New Iron and Wine

Really Sam Beam? You took this long to put out this album? It's just a Bright Eyes wannabe project. And Bright Eyes sucked to begin with. Put down the sequencers and pick up your banjo again!

RIP Charlie Louvin

On Wednesday, legendary gospel and country singer Charlie Louvin passed away. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for years and remained active in music up until this year, when he releases his last album The Battle Rages On.

Louvin is probably best known for his gospel stylings with his brother Ira as the Louvin Brothers. The album cover for "Satan is Real" is often trotted out as one of the worst album covers ever, but the music within is earnest and classic country gospel. Louvin was 83.

Best of 2010 #5: Efterklang - Magic Chairs (4AD)

I first discovered Denmark's Efterklang back in 2007 with their Parades album they put out on oddball electronic/indy pop label Leaf. I was interested in what they were doing, but it seemed their sound hadn't fully come together yet. With their 2010 album, Magic Chairs, the band has pulled out more of the pop hooks and added them to their already loopy electronics. This album flew under the radar of a lot of critics, probably because it was released back in February. I think it's wonderful.

New Earshot reviews

Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights

Caught Off Guard! - S/T

Old World Vulture - S/T

Type Monkey Type - Jungle Noise

Wolf and Cub - Science and Sorcery

Curiously, they didn't print my review of Cygnets - Bleak Anthems, which was one of my favourite albums of the year. Second, there's now a handy index linking to every other review I've written for !earshot, which is very nice.

Best of 2010: #6 - Kele - The Boxer (Glassnote)

Britain's Bloc Party have had so much success, I guess it was time for lead singer Kele Okereke to try a solo project. This debut solo album is almost as good as the first Bloc Party album, and allowed Kele to try some more electronic-based songs. The album is a solid mix of driving electronics and spacy noise-rock.

Best of 2010: #7 - Suuns - Zeroes QC (Secretly Canadian)

A welcome addition to the Canadian indy rock scene, Montreal's Suuns play a dark and spacy form of indy rock, equal parts Mogwai and To Rococo Rot. Zeroes QC is their debut full length, produced by Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes.

Best of 2010: #8 - Devo - Something For Everybody (Warner)

Without question, this was the album I was most looking forward to. Back in 2008, Devo announced they were working on a new album scheduled for 2009. That got pushed back to 2010, and it was finally released in the summer. Devo are one of my most favourite musical acts. I love them for there playfulness, sarcasm and innovation. Something for Everybody was Devo's first album in 20 years, and it's not exactly vintage Devo, but it's pretty close. There are 7-8 solid tracks on the album and it holds together as an album, rather than just a collection of songs. It's good enough for #8 on my best of 2010.

The first single, Fresh, is excellent, but the best track on the album is What We Do.



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Best of 2010: #9 - Yeasayer - Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian)

Brooklyn's trio Yeasayer's second album Odd Blood was a bold step forward for the band. Their first releases in 2007 were noodly, spacy indy rock with experimental influences. Odd Blood adds more electronics to the mix and gives the band a much fuller sound. The next album will be the test for this band, to see where they take their sound next.

Warning: Creepy video ahead:

Best of 2010: #10: !!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It (Warp)

For the next couple of weeks, I'll be taking a look at some of my favourite albums of the past year. At #10, it's !!!

Yes, the band is called !!!, pronounced usually as chk-chk-chk. Their last album, Myth Takes, was one of my favourite albums of 2007 and this album is their first since the tragic and unforeseen death of drummer Jerry Fuchs in 2009. Strange Weather, Isn't It sees the band still making slinky, playful electro-funk, but the sound is slightly more subdued, slightly less angular. Just slightly more mature. This isn't the same back that recorded "Pardon My Freedom", but it's pretty close. The band sounds more focused and seem poised to make a step into something bigger.

RIP Mick Karn

2011 is already bringing in the loss of amazing musicians. January 4th brought the death of Gerry Rafferty, who`s death is dominating the music news now, but also the death of the undeerrated Mick Karn. If you grew up in the 80s and were a bit into the fringes of what was going on, you probably heard some of Karn`s music.

Karn`s musical career started with Japan in 1974, a stylish art rock/new wave band, who released several critically acclaimed albums, all full of dark, spacy and highly stylized new wave. After Japan broke up in 1982, Karn joined Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy to form Dali's Car and he also joined Gary Numan's band.

Karn was suffering from an undisclosed type of cancer at the time of his death. He was 52.