Not so much a quantum leap as a mild stutter as HGWTY wakes up after a brief nap to find we have moved on 3 years from the last thread to a critical review of 2010.
A reminder of the premise of the thread
After a number of days of posting and reminiscing, we’ll be rating the music of the year out of ten, based on the albums, singles, gigs, whatever that stand out for you that year, and voting for our favourite nominated albums and songs.
Everyone can nominate one album and one song from the year which will then be collated into side-polls two days before the thread closes - please make it clear when you post a nomination for the poll (as opposed to just posting clips or lists of songs and albums you like, which are very welcome).
Leaderboard
Rank
Year
Rating
Top Album
Top Song
1
1991
8.98
Slint - Spiderland
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
2
1997
8.6
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
3
1967
8.48
Love - Forever Changes
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning
4
1992
8.29
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
Pulp - Babies
4
2013
8.29
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street
6
2019
8.14
Self Esteem - Compliments Please
Big Thief - Not
7
1975
8.13
Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night / Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer
7
2007
8.13
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver / Radiohead - In Rainbows
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends / M.I.A. - Paper Planes
9
2004
8.1
Madvillain - Madvillainy / Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Walkmen - The Rat
10
1981
8.06
The Cure - Faith
New Order - Ceremony
11
1982
7.76
The Cure - Pornography / Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding / The Associates - Party Fears Two
2010 was the year air travel across Europe was grounded by an ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano , Kathryn Bigelow became the first female winner of the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was recorded referring to a member of the public as “some bigoted woman,” BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, sank and created the largest marine oil spill in history and Paul Gascoigne took a can of lager, some chicken, a fishing rod, a Newcastle shirt and a dressing gown to on-the-run multiple murderer Raoul Moat after a bracing fourteen lines of coke.
Leslie Nielsen, Alexander McQueen, Dennis Hopper, Gary Coleman, Tony Curtis, Lynn Redgrave and J.D. Salinger all died this year.
How good was the music?
You have until Friday 9th September to nominate one album and one song which will then go into a poll along with a number rating poll for year overall out of 10, which will close on Monday 12th.
Three absolutely amazing albums vying for my nomination. I’m going to leave them unnamed for now while I ponder and re-listen and hope that in the interim at least two of them get nominated.
In the meantime:
Nominate song: Jessica Lea Mayfield - Our Hearts Are Wrong
Think 2010 was probably the last year where I felt I was totally plugged in to what was going on around me at the time. Might have even done a top 100 for 2010 for a music blog (remember them??) which I might try and dig out later.
Anyway, Album nomination is Sun Araw - On Patrol, no question - absolute all timer for me
Song of the year is also really easy. At the risk of splitting the Joanna Newsom vote - Joanna Newsom - Go Long. Think it’s her best song, which is really, really saying something
Got a clear cut choice for album and song but gonna hold off to see if someone else nominates them first.
In the meantime, candidates for 2nd and 3rd album on the list:
Autolux — Transit Transit
The Soft Moon — The Soft Moon
The Naked and the Famous — Pass Me, Aggressive You
LCD Soundsystem — This is Happening
The Radio Dept. — Clinging to a Scheme
Los Campesinos — Romance is Boring
BRMC — Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Far too many songs. Will have to come back to this one.
The first thing I think of when it comes to 2010 is Titus Andronicus’s The Monitor. I was OBSESSED with it, maybe the most temporarily obsessed I’ve ever been with an album. I still think it’s great but a lot of its impact has burnt away with time. Maybe it was the ultimate right time, right place album.
Albums I LOVED at the time:
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
The National - High Violet
Wolf Parade - Expo 86
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Aside from a few of the peaks I’ve gone off The Suburbs pretty hard. Haven’t listened to it in years and the idea of sitting through it seems like an ordeal.
Albums I liked at the time:
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Woods - At Echo Lake
Swans - My Father Will Guie Me Up a Rope Into the Sky
Deftones is the only one I still listen to (and whose stock has risen over the past couple years). Should probably revisit Woods, I remember it being a nice album.
Great albums and good albums I discovered much later
Wavves - King of the Beach
Alcest - Écailles de Lune
Tamaryn - The Waves
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Eluvium - Similes
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here?
Beach House - Teen Dream
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme
Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Still need to think about nominations, but High Violet feels like the longterm AOTY.
loads of awesome midwest revival emo/ screamo albums coming in on the fourth wave like Youthpictures…, everyone everywhere, joie de vivre, cstvt, midwest pen pals, merchant ships and lastly but first for me with its post hardcore edge Caravels.
nominate album - caravels - floorboards
Lots of great and differing electronica too with the likes of Active Child, Former Ghosts and Fitzsimmons curious little foray in to the field sitting atop the pile.
gotta be one of the best debut ep’s oat - Active Child - Curtis Lane
plus there’s lots of little one off tracks that I love like Ceschi’s anthemic hip hop half mast
and the sublime (with it’s chiptune can be beautiful intro) actually nominate track -
Massive year for a branch of electronic/dance I still adore with all timers from Four Tet, Caribou, Bonobo, Pantha du Prince, Hot Chip, Radio Dept & Emeralds. So in that vein:
