I’ve been compiling Top 10 lists since 2007 as part of my duties as a college radio DJ. Although I moved on from that at the end of July, U92 still asked me to put together a list for this year…which is great, because I was going to post one here anyway!
Other than the Top 25 of 2000-2009 list that I had to make last year (I might repost that to Tumblr if you’re into it), this was the most difficult top albums list that I’ve ever had to put together. 2010 was a great year for music, with a lot of really solid newcomers and established artists stepping up to make their best work. Out of the albums in the top 10, three are debuts and three more are from artists who are finally getting recognition on a larger scale. And that was the problem: I basically knew my top 3 choices going in, but everything after them was so good that it became really tough to cut my picks down. So three extras are included with the list of 10 as honorable mentions because I couldn’t bring myself to leave any of them out.
This list doesn’t include any metal albums, partially because it’s so hard to compare metal to indie-type releases and partially because I want to make a separate list for metal records later on. So keep checking back for that!
ANYWAY ON WITH THE SHOW
#1: LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
From the first time I heard this one in full, I knew it was going to be my album of the year. There was no reason to expect that the third album in a discography that includes Sound of Silver and LCD Soundsystem would be anything less than good. But This Is Happening somehow managed to eclipse its predecessors. Yes, for my money, this is James Murphy’s best album.
Is that why he’s said over and over that there will never be another full-length under the LCD Soundsystem name? That’s hard to speculate on, but talk about going out on top. Both of the previous two were as freakishly brilliant as they were erratic, and Murphy’s voice had never been a true selling point beyond his considerable charisma and knack for delivery. But much as his voice has grown (the moment he first hits the chorus in “Drunk Girls” was jaw-dropping for me), so has his songwriting skill: everything on This Is Happening just works, constantly finding new ways to prevent you from skipping to the next song.
Considering everything that’s packed in here, it’s hard not to skip around just out of the sheer anticipation for what he’ll throw at you next. ”Dance Yrself Clean” and “One Touch” are par-for-the-course jams, but “All I Want” throws a Strokes-styled curveball before “I Can Change” takes it back to the 80s. And then there’s the inimitable eight minutes of ranting that is “Pow Pow” sitting on the back end, with “Home” in waiting to bring the album and ultimately the band full circle at last. Endlessly quotable, seemingly unstoppable, it’s incredible to think that any other record released in 2010 would have even had a chance.
#2: Menomena - Mines
When I first heard this, I was somewhat disappointed. Although I’m not really sure what I expected at the time - maybe I just really wanted to listen to their similarly great album Friend and Foe again? - I did at least decide to be patient with it. A few songs were direct hits, but something felt off. I had the same feeling when I saw them play the new material at Webster Hall in October, though it was a great performance from a band I loved and had waited a long time to finally see.
Having listened to Mines quite a few more times since then, I think the problem was similar to how I reacted to Japandroids’ Post-Nothing, but on a lesser scale. When I first heard that album, I thought it sounded interesting but couldn’t get into it. The second time I heard it, I hated it and all of the seemingly undeserved hype around it. The third time turned into the fifth…and then the eighth…and it became my favorite album of 2009 hands-down. With Mines, I dived in expecting shorter tunes with more immediate hooks as with Friend and Foe, but “Queen Black Acid” wasn’t the home-run opener that “Muscle n’ Flo” had been, so I got frustrated. Now that I’ve given it some time, I not only see that there are bigger hooks to be had on more songs than with Friend and Foe, but also that the songs on Mines feel longer because there’s more depth and more things going on.
Menomena’s songwriting has improved hugely, with disparate elements coming together more seamlessly than ever and some seriously next-level lyrics floating through the mix. ”Tithe” is an incredibly effective account of a man losing religion, and it’s basically six lines long with a refrain. And then there’s “TAOS,” which rocks harder than anything they’ve ever done and might be the most self-aware sexual boast I’ve ever encountered. They’ve nailed the emotional spectrum on this one in ways few would have ever predicted. For all the love critics are heaping on Arcade Fire this year, Mines douses The Suburbs in gasoline and gets out the flamethrower.
Guys, you’ve done it again; sorry I ever doubted you.
#3: Twin Shadow - Forget
Amazingly, I’ve had to defend this record more from its detractors than any other on this list. I’ve heard it decried as a mere product of hype, or even as a blatant rip-off of Joy Division. Yes, there was a lot of buzz around this one, and yes, the ghost of Ian Curtis could very easily have been chilling in the recording studio. But there’s a lot of substance (and not in the capitalized Joy Division best-of sense) to Forget that makes it bigger than the sum of its influences. Aware of what’s trending in modern music but still on a journey of its own, Forget feels like the clear demarcation line between chillwave (ugh) and whatever’s coming next. ”I Can’t Wait” is a bright-eyed anthem to the night in every sense, “Castles in the Snow” hints at darkness beneath the album’s dance pop sheen, and climaxes get stacked on top of climaxes in an explosion of inspiration. And look past the synths and catch a glimpse of another, less expected primary influence: those impassioned bursts of guitar owe a lot to Jimi Hendrix, and main man George Lewis Jr. is getting better and increasingly more daring with them live. If you think this one’s good, just wait for the follow-up.
#4: Fang Island - Fang Island
When this came out, it was a total revelation for me. Finally, a band was taking the harmonized guitar heroics of Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden and blowing them all over an indie rock album! I loved this the second I heard it, and despite their incredibly simple lyrics (often no more than soaring “ooh” and “whoa” harmonies), the songs have so much happening that I keep going back to it and hearing new things. Catchy, uplifting, diverse…what more could be expected of a debut that’s not even a half-hour in length? It’s probably the most earnestly optimistic album anyone made this year, and it’s an all too welcome counterpoint to the straight-faced sounds of most other indie artists making records today.
#5: Violens - Amoral
Speaking of straight-faced…Amoral is absolutely, deadly serious. Not that Violens aren’t having fun here, as “The Dawn of Your Happiness” proves the second you press play. It’s just that they seem to have more fun channeling Morrissey and the darker side of new wave than they do being cute. About as far removed from twee as this kind of band could possibly get, these guys are on a mission to craft edgy anthems. And they’ve got a lot of tricks up their sleeves: thunderous drummer Lev Weinstein shows flashes of his work in the ultra-heavy Krallice, and Jorge Elbrecht has the kind of forlorn voice that suggests anguish even when he’s singing softer stuff like “Could You Stand To Know?” That keyboard in “Violent Sensation Descends” is creepy too…but it doesn’t quite prepare you for the sudden burst of black metal-esque tremolo-picked guitar that sneaks into “Another Strike Restrained.” Violens’ MySpace claims that their music sounds like “descriptions of nightmares,” and I’d vouch for that 100 percent.
Bonus: When I blogged about Violens before, I was wondering whether Weinstein had anything to do with their occasional metal elements. If the other members’ old band Lansing-Dreiden is any indication, they were already predisposed.
#6: The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Describing the Besnard Lakes to someone without using “epic” and “awesome” at least two times each is probably impossible. This seems to have been their breakout album, and it’s not hard to see why. Lots of critics have noted their similarities to Built To Spill and their Beach Boys-meets-70s AOR vocals, but the way they use heavy guitars for riffs and highly competent solos reminds me of a softer take on Hum’s classic Downward Is Heavenward. ”Chicago Train” makes poignant use of strings without crossing into symphonic overkill, “Light Up The Night” brings the record to a climax with piles of echoing harmonies, and two other songs are so massive that they and their intros are broken up into separate tracks. Yeah, it’s epic. And awesome.
#7: Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern
I completely slept on Marnie Stern until a few months ago, and in retrospect, I have absolutely no idea why. For the guitar-obsessed like me, her self-titled third album is easy to love. More personal than its also very good predecessors, there are some really smart and concise lyrics hiding in her characteristic yelps. Math rock is usually something I’m down for, but never have I heard it combined with the caliber of songwriting on display here. ”For Ash” and “Nothing Left” comprised the best one-two punch at the beginning of any album I heard this year, and her distinctive loop-stacking, two-handed tapping style of guitar playing somehow never overpowers her meticulously crafted tunes. It’s fascinating to listen to an artist who’s not only willing to walk that tightrope, but clearly needs to, as if possessed by pure overwhelming creative energy.
#8: Screaming Females - Castle Talk
Where the ass did Marissa Paternoster come from, and why did it take her band four albums for everyone to finally start paying attention? She’s got a Patti Smith snarl with a bombastic guitar style that sounds like J Mascis doing 80s-era Dave Mustaine’s coke, and her band ruled Brooklyn’s live scene this fall even though they’re from New Jersey. There is absolutely no excuse for Screaming Females to not be superstars by now. Period.
#9: The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack
Man, this one’s just fun! And rowdy, and riff-happy, and basically everything a garage rock-type band should be in 2010. There’s not a sense of being too busy checking their influences to do something creative with them, nor is there a need to sound primitive for the sake of coming off as authentic. The Soft Pack don’t seem like they really need to impress you in that way, and that’s totally okay with me. Vocalist Matt Lamkin hits all the right nerves, with a plain-spoken delivery that can sound as bluntly honest (“Answer To Yourself,” “Down On Loving”) as it can menacing (“Extinction,” not on this record but still one of their best). They’re still figuring out new ways to use the deceptively simple tools at their disposal, and it’s a blast to listen to what they come up with in the process.
#10: Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
This was the hardest call to make out of the whole list, but Deerhunter edged out the honorable mentions because of one ridiculously amazing song: “Memory Boy.” Not only do I really love that song, but I got so addicted to it that I’d start humming it even when one of the other albums listed here was playing. Yeah, definitely not over that yet. ”Helicopter,” “Basement Scene,” “Coronado”…this is an album of highlights, and they’re some killer highlights. I wouldn’t be nearly as annoyed with indie’s recent obsession with all things retro if those retro influences always translated to songs this fresh.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
#11: X-Ray Press - UVB-76
This fantastic bit of grandma-punching intensity is probably the best record I’ve ever convinced myself to leave out of a Top 10 list. Although it technically came out this year, look for it to blow up in January when it sees a wider release (even the band is claiming its release date as January 2011 for that reason). I can’t remember ever hearing an album hitting such dizzying extremes of accessibility and difficulty. The Dismemberment Plan, Minutemen, and recently dissolved Morgantown act It’s Birds would be good points of comparison, though X-Ray Press are darker with more shades of hardcore in their sound. Freakishly inventive and standing in stark contrast to pretty much everything else I’ve encountered this year, it’s occasionally terrifying in its dissonance; for example, “Thin Mints, FSA” is kind of like the Dillinger Escape Plan shaking hands with Primus, a sound you wouldn’t expect wanting to hear but will ultimately be into anyway. Inspired, daring, and other things far too much other new music simply isn’t.
Go stream UVB-76 in full at their Bandcamp. If you need a good starting point and don’t want to listen to the whole thing, “Cubicle Racist” and “The Terms (In the Colors of Our DNA)” are two big highlights.
#12: The National - High Violet
This record is the reason we’re counting to 13. In previous years, I’ve made top 10 lists with one honorable mention. However, High Violet has so many bursts of sheer brilliance that to not talk about it would be criminal. When I started getting into indie rock, I ran into a lot of people who were die-hard fans of the band, but I was puzzled because it was hard for me to see what made them so great. They’re admittedly a lot drearier and more downtempo than most of what I’m predisposed to liking, and for that reason, their last album Boxer just didn’t click with me when it was a new release. High Violet’s understated urgency - the one-man war against closure in “Sorrow,” the self-aware “God I am” in the midst of “Bloodbuzz, Ohio“‘s eternal crescendo - finally converted me, and now I’m still annoyed with myself for practically running past their set at Bonnaroo. Take this one in slowly, a couple of tracks at a time; the more patient you are with it, the more rewarding it is.
#13: Foals - Total Life Forever
For all of my attempts to write something substantial about this album, I keep getting blown away by how perfect “This Orient” is. That classic British bittersweetness that Violens tapped into at depth from across the pond is very much here, but it’s tempered with a huge chorus and synths spiraling along with guitars into the sunset. It’s the embodiment of everything great about sophomore release Total Life Forever, which takes elements from fellow UK giants like Bloc Party and Catherine Wheel (is that album cover a Chrome tribute?) and ups the dance quotient. And these guys are young, too; in fact, singer Yannis Philippakis is exactly five days older than me, but there’s so much maturity in his voice on the expansive jam “After Glow” that it’s a shocking thing to realize. So this band probably has many records ahead of them, and if they keep topping themselves, it’ll be thrilling to see where they go.
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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed that and got exposed to some new albums you haven’t heard yet. I’ll be writing more here about this year and the year to come, and I hope I’ll have as much fun putting that stuff together as I did with this. What were your favorites?
