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Gavin B. · 12-25-2010, 10:11 PM

Best Indie Pop Albums 2010

And The Winner for Best 2010 Indie Pop Album Is.... Nobody

FIRST, The Bad News.

There wasn't a single album released in 2010 that was unequivocally brilliant. The most critically acclaimed albums by Arcade Fire, Beach House, the National, Vampire Weekend, & LCD Sound System were first rate albums but none of them reached out and grabbed me, so I'm not going to name anybody's album as my favorite.

Those were the obvious choices but when the chips were down, Kanye West's crossover hip hop/pop album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy garnered the largest share of acclaim from the rat pack of music critics and opinion makers at both the mainstream and alternative outposts of popular culture.

My Over-the-Top Kanye West Rant

By default, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West's overblown, self indulgent and profane hip hop epic ended up on the top of the heap on most year end lists, because Kanye was smart enough to do the expected and claim the title of cultural zietgiest, as his own...whether he deserved all of those accolades or not.

For all of his messianic preaching to the choir, I got the unsettling feeling that Kanye West was trying too hard. Aren't brilliant artists supposed to make it all look easy?

Kanye's social and political observations on Dark Twisted Fantasy were shallow and trite observations that had little to do with the helplessness of those folks (black, white or other racial designation) who have been plowed under by the current global recession.

The pseudo defiance of Kanye's dark twisted fantasy panders to his base of affluent, young, suburban and mostly white fanboys, who think Kanye's rude boy slackness & alpha male chest thumping is really cool. Nevermind that his message completely ignores the global economic collapse, and makes no comment on the growing international cultural warfare between left & right wingnuts. Kanye also has no comment on the shameless attempt by wealthy and powerful elites of media oligarchy to bring down Barack Obama.

If only Bob Marley were around put Kanye on the path to being a musical visionary and a credible voice on behalf his downtrodden brethren. Kanye West has yet to learn a thing from the wisdom of his elders.

Kayne is the #1 selling music artist for the Universal Music Group, the largest monolithic global infotainment media company in history, and maybe that's why none of his social rage is directed toward the wealthy moguls who have declared class warfare against the have-nots & the powerless.

For my own part, I find Kanye West's relentless misogyny repulsive and his use of the minstrel show epithet, nigga, offensive. For all of the Kanye West's self congratulatory bravada and the dazzle of his undeniably brilliant production skills, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a hollow shell of an album when held any reasonable standard of cultural or artistic significance.

I won't apologize for this for rant against Kanye West, since he had no regrets about crashing the stage with his own rant when his most favored choice Beyonce. lost the Grammy competition to Taylor Swift. From my perspective both Beyonce & Taylor Swift were the lame choices of music industry moguls that reward Kanye West with a $17 million dollar annual income. In fairness let me add, that both Beyonce & Taylor are talented & perfectly charming human beings... I'm commenting on the boorish, self indulgent behavior of Kanye West and his refusal to check his ego at the door.

Now for the Good News.

Even as most of the critically acclaimed albums of 2010 failed to fire a spark for me, there was a deluge of "really good" (but less that "great") albums by debut artists and lesser known 2nd or 3rd tier artists.

There was such a plethora of beguiling and innovative music released by obscure bands with exotic names that it was hard to find the time to give each album a fair hearing. To complicate matters, some of the best albums had a self-consciously ragged and charmingly unprofessional studio sound which made it a challenge to sift out the less talented low-fi posuers and find the authentic talented artists with visionary ideas. I've spent the last four weeks playing a lot of bad music in search of a handful of musical gems that should be heard by a larger audience.

I decided to refrain from name a single album as the "best indie pop album of 2010" simply because there wasn't a single album that was uncontestably brilliant. The music that got the most rotation in my Zune player and on my weekly radio show failed to make most the Best of 2010 lists, but a few of my selections were mentioned by a handful of adroit music critics. My final short list of albums were subjected to repeated play rotation and endured throughout 2010 as a rewarding listening experience.

My 22 Most Frequently Played Indie Pop Albums

Listed roughly in the order of most frequent play on my stereo, Zune player and on my radio show.

Jj- Jj Nº 3
Kula Shaker- Pilgrim's Progress
Charlotte Gainbourg- Irm
Get Back Guinozzi- Carpet Madness
Warpaint- The Fool
Wild Nothing- Gemini
Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti- Before Today
Club 8- The People's Record
Port O' Brien- Threadbare
Jesca Hoop- Hunting My Dress
The Like- Release Me
James Blake- CMYK (ep) & Klavierwerke(ep)
The Pipettes- Earth vs. the Pipettes
Against Me!- White Cross
Love Is All- Two Thousand & Ten Injuries
Magic Kids- Memphis
The Liminanas- The Liminanas
Lost In the Trees- All Alone In An Empty House
OK Go- Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
The Parting Gifts- Strychnine Dandelions
Twin Shadow- Forget
Villagers- Becoming A Jackal
Goldenboy- Healing Is A Team Effort

The most favored choices of the musical opinion makers: Arcade Fire, Beach House, the National, Vampire Weekend, & LCD Sound System were all worthwhile albums that I played less frequently than the previously listed favorites of mine.

I listened to Kanye West's album three times from start to finish, and finally dumped My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in my computer trash can this morning when my music savvy wife belittled me for listening to Kanye West's misogynous garbage. I sheepishly explained I was listening to it for a post in my Music Banter journal, but she's was right... I should have dumped it after the first play. We all deserve better zeitgeist of these troubled times than Kanye West.

Have a happy holiday and let's hope the coming year ushers in a new decade of inspired creativity & an abundance of unconditional generosity from one & all.

===================================

12-25-2010, 10:11 PM	#260 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Best Indie Pop Albums 2010 And The Winner for Best 2010 Indie Pop Album Is.... Nobody FIRST, The Bad News. There wasn't a single album released in 2010 that was unequivocally brilliant. The most critically acclaimed albums by Arcade Fire, Beach House, the National, Vampire Weekend, & LCD Sound System were first rate albums but none of them reached out and grabbed me, so I'm not going to name anybody's album as my favorite. Those were the obvious choices but when the chips were down, Kanye West's crossover hip hop/pop album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy garnered the largest share of acclaim from the rat pack of music critics and opinion makers at both the mainstream and alternative outposts of popular culture. My Over-the-Top Kanye West Rant By default, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West's overblown, self indulgent and profane hip hop epic ended up on the top of the heap on most year end lists, because Kanye was smart enough to do the expected and claim the title of cultural zietgiest, as his own...whether he deserved all of those accolades or not. For all of his messianic preaching to the choir, I got the unsettling feeling that Kanye West was trying too hard. Aren't brilliant artists supposed to make it all look easy? Kanye's social and political observations on Dark Twisted Fantasy were shallow and trite observations that had little to do with the helplessness of those folks (black, white or other racial designation) who have been plowed under by the current global recession. The pseudo defiance of Kanye's dark twisted fantasy panders to his base of affluent, young, suburban and mostly white fanboys, who think Kanye's rude boy slackness & alpha male chest thumping is really cool. Nevermind that his message completely ignores the global economic collapse, and makes no comment on the growing international cultural warfare between left & right wingnuts. Kanye also has no comment on the shameless attempt by wealthy and powerful elites of media oligarchy to bring down Barack Obama. If only Bob Marley were around put Kanye on the path to being a musical visionary and a credible voice on behalf his downtrodden brethren. Kanye West has yet to learn a thing from the wisdom of his elders. Kayne is the #1 selling music artist for the Universal Music Group, the largest monolithic global infotainment media company in history, and maybe that's why none of his social rage is directed toward the wealthy moguls who have declared class warfare against the have-nots & the powerless. For my own part, I find Kanye West's relentless misogyny repulsive and his use of the minstrel show epithet, nigga, offensive. For all of the Kanye West's self congratulatory bravada and the dazzle of his undeniably brilliant production skills, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a hollow shell of an album when held any reasonable standard of cultural or artistic significance. I won't apologize for this for rant against Kanye West, since he had no regrets about crashing the stage with his own rant when his most favored choice Beyonce. lost the Grammy competition to Taylor Swift. From my perspective both Beyonce & Taylor Swift were the lame choices of music industry moguls that reward Kanye West with a $17 million dollar annual income. In fairness let me add, that both Beyonce & Taylor are talented & perfectly charming human beings... I'm commenting on the boorish, self indulgent behavior of Kanye West and his refusal to check his ego at the door. Now for the Good News. Even as most of the critically acclaimed albums of 2010 failed to fire a spark for me, there was a deluge of "really good" (but less that "great") albums by debut artists and lesser known 2nd or 3rd tier artists. There was such a plethora of beguiling and innovative music released by obscure bands with exotic names that it was hard to find the time to give each album a fair hearing. To complicate matters, some of the best albums had a self-consciously ragged and charmingly unprofessional studio sound which made it a challenge to sift out the less talented low-fi posuers and find the authentic talented artists with visionary ideas. I've spent the last four weeks playing a lot of bad music in search of a handful of musical gems that should be heard by a larger audience. I decided to refrain from name a single album as the "best indie pop album of 2010" simply because there wasn't a single album that was uncontestably brilliant. The music that got the most rotation in my Zune player and on my weekly radio show failed to make most the Best of 2010 lists, but a few of my selections were mentioned by a handful of adroit music critics. My final short list of albums were subjected to repeated play rotation and endured throughout 2010 as a rewarding listening experience. My 22 Most Frequently Played Indie Pop Albums Listed roughly in the order of most frequent play on my stereo, Zune player and on my radio show. Jj- Jj Nº 3 Kula Shaker- Pilgrim's Progress Charlotte Gainbourg- Irm Get Back Guinozzi- Carpet Madness Warpaint- The Fool Wild Nothing- Gemini Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti- Before Today Club 8- The People's Record Port O' Brien- Threadbare Jesca Hoop- Hunting My Dress The Like- Release Me James Blake- CMYK (ep) & Klavierwerke(ep) The Pipettes- Earth vs. the Pipettes Against Me!- White Cross Love Is All- Two Thousand & Ten Injuries Magic Kids- Memphis The Liminanas- The Liminanas Lost In the Trees- All Alone In An Empty House OK Go- Of the Blue Colour of the Sky The Parting Gifts- Strychnine Dandelions Twin Shadow- Forget Villagers- Becoming A Jackal Goldenboy- Healing Is A Team Effort The most favored choices of the musical opinion makers: Arcade Fire, Beach House, the National, Vampire Weekend, & LCD Sound System were all worthwhile albums that I played less frequently than the previously listed favorites of mine. I listened to Kanye West's album three times from start to finish, and finally dumped My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in my computer trash can this morning when my music savvy wife belittled me for listening to Kanye West's misogynous garbage. I sheepishly explained I was listening to it for a post in my Music Banter journal, but she's was right... I should have dumped it after the first play. We all deserve better zeitgeist of these troubled times than Kanye West. Have a happy holiday and let's hope the coming year ushers in a new decade of inspired creativity & an abundance of unconditional generosity from one & all. =================================== __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt Last edited by Gavin B.; 12-31-2010 at 04:29 AM.