10. Jason Forrest-Shamelessly Exciting
Every rare once in a while in one's listening career, one comes upon an album that is not only great, but is also so distant from anything else one has heard before that it is not merely finding a new album or band; it is finding a new sound. This has happened to me with, but not limited to, The Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and, most recently, Jason Forrest's The Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post-Disco Crash. Last year's album blew my mind; this year's album is an adequate follow-up to its gargantuan predecessor. The sound that Forrest has--I think it's called Break! or Break!core--sounds like an equal combination of 70s rock, hard-core glitch, and cheerleading anthems. It's beautiful; I can't wait for summer again so I can listen to Shamelessly Exciting! when it's sunny out. "War Photographer" is one of my favorite singles of the year, at least as good as the best of last year's album. If any contemporary artist will ever make me have seizures, it will be Jason Forrest--but the other people will only think I am smiling and dancing.
9. Beck-Guero
I know that putting the new Beck "disappointment" of an album kills any indie cred. that the Lightning Bolt/Animal Collective albums might have given me, and that almost makes me happy. Beck, I think, is the perfect artist to expose what shits hipsters can be; they can't handle him changing his sound all the time (read some reviews of Midnight Vultures, an album years ahead of its time), but when he releases an album that is arguably like something he's released before, they lose it. Guero is a very good to great album; I am unapologetic about that. Yes, "E-Pro" was a bit of a failure as a single. That I will allow. There are some similarities between this album and odelay. But just listen to the second half of the album; Beck takes some sonic ideas from Odelay and makes them more mature, more subtle--changes that make them altogether different and nuanced. That, I think, is also a great accomplishment, the talent that Beck has always had--taking something older and making it new again. Of course this isn't Sea Change, what I consider to be the best album since 2000 (gasp!), but I don't expect anything to be for a few more years.
8. Stephen Malkmus-Face the Truth
I would never have admitted this at the time, but I was a little disappointed when I first bought my pre-ordered copy of Pig Lib. Stephen Malkmus, the brains behind what was perhaps the most important band of my high school days, and a hero of sorts for me personally, was making jamsy music. It was great jam music, but I was still worried, wondering where these guitar solos could take him. He isn't Spiral Stairs, after all. What a relief to hear this new album! I almost wept. I loved "Post-Paint Boy" when I leaked, but I did not expect there to be at least 4 or 5 other songs equally as good: "Kindling for the Master," "Pencil Rod," "Baby C'mon," and "Freeze the Saints," at least. Man, this album was the first month of my summer break, before I went to Bloomington. Since then I've saved its listens, knowing that if I ration myself I will feel the bliss everytime I hear it. Right now there's an inflated cloud at least 12 feet long in our living room (Dan's sculpture, long story); Joel put "Loud Cloud Crowd" on his Cloud mix ; it brought a smile to my face.
7. Black Mountain-Black Mountain
I was first excited about this band (like oh so many others) because I heard that they sound like the Velvet Underground. They do NOT; what people should tell people who haven't heard them (and E-Harv did): they sound kindof like Broken Social Scene. Their songs are all huge, messy, expansive, and wonderful. "No Satisfation" is one of my favorite songs of the year; "Faulty Times" became something of an anthem to last semester. The band can chill out and make great psychedelic distortion jams like only SOnic Youth could, or they can fucking rock, making you turn up your car stereo until you almost blow the speakers. This album is wonderful as a whole, with each track going to the next in ways I never would have guessed would be so fluid. Pink Mountaintops, the side project, also has a pretty good album, but this album is epic. I hope the band can do this well on its next outing, but I fear they can't.
6. Wolf Parade-Apologies to the Queen Mary
Well no one else (Austin, Nick, Blake) has mentioned this album yet, so I assume it's in everyone's top 5. I would even go so far as to guess that it is someone's favorite album of the year. My prediction/hope is that this also wins Pitchfork album of the year, although they'll probably pick something a bite more under the radar (bitterness intended). Obviously, I love it too, which is a minor miracle; Wolf Parade had two strikes against this album, considering sooooo many people (myself included) had heard almost every song on the album on some EP or BBC session or something, and almost everyone prefers at least some EP track to the album track. Not to say that Brock's production isn't great; I got new things on a bunch of tracks that I hadn't pictured on the EPs. The favorite-track question of the year, I think, is not favorite Sifjan track or favorite Franz track, but favorite Wolf Parade track; THAT can say something about your personality (mine is "Hungry Ghosts," by the way). The hype-monster almost killed Wolf Parade before they could get going (think Yeah Yeah Yeahs); thankfully this miracle of an album fixed all that. Hands down the debut of the year, Wolf Parade is now the indie darling that everyone hopes can conquer the world. The Strokes came close, but, sigh, didn't quite make it; I'm doubtful about Arcade Fire. Wolf Parade, you're on deck.
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