The Top Fifty Albums Of 2010

10

Beach House
‘Teen Dream’
(Bella Union)
The third album from dream-pop duo Beach House is their best yet. The interplay between Victoria Legrand’s sweet, husky voice and Alex Scally’s wavering guitar makes for an atmospheric, resonating listen. ‘Teen Dream’ manages to epitomise the familiar shudder of heartbreak whilst delivering a combination of experimental melodies and discerning pop, marking the duo’s growth and solidifying their unique sound. RS

09

Interpol
‘Interpol’
(Coop)
The return of our favourite brooding New Yorkers, albeit minus iconic bassist Carlos D., was a hugely welcome one this year. There was top pop, much musical complexity and vast emotional depth in a record that (like all the best ones) needed numerous listens before its magnificence was fully revealed. The closest Interpol have come to achieving perfection with their sound. CP

08

Yeasayer
‘Odd Blood’
(Mute)
As bits and pieces emerged from Yeasayer’s follow-up to the excellent freak-out ‘All Hour Cymbals’, blogs went rabid. The final product justified excitement and exceeded expectations – singles ‘O.N.E.’ and ‘Ambling Alp’ showing a newfound lust for the dance floor, while ‘Madder Red’ found the band in a more sensitive, profound place. A great, if bizarre, pop album. ELD

07

The National
‘High Violet’
(4AD)
11 years and 5 LPs into their career The National are husbands and fathers, racked with heartache and insomnia, plagued by “venom radio and venom television” and, somehow, they sound amazing for it. ‘High Violet’’s subtle orchestration is enough to make any music lover swoon, but add in Matt Berninger’s confessions of modern neuroses and it becomes nothing short of breathtaking. ST

06

Avi Buffalo
‘Avi Buffalo’
(Sub Pop)
Like its charmingly nimble opener, ‘Truth Sets In’, slowly but surely ‘Avi Buffalo’ has become one of the year’s most cherished debuts. It possesses all of the components for an indie classic; glistening Shins guitars, euphoric choruses and a faultless boy/girl synchronicity, the intimacy of which you can’t help imagine goes deeper than just the harmonies. Whilst 2010’s abrasive synths and banjo hoedowns clattered around them, these unassuming underdogs became deservedly adored. HG

Click HERE to watch Avi Buffalo In The Courtyard.

05

Everything Everything
‘Man Alive’
(Geffen)
At a time when the indie music world was furiously masturbating over banjos, tweed and folk-pop, Everything Everything emerged. ‘Man Alive’ - a cacophony of schizophrenic beats, high pitched yelps and infectious, stomping choruses lead by the awesome ‘MY KZ, UR BF’ and scatty brilliance of ‘Qwerty Finger’ – is a glorious debut album that, through its slick production, mathematical precision and swirling atmospheric crescendos, doubled-up as a brilliant two-fingered salute to the ramshackle fashion-folk that swept the country. MG

Click HERE to watch Everything Everything In The Courtyard.

04

These New Puritans
‘Hidden’
(Angular)
The Barnett brothers gave the new year an imaginative, innovative kick up the arse with this ambitious, album, eschewing the angular art-rock of their debut in favour of brass orchestras, children’s choirs and big fucking taiko drums. The result is a record of nightmarish, cinematic anti-anthems, its brooding menace resembling the sort of sonic devilment Tricky used to conjure up. Somehow, Mercury panel numpties snubbed it, but, in a way, that only adds to ‘Hidden’’s sinister, (oc) cultish appeal. ND

03

LCD Soundsystem
‘This Is Happening’
(Columbia/DFA)
Quitting: you’ve gotta know how and when to do it. Fawlty Towers, The Jam and Eric Cantona understood that there’s dignity in restraint. So it seems does Jimbo Murphy, as 2010 saw the third and final outing for his LCD Soundsystem. The last hurrah, ‘This Is Happening’ grafts hypnotic rhythms to a nostalgia for the late 70s Berlin of Bowie, Eno and Iggy Pop and ensures that, by hanging up his suit jacket at the top of his game, Murphy’s legacy is set in stone. JJD

02

Arcade Fire
‘The Suburbs’
(Sonovox)
There’s always been something quasi-religious about Arcade Fire. Offerring up apocalyptic musings on the human condition and doom-mongering to the most heavenly, desperately hopeful soundtrack, Win, Regine and co. have always provided the ultimate cathartic sucker punch. This time round the sermon takes a more restrained form but the message is as relevant as ever. ‘The Suburbs’ is the tense, agitated ode to the inevitable horrors of the modern world, the contemplative exhalation that’s not ready to give up the fight just yet. LW

01

Foals
‘Total Life Forever’
(Warners)
The main problem with intelligent rock bands is they’re exactly that; prone to chin-stroking meanders and time-signature changes better suited to their own subsection on University Challenge than on a record. Which is why Foals’ follow-up to their debut stands head and shoulders – and the rest, given how far in front it was in our writer’s Top 50 LPs of 2010 – above every other release this year. It’s cerebral, sure, but it’s more heart than head; at times achingly soulful, at others possessing a compelling future-groove swagger, ‘Total Life Forever’ is, from start-to-finish, utterly stunning. ND