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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 18:06:46 GMT 1
I'll start with the Top 40 albums.....
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 18:07:36 GMT 1
40 Magnetic Man 'Magnetic Man'Being honest, the majority of this album I don't actually like. This album has made me realise that instrumental dubstep is really not my thing. However the 6 or so songs which are actually good, I find so good that a top 40 place is deserving. Ms. Dynamite is interesting for the first time in her career, and the two singles are as good as anything that's made the top 40 all year, as is 'Crossover', their other track with Katy B. 'Crossover' (featuring Katy B )'Fire' (featuring Ms. Dynamite): 39 Ellie Goulding 'Lights'This is a perfectly decent album, but it was also massively disappointing at the same time. A year ago all I knew were 'Wish I Stayed', 'Guns & Horses' and 'Under the Sheets'. They're easily the best three songs on it and even then the more polished version of 'Wish I Stayed' is no where near as good. It's pleasant enough but for all of the hype it's just a bit dull. 'Your Biggest Mistake''This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 18:08:51 GMT 1
38 Marina & The Diamonds 'The Family Jewels'When this was released it seemed fans of all types of music were heralding this as one of the best albums in years. I listened to it and thought it wasn't that good at all, so cast it aside and didn't listen to it again until about August. I soon realised that it is actually a very good pop album, but I don't think it's anywhere near as good as a lot of people. It has some very good moments ('Are You Satisfied?', 'Obsessions', 'Shampain', 'Numb') but it has some which I think are pretty average ('Oh No', The Outsider', 'Rootless'). 'Hermit the Frog''Are You Satisfied?' 37 I Blame Coco 'The Constant'What is it with female solo artists who can release consistantly good singles but can't translate the quality to a whole album? Again, the singles are magnificant. 'Caesar' featuring Robyn is one of the years best pop singles, and 'Self Machine' and 'In Spirit Golden' are up there too. But after that there aren't that many songs up to the standard, it's all decent and nice enough but that's it. Even the cover of 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' was better as a more haunting ballad with Fyfe Dangerfield. 'Party Bag''Turn Back On Your Love' 36 Blood Red Shoes 'Fire Like This'This is an album that's grown on me throughout the year. I wasn't expecting it to be so good but it's quite varied. Male and female vocals alternating throughout most of the album, with different tempo's too. The more rocky singles 'Don't Ask' and 'Light it Up' are both great, but they're better when it's turned down a bit, the album's highlight being the utterly beautiful 'When We Wake' Count Me Out'When We Wake'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 18:10:17 GMT 1
35 Villagers 'Becoming a Jackal'Formed by frontman Conor O'Brien 2 years ago, Villagers have come quite a long way in a short space of time. Earning comparisons to Bright Eyes (I can certainly see why) and a Mercury nomination this for this album, it's a very solid piece of work, although the title track is by far the standout. The lyrics are very dark in places, and it's quite folky and acoustic in places, infact the only two performances I've ever seen have both just been Conor and not the other four members of the band. 'I Saw The Dead''Ship of Promises' 34 Best Coast 'Crazy For You'I was first introduced to Best Coast earlier this year. through the song 'Sun Was High (So Was I)'. It's not on the album but I liked the song enough to warrant downloading their new album, and my decision was vindicated. It's a very good, solid pop album, 13 short and sweet female-fronted pop songs, perfect for a summer's day! 'The End''Boyfriend' 33 Belle and Sebastian 'Write About Love'I've not heard massive amounts of Belle & Sebastian before but I thought their previous album in 2006 was one of the best albums of that year. This album is pretty puch typical of their sound, very twee, very poppy, very solid. I don't think it's as good or as varied as 'The Life Pursuit' but there are still some excellent tracks on here. 'I Want the World to Stop''Sunday's Pretty Icons'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 18:10:58 GMT 1
32 Caribou 'Swim'I'd never heard anything by Caribou until this album and I was very impressed. Opening track 'Odessa' was number one in my personal chart and some of the rest of the album was up to the same standard. However I do find it tails off for a couple of tracks towards the end before picking up again. Definitely one of the best electronic albums of the year. 'Leave House''Jamelia' 31 The Drums 'The Drums'Just missing the top 30 is the debut album from New York's The Drums. Their 2009 'Summertime' EP was a brilliant piece of work and their album was one of my most anticipated of the year, and the single released immediately before it 'Forever and Ever Amen' was fantastic as well. However I was left a bit disappointed by it. It's a very good album, but it doesn't have the strength of the EP and they only put two songs from the EP on their album as well, but one of them was the only track off the EP I didn't think was great; 'Down By the Water'. It's a good album, and it's worth checking out but songs like 'Saddest Summer' and 'I Felt Stupid' would've greatly improved the quality of this. 'I Need Fun In My Life''Skippin' Town'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:17:21 GMT 1
30 Detroit Social Club 'Existance'Northern indie which wouldn't have sounded out of place in the charts a couple of years ago, but this is far better than generic and rather consistant. The singles 'Prophecy' and 'Kiss the Sun' are both great but they're both topped by recent single 'Northern Man'. 'Black and White''Chemistry' 29 The Naked & Famous 'Passive Me, Agressive You'From New Zealand, the Naked & Famous were introduced to me in the summer through 'Young Blood'. Whilst that's a very good song and could well be a hit single in the near future, there is a lot better on the album which was a surprise to me, I didn't know what it would be like but it's very strong. 'Girls Like You''Spank'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:17:55 GMT 1
28 Band of Skulls 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey'Hailing from Southampton Band of Skulls remind me quite a bit of the White Stripes, male and a female in the band both of which sing at times. The style of music isn't too dissimilar either. I like these more than the White Stripes though because it's more consistant. It sounds very fresh throughout and is very varied. The only weak part is that most of the strongest songs are in the first half of the album. 'Patterns''Light of the Morning' 27 Kings of Leon 'Come Around Sundown'This is far from being a poor album, I'd say it's probably better than their last album but without the standouts which will prevent them from getting another big hit and this being anywhere near as big as 'Because of the Night'. It pretty much continues what they did with their last album, it's far more anthemic and made for stadiums than some of their previous material, but it's still a very good album. 'No Money''Back Down South'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:19:16 GMT 1
26 Ash 'The A-Z Series'Ok, I'm cheating here a bit as 'The A-Z series' isn't an album, it's two. And even then, it's a compilation of the 26 singles they've released in the past 12 months. However, they did release them as albums so I'm going to count it. I hadn't been interested in Ash for 5 years and if they'd come out with a new album I really wouldn't have cared, and highly doubt I'd have bothered to listen to anything from it. But they came back with a new project, of releasing 26 singles, one every fortnight for a year each named after a letter of the alphabet. A wonderful idea which had me hooked and I bought all 26. It was pretty much half and half in terms of quality, one half is excellent, the other half... isn't. But there are some classic Ash moments in it, 'Joy Kicks Darkness', 'Arcadia', 'Ichiban', 'Dionysian Urge' and the 10 minute instrumental epic 'Sky Burial' included. Well worth listening to. 'Dionysian Urge''Arcadia' 25 Yeasayer 'Odd Blood'Parts of this album are fantastic but parts of it I just feel are too... odd. I'd not heard of them before 'Ambling Alp' which is a brilliant song and I found it to be a massive grower. But as an album it seems to go turn from excellent indie pop tunes such as the aforementioned and 'Madder Red' to more experimental songs which are good, just not as good. 'Love Me Girl''I Remember'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:19:56 GMT 1
24 The Courteeners 'Falcon'I love it when this happens. One of the most God awful bands of the decade, The Courteeners were the definition of disposable, landfill indie. Yet three years later they'd turned into a much better band releasing far better tracks. It's far more distinctive and varied than I imagined they could ever be, they'd updated their sound a lot and it's no where near as generic. 'You Overdid It Doll' is one of the singles of the year, for sure. 'Lullaby''Sycophant' 23 Two Door Cinema Club 'Tourist History'This is how indie pop should be. Ten 3-4 minute pop songs all excellently written and delivered equally well. It may get a bit samey to some ears but I love it all the way through, Alex Trimble's vocals are very delicate and there's much promise to build upon. 'Cigarettes in the Theatre''Eat That Up, It's Good For You'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:20:27 GMT 1
22 Delphic 'Acolyte'I thought they could make one of the albums of the year. I was wrong. The four singles off this are all very good but only half of the rest matches that standard. They're quite capable of writing a quality tune but it just lacks in certain places. 'Red Lights''Clarion Call' 21 Crystal Castles 'Crystal Castles' (II)I never really got Crystal Castles when their first album came out, and I still don't like it much now. But this is much better. It's much more consistant and much more varied. To go from one of the years most beautiful pop songs in 'Celestica' to the screeching of 'Doe Deer' is ambitious, and it works. It was really hard to cut the last few from my top 20 and this only didn't make it because I can't like what they've done to Sigur Ros. Swap it for the Robert Smith version of 'Not in Love' and it would be challenging for the top 10. 'Empathy''Violent Dreams'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:20:58 GMT 1
20 The Hold Steady 'Heaven is Whenever'They've developed into one of my favourite bands of the century so far and this, their fifth album, is something of a return to form after a good (but patchy) 'Stay Positive'. It's in the same vein as their other albums but it's a sound that still manages to seem so fresh. It's not as good as 'Boys and Girls in America' but then not much is. Some very strong songs on here. 'The Weekenders''The Sweet Part of the City' 19 Arcade Fire 'The Suburbs'It's obviously disappointing that Arcade Fire would one day release an album which is "only" good enough to be a top 20 album of the year, but the disappointment of this not being a great album should detract from the fact that it is a very good one. There are songs on here that are as good as they've ever produced but 16 tracks and over an hour in length is a bit too long. There's filler on it, something which could never be said of Arcade Fire before. They still have the quality there, it's just more spread out. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" is easily their second best song behind 'Rebellion (Lies)". Regine's tracks are definitely the best on this album. 'Empty Room''Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:22:08 GMT 1
18 The Futureheads 'The Chaos'It shows how good a band is when an album this good is only their third best album. This one took me a bit longer to get into but it was certainly worth the wait. It's not really any different to what they've produced before but they can still write a killer tune. 'The Chaos''Jupiter' 17 Chemical Brothers 'Further'Another album which is a true return to form. 'We Are The Night' was the weakest of their 5 that I own, but this is definitely amongst the strongest. Only 8 tracks but 50 minutes in length, they've ditched the guest vocalists and made it pretty much entirely instrumental. The full 12 minute version of 'Escape Velocity' is fantastic, and ''K+D+B' is one of their best ever. My favourite artwork of the year, hence the large cover. 'Snow''K+D+B'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:22:39 GMT 1
16 Wild Nothing 'Gemini'I discovered Wild Nothing halfway through the year when a blog I looked at posted 'Summer Holiday' as the best song of the first 6 months of the year. Listening to it, it was difficult to argue. The album is up to standards too, full of dreamy shoegaze pop perfect for the summer. 'Live in Dreams''Bored Games' 15 Gorillaz 'Plastic Beach'It hasn't always looked like there would be a third Gorillaz album so I was very grateful when it came along. It doesn't quite hit the heights of 'Demon Days' and it does like a 'Feel Good Inc.' but it's still an incredibly consistant album, paccked with an array of impressive guests, all of which make the album stronger. 'Empire Ants' (featuring Little Dragon)'Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach' (featuring Snoop Dogg)
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:23:13 GMT 1
14 Delorean 'Subiza'Reading that this sounded like 'Merriweather Post Pavillion' in places was always going to make me want to hear more of Delorean. It always had the potential to then disappoint but it certainly didn't and the familiarity is definitely present in parts. It's definitely a place to get lost in for a bit, it's dance beats best suited to festivals. 'Endless Sunset''Grow' 13 Sleigh Bells 'Treats'Sometimes hype isn't deserved, but others it's spot on. This was the case with 'Treats', the debut album by US duo Sleigh Bells. It's full of noise and incredibly inventive, and 32 minutes is probably about correct for an album of its type, although I am often left wanting more. 'A/B Machines''Rill Rill'
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:23:53 GMT 1
12 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 'Beat the Devil's Tattoo'It's taken five years but they've finally made something back towards their best of 'Howl'. What I'd heard of their previous two albums, they'd gone moved away from the bluesy sound (in 'The Effects of 333' completely, and dreadfully) but this seems to be a mixture of all their best sounds to give them a third great album. 'Aya''Conscience Killer' 11 Male Bonding 'Nothing Hurts'This is the type of album I've been missing over the last couple of years. 13 fun, punchy indie songs packed into less than half an hour. An incredibly promising debut album, it's a shame I've seen pretty much zero written about them over the past 12 months. 'Weird Feelings''Year's Not Long'
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,553
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Post by TheThorne on Dec 21, 2010 20:25:19 GMT 1
Brilliant list heard all but one of them probably 5 of these would make my top 10 of the year
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 21, 2010 20:36:02 GMT 1
0 Magnetic Man 'Magnetic Man' 39 Ellie Goulding 'Lights' 38 Marina & The Diamonds 'The Family Jewels' 37 I Blame Coco 'The Constant' 36 Blood Red Shoes 'Fire Like This' 35 Villagers 'Becoming a Jackal' 34 Best Coast 'Crazy For You' 33 Belle and Sebastian 'Write About Love' 32 Caribou 'Swim' 31 The Drums 'The Drums'
30 Detroit Social Club 'Existance' 29 The Naked & Famous 'Passive You, Agressive Me' 28 Band of Skulls 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey' 27 Kings of Leon 'Come Around Sundown' 26 Ash 'The A-Z Series' 25 Yeasayer 'Odd Blood' 24 The Courteeners 'Falcon' 23 Two Door Cinema Club 'Tourist History' 22 Delphic 'Acolyte' 21 Crystal Castles 'Crystal Castles' (II)
20 The Hold Steady 'Heaven Is Whenever' 19 Arcade Fire 'The Suburbs' 18 The Futureheads 'The Chaos' 17 Chemical Brothers 'Further' 16 Wild Nothing 'Gemini' 15 Gorillaz 'Plastic Beach' 14 Delorean 'Subiza' 13 Sleigh Bells 'Treats' 12 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 'Beat the Devil's Tattoo' 11 Male Bonding 'Nothing Hurts'
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Post by Jordan on Dec 21, 2010 20:57:30 GMT 1
Magnetic Man is my favourite one so far, looks like it only just made it in
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 22, 2010 17:34:59 GMT 1
Brilliant list heard all but one of them probably 5 of these would make my top 10 of the year Good to see you liking the majority of them!
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Post by Maximo Mark on Dec 22, 2010 17:35:36 GMT 1
Magnetic Man is my favourite one so far, looks like it only just made it in I do have 69 albums from 2010 so it's far from being a poor album...
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