100 Favourite Tracks of 2010: Part V

Everything’s a compromise. For instance, you’re not going to get Marlon Brando to do your script, you’re going to get someone lesser. The room you see in your mind’s eye is not the room you’re filming in. It’s always a question of high aims, grandiose dreams, great bravado and confidence, and great courage at the typewriter; and then, when I’m in the midst of finishing a picture and everything’s gone horribly wrong and I’ve reedited it and reshot it and tried to fix it, then it’s merely a struggle for survival. You’re happy only to be alive. Gone are all the exalted goals and aims, all the uncompromising notions of a perfect work of art, and you’re just fighting so people won’t storm up the aisles with tar and feathers. With many of my films—almost all—if I’d been able to get on screen what I conceived, they would have been much better pictures. Fortunately, the public doesn’t know about how great the picture played in my head was, so I get away with it.

- Woody Allen in an interview with the Paris Review


The National - Conversation 16
Another great track from "High Violet" set to a literal depiction of the song. Oh what gloom and doom, so sweetly done by The National. I love the chorus in particular as Berninger says matter-of-factly "I was afraid I'd eat your brains".
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Beach House - Zebra (mp3)
I'm surprised that Beach House opened for Vampire Weekend, as said in the top rated comment on the youtube video for this song. I would think Beach House is almost as popular and many would have been clamouring for a full set from Beach House as well. Can't get enough from this prodigious duo and can't wait for Laneway!
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

GROUPLOVE - Colours (mp3)
Good old rockin', just having fun together and making music as a group, GROUPLOVE indeed! This song is such a ball of fun.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Ooh, I love this song. Régine Chassagne, who is also Win Butler's wife as well provides vocals for this outstanding track. Taking a more experimental approach, they dip into the electronic pool and come out with Sprawl II to a beautiful outcome. Their rock roots are still very much present, which makes this song even better, even nicer a listen.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Yeasayer - O.N.E
Experimental rock group dishes out what's notably missing this year, experimental random stuff. It's catchy, quirky and tribal-ish, it's fun. Wonder what their performance at Laneway is gonna be like, hope it's gonna be raving!
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Villagers - Becoming a Jackal
Becoming a Jackal is a heart-wrenching, melodic piece full of lyrical finesse; its the sort of song you want to play on repeat until every last note is engrained in your mind. - Domino Records

They're coming down to Singapore on Jan 31. Try this lovely brilliant acoustic version here.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Caribou - Leave House
Good stuff from Caribou, still remember what got me listening to him was Hello Hammerheads, which is very different from his deeper electronic stuff now, like Leave House for instance.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes His Shirt Off
Sweet and tender with a conspicuous trombone(?) sound, Pallett is such a delight here. It always seems as if he's teetering on a tightrope, but singing his heart out at the same time.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

Stars - Wasted Daylight
A lot of Canadian magic this year. Stars, Owen Pallett, Broken Social Scene, Basia Bulat, Caribou, Arcade Fire and Crystal Castles just to name a few. I just realised in this post alone, there're already 4 of them! Amy Millan's silky vocals shine here, dancing unabashedly amidst the twinkly electronic beats.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

White Hinterland - Icarus
Big booming bass that rattles at the start, toned down subsequently to provide a neat toe-tapping back drop as Dienel's swooning vocals charm the socks of me. Sounds like magic.
[official] [myspace] [last.fm]

he told there was a part of him missing

We Have Band - Oh!
Hot on the heels of their video for Divisive comes something similar for another track Oh!. Featuring the band members clad in all white, similar to the various colour schemes in the former track, they engage in some sort of contemporary arty-farty dance set to clean crisp lyrics and coloured smoke. It's pretty catchy if you ask me, but sounds all too similar to Divisive.

Perfume Genius - Mr Petersen
I'm not sure how Mike Hadreas came up with a moniker for himself like Perfume Genius, but I sure ain't scratching my head over that. I'm just wondering why he seems to be bruised in many of his pictures. Maybe it's to match his frail vulnerable music, which for this song, I really had to crank up the volume to hear the lyrics. Yet, above all, it's the lyrics itself that strike me the most, barely heard above the elegant pounding of the piano. It's about a paedophile the central character in the song has for a teacher, who uses him in exchange for drugs. But despite all that, Mike Genius somehow manages to make the paedophile sound human and yes, fragile. That's an eccentric but(or and?) brilliant mind at work.

White Hinterland - Amsterdam
Very slow song in which Casey Dienel uses her vocals to steer the song. Subtle layers of synths provide a calming rhythm whilst projecting a very visual soundscape of white trees amidst a slowly rising water level while the moonlight casts a soft glow all over.

how do you know the name of the one you love

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

- Anatole France


White Hinterland - Icarus
Pure magic. White Hinterland is this sweet lady Casey Dienel and partner Shawn Creeden. This song is from her 2nd album as White Hinterland, 3rd as an artist, entitled "Kairos". Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment). I think it's perfect that she's released this album now, riding on the wave of all that dreampop. A perfect swirly and dreamy soundscape, like a kaleidoscope of white clouds, golden fields, green trees, and beautiful flowers. Awash with languid synths and deep sporadic bass that's almost as hypnotic as her voice, she is unfettered amidst all the minimalism.

White Hinterland - No Logic
She brings to mind Dirty Projectors, maybe some AnCo. The looping and percussion strung together, plus scratchy guitar reflects her experimentation, and she does find her ground.

Eluvium - Weird Creatures
A little in the vein of Barcelona, but unlike their piano-driven rock, Matthew Cooper aka Eluvium incorporates the piano in his echo-ey electronics, keeping his vocals to a bare murmur, you wonder how he blends two contrasting musical elements into one glorious masterpiece. There's only one way to listen to this, lay back, close your eyes and enjoy.

Scuba - So You Think You're Special (mp3)
Techno-ish song with more ambient anchoring, extremely brilliant. Save it for a good day to chill out to.