drums garner some love though. The Foals second escaped me and I'm gonna have to fix that today seeing how I still listen to Antidote. Thanks for the tip, as always.

jc

[Jim Clark]

Yep, sure enough I'm really liking the Foals disc. Thanks for the rec!

Your recs have a tendency to work out pretty good for me. Keep up the good work.

jc

[Rae]

A late addition to my 2010 jams:



Thunderbolt Pagoda - Second Ascension

Pretty great space/prog/psych, very dark and heavy. I casually know some of these guys... would I have picked it up if it wasn't a local record by folks I know? Probably not. Am I enjoying it since I did? Hell yes.

I don't know how to speak the jargon of this particular genre, but I can describe that it's very well recorded, lots of mellotron, the first side has about 4 tracks that are all pretty uptempo (kind of locked into a heavy groove), the second side is one long moodier track. I wish I had some sound clips.

If this is yr type of thing, you can order it here for 15 bones... well worth it since it's nice and heavy (both the music and the literal platter, 180g) and limited to a run of 500 copies.

~Rae

[Swish]

All I know is i'm diggin' Slosh's YEC. I picked up a couple of albums represented thereon. I'd have more (and his belated recommendation for Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter) if it weren't for Christmas and the need to shop for others.

Hmmm. I didn't have him pegged for that one.

[dean_martin]

Hmmm. I didn't have him pegged for that one.

Ok, I'm retracting that statement. It was YOU, Swish! (I looked back at the thread you started.) I musta been off my meds. Sorry 'bout dat.

A vinyl copy is on my musicdirect wishlist. It'll be in my next order.

[Swish]

Ok, I'm retracting that statement. It was YOU, Swish! (I looked back at the thread you started.) I musta been off my meds. Sorry 'bout dat.

A vinyl copy is on my musicdirect wishlist. It'll be in my next order.

I just didn't recall Slosh jumping on board for that disc, so I went back and checked other threads and wondered what I missed. Maybe he'll see that and wonder if he's missing something? Nah.

[atomicAdam]

pitchfork released their top 100 of the year - here is from 10-1

http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-...ks-of-2010/10/

[Rae]

Thanks for linking that Pitchfork list, Adam. It's been a long time since I've looked at that site but the James Blake song they put at #8 is ruling my world right now. I even decided to throw it on a tape I was just making for a friend of my favorite jams of 2010.

~Rae

[Rae]

Here's the track listing of said tape if anyone is interested... I'd be happy to send it out but it's gonna be on non-audiophile 60-minute cassette... pm me yr address.

A1. Sex Bob-omb - "We Are Sex Bob-omb"
A2. Superchunk - "Learned to Surf"
A3. Wavves - "King of the Beach"
A4. Marnie Stern - "For Ash"
A5. Dom - "Bochica"
A6. Sleigh Bells - "Tell 'Em"
A7. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Bright Lit Blue Skies"
A8. Crash & the Boys - "I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad"
A9. OFF! - "Now I'm Pissed"
A10. White Wires - "Did You Forget My Name?"
A11. The Walkmen - "All My Great Designs"

B1. James Blake - "I Only Know (What I Know Now)"
B2. Shahs - "Loose Ends"
B3. Omar Souleyman - "Labji Wa Bajji Il Hajar"
B4. Goatflowr - "Wunderkat [first take]"
B5. Brute Heart - "Skritch Skratch"
B6. Nina Nastasia + Giddy Motors - "What's Out There"
B7. First Aid Kit - "Heavy Storm"

~Rae

[atomicAdam]

Thanks for linking that Pitchfork list, Adam. It's been a long time since I've looked at that site but the James Blake song they put at #8 is ruling my world right now. I even decided to throw it on a tape I was just making for a friend of my favorite jams of 2010.

~Rae

Cool - I heard the James Black CMYK EP and was none too impressed. Maybe I missed something or I need to play it louder.

[Jim Clark]

12. M.I.A. – Maya - This was some horizon expansion that ended up sitting pretty well with me. I do have some objections to the content as would be natural with a stick in the mud like me but I was diggin it anyway.

11. Vampire Weekend – Contra - I wasn't too impressed at first. Actually my first comment after listening was "those guys sure listened to Graceland a lot", to which my young friend replied with a "huh?". Still very cool and entertaining afro-pop.

10. The Drums s/t - More proof that the 80's will never die (yeah!)

09. Deer Hunter – Halcyon Digest - me too!

08. Alphaville – Catching Rays On Giant- speaking of the 80's...I was checking out the itunes playlist from Spin magazine and saw a track that I thought was from Alphaville. Quickly downloaded the tracks from Spin only to realize that the song was called Alphaville, not the band (doh!). so I decide to go the Alphaville website to see what if anything they had going on. I was very surprised to learn that they had a new album coming out the following month anyway. I love it, you won't.

07. Abe Vigoda – Crush - With a name like this, how can you go wrong? This album rocks.

06. Junip – Fields - My last grab of 2010. Indie band from Sweden? This usually have a way of working out for me. This is an awesome disc and every indie fan should seek out the samples online. I ended up with everything I could find from this band. Amazing! It should probably be higher on the list but since I just got it...

05. Grinderman – Grinderman 2 for some reason I've never been a fan of Nick Cave, had I known going in that this was Nick Cave I may have passed on the listen and it would have been a mistake. This album rocks and some of the remixes available, especially Worm Tamer, will scramble your brain.

04. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks - These Glasgow bands tend to keep doing it for me too, must be something in the water over there. this album roolz.

03. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening- Again, a bit surprised I'm by myself on this one but I love it, and that's what matters. : )

02. Arcade Fire – the Suburbs- One of the two best bands out there and they didn't disappoint.

01. The National – High Violet - The actual best band out there. The only thing I listened to more than this over the past year was an FM recording of the tour. The bootleg had the added bonus of including "About Today", the song they forgot to play in KC.

I tried to keep track of the albums this year and this is what I ended up with,

2010 CDs
The Drums s/t
Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
Matthew Dear – Black City
Broken Bells – s/t
Clinic – Bubblegum
Alphaville – Catching Rays On Giant
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Abe Vigoda – Crush
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul
No Age – Everything In Between
Of Montreal – False Priest
Junip – Fields
Stars – The Five Ghosts
BSS – Forgiveness Rock Record
Gemini – Wild Nothing
Grinderman – Grinderman 2
Deer Hunter – Halcyon Digest
Massive Attack – Heligoland
The National – High Violet
Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
Interpol – Interpol
Devo – Something For Everybody
The Walkman – Lisbon
M.I.A. – Maya
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Tricky – Mixed Race
Yeasayer – Odd Blood
Minus The Bear – Omni
John Grant – Queen Of Denmark
Josh Ritter – So Runs The World Away
De/Vision – Popgefor
Arcade Fire – the Suburbs
Caribou – Swim
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
Sleighbells – Treats
Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation