This year has been an exciting year for the female pop performer, and it's not only because Lady GaGa has taken over (although I will admit I do love her so, what a surprise). To think only a decade ago the top pop stars were blonde princesses, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Mandy Moore. Now, we find the expectation of the starlette being subverted, challenged. Men were doing interesting things, sure, but it was the women who took control and pushed the expectations of music and presentation into whole new places. Below I present my list of the top ten albums of the year.
1. Fever Ray Fever Ray
My love affair with Karin Dreijer Andersson (and her brother) began some years ago with my life-transforming discovery of The Knife. The weird mixture of atmospheric synth sounds, steel drums, and the unsettling treatment of Karin's voice instantly won my heart. (I would easily place Deep Cuts and Silent Shout in my top lists of the decade.) Fever Ray is Karin's solo project, the album written while she was pregnant. This detail adds an interesting twist to the deeply obsessive lyrics, easily interpreted as desparate love songs. The album is perfection from start to finish, managing to be avant-garde, moody but never overworked.
2. Micachu Jewellery
I will admit that it feels a little punk to put an album at number two that clocks in at just over 30 minutes. (I wanted to put it at number one but that felt oddly political.) However, when writing this list I couldn't help but think of it in comparison to my list last year that found Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours at number one, primarily because I couldn't stop listening to the album and found myself needing to hear it start to finish. I sincerely feel that level of passion for Jewellery: I want to hear it all day every day. It's a surprisingly fun album, managing to find cohesiveness within its discord. What could easily have been a noisy mess is, in fact, a pop triumph.
3. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
It all begins with "Lisztomania" and once hooked you can't turn it off. Not to mention, the faint French accent is quite charming. I feel like this album was pegged as top 10 material from the moment of its release. If you somehow managed to not hear it I recommend finding it as soon as possible.
4. Florence & The Machine Lungs
Florence Welch (aka Florence is a Machine aka Florence & the Machine) likens her voice to nuns falling down a well and I don't know if a more accurate metaphor could be chosen. Lungs was a favorite from the moment I discovered it. It's a magical explosion of sound: the layering of her incredible voice, bells, organs, strange guitar sounds... it's entirely otherworldly. Songs such as "Howl" or "Cosmic Love" (and the above "Drumming Song") are also some of my favorite love songs ever written, managing to exist as entirely human despite the fantastical imagery (my love is like a...werewolf?).
5. La Roux La Roux
I first became aware of La Roux when her single "Quicksand" was included on a Kitsune Maison compilation sometime early last year. Her second single "In For The Kill" was... eh. I'll admit I was skeptical. And then La Roux was released and I had to admit that I was wrong (something I hate admitting). It is easily one of the ballsiest albums released this year. Her voice, her hair, the synths and keyboards (just listen to the amazing drum sound in "Tigerlily", it's life changing)... Somehow she manages to conjure early-80s synthpop bands such as Yaz or Erasure and still be entirely cutting edge. I have to say that the fact that she does it all in strange brightly-colored pegged suits with a gravity-defying remix of the pompidour only makes me that much more excited.
6. Miike Snow Miike Snow
Bloodshy & Avant, the geniuses that brought us the greatest pop song ever written ("Toxic", le duh), teamed up with singer Andrew Wyatt to create an incredible achievement of textural richness (written during a dark Stockholm winter you get the sense that this album was felt with eyes closed rather than composed). I had the pleasure of seeing them play Mercury Lounge some months ago and the synths actually seem to swallow you whole while Wyatt's soft voice manages to make some of the darker, more macabre lyrics seem light.
7. Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
I will admit that it wasn't until I was compiling this list that I remembered that this album even came out this year. I quickly flipped through my computer to track it down and give it a relisten and felt a little sad that I had neglected it for so many months. From start to finish it's an incredible amount of fun and Alex Kapranos's voice is just too good, somehow both rock star and showtune crooner simultaneously... I fell in love with it instantly then and I re-fell in love with it now.
8. Tegan & Sara Sainthood
I love Tegan & Sara in a borderline unnatural way so I suppose putting them on my top 10 is a little biased... Nonetheless, this album has been the only CD in my car since I saw them in New York Halloween weekend and I can still listen to it every single day and find myself excited in anticipation, so I think that's worth something. It's a compelling follow-up to 2007's The Con: while it is the first time the sister's wrote songs together (they typically write their songs separate and come together to forge a cohesive album in production) it is also each sister at her most autonomous. The voices are now noticably distinct, Tegan's a little deeper as Sara pushes the hauntingly childlike quality her voice can take further and further to great effect. I love them. You should, too.
9. Memory Tapes Seek Magic
Memory Tapes is (from what I've read) the mash-up of one-part Memory Cassettes, one-part Weird Tapes and the lead singer of Hail Social (who may or may not also be in one of those bands... I don't know). Nonetheless, this was the closest I got to a new Cut Copy album this year and it has been a surprisingly satisfying second choice. What could have easily been any other lo-fi weirdo electro project manages to be fun, quirky, and unexpected. Not to mention, the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful, despite simplicity.
10. Passion Pit Manners
As I get to the bottom of this list I realize that this was sort of the year of weirdo electronic projects... Passion Pit is no different, and while I will admit that I started as a superfan and then became incredibly self-conscious of that position and now find myself in a rather skeptical place (I think it's Memory Tapes fault... Let's blame them) I still have to admit that this album was an incredible first effort from a band that had previously been recording in their dorm rooms in Boston (and even the EP that is the product of such a set-up is amazing). The lyrics manage to be poetic and yet never try too hard, and it definitely is a daringly bold and confident album from start to finish (listen to "Sleepyhead" or "The Reeling").
Honorable Mention:
Neon Indian Psychic Chasms
Sort of like the strange lost mixed tape you discovered in your attic, this album is a continuation of the theme of weirdo lo-fi electronica that seems to dominate my top ten.
Lady GaGa The Fame Monster
Lady GaGa is sort of the woman to beat at this point in the pop world. I am embarrassed for Britney as I think of what poor Ms. Spears is going to have to do to remain "on top" (PLEASE, Circus was awkward for all of us, especially those of us who recognized just how incredible Blackout was, strange head shaving incident aside). I would have included the video for "Bad Romance" but I fear it will upstage the rest of the things on this list. (Hmmm... that statement makes me wonder if I made a mistake in not including it in the top ten proper... )
The Gossip Music for Men
I mean... enough said. Beth Ditto is genius.
Fever Ray & The Knife YESSSSSSSSSS.
Hi Caitlin!
Posted by: Matt E | 01/14/2010 at 11:56 AM