10. Arcade Fire – “Neon Bible”
3/6 on Merge
Metacritic: 87
Q: 100
Pitchfork: 84
Along with LCD Soundsystem, this was the year's big, hype-filled record. It was the album that was supposed to destroy the music business and rebuild it their own Canadian image. While it didn't quite do that, "Neon Bible" managed to avoid being a victim of the success of "Funeral". It is just as exuberant as the first record (witness "Keep the Car Running", especially live), though it replaces tenderness with paranoia. Fear ultimately drags "Neon Bible" down. A vague, apocalyptic fear of George Bush pervades nearly every song, but never really coalesces into a political statement of any eloquence. The lyrics play on hippie standards like poverty, globalisation, and war, but without humanising them at all or really making a point. Arcade Fire seem terrified of their critics as well. Win Butler and crew pile on track after track of hi-fi organ, strings, and vocals soaked in unparalleled amounts of reverb, but to what end? To hide a lack of melody? The depth of creative malaise here is obvious when the album's best song is a rehashing of early EP track "No Cars Go". Somewhere in the recording of "Neon Bible", Arcade Fire ran out of ideas entirely and it shows. But they still are Arcade Fire, and their fudgeings are passable and their original ideas are rapturous.
-RJR
9. The White Stripes – “Icky Thump”
6/19 on Warner Bros
Metacritic: 80
NME: 90
Pitchfork: 80
“Icky Thump” is the product of three weeks in the studio (a relative lifetime for the Stripes), and it may well be the best White Stripes album to date. It is certainly the record that best weds (or proves, depending upon your perspective on his previous releases) Jack White’s songwriting - not to mention instrumental - talent with lush instrumentation (Wurlitzer? Brass?! Acoustic guitar?!? Bagpipes?!?!?), singable melodies (who knew?), and slick production, all the while maintaining the improvisatory caprice of their earlier records. Jack White’s voice has never sounded so good, his guitar playing is incomparable as per usual, but most importantly, he has learned the value of restraint - as “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues” will show. No one should be heard to say the White Stripes are losing steam. Quite the opposite, they seem here to be on top of their game. “Get Behind Me Satan” found the Stripes throwing in the kitchen sink and leaving out the electric guitar to avoid being pigeonholed as a band centred around and dependent upon Jack White’s guitar talent. But that’s precisely what they are. And that’s not a bad thing. “Icky Thump” shows that Jack and Meg have realised that as well. And not a moment too soon.
-PTC
8. Bloc Party – “A Weekend in the City”
2/6 on Vice
Metacritic: 65
Q: 60
Pitchfork: 75
It is a scary commentary on the pressures and mixed incentives of the music industry that, with only their second album, Bloc Party have met a crossroads. They are an art rock band at heart. But with their audience turning more and more bro-like and their songs appearing in sports games and Guitar Hero, they risk being Muse-d, hijacked by masculinity. At a show last year, frontman Kele Okereke stopped a song to quell some moshers, reminding them "people are here to listen to music". This year, at a smaller venue, he made no such effort. AWitC is a fittingly mixed album. The songs range from the "Silent Alarm" style "Song for Clay" and "Hunting for Witches" to drum machine-fuelled "The Prayer" to the ballads fleshing out the last few tracks. The lyrical content is conflicted as well, with Okereke questioning his nationality ("Where Is Home"), charm ("The Prayer"), and sexuality ("I Still Remember"). The fault lines running through the band thematically and stylistically make AWitC one of the most honest releases of the year. Fabulous production and an excellent vocal performance from Okereke complimenting the already excellent guitar work and rhythm section carried over from "Silent Alarm" help as well.
-RJR
7. Modest Mouse – “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”
3/20 on Sony
Metacritic: 77
Q: 80
Pitchfork: 78
I have not been moved - really moved - by a Modest Mouse record since the breathtaking “The Moon and Antartica”. They got lazy, they fell into a routine (a deadly trap for a songwriter to whom creativity means more than selling records), and their records were single-driven - “we’ll all float on all right” - and uninspired. “Good News for People Who Love Bad News” petered out quickly after an excellent first three songs, From “Bury Me With It” on, the record is hugely unmemorable (I had to check and see what that song was called). The addition of Johnny Marr was quite possibly the best thing that has happened to Modest Mouse, like, ever. From the very first track, the rollicking “March Into the Sea”, this record boasts an energy, intensity, and sense of artistic urgency that none of their other records has ever had - not even “The Moon and Antarctica.” The pelagic theme of the album is fitting; every song has its own lilt, its own sway: “Dashboard” and “Missed the Boat” in particular. This record is the work of a band that has learned to play to its strengths but are still growing into themselves. Don’t be surprised if Modest Mouse still have a few tricks up their sleeve; I think this record is a portent of things to come.
-PTC
6. Sea Wolf – “Leaves in the River”
9/25 on Dangerbird
It’s been a busy twelve months for Alex Brown Church and the amorphous coterie of companions he calls a backing band. He released a lovely if slightly rough around the edges EP and went on a largely ignored tour. Then he blind-sided the music world with this phenomenal LP. “Leaves in the River” is a record of deceptive complexity, brimming with meaning, and above all, honesty - a quality which is tragically lacking from 99% of records released nowadays. His songwriting is impeccable, his songs brim with a simplicity that borders on innocence (another quality you won’t find in corporate rock, which is totally anathema to the success of the uncorrupted). Church has tact and nuance down to a science. Even on the more “upbeat” tracks like “Winter Windows,” the album is careful not to overextend itself. Church never strays from his comfort zone, but opts to coyly toe its border instead, which is precisely what an artist should do on a debut. This fantastic record starts his young and exceptionally promising career off on the right foot.
-PTC
Another day, another five albums. The reviews you've all been waiting for tomorrow!
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