The Best Music of 2010, Kinda Sorta

It's far enough away from 2010 now to make a reasonably balanced decision about that year's best music. Sure, most lists come out in December or January but I say that's far too soon. Albums need time to sink in and take effect. It's a rare album that hits you straight away. Also, I'm lazy and have just gotten around to it.

Firstly it's worth mentioning 2 albums that are not eligible to be the best albums of the year. One is live and the other a compilation. I only count studio albums as contenders because I'm a pedantic bastard. Clearly Allmusic Guide doesn't agree, listing live albums under their 'Main Albums' category - that shits me to tears.

Bill Callahan's live album Rough Travel for a Rare Thing contains the eternally brilliant Cold-Blooded Old Times, possible my favourite song of the 90s (Jesus, was it that long ago?) as well as several other gems from his unique back catalogue. It's worth a little listen.

The video is of a pretty crappy nature but it's a good version of the song. I've always wondered why Bill Callahan does not have a beard. I feel he should have a beard. And it's not just beacuse they're cool these days, for he always should have had one. Even when he was 9:

Also released in 2010 but ineligible was the tribute compilation Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox, which contains 36 covers of Kiwi Chris Knox's songs by a range of great artists such as Jeff Mangum, Lambchop, Bill Callahan, Lou Barlow, Will Oldham, The Mountain Goats, Yo La Tengo and Stephen Merritt as well as some lesser known New Zealand indie acts.

Here's a fan-vid of Jay Reatard's version of Pull Down the Shades:

Now into (some of) the best music of 2010. I'm not doing it in any particular order, not because I'm totally ball-less, but because it changes weekly. It's actually quite random, based on the quality of the album, the song and the video, as well as whim and fancy.

This is Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti with the surf-rock Bright Lit Blue Skies which takes me back to the 1970s, Chico Rolls and The Sandman:

Woods are great. 2 brilliant albums in 2 years. They seem to just fuck around in someone's bedroom and accidentally produce great music:

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck got together in 2010. Musically that is. If they got together sexually let's hope their baby has Gainsbourg's looks. Beck is from the Noah Taylor gene pool.

This looks like a fan-vid but is actually the official Subpop video for Beach House's fucken ace Zebra:

This is probably my (and my 5 year old son's) favourite video of the year:

I've posted this Black Mountain video twice before but, you know, it's cool. And what's wrong with repetition? Interpol has released the same album 4 times:

Helicopter by Deerhunter is one of those songs where the singer, Bradford Cox in this case, and at least for some of the time, sings the same melody as the instrumentation. Paul McCartney did it in I Want You (She's So Heavy), probably Abbey Road's best song.

Damon Albarn. We can't go under him, we can't go over him, we'll have to go through him:

Broken Social Scene released best album of the year, and one of the best videos:

While we're waiting for the next Fleet Foxes album, we'll have to make do with Local Natives:

This song makes me wanna punch the air. And then shout. And then have tea and bikkies with Bruce Springsteen.

Just discovered this ripper little video by the New Pornographers. Laugh? I nearly went to Ethiopia:

This guy probably isn't the Tallest Man on Earth:

I've always dreamed of a Perth-based George Harrison:

I think The Walkmen are underrated. Unless there are lots of people rating them:

Finally, Twin Shadow, straight from 1984:

Nick Cave Rocks

I criticised Nick Cave for Grinderman on my other blog.

I feel so bad about it that I deem it necessary to show why Nick Cave fucken rocks:

The Influence Of

Well I went to the Black Mountain gig at the corner. It was very good. A good all round effort, a diverse mix of songs from all 3 full length records, and an excellent treatment of Tyrants, one of the best songs of the past few years - the twenty-first century's Stairway to Heaven.

It got me thinking about their influences. Led Zeppelin is the obvious one. Even down to the hair. Get this live version of Rock n Roll, what a fucken ripper:

Black Sabbath is another. No matter what you think of Ozzy Osbourne or 70s metal, this song is just great:

And Pink Floyd. The only official videos I could find were the predictable Another Brick in the Wall and Money. Both great songs, but we've heard them enough. Fearless, on the other hand, is worth listening to more, particularly if you're a Liverpool fan like I am:

Jerk With a Bomb

Stephen chooses the grey cardy for the photo shoot

Canadian Stephen McBean, a man who lives by just his own rules, is fast becoming a legend. He heads 2 bands: the Black Sabbath/Led Zep/Velvet Underground-inspired Black Mountain and the more trippy and psychedelic Pink Mountaintops (which I suspect is a euphemism for 'tits' given the lyrical content of the first, self-titled album). Each band has released 3 fine albums since 2004. Prior to that McBean called himself Jerk With a Bomb.

McBean.

Son of Bean.

He's touring Australia soon as Black Mountain. I plan to see them at The Corner and expect several songs to run somewhere between 8 and 15 minutes. No doubt some tall bastard will stand in front of me while some drunk girl next to me waves her hands in the air from start to finish. I generally want to kill these people but that wouldn't be right.

While we're on the subject, I would also like to kill people who say 'myself' when they could just say 'me'.

And if you were to knock on someone's door with 2 people called Harry and Joan, and somebody inside yells out "Who is it?", it is correct to answer "Harry, Joan and me." It's not "Harry, Joan and I". You wouldn't answer "I" if it was just you, would you?

"Are you talking to myself?"

"No, I was talking to I."

*

This is the offical video of The Hair Song from Black Mountain's latest Album Wilderness Heart:

This is Angels from their previous album In the Future. Some clown has put clips from the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire to the song. Such an immature literal translation but, nevertheless, a hell of a film which was remade by Hollywood as fucking City of Angels with fucking Meg Ryan and fucking Nicholas Cage, leaving me aghast:

And No Satisfaction from the self-titled debut with static shot of the album cover:

Finally, here's a picture of an ant:

Golden Brown, Texture Like Sun

The fuck is that you're playing, Beethoven? Beethoven? BEETHOVEN!

How better to start off this spin-off blog than with the band that produced the best song of all time, The Stranglers. The Stranglers, responsible for such gems as Peaches (featured in the ripper British gangster flick Sexy Beast starring Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone and Ian McShane), No More Heroes (which included the lyrics "Whatever Happened to Leon Trotsky, he got an ice pick that made his ears burn") and, the best song of all time, as alluded to just moments ago, Golden Brown, were significant players in the British punk scene.

So much for clarity.

For years my friends and I struggled to make sense of the Golden Brown lyric which I now know, through the magic of the web, is "With My Mind She Runs". Simon Turchett and I used to sing "With my mansheeruns". No, it doesn't mean anything.

The guy third from the left refuses to embrace the punk ethos - in fact I think it's uncle Nev

The song is about heroin as far as I know, but at the age of 11 when I first heard it, brilliantly waltzing along to the sound of a harpsichord, I neither knew nor cared. It was just fucken ace. And still is. Harpsichord! Who'd've thought? It neatly paved the way for Beethoven to enjoy punk. The Hold Steady are probably fans too, as they made good use of the harpsichord on their album Stay Positive. Golden Brown was, incidentally, used very effectively in Guy Ritchie's Snatch.

The Fucking GREAT Golden Brown:

No More Heroes:

Golden Brown in Snatch:

The Sexy Beast Trailer without, unfortunately, Peaches: