Fantastic. I happen to really enjoy a good series of long songs. So here are my favourites:
| Post-rock / Cinematic Rock | Mono - Ashes in the Snow Japanese cinematic rockers at their best. They have some other fantastic songs, too, but I chose this because it's the first on their latest album Hymn to the Immortal Wind and takes my breath away every time I hear it. Ef- Hello Scotland I can't even describe this song properly without you listening to it first. Explosions in the Sky - First Breath After Coma See: above. Just listen to it, trust me. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven The whole album. Each song is roughly 22 minutes (except Antennas to Heaven, which is 19 minutes). Brilliant album. | Ambient / Classical | Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlandia (song has been shortened to fit into YouTube's previous ten minute limit--most of the song is still there, except the 2 minute near-silence introduction) This song's actually about Henry Ford going to South America to steal rubber. I'm not quite sure how, but it is. This is layered perfectly, and one of the main songs to inspire me to write my own music. Incredibly powerful. John Tavener - Fragments of a Prayer From the Soundtrack for Children of Men. This song is brilliant. The American Dollar - Starscapes Mixture between ambient and rock, as it incorporates IDM-style drums to ambient music. Really well produced and created. pg.lost - Siren Beautiful, especially at the ending when the 'Siren' calls. | Progressive Rock | Karnataka - The Gathering Light Cinematic, bagpipes, progressive rock. Very 80's throwback style, but not in a bad way. Karmakanic - Send a Message from the Heart (shortened version, only ten minutes long--this song is normally 19:30 min) Another 80's throwback, again incredibly uplifting. Moving Mountains - Lights & Shapes (shortened, radio version) (full version) Moving Mountains are, as far as I can tell, emo that has matured and grown up. If you were strongly against the emo phase, don't let that turn against you listening to this. This Will Destroy You - Little Smoke This is off their most recent album, and makes me think the world is going to end when I listen to it. Really powerful stuff. Could also go down with the noise/other genre. They call themselves of the genre 'Doomgaze', which I think makes sense when you listen to it. Sweek - Thanx for Sundays (nothing to do with any god!) I don't really know much about Sweek except they released a fantastic album with this song at the beginning. It's good. | Other | Fuck Buttons - Olympians This is noise rock, but uplifting at the same time. If you're really against noise you probably won't like this. Counting Crows - Mrs. Potter's Lullaby (8 minutes) Not quite as long as the others, but still long enough to be considered. This is an alternative rock song (from a band most would already know). According to a YouTube comment from Blueeyesblack81, the record company wanted Adam (I'm presuming the songwriter) to shorten it for radio play, which they refused to do. I have placed YouTube videos because they are universally accessible, and because I live in Australia I can't get any of the major Internet radio sites (including Spotify, Pandora etc). I haven't necessarily checked all of these, so if some are wrong (incomplete etc) suggest some edits, please.
I had a rough time trying to whittle down my original list of Favourite Albums. I started with 40-odd greats - albums that I really enjoyed - and weighed them up against one another. It took a while, but I was able to take it to 25. At the start there are the Notable Mentions; 15 albums that I thoroughly enjoyed, but not quite enough to go into the top ten. There was a lot of competition, and a lot of infighting.
But here it is, in no particular order:
Notable Mentions
While I probably should have added We All Inherit The Moon's album 月継, as I listened to it more than most others on here, it was a compilation album - an amalgamation of three separate albums - and felt that it didn't break any new ground, and thus, didn't qualify. Also it made three albums redundant (four if you include the split with The Ascent of Everest). Still, it deserves a place somewhere in here.
Released early March in 2010, it was one of the first solid albums that I'd listened to, and it made a large impact on my listening habits for the first half of the year. However, when writing this list I nearly occluded it because I simply forgot it was a 2010 album, believing it to be a late 2009 piece. Almost. Regardless, the album is exquisitely nice, even though it, at times, does feel like the same song repeated 11 times (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, in that it gives the album consistency), it reaches some worthy peaks, such as the violin-laden instrumentation on "We Fell Off the Roof". Highly recommended, relaxing, graceful album.
An outlier album that I didn't expect to make it on this list, as it doesn't seem to be attention-grabbing in any particular way. After several listens, I think I've realized that the guys at Frontier Ruckus know who they are, and what music they want to make. They feel very comfortable about it. The major problem with that, is that there doesn't seem to be any standout tracks; the album itself feels solid, even though it loses somewhat toward the second-half, before returning strongly toward the end. So much that, if you start listening to this album and quit before the last 3 songs, you lost.
The lead vocalist, Matthew Milia, sings and writes with a wiseness and coarseness that seems too old for what he is presenting. But I think that's half of the appeal.
This will certainly not win any awards on musical or writing prowess. Considered 'folk punk', following acts like Fake Problems and Tom Gabel, I grabbed this album on chance alone, and the fact that I liked the album cover. On first listen, it oozed with catchiness and familiarity; it wasn't long until I decided I liked it. After researching Coffee Project, I found that half its duo was from Less than Jake (only my favourite teen-angst band in history ever), and immediately understood where the familiarity came from. Where Coffee Project lacks in extreme musical aptitude, it more than makes up for it by providing as much charm as can be packed into 11 songs. And it's catchy as all hell.
I have been a fan of Balmorhea ever since I heard their brilliant song 'Settler', and had my heart taken away by its, well, everything (note: hand-claps at the end). When Constellations came out, I was rather surprised, and originally found it disappointing except for a select few tracks. I think my expectations were asking them to take a step outward further than they did in All is Wild, All is Silent. When I realized they didn't, and begun to understand the comfort in their selection of instrumentation, it came around to me. While it does not stand out as much as the aforementioned All is Wild, All is Silent, this album pleases me greatly every new time I hear it. Their attempt at another 'Settler', as far as I see it, 'Bowsprit'; both shorter, less ambitious, and more introspective than the former--which is not to say it isn't good--it stands out in an album of nice. Attempting to choose a favourite between the two (considering both those individual songs, and also the albums as a whole) would be like trying to select a favourite child; something a parent can do, but doesn't want to tell anyone lest they think worse of them.
Except I might have made it painfully obvious.
Basically, I enjoyed this album, but wanted more, which is what I expect good music to be able to do.
Looking at Karnataka's attire between the original 80's progressive rock band to the current one is quite embarrassing - it's as though your parents donned Glam Rock clothing and started a band. Yes, these guys do certainly contain cheesy 80's rock ballad lyrics and conventions through their entire album, complete with inspirational bagpipes at the start; certainly reminiscent to pre-war scenes in blockbuster movies (well, mostly Braveheart, but still). Regardless of this, Karnataka themselves move on without a care in the world, and by God it works. At the end of this album, I most certainly wanted to do something with my life; I could run a marathon, fight in a war, and single-handedly cure cancer that afternoon. This would most certainly win the award for 'Most Inspirational Album of 2010'.
This begins with magic. Pure, utter, shoegaze magic. It's a tad disappointing that not all of it is magic (in comparison to the other magical shoegaze album listed below), as it has some weaker parts that don't quite seem to hit the mark. But for the most part, I really enjoy it. From the spacey, waving synths, deep rollicking bass, and whispy vocals in "The Smoke Saves Lives", to the catchy chorus in "Fear From Death", the album has some brilliant things going for it. If you're a big fan of the shoegaze movement, or even aren't and want something slightly more accessible, Dead Waves from Kyte shouldn't disappoint.
This could be the epitome of an album that's hanging on a single song. If it were only the first seven songs, it would not come close to being on this list. I'm certain of that. While the first seven songs are good drone ambient songs, they are nothing definitive or exciting in the way Eluvium is for me. I liked them. I really did. But it wasn't an unashamed love that made me swear Loscil's name from the rooftops. However, the definitive song of Endless Falls, "The Making of Grief Point", utilizes the vocals of Dan Bejar from Destroyer. In this single song it takes an existential route on an album itself - a fictional album called 'Grief Point' - using that as a blunt weapon against itself. It actually becomes an ambient album about the creation of an ambient album. It's as though the first seven songs could be considered 'Grief Point', an ambient album which is just pure ambience, and nothing more; "The Making of Grief Point" is the artist's take on its own album.
It's hard to describe. Consider it an album-within-an-album, which is why it deserves to be here. It's incredibly ambitious, providing a desconstruction of itself (in the sense of making an album about deconstruction of an album, if that makes sense). Also, if you're interested, read this, and if you've got it, please don't skip straight to the end, as it won't make as much of an impact without listening to the whole. Trust me on this.
Hoarse and Roaring, to me, is indicative of the next explosive movement in the Alt-Country / Americana genre. Very reminiscent of wonderful artists like Wilco, Calexico and Ryan Adams, Parlor Hawk are able to continue onward seamlessly. At the level that these guys are playing, it's not difficult to see them more popular than they currently are. They are an incredibly talented bunch of people with, at the time of this writing, 433 listeners. It's (slightly) upsetting, and something I hope doesn't stay that way. They're simply too good for that. Produced by the wonderfully fantastic Joshua James, Hoarse and Roaring weaves through different themes and ideas, all the while making it sound so natural, and so easy.
After watching the movie in question, which was rather enjoyable, I walked out knowing that the soundtrack would have to be at least nominated for best soundtrack. It's cinematic, electronic, grinding, moving, and ties in incredibly well to every accompanying scene. Then, once I had downloaded it, it only took one listen to overtake Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose's fantastic OST for The Social Network (2010). A few minutes in, it's pretty obvious that Daft Punk, for the purposes of this movie, shed their skins, and started doing something grand. The major problem with this soundtrack? It may soon be considered the most overrated soundtrack of this year. I don't care. It's staying here.
After a recommendation from The Sirens Sound which praised this four-track EP, I decided to give this a listen. I went in with no expectations, and came back truly blown away. Phoenix and the Turtle have somehow made four songs seem both familiar and unique at the same time, which I assume is incredibly difficult to do.
Very few ambient albums come out that one can listen to and, within the first two to three minutes, decide that it's good. Usually it becomes a rigorous exercise in making the most out of speaker real-estate. Bitcrush, however, covering nearly an hour in 6 songs (really five songs, as the final "Demons & Dandelions" is not even 3 minutes), it covers a wide range of ambient soundscapes without sounding like it's repeating itself. Highlights? The musical explosion in the middle of "Fray to the Middle to Meet the Ends", and the 16-minute brooding, moody juggernaut "Ascension".
This is the one that I will cop the most for putting up here, but it deserves it. I did enjoy this album. A lot. My enjoyment could be considered as a response when all my friends panned it entirely, but I don't think so. Their songwriting is actually top-notch in this entirely acoustic album, around the concept of music itself. Each song explores a different human element in the power of music; using music as racism ("Wagner at the Opera"), to torture ("Torturing James Hetfield"), as a weapon ("Ratatatay"), to the enjoyment and collective synergy of singing in a group ("Voices, That's All") all feature in their ever-present chirpy vocals, even when the content possibly shouldn't. All I can really say is throw previous constructs of Chumbwamba away and give ABCDEFG a go to see how it goes for you.
To not put this in here would be pure blasphemy. One of the first albums to come out this year that totally blew me away. I immediately burnt it onto a CD to play in my car. For nearly the whole year, I've been rocking out to The Tallest Man on Earth, every few car trips. It never seems to get too much, or repetitive, regardless of its simplicity of instrumentation (meaning, only utilizing vocals and guitar except for "Kids on the Run" which replaces the guitar for some piano work). There's just something enchanting about his voice that can't be described - he sings like an old bluegrass American when he's really a young Swedish rocker (originally from a band called Montezumas which are a difficult band to source - their site is down and their myspace hasn't been touched in years). This was, when it came out, competing with Band of Horses' Infinite Arms for time, and eventually won.
Top Ten
10. Frontier(s)
There Will Be No Miracles Here
Genre: Experimental Progressive, Noise Rock, Post-hardcore
It's difficult to define Frontier(s). I originally defined them as Progressive Rock, except they have far too much of a grunge/noise influence - in essence it sounds like "dirty" progressive rock, and I don't mean that in a negative way. No, this album feels like a perfect example of controlled chaos. It begins with distorted guitars, an angry bass, and gutteral vocals that can't really be considered 'singing', yet aren't 'screaming' - they're more like a middle-ground between the two, that I shall call 'calling'. Very hoarse and rough, just like the music itself. The album, overall, is thrilling and well-constructed, even though I've no idea what he's 'calling'.
On their facebook page, they're referred to as post-rock. Odd: "Here it's abundantly clear that the vast experience of Frontier(s) is transparent in the band's masterfully assembled post-rock sound."
Clocking in at just over 39 minutes, this album is what would be considered short, except on a full play-through, it's actually incredibly satisfying. There are some fantastic moments, such as the post-rocky end to "Two and Still Counting", the entire song "Good Occasions", and the wilting section of "My Friend", when a voice repeatedly chimes "at times I wish I were dead". The only downturn of this album comes in their longest song (only by a margin), "We Slow", which is its penultimate, before finishing strongly. However, I wouldn't consider the song bad, it's just after "My Friend", nothing could really compare.
This is a brilliant album from a Belgian band you've never heard of. You should listen to it now, and thank me later.
Eluvium's foray into singing seemed to be sidelined by Pitchfork, but enjoyed immensely by Coke Machine Glow. Similes is Eluvium's first foray into singing (his first movement into vocals, I believe, was 2006's When I Live by the Garden and the Sea - though this was into the spoken word), and it quite certainly does not disappoint. As opposed to taking the lead with his vocals, nor into utilizing the spoken word, he sings through a low murmur; a humming between syllables that somehow makes its way into lyrics that nobody can decipher, yet the ones that try tend to assume he's talking about existentialism, life, death, or some other heavy themes. Whether I understand what he's singing about (I don't), or whether I feel I have the musical knowledge to deconstruct his instrumentational choices (I don't) does not seem to matter. Eluvium has created the perfect sleep album, the perfect dreaming album, the perfect study album, the perfect 'pondering life choices and decisions' album, for me. No matter what, every time I'm in one of the previous moods (which is every now and again), I will play Similes and appreciate it, and find something new with it every time. That alone is worth being on this list.
Moving from what I'd consider the 'perfect sleep album' to its near antithesis; the 'perfect' morning album. To be fair, though, it really depends on the morning in question. But there's no doubt that listening to Seven Sisters upon waking up conjures thoughts of greatness. As with several previous albums, while I can't pinpoint exactly what it is I find so great about it, I think, again, it's the inherent charm that is pulsating through. Oh and that beautiful violin. Listen to this and you will not regret it--that's something you're going to have to trust me on.
6. Magic Man
Real Life Color
Genre: Electropop, Synth Pop
Last.fm | Bandcamp (buy album, pay-what-you-want, including $0)
The instrumental half of Magic Man is none other than The Tumbled Sea, who is my most listened-to artist on my Last.fm. It was only natural that when Andrew mentioned Magic Man and its relationship to The Tumbled Sea, and that it was free (or rather, pay-what-you-want) on Magic Man's Bandcamp page, I immediately grabbed it and we started listening to it together. It became obvious early on (I'm going to guess, roughly two minutes into "Monster") that this album was destined for greatness. It seamlessly integrates pop sensitivities with brutally happy chiptune, with a layer of fuzz over the top just because, and never ceases to stop giving, until its final song. All I'm going to say is that it's free, and available for download right now, and if you don't download it I will come to your house and spit in your eyeballs. Both of them. Don't think I won't. I've got a script running in the background that has identified your IP address, your ISP, your address, your credit card details and mother's maiden name. And I'm not afraid to use it.
The only negative parts about this album? A couple of songs are slightly 'meh', and it being referenced to as 'similar to Owl City' (it's because they're both electronic pop, and their voices are slightly tuned, am I right?).
Another surprising addition to the list, as I've only recently started listening, but it was clear from the beginning. S. Cary, also known as Sean Carey, is one of the original members of Bon Iver; after he heard that Justin Vernon was making a band, he forced himself into his bedroom for two weeks, listening to For Emma, Forever Ago on Myspace, learning the vocals and drums so well that it was only natural that Vernon had to pick him up as a touring member. And, I'm almost going to wager that it was S. Carey's influence that made Blood Bank's second half (as in, "Babys" and "Woods") so vastly different to anything we'd heard on For Emma - eschewing that acoustic guitar work (and electric guitar in the case of Blood Bank's first two) for the piano / vocals.
Alas, I've spent the whole paragraph talking about a band that didn't write nor record the wonderful All We Grow. Even though I've considered it both Ambient Folk, it's more like classically-infused music with folk influences. Even though I've written Singer-songwriter, he doesn't necessarily 'sing' so much as breathlessly whisper when required. He's been classically trained in percussion, and he breathes a lot of those elements into this music. It's a delicate, fleeting, and gorgeous album.
Being their debut album, Seattle's Hey Marseilles poured everything they could into To Travels & Trunks. They've grabbed influences from the modern folk revival (Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens etc), earlier Americana, Bluegrass and Alt-Country works, and added orchestral instrumentation to it. And by God it works. Sounding - to me - like previous favourites Horse Feathers (coincidently, the bands live roughly 150 miles apart) they are layed with their vast use of instruments; accordion, zither, musical saw, violin, cello, xylophone, banjo, among the regulars - though it only rarely has the notion of sounding as though it's too much. After their first nostalgic piano introduction (which crescendos in a classically-infused post-rock style), they launch into three songs "To Travels & Trunks", "Cannonballs" and "Rio" which are the album's finest - they are both beautifully textured, with a mysterious absence of notable choruses (except "Rio" which is only repeated thrice, and seems integrated into the versus anyway), even though they play like they do. A few others ("Hold the Morning" and "Cigarettes") also do well in keeping up their theme of anti-rock sentiments.
Occasionally they dip into pure instrumentation, usually in the form of a piano with slight accompanying extras, which does its job at breaking up the album into several chunks. The final song, "Goodbye Versaille", concludes their first song to round off the album, except it has a minute silence and then a noise which I can't place, but sounds like an old organ. It's weird and out of place. I'm not going to try and deconstruct its purpose; I'm just going to assume they made a mistake and left the recording equipment on.
Peter Broderick seems to draw inspiration from both Float, his brilliant ambient soundscape album, and Home, which turned for a more vocal folk-driven album, into a delightful mix. Every song on this album (which, at 32 minutes over seven songs would be more considered an EP) has its own purpose and meaning, each telling a different story. It's not a concept album by any stretch, nor do the songs really require listening to chronologically. This music is never boring, at times sad, touching, and beautiful in every way. Absolutely deserves your 32 minutes.
One brutally optimistic indie pop album. It explodes onto the scene, begging direct and full attention until the song is up--subsequently cross-fading into the next iteration of explosive joy. For The Long Wait Champion's ten songs on my library, it has a ridiculously high batting average; it only scores two 4/5, five 4.5/5, and three 5/5 songs. If this were a test, and I was the marker, it would be getting 91%, based on my inaccurate and ultimately un-trustworthy calculations. I'm to believe that, if I were to see Bedroom Eyes (real name Jonas Jonsson) actually singing, I assume he would be beaming with happiness the entire time. It's that obvious that he's pouring so much love and enjoyment into this. That's not to say he doesn't cover other bases (he quite certainly does), it's just that the moniker of Bedroom Eyes seems like the medium in which this mysterious Jonas Jonsson fellow is truly able to express himself, his desires, dreams, and hopes.
Completely deserving to be number one on this list. Looking through my plays for the previous year, Butterfly Explosion are my 9th most popular artist. As of writing this, Eluvium's Similes has 345 listens for the year, against Lost Trails' 344. Behind that stands Kyte at 291 (when discounting other non-2010 albums, that is, except it's only beaten by The Tumbled Sea). Butterfly Explosion is, regardless of its bad name, a piece that works beautifully as an amalgamation, as a whole. Out of context, Butterfly Explosion sounds lame, until you hear the music that accompanies it. Gorgeous instrumentation with breath-taking vocals come together to create a fully realized album that stands on the shoulders of previous shoegaze juggernauts like My Bloody Valentine, infusing it with post-rock (using one of the God is an Astronaut guys as a producer), and taking it even further. It's as though they realized the potential, and decided they could do it.
While this album is certainly not perfect, as there are some moments where it lulls a little too much, there are some moments of true magic in here that require being unlocked. If I could describe this album in one word, it would be none other than Majestic.
Highlights include: the first two tracks ("Closer", "Tracing Stars"), "Turn In You", and the gorgeous vocals toward the end of "Crash... See You On the Other Side".
