Best of 2010: 25-21

This is my first year end list, so I went into sorting and ranking my favorite albums without any preconceived notions or arbitrary criteria. I was not even sure what amount of "best" albums should even make the list. Rather than choose a number and force myself to whittle down my favorites to ultimately eliminate some really great artists and their work, I let my what I felt was the most deserving set the value at 25. Of course, even the last spot was difficult to decide and could easily have been one of a few albums in my Honorable Mentions. As far as my criteria for ranking the best albums, I tried to place them based not only how much I liked the work and how much I found myself listening to each album in it's entirety, but tried my darnest to quantify the album's staying power. Trying to predict what you would like in the future is not so easy, but it is strangely comforting. Music is always changing and evolving. As a critic, staying grounded in the present while having my eyes on the future and my consideration on the historical lineage from the past is the only way to do this properly. Enjoy the list as I enjoyed making it!

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Honorable Mentions : 20-16 : 15-11 : 10-6 : 5-1

#25  The Chemical Brothers - Further

Purchase Further here.

Read my original review here. 

Their first album came out in 1995 and they were dropping 12 inches as far back as 1989, but Tom and Ed of The Chemical Brothers have never sounded so fresh and vital as they did on this year's release. Sure, these Godfathers of Big Beat paved the way for the mainstreaming of electronica (for better or worse), but they always were weighted with all star vocalists and syrupy samples that stood out over the music itself. The feel of Further is like the shackles have been released and The Bros. took a gamble on exploring new territories. Look no further than the quirky squelch in "Another World", the joyous club pleaser "Swoon" or the 12 minute centerpiece "Escape Velocity" to see what I mean.

Chemical Brothers - Further (full album as one track)

#24  Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon

Purchase Maximum Balloon here.

Read my original review here.

Dave Sitek's side project from TV on the Radio received a lot of hype sporting big name guest vocalists and major label cred. The album sounds more like a singles collection and never aspires for a theme or common thread. Instead their is a varied abundance of indie pop songs that, at their best, challenges with Sitek's aggressively futuristic style. Look to the two tracks with his TV on the Radio bandmates on vocals for the buzzing "Absence of Light" and neo-soul of "Shakedown" for the most powerful pieces. He makes strong statements with his female guest vocalists on "If You Return" and "The Lesson" allowing the sweetness to seduce as the music slithers around, gripping tighter as the sirens whisper.

Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon (full album)

#23  Matthew Dear - Black City

Purchase Black City here.

Read my original review here.

Definitely taking a dark turn, Black City is quirky and uncomfortable in comparison to 2007's (and one of my favorites) Asa Breed. Still, the beats are compelling and motivated on singles "Soil To Seed", "I Can't Feel" and the epic "Little People (Black City). Yet the other surrounding tracks fluctuate between somber and eerie either as the prey of a seductive black widow on "You Put A Smell On Me", the slinky Beatles bassline grab of "Shortwave" or the last gasping breaths on "Slowdance". Claustrophobic and ominous is what Matthew Dear was going for on Black City. In my eyes, his mission was surely accomplished.

Matthew Dear - 4 Tracks from Black City

#22  Small Black - New Chain

Purchase New Chain here.

Read my original review here.

This is what chillwave should sound like. Of course it should be thick with hazy synths and icy beats with shadowy reminders of pop's 30 year long legacy. However the vocals, although nuanced with reverb, should be clear enough, just enough, to decode the lyrics while basking in their steely breeze. The 80's inspired hooks are especially strong on "Search Party", title track "New Chain", "Crisp 100s" and the single "Photojournalist". It is the first full length album for Small Black, making the list for ones to watch in the new decade.

Small Black - 7 Tracks from New Chain

#21  Teenage Fanclub - Shadows

Purchase Shadows here.

Another throwback to the late 80's still making waves in the new millennium, Teenage Fanclub has never gained more than a cult following, including me as an early member. I was suckered in by the shimmering power pop magic of their 1991 LP Bandwagonesque before I knew who Big Star even was. Now almost 20 years on, I have the requisite historical perspective to trace the characteristics to those 70's touchstones. In that time, I realized that Teenage Fanclub would never repeat perfection. Luckily so did they as the simplicity in Shadows allows this collection of soaring harmonies and folk-tinged guitar strums stand out like a lost classic from some obscure rock n' roll legend that no one else knew about but vinyl geeks. Listen to tracks like "The Fall", "Into The City", "Shock and Awe", "Today Never Ends" and the song given below and you will understand.

Teenage Fanclub - Sometimes I Don't Need to Believe in Anything

Review: Matthew Dear - Black City

Matthew Dear is electronica's ever-prolific chameleon. When he is not "himself", he works under his other pseudonyms Audion, False and Jabberjaw. The compartmentalizing of his multiple personalities allow him to keep an arms length from the music itself, working as more of a emotionless technician than a connected musician, considering his beats and blips in a more critical state. If there was a genre of music that self-imposed distance would be a strength, the wide umbrella of electronic music would find that quality a sheltered space. Yet Matthew Dear saves his most personal expressions for "Matthew Dear" where his tightly wound tracks are at their most organic and he allows his voice, albeit a deep and taciturn yet leeringly inviting one, opine on his hopes, loves, fears and inner demons.

The new album Black City on the label Ghostly International is Matthew Dear's fourth release of original music under his self-moniker. It picks up where his amazingly connected 2007 LP Asa Breed left off. Where Asa Breed was positive in feel, even joyous as times, Black City has a literal naming, feeling like a paranoid, shadowy crawl through a futuristic Urbania. As in the past, there is still sex appeal in this album. Rather than the comparatively relaxed, loving odes from past efforts, these are the encounters of leather and lather, straps and masks, aches and pain. Beginning with the track "Honey", a sweet breezy ballad slowly becomes creepy as night falls over. The darkness rolls into the next track " I Can't Feel" that insistently shuffles and hums featuring a funky slap bass as Dear flips between falsetto and that dirty and detached leer. It sets up the album's centerpiece "Little People (Black City)", a nine minute techno groove that reminds us of his Detroit roots. The silky synths slink around the dance floor as the vocals reflect the upbeat mood, then again take a turn from the brightly lit nightclub to a seedy underbelly where dancing is a remedy for a prevailing paranoia.

It is at this point when Black City stays on its dark path and becoming a challenge to the techno fan. The three track stretch of "You Put A Spell On Me", "Shortwave" and "Monkey" vacillates between expansive experimental and straight up industrial clank making the tone intriguing while forcing the astute listener to inquire on Dear's motives. The imprints are widely far flung as he recalls Wax Trax then nabs the slinky bass from The Beatles "Come Together" then envoking Talking Heads' Fear Of Music all in successive songs. It reveals that the influences for Black City's topics of isolation and fear can be found in the most varied of places. The listener is allowed to relax again when the machine pulse of "More Surgery" acts as a confessional on his unavoidable aging. Finally, the surprising piano ballad "Gem" brings the drawn out events of the evening to its final stop while Dear returns to his own humanity. Black City is a wild trip for Matthew Dear this time around and at times a temperamental mosaic, but not without it's strikingly intriguing benefits.

Listen to the entire album at Ghostly International here.

Purchase the album Black City here.

Read my reviews of Matthew Dear tracks Soil To Seed and I Can't Feel.

Matthew Dear Gives Away Another Track, Releases Promo Video, New Album Out August 17

Just a couple of weeks ago, Matthew Dear dropped his details for his new album Black City and gave us the teaser track "I Can't Feel" to boot. (Read and listen here.) Ramping up the hype, he tweaks us with another free tune and floats out what is best described as a "promotional video" for the new LP. From the quality of the early showings, the hype is warranted.

First, the video: It feels like a movie preview, setting the fan up for something epic. With a black and white template and Art Deco lettering, the album seems to be inspire a moody film noir in a retro yet timeless setting. The new song "Soil to Seed" has a midnight bass and hand clap that slinks and struts through the alley on the way to some late evening adventure. Dear's detached chant is mechanized sex appeal, enticing all comers with his ode to his seemingly dirty little interests. The only disappointment is that the track ends abruptly. Before you can look up, the excellent groove is over way too soon at 2:28. Was this a true teaser by only offering half a song? Hopefully, or I will have to go to Hype Machine and track down the extended and interpretive remixes.

Download "Soil to Seed" here.

Pre-Order Matthew Dear - Black City here.

Matthew Dear - Soil To Seed

New Song From Matthew Dear, Album Out August 17

Electronica musician Matthew Dear keeps himself busy making music under his pseudonyms Audion, Jabberjaw and False. Beyond his remixing duties, he has not released a new album as Matthew Dear since 2007's excellent Asa Breed. The waiting is over. The new album, entitled Black City will be out August 17 on his own label Ghostly International.

The new track entitled I Can't Feel has a chilled beat, stuttering bass and his trademark monotone. As opposed to his minimal/microhouse style he sports under his alter egos, Dear can explore a more organic sound under his true name. The track has elements of Remain In Light era Talking Heads in terms of its neo-African influences and awkward paranoia. Check it out below with an old track and video from Asa Breed.

Download the new track here.

Buy the album Asa Breed here.

Matthew Dear - I Can't Feel


Matthew Dear - Pom Pom