Superchunk – Everything At Once (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

Hi all. I am not a big fan of Superchunk’s brand of power-pop-punk, but I like this track a lot. ‘Everything At Once’ features on the North Carolinians 2010 LP Majesty Shredding. Have a great week.

Broken Bells – Citizen (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

Another-but-very different BB this morning – Broken Bells was a collaboration between The Shins’ James Mercer and producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). Their underrated, self-titled debut LP has many golden moments and ‘Citizen’ is one of the picks. Mercer sings “From the moment that we’re born / ‘Til we’re old and tired / Do we ever know people?” which heralds a beautiful outro. 

Kanye West feat. Bon Iver – Lost In The World (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

My daughter’s favourite song from her favourite artist. I may have introduced her to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy when she was just 6 years old, but I don’t like to talk about it (much). This classic features a reworking of Bon Iver’s song ‘Woods’. During a famously no-expense-spared production, West had Justin Vernon flown to the Hawaii studio where the album was being cut and had him rerecord the vocals.

Hollerado – Juliette (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

I have read that three of the four members of Hollerado grew up on the same street in a suburb of Ottawa. Formed in 2007, they gave it a good run for 12 years including four studio albums and this song, they only one I know from their body of work.

Dr. Dog – Where’d All The Time Go? (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

Founded in 1999, Philadelphia-based psychedelic rock band Dr. Dog got a new lease of life when they signed to ANTI- Records 10 years later. Thanks to a little help from their pal Jim James from My Morning Jacket, they find their feet with some 1970s-style power pop. LP Shame, Shame was released in April 2010 and features some great songs including the title track, ‘Shadow People’ and ‘I Only Wear Blue’. ‘Where’d All The Time Go’ is the pick of the bunch. Echoes of the halcyon times of The Flaming Lips.

Deerhunter – Fountain Stairs (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

The closing four songs (‘Helicopter‘, ‘Fountain Stairs’, ‘Coronado’ and ‘He Would Have Laughed’) of Deerhunter’s 2010 album Halcyon Digest are really really good. With its Velvet Underground overtones that shift into anthemic dance rock, ‘Fountain Stairs’ makes it difficult for me to suppress a smile.

Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

In 2010, Sufjan Stevens took 25 minutes to bare his soul. ‘Impossible Soul’ was the closing track of his LP The Age of Adz. It is more than a song – it plays like a set of movements.

MGMT – Siberian Breaks (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

Founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, psychedelic MGMT are probably best known for the electronic sounds of ‘Kids‘ and ‘Time to Pretend‘. IMHO, they reached their creative peak in 2010 with the release of their second album, Congratulations, and the kaleidoscopic pop of the song ‘Siberian Breaks’.

Class Actress – Journal of Ardency (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

Good morning. After trying the singular path of a singer-songwriter, Elizabeth Harper decided to start a band with Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal. Founded in Brooklyn in 2009, the band became a vehicle to explore her musical influences – and especially the works of Soft Cell and Pet Shop Boys. The title track off her 2010 EP Journal Of Ardency clearly wears her love of electro-pop. Have a great week.

Big Boi – Daddy Fat Sax (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – iTunes – Discogs

Frank Ocean collaborator and Outkast royalty, Big Boi released his last album Idlewild with André 3000 in 2006. Four years later, he released his debut solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot. The albums’s trippy kick-off is ‘Daddy Fat Sax’ with its samples of and lyrical references to his previous work with Outkast. It was just what the doctor ordered because Big Boi had bigger fish to fry. Have a great weekend.

The Longwalls – Dark Academy (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – Apple – Discogs

This next song has no genre-crossing pretensions. The Longwalls are a Boston foursome delivering a simple alt country sound, but if their YouTube account is anything to go by, they are yet to find their big audience. ‘Dark Academy’ is the title track off a 2010 EP released on their own label Static Motor Recordings.

The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – iTunes – Discogs

Good morning folks. I hope you’ve had a good August. I’m back today and raring to go with a bit of musical miscellany. In 2010, The Radio Dept.’s core members, Johan Duncanson and Martin Larsson (aka Martin Carlberg), fell out with their record label Labrador after the release of their tour-de-force long player Clinging To A Scheme. It resulted in a 6-year hiatus which gave fans a lot of time to absorb all that the album had to offer.  The record contained a handful of strong songs and three were released as singles – ‘David’, ‘Heaven’s on Fire’ and ‘Never Follow Suit. ‘Heaven’s on Fire’ opens with a vocal sample Thurston Moore’s observations about youth culture and then explodes into a happy Saint Etienne-like indie dance anthem. Have a great week.

Cavalier Rose – Atom Bomb (2010)

YouTube – No Spotify – iTunes – No Discogs

A decade ago, the four-piece band Cavalier Rose were based out of Brooklyn. They came and went which is a real shame because their shtick was a good’un. Built around the bluesy sound of singer-pianist Heather Christian, they released the energetic and distorted ‘Atom Bomb’ in 2010. Her warble is impressive. Today, Christian sings and plays with The Arbornauts. Have a great weekend.

Joan As Police Woman – Kiss The Specifics (2010)

YouTube – Spotify – iTunes – Discogs

I know Joan Wasser as the woman that Jeff Buckley proposed to shortly before he drowned. Others know her by her stage name Joan As Police Woman. Quite a few years ago I looked to post ‘Kiss The Specifics’ on this very blog, but there was no accompanying video at that time. Things have moved on, but it’s still a great track. It features on her 2011 album, The Deep Field. Have a great weekend.

LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change (2010)

YouTube – Amazon – iTunes – Discogs

On their 2010 album This Is Happening, LCD Soundsystem feature the slice of pure early-80s synthpop that is ‘I Can Change’. Think Soft Cell or Depeche Mode as you listen to the songwriters (band member Pat Mahoney and band frontman James Murphy) looking to save a relationship by becoming a completely different person. “I can change, I can change, I can change, if it helps you fall in love.” No trouble there then.