10 Great Records from 2010

Atticus Morris
The Guardsman

Thanks to the Internet and the explosion in affordable digital recording technology, we live in an age of unparalleled abundance when it comes to music. Never have there been more people making more varieties of music that is more readily available.

I feel for the those who believe the best records have already been made, but I humbly suggest they search a little harder before making such pronouncements.

Here are 10 of my favorites from 2010:

Toro Y Moi – “Causers of This”
One of the best things to emerge from the unfortunately titled micro genre of “chillwave,” this is the aural equivalent of a cloudless summer day in lo-res. These, sun-drenched jams—characterized by day-glo synths, breezy harmonies and shuffling rhythms—have a pleasantly awkward DIY appeal. There’s this distinct ‘70s-public-broadcast quality to them, but it’s warped like vinyl left out in the sun.

Deerhunter – “Halcyon Digest”
Although frontman and mastermind Bradford Cox has long been revered by discerning ears for his song writing, much of his pop genius has been obscured (at least partially) by a fog of reverberating feedback and sonic experimentation. This time, all of the extraneous noise has been chipped away, leaving perfectly sculpted gems of garage-y indie pop. Almost every hook has been stuck in my head at one point or another.

Gonjasufi – “A Sufi & a Killer”
A hermetic recluse who dwells in the desolation of the Mojave Desert, Sufi channels his strong mystical inclinations—everything from Haile Selassie to the Bhagavad Gita to the already implied Sufism—through his music. To say this man is eclectic in his tastes would be an understatement. This is a lo-fi odyssey, which draws its inspiration from literally all over the map. Dusty hip-hop drums, American free-form jazz, pan-Asian world music and hard ‘60s psychedelia collide to form something unique, and surprisingly cohesive.

The Black Keys – “Brothers”
These two white guys have been making authentic sounding blues for a minute now. Not content with merely tapping the perennial strength of pop music’s ancestor, they deftly update its sound, adding flavors well outside the blues palette. They keep the vibe old school though, never for a second sacrificing what makes the blues “the blues”: its embodiment of the universal human experience of prevailing through hardship. This album is, essentially, more of the same, but when you do something really well, why change the recipe?

Holy Fuck – “Latin”
Contrary to what the name suggests, there’s nothing nothing Hispanic or tropical about this at all. In fact this band are a bunch of white guys from Toronto. The music is a study in aesthetic contrast. These sprawling tunes are full of kinetic attitude—chaotic jumbles of spacey electronics, guitar feedback, and droning noise leashed only by the metronomic precision of a vice-like rhythm section. Bordering on progressive rock in some places, while elsewhere straying into dance music, it remains a difficult (though thoroughly satisfying) sound to nail down.

Big Boi – “Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty”
It was a long time coming—three years of music-industry red tape to be exact—but the much-anticipated solo debut from half of hip-hop’s most creatively daring act, Outkast, finally dropped this summer. Even without the help of iconic cohort Andre 3000, Big Boi knocked this one clear out of the park. “Chico Dusty” neatly appropriates the best of 50-some-odd years of black music without ever sounding contrived or forced.

LCD Soundsystem – “This is Happening”
LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy is known for making dance music with the hedonistic excess of a rock star and this is probably his most fully realized album yet. The bombastic grooves—crafted by a full band using guitars, live drums, synthesizers and cow bells (always lots of cow bells)—are pushed clear over the edge by Murphy’s larger-than-life persona. This is as good of a party album as you’re likely to find.

Darkstar – “North”
If computers could write balladry, this record is probably what would emerge after a robot—awash in synthesized sorrow—finished pouring its circuit board out. Manifold layers of artificial instrumentation create dense and emotive sound-scapes, where despondent melodies weave together overlapping textures which stutter and glitch to a paranoid, and slightly disorienting, effect. The vocals—heavily processed until they routinely become granular and out of focus—are haunting.

The Books – “The Way Out”
These classically trained musicians build compositions with cello, guitar, electric bass and a cornucopia of weird, off-the-cuff sounds they’ve either sampled or recorded themselves. The result is a kaleidoscopic listening experience where shifting bits of advertisements, orchestral pieces or street ambiance revolve around some anchoring element(s) that could be a guitar riff, a reversed cello part or an 808 kick drum. Simply put, they are a genre unto themselves.

Baths – “Cerulean”
A sublime marriage of indie rock and electronic music, “Cerulean” whirs with razor sharp rhythms that merge and splinter, ricocheting through dreamy atmospheres. Synthesizers flutter and swell beneath falsetto harmonies, acoustic guitar and lots of piano. There’s a glut of artists right now attempting this type of synergy, with results that generally range from mediocre to God-awful. Baths makes it look effortless.

I could have made this list five or six times longer, but it’s already close to 900 words, so I’ll just reiterate there is tons of interesting music around at the moment.