the most absolutely wonderful things I listened to in 2010.

January 3, 2011 | Filed Under Music 

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
if you know me at all you know I harbor more than a mild obsession with these guys. in fact it borders on pathological. I could never explain it, I just know their music gets to me in ways that very, very few other things do.
“Liar” which wasn’t actually on the album, but which might just be my favourite of theirs. at least for the time being.

Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer
This was probably the first absolute flooring I got in 2010. It might have started in late 2009, I can’t honestly remember, but it was certainly 2010 in which it continued to floor me over and over again. Even now when I’m sort of half-way over all the emotional attachments I had to this album, it continues to be a lyrical, as well as general, masterpiece.
“Runs in the Family” = lyrical brilliance like no other
“Have to Drive” because it kills me. in the very best of ways

Säkert! – Facit
I bought this one literally the day I left for England, so I didn’t have much time to listen to it, and when I did I was not exactly underwhelmed, but not really gripped either. But sometimes you have to stick with things, and when I did, it payed off to a huge degree. According to last.fm this is my most listened to album of all time. That might not be exactly descriptive of my love for it, but it is one fantastic, heartbreaking, wonderful piece of art. Annika Norlin, I fucking love you.
“Dansa, fastän” dance because your heart is bleeding. enough said.

As Tall As Lions – As Tall As Lions
I can’t explain why I like this one. It has no clearly defined songs that forces you to sing along, and it is the kind of music that would usually only be used for lazy background-listening by me. It’s not even that I love this band in general, this is the only one of their albums which keeps me listening even after the twentieth repeat. Together with the next album, which is sort of similar in many respects, this was the soundtrack to the first few months of my 2010. And it is still just as brilliant.
“Love, Love, Love”. I admit it is super-weird for me to listen to their songs on their own, you really need to listen to the whole album through, but this is still brilliance in every sense of the word.

Mimicking Birds – Mimicking Birds
Basically everything I wrote about the previous album applies to this one. In fact, they’re both kind of linked in my mind. I found them at roughly the same time, and they have exactly the same effect on me where I have to listen to them on repeat for days on end before I tire. The only difference is that these guys didn’t just break up, and have only released one album which means that I might be in for a world of glorious new music from them in the future. Thank fucking God.
“Burning Stars” all we are is burning stars. easily one of the best lines I heard in 2010. just listening to this now is putting me in an emotional state that I’m not sure I want to visit, but oh my is it beautiful here.

Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave
Tallest Man on Earth – Wild Hunt
Before I say anything else, I would like to point out that I did not start listening to this guy in 2010. I had listened to his first album since it came out in 2008. I’ve loved him forever. DO YOU HEAR THAT KRISTIAN!? Wanna elope now?
Okay, I’m better now.
Apart from providing me with what was probably the best night of this past year, if not one of the best of my life, when I sat, slightly feverish, on the floor in the middle aisle of the church, very, very close to this guy singing his heart out, this music is unlike anything I have ever heard before. Even though his style of music on paper might be kind of conventional and done a million times over, it isn’t. I have never heard a voice like his voice, and I have never heard someone express things the way he expresses things. The fact that he’s from Sweden and uses the English language just like it’s meant to be used, without consideration of rules and conventions, just makes him all the more magnificent. Every single one of his songs can be dissected into hundreds of wonderful pieces, and when I think of those few musicians who reside in that little special place in my heart, he is definitely one of them.
“Graceland”. I know I’ve linked to this before, and I know it’s not on any of these albums, but it slays me. Absolutely slays me.
“Where do my Bluebird Fly”. The stand-out song from that night in the church, and believe me when I say that that’s saying something

Seeing as only two of these albums were actually released in 2010 (way to go making this list completely irrelevant right away), these were the things I liked (just not on the same level) that were
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (we got there at last, even though it took a while)
Basia Bulat – Heart of My Own (what a discovery. Just amazing and delightful all at once)
David Ford – Let the Hard Times Roll (mostly for to hell with the world, I still love you my girl, but I don’t think Mr. Ford can do much wrong, to be honest.
Broken Records – Let Me Come Home (the relief when my favourite Edinburgh-boys didn’t disappoint me with their second album. it’s just as good as their debut, if not better)
Fyfe Dangerfield – Fly Yellow Moon (I still want to marry him for his last name. This didn’t exactly improve that situation)
Johnossi – Mavericks (I refuse to believe that these guys are Swedish. They are too good. In that british-rockband kind of a way.)
Jónsi – Go (one of the best shows I’ve ever seen was his one. Mainly for the overall artistic vision of it. Sigur Rós will always be my true love, but this is pretty darned brilliant. And hopeful)
Josh Ritter – So Runs The World Away (Oh Josh. I’m just so glad you exist.)
Kent – En Plats I solen (It’s kent. I mean what more do you really need?)
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (Darker than her first one. I like darkness.)
Oskar Linnros – Vilja Bli (I listened to this more times than I’d like to admit. It’s kind of uneven, but when it’s good.. oooh its good)
Robyn – Body Talk Pts. 1-3 (it’s Robyn. she’s awesome. end of story.)
Yann Tiersen – Dust Lane (didn’t really click for me until I saw it performed, but it is a true work of art)

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