Top Ten Albums of 2010

Hello. I'm aware that I haven't blogged in a while and said I would blog a Christmas song every day, but I've just not had time what with working, catching up with family, recording my own Christmas album, y'know, all the usual festive fare. So apologies. I'm just going to blog when I can for the time being. Is that alright with you, O mighty blogosphere?

My Christmas album, incidentally, is nearly finished and should be done by the end of the week, at which point I'll be e-mailing everyone to donate to Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity. There'll be ten songs all in all, including two I've written in the past couple of weeks. Five are up already so check out this widget for a taste of festive cheer, sweeter than a Greggs mince pie and headier than a Marks and Spencers Christmas pudding.

So, without further ado, my top ten albums of 2010. I have put them in order but I reserve my right to change my mind later.

10. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks

I've been a fan of these lovely Scottish lads for a while and was glad to see this album propel them from cult heroes to NME cover stars. I think it was largely on the strength of the single 'Swim Until You Can't See Land', their most upbeat and accessible effort to date, but this doesn't detract from what is one of the most eclectic, unpretentiously alternative rock albums of this year.

9. The Walkmen - Lisbon

This was an album that really took me by surprise, as I've always been fairly indifferent to the Walkmen. I'd listened to their previous album, 'Bows and Arrows', occasionally and enjoyed it, but never quite clicked with it. Thanks to this album, however, I'm now converted, and can't get enough. They have amazing guitar tone and some of the best use of brass in modern indie music, as well as a charming love for vintage upright pianos, which is never a bad thing.

8. The Weepies - Be My Thrill

I was introduced to the married folkie-pop duo The Weepies this summer by my girlfriend, who has an amazing talent for discovering exactly the kind of overly sentimental twee love-pop which pushes my buttons. This is a lovely album with some very tender moments and sweet, luscious harmonies. One for the softies out there.

7. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

I'd mistakenly excluded this album, thinking it had come out in late 2009 because that was when 'Ambling Alp' entered my DJ playlist at Lofi Hifi, but it did in fact come out in 2010. It's an incredibly original effort, a formidable blending of bizarre synth sounds, epic vocals and big melodies. I find it difficult to pin Yeasayer down to a style or compare them to anyone; you hear them, you know it's them, and there are very few bands you can say that of these days. Well done to them.

6. Mates of State - Crushes

These guys have been mentioned on this blog, along with The Weepies, as part of the married couple special. This is something of a wild card as it's a covers album, and these can often go either way. This one, however, works on all the right levels for such an album - great song choices, not too self-indulgent (though some would disagree on account of their young children providing backing vocals), faithful versions of the songs which still sound distinctively like Mates of State. Here's hoping they do a UK tour soon.

5. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue

I think my love for Ben Folds is such that I'll enjoy any record he cares to guff out (although I thought this was the case with Weezer...more on that later), but this a very special and well crafted album. Hornby's lyrics, unsurprisingly, tell stories in a way that Folds always hinted he was capable of, but had perhaps never gone too deeply into. He was too busy being a snappy, sharp lyrical genius. It's a mature effort but outshines much of Folds' recent work and varies its pace and style expertly. The lead single, 'From Above' hit me hard, I think partly because I was half asleep when I heard it the first time on BBC 6Music earlier this year, but it's a stunning, thought provoking modern pop song. This animated video is ace too. I'll be seeing Ben at Hammersmith in Feb and you should be too.

4. The New Pornographers - Together

What would a year be without a stunning, punchy powerpop record? Everyone's favourite Canadian supergroup, featuring the stunning Neko Case on vocals, continue to go from strength to strength, and have produced what is possibly the album of their career, laden with upbeat hymns to alternative culture and joie de vivre. They've never sounded bigger and never been better.

3. Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat

Johnny Foreigner have been my favourite boy/girl power trio for a long time but have nearly had their crown pinched by these cheeky newcomers. Their vocal split is well crafted, as are their songs, all of which climax in the right places and hint at emo whilst circumventing it entirely and staying cool and calm in their delivery of some incredibly telling lyrics, which become more poignant on the second, third and fourth listen. Definitely one to watch for 2011. It will be their year for sure.

2. Anamanaguchi - Scott Pilgrim: The Game OST

It's perhaps controversial to have such an album at number 2 I know, but this has been my commuting to work soundtrack for the past few months and has helped me no end, as well as being a breakthrough in modern 8 bit music and how it is perceived and used. These guys have been going for a few years now and I'm really glad that they've been granted a lot of mainstream attention through the greatest comic book series in the world. They deserve it, again because their music is totally original and they work damn hard at it. But most importantly, they have a sense of melody unparalleled by any modern instrumental group. I think it's personal to me because I grew up loving 8 bit music on my game boy and mega drive, but I think anyone can get into it, unless you believe that video games are stealing our children's brains or whatever the latest rubbish news report is saying about them.



1. Jukebox The Ghost - Everything Under The Sun

Two weeks ago I hadn't heard Jukebox The Ghost at all. I'd heard the name but wasn't really aware of their work. I was in Stockport recording a session for Pure FM with my dad and he played the song 'Hold It In' from their first album, which I thought was cool, so I checked them out when I got home and was immediately hooked. I bought both their albums and have had them on repeat ever since, especially the new record, released this year, which is a phenomenal, idiosyncratic piano-pop power-trio's explosion from boys into men. It has big, epic moments, tender moments, complex yet accessible piano lines, distinctive vocals, thoughtful lyrical content. All the components of a great pop record and more, which is why it's my personal favourite album of 2010.



So there you have it. Send me links to your own top tens so I can see if I'm on trend or just a loser with terrible taste. A couple of other mentions before I sign off:

Atrocity of the year - 'Hurley' by Weezer
I've already blogged at length about this but I just thought I'd remind everyone how rubbish it is and how silly they're being now when they have the capability to make the greatest pop-rock record of all time. Sort it out, Rivers.

Honourable mentions:
Beach House - Teen Dream
Allo, Darlin' - Allo, Darlin'
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Bad Books - Bad Books
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Beck and Metric's songs for the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Soundtrack
The Xcerts - Scatterbrain