Brightest Young Things

A Music Retrospective, by William Alberque

Rather than feel rushed into an end of year – particularly one completed before the end of the year, I decided to take a couple of weeks to mull over 2010 in music, give it some distance, some reflection, and then talk about what I think the ten most brilliant moments in music were over the past year.

1. Tennis at Hi-Dive (Denver)
2. Active Child at the Rock n Roll Hotel (DC)
3. UNKLE at Webster Hall (NYC)
4. Beach House at Other Music (NYC)
5. The Eclipse Soundtrack at Crooked Beat (DC)
6. Chapel Club at Urban Outfitters (NYC)
7. Zola Jesus, Warpaint, and the XX at United Palace and the 930 Club (NYC, DC)
8. The Joy Formdiable at Union Hall (Brooklyn)
9. The Big Pink and a Place to Bury Strangers at Ram’s Head (Baltimore)
10. Florence & the Machine at the 930 Club/Class Actress at DC9 (DC)

Well, while I think the year in movies has been a bit dry (read: a horrid, barren, salt and dirt-strewn boulevard), the year in music has been spectacular. I’ve read through some of the other interesting lists of the year (Gareth’s and Svetlana’s always come as a welcome delight for me), and the notable hits and misses of graphic design (John Foster, with whom I rarely agree but always enjoy reading), so I’ll skip right to the end:

1. Tennis is far and away my band of the year (http://www.myspace.com/tennisinc). With only five songs spanning less than 13 minutes across their first two 7” singles, they managed to completely obsess me in a way few other bands have managed in recent days. Their debut album, Cape Dory, just hit the shops, and we’ll see if they rise from the level of beloved obscurity to a wider audience.

Tennis wowed me right from the opening notes of “Cape Dory” on a hot August night in a Velvet Lounge-sized club in Denver (Hi-Dive, where they were the first of three bands on the bill). I was in Denver randomly for work, and, bored out of my mind, went to the venue rather early for no reason other than I’d finished a lovely meal at a Scottish pub and was afraid the venue would crowd up too much. I hadn’t heard a thing about them – just a snippet of a song on their MySpace page. It wasn’t until later in the month that they were featured in the NYT Magazine – a rare accolade for an unknown band.

Tennis’ set was relatively short, as are all their songs, but the set in general and each song in particular showed more of an ear for melody and understanding of layering and structure than bands with years more experience. “Marathon” in particular stunned me with the intricate and brilliant buildup of vocal melodies and harmonies nailed to a simple guitar line and drum beat (and, I should note the song is a couple pages from the diary of their inter-coastal waterway journey). “South Carolina” also has a peculiar and stunning structure of ascending harmonies that makes the hairs on my neck stand on edge each time I hear it, longing for more. I was a bit crestfallen to find that their singles suffer from the recent conceit of recording as though one is under a blanket in a cavernous train-station toilet, but still, the beauty shown throw with an adamantine light. Tennis debuted in DC on the same tour, playing a house party, before returning triumphantly as the opening act with the Walkmen in December. Hopefully, they’ll be back to headline the Cat sometime soon. (they'll be at RNR Hotel in early March, and the album JUST CAME OUT- ed)

2. A close run-up for most brilliant 2010 moment in music was Active Child at the Rock n Roll Hotel (http://activechildmusic.com/). A terrible name, I know, but as soon as I read a description – former choir boy from Los Angeles (Pat Grossi) records Cocteau Twins-esque beauty – I made a bee-line for his website’s online shop to buy the debut EP. Unlike other, lazier comparisons to the Twins (such as the rather listless Sleep Over or deceptively disco-y Museum of Bellas Artes, the comparisons are apt – especially live, where AC expands to a duo with excellent guitar work complementing the keyboards and odd harp-like contraption. “I’m in Your Church at Night” is a hair-raising block of beauty, with a series of gradually increasingly stunning moments, until the crescendo about 3:25 in, after which it carries you to the conclusion, teasingly fading into silence when I could readily have done with another ten minutes.

And, after seeing Active Child with School of Seven Bells (http://www.sviib.com/) and the DC surprise-package Painted Face at Rock N Roll Hotel, I can’t help but feel that I saw one of the better shows I could have seen on the East Coast in 2011. The songs worked perfectly live, with the all-too-brief set sandwiched in between two fantastic shows in their own right. AC’s other single, “She Was a Vision,” starts off in its own sensual world of beauty before leaning back towards a more straight-forward Twins’ reference – but then again, when you can unashamedly riff “Carolyn’s Fingers” on a self-produced single, you can pretty much do anything you want. Priceless. And, his cover of “Ceremony” (yes, _that_ Ceremony) is pretty heart-stoppingly ace, as well.

3. The most remarkable thing about seeing UNKLE in New York this year was that anyone would bother seeing UNKLE this year (http://unkle.com/). I haven’t given two shits about UNKLE in yonks – I gave one shit when the last album had a collaboration with the Duke Spirit, but it was pointedly pointless (quite a feat considering the extraordinary talents of the Duke Spirit) – so I was shocked when I found myself buying tickets and clearing the calendar for a trip northward.

Now, it helped that the Golden Filter was opening – the Golden Filter at DC9 was stunning

and served as yet another reminder that DC9 is a vital star in the DC music firmament – but I would have gone anyway. Why? Because, while idly picking through records at Rough Trade (Talbot Road, not Brick Lane-East), I saw those words that always make my heart flutter – “limited to 300 copies.” It was a one-sided UNKLE 12” of “Natural Selection,” and it was cheap. Why not? Little did I know I was grabbing the song that I would play (quick check of ITunes) more times than any but 39 other songs out of the 25,000 on my computer. With Austin psyche-guitar outfit the Black Angels providing the vocals and musical support (unlike anything they’ve done themselves, I might add), this is one of the most love-lorn songs of sorrow and hope I’ve heard in quite some time. “One day I’ll find the right one for me, she will be pretty and funny (at least to me). Crooked teeth and everything; I want to meet my perfect lady.” The song goes on to describe the singer’s sad attempts to find her – or to find love in a girl who is long gone from him – to an inevitably bleak conclusion.

I quickly bought the album (Where Did the Night Fall) and the associated EP (The Answer), and have been thrilled with each. Still, the best UNKLE song of the year isn’t on either – it’s their contribution to the Eclipse soundtrack that stunned me senseless. But more on that later. My only quibble about the live show was that, while they did perform with Lupe Fiasco, they didn’t do The Runaway: Lupe’s Revenge (easily my favorite hip-hop track of the year). Regardless, the pounding drums and bass, combined with the intricate visuals and blinding lights, of the UNKLE live experience is well worth the money. Ashcroft, Brown, et al, were represented only by giant computer-simulated singing faces, but still, an extraordinary show.

4. Before 2010, I never paid any mind to Beach House (http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/). I can’t imagine why – they’re signed to Cocteau Twins’ (second) bassist Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label, they’re from Baltimore, and they have a French model singing vocals. Maddening that I’d let this one slip by. Still, there I was, in Other Music (http://www.othermusic.com/index.cgi), merrily looking through the used and remaindered CDs, the 7”s, and studiously ignoring the new releases, when I realized that every single song that I’d heard since I walked in was jaw-droppingly brilliant. Mind you, I’ve always joked that Other Music must have a 66-CD set of “unlistenable crap that only records store jockeys listen to to irritate the customers,” including a 5-CD stretch of Inuit nose-whistling ballads that’ll have you reaching for the Advil quicker than you can say, “can we please have some Katy Perry,” which I would otherwise never do. Honest. And, you just know that if you asked them if they could just turn down the Edgar Winter-Yoko Ono duet a tiny bit, they’d lay into you about your pedestrian taste, snatch away the rare Factory-pressing CD of Steve Martland you’d rescued from the remaindered bin, and you’d have to flee to Swift’s for a restorative of delicious adult beverages to steady the nerves.

But I digress.

“What is this?” “Beach House” “The song or the band?” Eyes rolled, “the band, they’re from Baltimore, here, you’ll need to buy this.” Teen Dream snatched eagerly, with the (still unwatched) DVD), and out the door. Every single time I hear the opening to “Zebra,” or, the full crescendo 1:20 into “Used to Be,” or, as it’s been pointed out more ably than I ever could, that sublime moment in “10 Mile Stereo” (brilliantly covered by Little Girls on the “Delaware” single), I’m reminded that there is a beautiful, gentle movement afoot in indie music at the moment that has created the soundtrack to some of the most important moments of my year. Since then, I’ve missed them at the 930 Club, bought the “Norway” single and the Record Store Day EP (and, reminded by Pitchfork that this is “the most diverse and the most listenable of their three albums”), and would have worn out the mp3s, if that was possible. An album to treasure, and a moment to remember with joy, and not a little irony.

5. I hate the Twilight movies. Hate them. With a passion. I’ve actually been to the theater to see the second one, at the behest of someone I still resent for the experience. I justified it at the time by being intoxicated, and thinking that the scene with Lykke Li’s devastatingly beautiful “Possibility” would rise above any rotten writing or acting

I was wrong. Nothing could overcome the numbingly shit casting, acting, writing, and direction of what has to be the worst film ever projected on the screen like an arse-spray of barely-digested chili. So, when Gareth mentioned that they had a used copy of the soundtrack to the third Twilight movie, Eclipse, in the bargain bin for $3, I scoffed. No way was I going to buy even a remaindered symbol of such an empty and vacuous franchise of misery. Oh, but I was wrong, he assured me. And he was right. I’ll elide over the predictably embarrassing contributions by Muse (really, folks? People listen to this? It’s like listening to college students in a Queen tribute band), the Dead Weather (WTF?), the Black Keys (capable of better), Eastern Conference Champions (Ashcrofty – not in a good way) and Band of Horses (so much potential, so little delivery) – as well as the lukewarm pabulum of Sia (I blame Schnauss for raising the bar too high for her to climb).

Instead, eight other songs make this a must-have. Everyone knows Metric are great. Still, I rarely bother. And yet, here’s “Eclipse (All Yours),”

a song packed with more drama, love, and magic than a three-part teen epic, and with none of the drawbacks (acne, self-esteem issues, boner-shame). When Emily Haines sings, “I’m all yours; I’m not afraid,” I find myself wishing to be worthy of such a sentiment, right up until the perfect moment of echo-y silence at the end. Florence and the Machine provide a sublimely F&tM-ian moment, with the deathly beauty and percussive dread of “Heavy in Your Arms,” assuaging my fears that she was out of perfection after Lungs. Fanfarlo manage to toss off yet another in their seemingly-unending stream of utterly winning and charming journeys along the side of indie and folk without being too precious. The Bravery, too, remind me why I was so excited by their first single (and so disappointed in much of what followed) with “Ours,” a straight-forward new wave rocker, and Vampire Weekend obviously saved up loads of hooks that went unused on their second album for this delightful, chiming, and slightly overwrought contribution. And Cee Lo Green, months before “Fuck You” enraptured a bored nation, showcased his particular talent for creating what sounds like a timeless ballad and a long-forgotten 80s-film classic at the same time.

But that wasn’t the best. No, Beck and Bat for Lashes contribution, “Let’s Get Lost,” sounds for all the world like a dream-version of what Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush should have been able to do every other weekend. Beck has never sounded so magisterial, and Natasha has never sounded so accessible, so vulnerable, so loveable (and in love). Still, it’s UNKLE (with Black Angels once again) on “With You in My Head” that stomps all over the rest of the compilation with giant mucking boots like a child in the lane on worms after a summer storm.

I can only compare it to a dream collaboration between Clinic and, well, UNKLE, with galloping drums reaching an unimaginably gorgeous peak at 1:28, only to dramatically pull back, and descend into the darkness as UNKLE are wont. The song explodes again at 2:30, and, at 3:00, drawing to a premature conclusion, and, I swear, if you’re listening, guys, I will pay to put you lot back in the studio to do this for a whole album. Who knew? Twilight is all right if this is what comes out of it.

6. Chapel Club have been my surprise package of the year (http://chapelclub.com/). Starting off with the “Don’t Look Down” single, followed by “O Maybe I,” and “All the Eastern Girls,” it was “Five Trees” that convinced me that this band could easily become a chart-topper, festival-pleaser, 930 Club-filler by the end of 2011. So, it was with some joy that I sped up to New York to see Chapel Club play three gigs in 36 hours. The second of three was a daytime show at the Urban Outfitters on Broadway, upstairs. They’d cleared the front window-section and stacked up the speakers, but provided no stage. Fantastically, this meant easy mingling with the band (following up from the show the night before), and perfect sight-lines from any angle throughout the show.

This show was made more special by the band’s pointed refusal to play their singles, concentrating instead on new songs (seriously, what band four 7”s in to their career concentrates on playing bsides and unheard songs?!) – and what new songs! Each one a tone poem, combining the best of Interpol and the Bunnymen with none of the lyrical nonsense of the former or overwrought grandeur of the latter, these were nearly perfect moments, each played with light reflected off the Broadway office buildings into the room, illuminating the dancing dust motes in the air and winning over the mixed crowd of acolytes and passers-by

The guitarist plays one of the most beautiful guitars I’ve ever seen – not just the notes, the sequence, the chords, the juxtapositions – but the guitar itself. I’d have to defer to guitar geeks to tell me what it was, but the comparisons with Johnny Marr come alive watching this young wizard strum that beautiful beast of a Gibson. The singer, so self-effacing, with his hoody and downcast expression, sings with a voice ten times taller than the tallest building on the street outside, and sadder than a thousand beer-drunk souls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkYjjbgU5mw

Afterwards, there were some tense moments when the band manager searched desperately for their first single, which he’d had the band sign the night before – right before they’d gone on a bit of a tear through Brooklyn. All was made good, though, with a wonderfully decorated single handed back to me by a (rarely) smiling lead singer, and I know I will see them again.

7. I had no idea that Warpaint would become one of my obsessions of the year. That first EP was great (Exquisite Corpse), but really, it was “Undertow”

and their cover of “Ashes to Ashes” that stunned me speechless and went into heavy rotation on my IPhone. So, the chance to see them live was one to be savored. That they were playing after Zola Jesus and before the XX made this one of the most intriguing bills of the year. And Zola Jesus? My god, Zola Jesus.

Who knew you could pack so much goodness onto one bill? The atmosphere was perfect – the old, majestic Theater, with its antique appointments, all miles from the hipster playgrounds of Greenpoint, Park Slope, and the Lower East Side, the beautiful balcony, all hung with jeweled lights, the old-school staff, unused to an invasion by so many indie kids, curious yuppies, and clued-in art hounds.

The first set – Zola Jesus – began promptly (they wanted this over and out) – and the acoustics of the old theater did her voice proud, booming and filling the hall to the back walls with beautiful noise. If you haven’t heard “Night”

or “Poor Animal,” you really only have yourself to blame. Imagine a Siouxsie with a better range (or, alternately, a Diamanda Galas not so intent on punishing you for caring, and you’re just about there. To call her “goth” is sort of missing the point, in the same way that calling Florence and the Machine “pop” makes no difference to the quality of the songs. Live, Nika prowls the stage in front of a surprisingly muscular backing band, as though she doesn’t quite know where to stand or what to do, but she certainly knows what to say.

Next up was Warpaint (http://www.warpaintwarpaint.com/) – a band of young women playing what can best be described as a more melodic, downcast Crispy Ambulance set circa 1982 – full of sad and beautiful songs with chiming bass chords. NME gave them album of the year, and certainly their live show lives up to the hype. But it is sad, sad, and when Zola has provided the highest energy song of the set so far, you know you’re in for a night of it – and it is a dark night when the XX play. You know every note of the album by now, and probably most of the bsides and remixes as well. Still, when I hear intro, I feel filled with warmth, and I know we’re going to a beautiful place. They rushed us out as soon as the set was done, but I wanted to stay, the sight-memory of the lights on the ceiling burned into my eyes and the sad, lonely, but ultimately hopeful music guided me outside.

8. The Joy Formidable don’t do slow, sad, or dark (http://www.thejoyformidable.com/). Well, perhaps sad, but it’s hard to tell when they’re being sad because they are so damn FAST and LOUD – taking all the best, fastest bits from “Feed Me with Your Kiss” and “Breather” and “Homeboy” and smashing them into a blender, dumping in some extra caffeine and vodka for good measure. Live, they’re a three-piece, with a charming and slight Welsh girl on vocals, her size belying the ferocity of her guitar and the melodic howl of her vocals, and an extremely talented other two on additional guitar and drums. On record, they dug up Paul Draper out of nowhere (ex-Mansun, anyone?) to lend his talents to “Greyhound in the Slips”

but live, the interplay between the boy and girl guitars provides more than enough entertainment and excitement to replace the “star” turn.

Still, I wondered how the genius of sonic assaults like “Whirring”

and “Cradle”

and “Austere”

and “The Last Drop”

would translate live. Suffice it to say, even in a basement gig, with an eight-foot-low ceiling, I was pogoing like a madman, screaming along with the sublime cry of “HOW COME IT’S ALL AROUND ME?” In another age, each of us in the crowd would have clogged each other silly and come out with bloodied knees and shins in a maelstrom of moshing, but indie shows are much more mannered these days. Still, I couldn’t help but do a little pushing in my jumping around thingy, and certainly found enough enthusiastic collaborators to enjoy ourselves like mad. Still, this is a band that has no fear of remixing, as the gorgeous BRAHMS remake/remodel of “Whirring” and Grouplove take on “I Didn’t Want to See You Like This” more than amply prove.

Of course, I brought all the singles, and they signed everything, and we chatted gaily and breathlessly about the difference among the reactions of crowds in different cities, different countries, different venues, through time and space, and they were nothing but lovely. I missed them at the Cat because of work, but, from all accounts, it was unbelievable. Repeated viewings both recommended and rewarding.

9. Finding out that a band you want to see is at Ram’s Head Live is like finding out your ex girlfriend is going on a date to ESPNZone. It just doesn’t feel right, no matter how little control you have (and how much you secretly want it all to fail). The Big Pink (http://www.musicfromthebigpink.com/) had performed a fantastic, packed, headlining set at the Black Cat a few months previous (with the main fella from IO Echo helping out), so I thought maybe the 930 Club, if not back to the Cat. But Ram’s Head Live? That’s where moms and dads drop off their kids to see My Chemical Romance, for chrissakes. Okay, I made that last part up – I have no idea who listens to MCR or if they ever play live, but it sounds like something shitty enough that you get my drift.

AND, this would be my first-ever chance to see APTBS live (http://www.aplacetoburystrangers.com/) – after a two-in-two-month facepalm of embarrassment: First, finding out that the Horrors (http://www.thehorrors.co.uk/) have gone from shlock-goth nonsense to Chameleons-esque shoegaze genius on their second album (Primary Colours), and Second, finding out that APTBS are not emo, but are, in fact, the Jesus and Mary Chain-gone-insane-industrial geniuses, signed to Mute Records, that they are. FUCK.

The venue is as soul-crushingly awful as a black box empty space can be. Somehow it just seems…so boring…I dunno. I arrived early and was left with too much time to wander about, chat with friends, sample the merch (limited APTBS singles!), and pace. Baltimore means driving means no drinking means realizing EXACTLY how much time bands spend making you wait (what, the soundcheck wasn’t enough? It’s fucking rock n roll, not Shostakovich –you’re your asses out here!) for them to get their asses out on stage.

The Big Pink were predictably wonderful – if anything, too perfect and disciplined in exactly replicating the album experience. But that’s not a criticism, because the album is nearly perfect, and the audience went suitably mental to _that_ part of “Velvet” and all of “Dominos.” We’re all used to the cover of “These Arms,” so it wasn’t quite the revelation it was the first time, but still, so much to love about their set. No “Stop the World” still, which they’ve disavowed. Odd.

The real test was APTBS – what were they like live? Thrashy and almost good as they were on the first album? Disciplined, studied distance with drum machine as on the second? A glorious combination of the two? Fortunately for me, they did all three, starting with tracks off with the more mannered (but still exquisite) songs off Exploding Head (“Ego Death,” “In Your Heart,” “I Lived My Life,” “Keep Slipping Away”), and working backwards to their debut (“To Fix the Gash”), ending in an apocalyptic mess of “Ocean” in a swirl of smoke machines, feedback, and literally destroyed equipment. Lead singer/guitarist Oliver Ackerman ripped the strings from his guitar as “Ocean” climaxed, swinging it by the remaining shreds, all while still piling brutal brick by brick in the wall of noise. A rock cliché, I know, but so thrillingly executed, and so naturally part of the sound and set as to be not merely excusable, but wonderfully apropos.

10. Florence & the Machine at the 930 Club/Solid Gold/Class Actress at DC9 (DC)

Why retype? This was one hell of a night:

• read about the Florence show here
• and the Class Actress one here

Other shows of note (though, I’m going off my notes here. Some may have been canceled/I was out of the country/I got tossed out on my ear: Cults and Best Coast in Gtown, Hundred in the Hands at DC9, Beach Fossils, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Casper Bangs, Deleted Scenes, Title Tracks, James River, Art Brut, Shout Out Louds, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dennis Kane, Stornoway, Grinderman, Junip, Light, Kate Nash, Black Angels, the Clientele, the Editors, Mark Zimin, Ra Ra Riot, Benjee Feree, Freelance Whales, DOM, Wild Nothings, Future Islands, Blonde Redhead, Crocodiles, Sounds of Kaleidoscope, the Love Language, Deerhunter, the Boxer Rebellion, Marina and the Diamonds, La Roux, HEALTH, Unrest, the Rondelles, Yeasayer, Love Is All, Dum Dum Girls, and the sublime Frankie Rose and the Outs at Comet).

As for albums of the year, there were more letdowns than I care to remember. Notably, Vampire Weekend, Goldfrapp, LCD Soundsystem (from the entertaining but flabby remake of “All My Friends” called “I Can Change” to the lazy “Nightclubbing” parody of “Somebody's Calling Me,” to the sheer lazy WTF pile of shit “Pow Pow,” this album felt beyond forced), MGMT, MIA, Gorillaz, Massive Attack (great remix of “Paradise Circus,” though), Interpol (though, is anyone really disappointed after six years of mediocrity?), Marina and the Diamonds, RPA and the United Nations of Sound (oh, Richard, why did I doubt that you’re still shit and crazy in a bad way?), and Weekend (YAWN – see APTBS on how to do it, above).

The National almost had a letdown, but then released alternative versions of the album tracks, which really called into question why they put the first version out. Still. I suppose I owe a top ten albums. Here you go:

1.Zola Jesus – Stridulum II + Poor Animal 7", or Stridulum EP + Valusia EP

2. Beach House - Teen Dream + Norway 7"

3. Frankie Rose and the Outs - S/T + Thee Only One 7"

4. UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall? + The Answer EP

5. Active Child - Curtis Lane EP

6. Warpaint - The Fool

7. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

8. DOM - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP

9. Crocodiles - Sleep Forever + Sleep Forever 7"

10. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

(With a special mention for, as above, the Twilight Saga: Eclipse Soundtrack)

And, here’s to hoping 2011 delivers.

Oh, one more thing, quickly. As for movies, 2010 was one of the most barren years that I can recall. The ad campaign for Inception was the only heartbeat-quickener of the year, but let’s face it – what a let-down! The King’s Speech was excellent, but that sort of uplifting, unlikely-hero, up-against-it historical drama has been done enough that I could predict every twist without thinking very hard. Hardly a worthy film of the year. Never Let Me Go was a breathtaking journey through the novel, but without having read it first, I’m afraid you’d miss most of what was truly excellent about it. The White Ribbon, Gomorrah, and a Prophet were all amazing to watch, but were already a year or two old when I saw them.

I’m going to have to go with the best actual experience I had in a theater all year, and that was Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I’m with AO Scott – this is why we have films. Not Avatar – overhyped, underwritten trash that’s easy on the eyes, not Sin City – with its content-free, slavishly comic book style, but SPvtW – under-hyped, overwritten, and completely, gleefully cinematic. It takes the graphic novel and uses cinema to go beyond anything comics can do, into a rich, meta-experience that combines break-neck jokes, visual and sonic references, foreshadowing, and more (like Natural Born Killers with a point?), while never leaving behind the central story of a boy and a girl and the drive to love and be loved. Beautiful, funny, perfect.

And, finally, as a bonus, the songs of the year, in alphabetical order:

active child – i’m in your church at night
anna calvi - jezebel
bag raiders - way back home
beach house – 10 mile stereo
best coast - something in the way
bishop morrocco - last year's disco guitars
blonde redhead – my plants are dead
broken bells - the high road
chapel club - telluride
cosmetics – sleepwalking
crocodiles – sleep forever
crystal castles (feat. robert smith) - not in love
cults - go outside
dead skeletons - dead mantra
deerhunter – helicopter (diplo and lunice mix)
delphic - counterpoint
dom – living in america
e. gold (feat. alexis) – separate our hearts
factory floor - lying
fiction - curiosity
first aid kit - when i grow up
flashguns - house of flowers
florence and the machine - heavy in your arms
frankie and the heartbreaks – hunger/tender
frankie rose and the outs – little brown haired girls
freelance whales – Hannah
friendly fires - strangelove
futureheads - heartbeat song
goldfrapp – rocket (richard x one zero remix)
grinderman - worm tamer (aptbs remix)
heartbreaks - i didn't think it'd hurt to think of you
jónsi - go do
klaxons - echoes
lcd soundsystem - all i want/drunk girls/i can change
leisure - outside the walls
life in film - sorry
little girls - 10 mile stereo
lykke li - paris blue
massive attack (feat. hope sandoval) - paradise circus (gui boratto remix)
mona - listen to your love
mr. little jeans - rescue song
museum of bellas artes - watch the glow
oh! land - white nights
ringo deathstarr - you don't listen
school of seven bells - windstorm (aptbs remix)
sleigh bells - tell em
spectrals - 7th date
steve mason - am i just a man
still corners - don't fall in love
summer camp - ghost train
tennis - marathon
the charlatans - love is ending
the chemists - kill
the drums - best friend
the hundred in the hands – commotion
the national - terrible love (alternate version)
the radio dept. - never follow suit
the radio dept. – heaven on fire
the vaccines - ra ra ra (wrecking bar)
the van doos - tenterhooks
vampire weekend - giving up the gun
veronica falls- right side of my brain
warpaint - undertow
wolf gang - lions in cages
wombats - jump into the fog
yeasayer - o.n.e.
zola jesus - poor animal

Previously in END OF YEAR 2010 LISTS:

• 1/4: The Top Ten Sneakers of 2010
• 12/30: Top Ten Guilty Pleasures of 2010
• 12/21: The Best Musical Moments of 2010
• 12/20: Songs That Made Me! Happy in 2010
• 12/16: Worst Music Packaging Of 2010
• 12/15: Best Music Packaging of 2010
• 12/14: Top 10 Movie Superlatives of 2010!
• 12/8: Music You May Have Missed In 2010
• 12/7: Knock-Out Movies of 2010