Albums Of The Year: 2010

It’s that time of year when lists of the top albums of 2010 start to pop up everywhere, largely consisting of the same albums. I’m not hoping to compete with these, just adding in my 10 cents of the albums I’ve enjoyed this year.


10. We Are The Ocean - Cutting Our Teeth

The scene is not dead! Well not quite. From my mid teens I have been a big fan the aggression and ferocity of British screamo/hardcore/rock bands. Some are indeed terrible, some are very generic, and only a couple have stayed in my most played into my early twenties, We Are The Ocean being one of them. An easy comparison can be made between WATO and Alexisonfire, the fantastic melodic voices competing with the harsh screams from either band give the music a fresh and ever changing sound. Cutting Our Teeth is a great debut album from a band that have worked hard to build a big fanbase across the country.
 
9. Lissie - Catching A Tiger

This tiny blonde songstress from Illinois is a force to be reckoned with. She is far from the pretty, made-up females that populate the charts these days, she likes to play her guitar and sing her heart out. Full stop. This album is a great progression to her EP Why You Runnin’?, and songs that she won’t lose that signature American-rooted sound for anyone. A girl with a great voice, and a great sound.

Favourite Track - When I’m Alone


8. Bonobo - Black Sands

This is not a great start, it’s difficult to describe this album. But what I can say about it is that it instantly captured my ears with it’s beautiful whirling melodies, basslines and synth riffs. It takes it time to unfold, but is far from a slow-starting record. This album is immensely complex with so many sounds and noises going on, yet it all fits together perfectly. Beautiful stuff.

Favourite Track - Eyesdown

7. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

This is one of the albums that was sitting in the top 3 places in many Top 10 lists this year, and rightfully so, it’s a great album. But for me I think sitting in eighth place is about right for me. It’s a fantastic album that takes me back to the time of my childhood when I would run about in the woods, ride around on my bike with mates and just generally enjoying the freedom of childhood, yet it’s not an album I can listen to over and over for some reason.

Favourite Track - Month Of May


6. Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws

This was probably my most anticipated album of 2010 for some time as I kept hearing live tracks being leaked and our appetites whetted prior to it’s release. And it’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not perfect. And it’s a shame because it’s so very close. There is not one track that I don’t love, or at least like a lot, but together as an album it doesn’t quite fit. The pace of the tracklisting is a bit all over the place, and I think with a little more care and thought, it could have been something even greater.

Favourite Track - Jewel

5. Funeral Party - Funeral Party

In a year that for me has been filled with much hip-hop and indie, it’s nice to get back to just a simple bit of rock n roll. Funeral Party a band from LA bring that messy, energetic, and riff-lead guitar based music that we all love to hear. It’s easy to image watching this band in a dingy basement with sweat and JD flying everywhere as everyone moshes and generally rocks out. It’s an old school, carefree sound that is missing in todays music. It’s an album that’s designed to be turned up loud. Super loud.

Favourite Track - New York City Moves To The Sound Of LA

4. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

This is where bands should take a step back and learn how to write a debut album. This is how it’s done. Tourist History never fails to tire on me with it’s energetic, in your face indie pop riffs and beats. It’s truly something special. It’s clear that the boys from Northern Ireland have poured everything into this album, it’s carefully constructed yet it produces a far from careful sound. A deserved triumph.

Favourite Track - Cigarettes In The Theatre

3. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

It’s difficult to put the sound of Yeasayer into words. I’m a little stumped here. It’s as indie as it is psychedelic as it is inviting as it is mystifying. It’s an encapturing album that draws you in with some wonderful noise and wonderful sounds. Erm, that’ll do.

Favourite Track - ONE

2. Shad - TSOL

Shad has without doubt been my artist of 2011. From the instant that I heard the track Yaa I Get It, I loved Shad. I loved the variety of beats he raps to, his ever so clever wordplay, his conscious approach to rap, life and culture. This guy needs to get more recognition. He’s a true talent, with a dedicated fanbase. TSOL is his third album and each album gets better and better, at an unbelievably high standard. You need to pay attention to this guy.

Favourite Track - Yaa I Get It



1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Wow. The game has been changed people. If you haven’t listened to this album yet, I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot. This was the most hyped album (mainly by Kanye himself) of the year, and unbelievably it lived upto the hype. 2010 was Kanye West’s year. He joined Twitter to much notority, he released a free track every friday int he form of G.O.O.D Fridays for 15 weeks, he even released a Christmas song. But all of this is shadowed by this album. Despite hearing various versions of most of the tracks on the album, no one could an predicted this album. The production is second to none, the lyricals are another level of genius in places, there’s sounds and beats in there that have never been heard before. I could go on about this album forever, but for your sakes I won’t. This is the album that modern day hip-hop and rap will be measured against. Wow. The game has been changed people.

Favourite Track - Lost In The World


Honorable Mentions:

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon 2
J-Cole - Friday Night Lights (Mixtape)
Eminem - Recovery
Foals - Total Life Forever

Music Monday 33: Christmas Special.

I know it's not a Monday, and I've posted this week, but it's Christmas. There are no rules. So here's a few of my favourite Christmas songs of the past few weeks, some have already featured on here, some haven't. I won't go on about them this week, just enjoy some Christmas joy.

Lissie - 2000 Miles (The Pretenders cover)



Kanye West - Christmas In Harlem



The Maccabees - Walking In The Air (Aled Jones cover)



Coldplay - Christmas Lights




Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks for checking out my blog every day/week/month, it really does mean a lot. I hope you all get what you asked for.

Snoop Clause.

I wish every story was told by Snoop Dogg. End of.

Music Tuesday 32.

Don't work in retail at Christmas guys. Seriously. Don't do it. But hopefully this will be my last year doing so and I will have some nice shiny new advertising job next year. Hopefully. So apologises for this weeks being a day late, but it's now here, so listen up!

Kanye West - Christmas In Harlem (ft. CyHi Da Prynce & Teyana Taylor)



In a year that has belonged to Kanye, whether it's his free music giveaways, his twitter rants, his short movie or his near flawless album, it only feels right that he should bring out a Christmas song. And what a Christmas song. Kanye manages to combine that Christmas jingle-jingle feeling along with that Harlem hood vibe, not an easy recipe, but unsurprisingly Kanye pulls it off. A seriously good way to end a seriously good year for Yezzy.

City And Colour - At The Bird's Foot



There are some artists that I expect nothing less than perfection from, Dallas Green is most definitely one of them. This track, part of a compilation album to raise money for the oil spill victims of the Gulf Coast, is wonderfully deep, passionate and somewhat dark, perfect for the record. This live version shows Dallas' incredible live talent, one of the many reasons his Royal Albert Hall gig sold out within minutes. Give the CD a listen too, featuring Phoenix, Passion Pit, Damien Rice and more.

Brother - New Year's Day



I went to see these guys in a crazily intimate show the other night, and wow. Despite only playing about 6 or 7 songs, they were all absolute belters, New Year's Day being their newest song. I can't recommend this band highly enough, they come with self-assurance yet they are full of passion and energy amounting to some seriously impressive songs. They are among my predictions for 2011, Brit-pop is back.

Out Like A Lion - A Better Place



Supporting Brother were another hot 2011 band, Out Like A Loin. Sounding quite Foals-y with the energy and riffs of Two Door Cinema Club, it's clear that these guys have got something about them. They've clearly taken a great deal of time constructing their songs and working on their live shows. Excellent stuff, give these guys a listen.

Shad: A Rapper From Canada

For those regular readers of my blog, you'll probably be more than aware of Shad. Describing himself as the biggest thing out of Canada since Pamela's double Ds, he truly is a man that needs to be listened to appreciated to by all. He's intelligent, self and culturally aware and has some very sharp wordplay. You need to know about Shad.

He recently came over to the UK and Europe to play a few shows. Below is a short video with some live show and interview clips, worth checking out, listen to his songs and listen to the man himself. Shad: enjoy.

Sanzer: High Five? Maybe Not.

Here's 3 great print ads from hand sanitizer Sanzer. It's simple (yes I like simple, so what?!) and very well executed, the perfect combination. I think you'll agree it's disgusting, makes you shiver and makes you rethink, I don't think they could have hoped for much more than that.

ADVRTSNG.

TVN: The channel that has shorter advert breaks than most. Here's the campaign they brought out in the summer and their latest. Pretty simple to say the least.

Summer:

Current:

SMPL.

New Strait Times: A New Perspective

I LOVE these adverts for Malaysian newspaper, New Strait Times. It takes a second to get your head around it, but it's worth it. I initally thought it was just the case of portraying that they send reporters to the incidents, but the tagline "Gain a deeper perspective with New Strait Times" adapts and adds to the mean of the image. Wonderful.

Johnnie Walking: Keep Walking, No Matter What.

Now I don't think that is greatest ad, but it's still very much worth a watch. The inspiring story of Marc Herremans, the Belgian triathlete who became 6th at the Ironman in 2001, the toughest triathlon competition in the world. But the prospect of furthering his dreams fell apart in 2002 when during bike training he fell and broke his back.
Like many people, you would expect him to give up his dreams, but in 2006 he was the first man that finished the Ironman in a wheelchair. Now he performs in a commercial of the whiskey brand with the inspiring tagline; “When your reality changes, your dreams don’t have to”.



I think they just about get away with using the line "Keep Walking". Just.

Music Monday 31.

Here weeeeeee goooooooooooooo!!!!

Marty - Break Free



I stumbled across New Jersey MC Marty this week, and I'm very good I did. Break Free, his first real video (and a lovely shot video, if I may add), sees Marty rhyming over RJD2's amazing Smoke and Mirrors. Marty appears to be one of those effortlessly talented performers. His raps at first appear laidback and almost lazy, but you quickly learn to appreciate the speed and accuracy of his rapping. Love it.

Marty - Flawless



Yeah it's Marty again. SO WHAT? I couldn't decide between these songs, both totally different, both totally amazing. Another track off the debut, yes debut, mixtape "The 25th Hour: Hut One".

The Maccabees - Walking In The Air



With a lot of my recent listening turning towards hip hop and rap, mainly thanks to Kanye, Jay Z, Cudi etc, it's nice to go back to one of my favourite indie bands. This cover, put together by Seat of all people, is genius. Orlando's somewhat haunting voice takes over Aled Jones' track to produce a epicly eerie version of Walking In The Air. Now this would be a lovely Christmas number one, just saying.

Theophilus London - Oops



Want to get the world's attention Theophilus London? Well get Linsday Lohan to shot a drugged up porno, cover Tweet & Missy Elliot and stick it on Youtube. BOOM!

The XX - You've Got The Love (Theophilus London Remix)



Oh hey Theo again, what do you want to do now? Get The XX's cover of Florence and The Machine's You Got The Love and then remix? Ok. Wow, look how well that turned out. His input makes this song sound even more fresh and relevant than it already did.

THEM THANGS.

Here's a photo blog I think you should check out. THEM THANGS. It's full of truly wonderful, weird, cool, freaky, sexy stuff. For example.

Told you.

Words: From One Thing To Another

This is a lovely video on words. And things. And how things can be similar but totally different.

(That was probably the worst explanation ever, but watch it, it's cool.)

Bernie Ecclestone: 'Ard As Nails.

This is great little piece of opportunistic advertising. The execution could have been done better I think, it still looks very "watch advert-y", but the line "See what people will do for a Hublot" is simple yet succinct. Fair play to Bernie for not only letting Hublot use the idea and photo, but for actually coming up with the idea for the ad. I'm sure he got a free (£200,000) watch for it. To replace his free (£200,000) watch.

Jeff Staple: Good To Great.

Good enough is not good enough.

Jay Chiat

I love videos like these. Listening to people who have truly forged their way into culture and industry on their own steam, their own creativity and their own sheer hardwork is always interesting and inspiring stuff. It's always great to hear from a Saatchi brother, Calvin Klein or other great successes, yet it's those that are doing it right now, shaping culture and pushing boundaries as we sit and do nothing, that is most crucial and interesting.

Jeff Ng (or Jeff Staple) is a creative director and founder of Staple Design. He runs a creative space called Reed Space in New York. Reed Space was opened in 2002, and it is probably the brightest and most pioneering project run by Jeff Staple. Reed Space is a lifestyle boutique (an operating art gallery and store) in Downtown Manhattan.

So have a look, but most importantly have a listen, to this 2 part video by the people over at Brand RMX and R+I Creative who created this wonderful video, which I also highly recommend.

Music Monday 30.

I'm excited about this week's post. It appears that my music taste is increasingly being taken over by hip-hop. I'm not complaining though.

The Bullits Ft. Lucy Lui and Jay Electronica



The Bullits is a one man show by Jeymes Samuel (mixed by Oliver Wright in Miloco Studio's MusikBox), who is, and will be, joined by a load of people from Jay Elec to Lucy Lui to Tori Amos. It's shaping up to be one hell of a show. I literally can't stop listening to this song. The beats, the hooks, Lucy's voice. And then comes in JAY ELECTRONICA. Not that we should be surprised, but this man steals the show. Can't wait for more stuff from him and The Bullits, but this will more than do for now.

Shad & City and Colour - Live Forever



I've been waiting for this song for AGES. After seeing Dallas casually mention that he was collaborating with one of my favourite artists of the year, I was searching on an almost daily basis for the track. And then it came. It's not the greatest sound quality, it's got a phone ringing over the end and Dallas pretty much only sings the chorus. But none of that matters. Dallas' voice is beautiful as usual and Shad is presenting our ears with some of his best rhythms. Hopefully this combination of Canadians will increase Shad's fanbase to a wider audience, because he deserves it like no other.

Cadence Weapon ft Shad - Baby I'm Yours



Oh, it's Shad again. This track needs little explanation. It's got some old-school, summer hip-hop flavours, some genius wordplay (as expected). Canada is quickly becoming the source of all things musically great.

The Streets - Going Through Hell



Back to the UK. And what artist represents the UK more than The Streets? Ok, the last album was a bit of a dud, but for the genius that was Original Pirate Material (closely followed by A Grand Don't Come For Free and The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living), I'm sure we can let Mike Skinner off. This track is set to be off "Computers and Blues", the last ever Streets album. Sad stuff. But if this track is anything to go by, Skinner is going out with a bang.

Simples.

Couple of painfully simple ads. Always the best.

Advertising: That Would Be Cool To Do Everyday.

This short film entitled "Diversity in Advertising", goes far beyond the subject of diversity. And indeed advertising. Important people from important agencies quickly step in to say, of course we need black/white/yellow/Christian/Jewish/Muslim/Male/Females in advertising, but it's diversity of ideas, interests and minds that is more important. For an industries that creates ideas, different inspirations and ways of thinking is everything. EVERYTHING.


EVERYTHING. Got it?
Give it a watch, listen to some wise, intelligent and wholly creative souls talk about the industry and people within, things that can be applied far beyond the reach of the industry. It makes me excited in my man-parts and reinvigorate my want to be a part of the ad world.




That would be cool to do everyday.