Looking back at my list from 2009, I find I still listen to the majority of those records to this day. To be quite honest, I seriously doubt I’ll be listening to the bulk of my Top 10 of 2010 come next year. That’s not to say I don’t love these records; I do. Many of them simply strike me as ephemeral, forever tied to 2010 in my mind.
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1. Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest (4AD)
Some songs are so good they make you pull over to the side of the road to let them sink in. “Helicopter” is one such song. I’m talking goose bumps on your arms good. And it speaks microcosmically to Halcyon Digest’s effect as a whole. As Carrie Brownstein wrote of this record for NPR: “How can chord progressions make me cry?” Exactly.

2. Janelle Monae, The Archandroid (Bad Boy/Wonadaland Arts Society)
I hate albums that everyone says you have to hear. I’m invariably let down. Not this time, though. This girl is amazing. And she’s a freak, albeit one with vision and ambition. There’s a reason Prince asked her to open up for him on his “Welcome 2 America” tour. You have to hear this album…

3. Sleigh Bells, Treats (Mom + Pop/N.E.E.T.)
Treats wouldn’t be the same record without the blown-out-in-the-red production, and when you add the throwback, 60’s girl-group hooks, Sleigh Bells sounded like no one else in 2010. I was sure I would tire of the schtick after a few listens, but I kept coming back for more. Infectious pop music that decimates your stereo.

4. Weekend – Sports (Slumberland)
A friend of mine texted me out of the blue a few weeks ago that I might like the new Weekend record. Indeed. Ever since, I’ve been borderline obsessed with the opener “Coma Summer.” Harkening back to the dark feedback terror of Psychocandy, Weekend apes its influences with middle fingers blazing, just daring you to call them out on it.

5. Crystal Castles, II (Fiction)
My favorite song of the year is Crystal Castles’ “Not In Love,” featuring vocals by The Cure’s Robert Smith. As I’ve said before, it’s the best thing The Cure hasn’t done in 20 years. Sadly, the album version of that song is nowhere near as good, as Alice Glass’ vocals are buried to the point of being unintelligible. However, the album broadens the scope of Crystal Castles 8-bit assault into a clearer pop vision, still mired in enough anger and dissonance to please early fans.

6. Land of Talk, Cloak & Cipher (Saddle Creek)
Lizzy Powell’s voice slays me enough as it is, so it’s just a bonus that her band writes such sullen, engrossing music. Seriously, Powell has one of those “sing the dictionary” voices; it’s that good. Cuts you to the core. Cloak & Cipher doesn’t match the immediacy of 2008’s Some Are Lakes, but once it sinks its hooks in you’re staying a while.

7. The Magnetic Fields, Realism, Nonesuch
The many (solemn) faces of Stephin Merritt pop up on my shuffling playlist far to often to ignore. Having not been blown away by the past few Magnetic Fields records, I must say Realism reminded my why I adore this gay old misanthrope and his endless bag of bon mots.

8. Laetitia Sadier, The Trip (Drag City)
Lateitia Sadier’s first proper solo album is not too dissimilar from a Monade or Stereolab album, though there are subtle differences. One thing you can’t mistake is Sadier’s voice; it’s a constant comfort. And where this darkly elegiac album succeeds is in showcasing the strength of that voice. No longer is it competing with an onslaught of moogs and noisemakers, straying away from the monochromatic detachment inherent to her tone and emphasizing its empathetic nature.

9. Gauntlet Hair, “Out, Don’t…” 7” (Mexican Summer)
This is the band I’m most excited about from the past year, despite the ridiculously dadaist name. “Out, Don’t…” is a reverb-soaked racket with soaring vocals, shimmering, early 80’s guitars, and explosive, unpredictable percussion that sounds like it was recorded in a cathedral and a bedroom all at once.

10. Zola Jesus, Stridulum EP (Sacred Bones)
Zola Jesus is the Siouxsie and the Banshees that the Swans would listen to. That is to say, the music would scare the shit out of the boys and girls smoking cloves in black drapes and white face paint. Nika Danilova’s voice is the centerpiece of this, the group’s most polished work. And yet, despite the slightly more accessible production, Zola Jesus compromises nothing in terms of its disquieting effect on the listener.

Close calls: No Age, Everything in Between; The Walkmen, Lisbon; Superpitcher, Kilimanjaro; LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening; Gorillaz, Plastic Beach ; Shit Robot, From the Cradle to the Rave; Murder By Death, Good Morning Magpie

Robert J. Howell probably spent more on his turntable than you did on food for the last year. He is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Southern Methodist University and co-wrote a book about the problem of explaining consciousness. Dollars to donuts, he’s smarter than you are. Here are his Top Albums of 2010:
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Renaissance man of all that is unholy, Logan K. Young is master manipulator of ringtones, turns of phrase, and the sexually undecided. He has once again graced Drawer B with his top ten albums of the year:
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So, not only have The Cars reunited with Ric Ocasek, but the newly reformed group (minus bassist Benjamin Orr, who died of pancreatic cancer back in 2000) has even posted clips of a few new tunes. I’m somewhat surprised given the debacle that was The New Cars, a lame attempt by three remaining Cars to cash in on fans that didn’t care who sang the songs, even if it was Todd Rundgren. But that ill-advised tour was four years ago. Might as well have been a lifetime ago by today’s standards. In any case, Ocasek has obviously gotten over it. I’m not sure why he’s decided to make nice with his bandmates after all this time. It would have meant more a decade or so ago back when Orr was still around to make it legitimate. The cynical take is, of course, that it’s about the money. Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt, are the tunes any good? Well, the example above, entitled “Sad Song,” certainly sounds like vintage Cars, even down to the handclaps and Ocasek’s robotic inflection. The band has been characteristically oblique in its plans, announcing its reunion with only a photograph on Facebook. When a record does surface it will be the band’s first since 1987’s dismal Door to Door. Outdoing that stinker should be a cakewalk, even if it is two decades too late. [via Slicing Up Eyeballs]

Written On The Forehead by pjharvey

PJ Harvey’s new record, Let England Shake, is out February 15, 2011 on Vagrant here in the US. A label known for its pop-punk tendencies, Vagrant is an odd home for Harvey, whose entire catalog up to this point has been financed by Island, but given the murky waters major labels are treading these days, I suppose anything goes. Now, her closest musical ally on her label is Murder By Death, which, if you think about it, kind of makes sense. The first single from Let England Shake is “Written on the Forehood,” which you can stream above. Even after listening to it several times I still can’t tell that its Harvey. Her voice is processed to sound like she’s singing through water, as my friend over at About Today astutely opined, not to mention the fact that the song itself resembles some sort of campfire sing-along, albeit a darkly fascinating one. [via Rolling Stone]

Tracklist for Let England Shake:

“Let England Shake”
“The Last Living Rose”
“The Glorious Land”
“The Words That Maketh Murder”
“All and Everyone”
“On Battleship Hill”
“England”
“In the Dark Places”
“Bitter Branches”
“Hanging in the Wire”
“Written on the Forehead”
“The Colour of the Earth”

I’m still a bit weirded out by the fact that Peter Hook is touring his former band’s debut album with a group of unknowns. That former band being Joy Division, whose legacy has remained untarnished all these years. It’s a questionable “tribute” to say the least. One can’t help but take the cynical view on this as some sort of shameless cashing in on a sustaining, legendary legacy. How ventures like this affect said legacy remain to be seen. That notwithstanding, Peter Hook and “Friends” played Los Angeles last weekend on the final night of the Unknown Pleasures tour, where Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell joined the band on stage for a version of the Joy Division classic “Transmission.” I have a mutually exclusive appreciation for both Joy Division and Jane’s Addiction (the former much more so than the latter), so hearing Farrell sing one of my favorite songs was somewhat underwhelming. He kept the histrionics to a minimum, never even venturing into his patented scream. So, his presence was in name only, as his performance was little more than a paltry mimic. The view from the crowd in the video is less than ideal, but the sound is decent. The following video offers a closer look of the same scene, but it’s only 33 seconds long. [via Slicing up Eyeballs]