Best Albums Of 2010

#1
BEACH HOUSE - TEEN DREAM

I always loved Beach House's sound, and adored their song "Heart of Chambers", but it wasn't until Teen Dream that I was really taken by them completely. Once hearing it, I found myself leaving the album on repeat the whole day for at least a few months. Calling it background music is an insult, because it's not, but the album sets an atmosphere and mood that is immensely satisfying and pleasant and tranquil and introspective. It doesn't demand your attention, it simply overwhelms you and creates a space you find yourself wanting to return to often.

#2
VAMPIRE WEEKEND - CONTRA

After such a popular debut album, I was very interested to see what Vampire Weekend's sophomore album would produce. Let's just say they're 2 for 2. The instrumentation is more sophisticated than their first album, with more layers and richer sounds. They evolve while maintaining their signature sound. If I had one complaint, it would be the track "Giving Up The Gun", which sounds like one of the songs a band records for an album, but ultimately leaves off because it's not that great and doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. Unfortunately, it makes it's way on the record. It's not that it's horrible, it's just mediocre and for some strange reason the second longest song, whereas every other song is concise and unique and playful and engaging. But I digress. Contra is a fantastic album that will always make me think of driving around Kauai with Junna in an open-top Jeep under blue skies and sunshine. Which is...pretty cool!!

#3
SADE - SOLDIER OF LOVE

She might be averaging only one album a decade, but they're always worth the wait. Soldier Of Love nestles itself immediately among Sade's previous masterpieces, bringing with it a bit more edge and attitude. Bath time just got a whole lot sexier.

#4
SALEM - KING NIGHT

Every time I listen to Salem, I'm reminded of the movie High Fidelity. In it, there are these two little punk skateboarder kids who get caught by John Cusack shoplifting a motley collection of records and a manual on how to record music at home. Later, he hears some music being played in his record store and asks one of his employees what they're listening to and is told it's a band those punk skateboarder kids formed called The Kinky Wizards. The music is an impossible mishmash of a century of sounds and influences, somehow coalescing to create a divine denouement for all of music ever. It sounds like nothing and everything all at once, with seemingly dozens of layers intricately placed and thoughtfully combined to form a new breed of song never before conceptualized, let alone heard. John Cusack's character is blown away and immediately tries to become their manager. Salem, to me, achieve in real life everything The Kinky Wizards are supposed to have achieved in the fictional High Fidelity. I get the impression many people hear Salem and think it is noise. And to them, maybe that's all it will ever be. But to me, it's something that can be listened to endlessly with a new discovery found every time. There is such precision and attention and detail in every second of sound. Musically, I admire their craftsmanship immensely. For me, it's as close to fine art as music gets.

#5
THE WALKMEN - LISBON

It's pretty hard to top a perfect album, and the last album from The Walkmen, You + Me, was perfect. Fortunately, they stuck with the sound that they achieved on that album here again on Lisbon, and while it doesn't come together as a complete album the way You + Me did, it does its best and gives us more of what we loved. "Stranded" is a particularly excellent track, utilizing heavily the lush horns that have to be some of my favorite sounds in music these days.

#6

KINGS OF LEON - COME AROUND SUNDOWN

These guys wisely stuck with whatever producer dragged them out of the backwoods and into the clean, polished sound that made them full-fledged rock stars with their last album Only By The Night. There's no doubt Kings Of Leon earned their stripes and are probably very much enjoying cashing in and being dressed in designer duds and dating model girlfriends. Everyone seems to love the music, so I guess it's a win-win. Plus, anyone who loved them before their producer-polished sound can now complain about how they used to like them before they sold out and became mainstream. So I guess that makes it a win-win-win. Nice job, guys.

#7
THE MORNING BENDERS - BIG ECHO

Considering The Beatles were so influential, you don't hear about all too many bands being compared to them. The Morning Benders, however, have just that fortunate distinction. It's not so much that they sound like them, but more that they're really excellent songwriters who love melody and are quite good at structuring songs. On Big Echo, the band goes for a bigger, wall-of-sound vibe with drawn-out breakdowns and slow build-ups interspersed amongst sing-a-long choruses and smart verses. A solid second album from the Bay Area boys.

#8
KANYE WEST - MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY

A lot of people have this as their number one album of the year. It doesn't hurt that Pitchfork gave it the extremely rare 10.0 rating. I've always been a fan of Kanye. I think he has very good taste in everything he does. I've always liked much of his music and this album is certainly the best collection of tracks I've heard from him. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I don't entirely care that much about rap or hip hop or whatever category this falls into. That's just full disclosure. I think it's an excellent album for what it is, and I especially love the middle section of the album. But there are also parts of the album that I absolutely can't stand. For some reason, rap albums tend to put these moments that might be compelling or funny once, but hearing it every single time you listen to the album or a track makes you want to smash your head against a wall, or skip the song, or just not listen at all. There are several moments like that on this album. For instance, Chris Rock on "Blame Game" going on and on and on and on about a woman's pussy for nearly three minutes. This is immediately followed by "Lost In The Woods" featuring Bon Iver, something that could have been genius, but is instead ruined by Auto-Tune, my single most hated trend in music today. On "Runaway", the big single that Kanye performed pretty much every single place he could prior to the release of the album, he writes a chorus that has lyrics so silly it's hard to take the rest of this gorgeous song seriously. Perhaps people love all this stuff. In fact, they probably do. For me, though, it limits my ability to listen to the album with any frequency, and when I do, I have to skip over these parts. There's a lot to love about this album, but there are some questionable choices that hold me back from considering it a perfect 10.

#9
ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS

The thought I keep having when I listen to this album is this: It's just not important. Nothing about it really matters. Yes, they continue in their Arcade Fire ways, and keep the sound that they've always had. It's not like they tried to do something different and failed, they kept right on with the keepin' on and created an album that is probably what was to be expected. There's the urgency. There's the angst. But I guess it all seems a little going-through-the-motions to me. The lyrics don't move me, and I'm not entirely sure they even move those who are signing them. The fact that they titled the album The Suburbs should really say it all. It's probably the biggest cliché available to a band to complain about things like the suburbs and the numbing sameness of the sprawling emptiness of blah blah blah. With that said, it's far from a bad album. I obviously liked it enough to include it here. The music is outstanding and the songwriting and production are right on point. These folks know what they're doing. I just wonder how much it matters to them anymore.

#10
TEAM GHOST - YOU NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG TO ME

Being a big fan of M83, I was excited to hear that one of the original members was putting out this album. It ends up, however, feeling more like an EP in that it's only seven tracks, and the first track is really more of a synthroduction than an actual song. There's also not much of a feeling of cohesion. None of this, however, detracts from the experience of listening to a collection of good songs, as long as you approach it with that mindset. "A Glorious Time", in particular, is an excellent pop song almost reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Several other songs sound a bit like Massive Attack. Each song ends up feeling pretty different from the next, and it seems like Team Ghost is more interested in just writing songs as they come to them than developing a signature sound and working within those parameters. Which is just fine.

The Walkmen - "Stranded"

Click here to listen to a track titled "Stranded" from The Walkmen's upcoming new album Lisbon streaming over at NPR. I love the sound they get from their horns. If this song is any indication, it seems this album is going to pick right up where the last one left off, which is a very, very good thing.

The Walkmen | Lisbon

And here is the album cover for the upcoming release from The Walkmen entitled Lisbon.

I dig it.

The Walkmen | Lisbon

The Walkmen will release a new album on September 14 titled Lisbon. It's hard to imagine it will be able to top their last album You + Me, which as far as I'm concerned was pretty much perfect. You can read my review of that one here, and if you haven't given it a listen I strongly recommend you do. I have no doubt, however, that Lisbon will be excellent and look forward to hearing it.

Best Albums Of 2008

#1
BON IVER - FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO

This is not only my favorite album of 2008, but probably of this century.

The story precedes the music. Justin Vernon sequesters himself to a remote Wisconsin cabin for four snowy months, writing and recording much of what would become his debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago.

The word 'cathartic' gets used a lot in the world of music, but I can think of no other album that has been more deserving of the term. This album was made for one person, and one person only—and no, it's not Emma. This album was created for Mr. Vernon.

If you've ever felt deep loss, a paralyzing loneliness, or love's heartbreak, this album will speak to you like no other.

I will not, however, reduce such a beautiful piece of work to 'a good break-up album'. It goes so far beyond and beneath. Its themes of isolation and loss are universal, explored with a sincerity only capable from a heart that has been exposed against will, and left vulnerable without choice.

In the end, Mr. Vernon makes no lofty claims of having achieved a profound evolved knowledge or some new fundamental change.

The album closes with the lyric, "This is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realization / It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away / Your love will be / Safe with me"

It's as if he has simply surfaced, after a long time underneath. He can view from close above the wound that was cause, that first point of hot pain, and he has found peace in knowing it will never heal.

#2
FLEET FOXES - FLEET FOXES & SUN GIANT [EP]

"The sound of ancient voices ringing soft upon your ear"

Nothing could describe Fleet Foxes better than their own lyric, heard in the song "Oliver James".

When I first heard Fleet Foxes, I suspected it might be something new from Brian Wilson. It reminded me of a documentary I had seen on the making of his long-awaited Smile album. Present in Fleet Foxes were Mr. Wilson’s signature harmonies, wonderful percussion, and the ability to layer instrumentation while still leaving space for sparse, hallow echoes that drift gently into overwhelmingly rich melodies.

Fleet Foxes songs sound of praise and worship, but are not remotely religious. It's as though they grew up signing old hymns and spirituals, listening only to folk music.

To call Fleet Foxes music 'sad' or 'pretty' would be both lazy and superficial.

There is more.

There is relief, and there is release. There is forgiveness. There is a baptism.

If you are ready, there is an end and there is something new that begins, like a new day after a deep sleep. Like a new life, after a quiet death.

#3
RADIOHEAD - IN RAINBOWS

There's just something I love about an album that sounds its best when you're driving fast on an open road late at night.

Like so many other people, Ok Computer has long been my favorite Radiohead album. Recently, however, I've found myself trying to decide which one I enjoy listening to more, Ok Computer or In Rainbows. It's not entirely fair, since In Rainbows is still relatively new and fresh. I can't count how many times I've listened to Ok Computer, but it has to be more than almost any other album. The mere fact that I actually need to think about which I like more says a lot about the greatness of In Rainbows.

If my affections for Radiohead peaked with Ok Computer, they reached their low point with Hail To The Thief, but especially with Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser. That release in particular made me start to feel that Thom Yorke and Radiohead were more interested in being unpredictable and avant-garde than actually taking the time to write songs that were good.

In Rainbows is immensely enjoyable to listen to. Not only that, it's even more enjoyable to listen to often. It is gorgeous in its restraint, in what's left out. It is cohesive and never overwhelming or forced.

For a band that has spent a decade trying its best to be unpredictable, perhaps finally fulfilling expectations helped Radiohead be more unpredictable than ever.

#4
VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND

There may be no better way to start the day than with the fresh, playful sounds of Vampire Weekend.

The sounds themselves are simply different from what most people are accustomed to hearing. The album is built on fun, bright keyboard lines, lively and luscious string arraignments, colorful lyrics, and perfectly placed percussions.

Although the lyrics themselves reference Peter Gabrielle, I’m always additionally reminded of Paul Simon, with his refreshing, African-infused rhythms and vocals.

But what is left to mention about a band that has—to say the least—been affectionately reviewed by just about everyone?

Because of such (over-) exposure, it would be easy to dismiss this group of East Coast preppsters and hate them even before you’ve heard them.

To do so, however, would be completely cynical and stubborn. You can’t really listen to this album without finding yourself in a better mood, maybe even smiling a little, and dancing a step or two.

After all, there’s not too much more to ask for from a really great pop album.

#5
THE WALKMEN - YOU & ME

If I ever give it all up and run off to some remote beach town, live in a shack, surf all day, and strum an acoustic guitar all night, The Walkmen's You & Me is what I'll be listening to all the while in between.

Like an old Reggae album or some quiet 60’s surf song, You & Me is laid back and splendid, full of rhythms and reverb that wash over you like warm waves under a bright moon.

Gentle guitars and distant horns dance with dampened bass lines and a haunting organ, filling empty spaces with moody melodies and urgent outbursts. The lyrics are longing and recall a time that once was while hoping for something that still could be.

It is the end of a long journey, tired and weary, lost and without resolution. A traveler is returning, unsure what will remain, and unclear why he ever left.

#6

LITTLE JOY - LITTLE JOY

Little Joy is the little band that could.

The group is mostly known as the side project of Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, but that headline unfortunately overshadows what is truly a delightful collection of affectionate and intimate serenades.

The songs are unpolished and unpretentious, sounding as if they were written among the warm winds of Brazil, on lazy nights after a long meal and several bottles of wine.

Little Joy would fit perfectly in rotation with anything from timeless crooner Chet Baker or the bossa nova classic Getz/Gilberto. It’s patient and relaxing, quiet and subtle.

The music is mainly built on soft guitars, simple percussions, and a few horn and organ moments, but the real heart of Little Joy is in the singing.

The vocals alternate between the sly Rodrigo Amarante, who is not entirely different sounding from a mellower Julian Casablanca, and the sweet, sleepy voice of Binki Shapiro.

They pair together so well, in fact, you might like to imagine they are lovers who play these songs for no one but themselves, as if you were wandering the beach past their bungalow after dusk and overheard their tender songs for two, and decided to stay a little while longer and languish in the love.

#7
MGMT - ORACULAR SPECTACULAR

Well, what a year for these boys from Brooklyn. Talk about catching lightning in a bottle. I know several people who picked this as their album of the year, and there’s no doubt MGMT really was a terrific surprise.

The sound manages to oscillate seamlessly through multiple musical changes, reminiscent of Ween and The Flaming Lips. MGMT thrives on dance beats, psychedelic experimentation, impossibly catchy keyboard lines, and sardonically deadpanned lyrics that stay right on trend.

The first five songs on this album are nothing short of perfection. “Electric Feel” doesn’t do very much, but it stays the course and keeps the vibe. The last five songs, however, find the band using the same tools they built the first five with, yet failing to be as concise or engaging.

Rumor has it MGMT’s next album will be a two-disc set, with one disc focusing on their pop/dance sound, and the other on their psychedelic/experimental sound.

I’m pretty sure I know which one I’ll prefer.

#8

PORTISHEAD - THIRD

Portishead’s first album in eleven years, Third, feels almost as much like the score to a performance art piece as an album of music from a band.

It’s hard for me to listen to a song like “We Carry On” without picturing a massive back-lit blank white screen, flowing blood-red fabric, and about seven people dressed in skin-tight black bodysuits dramatically twirling and folding and arching and posing.

Where their first albums were haunting and beautiful, Third is abrasive, violent, and truly avant-garde in the best of ways. Portishead make no attempts to replicate what made them so successful in the 1990’s. In fact, the only thing that really sounds much the same is singer Beth Gibbons' signature somber voice.

But the album fails to act as a cohesive unit, a collective work, the way both Dummy and Portishead did. Third is a group of songs that don’t necessarily have very much to do with one other.

That’s not to say these songs are anything short of wonderful, only that they lack a through line tying them all together.

Third is an album I listen to very closely, appreciate every note of, recognize its greatness, and then tuck away for several months to rediscover once again.

#9

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS - THE AGE OF THE UNDERSTATEMENT

With Jack White and Alicia Keys writing and performing the opening song to the most recent Bond movie Quantum of Solace, and Chris Cornell doing the same for Casino Royale, there are a few musicians I’d like to take this opportunity to nominate to be next in line: Goldfrapp (see: Felt Mountain), Portishead (do not see: Third), and now The Last Shadow Puppets.

Much of this album from Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner and The Rascals front man Mile Kane is ready-made for a 60's spy movie. It is sweeping and mysterious and sensual.

The sound is defined by Turner and Kane’s knowing and cheeky vocal delivery, overarching string arraignments, reverbed guitars with liberal use of the whammy bar, and a lot of ride cymbal and snare.

This album is not out to change music. Much of it, in fact, is quite derivative, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a pleasure to have on, with or without the bikini-clad silhouetted Bond girls.

#10
TV ON THE RADIO - DEAR SCIENCE

Perhaps I hold TV On The Radio to expectations too high. When they are at their best, their songs combine so many glorious elements it overwhelms a person.

Songs like “Halfway Home” and “Family Tree“ define the TOTR experience for me: a wall of sound combining layers of guitars, keyboards, percussions, strings, horns, and gospel-influenced vocals.

Then there are songs that seem entirely out of place, as if they were written by another band. “Crying” is a perfect example of this for me. Maybe I just can’t get the “Casino Night” theme song from Sonic The Hedgehog out of my head when I’m listening to it, but it just comes across as a bit silly.

“Dancing Choose”, as well. I think this was their attempt at a sequel to R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it”—hurried and frantic with too many words in not enough space.

Dear Science is a tale of two albums for me. I love half of it, and I’m confused by the other half. When you have the ability to write songs as elegant as “Stork and Owl”, I just wonder why you would bother with any other style.

The Walkmen Add New Leg to Tour

You & Me, the fourth original album from the Walkmen (and the latest Best New Music entry) hits shelves today, August 19, from Gigantic Music. You may be pumped, stoked, and/or jazzed about having You & Me in your arms at last (though you may have been listening to it on your computer for awhile), but your anticipation doesn't hold a candle to that of the folks who work at Nashville's Grimey's New and Preloved Music. Today, Grimey's employees will celebrate You & Me by performing their favorite Walkmen tunes at an in-store event. So much cooler than a free poster, ya'll.

Alas, the Walkmen themselves will only be at Grimey's in spirit, as they'll be in New York tonight for the second night of a two-night stand at the Bowery Ballroom. These shows are serving as both release parties and the kick-off for the band's North American tour.

The Walkmen recently added a Southeastern U.S. run to their previously reported jaunt. All dates are down below.

Europeans waiting to get their hands on You & Me will have to wait a tad longer. France and Switzerland get the album on September 15, while Austria, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg get it on September 22, all via Talitres Records.


Walkmen:

08-19 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
08-21 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour %
08-22 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour %
08-23 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
08-27 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge %
08-28 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards *
08-29 Victoria, British Columbia - Rifflandia Festival
08-30 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09-05 Providence, RI - Hot Club Waterfront Festival
09-06 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club !
09-09 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa !
09-10 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern !
09-11 Pontiac, MI - Pike Room @ Crofoot !
09-12 Chicago, IL - Metro !
09-13 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar &
09-14 Madison, WI - Barrymore Theater #
09-15 Columbus, OH - The Basement !
09-18 Cambridge, MA - Middle East !^
10-02 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle @
10-03 Atlanta, GA - The Earl @
10-04 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds @
10-05 Orlando, FL - The Social @
10-07 Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree @
10-08 New Orleans, LA - Republic @
10-09 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington @
10-10 Austin, TX - The Parish @
10-11 Dallas, TX - House of Blues Pontiac Garage @
10-12 Memphis, TN - Hi Tone @
10-13 Nashville, TN - The Basement @
10-14 Newport, KY - Southgate House @

% with Richard Swift
* with Man Man
! with Golem
& with the Broken West, Sleepercar
# with Okkervil River
^ with the Builders and the Butchers
@ with the Little Ones

• MP3: The Walkmen: Yellow Kid (Royal Trux cover) [from a Daytrotter Session]
• Stream: The Walkmen: In the New Year [from the You & Me LP]

Pitchfork Approves of the New Walkmen Album

The Walkmen:
You & Me

[Gigantic; 2008]
Rating: 8.5

On both record and onstage, the Walkmen have always reached for the rafters-- often at the risk falling on their collective faces or completely overshadowing their moodier material. In the light of their previous powerful singles and go-for-broke performances, the New York band's latest album, You & Me, might seem like a step down. However, it's the first that fully commits to their seductive, eminently soused-sounding late night sulk. If there are people who still consider the Walkmen a singles act-- granted, that will happen when you write a couple of the best rock singles of the decade-- You & Me might finally convince them otherwise.

The album begins with a whimper-- the tentative patter of "Donde Esta la Playa" followed by instrumental "Flamingos (for Colbert)"-- but there's one striking, early difference between this record and all their previous work: You can make out what singer Hamilton Leithauser is saying. It's a good thing, too; among hazy tales of reckless vacations, the album's most vivid tracks are often its most lyrically straightforward: "Red Moon" is about missing a girl, "The Blue Route" is about missing better days.

Those are simple, well-worn topics, but nearly all of these songs are buoyed by some small, cautious detail that-- while it might sound slight on paper-- make for indelible musical moments: The woodsy whistling on "On the Water", the horns that make "Red Moon" gorgeously mopey, or the warm hum of organ and harp-like piano fills on "Long Time Ahead of Us". Elsewhere, the fantastic, clattering percussion on "Postcards From Tiny Islands", "Four Provinces", and more reaffirm drummer Matt Barrick is the band's MVP.

Moreover, these songs refine old ideas scattered throughout the Walkmen's catalog, mostly building them into stronger tracks than their predecessors: "Red Moon" takes the ostentatious horns from "Louisiana" (from 2006's A Hundred Miles Off) and use them as essential pieces of atmosphere and mood. The loping guitar and offbeat drumming of "Look Out the Window," from their 2002 split EP with Calla, are folded into the late-game clincher "The Blue Route". Here, all the band's wanderings coalesce with more focused lyrics and assured songwriting, neither racing nor shuffling towards its ambiguous climax. With all the elements of a Perfect Walkmen Song-- cavernous echo, stinging guitars and straining organ, vocals where you can hear the veins on Leithauser's temples bulge-- it would easily fit on the band's peak, Bows + Arrows.

You & Me isn't as hard or immediate as the band's earlier records, but that's not a complaint; Its sound is coy, and invites you to spend time with it. Its lyrics are direct and its pleasures are simple-- as easy to notice as the mournful horns on "Red Moon", or hearing Leithauser hoping to get home to his loved one on the same song. While the Walkmen likely have more hits in them, if they keep making records as consistently engaging this, they won't sink for a lack of them. This is the sound they've reached for since the very beginning, and they've never played it as gracefully or confidently as they do here.

• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thewalkmen