The Sound of Thunder Smiles on Everyone

(photo of Crocodiles by Alex Kacha)

With 2010 at a close, it's time for my annual year-end list of favorite music-related releases and labels. While I feel that all the releases below were terrific additions to my music library, I feel as a whole, 2010 lacked just a bit in comparison to 2009. However, that's not to say these releases were lesser in comparison to the previous years. My regard is aimed primarily at the music sphere as a whole. There was a lower quantity overall, but the quality of those that did make an impression were just as impactful.

Topping out my full-lengths is Crocodiles' Sleep Forever, an album that has been really underrated, despite its increased exposure and generally positive reviews. The San Diego duo really blew away the competition, crafting an album filled to the brim with memorable hooks and sonic assault, all while staying true to the sound they'd set out to create from the very start. At eight songs in total, Sleep Forever is a short blast of post-punk bliss wrapped in hints of krautrock, new wave, shoegaze and the golden era of classic rock n' roll. Much like last year's owners of my top prize(and Crocodiles' former tourmates), The Horrors, they've created an album full of varied shades defined by a very conscious color-palette. Where their previous LP, Summer of Hate, seemed more focused on attitude and reactionary stances, Sleep Forever ventures towards subdued frequencies occupying the backdrop of unforgettable melodies. It's still an art-punk record in composition, but its production showcases the songs in a fashion that celebrates genre fusions and marks its own stylistic interpretation of classic pop-song writing. Oh, and for the record, contrary to every other lazy review, the Jesus and Mary Chain still don't really come to mind when listening to these gents. Spectrum, yep. Neu, sure. Suicide, kinda. Spector, who doesn't! But distorted feedback and the occasional big beat doesn't make 'em clones of the brothers Reid. It just means they dig some of the same stylistic preferences dozens of other bands before and after the JAMC did too. Now then, let's give that comparison a rest already.

Along with Crocodiles are countless other releases that are deserving of proper reviews in their own right. Beach House immediately comes to mind as a band that set a high standard early in the year with Teen Dream, a record just about everyone I know fell in love with at some point or another as it bloomed. The same can be said for The National's High Violet too. Captured Tracks' catalog delivered consecutively strong releases, from LPs by Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils, to singles from Minks, The Soft Moon and Catwalk. And it'd be criminal to not mention Dum Dum Girls, whose Sub Pop debut LP I Will Be stands out amongst the pack of Captured Tracks bands that've broken through a slightly more commercial audience. While Best Coast may have been the talk of the town in lo-fi pop bands making it big this year, Dum Dum Girls LP garnered far more repeat listens for me.

Lastly, for anyone whose kept up with this blog, you'd probably guessed that my choice for single of the year would go to Grouper, for whom my adoration has only grown stronger on the basis of her release of the “Hold/Sick” 7". The record marks a similar rise in production value as Crocodiles', and the ethereal nature of her guitar glides is more prominent than ever. Liz Harris can simply do no wrong, and the two cuts on this piece of vinyl serve as bridge into the ether world.

All that being said, I will now bestow upon you my list of 2010's best. Congrats to all the artists on this list for putting out stunning slabs of music, and to the promising newcomers like Southern California's Dva Damas, London's Chapel Club and Montreal's No Joy, I greatly anticipate more of your presence in 2011.

Top 40 Albums of 2010

1. Crocodiles Sleep Forever
2. School of Seven Bells Disconnect from Desire
3. Twin Shadow Forget
4. Beach House Teen Dream
5. Wild Nothing Gemini
6. Beach Fossils Beach Fossils
7. Dum Dum Girls I Will Be
8. The National High Violet
9. Tamaryn The Waves
10. Unkle Where Did The Night Fall
11. The Soft Pack The Soft Pack
12. The Radio Dept Clinging To a Scheme
13. Magnetic Fields Realism
14. No Joy Ghost Blonde
15. Akira Kosemura Polaroid Piano
16. The Art Museums Rough Frame
17. Autolux Transit Transit
18. Deerhunter Halycon Digest
19. Abe Vigoda Crush
20. Male Bonding Nothing Hurts
21. The Drums The Drums
22. Shout Out Louds Work
23. The Black Ryder Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
24. Surfer Blood Astro Coast
25. Reading Rainbow Prism Eyes
26. No Age Everything in Between
27. Ryan Adams III/IV
28. Crystal Castles Crystal Castles
29. Candy Claws Hidden Lands
30. Morning Benders Big Echo
31. Foxes In Fiction Swung From The Branches
32. The Walkmen Libson
33. Wavves King of The Beach
34. Spoon Transference
35. Arcade Fire The Suburbs
36. Best Coast Crazy For You
37. The Dead Weather Sea of Cowards
38. Frankie Rose & The Outs Franke Rosie & The Outs
39. Dangerous Boys Club DBC
40. Wolf Parade Expo 86

Top 20 EPs / 7"s of 2010

1. Grouper “Hold/Sick” 7"
2. Red Drapes 1 EP
3. Chapel Club The Shore EP
4. Dirty Beaches “True Blue/Sweet 17” 7"
5. Dva Damas Brand New Head EP
6. Pains of Being Pure at Heart “Heart in Your Heartbreak/The One” 7"
7. Catwalk “Please Don't Break Me/No Room for Love” 7"
   
8. Minks “Funeral/Drunk Punks” 7"
9. Porcelain Raft “Tip of Your Tongue/Despite Everything” 7"
10. Deep Sht Weird You EP
11. Summer Camp Young EP
12. Monster Rally Monster Rally EP
13. Death In Plains Mustard Polo EP
14. The KVB “Black Sun” CS
    
15. Von Haze Von Haze EP
16. Wild Nothing Golden Haze EP
17. Crystal Stilts “Shake The Shackles/Magnetic Moon” 7"
18. Six Six Seconds “She Can't Say/Surrender (Your Heart)” 7"
    
19. Sleep ∞ Over "Outer Limits" 7" & CS
20. White Ring/oOoOO "Emotions" 7" & oOoOO oOoOO EP

Note: Crystal Castles “Not In Love” single with Robert Smith on vocals is insanely good, as was Canvas Kites “Wayside” single, but neither was released on a physical format, otherwise they'd both be near the top of this list.

Top 15 Best Shows of 2010

1. Unkle at El Rey Theatre
2. Crystal Casltes & Health at Echoplex
3. Abe Vigoda & The Art Museums at the Echo & Echoplex
   
4. Grouper at On Land Festival, Woods, The Smell, Aquarius Records & BAM/PFA
   
5. The Drums & Surfer Blood at the Glass House
6. Dum Dum Girls & Crocodiles at the Echo
7. Beach House & The Middle East at Soho
8. Hunx & His Punx & Frankie and the Outs at the Echo
9. Stag Bitten & Terraform at Fern's
10. Dangerous Boys Club & Frankie Alpine at Show Cave
11. Zola Jesus, Zombelle & DJ Pete Majors at Echo Curio
12. Beach Fossils & Bear in Heaven at the Echo
13. Dva Damas & Green Screen Door at Rocket Boat
14. Cold Cave & Spoon at The Palladium
    
15. Belle & Sebastian at Hollywood Forever

Top 10 Record Labels of 2010

1. Captured Tracks
2. Zoo Music
3. Art Fag
4. Mexican Summer
5. SubPop
   
6. Hozac
7. Downwards
8. No Pain in Pop
   
9. Family Time Records
10. Free Loving Anarchists
    

Now then, what were your favorites of 2010?