First of all , I must correct the title probably for best "obscure" albums of 2010. Unfortunately the word avant-garde is extremely popular and easy for search for non-mainstream albums.
The big surprise for me was the discover this label called Not Not Fun http://www.notnotfun.com/now.html
There are all these exciting bands/artist and "Not Not Fun Records" is their home in L.A ... Bands like Pocahaunted,Sun Araw made excellent albums and also there is a very hardworking artist there , her name is LA Vampire , please check her out too...
But the best surprise was the return of Swans , their album is brutally good. Enjoy the list!
10 - Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea
9 - White Hills - Stolen Stars Left to No One
Space rock,kraut-rock...The guitar will drift you away. Don't be afraid!
8 - Actress - Splazsh
Wire magazine choose "Splazsh" album of the year.Dubstep,ambient and deep house...
7 - Mulatu Astetqe- Mulatu Steps Ahead
6- L.A Vampires/ Zola Jesus
5- LA Vampires/ Psychic Reality - Split
I have a feeling that the cover art is a reference to Slits' Cut album...Hypnotic...
4- Sun Araw - On Patrol
This is not your regular reggae or dub music, the structure of the songs are so open, you never know where you are when you listen the album.
3- Pocahaunted - Make It Real
2-Yellow Swans - Going Places (tie)
Noise duo Yellow Swans came with an great album in 2010. Say it loud : Welcome Chaos...
2 - Thee Oh Sees - Warm Slime (tie)
Super energetic,fuzzy,lo-fi punk rock stars... Excellent album!!!!
1- Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
It is one of the best album of the year, to read more ...
Michael Gira is one of the coolest/charismatic/talented persona in the underground music history. He is the leader of Swans,Angels of Light and also runs a record label called Young God Records...
He was born in 1954 L.A but when he was a teenager , he moved to Europe with his father. He ran away from home when he was 16 and joined some Gypsy Hippies and travelled. It ended when he get arrested in Israel for selling drugs. Then he returned to U.S , he formed his band Swans...
Swans' music could be called No Wave but it is and it was always so obscure. Their shows were dark and loud. I remember reading that Michael Gira ask to a venue manager to turn of A.C , because he believes that with the heat and sweat you would feel and get into the music. He stated that their shows were "soul uplifting and body destroying"...
Swans were active between 1982-1997, but last year Michael Gira decided to reform the band, because he believed the songs that he wrote wasn't fitting for his later band Angels of Light. Swans was a very influential band and you can still hear it in many bands.
The result is excellent , their new album My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky does not have the legendary female singer Jarboe but there are some original members in this album...
Michael Gira - guitar / voice / (original swans); Norman Westberg – guitar (original swans); Christoph Hahn – guitar (mid period swans and most angels of light); Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, dulcimer etc (final swans tour and most angels of light); Chris Pravdica – bass and gadgets (flux information sciences / services/ gunga din); Thor Harris - drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, keys (angels of light, now also with Shearwater)
Overall it is probably one of their best album. The opening track is so powerful , it gets almost scary. By the time you finish listening the album , you will be so glad that SWANS ARE NOT DEAD!
Wire Magazine choose the third best album of the year, BBC Music has declared it "a majestic return and, let us hope, a harbinger of more to come
Even though it is a good album, we all still wait for another Maxinquaye cause this man is a genius , or should I say was???
16- MIKE PATTON - Mondo Cane
The very very famous crazy man-because he was the star of Super Famous band Faith No More- did it real italian style, I loved it. Interesting brass arrangments for these old italian pop classics... Smart album!
15-VASELINES - Sex with an X
They are back again after so many years, hopeffully they will continue . I saw them live in 2010 and it was the best show of the year for sure...
14- MASSIVE ATTACK- Heligoland
13- LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - This is Happening
12- YEASAYER - Odd Blood
11- BLACK MOUNTAIN-Wilderness Heart
Very cool Vancouver kids, they wish that they were Led Zeppelin but they are too loud to be... I still love their debut and I think it is their best but this is a really good rock&roll album...
10-GRINDERMAN- Grinderman II
Very dirty, loud and sometimes really too macho but they still success to look cool
9-THE RADIO DEPT. - Clinging to a Scheme
The dream pop makers from Sweden.For some reason they remind me Deerhunter but they have a cleaner sound. The cool thing is they sampled a short speech of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore(a.k.a Godfather of Noise scene of New York), I loved it,here it comes: "People see rock and roll as, as youth culture, and when youth culture becomes monopolised by big business, what are the youth to do? Do you, do you have any idea?
I think we should destroy the bogus capitalist process that is destroying youth culture."
8-THE FRESH&ONLYS - Play it Strange
This is a real hardworking band from San Francisco, believe it or not but they made 3 albums in two years . I discover them this year, their previous album becomes one of my favorite album , but Play it Strange has still that raw pop-punk sound of theirs. The Fresh&Onlys has everything from surf rock to psychedelic rock.
7- TAME IMPALA - Innerspeaker
Tame Impala is an Australian band. It is their first album , produced by the band's own singer Kevin Parker and Tim Holmes from Death in Vegas. This is a perfect debut, powerfull psychedelic rock&roll...
6-JIM O'ROURKE- All Kinds of People Loves Burt Bacharach
Mister Genius Jim O'Rourke is keeping himself busy while living in Japan. We knew he loved Burt Bacharach when he covered his song "Something Big" in his master piece album Eureka. In this album he has many guest, mostly japanese musicians but also Thurston Moore... He sings beautiful, watch the video...
5-BEST COAST - Crazy for You
If Kurt Cobain was alive, he would add this to his favorite albums list for sure. I saw them live , they were excellent. Best Coast is the West Coast!!!!
4-VAMPIRE WEEKEND- Contra
" your Tokugawa smile/ and your garbage style/ used to save the night"... It is one of the best pop/rock album of the decade. There are some couple weak songs in this album , other than it is super catchy!
3- CARIBOU - SWIM
Dance or chill , or do both. It reminds me Arthur Russell in a good way...Perfect!
2-THE NATIONAL - High Violet
Thanks to "Dark Was The Night" compilation , I would probably never discover them. Great album, try to get the deluxe edition...
1- DEERHUNTER - Halcyon Digest
It is their fourth album but for sure it is their best. Beautiful lyrics with a dreamy/psychedelic touch of smart indie rock. The band leader Cox stated on his facebook page :"The album's title is a reference to a collection of fond memories and even invented ones, like my friendship with Ricky Wilson or the fact that I live in an abandoned victorian autoharp factory. The way that we write and rewrite and edit our memories to be a digest version of what we want to remember, and how that's kind of sad."
My favorite song is the 7th track Basement Scene... I could not get agree more...
"Dream, a little dream... I don't want to get old,no..."
4- LES RALLIZED DENUDES
Blind Baby has its Mother's Eyes
Heavier than Death in a Family
Japanese Underground music legend Mizutani and his band is rockin like hell. This is super-psychedelic,avant-garde,noise-blues. The band never had a contract with a label, because they refuse it. Everything you'll see under their name is actuall bootlegs. They were involved in radical leftist groups in Japan and their bass player actually was arrested for hijacking a plane in 1970. This is a dark dark feedback bath, put your headphones and watch the sky!
3 - Dieter Moebius -Tonspuren -1983
The man behind Kluster,Cluster,Harmonia... German Krautrocker Dieter Moebius is having some comfortable music for our sensitive ears. This is a pretty minimalist record by Dieter Moebius. They also reissue his album "Rastakraut Pasta" with famous german producer "Conny Plank" . If you are a krautrock or electronic fan, don't stop and buy it...
2 - David Bowie - Station to Station-1976
Not much to say, it is not only one of the best Bowie album but also one of the best music album in the history. Despite Bowie's big drug addiction problems, music is usually very upbeat influenced by jazz,electronic,funk and krautrock. After this album, he recorded Low-the first album of the Berlin Triology-, which is my other favorite Bowie album.Station to Station teaches us that David Bowie is genius, he knows how to make pop music in a very intellectual way.Especially attention the opening track "Station to Station", briallant song. I am gonna change a little bit the song title of Brianjonestown Massacre. (David Bowie,I love you) since I was 16.
1 - NEU! - Neu Box Set(Limited Edition)
It has 4 LPs , the white album,the black album, Neu! 2 and Neu! '86...Neu! (aka white album), Neu! 76(aka Black album) , are greatest samples of modern music.There is not much to say, I wrote about Klaus Dinger(R.I.P) here a while ago. Flawless!!!! Let's do german-pogo again while listening "Hero", or "E-music"... Krautrock at his best...
2010 is over and there were a lot of reissues for some classic albums. And here is my favorites of 2010, to be honest I don't particularly own this reissues but some of them are out of print and some of them are special deluxe editions.So if you don't own these albums, now it is the right time to buy this special editions, for some reason(i guess marketing) they are always better than the original...
10 - DOPPLEREFFEKT -GESAMTKUNSTWERK-1999
This is a real dirty electronic album and the man behind this record is Gerald Donald, it is originally recorded in 1999...It is so unhuman and kinky!
9- Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange - 1994
I was 17 when they made this album and I remember actually MTV was good back then. I recall the song Dang from this album was used for a cool music show at MTV, anyways this is Jon Spencer's perfect grungy&punky blues and probably their best.
8- The Cure - Disintegration -1989
The Cure is or was very important band in the alternative pop music history. They were unique in the 80's and this is their best album. This album helped them to become a cult band especially between teenagers . It was probably one of those rare albums it was o.k to listen by cool guys even the music was mellow and yeah, romantic. I don't remember spending a summer without listening in a pub "The Love Song". You must own this album even if you are not a fan and yeah I am not joking!
7-Robert Wyatt- Cuckooland -2003
Such a great work, beautiful Sunday morning record by Robert Wyatt. It is a great production, once you start to listen this album , you feel like Robert Wyatt will come from next door to visit you to have some english tea and smoke some cigarettes... This is a man who knows where to stand all the times, that's a very good quality these days. The 5. song "Beware" goes like this, -Don't get caught off your guard. Evil lurks in all our hearts/Just beware.
6 - Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Great cover, great rock&roll...
5- Glenn Branca - The Ascension
This is not just music, it is art we are talking about. New York was the heaven for underground music in the 70's and 80's. And there was Glenn Branca before Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. This man is a great talent but he is so underrated , it makes me angry sometimes... This is pure modern guitar art and totally avant-garde. It is originally released in 1981 and the new reissue is a limited edition.
