"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage. He went back to the table, dipped his pen, and wrote:"
I once, between 2006's The Animal Years and this year's offering, reflexively resisted Josh Ritter's music because of an ex-girlfriend who was/is really into him. I'm over that now; Ritter's craft is just too strong to ignore. On this, his third proper LP, Josh proves, once again, why he's considered amongst the greatest living songwriters today. I really can't say much more than that.
09. Big Boi :: Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son of Chico Dusty
With a list of collaborators that reads like an all-star lineup (George Clinton, Janelle Monáe, Gucci Mane, T.I., Jamie Foxx, B.o.B., Bun B, etc.), and three years in the making, this--not Kanye West's--is the best rap album of 2010.
08. Vampire Weekend :: Contra
To quote myself, from January 17th, 2010: "By adding certain electronic elements--namely, pre-programmed loop sampling and, shit, even autotuned vocals!--to the instantly familiar blend of hipster-approved, globalized influences...honed on their first album, Vampire Weekend emerges with a second album much more engaging and interesting a listen than the first. It's only 17 days into the new year, but I am certain this album is gonna be on everyone's best-of 2010 lists come December. Unlike Vampire Weekend's 2008 album, however, this one will also be on mine."
07. Wild Nothing :: Gemini
This is what it sounds like to take mushrooms with an old friend who's in town from Korea on July 4th and stay out on the lake with your brother and some more great friends and everyone in their underwear until the sun rises. At least, that's what it sounds like to me...
06. Arcade Fire :: The Suburbs
Have you fucking listened to "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"?!?! It's a god-damned perfect song, and a totally unexpected and brave one, coming from this band.
05. How To Dress Well :: Love Remains
Best sexy time music of the year.
04. The Besnard Lakes :: The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Dreamy, cinematic, guitar-driven, honest-to-God rock with a heart. From Albatross: "Those days are now long gone / Wish I had your picture / Never been able to be true / So I wanted, I wanted / I wanted to help you / I wanted to..."
In a year when the cast of The Jersey Shore commands higher levels of our pop culture's collective attention than do most politicians, Titus Andronicus drops this Walt Whitman-quoting, Civil War-referencing reminder that, no matter what Snooki and her crew would have you believe, New Jersey is still the home of Bruce fucking Springsteen and the ever-present, suburban uncertainty of purpose born out of such constant, close proximity to--yet philosophical distance from--the big city.
01. Beach House :: Teen Dream
First off, the production on Teen Dream is just about spot-on perfect; the album marks a quantum leap forward for the duo from Baltimore whose self-titled debut made my #13 spot in 2006. Still present are the moody, ghostly atmospherics and heady, slow-burn rhythms that became Beach House's instant trademark, but gone now for the most part is the monotonous haze that encumbered and dragged down the mood of the group's first two records. What we're left with is a new, significantly more intimate version of Victoria Legrand's voice, pushed so much farther to the front of the mix, we wonder how in the hell they ever thought to drench it in so much reverb before now. In years to come, this album will mark the point in time when a new and important band had truly, finally arrived.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
Caribou :: Swim Charlotte Gainsbourg :: IRM Crystal Castles :: Crystal Castles Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of the Ankh) Four Tet :: There Is Love In You Gayngs :: Relayted Holly Miranda :: The Magician’s Private Library Janelle Monáe :: The ArchAndroid Mumford & Sons :: Sigh No More Phantogram :: Eyelid Movies Pill Wonder :: Jungle/Surf Plants And Animals :: La La Land The Radio Dept :: Clinging to a Scheme Sufjan Stevens :: The Age of Adz Twin Shadow :: Forget
...but wait, there's more!
Above is a youtube playlist I made with one song from each of my top 10 albums of the year, in order:
01. Josh Ritter :: Lark 02. Big Boi :: Shutterbug 03. Vampire Weekend :: White Sky 04. Wild Nothing :: Chinatown 05. Arcade Fire :: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 06. How To Dress Well :: Ready for the World 07. The Besnard Lakes :: Glass Printer 08. The Tallest Man on Earth :: Love Is All 09. Titus Andronicus :: Richard II 10. Beach House :: Walk in the Park
Having lately spent a great deal of friend time with various 20-somethings of a slightly younger age than my own--I'm a young 27, thank you very much--I've realized that several records seminal to my own musical and artistic development during my college years are sadly facing neglect at the hands of kids just 2-4 years my juniors. I mean, really...it's somewhat disconcerting to me when my mention of, say, Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"--arguably THE. BEST. RECORD. OF. THE. DECADE.--is met with the blank stares of those who should know much better. So, having said that, I intend to use the rest of this post as a means of spreading knowledge. In no particular order, here are, off the top of my head, a handful of somewhat obscure records released during 2002-2005, otherwise known as my early college period. While the albums may be "obscure," all that should mean is that I don't think that even most "artsy" kids these days have heard them, let alone the normals. All of these albums had profound impacts on my life, and it is my hope that maybe some of them will have similar effects on yours. Included with one sentence descriptions and album art will be links to places on the internet where you can download the music.*
What it would sound like if you went camping with a band of magical, musical wood elves with unlimited food, mushrooms and weed, and just jammed out until you lost your mind.
Favorite tracks: "The Bee and the Cracking Egg", "The Antlers of the Midnight Sun", "Brotherhood of the Harvest"
[Special note: just listen to the fucking backwards reverb on the lead guitar on "Brotherhood of the Harvest"!!!]
More a "mood" record than a "songs" record; this is just the epitome of chill, all layered fingerstyle guitars, hushed vocals, and brushed cymbals.
2004 :: Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Oh, My Girl(Mediafire)
Mournful, lyrical Indie-Americana/Country/Folk, with vocals along the lines of Lucinda Williams or Gillian Welch, and lyrics featuring the word fuckery on track one.
Favorite tracks: "Oh, My Girl", "You Are Not Gotten Here", "Tell the Boys"
This record I actually consider to be one of the best and most thorough of the decade because the sheer range of its North American musical styles and influences--traditional Country, Americana, Blues, Acid Jazz, Mariachi, Rock, and even Morricone-esque Western stuff--keeps you listening, at full attention, to all 19 amazing tracks.
I wanna have pride like my mother has, / And not like the kind in the bible that turns you bad. / And I wanna have friends that I can trust, / That love me for the man I’ve become and not the man that I was.
And when we’re middle aged, You tell me I loved you like a renegade And how I say the things that make you sway. And mostly I tell you you did the same.
And once in a while, I know our hearts beat out of time. And once in a while, I know they’ll fall back in line.
Our love is strong. Our love is strong. Our love is strong. While my heart’s still pumping blood.
Any regular reader of my blog, if there is one, would know how much I like making best-of lists about the music I'm listening to. Well, dear regular reader, I just came across a website called The Top 13 Albums Project, where user-submitted lists of the top-13 albums of the 2000's will be compiled into an over-arching, democratically selected master list of the past decade of great music. There is a deadline of October 2nd, so get yours in as soon as you can. Here's what I just submitted as mine:
1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
3. Calexico - Feast of Wire
4. British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
