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Text: jan k
| The holy grail for all music lovers, the End Of The Year List isn’t just some list you can come up with in a matter of minutes. It takes hours, even days, to recollect all the music you’ve heard for the last eleven and a half months that preceded the list. And It’s not just about trying to think about the music you heard. Whether you like it or not, recalling the music, the songs, the albums, means recalling the things you went through that year. It’s about the moments that made a deep impression and, in some cases, even changed your life. That’s the wonderful thing about music though: it’s so deeply entrenched in ourselves that you only have to connect the dots to make out the picture that is your life. So without further ado, here are our picks of 2010:
Janelle Monáe • The ArchAndroid (Suites II & III)
The sheer scope and grandeur of this album is just amazing. 2010 has seen quite a few ambitious albums but none have the thrilling audacity of ArchAndroid. Distilling influences as diverse as funk, soul, hip hop, rock, jazz, lounge, electro-pop, psychedelia, classical music and probably more into something palatable and cohesive isn’t an easy task, much less so if it’s a concept album with an afro-futuristic theme AND it’s your first proper album, but somehow miss Monáe pulled it off with panache. I can’t wait to see what she has to offer after this.
Titus Andronicus is a Rock & Roll Band. They play anthemic rock songs that make you want to punch the air and sing along. They also made a concept album about a warship from the civil war era. In its core though, is an album from a band fiercely proud of their roots and heritage, a raucous a celebration of everything in their life, be it their highs, their lows, their success, their failure, their self loathing, their defiance of everything around them. Culminating with the 14 minutes “The Battle of Hampton Roads”, a track that features that most rock and roll of instruments, the bagpipe, this is an incredibly cathartic album, from which you’ll emerge with a thoroughly cleansed soul.
Deerhunter is quickly shaping to be one of the most important band of our era. With every release they get better and better, and this year Halcyon Digest certainly feels like the logical continuation of their musical exploits. While still retaining their trademark atmospheric garage rock sound, the album sees the band being more confident of their songwriting. They have cut back the long propelled jams they so often displayed in previous work, eschewed volume and speed and instead utilized a certain reservedness, slower tempos, sudden stops and a cacophony of noises and loops to achieve their goal. The biggest surprise though, is the saxophone solo, which if anything, is a mark of a band continuing to grow and evolve.
While still very much based on the broken beats that made him a household name, this year’s Flying Lotus release is a completely different entity than it’s predecessor, 2008′s Los Angeles. Here the songs carry hummable jazz tinged melodies lushly arranged and embellished by the presence of proper instruments. Horns, strings, bass, guitar, and even harp contribute to the songs, making them sound warmer and fuller. Steven Ellison himself recently said that Cosmogramma is his jazz album. I couldn’t agree more: this is 21st century jazz.
This is an album you need to work on. Many of the songs seemed a bit forgettable on first listen and the collaborations rather pointless. But after listening a few times you start to flesh out the body of the album and you can see why it is what it is. A much more laid-back album than their previous releases, its biggest strength is its ability to evoke a certain atmospheric bliss. The best thing about Gorillaz though, is still their willingness to mess around. Who cares if it doesn’t work? Sometimes it’s all about taking risks. |
 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti • Before Today
This is how pop music should sound like. With his band proving themselves to be adept accomplice, Ariel Pink comes up with songs after songs of such melodic quality only to subvert them and take them to a direction you couldn’t possible foresee. A reverb drenched masterpiece with more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel.
Everything in Between is pure unadulterated rock. Two guys, one guitar, one drum, a whole lotta noise. Short, concise, catchy, noisy songs. Sometimes less is more, and this album is certainly a good example of that particular adage.
Remember the scene at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Where the protagonist finds himself hurling into a coloured tunnel of light? This is the feeling you get when you listen to the Sigur Rós singer’s debut album. Dramatic in an almost operatic way the songs are densely packed with swirling symphonic instrumentations of kaleidoscopic quality that amplify the power Jónsi’s otherworldly voice. The singles “Go Do” and “Animal Arithmetics” are officially my go-to songs if I ever need cheering up in the foreseeable future.
A yoga teacher who is also a rapper, singer and disc jockey may sound strange. But what if he’s on Warp? And is associated with the Brainfeeder collective? Enter Gonjasufi’s debut album. This is one of the weirdest release this year, but also the most rewarding. At first you may get turned off by the raspy croak of his voice and his absurdist lyrics (provided you can recognise the words, of course). But a closer listen will reveal to you an incredibly well-thought album with some of the most well crafted songs of the year.
A largely overlooked album, Stereolab’s Not Music was originally recorded during the sessions for 2008′s Chemical Chords and basically finds them doing what they’ve been doing their whole career. Which is probably why the album was overlooked in the first place. Sure, my recent obsession with Stereolab played a big role in propelling this album into the hallowed pantheon that is this list, but in a year that saw incredibly average albums by young bands rehashing stuff that older artists came up with and/or executed with better result being hyped to no end, I’d say sticking to your guns and releasing an album that’s as good as any of your releases a much more worthy achievement. |
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Ever since the long cold European winter forced him to spend more time indoors, jan learned to keep himself busy by listening to all kinds of music he could get his hands on. This kind of unnatural activity subsequently lead to a number of unhealthy obsession with certain artists, eras or genres for which he has since received the appropriate treatment. Now aiming to awaken the dormant music-lover that resides within every (wo)man. naturalisnotinit.tumblr.com
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