2010: The final countdown

The first year of any new decade, though not necessarily a definition of the decade (that usually belongs to the third or fourth year), is usually filled with experimentation and innovation. Take 1990, for example, with Jane’s Addiction’s “Ritual de lo Habitual,” Sonic Youth’s “Goo,” Pixies’ “Bossanova” and MC Hammer’s “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em”; or 2000, with Radiohead’s “Kid A,” Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” or Yo La Tengo’s “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out.” Possibly with the exception of Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (overrated, IMHO), there was nothing really game-changing about 2010. Well, there was “My World 2.0” by Bieber, but really, next generation — do you want to be remembered for Bieber?

 Maybe I expected too much from 2010.

 So here’s my list and it’s an okay list, but hopefully a pretty forgettable one when the decade is reviewed. I usually write these intros after I’ve jotted down the top 10, and surprisingly there’s a running theme in all of the albums here. Also, if I’m proud of anything it’s the fact that only one artist this year is actually featured in any of the other ‘00s lists, but even that is misleading considering that half this list belongs to ‘90s acts and the other half to ‘00s acts I wasn’t really in love with yet. So out with the old and in with the... old.

 10. Gorillaz – “Plastic Beach”

Almost didn’t make this list, but after seeing them live I’d have to be a complete moron not to give this album props. “Plastic Beach” is stadium rock for the new millennium — something epic and ambitious and more than just music. Opening with an instrumental reminiscent of ‘60s movie scores, it suddenly turns kinetic as Snoop Dogg welcomes us to the world of the Plastic Beach. The rest of album is like that: a rollercoaster ride, a story more felt than told. Being a virtual “band,” they can get anyone to collaborate with them, and with Lou Reed, Bobby Womack, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, De La Soul, two-thirds of The Clash, Little Dragon, Mos Def and Mark E. Smith joining the fray, this is Gorillaz’ best album to date. Most impressive is Damon Albarn himself, who comes off as more of a mad conductor, getting all these brilliant musicians from different backgrounds into making beautiful music with them. I can’t think of anyone else currently working who’s gone as far creatively as he has.

9. The Bird and The Bee - “Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1 - A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates”

I never put cover albums on these list, but The Bird and The Bee’s tribute to Hall and Oates is so heartfelt and earnest that it deserves a place on the top 10. The electropop duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin developed because of their mutual love for jazz music, and it’s refreshing how they remake Hall and Oates’ classics like Private Eyes and Kiss On My List. Sometimes the covers are so good, as in Sara Smile, that their version sounds better than the original. My obsession with “Yacht Rock” this year was born from a need to hear raw emotion in music again, something that is sorely lacking in today’s ironic hipster world. The Bird and The Bee took my love for Yacht Rock and proved that music like that could exist today, and for that I am eternally grateful.

8. Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”

I’m not an Arcade Fire fan. I’ve come to love many of the songs from their classic album “Funeral” (but only when they’re being used in movie trailers). I still find them overrated, and don’t see how they can bring music fans to tears. Enter “The Suburbs,” which I almost gave up after the first listen. But I have this thing where I can’t stop listening to an album once I’ve started it, and with 16 songs the band’s latest venture wasn’t an easy listen. What I love most about this album is that at long last Arcade Fire sounds like a proper rock band, not a weird traveling circus or a perverse gospel choir.

7. The National – “High Violet”

Scaling Mount Awesome: “Mount Wittenberg Orca”, a way-cool Bjork-Dirty Projectors collaboration.

I’m coming into The National fan club a late bloomer. I’d previously disliked Matt Berninger’s voice — how it reminded me so much of ‘80s Jersey blue collar rock like Springsteen or Billy Joel. Now I can’t get enough of it. There is a sincerity in that voice, a depth that makes whatever Berninger sings seem like the most important thing in the world. Even in the inane Conversation 16, where he croons “I was afraid I’d eat your brains, ‘cause “iiiiiii’m evil.” one can’t help but feel the perturbation in the protagonist’s voice that he could, eventually, turn into a zombie. It says something that Lemonworld, one of my favorite songs of the year, has a chorus that goes “You and your sister live in a lemonworld; doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,” and yet never fails to emotionally engage me every single time.

6. Hannah + Gabi – “haha yes”

This solo project, named after a Lemonheads track, is filled with songs about longing, escape, and building a new room. It’s clear now why Ciudad’s Amistoso had to do it by himself; these songs are too solemn for his band’s signature instrumental jams. Unlike Ciudad’s debut, it’s about love that comes after much pain and hesitation. The product is Mikey’s most honest work. If I have any complaints, it’s that the album is too short because I wish it didn’t have to end.

5. Spoon – “Transference”

I always look forward to Spoon albums, and even though they never make my Top 3 they are my most consistent band of the last decade. The tradition continues with “Transference,” which is not as fantastic as the five albums that preceded it, but is steady and reliable. Like previous albums, it significantly differs from the last, which is pretty admirable considering how big “Ga ga ga ga ga” got. Their song Mystery Zone feels almost stream-of-consciousness, and lulls you into a trance before Who Makes your Money? comes out of nowhere for the kill. The album is filled with such paradoxes, like when Britt Daniels turns all tender on Out Go The Lights only to segue into Got Nuffin, one of the most badass songs the band has ever made. We’ll never really know what Spoon has in store for us next, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting.

Puppies and violence: Both employed in last year’s best videos, from M.I.A. and OK Go.

4. Massive Attack – “Heligoland”

I don’t think anyone else really liked this album, but just to hear two-thirds of the original group back in action is cause enough for celebration. Sure, they sound tired and have totally lost the edge that made them one of the most important bands of the ‘90s, but everyone mellows out, and “Heligoland” is a Helofalotbetter (bad joke?) than the sonic abortion that was “100th Window.” They’ve got better collaborators, for one thing. The album feels like an informal tribute to some of the ‘90s most underrated talents, featuring vocals by Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval on the album’s best track, Paradise Circus, Tricky’s Martina Topley-Bird on Babel and Psyche, and Damon Albarn (well, he was kinda overrated in the ‘90s) on Saturday Come Slow. Elbow’s Guy Garvey and TV on The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe also contribute, but nothing gives that kilig feeling more than Splitting the Atom, where after more than ten years we can actually hear Daddy G, 3D and Horace Andy sing on one song again.

3. The Roots – “How I Got Over”

Much has been said about Kanye West’s “Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” but for me the biggest hip-hop achievement of 2010 is The Roots’ “How I Got Over” for one simple reason: it got soul. It’s the sort of album that works great both as wallpaper and as something to groove to while driving late at night. Also, the collaborators are actually as impressive as Kanye’s, as they include people like Monsters of Folk and Joanna Newsom. The honesty is also welcome respite to, you know, whipping one’s hair back and forth.

2. LCD Soundsystem – “This Is Happening”

Old faithful: Spoon and Massive Attack—Notable acts that are still at it.

LCD Soundsystem, a.k.a. James Murphy, is another artist I’m not a big fan of, but “This is Happening” is so f**king happening that I’d be deaf not to take notice. The album begins with nothing but voice, single notes, some percussion and a cowbell. It ends similarly, but by the time you reach its final track, you’ll feel like you’ve gone through a major journey. This was supposed to be Murphy’s swansong, and you can feel bitterness and surrender in songs such as You Wanted A Hit and Drunk Girls, or loneliness despite the success in tracks like I Can Change and All I Want. In the end, we go back to the opening track Dance Yrself Clean, where Murphy presents a simple, obvious solution: just dance yourself clean. I’ve always wondered what dance acts would be like when they turned old, and if any of them age like Murphy has, music will be the better for it.

1. Foals – “Total Life Forever”

Now that dancepunk has finally gone out of style, there’s a mix of amusement and pity watching its chosen sons change or die. Some, like Bloc Party and The Killers, were able to achieve success by shifting to a different genre (i.e. crap). Others, like Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads, have faded so much that it actually took me two minutes before I could remember and type down the latter’s name. And then there is the latecomer Foals, whose debut I applauded because of its brilliance but easily dismissed because I knew the end was coming. Man, was I wrong. “Total Life Forever” finally did what no other band was able to accomplish — take dancepunk and make it evolve beyond the noughties. The secret is actually the running thread in this year’s list: RAW, EMOTIONAL HONESTY. This is felt everywhere from the opening echoes of Blue Blood to their indirect tribute to The Lemonheads’ Into Your Arms in the title track. Everything comes together perfectly with Spanish Sahara, an epic seven-minute long masterpiece that, one day, had me stand in the center of my room, close my eyes, and bob my head up and down for seven minutes straight. That’s right folks. Raw emotional honesty.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: I’ve missed Superchunk so much, and it’s nice to see one of my ‘90s favorites come back, still rocking, with “Majesty Shredding.” Darwin Deez makes really fun unpretentious music for hipsters, and speaking of hipsters and debuts this year’s personal favorite is Sleigh Bells’ “Treats.” We also have “Forgiveness Rock Record” by Broken Social Scene, which is a great listen but a shadow nonetheless of what BSS used to be. Formerly Final Fantasy and now simply Owen Pallett’s “Heartland” is packed with great songs, but hard to listen to as an album. Finally, there’s “The Big Echo” by The Morning Benders, which is amazing and could be a grower.

BEST EP: Hands down, “Mount Wittenberg Orca,” a collaboration between... get ready for this... Bjork and Dirty Projectors! You have two of the weirdest singing motherf**kers in modern music doing a project together, and it is mind-blowing.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY SINGLES (from albums not on the list): Broken Social Scene’s All to All, Ben Folds and Nick Hornby’s Password, Daft Punk’s The Game Has Changed from Tron: Legacy, Darwin Deez’s Radar Detector, Kaki King’s Falling Day, Kanye West’s Power, Minus The Bear’s Excuses, The Morning Benders’ Promises, Superchunk’s My Gap Feels Weird, Versus’s Invincible Hero, and Sleigh Bells’ Rill Rill.

DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR: The ‘90s are truly dead, and two albums not even worth a footnote are the return of Hole and Liz Phair’s supposed comeback. I’d say MGMT’s “Congratulations” was a disappointment, but I knew that even before they recorded it that it would just be a pretentious mess.

Music Videos

(aka SIGE NA GAMITIN NYO NA ‘TONG MGA ‘TO BILANG PEGS SA MGA VIDEO NYO): 2010 was a bad year for music videos, and nothing was truly groundbreaking. Gotta give props to OK Go, though, for their consistency. Their promos for White Knuckles and This Too Shall Pass did not disappoint. Dougal Wilson always makes visually stunning videos, and so does Massive Attack. It’s epic watching these two finally work together, and the resulting video for Psyche is cute and disturbing at the same time. Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness vid by Megaforce is really cool, but a bit too Gondryesque. For lack of good material this year, the video makes it to the list. Same goes for Klaxons Twin Flames, which is notable if only for how f**ked up it is. And M.I.A. (known for great songs but really sucky videos) surprised that her only significant contribution to music this year was the video for Born Free, directed by Romain Gavras (whose first film I can’t wait to watch).