Best of 2010

There's been some very good music coming out over the past year, some even worming it's way into the generally unassailably poor judgement of America's collective consciousness - see:  The National hitting the Billboard at #3, Arcade Fire ratcheting up some Grammy nods (3, I think), Lady Gaga - despite being taken seriously by most - seems to be sticking a smart and talented Vaudevillian monkey-wrench into the cogs of pop(ular) music (see from 1:35 on...  here ) , etc...

Here's a handful of the albums I liked the most over the past year, in no particular order:

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

alright, this one is listed first 'cause it's probably my top pick.  So easy to love right off the get-go (she's famously easy to not...).  With a bold 3 lp release, she has very little filler here.  Truly, to see her and her band live will twist even the most reluctant arm into it's rightful place.  Not much to compare this too, maybe some Joni (Hissing of Summer Lawns-era), touches of Fairport Convention, but there's nothing dated here either, even though she's a Gelfling playing the harp(!).  When it comes down to it, I may love Ys. more, but this blows the roof off of most music I know.



Grinderman - Grinderman II
Nick Cave is the horniest, bad-ass-ist teenager old dude in rock n' roll today.  oh, and so's Warren Ellis.  Jim Sclavunos is no slouch either, or the other guy (ok,  Martyn P. Casey).  They've been Grinderman for 2 albums now and basically, more or less have been the Bad Seeds for 14 albums with Nick Cave fronting.  They're an incredible live show and a sophisticated, surprisingly nuanced studio band considering the raw, raucous sounds they batter you with.  Blues-y, rockin', well played, well written, gorgeously produced album that you should be listening to.


(plus, they got beards/mustaches like no other, yo.)

Mogwai - Special Moves

a live album/DVD release that captures the band live in Brooklyn in 2009.  If you know them, you like them, if not, you probably won't care.  This is just some excellent versions of songs, one or two from each of their albums, and a pretty cool film of the show.  This makes the list 'cause I don't have too much Mogwai to listen to and this is a perfect entrypoint...and they're just really good.

BruteHeart - Brass Beads

yes, and yes!   a local band that's making incredible music - contemporary, smart, talented and hitting every button that I love to have pushed.  There's plucked and bowed viola, bass, some moody organ, gorgeous lady harmonies, and atmosphere enough to shake down the most hardened punk...Ari Up would be proud.    I keep thinking I'm listening to old Raincoats albums, but I can see these guys down the street next week!  There's a sense of communion going on here, coos and hoots that get funneled into a groove by the drums and viola riffs.  One of the coolest things I've heard in a long time. 
here's a much better review...  
Here's a couple songs ala' Radio K in-studio performance


Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - Medicine County

this is possibly the most fun album I've picked up over the past year.  Rollicking good time that'll make you want to grab your lil' pardner by the arm, swing around the room, kick back a swig o' somethin' strong and by end of the day, cry a tear in your beer or make some sweet hay.  Holly (from Thee Headcoatees ala' Billy Childish) and hubby? Lawyer Dave make these sounds by channeling some Delta blues, Lee and Nancy, and honky-tonkin' porch playin', whisky-soaked evenings.  If you like to listen to music, this is worth picking up...the vinyl sounds fantastic and comes in a tie-dye marbelized slab.  

listen to some live tunes here! 

James Blake - Klavierwerke

I just picked this up so I'm including it tentatively...how can I not though.  If you know Burial - Untrue, then you know.  This hits in a similar vein, minimal and late night feel with crackles, pops, handclaps, and drop-dead gorgeous vocal manipulations that can almost make you cry.  I don't have any idea why but it's true.  Klavierwerke is just a few songs on an ep of piano, vocals, tape manipulation, and perfectly played blank space, in anticipation of a debut full release this next year.  He gives a brilliant nod to not-so-obvious influence in the video below (Feist channeling Nina Simone) and an amazing tune from the Klavierwerke ep is  here.

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

this is Superchunk at their finest.  Sure, they've been around forever (well, since 1989) and, my favorite success story of the year - they started Merge to release their own albums and, this year they put out Spoon, Arcade Fire, Teenage Fanclub, Destroyer, and at least a handfull of others that will be critically acclaimed, potentially awesome, and done to the artist's/ label's collective ambitions.  Cheers!

An awesome pop-punk album that sounds just like they sound - irreverently uninterested in anything heavier than a good hook and some jammin'.  Super fun? Super Chunk.  

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
I'll admit I didn't love this on first listen.  I mean it was pretty good, Deerhunter has an amazing trackrecord, and an amazing record collection, which drastically helps their success.  Main dude, Bradford Cox, mines some great sonic avenues with a deft hand at production and subtlety of pop hooks.  His Cryptogram/Flourescent Grey lp I picked up at the last show of theirs I saw (Fine Line, lousy venue, good company - thanks Stephanie!) is outstanding.  This new one is very good.  Maybe not astounding, but it's definitely grown on me and I find myself wanting more.  50's/60's doo-wop harmonies, an amazing sax jam (hello "Coronado"), the downtown and late-night cool that few others besides the Velvet Underground have perfectly nailed.  Really this's turned out to be one of the better things I've heard this year...

Sun City Girls - Funeral Mariachi

Somehow, I just got turned onto these guys this past year.  They have everything going that I like in a band though - caterwauling cacophony, folksy psychedelia, smart instrumentation, a touch of mystery.  Their drummer, Charles Gocher, died recently so this is their official final release.  It feels like it.  Not mournful per se, but there is a mourning throughout the album...wailing middle-eastern vocals, pounding drums and strumming ouds, a pastoral ambience of desert atmospherics...lots of space to settle into.  It's a perfectly titled album, it's so obviously a celebration of a life loved, but lost.  I don't know too much of the Sun City Girls discography but this seems a perfect encapsulation of their past career.

The National - High Violet

so,what else to say about this.  It's very good...maybe not as dark as previous outings, maybe not as good as Boxer but great songs, really good sounding vinyl.  I'm in awe of drummer, Bryan Devendorf, who was a little more up front in the mix on Boxer.  I'm glad they're getting some accolades for this one and hope folks revisit Alligator and some other tasty ones, tasty with a dash of bitters and very much on-the-rocks.

White Sands/BadLands - Seeding the Clouds

this one is bridging the gap between my straight-up best-of list and the 'Local List'.  It's an excellent album but I can't say it's without some freshman faults...  To their benefit, I put this on a lot!  The closest reference is Low and I play this more than I play my Low records.  It has a similar feel, but squirrels that sound up with some prog-leaning rock noodling that's very wintery feeling to me.  It's not music that finds a resolve but it spreads out in a comfortable and thick layer of gauzy ambience, guitar exploration, effects, and the like of non-descript goodness.  All good, but never quite coalescing into a full-formation.  A strong debut from a local band and something I look forward to hearing more of...
hear here

Charlie Parr - When the Devil Goes Blind

So very good.  I don't really listen to enough ol' timey guitar blues to have this one rank as a top ten of the year, but that's really a fault of my own.  It's an awesome album by a luminary dude playing songs he's writing and playing in a time/place removed from anything/anywhere he's got a right to be.  That is to say - it's timelessly lovely, perfectly hewn,  and impeccably presented.  It should be on so many year-end lists and on so many record players (the vinyl comes with a cd too but, man, this is one somethin' somethin' that should be heard on the lovingly recorded vinyl), but it's one of those releases that is beyond it's time and won't be heard by nearly enough people.  It's the kind of music that creates train hobos in an era when that just doesn't really fly.  Thank you Charlie Parr, and thanks to your foundering demons...
I Dreamed I saw Jesse James Last Night 

Reissues of 2010 of high consequence:

Soft Machine - Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

I saw a Boyle Family Exhibit in Edinborough, Scotland that included an hour's worth of their light projections for early 70's Soft Machine shows shown in darkened rooms of the museum filled with pillows and overstuffed beanbag chairs.  It was brilliantly psychedelic but got old with my lack of psylocybin ingestion...this album doesn't get old and I haven't dropped any acid to it yet! I do wish there was some Robert Wyatt vocals, one of the great moments in early Soft Machine is when the precisely perfect rollicking of Robert Wyatt's drumming leads to a moment of his excellent voice, but otherwise, this is a fantastic recording of primo Soft Machine.  Soundboard recordings, great performance from the Third songlist, and 2 discs of improv. goodness. 

Sonic Youth - Sister / Bad Moon Rising

bring 'em.  I saw these listed as a pre-order in August, ordered them, and haven't seen them yet.  Same press plant, RTI, as the EVOL repress so it'll surely sound great.  Just a bit of 'jumpin' the gun' from Insound/Amazon.  Looking forward to these on some quality, repressed vinyl.