1. The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monae
2. Sisterworld [Deluxe] - The Liars
3. Brothers - The Black Keys
This band is two dudes from Akron, Ohio, named Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. Their 2004 album, 'Rubber Factory' was the subject of some praise but in hindsight I think it sounds a little too much like an indie version of The White Stripes, whereas this newest album is totally original and more energetic. It's a fine production and it's apparent that they put a lot of work and finishing touches into the project, and with 15 solid tracks stacked one after the other it really makes for an enjoyable album experience. "Tighten Up" is one of my favorite singles of the year. And, "my next girl will be nothing like my ex girl" is just a cool line.
Rating: 8.6
4. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
5. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
6. This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
7. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [Clean] - Kanye West
Hailed by many critics as a masterpiece, a glimpse inside the mind of one of the most interesting personalities of our generation, best album of the decade, and various other superlatives. This
is a good album, but I don't think it's
that good. When one of your tracks is a Chris Rock voicemail that sounds like he just discovered the echo effect on the Inception app and can't help hearing himself talk I think you just wrote off your chances for the best-album-of-the-decade-award. "All Of The Lights" is a really cool song and I like the
Rockyesque horn bit. "Lost In The World" is another one of my favorites from the album and I think having a chorus of robots is such a simple yet ingenious idea.
Rating: 7.0
8. Go - Jonsi
9. Body Talk Pt. 1 (and Body Talk Pt. 2, and Body Talk) - Robyn
An ambitious Two Thousand and Ten for the sexy, sassy, Swedish pop star. She released a trilogy of albums all within a year for her 'Body Talk' project. Her music has the bubblegum pop appeal to make you want to sing and dance upon first listen but it also has the attention to detail, and production quality, and clever lyrics etc. to give her music staying power. "Fembot," for example, has just the right blend of funny computer terms and futuristic sound effects to make me a certain kind of happy that I hadn't experienced since listening to Neil Young's 'Trans'. The way she uses bass guitar and synthesizer helps to bring an emotional charge to the music and is reminiscent of the great Billy Idol. This must be why my brother, Des, likes her so unabashedly; at the risk of being a feminist sympathizer... not that there's anything wrong with that.
Rating 6.9
10. Le Noise - Neil Young
This album also got a lot of love from critics and it even won a grammy for Best Rock Song with "Angry World" (Neil Young's first grammy, in fact), but I didn't care for it tons. The appeal is the exposure that Neil Young allows for in this record. It's just him and his guitar and his producer (Daniel Lanois) in an empty mansion (I heard) somewhere in LA. It all makes for a dreamy effect and you have to be in a certain mood to enjoy the album. I still prefer the classic stuff (especially the Archives Volume 1 box set which was released in 2009) but kudos to Neil for continually reinventing himself.
Rating: 6.5
Last Possible Place: The Age Of Adz - Sufjan Stevens
I was dumbfounded at how awful this album is. But it all made sense after reading an interview in which Sufjan said, "I'm very aware that this material is far less popular and accessible than the kind of songwriting on Illinois. I'm also willing to admit that these songs don't measure up to the songs I was writing five years ago; these aren't great songs in terms of the palpable, fundamental nature of a song. But I'm not interested in songwriting anymore. I'm interested in sound and movement." Translation: "I've gone off the deep-end." I'm actually OK with sound and movement experiments (I mean, I definitely prefer Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" to David Byrne's more experimental "Glass, Concrete & Stone") but the problem is when you decide to sing like a shameless prepubescent teenager at the very top of his range. Listening to this album the whole way through was one of my greatest accomplishments in 2010.
Album Rating: -9.0
Good Things to Come:
Low:
C'mon (April 12)
Radiohead:
The King Of Limbs (February 19)
An ambitious Two Thousand and Ten for the sexy, sassy, Swedish pop star. She released a trilogy of albums all within a year for her 'Body Talk' project. Her music has the bubblegum pop appeal to make you want to sing and dance upon first listen but it also has the attention to detail, and production quality, and clever lyrics etc. to give her music staying power. "Fembot," for example, has just the right blend of funny computer terms and futuristic sound effects to make me a certain kind of happy that I hadn't experienced since listening to Neil Young's 'Trans'. The way she uses bass guitar and synthesizer helps to bring an emotional charge to the music and is reminiscent of the great Billy Idol. This must be why my brother, Des, likes her so unabashedly; at the risk of being a feminist sympathizer... not that there's anything wrong with that.
3 comments:
ArchAndroid and Plastic Beach are great. I actually also really liked Lady Antebellum's album.
Always nice to see your album reviews. Our top 10 lists are pretty different, although we intersect at The Suburbs, and I would put Jonzi at #2. I like your review of Kanye West, and I totally agree with it, although the idea of the robots in "Lost in the World" is really just a sample of Bon Iver's excellent "Lost in the Woods," which my kids love for that very reason. I wasn't a big fan of the Black Keys album, but that is mostly because their genre is out of my expertise, and so I don't give them much of a chance. By the way, I still think 808s and Heartbreak is the best Kanye album.
I really like Arch Android too, but again, it is not my favorite genre, so it got short shrift from me, even if it is still in my rotation.
If it is at all interesting, here are some of my top 10:
1. Brian McBride-The Effective Disconnect
2. Jonzi-Go
3. Braids-Native Speaker
4. Tracy Thorn-Love and Its Opposite
5. Arcade Fire-The Suburbs
6. Windy & Carl-Songs for the Broken Hearted
7. Four Tet-There is Love in You
8. How to Dress Well-Love Remains
9. Beach House-Teen Dream
10. Max Richter-Infra
If I actually thought about it longer, this may be different, but I quickly went by memory. Thanks for posting.
My big disagreement is the Gorillaz album, which I didn't think was very good at all.
I liked your review, and quote, from Sufjan Stevens. I actually like the album more than you did, but I agree that the songwriting is weaker. Nevertheless, I find his last song, the 23 minute one, really compelling, full of interesting ideas. He has gone off the deep-end, and I assume sincerity will return when the irony of postmodern art starts to bore, which it inevitably will. I actually think he is really good at pastiche of several sophisticated genres--I just don't think this album was very good.
Update: I added Robyn's 'Body Talk' to the list to round out the top 10.
Andrew - I agree (obviously). Plastic Beach is much better than James gives it credit for. If you liked 'Demon Days' I don't see what's not to like about 'Plastic Beach'. It seems like a perfectly appropriate follow-up to one of the most successful albums of the last decade. They didn't go off the deep-end (see Sufjan Stevens) and they didn't play it totally safe either (see Broken Social Scene).
James - Thanks for sharing your list. I'm going to research those records. I thoroughly enjoyed the Brothers Mixes of 2010. My favorites (not my personal favorites but my favorites within the context of the brother's musical tastes) were:
John - "Cry" - I was thinking that if John could create his own band in his head, the band would probably continuously play this very song (or some close variant).
Mark - "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" - I had not run across this Rush song before and I loved how much it rocked right out of the gate. And then it left me in the dust with its signature Rush weirdness right on cue at about the 5-minute mark. But I appreciated how Mark could still enjoy it. He would probably be the fan at the concert that would be staring intently at Geddy, and rhythmically bobbing his head throughout the whole song.
James - "Supposed Essay On The Piano" - This was consistent with the image I have of you as a "literary dude": writing papers on your laptop as you listen to obscure contemporary ambient classical music.
Paul - "Glass: Violin Concerto" - This seems to be the direction Paul is headed so we had better learn to embrace it. I hadn't heard this song before but I really enjoyed it.
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