Albums 10 – 1
 
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10.
Out Hud: S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D. (Kranky)
Another vastly underappreciated
album (at least by our staff), S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D. is a killer album.
With incredibly dynamic, shifting arrangements, steady and confident mixing
of techno elements with more traditional instruments of dark funk, it slinks
its way down the streets of your regrets, the bittersweets of your highs,
and the depth of nearly every human emotion. With brilliant moments of catharsis,
an overwhelmingly impressive understanding of space, and a solid coherence
all the way through its six song length, there is not a single legitimate
angle that I can see for poking at it. Wholly different from anything else
here, it is profoundly moving, energetic, and vibrant, full of dark, sinuous
energy. It only takes two songs to get you eating your own heart out; once
you hit the moment in “Dad, There’s a Phrase Called Too Much Information” where the blaring, climbing synth loop cuts out leaving only a deserting guitar,
you’ll be laid flat. And it only keeps getting better.

9.
Menomena: I am the Fun Blame Monster (Muuuhahaha!)
The title makes
no fucking sense, until you realize it’s an anagram for “The First Menomena
Album.” Wait, so how does it make any sense? Well, because the concept
of the title is the same as the concept of the album itself; cut up your sound
into loops and then mix them together. The only difference is the album makes
a ton of sense; the arrangements are solid and coherent, the instrumentation
often sparse but gorgeous, the layers of piano and modal percussion fusing
with other elements (guitar, synths, violins, horns), to make a jazz-influenced,
inspired piece of original genius. By turns resigned and angry, but always
spacious and clean, the damaged heart beneath all the layers of sound comes
through blazing with defeated glory and angst once that defiant guitar attack
at the end hits. It is the biggest “departure” (in the “from
the general trend” sense) album of any on this list. It also is, on its
own, one of the best.

8.
Polysics: Neu (Asian
Man)
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
Look out, the Polysics are coming through with (on average) 3-4 minute ripping
songs of nuclear brilliance! They have in their unstoppable arsenal ripping
hooks, earthquake-level percussion blasts, and manic inter-guitar dynamic!
It’s insanity, its orchestrated insanity! Can no one do anything to tame them?
Can no one do ANYTHING?”
“Dude, I don’t want to fucking stop that. It’s amazing.”
“I know, I know, but aren’t you worried for your safety? I mean, when
they force you to thrash around and air guitar like crazy aren’t you worried
that you’ll spontaneously combust, limbs flying everywhere, orgasmic energy
ripping you to shreds? How can you take that kind of attack and not lose your
shit?”
“Hey dude, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go.”
Absolute. Fucking. Spaz-core. Guitar-thrashing. Rhythm-pounding. GENIUS. GET
IT NOW.

7.
Blur: Think Tank (EMI)
Hah. If there’s
one album that my staff really disagreed with me on (hey, what can I say?)
it’s this one. Or maybe it was just one other writer who disagreed, I’m not
sure exactly how many people contributed to it…Anyway, trust me, I’m
right on this one. It’s not better than 13, it’s not better than Parklife,
no. But it’s not worse than them, either. This is the magic of Blur; with
such a profoundly different effort, such a big departure, they sound (still!)
stellar. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Graham Coxon, too. But on this entire
13 song record, there are, max, one or two duds. Consistently inventive, clever,
and assured, Think Tank is unquestionably confident and striking in
a more quiet way than their previous efforts. From brilliant opener “Ambulance”
to brilliant closer “Battery in Your Leg,” Blur once again prove
why their consistent career of excellent albums make them one of the most
important, and best, bands to have ever graced the music scene.

6.
The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow (Sub
Pop)
On a cursory listen,
what you’re struck by when you hear Chutes Too Narrow is that it’s
good, but that it seems so simple. I don’t want to compare them to the Strokes
in any stylistic sense, but they are extremely similar in that from seemingly
simple ideas they extract brilliant songs. For the Shins, however, there’s
more complexity involved; their ideas are fully fleshed out, tightly played,
and yet gleeful enough in execution that their brand of pop becomes strangely
affecting, as well as joy-inducing. The disc is short, and so are the songs;
they pack in their fantastic hooks and leave before the party gets old. What
clinches the excellence of this album is, finally, its spontaneity. In every
high pitched harmony is the spark of indie abandon, in every guitar lick the
quick fervor of an indie band in love with what they do. It pays off in spades,
and this ultimately helps them succeed brilliantly where the New Pornographers
fell just a teensy bit short. Two albums into their career, The Shins seem
only able to dish out excellence.

5.
The Constantines: Shine a Light (Sub
Pop)
If there’s one band
that has worked its ass off to get into my top five, it’s the Constantines.
There’s an odd paradox at work here: the album didn’t make my top five when
I first heard it, and it continued not to make it on subsequent listens, but
suddenly, as time went on, I realized that nonetheless it was getting more
listens than almost anything else in my collection. It always pulled me back.
And finally I realized that with gorgeous songs like “Shine a Light,”
“On to You,” and “Young Lions,” it’s sometimes the back-to-the-basics
Fugazi-esque hard-working band that finishes, well, at least fifth. Pure work
ethic, pure song-writing development, pure confidence, all of them are brimming
over the edge on Shine a Light. This is what I meant when I said that
rock had that special power that no other genre has exceeded for me; the heartfelt
guitar lines and vocals of the Constantines, coupled with their raw energy
and ethic, make for a Fugazi/Springsteen hybrid that I couldn’t love more.
Even though we all probably missed out on their apparently stunning debut,
with this sterling effort there seems to be no worry needed; The Constantines
have charged onto the radar, and seem to hold nothing but promise for the
future.

4.
M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts (Gooom)
It seems like the
French duo behind M83 sat themselves down in some really spacious room on
the French Riviera and had the following discussion:
“So. How about making this album.”
“Ok. How do we want to do it?”
“Hmmm. Well, I was thinking, we’d do a concept album?”
“What do you mean, concept album? Like, following a theme?”
“Yeah.”
“What should that theme be?”
“I was thinking…making music that condenses beauty down to its purest,
most bombastic form.”
“Shit, why not?”
“You ready?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Oh, one more thing; how should we do it?”
“I’m thinking…MBV, but more electronic, synthy.”
And so this album was born, I conjecture, because what else could’ve been
the intent of such an enormous, ambitious, heartbreakingly beautiful sonic
masterpiece? Beautifully experimental, with soul-rending siren voice cut-ups,
ripping sampled guitars, and ultimately, the craziest, most glorious synth
lines you could dream of, the hidden hooks here will all grip your heart and
make you drool for more. Whether it’s the fuzzed out church-sound bombast
of, well, “Church,” or the ripping synth and guitar lines of “Unrecorded,” there is not a weak song here, and the whole thing hits you like a ton of
bricks. Sonically and technically masterful shoegaze at its absolute best,
it has been in its own stratosphere all year long, and will continue to be
for ages. Still exceeded by BSS, Radiohead, and the Wrens, the only that that
keeps it out of the top three is a lack of as much variation as those groups;
but still, what a record. What a motherfucking record.

3.
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief (EMI)
Ok guys. What the
fuck. This is a great album, get over yourselves. We all know that if anyone
besides Radiohead came out with something even approximating this album, we
would laud them to the high heavens. (Cue whiny indie voice) “But they’re
Radiohead, they’re obligated to do something different and stunning! Otherwise
we’ll backlash!” Nearly every song here is stunning, kids. Nearly every
song here is different from what they’ve done before. There are scant few
carry-overs from previous eras; if anything, the songs here that sound like
they could fit on any one of their previous album sound that way because Radiohead
have essentially synthesized all the different ethics they’ve been working
with (for a thorough treatment of the subject, see my review). In fact, so
many songs here are pure genius that it boggles the mind that not everyone
loves this work. The fact of the matter is, ultimately, that after OK Computer nothing that Radiohead has done or will ever do will please everyone, and
as far as I’m concerned that has always been the mark of misunderstood genius.
It’s a testament to what Einstein once said: “Great spirits have always
encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” And so it is now,
and so it will be in the future. All I know is that when I slip into the beauty
of “There There,” “Myxamatosis,” “Backdrifts,”
“Wolf at the Door,” “Go to Sleep,” and well, every song
besides maybe “Scatterbrain” or “Sail to the Moon,” I
reach a bliss that no foolish, reactionary critic can touch. And if you put
aside all the bullshit and haughtiness, you’ll find the same to be true. Another
great album from, yes, the greatest band in the world, and the most important
band of our era.

2.
The Wrens: The Meadowlands (Absolutely
Kosher)
What a blindsiding
release. Sure, Secaucus was a great album, but I don’t know who didn’t
think that this release would just prove that seven years took the life out
of the Wrens. In this kind of atmosphere, I would argue, in order to dispel
these “you’re already six feet under” assumptions, you can’t just
come out with a good album; critics would just say sneeringly, “well,
they’re not going down easy,” as though the band were just prolonging
the inevitable. The usual case, in fact, is that bands don’t even get that
far. Frank Black, Black Francis, whatever, has been failing at it for years.
Jane’s Addiction came out with Strays, almost insulting their own legacy.
And Iggy Pop? Well, let’s not mention Skull Ring. So then what do the
Wrens do? They not only flatten expectations, they exceed everything they’ve
ever done, and in one brilliant, heartfelt masterstroke, decimate nearly every
other indie band that released a record this year. The Meadowlands is an unqualified masterpiece; by turns dark, resigned, and defiant, The Wrens
nailed hooks into you made of their own blood, sweat, and tears. Ranging from
punk, “Faster Gun,” to brokedown ballads like “Thirteen Grand,”
to pure hook-filled, blissed out desperation (see “Hopeless,” contender
for best song of the year), they dish out nuggets of genius with all their
hearts and soul. As a chronicle of a band’s indomitable spirit in the face
of every pitfall rock has to offer, it is stunningly beautiful, amazingly
intimate, and gorgeously, lovingly constructed. It’s filled with variation,
and while it couldn’t top Broken Social Scene, God knows it came as close
to the perfection that those Canadians reached as anyone could hope. And these
guys are all between 33 and 40? Damn straight. Rock on, old guys, rock on.

1.
Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It in People (Paper
Bag/Arts & Crafts)
The top dogs. I
had the supreme satisfaction of owning this album at the beginning of the
year, before a state-side release, before this brilliant, brilliant pop group
with a pedigree to make anyone jealous absolutely flattened the pop scene.
I have had nearly a full year to love this album, appreciate its only growing
genius, its profound emotional weight, its stunning impact. From the supersonic
guitars of “KC Accidental” to the bleeding heart of “I’m Still
Your Fag” to the eerily gorgeous vocal manipulations in “Anthems
for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” the entire album embodies pop perfection
in nearly every conceivable way. While Radiohead are trying to reinvent rock,
the ‘Scene calmly and confidently reinvent pop with ingenious arrangements
and expertly produced, layered hooks. The individual elements don’t strike
you as that out-of-the-ordinary, but in some strange sense the ‘Scene manage
to make them sound extraordinarily different from any pop album you’ve heard
before; from the clarinet flourishes to the slightly buzzing acoustic guitars,
no element is in the mix without wonderful attention to detail. But ultimately,
what cements this album as, for sure, the best of the year, is the warm, damaged
atmosphere with which it envelops you. Despite arrangements that include a
full orchestra, the intimate touches of small vocal interactions between band-mates
make it an album that melts you in your bedroom, elevates you on the road,
or breaks your heart on headphones. A stunning milestone, and, with any luck,
just the beginning for a group with massive amounts of talent, skill, and
vision; I can’t wait for them to blow me away again sometime soon. After all,
Interpol seem to want to take their sweet time recording their follow-up.