This week, the BZNZmen will be bringing you their list of the best albums of 2010.
#24
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise
JESSE: My beef with a lot of electronic music is how compact and tight it feels. There isn't much of an environment created, and it often leaves me feeling very claustrophobic after the initial head-bobbing. Here, Hendrik Weber really creates his own world of sonic back-, middle-, and foreground. The album name gets it right, and even the album art is extremely appropriate. The overall feeling of each track is just huge. While being pretty minimalist and containing very ambient elements, it has the appeal of being consistently catchy. I'd never listened to Pantha Du Prince before this album dropped, but Rough Trade had ads up for this on TinyMixTapes for months on end, so i eventually decided to grab it, and it was at worth it. Music ambient enough you could have sit as background music, while simultaenously being groovy enough to awkwardly dance to with compadres.
Pantha Du Prince - "Abglanz"
Pantha Du Prince - "Welt Am Draht"
#23
Guido - Anidea
TK: First thing, if you're even remotely a nerd you immediately recognize the album cover to Guido's Anidea. It's Final Fantasy X (not my favorite in the series but still solid) and this makes sense because Guido draws a lot of inspiration from video-game soundtracks. While you're not going to hear anything remotely close to something Nobuo Uematsu might do, you can definitely hear the influence (at least I can). Throw out the two vocal tracks and you're left with a really impressive debut album. What I find great about this album is that a lot of the instruments sound down right cheesy but Guido's effective arrangements make it all somehow work, turing into something like guilty pleasure music but I don't know how guilty I actually feel. I could see this futuristic R&B music as a soundtrack to some revision of a space opera anime from the 70's. You're well on your way Guido.
Guido - "Mad Sax"
Guido - Shades of Blue
#22
Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers
NASTY K: I'm not sure this album was better than Mount Kimbie's first two EPs, Maybes and Sketches on Glass, both of which are credited with ushering in "post-dubstep", or whatever they are calling this genre. I don't know that this album has any tracks as good as "50 Mile View" or "Maybes". That said, I think Mount Kimbie shows great potential, and I'm excited to follow their progress. I might be more inclined to reach for Gold Panda's Lucky Shiner over this album. Much of it sounds similar to efforts from Burial, like his eponymous debut album, and even some of the wide open dark tracks from Untrue. Mount Kimbie is cool, just grab their EPs before this joint.
JESSE: Agreed. The EPs got me super hyped for Mount Kimbie, specifically the tracks Maybes, as K mentioned, and At Least, when I snagged them this spring. There are aspects of the EPs that I miss on Crooks & Lovers, but they focus on some elements that are really nice. I think the label post-dubstep is more applicable to the EPs, while here they go more minimalist and replace the synth sounds with the sampling of real instrumental sounds with added echo. Before I Move Off is an excellent example. The high-pitched vocals are here, the electro blips and beeps are still there, but the overall feel of the track is much more organic overall. That permeates the whole album. It'll be interesting to see where they go next.
Mount Kimbie - "Maybes"
Mount Kimbie - "50 Mile View"
#21
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
JESSE: I haven't spent much time with it, but I think the overall synth sound is a welcome breath of fresh air. Just another piece of evidence that Damon Albarn is still one of the brightest musicians of modern music history (Even Democrazy wasn't as horrible as people made it out to be).
#20
Avey Tare - Down There
NASTY K: It's nice to see an often overlooked member of a major band step out and do something really solid. Not in a Philip Selway kind of way, either. While much of the focus has been on Panda Bear's solo career (and thankfully, now that Deakin has appeared to hang up his solo act for a minute), it's refreshing to hear what that other member of Animal Collective is up to. Jesse loved "Oliver Twist", and so do I. "3 Umbrellas" is a fun track, and "Lucky 1" has some really unique textural stuff.
JESSE: This was a grower for me (chubs4u?), but it's become a really infectious album. It's not long, but there's a lot of depth here. Dude's been going through some emotional times as of late, and the warm vibe of MPP isn't present. Not surprisingly, it sounds sort of like darker, older Animal Collective that's more accessible than Spirited-era songs (but pre-tribal freakout jams a la Here Comes The Indian), and a more polished Terrestrial Tones without some of the noise that Eric Copeland contributes. It's not Person Pitch, nor is it trying to be. It's solid, abstract pop jams, with a heavy use of effects that add to rather than detract from Avey Tare's vocals. In addition to the above mentioned tracks, Ghost of Books is one of my favorite songs of the year. Let's all put on our alligator masks, grab our drum machines and synthesizers, and party at the swamp.
Avey Tare - "3 Umbrellas"
Avey Tare - "Lucky 1"
Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers
NASTY K: I'm not sure this album was better than Mount Kimbie's first two EPs, Maybes and Sketches on Glass, both of which are credited with ushering in "post-dubstep", or whatever they are calling this genre. I don't know that this album has any tracks as good as "50 Mile View" or "Maybes". That said, I think Mount Kimbie shows great potential, and I'm excited to follow their progress. I might be more inclined to reach for Gold Panda's Lucky Shiner over this album. Much of it sounds similar to efforts from Burial, like his eponymous debut album, and even some of the wide open dark tracks from Untrue. Mount Kimbie is cool, just grab their EPs before this joint.
JESSE: Agreed. The EPs got me super hyped for Mount Kimbie, specifically the tracks Maybes, as K mentioned, and At Least, when I snagged them this spring. There are aspects of the EPs that I miss on Crooks & Lovers, but they focus on some elements that are really nice. I think the label post-dubstep is more applicable to the EPs, while here they go more minimalist and replace the synth sounds with the sampling of real instrumental sounds with added echo. Before I Move Off is an excellent example. The high-pitched vocals are here, the electro blips and beeps are still there, but the overall feel of the track is much more organic overall. That permeates the whole album. It'll be interesting to see where they go next.
Mount Kimbie - "Maybes"
Mount Kimbie - "50 Mile View"
#21
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
RAJ: The latest Gorillaz album found Damon Albarn jettisoning mega-producers like Danger Mouse and handling all the production work himself, and you can hear the difference immediately. Plastic Beach sounds cheaper than the last two Gorillaz albums – the bass-line on “Stylo” doesn’t have that “Feel Good, Inc.” kind of sheen, the synths of “On Melancholy Hill” are chintzy 80s versions of what you’d find on something like “Dirty Harry”, none of the drums ever hit as hard as “Tomorrow Comes Today”, etcera, etcera. But production gloss is thoroughly unimportant if your songwriting is good enough, and having more control seems to have revitalized Albarn’s melody-crafting instincts. Surprisingly, then, Plastic Beach is not just the best album that Gorillaz has made, it’s the best album that Albarn’s been involved with since the final Blur album.
Plastic Beach is as eclectic as the albums that preceded it, but the main emphasis has moved away from “Adult Swim”-rap towards lush synth-pop. For the first time in years, Albarn isn’t the noble Chinese-opera-writing, “Mali Music”-making adventurer into foreign sonic territory but the pop star in his comfort zone - Blur did a little dabbling in synth-pop, after all. The result is that the songs are more inventive and satisfying (like acoustic-ballad-turned-electro-stomper “Empire Ants” and “Stylo”, a disco single infused with Bobby Womack’s raw soul) and even the more bizarre collaborators fit in seamlessly (it’s no small feat to make Lou Reed sound comfortable on a electronic pop track). Maybe the biggest surprise, though, is how good of a pure hip-hop producer Albarn turns out to be on his own – the mind-blowing “Sweepstakes” finds Mos Def running Albarn’s gauntlet of ever-shifting drum patterns, squiggly glitches, and disorienting marching-band intrusions. Albarn turns out to be as progressive a hip-hop producer as most of your weed-smoking Stone's-Throw-ers - it’s enough to make you wish for an Albarn-produced-only hip-hop album instead of a new Blur album. Ha ha, just kidding. Please for the love of god make a new Blur album.
NASTY K: To be honest, the synth pop aspect really threw me off. I didn't much care for "Stylo", as the really repetitive beat caused me to lose interest. I guess both the eclecticism and the length of the album came off as lacking focus to me, so I didn't spend so much time with this release, but I didn't take specific issue with it either. I thought Demon Days was and is a critically underrated album, but nothing here grabbed me in that same way. I'm not sure if moving the emphasis away from so-called "Adult Swim-style" really makes sense either, especially for the self-proclaimed world's first cartoon band. Ditch the weird synths and bring us back to the killer guest verses from folks like De La Soul and Del the Funkee Homosapien, kthx.
Plastic Beach is as eclectic as the albums that preceded it, but the main emphasis has moved away from “Adult Swim”-rap towards lush synth-pop. For the first time in years, Albarn isn’t the noble Chinese-opera-writing, “Mali Music”-making adventurer into foreign sonic territory but the pop star in his comfort zone - Blur did a little dabbling in synth-pop, after all. The result is that the songs are more inventive and satisfying (like acoustic-ballad-turned-electro-stomper “Empire Ants” and “Stylo”, a disco single infused with Bobby Womack’s raw soul) and even the more bizarre collaborators fit in seamlessly (it’s no small feat to make Lou Reed sound comfortable on a electronic pop track). Maybe the biggest surprise, though, is how good of a pure hip-hop producer Albarn turns out to be on his own – the mind-blowing “Sweepstakes” finds Mos Def running Albarn’s gauntlet of ever-shifting drum patterns, squiggly glitches, and disorienting marching-band intrusions. Albarn turns out to be as progressive a hip-hop producer as most of your weed-smoking Stone's-Throw-ers - it’s enough to make you wish for an Albarn-produced-only hip-hop album instead of a new Blur album. Ha ha, just kidding. Please for the love of god make a new Blur album.
NASTY K: To be honest, the synth pop aspect really threw me off. I didn't much care for "Stylo", as the really repetitive beat caused me to lose interest. I guess both the eclecticism and the length of the album came off as lacking focus to me, so I didn't spend so much time with this release, but I didn't take specific issue with it either. I thought Demon Days was and is a critically underrated album, but nothing here grabbed me in that same way. I'm not sure if moving the emphasis away from so-called "Adult Swim-style" really makes sense either, especially for the self-proclaimed world's first cartoon band. Ditch the weird synths and bring us back to the killer guest verses from folks like De La Soul and Del the Funkee Homosapien, kthx.
JESSE: I haven't spent much time with it, but I think the overall synth sound is a welcome breath of fresh air. Just another piece of evidence that Damon Albarn is still one of the brightest musicians of modern music history (Even Democrazy wasn't as horrible as people made it out to be).
Gorillaz - "Empire Ants"
Gorillaz - "Stylo"
#20
Avey Tare - Down There
NASTY K: It's nice to see an often overlooked member of a major band step out and do something really solid. Not in a Philip Selway kind of way, either. While much of the focus has been on Panda Bear's solo career (and thankfully, now that Deakin has appeared to hang up his solo act for a minute), it's refreshing to hear what that other member of Animal Collective is up to. Jesse loved "Oliver Twist", and so do I. "3 Umbrellas" is a fun track, and "Lucky 1" has some really unique textural stuff.
JESSE: This was a grower for me (chubs4u?), but it's become a really infectious album. It's not long, but there's a lot of depth here. Dude's been going through some emotional times as of late, and the warm vibe of MPP isn't present. Not surprisingly, it sounds sort of like darker, older Animal Collective that's more accessible than Spirited-era songs (but pre-tribal freakout jams a la Here Comes The Indian), and a more polished Terrestrial Tones without some of the noise that Eric Copeland contributes. It's not Person Pitch, nor is it trying to be. It's solid, abstract pop jams, with a heavy use of effects that add to rather than detract from Avey Tare's vocals. In addition to the above mentioned tracks, Ghost of Books is one of my favorite songs of the year. Let's all put on our alligator masks, grab our drum machines and synthesizers, and party at the swamp.
Avey Tare - "3 Umbrellas"
Avey Tare - "Lucky 1"
If only Albarn still had Graham Coxon's guitar skills at his disposal...imagine. Also did you hear that track Blur put it out this year, Fool's Day? Nothing revolutionary but it's still a pretty song.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Mayor" by Mount Kimbie, the best song they've made.
ReplyDeleteIf you're reading this, we love you Grahaaammmmmm
ReplyDeleteCoxon played on "Fool's Day", didn't he? THE ROAD IS CLEAR TO A BLUR REUNION FILLED WITH SUNSHINE AND PUPPIES.
ReplyDeleteAndy: lover of chillwave, hater of synthpop.
ReplyDeleteStylo is a crappy song, I'm sorry, and it's not a Gorillaz song. Too many guest spots, too long, not good.
ReplyDelete(also kanye west sucks)
ReplyDeletethat's coming before the week's end
ReplyDelete