Merry Christmas!

Hi folks, hope y'all have a good 'un. I'll leave you with this until after the Christmas period, but keep popping in for irregular updates!

Take it away, Sufjan Stevens:

Top 33 of the Year.....the full countdown.

So that's it for the Top 33, I hope you all enjoyed the countdown and didn't find it too long-winded or an excuse to avoid doing some actual proper blogging for the whole of the month of December.

By way of explanation, these are simply my own personal choices for the year rather than a definitive list. The rules are simple: I've listened to and enjoyed these records, and ones that aren't on the list fall under the categories "don't like" or "not heard". As there's not much I've not enjoyed listening to, here's the omissions list for ones I've not heard:

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: Sorry Kanye, I enjoyed the GOOD Fridays but I've not listened to the album as a whole. I'm sure it's very good and not an ego trip.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: I've never really taken to this bunch, but after much lobbying I do have the record in my possession and I will listen to it over the Christmas period.

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening: Okay, the facts are: LCD Soundsystem Have Not Made A Consistently Good Album. Sorry James Murphy, you don't make the list.

There are others I'm sure, but that explains the thinking.

I must also apologise to Sharon Van Etten. Having heard 'Epic' in the last week or so, I can safely say that it's a brilliant piece of work and if you release something in 2011 I have no doubt it will make my end-of-year list. My ignorance means that you missed out this year. Sorry.

If you'd prefer a more concise look at the year in music, head over to It's Bloggerin' Time! for an excellent 2010 playlist courtesy of Mr C Bell.

Not 'arf, pop pickers!

33. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
32. Warpaint - The Fool
31. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
30. Efterklang - Magic Chairs
29. Glasser - Ring
28. Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
27. Tamaryn - The Waves
26. Wild Nothing - Gemini
25. Wolf Parade - Expo 86
24. Foals - Total Life Forever
23. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
22. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
21. John Grant - Queen of Denmark
20. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon
19. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
18. Liars - Sisterworld
17. Beach House - Teen Dream
16. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
15. Sleigh Bells - Treats
14. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
13. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
12. Perfume Genius - Learning
11. The Besnard Lakes - Are The Roaring Night
10. The Walkmen - Lisbon
9. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
8. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
7. Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
6. Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises
5. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz / All Delighted People EP
4. Spoon - Transference
3. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
2. Women - Public Strain
1. The National - High Violet

Top 33 of the Year.....Number 1.

Finally, we reach the top of the tree and for those of you who are regular readers of the blog - or who know me personally - the inevitable has finally happened.....

1. The National - High Violet.
The best band in music today produced the goods once again with their fifth full-length record.

From the moment the fuzzy chords of 'Terrible Love' kick off High Violet, you just know this is going to be something special - and I wasn't let down. There was the thrill of seeing this song performed live on US TV shows early in the release process, and it turned from a fine opening to a record to the song that brought their 2010 live sets to a thrilling close.

The record comes across as a hybrid of the insistent brilliance of Alligator, and the more austere, orchestral Boxer, and turned The National into everyone's favourite band. It's a different kind of mainstream record, not the kind of change that overcame R.E.M when they transformed from southern oddities to stadium rock monsters with Green, but The National do share much with Michael Stipe and co. Matt Berninger's brooding vocals and lyrics are as opaque as Stipe's, and the music masterminds of Aaron and Bryce Dessner are frequently as brilliant as - if not better than - Berry, Buck and Mills.

Where to go next? The stately 'Runaway'? The joy of 'Bloodbuzz Ohio'? The worried blues of 'Anyone's Ghost'? The soothing lullaby of 'Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks'? Any one of these songs would show you how brilliant these guys are, but I'll pick 'England' as my highlight:



If you don't like this record, you don't like life, and I don't want to be your friend. I'm joking, possibly......this is the sound of a quite special band, let them into your life.

Top 33 of the Year.....Number 2.

Okay, so we've come this far and now let's just go for brevity now that the finishing line is in sight.

2. Women - Public Strain.
This was an incredibly difficult choice. I really wanted to put this record at number one just as a plea for the band not to split up after recent difficulties, but I decided to let the record speak for itself.

In any case, this is the second-best (so nearly best) record released this year that I've had the pleasure of hearing. An angular, angry, noisy, fuzzy, bleak beast of an album, sounding like it was recorded down a drain, but bursting with energy, excitement, harmony and terrific tunes.

The finest moment is the last track, 'Eyesore'. Tight, tense grooves finally give way to the most wonderful outtro riffing which you just want to go forever:



Hopefully not the last song we'll ever hear from Women. A talent too good to fall prey to the rigours of the road.

Top 33 of the Year.....The Top Ten!

Ooooh, getting close! What's at numbers 4 and 3?

4. Spoon - Transference.

Seven albums in, and Britt Daniel's band continue to weave their angular magic.

Coming after the pop majesty of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, there's an unsettling quality about Transference, with the band taking their studio trickery to new heights. Demo-sounding snippets suddenly surge into full blown productions, vocals suddenly drop out of the mix, there's stereo separations, but above all there's some cracking tunes.

There's the familiar groove of 'Trouble Come Running' and 'Before Destruction', the skeletal funk of 'Who Makes Your Money?' and the frenetic 'Got Nuffin'. The record also contains what's possibly Spoon's most lovely-sounding song, the gorgeous 'Out Go The Lights'.

At the centre of it all, however, is the seething, piano-abusing 'Written In Reverse'. Rarely has Daniel sounded so angry and urgent, bitterly spitting out lines about an unrequited love:



The sound of a band who just enjoy letting their hair down.

3. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest.

Simply a wonderful album about childhood nostalgia and the joy of discovering new music.

Bradford Cox continues to have a knack of being incredibly prolific as the helmsman of Deerhunter while also producing music as Atlas Sound, and Halcyon Digest is an amalgamation of the direct pop of the former and the bedroom electronica of the latter.

Incredibly, on a record full of Cox's brilliant songwriting the highlight is actually guitarist Lockett Pundt's 'Desire Lines'. Having said that, there are so many moments of joy that it's hard to focus in on just one. So here's 'Helicopter' as well:



Can you really argue with the brilliance of an album that reminds of the thrill and excitement of discovering new music? Answer: No.

Top 33 of the Year.....The Top Ten!

Here's numbers 6 and 5 in the most po-faced countdown on the web....


6. Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises.

Thankfully, my Mark Kozelek retrospective from earlier this year wasn't wasted as the man behind Sun Kil Moon gave us a lovely record solely consisting of voice and nylon-strung classical guitar.

Very much an album about place, it opens with the flamenco sound of 'Alesund', a song about Kozelek getting fed up being asked if he's a musician when he takes his guitar on flights. "No this is not my guitar/I'm bringing it to a friend" go the opening lines. Kozelek has never been comfortable with being known, but it's a more playful nod to fame than the songs found on the sad and sombre April, his last record under the SKM moniker.

Kozelek's music has always been influenced by people and place, and the songs here continue to nod towards memories of things past and people lost. There's the gorgeous 'Third and Seneca', replete with about three different mood changes (in fact, most of the songs contain diversions at least once), 'Sam Wong Hotel' and the coastal hymnal of 'Half Moon Bay'. Many are situated in San Francisco, the place that contains the most memories of his lost muse, Katy.

However, there are always bright moments in SKM's music, and the playful 'You Are My Sun' is one of the finest moments on the record.

Admiral Fell Promises proves that even 20 years after starting to make records with Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek still has some creativity up his sleeve. Perfectly capable of plugging in and rocking when he needs to (and I fully expect the next record to be a rocker), this record shows that a deft touch on guitar and words sung with meaning and emotion are all that's needed sometimes. A powerful record.




5. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz / All Delighted People EP.

The mercurial Mr Stevens surprised fans this year by releasing not one but two new records, and we all breathed a sigh of relief as both were proof that he's overcome his existential crisis and is back to producing quite wonderful music.

There can be no doubt of the prodigious talent of Sufjan Stevens, and he's the one artist from the US "indie" scene who really pushes the boundaries in terms of what can be held up as modern pop music. All Delighted People is record of the two that sounds most like the Sufjan Stevens of the recent 50 states project (something that was said in jest, it turns out). It seems to gather together a series of songs that closes the door on the Michigan / Illinoise days, and points the way to the songs found on The Age of Adz.

There's the gorgeous folk songs of 'Heirloom', 'Arnika' and 'The Owl and the Tanager', none of which would be out of place on Seven Swans, but the EP hangs on two versions of the title track. The original version begins the record, and almost collapses under the weight of its angelic choir, and the "classic rock" version calls to mind the various interpretations of 'Chicago' found on The Avalanche, and is probably Stevens' most straight ahead rock song to date.

The Age of Adz is something else entirely. It ditches a number of the usual Sufjan tropes - acoustic instrumentation, songs about people, place and history - and brings in electronics, programmed drums and - gasp! - autotune? Fear not, there's still angelic choirs and plenty of orchestration for those listeners who are a bit scared by digital equipment.

It's also the most personal record Stevens has given us, and it's easy to pick out the tough times he's been through recently. There's explicit references to God, to a loved one, and nods to whatever it was that he went through in the past twelve months. It's a dark record, but extremely enjoyable.

Highlights include the electropop of 'I Walked' and 'Too Much', the gentle pleading of 'Now That I'm Older' and 'Vesuvius', but The Age of Adz really excels itself with the 25min closer 'Impossible Soul'. It contains more ideas in that space of time than most artists have in their whole careers: veering from horns, heavy string orchestration, the aforementioned dreaded autotune, a bit of R&B, a dance interlude and ends on some gorgeous finger-picked folk.

If anything, this is a huge two-fingers up to the generally accepted ideas about how music should be made and released, and further evidence that Sufjan Stevens should be treasured.

Top 33 of the Year.....The Top Ten!

Here's numbers 8 and 7.....one is a two hour epic, the other a 30min reason as to why the album still matters



8. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me.

Well, we had more than one on Joanna as this was an epic 3xLP release from the elfin harpist.

Spanning over two hours in length, it's a record that' still revealing more and more to me a number of months down the road. Okay, so her voice may still be a bit of an acquired taste to some but Newsom is developing that once squeaky vocal into something almost pop, and in the process opening up her music to new audiences.

While Have One On Me shares similarities with the medieval Ys, it delves deeper into orchestration with layers of woodwind, strings and brass, alongside the more traditional guitars and drums (the brilliant Ryan Francesconi and Neal Morgan, also responsible for the lovely shortened versions of the songs found on the 2010 tour undertaken by Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band), and of course the gorgeous harp and piano playing of Ms Newsom.

Newsom shows a lightness of touch on most of the songs, meaning that the orchestration is never bombastic, and marries well to her voice and playing. You might find a reference point in Joni Mitchell, who applied pop sensibilities to jazz and classical styles, especially in the joyful 'Good Intentions Paving Company' and the bluesy 'Esme'.

Have One On Me is also an album that you can jump into at any point - in fact, you might benefit from listening in little chunks to ease yourself into the world of Joanna Newsom. There are few albums that can immerse you into another world entirely, that contain so many ideas and detours, that we have to cherish people who make music this ambitious. Dazzling.




7. Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago.

Jonathan Meiburg's Shearwater understand perfectly the importance of the album, or the album-as-concept. The Golden Archipelago, a record about island life and the third in a trilogy that includes Palo Santo and Rook, is something that has to be listened to as a whole to fully connected with the grandiose beauty produced by the band.

As is always the case with Shearwater, there's a mixture of restraint and explosion on the album - generally easy to spot as it coincides either with Meiburg singing with a gentle croon, or grandstanding with yelping vocals. Witness the middle portion of the record where we go from the almost-not-there 'Hidden Lakes' to the roaring 'Corridors', a story of prison islands. Talk Talk still remain the only real comparison to the music that Shearwater produces.

While Meiburg's vocals are stunning, the real star of the show is drummer Thor Harris. One moment he can be pounding away, the next he's instinctively and delicately finding his way around his kit. To call Harris a drummer is to tell only half the story: playing live he also performs on the clarinet, glockenspiel and other percussion, and uses a violin bow on his cymbals.

Once you realise that Meiburg is singing about the gradual decline of things that matter to him - birds, the oceans, the air and the world around us -in a way that's never lecturing or trite, you can understand the power and the beauty in music like this, and how it can still be the most affecting thing in this crazy universe.

Top 33 of the Year.....The Top Ten!

We're nearly there folks, bear with me just a bit longer.....here's numbers 10 and 9.

10. The Walkmen - Lisbon.

Hamilton Leithauser and co haven't really changed much since the wonderful Bows + Arrows, but they've grown into their sound. In those years, The Walkmen have become a bit more languid and loose, and more world-weary....although they always sounded like life had taken quite a bit out of them.

Lisbon is a record of "power shuffles", taking inspiration from the raw and immediate sounding releases that characterised Sun Records. It's a free-flowing record that states its intentions right from the off with chiming, languid 'Juveniles'. Leithauser's throaty, Dylanesque croon dominates as always, and there are songs that compare to the band's finest (and more raucous) moments - 'Victory' and 'Angela Surf City' in particular.

An assured and confident record, The Walkmen have rarely performed their rock and roll thing any better than this.



9. The Morning Benders - Big Echo.

Now and again, a record comes along that just takes you by surprise. Whether it's the simple joy of pop music, or the fact that it was made by a band you didn't think was capable of such strides, it's good to know that music still has the power to do that.

Californian quartet The Morning Benders' Big Echo is this year's surprise for me. It's such a leap forward from debut release Talking Through Tin Cans, a record of mildly inoffensive jangle, that it makes me wonder if it was made by the same band. If a choice of producer can ever really influence the sound of a record, then Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor (co-producer with singer Christopher Chu) has to take a lot of the credit. Everything just 'pops' on Big Echo, the guitars are crisp and jagged, the harmonies can be picked apart beautifully and sounds are all in proportion.

The Morning Benders also share with Grizzly Bear a love for baroque pop, big echo-y (sorry) song production and swooning tunes that take detours in style and pace. Highlights are opener 'Excuses', the pop gem 'Cold War' and the gorgeous 'Pleasure Sighs'.

The hope is that The Morning Benders can build on this unqualified success - you've found your sound, now go and run with it!

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 13 - 11

13. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth.


Before you say anything, it was only released in the UK in 2010, alright?

BRFM saw Bear In Heaven take the psych-prog tendencies and squeeze them into more traditional pop song structures. It was a brave move, and resulted in one of the most fascinating listens this year. 'Beast in Peace' opened the record with a slow, locked groove before exploding into an invigorating chorus, moved us on to the epic, synth-laden 'Lovesick Teenagers' and the climaxing, brooding 'Dust Cloud'.

This is cinematic rock music at close to its best, and even the remix record featuring mixes from the likes of The Field and Justin Broadrick is well worth a listen.


12. Perfume Genius - Learning.

Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, gave us one of the most intimate and affecting records of the year with Learning. Mostly just voice and piano, these were nakedly personal tales of hard times but done with simple grace and melody.

It calls to mind the more intimate moments of Sufjan Stevens on Seven Swans, but Hadreas is disarming in his own way. When you hear the sound of his feet on the piano pedals, you know he's invited you into a personal place. Album highlight 'Mr Peterson', a tale of a relationship with a teacher, is a song you really have to hear for the mix of throwaway comic delivery and shocking denouement. Wonderful.


11. The Besnard Lakes - Are The Roaring Night.

Apparently recorded on the same mixing desk as Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, The Besnard Lakes' second full-length release channels some of that energy into an album of roaring guitars, structured epics and classic rock grandstanding.

At 45mins, it packs a heck of a lot into its running time, with husband and wife Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas to the fore at all times. Shoegazey guitars meet classical orchestration on a number of the tracks, and there's real euphoria as songs such as 'Like The Ocean' and 'Light Up The Night' climb a mountain of crescendo before peaking in a blaze of instrumentation.

While hardly reinventing the wheel, when rock music is done with this much passion it's hard to resist.

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 15 - 14

15. Sleigh Bells - Treats.

Continuing with my spot-prizes, Sleigh Bells win for giving us the LOUDEST (see, it's in capitals and everything) record this year.

Derek Miller's guitar is so loud that it almost becomes distorted, the programmed drums are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Alexis Krauss vocals vary from ear splitting scream to, thankfully just for a bit of respite, a goregous pop coo. Treats is a record made up of riffs, hip hop beats, a bit of electro, and some quite brilliant simple melodies.

'Infinity Guitars' is the highlight of an album that's very much a celebration of all that's fun about making music.




14. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor.

Channeling the spirit of Bruce Springsteen and The Pogues, wearing their punk hearts on their sleeves, and singing songs about the US Civil War - that's the New Jersey way, that's what Titus gave us on The Monitor.

This was rabble-rousing emotional communion at its best, with plenty of chanting, singalong choruses, epic song lengths and terrific stadium rock riffing - in the best possible sense of the phrase of course. It's hard to pick out one moment from the record that captures all that's great about this band, but try this: 'A More Perfect Union'.

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 17 - 16

17. Beach House - Teen Dream.


This was a breezy, dream-pop delight. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally's third record as Beach House moved away from the (sorry guys) usual Galaxie 500/Mazzy Star comparisons and opened up new avenues of aural delights.

Legrand's low, forceful voice and organ combined with Scally's guitar to produce the graceful, woozy and occasionally droning - a good thing, since you're asking - songs found on Teen Dream. There's a sadness at the record's heart (listen to 'Walk in the Park', that's one sad and lonely drum machine) but after witnessing the band live earlier in the year, the choruses lift the listener away from the gloom to somewhere more hopeful. Lovely stuff.




16.Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma.


Whoah! Flying Lotus, aka Steve Ellison, came at the listener with the most ambitious and sprawling electronica record of the year. Taking in hip hop, jazz, glitch, IDM and found sounds, Cosmogramma is a multi-faceted treat.

Listening to the record, you can hear nods to the past in the jazz elements (Ellison is the nephew of jazz legend Alice Coltrane), but this is music that is taking great leaps forward in terms of what a musician can achieve in the space of 45mins or so. There's the bass-heavy 'Pickled!', the soulful 'Mmmhmm' and the spluttering, manic 'Nose Art' - but there's so much going on, and the tracks bleed into one another, that it could take weeks for you to get a real handle on this record.

It reminds me in many ways of Four Tet's wonderful Dialogue album. If you liked that record, please do check out Cosmogramma. Flying Lotus is only going to get better.

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 19 - 18

19. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker.


Shock, horror etc: Australian band make excellent psych rock album, and not a whiff of Wolfmother or Jet.....


Innerspeaker is a great mix of psych rock, stoner riffs, classic 60s Brit(ish) pop - but thankfully avoids being a homage to things past. The three/four piece are led by Kevin Parker, whose voice is a focal point along with the swirling guitars, but this is a record that's very much the sum of its parts. Apparently recorded in a beach hut, it has benefitted from being mixed by Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev producer Dave Fridmann who's managed to ensure that everything sounds together, avoiding the perennial problem of psych rock bands who think it's all about the bass and guitars, and hang everything else.


It's not an album that's got obvious singles, so Innerspeaker is very much one to listen to as a complete piece. So crack out those 70s headphones, get yourself a bean bag chair and turn on....

18. Liars - Sisterworld.

Once again Liars produce a record that takes the listener to another place, and as usual that place is rather creepy and quite tense.


Sisterworld sounds like a mix of previous Liars records. It has the pounding drums of, ahem, Drum's Not Dead, the spookiness of They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, and the more straight-ahead art rock of Liars. It's heavy on echo, which is penetrated by either chants or buzzsaw guitars, or both, and it is simply a relentlessly creepy and brooding record.


Witness 'Scarecrows on a Killer Slant'. Mummy, I'm frightened. Excellent stuff from a band that's consistenly interesting.

Will Oldham/Palace Songs - Christmastime in the Mountains

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 21 - 20

21. John Grant - Queen of Denmark.


Borne out of troubled times, this album looks to have saved former Czars ringleader John Grant from disillusionment with the music industry and a self-destructive spiral of self loathing, drink and drugs.

Given this background, you'd expect Queen of Denmark to be a difficult listen. However, with significant nods to 70s soft rock such as The Carpenters, Elton John, Bread and Jackson Browne, Grant - backed by Midlake - has managed to produce a record of real warmth, sumptuous orchestration and dripping with harmonies. Okay, so the lyrics are extremely dark at times (witness the title track's self-loathing) but Grant has made it through to the other side, and judging by recent interviews he's looking to the future in a more positive frame of mind.




20. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon.


Well, what unexpected fun this was. David Andrew Sitek has overseen three wonderful albums as a member/producer of TV On The Radio, but this was his first venture into solo record territory.

Anyone expecting to hear more Sitek vocals after his lovely cover of The Troggs' 'With a Girl Like You' on the Dark Was The Night Compilation would be left disappointed, as he takes a backseat to guest vocalists Theophilus London, Kat Ford (of the criminally underrated Celebration), TVOTR band members Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe, Karen O and David Byrne.

Funky from start to finish, Sitek's guitar work calls to mind Chic/Nile Rogers, Prince, and of course Talking Heads. There's also shimmering synths, horn stabs and disco fun. Great stuff.

Top 33 of the Year: Numbers 23 - 22

23. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks.

Ted Leo returned in 2010 with renewed energy, which led to the real verve behind the songs on this record. More direct and focused than Living With The Living, packed with hooks and singalong choruses, it is - as I've mentioned before in this blog - a hopeful record.

Leo still wants to right the wrongs in the world, he still has his targets, and there's a lot to be said for channeling that vitriol in the way that he does. Songs like 'Ativan Eyes', 'The Mighty Sparrow' and 'Gimme the Wire' are simply full of energy, and are the pick of the bunch in a record full of life-affirming songs.

22. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid.

There was no more ambitious record this year than this: a 70minute, 18 track concept about a futuristic android.

The building blocks of The ArchAndroid are R&B and funk, but we go on excursions out to rap, psych rock, mini symphonies and Cotton Club-style cabaret. This was mainstream 'pop' music at its most experimental, and features cameos from rapper Big Boi, Of Montreal's glam pop, and poet Saul Williams. However, the star at the centre of it all is Janelle Monae. She has a remarkable voice, can sing those Christina high notes one second and be rapping the next, and it's scary to imagine what she could acheive in the rest of her career.

Oh, and it features 'Tightrope', hands down this year's best single. And man, can she dance or what?

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 25 - 24

25. Wolf Parade - Expo 86.

It was an interesting year for Canada's second most famous supergroup - they released their third album and then hinted at an indefinite hiatus. Co-leaders Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner shared the songwriting duties on Wolf Parade's most direct album yet, making up for the rambling disappointment of 2008's At Mount Zoomer.

Krug's songs have always been the most interesting ones on a Wolf Parade record, marrying abstruse lyrics to unconventional yet blindingly good melodies (witness album opener 'Cloud Shadow on the Mountain') but here he goes for the direct pop approach, matching Boeckner's more traditional songwriting. This might lead to less meandering, unco moments but it does leave the listener with a more coherent album experience. Fear not, though, there's still enough fuzzy guitar, weird electronica and esoteric lyrics to keep the most hardened of Wolf Parade fans interested.

It might not be album of the year, but it does win album cover of the year.



24. Foals - Total Life Forever.

The first British band to appear on my end of year list, Foals deserve to be here thanks to finally adding a heart to their punk-funk mathletics.


This is the record that should have won the Mercury Music Prize, an album full of pulsing bass, metronomic drumming and guitars that dance a merry waltz together. The biggest change from Antidotes (apart from replacing David Sitek's icy production with Luke Smith's warmth) is that singer Yannis Phillippakis actually sings on Total Life Forever, and in fact he has quite a lovely, plaintive croon.

One to search out, if only to hear the gorgeous 'Spanish Sahara'.

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 27 - 26

27. Tamaryn - The Waves.

"Shoegaze is back! Run for the hills!" has been the cry from some naysayers over the past few years, but I'm not one of them. Tamaryn and Rex John Shelverton are a two-piece specialising in reverb-heavy guitar and low, sometimes ominous, vocals. While there's a lovely bass throb to the slower songs, it's when Tamaryn pick up the pace that things become really interesting. There's a terrific drive to songs like 'Sandstone' and 'Love Fade', and the femininity in Tamaryn's vocals add an ethereal touch that doesn't feel affected or out of place.

A more direct and shorter shoegaze hit than is traditional in the genre, let yourself be attracted to the darkness in Tamaryn's music.

26. Wild Nothing - Gemini.

This is the sort of album that John Hughes might have used to soundtrack Kevin Bacon's Jake Briggs meeting his fantasy woman in She's Having a Baby.

Wild Nothing specialise in 1980s dreamy fuzz-pop, not too dissimilar from the music being produced by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Radio Dept. or the sadly-missed Dirty on Purpose. You can also hear the 4AD sound in the songs on Gemini, but this isn't a trite genre exercise. Just listen to the bursts of sunlight on 'Summer Holidays' and pop thrills of 'Chinatown' and you realise that while leading man Jack Tatum might glance back for inspiration, he's always looking ahead in the search for pure pop melody.

The Walkmen - Holiday Road

The Walkmen cover "Holiday Road"

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 29 - 28

29. Glasser - Ring.

Cameron Mesirow's debut set her apart from other female performers like Bat for Lashes and Fever Ray by being that bit more playful and other-worldly. It's a beautiful, lush and symphonic record, and warm too - something that's hard to achieve when working mainly with electronics.

There's the tribal opening of 'Apply', the groove of 'Glad', and the gorgeous chorus of 'Clamour' ends the record on just the right note.

It's worth also mentioning Mesirow's voice, which is simply lovely. Ring is a record that hints that there's better still to come.

28. Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy.


It wouldn't be an end of year list without veteran rockers and 78s faves Built to Spill on it.

After the disappointing Ancient Melodies of the Future and You in Reverse, BTS made their best record since the turn of the millenium with this, their 7th album. Full of the usual cartwheeling guitars, wonky yet keening vocals and meandering song structures, it sounds like Doug Martsch has found a new lease of life. For years Martsch has claimed that the songs of BTS contain no personal references, but it's hard to listen to the likes of "Planting Seeds", "Pat" and "Things Fall Apart" without wondering what he's gone through in the past ten years.

A very much welcome record, and hope that there's life in the old dog yet.

Mew - She Came Home For Christmas

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 31-30

31. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy.



Following on from Willie Nelson tribute To Willie, Matthew Houck kept the country theme for his most straight-ahead album to date. With a full band in the studio for the first time, this was a country-rockin' record full of ragged riffs, horns, touring blues and, of course, good beery times. While sometimes veering towards convention, these songs really came alive on stage as Phosphorescent morphed from a one-man project into the fully-formed band that ripped up Glasgow twice in 2010.

The best is yet to come from Matthew Houck.



30. Efterklang - Magic Chairs.




Moving on from the pocket symphonies of Parades, and the actual symphonies produced from working with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, Denmark's Efterklang returned with what could be described as their 'pop' album. There's still orchestras and choirs to be found here, but they're fitted around more structured songs. It's a rare band that's able to adapt strings and woodwind to fit a pop song -and thankfully these Danes avoid making it sound like Elbow or The Verve.

This is a band that realise the importance of harmony and experimentation, and are willing to move away from the traditional instrumentation of an "indie" band. 'Modern Drift' was also probably the best opening to an album all year.

Top 33 of the Year.....Numbers 33-32

33. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record.

Five years on from their self-titled last album, uber-supergroup BSS returned with fire in bellies and this record,produced by Tortoise's John McEntire. It's the most coherent record the band has produced up to now, and despite paring down their members to a mere six it still contains as many ideas and genre-hops that most bands can only dream about over a whole career. It bears repeated listening to open up all the noise and glitches hidden behind the veneer of conventional indie pop songs.

A camel may be a horse designed by committee, but when the camel is this good you really can't complain.


32. Warpaint - The Fool.




Thankfully, this female foursome kept clear of the obvious Spectorisms of Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast to give us the frosty, Gothic The Fool. There's echoes of Cat Power, The Cure, New Romantics and Stevie Nicks in band's approach to the songs - but it sounds fresh and not in thrall to things past.


When Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman sing, "now I've got you in the undertow" on standout track 'Undertow', it feels like the most sensual threat you're ever likely to hear cooed into your ear. Marvellous work.

Season's Greetings!

It's that time of year when we all start putting together our lists for Santa, and some of us also start to compile a different sort of list......that's right, the best music of 2010 list!

Beginning later today, the countdown of 78s Don't Wobble's Top 33 Albums of the Year will commence, and then continue until the big - and perhaps inevitable - reveal...probably around Christmas Eve if all goes to plan.

Which album will be kicking us off at number 33? Oh you'll just have to wait a little bit longer!

I'll also be dropping in some classic Christmas tunes over the coming weeks, so expect plenty of Sufjan Stevens. Until later though, here's a righteous cut from Christmas by Low, the essential seasonal record. Sing along if you know the words...and cue the sleigh bells: