These are in no particular order, and the only criteria that these albums satisfy are that I like them. I’m afraid that I’m not going to make any hyperbolic statements of greatness, but what I will do is run down some records that for me were memorable, got played a lot, and that I basically loved. You might disagree. Well, I forgive you.
Well, what can we say about 2010? It’s hard, you know, what with the mainstream sounding so bright and brash and ground-breaking and all. Whut, no. If all y’all kids were stuck on the knobs of pop radio, I don’t know what to tell you… But there was so much, too much to get caught up and in making this list, I felt like I was excising beloved children to the basement on Christmas Eve. Stay down there, Glasser, Lady Gaga, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.! Daddy will be down with a flashlight soon…
And with that my top 20 tracks of the year:
“I Can Change,” LCD Soundsystem: plaintive, yet sassy with that slippery beat, this track makes you want to shimmy up to a handsome stranger and please, please fall in love.
“Dancing On My Own,” Robyn: Robyn broke out of the gate with this track early in the year and set the bar precipitously high for every other pop star. Nothing has come close to knocking it from its rightful pedestal.
“USA Boys,” HEALTH: simply, a rolling thunderstorm of sex.
(Read the article)
1. Janelle Monae – The Archandroid
2. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
3. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Leftfoot, the son of Chico Dusty…
4. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. Of Montreal – False Priest
6. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
7. Warpaint – The Fool
8. Future Islands – In Evening Air
9. Candy Claws – Hidden Lands
10. How To Dress Well – Love Remains
Warpaint’s The Fool is something that we’ve really been enjoying here at TMS Towers. And it’s time for those of us in the UK to give thanks: the group are heading back this way on tour, after their recent dates with The xx in the US, and sold out headline shows in the UK, US and Europe.
Tour dates:
May 11th – Cambridge, Junction
May 13th – Oxford, O2 Academy
May 14th – Manchester, Gorilla
May 15th – Dublin, Tripod
May 17th – Bristol, O2 Academy
May 18th – Birmingham, HMV Institute, The Library
May 19th – Leeds, Met Students’ Union
May 20th – Lancaster, Library
May 23rd – Newcastle, O2 Academy
May 24th – Sheffield, Leadmill
Somewhere between the drums of war and the drums of disco falls The Fool by Los Angeles’s Warpaint. Personal, dark, and pointed directly at you are the siren-song vocals and lyrics. This album is full of strong, smart songs that both accuse and include the listener. These mixed feelings are accented by aggressive, churning bass and percussion performances. The parts of this album combine to form a moving, worried and fast-paced album, highlighted by some truly smart musical transitions, especially in “Composure” which slips effortlessly between a school-yard chant over a sleepy shuffle and a frantic and mumbling disco, with yelps of “how can I keep my composure?” and then right back.
Watch their Reading performance ‘Undertow’ below. The Fool is out soon.
MP3: Warpaint – Elephants
The Fool will see daylight on 10/26. It features:
Set Your Arms Down
Warpaint Undertow
Bees
Shadows
Composure
Baby
Majesty
Lissie’s Heart Murmur
Catch Warpaint on their NA tour.
MP3: Warpaint – Elephants
Josh Darr captured some fabulous photographs from the Chicago gig. Lisbon will see daylight very shortly. Catch Warpaint on their NA tour with The XX.
View more shots & download two tunes AFTER THE JUMP…
Catch both acts at:
9-22 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
9-23 Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre
9-25 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
9-29 Toronto, ONT – Massey Hall
10-1 Montreal, QUE – Place Des Arts Maissoneuve
10-2 New York, NY – United Palace
10-4 Philadelphia, PA – Merriam Theater
10-5 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
10-6 Atlanta, GA – Taberbacle
10-9 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
The XX recently chatted with Fader TV.
Read my interview with Warpaint here.
MP3s: The XX – VCR (Matthew Dear Mix) & Warpaint – Elephants
Enjoy the brand new Q&A below. Read my interview with Warpaint here.
