81) Arcade Fire – The Suburbs [Song Lyrics]
82) Robyn – Indestructible [Song Lyrics]

‘The Suburbs’ is the first single off Arcade Fire’s third studio album of the same name. The album has done well, reaching top spots in both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Albums Chart.

‘Indestructible’ is a synthpop song released as the lead single from her seventh studio album, Body Talk. Robyn said the song is ‘about what happens when you meet new people and fall in love, and how that can be scary and fun at the same time’. The track remains emotionally honest without producing a hint of generic pop cheesiness. It has since peaked at #9 on the Sweden Music Charts.

83) Kris Allen – The Truth [Song Lyrics]
84) Take That – The Flood [Song Lyrics]

‘The Truth’ is Kris Allen’s second single from his self-titled debut album. ‘The Truth’ debut at #37 on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks, and has peaked at #17.

‘The Flood’ is the lead single from Take That’s sixth studio album, Progress. Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams are featured on lead vocals. This is an epic pop belter that blends the best of Williams’ rabble rousing instincts with Barlow’s smooth songwriting.’ The song has since peaked at #2 in the UK Singles Chart.

85) Diana Vickers – The Boy Who Murdered Love [Song Lyrics]
86) Mika – Kick-Ass [Song Lyrics]

‘The Boy Who Murdered Love’ is the second single off Diana Vickers’ debut album Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree. It is a ‘smart, sophisciated pop tune carried off with enough conviction to discourage any future bad boys hoping to give her the turnaround’. The song has since peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart.

‘Kick Ass’ was released as a single from the soundtrack to the film Kick-Ass. The track has all the usual Mika ingredients – ‘a handful of quirky lyrics, a dash of piano and a sprinkling of his trademark wail’. The collaboration with RedOne makes this song a pop stomper that is empowering, contemporary and packed with personality. The track has since peaked at #84 on the UK Singles Charts.

Labels: Best of Music 2010

Labels: Soundmunches

The ArchAndroid – Janelle Monae

The success of the album is also due to Monae’s raw talent as a vocalist. She inhabits each style with natural grace. In ‘Oh, Maker’, she is able to transit from gentle folk phrasing to a showstopping vocal run. Yet, she never gets in the way of her songs, which rely as much on her star power as the remarkable versatility of the band. “Tightrope,” the biggest standout (also the lead single of the album), is funky soul, accompanied with locomotive percussion and lyrical prancing: “I tip on alligators, and little rattlesnakers/But I’m another flavor, something like a Terminator.”

Monáe might not have much appeal beyond musical theatre geeks, sci-fi nerds, and those who like their genres crossed-up, but no one can deny that very few are on her creative level. Although this record is being released in 2010, it is funky, futuristic but retro. It’s in a league of its own. The album debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200, selling 21,000 copies in its first week.

Body Talk – Robyn

“I came to dance, not to socialize,” Robyn declares on “Dancehall Queen,” neatly summing up the outlook of Body Talk Pt 1. It’s an album about aligning your heartbeat with the pulse of strobe lights and basslines, embracing synthetic sounds as a channel for genuine emotion.

“Fembot” highlights Robyn’s sense of humor and distinctive rapping style, while the terse electro-house album-opener “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do” takes the album to relatively darker corners while still maintaining a driving momentum. "Dancing on My Own" similarly breaks your heart: "I'm givin' it my all, but I'm not the girl you're takin' home.’

Body Talk Pt 2 is the all-action follow-up: faster, harder, clubbier. Trading hard-edged dance floor assaults for soft and sleek sounds, she sings the praises of companionship and support. ‘Hang With Me’ is the perfect counterpoint to ‘Dancing On My Own’, that disappointment in love isn't the end of everything after all. Meanwhile, the acoustic "Indestructible" (which becomes the lead single of Body Talk Pt. 3) and "Love Kills" reflect the downside of needing someone, whether it's reaching beyond past hurts for new love or dealing with a breakup's immediate aftermath.

Body Talk will contain 5 songs apiece from the previous 2 Body Talk albums, with 5 new songs. Body Talk Pt. 2 debuted at number 41 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 8,000 copies in its first week. It also charted on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart at number two, behind Lady Gaga's The Fame. Robyn is ‘as feisty as Pink, as beat-savvy as M.I.A.,’ and does Eurodisco as well as Gaga, but she somehow is not able to crack into the Billboard Top 40.

Contra – Vampire Weekend

Contra differs from their 2008 debut – it's smoother, less spiky, with less guitars and elements of everything. With Contra, Vampire Weekend makes Auto-Tune and real live guitars, Jamaican riffs and strings belong together, and this exciting lack of boundaries offers more possibilities than anyone could have expected.

“Giving Up the Gun” fuses funk, house and stadium rock into a sweet melody propelled by choppy rhythms. Here, the gun in question is a guitar. “Diplomat’s Son” is even more far-fetched, adding samples of M.I.A. to nostalgic chamber pop. The single “Cousins” is a blur of guitars and jump-cut drums that sounds like abstract punk. Even the few quiet moments are complex: “I Think UR a Contra” closes the album by wanting, and hating, the kind of privilege that brings “good schools and friends with pools.”

The balance of classical, rock, and world instrumentation, cagey rhythms, and stunning prettiness is not just architecturally resplendent – it is reassuringly sweet and strangely moving. Contra is the band’s first album to reach number one on the Billboard 100. It managed to move 124,000 copies in its first week, and as of Septmber 2010, it has sold 400,000 units in the US.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys – My Chemical Romance

Four years after The Black Parade solidified their place as America's goth-friendliest pop-punk band, My Chemical Romance return with a follow-up album which is as visceral as the superhero wannabes of Kick-Ass. The album opens with ‘Na Na Na’, a raucous track that has got all the clichéd makings of a bombastic rock song, yet it sounds distinctively MCR. One listen to it and you would know, from the joyous explosion of sound, that they are having a lot of fun creating this album.

Danger Days seem to alternate between songs about rage to power ballads, such as ‘Bulletproof Heart’, which sets the stage for an apocalyptic love story that is teeming with youthful nostalgia.

Ultimately, the grandiose that MCR built their name upon (HELENA.) is still here, just re-contextualized on upbeat numbers like ‘The Only Hope for Me is You’, their second single of the album. In "Sing," Way urges a chorus to "sing it for the boys, sing it for the girls," then promises to "keep you safe tonight" in "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W," a midtempo power ballad.

While this is not the stripped-down garage rock album they initially said they wanted to make, this is undoubtedly one of the best rock records of the year. The "the way they've used everything they learned on The Black Parade and tightened up in certain places feels natural and confident". It is evident that their creativity has taken flight musically.

The Family Jewels – Marina & The Diamonds

Marina Diamandis, the sole artist behind the band, does a masterful job of navigating through styles and genres on a varied debut that hoards influences from '80s dance records, late-'90s female rock, and post-modern synth-pop and throwback soul.

The lead single, "Mowgli's Road", bursts out with an almost childlike rhythm that is supported by howling monkeys, only to be followed by second single "Hollywood," a playful frock rooted in synthesizers and a massive chorus.

Dark, questioning themes seem to be Marina’s speciality, and when delivered in her distinctive tremulous tones, they carry a weight that other chart-friendly acts would find hard to bear. “I’m a troubled one and I won’t be forgiven/Guilty on the run and I know what I have done”, she quivers on the heroically charged ‘Guilty’. It comes straight after the equally bombastic and introspective ‘Numb’, on which a choir of moody Marinas sing about sacrifice over swooning strings and trembling piano.

She also has a habit of namechecking herself - whether you find Hollywood's line about "Oh my god, you look just like Shakira, no no, you're Catherine Zeta, actually, my name's Marina" endearing or infuriating will depend on your taste.

Judging by the auspicious critical and commercial reception to Hollywood, there will be many who find a great deal to love about Marina and her whacky voice; but there will be just as many who despise her. Overall, The Family Jewels is a record that is creatively ubiquitous and aggressive, traits that make this album not unlike Amy Winehouse's Back to Black.

Loud – Rihanna

Loud’s pulsating opener, ‘S&M’, makes it clear from the jump where she’s headed as she acknowledges that ‘chains and whips excite me’. She never retreats from that sexually aggressive tone as she shakes off the dark cloud of domestic violence that were so prevalent in 2009’s Rated R.

Her lead single, ‘Only Girl (In The World)’, is an instant club-friendly anthem, but the best song, in my opinion, is ‘Cheers (Drink To That)’, a story about a gal at the bar who’s seen some stuff, has moved on, and wants to buy everybody a round of shots. “Don’t let the bastards get you down / There’s a party at the bar”, she sings, before opining “Life’s too short to be sitting around miserable / People gonna talk whether you’re doing bad or good”. Indeed, Rihanna does a bit of both.

Another standout track is ‘California King Bed’, which is a well-delivered wrenching ballad about the waking death of a relationship. ‘Raining Men’ is a bold collaboration with Nicki Minaj, and this track plays to both their strengths.

There is also a great contrast in 'Love The Way You Lie Pt II', where the plot wallows deeper in the tortured relationship sketched out in Pt 1. A lone piano humanizes her first vocals, and she rides the ascending power ballad to a pained resolve; then you have Eminem practically screaming into a spiralling rage. This is so theatrical, but at the same time, so raw.

Overall, Rihanna remains undefeated by her worst circumstances, and she finds redemption in exactly the kind of ‘pop nirvana’ that made her famous in the first place.

Lungs – Florence & The Machine

Florence Welch catapulted into the UK music scene in 2008, when the single ‘Kiss With A Fist’, a punkish juvenile summer anthem, made its debut. As described by James Monger, the London native crafted a debut that exceeded the expectations of the media, and complimented her tracks for including the ‘daring musicality of Kate Bush, the fearless delivery of Sinead O’Connor, and the dark, unhinged vulnerability of Fiona Apple.’

The opening track, ‘Dog Days Are Over’, begins yearningly with harp strings gently complimenting Florence’s fluttery vocals, before a swell of drum beats and hand claps lift the song to its exultant chorus, where Florence proclaims to ‘Leave all your love and your longing behind / You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive’.Since the release of the album, 6 singles have been released. They are: 'Kiss With A Fist', 'Dog Days Are Over', 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', 'You’ve Got The Love', 'Drumming Song', and 'Cosmic Love'. It is little wonder that the album has gone 4x Platinum in the UK, and her efforts in the US have certainly paid off, with Lungs peaking at #14 on the Billboard 200. The album also received Album of the Year at the 2010 BRIT Awards, defeating contenders like Dizzee Rascal, Kasabian, Lily Allen, and Paolo Nutini.

With vocals building from breathy almost-nothings to soaring, arching crescendos and the accompanying harps, strings, hopes and dreams, this album takes you somewhere you'll never want to come back from.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West

Recorded in Hawaii at a cost of close to $3 million, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of pop’s gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of recent years, a no-holds-barred musical extravaganza. This is easily Kanye’s most consistently compelling full-length since 2005’s Late Registration.

Wisely chosen as the album’s centrepiece, ‘Runaway’ is Kanye’s most arresting showcase as a songwriter. ‘You’ve been putting up with my shit for way too long’, he admits, before leading a bitterly ‘toast for the douchebags’ in the chorus. He may be obnoxious, but he is someone who proceeds to confront his own failings – his rudeness, promiscuity, hedonism, egotism and liking for glamour, and he does it over a backing track on which delicate piano and sensitive cello music is being assaulted by nasty and distorted guitar riffs.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy allows Kanye a thematic palette broad enough to confront his pride and anguish. We see Kanye embracing his singular pop-star-cum-villain persona while struggling to connect with the creative potential. As he confesses in his lead single ‘Power’, he contemplates on fame and obsolescence (‘I just need time alone with my own thoughts / Got treasure in my mind but couldn’t open up my own vault.’) However, there is no question that he has opened it, and opened it well.

Overall, the music in this album is exhilarating, often abrasive, but never predictable, and at times stunningly gorgeous. Kanye West is indeed a visionary, and not just the jerk who interrupted Taylor Swift and pouted over his interview with Matt Lauer.

Progress - Take That

Progress is a triumph; musically, conceptually, and personally. Forget about ‘Patience’’s tender acoustic guitars and the soaring strings of ‘Greatest Day’, for Progress does not stick to polished balladry, but instead consists of an unconventional and ambitious, grinding electro and dark synth-pop, something rarely seen in the music of boy bands.

Their comeback single, 'The Flood', comes unexpected with its booming drum rolls and profound lyrics very much resembling U2’s music. The glam-rock stomp of Kidz is the kind of track that Kaiser Chiefs might have sung around the time of 'I Predict A Riot'. While Mark Owen handles the verses with aplomb, Robbie elevates it to another level in the soaring chorus.
Other standout tracks include ‘Eight Letters’, which is a classic Gary Barlow ballad built around a simple keyboard riff, as well as 'SOS', which is a disco-influenced rocker that features Owen singing in a sharp falsetto above drums and punky guitars.

Credit has to go to producer Stuart Price, who is known for making modern, electronic dance records with Madonna, Kylie Minogue and the Scissor Sisters. In this album, he pushes Take That to new horizons without compromising their melodic power or ability to pen a catchy chorus.

Overall, this is an ‘ebullient, daring album which sounds more like a fresh start than a final destination’. On the first day of the release, the album sold over 235,000 copies across the UK, becoming the fastest selling record of the century thus far.

We Are Born – Sia

Sia has made a massive pop leap, from her 2008 album ‘Some People Have Real Problems’. The Australian singer has infused the elusive quality of fun into every possible second that she can on We Are Born, from the funky basslines, to the effervescent handclaps and the wrenching vocal delivery.

The album is a collection of well-constructed and timeless anthems and emotional performances that made singer-songwriters like Natalie Imbruglia and Dido forces to be reckoned with in the 90s. Similar to Robyn’s Body Talk Pt. 1, the strong moments of this album are those that subsume Sia’s melancholic lyrics in perfectly constructed bits of ‘pure dance-floor escapism’. The album’s sunny vibe and dance-influenced aesthetic is partly due to the contributions of executive producer Greg Kurstin, one half of The Bird and the Bee.

The opening track, ‘The Fight’ just makes you want to shimmy with vigour and exuberance. The official lead single, ‘Clap Your Hands’, is a feel-good jam in which Sia’s voice resonates playfully on top of ample production.

Standout tracks in the album include ‘Bring Night’ (which showcases Sia’s soaring vocals and versatility, in which she sounds like vintage Gwen Stefani), her rendition of Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’ (which allowed Sia to masterfully deliver every ounce of heartache and vulnerability).

Overall, this is a charmingly cheery, light-hearted and forward-looking album. The album was nominated for Album of the Year, and won for Best Pop Release and Best Independent Release at the Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (ARIA Music Awards). Kris Moyes also won best video for ‘Clap Your Hands’.

Labels: Best of Music 2010