Looking back at 2010…

What a crazy year 2010 was. The All Whites were the only unbeaten team at the World Cup, the Christchurch mayoral race was interesting for once, and the September 4 Canterbury earthquake wiped the smiles off our dials (fantastic rolling aftershock this afternoon, by the way).

Oh, and a lot of damn fine music was released.

I wasn’t going to worry about compiling a list of musical favourites and highlights (others have done a more comprehensive job than I ever could – and I prefer continuums rather than compartmentalising things into years) but when I started scribbling down artists and albums and singles I was surprised how long the list got (and I’m sure I’ve overlooked heaps of stuff). In my mind it makes a liar of anyone who says that 2010 was a crap year for music.

So here’s what stood out for moi…

• Sleigh Bells – Treats LP (Mom+Pop)
• Holy Fuck – Latin LP (Young Turks)
• Lake Heartbeat – Trust in Numbers LP (Service)
• Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti – Before Today LP (4AD)
• Ikons – Ikons LP (Service)
• Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans LP (Ed Banger)
• K-X-P – K-X-P LP (Smalltown Supersound)
• Factory Floor – Lying EP (Blast First Petite)
• Acid Washed – Acid Washed LP (Record Makers)
• Tokimonsta – Midnight Menu LP (Art Union, Listen Up)
• Röyksopp – Senior LP (Wall of Sound)
• Pikachunes – Pikachunes LP (Lil Chief)
• The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter LP (Domino)
• Tommy Ill – Tommy Ill LP (Loop)
• Street Chant – Means LP (Arch Hill)
• Hurts – Happiness LP (Sony)
• Flight Facilities – Crave You single (Bang Gang)
• Selebrities – Ladies Man Effect EP (Cascine)
• Blue Sky Black Death – Third Party LP (Fake Four Inc.)
• Tono and the Finance Company – Fragile EP (Border)
• Wet Wings – Skin to Soil EP (Infinity Tapes)
• Robyn – Body Talk Pt 1 Mini LP (Konichiwa)
• Lindstrøm and Christabelle – Real Life Is No Cool LP (Feedelity)
• Tamaryn – The Waves LP (Mexican Summer)
• Twin Shadow – Forget LP (Terrible)

And if you didn’t find that very exciting here’s some respectable peeps with a lot more cred than me sharing their opinions on the year in music…

• Bill aka Indie Slut from RDU’s Human Pleasure @ Hourly Rates
• RDU’s The Sheep Technique – Top 25 NZ releases of the year
• JD Twitch of Optimo (Glasgow’s legendary Sunday night club)
• 20jazzfunkgreats best of 2010 lists
  • Paranormal Beauthy Contest
  • Step Up
  • The Atlantidan Metaphysical Circus
  • Those cracks in time