Favourite 10 of 10

Rather than compiling a list of "best albums of 2010" we have together discussed what we enjoyed the most this year. Packing two against two, no voting, no disputing, just sharing our respective highlights of the year.

Cul8a2k10!

On the left: Naomi | On the right: Luke

10.

Beach House - Teen Dream | How To Dress Well - Love Remains

Naomi: This album came out early on, and found its way into a playlist I carefully crafted for listening to on the bus to Auckland- that sentimental, coming-of-age trip where I moved away from home. The album reminds me of the start of the year as well as the start of a new life.

Luke: Chillwave? Chill...core? This record leaves reviewers in an odd position. Pfork and the AVClub gush over this album in ways I can't even begin to explain. Yet I don't disagree. Whether or not it's 'influenced by ethereal contemporary R&B' this is a wonderful record for sinking into sleep with, or relaxing with after a long day. Forget the labels and listen to the record for what it is- intricately structured noise.

9.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below | The National - High Violet

Naomi: Was captivated by Home, when I finally got around to the rest of the album I wasn't disappointed. These guys are going to kill live, and in the future.

Luke: This is what we expect from Matt Berninger and co. now. It'd have been a surprise if this album wasn't wonderful, in fact. An introspective record, sure, but one that is more accessible than The Boxer, and hence, a more rewarding listening experience.

8.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record | Wavves - King Of The Beach

Naomi: These guys did kill live. Not their best album to date, but upon its release I found All to All was a sweet jam to fake a summer to. Art House Director and Texico Bitches both scream singalong, and World Sick is a pretty genuine anthem for the modern day. It's quite a valuable album.

Luke: Wavves 2009: WEED WEED WEED write a pop song WEED WEED WEED fuck it up with distortion WEED WEED WEED wreck gigs by being a douche
Wavves 2010: WEED WEED WEED write a pop song WEED WEED WEED don't fuck with a good thing WEED WEED WEED produce a great record, sell weed grinders with a smoking cat on them, profit

7.

Secret Knives - Affection | Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

Naomi: Secret Knives got some awesome publicity for this album via the worldwide blogosphere, and the songs prove why. Perhaps not the only NZ band who deserve the attention, but this album places highly due to my national pride and hope that 2011 brings more exposure for these hard-working amazing locals.

Luke:The mere fact that this is better than their debut leaves me floored, still. Yes, there are weak moments. 'Birds' messes with the CC formula by introducing random power chords. 'Vietnam' is too long. 'Violent Dreams' is like getting stuck in a groove on an LP for 5 minutes. But the rest of the album...wow. Doe Deer I Am Made Of Chalk Fainting Spells Intimacy Not In Love Empathy Pap Smear even the names of these songs make me excited, months later. Like sleeping with Alice Glass, but less bruising the morning after.

6.

Jaded Hipster Choir - Pill Weekend | Street Chant - Means

Naomi: As lols as their name is, this album defines a lot of 2010. Bit of unexpected rapping, bit of droning guitars, 2 meke hipster and 2 minute songs. And it's actually pretty genius.

Luke: FUCK THE MAINSTREAM
FUCK NEW ZEALAND MUSIC AWARDS
FUCK THE NAKED AND FAMOUS
FUCK SUBURBIA
FUCK BEING A 'NEW ZEALAND TEENAGER'
this is the music I would make if I were even remotely as talented as these three. Amazing,

5.

So So Modern - Crude Futures | Straight Arrows - It's Happening

Naomi: Good. So good. Plus it brought Luke and Eddie together via the Not So Moderns. Please, SSM, keep getting better and better, you deserve hall of fame status.

Luke: Do you remember that time you saw a film set in the '60s and the gramophone was playing the Kinks and it was like listening to a thrice-copied cassette through a walkie-talkie down the end of a hallway? This record is that sound plus the urgency to rush through side A of an LP in less than 13 minutes. 'Something Happens' is a night on the town through the fuzz of the next morning. 'Bad Temper' is the time you snuck into a relative's liquor cabinet and passed out 20 minutes later. This record is timeless, yet quintessentially 2010.

4.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs | Die! Die! Die! - Form

Naomi: I did listen to this album a lot. Above all, the video for We Used To Wait was the best of the year, and I say that knowing full well that this is up against Kanye's full-length Runaway. Pretty tight album, incredibly relatable, incredibly catchy.

Luke: Music doesn't need wonderful lyrics to be great. It doesn't need a trained 'singer'. It doesn't need hi-fi recording. It needs energy. It needs the will to beat a drum kit until it breaks, to flip off bass drums without losing your cool, to crowdsurf without shame, to be above all, in the moment. This record, therefore, is music at it's basest. An incredible record.
PS: Is it just me or is this record mixed far too quietly? TURN IT UP KIDS AND ANNOY THE SLEEPING NEIGHBOURS

3.

Johnny Flynn - Been Listening | Sleigh Bells - Treats

Naomi: The water sustains me without even trying, just the way that Johnny Flynn's unique storytelling sound calms me with a seemingly effortless new album. At first glimpse of the album cover I doubted the choice of photo, but after finding myself accidentally looking at a similar view one reflective day, I started humming a few of the tracks, and it kinda made sense.

Treetops are incredible.

Luke: This record, like Naomi's no.10, reminds me of a time in my life. However mine was a less-exciting and more-boring time, one of frantic study balanced against other commitments where I had almost no space to simply be myself. The 'almost' comes from this album- a collection of songs that are immediate and (incredibly) loud, creating a soundscape of jagged, distorted noise that, for 32 fantastic minutes, let me escape the monotony of everyday life. Though there may be better riffs than 'Kids', better beats than 'Crown on the Ground' and better hushed, frantic whispers than those on 'Rachel'. What makes this record so special is everything it signified- there could be a 'pop' in 'noise pop'. There could be sub-shattering bass in on an 'indie' record. There could be that moment in 'Infinity Guitars', where the Noise (befitting its capital letter) begins, when all that mattered was you, your headphones, and the emptiness around you.

2.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws | Weezer - Pinkerton (Deluxe Edition)

Naomi: Bombay Bicycle Club can put no foot wrong. Pure beauty, acoustic yet so full of sound, the accompanying videos are shot with such good quality while keeping the intimacy intended in showing you the boys' childhood homes and favourite areas. The songs are a lot more mature than the teenage-infused lyrics from breakthrough album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose. Seriously close call between Flaws and the number one album!

Luke: Normally I wouldn't consider a reissue worthy for a top-ten list- even Exile on Main St. wouldn't have made my (hypothetical) 'list' last year. However there's something so enduring, so inexhaustibly listenable about Pinkerton that its reissuing seems a perfect time (though you should never need an excuse) to sit down and drift into Rivers Cuomo's mind circa 1996. From the four cymbal crashes that open 'Tired of Sex' to the haunting acoustics of 'Butterfly', everything about this album is incredible. Whether it's Cuomo's longing for the mysterious '18-year old girl who live in small city of Japan' on 'Across the Sea', his frustration at his own shortcomings on 'Falling for You' ('what could you possibly see in little old three-chord me?') or apologies for his own weaknesses on 'Butterfly' ('I told you I'd return when the robin makes his nest...I ain't ever coming back'), each song is a portal into a tired, confused, sexually frustrated, not-quite-teenage-but-not-yet-adult mind. And that's something we can all relate to.
PS: Bonus tracks-wise, the B-sides are excellent, alternate versions are interesting but not essential, live tracks are easily skippable, also there's far too many versions of 'The Good Life' on this disc.

1.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Naomi: Definitely. Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. I listened to this album on my birthday. I listened to this album on Christmas. I have found it so hard to listen to anything else since the release of this masterpiece. Kanye West is the artist of our generationnnnnnn.

Luke: I haven't listened to anything else since November 22nd. My friends turn on Sleigh Bells. They turn on Street Chant. But all I want is some more 'Ye. Hell, I put down fucking Pinkerton for this record. This record is amazing. Hands-down album of the year, no questions asked. Should one man have all that Power? Yes.

Pressure To Be

The first time I heard this, the songs were muffled through a bedroom door where I thought some friends had gathered to vibe out to some 90s grunge. I couldn't say what band the tracklist was up to, nor is it a strict genre to define the music on Pressure To Be by, but it is a pretty good indication of what this compilation accomplishes.


The underage music scene in New Zealand is really good. The music coming from <18s tends to transcend age; that is to say, it is not only good 'for their age', but is good in any circumstance. Some of the music being written is more mature than what many of the fully grown musicians of our country are currently producing, an opinion that Underdead has mentioned before. 


After Nicole Gaffney was inspired by her discovery of an under-21 Olfactory Records compilation album sitting under a pile of sale CDs in Real Groovy one time, she teamed up with other half James Stuteley of Papaiti Records and they began working on a necessary testament to the great scene we've become stuck in. The album, Pressure To Be (apparently named from Nevernudes lyrics), is a showcase of teens who have proved their genius on the wider scale, who give us a reason to support NZ Music (+Month), who have played gigs tirelessly and incessantly to bare us their souls and provoke a response. Some bands featured are no longer teens, some have split up, some have just released albums, some still have years until any bar will let them play without parental supervision.