2010

                A bit of a stumble this year.  After the last two years seemed positively alive with possibilities, in 2010, we’re back into more predictable ruts.  Some of this is worthy but not all that sonically exciting (a lot of indie rock), and there’s some interesting stuff mostly on the hip-hop frontier, but overall, this is a year we’re coming back down to earth, with the dominant sound being a kind of stately mid-tempo indie-rock.  This can be quite good if done well, but deadly dull in the wrong hands (and it falls into a few of the wrong hands this year.

                But let’s start with the more straight-ahead rock music.  The Japandroids have a follow-up single, but apart from covering X , it’s pretty unremarkable  Our two punk-Springsteen bands, the Hold Steady and the Gaslight Anthem, are both straining to move beyond the sound of their classic breakthrough album.  The Gaslights are decidedly the more successful of the two, expanding into elements of soul, doo-wop and a hint of U2, while the Hold Steady try to grow by subtraction, moving to a more stripped rock sound.  Neither launches a radical reinvention, but the Gaslights both have the better album this year, and sound more like a band moving into new territory rather than winding down.  Both also have some bands on their coattails this year.  For the Gaslights, it’s the rest of their Side One Dummy labelmates, who are mostly less remarkable straightahead punk rock in a post-Dropkicks mode.  Members of the Hold Steady, meanwhile, guest on Titus Andronicus’s ambitious but perplexing concept album about the (US) Civil War.  Nevertheless, while it combines elements I love (namely weird concept albums & members of the Hold Steady), Titus Andronicus regrettably sound more like the shouty/strummy generic indie sound shades of Bright Eyes or Neutral Milk Hotel.  *sigh* I thought we were done with that approach…

                Moving to indie-rock proper, as I noted in the intro, a stately mid-tempo sound dominates this year.  The exemplars of this style are the Arcade Fire, who are sounding far less rootsy this year, as the violin is buried in a much more synth-heavy mix.  The whole thing has the effect of downtempo New Wave, which is entirely appropriate for a contemplative album about growing up in the suburbs in the 1980s.  I can’t help but think that this music is made much more for the people who were teenagers in the 90s (or even earlier) than the teenagers/college kids of today, and wonder if we’re not in a point like the pre-punk late 70s, when music was dominated by 60s nostalgia.  Another successful example of this stately style is the Walkmen, who I’ve basically ignored prior to this year, but suggest that I should go back & check out their earlier stuff.  This isn’t especially exciting music (even less so than the Arcade Fire), but it does quite well on a somber (if slightly tipsy) atmosphere.  On the other hand, I’m not sure I could tell you why the Walkmen work for me and the National don’t.  They’re very similar in approach (both are more organic than the somewhat more sonically exploratory Arcade Fire), but the National just bore me to tears.

                Elsewhere among the downtempo indie rock, there’s a bit more variety.  Spoon are basically making their standard tight soul-rock, but they too are a bit dour and slower this year (though honestly, this is a band like Bad Religion or the Ramones: there are real differences in the albums, but only if you’re a superfan who listens closely).  More hazily, but no more uptempo, are Beach House, who swoon like the Walkmen, but with a bit more late-Beach Boys (or possibly George Harrison) arrangement ambition.

                Of course, there is more uptempo stuff out there as well.  Blur have a comeback single which proves that the Good, the Bad, & the Queen really were Albarn’s attempt to do what he considered Blur-style music.  Not revolutionary, but not an embarrassment.  Lighter on the electronics than Think Tank, but otherwise pretty similar.  (also about this point, Blur have a reunion live album, but they were no great shakes live when they were an active band, so I’m not keen to bother with the comeback tour version).  Belle & Sebastian never really went away, but did vanish from my collection for awhile.  In the gap, they’ve become no less twee, but a lot more colorful sonically, sounding even more like a classic AM pop band.  Another band that recalls big colorful AM gold (though always more uptempo) are the New Pornographers, who return with probably their best album since Electric Version.  At last they find a way to combine the more synthy stuff of their last two with the high-energy sound of their first pair.  Easily the happiest-sounding record in my collection this year.

                Oh, and a pair of distortion-happy SoCal beach brats have records this year.  Best Coast are (is, as I think it’s just the one gal) a whole lot of fun, like a sun-bleached version of the Breeders (which is to say a highly-distorted take on surf music, but less energetic (and less inventive) than the Boston band).  If Best Coast make lazy distortion-heavy pop-rock sound compelling, though, Wavves are pretty much every way that same approach can go wrong.  The laziness isn’t charming, the distortion just sounds like its covering up for lack of talent, and (most importantly) there’s nothing resembling a proper hook here. 

                Also more energetic than mainline indie-rock is the frequently-worthy beats & rock frontier, though there's less to get excited about this year.  This year James Mercer of the Shins follows Gruff Rhys & Neon Neon by attempting his own Gorillaz-style project (even partnering with former Gorillaz producer Danger Mouse).  If this were the new Shins album, I’d praise it for being a step forward into new sonic territory (though it’s missing some of the hooks that were the Shins’ defining characteristic).  But as a wholly new project, it can’t help but pale next to the likes of Gorillaz, as it’s not exactly a radical transformation from Mercer’s earlier melodic folk-pop.  Gorillaz themselves have a new album, and manage to once again mine the same basic template without repeating themselves.  This one might be their most conceptually unified album, even as it’s their most sonically diverse.  Ultimately, this plays like a various artists comp, but a very good one, bouncing from hip-hop to UK indie.  And I appreciate that it's also a mini Clash reunion, as this kind of eclecticism is very much in the Clash spirit.

                Elsewhere, though, among the dance-inflected acts, it's a bit rougher going.  LCD Soundsystem's last is easily their weakest; they've never been the most original band, but here they're borrowing entire songs rather than just sounds.  And "Heroes" is a bad one to swipe (or cover), as you can't help but pale dramatically against the original.  Also, Murphy's lyrics are getting a bit too clever & on-the-nose.  The single "Drunk Girls" is dumb in the way late Black Flag was dumb, where the self-awareness tries but fails to make up for the stupidity.  LCD's least, though, is still better than most bands' best, and the rest of this album is the clever, energetic stuff you come to expect.  The victory-lap live album is a bit of a waste, though, not changing the arrangements or energy level enough to make it worthwhile.  Phoenix, another dance-rock band with a live album this year, suffers from a similar lack of reason for theirs to exist (though giving it away makes up for a lot).

                Daft Punk also disappoints.  I had high hopes that the film soundtrack format would inspire them, but it just leads them into a more generic orchestral film music sound.  A couple of tracks remind me why I care, but this is a band that's lost the plot.  On the other hand, drifting into film scoring has worked very well for Trent Reznor, who also seems to be trying to vary his rock-group approach.  This means replacing Nine Inch Nails with the Mrs. Reznor-fronted How To Destroy Angels.  They unsurprisingly sound like NIN with a new vocalist, but continue with the looser, improved sound of The Slip.  We'll see if they follow up with a proper album, as Reznor has gradually become an artist worth following again for me.

                Whiplash-turning from techno-rock to roots rock, it's again a mixed bag, with a couple of excellent albums and a bunch of more middling quality.  Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, who form a classic sweetness & grit partnership, are one of these bright spots.  Nothing too sonically radical, but excellent moody atmospheric country-rock, not too far off from what Robert Plant and Allison Krauss were up to recently.  Also both excellent and rootsy are the Black Keys.  They break into the mainstream deservedly with Brothers, an album that combines the tight songcraft of Rubber Factory with the deeper sonic palette of Attack & Release.  The Black Keys had been searching for a new way forward for a couple of albums now, and find it in a big way.

On the other hand, the White Stripes bow out with a final live album.  A few rearrangements and a different energy makes it worthy for the die-hards, but overall this is a disappointing way for a major band to fade out.  Also disappointing are Blitzen Trapper, who just seem uninspired after two albums fairly spilling over with ideas.  Their muse seems more acoustic-style Neil Young than Bob Dylan, but they’ve dramatically scaled back their sonic adventurousness.  Band of Horses, although never as bold as Blitzen Trapper, are in a similarly sonically conservative place.

                Once again, though, the roots rock vets do at least as well as the younger pups.  The most seasoned vet this year is probably Mavis Staples, who's backed by Wilco at their most Stonesy.  Not only a great record for Staples, but as compelling instrumentally as Wilco's been since A Ghost is Born.  If they're going to be a straightahead roots rock band, it suits Wilco to kick up the rock a bit.  Elsewhere among the vets, both Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson are looking back to old school country, while Tom Petty continues his roots trip.  Crucially, though, this time Petty is less interested in roots generally (country, blues, Americana) and more interested in his roots, the blues-rock of the 1960s.  He still hasn't returned to the pop-rock that's his real forte, but he, like Wilco (or, for that matter, the Black Keys) is interested in kicking up a ruckus again.

                Somewhat oddly, the most forward-thinking artists in roots-rock are veterans as well.  Robert Plant continues his remarkable comeback, once again changing up his sound.  This time he's interested in a Low/Cowboy Junkies style slowcore sound, which once again has nothing to do with the Zep sound of yore.  I don't know that I'd recommend it unreservedly to Zep fans, as he's almost an entirely different artist, but it's pretty great to hear an artist of his stature showing such sonic restlessness.  Neil Young, of course, has long been such an artist, and this year he's back to sonic experimentation, as opposed to musically straightforward concept albums.  Like Plant, Young takes a minimalist approach, stripping his sound down to just solo electric guitar (with some overdubs & (very) light electronica).  This practically screams "interesting in theory," but somehow works at kicking up a compelling racket.

                Another vet kicking up a compelling racket, though far from roots rock, is Ozzy Osborne, who almost makes me take back last year's musings on Dio-Sabbath.  Not quite, though.  This is surprisingly effective thrash-revival, if not as compelling as Metallica's take.  Still, this is also a year when I get one of the better new metal bands.  Kylesa aren't mindblowingly great, but they do have a compelling psychedelic metal sound that recalls the like of Mastodon, but spacier, and (thankfully) devoid of the death-metal growl.

                Over in more pure psych revival, things are a bit of a step down from last year's high.  The Black Angels continue their 13th Floor Elevators homage, but are basically revivalism.  MGMT show more of a Syd Barrett influence, but are otherwise still pretty modern-sounding.  Still, the Angels have songs but not originality, while MGMT are more original, but lack the songs that lifted them last time.  There's also the psychedelic hip-hop of Flying Lotus, which is innovative, but also doesn't really hold my attention the way, say, DJ Shadow could back in the day.  Plus, there's plenty of more hooky experimental hip-hop out there this year.

                First of all, let me give credit where credit is due.  I still don’t like Kanye West – he’s too self-absorbed and humorless – but I do respect his ambition on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  This is a legitimate attempt at some kind of prog-hop; too bad it fails, but I respect the attempt (though he’s really gotta stop committing the cardinal sin of sampling: using samples that make you want to listen to the original song instead of the repurposed one….).  But there are also more successful experimental hip-hop acts out there.  Erykah Badu continues her Funkadelic-style psychedelic soul approach, though I find it more compelling in theory than in practice, as while there are interesting things going on, the songs are usually pretty hookless.  Much better at psychedelic soul is Janelle Monáe, who sounds not a lot like Stevie Wonder, but like what I’d suspect a modern version of ’70s Stevie Wonder would sound like (if that makes sense).  In other words, progressive/cutting edge soul with a keen melodic sense.  Big Boi did well when he discovered her.

                Big Boi also did well himself with his first proper solo album (not counting Speakerboxx).  Like Speakerboxx, it’s a cutting edge banger of a record, but while that one was heavily indebted to Parliament, on Sir Lucious Left-Foot he’s casting a much broader sonic net.  I can’t say whether or not it sounds much like mainstream hip-hop anymore (having stopped listening to the mainstream about the time I moved to DC, with its crushingly mediocre hip-hop radio), but it sounds both fantastically experimental and capable of packing the dancefloor (you know, kinda like Outkast at their peak…).  Another Atlanta veteran, Cee-Lo, emphatically did make it big in the mainstream, with his effervescently obscene summer jam “Fuck You.”  The album, like the song, is pretty throwbacky to the classic 60s soul sound, a mix of Motown and Stax.  So this is by far Cee-Lo’s most conventional album since the Goodie Mob days (and probably ever).  Certainly more conventional than either his prior solo albums or Gnarls Barkley, but a whole lot of fun, with an energy (and a splash of more modern experimentation) that makes this more than just revivalism.  Really, this one and Big Boi’s kinda blur in my mind as energetic bangers from Atlanta vets this year…

                Finally, the Roots are also back this year, showing that their new steady gig with Jimmy Fallon is actually increasing their ability to produce records.  First up is their collaboration with John Legend, which is basically a Legend album with the Roots as a backing band (with occasional rapping).  Judged as a Legend album, it’s his best by far, with the Roots (obviously) providing a phenomenal and fluid backing band, but also pushing Legend into more contemporary sounds (i.e. moving past straight revivalism) despite the almost-all-70s-soul-covers tracklist.  It’s a bit harder to judge it as a Roots album, of course, since Legend so dominates.  For what it’s worth, though, Legend’s guest vocal on “The Flame” helps make that song one of the highlights of the Roots’ second album this year, which definitely is a proper Roots album.  How I Got Over very much continues in the moody/angry soul sound of Game Theory, and while it’s not quite as good as that one (the band’s masterpiece), it’s still quite good (if short).

Song of the Year:  Surprisingly it’s not “Fuck You,” which is still a lot of fun, but once the thrill of hearing Motown on the radio again diminishes, it’s just pretty good, not great.  So I’ll go with Gorillaz’ “Stylo,” which very much follows on guest vocalist Mos Def’s latest synth-heavy direction, and conjures an entertainingly apocalyptic vibe. 

Album of the Year:  This one I agonized over.  Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs is the best Important Album, though it’s not my favorite record.  Among the more modest records, Big Boi’s is a gem, as is the New Pornographers’ Together, but if I’m being honest, the record I’ve enjoyed the most from 2010 is easily Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach.  I don’t think it’s their best, but it covers so much stylistic ground (all well), and manages to get Mark E. Smith, half the Clash, Mos Def, and the Super Furry Animals all on the same album, and is just chock full of memorable songs besides.

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  This one, on the other hand, was an easy pick.  The overhype around Neon Bible led me to dismiss The Suburbs and Arcade Fire generally as hype, but it’s a fantastic album from a band really evolving.  I love their early rootsier sound, but the way the faded New Wave of The Suburbs perfectly fits the mood they seek to capture, and the way Arcade Fire really bring a series of catchy & melodic anthems mean this is an album I’ve come to really love since relistening for this project.  Caveat Emptor: the loudness war has hurt this band more than just about any I’ve heard.  The Suburbs is mixed loud, and although there’s a lot going on musically, that mixing makes the whole thing sound flatter than it should.  Maybe in 10-20 years, we can get a proper post-loudness remix…

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  Titus Andronicus.  I never loved this band, but I was surprised at how much I hated them when they’d come up on shuffle.  The music isn’t terrible, but it’s just OK, and can’t make up for how much I’ve come to hear that post-Neutral Milk Hotel terrible ‘naturalistic emoting’ singing technique, where it’s all shouty & cracked vocals.  The amateurism is supposed to signify genuine emotion, I’m sure, but it just sounds calculated and phony to me, and far less interesting than the emotion a genuinely competent singer can conjure.  You can’t all be Otis Redding, but you can at least, you know, try a little…

Album List

Andrew Mitchell - 2010

Andrew Mitchell - Guitar & Vocal

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms

Beach House - Teen Dream

Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love

Best Coast - Crazy For You

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son Of Chico Dusty

Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void

Blur - Misc.

Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Bruce Springsteen - City Of Night

Cash Is King - King Of The Summer

Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer

Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Fucked Up - Year of the Ox

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

How to Destroy Angels - How to Destroy Angels

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Hawk

Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid

Japandroids - Younger Us b/w Sex and Dying in High Society

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

LCD Soundsystem - London Sessions

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Mavis Staples - You Are Not Alone

Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am

MGMT - Congratulations

Murder By Death - Good Morning, Magpie

Neil Young - Le Noise

Ozzy Osbourne - Scream

Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation

Paul Zim - Wedding Songs

Phoenix - Live In Sydney

Radiohead - Misc.

Robert Plant - Band Of Joy

Soulive - Rubber Soulive

Spoon - Transference

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

The Apples (In Stereo) - Travellers in Space and Time

The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream

The Black Keys - Brothers

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

The Gaslight Anthem - Real Covers Caught On Tape

The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever

The National - High Violet

The New Pornographers - Together

The Roots - How I Got Over

The Roots - Misc.

The Roots - Wake Up! (with John Legend)

The Walkmen - Lisbon

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights [Live]

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Bad Girl Boogie

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mojo

V/A - 2010 SideOneDummy Records Summer Sampler

Vieux Farka Touré - Live

Willie Nelson - Country Music