OK, said I wasn’t going to do it but, fuck it, I’m doing it anyway
10.THE PSYCHOGEOGRAPHICAL COMMISSION – PATIENT ZERO
An amazing new band, full of imagination and vision. Patient Zero is a dark concerpt record that brings the strangeness of our streets out into plain view.
9.DANNY SAUL – KINISON GOLDTHWAIT
2010 was a good year for Hibernate Recordings who put out such a string of stunning albums that it felt like you could sit and compile a top ten for Hibernate releases this year. However, it was the final pair of releases on the label that created the biggest impression. This one took the final post by the scale of it’s ambition and it’s psychotropic properties.
8.SWANS – MY FATHER WILL GUIDE ME UP A ROPE TO THE SKY
Not a cash on but a natural continuation of Gira’s recent direction with Angels of Light, the new Swans line-up brought back some old hands from their noisey days and kept on mighty percussion & dulcimer basher Thor. The results are a very 2010 album that blazes both an ecstasy of noise and deep, dark ballards.
7.TEETH OF THE SEA – YOUR MERCURY
Probably an album that will be in everyone else’s lists from NME to classic rock magazine to Mojo. Don’t care, it has to be in mine. Endlessly inventive, ambitious and accomplished post-rock explorations. A kaleidoscope of influences reimagined into a dramatic hold. This was something bold and fresh for 2010.
6.MICE PARADE – WHAT IT MEANS TO BE LEFT HANDED
Mice Parade have been secretly brilliant for a few years now and this album is one of their best. Fresh, breezy, dreamy rock music with traces of African folk, Sonic Youth, krautrock and post-rock.
5.ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS – SWANLIGHTS
Stunningly beautiful as always, a satisying addition to Antony’s intimidatingly good body of work. Highlights include a duet with Bjork, a couple of orchestral collaborations and the hallucinogenic title track
4.NURSE WITH WOUND – HUFFIN RAG BLUES
It seemed a real shame when this classic Nurse With Wound album came out in 2008 but only on CD. Finally released on vinyl this year in a brand new mix. If the fans who pretend to be albinos down at the Slimelight were outraged by the demented 1950s swing vibe of the original mix, this new, mellower mix must have caused them to faint. This new version is the definite article: like the soundtrack to a film noir Chandler adaptation by Fellini on LSD. Delerious joy from England’s definite musical surrealists.
3.CURRENT 93 – BAALSTORM, SING OMEGA
They may have just celebrated their 25th anniversary but their last three albums (including this) have been the absolute peak of their distinguished career. David Tibet’s vocals may divide like marmite but only an idiot would try to deny the sheer poetry of his visionary lyrics. His backing group are a force to be reckoned with too. Boasting James Blackshaw on guitar, Baby Dee on keyboards and Andrew Liles at the controls, the music could not be anything other than heaven. The essential companion album “Haunted Waves, Moving Graves” turns two tracks from “Baalstorm” into stripped-down, earth-stopping ambient tracks.
2.TWINSISTERMOON – THEN FELL THE ASHES
Oh, how this one has spun and spun and spun endlessly on my turntables this year. Amazing lo-fi folk and drone music. Just spell-binding. Once played nearly all of side 2 in one go in a DJ set..I would have managed it all but a band came on. Twinsistermoon has been a major discovery for me this year, will be watching her closely in 2011 and her main project Natural Snow Buildings.
1.WOODEN WAND – DEATH SEAT
One of those albums that just make you wonder why everybody in the world isn’t listening to it? This man is our Dylan and this album is perfect. Every song on here is a classic and with Gira on production bringing together a huge backing group, this feels like the most full, complete Wooden Wand release yet to date.
That thing I mentioned in the last podcast? The thing I was going to do instead of a top ten? I am still working on it…..
