Friday Top 10: Austin Albums of 2010
It’s that time of year folks, the time when we THINK we know what’s the best of the best. In a year where some old faces reemerged, and some new faces joined the scene, we had a hard time narrowing things down, but these are our favorite Ten Albums by Austin bands in the year 2010. If you think we’re wrong, we’re cool with you voicing your opinion, but be nice, these are just one group’s opinions.
10. She Sir – Ev’ry Thing in Paris
You can’t come across music that gets much better than She Sir. It’s a combination of warmth, pop, and effortless beauty. The band has slowly been growing their sound, creating their own vision of perfection by releasing a few singles, prior to this full-length. Slowly and surely they’ve crafted a sonic display that has us falling for them time and time again. It only gets better from here.
9. Superlitebike – Away We Go
I wasn’t really sold on this fairly new band until I saw the guys perform live at The Parish. Their brand of psych, 60s throw back style rock n roll is a nice kick in the ass for the often times bland scene. This album can speed things up with the extremely catchy “Raise the Colors” and then bring you back down with a slow tripped out ballad like “The Rescue”.
8. The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream
Time and time again The Black Angels offer us brooding rock tunes that border on the experimental, and this record is no different. If you combine that with their aesthetic principles, then you’ve got an outfit that begs your fandom. We’re still behind these guys, but it looks like a whole slew of new acts are hot on their heels for rights to greatest Austin band.
7. The Authors – Get Haunted
This band has been lurking below the surface in Austin for some time now, and with their debut full-length finally released, they were right on the money. They fulfilled all the promise early listens offered us, combining hooks and sharp guitar lines with seamless ease. It always makes us happy to see deserving bands make all our listening dreams come true.
6. John Wesley Coleman – Bad Lady Goes to Jail
I wanted to hate this record. What’s a trash can troubadour anyways? You know what, you just can’t fight damned good songwriting, and that’s precisely what this record offers up. There’s lots of grit all over the place, like one would find in a trash can I suppose, yet the harmonies and melodies carefully lurking beneath made this a joy to spend time and time again.
5. Sleep Good – Skyclimber
Dear Austin, why haven’t you absolutely fallen in love with this band? Skyclimber was one of our favorite local listens, and yet they still seem like a quiet secret best kept to ourselves. Well, we’ve decided to out the band, as this record is truly something remarkable. We hope you’ll take the time out of your lives to spend a great deal of time with it, as we surely did.
4. Spoon – Transference
Part of us wants this album to be so much higher. After all, we thought so highly of it at the beginning of the year. The unfortunate side-effect of a great Spoon album, however, is that you fall in love, listen incessantly, and sometimes to the detriment of the record. Let’s face it, the record was amazing, it just lost its steam in the latter half of the year.
3. Hollywood Gossip – Dear as Diamonds
Everything about this band has been enjoyable since their inception, for us at least. They make light hearted pop songs, possibly leaning towards the twee element, yet Dear as Diamonds continued to see the band grow musically, leading to one of the most welcome surprises of the year. Congrats kids.
2. Harlem – Hippies
This band could be so much higher. Hippies spun and spun, and despite its jangle, it never tired on our ears. For some ATH staffers, we’re still having a hard time dealing with the fact that the band can write such a phenomenal album, yet still not manage to translate that to the stage setting. Still, if they have more songs in the closet like the ones on this record, their star will continue to climb.
1. Roky Erikson w/ Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil
A legend in the world of rock, let alone in the Austin scene. He’s joined by one of our favorite local acts, and accomplishes what we all dreamed he could do again. Roky put together an album that sounded complete, and heartfelt, so we welcome him back to the throng as one of Austin’s greatest musical commodities. It wasn’t just a good story for a good man, it was a good record for good music fans.
Where did we go wrong? Tell us please! We’re open to discussion, here and there.
You should have a bigger list !
I haven’t compiled my own list yet but if I do, it would include The Black and White Years – Patterns ,The Ugly Beats – Motor! (their best record yet), and The Sour Notes – It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty.
Skyclimber is my favorite album of the year. It’s amazing, and I’m pretty sure you can download the whole album for free on their bandcamp site.
phaleez, all these bands are killer…the authors just take the kizzake.
Thanks Austin Town Hall for the love and respect!!! Our song is called “Raise the Colors” but as long as you’re listening you can call it whatever you want! Thanks Austin
This is an awesome list!