2010 In Music

[DustyDrB]

I'm a big fan of year end retrospectives. 2010 was an interesting year, in which many genres produced some of my favorite albums of the year. So I'd like to get views from around here on music.

-2010 pop song that won you over: We're pretty notorious for hating on pop music in general here, but was there one that you ended up liking for some reason?

-Trends you enjoyed this year: Pretty self-explanatory

-Trends you hated:

-Top 5 albums:

-Top 5 songs:

And if you have any other thoughts, do share.

_____
My list

-2010 pop song that won you over: For reasons other than the music itself, "Hey Soul Sister" wore down my defenses. Out one night with friends, this song by Train played at a club and everyone else I was with just started singing along. So now, rather than hearing a melody fit for childrens' music and lyrics that are best left not thought about, I remember a fun night with friends.

-Trends I enjoyed: Folk continued to produce as it has in recent years. Bands like Mumford and Sons (I know Sigh No More was released last year) found popularity in the United States, and many matured their sound (Laura Marling, Frightened Rabbit) or got downright experimental (Blitzen Trapper's "Destroyer of the Void"). Beyond that, folk invaded hip hop in a big way. When I saw Bon Iver open for Wilco in 2008, I would have never guessed that the group would one day be heavily featured on a Kanye West album. We also had Monsters of Folk (supergroup comprised of members of Bright Eyes, She and Him, and My Morning Jaket) on The Roots' album How I Got Over. Hip Hop itself also found itself going for baroque at time (Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid and Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)

-Trends I hated: It's a popular thing to hate on, but Auto-Tune is just downright overused. I don't know how many versions of the Black Eyed Peas' "I Got a Feeling" I've heard this year, but one version in particular [YkMaIzAeK58&feature=related] had me shaking my head and rolling my eyes. The ability to create and heavily edit songs from a simple laptop has resulted in few shining moments, but largely has resulted in an onslaught of lazily put together flavors of the week.

-Top 5 Albums:
1. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I can
2. Punch Brothers - Antifogmatic
3. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
4. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
5. Vampire Weekend - Contra

-Top 5 Songs:
1. Punch Brothers - "Rye Whiskey"
2. Vampire Weekend - "Diplomat's Son"
3. The Black Keys - "Tighten Up"
4. Laura Marling - "Devil's Spoke"
5. No Age - "Glitter"

 

[Lilani]

Trends I enjoyed: Lady Gaga, if she counts as a trend. Her "screw it, I'll wear what I want" attitude is definitely refreshing over the rising trend of hipsters.

Trends I hated: Autotuning to try and make artists who can't sing sound good (I'm looking at you, Ke$ha).

Top 5 albums: Most of these have nothing to do with "popular" music, but they are my personal top 5. One or two might not be from this year either, but I just acquired them all this year.

1. Northamton - Enter the Haggis' live album
2. Makara - E.S. Posthumus
3. Night Castle - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
4. The Wind that Shakes the Barley - Loreena Mckennitt
5. Fiddler on the Roof Original Soundtrack - John Williams

Top 5 Songs (again, some of them may not technically be from this year, but I did acquire them this year).

1. Through Heaven's Eyes - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Prince of Egypt Soundtrack
2. Hey Soul Sister - Train
3. So What - P!nk
4. Jai Ho - A.R. Rahman (remixed by Pussycat Dolls) - Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
5. Golden Time Lover (English Fandub) - Youtube User YChangVAA (I know, I know...it's a fandub from an unsigned artist, but it's one of my top songs anyway).

 

[Outright Villainy]

Pop song that won me over: Eh, I can't really think of anything, unless the odd viral video like double rainbow counts.

Trends I enjoy: More progressive metal bands taking influence from the likes of SikTh, who were criminally underrated when they came out a few years ago.

On that note, top 5 albums would be:
1. Periphery- (self titled)
2.
3.
4.
5.

And that's the only I bought this year that came out this year. I've gotten plenty of great stuff this year that came out in the last couple of years, but from this year I only found one album worth buying.

 

[TenaciousTom]

-2010 pop song that won you over: Teenage Dream, absolutely no idea why...

-Trends you enjoyed this year: Like you said, the return of folk. Also, people who listen to rock rather than the popular-garbage

-Trends you hated: Autotuning, R&B that's all alike and Nicki Minaj

-Top 5 albums:
Contra - Vampire Weekend
Sigh No More - Mumford And Sons
Plastic Beach - Gorrilaz
(Not listened very much but from what I heard It's a good album) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park
Immersion - Pendulum


-Top 5 songs:
New Moon rising - Wolfmother
Little Lion Man - Mumford And Sons
Stylo - Gorrilaz
Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend
Immunize - Pendulum

 

[fullbleed]

snip

Cool idea for a topic

Pop song that won me over, I'm gonna say Robyn - Hang With Me but I feel like I'm cheating because it didn't really win me over, I love pop music anyway and Robyn especially. But it's still my favourite pop song of the year so yeah Robyn Hang with me. Oh and Robert Smith colab with Crystal Castles on Not in Love, man that sounds good. Great move by CC, really getting a lot of publicity for this.

Trends I enjoyed? Dunno, can't think of many actual trends in recent years that I'm aware of. Chiptune really had a boom in 2008 with HEARTSREVOLUTION, You Love Her Cos She's Dead and Crystal Castles in particular bringing it to wider audiences and doing more with it than before. I guess as you said folk music is continuing to be on the rise and Mumford and Sons are a huge success story. I saw them at Latitude this year and it was ridiculous the crowds they pulled, it was actually what would ussually be a fairly small set. Middle of the day, 40 minute set, clearly booked before the band became such a phenominal success, they'd easily be headliners next time.
Interesting fact Muford and Sons used to be the warm up act for my sister's friends band, seriously, they're invited to a wedding I think and my sister is begging to be taken as a 'plus one'. Here they are http://www.myspace.com/jessequinandthemets

Trends I haven't liked, autotune. What else? It is vile, I'm sure you all know those crap videos, the band whats their name, that video everyone posts? Auto tune is responsible for that kind of shit.

Top 5 Albums
1. Crystal Castles II, my favourite band of all time. I'm unbelievabley in love with them! This album was a great example of them trying something new and moving past the chiptune/circuit bending scene they've been associated with. A more accessible and yet even more experimental album.
2. Arcade Fire - Suburbs, while it doesn't quite reach the same level as Funeral I think it is still markedly an improvement over Neon Bible. This is a concept album no denying it, but what I think is its biggest improvement is its consitency. Everysong perfectly fits one another and the same themes are carried across the whole album brilliantly. Neon Bible while still suberb and still has some of their best songs just feels too all over the place, and I mean Black Wave/Bad Vibrations urrgh! I hate that one track!
3. Caribou - Swim, I only found out about this band a few months ago and I'm loving it. There's a real experimental side to this music, very heavily dance influenced. The song writting and vocal delivery really works for me, theres amazing emotional depth to some of these songs. The track Kaili actually made me cry, no song has ever done that before. I may have been drinking heavily but still, credit where due.
4. Four Tet - There is Love in You, I could almost just copy and paste the paragraph above and I feel pretty much the same way about it. Techno/house with a great experimental and minimalist style to it. "It's like dance music for your head, not your hips." (Wish I said that http://youtu.be/FrYW1YdkJ88).
5. Robyn - Body Talk prt. 1, This was a really hard decision between prt 1 and 2 but part 1 won out because I feel its a more divese album that part 2. The mix of styles is far more evident here with more than a few hip hop influences in more of the tracks. Dancing on My Own is a perfect dance anthem, Robyn really truely reinvented herself in 2008ish and hasn't stopped since. This is pop music at its fineist, this is how it should be done. And how can you not listen to Fembot and not smile?

Top 5 Tracks
1. Crystal Castles - Celestica
2. Crystal Castles - Suffocation
3. Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
4. Caribou - Kaili
5. Robyn - Hang With Me

Man that was a slog.

 

[Stilt-Man]

And if you have any other thoughts, do share.

I love retrospectives, but I gotta say, as I look back on this year, I was pretty oblivious to the music scene. Apart from Bob Dylan's latest bootleg, and Tobymac's latest album, anything I picked up was from a previous year.

Maybe 2011 will be better.

 

[Chubbfish]

-2010 pop song that won you over: Swedish House Mafia - One, it's refreshing to see a pure electro anthem group actually do simply good songs.

-Trends you enjoyed this year: Dub-step, with artists like Magnetic Man, among others, are bringing a professional vibe to the genre that hasn't been seen yet, and are producing its' best work so far.

-Trends you hated: Though acts such as Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons are very good, there are a growing number of folk artists who are joining the genre without the same ability.

-Top 5 albums:

1) Foals - Total Life Forever
2) Warpaint - The Fool
3) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
4) Janelle Monae - Archandroid
5) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

-Top 5 songs:

1) Foals - Spanish Sahara
2) Warpaint - Undertow
3) Foals - After Glow
4) Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
5) Everything Everything - Schoolin

 

[Blue_vision]

-2010 pop song that won me over: Either Airplanes by B.o.B. or Waka Waka. I know that basically everyone hates Waka Waka after the cup, but I really love it.

-Trends you enjoyed this year: The kind of "fuck it, I am who I want to be" attitude from Lady Gaga. I didn't like her initially, but I've kind of warmed up to her. The originality is refreshing

-Trends you hated: The kind of "fuck it, I am who I want to be" attitude from people like Ke$ha. Really that sort of thing just doesn't a good role model make, which I think is important.

-Top 5 albums:
1. Immersion, by Pendulum. Awesome album, a huge variety of sound, some fun and some deep lyrics, a lot of soul put into it.
2. A Thousand Suns, by Linkin Park. Again, awesome album, probably tied with Immersion for 2010 for me. Incredibly moving lyrics, great vocals, great sound in general
3. Danger Days, by My Chemical Romance. Their new sound is great, and the variety of different songs mixes things up. The lyrics are also pretty moving too, but keeping the kind of fun MCR style.
4. Science and Faith, by the Script. I don't actually have the album yet, because for stupid reasons it isn't out in North America, but I've listened to every song on youtube at least 3 times. Excellent music, the only problem is it gets a little bit repetitive and doesn't do enough to mix it up.
5. Trans-Continental Hustle by Gogol Bordello. 'Nuff Said.

-Top 5 songs:
1. Watercolour by Pendulum
2. Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance
3. The Requiem, The Radiance, and Burning in the Skies by Linkin Park
4. Airplanes, by B.o.B.
5. The Island pts. I and II, by Pendulum

Top 5 songs is kind of tricky though. I'd probably just have a bunch tied for #1 realistically

 

[Captain Pirate]

-2010 pop song that won you over: Glee's versions of both Loser and Bad Romance. I usually cringe at musicals imitating pop songs, but a number of Glee's numbers had me smiling. Loser was just awesome, and Bad Romance just really stuck in my head. The Lady Gaga version's cool, too.

-Trends you enjoyed this year: I don't really know what I could consider a trend. If anything, the trend of people that are determined to topple Justin Bieber's fanbase.
I started lessening my hate for him recently; he can do what he wants, at least he can sing. Maybe he's not so bad.
BUT, then he went on the Graham Norton show, and did the most appalling English accent I have ever heard, then said it was a British accent.
Go fuck yourself and drown in an oil tank, Biebz.

-Trends you hated: Justin Bieber. Autotuning. I won't elaborate, because the other Escapists have already summed up the auto-tune rage I have perfectly.

-Top 5 albums:

Immersion - Pendulum - Taking all the best bits from their last two albums, and added in a massive dollap of new experimentation, and you get an eargasm.

Hold Me Down - You Me At Six - A much more well recorded and overall perfected album in the semi-style of their old album. They've found what works, what they're good at, and they've made a good variety of songs in only their second album. Most bands I have heard do this by at least the third album. High hopes for YMA6 Album Three.

For The Masses - Hadouken! - Not my favorite of all albums, and definately a bit more monotonous and less fun, more grime than their first offering. Still enjoyable to an extent though.

Frankly those are the only three albums I've brought this year. Most of my music catalogue I've heard this year are older gems from bands I've been discovering, like Muse, Biffy Clyro, and Rage Against The Machine.

-Top 5 songs:

Destabilise - Enter Shikari

Witchcraft - Pendulum - Song Of The Year

The Consequence - You Me At Six

Take It Back - The Qemists (Ft Enter Shikari)

Retaliate - Hadouken!

 

[DustyDrB]

-Trends you hated: Though acts such as Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons are very good, there are a growing number of folk artists who are joining the genre without the same ability.

A true statement. While I love the current folk revival, it has brought about its unfortunate share of easy rip-offs and overly twee types.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Pop Song That Won You Over: Ceelo Greene, Fuck You. I don't know if this counts as won over because I loved Gnarls Barkely, but still. I love it.

Trends I Enjoyed: Old Thrash bands re-uniting/recording new stuff. Off the top of my head, Flotsam and Jetsam, Annihilator, Death Angel, and Accept released new stuff.

Trends I hate: Screaming. Other than for the occasional (and I mean occasional) chorus, I hate screaming in metal. Ruins almost every potentially decent metalcore band, and makes genres such as melo-death nearly intolerable. Only bands I know that do screaming right are Bullet for My Valentine, Children of Bodom, and Trivium.

Top Five Albums:

Order of the Black by Black Label Society. BLS gets better and better every release it seems.

Blood of the Nations by Accept. I mentioned them earlier, they were one of the best thrash and speed metal bands in the eighties and nineties. They've got a new singer, and he's actually really good.

...more as I think of them...

 

[Trivun]

-2010 pop song that won you over: I will freely admit that I hate things like The X Factor and the like. But I have nothing but respect for some of the music artists from that show who I feel are qualified to be called music artists, that is, those who have managed to work hard and forge for themselves a lasting and good career in the music industry, writing new material and generally working their asses off to stay in the game, after they've won or been in the finals or whatever. So I like people such as Leona Lewis, JLS, Diana Vickers, and so on. One from this year who has really stood out for me personally? Olly Murs. He's managed to build a decent breakout career for himself now despite not winning the show, and what I've heard of his stuff so far is pretty damn good (kudos especially to his songs 'This One's For The Girls' and 'Please Don't Let Me Go', both of which I was lucky enough to hear when seeing him live this summer at the Midlands Music Festival). If I have to pick one, therefore, it would be 'This One's For The Girls'.

-Trends you enjoyed this year: I've generally been more into indie and alternative for the most part, so this year I was glad to see that sort of music making more waves in what's considered 'popular'. I was also pretty pleased with the wave of interest in more 'geeky' and indie elements of modern culture after the Scott Pilgrim movie came out, in fact that film is what got me into Metric, Blood Red Shoes, and Broken Social Scene.

-Trends you hated: I absolutely loathed the dominance in the charts this year, especially in the latter part of the year, of female 'artists' like Kesha, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and the like. They just churn out the same crap over and over, with the exception of Lady Gaga, who at least has some talent and whatnot (I see her becoming the new Madonna, to be honest) - in her case I'm just not a fan of her music, she as a singer is actually pretty good, just not my cup of tea. But the others? Just a load of crap. If I want to listen to female singers blurting out what they call 'music', I'll listen to good artists like Florence and the Machine or Marina and the Diamonds or Pixie Lott...

-Top 5 albums: Note these aren't in any order, I rarely have specific 'favourites' in things.

1. Klaxons - Surfing the Void
2. Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns
3. Ellie Goulding - Lights
4. Florence and the Machine - Between Two Lungs (this is an extended version of her 2009 album Lungs)
5. Various Artists - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World OST

-Top 5 songs:

1. Warpaint - Undertow
2. Klaxons - Echoes
3. Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
4. Linkin Park - The Catalyst
5. Metric - Black Sheep

I think what I've put in the quote box summarizes my thoughts fairly accurately .