My 2010 pt.1 – Rob Gannon
Once more the nights draw in quickly. Once more I find myself hunched over the keyboard, finding solace in subjective lists. You might think I have better things to do – you’d be wrong. Hereby, with [sic] review links provided where available, I present the best live performances I attended and some of the best records I’ve heard this year (pt.2 with tracks and albums of the year to follow shortly):
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BEST 2010 LIVE PERFORMANCES :
10. SALEM: Nation Of Shopkeepers, Leeds – Nov 27th. On the coldest of nights, Michigan’s darkest blew away the chills with their disturbed sonics, smoke screens and screwed beats.
9. Liars / Beach House: Club Academy, Manchester – May 31st. Impossible to separate these stellar back-to-back performances from the Dot To Dot festival – Beach House’s frosty sweet was the perfect accompaniment to Liars’ spiky spice.
8. Murder By Death: The Deaf Institute, Manchester – June 7th. A smooth bourbon-swillin’, toe-tappin’ affair straight from the well-rehearsed heart – loved the electric cello too.
7. Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Manchester Cathedral – Aug 3rd. One to savour in special surroundings – a highly personable performance from his majesty.
6. Nedry: Contact Theatre, Manchester – April 30th. Inspired dub/trip-hop hybrid on an evening for charity – the original dubbers didn’t know what to make of it but the crossover kids were in their element.
5. Japandroids: The Deaf Institute, Manchester – Feb 25th. Fun with a capital J. A blistering run through of Post-Nothing, as well as that McClusky cover and foot-on-amp guitar solos.
4. The Walkmen: St Philips, Salford – Nov 5th. More than ably supported by The Vaccines , this intimate show started brightly, was soothed by the venue’s excellent acoustics and closed with that classic “The Rat” – a vintage showing from these now-veterans.
3. Titus Andronicus: Salford Lads Club – Nov 21st. Good, old-fashioned punk gig in an iconic venue. Mosh pit and all, there was a real raw-edged energy to Titus Andronicus and their epic, civil war concept.
2. These New Puritans: The Deaf Institute, Manchester – Feb 3rd. With the decibel counter firmly in the red, TNP’s hybrid beats caressed with one hand whilst balling up the other around some heavy-duty chains. Impressive.
LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
1. Zola Jesus: The Deaf Institute, Manchester – Sep 2nd. No contest for live performance of the year. Diminutive only in size, Nika Danilova preached high Goth from her soapbox, cut literal swathes through the crowd while pacing like a caged animal, as well as putting 2010’s best set of lungs to show-stopping use.
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BEST 2010 EPs :
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10. Tennis – Marathon . Mildly fuzzy, fizzy and echoing, these Girl-group inspired songs are accounts of their – Mr and Mrs Tennis’s – eight months aboard their own yacht sailing the Eastern sea board. Funny, because you’d have had your money on it being the other coast after hearing this.
9. Eternal Summers – Seasons . Boy + girl / guitar + drums. It isn’t rocket science and these delightful, nostalgic, sun-drenched samples prove it.
8. The Sandwitches – Duck Duck Goose! . Chilly, fragile, female-voiced lullabies echoed out to oblivion, these girls were produced by The Fresh & Onlys and it shows.
7. Forest Swords – Dagger Paths .
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A wide-screen, high-definition, out-of-nowhere exercise in ambient dub that placed The xx ‘s echo against Massive Attack ‘s Mezzanine-era atmospherics, whilst taking the time to showcase an appreciation of Ennio Morricone ‘s experiments with sound, as well as silence.
6. Balam Acab – See Birds . Eerie, pretty, barely-there electronica with a beating heart. Chamber music for the coolest ghost you know. Comes hand-intangible-hand with the below, fellow Tri Angle act oOoOO .
5. oOoOO – oOoOO . Slow-mo house exclusively for the most haunted of houses. Ambient, Gothic electronica with added reverb, this is the stuff of dreams and nightmares all at once.
4. The Bewitched Hands On The Top Of Our Heads – Hard To Cry . Young, preposterously-monikered French outfit recently graduated from the school of Arcade Fire . Fancy Funeral as done by art-school bubblegum-punks? They did.
3. The Tallest Man On Earth – Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird . Heavy-hearted acoustic folk EP, which, following this year’s excellent LP, continues to eschew pretence and filler, ensuring Mattson’s tears make him no less tall in our eyes.
Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird review
2. Clockcleaner – Auf Wiedersehen . Sludgecore alt-heroes turn down the tempo further for a very welcome return, and, with loose bass, echoing, isolated guitar lines and industrial epics, they jive to their own inimitable Big-Black – strangling – The-Cramps beat. Surprisingly anthemic.
EP OF THE YEAR
1. Zola Jesus – Stridulum . Before the expanded re-release Stridulum II, naturally, there was Stridulum the original – and strikingly original it was too. Nika Danilova , Zola Jesus’s figurehead, was 2010’s superstar for sure. Her darkly operatic howl first gained prominence in the lo-fi community, then with the admirable Former Ghosts project, but here ran rampant. Amid disturbing whispers, rattling drum-machine patterns and dramatic Gothic synths, Danilova was sleek, soaring and iconic. Essential.
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HONOURABLE MENTIONS 2010 – re-releases, 2009ers that only came to light this year and other oddities (no order):
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– Richard Youngs – Beyond The Valley Of Ultrahits . 2009 micro-release picked up by Jagjaguwar in 2010 for wider-scale treatment – and what a bedroom beauty! Irons the lush beats and psych-pop of A Mountain Of One into a fully coherent offering.
Beyond The Valley Of Ultrahits review
– Former Ghosts – Fleurs .
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Their 2010 album didn’t quite stand up, but, in fairness, 2009’s Fleurs is a remarkable achievement to compare anything to. With Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu ‘s paranoid keyboards and stupendous vocal turns from Nika Danilova of Zola Jesus (see my EP list below), it’s a real treat make no mistake.
– The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns . Now very much at home on the Saddle Creek label, this Canadian’s re-released country-rock recalls Omaha’s heyday in the best possible way.
– Ganglians – Monster Head Room . With this impeccably echoing West Coast psyche, Ganglians sound just as enviable as they did on last year’s original release. With nods to The Beach Boys , Neil Young and the In The Red roster, Monster Head Room is deft, timeless and very pleasantly obscure.
– Japandroids – No Singles . 2010 re-release of two early EPs with a glossy picture booklet to boot. Furious and melodic, it’s a fascinating evolution to follow for avid fans of the band such as I.
– The Smith Westerns – The Smith Westerns . Those in the know were grooving to this lo-fi Glam-rock last year, but they didn’t shout loud enough for it to hit my radar ‘til this year. Pity, but much better late than never as Bolan-like stomps such as “Be My Girl” prove.
– Christmas Island – Blackout Summer . Ridiculously infectious garage-rock, with ridiculous lyrics like: “Dinosaurs, I can’t believe you ever existed.” Though I came to it late (it’s another ’09 release), my summer was a total blackout too thanks to this record – and that’s a good thing by the way.
– The Mynabirds – What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood . Another deserving 2010 re-release. Rilo Kiley / Jenny Lewis -like country-tinged aural honey, with a killer track in “Let The Record Go”.
– Ash – A-Z Vol.1 . Much kudos to Ash for still being with us and still not sucking. The first half of this collated “singles only” project (is it an album, is it a best-of?), Vol. 1. is as one would expect, and rather marvellous for it. Bubblegum pop-punk with a showcase’s worth of hooks.
– Washed Out – Life Of Leisure . Ernest Greene , the don of chillwave, has rarely been bettered at his own game, and no one has yet been as consistent. This re-release of last year’s lazy Life Of Leisure EP soundtracked the summer for all those that missed it first time around – like me.