I’ve been challenged to list up some of my top songs of 2010. Here’s a quick rundown, in no particular order – and admittedly, only some of these are actual ‘2010 releases’:
Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See Land
I’ve been a big fan of theirs since I first heard ‘The Twist’ on an NPR podcast in mid-2008. Their lyrics are honest and always manage to hit interesting turns of phrase that are so apt and yet nothing I would have thought of (this in itself will usually take me 85% of the way to liking a band). The Scottish accent is just a nice plus.
Stars – Dead Hearts
Another band I’ve liked for a while, but I have to admit I hadn’t given their new album a fair listen yet, before they used this song on an episode of ‘Chuck’ and it stopped me in my tracks. (Incidentally, I would like to tip my hat to whoever makes the music selections for that show; it’s worlds ahead of most tv-show music programming).
Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Granted, Arcade Fire are going to be a predictable presence on a lot of music lists this year, but this song is my favourite from the album. It’s unexpectedly Heart-of-Glass-esque.
Mumford & Sons – Winter Winds
Squeaking under the wire for 2010, at least for me. I had heard of these guys here and there, but an enthusiastic recommendation from Stephen Stanley prompted me to finally get around to picking up their album three weeks ago.
The XX – Intro
I don’t really look back that fondly on my club-going, Cure-listening days in a lot of respects, but this song takes me back to all the bits that were good about those years.
Stephen Stanley – Things I Wish I’d Never Seen
Not actually released yet, so I had to go looking for a live performance video (which has a lot of audience chatter in it, sadly). Maybe it’ll come out in time for the recorded version to make it onto my list again in 2011…?
Cuff the Duke – Another Day in Purgatory
Another one where I could only find a live video to link to (although the song itself is available in recorded format in this case). The album version is only a hair over two minutes long, and I find myself setting it to repeat several times in a row. I suspect some people may get scared by the 'alt.country' tag and miss the glory of this band; their loss.
Julian Plenti – Unwind
With a big, bright, Beatles-y trumpet riff contrasting with the buzzy drone of the rest of the instruments, and lyrics that (while repetitive) read like something from the ‘stuff girls want to hear’ manual, this one became my default good-mood song of the year. And yes, Paul Banks, we know it’s you.
Crystal Castles (featuring Robert Smith) – Not in Love
I was browsing in Kensington Market this fall and heard this come on. No problem placing the voice, but the song sounded ever so familiar in that I-can’t-quite-place-it way; it wasn’t till the end that it hit me, and I had to announce to the entire shop that ‘Holy shit, this is Robert Smith doing Platinum Blonde!’ (Oh hi, grade 10, I see what you did there.)
Dan Mangan – Tina’s Glorious Comeback
This was a fortuitous one; I’d opted to take a chance on his album on the strength of one track (not this one) that I’d heard once or twice, and found a few standout songs that I liked better than the original one. This is just at the edge of almost being *too* earnestly twee for me, but not quite.
That’s ten, isn’t it? I’m sure I’ve missed something that I’m going to kick myself for, once this is posted, but the nature of lists is that they’re always incomplete and slightly BS. Let’s say it’s top-of-head stream-of-consciousness and call it good.
