Top 5 Albums Of The Year So Far

It was back in March that, realising how many great albums there’d been already in 2010, I asked the amazing chieftains who follow us on Twitter (if you don’t, DO, and if you DO, LOVE YOU! @theflymagazine) to put together their #top5LPsof2010sofar. This week, with the year now 2/3rds done, I thought it’d be a nice time for another round. It was mainly because we were on deadline and I couldn’t think of anything else to tweet.
Had I known how many people would do it and how SODDING LONG it would take me to compile the bastards, I would’ve stuck to Twitter standard, said something was #ontheofficestereo, made up a stupid phrase to describe it and then I might have my Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons back. But I trucked on, and here, now, are the #top5albumsoftheyearsofar, as voted for by the finest followers on the interweb…

5. Caribou ‘Swim’

It might be the biggest surprise of the five, but it shouldn’t be – amongst 2010’s big hitters, Caribou’s latest holds its own effortlessly. It’s a dance record that you can’t really dance to, an atmospheric record that isn’t boring, an album with no discernable choruses – or even proper vocals – but whose songs are an embed code to your brain. Dan Snaith’s latest is a dense, dynamic sonic adventure, ‘Swim’’s hypnotic glide fully deserving of its place at number five.

4. LCD Soundsystem ‘This Is Happening’

He’s old, grey, makes William Hague look edgy, but, christ, James Murphy is godlike when it comes to ze music-making. Even before overseeing LCD’s all-conquering performances at the summer festivals – Glasto chief amongst them – ‘This Is Happening’ was a neon-lighted sign that, on his last album as LCD Soundsystem, he’d be going out with a bang. It’s a record that wears its influences on its sleeve – Bowie especially – before cutting off its arm and using it as a giant glowstick. It’s a record with a swagger, a strut and enough head-twattingly brilliant dance-pop to last Murphy into retirement…

3. The National ‘High Violet’

It was nailed on that The National’s fifth album would herald – finally! – their mainstream breakthrough. Their part in that process was easy – all they had to do was make sure it was RUDDY ACE. Which, being honourable gents, they did. ‘High Violet’ is their career masterpiece – the achingly beautiful likes of ‘England’, ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ and ‘Afraid Of Everyone’ are the work of a band whose songcraft is immaculate but never laboured, a record where every song sounds like an intimate vignette fit for a stadium. A neat, spellbinding trick, eh?

2. Arcade Fire ‘The Suburbs’

A tricky one, given that it’s only been out for a few weeks, it’s possible ‘The Suburbs’ was included in so many people’s #top5albumsoftheyearsofar because they’re still gripped in that thrilling honeymoon period of listening to a highly-anticipated new album. I say this because it was in my Top 5, and I know I am. BUT – and that should be in font size 592 – that doesn’t mean ‘The Suburbs’ won’t feature high, or top, of many a Albums Of 2010 list come the end of the year. You get the feeling it’s a record whose magnificence will stretch across the whole year and beyond. It’s slightly too long, yeah, and has a middle section that could be leaner, but ‘The Suburbs’ is a sign that Arcade Fire are a Reading & Leeds headline performance away from becoming true alt.rock behemoths. Oh, wait…

1. Foals ‘Total Life Forever’

That Foals’ second album would be skyscrapingly ambitious in scope wasn’t a surprise – the Oxford five-piece were hardly going to follow-up ‘Antidotes’ with ‘You Overdid It Doll’, were they? What was surprising, though, was how easily they eschewed the danger of disappearing up math-rock cul-de-sacs, instead delivering a record armed to the teeth with FM-friendly, but still fiercely imaginative, art-rock. ‘Miami’, ‘This Orient’ and the title track are big-chorused, amped-up anthems, whilst the second half of the record has a dark-hearted, fevered flow to it that is absolutely stunning. I say all this cos I had it at my number one, AND I didn’t even rig the vote. GET IN.

So, that’s it. Be interesting to see how much the Top 5 differs from now til the end of the year – the likes of Interpol and Everything Everything (which, despite not even being out yet, was only 1 vote away from matching Caribou) will have a say, I’m sure. But this Top 5 encapsulates what a mighty fine year it’s been for albums – thanks to all who took part, YOU ARE ACES.