Direct Links to Albums: 25 - 21 // 20 - 16 // 15 - 11 // 10 - 6 // 5 - 1
So I've finally made it, hope someone is still here! These are my personal top five albums of 2010 (and probably not yours!). What albums have I missed out?...
5. Zola Jesus – Stridulum II
Order // The most striking difference from the Zola Jesus we saw in The Spoils (and the bulk of Nika's earlier work) is the change from lo-fi, industrial noise and deeply distorted vocal. No longer does the Zola Jesus sound characterise the "home recording" essence. Instead, now we see some polished production and a welcome clarity to Nika's voice. The accessibility this brings, set against undoubtedly "pop" songs will makes this the best work to be released by the prolific Nika Rosa Danilova.
The nine tracks that make up ‘Stridulum II’ combine big echoing back-beats and dense washes of atmospheric synth chords as Danilova's opera-trained primal voice bellows out performances that belie her slant figure.
"Night", one of the strongest openers I can recall sets the theme perfectly. It’s atmospherically a haunting beauty of a song. Exquisite use of synth beats and drumming that will become a highlight of the album, the ominous drama of the song (and throughout the album) sends the song to an epic conclusion. A truly wonderful anthem.
"I Can't Stand" is another highlight, industrial rhythms and soaring heartfelt vocals with a chorus that could turn up on the next Marina hit-single. “It’s not easy to fall in love / but if you’re lucky you just might find someone /so don’t let it get you down.”... It's Dark and brooding, its rhythmic drums only amplify the mood. "I can't stand to see you this way / It's going to be alright".
"Manifest Destiny" carries a sense of foreboding melodrama throughout, "How can we survive..."another towering synth-pop anthem. Sea Talk" (a re-worked song as I've previously discussed) is perfect - it builds up, with (more) crushing synths looped over its wonderful chorus.
Whilst lacking any great variation, ‘Stridulum II’ is a true work of art. Gothic, dark and atmospheric. The exciting part for me, is that Nika's best work might still be on the horizon.
‘Stridulum II’ missed out the fantastic single “Poor Animal”, make sure you track that down too.
Previously: A Rough Trade in-store show to download and a recording are in the archive.
Listen:
4. The National – High Violet
Order // The sombre lyrics on ‘High Violet’ tell sincere tales of broken hearts and bruised souls. The National’s trademark sound remains on this their fifth full length release, yet the one which has propelled them to the mainstream audience.
With Matt Berninger's baritone vocal at the helm their big and brooding songs shudder with drums and piano at their peaks and create a beautiful, melodic sound picturing vivid landscapes such as ‘England in the Rain’ on the exemplary “England”. Then make the sinister chill of “Conversation 16” into a sing-along anthem whilst “Bloodbuzz Ohio” recalls the frenetic tempo of old cult-classics “Mr November” and “Abel”.
The highlight belongs to the alternative version of “Terrible Love”, re-issued to recreate the feeling of it’s live counterpart, its a wall of sound moment as it reaches it’s climax half way through whilst Berninger bellows “It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders // It’s a terrible love that I’m walking here // It takes an ocean not to break…”.
The rich and deeply layered ‘High Violet’ is probably the most complete album The National have produced in their immaculate career.
Listen:
3. The Strange Death of Liberal England – Drown Your Heart Again
Order // As a long time follower of The Strange Death of Liberal England this their full-length debut album seemed to take an awfully long time to arrive, the mini album “Modern Folk Songs” gave us a taster of TSDOLE back in 2007, the stand-out being live favourite A Day (Another Day). The overriding maritime theme in ‘Drown Your Heart Again’ maybe a but hard for some to stomach but from the opening waves of “Flickering Lights” this is an infectious album, it’s energy and catchy choruses will soon drag you into the sea alongside the band.
"Like a Curtain Falling" will have you toe-tapping and head-nodding with it's up-tempo frantic pace. Single “Rising Sea” is an anthemic, intense indie-pop as the band prove themselves capable of delivering track after track of material deserving of much more mainstream radio airplay and critical praise.
Highlights might even be saved for the later half of the album, the beautiful “Autumn” offers the first calm in the tide, it flows into the wonderful "Shadows" which sees Kelly Jones take co-vocal duties in its rousing course. The masterpiece “Dog Barking at the Moon” closes the album with a brilliant and beautifully tranquil opening before capturing you with swirling orchestral moments and it's crashing waves crescendo to end.
TSDOLE have created a real beauty of an album with this incredible layered sound heard throughout; there is seldom an instrument out of place, the band all pulling together in perfect harmony.
Previously: There is a wonderful acoustic session, some videos and the bands first EP in the archive.
Listen:
The Strange Death of Liberal England - Autumn by morrisday
2. Sleigh Bells – Treats
Order // This release changed my musical tastes somewhat. I’ve never been “hip” (never will be either), and never been into “hip” music, yet whilst the whole internet was going into complete hyperbole over Sleigh Bells early in 2010 I found myself agreeing with them. Sleigh Bells really do justify the hype. Their sound is a complete mash-up of numerous styles from hip-hop / heavy metal / electro / pop, you’ll never be able to pigeonhole them because you’ve not heard anything like this before.
Your neighbours are going to hate this record; your Grandma is going to hate it too. Me, I love it. ‘Treats’ is not the soundtrack to your quiet dinner party with Mum, it’s the album you’ll go to when you need something to knock the socks off the day you’ve had, to get ready for Saturday night and when you want to test the decibel levels of your stereo. ‘Treats’ is to be played loud.
From the get-go the noise is immediate; it’s in your face, hard hitting, uncompromising and utterly fucking brilliant. “Tell Em” has this enormous riff and drum machine beat intro and the tempo rarely drops. Highlights are numerous along the way “Infinity Guitars” sounds just like that. “Rill Rill” provides an unexpected rest-bite proving itself as a bona fide pop sing-along. The real jewel in the crown is “Crown on the Ground” distorted synths. A/B Machines screeches and screams it’s way and then it’s over. Barely half an hour after it began, although it’s no bad thing, it means Treats doesn’t overstay its welcome.
In five years time this might just seem like noise, but for now, ‘Treats’ is just a unique sounding record to saviour and one to blow up your amp whilst enjoying, time and time again.
Previously: A couple of live recordings can be found here.
Listen:
1. Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now
That showed I’d played Caitlin Rose some 770 times in the past three months alone, second had less than half that number. That pretty much confirmed ‘Own Side Now’ as my album of the year. It’s pretty safe to say I’ve fallen well and truly for Caitlin since I first heard her around Easter time, if you’ve looked at this site in the past six months you’ll already know that...
Her shows throughout August and September were amazing, showing her not only as an amazing songwriter but also a wonderful performer with a genuine, honest and unique ability to turn any audience into putty in her hands. I’ve seen her do it in a working men’s club in Brixton, a basement in Brighton, Rough Trade record shop, and more. Basically when she steps on stage the audience falls in love with her. Yeah, I’m very happy to say ‘Own Side Now’ is my favourite album of 2010.
The title tracks wonderful lyrics still get me now, some six months later: “Who's gonna want me when // I'm just somewhere you've been // Who's gonna want me now // and who’s gonna take me home"
From the country barroom stomps of “Spare Me” to the luscious aching acoustic beauty that is “Sinful Wishing Well” Caitlin has produced an album which effortless combines traditional country music with a modern and appealing style. I'll not re-do my original review, if you want more of my ramblings see the links at the end.
It's worth noting that the only place you should be buying 'Own Side Now' from is Rough Trade because (after an initial mix CD) you will receive another CD which contains a wonderful five track EP entitled 'Columbia Hotel', which is worth the £9.99 fee itself...
It contains five songs. Two Christmas songs, the first a new composition (a duet with Keegan DeWitt) which is probably the best original Christmas song I've heard this year, it's called "You Never Come Home For Christmas" and it's beautiful, as well as a cover of Willie Nelson's "Pretty Paper". There are two more covers here too, you might be familiar with them if you've seen Caitlin this year or checked out my previous posts.
Randy Newman's "Marie" and a wonderful, tender version of "Faithless Love" by J D Souther.
If you are late to the game fear not. Caitlin is back in the UK in February. One gig confirmed (with more to come) is at Camden Barfly on Friday 11th Feb. Tickets. See you there!
Previously: Read my original album review here, an interview with Caitlin here, review of the first time I saw Caitlin (of eight in 2010) and the full archive for some live material and general swoon fest.
Listen: The number one played track in my iTunes library this year:
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