Year in Music 2010 Dec 24 '10 (Updated Mar 08 '11)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Revelation [Digipak] by Journey From $12 Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned From $40 The Bottom Line The Suburbs are the place to be. For those who are interested, I'm still a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mongolia and have about six months remaining in my service. But enough about that. Good records that should have been better Janelle Monae -- The Archandroid I will almost certainly catch sh!t for this, but here goes: Janelle Monae is a talented artist and performer (about as talented as they come), but she is generally a mediocre composer and highly prone to overkill. She suffers from what I term Sufjan Stevens syndrome: catchy, stylistically diverse music that is essentially the same four chords over and over. “Cold War” is one of my favorite songs this year, but look at its structure: Verse. Chorus. Verse that the same as the last verse. Chorus that is the same as the last chorus. Verse that the same as the last verse. Chorus that is the same as the last chorus. While the production is gold standard, at the core, the song-writing is simple, and I would even say “easy,” awesome guitar solo or not. As for the overkill aspect, there is so much excisable material on this record that I’m anxious to listen to it because of the sh!t I have to sort through. Are those two skip-able overtures relevant to the story or are they embarrassing examples of the artist’s epic sense of self? Can “Neon Gumbo” hold anyone’s attention? Is “Make the Bus” not almost unlistenable? And does Suite III have even a single song that is as good as anything on Suite II? Deerhunter -- Halcyon Digest (B+) As far as getting your attention goes, “Halcyon Digest” is close to perfect. But it lacks the daring of its predecessor, “Microcastle,” and for that reason isn’t as relistenable. “Microcastle” is full of experiments, from the explosion at the end of the title track, or the gear-changing midway through “Nothing Ever Happened,” the narration in “Saved by Old Times” or that first chord… Jesus, that first chord. Relatively speaking, “Halcyon Digest” plays it safe, and when it doesn’t, the material is hardly new. “Fountain Stairs” and “Coronado” are highly listenable tracks that mostly repeat the same clauses over and over. “Helicopter” might be considering daring when it unravels into synths (though it’s nonetheless a wonderulf song)… but “He Would Have Laughed” does the same thing. “Sailing” is soft and beautiful but sounds like it was cake to patch together… which is my main problem with the record. It doesn’t sound like Deerhunter challenged themselves to the degree that they did on “Microcastle” or “Cryptograms.” They play it safe just as Cox did frequently on Logos, and when your music is merely par for the course, it won’t stick for long. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (B) The first half is an A. The second half is a C. The whole record is a B. “Stylo.” “Empire Ants.” These are unimpeachably great songs. Anything after “Glitter Freeze”… not so much. Records that I won’t be listening to much next year that I still recommend Big Boi -- Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (B+) Big Boi occasionally drops into very standard, recycled rap beats like “Fo Yo Sorrows,” which sounds made by a West Coast producer who bought MTV Music Generator, and the generic is especially strange on a record that touches the genius of “Shutterbugg.” Holy F(u)ck -- Latin (A-) The Books – The Way Out The Books don’t make music so much as a separate art form, which is why the standard rules of replay value don’t apply to “The Way Out,” or any Books record. Similar to the Fiery Furnaces’ “Rehearsing My Choir,” you can’t approach it like “music” – it’s a distinctive performance deserving of its own angle. I recommend it just for the experience of hearing it. How to Dress Well – Love Remains Records I will almost certainly be listening to 10 years from now 8. Dirty Projectors + Bjork -- Mount Wittenberg Orca (B+) A late addition to the list. This was a collaboration between one of my favorite bands and one of my favorite artists, mostly built on the gorgeous vocal arrangements that makes both so great. The songs are simple and somewhat in complete, but so solid aside from the skippable opening tracks that you can't help but embrace it.  7. Flying Lotus -- Cosmogramma (B+) Inferior to “Los Angeles,” which in my mind is one of the best records of the 00’s, but deserving of the praise it has received. “Cosmogramma” shows Flying Lotus doing something completely separate from mainstream electronica, impossible to label (the best I can come up is jazztronic – I’m awesome). Interest flags in the middle during the inert “Satelllliiiiiteee” and “German Haircut” but it goes out on a strong note, particularly on “Galaxy in Janaki.”  6. Baths -- Cerulean (B+) Another late addition. A very overlooked album with a wonderful mix of personal vocal hooks and electro beats. It sounds fresh, and its title reflects its color.  5. Zach Hill -- Face Tat (B+/A-) A flawed yet diverse “noise” record and a great leap forward from our age’s most prolific drummer. The first five tracks grip you, particularly “The Sacto Smile,” which is not, as AV Club, Pitchfork or allmusic might warn you, regrettable, but is in fact the most blissfully face-melting composition released this year. Two minutes is about all you can take, which is why Hill keeps it to that. Tracks like “House of Hits” and “Gross Sales” border on being painfully self-indulgent but even at his worst Hill’s chops perk your ears. 4. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (A-) West did not receive a 10.0 from Pitchfork because this is a perfect record. That’s not possible. It is actually impossible in my mind that a Chris Rock skit that lame could constitute perfection in anyone’s mind. This received a 10.0, the first in seven or eight years, because it is a classic. It is a mainstream artist doing things with the form that most others are too afraid to do. Who else has the nerve to cut a 9-minute track like “Runaway”? Years from now, lesser producers will point to this, certainly Kanye’s best record, as their inspiration for pushing hip-hop to uncharted territory. As they should, because the form still has many places to go. 3. LCD Soundsystem -- This is Happening (A-) None of the last five tracks are as good as the first four, and “You Wanted a Hit” is basically awful despite its self-awareness (consciously being the least catchy song on the record), but “All I Want” is the best and most life-affirming song of the year, and several other tracks nearly touch its greatness. 2. Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal (A-) Ambient records rarely end up on Top 20 lists. This one did, on Pitchfork’s. There is a reason. 1. The Arcade Fire -- The Suburbs (A-) I have listened to no record this year as much as I’ve listened to this, vastly superior to “Neon Bible” and close or equal to “Funeral.” There are so many great tracks that it’s difficult to pick a favorite, though “Empty Room” sticks out for me at the moment. The album struggles slightly toward the end, and “Wasted Hours” should have removed in my mind, but Win Butler and co. manage to find moving words about the modern age despite what some claim is hackneyed material. The cynicism sometimes shines too brightly but the theme of “living the dream” and then coming to question that dream is increasingly pertinent in our American-dreamy times. What I missed: Dirty Projectors – Mount Wittenberg Orca – Couldn’t find a copy. Sorry. Disappointing: Regina Spektor – Far – Mike Elizondo ruined this. Like he ruins everything. Blonde Redhead – Penny Sparkle – Basically a corpse of what “23” was. Midlake – The Courage of Others – This is awful. Truly awful. best songs (not in order except for the last two): dungen -- Högdalstoppen big boi -- shutterbugg deerhunter -- helicopter arcade fire -- empty room janelle monae -- cold war oneohtrix point never – returnal caribou -- odessa sleigh bells -- infinity guitars spoon -- before destruction gorillaz -- empire ants flying lotus -- nose art beach house -- silver soul SoulEye -- potential for anything the national -- conversation 16 kanye west – monster 2. zach hill -- the sacto smile 1. lcd soundsystem -- all i want What I’m still listening to from last year: Asobi Seksu – Hush Bat for Lashes – Two Suns St. Vincent – Actor Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca The Antlers – Hospice Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights The Flaming Lips – Embryonic Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Found: Flying Lotus – Los Angeles – A correction to my best-of-the-00s list that I’ll never make. A perfect album. Bjork – everything – Took me long enough, right? Good-bye lenin soundtrack Holger Cuzkay – Fragrance – A song from the “Morvern Collar” sound track. Eluvium -- Copia – I originally wrote this off, but it’s excellent for the creative mood. Blonde Redhead -- Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons Digable Planets – A jazz-inspired 90s hip-hop group that made some of the best music of the decade, esp. on “Blowout Comb,” one of the finest genre albums I’ve heard. Dirty Projectors – Rise Above – Just as good as “Bitte Orca,” one of last year’s best. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasm – Would have been on last year’s Top 10, probably in the top 3, but I’m a fool. “6669” was last year’s best song, only no one knew it. Reissues: Weezer – Pinkerton (A) – Pinkerton is a near-perfect album that shaped my musical tastes to an immeasurable extent. I think this is worth picking up for some of the B-sides that have circulated underground for years, particularly “Devotion” and “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams.”

Read all comments (1)|Write your own comment

Write an essay on this topic.