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!
The list: 10 - 9 - 8 - 7
Nr. 6 – Linda
Album: This is Happening
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
As one of the albums I was looking forward to most this year, I’m really glad it turned out this well. There were the mishaps by Foals, Mystery Jets, Blonde Redhead (not that Penny Sparkle is an awful album as such, it’s just a bit of a letdown after 23), Yeasayer, MGMT, and I believe Klaxons dared to resurface – and isn’t it just amazing how many of these albums you can find on the NME end of year list? – just to remind us that good albums by fairly established bands shouldn’t be taken for granted. With gems as their self-titled debut and Sound of Silver, James Murphy and friends certainly had something to live up to.
Maybe it’s the hinting of a retreat from music, just as Sufjan Stevens did, that made this record even more unexpectedly brilliant even though it lacks in songs as brilliant as ‘Someone Great’ or ‘Tribulations’. But nevertheless, it is an awesome record, and live it’s even more amazing. I don’t think I stopped moving for more than a second during their two hour gig earlier this year. But hey, they’ve probably got the best line-up anyone could wish for with people like Nancy Wang and Pat Mahoney; even if James Murphy were to recite the phone book (if those things still exist) over a jam session of the band, the entire city of New York would come out to dance.
Random Track: ‘Home’
Nr. 6 – Ilse
Album: Treats
Artist:Sleigh Bells
Boy-girl duos are always fun, especially if they have enough energy to make it sound like their band consists of a whole army instead of just two people. Sleigh Bells are particularly good at this, and their sound is characterised by its use of contrast: the electronic beats/samples, thick drums and Derek Miller’s heavy guitar versus Alexis’ calm, almost nursery rhyme like voice (a few songs aside, where her voice is as harsh as the music). This is partly relatable to the musicians’ backgrounds: Alexis Krauss was in a teen pop girl band, while Derek Miller was in a hardcore band. We especially notice this calm/chaos contrast in ‘Rachel’ and ‘Run To The Heart’, where we are treated to soothing ‘ooohs’ and seductive whispers. Then we get ‘Rill Rill’, which is another sweet one, involving loads of finger snapping (just like in ‘Tell Em’), only to burst out into sirens again, bulldozing all over you with ‘Crown On The Ground’ and particularly the loud and chaotic ‘Straight As’. This album offers so much to hear, and all the sounds seem pushed to their maximum; resulting into something I’ve never heard before, it’s almost like Sleigh Bells created their own genre.
All in all, I’d say this exceptional debut is filled with bold, alarming chaos, energetic loudness and noisy aggression, it crosses borders and blends into a unique sound: an obnoxious combination of motorcycle engines and cheerleader chants.
Random Track: 'Crown on the Ground'
Nr. 6 – Stef
Album: We Have Band
Artist: We Have Band
Let me tell ya, I just love these three people. It’s one of those bands that I’ve been following since probably the very start of their career, and since then they have only gotten better and better and better. This year they came with their debut album, consisting of their previous singles and of new, fully developed songs which sound full and rich. All the songs have the same feel to them, and there are certain thematic elements that run through the whole album (for more on that, try and google We Have Band IKRS and you’ll find my review analyzing the album on that basis). Perhaps it is a London album, or a city album. Certainly the themes are post-modern in their nature. Just try and count how often circular motions return time and again (whether purposely or not).
I love that quality in music, when you can analyze it on theme, because it says so much about the aesthetic and the mindset of the band and what they want to evoke. However, in the end it is not only about that, but about the tunes as well, and they’ve done an excellent job with that as well as far as I’m concerned. It has some terribly catchy singles, but also some songs which focus more on the melancholic atmosphere. It isn’t all happy anyway, though you can happily dance to it, a combination that has proved to be winning for ages now. Just a well-balanced debut with some true highlights. The only knock might be that some of the earlier singles perhaps don’t fit in quite that well, being a bit more hooky and less linked to the atmosphere the other songs seem to have. That’s nitpicking though, and who wants to do that in a top 10 countdown?
Random Track: 'Hero Knows'
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