Best Of 2010 - The preamble

[davy]

Pitchfork Top 20 is a long way from where I'm at. They seem to like Oneohtrix Point Never's album, which is sadly consistent because it's really weak compared to the Rifts triple LP from last year. Oh, and Joanna Newsom is in there, of course.

After feeling pretty comfortable with 50 - 21, I got lost in the top 20. I've only heard the Caribou album, which I really liked, and the Vampire Weekend album, which I'm really surprised to see ranked so high.

And color me shocked that the Menomena album didn't even get an honorable mention! Jesus!

[YojimboMonkey]

There isn't an album in their top 20 that I've even listened to this year, though there are probably a couple I should have.  Everything I read about that Titus Andronicus makes me think I'd like it.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

So is there gonna be an actual LPTJ best-of list thread? Who is it that usually does this?

[YojimboMonkey]

blucas compiles it and puts together a mix usually

[Nick Ink]

Something blucas said upthread led me to think he's diligently readying himself for such an endeavour. I certainly hop so! I think I'll be ready by the end of the year, maybe. I seem to remember we had until mid January last time.

[davy]

I thought I was ready, but now I've got 3 or 4 new albums determinedly trying to work their way into the cracks in my list.

This Ray Wylie Hubbard album, for instance, is pretty hot.

[ellaguru]

There isn't an album in their top 20 that I've even listened to this year, though there are probably a couple I should have.  Everything I read about that Titus Andronicus makes me think I'd like it.

Yes, I'm keen on hearing the Titus Andronicus, too. Their last one didn't grab me, but the descriptions of this one sound fun.

Also:

This Ray Wylie Hubbard album, for instance, is pretty hot.

Yes.

[davy]

I LOVE the production. It sounds dirty and rough as fuck. Real mean. It's a great sounding record, and the songs are solid, too.

[Slime]

I'm never going to like Kanye West.  It has nothing to do with his personality or fame or what ever.  His voice annoys me, it always has.  I've been seeing praise all over the place about his new album and it strikes my curiosity, but I will never get over his annoying voice.

[coldforge]

I recently assembled a metal shortlist and committed myself to assembling a top 10, but I stopped giving a shit again. I could post all the albums of interest, though.

[YojimboMonkey]

I'd be interested

[Killdozersnakeboy]

I recently assembled a metal shortlist and committed myself to assembling a top 10, but I stopped giving a shit again. I could post all the albums of interest, though.

Have you ever posted a list? I know you do the make fun-of-indie thing each year (which is always a fun read) but wasn't sure if you actually took part in festivities. I'd like to see your list as well. My metal has been lacking this year.

[coldforge]

I think once, a couple years back, I actually posted a year-end best of. And I did put a lot of effort into my decade best-of. But to be honest it's been a good few years since I was so into music that I could put up a credible (!) one-year list.

Here's a list of interesting or potentially interesting albums from 2010:

Abigor - Time is the Sulphur in the Veins of the Saint
Aborym - Psychogrotesque *
Akitsa - Au crépuscule de l'espérance
Arsis - Starve For The Devil
Ash Pool - For Which He Plies the Lash
Atheist - Jupiter
Drudkh - Handful of Stars *
Bison B. C. - Dark Ages
Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
Black Tusk - Taste the Sin
Burzum - Belus
Cougn - Ritual Abuse *
The Crown - Doomsday Kind
Crucifyre - Infernal Earthly Divine
Dark Fortress - Ylem
Darkthrone - Circle The Wagons *
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Decrepit Birth - Polarity
Diocletian - War of All Against All
Droids Attack - Must Destroy
Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
Finntroll - Nifelvind
Fukpig - Belief is the Death of Intelligence
Grave - Burial Ground *
Hate - Erebos
High on Fire - Snakes For the Divine
Himinbjørg - Chants d'hier etc. *
Holy Grail -Crisis in Utopia
Howl - Full of Hell *
Ihsahn - After *
Immolation - Majesty and Decay
Intronaut - Valley of Smoke *
Kalmah - 12 Gauge *
Keep of Kalessin - Reptilian
Lesbian - Stratospheria Cubensis *
Ludicra - The Tenant *
The Meads of Asphodel - The Murder of Jesus The Jew
Melechesh - The Epigenesis
Mendozza - Cabra Noche *
Negura Bunget - Maiestrit *
Negura Bunget - Virstele Pamintului *
October Falls - A Collapse of Faith *
Ondskapt - Arisen From the Ashes
Rotting Christ - AEALO
Samael - Antigod *
Shining - Blackjazz
Sigh - Scenes From Hell
Sodom - In War and Pieces *
Solefald - Norrøn Livskunst *
Stam1na - Viimeinen Atlantis *
The Sword - Warp Riders
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones *
Uformammut - Eve
Watain - Lawless Darkness
The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis
Yakuza - Of Seismic Consequence *
1349 - Demonoir *

* - I haven't listened to this album, but I like the band and/or have heard good things.

[davy]

Ok, so I've been reviewing some of my lists from years past, and you guys are right. 2010 was not all that bad. Not great, but it was a far sight better than 2008. There are albums in my 2008 top 20 that I haven't listened to more than a few times, and even the top records from that year didn't have much longevity.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Nick Ink, you're not down with the Oneohtrix Point Never? Funny, that's something I have listened to and dug that I thought might appeal to you. Oh well.

[Nick Ink]

Nick Ink, you're not down with the Oneohtrix Point Never? Funny, that's something I have listened to and dug that I thought might appeal to you. Oh well.

I do really like some tracks actually, and I desperately don't want to look like I'm being obtuse, it's just I was disappointed by Returnal after the high quality of those 3 albums collected on Rifts. I think there are two main reasons, which are the title track (I do not dig those vocals at all), and the opener, Nil Admirali. Quite a lot has been written about that track being a 'palate cleanser' or deliberately placed to put off new listeners, but I don't know why, I just don't enjoy it in the context of that album. I like the more usual, trippy synth sound he goes for, although something about it is a bit, maybe major key or something for me?

edit: to say I enjoyed Captain Beefheart on the beach a lot this morning though

[Andrew_TSKS]

You should check out the post I just put up in the thread I made about witch house. I'd love to get your opinion on the mix I posted.

As for Returnal, yeah, I can TOTALLY understand how you feel about the opening track. It is always a bit of an endurance test. I feel like it'd be easier to deal with in a different context, but it's not what I want to hear when I put the album on, so the fact that it's first is always a bit off-putting.

[alistarr*]

i think i'm coming around to that joanna newsom album. only really listening to it all in one sitting has, i think, been my undoing thus far.

also, i love Sunburst EP by rustie so much, another one i wasn't sure about on first listen.

oh, and that o paon album arrived the other day and it's pretty great. my least favourite song is the one for which i read the lyrics (something about a refinery) and my favourites are the longer ones. there's also one about horses (i think - my french is terrible now) near the end which sounds awesome when half-not-understood. really glad babar mentioned it - thanks!

[Andrew_TSKS]

Dude, yeah, I had to break the Joanna Newsom album up into smaller chunks to get into it too. It's definitely the way to go.

[Babar]

I got the O Paon rec from someone here, so thank that guy!

[mountmccabe]

I tend to listen to Have One on Me in single disc chunks but I will say, that evening shortly after it came out where I just listened to it all the way through, reading through that gorgeous booklet, with only the break of switching vinyl sides was a key step towards appreciating it as much as I do.

Eight Albums that Will Make My Top 20
Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
the Besnard Lakes - are the Roaring Night
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
No Age - Everything In Between
Sleepy Sun - Fever
the Roots - How I Got Over
The National - High Violet

But I have a bunch more relistening to do before I can go beyond that.

One take-away here is that I would like to push folks considering The Monitor in that direction. Their first album was great; the new one does have a lot more too it, on most all levels.

[mixed cats]

I love The Monitor, and have been trying to get people into it. I've listened to it between one and seven hundred times per week since I bought it a few months ago.

[Nick Ink]

Nick Ink, you're not down with the Oneohtrix Point Never? Funny, that's something I have listened to and dug that I thought might appeal to you. Oh well.

It's the second best album of the year according to The Wire's list:

01 Actress - Splazsh
02 Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
03 Swans - My father will guide me up a rope to the sky
04 Joanna Newsom - Have one on me
05 Catherine Christer Hennix - The electric harpsichord
06 Rangers - Suburban tours
07 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before today
08 John Tilbury & Sebastian Lexer - Last daylight
09 Keith Fullerton Whitman - Disengenuity/Disengenuousness
10 Kevin Drumm - Necro accoustic
11 Sun City Girls - Funeral mariachi
12 Annette Krebs & Taku Unami - Motobachii
13 Sun Araw - On patrol
14 Gonjasufi - A sufi and a killer
15 Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot
16 Joe Colley - Disasters of self
17 Richard Skelton - Landings
18 Emeralds - Does it look like I'm here?
19 Eleh - Location momentum
20 Autechre - Oversteps
21 Helena Gough - Mikroklimata
22 Demdike Stare - Liberation through hearing
23 Marina Rosenfeld - Plastic materials
24 Bill Orcutt - Way down south
25 Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
26 Bellows - Handcut
27 Tilbury/Duch/Davies - Conrenius Cardew: Works 1960-1970
28 Hype Williams - s/t
29 Laurie Anderson - Homeland
30 Konono No 1 - Assume crash position
31 Zs - New slaves
32 Phew - Five finger discount
33 Sabbathh Assembly - Restored to one
34 Derek Bailey - More 74
35 Seijaku - Mail from Fushitsua
36 Tyler the Creator - Bastard
37 Moon Wiring Club A spare tabby at the cat's wedding
38 Larry Polansky - The world's largest melody
39 Alasdair Galbraith - Mass
40 Jailbreak - The Rocker
41 oOoOO - oOoOO
42 Pedestrian Deposit - East fork/North fork
43 Group Inerane - Guitars from Agadaz vol 3
44 Prins Thomas - s/t
45 These New Puritans - Hidden
46 Aldo Clementi - Works with flutes
47 Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet - Air supply
48 Joseph Hammer - I love you, please love me too
49 Joshua Abrams - Natural information
50 Grinderman 2

[davy]

I've narrowed down which late arrivals are serious contenders: Truth & Salvage Co., Theodore, Phosphorescent, and Giant Sand (seriously, there are bigger Giant Sand fans than me 'round these parts, and I haven't heard nearly enough talk about this album). There are other recent acquisitions I've been really impressed with--the Ray Wylie Hubbard record, for instance--but those 4 are all top 10 possibilities. This is totally what I was hoping would happen. Just a pity I didn't hear these albums months ago.

I mean, I'm always prepared for surprises when the Popmatters lists are released. But this year I made it a point to check in with Popmatters on an almost-daily basis. For the first year ever, I might have visited another music site more frequently than p-fork (is there a way to check this via my browser? I'd be interested to know). But still, I missed all these great albums. [edit: I missed the Theodore and Truth & Salvage records because they weren't ever reviewed! I actually did read the Giant Sand review, but I missed the Phosphorescent one, probably because they've always sorta bored me.]

Anyway, I feel like Phosphorescent could be something of a dark horse this year. At least three other members of this board have commented favorably on the album since I started listening to it last week.

[Nick Ink]

I've had to chuck a couple of late arrivals into the mix too - Mark Fell's Multistability has been providing many a bus-ride soundtrack over the last week or two. Mike Shiflet's Llanos is, on first impressions, brilliant.

While I'm also quite impressed by Sun Araw's On Patrol and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's Love Is A Stream, they might have arrived just a bit too late to make the cut.