My Albums of 2010, Part 2 (5-1)

Here's the second part of my 2010 rundown, slightly later than originally promised.

	5 - Best Coast - Crazy For You Definitely the most divisive album of the year. I come down solidly in the 'pro-' camp, though. It's neither clever - I lost count of the times she uses the same 'lazy-crazy' rhyme over the first half of the record - nor new, and it's potentially very annoying (especially the lead single, 'Boyfriend', as my housemates can attest). I just love it. There are few genres that can get under my skin more than this kind of summery fuzz-pop. Bethany Cosentino, who formed this band (it was rumoured, with her ex-babysitter) after leaving Pocahaunted, is scarily obsessed with the subject of these songs, enough for some lyrics to send a shiver down the spine, but instead of being a bad thing, this gives the whole album a cohesiveness which means it works well as a full album, something frequently lost in this mp3 age, and especially rare in throwaway pop like this. Not every album needs to be a challenging listen, and some of this album is just brilliant.
	4 - The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt There are obvious easy comparisons with 3rd-album-era Dylan, but in my mind this stretches no further than the fact that a guy with a fairly nasal voice has made a folk album good enough and accessible enough to be taken on and lauded by the wider music community. He's a lot more like Nick Drake, to my ears. The guitar-work especially is a lot more intricate than Dylan ever managed in his pre-electric days, and despite the lyrics being fairly obvious ('I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone', etc.), they are undeniably heartfelt and effective. This album, his second, takes the extraordinary songwriting and emotion from certain songs on his debut and makes it work over a full album. The rise in emotionless pop-'folk' this year (Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons, to name two of the worst offenders) has, to its credit, made this kind of thing fashionable again, and I think we could be about to have a 2011 renaissance of genuine folk albums like this. Even if they do come from Sweden.
	3 - Wive - Pvll An album apparently recorded over the internet, with the band never completely assembling, this is probably the most beautiful, and underappreciated, record of the year. Primarily using a violin and some samples as percussion (including, most effectively, turntable hisses and pops), as well as a few guest musicians, London's own Wive managed to produce an album that combines the kind of rootsy melancholy of Bon Iver's debut with electronics and feedback. If I had to sum this up in one word, it would definitely be 'haunting', but that is to do a disservice to the variety that is present if you just scratch the surface of the record. Listen to 'Lazarvs and Dives' if nothing else.
	2 - The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night In the 'independent rock & pop' sections of the popular press, 2010 seems to have been the year of the Arcade Fire. Good as The Suburbs is, however, I think the Besnard Lakes wrote the best album to come out of the massively enviable Canadian indie scene this year. Very much an album to be listened to start-to-finish, the lush orchestrations and driving rhythms bring out the soaring melodies and implant them into your brain. The twin vocals of the husband-and-wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas work perfectly together, interlocking and alternating in style. Every single one of the tracks here, especially up to track 5 or so, is a potential highlight. The songs feel like I have always known them, without being 'catchy' per se. After this and their previous album, Dark Horse, the Besnard Lakes are well on their way to becoming one of my favourite bands.
	1 - The National - High Violet In the 3-year wait since their last, and best, album, Boxer, the National had built up some pretty big expectations. Their core fanbase, including  me, weren't originally completely convinced, with the new songs appearing to be their attempt to break into the mass market, lacking the  knowing witticism and intimacy of their previous albums. However, the album is a massive grower, and succeeds completely at what it tries to do, with songs like 'England' and 'Conversation 16' among the very best  of the year. Played live, even the weaker songs develop some remarkable character. In the last couple of months I have begun to appreciate this album a lot more, and think that it (unfortunately for their fans, fortunately for the band) could be the start of their ascent to genuine global levels. A worthy album of the year, from a band it's hard to imagine releasing anything that wouldn't also have claimed that title. Yes, I'm a bit of a fan-boy.

My Albums of 2010, Part 1 (10-5 & Near Misses)

Seeing as it's New Year's Eve, I thought the time was right to do a rundown of the albums I have enjoyed most this year. Here's the first half, and I'll put up my 5 top albums of the year probably tomorrow.

	10 - Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love Of all the eagerly-anticipated albums this year, perhaps none had expectations so divided. Some people, fuelled by the couple of songs released on a B&S TV show a couple of months early, thought this had the potential to be a true return to their late-90s top form. Others, fuelled by the prospect of songs featuring Carey Mulligan and Norah Jones, thought it would be a further descent into the MOR, continuing along the lines of the second half of 2005's The Life Pursuit. In the end, they were probably both right. Some truly amazing indiepop is tempered by some dross, making for an album that is enjoyable but unmemorable. Hopefully they can get a couple more albums out over the next few years and re-find their stride.
	9 - Wild Nothing - Gemini In my review of Wild Nothing's neo-C86 debut, I said that it was a very good dreampop album with few ideas of its own. The couple of weeks since I wrote that review have slightly softened that position in my mind - it has improved even further with a few more listens, and I do now think that this is genuinely one of the best albums of the year. The accompanying Golden Haze EP is well worth picking up too. And, of course, I still love the cover art.
	8 - Shrag - Life! Death! Prizes! Previously much better live than on record, Shrag are one of those bands that seem to be able to churn out songs that feel like you've always known them. Post-punk (specifically post-X Ray Spex) in attitude but almost twee in melodies, they are the perfect band for a specific mood. This, their second record after they released a compilation of singles last year, is their first attempt at a proper long-player. It's just so fun - Tight in August is one of the year's angsty pop gems. Despite the lack of many potential singles, the like of which their previous record was stuffed with, I prefer this album, as it feels much more mature, without feeling like its anywhere near fulfilled the band's obviously massive potential. This makes me pretty excited for their follow-up, although I think it could be a while in coming as they cement their place in the London live music scene.
	7 - Beach House - Teen Dream Probably the biggest dream-pop album of the year, this record got pretty much universal acclaim form a variety of influential sources. I do think it is a genuinely stunning album. I can see how people might see it as slightly 'boring' and ineffectual, as it is not exactly imposing, but the melodies and harmonies gradually unfold and wrap themselves around you, in a similar way (although obviously not as powerfully) as 'Loveless'. Indeed, the more I listen to this album the more shoegazey I think it is, although with sweeter melodies and less abrasive noise than many albums of the genre - the most similar genuine oldschool shoegaze band would probably be Slowdive, but there are also a lot of other obvious influences among their contemporaries - I definitely think they've been listening to quite a lot of 'For Emma, Forever Ago'.
	6 - Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' I got fairly obsessed with this album back in the Spring. They, as with many bands this year, are incredibly open in their influences - in this case, 90s K and Sarah bands. 'Dreaming', the opening song, takes all the best elements of this scene - the boy-girl interplay vocals are straight out of 'C is the Heavenly Option' - and packages it with a ukulele. Some of the songs are weaker than others - I don't normally skip songs, but even I find 'Heartbeat Chilli' virtually unlistenable - but they seem to be able to put their mind to most things in the indiepop spectrum with a remarkable degree of success, and you can't help but be utterly charmed by the album as a whole. I think I definitely overplayed it, as I haven't listened to it much at all over the last couple of months, but there is no way I wouldn't put it up as my favourite British indiepop album of 2010, and there is some very strong competition.

Here are some other albums I heartily recommend from this year, but that didn't make the final top 10.

11 - Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz
12 - Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
13 - Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo
14 - Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
15 - James Blackshaw - All Is Falling
16 - Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
17 - Math And Physics Club - I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do
18 - The Arcade Fire - Suburbs
19 - Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing
20 - Delorean - Subiza
21 - Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat
22 - Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
23 - Thee Silver Mt. Zion & Tra-La-La Band - Kollaps Tradixionales
24 - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Let It Sway
25 - Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

My Gigs of 2010

Here is a quick run-down of some of my favourite gigs I went to this year, in chronological order. There were a few near misses, such as seeing the National at the Royal Albert Hall on election night, which would doubtless have made the final list had I not only been able to get a ticket for the balcony, right up in the top of the venue surrounded by the famous acoustic mushrooms. Overall though I think this selection gives a fairly good representation of what was an excellent year of live music for me.

Pavement @ the Brixton Academy, 13th May

Pavement's unashamedly money-focused reunion had the potential to be fairly dull and pedestrian. Luckly, however, they'd lost none of their slacker charm, and they played a hit-filled set at the Brixton Academy, probably my favourite larger venue. They managed to fill the massive space (partly with sound, partly with massive inflatables), with Bob Nostanovich as crazy as 10 years ago and Malkmus showing that he really is a genuinely top-notch guitarist, despite seeming completely detached from his instrument. Even the weaker stuff from the later albums went down very well, and 'Here' provided one of my favourite live performaces of the year.

Indietracks Festival, 23rd-25th July

Aah, Indietracks. Probably the nicest place I've been all year. A collection of a couple of thousand twee-sters in a steam train depot in rural Nottinghamshire, with sets from some of the biggest and best indiepop bands of modern times (POBPAH, the Smittens, Ballboy, Allo Darlin') and the late 80s-early 90s heyday (the Pooh Sticks, the Orchids, the Primitives). Really felt like a proper community, in a way that bigger (worse) festivals can only dream ofThis was maybe due to the fact that such a high proportion of the people there were in bands, and enjoyed talking about themselves and about music in general, even if they happened to be queueing for an ice cream (Max from the Smittens is apparently a lecturer in Geography at Leeds University! Who knew?). Will definitely be going back for the foreseeable future.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart @ the Buffalo Bar, 1st August

‘Asked to describe their sound lead singer Chip said “USA! USA! USA! Touch my dong!” before falling over sideways.’

At the end of their UK stay, also encompassing a headlining slot at Indietracks and a London gig at Heaven, which was frankly slightly disappointing, POBPAH played a secret gig at a half-full Buffalo Bar under the name 'George Washington's Penis'. They played us a set crammed with both new songs and old favourites. Gave a sighting of that rarest of beasts, the indiepop moshpit, inches from Kip's microphone.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ the Troxy, 13th December

Outlined on this blog already. I'd been waiting for this gig for ages, and it really didn't disappoint. Definitely one of the most impressive live shows I've ever seen, despite the understandable lack of crowd interaction. Everything was exceptional, from the slightly quirky venue to the images projected behind the band. From a high-brow point of view, definitely my gig of the year.