my top 50 albums of 2010, pt. 1
Time again to count down them records. It was an especially good year for music, so much so that I felt compelled to expand to 50 again this year after doing a top 25 for '08 and '09. The reviews will start out short and get longer as we near the top of the list. Here we go:
50
Clogs
Veil Waltz EP
Brassland
Clogs, a largely instrumental post-rock quartet that includes The National’s Bryce Dessner, began the year with this teaser EP that builds on the band’s ‘progressive pastoral’ sound, collecting tracks submitted to film soundtracks. Highlights include the themes from the film Turn the River, which include an ethereal piece for celeste and a melancholy fugue on oboe and mandola, and the stark title track, a minstrel’s ballad of plucked guitar and sonorous violin.
49
Dirty Projectors & Björk
Mt. Wittenberg Orca EP
self-released
Brooklyn art-rockers Dirty Projectors teamed up with Iceland’s otherworldly chanteuse Björk for this set of songs, a loose concept record for charity about the sea and Mother Earth. Opening track “Ocean” is chilling, with Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Björk swirling their voices into disquieting, sinister harmonies over a churning bass, while “On and Ever Onward” finds the Projectors’ vocal scatting supporting their guest’s breathy crooning over curtains of acoustic fingerpicking. And “Sharing Orb” uses vocal descants to capture the undulating sea, the terrible majesty of the piece evocative of an orca breaking through the waves.
48
Boston Spaceships
Camera Found the Raygun EP
Jackpot
The first of four appearances from Robert Pollard on this year’s list, his ongoing project with GBV’s Chris Slusarenko and the Decemberists’ John Moen dropped this four-song, nine-minute EP in March. “The Way Out” is a driving slab of lo-fi guitar rock, bristling like an old jukebox 45; “Pluto is Polluted” is both tense and regal, buzzy strumming giving way to strong melodies in the bass, and “Aquarian Hovercraft” finishes the proceedings with a surprise din of reverb-soaked vocal chants and warm cello.
47
Ratatat
LP4
XL
New York’s Ratatat have been incredibly consistent over their career, churning out one hot track of crisp, instrumental electronic pop after another. Their simply titled fourth record continues the trend with bookend tracks like “Bilar” and “Alps”; the opener brims with homespun hip-hop percussion and synthetic strings, while the closer lays cascading talkboxes over a stately bed of harpsichord and piano. But they also manage a few successful experiments as well, such as on the almost mournful, Hawaiian-flavored elegy “Mahalo”.
46
Of Montreal
False Priest
Polyvinyl
Kevin Barnes’ tenth album dials back both the bravado and sonic density of 2008’s overstuffed Skeletal Lamping, but there's still plenty of lush falsetto funk and post-nuclear dancefloor jams to be had here. “Hydra Fancies” blends sinuous Motown grooves with meandering, labyrinthine chord structures, Barnes’ voice percolating like a human synth; elsewhere, Jon Brion’s production fattens up the troubadour’s guitars and bubbling bass on “Coquet Coquette”, and “Our Riotous Defects” details a postmillennial breakup milieu, replete with tales of unread blogs and the untimely death of a betta fish.
45
Clogs
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
Brassland
Clogs’ fifth proper album is a sylvan folk dreamscape, a collection of songs that carry the listener to both sunlit fields and imposing forest glades. “Red Seas” rides along peacefully on Padma Newsome’s airy tenor and a bed of accordion, but eventually the piece is overtaken by strident horns and a turbulent undercurrent of bassoon, a storm coming suddenly to the calm meadow. My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden guests on the unsettling “Adages of Cleansing”, her warbling soprano reminiscent of some half-woman, half-bird creature; meanwhile, an admixture of marimba, oboe, and violin make a sublime threnody for the wooded overture of “To Hugo”.
44
Minus the Bear
Omni
Dangerbird
On their fourth proper full-length, Seattle’s Minus the Bear continue their move from angular indie-rockers to slick alt-pop architects, although frontman Jake Snider’s lyrical obsessions remain unchanged; songs like opener “My Time”, with its burgeoning synth lines and metronomic rhythms, relate yet another one of Snider’s tales of late-hours girl-watching and come-hither entreaty. “Summer Angel” glides on stutterstep piano and guitarist Dave Knudsen’s serpentine guitar melodies, while “Secret Country” shows off the band’s prog chops, Erin Trate’s clockwork drumming holding steady as the rest of the song careens back and forth with its own momentum.
43
Junip
Rope & Summit EP
Mute
After a five-year hiatus, Jose Gonzalez’s trio Junip announced their return with this free four-song EP, a collection of driving, Krautrockian mini-epics. “Far Away” is the strongest song here, Gonzalez’s jazzy acoustic pluckings and warm tenor supported by undulating organ, throbbing bass and tight, economic drumming; elsewhere, the title track matches its stark lyrical imagery with a spare, minimalist drone, while the aptly titled “Loops” plays like a wandering, elliptical coffeehouse singalong, the guitar’s nylon strings adding a pensive, melancholy texture to close the record.
42
The Books
The Way Out
Temporary Residence
Is there anyone that really sounds like The Books? Their sound collages, which incorporate random conversations from old LPs, television shows, and answering machines alongside their own piecemeal, kitchen-sink compositions, make for a singular listening experience, something that seems nostalgic and futuristic at once. “Beautiful People” is a vibrating hymn of low-fi hip-hop, Nick Zammuto’s shimmering voice singing a poem concrete about mathematics and music; contrast this to “A Cold Freezin’ Night”, a bizarre collection of bratty children making juvenile threats over an insistent groove of circular guitar and a fat, electronic pulse. Or witness “I Didn’t Know That”, a frenzied proto-funk pastiche of burping bass, cut-up vocals, and middle Eastern scales; it’s positively inspired.
41
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Kollaps Tradixionales
Constellation
Thee Silver Mt. Zion’s sixth album is the sound of an orchestra playing the valediction at the end of the world; over the course of an hour, Efrim Menuck and company build apocalyptic constructions, the songs growing to haunting, powerful cacophonies. “I Built Myself a Metal Bird” is all insistent, chiming guitar, simmering violins, and Menuck’s caterwauling, the jerky 7/4 drum patterns dragging the song along like a raft over choppy seas; “Bury 3 Dynamos” throbs like a heartbeat, the strings swelling in the sky as the band crashes along underneath in a chaotic din that eventually resolves to a tense, echoing coda. And opener “There is a Light” builds glacially over its fifteen minutes, bringing in a quartet of ebullient horns for the song’s midsection march before dissolving into an aftermath of sweet female harmonies, the calm settling in after the collapse.
Next: #40-31
#30-21
#20-11
#10-01
50
Clogs
Veil Waltz EP
Brassland
Clogs, a largely instrumental post-rock quartet that includes The National’s Bryce Dessner, began the year with this teaser EP that builds on the band’s ‘progressive pastoral’ sound, collecting tracks submitted to film soundtracks. Highlights include the themes from the film Turn the River, which include an ethereal piece for celeste and a melancholy fugue on oboe and mandola, and the stark title track, a minstrel’s ballad of plucked guitar and sonorous violin.
49
Dirty Projectors & Björk
Mt. Wittenberg Orca EP
self-released
Brooklyn art-rockers Dirty Projectors teamed up with Iceland’s otherworldly chanteuse Björk for this set of songs, a loose concept record for charity about the sea and Mother Earth. Opening track “Ocean” is chilling, with Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Björk swirling their voices into disquieting, sinister harmonies over a churning bass, while “On and Ever Onward” finds the Projectors’ vocal scatting supporting their guest’s breathy crooning over curtains of acoustic fingerpicking. And “Sharing Orb” uses vocal descants to capture the undulating sea, the terrible majesty of the piece evocative of an orca breaking through the waves.
48
Boston Spaceships
Camera Found the Raygun EP
Jackpot
The first of four appearances from Robert Pollard on this year’s list, his ongoing project with GBV’s Chris Slusarenko and the Decemberists’ John Moen dropped this four-song, nine-minute EP in March. “The Way Out” is a driving slab of lo-fi guitar rock, bristling like an old jukebox 45; “Pluto is Polluted” is both tense and regal, buzzy strumming giving way to strong melodies in the bass, and “Aquarian Hovercraft” finishes the proceedings with a surprise din of reverb-soaked vocal chants and warm cello.
47
Ratatat
LP4
XL
New York’s Ratatat have been incredibly consistent over their career, churning out one hot track of crisp, instrumental electronic pop after another. Their simply titled fourth record continues the trend with bookend tracks like “Bilar” and “Alps”; the opener brims with homespun hip-hop percussion and synthetic strings, while the closer lays cascading talkboxes over a stately bed of harpsichord and piano. But they also manage a few successful experiments as well, such as on the almost mournful, Hawaiian-flavored elegy “Mahalo”.
46
Of Montreal
False Priest
Polyvinyl
Kevin Barnes’ tenth album dials back both the bravado and sonic density of 2008’s overstuffed Skeletal Lamping, but there's still plenty of lush falsetto funk and post-nuclear dancefloor jams to be had here. “Hydra Fancies” blends sinuous Motown grooves with meandering, labyrinthine chord structures, Barnes’ voice percolating like a human synth; elsewhere, Jon Brion’s production fattens up the troubadour’s guitars and bubbling bass on “Coquet Coquette”, and “Our Riotous Defects” details a postmillennial breakup milieu, replete with tales of unread blogs and the untimely death of a betta fish.
45
Clogs
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
Brassland
Clogs’ fifth proper album is a sylvan folk dreamscape, a collection of songs that carry the listener to both sunlit fields and imposing forest glades. “Red Seas” rides along peacefully on Padma Newsome’s airy tenor and a bed of accordion, but eventually the piece is overtaken by strident horns and a turbulent undercurrent of bassoon, a storm coming suddenly to the calm meadow. My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden guests on the unsettling “Adages of Cleansing”, her warbling soprano reminiscent of some half-woman, half-bird creature; meanwhile, an admixture of marimba, oboe, and violin make a sublime threnody for the wooded overture of “To Hugo”.
44
Minus the Bear
Omni
Dangerbird
On their fourth proper full-length, Seattle’s Minus the Bear continue their move from angular indie-rockers to slick alt-pop architects, although frontman Jake Snider’s lyrical obsessions remain unchanged; songs like opener “My Time”, with its burgeoning synth lines and metronomic rhythms, relate yet another one of Snider’s tales of late-hours girl-watching and come-hither entreaty. “Summer Angel” glides on stutterstep piano and guitarist Dave Knudsen’s serpentine guitar melodies, while “Secret Country” shows off the band’s prog chops, Erin Trate’s clockwork drumming holding steady as the rest of the song careens back and forth with its own momentum.
43
Junip
Rope & Summit EP
Mute
After a five-year hiatus, Jose Gonzalez’s trio Junip announced their return with this free four-song EP, a collection of driving, Krautrockian mini-epics. “Far Away” is the strongest song here, Gonzalez’s jazzy acoustic pluckings and warm tenor supported by undulating organ, throbbing bass and tight, economic drumming; elsewhere, the title track matches its stark lyrical imagery with a spare, minimalist drone, while the aptly titled “Loops” plays like a wandering, elliptical coffeehouse singalong, the guitar’s nylon strings adding a pensive, melancholy texture to close the record.
42
The Books
The Way Out
Temporary Residence
Is there anyone that really sounds like The Books? Their sound collages, which incorporate random conversations from old LPs, television shows, and answering machines alongside their own piecemeal, kitchen-sink compositions, make for a singular listening experience, something that seems nostalgic and futuristic at once. “Beautiful People” is a vibrating hymn of low-fi hip-hop, Nick Zammuto’s shimmering voice singing a poem concrete about mathematics and music; contrast this to “A Cold Freezin’ Night”, a bizarre collection of bratty children making juvenile threats over an insistent groove of circular guitar and a fat, electronic pulse. Or witness “I Didn’t Know That”, a frenzied proto-funk pastiche of burping bass, cut-up vocals, and middle Eastern scales; it’s positively inspired.
41
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Kollaps Tradixionales
Constellation
Thee Silver Mt. Zion’s sixth album is the sound of an orchestra playing the valediction at the end of the world; over the course of an hour, Efrim Menuck and company build apocalyptic constructions, the songs growing to haunting, powerful cacophonies. “I Built Myself a Metal Bird” is all insistent, chiming guitar, simmering violins, and Menuck’s caterwauling, the jerky 7/4 drum patterns dragging the song along like a raft over choppy seas; “Bury 3 Dynamos” throbs like a heartbeat, the strings swelling in the sky as the band crashes along underneath in a chaotic din that eventually resolves to a tense, echoing coda. And opener “There is a Light” builds glacially over its fifteen minutes, bringing in a quartet of ebullient horns for the song’s midsection march before dissolving into an aftermath of sweet female harmonies, the calm settling in after the collapse.
Next: #40-31
#30-21
#20-11
#10-01