Happy holidays everyone. Below are my Top 20 of 2010, chosen using a complex statistical formula and thousands of man-hours. Anyone who wants to party with the Klap for New Year’s 2011 should come to the wonderful, wholesome city of Las Vegas. See you all in the new year.

20.

Simian Mobile Disco – Delicacies

+1 Records

Released: November 30

Outstanding food concept notwithstanding, Delicacies is a delicious tech-house treat, all weirded-out bleeps and ghostly bloops that are at times incredibly creepy and others strangely bouncy. I have no idea how this is going to translate live (probably with a healthy dose of psychedelics), but after last year’s weak pop outing, Simian is back on track here.

19.

Delta Spirit – History From Below

Rounder

Released: June 8

It’s always a pleasure to see a band grow, and combining that with one of my favorite genres in Americana makes History From Below one of the year’s most exciting releases. Much of the credit must go to singer Matthew Vasquez, whose growth into a true barroom singer is remarkable.

18.

Four Tet – There Is Love In You

Domino

Released: January 26

There’s always bound to be some repetition in an IDM release, and it’s what usually turns me off on the genre, but Four Tet has truly created a masterpiece with his seventh album, one that has a definite organic quality to it that adds a vibrant layer to the discordant loops and drum samples that make up his work. It’s dense and challenging at times, but it never ceases to be enjoyable.

17.

Ra Ra Riot – The Orchard

Barsuk

Released: August 24

Beating Vampire Weekend at their own game, Ra Ra Riot avoid the sophomore slump by slowing things down and bringing out the best in the band – Wes Miles’ brilliant vocals, the warm dimension the strings bring to their sound, and drummer Gabriel Duquette’s unheralded rhythm work that ties everything together.

16.

Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy

Dead Oceans

Released: May 11

In an off year for alt-country Matt Houck stepped up to the plate and delivered a straightforward home run, all muscular slide guitar and folky twang. But the best part is Houck’s melodies, which are fleshed out and given new life with the colorful compositions offered by his expanded sound.

15.

Serena Maneesh – No. 2: Abyss in B Minor

4AD Records

Released: March 23

Criminally overlooked shoegaze out of Norway, Serena Maneesh crafted some of the strangest, most endearing music of the year. This isn’t your older brother’s shoegaze; this plain rocks, with angular riffs and thudding bass lines seemingly more suited for prog than pop. But for all its oddness, it’s an album that refuses to be ignored, and I’d gladly take this over the Ambien most shoegaze bands proffer up nowadays.

14.

Spoon – Transference

Merge Records

Released: January 19

It speaks to Spoon’s consistency that I consider a #14 finish an off year for them. Transference finds the band more comfortable with their own sound than ever before, relishing in the live environment the album was created in and even letting their ties loose a little bit, meandering about on songs like “Who Makes Your Money” and “Nobody Gets Me But You.” It’s not as consistent as previous releases, but it doesn’t have to be – Spoon like where they are, and they sound damn fine with it.

13.

Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing

Astralwerks

Released: May 4

Paul Sprangers sings about girls and summer love and absolutely nothing of higher import because, frankly, that’s all he wants to sing about. It’s unfortunate that Stuck on Nothing was released in the spring, because it’s a summer record through and through. Beach cruising, salty air and salty hair, bikinis, breezy car trips, pool parties, Slurpees that always seem too damn drippy, the smell of tanning lotion, sand that will stay in my car for way too many months, days and days of doing whatever the hell you want – Free Energy have made a soundtrack for all of these things, and made it seem effortless in the bargain.

12.

Rogue Wave – Permalight

Brushfire Records

Released: March 2

Permalight came out at just the right time for me, lifting me out of the February doldrums with passionate, high-energy indie pop that seemed all too easy and potentially canned. But there was something about Permalight that made me look past its clichéd sentiments and sometimes drab choruses – this is a record that was positively sunny, one that bared all without shame or any sense of self-consciousness, and was the better for it. If I want to be happy, I listen to this.

11.

Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Def Jam

Released: July 11

This was a banner year for big name rappers, and Big Boi was no exception – up until November The Son of Chico Dusty was the rap record of the year, and another bit of evidence to suggest that maybe Outkast wasn’t all Andre 3000’s show (where the hell has that guy been, anyway?). Southern rap has never been this enjoyable and innovative.

10.

Steel Train – Steel Train

Ingrooves

Released: June 29

Along with Free Energy, Steel Train showed me that sometimes, good rock ‘n roll can be just that; no gimmicks, no existentialist musings, no 20-minute-plus compositions swollen with strings and harps and timpani. Steel Train put their money down on ace melodies and that simple trifecta of rock: guitar, bass, drums. They only come out with some of the best songs of the year, sugary offerings that are no less potent because they revel in their hooks and sing-a-long capabilities. Not to mention a song of the year in the heartrending “Fall Asleep.”

9.

The Black Keys – Brothers

Nonesuch

Released: May 18

Speaking of good old-fashioned rock ‘n roll, The Black Keys are back to doing what they do best on Brothers. It’s hard-hitting, bluesy rock ‘n roll; bluesy like the delta, bluesy like the Sun Studio in the early ‘60s, and Brothers is nothing if not a painstakingly well made time capsule by two of the best musicians in the business. Few bands can sound like they come from another era, but the Black Keys pull it off with ease.

8.

Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Def Jam

Released: November 22

I like to use Kanye West’s own Twitter to describe My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: “”This is rock and roll life my people . . . you can’t stop the truth you can’t stop the music and I have to be strong or ‘they’ win!!!;” “I can’t be everybody’s hero and villain savior and sinner Christian and anti Christ!;” “I have decided to become the best rapper of all time! I put it on my things to do in this lifetime list!” Besides an abundance of exclamation points, Kanye’s often hilarious Twitter is everything that made his newest album such a masterpiece, from his Christ complex to his feuding with the media to his undeniable artistic brilliance. Guy might be a little crazy, but weren’t all the best a bit off?

7.

Wolf Parade – Expo 86

Sub Pop

Released: June 29

Maybe Wolf Parade will never be able to recapture that spastic one-off brilliance that was their debut, but Expo 86 proves that maybe they don’t need to. It’s the band’s most cohesive collection of tracks to date, successfully ranging from Krug’s typically obtuse offerings to Boeckner’s more pop-oriented rock tunes. Most of all, it proves that Wolf Parade are still the visionary songwriters we thought we lost with At Mount Zoomer, and that’s a relief.

6.

The National – High Violet

4AD Records

Released: May 11

My road to finally realizing High Violet was right up there with Boxer and Alligator was a long one, and it took me until a long road trip six months after its release to see it for what it was: what I initially saw as boring and uninspired was actually a more mellow National, one less prone to emotional outbursts and not quite as energetic, but a wiser National, one who had a firmer grip on life’s realities and even more questions about it. It’s a fascinating listen, built around Matt Berninger’s wry observations and Bryan Devendorf’s continually amazing drumming, and a more confident record than anything the National have done to date.

5.

Noisia – Split the Atom

Indie Europe/Zoom (Import)

Released: November 30 (USA)

Noisia’s first proper LP is a shining example of everything good that can happen when a groundbreaking trio mashes all their influences together and produces something truly original. Split the Atom has it all: breaks, electro, drum n bass, funk, house, et cetera. It’s a mishmash of styles that never seems like it’s about to collapse – the Dutch group have collected everything they admire about electronica and make it their own. Noisia are not afraid to take some risks, and Split the Atom promises to be the first in a long line of relentless, heart-stopping party starters.

4.

The Walkmen – Lisbon

Fat Possum

Released: September 14

“I am a good man by any count / and I see better things to come” Hamilton Leithauser sings on opener “Juveniles,” and if there’s a better mission statement for Lisbon I haven’t found it. This is the sound of the Walkmen settling into a sweet spot, building on the rich palette of sounds they cooked up on 2008’s You & Me and imbuing it with a sense of warmth and a pleasant glow that pervades all the material here and lies in stark contrast to the band’s earlier material, which was as fiery and tense as their hometown of New York City. The National might get all the hype for being the next great American rock band, but the Walkmen would have something to say about that.

3.

The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt

Dead Oceans

Released: April 13

With a voice that only a Billy Corgan could love (at least at first), Sweden’s Kristian Matsson’s sophomore record was an unlikely album of the year contender. Built almost entirely on whispery guitar licks and Matsson’s screechy vocals was a complicated web of melodies and deeply personal lyrics. The Wild Hunt is a triumph not because it polishes everything that made Shallow Grave great but because of the mood it sets. From “You’re Going Back” to “Trouble Will Be Gone” to, most noticeably, “King of Spain,” The Wild Hunt is an unbridled expression of joy, made all the more powerful by its sparse instrumentation and Matsson’s cheerfully abrasive vocals.

2.

Jonsi – Go

XL Recordings

Released: April 6

What I love about Go is it’s like Jonsi took all those nine-minute-plus Hopelandic epics and compressed them into the perfect four-minute pop song. Like Jonsi himself, everything about Go screams outsized; from Nico Muhly’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink production to the hooks, which scream rainbows and unicorns and sweet, sweet honey. But it’s Jonsi and his angelic voice that really holds everything together, connecting on an almost primal level as its own instrument of unadulterated happiness. Go is a transparent record in its gaiety, with no hidden meanings or any subtext beyond a celebration of life. That’s what makes it great.

1.

Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest

4AD Records

Released: September 28

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Halcyon Digest was just how warm everything sounded. Whereas Bradford Cox and company’s earlier work tended to be unwieldy messes of noise thrown loosely under the shoegaze label, Halcyon Digest continued what 2008’s Microcastle begun: transforming Deerhunter into a full-fledged rock band, feet firmly planted in pop territory and beckoning us to just relax and enjoy. When I first heard “Revival” I was astonished at just how straightforward everything was, how easy it was to connect to a band I previously had regarded as somewhat cold. But things aren’t just direct; there’s a depth to these songs that, coming from Cox, is not much of a surprise, but makes Halcyon Digest something more than just a really good rock album.

Songs like the self-destructing “Desire Lines” and the gorgeous dream of “Helicopter” seem like the new classic rock, all substance and style without a tipping of the scales one way or the other. “Coronado” is the best Strokes song since Is This It. “He Would Have Laughed” might be the most tragic song of the year, but it’s spindly buildup and cathartic ending seem positively joyful. Halcyon Digest is a record that seems destined to stand the test of time, constructed as it is out of the timeless building blocks of music: guitar, bass, vocals and drums, all done so effortlessly that it’s hard to believe Deerhunter have been doing this for years. In a way, of course, they have, but never so refined, so at ease. For Cox, someone who’s constantly fidgeting around with demos and side projects, hearing him buckle down and produce a whole album’s worth of immediately arresting music is a relief. Halcyon Digest is Deerhunter’s most deft accomplishment yet, and they’ve done it not with bells or whistles or 20-minute-plus compositions but by writing perfect rock ‘n roll, pure and simple.

Delta Spirit – History From Below

Rounder Records 2010

Rating: 8/10

My most cherished bands have always appealed to me not only with a sense of timelessness but with a feeling of placelessness as well, as if they could be from anywhere or, even better, if they evoke the sound of a region or era without coming off as copycats or sycophantic rubes. By only their second album, Delta Spirit is already rapidly becoming one of my favorite unsigned bands, thanks largely to their ability to pull off just that aura of sounding like a region whose music I unabashedly love (the South) while hailing from a place I’d love to visit (San Diego). These are two dots one would likely not be able to connect listening to the band – singer Matthew Vasquez’s whiskey-soaked voice calls to mind the Allman Brothers Band or the cracked rasp of Walkmen vocalist Hamilton Leithauser, while the band pumps out a genuinely raucous Southern-fried blues rock that has matured well since their 2008 debut. History From Below is just what a sophomore effort should be, equal parts a step forward and eleven songs stronger, all the red-blooded rock and soulful vitality of their debut while expanding on their trademark Americana sound.

To be honest, there was nothing here that struck me as forcefully as Ode to Sunshine’s first single, “Trashcan,” nor nothing as quite as in-your-face raw “People C’mon,” but unlike their debut, History From Below is quite the studio album, revealing more and more upon each subsequent listen. The band’s growth as songwriters is quite pronounced, as a listen to a slow burner like “White Table” or the flamenco spice on “St. Francis” makes apparent. Delta Spirit never would have tried the conceit of an eight-minute closer before like they do here, but “Ballad of Vitality” never crumbles under the weight of its own ambition, nor ever really feels like an eight-minute song, which is probably the greatest compliment I could give it. Swelling as it does from a campfire ballad to a charging blues beast, “Ballad of Vitality” exemplifies the band’s evolution from dyed-in-the-wool live performers to accomplished studio artists. That talent of transferring their backwoods bar-band vibe onto record isn’t something to be taken lightly, allowing a tune like “911,” one that fits best in a live setting, to coexist seamlessly with a acoustic ballad like “Scarecrow” without a hitch. It’s an impressive achievement, and one many bands that have made their name on the road have been unable to pull off.

But perhaps the greatest praise should go to Vasquez, who, in the span of only two records, has already become one of indie’s most distinctive and powerful vocalists. I don’t think the band knew what they were getting when they found Vasquez playing guitar for money near a train stop, but he possesses a throaty set of pipes that take just as well to vicious love songs as they do to gentle ballads. He really is the band’s identity, taking the same kind of guitar-fueled Americana so many bands are doing nowadays and injecting it with the kind of vigor and passion that a group like Fleet Foxes wish they could have. The best parts of the record are when Vasquez really takes off, like when he goes into full-on tears-in-my-beer self-flagellation on “Vivian” or the way his howl tears itself apart so beautifully on the final chorus of “Bushwick Blues.” And when Vasquez is practically the lone instrument as he is on the record’s centerpiece, the haunting, lovely “Ransom Man,” it’s clear that he is the heart and fire that will be the reason this band this hits it big. And big they should be. I’ve gone through plenty of bands who have teased me with excellent debuts and then floundered on the follow ups (damn you Futureheads), but Delta Spirit have already proved they can maintain a level of consistency matched with a clear penchant for musical growth that has me fairly salivating for what the future holds.

Delta Spirit – “Bushwick Blues”

See larger image History From Below (Audio CD) List Price: $14.98 USD New From: $9.37 In Stock Used from: $5.70 In Stock Release date June 8, 2010.

Delta Spirit – Ode To Sunshine

Rounder Records 2008

Rating: 8/10

Original Release Date: 8/26/08

 

Energy is one thing Delta Spirit decidedly does not lack. From the opening campfire sing-a-long of “Tomorrow Goes Away” to the brisk bar band vibe of single “Trashcan” to singer Matthew Vasquez’s unique, soulful howl, Delta Spirit is a band that cares about making impressively inspired music. Showing a fondness for American roots rock that wasn’t apparent in the band members’ previous noise punk work, Ode To Sunshine succeeds on Vasquez’s unquestionable passion and the musicians’ creative arrangements, and fails on those songs that don’t play to those strengths.

“Trashcan,” the first fully developed song on the album, is the sort of accomplishment that Delta Spirit spend the rest of the album trying to live up to. A lively rocker that propels itself on a ragtime piano melody and Vasquez’s ragged voice, it wouldn’t sound out of place blaring out of some desert saloon. The rhythm section is tight and the climactic choruses are what make rock great, all tinkly piano and a dirty guitar as Vasquez cathartically wails “my love is coming, I can barely hardly wait around.” If you ever needed a more fitting definition of immediacy, you have one now.

Delta Spirit keeps the vigor up on following track “People C’mon,” a track that relies on Vasquez’s powerful vocals to support it even more so than “Trashcan”, and he steps up to the plate admirably. The band shifts down a few gears on the slow strummer “House Built For Two,” a song that succeeds on a beautiful piano melody and some of Vasquez’s most heartfelt lyrics. You can practically picture a drunken, bearded piano man straight out of the Depression-era West belting this out to the equally drunk patrons.

After the following “Strange Vine,” a solid mid-tempo rocker with a shuffling beat and some fine drum work, however, the second half of Sunshine tends to lessen up on the gas pedal. “People, Turn Around” is slow, country-ish anti-war ballad that still works based on its Dylanesque vibe, but “Parade” is a thumping rocker that never really picks up any major steam and never really rides away in an interesting direction, instead eating itself up in a standard instrumental freakout.

Vasquez’s lyrics also become more and more preachy as the album continues, particularly with the sentimental “Children,” and while “Bleeding Bells” is the kind of acoustic solo you would expect Vasquez to sing, it pales in comparison to the excitement and urgency of their more fleshed-out songs.

Luckily, Delta Spirit are the kind of band that has promise galore, as epitomized by the entire first half of Sunshine and the closing title track, a piano-stomping tune of musical optimism praising the good gospel of good ole American rock ‘n roll. In Delta Spirit’s universe, melody and talented songwriting are their God and Jesus, and Vasquez and mates are their priests.

San Diego indie rockers trip out to the desert, come back with gold

 

It’s nothing new for an up-and-coming band to look back on their musical predecessors for inspiration; some of indie rock’s most recent and brightest stars have staked their burgeoning careers and built some impressive reputations on stylizing themselves on their elders. The Arcade Fire had Springsteen, Franz Ferdinand had Orange Juice, Interpol had Joy Division, and now out of southern California comes Delta Spirit, a band that showcases a sound that has certainly been done before, but in this newest incarnation sounds fresher than it has in years.

Founded by bassist Jon Jameson and drummer Brandon Young of the now-defunct Noise Ratchet, a much more abrasive, punk-influenced group, the lineup was completed when friend and novice guitarist Sean Walker joined up and future vocalist Matthew Vasquez was discovered, according to Jameson, “singing and playing guitar by the train tracks.” Multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich started as the band’s producer but later joined up within their first year; the official band bio states his duties as “plays piano, hits a drum, sings, hits a trashcan, plays guitar and a high strung guitar.” A diverse group, but one, bassist Jameson says, that has one goal: “to be found in the lineage of honest and true music that has found its way through every current of music history.”

A bold claim, to be sure, and one that isn’t exactly the easiest thing to accomplish for a band that has yet garner any major label attention. Their sound is a little difficult than most current bands to pin down, although Delta Spirit themselves officially label themselves as “Other/Thrash/Visual” with tongues firmly in cheek on their MySpace, the band draws from a number of widespread influences.

“We were born in the ‘80s, grew up in the ‘90s and have parents from the ‘60s, [and] we are proud of the bands that are making great music now,” Jameson says. “Maybe it’s like the Waterboys [a Celtic folk-rock band] covering Harry Nilsson.”

A few listens to the band’s lead single, “Trashcan,” shows a clear affinity for the Waterboys as well as similarities to perennial ‘80s folk-punks the Violent Femmes, with singer Vasquez’s ragged, whiskey-soaked vocals painting a soulful picture of American life while a barroom piano playing a jangly tune and the powerful thump of the drums conjures up an image of Delta Spirit getting down and dirty in a seedy dive somewhere in the Southwest.

Ode To Sunshine, the band’s debut album that Spin declared “impresses mightily,” is a diverse collection of sounds that alternately rock with indie rock fervor and connect with the heartfelt intimacy of ‘60s folk. Recorded in a cabin in the deserts of eastern California, Jameson says it reminds him of everything from “sun, saunas, and dogs” to “Old Crow and Coke and Eli Thompson.”

“I think that before when we were looking at the album it felt kinda heavy to us and serious,” Jameson explains. “About the big things in life . . . but I think we realized that the true feeling of the album also included what we were feeling while making it and recording it and that those bits of summer and excitement and wonder break through every once in a while . . . the light and the dark.”

For a band just starting out in a music industry that looks anything but certain nowadays, it takes quite an impressive sound to leave a mark, but Delta Spirit and Ode To Sunshine seem to have all the right ingredients for success. And from a group as talented as they clearly are from an area that eats young, promising musicians for breakfast, they also seem to have just the right attitude.

“There is a feeling of possibility in our age,” Jameson says. “We feel that same possibility with our band. We don’t want to forget about the most important thing for us, which is simply making good music, but that does include being aware of what’s going on in the world as well as what’s going on in our own heads and souls. We just want to be honest about ourselves.”