10. Efterklang - Magic ChairsIt took me a while to start really appreciating this Danish band. The music is not necessarily based on catchy melodies or great lyrics. It's more about the mood and the sound. Eftreklang uses a wide array of different instruments and electronic sounds in their music which gives them quite a distinctive sound. Even though they sing in English, I have no idea what they're singing about because the articulation makes it really hard to understand the lyrics just by hearing them. I guess I haven't read the inner sleeves of my record enough. This isn't about the lyrics though. It's about this magical mood they produce, which lifts them on this list which was really hard to get to. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Few bands have been able to produce this impressive debut albums. This modern female equivalent of Joy Division made a real impression on me the first time I listened to them and that appriciation still stands. Bleek and dark melodies weave together hypnotic mood that sends the listener into another world. The cover picture is phenomenal! Warpaint's sound is a mixture of early post punk and post rock of the new millenium. Warpaint must have enormous pressure on them with their second album. Anyone who's made an album this good will have enormous difficulties to come up with something even better. I'm hoping they succeed though! Listen to the album on Spotify.
This is not the best album from Eels. It's not even the second best. But I think it's one of the best break up albums there are. The album is a story about a difficult break up beginning with love, moving to the difficulties in a relationship, the actual break up, sadness and longing for the lost love. In the end there's the acknowledgement that the relationship did not have a future, but losing the closeness and frienship with someone so important is really hard. The record ends in a healing process, where the narrator is already starting to be happy again. This is one of the few albums that got into me more through the lyrics than the melodies or the sounds. Outstanding piece of work! Listen to the album on Spotify.
This Austin based indie rock band really knows how to produce massive and otherworldly sounds. The record begins beautifully with Meridian and continues to the unique sounding and grandiloquent Black Eyes. The record can't maintain those really high standards it sets until the very end but it's still a wonderful piece of music. The album cover illustrates in a weird way the fantasy world this music conjures. Shearwater consits of two members of another great band, Okkervil River. Shearwater's music is more pompous and melancholic which makes it sound a lot different than Okkervil River. The unique singing voice is still the same though. Let The Golden Archipelago take you on a magical journey and listen to the album on Spotify.
Angus & Julia are an Australian singer-songwriter duo. Both of them have amazing singing voices and when they sing harmonies simultaniously it's even more amazing. Julia's singing voice is a bit child-like, but once you get over that image, it sounds perfect. The songs are melancholic folk-pop with catchy melodies. The live performance that I saw from this duo was an experience I'll never forget. The shivers went all round my body just for the shear beauty of the music. If I am to say something negative about the album it is that it is more of a collection of great songs than a comprehensive album. I don't really care though, because I think that any of these songs could make a great single on its own. Listen to the album on Spotify.
John Grant is a great baritone singer-songwriter from Denver. His music has influences from folk, glam rock and melancholic indie tunes. The absolutely beautiful album tells mainly stories about the difficult life growing up gay in Denver. These difficult topics are told seriously, but with a hint of irony and humour. It's phenomenal how someone can portray his difficulties so beautifully maintaining the ability to stay cheerful at the same time. This contradiction is most obvious at live shows, where the singer is almost a stand-up comedian in between the songs. Seeing him live makes you love his beautiful music even more. Watching this big and bearded man sing his heart out and make you laugh and cry in the same show is phenomenal. Listen to the album on Spotify.
As the name of the band tells you, this Finnish band uses a lot of delay and echo in its songs. This debut album of Delay Trees is in my opinion the best Finnish album for a long time. Larger than life sounds together with beautiful melodies bring about absolutely brilliant music. When I've seen them live a couple of times I've been a bit annouyed by their modesty. I think they could become world famous if they had the ability to market themselves properly. Although I think that the music is perfect just because it comes straight from the heart of its makers without the aim to make money out of the music. I still hope all the best for this band in the future and hopefully they can make a living in the future out of these beautiful songs. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I got interested in this dream pop duo when they announced they would come and perform at the Flow festival in Finland in 2010. They had just released this album. The first few times this album sounded only okay. Good, but not special. After the magnificent live performance though I was sold. After that the album revolved in my cd-player over and over again. It takes me usually a long time to really start thinking about the lyrics of any record. In this case I was happily surprised that not only are the sounds and the melodies of this album great, but the lyrics as well. I was a bit disappointed with their new album that was released this year and that's why it's not on this blog. I think this is Beach House's best album by far. Listen to the album on Spotify.
If anyone asks me "what sort of music do you like?" I should just show them the top 2 of 2010 and I think that would answer their question. Larger than life melancholic melodies with beautiful singing full of emotion. Midlake from Denton, Texas, has become one of my all time favourite bands. I know only a few artists or bands who can conjure as beautiful sounds. A couple of songs brought tears in my eyes when I saw the band live and I get emotional just thinking about it now. The howling electric guitars above the folk backgrounds work perfectly. The singing is calm but carries with it all the pain in the world. I don't know if I'm ever able to tell the people who don't listen to melancholic music how this sort of music makes me feel. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The no. 1 place on this list is the result of amazing music and the personal emotions that are connected with the lyrics and the timing of the release. The National's each and every album is outstanding, but this album hit me just right in the right moment of my life. The hopelessness in Matt Berninger's voice is one of the best translations for sadness and pain. I'm getting tears in my eyes even now when I'm listening to the beauty of Sorrow. There's something inexplicable in the feeling I get from this album. The live show in Helsinki after this album was one of the most memorable shows of my life. I only knew I got the tickets the same day the show was on. Perfect ending for the show was when the band played Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks without amplification with the audience singing beautifully along. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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