THE TOP 100 SONGS OF 2010: PART TWO

2010, by and large represented the comeback of the single as an event instead of merely being a tool to drive album sales. In this second part of my list, the singer/songwriter rises to the fore. The range of emotional conflict is on display here but also the use of menace within the few hip/hop joints here. Yeasayer achieves a double with their experimental pop as well. Here goes:




61 Broken Social Scene

Chase Scene

While their long-overdue album may not have shattered earth as expected this track sure does with its piped violins and shifts in tenses. The vocal sublime work moves in equal measure, a result of a band clearly in its prime and assured of the work it believes in.





62: Surfer Blood

Twin Peaks

Beach pop is all the rage with this band and surf’s up!





63: Freddie Gibbs

Born to Roll

Built on a sample from Masta Ace’s song with the same name, Gibbs adds a potent brand of thuggery to it. It’s not merely him drawling on bitches, hoes and blunts but the hard up way the shit is delivered.






64: Jay-Z
On to the Next One

Jigga’s been delivering some scary-ass lessons of late and On to the Next One is the scariest one yet. No one’s spared the caustic tongue, not his long time fans (‘Niggaz want my old shit, buy my old album’), newer ones (‘No I'm not a Jonas, Brother I'm a grown-up’) or even the non-freaky hunnies (‘Gotta keep it fresh girl, even when we sexin’).





65: She & Him

Lingering Still

Matthew Ward and Zooey Deschanel have been cozying up to us now with sweet, rushed-vocal ballads and Lingering Still is their best effort yet.




66: Beach House

Silver Soul

‘It is happening again’, sings Victoria Legrand repeatedly and judging from the tenderness in her styling, we can pretty much surmise what exactly she’s talking about.




67: Broken Bells

October

It seems silly now; our apprehension about these two doing collaboration especially as the result is as beautiful as October. With Mercer at the reins and Danger Mouse directing, there proves nothing to worry about.





68: Yeasayer

Ambling Alp

An ode for Italian boxer Primo Carnea--a giant of a prize fighter (6’6, 284 lbs) who towered over his opponents like Gulliver amongst the Lilliputians. The track swings him as a reference at times too as well as dark example of the ultimate capability achieved by or for limitation.




69: Oh No Ono

Icicles

I’d be damned if I knew what exactly this Danish group sings about but the chorus is heavenly and that’s enough for now.





70: Yeasayer

O.N.E

With its steel pans and booming pop appeal its sure to bring Vampire Weekend comparisons but Yeasayer packs more pinch here with a steady disco-meets-hippie vibe.




71: Sharon van Etten

Don’t Do It

There’s some heavy resignation in van Etten’s voice as she strums along but she’s not going quietly. Don’t Do It doesn’t nag—no, its more high brow—but it moves and shifts blames for action into a plea for higher evolution. She knows she’s defeated however and that makes the song all more poignant for it.





72: Curren$y feat. Nesby Phips

Prioritize

This type of pimp rap usually is overblown to the point of cliché but the deeper he cuts through the slickness and bark orders (‘You gone get your turn, on the doobie/ bitch just wait.’), somehow Curren$y manages to juggle it just right.





73: Belle & Sebastian feat. Carey Mulligan

Write About Love

Stuart Murdock has evolved over the years but one thing he’s never strayed from is the heart-felt ballad. Here he grabs actress Carey Mulligan (is there nothing she can’t do?) and puts down a smartly contrived pop piano piece that’s catchy and brilliant as hell.





74: Prince

Compassion

Gone are the days when we look forward to Prince to wow us with new music but at least we get on average one gem. This year it’s Compassion, a bouncy pop number that starts out harmless enough but its second half really opens up with synths and waves of jazzy textures.





75: Twin Shadow

For Now

If this isn’t the best Thin White Duke resurrection call ever then I don’t know what is.





76: The National

Anyone’s Ghost

Relationships are hard but with age and time we can handle them better. The National has been around the block and now, lead singer Matt Berninger is at one with his material, instead of trying to fight through it.




77: Laurie Anderson

Only an Expert

Anderson is mad and it shows on Only an Expert, her anti-big corporation track. With just an electronic beat and some jazz riffs thrown in, she castigates the putative solutions these ‘experts’ provide the rest of the world. It’s mean stuff that tosses in Al Gore by association but also, weirdly enough, something called the ‘sushi solution’.




78: John Vanderslice

I’ll Never Live up to You

Vanderslice is renowned for recording with the most minimal of tools but the sadness rinsed here is so plain for all to witness that the acoustic arrangement feels like a shadow instead of being a companion piece. He needs no music to heighten the experience of loss.





79: Matthew Dear

Soil to Seed

Dear’s name doesn’t come up when one thinks of pop music but somewhere he discovered funk and an electronic heartbeat. Soil to Seed sounds spectral, as if dipped into a barrel of reserve funk he’s only just now opening.




80: Los Campesinos

Plan A

Gareth leads this noise-mongering track about adolescent dreams of relocating to Malta to become a soccer star, a national hero, the king, ect.

THE TOP 100 SONGS OF 2010: PART ONE

2010, by and large represented the comeback of the single as an event instead of merely being a tool to drive album sales. In this first part of my list, we see pop as the driving force, whether through being juxtaposed with other genres—hop/hop and chillwave primarily—with great success. Here goes: 

 81: Kate Nash   

Later On

It’s not surprising to read that Nash feels that the video for Later On is her best yet; it’s obvious that where she didn’t live up to her own hype on the album, this is the track where she did. It’s not just the fake love exuded to get information but it’s also the manner in which she conveniently parades it shamelessly.

 82: Allo Darlin’   

My Heart is a Drummer

Maybe this is the hollow feeling that modern day romance leaves one with once it’s over but it’s terribly affecting to hear a voice quivering lines like, ‘and when you call me, on the telephone my fingers will twist through the cord/ and I'll slide my feet up and down the wall/ but I know that I'm stronger than you are’, especially when they’re trying hard to convince themselves that the words are true. We already know better.

 83: LCD Soundsystem  

Drunk Girls

I could do an entire post on how disappointing the new LCD Soundsystem album was to me, or how overrated it has gotten by critics or even how hilarious the music video for this single is but let’s stick to the music only. It’s not quite Beck but it is much more; a rehash of the 70s era Bowie vibe that never stops giving. Plus, with that falsetto, Murphy’s got us sold.

 84: Vampire Weekend    

Giving up the Gun

Things change and all bands come quietly to that conclusion eventually. We could mull around the literal reference to Japanese sword culture all day but you know what’s even more startling…the fact that  rarely has pummelled-like-a-horse guitars been so fun on what is essentially a pop record.

 85: Shearwater  

Corridors

Straight-up Bowie-esque baroque pop with his trademark ripped vocals.

 86: Fionn Regan   

Protection Racket

While the debacle of Wikileaks rages on, suddenly Regan’s Protection Racket feels musically aligned to such a notion of disclosure of big corporations and their secrets. ‘Pay this man his rent’, he spits out in one couplet then follows it up with ‘these big companies are giving us the squeeze / lets raise our glasses to Mr. Onassis’. Standard procedure, indeed.

 87: Interpol    

Success

In typical Interpol fashion, the lyrics are mysterious and the production heavy-lidded and provocative. Paul Banks has been at this for years now but he always manages to elevate his brooding imagery.

 88: Caribou   

Odessa

To paraphrase Pitchfork, Dan Snaith sure has mastered one aspect of his music career, it's change. Add to that the emphatic grooviness of an electronic track. Odessa employs a heavier swathe of synths that we’re used to from him but coupled with the propulsion of irresistible beats, Snaith has conjured up a thrilling psychedelic wonder.

 89: Gorillaz    

Rhinestone Eyes

Another funky treat for the road only this time we’ve uncovered something deeper than the mere animation that Albarn has been hiding behind. It seems as if Noodle has been impersonated by a fake Noodle or, as one fanatic stated, a Cyborg Noodle. Gripping stuff that weirdly enough makes sense in this achy-break mess.

 90: The Black Keys   

The Go-Getter

Buried beneath the frame of its electronic beats, Auerbach’s voice powers the sadness that dominates The Go-Getter. You wouldn’t think so given the routine (good thing) vocal workout but when the music dips or breaks suddenly, he drops in a howl and that’s when you realize the supposed cheeriness you’ve been following was a myth all along.

 91: The Roots feat. Joanna Newsom & STS    

Right On

In a year where Newsom dropped a two-hour tome extolling the virtues of self-love above everything else, the Roots decide to rework a track from her debut and somehow this swings convincingly. It’s a standard, old-school sample riffs involved but shit sounds fresh to me.  

 92: Wavves    

King of the Beach

The acid-washed pop/punk model done just right and lead singer Nathan Williams knows it.

 93: Lonelady   

If Not Now

It’s surprising that no one much has been raving about this Julie Campbell pop number, given how vibrant its beat it, dipped in a retro vibe that is so happening across all genres.

 94: Lightspeed Champion  

Madame van Damme

I’ve always pegged Devonte Hynes as some sort of freak so it’s no surprise that his whore-as-saint song would be splitting its side with wry humour and deadpan seriousness. 

 95: Jonsi   

Boy Lilikoi

I’ve never got the appeal of Sigur Ros but that’s because English is something they merely toy with but here lead singer Jonsi, with a dreamy sequence of Disney-esque words set to lovely music, gives a type of love letter or paean to true friendship.

 96: ceo   

Love and Do whatever you Will

A light affair sure but Sweden’s place at the head of electro-pop manifests itself in Eric Berglund’s delicious ditty. Lyrically, it’s all over the place but by the time the chorus comes in, the track cavorts into a hectic and bouncy avalanche.

 97: Grimes  

AVI

Trying to get info on Grimes isn’t exactly the easiest thing but even though she subscribes to the reduction pop school that The Knife apparently started, she at least doesn’t hide behind the music. Grimes is the project of Montreal-based Claire Boucher and her chillwave-meets-lo/fi pop music. AVI sports a propulsive riff that grooves harder than any other this year and her easy vocals wash over as if a sturdy baptism. When she croons throughout, ‘I won’t take your breath away.’ You know she’s lying because the reality is that she does.

 98: The Corin Tucker Band  

Doubt

Corin Tucker has been away too long but thankfully here is a good tide-over until the next Sleater-Kinney album. 

 99: I am Kloot  

Northern Skies

There’s something sad hearing John Bramwell repeat the line, ‘and we’re free to make the same mistakes again and again’, on a track that was already geared towards introspection.

 100: Animal Collective  

Tantrum Barb

Taken from their experimental film ODDSAC, Tantrum Barb is just as deliriously disjointed as we’d expect it to sound in this post- Merriwather Post Pavillion world. Expectations are at an all-time high but yet again the crew delivers a psychedelic stunner fit for any underground rave.

The Best New Artist of 2010 is...

 ...and we have a tie. There is no way to separate the brilliant yet contrasting styles of Summer Camp and Twin Shadow. One is a band that features two real-life lovers and the other is a man who is reinventing new wave. 

Summer Camp: together in love and music

Summer Camp is multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Warmsley and journalist Elizabeth Sankey. The duo’s love for the fuzzy, complicated world of  adolescents and gawky moments dominate their lush music. It's just six tracks but the lo-fi 80s template feels remarkably fresh and on trend. It helps that these two are lovers because it is translated in the juxtaposing of their art. Warmsley backs up Sankey's lovely vocals admirably. The key track is 'Veronica Swayer'--a reference to the Heathers character--which doubles as some feminist anthem. 

George Lewis Jr.: groove daddy

Twin Shadow: is the moniker used by one George Lewis Jr., a Dominican-born, Florida-bred composer whose varied musical misadventures have already taken him around the globe and back. And it's official: indie heads, your new messiah--your latest Bowie interpolation is here and he's a master technician already, delving confidently into the heart of new wave and connecting to its pulse.

Here are some other notable new splashes in the pop music pool this year:

clown sings the blues

Jamie McDermott: lead singer of ten-member orchestral ensemble The Irrepressibles, McDermott is lyrically dramatic and a deadringer for Antony Hegarty vocally...which is a good thing.

my band can swin

Surfer Blood: singer John Paul Pitts howls and rages in the beach-pop genre and it's a winner.

freak for headphones

Toro Y Moi is the stage name used by recording artist Chazwick Bundick. His music takes many different forms within the electro-pop fold with a whiff of chillwave.

bad-ass

 Sleigh Bells : singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist-producer Derek Miller. Signed to N.E.E.T record label and that's M.I.A new project. They're loud and smart. Treats was good although not as orgasmic as most critics would have you believe but this duo will only get better. 

Nedry: The London-based three-piece – Matt Parker and Chris Amblin on glitches and glides, electro-percussion and pitch control, and Ayu Okakita on vocals. An interesting idea. One I'm watching closely.

Darlin' Nicki

Nicki Minaj: Her debut didn't deliver the goods but it was a fairly good opening shot for the Trini rapper who looks like a younger Chaka Khan and has Lil Kim attitude in spades. Such a combination is bound to pay off soon and besides she stole the show from more enlightened company on two of the year's best singles; Christina Aguilera's 'Woohoo' and Kanye's 'Monster'.

red-head minimalism

Active Child: is Pat Grossi, an L.A.-based songwriter who layers his keening, unearthly voice over diffuse waves of keyboards. 

The Top 10 Most Disappointing Albums of 2010

For clarification, being on this list doesn't necessarily mean the album was awful but it does indicate that I expected much more. Many of these artists are brilliant but somehow the artistry didn't click here or the songs simply just didn't catch fire. Here's hoping though that they'll shake off the bug and, as we say in Jamaica, wheel and come again.





1. Massive Attack 'Heligoland': the band that helped bring trip/hop to the masses returned with a type of chill music that no one could possibly chill out to.




2. Midlake 'The Courage of Others': ugh....




3. Martina Topley-Bird 'Some Place Simple': it must be a bitter irony that Topley-Bird has done an even bigger disappointing album this year than Tricky, the man whose career she helped shape two decades ago. Apart, neither has been able to do much so now, as uncomfortable as it may be, both better swallow pride and reunite.



4. Tricky 'Mixed Race': a defining voice of the the 90s, lost interminably within his own delusions.



5.Klaxons 'Surfing the Void': as if the idea of putting a cat into a spacesuit wasn't dumb enough, the band ditched its once smart, sharp ouvre for even dumber songs.



6. Les Savy Fav 'Root For Ruin': I'm still puzzled how the band that gave us 'The Equestrian' and 'Patty Lee' three years ago reduce themselves to this boring much.



7. Sia 'We are Born': Sia is not a mere pop singer but she doesn't do much here to prove that. She's not a genius but the heart-felt emotion of her previous album is undeniable and given her recent admissions, I expected some beautiful torture but, alas, it's just frustrated torture.



8. Laura Marling 'I Sing Because I Can': the feminist intent is there but it's cluttered with so much inexperience that Marling hasn't yet seen the total vision she needs to carve out and not allow the expectations of her backers to overwhelm her.


9. Lightspeed Champion 'Life is Sweet, Nice to Meet You': Devonte Hynes is a genuis but he reminds me so much of that scene in The Matrix where the Oracle tells Neo that he could be the One, just that he seems to be waiting on something. There are a few flashes on pop pleasure here once the guitars kick in but he hasn't mastered the total performance yet.


10. Xiu Xiu 'Dear God, I Hate Myself': Jaime Stewart's existential queer angst has been the dominant theme in Xiu Xiu's decade-old existence and, well, I wish he'd stop being such a pussy and wreak shit and get on with it already.

The 10 Worst Films of 2010

First, these are horrible film yet I'm sure there were others. These were the ones I saw though. Without further ado, here goes:


1. 'Vampires Suck': spoofing a franchise that is itself struggling for critical praise isn't exactly a genius move and, well, no surprise that this is infinitely worse than its source material.


2. 'I Love You Phillip Morris': just seeing Jim Carey prancing around as a bad 90's gay cliche is enough to seriously consider the merits of being viciously homophobic.


3. 'The Last Airbender': like, seriously, even with adapted material, Shyamalan can't put a decent film together anymore?!


4. 'Cop Out': stupid muthafuckers, stupid.


5. 'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief': a blatant Harry Potter rip-off but without any real heart and Uma Thurman should know better than to be caught with badly-animated snakes in her hair.


6. 'Devil': Shyamalan strikes again!


7. 'Skyline': never trust a dumb horror film where you never even get to see what the monsters look like.


8. 'Clash of the Titans': not only was the 2D to 3D transformation ridiculous but the entire plot stunk and looked cheap too.


9. 'Legion': as is angels would really squat or give a bat shit about any of the humans paraded here.


10. 'Machete': are you kidding with this crap?!