The official Wonderbro top 5 albums of 2010

Well, I've decided to go a bit lighter on this post - no rants about Wikileaks or war, the awful goings on in the world.  Christmas is gone, new years approaches, and as I write this I'm ratcheted up in bed with a serious throat infection that's not only giving the sensation of swallowing broken light bulbs when I have a glass of water, it's been squeezing an invisible vice grip of pain around my frontal lobe since Christmas Eve.

Frankly, I'm just not in the mood for any heavy shit today, 2010 is DONE, and not done quickly enough for my liking, so la la la la la! I'm going to do a post about something that makes me really happy.  Music!

In the spirit of High Fidelity (a great book by Nick Hornby if you haven't read it, and the movie is actually not bad either) and in no particular order, I present to you my top five albums released in 2010.


1. Massive Attack - Heligoland

Once again the boys from Bristol are back.  What can I say?  I've been a huge fan of these guys pretty much since 'Blue Lines' and every album they put out is worth the wait - and with Massive Attack, it can take five to seven years for them to come out with something new, which means you have to wait a while.  In the time between their last record and the time it took for this album to come out, I'd folded my previous company, started a new one, moved 5,000 km across the country, got married, acquired four more dogs, and bought a house.  A lot can change in between their recording schedules!

Needless to say, this was totally worth the wait.

I love how they're constantly evolving their sound; Heligoland is almost certainly a departure from the more computerized electronic tones of '100th Window', released back in 2003.  They still maintain much of the dark ambient tones that they're famous for, and despite their notorious attention to detail in recording, I'd say they used a pretty big brush to paint this masterpiece.

If you were expecting 'Mezzanine' - their commercially and critically acclaimed 1997 release (and which if you haven't heard you really should crawl out from whatever rock your under and go listen to) - well, you shouldn't.  I'm sure they're sick of comparisons to that record, but it certainly is the bar against which all their other works will be measured as far as I'm concerned.  That being said, what's great about Heligoland is that the more I listen to it, the less I'm inclined to compare it to, well, anything.  It really is something new and exceptional, of which I have come to expect nothing less from with Massive Attack, but at the same time, they still use a lot of the tried and true formulae for coming up with material.

One element they use very well on every recording they have is the guest talent that they pull.  For this album they found some outstanding contributors - TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe has vocal duty on the opening track 'Pray for Rain', setting the tone quite nicely for the rest of the record.  Trip hop guest alumni Horace Andy (I mean, he may as well be in the band at this point) does vocals on 'Splitting the Atom' and 'Girl I Love You', and Martina Topley-Bird of Tricky and Gorillaz fame lends her vocal and writing talents to 'Babel' and 'Psyche'.  Guy Garvey of Elbow fame bends his range quite nicely on 'Flat of the Blade', Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval sings the track 'Paradise Circus' and Damon Albarn of Blur / Gorillaz fame lends his London lean to 'Saturday Come Slow'.

A quick side note: Albarn vocally has always been pretty hit and miss for me - I can appreciate his more energetic vocalizations in Blur and some in Gorillaz, but when he gets more emotive he tends to get a bit too nasally for my liking - I often find it distracting.  Nothing against him, I really think he's brilliant (see my review of Plastic Beach below) in a lot of ways, it's my own personal preference.  However on 'Saturday Come Slow' he pulls off a vocal performance of really genuine sincerity that I think is rare for him in this style despite the fact that the song is obviously pushing his range a little. 

Of course Robert '3D' Del Naja and Grant 'Daddy G' Marshall do vocal duties as well, on 'Splitting the Atom', 'Rush Minute' and 'Atlas Air'.  'Splitting the Atom' really is the standout track on this record for me; they put a swing in this song that Sinatra or Tony Bennett could have sung over, and then combined it with what sounds like a lounge organists worst nightmare being played by members of 2Unlimited.  Believe me, this actually WORKS.  Throw in Horace Andy doing his haunting vocals in the chorus with Daddy G doing his standard stoned out snarling whispers in your ear and Del Naja skipping through the track like a sinister and demented shifty eyed con-man and you have the makings of a seriously cool piece of music.

Massive Attack craft their records as if they are their last - they might argue that at the time that they really thought they were working on their last record, as their occasionally difficult relationships are often cited as the reason why they take so long to make - and it shows, because they are executed fearlessly and exactly the way they intended to make them.


2. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

James Murphy, the brains and talent behind pretty much everything LCD Soundsystem is I think quickly becoming my musical hero.  Some would liken them to the 'new disco rock' scene that bands have been riding as of late over the last five or so years, but unlike some bands in this vein like the Killers, (who have been nothing put a painful and festering annoyance of disappointment since their debut album) there's something more tangible to them.  Maybe because they are not a disco rock outfit, they're really disco punk, which I think has allowed them to be a little less serious, at the same time smarter lyrically, and enabled them to go beyond expectation every time.  The Killers?  I don't think you can compare really.

They have always had a great production style - I LOVE the sound of their records.  Trashy and yet... not... well... shitty.  There seems to be a really bad misconception with some people that to make a trashy 'authentic' sounding record that it has to actually sound, well, bad.  James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem prove that this is not the case on every record that they've done, and set the marker for really good trashy and fearless production.

According to rumour mills on the interweb, 'This is Happening' will be the last album for LCD Soundsystem - I seriously hope this isn't the case, as this album is probably their finest work.  I love how the opening track 'Dance Yrself Clean' throws you for a loop; giving you the impression of a quiet start and then when you least expect it, explodes into a beaty ecstasy that these guys are known for.  It feels like if you were told to go to a deserted warehouse, and as you're nervously wandering through the darkened passages, BAM! Someone throws a breaker and you're in the middle of your very own surprise party.  Even the cool people are there!  It's a great effect; something that none of the more generic artists of this ilk would probably ever conceive of.

The next track is no disappointment either - it's no coincidence that 'Drunk Girls' was the first single off of this record.  The classic tongue in cheek, take the piss out of the party people lyrics that Murphy has been so good at writing really take this, along with the songs' main hook (a glorious shout out style 'Drunk - Girls!') over the top.  Perfect party music no matter where the party's at.

If that wasn't enough to rope you in, the follow ups in 'One Touch', 'I Can Change' and 'Pow Pow' are sure to pull you into some sort of a mad NYC drug make out throw down.  Every track is awesome, but those are my standouts.


3. Sex With Strangers - The Tokyo Steel

I have to do a couple Canadian acts in my top five - not just because I'm Canadian, but because there are an awful lot of really solid Canadian acts out there. Oh, and they don't all sound like Stompin' Tom or Gordon Lightfoot and play a nylon guitar.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I've found with my own experiences over the years, that a mythology of what Canadian music is perceived to be is often pushed to the fore at the expense of other really excellent talents who don't often fit into this idiom.

I think the band Sex With Strangers out of Vancouver are no exception.  Maybe its me but I think these guys are awesome, but when I was looking around at other reviews for reference I found a few (not all) that weren't particularly flattering, which really surprised me.  I don't happen to think that Canadian reviewers should give positive reviews to an artist just because they're Canadian (we have CANCON for that), but I think a lot of reviewers in this country, along with people actively working in the industry, tend to pigeonhole their preferences and wear them on their sleeves.  I don't think that's very fair, especially to a band like Sex With Strangers.

You could look at it another way.  When I watch an Ingmar Bergman film, I expect a deep, introspective reflection on humanity and the characters within the story, which can be a very special thing.  When I watch a Roland Emmerich film, I expect to have my eyes pop like grapes filled with M80s at the sheer spectacle of his movies.  I am not watching for any sort of deep reflection within or of myself, I am only in the mood to be bombarded with bombastic visual entertainment, which like him or not as a director, Roland Emmerich has always provided in spades within his films.

Sex With Strangers does Roland Emmerich with their albums - and it is really unfair to expect anything otherwise from them, because that's not what they're pitching.  They have a strong 80's influence in their sound to be sure, but unlike a lot of the re-anim80's bands today they don't fuck around with all this poser hair and well, posing in general crap.  They get right to it, with no gimmick, a lot of whisky and a no-apologies-get-your-ass-on-the-dancefloor-and-feel-the-thick-throbbing-thunder-of-my-robot-rock, then explode all over your face like a...well, I don't have to elaborate, lets just say it's all about the money shot.

As I grew up in the 80's listening to a lot of the stuff that is influencing bands like SWS today, I can tell you there's one thing that most miss that Sex With Strangers get bang on every time: the notion that just because it's made in a computer with a lot of synthesizers doesn't mean that it has to be cold.  There's nothing chilly about their production, the band or the feel of their records.  The howling opera that is lead singer Hatch Benedict's voice removes any notion that they're just trying to relive the glory days of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. The guitars and bass conjure up more Clash than Cure, and just for shits and giggles, they throw in vocals by Isabelle Dunlop, the UK ex-pat modern equivalent to Debbie Harry.

So really, how can you NOT like that?

They take moving your booty seriously, they instantly demand pogo action, and will achieve both of these objectives by any means necessary. They do it extremely well, which is just as valid in terms of music as any in my mind.

Their second full length LP, 'The Tokyo Steel' is all of these things and it shows (if you've listened to any of their previously released material) that the band has been expanding their horizons musically.  Sticking to their album title theme, they included three musical segway tracks named after three different Tokyo subway stations.  If you're looking to be taken to electrosh-rock paradise, this is the album that will get you to the destination.

Standouts for me on this record are 'New City Anthem', 'We Want the Fire', 'Sharpen the Knife' and 'We Are the Ones'.



4. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

I'll start this off by saying that I don't think that Plastic Beach is the strongest of the three full length albums that Damon Albarn and co. have released.  I see it kind of like the original Star Wars trilogy: the first one hooked everyone in, the second one kicked monstrous ass, and the third just couldn't live up to the expectation the first two established.  That being said, like Return of the Jedi (and ewoks aside), Plastic Beach is a better record than 99.9% of the music making population could even CONCEIVE of (yeah, that includes you Kanye), and in my mind, does not signify any significant reduction in steam for the creators of this virtual band, which ultimately puts it in my top five.

Like Massive Attack's Heligoland, this album reads like a Jools Holland wet dream: Clash alumni Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (who also were playing on their recent tour), Mos Def, Bobby Womack, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Swedish band Little Dragon, Mark E. Smith of the Fall and the legendary Lou Reed.  Combine all of these talents with Albarns' impeccable pop sensibilities and symphonic arrangements and you've got one hell of a record.

Although in my opinion, the music is not quite as accessible (ie. top 40) as the previous two records, this should really not be held against it.  It really is a rolling sonic masterpiece that perhaps leans just slightly more towards Albarns' later 'Blur' days than the other two Gorillaz releases - 'weird' quirky as opposed to 'cute' quirky, which if you can appreciate Blur, you should have zero problem with on this record.

I also think that if you're not familiar with Gorillaz, the best way to appreciate them is to try and watch their videos - I rarely encourage this with bands as most music videos are frankly way too self indulgent and suck massive donkey.  However, Gorillaz were formed as a concept more than a band; Damon Albarn is only half of the original outfit, the other half being UK artist and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett.  So with along with all the great music, Gorillaz have built some really creative visuals into their mandate as a virtual group, and it's best if it's experienced this way I think.

Stand out tracks include: 'Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach', 'Stylo', 'Superfast Jellyfish' and 'Some Kind of Nature'


Caribou - Swim

Okay, if you don't already know this about me, along with the many other things that I do with my days, I also produce music.  My background actually is mostly in electronic (synthesized if I may be more specific), but I try to work in as many genres as possible.  So when an 'electronic' album comes along that is:

• made by a Canadian artist 
• made by a Canadian artist who sounds like he just got his hands on his first synth / sampler
• made by a Canadian artist with a really unique musical sensibility

...well, I'm just all over that like my Boston Terrier on a poo nugget.  And Bez loves his nuggets.

If you've ever heard any previous Caribou (aka. Daniel Victor Snaith) albums, like the Polaris prize winning 'Andorra', then 'Swim' may be a slight departure for you in some ways.

I dunno, something about how he puts his synth lines together - they're so un-polished.  I think in the world of electronic music, this is not necessarily a bad thing, although more than any other style, the expectation is to clean up all the loose bits as much as possible.  In a genre where every note can be (and is often demanded to be) quantized down to the last micro-fart of time, the actual 'feel' of a track can often times go right out the window simply because it's easier than trying to just get it perfectly right in ways beyond the meter of the machine no matter how long it takes.

And like in my previous review of LCD Soundsystem, sounding trashy does not mean sounding bad (or vice versa), and nothing on 'Swim' is at all bad in the slightest, quite the opposite.  Although trashy is not the word I would use... It's sloppy, but in a great and musical way. I really like it.  It's very rarely that you come across a record that is almost exclusively synthesized and at the same time can breathe.  An album that has a pulse beyond the tac-tac machination throb of the drum machine.  'Swim' really does this exceedingly well, and I can tell you from my own experience this is a very difficult thing to do with this style.  I'm trying very hard not to use the word 'organic' to describe it, which has been applied to this album quite a bit, but I'm stumped on the fact that I don't think there's a better word for it.

To add to this, according to an interview he gave on CBC Radio a couple of months ago, Daniel Snaith almost happily (he sounds like a really nice guy as well) considers himself something of a newby when it comes to this style of music.  Something that if his record weren't so damn good would send me reeling into my own filth ridden pit of gut rotting jealousy and rage, make me become belligerent on Whisky that I would still in my bathtub, take up smoking again and make fun of his name via catcalls from the floor of the bar.

And maybe that's how he got the result  - and no, I don't mean he did it while being yelled at a by a drunken keyboard player.  I mean it's probably pretty freeing to not be burdened with the technical, which a lot of this genre is; it's often swamped into sterility by it.  And although I'm sure he's more comfortable having made a record now (he did study Mathematics at U of T, I'm sure he can figure it out), to just be able to really hone the ideas in a song and be creative in a free flowing way as opposed to whittling out a rigid sequence in a program must have been a pretty sweet gig, and you can hear it in every tune on this album.

If what you're recording at the time sounds right, well then quantizing it after the fact would just be making the song conform to some sort of lame dance music standard based on software, instead of making something uniquely your own.

I think he achieved this balance of technical and soul here, and I think it's a better way to look at music in general; from newer eyes, that constant voyage of undiscovered places. A lesson that a lot of us could probably apply better in our musical endeavours and something that is really refreshing to hear on this album.  Totally love it.  Damn him.

Stand out tracks for me are 'Odessa', 'Sun', 'Found Out' and 'Hannibal'.

So that's my top 5 best!  I'd love to hear what everyone elses' top five albums of 2010 are, especially if it's stuff I've never heard before.  Feel free to comment, and maybe I can review your picks in another post.