2010 in Music - Albums - Part 1

***[In progress  ---  further links and comment to follow in the next few days]***

Following on from what I wrote yesterday this is the first instalment of my lists of 2010.  I decided to tackle the albums in two tranches, for the reasons I outlined.

These are not necessarily any better (and this is of course subjective) than those that will appear in '2010 in Music - Albums - Part 2, which is one reason I did not choose this format in 2009...

• Arcade Fire - Suburbs
• Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo [link1]
• Besnard Lakes - Are The Roaring Night
• Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now [link1] [link 2] [link 3]
• Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea
• Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II 
• Ellie Goulding - Lights
• Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can [link 1]
• Lissie - Catching A Tiger
• School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire [link 1]
• Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light and Trees [link 1] [link 2] [link 3]
• Warpaint - The Fool [link1] [link2]

The above however define the contours that have sculpted my musical landscape in 2010.  I could easily exchange several items between this list and the forthcoming one but ultimately I had to make a final decision. Albums released in December 2010 are clearly eligible for addition too, as are a few that I have recently acquired but have not, as yet, listened to sufficiently to form a stable opinion.

There are no images in this post because I don't want to prejudice anything. On the other hand I have already mentioned many of these artists in 2010... if you want to see what I wrote then please use the search facility in the side-bar.

Please feel free to comment, argue and suggest additions/deletions by comment or e-mail. I will add links and further comments as and when I get the time through December.

Artists highlighted in green are those that I have seen live in 2010 or, if in orange, those from before but also mentioned in 2010. Items/artists highlighted in red are those on which I have commented in 2010.

Now over to you!

Higher Powers - 6 Day Riot - the album lyrics

It is mostly done and, given the new-found popularity of 'Every Third Sunday', I thought it a shame not to share all the lyrics for 6 Day Riot - Have A Plan.

Run For Your Life

And morning comes with a meltdown, this town is needing a shakedown, we've

been burning bridges for hours: guided by higher powers. And rising up from the

edges this land is covered with faces we've been praying for someone to lead us, the

end of those who deceive us. Ooh if I was you I'd run for your life. Her face is in every

paper and may we never forget her... A nation cries together, hoping to remember.

Look back at roads we have taken, as sleeping giants awaken, counting days till

tomorrow we'll beg steal and borrow. It's not the time to stand in line if you wanna

change this. They'll make the world you measure by if you let them take you. And hand

you to the darker side where everything's about you, it's not the time to stand in line

someone has to change this.

O Those Kids

O those kids, those kids won't bat an eyelid if we don't change a

thing. I risked my mind, I risked my mind and sanity to give you

what you need. I'm drowning. I'm leaving this life we made.

I'm drowning, my last thought's of all the money we'll make.

We'll make. O my dear, now don't you fear, just another day

and we'll be done. O my dear now don't you fear, just another day

and the money's coming quick and fast. We'll spend! We'll spend!

We'll spend! O those kids...

Be With Me

I look inside your mind and hide beneath this bed, the sheets are cold tonight the

shapes all blur to life. As I pray for you and watch you as you sleep, as I wait

my turn I hope that you will be with me, we'll find what only the wise men seek.

They hang around in pairs with boards that hold your name, a tick or two for you

could mean another day. As I hold my breath and wait to hear some word, as I beg

for rest I hope that you will be with me, we'll find what only the wise men seek and

though it's hard to tell what only wise men seek. We took a risk our way;

we fought to know, we took a risk our way; open and closed. Come on and tell us,

come on and show us.

Every Third Sunday

If you take this wrong then time will stop, wasted spaces move back

up; many days have rolled into one. Daily meals to calm your eyes,

wisdom seldom realized I could try to reason one more time.

But by the by, by the by, how fear has multiplied wild and lost within

your state of mind. My oh my, my oh my, how tears have multiplied

drowned and lost within your state of mind. To the edge and round the

bend, stubborn till the bitter end hold on tight before this whole

town blows. Get up get up and face the day don't let those hours slip away,

chasing time and talking hate again. I'm drowned and lost within your

state of mind.

Rise Above

Rise above, rise above, rise above all the lies and hatred and new-fangled love,

could you find a way to turn this all around? Wide awake, wide awake, wide awake

as the morning turns another page and the anger lies sleeping one more day.

But oh to be like you, a stranger to all we knew, to hold yourself above what

might be true. Walk away, walk away, walk away turn your back on all that we

once made let the mountain rise upon this land. I don't know, I don't know,

I don't know you could count the lives that have been lost but still your mind

rests firmly on your own. But oh to be like you, a stranger to all we know,

to hold yourself above what might be true.

So You're A Writer

So you're a writer but can you hear this? You've been chasing circles all across

those pages. Another landslide and they're all cheering, got your people outside

every doorway listening. Bring it back to mine, slip back into line, it's harder to

deny so bring it back. You'd take my own mind to hide your old lies and try to save

face if only just to rise above us. So lie in wait there and toast your genius, raise your

glass high while everthing around you crumbles. Bring it back to mine, slip back

into line, it's harder to deny, it's harder when you go sailing past this place take that

trip back round. All a game planned in your mind take that trip back round. These

last days have multiplied the thoughts you hoped to hide as you go sailing past your

soul take that trip back round.

Breakdown

Never thought, never thought to wonder if you heard all that I said, if my house isn't

there any longer then I guess I've burnt that bridge. How.m I ever gonna fight this breakdown

if I'm dead from the waist down? If I thought I could take this over then I might earn

my name, as I lie and wait, lie and wait for answer lie and wait, lie and wait in vain.

How'm I ever gonna fight this breakdown if I'm dead from the waist down. Undo my mind

rewind our time. On the face in the face of all this, like you, like me, like he, it's all I thought

I ever wanted all I thought I'd ever be. How'm I ever gonna fight this breakdown if I'm

dead from the waist down. Undo my mind, rewind our time. Every word that I encounter

holds an old part of me. all the books I've ever opened lie floating on the sea, and my clothes

don't even matter if I have nothing more, could you stay a little longer, help take away

the noise. How'm I ever gonna fight this breakdown if I'm dead from the waist down,

undo my mind, rewind our time.

Go! Canada

Oh we sailed for days to find this view before us, there lies the land an inch or two

below us. Take a look around you'll see the flags are raised again, and rising from

the earth the theatre beckons us along. Way beneath the swell they laugh at our

misfortune. All that holds our wealth lies washed up in Dalston. We fought our

way through broken years to conquer, there lies the land an inch or two below us.

Wave across the rolls at red and white united, may we return another day to find this.

Oh we're losing you, drink to forget what is right. Oh saluting you, drink just to sleep

through the night.

Rise Again

Chasing the circles and fighting the cause it's now that we have come for.

it's now that we needed. Inside your pocket, lined with our gold you hide your

intentions and hold our restless souls. But oh we will rise once more, ignore

those fearful men. I'll try to regain my strength for now I can breathe again.

Lost in the moment still biding our time we swim for this promise and hold

the dark line, now with momentum we run with the waves we're dying to meet

you, we're dying to know your name. To know your name...

Long Slow March

In this place not a face that I can trust, not a scene to be believed it's changing...

From each door to the boot of my car they follow every move I'm making.

Like age they'll take my mind, like years they'll take my sight, a long slow march

through the night, a long slow march tonight. To the next I hear each word I

breathe a stranger to deceive, I'm on you. Here you stand a brother in each sense

but eyes that I can't place: do I know you? Like age they'll take my mind, like years

they'll take my sight, a long slow march through the night, a long slow march tonight.

Previous posts on this topic:

Every Third Sunday - 6 Day Riot

While you're at it why not also check out this CD from 2004...

From Home To Home - Tamara Schlesinger

Infinite iteration...

The title might sound like math homework from decades long past but it is actually an observation on a much more recent problem. It is a more welcome problem, I must add, but an example of the fact that some things seem to get harder with practice and - at for me at least - writing year-end lists is one of them.

I have not fulfilled all the promises I made for my blog this year and only I am to blame there. I have however succeeded in listening to more music, both recorded and live, than ever before. That is another large part of the problem: taking stock in the last few weeks has only now made me realize how true that is. Worse still, in this regard alone, is that the guidance I have received from many sources in the last year has meant that very little of it, live or recorded, can simply be dismissed at the first pass; furthermore not only is there far more to consider it is also more varied in nature and that is a big problem hence the title of the post!
How do you whittle the list down without obvious accusations of a travesty of justice? I have had, and then discarded, various ideas about categorization but in the end I think I'm going to do it much like last year:

• Two complementary lists of albums (I'm not sure how one will be distinct from the other).
  
• A list of EPs/mini-albums (of which I have rather more this year than last).
  
• A list of singles (probably).
• A list of live acts that I have liked the most.

The last is a new category and to some extent it will overlap with the foregoing ones. Another that I'm still considering is a shortlist of albums from earlier years that I have acquired for the first time in 2009. Don't get me wrong, I love doing it but it does not actually get any easier and perhaps that apparent contradiction is actually part of the appeal.

I've even got a working list of 2010 artists and albums to keep an eye on and, as the second decade of the 21st century dawns, it doesn't look disappointing.

Rain On My Window - Jill Jackson - lyrics

Thank-you to whoever just asked for this lyric: I've been meaning to do more lyrics for ages and you finally put me up to it and it is, as it happens, raining on my skylight window as I write.

This is what I think the lyric is but it comes with the usual proviso:

Rain On My Window

How do I begin?
How do I begin?
Now, to fly away...
When I can't feel the wind on my face.

I've been running out
I've been running out
Of these things to say...
There's another girl in my place.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

There's nothing like the sun
There's nothing like the sun
That I see in your smile
And now the day is gone it leaves me cold.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

Tears are in my hands
Tears are in my hands
And they cut like ice
How am I gonna live without my soul?

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

And there we will meet
Somewhere between
A prayer and dream
God only knows how my heart goes on!

Without you, without me
Without you, without me

I could walk the world
I could walk the world
A thousand times
But I could never find a love like this.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

Without you, without me.
Without you, without me.

It is a brilliant album from start to finish and one that should be far better known. If I were sent to a desert island with just one album from 2008 then this would likely be the one.

Richard

I Wish I Could Have Loved You More - lyrics

To whoever asked just now, here are the lyrics...

I Wish I Could have Loved You More.
I wish I could have loved you more.
I wish I could have loved you more.
(repeat)

And ever since that day
I had to say goodbye
How I've longed to change my mind
But I know it won't be right
And in so many ways
You were made to be my man
Why I had to make you cry
I hope you understand.

I wish I could have loved you more.
I wish I could have loved you more.
(repeat)

And ever since that day
I had to say goodbye
How I've longed to change my mind
But I know it won't be right
And ever since that day
I had to say goodbye.

I wish I could have loved you more.
I wish I could have loved you more.
(repeat)



Another of my favorites on the album is this song, but it is a hard choice to make...

All I Need To Hear
That you'd rather be with me Is all I need to hear
Don't deny it please
Don't deny it please
Cause it's all I need to hear.

Just one little white lie
Just one little white lie
Is all I need from you
What harm can it do?

Give me just this lie
So I can keep my pride
If it's just between the two of us
It's all I need to hear.

Just one little white lie
Just one little white lie
Is all I need from you
What harm can it do?

I'll happily post the lyrics to the other tracks on the album if anyone wants them. Love lyrics - love life.

A strange beast called Anniemal! Those 2005 albums... (part 3)

This time it is not rock, which has typified the previous parts of this occasional series, that is in the spotlight but pop and it is good to be reminded from time to time that, for all the rubbish that it brings, it has still has a shimmering diversity. It sadly also goes to show that good albums don't necessarily sell well regardless of the reviews they garner. These were three that greeted this:

• An astonishing debut - The Sunday Times
• Brilliant spiky electro-pop - NME
• Life affirming in every sense - Q Magazine

I find it very hard to disagree with the above comments and that is why it appears again here - in fact I'm a serial reviewer of this album!

Imagine a very strange pop cocktail:
Start with a large shot of new millennium Kylie, (Who knows what will she do on her forthcoming album? That, for now at least, is still anyone's guess and maybe Dumfries' Calvin Harris, producer and songwriter, simply isn't telling and who could blame him!), a shot of Rachel Stevens at her best and finally fill up the glass with quirky fizz, that of the kind that has made the Scandinavian countries legendary for producing more good music than their small populations might suggest reasonable. If you can then you might just have some idea of what to expect from 'Anniemal'.

Annie is from Norway and this is her début LP but you would never guess. Although neither conservative nor self-consciously weird in style or content it is very listenable from start to finish and it only gets better with repeated listening. That it is far more than a competent début is quite obvious it but it is also a stunningly confident one. It combines a mixture of electronica - both new and old - with pop of many kinds, touches of R'n'B and rock, and a noticeable dance sensibility in a way that is somehow quite lacking in both self-consciousness and pretension. It is one of those rare albums that gives the impression of actually being created, rather than merely planned, perhaps helped by the fact that she co-wrote and produced the majority of the tracks.

It starts with 'Intro', which has Annie talking over a variety of bleeps and electronic anniemal noises. This is followed by the Richard X produced 'Chewing Gum'; he also produced the quite different sounding 'Me Plus One'. As he produced Rachel Stevens' 'Some Girls' the connecting influence is certainly there.
Another outstanding track is 'Heartbeat' again co-written and produced by Annie. Many a well-established artist would kill for a track like this, while on the other hand the rather happy dance influenced 'Greatest Hit' (this is slightly reminiscent of Faithless tracks featuring Dido, if she were on Prozac) samples 'Everybody' by Madonna, who is undoubtedly a big influence on Annie's music.
The title track 'Anniemal' seems to me to be a subtle parody of Abba's 'Money. Money. Money.' with the opening lines, " She's a locked up girl, in a RICH MAN'S WORLD" and so it goes on, but it is far too clever to ever be crass. It is very hard to find a filler track on this album, or indeed even a predictable one.
There is also the wonderful 'Helpless Fool For Love' that is as near to perfection as a pure pop song gets and, towards the end, the epic disco pop of 'Come Together', which runs to a little more than seven minutes. Buy it - these days almost nobody makes albums like this!