David Emery OnlineA Great Year For Music
25 March 2010
The term ‘a great year for music’ is so subjective as to render it irrelevant. One persons great year is another persons fallow period and visa versa.
That being said, 2010 is already shaping to be a great year for music.
2007 was another great year – not to say that the intervening years have been awful, of course – and this year we’re getting a bunch of those artists returning. I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of the new LCD Soundsystem album in May – Sound of Silver has to be one of the records of the decade, and if the follow up is half as good it’ll be stunning. Sadly there’s nothing out there to hear as yet, so we’ve got no idea what it’s going to sound like.
Luckily we do have something to hear from The National. Their last album Boxer was the very definition of a ‘grower’ – for me at least it took months (if not years) to fully work it’s way underneath my skin. I was actually quite worried when I first heard High Violet as it seemed instantly brilliant – have they lost the depth they’ve previously displayed? – but it turns out it’s a grower as well, just starting from a running start.
If you head over to highviolet.com you can download the first single ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ which is as good as anything they’ve ever done.
The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio [MP3]
As for returning greats obviously the elephant in the room is Radiohead, who a certainly due for a follow up to In Rainbows soon, although I can’t help but think that we might get a Thom Yorke record first (not that I have any insider knowledge on the topic). We’ve also get records from M.I.A. and Arcade Fire – who are both on the same 3 year cycle as LCD and The National.
Gorillaz on the other hand are much slower with their output, taking a slightly glacial 5 years between albums. I guess when you’re an animated cartoon band these things just take a bit longer? Plastic Beach though was worth the wait. It’s quite a different album from their previous work, taking a slightly darker less pop-y route which to my ears is far more satisfying. Yes the likes of ‘Feel Good Inc’ are great pop songs but their appeal is short-lived – Plastic Beach has far more depth to it and benefits greatly. That’s not to say it’s perfect though; it’s definitely over-long and could have done with shedding a few of its 16 tracks.
The highlight for me is the Gruff-from-SFA featuring ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ which great fun, but doesn’t seem to be on the internet in an embedable/linkable form yet (my guess is it’s the next single) and I would show you the Bruce Willis featuring video for ‘Stylo’ but embeding of that has been disabled, so I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Instead, how about you watch this video instead, for a band you’ve likely never heard of:
Delorean hail from sunny Spain, and you can hear the landscape permeating throughout the music; it just sounds like summer. I love it when you get a new band come along from out of the left field that just sounds so instantly ‘right’, in stark contrast to the previously mentioned established heavy hitters who you expect to deliver the goods. That’s the thing about a ‘great year’ I guess; greatness can come from any corner and frequently can sneak up on you and take you by surprise.