Sunday, January 2, 2011

Here's to 2010: the year I discovered the 90's

I was having a conversation with VanMusic's Oswaldo Perez Cabrera the other day about my favourite local bands of 2010. I was having a hard time coming up with results because more often than not, I'm often spending the year discovering older music, or music by bands outside of Vancouver. I mean, there were some gems, like Hannah Georgas and the pack a.d., but I honestly couldn't provide a credible list.

Looking back, 2010 was the year I discovered "new" music that I somehow bypassed in the nineties. Despite how music-obsessive I was in my teens; how many David Hawkes Modern Rock Circuses, Vans Warped Tours, and (cringe now) EdgeFest's I went to; despite how plugged into the radio I was or how many Nirvana albums I owned, I completely bypassed a whole genre of music when it was at its height.

I mean, how did I miss Guided by Voices and Superchunk? And while Pavement, Sebadoh, and Liz Phair were on my teenage radar, I was so deep in a U2 phase that anything I deemed less-than-serious wasn't worth exploring further by yours truly. At least, that was my music snob mentality back in the mid-90's. As one person said to me, "Somehow you got into industrial when you should have been listening to Husker Du and the Replacements, but oh well."

So here's to 2010 - the year I finally gave the nineties a chance.

The whole reason I mention this is that it's really interesting to see what I was actually listening to in 2010, thanks to my Last.FM account. I have no shame about my music geekdom, but part of the findings below should be able to be explained by the above.

My top 50 most-listened-to bands of 2010:


1.     Guided by Voices
2.     Deerhunter
3.     The Besnard Lakes
4.     Hannah Georgas
5.     Florence + the Machine
6.     Bear in Heaven
7.     Elvis Costello
8.     U2           
9.     White Rabbits
10. Bat for Lashes
11. French Kicks
12. Sound Team
13. Spirits
14. Anna Ternheim
15. Caribou
16. Elvis Costello & The Attractions
17. The Depreciation Guild
18. The Ruby Suns
19. UNKLE
20. Beach House
21. Pinback                       
22. Matthew Dear           
23. Massive Attack
24. National Skyline                       
25. TV on the Radio
26. High Places
27. Band of Skulls
28. Girls
29. Shearwater
30. Department of Eagles           
31. Pavement
32. Animal Collective
33. The Mountain Goats
34. Wye Oak
35. My Bloody Valentine
36. Yo La Tengo
37. Menomena
38. Boston Spaceships
39. The National
40. Local Natives
41. Pixies
42. Superchunk
43. A.C. Newman
44. Jenn Grant
45. Volcano Choir
46. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
47. The Reivers
48. Red Riders
49. Midnight Juggernauts
50. Young Galaxy

My top 50 most-listened-to songs of 2010:

1.     Elvis Costello – Beyond Belief                       
2.     Guided by Voices – Surgical Focus                       
3.     Deerhunter – Never Stops                       
4.     White Rabbits – Percussion Gun                       
5.     Florence + the Machine – Dog Days Are Over                       
6.     The Besnard Lakes – Glass Printer                       
7.     Deerhunter – VHS Dream                       
8.     White Rabbits – The Plot           
9.     French Kicks – Over The World           
10. Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
11. UNKLE – Natural Selection (feat. The Black Angels)                       
12. The Besnard Lakes – Chicago Train
13. Deerhunter – Fluorescent Grey                       
14. Florence + the Machine – Cosmic Love                       
15. National Skyline – A Night at the Drug Store                       
16. Anna Ternheim – China Girl                       
17. Midnight Juggernauts – Shadows                       
18. The Depreciation Guild – Dream About Me                       
19. French Kicks – New Man                       
20. Spirits – Forbidden Flame                         
21. Caribou – Odessa                         
22. Sound Team – Your Eyes Are Liars                       
23. The Besnard Lakes – Albatross                         
24. My Bloody Valentine – Sometimes                       
25. The Reivers – Keep Me Guessing                       
26. Units – High Pressure Days                       
27. Anna Ternheim – Bridges                       
28. Bear in Heaven – Wholehearted Mess                         
29. Guided by Voices – Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking           
30. Deerhunter – Little Kids                       
31. Bear in Heaven – You do you                       
32. Florence + the Machine – Hurricane Drunk                         
33. Hannah Georgas – Chit Chat                       
34. Guided by Voices – I Am a Scientist                       
35. Guided by Voices – Tractor Rape Chain                       
36. Volcano Choir – Island, IS                       
37. The Besnard Lakes – And This Is What We Call Progress                         
38. The Ruby Suns – Closet Astrologer                       
39. Califone – Funeral Singers                         
40. Pinback – Loro                       
41. Guided by Voices – Hot Freaks                       
42. Autolux – Here Comes Everybody           
43. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – The Loved Ones                       
44. Hannah Georgas – All I Need
45. Balam Acab – See Birds                       
46. Department of Eagles – Sailing by Night           
47. Caribou – Melody Day           
48. Matthew Dear – Good to Be Alive           
49. Girls – Lust For Life                         
50. Cold Cave – Love Comes Close