Undertheradar's Best Of 2010
Leading the pack…
Indicative of a year with so many great releases, our contributors picks were quite varied but there were a few albums which came through multiple times – here are the leaders…
Liars – Sisterworld (Mute)
Beach House – Teen Dream (Bella Union/Sub Pop)
The National – High Violet (4AD)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (4AD)
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (4AD)
Local favourites…
The Dead C – Patience (Ba Da Bing)
Street Chant – Means (Arch Hill)
Sharpie Crows – Golf Course/Mass Grave (Mole Music)
TFF – Irregardless (Proxy Music)
Die! Die! Die! – Form (Flying Nun)
Full Moon Fiasco – Cosmic Palms (Muzai Records)
A nod to our neighbours...
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Rush To Relax (Goner)
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (Modular)
My Disco - Little Joy (Shock)
Complete list of favourite albums for 2010 below but first a few more fun picks for 2010...
Most under-hyped album…
Robert Scott – Ends Run Together (Flying Nun)
This album is amazing, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t seem to have received the attention it deserves.
Most over-hyped album…
MIA - MAYA (XL Recordings)
This is a hard call because arguably a lot of the albums featured here have been over-hyped to some degree. But as much as we love MIA and can’t wait to see her next year, when we thought back on the really hyped releases of the year, MAYA bore it the worst.
Favourite Track...
Seth Frightening – "Selfisssh"
This was near impossible to pick with the list of tracks we loved seemingly endless, but this track stood out as the most deserving of the title. It really is breathtakingly good, taken from Seth’s debut album The Princess and His Madness released at the start of the year via Sonorous Circle.
Worst Track…
British India – "90 Ways To Leave Your Lover"
While settling on our favourite track was almost impossible, this was dead easy - from British India's latest release Avalanche. The song is terrible.
Most read album reviews of the year...
1. Die! Die! Die! - Form (Flying Nun)
2. MGMT - Congratulations (Sony)
3. The Phoenix Foundation - Buffalo
4. The Mint Chicks - Bad Buzz EP
5. The National - High Violet (4AD)
Lowest rated albums...
Review-wise we like to focus on albums that we hope to enjoy, but that's not always the case. Here are some of the albums which left our writers less than impressed - our five lowest rated albums.
Carl Barat - Carl Barat (Rough Trade)
Klaxons - Surfing The Void (Polydor)
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Road Soundtrack (Mute Records)
Weezer - Raditude (Universal)
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (Arts & Crafts)
Favourite albums of the 2010 (complete list)...
Andrew Cedermark - Moon Deluxe (Underwater Peoples)
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Merge)
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti- Before Today (4AD)
Bannerman -The Dusty Dream Hole
Beach House – Teen Dream (Bella Union/Sub Pop)
Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart (Jagjaguar)
Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp)(
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM (Elektra/Because Music)
Crystal Castles – II (Fiction/Universal Motown)
Darkthrone - Circle The Wagons (Peaceville)
Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards (Third Man Records)
Dear Time’s Waste – Spells (Issac)
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (4AD)
Deftones - Diamond Eyes (Warner)
Die! Die! Die! – Form (Flying Nun)
Disasteradio – Charisma (A Low Hum)
Dudley Benson – Forest
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Rush To Relax (Goner)
Fang Island – Fang Island (Sargent House)
Four Tet - There Is Love In You (Domino)
Full Moon Fiasco - Cosmic Palms (Muzai Records)
Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here (XL Recordings)
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Virgin)
Grayson Gilmour - No Constellation (Flying Nun)
Grinderman - Grinderman 2 (Mute)
High On Fire - Snakes For the Divine (Koch)
Janelle Monaé – The Archandroid (Bad Boy/Wondaland Arts Society)
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam)
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (DFA Records)
Liars - Sisterworld (Mute)
Lower Dens – Twin Hand Movement (Gnomonsong)
Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts (Sub Pop)
MGMT - Congratulations (Columbia)
Mount Eerie - Song Islands Vol 2 (Elverum and Sun)
My Disco - Little Joy (Shock)
Nevernudes - Creepy Crawlies (Mole Music)
Operation Rolling Thunder – III (Monkey Killer Records)
Orchestra of Spheres – Nonagonic Now
Renee-Louise Carafice – I Will Raise A Bird Army (Bird Army Records)
Robert Scott – Ends Run Together (Flying Nun)
Roky Erickson & Okervil River - True Love Cast Out All Evil (Spunk)
School of Seven Bells - Disconnect from Desire (Ghostly International/Vagrant)
Sharon van Etten – Epic (Ba Da Bing Records)
Sharpie Crows - Golf Course / Mass Graves
Sleigh Bells – Treats (Mom + Pop/N.E.E.T.)
Street Chant - Means (Arch Hill)
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (Modular)
TFF - Irregardless (Proxy Music)
The Black Keys - Brothers (Nonesuch Records)
The Dead C - Patience (Ba Da Bing Records)
The National - High Violet (4AD)
The Parting Gifts - Strychnine Dandelion (In The Red Records)
The Pyramid Scheme - Massive Reminders of a Verile King
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor (XL Recordings)
Tricky - Mixed Race (Domino)
Twin Shadow – Forget (4AD)
Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL recordings)
Wolfparade - Expo 86 (Sub Pop)
Wild Nothing - Gemini (Captured Tracks)
Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian)
And there you have it. Feel free to post your own favourites (and worst) albums and tracks.
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Looking forward to 2011, here are some local releases to keep an eye out for...
T54 – releasing their debut EP on January 15th, we’ll be running a preview from January 10th.
Brains – are sitting on an amazing album which we wish they would release officially already – titled (last we heard) Constant Love Forever.
Collapsing Cities – yes they apparently still exist, we've heard rumblings of late that their long awaited follow up to Elixer Always could be on the cards for 2011.
Fighting the Shakes - Mint Chicks touring buddies return to the fold with a full length release sometime early-to-mid next year sure to be replete with catchy, post punk melodies.
1995 – album in progress and if current single "Foreign Soul" is anything to go by we can expect good things.
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