Our Mid-Season Favorite Album Countdown - Nr. 07

Number seven in our top ten favourite albums of 2010 so far! Linda, Ilse, and yours truly give you our ten favourite albums at the halfway stage of the musical year in the hope you might discover, rediscover, or agree with our picks. If, in turn, you have some stuff you think we might enjoy, please holler.

Favorite albums of first half 2010: 10 - 9 - 8 -

Linda:
07. Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
‘Norway’ is a good contender for track of the year. It’s structure is so simple that it’s simply amazing they can get away with it. But I guess that’s part of the strength of the album: tracks that are so simple that you just can’t help yourself singing along to them after hearing just the first few lines. That and Victoria Legrand’s voice (I believe a breeding programme should be created in order to preserve her talent and create a whole generation of Legrand-like singers). And it’s not just on record, live they are amazing as well, no matter the size of the venue. I’ve seen them in a storage/art room behind the bar of a pub, a proper sized venue hidden somewhere in Hammersmith (anything west of central London I consider hidden) and in an enormous venue like the Roundhouse and each and every time they delivered an amazing set, even being a match to the equally amazing Grizzly Bear in the latter venue. Also, their Record Store Day exclusive EP was pretty neat as well. And I’m not just saying that because it was on blue vinyl.
Random track to listen to: ‘Better Times’

Ilse:
07. Xiu Xiu – Dear God I Hate Myself (Kill Rock Stars)
Though Xiu Xiu’s albums have featured many guest musicians and Caralee McElroy was a steady bandmember for the past years (now replaced by Angela Seo), Xiu Xiu mainly revolves around Jamie Stewart, who uses the project to deal with his personal life as well his dark demeanor. Ten years after the birth of the band and seeing that this is their seventh LP, you’d say people might be sick of all these songs covering extreme topics such as self hatred, frustration, suicide, abuse, AIDS, war and taboo experiences. In short: rather brutal music that doesn’t want to make you get up in the morning. Well, Xiu Xiu definitely lacks monotony; this album seems more ‘listenable’ than their earlier work, as it features more catchy and upbeat songs and Xiu Xiu continuously manage to experiment with instruments and sounds, as they utilized a (pink) Nintendo DS for this record. Unsurprisingly, ‘Dear God I Hate Myself’ is not exactly filled with songs about fluffy kittens and rainbows; ‘Chocolate Makes You Happy’ for example deals with eating disorder (“chocolate makes you happy / as you deign to sing along / when you trust two fingers down your throat / and wash away what’s wrong”). One of the last songs on the album ‘This Too Shall Pass Away’is dedicated to friend, colleague and fellow miserablist Freddy Ruppert (of Former Ghosts), comforting him with a reference to that other miserablist: mr. Morrissey (“Listen, Steven is singing to you”). Jamie Stewart is clearly influenced by him, as the lyrics “Despair will hold a place in my heart” and “Dear God, I hate myself / and I will never be happy / and I will never feel normal” draw parallels with what the Mozfather always whines about. So yes, if you’re squeamish and can’t handle harsh references to misery, abuse and on one occasion even the horrendous Richard Chase: better leave this one for what it is.
Random track to listen to: ‘House Sparrow’

Stef:
07. Spoon –Transference (Merge)
This is a tough stretch for me, because essentially I rate the next five albums about the same. So what puts one over the other I don’t know. Gut feeling I suppose, which might have changed by the year’s end already. So don’t put too much stock in order I guess. Anyway, at the beginning of the year Spoon came with a new album, and a pretty nifty one at that. In my analysis of the album a long while back (here) I noted that through this album ran a theme concerning communication and the impossibility of it. So if you want a different perspective on the album hopefully that will prove to be an entertaining read. And I always like albums with themes in them, whether they intrude consciously or subconsciously. For me, the sting of this album is in the end, starting at eight with the beautiful ballad ‘Goodnight Laura’, and ten and eleven are just amazing tracks which I can listen to on repeat. The rocky ‘Got Nuffin’ and the pathetic ‘Nobody Gets Me But You’ with its tremendous bass. In Paradiso live they cemented their status as one of the best American indie rock bands. The album is smart, and both musically and lyrically it is solid as a rock. With the real treat coming at the end of it.
Random track to listen to: ‘I Saw the Light’