Top 100 songs of 2010 : Page 2
There are 100 songs here which I’ve decided to split into three groups.
On this page are 50 rock n roll songs (including classic rock, blues rock, garage, synth rock, indie, shoegaze, folk pop, folk rock and Americana). On the linked page you will find 25 World Music songs and 25 Hip Hop, R&B and electronica songs.There’s a few songs which could have fitted into more than one grouping, but hopefully the split will help you to make sense of this incredibly diverse collection of sounds from around the globe. Please check out each of the 3 lists : they all contain something for everyone, and the music is consistently excellent.
Each song can be listened to on the page. The clickable links take you to the artists myspace pages, and to pages where you can buy or download the albums from which the tracks are taken.
ROCK N ROLL
Classic rock, blues rock, garage, synth rock, indie, shoegaze, folk pop, folk rock, Americana etc …
50 Reverend Deadeye – Drunk on Jesus (The Trials and Tribulations of) This song may sound like a skit, but it’s not. Denver’s Reverend Deadeye is the son of missionary parents, he’s lived a life that’s been rough and wild, and for him the connection between alcohol and salvation is real : “There is something about the bottom of the bottle – something about drinking the whole bottle – getting all the way down to the bottom; and the things that people think about there, and what it is to be Saved.”
49 Gill Landry – Big Jim’s Driveway (Piety & Desire)
I can’t say it better than his official bio : “Years ago, Gill Landry began performing as a busker on the streets of New Orleans. He took the name Frank Lemon and created the Kitchen Syncopators, inspired by the old country blues, jazz and songster music of the 20s and 30s. More recently, he’s played banjo and steel guitar for the Old Crow Medicine Show, but his solo releases have a vibe all their own … the lonely sound of solitary footsteps scuffing down a midnight street.”
48 Woven Bones – Your Way With My Life (In And Out and Back Again)
Listening to Woven Bones is like watching a shaky hand-held black and white film of rival gangs facing off inside a scummy basement . It feels dark, authentic and compelling. The drumming is raw and brutal, the fuzzed out guitars repetitive and unrelenting, and Andy Burr’s snarled vocals (with generous amounts of echo) are reminiscent of the Stooges and the Cramps.
47 Delorean – Stay Close (Subiza)
Blissful feelgood dance / indie rock crossover . It comes as a surprise to learn that Delorean hail from unfashionable Spain (the album is named after the Basque town where it was recorded).
46 White Hinterland – Icarus (Kairos)
A delicate shimmering piece of pop electronica, and a bit of a new direction for Casey Dienel, extending her range from the piano which she’d made great use of in her earlier releases, so she could create more musical textures.
45 Dutch – Pearls (Bright Cold Day)
Dutch is a collaboration between Stoupe, a hip hop producer and member of alternative hip hop band Jedi Mind Tricks, and vocalist and songwriter Liz Fullerton. The music has a trip hop vibe to it, with echoes of Portishead. Fullerton is planning to release a solo album in 2011.
44 J Edwards Band – Eatin’ at Lulu’s (Lulu’s House)
Very engaging food related track from the independent blues singer songwriter from South Carolina.
43 Elizabeth Cook – Heroin Addict Sister (Welder)
A country artist who writes songs about heroin ? Yes, but she also has a quality and an emotional honesty which gives her a much wider appeal than the outlaw country set. Like the greatest country singer songwriters, she brings all her life experience to her songs.
42 Scout Niblett – IBD (The Calcination of Scout Niblett)
It’s dark and intense and packed with anguish. It’s Scout Niblett, my January 2010 band of the month.
41 Fyfe Dangerfield – Barricades (Fly Yellow Moon)
This piano ballad is from the latest solo offering by the Guillemots front man who was my February 2010 band of the month. The Guillemots are still together and have an album coming out in early 2011.
40 The Gaslight Anthem – Old Haunts (American Slang)
They’re from New Jersey, and they sound very akin to Bruce Springsteen. The comparisons are inevitable; but as long as they keep making songs of this quality their fans won’t be too concerned.
39 The Drums – Me and the moon (The Drums)
Jangly upbeat indie pop
38 The Gaslamp Killer – When I’m in Awe (feat Gonjasufi) (Death Gate EP)
The promo for the LA producer’s latest release is almost as good as the music : “Five mind-bending tracks of unique Gaslamp beatology on a hyper-limited pic-sleeve10-inch. Mr MF GLK adopts the usual all-stops-pulled style to prescribe another dose of his patented anaesthetising brain-oil, blending extra-sub-low dubstep, hip hop, bolly, turk, gutterpunk, psyche-rock, and innumerable other lysergic ingredients, all mixed up in his crust-caked kitchen sink.”
37 Picastro – Split Head (Become Secret)
Dark unsettling music from the Toronto band. Acoustic guitar and cello interweave sublimely with Liz Hysen’s haunting vocals.
36 Bass drum of Death – Get Found (High School Roaches 7″ EP) http://www.babydont.blogspot.com/
If you love scuzzy lofi garage rock – as I do – then you’ll enjoy this band from Mississippi headed up by John Barrett.
35 Dirtblonde – Brooklyn (Free download, was available as a limited edition single)
Dirtblonde are a duo from Liverpool who make moody noise music. This year they got to perform at the big SXSW festival in Austin.
34 New Young Pony Club – Chaos (The Optimist)
This UK synthpop band is fronted by the strong, flamboyant Tahita Bulmer who’s an animal rights supporter. She says “Our influences are stuff like Talking Heads, Blondie and the Stranglers and more modern bands such as LCD Sound System and the Rapture.”
33 Peggy Sue – Yo Mama (Fossils and Other Phantoms)
The duo from Brighton had been beginning to make waves on the UK folk scene. Now Katy and Rosa have recruited a third band member, drummer Olly Joyce, and the band have developed a fuller more distinctive sound which you can hear on the 12 new songs that make up their debut full length album : songs which are soulful, which capture different moods, and which should appeal to fans of alt rock as much as to folkies.
32 Girobabies – Bank Charge (Social Not Working)
Where were all the anti-banker songs in 2010 ? Well here’s one from an emerging band who brilliantly articulate the disaffection of Glasgow’s poorer classes. Watch out for this band in 2011 : they marry together polemics and menacing beats in a way that few bands have done effectively since The Clash.
31 Museum of Bellas Artes – Watch the Glow (Days Ahead EP)
The debut release from the Swedish pop trio came out just last month. It’s funky, it’s melodic, and it’s pretty damn good.
30 Black Rebel Motorcyle Club – Beat the Devil’s tattoo (Beat the Devil’s tattoo)
From a largely disappointing album comes one of the great and memorable guitar riffs of the year.
29 Tift Merritt - Never talk about it (See you on the moon)
Heartrending song about the hidden things we never talk about. The elemental stripped back sound gives the song all the more poignancy.
“I just wanted to make a record with more grit and more open space,” Merritt elaborates. “The main thing that I was thinking about was that I just wanted to be very direct. And I just wanted to have, you know, as little ‘blah, blah’ and as much direct, real strength as I could. And I started that while I was writing. It was sort of a conversation that I was having with myself as I was writing, like: no angst, no extra stuff that doesn’t need to be there, just the elemental essentials.”
28 Delphic – Halcyon (Acolyte)
Spearheading the new wave of Manchester bands are Delphic, who released their debut album in January. The mix of electronic dance and indie rock is recognisably rooted in Manchester’s music culture, but the music is fresh and varied and full of great hooks.
27 The Fall – Bury! Pts 2 + 4 (Your Future Our Clutter)
It’s over 30 years since I first heard the dulcet tones of Mark E Smith, and it’s nothing short of extraordinary that (on what’s apparently The Fall’s 28th studio album) he still sounds as edgy and as riveting as ever.
26 I Am Kloot – Fingerprints (Sky at Night)
Critically acclaimed indie rock band from Manchester, whose Sky at Night album is still being streamed free on the Guardian music blog five months after its release. I love the subtle lyrics of this song.
25 Les Savy Fav – Let’s get out of here (Root For Ruin)
5 -piece band from New York City known as much for the bizarre onstage antics of their bearded frontman Tim Harrington as for their music – but make no mistake, this is a great guitar anthem reminiscent of fellow New Yorkers The Strokes.
24 Mary Gauthier -The Foundling (Foundling)
“I wrote my own adoption story in song, that I might know it. Simply put, I write that I might know. I’ve been told that the release of such a “dark” record was not advisable in these “uncertain times”, but I wasn’t in a position to dictate what kind of art I was going to make.
Having passed through pain and fear, my experience of sharing my journey with others has been life changing. I have come to realize that not only am I not alone in that there are other adoptees who understand what it feels like to be “falling through space”, and who know what it feels like to eventually dare to wonder out loud where they came from, and to finally acknowledge the need to look for their origins, only to be met with resistance, rejection, and state sanctioned closed birth records. Many of us have decided to become activists, to try and change the system, to work for changes in the laws so that all adoptee’s birth records are opened once and for all, and the horrors of closed system adoption might become a thing of the past.”
23 The Magic Numbers – Hurt so good (The Runaway)
English indie band with a bit of a laid back 60s vibe and lovely backing vocals on this track.
22 Warpaint – Baby (The Fool)
A song to lose yourself in … soothing and sensual. From the debut album by the all female band from LA.
21 Two Cow Garage – My Great Gatsby (Sweet Saint Me)
Powerful rock n roll music with great lyrics too – what more could you want. Heads up to the Nine Bullets blog for turning me on to this band from Columbus Ohio. Read their take on the album and download some of the tracks here.
20 Bethany Saint-Smith & The Black Oil Brothers – They Fall (American Honey EP)
And it’s thanks to the Big Rock Candy Mountain blog for introducing me to this wonderful album. And this is from an interview with Bethany Saint Smith on the Slowdivemusic blog : “Something about the blues you and I can talk about has moved so far beyond what the ghosts could call the Blues. Music and its core value has nearly disappeared, ask anyone who’s a musician under the age of thirty who’s making more than a million bucks a year. It’s my duty to call it and keep it how it is and should be. I feel it, it’s real, not taught or read. It’s something I sing and write, something I can call “ours.” “
19 Karen Lovely – Other Plans (Still the Rain)
Great ballad : most blues singers would kill to have material like this, and Lovely does it more than justice with her restrained powerful voice supported by some tasty sax playing.
18 Jaymay – Long Walk to Never (Long Walk to Never EP)
A delightful track – one minute 55 seconds of bliss – which has sunk almost without trace. Check this out from the Long Island singer songwriter – I guarantee that you won’t regret it.
17 The Steeldrivers – Ghosts of Mississippi (Reckless)
The Steeldrivers are a bunch of veteran musicians from Nashville who make driving, exciting bluegrass music. This is their second album. The excellent Nine Bullets blog has a review of the album and some free mp3s from it.
16 Meg Hutchinson – Hard to Change (The Living Side)
The theme of the song is summed up in the last couple of lines : “I can barely hear you over these machines. Turn them all off and tell me about your dreams.”. Hutchinson says “I grew up in the country without a TV or internet. There were so many quiet hours in the day. So many spaces between events. We have forgotten how to be alone in our thoughts. All the best work comes out of that rich stillness of waiting.”
15 Broken Bells – The High Road (Broken Bells)
Collaboration between James Mercer of the Shins and Danger Mouse, who was one half of Gnarls Barkley. The duo are planning to record a follow up album.
14 Gorillaz – Cloud of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and sinfonia ViVA (Plastic Beach)
Plastic Beach was one of the standout albums of the year : 16 totally unique tracks, full of invention and a range of exciting sounds. Of the many guest artists who featured, the one who stole the show was soul singer Bobby Womack who came out of retirement (on the recommendation of his daughter, not having heard of Damon Albarn before) to perform on two tracks.
13 Avi Buffalo – What’s In It For ? (Avi Buffalo)
Avi Buffalo are four kids from Long Beach California fresh out of high school, who’ve signed up to Sub Pop. Their breezy indiepop sound has won many admirers, but lead singer Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg (awesome name) says “next time I’d like to go a little more sparse, careful, kind of stripped-down stuff, clear the clutter. Space is one of the most awesome things. It’s a jolly, bright, jangly-sounding album and I like that, but I don’t necessarily want to stay there.”
12 Sun Kil Moon -Australian Winter (Admiral Fell Promises)
Beautiful acoustic guitar song from my August 2010 band of the month.
11 The Sunshine Underground – Coming to Save You (Nobody’s Coming to Save You)
From the consistently strong indie rock album by my March 2010 band of the month.
10 Sharon Van Etten – A Crime (Epic)
If her 2009 debut album was quiet, understated and melancolic, she is vocally and musically more assertive on her follow up, and this is just a great song – rugged and real but catchy and memorable.
http://soundcloud.com/sharonvanetten-1/01-a-crime
9 Angus & Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane (Down the Way)
My favourite song from the Australian brother-sister duo who were my April 2010 band of the month.
8 Grinderman – Heathen child (Grinderman2)
Grinderman is a band formed by the legendary Nick Cave. Pitchfork describes this, the first single from their 2nd album, as “swampy and bluesy and you may feel like you need a wash after listening to it”. I’d also say that it’s raw and primal.
7 Women - Drag Open (Public Strain)
The band from Calgary, Canada stand in a tradition that includes the Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth – mixing guitar sound with layers of noise and reverb and strong melodies.
6 The Stone Foxes – I Killed Robert Johnson (Bears & Bulls)
Foot stomping blues rock from the Bay Area four piece, and a song inspired by a tragic moment on blues history. My September 2010 band of the month.
5 Otis Gibbs – Something More (Joe Hill’s Ashes)
Another artist whom I came across via the Nine Bullets blog. From his official bio : “Some people refer to him as a folk artist, but that is a simplistic way to describe a man who has planted over 7,000 trees, slept in hobo jungles, walked with nomadic shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, been strip-searched by dirty cops in Detroit, and has an FBI file.” The album is pure golddust.
4 The Black Keys – Next Girl (Brothers)
Currently the best blues rock band on the planet ?
3 Girls – Broken Dreams Club (Broken Dreams Club EP)
They came in at #8 in my best songs of 2009. Then a couple of weeks ago they released a seven song EP, a taster for the next full length album which they’re going to start recording right away. Although Owens wrote some of the songs on the EP a few years ago, it still feels like the band are progressing fast. And the songs still drip with emotion.
2 No Age – Glitter (Everything in Between)
A lo fi indie rock gem from my October 2010 band of the month.
1 Tallest Man On Earth – Kids On the Run (The Wild Hunt)
Song of the year, no contest. It chills my spine every time I hear it. The tallest man on earth is Sultan Kösen from Turkey who is 8 foot 1; but the Tallest Man on Earth is the Dylanesque Swedish folk singer Kristian Matsson, and The Wild Hunt is his second full length album.
