December 2010
15 posts
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#2 Robyn - Body Talk
I have to admit, I’m not sure if this album is as good as Robyn, but frankly, that’s a pretty high benchmark. This album (or three albums, depending on how you look at it) is a fantastic collection of eccentric pop. Robyn has a remarkable ability to craft really clever, original melodies that sound like no one else (c.f. the Diplo-produced ‘Dancehall...
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#3 Wavves - King of the Beach
This is probably mu biggest surprise of the year. I’m generally skeptical of the whole
‘lo-fi’ thing, and Wavves always seemed like one of the more egregious examples - excessive (crazy excessive!), ugly digital distortion hiding a complete lack of memorable songs.
As it turns out, however, he can write songs. Dumb songs, I’ll grant, but...
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#4 Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Yeah, it’s really good. Obviously. Honestly though, as good as it is, I don’t think I could reasonably classify it as my favourite of the year - at the very least, it simply has not been out long enough.
The thing that stands out about this album for me is the incredible production. Yes it’s bombastic, even by Kanye’s...
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#5 Janelle Monaé - Suites II and III: The Archandroid
I admit that I was really skeptical of Monaé at first - the whole idea of an r’n’b concept album based on Metropolis seemed to be pretty questionable in my mind, and her initial EP didn’t really do much to dissuade this notion. My natural aversion to anything musical theatre-ish kicked in big time when listening to this...
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#6 Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Congratulations by MGMT = bad, bad neo-psychedelic rock, unfortunately conflating hookless meandering with depth
Innerspeaker by Tame Impala = great neo-psychedelic rock, mixing catchy songs with genuinely interesting textures; be sure to listen with headphones
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#7 Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
As someone who was always quite adamant that Speakerboxxx, a brilliantly eclectic, bizarre album that lived up faithfully to the legacy of Stankonia, was far superior to the collection of reheated Prince leftovers that was The Love Below, it’s hardly surprising that I immediately liked Big Boi’s first solo album. In a...
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“It’s a testament to [R. Kelly’s] ingenuity as a singer and...”
– Jonah Weiner, providing an impressively disgusting allusion to the artist’s alleged past indiscretions.
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#8 Best Coast - Crazy for You
Basically, this sounds like what we’d get if the dude from Wavves’ girlfriend decided to release her own album of reverb-drenched surf rock. Oh right, that is what happened [quality writing - I know]. Whilst I still think it pales in comparison to King of the Beach, it is, in its own right, a rather excellent album.
As with that aforementioned album,...
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#9 Sleigh Bells - Treats
Admittedly, I was a bit sceptical of this album at first - it seemed little more than a gimmick. I have, however, grown to really love it. The sheer propulsive musical force is something that was lacking in most other music this year, and the whole cheerleader theme is amusingly perverse. Most importantly from my perspective, is that the songs are genuinely memorable....
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010
#10 Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing
Possibly my most surprising musical discovery of this year (with the likely exception of Wavves), Free Energy play pretty standard ’70s-style power pop of the Big Star variety. Nothing at all original, but so much fun. ‘Bang Pop’ gets stuck in my head like little else.
I guess I’m a little surprised that James Murphy (of LCD...
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“If you’re going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly.”
– Mark E. Smith
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My 100 Favourite Albums of 2010 - #100-11
#11 Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
#12 No Age - Everything in Between
#13 Tokyo Police Club - Champ
#14 Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
#15 Cee-Lo - The Lady Killer
#16 Angus and Julia Stone - Down the Way
#17 Hot Chip - One Life Stand
#18 Vampire Weekend - Contra
#19 The National - High Violet
#20 Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
#21 Sia - We Are Born
#22 Deerhunter - Halycon Digest
#23...
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What is Popjustice’s obsession with Nicole Scherzinger’s ‘Poison’ all about? I don’t get it at all.
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