IKRS Countdown: Onze favoriete albums uit 2010 - Nr. 10

Onze eindejaarscountdown! De tien favoriete albums van Linda, Ilse, en ondergetekende uitgebracht in 2010. Favoriet, omdat iedereen natuurlijk andere dingen leuk vindt en andere connotaties heeft bij de muziek en thema’s/genres die we daarin kunnen terugvinden. Dus dit zijn niet objectief de beste albums, maar de albums die op ons om de een of andere reden de meeste indruk hebben gemaakt. Enjoy!

Nr 10 – Linda
Album: High Violet
Artist: The National

Oh, the absolute impossibility of ranking the overload of records I want to include in this top ten! I think I’ve included and excluded this particular album at least twice on a daily basis over the last week. Am I going to include it over records such as Glasser’s excellent debut Ring? Have I heard enough of the brilliant Autre Ne Veut even though I’ve only discovered their self-titled album two weeks ago? What am I missing on Twin Shadow’s album that everyone else seems to be in love with? And then there are bands of the likes of Beach House, Deerhunter, Bathcrones and Islet that I want to at the very least mention, and how can one manage such a thing when you’re only allowed ten entries in this conglomerate of best music in the first year after the noughties ended?

I’ve managed to see The National perform live no less than three times this year, and only one time did they manage to slightly disappoint me: there had been mentions of Sufjan Stevens appearing as a special guest, but we had to make ado with some guy from Arcade Fire (if you’re not Win Butler himself, you’re ‘some guy’), which given my idolisation of Mr Stevens was an utter disappointment – but more on that particular subject tomorrow. Other than that their shows consisted merely of moments of complete bliss – complemented by someone shouting “The English are waiting” during one of the lengthier moments of contemplation in between songs, though former albums formed the main contribution to this fact. I love High Violet, though someone still ought to clarify that name to me, but it just doesn’t reach the brilliance of Alligator or Boxer. It feels like more of the same – even though even that is very impressive when it originates from a band like this – and I’m craving something new.
Random track: ‘Afraid of Everyone’

Nr 10 – Ilse
Album: Nothing Hurts
Artist: Male Bonding

Male Bonding are a bunch of hipsters whose garage band could belong in the L.A. noise circuit, along with bands as No Age, Vivian Girls and Abe Vigoda. I intentionally say ‘could belong’, as they’re surprisingly enough not from California, but hailing from the Dalston D.I.Y. scene. The band saw the light there in 2008 and has released several splits and 7”s before finally releasing their debut album this year. Having mentioned those particular bands from L.A., I can imagine it’s incredibly tempting to write this album off as ‘easy’ and ‘unoriginal’, but the more you listen to it, the more diversity appears and different influences are to be found. You could say it takes the best bits from the 60s surf pop vibrations, 70s punk energy (‘T.U.F.F.’), then 90s lo-fi garage rock and grunge (‘Crooked Scene’) and ultimately the familiar before mentioned L.A. noise bands. A pleasant potpourri of catchy melodic hooks, pounding drums with the occasional cowbell, fast and furious rock riffs, a churning bass, not-always-so-noisy vocals and big spoonful of loud impatient energy is the result. Some of the lyrics express the confusion and prospect of decay that comes with being young, such as in the fuzzy ‘Weird Feelings’ (one of the highlights of the album): I felt like this for ages / Just didn’t know how to say it and ‘Franklin’, in which we get All this won’t last forever… That last song clearly stands out as we have less of the hard rhythms and a more mellow, tropical melody. A few more outbursts of noise and then the album ends with a song under the almost promising title of ‘Worse To Come’, an acoustic song with one or two Vivian Girls on back-up vocals. Despite the average length of the songs on ‘Nothing Hurts’ being around two minutes (the longest one being 2.45 minutes), resulting into the full length of the album not even reaching the 30 minutes, it’s an impressive debut nonetheless.
Random track: 'Crooked Scene'

Nr. 10 – Stef
Album: Standing on Top of Utopia
Artist: Kasper Bjorke

Okay, so I can understand why people would consider this album uneven, as some of the tracks without vocals are quite different from the tracks with vocals. And sometimes tracks with one vocalist are quite different than tracks with other vocalists. Nevertheless I do, on 90% of the album, sense a certain atmosphere in all the songs. As if they want to exhume the same thing. Some songs say it in more of a dance track way, others in a catchy synth-pop way, and others in a slightly gloomy, downbeat way; but they do seem to breathe in, breathe out much of the same air. Plus, when Kasper Bjorke hits the spot, he really is right on the money for me. Some of the tracks are among my favourite tracks of the year, and I’ve been listening to them over and over. I waited in tense anticipation on the vinyl to drop on my doorstep, and when it did I was hardly disappointed. Especially since for some bizarre reason the tracklisting is different and I like the vinyl one better. It is Kasper’s sophomore effort after In Gumbo, which was even more of a mixed bag, so that’s progress as well. Bjorke certainly has a way to find the right sounds and make them into interesting tunes. Some of the sounds come from left field, and some of the tunes sound surprisingly radio friendly, but it is always an interesting listen no matter what. Also check both the clips to ‘Young Again’ and ‘Efficient Machine’, both worth the watch. Bij gebrek aan bruikbare Hypem links van dit album is de onderstaande link sowieso de clip van 'Young Again'.
Random track: ‘Young Again'