Vampire Weekend Archives

Proving Jeremy Keith’s assertion that the best place to store upcoming posts is the submit button, I see that my 2009 best of is still a draft. Not this year’s! I dug 2010, musically. Definitely several albums came out that will remain on heavy rotation for quite a while. So, in alphabetical order, here’s my 2010 albums of the year:

	Arcade Fire: The Suburbs I said to Leah at some point that this album sums up how I feel about where I live. I dig my house, not sure I like where it is. And this album is that too. 30-something angst , a nuanced look at the suburbs as a proxy for what it is to be older, but still retaining that idealism of a few years earlier.
	Beach House: Teen Dream A dreamy, folk/pop/indie rock album that, if I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure what it’s all about. But I can’t get enough of the delicately layered textures, the warmth of the sound.
	Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot – the Son of Chico Dusty So this album is probably the most fun album of the year. And really show just how much of a driving force behind the Outkast sound Big Boi really was. Mining the same traditional space as Outkast did, but pushing forward the sound to be contemporary & fun, this album is worth a listen even if you don’t generally like hip-hop (which would include me)
	The Black Keys: Brothers Definitely the album I’ve played the most this year, as evidenced that Liam can now sing along to almost every track. I’d say this is likely my personal favourite of the year. Fantastic bluesy, dirty rock.
	Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma An over-the-top, masterful collage of various elements of techno (Drum’n’bass,house,downtempo), not to mention jazz amongst other genres, this album should be have been an unlistenable mess. Instead I suspect it is the album that producers will be trying to emulate for years to come. Complicated, intelligent music that rewards multiple listens.
	LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening Somewhen, James Murphy learned the art of melody, adding it into his already fairly full bag of tricks to make this album just that much better from his previous. Even silly tracks like ‘Pow Pow’ are somehow more polished than any of his earlier throw-away tracks. And tracks like ‘I Can Change’ continue to sum-up 30-something life better than virtually anyone else.
	Owen Pallett: Heartland Nerdy, both musically & lyrically, this album demands multiple listens paying close attention on headphones. It was a grower not a shower for me – I almost dismissed it after first listen, then, listening again on my headphones walking around town, I discovered both just how bizarre and how incredible it is. Do yourself a favour: find some alone time and dedicate it to this album.
	Robyn: Body Talk (Pt. 1 & Pt. 2) Pop at its best! My total guilty pleasure of the year, although I feel somewhat vindicated by how much love these are getting. There’s also a slew of pretty impresive remixes of a lot of these songs out there. If nothing else, check out both “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do” and “Dancing On My Own”.
	Vampire Weekend: Contra When I first bought this, I didn’t like it much, and I ‘shelved’ it (well, didn’t play it for a while). Then I started hearing “Run” on the radio some, found myself really enjoying it, and this fall, dug it out again. And I’m so glad I did. A much more mature, confident album than their debut, they seem to have embraced their contradictions and found a new phrasing that’s really working for me.

So I know that’s only 9, not the traditional 10, but I’m stopping there. Instead, here’s a few other albums that I liked, but couldn’t figure out how much in order to include them above. Honorable mentions, if you will:

James Blake: The Bells Sketch/CMYK/Klavierwerke EPs.
Janelle Monae: The Archandroid
Neil Young: Le Noise
Optimo: Fabric 52
Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz
Girls: Broken Dreams Club
Holy Fuck: Latin

I missed out on doing this last year – I don’t recall why, but I’m sure I had a good reason. Or not. Nevertheless, it didn’t happen, and much to my surprise, people complained. So it’s back this year. If you’d like to see my previous “best of” lists, you can find them here: 2006, 2005 & 2004.

This year was a pretty good year for music that I like – a good mixture of rock, pop and techno all came out this year. I also moved, and now have more time to listen to music on my commute, so I’ve been very appreciative of it. So, without further ado, here’s my best albums of the year, in alphabetical (by artist) order:

	Beck – Modern Guilt I think that this is the album that “The Information” was trying to be – introspective and serious – meditations on loss and death. With Danger Mouse producing, Beck’s tendancy to play with historical genres never overwhelms the songs themselves. An exquisite disc that rewards a close listen in headphones – both for Beck’s signature imagery as well as the music itself. Buy it from Insound
	The Bug – London Zoo Welcome to dubstep, everyone! A potentially crass cashing-in on the rise in popularity of a sound he helped create, Kevin Martin ends up delivering one of the most polished techno albums in years. While clearly aimed at radio, what with clearly defined 5-minute tracks, it’s a pounding disc that I can’t get enough of. Like much of the music I liked this year, it’s simultaneously a subtle disc, with new layers of sound revealing themselves only with a careful listening. That being said, I defy you to listen to this and NOT want to dance. Buy it from Insound
	Clark – Turning Dragon Techno of a completely different variety infuses Clark’s ‘Turning Dragon’, possibly some of the most complex techno I’ve heard since Plastikman way back when. Agressively dirty in sound, there’s still seemingly endless strands of loops, clicks, whirrs, bleeps and the like fading in and out of this disc. Played loud on crappy speakers this hearkens back to 90’s industrial (that’s a good thing), but use good headphones/sound system and you’ll be rewarded not only with crunchy techno, but also wasps of much more ephemeral sounds as well, creating a fascinating, but also somewhat unsettling soundscape. Buy it from Insound
	Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes Sweet, nearly choral folk unlike anything else I’ve heard lately, this album, for all its quiet wonderment, exploded into the scene this year. Of all my picks, I suspect that this will a)show up on the most other top 10 lists and b)be the most divisive. I’ll warn you now – if you loathe CSNY or the Beach Boys, you’ll not like Fleet Foxes. That being said, they seem to sum up where a lot of more richly layered folk sounds of late (including the psych-folk types like Devendra Banhart) have been aiming for. Exquisite harmonies and rich, traditional arrangements make this album unmissable. Buy it from Insound
	LindstrÃ¸m – Where you Go I Go Too This album claims the prize for “most unexpected” this year. I was expecting a mellow, ambient album, and instead, while still in the realm of ambient, it’s got a foot firmly in the world of disco. And somehow, it works. This has quickly become a favourite of mine for when working late – it blends into the background when I need to concentrate, but when I focus on it too, there’s enough going on to reward the ears. Buy it from Insound
	Santogold – Santogold Apparently, Santogold comes from A&R, has written tracks for Ashlee Simpson, but Diplo is listed as a producer. Those seeminly irreconcilable worlds come together to great effect on her debut, which is something like a journey through the past – sampling a little bit of new wave, global hip-hop, dance pop and more. Through it all, Santogold holds it together with her voice and excellent songwriting. She reminds me somewhat of “Mutations”-era Beck – playing with different genres to find a wholly new one all her own. Buy it from Insound
	TV on the Radio – Sounds of Science I’m not sure I can say anything effusive about this album that hasn’t been said by critics before, but let me just say this: this is a nearly perfect indie-rock album – it’s optimistic, forward-looking, musically dense, lyrically obtuse, both catchy and somehow austere at the same time. This album might like the Pet Shop Boy’s “Very” – so good tht TV on the Radio should never make another album, as it will likely pale in comparison. Buy it from Insound
	Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend This album came out early in the year and is already suffering some backlash, but I unabashedly love this album: it’s catchy, you can sing along to it, it has a new(/old) sound and is nerdy – the album contains one of my all-time favourite lines “Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?”. This album was on repeat more than any other this year in my playlist, and despite hearing it everywhere, I still haven’t tired of it, which bodes well for its future. Buy it from Insound
	Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane CVG reminds me of Neil Young in all the good ways – fragile, plaintive, delicate and dark, yet somehow never depressing, but rather, uplifting. He’s also a master instrumentalist and crafts some of the more elegant soundscapes you’ll likely ever hear, mixing in seemingly a million different instruments, off-beat percussion, and then, just when you think it might overwhelm the song, he pulls it all back until you’re left with just him and his guitar. Buy it from Insound
	Walkmen – You & Me The Walkmen are a band that have slowly, but surely, grown on me – I wasn’t a huge fan when I first heard them, but I’ve liked them more and more with each listen and each album. You & Me was no different. My first reaction was “Meh” – it felt a little like they were channeling The National – and I still think they are to some degree – for a band that was known for devolving (in the best sense) into noise rock on a regular basis, this is an incredibly tight, controlled album. The exquisite production on this album still makes me believe that this songs will travel well, and simply opens up new doors for the Walkmen live – keep it soft and controlled or let loose as they’re known for – this collection certainly supports both directions. Buy it from Insound