by most (approximately) plays at home, work and on the radio show. Plenty of releases of 2010 in the mail or just being digested didn't get a mention here, so this list could never be final. Not much of a trend to be found here, other than half of the list being debut albums.
The UK's
Hype Williams changed their name from The Paradise Sisters, emerged from a cloud of thick, sticky smoke and delivered a handful of head-scratching seven inches, cassettes, and two even more confounding LPs. Soon after their appearance the rumor mill began to chrun. A side-project of Joss Stone? Doubtful. Doesn't really matter the where or who of Hype Williams, all I know is that they are making some of the most blunted and leftfield music that these ears have come across in recent memory, all while being fairly easy to digest. An oddball mix of cough syrup'd beatwork, hard-to-trace and slowed-down vocal samples and a myriad of found sounds are all worked into these tracks. Easy categorization is not meant for these recordings, and in this internet age of instant-coinage it's very refreshing. First LP is out of print (
try fusetron) but the brand new one on
De Stijl is still out there.
Australia's 2010, more than any year in recent memory, had an amazing onslaught of great LPs released, with (U.S. based)
Siltbreeze taking the lead in turning the rest of the world on to this distant continent. Tom Lax and co. released several full lengths from down under, getting important records on your turntables that would normally have been costly imports.
Naked On The Vague went from a duo to a full band and considerably upped the ante on their bleak post-punk, while
Fabulous Diamonds kept to the two-piece formula and expanded their ingenious concoction of hypnotic kraut-dub to it's logical conclusion with a pair of spellbinding songs that almost eat up both sides of the LP.
Circle Pit also delivered on their debut LP after issuing a fine seven inch the previous year. Lazy pop infused with some gutter glam that certainly rivals the originators, at least to these ears (older, we-heard-it-first-time-around Royal Trux fans seem to be the only ones taking issue with the record). Australia's
R.I.P. Society label pressed a great series of LPs on the actual continent, with my favorite release being the
Kitchen's Floor debut. Brief tracks wallowing in depression that bring to mind the clatter of the Dead C wrung into song form through Beat Happening's simplistic writing style.
UV Race also self released an amazing cassette* of Swell Maps-ian post-punk that they will have reissued on vinyl via
Aarght! Records next year. *
This is the only item on these lists that I did not have a physical copy of. A download can be found here to satiate listeners until the LP arrives.
The
Fresh & Onlys delivered another binge of releases in 2010, with little deviance from the consistent quality heaped on our years since their inception two years back. Upping the production levels on
Play It Strange kept the band's sound, errr, fresh, not to mention an excellent run of seven inches that had me doing mailorder from one of the world's least trustworthy postal systems: Italy. The constant touring of the four-piece has also paid off well, forging them into one of the more formidable touring bands going.
Vancouver had an excellent spat of full length releases in 2010, which even turned the head of the forever curmudgeonly
Doug Mosurock. Top of my list are the
Sex Church and
Defektors debut full lengths, both of which caught the ear of plenty of other radio shows, blogs and critics across the globe, and deservedly so. These are finely tuned works of grim punk born out of the grey Northwestern tradition, with the Defektors re-imagining the Wipers as if crawling out of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, while Sex Church funneled the Cheater Slicks' dark garage through a kraut-punk filter.
Nu Sensae, also issuing their debut LP after a few EPs, put out their most refined statement to date, released on this city's most consistent label, Nominal, who also issued the Defektors LP.
AHNA made an epic trek across most of Canada this year, playing any and every show they could get out to, all in support of their excellent self-titled drone/doom LP. 2011 should be a good year for
Cowards (12" or LP expected),
Manic Attracts (LP forthcoming via
Deadbeat),
Heavy Chains (seven inch due),
Flash Palace (following up that Pitchfork hype) and
No UFOs (a slew of cassettes and hopefully some vinyl due), most of whom released excellent primers this year via cassette or seven inch.
An unbelievable year of releases for
Siltbreeze (five made the list above) and easily the strongest since their resurrection five years back. Cleveland's
Puffy Areolas finally dished out a full length of their industrial strength hate-punk after a few years of teasing Termbo nerds with hard to nab releases on smaller formats. Standing polar opposite to the Puffy's was
The Doozer, who, after an excellent cassette release on
Sloow Tapes and a little heard debut CD, quietly put out an immense record of twisted folk that more than resembles his most infamous fellow Cambridge alumni, Syd Barrett. The Doozer undoubtedly works in enough of his own whimsy and clever lyrics to stand proudly alongside this giant.
After countless releases, Ohio's
Emeralds created a stunning double album of visionary synth and guitar based kosmiche which was a huge leap from the mostly drone-driven work of previous releases. Right alongside
Does It Look Like I'm Here? was a slew of made-for-vinyl releases and re-issues of early CDRs and cassettes, including the
Imaginary Softwoods double LP on
Digitalis, a collection of the best tracks by
Colored Mushroom And The Medicine Rocks on the group's own
Wagon imprint,
Mark McGuire's debut LP on
Editions Mego and a reissue of three of his classic cassettes courtesy of
Weird Forest and
Cylindrical Habitat Modules, plus a reissue of Emeralds'
What Happened on Editions Mego, and
John Elliot's solo guise as
Outer Space and his duo with
Sam Goldberg as
Mist were released by
Arbor and
Amethyst Sunset respectively. All those plus four seven inches released by the band to coincide with their Editions Mego album, none of which stopped the group from releasing countless cassettes and CDRs across a handful of small labels. Pretty damn tough on the wallet but worth every cent.
Other amazing full lengths by
Beach Fossils,
Sun Araw,
Male Bonding,
Oneohtrix Point Never,
Big Boi,
Clinic (big surprise there),
White Fence,
Wild Nothing,
Twin Stumps,
Tyvek,
Blank Realm,
Big Black Cloud,
The Rebel,
No Balls,
Nice Face and
Myelin Sheaths all received a ton of airplay/home play over the year.
Rest of the lists...
Seven Inches/Twelve Inches1.
Shit & Shine "
Bass Puppy" 12" (
Badmaster)
2.
Wet Hair/
Peaking Lights split 7" (Not Not Fun)
3.
Manic Attracts "
Animals b/w You Were The One" 7" (
Perpetrator)
4.
Grand Trine "
Sunglasses" 12" (
Divorce)
5.
Kurt Vile "
Square Shells" 12" (
Matador)
6. The Fresh & Onlys "
Impending Doom b/w Troubling Vision" 7" (
Agitated)
7.
Pens "
You Only Like Me When I Tell You I'm Wrong b/w Love Rules" (De Stijl)
8.
Rayon Beach "
Memory Teeth" 12" (
Hozac)
9.
Sun Araw "
Sun Ark" 7" (Not Not Fun)
10.
Meercaz "
Never Too Late To Learn b/w Brainscanning" 7" (Sweet Rot)
11.
No Balls "
Problems That Will Solve Themselves" 7" (DF)
12.
Holy Cobras "
Feed Yr Head b/w May You Be Free To Roam" 7" (
Telephone Explosion)
13.
Tonstartssbandht "
Midnite Cobras" 7" (
Psychic Handshake)
14. Broken Water "
Normal Never Happened b/w Faux King Vogue" 7" (
Fan Death)
15.
Rot Shit "
Dead I b/w Hipster Grandma and Local Band Forever" 7" (
Columbus Discount)
Cassettes1. No UFOs "
Soft Coast" (
Nice Up Intl)
2.
UV Race "
Homo" (self released)
3.
El Jesus De Magico "
Ragtime Hors" (
Goaty)
4. Cowards "
s/t" (self released)
5.
Constant Mongrel "
s/t" (
Hidiotic)
6.
Sleep Over "
s/t" (Night People)
7.
The Goslings "
Sister And Son + Death Garage" 2xCS (
Rotting Chapel)
8.
Tassels "
The Rosicrucians" (Digitalis)
9. Face Plant "
Get High And Listen" (
Catholic Tapes)
10.
Flash Palace "
Some Misinterpreted Sunsets" (Mayan Chorus)
Re-Issues*1.
Chrisma "
Chinese Restaurant" (Medical Records)
2.
Brainbombs "S
ingles Vol. 1", "
Urge To Kill", "
Burning Hell", and "
Obey" (Load, Skrammel and Armageddon, respectively)
3.
Les Rallizes Denudes "
Heavier Than A Death In The Family" and "
Blind Baby Has It's Mother's Eyes" (Phoenix)
4.
Antena "
Camino Del Sol" (Numero Group)
5.
Parson Sound "
s/t" 3xLP (Subliminal Sounds)\
6.
Eddy Detroit "
Immortal God's" (Assophon)
7.
Lazy Smoke "
Corridor Of Faces" (Jackpot)
8.
Tommy Jay & Mike Rep "
The Grim-O Comix Sequence" (Columbus Discount)
9.
Manuel Gottsching "
E2-E4" (bootleg)
10.
The Endtables "
s/t" (Drag City)
*note: these were all vinyl-only reissues. Some may have been issued on CD in the past but most here were new (again) to wax.Episode 77-Best tracks of 2010Conspiracy Of Owls "Raving Mad"
s/t LP (Burger)
The Fresh & Onlys "Impending Doom"
s/t 7" (Agitated)
The Doozer "God Does Not Need Light"
Great Explorers LP (Siltbreeze)
The Whines "Here We Sit"
Hell To Play LP (Meds)
Pens "You Only Like Me When I Tell You I'm Wrong"
s/t 7" (De Stijl)
Broken Water "Dead Light"
Whet LP (Night People)
Meercaz "Never Too Late To Learn"
s/t 7" (Sweet Rot)
Grand Trine "I Am A Magnet"
Sunglasses EP 12" (Divorce)
Black Feelings "Magic Feeling"
split w/Grand Trine 7" (Blue Skies Turn Black)
Puffy Areolas "Deathcraze"
In The Army 1981 LP (Siltbreeze)
Naked On The Vague "Mysterious Oven"
Heaps Of Nothing LP (Siltbreeze)
Constant Mongrel "Goofy"
s/t CS (Hidiotic)
UV Race "Burn That Cat"
Homo CS (self released)
Kitchen's Floor "Left"
Loneliness Is A Dirty Mattress LP (Bedroom Suck/R.I.P. Society)
Fabulous Diamonds "untitled 4"
II LP (Siltbreeze)
Manic Attracts "Animals"
s/t 7" (Perpetrator)
Sex Church "Ghost"
6 Songs LP (Convulsive)
Defektors "Torn To Pieces"
Bottom Of The City (Nominal/Grotesque Modern)
Cowards "Join Together To Stop The Cake"
s/t CS (self released)
Wet Hair "Blessed"
split w/Peaking Lights 7" (Not Not Fun)
Hype Williams "untitled 7"
untitled LP (Carnivals)
Sun Araw "Bump Up (High Step)"
Sun Ark 7" (Not Not Fun)
Emeralds "Candy Shoppe"
Does It Look Like I'm Here? 2xLP (Editions Mego)
No UFOs "side A (excerpt)"
Soft Coast CS (Nice Up Intl)
DOWNLOAD EPISODE 77 here (
right click link, then Save As, or just click to stream)
