Twenty Ten Ten

I hope everyone's holidays were pleasant and cheery. Alison and I had such a nice time seeing folks in Toronto over Christmas. Thanks so much to all the loved ones we got to be with, and apologies to those we had to snub this time around.

Now it's back to the usual routine in a new year, and time for the annual roundup of the last year's best albums. Or at least the ones that made it into my consciousness and stuck around long enough for me to fall in love with them. I feel like it's a good crop this year, possibly better than the last couple. Just look at the cover artwork, for example. Have you ever seen a more tantalizing display of colour and imagery?

Instead of audio samples, this time around I've included links to YouTube "videos," which are in most cases just a still image of the album cover set to the soundtrack of one of the album's songs. It's a lot easier (and more legal) for me this way, and sometimes even gives you something to look at while you're checking out the tunage.

As usual, the top ten list is in no particular order. OK, well, it's actually in alphabetical order, but that's just to make sure no favouritism snuck in anywhere. I love all these records like children, and could never possibly pick a favourite. So that means we start with the ubiquitous...

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
It's less dramatic than their previous albums, and that somehow makes it better. Like they're not trying quite so hard now. The songs are good enough that they can be delivered in a low-key way so that you want to hear them again immediately, instead of just feeling exhausted. Some of it even sounds a bit like old Springsteen, which normally for me wouldn't be a virtue, but it works great here.
Sample

Best Coast - Crazy for You
There's been this 2010 trend of lo-fi garage-poppy girl groups coming from California. I heard Dum Dum Girls first, and really liked the sound. This band is a bit slicker than them, and already loved by seemingly everyone on the planet, so maybe that makes it not quite as legit. And I would definitely feel cooler including a band named after a Talk Talk song on this list. But the songs on this album just get so stuck in my head — and the stickiness is so enjoyable — that I'd be the worst kind of posing hipster if I didn't just bite the bullet and go along with the crowd on this one.
Sample

Caribou - Swim
Alison and I went to see Caribou in June when he/they played at The Paragon. I was worried that it probably wouldn't be as great as when we saw him/them in 2005 at The Marquee (same club, different name), because I was still unconvinced of this album's merits. I had liked Andorra so much because of the way Dan Snaith had broken out of the limits of electronica by playing real drums and having multi-parted melodies and even singing. So when he decided to make Swim a more dance-oriented album, it just sounded to me like an excuse for regression. But watching a band perform all the songs live really turned me around. He's still got tons of catchy and creative ideas; he's just emphasized the beats more and gotten more meticulous about the production.
Sample

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Still processing this one, as I just finally picked it up last month. The sound of this band's a bit hard to pin down, frankly. But I know the album belongs on here because every time I listen to it I'm surprised by how much more I like it than Microcastle. Which I loooooved.
Sample

Julian Lynch - Mare
Another sound that's hard to describe. Some of it's kind of like Eno, some sounds a bit like quieter Animal Collective, and some is nothing like either of those things. Definitely subdued, almost ambient sometimes, but there's also lots of tricky stuff going on in there. This guy is an ethnomusicology major and seems to be able to play just about any instrument. For the first few weeks we had Mare on the iPod in the car, every time it came on we'd both ask simultaneously, "What is THIS?" because the songs just went so well with whatever the scenery happened to be. Now we'll recognize it, but it's still on there and it's still just as intriguingly pleasant.
Sample

Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid
Here's the real surprise find of the year. It's pretty removed from the usual rocks I look under for new music (R&B? American pop? Huh?), but luckily my old friend Carol tipped me off about it, and I'm so grateful. This woman is super cool and all over the place musically. I can hear some James Brown, Prince, and Stevie Wonder in there, but there's also a lot of theatrical, musical music, as well as classical, folk, and psychedelic touches. And the whole thing is a science fiction concept album in two "suites," each introduced by an unapologetically orchestral overture. Plus, she can sing like nothing you've ever heard. If this sample video doesn't knock your socks off, you must have argyle permanently tattooed on your ankles.
Sample

Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
Joanna Newsom just keeps ratcheting up the ambition with every new album. Three discs! And not a weak spot. If you already hated her, this one might not exactly turn you around. But if you were sort of on the fence — like maybe if that voice were just a LITTLE less screechy and unpredictable in its Lisa Simpson flights of fancy, you might feel a bit more charitable toward her admittedly gorgeous songs — I'd say go ahead and give it a try. There's definitely a new, mellower tone there, although you couldn't really say her singing's any less kooky. And the songs themselves are, of course, stellar.
Sample

The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
There were a couple of songs on the Marie Antoinette soundtrack that made me unable to concentrate on the visuals temporarily because they sounded so dreamy. They were both by these guys. I'd been looking for an album ever since, and I guess one existed, but I could never find it. Then this new one showed up in April. Luckily, it's all as hazy and sunny and achingly pretty as I'd been hoping.
Sample

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
I don't know how many people I recommended this album to over the course of 2010. A lot. It's heavy. It's catchy. It's psychedelic and Australian. It was mixed by Flaming Lips producer, Dave Fridmann. The singer sounds like John Lennon. If that's not enough to convince you to hit the "Sample" link, I don't know what else I could possibly say.
Sample

Wild Nothing - Gemini
Yet another band I'd never heard of before this year. Somebody's definitely spiked the zeitgeist, and I'm not complaining. Wild Nothing are something like Radio Dept. in their dreaminess, but maybe a bit more literal in their '80's revivalism. I feel only the mildest twinge of guilt at seeing nothing wrong with that. "Live In Dreams" has been on every mix CD I've made in the past six months. It makes my heart hurt in the best possible way.
Sample

Honourable Mentions:
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy Original Sountrack
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Robyn - Body Talk
Dungen - Skit I Allt