Do you remember “glo-fi”? The much maligned chillwave? Of course you do … for now. It’s interesting to note that after all of 2010’s trendy genre terms and hot-for-a-minute one-man bands, our Top 5 consists of a handful of sturdy veterans. The Top 10 expands to include a couple newcomers, newbies amid, again, three established crews. What does it mean? Well, the situation’s analogue to 2006 when a number of so-called “blog rock” bands like Tapes ‘N Tapes, Clap Your Hand Say Yeah, and Cold War Kids made immediate wav(v)es, but albums released by old standbys received the year-end kudos. This isn’t to say you should reject the new — there are plenty of debut albums in our Top 50 and plenty of worthwhile debuts that didn’t make it — but it does say something about the amount of music released and processed and then forgotten in any given year. (Trivia: Which band that debuted in ’06 made it into our Top 5?) A positive result of all the fractures, fissures, flashy genre names: The average listener is definitely hearing more music and becoming more adventurous than in, say, 2006. (Sorry Decemberists.) Which means bands that may have seemed too “weird” for a casual listener even a few years ago are popping up in unexpected places in 2010.
It’s unclear why — oil slicks, down economy, jeggings — but it’s also been a much darker year for music via bands like Crystal Castles, oOoOO, Balam Acab, Zola Jesus, White Ring, Salem, Frank (Just Frank), the sundry so-called “witch house” (and Wierd) crews. As a result, the following list features more than a couple folks who might be charged with having goth tendencies (or at least black nail polish and old Cure and/or Kate Bush shirts). To take this sense of adventure into another direction, our No. 1 is someone your father might even know about and our No. 5 is on a “major label.” Notions of what “indie rockers” listen to is shifting and expanding, a positive step toward escaping the pratfalls of across-the-board year-end list homogeneity.
One of the fun things about lists is discovery, so it doesn’t make sense giving away too much, but we will say that what follows is the result of four people saying yes and no and maybe, and that if you were to break out individual lists from it, they’d look very different. (That said, if you asked us to collaborate again, it would look very much the same.) It should be noted that the following doesn’t include any metal — a separate one-man list for the heavy stuff will show up in Haunting The Chapel later this month, so please don’t ask why we didn’t include Agalloch or Watain. Also, we disqualified EPs; those get their own special ranking below the main list.
Start digging, digesting, and disagreeing.
50 Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
49 Small Black – New Chain
48 Sharon Van Etten – Epic
47 Baths – Cerulean
46 Frank (Just Frank) – The Brutal Wave
45 Perfume Genius – Learning
44 Field Music – Field Music (Measure)
43 Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
42 Lower Dens – Twin-Hand Movement
41 Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal
40 Glasser – Ring
39 Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner
38 Avey Tare – Down There
37 jj – jj nº3
36 the morning benders – Big Echo
35 Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
34 Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
33 MGMT – Congratulations
32 Twin Shadow – Forget
31 Warpaint – The Fool
30 Das Racist – Shut Up, Dude
29 Matthew Dear – Black City
28 Delorean – Subiza
27 Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
26 Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
25 ceo – White Magic
24 Tamaryn – The Waves
23 SALEM – King Night
22 Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
21 Liars – Sisterworld
20 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
19 Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
18 Abe Vigoda – Crush
17 Owen Pallett – Heartland
16 The National – High Violet
15 The-Dream – Love King
14 Yeasayer – Odd Blood
13 LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
12 Crystal Castles – II
11 Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
10 Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
09 Wild Nothing – Gemini
08 Antony & The Johnsons – Swanlights
07 Vampire Weekend – Contra
06 Sleigh Bells – Treats
05 Robyn – Body Talk
04 Sufjan Stevens – The Age Of Adz
03 Beach House – Teen Dream
02 Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
01 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
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Here’s that list in more copy/paste friendly format so you can post on your LiveJournal:
50 Emeralds – Does It Look Like I Am Here?
49 Small Black – New Chain
48 Sharon Van Etten – Epic
47 Baths – Cerulean
46 Frank (Just Frank) – The Brutal Wave
45 Perfume Genius – Learning
44 Field Music – Field Music (Measure)
43 Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
42 Lower Dens – Twin-Hand Movement
41 Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal
40 Glasser – Ring
39 Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner
38 Avey Tare – Down There
37 jj – jj nº3
36 the morning benders – Big Echo
35 Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
34 Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
33 MGMT – Congratulations
32 Twin Shadow – Forget
31 Warpaint – The Fool
30 Das Racist – Shut Up, Dude
29 Matthew Dear – Black City
28 Delorean – Subiza
27 Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
26 Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
25 ceo – White Magic
24 Tamaryn – The Waves
23 SALEM – King Night
22 Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
21 Liars – Sisterworld
20 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
19 Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
18 Abe Vigoda – Crush
17 Owen Pallett – Heartland
16 The National – High Violet
15 The-Dream – Love King
14 Yeasayer – Odd Blood
13 LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
12 Crystal Castles – II
11 Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
10 Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
09 Wild Nothing – Gemini
08 Antony & The Johnsons – Swanlights
07 Vampire Weekend – Contra
06 Sleigh Bells – Treats
05 Robyn – Body Talk
04 Sufjan Stevens – The Age Of Adz
03 Beach House – Teen Dream
02 Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
01 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
//
Coming up with the Stereogum list meant leaving out some personal favorites of our four staff members, so here are each of our HONORABLE MENTIONS:
SCOTT
01 S. Carey – All We Grow
02 Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit
03 Best Coast – Crazy For YouAMRIT
01 Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise
02 Earl Sweatshirt – EARL
3a PVT – Church With No Magic
3b Weekend – Sports
3c ARP – The Soft WaveBRANDON
01 Sun City Girls – Funeral Mariachi
02 Daniel Higgs – Say God
3a M.I.A. – /\/\/\Y/\
3b Blessure Grave – Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
3c The Dead C – PatienceJESSICA
01 Scout Niblett – The Calcination Of Scout Niblett
02 Drake – Thank Me Later
03 Wolf Parade – Expo ’86
//
And as mentioned in the intro, we decided to do EPs as a separate list — because, really, as we started compiling our individual staff lists we released 2010 generated more amazing EPs than any year in our collective recent memory.
STEREOGUM’S TOP 15 EPS OF 2010
15 Blondes – Touched
14 Laurel Halo – King Felix
13 Kingdom – Mind Reader
12 Gatekeeper – Giza
11 Janka Nabay – Bubu King
10 Lemonade – Pure Moods
09 Tanlines – Settings
08 oOoOO – oOoOO
07 Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People
06 Games – Everything Is Working
05 Balam Acab – See Birds
04 Girls – Broken Dreams Club
03 Twin Sister – Color Your Life
02 James Blake – CMYK
01 Zola Jesus – Stridulum
THE GUMMY AWARDS
Finally, remember the Gummy Awards? This would’ve been their fifth year, but we realized too late that the code to build it was swallowed when we moved to WordPress earlier this year. So this is a modified Gummys, because we still want to know what you think. Fill out these fields by Friday 12/17 at 6 PM EST and we’ll post the rankings soon after. We won’t use your e-mail address (no spam-o) to do anything other than pick one voter at random to receive a Wavves grinder (i.e., the perfect stocking stuffer).
