It would be pretty difficult to argue that 2010 was a great year for music. The mainstream charts were typically repetitive, terrible songs such as ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ by Scouting For Girls, Owl City’s ‘Fireflies’ and ‘The Time (Dirty Bit)’ by Black Eyed Peas all managed to make it to number one, somehow. Yet, if you ignored the absurd, and quite frankly, boring mainstream charts, then you may have realized that there were actually some great songs knocking about. So, what songs stood out in 2010?15. Darwin Deez – ‘Constellations’: Darwin Deez’s debut album is unmistakably from the school of The Strokes. However, it is full of catchy, summery tunes such as ‘Constellations’. The song is fairly straight-forward, yet it’s the very simplicity of the jerky guitar that makes the song so infectious.
14. Broken Bells – ‘The High Road’: Broken Bells – a collaboration between Danger Mouse and James Mercer (lead vocalist/guitarist for The Shins) - proved to be more than a simple side-project. The debut song from the duo, ‘The High Road’, is a simple melodic number with beautiful lilting acoustic guitar chords.
13. Beach House – ‘Zebra’: ‘Zebra’ is the first song off Beach House’s third album, Teen Dream. The song is minimalistic; slowly building guitars and soft vocals create a wistful, dream-like sound.
12. Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘My God’: Bombay Bicycle Club decided to go all acoustic in 2010, and to great effect. Flaws was a beautiful album from start to finish, but ‘My God’ steals the show with its intricate Spanish guitar and Jack Steadman’s comforting vocals creating a hauntingly stunning song.
11. Drake – ‘Over’: Drake’s rise has been meteoric since signing a recording contract with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment. ‘Over’ was the first single from his debut album, Thank Me Later, and is easily the best song on the album.
10. Kid Cudi (Feat. MGMT) – ‘Pursuit Of Happiness (Nightmare)’: Kid Cudi is in fine form on this song, which was released as a single at the beginning of 2010 from his debut album. The track is heavily influenced by the psychedelic beats of MGMT on the chorus, yet it is the piano which creates a sense of helplessness during the verses that really makes this song.
9. Warpaint – ‘Undertow’: Warpaint are a female four-piece band from America. They are also a rarity, when you think of girl bands you are usually left with the manufactured, and essentially talentless, mainstream pop acts. Warpaint are different. ‘Undertow’ is a gloomy, brooding and understated song, but it is one that marks out Warpaint as different.
8. MGMT – ‘Flash Delirium’: The adventurous ‘Flash Delirium’ is the best example of the different direction the American psychedelic band decided to take on their second album, Congratulations. It may not have the catchiness of ‘Time To Pretend’, but its frenetic mixture of styles suggests a band that refuse to be constrained to 'Kids'-esque pop singles.
7. Magnetic Man (Feat. Katy B) – ‘Perfect Stranger’: A combination of two hugely talented up-and-coming artists, ‘Perfect Stranger’ is one of those tunes that are irresistibly good. With Magnetic Man’s huge beats, Katy B’s smooth vocals and a big adrenaline filled chorus, this song is easily one of the best dance tunes of the year.
6. The National – ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’: 2010 was the year that The National rose to world-wide attention with their fifth album, High Violet, achieving critical acclaim. ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ is the standout single from the album, an effortlessly brilliant song, which is as gorgeous as it is foreboding.
5. Sleigh Bells – ‘Infinity Guitars’: Fuzzy guitars, thunderous beat and overall contagious tune. Sleigh Bells are a bit like a younger, up-to-date version of The White Stripes. As soon as you listen to this song, you will not forget it.
4. Kanye West – ‘Power’: “Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it/I guess every superhero need his theme music.” The first single from Kanye West’s new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is a huge, anthemic and truly brilliant song. The whole song is a great big two-fingered salute to West’s critics, with fantastic lyrics, an excellent sample of King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ and an incredibly catchy rhythmic beat.
3. Foals – ‘Spanish Sahara’: A beautiful song that was voted by NME as the best song of 2010. The understated melancholic opening eventually unfurls into a wide expansive crescendo of noise as Yannis yells: “I'm the fury in your head, I'm the fury in your bed, I'm the ghost in the back of your head”.
2. Arcade Fire – ‘Ready To Start’: It would have been easy to pick any of the songs from Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs. However, ‘Ready To Start’ is the pick of the bunch, a perfect driving tune that is propelled forward by a great bass line and continues to have an incredible momentum throughout.
1. Kanye West – ‘All Of The Lights’: All the musical talent and genius of Kanye West is summed up in this song, the best from his new album. Kanye’s ability as a producer is what sets him apart from the rest, managing to combine the vocal talents of Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, John Legend and Elton John cohesively, and in doing so, creating one of the most uplifting and triumphant tracks of the year.
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4 comments:
Definitely love "Perfect Stranger", though would say that Crossover is also fantastic...with "Getting Nowhere" probably the highlights of the album.
wat do u mean mainstream was crap? as if drake, arcade fire, foals, kanye and magnetic man arent mainstrem!!
To be fair to Warpaint, their write up was a bit condescending. Just because they're female doesn't automatically mean you have to reference "girlbands". There are plenty of "actual" female bands, such as The Slits or Bikini Kill that are just as "real" as any male bands. It's not really that noteworthy that females are playing rock music to be honest ;)
@Anonymnous, I make it clear in the article that I mean the Chart where bands such as Scouting For Girls and Owl City are able to get Number 1's with terrible songs. Arcade Fire, Kanye, Foals etc are big acts but they hardly make an impact on the mainstream charts which are generally filled with Lady Gaga et al....Look at the number 1's for last year they are all pretty awful (and similar) except for the odd song.
@Dhanesh, the girl bands you reference aren't exactly recent. My point is that there are very few all girl bands around that are popular, but don't lip-synch!! They are a rarity, but hopefully one of many to come through!!
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