Hey there boys and girls -- the year 2010 is off like a cheap prom dress, and now is about the time to begin discussing important things like the best albums that have graced our eardrums here at Second Drawer Up HQ. It's been a bumper year for exquisitely exciting electronic music releases, and after a veritable shitload of listening, judging, and making up rules as we go along, we've finally chosen eleven (why eleven? because it's 2011, that's why) albums that really got us moving, thinking, feeling, and humming. Please note that these are in no particular order. I just wrote them on a pad of paper, numbered them, and then asked my wife to give me two numbers at random. Voilá -- SDU's complicated voting system finally revealed! So. Without any further ado, here are numbers 11 and 10 on my list. Enjoy, and check back often; I'll be plowing through this list throughout the weekend. Cheers, my lovely readers, and I hope you had a lovely and safe New Year's celebration!
11.
PANTHA DU PRINCE
BLACK NOISE
The first thing you might become aware of whilst listening to Pantha du Prince's stunning third full-length Black Noise is, that even amongst all the synths, drum programming, and samples that are on display, how bloody organic it sounds. Born Hendrik Weber, the Germany-based DJ and producer had long possessed an affinity for the mountains and the snow. After learning about subtle sounds on a register far too low for humans to hear -- black noise, as opposed to the white variety -- and how an avalanche can be caused by them. Maybe, he posited, black noise can also be a warning, as well? Black Noise began to be pieced together in the high-altitude atmosphere of the German Alps. Using samples of natural phenomena, and synthesizing the sounds of ice crystals, pressure, swaying trees, and the incidental noises of a sleepy alpine town unaware of the danger silently swooping down from above, Mr Weber has created a gorgeous, delicate, and infinitely serene piece of electronic music that is guaranteed to massage the mind, as well as the ears. From the achingly beautiful opener "Lay In A Shimmer" to the somewhat menacing "Stick To My Side" to "Welt am Draht" ("World on Fire", also a 1973 German science fiction flick directed by Rainer Werner), which turns up the urgency, Black Noise is one of those albums that rewards one through repeat listens from beginning to end. Putting it on shuffle doesn't work for this record. It's beautiful, it's a bit chilly, and it's majestic -- a mini-universe in its own right. Check it out. Now, here's Pantha du Prince's "Stick To My Side". Accompanied by Panda Bear from Animal Collective!
10.
CRYSTAL CASTLES
CRYSTAL CASTLES II
Oh, those tricksters from Toronto, Alice Glass and Ethan Kath! In May of 2010 they dropped their second full-length which, like their debut in 2008, is also entitled Crystal Castles. Formed when DJ and producer Kath witnessed the willowy Glass screaming her vocals at an audience at a punk show (she was in a band called Fetus Fatale), and then inviting her to record some vocals over some music he was putting together, Crystal Castles (not named after the video game, but rather the fortress She-Ra hang out in in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) embraces a slew of different facets of electronica. There's the jagged edges of pure, unadulterated noise, accompanied with the shrieking yelps of the hyperactive and vicious Glass (opener "Fainting Spells") that acts a bit like the drill a dentist might wield, except instead of grinding away at your teeth, it bores a hole in one's cranium with no mercy. Then there's the soaring '90s-style synths and house rhythms of "Baptism" sampled with 8-bit video-game sound effects. "Violent Dreams" moves like a disturbing fairy-tale one might read to a child to give it bad dreams, and then there's "Not In Love", which is as close to Chris & Cosey as you can get, I think (and, I'm pleased to add, has been re-released with vocals by the one and only Robert fucking Smith of The Cure!). Crystal Castles II is an album fraught with danger; all sharp edges and uncomfortable moments. It's certainly not a safe album -- in fact, I'd go so far as to say that Crystal Castles have managed to place their electronic fingers on the bridge of the psyche that exists on a plane somewhere between regret, guilt, violent thought, sadness, and anger. It's an emotional roller-coaster, to be sure, and it's fucking magnificent. I can listen to this shit all day. Here's "Violent Dreams" -- enjoy!
So! There are numbers 11 and 10 from SDU's "Top Eleven Albums of 2010". Please stay tuned; there are still nine more to go! Will your favourite make it to the list? Do you have any comments or complaints? What are some of your favourites? Let me know -- I'd love to meet some of my readers. Take care, and talk soon. Numbers 9 and 8, tomorrow! Peace out.
