2010 End Of Year Lists:

yeah even though best coast is my album of the year, it still wasnt quite as good as id hoped.

those early eps with stuff like the sun was high (and so was i) and then when im with you were just fucking stunning.

album is still amazing but i think id built it up a bit too much in my head that it could never be quite as good as expected.

i am still pissed that Best Coast doesnt have the sun is high.

I really wish I had the gumption to listen to as much music as you lot do. I don't carry enough passion to get excited enough to dig into new music these days. Some music that you lot would consider awful I dwell on for a bit then get bored with. Ask para, I often listen to what she considers garbage, but she can fuck off.

But this section of the forum has slowly built a proclivity to get out of my own mp3 collection and check shit out.

I am gonna make a point to listen to everyone's #1 in this thread. If anyone has something that isn't their #1 but feel that bakester specifically would enjoy then by all means suggest it.

I really hate the best coast album, i mean really hate it......it almost makes me hate 'when i'm with you', which i really love.


anyway- a couple of lists


Albums

According to itunes i've listened to 45 new albums this year so i've ranked them all.....i think it's been a truly vintage year for new music and if the rest of the decade is this good- doing an end of decade list will be rock hard. Getting the top 20-ish for 2011 in order was hard enough.

I dunno if i'm too easy to please or if it's just a measure of how good this year has been, but of all the new albums i've heard this year, the only one i never want to hear again is the best coast album.


1 janelle monae- archandroid
2 the national- high violet
3 big boi- sir lucious left foot
4 joanna newsom- have one on me
5 gorillaz- plastic beach
6 john grant- queen of denmark
7 deerhunter- halcyon digest
8 arcade fire- suburbs
9 no age- everything in between
10 the walkmen- lisbon
11 ariel pinks haunted graffiti- before today
12 jonsi- go
13 caribou- swim
14 gonjasufi- a sufi and a killer
15 pantha du prince- black noise
16 male bonding- nothing hurts
17 avi buffalo- avi buffalo
18 kanye west- my beautiful dark twisted fantasy
19 wavves- king of the beach
20 bill callahan- rough travel for a rare thing (live album)
21 archie bronson outfit- coconut
22 dum dum girls- i will be
23 nedry- condors
24 the morning benders- big echo
25 les savy fav- root for ruin
26 the black keys- brothers
27 gil scott heron- i'm new here
28 shit horse- they shit horses, don't they?
29 surfer blood- astro coast
30 school of seven bells- disconnect from desire
31 jamie lidell- compass
32 woodpigeon- die stadt muzikanten
33 sparrow & the workshop- crystals fall
34 sharon jones & the dap kings- i learned the hard way
35 rumer- seasons of my soul
36 local natives- gorilla manor
37 broken bells- broken bells
38 mgmt- congratulations
39 laura marling- i speak because i can
40 the coral- butterfly house
41 BRMC- beat the devils tattoo
42 beach house- teen dream
43 lcd soundsystem- this is happening
44 the tallest man on earth- the wild hunt
45 best coast- crazy for you



Gigs

Jjust done a top 20 instead of ranking them all

1 janelle monae @ koko
2 grizzly bear @ roundhouse (2nd night)
3 jonsi @ hammersmith apollo
4 joanna newsom @ royal festival hall
5 gorillaz @ roundhouse
6 libs @ reading
7 arcade fire @ hackney empire
8 the national @ electric ballroom
9 no age & male bonding @ xoyo
10 ariel pink's haunted graffiti @ scala
11 grizzly bear @ roundhouse (1st night)
12 the national @ brixton academy
13 pixies @ the troxy
14 wild beasts @ koko
15 iron and wine @ tv station in mainz
16 the national @ royal albert hall
17 sun ra arkestra @ cafe oto
18 male bonding @ barfly
19 morning benders @ barfly
20 arcade fire @ o2

Albums:

1. MGMT - Congratulations --> I still can't believe how good this album is it really just gripped me from the first play and I still love it.

2. Wolf Parade - Expo 86 --> Almost made the top of my list.. I really love this one a lot it just tails a little off at the end for it to be my number one choice.

3. Beach House - Teen Dream --> I think this album is from earlier in the year and I think at the time I thought nothing was going to top it because I played it nonstop for a few months it seems.

4. The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack --> Just a fun album that I can't see myself getting sick of anytime soon.

5. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals III/IV --> What a pleasant surprise.

6.Owen Pallet - Heartland
7. The National - High Violet
8. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
9.Best Coast - Crazy For You
10. Holy Fuck - Latin

Honorable mentions:
The Arcade Fire
The Drums


My fav gig of this year was seeing Wolf Parade in April play a venue of about 300 people. It was a warm up gig for Expo 86 and at that time I had no idea of how the new songs where going to sound or how the band was going to be live as they haven't toured in a number of years... well fuck me it was fan fucking fantastic one of my favourite gigs of all time.

1. Somebody Black - This shows I'm not racist.

2. Something surprisingly mainstream - This shows I'm not a musical snob.

3. Something by an older artist - This shows my tastes and knowledge aren't confined to contemporary music.

4. Something by a woman - This shows I'm not a sexist.

5. Something by someone 'political' - This shows I have a depth to my taste and am not only interested inthe superficial.

6. Something by a 'new comer' - This shows i have my finger on the pulse.

7. Something by someone in an obscure genre - This demonstrates the breadth of my knowledge.

8. Something by a dance act - This reaffirms the points i made in choices '2' and '7'.

9. Something by a band that aren't considered that cool - This shows I have the confidence to think independently and not be swayed by prevailing opinion.

10. Something by Noel Gallagher. - This shows i haven't forgotten why we're all here.

for me the best tunes of the year have been

Bombay Bicycle Club - Ivy and gold
Lissie - In Sleep
The XX - Crystalised
Biffy Clyro - Many of Horror


Albums

Sleigh Bells - Treats


Think it's been a fucking awful year for music. Kings of Leon have brought another shit album out, The airwaves are polluted with r&b bullshit and reality TV programme '' artists '' Eminem had ANOTHER brief and dissapointing come back. The Pogues played their last ever tour and N-Dubz went global. fucking dire

Jonsi must get a mention that was good. Even parts of Paolo Nutini's sunny side up was decent. had a couple of good tunes.

I wish they would fill the airwaves with Bo Diddley and Howlin' wolf tbh

Blain, did you even try listening to anything that wasn't on the radio this year?

not really spend 70 hours a week in a kitchen

Aye well, fair enough.

well not anymore i quit 2 days ago. sat down and thought right i need to get the finger out and get another couple of tunes finished off...guitar breaks.

there has been plenty of great music this year blain (including your stuff).

Not heard the album but heard a few songs + a live session, I've never heard anything more offensively bland in my life.

fairplay..it ain't gonna smash any barriers, but i think the tunes are inoffensive, the bacharach production is sweet and her voice is nice. It's very dionne warwick or dusty springfield.

thanks,Monkeytennis

but imo this year has been dreadful

brilliant

I won't be leaking this list on Facebook, like several other well-known forum members. It's a Soapbox exclusive!

Singles worth a mention

1) The Strange Boys - Be Brave

www.myspace.com/thestrangeboys

Amazing!

2) The Futureheads - The Heartbeat Song

It's almost silly how good it is. You'd have to be one helluva a miserable Finnish hipster not to enjoy a song like that.

3) Teenage Fanclub - Baby Lee

Top single. Shame it's from an utterly dire album.

The First XI: C_r_m's Top rated Albums of 2010


11)Broken Records - Let Me Come Home

The debut album had a better selection of songs, but the difference is that Let Me Come Home works as an album. It doesn't sound like a potentially great band shoved in a studio, given a budget of roughly £2.78 and told to come up with the goods.


10) Best Coast - Crazy For You

Let's face it - they are way overrated. There's only 4 decent songs on the LP. But what great pop songs they are.


9) The Vaselines - Sex With an X

I had no expectations with this record. It sounded pretty much as I expected it would have. Sure, its a bit dull in places, especially compared to the original stuff, but they are in their 40s now. It's still a collection of sweet, simple songs, complete with the Vaselines unique sense of humour and out-and-out smut, which no other band has.


8) Errors - Come Down With Me

Don't bother going out in Glasgow if you don't like this record.


7) The Phantom Band - The Wants

Difficult. Challenging. Bizarre in places. And that's just the artwork. A radical departure from their debut. I can't wait to hear what they do next.


6)The Futureheads - The Chaos

TUNES.


5) Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love

Little Lou, Ugly Jack - hands down the worst song Murdoch has ever had the neve to release. He should be hauled before The Hague for crimes against humanity for even considering it. But this LP does have 'I Didn't See it Coming', a song that stops you dead in your tracks, its beauty and simple message are that strong. Although when I saw them on Monday they still couldn't even manage to play it right.


4) Magnetic Man - Magnetic Man

BEATS! MISS DYNAMITEEEEE! Tbh I think the strongest stuff on this are the instrumentals.


3) Clinic - Bubblegum

I've read this being called their 'dinner party' album. Fuck knows why, it's a million miles from background music. 'I'm Aware' is one of the best songs I've heard from any year, get it even if you don't get the album. Beautiful.


2) The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter

I'M FROM BURY. AS IN BERET, FRENCH.


1) Steve Mason - Boys Outside

Quite simply the best LP I've heard this year. I honestly didn't think Mason had it in him anymore to come up with something as good as this, given his well-documentated troubles. The production is fantasitc. - credit has to go to Richard X (of Liberty X fame!) for bringing the best out him. I saw Steve play live in August and he was on fire. It's great to see him doing so well, he's such a talent. More of the same please.

I said this last year as well, but with each passing year I notice that more and more of my favourite bands of the year havn't even released albums. Releasing a full-blown LP is becoming the preserve of the few bands that still have label backing and the money to do it.

I'd do a list of top gigs, but frankly I go to shows that often that I can't remember them all off the top of my head. Of course it doesn't help matters that someone DELETED THE FORUM so I can't just consult the 'rate the last gig you went to' thread, like I would do any other year.

I will go on the record to say that The Brian Jonestown Massacre were simply sensational at the ABC in May.
Oddest gig of the year was Wolfmother not as bad as I thought they would be.
Glad that I had the chance to see Supergrass before they quit, and Pavement were brilliant, even if Malkmus looked completely disinterested.
Worst band I saw this year, by some distance, were the Vivian Girls. Utter, utter dross. I guarentee that any night of the week that there are 200 bands playing pubs across the UK who have better songs, put on a better show, and are less ugly to look at.