Tag: Best of 2010 Page 3 of 4

2010 in Music: #9 Mates of State – Crushes

Mates-of-State-banner.jpg

[#8-12 on this countdown are basically tied. I’ve put them in order of release date.]

Yes, there’s a covers album on my Best Of list. No, I wouldn’t have expected that either. In fact, I was fairly disappointed when I heard that Mates of State was going to be doing a covers album – I love their original stuff so much that the idea of losing out on an opportunity to get more of that while they put effort into a covers CD made me a little sad.

But. BUT. This album is awesome. It’s like a master course in how to do covers. They take some great songs, from a wide variety of artists (established indie bands like Death Cab for Cutie, lesser-known up-and-comers like Girls, classics like Tom Waits, etc.) and truly make them their own. They maintain the integrity of the original while making them sound as if Mates of State had originated them. It’s quite a feat, and they do it perfectly on every song on here.

In fact, they even do some BETTER than the originals, I’d say – the first single to be released was “Laura,” originally by Girls. I was very not excited by this, because I saw Girls open for Los Campesinos! last year and was the opposite of impressed: I didn’t like them at all. But Mates of State’s version of the song turned out to be one of my favorites on the whole album. Others, like Belle and Sebastian’s “Sleep the Clock Around,” they play pretty close to the original, but it still fits their sound well.

Basically, I dare anyone to listen to this album without a giant smile on their face. It proves that you don’t necessarily have to write the songs originally to have a fresh and original version of it to call your own.

My 2010 in Film: In the Mood for Love

In-the-Mood-for-Love-banner.jpg

[My list of favorite films released in 2010 will be going up on Row Three in mid-January, so I want to do something a bit different here. This series will include any films I saw for the first time this year and loved, regardless of release date. It may also include films from this year.]

People have been telling me to see In the Mood for Love for ages, and I wanted to see it (especially after seeing Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express, which made the top of my favorites list last year), but didn’t get around to it until a few months ago. Once in a while I see a film and I get a very profound sense of attachment – something deeper than just enjoyment or even love – and I felt that stronger with In the Mood for Love than I’ve felt it in a long time. I can’t even say that I got everything out of the film, but I immediately knew that I will have a life-long relationship with this film. I will rewatch it often, allowing it to reveal new insights and truths to me over the years as I come to it at different points in my life. I will grow old with this film.

in_the_mood_for_love_maggie_cheung_9_5a9d32f6c98d44a73cf3bdd4d631215a.jpg

It’s difficult to explain exactly what about the film gives me that feeling, but it’s undeniable. The story – almost more of a premise or a situation, though that word gives the wrong impression – follows two couples who move into adjacent apartments at about the same time. The husband of one couple and the wife of the other both travel often for work, leaving their spouses home alone for days sometimes. Over time, those left behind begin spending time together. But what sounds like the beginnings of a sordid, adulterous love affair instead becomes an intensely moving but wholly chaste expression of a love that’s far deeper than physicality.

The film is so subtle and languidly paced, and plays so much on mood rather than action that you may not even be sure at first what is going on, but the film sweeps you along with it anyway. The use of color and oblique camera angles is incredible – noticeable but never overpowering or self-aggrandizing, always playing into the overall mood of the film. It’s distant in the way it depicts the relationship, never pushing in on the characters or invoking any sentimentality or unearned emotion, but never cold or calculating. Instead, the very distance becomes part of the heartbreak.

In-the-Mood-for-Love2.jpg

2010 in Music: #10 Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record

BSS-banner.jpg

[#8-12 on this countdown are basically tied. I’ve put them in order of release date.]

My history with Canadian collective Broken Social Scene is kind of varied – I became aware of them somehow years ago but only heard a few songs here and there and didn’t really care for them, though I quickly became a fan of various related groups, especially Metric and later Stars (and Feist to a lesser degree). I wrote off BSS itself as being too experimental for me. Then I listened to them while driving one time, and everything suddenly clicked. Since then I’ve been a big fan, though I remain a bit more devoted to Metric and Stars.

When they announced a new record, their first since 2005’s self-titled album, I couldn’t have been more excited, and the fact that Forgiveness Rock Record isn’t higher on my year end list only speaks to how many albums I loved this year. It’s a solid rock album that may not quite have as many standouts favorites as Broken Social Scene or You Forgot It In People, but is also a bit more accessible. Since it came out I’ve tended to leave it alone for weeks at a time and downgrade it in my head, but then when I come back to it, I remember how awesome it is overall.

They’ve got all the crossover members of Metric, Stars, and Feist back for at least one song each (most noticeably Emily Haines’ lead vocals on “Sentimental X’s”), which is fun, but the main band really shines through as well – Kevin Drew’s soaring vocals on “World Sick,” Brendan Canning’s alt-country approach to “Water in Hell,” Lisa Lobsinger establishing herself in her own right (not just the tour singer who covers the guest stars’ songs when they’re not there) with “All to All.” And I rarely like instrumental tracks that much, but “Meet Me in the Basement” is one of the best tracks of this year or any other. Also, please please see them in concert if you can. They’re fantastic, and put on a great show.

2010 in Music: #11 Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be

Dum-Dum-Girls-banner.jpg

[#8-12 on this countdown are basically tied. I’ve put them in order of release date.]

I‘m pretty sure I should’ve gotten into this band way before I did. Months before, anyway. I have a tendency to ignore things that I feel like are overhyped on the blogs, and I sort of got that vibe from Dum Dum Girls (plus I initially had trouble taking a band called “Dum Dum Girls” seriously). But I even remember a friend mentioning that they were playing somewhere and I kind of brushed it off without really paying attention.

Now I’m kicking myself for that, because when I finally picked up the album (begrudgingly, out of a completionist need to at least check out most buzzed-about bands by the end of the year) I fell in love with it instantly. They’re all retro noise-poppy and chick-rocky and shoegazey – all things I love. Add in a little bit of bhangra flavor on some songs, and some well-used guest performances (Crocodiles’ Brandon Welchez on Blank Girl, which despite being highly repetitive is somehow one of my favorite songs of the year), and it really makes the album sound fresh, despite how much of a great throwback it is to earlier styles. They fill the spot in my listening that the Raveonettes left empty this year, but with a bit more sweetness.

I also love how the videos maintain the really grungy ’80s retro vibe. It may be a bit of a gimmick, but it’s one that I like, and it’s backed up by solid songwriting.

2010 in Music: #12 Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring

Los-Campesinos-banner.jpg

[#8-12 on this countdown are basically tied. I’ve put them in order of release date.]

When I saw Los Campesinos! in late 2009, I lamented to Gareth that they’d released both Hold On Now, Youngster and We are Beautiful, We are Doomed in 2008, and that their next one wasn’t scheduled until February 2010, leaving me unable to put any Los Camp! on my 2009 Best Of list. His response: “But see, the new one is all set to be your favorite of the 2010s, the whole decade.” Well, it won’t quite make that, but I pretty much love everything Los Campesinos! does, and Romance is Boring is no exception.

All of LC!’s albums are pretty much of a piece; you’ll find the same manic orchestration and vocals, the same clever, intellectual, self-pitying lyrics (with just enough irony and humor to keep them from being hopelessly annoying), and the same nearly cacophonous sound that somehow resolves into something awesome. But you’ll also find a growing maturity and experimentation with other sonic planes, on some songs more than others, but especially on “The Sea is a Good Place to Think About the Future,” which has absolutely heartrending lyrics and music to go with them.

I’ve moved this album up and down on the list a lot – I get tempted to move it down simply because other than a few glimpses of evolution in certain songs, it is so very similar to their other albums (I can almost literally put all three on random and not know which album any given song is from immediately), but then I listen to it again and realize I still love listening to it a lot, similar or no. It’s liable to move up and down in my estimation a lot more. But overall, I love LC! to pieces, and this album does nothing to change that.

Page 3 of 4

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén