Best of 2010: 20-16

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Honorable Mentions : 25-21 : 15-11 : 10-6 : 5-1

#20  Tokyo Police Club - Champ

Purchase Champ here.
 

Read my original review here.

Toronto's Tokyo Police Club became the reigning kings of the two minute punk pop nugget by releasing EP's and singles that are fun and fleeting. The downside was that they were often finishing well before your internet surfing was finished. Their second full length Champ has them bulking up their songs by an extra minute or so, but added a level of maturity and focus that never takes away from the main objective of laying out the hooks and sinking them into your memory. From the slow build of "Favorite Food", the swaying "Breakneck Speed" and the rocker "Wait Up (Boots of Danger), Champ delivers the good times even when they take more time to do get the job done.

Tokyo Police Club - Favourite Food

#19  Weekend - Sports

Purchase Sports here.

Read my original review here.

From the first listen of Sports, there is something that goes deeper and beyond the murky production and wailing vocals. There is a echoing, throbbing fury filtered through a basement of shadowy stories of lost hope while this new trio from San Francisco imputes early Sonic Youth, Joy Division and darker new wave without a stolen note to be found. It is rare when a band sounds like your old favorites, but the new stuff doesn't directly refer to the actual songs. These are best realized on the decided changes in the opener "Coma Summer", the bloody road movie of "Youth Haunts" or the well worn riffs on "Age Class" or "End Times".  There is a lot of promise found here from Weekend's debut. I look forward to the inevitable sophomore followup, whatever it may hold.

Weekend - Coma Summer

#18  Four Tet - There Is Love In You

Purchase There Is Love in You here.

Kieran Hebden, better known as Four Tet, has methodically honed his sound from the dissonant and experimental sounds of Rounds and Everything Ecstatic to this lovely and touching, but no less impacting release. Many of his earlier work may be more challenging, but he has never made an LP that consistently moves the listener. There Is Love In You connects the dots like a love story, providing the soundtrack to the coolest, more difficult and triumphant moments in your life. In addition, Four Tet's forbearing influence is the inspiration for one of the Top Ten albums of 2010.

Four Tet - Plastic People

#17  Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Purchase Forgiveness Rock Record here.

There is so much to love about the idea of what Broken Social Scene is. A collective of several (31 for this album including "guest" appearances) Canadian musicians from different indie outfits coming together to make music feels like what any grass roots artistic endeavor should be; a communal meeting born of late night drinking, camaraderie, mutual respect and a common goal of making stadium sized music for the small stage. The epic length of Forgiveness Rock Record allows for every member to get his say and at its best, finds a synchronized acme when the stars are aligned. Unlike the raw emotions and the strong lead of Kevin Drew in the past two albums, the best tracks are the ones that keep it simple and employ the power trio of female vocals from Emily Haines, Leslie Feist and Amy Millan. Tracks "All to All" and "Sentimental X's" are truly revealing an underused weapon in their ensemble, while the bliss out quirks of "Ungrateful Little Father", the fragile "Sweetest Kill", the obviously John McEntire produced "Romance to the Grave" and the mighty instrumental "Meet Me In The Basement" make you want to wrap your arms around and sing at the top of your lungs with this potent community of friends, if only for the big finale.

Broken Social Scene - Sentimental X's

#16  Sleigh Bells - Treats

Purchase Treats here.

This first full length from Sleigh Bells is not a prototypical "Top" album for me. I am not sure I would listen to Treats at any given time or even finish the entire album at one sitting. However, this is a "special cases" record in the truest sense. Sure, throwing on Treats at a party or blaring it your car en route to a late night adventure is a no-brainer. Maybe there is a moment where no lesser album will do.  However, the singular, blown-out-beyond-the-red sound of Sleigh Bells holds the promise of a new "more-is-more" movement. Hopefully there will be more bands that follow this aesthetic and we won't have to wait such a long time for the next album.

Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill

Album Review: Weekend - Sports

At risk of showing my age, I remember when bands on independent labels with no budget sounded as such. Since they had no choice but to have that scuzzy distortion and tape hiss in their recordings, they took full advantage by emphasizing it. These bands made the lack of available funds to sink in their recording a benefit, begetting a new sound from their D.I.Y energy and passion that burst through the bare bones production. The distortion became part of who they were. It was worn like a badge proudly and the passionate fans of those can-do bands loved them for it. There were lots of made-up names for this genre such as lo-fi or fuzz-pop or even noise. Now we are in an era where music can be recorded with clarity and no hiss (no tapes!) on a bedroom recording budget. Because of this, the new questions come forth for a band that chooses to adopt this sound because they want it rather than are stuck with it. When does the distorted nature of a recording just another reference to a genre that the band is trying too hard to match? When is fuzz-pop just fuzz? Moreover, when is the fuzz in the fuzz-pop as essential as the bass, guitar, drums and vocals?

San Francisco's Weekend formed as a trio last year After the requisite vinyl single tune-ups, they have released Sports as their first full length about a month ago on Slumberland Records. At the outset of the first track "Coma Summer", there is no indication of lo-fi fuzz. A surf punk beat pounds away as a relatively clean guitar riff cuts in causing the listener's ears to perk up. There is an eerie, distant howl that is fighting it's way from the shadows and, when the energetic bass thumps in, the howls come up front and we have a nice rolling jam. Just as you are patiently waiting for the lyrics to kick in, Weekend swerves off the path at the 1:30 mark with a pedal push. You are drenched in a blanket of feedback so thick that it is like someone just blocked the sun. That catchy, little jam you were just enjoying is crammed into the basement and you are left with pained vocals battling with a buzzsaw as the punk undertones keep propelling the glorious noise. At the end of the nearly seven minutes of "Coma Summer", it becomes obvious that it is much more than a great song. It is a band mission statement that their sound is a calculated choice, a reference to what was great about that lo-fi sound and, with some adventurous listening, you realize that this special sound tied to a disappearing past can still thrive in this brave new world.

There is no trickery on the remaining tracks as Sports careens down this shadowy path of haunted echoes and tension breaking blasts of noise. The b-grade road movie of "Youth Haunts" is a homage to the early years of Sonic Youth when they were paving the road that is still gratefully well-traveled. That trip continues on "Age Class" that still comes fully loaded with Sonic Youth amenities but runs on the well oiled engine of Joy Division. That dank bass and echoing vocals of anguish connects on "End Times" with a hook that could be more appreciated by the general public if it wasn't buried under inches of grit. Finishing off Sports is an untitled track that grabs you with so many post-punk associations that it could be a lost studio outtake that got buried in the annals of a past that should be on every cool kid's mixtape of obscurity.

There has been a lo-fi resurgence in recent years and a lot of it has garnered a lukewarm reaction from me. Yes, I recognize what these bands are doing here and the choices they have made, but there is a missing element on their recordings that Weekend provides so eagerly. It could be harmony, tempo or pure energy, but that "je ne sais quoi" is a vital current that runs thick and rampant through Sports. It makes that scuzz and distortion as important to the album as any of the instruments. There was a time when those imperfections were not on purpose, but rather a result of a low budget making for lack of studio time and quality. Now that properly employed sound rings authentically throughout Sports as a loving homage and new step on the lo-fi path.

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Purchase Weekend - Sports here.

Right click to download "Coma Summer" for free here. Right click to download "End Times" for free here.

Weekend - Coma Summer


Weekend - End Times