The Top Fifty Albums Of 2010

The Top Fifty Albums Of 2010

Welcome to The Fly’s Top 50 albums of 2010. Over the next eight pages we’ll give you a Top Of The Pops-style rundown of the finest 50 albums of the past 11 months as voted for by The Fly’s writers. There are some surprising omissions – amongst them Klaxons, whose second album ‘Surfing The Void’ genuinely, honestly and astonishingly did not receive a single vote from our scribes, Marina & The Diamonds and Ellie Goulding, who we tipped for the top back in January but who didn’t ignite the imagination of our nerdy electorate, Crystal Castles, M.I.A., and established artists like Manic Street Preachers and Eels and Belle & Sebastian and – ENOUGH! At the end of the day, it’s a list of 50 bands, so no matter what happened, only one band was ever gonna be genuinely happy. Regardless, we hope you think our #1 as worthy as we do…

Words: Euan L Davidson, Eddie Devlin, Niall Doherty, JJ Dunning, Harriet Gibsone, Matt Glass, Iain Moffat, Mischa Pearlman, Camilla Pia, Polly Rappaport, David Renshaw, Rosie Skinner, Sophie Thomsett and Lisa Wright.

50

Wavves
‘King Of The Beach’
(Bella Union)
Wavves’ charm used to be in how well the poppy, saccharine melodies somehow made it through the layers of noise and tape hiss. Parting with lo-¬ was risky, but the brilliant title track and ‘Post Acid’ show it may just have paid off. ELD

49

Gold Panda
‘Lucky Shiner’
(Wichita)
Whilst most blokes with a synth and a drum machine are busy fabricating beats to soundtrack sweaty dance floor encounters or obliterate eardrums, Gold Panda weaves his sounds into a lovingly crafted electronic patchwork, mixing drumbeats and heartbeats into something beautiful. ST

48

Connan Mockasin
‘Please Turn Me Into The Snat’
(Phantasy Sound)
Connan’s psychedelic breakthrough album is nothing short of brilliant. This unique, kaleidoscopic vision into his dreamlike and experimental world packs in jazz interludes, dolphin impressions, woozy guitars and an extraordinarily innocent sentiment. An album of timeless, surreal beauty. HG

47

Menomena
‘Mines’
(City Slang)
This Portland, Oregon trio took art rock to new places with ‘Mines’ and pushed themselves to near breaking point in the process. Their fourth offering featured a compelling mix of genres and numerously re-worked instrumentation and ideas – as beautiful and emotionally stirring as it was complex. CP

46

Jónsi
‘Go’
(Parlophone)
How would the Sigur singer cope without the Rós on hand? Simple, really: by roping in what appeared to be about 27 orchestras, singing in Actual (if slightly stream-of-skewedconsciousness) Words, and applying gymnastically cherubic vocals throughout. Sublime. IM

45

Midlake
‘The Courage Of Others’
(Bella Union)
In February, Midlake returned in mournfully brilliant form. Less Fleetwood Mac funk and more traditional English folk; ‘The Courage Of Others’ is stuffed with gorgeous lyrics, somnolent harmonies, exquisite drumming and even the odd flute solo. ED

44

Kele
‘The Boxer’
(Wichita)
It’s not just the fact that he’s built like a brick shithouse that makes Kele Okereke’s solo reinvention remarkable – ‘The Boxer’ sees him ditch the anthemic art-rock of his dayjob and replace it with Casio-crazed Ibeeefa dance floor dynamite. Shouldn’t work. Does. Thrillingly so. ND

43

Vampire Weekend
‘Contra’
(XL Recordings)
Vampire Weekend’s follow-up album brightened an otherwise desolate January. The pioneers of the resurgence of Afro-beat delivered an astounding combination of experimentation and pop which, 10 months on, is still as exciting as the first listen. RS

42

Steve Mason
‘Boys Outside’
(Double Six)
In creating ‘Boys Outside’ – the break-up album of the year – Steve Mason laid bare the full range of his emotional arsenal, marrying chilling tales of sorrow to soaring melodies. Compositionally more simplistic than anything he’s done before, this album marked Mason as one of the UK’s most cherished songwriters. HG

Click here to watch Steve Mason’s In The Courtyard Session for FlyTV

41

No Age
‘Everything In Between’
(Sub Pop)
Quite a sophisticated record, this, in a lo-scuzz punk sort of way. No Age artfully glide between stark Californian DIY and crunchy artrock haze, foregoing the usual sonic clutter without compromising on energy. Call it noise rock with substance. PR

The Top Fifty Albums Of 2010: 40-31