Everyone’s a Critic: One Man’s 20 Best Albums of 2010
Progressive music fans live in a Pitchfork-shaped universe. That’s good and bad. Pitchfork.com does a lot of the heavy lifting, bringing artists, albums, and tracks to our collective attention via their daily reviews, Best New Music posts, and even the always-interesting, often-excellent Forkcast.
But it’s a sometimes-uncomfy relationship — at least it feels that way to me. Like a band that Pitchfork likes, and you’re a fanboy. Like a band that Pitchfork doesn’t like, and you’re an unhipster…or worse, a Kings of Leon fan.
Kings of Leon is a good example. A band that releases a huge guitar record on a major label this year does so at its peril. A band with an unearned chip on its shoulder that releases such a record not only asks for a brutal review, but also the ignominy of having its album cover dissed. But…a band that puts out a lower-fi guitar record on an indie label (or better still something glofi or chillwave or any nifty-but-as-yet-uncoined adjective on a self-released on 7″ or cassette) should prepare for accolades.
Kings of Leon’s Come Around Sundown is an eminently listenable and utterly forgettable album. (To some degree, ditto Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms, another guitar record on a major label, by a band formerly on an indie label.) But so are Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker and Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor. And guess which ones got higher reviews?
I have no bone to pick with Pitchfork. I visit that site every day. Their coverage is unassailable — and even veers occasionally into the mainstream (Kanye West, Lady GaGa). And their writing is uniformly good. But their taste is somewhat predictable.
Tastemaking, sigh. Here’s where we near the heart of the critical enterprise and the dizzying lesson, from William Vollman (riffing on post-structuralism in Europe Central), that “Sometimes the critic’s exegesis is wiser than the composer’s.” More on that in future posts, but for now: Of course, it’s the music that ultimately matters, not what gets said about it (or by whom). But to appreciate it, and situate yourself among those offering commentary on it, requires something more than ears. It requires the context that critics so often bring.
Is it possible to hear Neil Young’s Le Noise for the first time and appreciate it, without having some idea about where he’s been artistically and personally for the past twenty years? Without having a footing in “Natural Beauty” from Harvest Moon, Sleeps with Angels, and the Dead Man soundtrack? Sure. But the gloss placed upon Le Noise by what came before is important to a deeper appreciation of its subtle charms. And so on with countless other artists, albums, and tracks — even shows.
(Hold on: Gotta check some things off my to-do’s.
[x] Quote Vollman.
[x] Allude cryptically to MM. Barthes, Foucault, et Derrida.
[ ] Mention meta-something.
Ok…)
What I’m proposing, and what my contributions to this blog will hopefully foster, is a critical approach to music criticism — a meta-level discourse, talking about talking about music — that still encourages a deep enjoyment of the very activity that enables such criticism. Namely, listening to music. And that sort of approach is becoming more common. We’re learning, together, that the best way to engage each other about music is to do a lot of both — listen to and read about music, and both via the intrawebs and the blogosphere. We are all becoming critics, with sophisticated and broader tastes. Increasingly, we expose ourselves to new sounds, and the words about them, and then comment upon them (even if only to friends) with the authority of people who at least know the general contours of the debate, the size and shape of the proverbial playing field.
Frank (or, at least his surrogate, the girl from the bus) said, “Music is the best.” He was right. Music is the best. And this was a good year. Here’s my list of the 20 best albums of 2010 (along with lastfm links where I could find them):
1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, G.O.O.D. Fridays tracks
2. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
3. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma, Pattern + Grid World ep
4. Sleigh Bells – Treats
5. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
6. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening, The London Sessions
7. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record, Lo-Fi for the Dividing Nights ep
8. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz, All Delighted People ep
9. Beach House – Teen Dream
10. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
11. Mogwai – Special Moves
12. Best Coast – Crazy for You
13. Four Tet – There Is Love in You/Angel Echoes (Remixes)
14. Robyn – Body Talk
15. Spoon – Transference
16. The Black Keys – Brothers
17. No Age – Everything in Between
18. Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
19. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
20. Stereolab – Not Music
N.b., Certain artists have two listings, which form a more complete picture of their output this year. That definitely bends the rules of a best albums list, but it seems fairly defensible to me. For example, it’s difficult to separate Kanye West’s record from the weekly previews he provided on his website. And the Flylo’s album and ep, as well as Broken Social Scene’s and Sufjan Steven’s, are distinctly companion pieces. Additionally, Girls’ Broken Dreams Club ep would’ve make this list, but its length made it ineligible for a list of albums.
Others receiving consideration (aka, the honourable mentions): Bettie Serveert – Pharmacy of Love, Delorean – Subiza, Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing, How to Dress Well – Love Remains, Jenny & Johnny – I’m Having Fun Now, Neil Young – Le Noise, The New Pornographers – Together, The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme, The Corrin Tucker Band – 1,000 Years, Wolf Parade – Expo 86.
Oh, and fwiw, the best Phish show this year was 8/14/10.
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