Articles

And here's Pt. 4 for your keen optical receptors, just in time for New Year's Eve!! YAY!!!

25. There Is Love in You by Four Tet

Most likely after collaborating with dubstep pioneer Burial on their well-received EP last year, Kieran Hebden deviates further away from the glitchy folktronica with which he earned his name and for his fifth album as Four Tet heads for a heady urban soundscape that is in some instances bustling with nervous electronic activity and also provides warm respite in its more meditative moments. It is a humbly precise and intricately engineered delight that provides ceaseless enjoyment on various repeated listens, if only because there's so much harmonious buzz that you'll be hard-pressed to pick it all up on simply one listen.
The Observer: "The result is a fifth Four Tet album which has the power to delight someone who has never listened to a Kraftwerk record all the way through." Link
Last.fm Review from Simjob: "The ability to uniquely transform all the vast array of separate parts and the shear number of ideas contained within each track into a lucid whole is something Hebden has always excelled at but has never been more evident than in There Is Love In You."
My Favourite Track: This Unfolds

24. Body Talk by Robyn

Swedish popstar raises her profile even further with an exuberantly huge release that was split into three different parts in a successful effort to keep her fans sated with her customary pop excellence. And though this time quite a few producer friends old and new have joined her for the ride (amongst them Diplo, Röyksopp, Kleerup and the one and only Max Martin), this is Robyn's show, and you'd be a fool if you were to try and tell anyone else otherwise. Equal parts hard-nut robo-bitch and soft-hearted disco queen, she has single handedly captured the hearts of both pop music's biggest supporters and the fashionable indie set through sheer verve and spunk... And obviously a voluminous cache of killer tunes that no pop aficionado can do without!
Pitchfork: "With Body Talk, Robyn ups the ante for pop stars across the radio dial and raises her own chances of appearing on yours." Link
Last.fm Review from 30s: "Generally don't like her, find her nasal and annoying. Guess she proved me wrong."
My Favourite Track: Dancing on My Own

23. Expressions by Music Go Music

Only just finding its way over the Atlantic in April of this year, the L.A. art-pop trio's debut album is an indelibly chintzy treat, a joyous throwback to the spandex-clad era of 70s disco via ABBA and early-era Blondie, but refreshingly devoid of any sort of tongue-through-cheek irony that renders the whole exercise as some cheap joke at the expense of those earlier bands. Which isn't to say that Music Go Music are simply an amazing covers band who seem to have collated lost b-sides from their idols and passed them off as their own; there are enough subversively modern delights in the programming and the song structures to suggest that they could present a way back in for the psychedelic disco-pop from decades ago into the zeitgeist, they have that much pep!
BBC: "Everyone – ABBA fanatics, closet fans that just won’t admit how much they loved Mamma Mia!, even death metal nuts – should adore this." Link
Last.fm Review from Babs_05: "More folky and less perfect and polished than ABBA themselves, but the energy is still there. Great fun."
My Favourite Track: Light Of Love

22. Stridulum II by Zola Jesus

Industrial goth-pop showcase from white-hot member of Former Ghosts that caught everyone by surprise, despite its titular progenitor plying her wares for a few years now on relatively low-profile self-releases. Concocting a sonic world that is sublimely immersive and at times elegantly beautiful, it is Jesus' often spellbinding vocal that reels the listener in, wise beyond her years but clearly in possession of a clairvoyant talent that will do well to make sure that her star keeps rising over the next couple of years until she's ready to truly let the rest of the world know quite how amazing she can be.
NME: "To think where she could go from here is, in every sense of the word, truly frightening." Link
Last.fm Review from amodelofcontrol: "It's also not a million miles away from Fever Ray in it's cold, aloof feel, but without the deliberate weirdness and erasing of most human touches."
My Favourite Track: Sea Talk

21. Flesh Tone by Kelis

Sure, we ought not be too surprised by Kelis' change in musical direction from the indie-flavoured R&B she had become popular with since her breakout hit Caught Out There, not just because quite a few of R&B's divas of last decade are trying their hands at Eurobeat disco these days (Kelly Rowland in particular making a mighty fine stab at it), but Kelis is one of the few fearless urban artists to truly step out of her box once in a while. In a way, Flesh Tone sees Kelis embrace the world of mainstream pop more than she ever has done, with its shimmering radio-friendly disco tunes filled with empowerment and euphoria, and the singer throws herself into the club-friendly throng with ferocious abandon, delivering some of the most powerful dance songs in recent memory.
Slant Magazine: "Kelis seems electrified by her new genre shift, and the result is an album that's one of her most consistent to date." Link
Last.fm Review from carltinio: "A milestone album; where true dance music fuses perfectly with pop music with undertones of R&B and soul."
My Favourite Track: Acapella

20. Blackmagic by José James

With a production roster that includes Flying Lotus and Benga, it is pretty clear that José James' musical vision isn't like that of your average nu-soul/R&B crooner. Rarely rising above his mellifluous baritone that glides sexily across his sophomore solo album, his singing is refreshingly absent of the typical showboating hallmarks of most male singers in his field. What he and his collaborators do deliver though is a mightily potent set of songs that has a dash of each of the above genres but also an unmistakable air of modern jazz and cutting-edge electronica to turn it into what could only be described really as futuristic soul music.
BBC: "Draws extensively on hip hop and dance culture, but presents its fusions with a blurry, down-tempo spin that should keep all but the most staid jazz heads onside." Link
Last.fm Review from doshite: "Blackmagic is the smoothest, sexiest release of the year. The album is made for nothing but lovemaking and seduction."
My Favourite Track: Warrior

19. All Day by Girl Talk

Greg Gillis strikes again with his brand of ADHD-sponsored mash-up, providing his fans with yet another masterclass in pop music trainspotting, apparently using no less than 372 samples over twelve songs that stretch collectively to seventy-one minutes. Of course, rather than try to take note of which sample is spliced with what and where, you could always just dance to it, which is kind of what Gillis intended you to do, even if some of the mashes are as clever as they are toetappingly good, so as to almost stop you dead in your tracks to just appreciate them before hitting the replay button so you can dance to it properly.
PopMatters: "The materials are all here, but they’re not coming together into the perfect confections Gillis has previously served up to increasingly hungry and fawning audiences." Link
Last.fm Review from volta1995: "Basically, it’s good fun to listen to, and even better, doesn’t totally rely on novelty in order to make it enjoyable."
My Favourite Track: Let It Out

18. Inception by Hans Zimmer

I'm not going to pretend that any of you haven't heard of one of the highest grossing movies of this year Inception, never mind seen it; chances are you'll have caught at least snatches of the $160 million ad campaign though, with Zimmer's frightening blasts of brass bellowing through in the background as if to say that the end of days is just a warm-up to something far worse? Well, working with Christopher Nolan appears to have helped Zimmer rediscover his compositional muse, having toiled thanklessly with the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer and DreamWorks on piffle that doesn't even register for the last few years. Inception is just as grand and enveloping as Zimmer's hugest scores in his career, but here there is also movingly resonant airs of mystery, longing and regret (thanks, Edith...)
SoundtrackGeek.com: "It seems to have everything a true Zimmer fan requires: wonderful themes, perfectly aligned electronic sounds and a soundscape that blows your mind." Link
Last.fm Review from rknight64_: "A great soundtrack to a great movie."
My Favourite Track: Lost Souls

17. Have One One Me by Joanna Newsom

The third studio album from alt-indie-folk singer/songwriter who does well to sing these days after a nasty infection that nearly cost her that idiosyncratic voice of hers; it would appear though that remaining silent for many months did nothing to quell the young musician's creativity, this epic two-hour behemoth stretching itself over three discs as well as finding Newsom experimenting with new instruments as well as demonstrating her skills as a pianist being just as prodigal as that of a harpist. Sure, the girl can do well to perhaps edit her work just a little to make it that much more palatable for the passing listener, but given her near-career-ending misfortune prior to this album's release, we can forgive Newsom for wanting as much time as humanly possible to weave these endearing shaggy-dog stories for our delectation, can't we?
Drowned In Sound: "It is a stunning and ambitious piece of work; one for the ages." Link
Last.fm Review from Babs_05: "For me, this is by far her best album. Previous works left me challenged but intrigued. This left me blissed."
My Favourite Track: Baby Birch

16. Lucky Shiner by Gold Panda

The finest electronic debut album of 2010 came from a budding young star hailing from East London, one who had previously been toiling away with remix assignments for like-minded alt-pop artists as well as doing his fair share of DJ-ing to fill in the gaps whilst he recorded this album. You have dusty beats, alien-esque vocal samples, ornate percussive elements from the Orient and a keen ear for slow-builds and crescendos that once they hit their tsunamic stride are the stuff of post-club dreams; this fellow is someone to watch and the worthiest entry in last year's BBC Sound Of... list by a fair distance.
Guardian: "An album that sits on a pleasant fence between invention and homeliness." Link
My Favourite Track: I'm With You but I'm Lonely

15. Tomorrow, in a Year by The Knife in collaboration with Mt. Sims & Planningtorock

Not really a concept album but an assignment given to the sibling electronica duo by the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma, wherein they tapped both Sims and Planningtorock to lend them some helping hands with the arrangements both electronic and orchestral, Tomorrow still represents something of a revelatory stepping stone with regards to The Knife's sonic evolution. Granted, it's not a conventional opera by anyone's standards; based on Charles Darwin's scientific-boundary-quashing tome On The Origin Of Species, the four composers get to work on making all kinds of suitably primordial noises that eventually evolve (sorry) into beauteous soundscapes, at times sinister, at others rather ornate and pretty. The second half is easier on the ears that the almost-apocalyptic first, but the artistry is undeniable.
Slant Magazine: "With a sonic palette that is endlessly complex and varied, and a take on opera that balances respect and irreverence for expectations, Tomorrow stands as a singular accomplishment of composition and performance." Link
My Favourite Track: Seeds

14. Dust Lane by Yann Tiersen

Multi-instrumentalist and composer famous for his Gallic reveries for films such as Amélie releases sixth studio album and embraces a more psychedelic, electronic atmosphere that ascends into the heavens with celestial awesomeness. However, this doesn't mean that the album is without its fair share of darkness and tormented noise; Tiersen's personal life took a major hit whilst recording this album and on specific tracks the horror within is undeniable, drawing on his film scoring influences from the greats such as Ennio Morricone on key tracks. With these shades of light and dark pervading throughout, Tiersen has delivered one heck of a trippy album to be sure, and one that despite all of the hardships, remains a thoroughly rewarding and beautiful listen.
Spin Magazine: "His gently intoxicating sixth studio album casts throbbing anger and raging lust into a dreamlike haze of shadowy voices, acoustic guitars, and analog synths." Link
My Favourite Track: Fuck Me

13. The Defamation of Strickland Banks by Plan B

Benjamin Drew seems to have fallen short of quite a few Best Of lists this year, which honestly deserves some sort of explanation. His sophomore album was one of the highest-selling homegrown hits in the UK, its singles enjoyed notable chart success and Drew performed the neat trick of tapping into a currently popular genre movement (retro-soul sponsored by Motown) with a cleverly conceived narrative, which effectively gave critics something to admire should they call him up on cynically exploiting the album-buying trends of today. Well, even with Drew himself pretty much admitting that the album was a calculated risk to earn himself some success, you still have to admire the skill and panache with which he has been able to put this album together, and he still gives his songs enough heart and soul to sell it to even the most jaded listener out there.
Allmusic.com: "Though it's distressing to hear yet another artist hop about the retro-stylized British soul-pop bandwagon, rapper-turned-singer Ben Drew nonetheless comes up with an impressive and fairly unique album." Link
My Favourite Track: Traded In My Cigarettes

12. Drink the Sea by The Glitch Mob

Frankly brilliant debut LP from a young triumvirate of Los Angeles-based DJs who finally got together to create some sounds after continuously bumping into each other at various parties around the city, and what heavy, ominous, rewarding sounds they are. Trading more on trip-hop and the dark atmospherics of industrial metal than most house music producers in the US would ever likely attempt, it strikes a keen balance between nasty glitch house and ear-pummeling bass that makes rolling your head around with your eyes close as you listen feel like the best thing in the world. The debut album of the year, for me, anyway...
Sputnikmusic: "Drink The Sea is still a very enjoyable debut album that only suffers from some inconsistencies during its second half."
Last.fm Review from letspullbread: "A friend of mine turned me on to this and I loved it. Excellent glitchy IDM."
My Favourite Track: Starve the Ego, Feed the Soul

11. Into the Great Wide Yonder by Trentemøller

More menacingly trancey-house electronica, this time from one of Denmark's most prolific DJs and producers, who hit the dance music scene running in 2005 with a succession of remixes for some of the more legit disco-pop acts based in Europe. Continuing on an epic journey through desolate soundscapes complemented by gorgeous strings and electric guitars that are nevertheless subsumed within a huge dust devils of distorted synths and drum sequences, dear Anders goes for a more dark-ambient electronic vibe than his remix work would lead listeners to believe, what few vocalists he rallies in (amongst them Fyfe Dangerfield) there to complement moments of alt-pop balladry that are nothing short of majestic. Watch out for that Silver Surfer though... He'll knock you for six if you're not careful!
Pitchfork: "Either it's a cold and intricate mélange of kaleidoscopic, cybernetic styles, or it's a simple hot mess." Link
My Favourite Track: ... Even Though You're With Another Girl

10. Wake Up! by John Legend & The Roots

The first of two cover albums to make my Top 10 this year is a fiercely soulful affair from two of hip hop and R&B’s most respectable artists, ivory-tinkling soul crooner John Legend and conscientiously funky hip hop institution The Roots, and their homage to some of the lesser known Motown classics of the 1960s and 70s, mostly inspirational and protest songs addressing the state of the nation. Originally starting life as an EP inspired by Legend’s work on the Barack Obama election campaign, The Roots came on board along with a fair few guest stars and slowly evolved the project with Legend into an album length proposition, bringing out a career highlight for the both of them.
PopMatters: “Spirit is, above all else, what makes Wake Up! such a success. There is no pretense that this band will equal the songs they’re reviving, though through seemingly unlimited talent they often come as close as possible.” Link
My Favourite Song: Wake Up Everybody

9. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire

And it’s a perfect three-out-of-three score for the Canadian art-rock outfit with regards to Top 10 placings in my yearly charts! There was some disgruntlement from fans on the release of their third long-player mind; in their embracing more elegiac passages of electronic rock-pop in place of their patented passionately surging rock anthems of present-day disaffectedness, many believed that the group’s edge had dulled. And whilst it’s true that album three represents a slight change of pace for the band, it’s ultimately not one made at the expense of their artistry; there’s still enough inspiring moments of awe to keep the rabble-rousers happy, there’s more of a world to explore in this tome dedicated to the ennui and complacency of suburban life, and most movingly, the rays of hope shine brighter here than ever in their discography.
The Onion A.V. Club: “the group finds a sense of hope in the realization that its possible to make a home anywhere—and if not, there’s always another frontier.” Link
Last.fm Review from SP120k: “This album is so good. The entire album through each track chases hope and narrowly escapes its own darkness.”
My Favourite Track: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

8. Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates by The Bird and the Bee

Yet more revisiting of music from past decades now, this time courtesy of Grammy-nominated producer Greg Kurstin and his singer/songwriter partner Inara George, who followed their sophomore album from last year with this small-yet-sterling tribute to fabled pop outfit, Hall & Oates. Granted, not many liberties are taken with the original recordings, Kurstin and George taking a more reverential approach than giving them a thoroughly modern pop makeover. However, not only do Kurstin’s production and George’s ever-clear vocals ensure that nothing is less than swoonsomely fabulous throughout, but it must be said that these songs are pretty indestructible with regards to pop music timelessness.
Popjustice: “We have listened to this album approximately three times so far and are currently on the fourth lesson. It's rating quite high in the listenableometer.” Link
Last.fm Review from rtreynor: “Seriously. A Hall & Oates tribute is among the ten best musical releases of 2010. And it was a good year for music.”
My Favourite Song: Heard It on the Radio

7. Harmony by Sa Dingding

Tapping super-producer Marius de Vries to mastermind the decks on your album is an assured coup for any singer; given his body of work it’d take someone pretty special to turn his head these days. Just as well then that Sa Dingding is quite the prodigious talent in her own right, quietly breaking into the world music arena with her 2007 album Alive, which managed to infuse modern dance signatures and breakbeats with traditional Oriental music to spellbinding effect. With De Vries at the production helm on the follow-up, Harmony could have been nothing but a big-budget sequel to its predecessor, but De Vries’ superlative skills and Sa’s mercurial vocal authority turn this into a grand evolutionary moment in her discography, filled with some of the finest dance-pop moments of 2010.
Guardian: “If only she'd calm down, and not dress up her songs with production work that is often as over-elaborate as her theatrical stage shows, Sa Dingding could well become the first Chinese superstar.” Link
My Favourite Track: Yun Yun Nan Nan

6. Bang Goes The Knighthood by The Divine Comedy

Lovingly crafted chamber pop from one of the UK’s most underrated songwriters, Neil Hannon gracefully re-contextualizing current affairs of our social, political and economic climate into beautifully arranged, timeless flights of pop whimsy, all the while demonstrating a masterful balance between comedic farce and tenderly evoked balladry. That Hannon is still able to keep his creative juices flowing this mellifluously over twenty years since his debut is something to be applauded surely, as is his ability to keep his sly wit as sharp as it ever was. The biggest surprises though lie in the heartrendingly simple declarations of emotion, performing that wonderful trick of making you feel like you’ve heard and loved this song for such a long time already, even though you’re listening to it for the first time.
Pitchfork: “His days of creating spectacular extravaganzas may be well behind him, but the more modest ambitions on display here are nearly as enjoyable to hear.” Link
Last.fm Review from StudleyUK: “On the Divine's tenth album, he's as cutting and witty as ever, cementing his position as something of a 21st-century Noel Coward.”
My Favourite Track: Have You Even Been In Love

5. Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim

Though this 90-minute theatrical fiasco will do well to be included on a fair few of the ‘What Were They Thinking’ lists for 2010, it can sit quite happily in the my Top 5 for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it’s got some of the best female vocal performances of the year courtesy of one of the most eyebrow raising guest rosters of the year (Florence – Her Machine, St. Vincent, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Jones, Santigold, Tori Amos). Secondly, if features some of the best pop music production of the year courtesy of Mr Byrne and Mr Slim, all light, airy and complementary to their featured vocalists in the best possible way. Thirdly, just imagine the epic drag cabaret that could be performed using this as the soundtrack, featuring a cameo from Imelda Marcos herself, obviously! Now that would be something for the whole family…
BBC: “The scale and audacity of Byrne’s ambition is hugely impressive, but as an album Here Lies Love is easier to admire than it is to enjoy.” Link
My Favourite Track: Eleven Days (feat. Cyndi Lauper)

4. The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens

Fresh from a string of curio-releases amongst which was a tribute to one of the busiest motorways in New York City and a Christmas album, not to mention a particularly nasty bout of viral infestion, dear Sufjan decided to make one of the best albums of 2010, which happens to boast as fine an enmeshing of alternative electronica and orchestral grandeur as you’re likely to hear for the rest of the decade, never mind the past year. Whilst it is rather presumptuous of me to make such a statement, there is no denying the sheer invention, uncompromising boldness and galvanizing awesomeness that Adz has to offer. That it happens to have been embraced so much as to give Sufjan his first ever Top 10 album in the US only makes it that much sweeter.
Guardian: “You emerge from the other side of it glad not just that Stevens continued to make music, but that he chose to follow his muse to such a radical, potentially divisive place.” Link
Last.fm Review from ColorMeSexy: “There is so much going on. At times it seems a little too much but it comes together to be quite enjoyable.”
My Favourite Track: Now That I’m Older

3. This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem

So, after three studio albums, James Murphy's alt-dance collective lets out its last breath in its present incarnation, and whilst it's more than likely that the spirit of the Soundsystem will prevail via another project from the DFA stable, Happening is still just as fitting an earth-movingly emotional send-off a band can give to their listeners. Whilst it's true that nothing here quite matches the searing danceability of Yeah (Crass Version) or the beauteous heartbreak of Someone Great, the album as a whole consists of Soundsystem's most persistently awesome effort as an LP, chock full of more moments of sheer shape-throwing madness than most dance compilations manage over three whole CDs.
Pitchfork: "A series of bare, lacerating manifestos about distance between people, set to the fizzing art/dance-rock greatest hits inside Murphy's skull." Link
Last.fm Review from mandaownsyou: "Without trying, LCD Soundsystem is the definition of cool."
My Favourite Track: One Touch

2. Plastic Beach by Gorillaz

Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett and their merry band of audio/visual collaborators strike gold yet again with the second-most creatively-dense imagining of another world to see release in 2010. In typical Gorillaz fashion, not only is there a vividly realised world of sinister-seeming paradise, but a wildly varied guest roster of hip hop stars (Mos Def, De La Soul) and alternative legends (Lou Reed, The Fall's Mark E. Smith) this time joined by various orchestras from all over the world and synthesised by Albarn into a heady, alt-hip-pop stunner of an album with a liberal dash of enchanting world music thrown in for extra deliciousness.
Slant Magazine: "Its brilliance adopts many guises throughout its 16 tracks, taking the form of unruffled cool one minute and raucous thumpers the next, all somehow woven together seamlessly to fit this outlandish adventure." Link
Last.fm Review from pecusita: "Sometimes cartoons have to get out of the screen to make lots of friends and release great albums."
My Favourite Track: On Melancholy Hill

1. ????????

You'll have to wait until New Year's Day for my Album Of 2010 (though come on, it couldn't be more fucking obvious really, could it?), peeps, as well as all of the other awards to be handed out... Until then, be safe and Happy New Year!

GB3/DibderBooth/CvaldaVessalis! xxxxoooo