Our Mid-Season Favorite Album Countdown - Nr. 01

Our favourite albums of 2010 so far! Linda, Ilse, and yours truly have, in the past weeks, given you our ten favorite albums of 2010 thus far, and now we're at number one! If, in turn, you have some stuff you think we might enjoy, please holler.

Favorite albums of first half 2010: 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5- 4 - 3 - 2

Linda:
01. Perfume Genius – Learning (Turnstile)
I’ve been in love with this album ever since I heard the first demo’s of ‘Look out, Look out’ and ‘Learning’ and the album wasn’t even near actually existing. And that’s been some time now, and I still simply can’t get enough of those tracks. Mike Hadreas has such a fragile voice, and manages to get the piano to match this fragility, but his lyrics reveal a much darker side. Songs with a twist, not like the earlier mentioned Xiu Xiu, but more in Pulp way – and that’s always a good way, isn’t it? Just take ‘Look out, Look out’ as it tells the story of Mary Bell : “Mary, Mary Bell / With an uppercase M / All the neighbors know / What your mother sells / But you carved out a name for yourself. [...] Keep your wits / He will not be missed / He didn’t have a family to begin with.” It gets even juicier if you’d know that the lead character of this song was just eleven at the time.. But it’s not all just storytelling, Perfume Genius also is the aggressor (Learning: “No one will answer your prayers / Until you take off that dress”) and the victim (Mr Peterson: “My work came back from class / With notes attached / Of a place and time / Or how my body kept him up at night”). All sung with the same rather sweet voice, strangely reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens’ ’John Wayne Gacy Jr.’. A psychological roller coaster, this album, and one of those rare albums that you’d like to label ‘perfect’. And can anyone please enlighten me as to the role Caralee McElroy has played in the creation of yet another one of my favourite albums? I think she might just be my new favourite music person.
Random track to listen to: ‘Gay Angels’

Ilse:
01. Perfume Genius – Learning (Turnstile)
‘No one will answer your prayers / until you take of that dress…’ is what Perfume Genius starts off this album with, which is enough to make you realize you’re not in for some happy birthday songs. Overall, my list featured some pretty depressing music, but nothing this year (or any other year so far for that matter) managed to instantly make me feel so utterly sad, in the lump-in-your-throat kind of way. Mike Hadreas’ vulnerable, fragile voice is not only heartbreaking, but soul-piercing as well and combined with the tender piano melodies, it makes me want to curl up in a ball and lie in the corner of the room. Especially the songs ‘Look out, Look out’ (‘He will not be missed / He didn’t have a family to begin with’) and ‘Mr. Peterson’ (‘He made me a tape of Joy Division / He told me there was part of him missing / When I was sixteen / He jumped off a building…’) are incredibly gripping. The lyrics grab you by the throat, they will stick in your head and haunt you. Again, not the most pleasant of topics: suicide, abuse, suffering and a relationship with an authority figure are amongst the things that drove Hadreas to the path of self-destructive addiction. Whereas Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu battles the same demons with bitter anger, Mike Hadreas and his sweet voice seem to offer his tormentor(s) forgiveness (‘I know you were ready to go / I hope there’s room for you / up above, or down below’), which somehow makes it all the more riveting. I’m still trying to figure out how these 30 minutes of intimacy can have such an impact on me that I'm finding actual tears rolling down my face, but there’s one thing I’m sure about: the most delicate beauty has to come from the darkest and most troubled of souls.
Random track to listen to: ‘Look Out, Look Out’

Stef:
01. The National – High Violet (4AD)
Surprise, surprise, there is no surprise. High Violet is yet another The National album which ticks all my boxes. Ambiguous lyrics make sure it has the ability to resonate with everyone, but there are also enough cultural references and clues for everyone to actually make a case for their interpretation of choice. Not only does the ambiguity make it possible for everyone to have some sort of affinity with it, musically it is build and layered so finely that the songs don’t only have the potential to resonate, but that for a whole lot of people including me it also cashes in on that promise. Add the delivery of Berninger on top of that, and you’ve got me hooked. It is amazing how the band can make some of those lines sound like the most profound things that have ever been said in this world. For me personally it is also the perfect soundtrack for my urban anxiety. And not only mine, naturally, as it in my opinion fits perfectly in the post-modern concerns of this day and age. Perhaps this is epitomized by a song like ‘Afraid of Everyone’, in which the title alone spells out the concern of quite a lot of people, although slightly overstated naturally. As said, musically it is very layered, and through the music you are led to the inevitable lyrical conclusion and it makes that conclusion sound like logical. If you look at their two live shows they did recently as well, so many people turn up and are genuinely moved. I for one moment was expecting people to climb on the stage and start hugging Berninger Morrissey style. I think they are one of the few bands that are capturing the image, feelings and the concerns of modern day life. I fully expect popular culture classes ten years from now to include The National’s oeuvre, and if not they at least should’ve thought about it when they drew up the curriculum.
Random track to listen to: 'Afraid of Everyone'