The final piece of my countdown puzzle is as always, my annual mixtape. Coming up with a songs of the year list is just too overhwhelming (hell, I have a hard enough time with the albums), so I like to put out a mix of the songs that defined the year in music for me. This year I managed to fit 18 songs into my 80 minute CD-R, but these are not necessarily my favorite 18 songs of the year. As a matter of fact, this was an especially tough year to figure out my mixtape because some of my favorite songs were just way too long and took up too much space. That’s the reason you won’t see any Titus Andronicus, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan, or LCD Soundsystem songs. There’s also some great songs I left off because the band had previously been on a mixtape and I wanted to get some new blood on to the mix this year.
Anyway, to the stats: As I already said, there’s 18 songs on this year’s mix. Only 5 of the songs come from albums that made my top 10, and 6 from 11 thru 25 albums. That means only 11 of the 18 songs come from albums in my top 25. That certainly has something to do with all the great tracks this year, but is also because, as I stated, I wanted to mix it up a little this year. (Pun intended? Yes.) The lowest ranked album with a song on the mix is “July Flame” from Laura Veirs’s album of the same name, which chimed in at #59 in my final rankings. I don’t have any songs from EPs, which is a rarity for my mixes.
So there you go. Below you can find the songs that will be spinning around my car’s cd player for the next few weeks, whenever I forget to bring my ipod with me. As I always remind people, this is not a ranking. The songs are listed in order of how they appeared on their respective albums. If you want to see my entire top 25 albums list in one easy place, head on over to my Amazon.com list and check it out (as well as all my lists for the past 10 years). Last, but not least, for the 3rd year in a row Amy Boyd has created my Mixtape album art for me. I’m taking care of her cat, so, it’s the least she could do. If you know her or ever happen to randomly meet her, tell her what an awesome job she did, once again.
[“World Sick” – Broken Social Scene :: Forgiveness Rock Record]
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[“Floating Vibes” – Surfer Blood :: Astro Coast]
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[“Go do” – Jónsi :: Go]
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[“Excuses” – The Morning Benders :: Big Echo]
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[“July Flame” – Laura Veirs :: July Flame]
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[“Airplanes” – Local Natives :: Gorilla Manor]
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[“Crash Years” – The New Pornographers :: Together]
First up is my honorable mentions that couldn’t quite crack my top 25. These are not necessarily the next highest ranked albums after 25th. I just felt like these albums deserved a mention for one reason or another, but had yet to be mentioned previously in a post.
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Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing
Free Energy’s brand of power pop is incredibly infectious and there’s plenty to love in the debut album from the Philadelphia 5-piece. Produced by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Stuck on Nothing shows a great knack for songwriting, featuring some super catchy hooks gleaming with confidence. Free Energy isn’t going to change rock ‘n roll, but Murphy sure saw enough in them to sign them to his DFA record label, because sometimes just creating some super fun music in traditional ways is all you need, especially when it’s done this well.
[“Free Energy” – Stuck on Nothing]
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Delorean – Subiza
Delorean is the kind of band that I have grown to appreciate in the last few years. The Spanish quartet is a dance-rock band which is a genre that I used to have no interest in. However, this isn’t your typical dance music, and it’s not something you’ll be clubbing to, but they’re version of electro-pop reminds me of a mix of Passion Pit and M83, with a little bit of Animal Collective thrown in. Subiza is their 3rd full-length album, probably their best, and includes one of the finest songs of 2010 in “Real Love”.
[“Real Love” – Subiza]
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Best Coast – Crazy for You
Crazy for You is the highly anticipated debut album from the Los Angeles trio founded by Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, and while I don’t rate this nearly as high as others, that doesn’t mean I don’t find it enjoyable. Best Coast writes lo-fi beach rock music full of catchy little melodies crammed into 2 and a half minutes or so. Crazy for You flies by at just over half an hour, and while my main criticism is the lyrics that seem like they come from the diary of a 12 year old, I do have to give Cosentino some credit for the brutal honesty she exudes in her songs.
[“When I’m With You” – Crazy for You]
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Wild Nothing – Gemini
One of the more under the radar releases this year is the excellent debut album from Jack Tatum, aka Wild Nothing. The Blacksburg, Virginia artist is another lo-fi shoegazing type band much like last year’s indie darlings The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Wild Nothing continues in that C86 style and Gemini features some very well written pop songs especially the excellent “Chinatown” which is one of the songs of the year and shows the talent and potential of Tatum.
[“Chinatown” – Gemini]
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Dishonorable Mentions:
I really can’t come up with too many albums to put here this year, which is a very good thing. That’s not to say there weren’t albums I didn’t like, but for the most part I enjoyed a little bit of every album I got this year. And while there were some disappointments, I just don’t think they deserve to fall in this category. So, what I’m going to do is feature one album that I will call a dishonorable mention, and then do a little write up on another album that you won’t see on my countdown which I’m sure will make some people angry, but I felt the need to explain myself.
The Whigs – In the Dark
The year’s lone dishonorable mention comes from the Athens based rockers The Whigs. It’s not like I was expecting a whole lot from this album, but I did enjoy their 2008 debut, Mission Control, so I was at least looking forward to hearing some more of their southern rock brand. But man, they just plain dropped the ball on this one, creating some uninteresting generic tunes, completely lacking inspiration. Even when some of the songs could work, the production is just dreadful. And I mean dreadful. The title track is the best song and really the only one that I could see fitting on Mission Control, but it’s not enough to save this mess. The sophomore slump strikes again.
So let me start by saying this is not a dishonorable mention. This is an album that ended up ranking in my top 50, and that I did enjoy listening to. However, as much ridiculous hype as this album got, I figured some people might wonder why it wasn’t going to show up in my countdown, so I wanted to give a quick little blurb sharing my thoughts. There’s no denying the talent of this group, especially for a debut album, and often the lyrics do convey a great deal of passion (although, after a while it starts to come across as just plain whining and wears me down. And there are a few lines that irk me, like a lot). The harmonies and ho-downs (or fauxdowns) are enjoyable, but when you do them on EVERY SINGLE TRACK with pretty much the same formula, it can be a bit much and border on self-indulgence. Now, as a fan of indie rock, I’m pretty good at looking the other way regarding self-indulgence, but sometimes, and it’s just hard to ignore the pretentiousness…and that’s the feeling I get with this album. The formula most of these tracks follow (slow acoustic start, building to the fauxdown) is actually quite generic, but my God, do people eat it up. Mumford & Sons take a lot from their influences, which I don’t have a problem with, but I just hate that the bands that pop in my head when listening to M&S have never gotten the same kind of love that these guys have garnered, despite the fact that I think they’re writing much more interesting music. Oh well.
So that’s just the music…I won’t even go too in depth of just how much I question this groups authenticity. I mean we’re talking about 4 guys from the super rich London suburbs, who for some reason decided to play American bluegrass folk. Far be it for me to question the type of music a band wants to play, but when you’ve already stated that your next album could go a completely new direction, I just can’t help but wonder where this is coming from. Can you imagine a band like Brooklyn’s Vampire Weekend (also known for their rich, educated, and preppy upbringing) deciding to play bluegrass music? (And trust me, they could if they wanted.) Absolutely not…it’d be a joke. They have embraced their “preppyness” in their tunes and while their music is certainly that type of corporate indie rock, I give them a pass, because I find it much more genuine.
So there you go. Once again, I don’t think this is a bad album whatsoever, but I also don’t think it deserves nearly the amount of hype it’s getting. There’s soooo much great music out there, and the fact that something like this is what people eat up, just bothers the hell out of me. The Pitchfork review was way too harsh and unfair at times, and frankly, reviews like that is why people despise Pitchfork, but there are certainly parts of it I agree with. The great reviews, on the otherhand, I think are also way off base. This album needs to fall somewhere in between, but if Sigh No More is how people get their jollies, then so be it.
Posted by Hawkins 
A Round of Sound 