My Favorite Albums of 2010 (with bonus material)

So, I recently moved to a new town and I'm trying out the whole no TV or internet thing for a little while (a stupid, almost mindless decision)... I'm finishing off this entry from the public library in Cottonwood, Arizona. What is it about free wi-fi that drags the most bat-shit crazy people out of the woodwork? The guy three seats down keeps laughing out loud, talking to himself, and belching (loudly). I really need to get internet at my new place. Anywhoozle, the following are some of my favorite albums from last year:

10. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire have been on the receiving end of some major figurative dick-sucking from the music critics this year, but let's keep it real here: this album is no Funeral. While it may not be fair to constantly compare bands to their past efforts, it's the best way I know to hold the artist accountable over the years -- and it just seems like Arcade Fire are capable of so much more. On its own merits The Suburbs is a solid album (even if songs like "Rococo" and "Month of May" repetitively drill their namesakes into your head at annoying-as-fuck rates). I'm not sure I get or appreciate the album's concept of being about suburban life in the 80's... as someone who grew up in suburban America during the same time frame, why would I? But to me the story of the album is Regine rocking the shit out of the album's most captivating track "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)." Maybe Win should step aside more often.

9. Bonobo - Black Sands

I went through this downtempo/instrumental phase around the middle of the year, mostly due in part to the uber-talented DJ/musician/producer Simon Green (aka Bonobo). First of all, his entire discography is pretty mind-blowing if you're into this kind of stuff (older tracks "Terrapin" and "Turtle" are personal favs), but his album Black Sands was another solid recording in 2010. I think I was first introduced to this album by my boss just before harvest this year on our cellar crew's trip up to the Wine Loft in Flagstaff. My exact reaction was "I'm not really the kind of person that does mind-expanding drugs, but this album makes me want do some... in a good way." Singer Andreya Triana is featured on three of the album's better tracks (her own 2010 release Lost Where I Belong is great too). Check out "Eyesdown" and "Stay the Same" for awesomeness.

8. Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring

Beard-folk to the max. Listening to any of Horse Feathers' three exquisite albums, I always imagine myself tucked away in some snow-covered cabin in the woods, smoke billowing from its chimney. Or maybe I'm driving across rolling green hills in the middle of nowhere and dark, moody clouds are rolling in. Thistled Spring's descriptive lyrics are replete with images and vignettes from the Pacific Northwest which do nothing to discourage my daydreaming. Portland's Justin Ringle has crafted some truly beautiful songs on this one. "Starving Robins," "Belly of June," and "The Drought" are especially worth checking out.

7. Junip - Fields

For whatever odd reason, this one kind of flew under the radar this year. Jose Gonzalez is already immensely popular in the indie-folk world, but Junip, billed as some kind of Swedish super-group (even though I'm clueless as to who his other bandmates actually are) doesn't seem to get as much love. In a world where even the "double rainbow" guy has his own Wikipedia page, Fields, released back in September, is missing its respective Wiki page to this day. But I digress... this is one of those cohesive albums where just about every song is good in its own way. "Don't Let It Pass" could be soundtrack material, and the first three tracks are great, but it's a toss-up between "Rope & Summit" and "Sweet & Bitter" for best song in my opinion. If you like Gonzalez, it's pretty much a must get.

6. Damien Jurado - Saint Bartlett

Folk album of the year in my opinion. Damien Jurado's been around a long time (this is his ninth album), but this is the first one I've ever owned. I'm thoroughly impressed by how versatile a singer-songwriter he is... sounding at once reminiscent of Neil Young on "Wallingford" and passing for Justin Vernon/Bon Iver on "The Falling Snow"... then there's the first single "Arkansas" which could have played in some roadside diner decades ago. Saint Bartlett is plain good from beginning to end. 

5. Foals - Total Life Forever

You might be hard-pressed to find a band quicker to mature than Oxford, England's Foals. In a total departure from the dance-punk/math-rock beats that put them on the map in 2008 with Antidotes, Total Life Forever leans more on funk to produce one of the more surprising albums of 2010. Opener "Blue Blood" was the #2 most-played song in my iTunes this year... while "Spanish Sahara" (song of the year in my opinion) was #4. I'm almost tempted to say these guys are without peers right now -- no one else is making music quite like this.

4. Menomena - Mines

This band rules. Its members switch instruments regularly and compose their songs on a computer program one of the guys personally invented. All three of them even take turns singing. And just for good measure, they add a little saxophone in a few of their songs (and I would even argue this signature feature should be included more often). Then they went ahead and released a badass music video for the song "Dirty Cartoons." "Five Little Rooms" is the standout track... and yes, it makes glorious use of those saxophones.

3. Sleigh Bells - Treats

People might be shocked to find out I love Sleigh Bells. Truthfully they don't sound like anything else I'm into, but then again how many duos are comprised of an ex-heavy metal  guitarist and a grade school teacher? That's just an awesome story if you ask me. Easily my favorite 2010 debut, Treats is an album that's meant to be listened to with the volume cranked up. "Riot Rhythm" was my #1 most-played song in iTunes for the year (and if you've even turned on a television sometime in the last 6 months you've probably heard it on a Cadillac commercial somewhere). I suppose the best way to describe them is to say that they might sound like M.I.A. if she went out and got some electric guitars. And for such an aggressive album it's no wonder the guitar sounds like a machine gun on the opener "Tell 'Em" and then like the sound of a falling cartoon bomb on the closer "Treats." "Infinity Guitars" was the first song that got me into these guys, but there's so much more to like here. Definitely looking forward to more from Sleigh Bells.

2. The National - High Violet

I've been following The National since I first heard them at one of the music listening stations at the Hoodlum's music store in the lower level of ASU's Memorial Union. Alligator (2005) and Boxer (2007) are two personal favorite albums that I still find myself listening to, but it wasn't until High Violet that The National had put together an album from beginning to end that was so solid. It's a cohesive and approachable set of songs -- upon first listen it was almost as if I'd been listening to grade-A songs like "Sorrow" and "Anyone's Ghost" for a long time. I can see where some might think this less-rocking National album might be too slow or dark or stuck in one gear, but this stuff is right up my alley.  

1. Beach House - Teen Dream

When it really came down to it... and I started thinking about albums that had lasting appeal -- that I'll keep coming back to over the years -- I'd have to say Beach House's Teen Dream is the winner. French-born Victoria Legrand has got some pipes (and maybe the best name ever for a lead singer)! To me, this girl holds her own with some of classic rock's female stars... some would say Stevie Nicks, I say she's way more reminiscent of Grace Slick. I definitely don't pretend to understand or appreciate all the glossy/dreamy/reverb-laden music with half-remembered/nostalgic lyrics that websites give all this high praise to... but I really got into this album (though not truly reverb-laden, but now I'm splitting hairs). People much more talented than I at writing about music have already said wonderful things about Teen Dream. I guess what I really like about the albums is that it challenges what I "like" about music -- the whole dreamy sound, even some tunes that sound like they could have come from the 80's (a terrible decade for a lot of things, but especially music). The tribal drumbeat on "Norway" is hard not to like and every time Legrand sings, "I'll take care of you... if you want me to" over and over on the album-closer "Take Care" I think I start to develop a little crush. It's just funny... in a music world dominated by Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" (and her amazing cleavage), here I am getting sentimental about Beach House's Teen Dream and Victoria Legrand.

Katy Perry's still really fucking hot though. 

 

Thanks for playing (2010 honorable mention):

• The Black Keys - Brothers
• Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
• Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
• Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
• Vampire Weekend - Contra
• Wolf Parade - Expo '86

Best Non-2010 Discovery: The Antlers - Hospice (2009)

Most Ridiculously Over-the-Top Music Video: Grinderman - "Heathen Child"

Most Adorable Harp-Playing Pixie: Joanna Newsom

Most Unlikely Breakthrough Artist: South Africa's Die Antwoord (yes, they're for real)

Weirdest Live Show I've Ever Seen - Sufjan Stevens at Mesa Arts Center in October

Pleasant Surprise By A Live Performance: DM Stith, opening for Sufjan
Greatest 11-Minute Ode to Charles Darwin: The Knife - "Colouring of Pigeons"