Best Album of 2010

I am curious as to what people think that the best album released this year has been. I thought it was a bit of a dud year until in the last week when I think I have found a winner. The problem is there is quite a lot of baggage attached so it might not be as good as I think it is.

Now first some history to explain why I might be incredibly biased. When I was in my late teens I was a powerless scrawny middle class kid, and thus the thing that I idolised in rock more than were scrawny middle class guys who managed to exude an aura of hyper-masculinity. In particular two home town boys in (Dr) Nick Cave (& the Bad Seeds) and Tex Perkins (from 'The Beasts of Bourbon' and 'The Cruel Sea'). The problem with these two guys was they were very cool but being 10-20 years older than me by the late 90's both had calmed down and settled into a more quiet adult style of music (or more correctly gone all limp dicked). I alway feel kind of sad when I think of these two guys as all I see is this defining music of my life being perverted from its up-tempo loud and angry origins. A few years ago Nick Cave's son described him as some old fart who wails at a piano, which sums up succinctly what I think of his recent music. Thought the epitome of it is the two very memorable concert experiences I have of Tex Perkins. In '94 I saw the Cruel Sea perform and mid way through a song his mike failed, thus he grabbed the back up singer's mike which then also failed, so he wandered around the stage until he found a mike pointing at the drum kit which was still working and finished the song singing into the drum kit, as, by God, nothing was going to stop him that day. The other memorable experience was when I saw Tex Perkins do a solo show 5 years ago, and he spent 5 minutes berating the audience for talking during his songs as it was drowning out his acoustic guitar.

But for me the greatest of all was Nick Cave, merely because in addition to his hyper-masculine aura, in his best 2 albums ('First Born is Dead' and 'Henry's Dream') he managed to create a wonderful aesthetic of a outlaw wandering the American mid-west, and I have always been a real sucker for a band that manages to convey a bigger concept or theme. So even though it was obvious once he made (in my opinion) the terrible limp dicked effort 'Murder Ballads' that he was past his prime, I still kept an ear out for what he was up to, but it was all bad. Up until 2007 anyway when he made the wonderful decision to try writing songs on a guitar, as he couldn't play guitar. Thus the anger and frustration at learning a new instrument crept into the music and the true Nick Cave sound was back. As this new stuff sounded different from the Bad Seeds work, it was declared to be a different band and thus the side project Grinderman was born. The first Grinderman suffers from the problems that afflict many of the Bad Seeds albums of having 3-4 great songs at the start and then fading away to nothing.

However in the last month 'Grinderman 2' has been released and it is tighter and of a far better quality overall (with the only weak song being when they break one of the two key Grinderman rules ('No piano for Cave' and 'No violin for Ellis') and Cave starts wailing at a piano). Who else but Nick Cave could pull off such a great line as 'My baby calls me the Loch Ness monster, two great big humps and then I'm gone'. It's short (only 9 songs long) but then I would rather have that than an album padded out with dud filler songs. I expect I am a bit biased as I love the concept of a second coming of one of my rock idols, who is definitely back to his old swagger.

Thus if in the mood for a good blues/rock/punk fusion album check out 'Grinderman 2' by Grinderman. Has there been any other good albums released this year as I haven't particularly noticed any?

Henry's Dream is one of my favorite albums. I will now commence with the Grinderman 2 checking out.

I'm still mostly catching up on 2009, but the new records from LCD Soundsystem and Big Boi are mad decent.

Avenged Sevenfold's newest album is incredible. Mike Portnoy's drumming really makes that band even better than they were before.

Not sure about the best of 2010, but these are good:

Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast
The Sword - Warp Riders
Fireball Ministry - Fireball Ministry (not great but good)
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - The Audacity of Hype
Katatonia - Night is the New Day
Street Sweeper Social Club - Ghetto Blaster EP

You've got to like your music hard and heavy, though.

If we're counting stuff released within the last year (or so), then these are also worth a listen:

MuteMath - Armistice
cKy - Carver City
NOFX - Coaster

If we're cheating and going back to 2008, then I have to include Head Off by the Hellacopters. Great record if you dig rock n' roll.

Did Party in the USA come out this year? That song rules. Miley Cyrus 4 eva!

I really wanted to like that Sword record, but ugh, the vocals are way lame.

"Transference" by Spoon would have to be my pick. I think. Can't really remember what else I've listened to this year. I know there were quite a few let downs, but I really dug "Transference." Spoon is an absolutely stellar band, and it was good to hear them make more of a strange record than their last 2.

Very much loving the New Arcade Fire Album. Okay, perhaps an easy grab but I haven't been inspired to go buy and album based on a single song listen in a long time. I heard Ready to Start on the local college stationand decided I ahd to figure out who put it out and get that album. I was not surprised to find it was Arcade Fire.

I have liked Black Keys Brother. Is that 2010? Haven't heard the whole album though so perhaps that is off base for this thread

Stan Leer wrote:

Very much loving the New Arcade Fire Album. Okay, perhaps an easy grab but I haven't been inspired to go buy and album based on a single song listen in a long time. I heard Ready to Start on the local college stationand decided I ahd to figure out who put it out and get that album. I was not surprised to find it was Arcade Fire.

Up until I heard the new Grinderman one this would have been my default pick but only because I couldn't think of anything better. It has about 5-6 great songs but then a huge amount of filler. Biggest disappointment of the year in music, only because their '06 effort Neon Bible is probably the second best album of the last 5 years (after Girltalk's 'Feed the Animals') and then 'The Suburbs' started getting all these rave reviews so my expectations were set way too high.

Didn't realize that the new Grinderman was out. You're spot-on about the 1st one being essentially 1 great EP in the middle of an otherwise non-descript album. If the 2nd album is tighter than the first, it should be great.

Ancient_of_MuMu wrote:

Stan Leer wrote:

Very much loving the New Arcade Fire Album. Okay, perhaps an easy grab but I haven't been inspired to go buy and album based on a single song listen in a long time. I heard Ready to Start on the local college stationand decided I ahd to figure out who put it out and get that album. I was not surprised to find it was Arcade Fire.

Up until I heard the new Grinderman one this would have been my default pick but only because I couldn't think of anything better. It has about 5-6 great songs but then a huge amount of filler. Biggest disappointment of the year in music, only because their '06 effort Neon Bible is probably the second best album of the last 5 years (after Girltalk's 'Feed the Animals') and then 'The Suburbs' started getting all these rave reviews so my expectations were set way too high.

I'm right there with you. I'm massively disappointed by the new Arcade Fire. Very little has been able to grab my attention on it. And I don't think its just because I loved Neon Bible so much, I really thing it's a lackluster album.

MattLoter wrote:

I really wanted to like that Sword record, but ugh, the vocals are way lame.

The vocals are the same as the previous two records, which for me are unique and effective. It's not like the lead singer swallowed a squirrel before recording Warp Riders, although I suppose that might be more interesting from your perspective.

I'm a sucker for quality arena-style 70s hard rock, though, and The Sword certainly fit that bill.

I love, love, love Nick Cave. Even his wailing at the piano stuff. I saw him here in Atlanta a couple of years ago and it was simply amazing. But I didn’t care at all for the first Grinderman album, I thought it was really boring and all the reviews calling it a back-to-basics return to a more Birthday Party/early Bad Seeds sound were sort of jumping the gun. Just because it’s a little rawer and rockier dosen’t put it in that strata of greatness. I’ll have to hear the new one.

Best album of 2010 by a longshot is LCD Soundsystem “This is Happening”. It’s a tremendous album of ultra-urbane, ultra-modern, and ultra-danceable synth-rock with its fingers in krautrock, No Wave, disco, French house, post-punk, and every other good genre of music since the Velvet Underground. What James Murphy has done with LCD Soundsystem is incredible. Each of their records has been monumental, diverse, and utterly compelling. I think “Sound of Silver” is the best record released in the 2000-2010 decade and “All My Friends” is one of the best songs ever written. The new album isn’t quite up to “Sound of Silver” standards, but it has that timeless yet defiantly teenage quality that characterizes his work. His taste is impeccable, his programming masterful, and his vocals and lyrics as honest and down to earth as ever.

I saw them last night, the first time I’ve been to a show in forever. It was amazing of course, seeing a six piece band crank out mostly electronic dance music is pretty great. The setlist wasn’t what I would have picked (he didn’t do “North American Scum” or the cover of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” and I could have done without the "we're really tired of playing this song" rendition of "Daft Punk is Playing at My House"), but I realized that he could have played any fifteen songs that he’s ever recorded and I would have been perfectly fine.

I haven’t heard the new Arcade Fire yet, the singles weren’t very impressive. I loved “Neon Bible” though, I thought it was better than “Funeral”. It’s that whole Bruce Springsteen meets Echo and the Bunnymen vibe.

I would have to agree that overall Neon Bible is a consistently better album overall. Neon Bible is a solid good album front to finish, without a doubt. Funeral was really underwhelming for me. There are high points of suburbs that are really high for me. Neon bible didn't have rocking stand out like Ready to Start (hence my inclusion on the what music have you been listening to thread).

I really want to Like LCD soundsystem. I haven't really sat down and listened to it start to finish only picking up what they have been playing on air. Living in a college town has had one serious improvement over a Clear Channel dominated metropolis- way better music. Only Drunk Girls has been getting any airplay though. I hated it at first but it is hard to shake from your psyche once it is in there and I have paid more respect on repeat listening generating a grudging recognition that it a good song, even if I don't like it. Does that make any sense?

As a mid thirty something, my motivation to stay current with pop culture trends is definitely waning. Foggyism must be setting in. I find the same with comics. I really can't be botehred with picking up a title at random. Bring on the trade paperbacks or deluxe hardcovers. I am reading them for the stories after all.

No XX Barnes? It strikes me that our tastes are similar albiet mine less expansive.

They're not nearly as hip as some of the bands in this thread, but I bought Silversun Pickups "Swoon" earlier this year and even now it rarely leaves my car's CD player. What a great, solid album from start to finish.


EDIT: Hunt down "Panic Switch" or more importantly "The Royal We". That will tell you all you need to know if this band is for you...both of those are homerun tracks for me.