So, 2010, remember that? Those giddy days of snow and Chilean miners and the General Election? Well the depressing start to 2011 (I mean, seriously – Dick King-Smith, Pete Postlethwaite, Gerry Rafferty AND Mick Karn already?!) has had me casting a wistful eye back on last year and I, like every man and his dog, have compiled my list of the Top 10 albums of 2010. Here it is…
Honourable Mentions –
Firstly, a few albums that seriously impressed but didn’t quite make it into the Top 10, a polite round of applause please for…
Standard Fare – Noyelle Beat,
Meaursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry,
Everybody Was in the French Resistance… Now – Fixin’ The Charts Vol. 1,
The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood and
And now onto the Top 10…
10. Kid Canaveral – Shouting At Wildlife (Straight To Video Records)
“Juicy chewy pop-kids to savour” is the ideal way of summing up Kid Canaveral. Too bad I didn’t come up with it myself. Still, Shouting At Wildlife is a great indie-pop record to jump around to and have a big smile about. It gets off to a corking start with Good Morning, followed by You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night and Left and Right and then… actually if I keep doing that you’ll just end up with the album’s tracklisting. Every song has it’s own personality but the album is still tied together by the way it gives a snapshot of the lifestyle of 20-somethings in 21st Century Britain
9. The School – Loveless Unbeliever (Elefant Records)
At Number 9 it’s an album with Phil Spector’s er.. spectre all over it – Loveless Unbeliever by The School. A wonderful throwback to 1960s girl groups, this album is sweet, bouncy and full of handclaps – i.e. right up my alley. Despite the uber dance-ability of the songs there is a melancholic undercurrent throughout a lot of the album that gives the record far more depth than you might get from it on first listen. The tunes and lead singer Liz’s soft, pretty voice gives the whole record an air of innocence that is ultimately incredibly endearing.
8. Gideon Conn
Well it took 3 years of patient waiting and the creation of his own record label to release it, but the debut album by Gideon Conn arrived in 2010 and well worth the wait it was too. From the opening seconds, where the groove and the audience are literally introduced to each other, New Bop Sounds makes it clear what it is all about – fun covered fun, coated with fun sauce and chopped fun. The album has a real spring in its step and, whilst later tracks such as I Thought I Knew Love and Inside slow things down a bit, it is the boisterous tracks of the first half such as Eccentric, Yes No Maybe and Mighty Lightning that will really leave their mark on you. Putting the ‘fun’ in ‘indie-dance-funk’ New Bop Sounds is an intricate album of pure class.
7. Wartime Sweethearts – Pancake Orion (Independent Release)
A late entry into my Top 10, this album arrived with me mere weeks before the end of 2010 and made an immediate impression, which is why I featured the band in Lend Them Your Ears. That review covers the album in proper depth but suffice to say the conclusion was something along the lines of – this is a brilliant album that does many things and throws them together into an incredibly listenable pot of madness. I want more from this band and I want it now, if not sooner!
6. Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian Records)
Pysch-folk with a distinctly poppy edge Odd Blood is more synthy, toe tapping fun from brilliant Brooklyn 5-piece Yeasayer. Taking in a wide range of lyrical inspirations including Joe Louis, Miami
5. The Like - Release Me (Geffen Records)
www.myspace.com/thelike
More 1960s girl group throwback now with The Like. More punchy compared to The School’s softer, fuzzier feyness, and both approaches most definitely have their merits. Release Me is broadly a concept album about the aftermath of a break up (First clue is the track 1 being entitled ‘Wishing He Was Dead’…). There is certainly a darker, more vicious streak running through this album than in Loveless Unbeliever that really gets under your skin and compels you to listen. Consistent quality, as well as big catchy singles like He’s Not A Boy, Release Me and Wishing He Was Dead means Release Me demands, and deserves, repeat listens.
4. Bark Bark Disco - Say Hello To Your Mum (Parasol Records)
www.barkbarkdisco.com
The most childishly named album in the top ten and also the cheapest – it is still available free from www.barkbarkdisco.com ! This is fantastic lo-fi indie-pop – catchy and cheeky, bouncy and vibrant and best of all it will put a big fat smile all over your mush. Half-Maltese, half-German, completely awesome Bark Bark Disco and their debut album are utterly wonderful. Amusing lyrics, genuine emotion and charm, there really is nothing to fault about this brilliant debut release from the two-piece.
3. Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' (Fortuna Pop Records)
www.allodarlin.com
Another female led indie-pop band, I know, I know. But Allo Darlin's eponymous debut album is just so brilliant that it can't be overlooked - yearning vocals, twinkling melodies, heartfelt lyrics and piles of ukulele - the band have got it all so right and created an indie-pop masterpiece. Sweet without being saccharine, emotional without being overly sentimental, it is a quite wonderful balancing act with sparkling moments of humour (most obvious in tracks such as Kiss Your Lips and Woody Allen).
2. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty Records)
www.sufjan.com
Nearly to the top of the list and we find Sufjan Stevens near inevitably up towards the upper end of this chart. Eschewing his more traditional, if epic, indie soundscapes for a much more electronic sound was a bold move and one that Sufjan Stevens has managed to pull off with aplomb. Maintaining the humanity that always lays at the core of his work, however vast and ambitious, he jams it through synths, drum machines and electronic sound effects but in such a way as to retain the essence that has always made his work so appealing. Singles Too Much and I Walked stand out for their immediacy but, as ever with Sufjan Steven's work, Age of Adz is to be taken as a whole, when it becomes even greater than the sum of its parts.
1. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring (Wichita Records)
www.loscampesinos.com
And so to the number album of 2010, in my humble opinion. I've never made any secret of my utter adoration of Los Campesinos! - they are one of my favourite bands ever and certainly my favourite band around at the moment (Pulp reformation notwithstanding). This is their 3rd or 2nd album (depending on your classification of We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed) and marks a maturation of their sound. What is remarkable about this is that it never means they lose any of the energy, enthusiasm or excitement that have always made them such an amazing band. The Sea Is A Good Place To Think About The Future is particularly epic and jaw-dropping but every single song on this record has something very special about it - whether it's the pure punch of There Are Listed Buildings or the tragi-comedy of Straight in at 101, Romance is Boring shows Los Campesinos! taking a bold step and standing up for what they want to do and how they want to evolve. And it works brilliantly - this is intelligent, human, spirited, endearing indie-pop at its finest and, for that reason, is my personal choice as the best album of 2010.
Yes i had heard the bark bark disco one. right on !
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