Perşembe 2 Ara 2010, 20:36

-to be finished in the next couple of days-

Great songs released in 2010:
-n.b.: the videos are attached to give you an opportunity to listen to the songs in their full length. Only some of them are official videos.
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Blood Red Shoes - Colours Fade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgERaXRFgs

Broken Bells - Citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3vG9YYy_oE

Captain Ahab - Acting Hard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be7hN1BB608

Crystal Castles - Doe Deer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8d92bfKW9k

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pbdLqTh_x4

The Drums - Best Friend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUubQj7g56E

Jónsi - Around Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21UtO4JXbq4

Lena - Satellite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esTVVjpTzIY

Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dbs9nzErz4

Magnetic Fields - The Book of Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkjXr9SrzQE

Robyn - Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_-_X-O6kyo

Shout Out Louds - Show Me Something New

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3FzxSrFfDY

Sufjan Stevens - Arnika

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqgFWSlWhrE

Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fqHr_KGPY

Tokyo Police Club - Breakneck Speed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRxCfoSTMh0

Twin Shadow - Tether Beat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLIaya-GaGU

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PorW3y5n1w

Wolf Parade - Cloud Shadow on the Mountain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9oLqVvNO8

Xiu Xiu - Gray Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNzpDT_qL1Q

While this was really tough, I'm singling out only the 3 songs that I would deem my absolute favourites of the year:

03. These New Puritans - We Want War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfKqgWPVvk

02. Japandroids - Younger Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R2pZQ0eqs8

01. HEALTH - USA Boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIbjjzXr1KA
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My Top 5 albums released in 2010:

05. Jónsi - Go

http://newmedia.kcrw.com/musicnews/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Jonsi-Go.jpg

04. The Drums - The Drums

http://www.whosjack.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/The-Drums-album-artwork-300x300.jpg

03. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II

http://media.buch.de/img-adb/20942915-00-00/crystal_castles_ii.jpg

So far, Crystal Castles appear to be rather unable to disappoint me. Their second album is a bit colder than their first, and it is also less playful, but the band's writing skills have improved and it shows. While there is no iencredible standout track such as "Untrust Us" of their first album, the overall listening experience is more intense and rewarding.

02. These New Puritans - Hidden

http://krawattenbaer.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/hidden.jpg

"Hidden" is an astonishing effort in that the music on the album sounds new. Innovation is this album's great triumph: TNP mix classical elements, rock music, electronica, sword samples and goth and the result sounds so fresh and exciting that it seems almost impossible not to like this album. This is what people will speak about when the decade ends, that's for sure - the songwriting is excellent, the musicianship showcased is impressive and you can tell that Mr Barnett is a bit of a perfectionist. Still, you can feel that there is a heart beating behind all the technical achievements, and that might just be why I love this album so much.

01.Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QGNsIo0egMY/TMlW2rhGviI/AAAAAAAAAeE/80ZcrnJ2dOo/s1600/sufjan_stevens_the_age_of_adz.jpg

"The Age of Adz" is such a fully realized album in all its ambitions that I find it almost scary. Sufjan Stevens combines fabulous lyrics about love, madness, religion and a bunch of other topics with a richly textured mixture of his typical instruments and bleeping electronica. In its high concept, "The Age of Adz" is a full success, from the artwork to the climactic build-ups, this is an almost flawless album and ranking only millimetres behind his masterpiece "Illinois."

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Of course. There are some albums that I need to spend more time with in order to be able to fully appreciate them. Most notably Have One On Me by the great Joanna Newsom and The Suburbs by Arcade Fire.

Generally speaking, Sufjan Stevens was the massive breakthrough artist in my charts this year. This is probably due to the fact that he created some of the most amazing music in the past decade, and apparently, he is very willing to continue in this fashion.