Zombiebirdhaus presents: The Top Ten Albums of 2010

1. Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964:
This is such a no-brainier. Bob Dylan continues to make compelling music and tour the world to this day, but there is something about those early (and often mythological) years of his career that holds a special place for all Dylan fans. The image of young Bob, baby-faced and smiling in his workman's shirt and over sized trousers, drunk on the words of Woodie Guthrie stepping into the chaotic circus that was New York in the early 60's has been conjured up in books, documentary films, and word-of-mouth stories (embellished and otherwise) told by those who were there and caught a glimpse of the man in the early days, before he plugged in, put on his wayfarers, and never looked back a few years later. This collection of demos is snapshot of Bob before, during, and after his first two albums and when I say "demos" bear with me because most of the tracks on this collection sound great. Occasionally Bob stops and takes notes, coughs, flubs lyrics, or breaks out laughing and yet it's these little moments that make this such an amazing collection, a perfectly imperfect audio snapshot of a young folk singer before his ascent to greatness. Also, this should clue you in to how much of a fuck I give about 90% of the bullshit music being made in these modern times (more on that later) because a collection of demos from over 40 years ago (albeit by Dylan, yes) is my choice for top spot in 2010. Oh wait, you have a demo too? Great let me throw that away for you.


2. Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
Is it just me or does this band seem to get better and better with every release? Straddling the lines between dream pop, shoegaze, indie-pop, and garage Halcyon Digest is one of those rare records that transcends it's influences to take on a life of it's own. Equally spacey and rocking at different times, Deerhunter's newest record feels like it was recorded in the middle of a dream colliding with reality. On Desire Lines frontman Bradford Cox laments the loss of childhood innocence while picking off guitar chords that seem to envelope the listener in a web while slowly building to a climax. This is a great album and I have no doubt that kids ten, fifteen, twenty years from now are going to hold this record in the same regard that today is afforded to The Pixies' Doolittle, Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy and My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and it really pisses me off that the mainstream music press threw Kanye West's TERRIBLE new album at the top of every list they could find this year, true Halcyon Digest garnered it's fair share of accolades but if you so please feel free to get back to me in a decade or so and tell me which album you think has stood the test of time. Personally, I don't think too many kids are going to pick up My Dark Twisted Fantasy and go out and start making music.


3. OFF!: First Four e.p.s

"I can't stop thinking black thoughts!" OFF! front man Keith Morris shouts on the blistering first track on this excellent compilation of the band's first four extended plays. Considering that Keith Morris has been at this for over thirty years it's amazing to see just how effective a true-blue hardcore punk record can be in 2010. From the Raymond Pettibon cover art down to Keith's familiar snarl "First Four e.p.s" is about as authentic as it gets at times evoking both of Morris' previous bands (Black Flag, Circle Jerks... duh) yet make no mistake, this is an all-new band and Keith is still fucking PISSED. Kudos to Keith Morris (who, by the way, continues to be one of the most prominent figures in the Los Angeles music scene even to this day, if you see a cool show in LA you're bound to spot him), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Mario Rubicabla (Hot Snakes, etc.), and Steven Shane McDonald (Redd Kross) for bringing such an unexpected and masterful representation of the music I listened to growing up to a new generation. 16 tracks in under 20 minutes... could Henry Rollins pull off something this great this late in the game? NO. Jesus, Keith must be laughing at everyone who went to that bullshit Black Flag "reunion" a few years back... God I still have a bad taste in my mouth from that one (Mike Vallely singing the whole "My War" album.... great. Stick to beating up people at hockey games next time.) Keep thinking black thoughts!



4. Crocodiles: Sleep Forever
Crocodiles second effort opens with a slowly building wall of sound while the drums pitter-pat and synthesizers dit-dot the sonic landscape until... you guesses it GUITARS! From there on out Crocodiles span the rest of the album dropping you further and further down a kaleidoscopic worm hole occupied by buzz saw guitars, fuzzy bass, tape loops, phantom synth bursts and generally other trippy fare. There really isn't much on this record that hasn't been done before but when these elements are brought together in the right way like they are on "Sleep Forever" it simply works in a way that is familiar and yet unique and spectacular in its own right. On "Stoned to Death" the band hits it's stride around the 1:50 mark somewhere between the sleigh bells jangling over a driving groove and the sonic blitz that follows immediately afterwards. An admirable effort from two guys who's old band was known for saxophone solos and guys making out with each other.



5. Portugal. the Man: American Ghetto
Somewhere between the release of last year's excellent effort The Satanic Satanist, gaining further national prominence by signing to Atlantic, and touring the world in 2010 Portugal. the Man released their curiosity of a fifth album American Ghetto. The Satanic Satanist continues to be promoted with the release of music videos for both "People Say" and "Guns and Dogs" while "American Ghetto" can almost be perceived as a release for true fans or to satisfy those who discovered them only last year. While "Satanist" remains the truest example of the band overall, the roots of American Ghetto can be traced back to their 2007 release "It's Complicated Being a Wizard" a 23-minute electronic sound scape split into ten movements. "Ghetto" eschews the mostly guitar-driven psych-pop of their last album in favor of synthesizers and hip-hop st lye beats all while retaining the band's strongest qualities; heavy doses of melody, whimsical, catchy lyrics, and layers upon layers of warm instrumentation all of which work well here in conjunction with the programmed beats. MGMT failed to deliver a decent follow-up to Oracular Spectacular (sorry SPIN, Pitchfork, etc. but "Congratulations" SUCKED and just cause "they did something different" on their second album doesn't mean it's GOOD. I swear to God the first time I heard that turd of an album my face must have looked like someone just farted...) and I would highly recommend this record to anyone into actually hearing a decent album that blends these elements together. "American Ghetto" is not a great place to start if you're a first-time listener but it's not the worst place either.



6. Grinderman: Grinderman 2
Hmmm... ok let me put it this way. Up until the release of Grinderman 2 I was sure that the chances of Nick Cave riding up to my house on a Harley, murdering me and my entire family, burning my house down via flicked cigarette and gas can while riding away with my girlfriend sitting in the bitch seat were about 1-in-5. Now I'm convinced it's only a matter of time.




7. Prince Rama: Shadow Temple
Prince Rama's latest full-length finds the three-piece in the middle of a haunted temple of doom surrounding the listener with echoing ghost-like chants, tribal drum beats, murky synthesizers, and layers upon layers of rudimentary and primal instrumentation. Church organs swell and recede while the occasional guitar strumming breaks up the spacey haze of sounds this group creates. The overall flow of the album holds tightly, each track seeming to bleed into the next creating an airtight and seamless piece of music that stands out as a beautiful whole rather than a drab collection of songs. It's also weird as fuck. Yes that's an advantage in this case


8. Tame Impala: Innerspeaker
Tame Impala rose to prominance, seemigly overnight (That might be because I live in LA and these dudes live in Autralia... and they don't sound like AC/DC! It's a miracle! ps. Airbourne don't think I've forgotten about how cool you guys thought you were even before your shitty band got "famous". You must have felt like you made it chilling on Hollywood Blvd acting like a bunch of dickheads... I just worked there. Go throw another shrimp on the bar-bee asswipe.) and everyone and their grandmother went out and got this record. It would be really easy to talk about how thier singer sounds A LOT like John Lennon. See I just did it. Ok now that that's out of the way there are other redeeming aspects of this album... Like how it's good. And like how the singer guy sounds like John Lennon.

9. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today
Ariel Pink and Co. have out-done themselves yet again creating an interesting and functional pastiche of 80's synth pop, radio ballads, garage lo-fi, easy-listening and psych seemigly by throwing ideas at the wall and seeing which ones stick. As with most of their albums Ariel Pink's home recording techniques can play tricks on your ears, at times these songs seem to be cranking out of a transistor radio circe '82. The lyrics are also fucking great, check out this line from "Menopause Men":
"Make me maternal, fertile woman
Make me menstrual, menopause man
Rape me, castrate me, make me gay
Lady, I'm a lady from today"
There's also a great deal of tarzan howls, burps, and other wierd noises going on the background. I've never had so much fun trying to find armpit-farts on an album before... if you haven't found them yet, keep looking and I won't spoil the surprise!!

10. The Black Angels: Phosephene Dream

The Black Angels really expand their sound past the blusey slide-driven rock of their first album Passover and the fuzz-drenched psych of Directions to See a Ghost to create more of a classic sound while at the smae time retaining the elements that make them such a unique and great band in the first place. Plus that song Telephone makes me want to go fucking crazy.