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Posts Tagged ‘2010’

For the alternative/indie world, 2010 has been a banner year of excellence. From The National’s grandiloquent High Violet to The Tallest Man on Earth’s one-man powerhouse The Wild Hunt, 2010 has produced defining albums from well-known acts to stunning debut albums from artists who promise so much more in the future. In the sweeping praise that so many albums have garnered this year, it goes without saying that some things got left behind, some things that, in less impressive years, may have risen to the top of the blogosphere. This blog will attempt to bring to light some of the lesser-known highlights of 2010.

Daniel Bjarnason – Processions [Symphonic/Classical]

We begin in February with Daníel Bjarnason’s Processions, an album that I have praised for months now–from posting the opening movement “Sorrow conquers happiness” from his multi-tracked cello suite Bow to String to reviewing the album with high praise. Yet, I cannot give this album enough praise, standing in the same echelon of excellence as High Violet, The Wild Hunt, The Archandroid, and all of the other albums that we have heard over and over. The album dances between bombastic and aggressive to hauntingly minimal, as if Max Richter decided to borrow from Stravinsky instead of Glass. In addition to Bjarnason’s brilliant compositional skills, the performers on the album (including the Iceland Symphony Orchestra) are first-rate, an indication that Iceland’s music scene goes far beyond Sigur Rós and Björk, and it is not going away anytime soon. Posted here…

With Chamberlain Waits, one of 2010’s early punk standouts, The Menzingers have garnered comparisons to melodic punk heavyweights The Lawrence Arms and Sink or Swim-era The Gaslight Anthem, and rightfully so, as their sound seems to fall perfectly between the two. “Time Tables” is the stand out off their sophomore album and if there ever was a criteria to writing a fun punk song, they’ve got most of the boxes checked: harsh/melodic vocal trade offs, uptempo riffs, nostalgic/relatable lyrics, and sing-a-long gang vocals come together in what is surely one of the best punk songs 2010 will offer.

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 18, 2010. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.

Annihilator – Annihilator (Indie Europe/Zoom)
Bad Religion – 30 Years Live (Epitaph Records) — Trey Spencer
Band of Horses – Infinite Arms (Columbia)
Bo Bice – 3 (Saguaro Road Records)
The Black Keys – Brothers (Nonesuch)
Celeste – Morte(s) Nee(s) (Denovali)
Century Media Records – 20 Years of Century Media Volume One (’91-’95) (Century Media)
Club 8 – The People’s Record (Labrador Sweden)
Corruption – Bourbon River Bank (MYSTIC PRODUCTION)
Cynic – Re-Traced [EP] (Season of Mist)
The Depreciation Guild – Spirit Youth (Kanine Records)
The Dream – Love King (Def Jam)
Exodus – Exhibit B: The Human Condition (Nuclear Blast)
Mary Gauthier – The Foundling (Razor & Tie)
Glee Cast – Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers (Columbia)
God Is An Astronaut – Age of the Fifth Sun (Revive Records)
Guilty Simpson – OJ Simpson (Stones Throw)
Harvey Milk – A Small Turn of Human Kindness (Hydra Head Records) — Cam
Hammock – Chasing After Shadows… (+1 Records)
Heaven Shall Burn – Invictus {EU} (Century Media Records)
Hot Tuna – Live at the New Orleans House Berkeley Ca Sept 69 (Collector’s Choice Live)
Iced Earth – Box of the Wicked [5-Disc Box set] (Steamhammer)
Klone – Black Days (Season of Mist)
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening (DFA/Virgin)

It’s a funny subplot in popular music’s history that a friend of mine pointed out in a conversation a couple of years ago; the most timeless, interesting music always tends to happen at the tail-end of a decade. He was pointing out how crazy the music industry went in the late ’90s, and how bands like Superchunk had unbelievable and hilarious amounts of money thrown at them, and bands as obviously offputting and angular as Placebo could become superstars, but it extrapolates across the decades; in lists like Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time, Sputnik’s own user-voted all-time chart, and the Top 3000 albums on Acclaimed Music, there’s a real swing toward records that arrived in the latter half of their decades. On Acclaimed Music, it’s only 5 of the top 20 and and just 17 of the top 50 that represent the first half. Look at the best-selling albums of all time on a worldwide level, and you’ll see that of the 20 studio albums to have solid more than 30 million copies, only 6 have a year ending in a number lower than 4. Where it should be half, it’s nearer to a quarter.

The one obvious explanation is that both musicians and labels – not to mention the media – are always eager to fashion out an identity that will define the decade, leading to a mad scramble of anything-goes creativity as people spend two or three years looking for the next big…

Two weeks ago, Sharon Jones released her latest incredible soul album, I Learned the Hard Way, on Daptone Records.  The album is decidedly defiant and powerful, a certain step up from the already excellent 100 Days, 100 Nights.  The first single is the album’s title track, filled with funky grooves, dirty horn licks, and the vocal perfection we have come to expect from the group.  Jones’ vocal performance is particularly gripping–convincingly delivering her own version of “I Will Survive” by defying her lover and rising strong.  This album, along with the rest of the Dap-Kings’s discography, directly ports 60’s and 70’s funk music to the 21st Century and manages to sound just as good, if not better, than any George Clinton record.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – I Learned The Hard Way by sopedradamusical

Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 13, 2010. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.

108 – 18.61 (Deathwish Inc.)
Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion (Rhino Records)
Bison B.C. – Dark Ages (Red Distribution)
Blacklisted – No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me (Deathwish Inc.)
Blasfema – Galaxia Tropicalia (Self Released)
Bleeding Through – Bleeding Through (Rise Records) — Adam Thomas
Bring Me The Horizon – Suicide Season [Deluxe Edition] (Epitaph)
Cancer Bats – Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones (Good Fight Music)
Jason Castro – Jason Castro (Atlantic)
The Chant – This Is The World We Know (Full Metal Music)
Coheed And Cambria – Year of the Black Rainbow (Sony) — John A. Hanson
The Continuous Battle Of Order – Pttrn Skrs (Richter Collective)
Dosh – Tommy (Anticon)
Ego Likeness – Breedless (Metropolis Records)
The Flatliners – Cavalcade (Fat Wreck Chords)
Jamie Foxx – Body (Sony Japan/Zoom)
Foxy Shazam – Foxy Shazam (Sire)
Earl Greyhound – Suspicious Package (Hawk Race)
Kaki King – Junior (Rounder/Umgd) — Adam Thomas
Lacuna Coil – Acoustic at Criminal Records 7″ [Vinyl Release] (Century Media)
Lunik – Small Lights in the Dark (FOD Records) — Trey Spencer
Matt Pond PA – The Dark Leaves (Attitude Records)

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