The New Music

The halfway mark of 2010 is upon us, and so I feel it’s time to reflect on what I’m feeling are the best albums so far this year.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today [4AD]: Longstanding, loopy and lo-fi outcast currently being held responsible for inventing chilleave forms a proper band, goes mid-fi and creates a landmark work that’s equal parts soft, psych and art rock. Proof: “Round and Round”

Beach House Teen Dream [Sub Pop]: Baltimore boy/girl duo’s most sublime collection of comatose dream pop to date. Proof: “Zebra” 

Big Boi Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty [Def Jam]: OutKast’s more reserved and musical half breaks out of Andre 3000’s shadow and produces not just an album as vivid and out there as anything his group has released, but also the year’s best hip-hop album. Hands down. Proof: “Shutterbug”

 
Caribou Swim [Merge]: Dan Snaith won the Polaris Music Prize for 2007’s Andorra, but if I’m being honest here, this edges that album as his finest work, fusing every one of his expansive influences into one fluid, cohesive masterpiece. Proof: “Odessa”

ceo White Magic [Sincerely Yours]: Who knew that one half of The Tough Alliance could be just as effective as the duo? Well, obviously Eric Berglund, who matched TTA’s breezy, Balearic gold with an album equally as majestic. Proof: “Come With Me”

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles (II) [Last Gang]: The 8-bit/chiptune/electro punk shtick of their also self-titled debut album had all the signs of being a flash in the pan, but Toronto’s most notorious duo struck back with a sophomore effort that diversified and expanded. Most impressive is that Alice Glass can actually sing when she tries. Proof: “Celestica”

Delorean Subiza [True Panther Sounds]: One of the only Spanish acts I can think of followed up their debut EP with a full-length that recalls the brisk beach pop of The Tough Alliance’s A New Chance so closely they could pass for Swedes. Proof: “Stay Close”

Dom Sun Bronzed Greek Godz [Burning Mill]: His unbelievable personal story may overshadow the music, but damn, are his lo-fi pop symphonies ever catchy. If they didn’t sound like they had been recorded using broken speakers, this dude would be crashing the Hot 100. Proof: “Living in America”

The Drums The Drums [Moshi Moshi]: After making waves last year with their debut EP, Summertime! , Palm Beach’s The Drums seemed to have everything going for them: lifeguard good looks, a beachbound sound, whistling hooks and guitar pop ditties only The Smiths could out-jangle. So did their album live up to the promise? Click here for your answer. Proof: “Let’s Go Surfing”

Emeralds Does It Look Like I’m Here? [Editions Mego]: The trio from Cleveland eschew their DIY roots and release a proper album on a proper label that hones their loop-driven electronic droning to a stunning degree. Like Animal Collective without the rhythms, pop hooks and vocals, yet the euphoric trance still remains. Proof: “Candy Shoppe”

Flying Lotus Cosmogramma [Warp]: Steven Ellison exceeds expectations with a self-described “space opera” full of free jazz outbreaks and hysterical IDM that is so abstract and so enthralling that you hardly even notice Thom Yorke makes an appearance. Proof: “Recoiled”

Gorillaz Plastic Beach [EMI]: The cartoon band returned with yet another star-studded cast, but finally make a complete album of songs from beginning to end that justifies the whole concept. Proof: “Superfast Jellyfish”

Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III [Bad Boy]: Though so far superstardom has somehow evaded her (a true WTF moment if there ever was one), the pint-sized imaginary lovechild of James Brown and OutKast gave us an album so brilliantly imaginative and otherworldly it’s hard not to love that she’s still more underground than mainstream. For now… Proof: “Tightrope”

Javelin No Más [Luaka Bop]: Imagine one of those picturesque scenes of a scorching, hot summer day in Brooklyn/Harlem/Queens, with kids gleefully dancing on a city street with the fire hydrant gushing water. Javelin’s debut album is the aural equivalent of that. Proof: “Vibrationz”

Jónsi Go [XL]: Stepping out from behind worshipped band, the Sigur Rós frontman followed up a collaboration with his boyfriend with this sprawling opus. Originally intended as an introspective, acoustic album, he applied his band’s winning formula of poignantly uplifting anthems and created his own dizzying symphony. Proof: “Go Do”

LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening [DFA]: Whether it’s James Murphy’s final album as LCD Soundsystem or not, he’s once again proved no matter how much he denies it and thinks he’s losing his edge, he’s still at the forefront of cool. Proof: “Drunk Girls”

Lindstrøm & Christabelle Real Life Is No Cool [Smalltown Supersound]: Noted kosmiche producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm becomes the Giorgio Moroder studio wiz to Christabelle’s Diana Ross chanteuse. While that might seem like an impossible feat to achieve, the duo express a timeless, cosmic disco romance as dreamy and blissed out as it got in the mid-’70s. Proof: “Music in My Mind”

Lonelady Nerve Up [Warp]: Her name says everything: a lone lady from Manchester cooking up some deliciously minimal post-punk full of tasty ingredients like tension, melody, danceable rhythms, angular guitars and Factory Records-inspired production. Proof: “Immaterial”

Male Bonding Nothing Hurts [Sub Pop]: This London trio cleaned up their lo-fi act a little and hammered out this restless throwback to ’80s underground punk (y’know, the stuff that evolved into grunge) that not only lived up to their label’s roots but threw the ideal wedding to harmony and dissonance. Proof: “Year’s Not Long”

The Morning Benders Big Echo [Rough Trade]: While a Grizzly Bear influence most likely isn’t a direct result of having that band’s Chris Taylor produce their album, The Morning Benders sure found a way to use some of his skills to make a gleamingly pristine indie pop album. Proof: “Excuses”

The National High Violet [4AD]: With their fifth album, The National deservedly earned themselves the reputation of being indie rock’s most reliable band. While they can’t leave behind that meticulously produced brooding heaviness, Matt Berninger’s lines like “I was afraid, I’d eat your brains/’Cause I’m evil” show there is humour embedded within the melancholy. Proof: “Bloodbuzz Ohio”

The Radio Dept. Clinging To A Scheme [Labrador]: Being a cult band doesn’t often pay the bills. Judging by the sound of their third album, The Radio Dept. appeared to have received this memo, turning out not only their best work yet, but an album so strong (and dreamy) that all the right people actually listened to it. Proof: “Heaven’s On Fire”

Robyn Body Talk Pt. 1 [Konichiwa]: Once again, the Swedish firecracker proves she’s the shrewdest, hippest, most innovative person in pop music. And this is just the first of three parts! Proof: “Dancing On My Own”

Sleigh Bells Treats: The divide should have been way too much to stand, but putting candy-coated vocals over top of searing metallic riffs, pounding beats and a nagging lo-fi hiss worked like a charm for one of the year’s most blogged about new bands. Proof: “Rill Rill”

Surfer Blood Astro Coast [Kanine]: Despite the fact that none of the members actually surf, these Floridians found the perfect balance of fuzz, hooks and tropical vibes to lure anyone suffering from selachophobia to hit the waves (though maybe not if they see the album cover…). Proof: “Swim”

Titus Andronicus The Monitor [XL]: A concept album about the Civil War by a band who only know how to write caterwauling anthems that crash into elated sing-alongs? Make it 65 minutes and I’m sold. Proof: “A More Perfect Union”

Twin Sister Color Your Life [Infinite Best]: Musical compounds are lazy, but it’s damn near impossible not to simplify this Brooklyn band’s mini-album as the best bits of Stereolab, Cocteau Twins and Yo La Tengo. There, I said it… Proof: “All Around and Away We Go”

Vampire Weekend Contra [XL]: Their debut album may have turned Vampire Weekend into one of indie music’s biggest acts, but it also made them its most polarizing. Okay, okay, so the sophomore album may not have convinced all of the haters, but it did show that these Ivy League prepsters are rather brilliant songwriters that didn’t get lucky the first time around. Proof: “Giving Up the Gun”

Wild Nothing Gemini [Captured Tracks]: I hate to rest this entirely on one song, because Gemini as a whole is outstanding, but listen to “Chinatown” (my candidate for single of the year) and just try to disagree with me. Proof: “Chinatown”

Yeasayer Odd Blood [Secretly Canadian]: Yeasayer trusted their instincts that abandoning the feathery folk sound that made them successful in favour of flatulent synthesizers and spaced out pop music would be not only artistically gratifying but also more lucrative The gamble paid off and now look at them go! Proof: “Ambling Alp”

-Cam Lindsay