Tag: Best of 2010

2010 in Music: #13 She & Him – Volume Two

On December 20, 2010

DISCLAIMER: I have a huge girlcrush on Zooey Deschanel. On the other hand, I liked but didn’t love Volume One – it was one that I enjoyed listening to but never really captured me beyond being pleasant background music. I pretty much assumed that Volume Two would be the same way, but bought it anyway because pleasant retro music is often welcome.

Then a couple of months ago a few of the songs got randomly stuck in my head and I ended up listening to the album on repeat for days. Since then I’ve gone back and gained more appreciation for Volume One, but I do think Volume Two is a more assured, more confident effort from Zooey and M. Ward. They’re growing into their style, doing some really catchy originals and some really attractive covers.

Retro stylings have been a big thing this year in LA indie rock, and She & Him have definitely managed to carve out their own niche even among all the other retro bands – they wouldn’t sound out of place in a 1960s film, but there’s a great freshness and immediate exuberance to Zooey’s vocals and Matt’s arrangements. The album didn’t grab me immediately, but it’s the kind that worms its way into my head and gleefully refuses to leave.

2010 in Music: #14 Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

By Jandy

On December 19, 2010

In Music

#14. Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

Charlotte Gainsbourg is pretty well-respected as an actress, and that’s primarily how I’ve thought of her up until now – I’m especially a fan of her magnificent and horrifying turn in Antichrist – but she’s also fairly established as a singer. I’ve kind of known that in the back of my head for a while, but for some reason never thought to check out her music career until this year, likely when one of the music blogs posted the video for “Time of the Assassins” (see below). I’m very glad I finally got around to it.

IRM is a bit off the track from what I usually listen to, with unusual rhythms and melodies, yet even the tracks that I would consider quite outside my usual comfort zone (like the title track with its spare but almost overpowering percussive elements) somehow capture me and won’t let go. Tracks like “Time of the Assassins” had me instantly with the lush instrumentation and evocative melody. I can’t say all the songs connect with me totally, but throughout them all Charlotte’s voice is such a lovely combination of fragility and determination that it’s hard to turn your attention away from it. Much like Charlotte the actress in that way.

2010 in Music: #15 Kathryn Calder – Are You My Mother?

By Jandy

On December 18, 2010

In Music

So there’s this thing where I’m dumb and masochistic and decided that instead of doing one post listing my favorite ten or fifteen albums of the year, I’m going to do A POST EVERY DAY until the end of the year, each one highlighting the next in my list of favorites. This may not end well. But I’m excited about the idea right now, so I have to try. Since I’m posting them all separate instead of as a huge list, I’ll note the trends I noticed here: 1) Bands I’ve loved for a long time coming out with new albums I love as much or more than their previous work. No slackers or disappointments this year, really. 2) New or new-to-me bands coming out of nowhere and overwhelming me with awesome. Last year only one album snuck on my list at the end of the year; this year several did. 3) Canadian and Los Angeles bands. Even LA bands I didn’t know where LA bands until I became a fan, so I can’t credit it to hometown bias. 4) Female singers. That’s been pretty constant with me for a few years, though. Okay, let’s get to it!

#15. Kathryn Calder – Are You My Mother?

Kathryn Calder is often relegated to status as “the girl in The New Pornographers who isn’t Neko Case,” but that’s hardly fair. She’s also their full-time keyboardist, backup singer all the time, sings Neko’s parts on tour when Neko can’t join them, and on the last couple of albums has done a lot of second and first vocals of her own. She may not have Neko’s brazen power, but she’s got a lovely voice and certainly deserves the greater prominence that The New Pornos are starting to give her.

Releasing her first solo album this year can only help with her reputation, because it’s a very fine debut that foregrounds both her pure vocals and her substantial piano skills, while being so vastly different in sound from The New Pornos that it allows her to establish her own songwriting style and sound.

The opening track “Slip Away” (also the first single) is a great example of the rest of the album – it starts off very quiet and spare with a single piano line and vocal backed by hand claps as percussion, then moves into an exuberant and fully orchestrated chorus of pure vocals, no words. Moving back and forth between these two is exhilarating, and Kathryn handles both with ease, as she will handle both wildly uptempo songs like “Castor and Pollux” and very self-contained numbers through the rest of the album. Overall it’s a pretty light and poppy album, but with enough subtle melancholia that it feels perfect for those days when you’re enjoying a cup of hot cocoa and watching the rain drip down the window.

Plus the videos so far are wonderful animated affairs (in different styles), both starring the same bunny that appears on the album cover. I kind of hope they do videos for the rest of the songs and include the bunny in all of them. That would be awesome.