The Late, Great Songs of 2010
Before the onset of year-end reminiscences, here’s one last roundup of fabulous new songs. These last two months of the year, with the exception of the November blockbusters (Rihanna, Kanye West), are typically light on new music, so it’s an ideal time to catch up and find something lovely.
As usual, I find I barely have the time or the money (and sometimes neither) to even keep up with the albums I already know I want to hear before they’re released (The Posies and Superchunk and Corin Tucker, we’ll rendezvous yet), leaving absolutely no time or money to search out things that might comfortably inhabit my wheelhouse under slightly different conditions (most hip-hop, electronic music, music not in the English language, etc.). And yet, these are all good…
Owen Pallett – “A Man With No Ankles” (from A Swedish Love Story EP)
Presumptive artist of the year continues to embarrass us all with his talent.
Deerhunter – “Helicopter” (from Halcyon Digest)
Panda Bear – “You Can Count On Me” (7”)
I think I heard this on my broadband radio the other night when I picked up a faint signal from an African missionary church.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow – “Sigh, Inhibitionist (Come All Day With Me)” (from Autumn, Again)
Mere outtakes? Even if so, that would mean the songs on freely downloadable new album Autumn, Again are outtakes from last year’s best album Ashes Grammar, and therefore nothing to scoff at. This band’s process is mysterious, but it seems that what they leave on the cutting room floor is just as likely to add up to something spectacular.
Belle & Sebastian – “Come On Sister” (from Write About Love)
Some find they’ve reached a comfortable middle age, but this band never fails to charm me in new ways and sell themselves as the youngest kids on the block.
Fight Bite – “Petrified”
You know that we are living in an ethereal world, but this band is even more committed to turning that world into music than most.
The Twilight Sad – “The Wrong Car” (12”)
They just never stop aiming bigger, more cathartic. I don’t think it will make them famous (they never go full-tilt overblown), but it does demonstrate astonishing courage.
Engineers – “Twenty Paces” (from In Praise Of More)
A new album so soon after last year’s epic Three Fact Fader? It turns out that record was long delayed after the band’s label went kaput, so the new In Praise Of More is not a sequel, but a natural evolution (jazzy drumming on “Twenty Paces,” etc.), with new full-time member Ulrich Schnauss!
Times New Viking – “No Room To Live” (7”)
What did we first love best about this band: the noise, the production, the tunes? It’s looking like the former was never a crucial component.
Phil Wilson – “I Own It” (7”)
If you stick around long enough, you’ll end up the contemporary of the bands you influenced. This Slumberland Records single by the former June Brides leader is fine complementary listening with the new Belle and Sebastian. And don’t stop there! Head to the Slumberland website, sample their new releases (don’t miss the return of Crystal Stilts!), and fail, time and again, to be the least bit disappointed.
