As 2010 draws to a close, its seems like the internet is a seething mass of people scrambling to make lists. Top movies of the year. Favourite sporting moments. Most influential people. The list (geddit?!) goes on. And as much as I wish this post was somehow going to buck that trend, I’m an utter sucker for a good list. So here are my top 5 records of 2010. In reverse order, for dramatic efffect, of course.
5. Sky Larkin – Kaleide (Wichita)
Second records are difficult. Everyone, regardless of whether or not they’ve ever had any actual experience of writing an album, agrees that a band’s second long-player is nearly always a gruelling, testing process which will push the band in every conceivable way. Do you adopt a more commercial sound, try and make this the record which propels you into the mainstream, or do you explore a more experimental sound, and hope that you don’t alienate your growing fanbase? With their second LP, Sky Larkin have decided to do neither of these things. Instead, they’ve written a collection of songs which takes the winning formula from their debut record (2009’s superb The Golden Spike) and polishes it to a gleaming, dazzling sheen of indie-pop beauty. Evolution rather than revolution, certainly, but when the songs are as finely crafted as this, I’m not complaining.
4. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening (DFA Records)
Listen to This is Happening on Spotify
Imagine you’re James Murphy. With LCD Soundsystem, you’ve written two zeitgeist-defining records. Hipster kids the world over regularly shake their skinny jean wearing arses to the likes of Daft Punk is Playing at My House & All My Friends every weekend. But you’re growing weary of it all. The band and your hometown of New York are both getting you down. What do you do? Why, you set up shop in Los Angeles, and write a near-perfect, sun-drenched, 80s inspired tour de force in the shape of This is Happening. It may well be LCD’s last record, but what a way to go out. In any other year, this would have been my record of the year, hands down. 2010 is not any other year though. But still, I defy anyone not to want to start throwing ridiculous shapes as the squelchy, infectious riff that rips through the second half of Dance Yrself Clean kicks in, or to shout along like a drunken dickhead at a fratparty to the raucous pop genius of Drunk Girls.
3. Les Savy Fav – Root for Ruin (Frenchkiss)
Listen to Root for Ruin on Spotify
Yes, its LSF’s most commercial record to date. Yes, it is missing a little of the anarchy and rawness of their previous albums. And yes, the production is maybe a little more slick than I’d like. But this also happens to be the most cohesive album Les Savy Fav have ever put out. And in tunes like Lips N’ Stuff they’ve shown that they still know how to write a raucous art punk anthem. Stop worrying about what direction they’re heading in, just stick this record on, crank the volume and enjoy the now.
2. Sleigh Bells – Treats (Mom + Pop/N.E.E.T.)
What would you expect to happen when you if you took a former guitarist from hardcore band Poison the Well, and introduced him to a former member of a teeny bopper pop outfit? In this instance, utterly unexpectedly, you end up with a noise pop masterwork. Other reviews of the record have described it as “genre-swerving”, and I cannot fault this description at all. Fusing hardcore, pop, hiphop, metal, techno and roughly a gazillion other genres, whilst simultaneously sounding like nothing else you’ve ever heard before, Treats is one of the most surprising records of the year. Imagine the most alcohol and narcotic fuelled bender you’ve ever been on, condense it down into little over half an hour and you’re beginning to get to grips with how this record will leave you feeling – hungover, abused, close to death and feeling like you’ve just experienced something utterly incredible. Oh. My. Fuck.
1. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor (XL)
Listen to The Monitor on Spotify
As was noted above, second albums are tough. But whereas Sky Larkin chose to simply concentrate on polishing their song writing skills for their second full length, Titus Andronicus decided to be a little bit more ambitious with their sophomore release. By which I mean they decided to write an indie rock concept album about the American civil War. Yeah. It could have all gone horrificly, cataclysmically wrong. In fact, it really should have. No punk rock band should be able to get away with having a 7-minute album opener, or a further 3 tracks which weigh in on the long side of 8 minutes, especially not in the form of a concept album. Prog is fucking dead, man.
But somehow, against all the odds, this record not only works, but manages to be as tightly wound and cohesive a record as I’ve heard in a long time. The civil war concept isn’t driven home too obviously, with it serving more as a backdrop for Springsteen-esque tales of homesickness and lost loves, and there are enough finger pointing moments and “woah-ohs” to keep the most “up teh punx” mohawk-wearer happy. Yet there’s also a level of lyrical intelligence, musical genius and genuinely punch you in the gut song writing skill that takes this far, far beyond being merely a punk album. “I realised too late I never should have left New Jersey” the band sing on album opener A More Perfect Union. Well thank fuck they did, otherwise we may never have heard this astonishing, bewitching record. Life-affirming.