Album of the Year
just do it right, make it perfect and real
because it’s everything, though “everything” was never the deal
so grab your things, and stumble into the night
so we can shut the door and shut the door on terrible times
so do it right, and head again into space
so you can carry on, and fall over the place
this is the trick: forget a terrible year
so we can break the laws
until it gets weird
and this is what you waited for
but under lights we’re all unsure
and so tell me:
what would make you feel better?
as night has such a local ring
and love and rock are fickle things
and you know it, yeah you know it, yeah you know
forget your past, this is your last chance now
and we can break the rules like nothing will last
you might forget, forget the sound of our voice
but you should not forget yeah don’t forget
the things that we laughed about
and after rolling on the floor
and thankfully a few make sure that you get home
and you stay home
and you’d better
cos you’re afraid of what you need
yeah you’re afraid of what you need
if you weren’t, if you weren’t, i don’t know what we’d talk about
yeah no one ever knows what you’re talking about and i guess we’re already there
and no one opens up when you scream and shout so it’s time to make a couple things clear
if you’re afraid of what you need
if you’re afraid of what you need
look around you
you’re surrounded
it won’t get any better
and so good night
#2
I had never heard of this band prior to January 2010. I’m not even sure why I was reading the thread to be honest. But if I was really going to listen to more albums than ever in 2010 then a much-hyped album seemed a good place to start.
From the moment “In Medias Res” began, I was captivated, and well on my way to giving this album at least 20 spins for the year. The duelling guitars, the huge, busy sounds that were flying out of my speakers in a million different directions, the lyrics – relatable, unique, original, eloquent and emo all at the same time – the frenetic pace that barely lets up – all these combined to make Romance is Boring the most exciting album I heard in 2010. I listened to it less as the year continued but whenever I did those horns in the final minute of “In Medias Res”, the blistering “I Just Sighed”, the shattered protagonist in “Coda”, among the rest, delivered almost everything I love about music, even if I was maybe the only person in Australia to buy the album.
if you were given the option of dying painlessly in peace at forty-five
but with a lover at your side
after a full and happy life
is this something that would interest you?
would this interest you at all?
#3
I’ve barely shut up about Outkast since I joined this forum, but with good reason. The rest of the hip-hop world have struggled to keep up with Atlanta’s most innovative sons at the best of times, so when Big Boi, so often relegated to “the other guy in Outkast”, dropped his long-awaited solo album, you believe him when he raps, “niggas wish I would retire / cos of the pressure I apply / every time I bust a rhyme” in the explosive “Daddy Fat Sax”. The rest of the album is a joyous ride through
Antwan Patton’s world full of Cadillacs, bitches, drinks and blunts. More upbeat and less of a slog than Speakerboxxx, Sir Lucious Left Foot delivers one great song after the other. “Shutterbugg” has Big Boi in as fine form as ever and “Shine Blockas” combines traditional ATL-style production with a celebratory rap. “General Patton” reassures anyone who may have felt Big Boi had lost his edge, opening with the line “get the south dick up out your mouth” before the Funk Soul Crusader lays down the law over menacing horns and a choir while “Turns Me On” features Sleepy Brown and Joi over a slunky beat. With Sir Lucious… Big Boi proves that even without Andre 3000 he can still be at the top of the hip-hop game.
#4
Another band I’d not heard of before 2010. I randomly opened the thread one day to find someone had posted a link to “World Sick” the six-minute epic opening track from this album (something that is not uncommon for BSS, I soon found out). I bought the album when it came out to much derision from mates, who proclaim to be “anti-indie”. I always wanted to be against the scene as well, but the more I listened to its music the more I was won over. From track to track, Forgiveness Rock Record offers something different every few minutes – sometimes even within the same song. There’s the laid back, summery feel of “Texico Bitches”, the storming instrumental “Meet Me in the Basement” and my personal favourite “Chase Scene”, which picks up in pace and menace with every “I’m ready to go / I’m ready to fight / for the scene of my life” before drowning in horns. “Art House Director” became a favourite amongst the few BSS fans in Australia for its “surfer from Australia” line, but it would take a cold-hearted person to not enjoy it otherwise. “Sentimental X’s”, sung by my future wife is gorgeous and “Water in Hell” was my ringtone for three months.
And then I went and listened to YFIIP and the self-titled. I love Canada.
#5
It’s an album I’ve spent more time deriding than appreciating, but I know an album has won me over when I continually put it on when in the car. My qualms with the album are almost entirely about length; most of the songs would benefit from an edit. But ignoring that factor reveals a truly stunning “work of art” from perhaps the hottest man in hip-hop. Every single song is completely different, yet somehow it all coalesces seamlessly. “So Addicted” is my personal favourite, featuring an outstanding verse from Jay-Z, but hits abound. It is the most overrated album of the year, and is an early contender for most overrated of the decade, but few more enjoyable albums you will find.
#6 – Cee-Lo Green – The Lady Killer
“Fuck You” immediately caught everyone’s attention and two days into 2011 it’s still a great song. So often you like these radio hits only to end up hating them; with Cee-Lo, one of Atlanta’s most versatile artists, it’s different. The funk and soul and pop on this album make an incredible combination.
#7 – The National – High Violet
I’m still not a National fanatic like so many others here but it’s hard not to walk around singing their songs for a day after you’ve listened to an album. High Violet is no different, from the despondent rock of “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and “Afraid of Everyone” to the gorgeous, swelling “Terrible Love” and “England”, High Violet is everything The National do well.
#8 – Massive Attack – Heligoland
It’s no Blue Lines. It’s no Protection. It’s certainly no Mezzanine. But leave aside your innate desire to compare for a moment and you’ll find one of the better moody albums released in 2010. A collaborative effort, the album’s best moment, “Girl I Love You”, is all Massive, and could slide easily onto Mezzanine. Elsewhere Tunde Adebimpe croons over a tribal beat in “Pray for Rain” and Damon Albarn wails in “Saturday Come Slow”. A real treat for those prepared to listen.
#9 – Hot Chip – One Life Stand
One Life Stand lacks the personality of their other releases which made me such a fan, but they still wrote some damn good dance songs. “Take It In”, with its dark opening beat followed by swirling chorus, was one of the best songs of the year and “Hand Me Down Your Love” is propelled forward by some fierce keyboards. The pretty “Alley Cats” even proved the humour was still there – “two people are alley cats / we have an unhappy cat / he is restless needs attention / loses patience seeks affection”.
#10 – Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
The best album that Australia had to offer in 2010. Once you get past the fact the singer sounds almost exactly like John Lennon all the way through, there is a thoroughly enjoyable trip through all things psychedelic to be found. The gorgeous “Alter Ego” can easily transport your mind elsewhere for five minutes and for a cold winter’s day Innerspeaker works surprisingly well.
Honourable Mentions
Deadmau5 – 4x4 = 12
I love dirty beats. I think I could safely say I’m the only one on this forum who could sit through this entire album but if you’re getting ready to go out there aren’t many better choices.
Crowded House – Intriguer
LMP said they’re like Ambien; I’d overdose on that shit if it had a back catalogue like Crowded House. The second album for the reformed group is really impressive, pushing boundaries they haven’t before and yes, Neil Finn can still write some brilliant lyrics.
Beach House – Teen Dream
I will never forget driving from Vancouver to Banff, on a cold, dreary, overcast day, looking out of the car and seeing snow-capped mountains and unbelievably green grass in every direction, as Teen Dream played on my ipod. Majestic.
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Couldn’t name one of the songs, and I was hesitant to listen to it in the first place because I was expecting dissonant electronic bleeps for an hour. I was half-right, but the jazz and hip-hop inflections and all the other left-turns make Cosmogramma very satisfying.
The Black Keys – Brothers
The fact that I even liked this album is a real sign of how good it is. I have never been a fan of the 2000s bluesy-rock sort of sound (Dead Weather, White Stripes, etc) but something about this record had me coming back to it again and again.
Best Non-2010 Albums
#1
A few years ago I made a thread called something along the lines of “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the best rap album ever”. People generally agreed that it was a good album but had a hearty chuckle at it being called the best ever of the genre. Now I know that it’s not even Outkast’s best album. Aquemini is not what I’d call an accessible album, but there are enough songs on it after the first few listens to keep you coming back for more: the awesome “Rosa Parks”, a song that could only have come from Atlanta, Georgia (it’s got a harmonica break for god’s sake!!), the catchy, funky single “Skew It On The Bar-B”. But it’s the lyrical themes, the live instrumentation, the soulful music and the skilled rapping that makes Aquemini a deeply satisfying album. “Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)” has Big Boi and Andre 3000 rapping full of regret over mournful synthesisers, “SpottieOttieDopalicious” is a seven-minute half-spoken/half-sung ode to life complete with horns, “Liberation” is a dark, soulful tune with Cee-Lo and Erykah Badu that reaches to almost nine minutes and this was all before they made it huge with Stankonia. As good as hip-hop gets.
#2
Mixing five outstanding vocal tracks with nine highly evocative instrumentals, Another Green World is a richly rewarding album to listen to. The titles accurately reflect the music, not an easy feat when there are no lyrics, and when I felt like doing nothing but being one with music, this was the album I came to. “Becalmed” would lower the heart rate methamphetamine addict, “Zawinul/Lava” has a hypnotic, calming effect on the listener and “In Dark Trees” is more eerie and creepy than many thriller-type movies. Eno himself isn’t a very good vocalist but his voice is suited perfectly to tracks like “Sky Saw”, where his voice drifts in and out as if it were just another instrument to complement the duelling instruments, and “Everything Merges With The Night”, a lovely piano ballad.
#3
“Bombs Over Baghdad” packs synthesisers, furiously quick rapping, pounding percussion, guitar solos, turntable scratching, and a gospel choir into a gloriously chaotic five minutes. And that’s just one track on Stankonia, one of the most exciting releases of the decade. Elsewhere there is everyone’s favourite single, “Ms. Jackson”, a funky letter of regret to Erykah Badu’s mother that everyone still knows the chorus to 10 years on, the angry “Gasoline Dreams”, the cool “So Fresh, So Clean”, the dangerous “Snappin’ & Trappin’”, which was almost solely responsible for the language stickers on the front cover and other album tracks with awesome choruses like “Humble Mumble” and “Red Velvet”. We all hope that 2011 will see Big Boi, Andre 3000 and Organized Noise come together again.
#4
Everyone who’s ever watched House knows “Teardrop” but on the downtempo masterpiece Mezzanine it’s just another beguiling track. Dark, menacing, yet strangely peaceful, each of the 11 tracks conjures up so many different sounds and textures there’s something new to hear with each listen. “Exchange” (the instrumental) is one of my favourites, with its gentle, dreamlike feel. The vocals on most of the tracks are sung so low, so restrained, that it’s almost unnerving at times. Not an album for those with paranoia, it could be the soundtrack to a nightmare.
#5
“Pet Sounds of the 1990s” is a pretty big title to bestow upon an album, but The Soft Bulletin, The Flaming Lips’ first real turn to a more accessible sound, is worthy of such plaudits. An album of and about humanity, it’s impossible not to feel good as the reverb-drenched “Race for the Prize” – a song that should be played as loud as possible – fills the room. “The Spark That Bled” is replete with harmonies and changing structures and elsewhere it’s hard not to get lost amongst the beautiful and whimsical songs like “Suddenly Everything Has Changed” or “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate”. Ever since I heard this album I’ve thought to myself if the world was ending, hearing “Race for the Prize” would make it seem like not such a big deal.
#6 – Something for Kate – Echolalia
One of my favourite Australian bands, I’d never actually heard this album of theirs in full until this year. It features the two big singles, the amazing ode to inner demons “Monsters” and dissatisfaction (“Three Dimensions”) but also a treasure trove of other intricate delights.
#7 – The National – Alligator
I genuinely love about half the songs here – the others I can take or leave – but “Abel”, “Mr November”, “Secret Meeting”, “Lit Up”, these are some of the best songs the decade had to offer. Can’t wait to see them live in a few days.
#8 – De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
The only De La Soul I knew prior to listening to Bonnie’s DI7 list was the verse in “Feel Good Inc” so you can imagine my bewilderment when a gorgeous love song sampling Otis Redding and Steely Dan became one of my favourite hip-hop songs of all time. The rest of the album, I feel, is a bit thin at times, but the highlights are truly stunning, especially when you think of people’s common perceptions of hip-hop. “Me Myself and I” is still being used in clubs today.
#9 – The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
One of those albums that is almost unanimously praised, I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite the album having a distinct 80s sound, it is brilliant from start to finish. And there aren’t many albums where reading the lyrics is as entertaining as listening to the music.
#10 – LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
“Someone Great” and “All My Friends” are the absolute standouts but there’s great value in the opener “Get Innocuous” with the way the beat builds and builds and the 70s-Bowie-aping vocals, the cheeky “North American Scum” and the closer “New York I Love You”, which could easily slide right on to Ziggy Stardust. Filler doesn’t seem to matter much when you’ve got two tracks as good as #4 and #5 however.
Worst Albums of 2010*
MGMT – Congratulations
All I wanted was another Kids, another Time to Pretend and another Electric Feel. Instead, I listened to 40-plus-minutes of directionless, pretentious garbage that thankfully wasn’t hailed as a brilliant career reinvention by everyone else.
Kele – The Boxer
One can only hope that he’ll get all the mundane, crappy club music out of his system before hopefully restarting with Bloc Party.
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon II
I’m not really sure what Kid Cudi has to whinge about. His life seems pretty good to me. I’m also not sure documenting how much life sucks over an hour was a good idea. There’s some good songs here; but the others aren’t enough to sustain them.
*these are just the albums that I can recall music from that I didn’t enjoy. There were plenty more albums I listened to in 2010 that I can’t recall a single thing from.
New Discoveries of the Year
LCD Soundsystem – I went from not being able to name a song of theirs at the beginning of the year to mentioning them in every second post by the end of the year. All three of their albums are superb, and their live show was just stupidly good.
Hip-hop and subgenres – Before 2010 I used to think I was a huge hip-hop fan. After listening to Cassie’s DI7 list and perusing the hip-hop thread I realised I had no idea. By the end of the year I was fiercely defensive of the genre and never have I been more annoyed by those simply dismissing it as music. De La Soul, Outkast, Nas, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, NWA, Ice Cube, the list goes on and on.
Massive Attack – I also really got into downtempo/instrumental/moody/electronic/chillout/etc music this year (DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… became one of my most listened-to albums of the year) but it was Massive Attack’s music that I enjoyed the most. There’s some outstanding tracks on Blue Lines, and Protection is perfect for driving around the city in the middle of the night. Mezzanine is an out-and-out masterpiece.
Best Concerts
U2
I sang every word to In a Little While at each of the three concerts I went to
and Where the Streets Have No Name live is an experience like no other. Life genuinely seems better when U2 are around.
LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip
Hot Chip are my boys, so to say that they paled in comparison to LCD should give you an idea of how good JMurph and his cohorts are. There was no Dance Yrself Clean, Home, All I Want, You Wanted a Hit or Someone Great, and I couldn’t have cared less. All My Friends was amazing and Yeah was the most fun I’ve had in 10 minutes in my entire life. I woke up sore the next day.
Broken Social Scene – How BSS managed to fit all their members and gear on stage inside a cramped, small pub/club and still put on a high-quality show in terms of both sound and performance is beyond me. Five months on and I’m still replaying my future wife singing Anthems. Only the lack of Ibi Dreams of Pavement and the presence of annoying hipsters soured the show.
Interference Posts of the Year
Dalton’s Hipster 101:
http://www.u2interference.com/forum...are-the-new-menudo-135787-15.html#post6750896 (shouter’s confusion over the joke made it funnier)
GAF throws up many candidates but this one was very good:
http://www.u2interference.com/forum...-up-at-a-u2-concert-207419-2.html#post6912206
And why miss an opportunity to pump myself up:
http://www.u2interference.com/forum...-suu-kyi-will-be-free-207989.html#post6972126