2010 Top 10: Jacob Oliver
Posted 12/31/2010 05:48AM by Jacopo ebolarama Olivares as Top 10
My top ten list from 2009 was characterized by hardcore, hardcore, more hardcore, some metalcore… oh yeah, and Amanda Blank. As 2009 was a banner year for the “-cores,” they represented a disproportionate slice of the pie; this year was equally strong in terms of the sheer amount of great music produced, but you’ll notice 2010’s version has a much different composition. One thing that did remain the same from last year: Keith Buckley. The Every Time I Die frontman seems to have staked out a permanent spot in my top ten, taking the number one spot in both 2007 and 2009, respectively, though he places a more modest eighth here. So, now that we’ve got our introductions out of the way, let’s start the show!
1. Parkway Drive - Deep Blue
Everything came together on this one, from the huge, arena-like production to the first-rate songwriting to the downright beastly crunch of the meat of the songs. Deep Blue proves metalcore might still have some life left after all. By reigning in their melodic impulses somewhat, Parkway Drive was able to deliver them to much greater effect, especially given their seamless transitions to and from the anvil-like wallop packed into the rest of the disc. Top that off with Winston McCall’s gigantic vocal performance, and the steroidal Deep Blue is a no-brainer for album of the year.
2. Year Of No Light - Ausserwelt
Post-rock is another genre desperately in need of a defibrillator, but you wouldn’t know it by taking in Ausserwelt. Listening to album opener “Persephone (Enna)” is like simultaneously watching the dawn break and coming back to life, its effect is that strong. This record is so sweeping and beautiful simply being in its presence makes one feel as insignificant as staring at the highest mountain peaks of Alaska tearing through a shroud of cloud cover—truly awe-inspiring.
3. letlive. - Fake History
The ambition and politics of Refused, the panty-dropping croon of Daryl Palumbo, the forward-thinking drive of Poison The Well, the unpredictability of Nation Of Ulysses —it’s all here. And what do you know, another album trying to resuscitate a genre (in this case post-hardcore) that’s pretty much disintegrated past the point of recognition. While this could pass for the best Glassjaw release since Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence, there’s simply too much going on to dismiss letlive. as trying to ape the legendary Long Islanders. This is a record we’ll look back on one day and recognize as a game-changer.
4. Alcest - Écailles de Lune
The first of several blackgaze records to figure prominently in the albums of the year discussion, Écailles de Lune is the unquestioned class of the group, dwelling in the most morose melancholy and soaring to the most lush, gorgeous majesty of the sublime. To say that it shifts easily may be apt from an instrumental standpoint, but from an immersive emotional investment standpoint, this record is going to take you to places within yourself that can often be anything but easy—yet the redemptive heights to which Écailles de Lune climbs are virtually unparalleled. Even at its most blackened, the record seems to inhabit some sort of elevated, other-worldly plane. I could pretty easily exhaust a full thesaurus looking for ways to describe this breath-taking work of art.
5. Xasthur - Portal Of Sorrow
Speaking of melancholy, the aptly-named Portal Of Sorrow is the distinct mirror image of Écailles de Lune, with the despondency serving as the emotional high point, whilst the rest probes some of the most harsh, wretched depths of despair recorded. The music seems to be emanating from the moldy 17th century crypts of New England under a full moon, and the haunting vocals of collaborator Marissa Nadler float over the lo-fi scratchiness like an apparition. Think of it as something like The Call Of Cthulu on wax (or hard-drive)—an auditory manifestation of the untold horrors that lurk and worry the corners of our fragile existence. This is the swan song of Xasthur, with Scott Conner pulling a Dr. Dre and retiring at the top of his game—“fuck black metal, you can have it back!” Maybe a decade down the road he’ll be hinting at his version of Detox as well.
6. Bitter End - Guilty As Charged
Though this year was nowhere near as strong as last year in terms of hardcore releases, there were still a few that managed to stand out, such as Terror, This Is Hell, and Cruel Hand. When Guilty As Charged dropped I was already sold, but it’s grown even stronger over time, so much so that I would slot it ahead of anything else to come out of the hardcore scene this year.
7. Rolo Tomassi - Cosmology
Dillinger who? Rolo Tomassi hasn’t just bested The Dillinger Escape Plan at their own game, they’ve annihilated them. Add to the recipe a dash of Greg Puciato’s side-project Spylacopa, a sprig of The Computers’ freakery, and just a soussant of the icy, astral inclinations of earlier Zombi, and the basis of what makes Cosmology the impressive, ever-evolving listening experience that it is becomes readily apparent. The record ranges from visceral, jagged mathcore to “Milk Lizard”-esque rock sensibility to synth-driven prog, climaxing in the excellent closing title track. Vocalist Eva Spence turns in one of the year’s great performances, showing dynamic range that spans from the unholy shrieks that seem virtually impossible to originate from her feminine frame, to a singing voice that borders on angelic.
8. The Damned Things - Ironiclast
I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of people are going to disagree with this inclusion. While Ironiclast isn’t the Gutter Phenomenon romp I imagined, it’s more a spiritual cousin of ETID’s New Junk Aesthetic in terms of the downcast and bitterly ironic lyrical content and the bittersweet instrumentation. Ironiclast is the sound of a Friday night that’s not gone as intended, a stab at sassiness that ended up in the heavy-hearted pits. You get the sense that even when a connection seems to be made through the alcohol, it was either not like vocalist Keith Buckley imagined, or its very inevitability (see “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” for example) is disappointing. Fortunately, though, the record is not, and though it didn’t conform to my expectations, now I have a great blues album versus a party album. It’s all a matter of perspective.
9. Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit
If Écailles de Lune is descended from a higher plane, then Marrow Of The Spirit is the ghostly presence lurking in the thickly-wooded hinterlands, a forlorn yet stunning amalgam of black metal, folk, post-rock, and pastoral grace. From the opening lament of “They Escaped the Weight of Darkness” to the delicate, understated beauty co-existing with the haunted nightfall of “The Watcher’s Monolith” to the orchestral closer “To Drown,” Agalloch’s panoptic opus is yet another member of this list ear-marked for greatness.
10. Locrian - The Crystal World
It’s a double-disc release, and it’s one of the most starkly bleak and terrifying records ever made. Based on a novel by J.G. Ballard where a lush forest crystallizes and turns utterly frigid, The Crystal World is basically the soundtrack to an interminable nuclear winter. Locrian have crafted the sonic embodiment of a barren, dead planet, an ambient avant-metal masterpiece that chalks the outline of a cold corpse with shaking, frost-bit hands. A truly harrowing experience.
Honorable Mentions:
M.I.A. - Maya
Lantlôs - .neon
Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
Zoroaster - Matador
Cold Body Radiation - The Great White Emptiness
Comments
Minnesota
It's so weird. I loved Parkway Drive when it first dropped, but then it faded for me. I also loved Letlive at first, but it faded too.
Year of No Light... great album, but I don't really revisit it much.
Alcest... gigantic disappointment after the epic Souvenirs. Partially because it's too short and partially because I don't like the blackened direction on a couple of the tracks.
Rolo Tomassi is great. I need to listen to them again.
Bitter End is boring as hell :-P
Damed Things are pretty much just average :-)
That Agalloch disc... shit, I need to get it because I have a feeling it could crack my list.
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Fishers, Indiana
I did really like that Alcest album, and that kinda music ain't normally my thang. I did give Agalloch a listen, too, but it blackmetalled me into submission. Black Lake Nidstang is such a badass track though.
Top Albums: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 || Tumblr | Twitter
San Diego, CA
Too old to bother, too young to give a shit.
Raleigh, NC
Dig the Bitter End choice. That's a great album.
Illinois
I never liked deep blue. I gave it so many chances, but it just never clicked. i mean there was maybe 3 tracks that i played over and over cause they were cool, but since that record came out, i haven't really touched it.
also, surprised to see M.I.A., i thought her new record was such a letdown musically.
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Fishers, Indiana
Not to spoil anything too much, but you'll be seeing letlive in my toppies too.
Top Albums: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 || Tumblr | Twitter
Spokane, Washington
ditto.
current listenings:
Of Virtue - "Heartsounds"
Capsule - "No Ghost"
Century - "Red Giant"
James Vincent McMorrow - "Early In The Morning"
Blind Pilot - "We Are The Tide"
Atascadero, CA
yea i think letlive is well on its way to being an overall numero uno for the site top20-25. got my top spot.
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