Welcome to day one of Richard Varall’s TOP TEN SONGS OF 2010!
First, some ground rules and clarifications:
For the next ten days I will be counting down my top ten songs of 2010, one song a day. Each post will have an accompanying stream of the track along with a link to some bonus footage related to the artist. Think music videos, interviews, remixes and other ephemera. Only one song will be allowed on the list per artist and the song must have been first officially released in 2010, meaning songs that appeared on 2010 albums but were released as singles in 2009 are not eligible. As such, let me quickly acknowledge Big Boi’s “Shine Blockas” and Four Tet’s Love Cry” - two songs that are discounted due to the above stipulation despite my love for them. Anyway, enough with the nonsense and on to the countdown!
Spoon’s been on a second wind of promotion lately in support of their newest LP, Transference. In between opening slots for Arcade Fire at Philadelphia’s Mann Center and New York’s Madison Square Garden, the band found time to record this performance for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Initially I was disappointed: I found “Nobody Gets Me But You” to be not only one of the low-lights of Transference but one of the weakest tracks in the band’s entire catalogue. Surprisingly though, the song hangs together much better in a live setting making for a wonderfully eclectic late night performance.
On record, “Nobody Gets Me But You” falls flat. Spoon’s more unsung post-punk/art-school/krautrock influences are at work (the band’s name is a reference to a Can song) and while the track’s rigid synths, guitar work, and percussion are in line with the sound they’re going for, the recording finds most of these elements sounding rather lifeless. Parts often sound too removed and distant and while Britt Daniel turns in his usual spirited vocal performance, it ends up feeling like he’s dragging the rest of the song with him. Many of Transference’s recordings used straight-to-tape demo takes that gave the album a very alive and immediate sound to it so it’s worth noting that in one of the few instances on the album where they strayed from that technique, it backfired.
On this live take however, everything clicks into place. The tempo is kicked up just a few notches and the addition of The Roots’ ?uestlove and Owen Biddle on auxiliary percussion and a second bass guitar give the song the locked groove Spoon were probably originally going for instead of the lifeless dirge they ended up with. Really though, it’s Daniel’s guitar and vocal work that make the take. Live, the vocals and guitar are pushed up front and on top of all that rhythm instead of drowning behind it.
One last amusing observation: visually speaking, Spoon seemed to play their stage presence to the post-punk part. Most of the band looks as cool and detached and rigid as the beat is supposed to be. They even got ?uestlove to play robotically along. Take a look at drummer Jim Eno though. That big smile on his face - he knows this was great.
TRACKMARKS: Ski Beatz’ “Taxi” ft. Mos Def and Whosane
It seems like in order for a hip hop album of any pomp and anticipation to come out these days it needs to be delayed for months at a time first. Ski Beatz’ upcoming 24 Hour Karate School is no exception as what was initially supposed to be a free mixtape has turned into a proper retail release. With that slight change in economics came some legal logistics involving samples that resulted in the album being pushed back from its original April (!) release date. The album is now expected to drop September 7 in conjunction with Creative Control.
You can find the single “Taxi” featuring Mos Def and Whosane streaming above. It’s the song that first garnered attention for the Karate School mixtape so if you haven’t heard it yet, enjoy what’s easily the best hip hop track of the year. Mos Def and Whosane rap and reflect about an ended relationship with a sentimentality and maturity that’s rare for hip hop. Mos is particularly tender and poetic, painting big emotions with tiny details: “Trippin’ out, ended up where you start / carousel at the merry-go-park / pretty horse, let me off / shed a tear, but I’m too tired to mourn / I’ll do it tomorrow / when you’re gone and you can’t see me at all / boulevard, love and hate, we at the cross / buckle up, rough course / taxi!”
Meanwhile, Ski compliments the senitmentality with some impressive synergy between producer and MC. Soulful vocals are alternately stretched and clipped, creating a strange sense alienation out of what was once clearly a warm song. Occasionally those samples are allowed to play out and the warm moments are repeated and almost obsessed over much like a former lover that needs to let the past go but can’t quite let themselves forget the good in what used to be.
“Taxi” and the rest of 24 Hour Karate School should finally be available September 7 and, by the looks of the guest list, every track has the potential to be a treat. Check out the tracklist below:
Before this year, we hadn’t heard from Swedish popstress Robyn in nearly five years. She promised three full albums before 2010 was out and while I was excited by the news, I don’t think I was alone in thinking that we’d be lucky to see more than one.
But posted above is the first single from Body Talk Pt. 2, the follow up to, well, Body Talk Pt. 1 which was released just last month. If you think “Hang With Me” sounds familiar, you aren’t hearing things; the track appeared in a slowed down and more intimate form on Pt. 1. It works even better as an electro-pop track: certain phrases like “don’t fall headlessly, wrecklessly in love with me” just sound better over bubbly synths instead of sweeping strings.
That being said, “Hang With Me” continues Robyn’s streak of empathetic, perfect pop. I think that the reason that she resonates so well with certain demographics and not as well with others (her sales aren’t very strong in the US) is that, despite singing about tried and true topics like lost or unrequited love, Robyn’s lyrics often portray that from an angle that’s slightly off center from the rest of Top 40 radio. In songs like “Be Mine!” and “Dancing On My Own” she isn’t wronged like a Taylor Swift and she isn’t angry where a Beyonce would be. She is simply in mourning. She’s getting herself through it and out of it. On “Hang With Me” she’s handling someone else’s no-so-mutual feelings for her in the most platonic way possible. It’s not the kind of attitude we’re used to from pop music: vulnerability pulled off through a lens of absolute confidence and assurance. Completely refreshing. Must be that haircut.
Body Talk Pt. 2 is out September 7 and the tracklist and awesome cover art are below:
Body Talk Pt. 2:
01 In My Eyes 02 Include Me Out 03 Hang With Me 04 Love Kills 05 We Dance to the Beat 06 Criminal Intent 07 U Should Know Better [ft. Snoop Dogg] 08 Indestructible (acoustic version)
TRACKMARKS: LES SAVY FAV’S “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE”
Les Savy Fav’s new record Root For Ruin leaked over the weekend, nearly two full months before its scheduled September release date. Today the band made available an MP3 of Ruin’s first single “Let’s Get Out of Here”, presumably to satiate the few indie rock enthusiasts out there that are both digitally inclined and yet insist on coming across their music honestly. After all, fans of the veteran New York punk rock weirdos already know the album is on the way and LSF’s spazzy post-punk could never appeal to a wider, more mainstream audience.
Or could it? “Let’s Get Out of Here” finds Les Savy at their most accessible moment to date, sounding even more radio-friendly than their 2007 single “Patty Lee”. The spiky, crisscrossing guitar lines still layer and simmer, lying in wait for the release of a chorus. But where an older song in the band’s catalogue would have let those guitars snap into a fit of frontman Tim Harrington’s aggression and spaz, 2010 finds the band’s musicianship able to stand on its own and the result is much softer around the edges. Backing vocals coo alongside manicured distortion and a confident earworm emerges, soaring over top. The harmonies are subtle, it’s the kind of chorus that smolders instead of exploding. For a band that’s never been shy about making their presence known, it looks like their most rewarding display of confidence involves reigning it in.
