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Best albums of 2010: Best of the best edition
Deerhunter
Well, here it is: The best of the best.
After a few installments in the "Best of 2010" series -- Loud albums, Vancouver and B.C. albums and favourite concerts of 2010 -- the time has come to reveal what I consider to be the all-around most amazing albums of the year.
Difficult? Oh, absolutely. Head-splittingly so. That's why you'll find a whole bunch of special mentions following the Top 10, which begins with...
#10: The New Pornographers, Together
As I mentioned in my "Best of Vancouver and B.C." list, this is the Pornographers' most accomplished, most "together" album, echoing everything from Black Sabbath riffing to Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles. A stunning record that takes a few listens to fully sink in.
#9: High on Fire, Snakes for the Divine
In my opinion, this year's best full-on metal album that sees Matt Pike and his cohorts exploring humanity's reptilian nature. A sonic battering ram.
#8: LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening
James Murphy's idiosyncratic basement disco comes full circle on This Is Happening, which features one of the year's best singles (and a shambolic Spike Jonze-directed video, for that matter) in the White Light/White Heat-esque Drunk Girls.
#7: Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Some could argue this is the obligatory Kanye West nod, but few hip-hop artists have reinvented themselves the way West has over the past decade. With Fantasy, West once again lets his ego run free, and the result is absolutely spectacular if you can tolerate his self-agrandizing flights of fancy. Plus, any rapper that samples King Crimson's 21st Century Schizoid Man (onPower) gets major bonus points in my book.
#6: Apollo Ghosts, Mount Benson
The best DIY release of the year straight out of Vancouver. An ode to childhood and love featuring everything from pirate suits to bathtub boats and softball matches. Masterful in its raw innocence.
#5: Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
Probably the most talked about album of the year, the only flaw The Suburbs suffers from is being a bit overlong, but this is the album Arcade Fire fans and non-fans can finally all agree on.
#4: Yeasayer, Odd Blood
The sound of the experimental '80s: gated drums, syncopated beats and Afro influences all served up with a futuristic indie twist.
#3: Karkwa, Les chemins de verre
The winner of the 2010 Polaris Music Prize was not, as some tried to explain, a shoe-in because a French album was due to win or because the jury was "stacked" in its favour. Les chemins de verre is a phenomenal album with some of the best rock melodies you'll find this year, and whether you speak French or not, it hits deep and true on a sonic and emotional level.
#2: Black Mountain, Wilderness Heart
Black Mountain's tightest, folkiest, rockingest nugget to date, and my pick for next year's Polaris Music Prize (yes, more so than The Suburbs). An instant classic.
#1: Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest
One of the year’s most hyped albums certainly did not disappoint: Atlanta quartet Deerhunter’sHalcyon Digest turned out to be a big bundle of shoegaze and pop wrapped in a heavy coating of psychedelia; an expertly balanced exercise in indie rock perfection that never gets old. In fact, repeated listens will only unearth even more little intricate details that make Bradford Cox and Co.’s latest a stunning journey through both whimsical dreamscapes and madcap nightmares. In the mix, Halcyon Digest offers instant retro-tinged pop nuggets (Revival, Memory Boy) and sparse, brooding numbers breaking up the pace (Earthquake, Sailing). As flawless as this album is, the real standout is the drawn-out Desire Lines and its catchy-as-all-hell "woah-oh" chorus, a song on which Cox asks the pivotal question, "Is that the way things go? Forever reaching for the goal?" Top it off with Basement Scene and its eerie take on the Everly Brothers’All I Have To Do Is Dream, the drip-drip melancholy of modern day stunner Helicopter, the Stones-esque Coronado and its blazing horns, and the closing ode to the late Jay Reatard, He Would Have Laughed, and it really doesn’t get any better than this.
And 10 extra special mentions for 10 truly excellent albums:
Neil Young, Le Noise
Black Wizard, Black Wizard
Roots Manuva vs Wrongtom, Duppy Writer
Land of Talk, Cloak & Cypher
Delta Spirit, History From Below
Gorillaz, Plastic Beach
Best Coast, Crazy For You
Janelle Monae, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
Broken Bells, Broken Bells
Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street (re-issue)
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