Category Archives: Yearly Top 10

Top 10 Songs of 2010

As per tradition (if something can be called a tradition if you’ve only done it once before…) here’s my list of the top songs of 2010.  Well, it’s something of a misnomer, to be honest, as most of my favourite songs of the year have already featured in my Top 10 Albums post, so this is an opportunity to recognise the impressive efforts of those bands who weren’t eligible for inclusion on that list.  Some of these are good tracks from otherwise bad albums, others from records that only missed out by the skin of their teeth, and yet more come from bands who didn’t release a full album this year.  No matter what their provenance, however, all ten of these songs are well deserving of their places.  When viewed together, the Top 10 Albums and Top 10 Songs lists are a solid representation of what I think the best music of 2010 was.

10. My Best Theory by Jimmy Eat World.  Jimmy Eat World were at one time lauded for being one of the only bands from their scene to hit the big time without sacrificing any of their integrity.  Sadly their albums have spiralled downward from the genius levels of Clarity and Bleed American, and this years effort, Invented, was their worst yet.  Lyrically hackneyed and sounding like it was put together with very little thought at all, it seems like a sad end for what was once a fantastic band.  Despite its failings, however, I found myself listening to the lead single, My Best Theory, an awful lot this year. 

9. Fantasist in March by Lupen Crook. I was absolutely certain that Lupen Crook was going to be huge in 2006, but after releasing a series of interesting yet commercially untenable albums he’s virtually sunk without trace.  His strangely compelling lyricisms and 12-string stylings did manage to poke their head above the parapet for a moment this year, but I think this is probably the last track of any quality that we’ll be seeing from him, alas.


8. I Think Ur A Contra by Vampire Weekend.  For an album that was hyped to high heaven, Vampire Weekend’s sophomore effort, Contra, was something of a wet sock.  I liked their first album – not as much as some, to be sure, but I did like it – but Contra left me very cold indeed.  The final track, however, is a little slice of production genius, so while they weren’t within a country mile of the Top 10 Albums list, they scoop a consolation placement here.


7. Pittsburgh by We Are Scientists.  Yet again We Are Scientists have managed to produce a really boring album that has one track on it that I just can’t stop listening to.  Pittsburgh was smuggled in among the morass of mediocrity that made up their LP Barbara, and is an absolute gem of a track; a poignant reminder that WAS actually can write a pretty darned good song when they put their minds to it. Read my full review of their album here.


6. Not In Love by Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith.  I don’t normally have any time for Crystal Castles; their music is just not my cup of tea at all, which I imagine will come of no surprise to my regular readers.  If I want to listen to dance music then… well, I may as well chop my ears off, quite frankly.  As far as I’m concerned it’s the last haven for the criminally unmusical; the only thing worse than a dance track is a dance track remix… Add Robert Smith into the mix, however, and I’m all ears; this cheeky little cover warrants a pretty decent placement on this list purely because it’s so nice to hear his dulcet tones again.


5. The Wrong Car by The Twilight Sad.  This first half of this list has been made up solely of good tracks from bad albums.  At this point I can take a more cheerful, upward-looking view of the year’s music.  This stonkingly good record only missed out on inclusion in the Top 10 Albums list as it’s nought but a lowly EP.  Despite it’s diminutive stature, it’s a pretty solid collection of songs, of which the title track, The Wrong Car, is the real stand-out. Read my full review of their EP here.


4. Over and Over by Gregory & the Hawk.  This track comes from a very good album indeed, and only missed out on a place in the top ten albums because, whilst very good, it wasn’t quite as good as the ten LPs that did make the list.  A sterling effort, nonetheless, and had all the songs been as good as this one then the album could well have topped that list.  In the last month or so I’ve been listening to Over and Over over and over and over…

3. Zorbing by Stornoway.  I first came across this fantastic song when the band played a BBC session at this year’s Glastonbury.  Alas, the production on their album doesn’t quite capture the magic of their live presence; they’re trying to make it too ethereal, when in my view a more grounded, less reverb-heavy approach would suit them better.  Thankfully all the production niggles in the world couldn’t stop this track from being absolutely super.


2. Pretty Fair Damsel by Sam Amidon.  The Toad Session Sam Amidon did of this track was one of the musical highlights of 2009, so I really wasn’t expecting the recorded version of Pretty Fair Damsel to be anywhere near as good.  Thankfully Sam’s approach to recording is completely different to his attitude when playing live, so this version can really be viewed as a completely separate entity.  Which ever version you hear, Sam Amidon is providing a refreshingly novel approach to traditional music; one that a lot of the current crop of trendy “nu folkies” could learn an awful lot from.


1. Ten Paces by Toodar. Oh if only these guys had recorded a full album – how fantastic it would have been! Still, it’s early days for yet for Toodar, and their star is still on the ascendent, so I’m hoping for an album soon.  There was a lot of shuffling and re-shuffling in the order of this list prior to publication, but the one thing that didn’t change was that this song was in the top slot.  By far and away the best song I’ve heard all year. Read my full review of their EP here.


Top 10 Albums of 2010

With Christmas now behind us for another year we can all pick our selves up, shake of the excess wrapping paper and chocolate and resume our normal routines.  Being just days away from the new year it’ll soon be time to look towards the future, but for now it’s time for a nostalgic look back at the year past; it’s list time, folks! While this might be the correct moment to write a retrospective look at the whole decade*, I think I’ll limit myself to the more manageable task of listing my favourite 10 albums that 2010 had to offer.

It’s been an interesting year for music, but strangely it’s been one that has thrown up fewer “new” musical passions than previous years.  Looking back at my Top 10 from 2008, 7 of those albums were debut LPs by new artists, and while I didn’t publish my “best of 2009″ the ratio of new acts to established ones was much the same.  This year, however, only 4 of the albums are debuts.  It seems to have been a year for great albums by well loved bands, but this in itself took me a little by surprise as there has been a whole slew of albums by bands I already loved that didn’t live up to expectations at all.  There was a certain element of schadenfreude in seeing the mediocre efforts by darlings of the HypeMachine  (Vampire Weekend and MGMT) sink without trace, but Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Jim Moray, Band of Horses, Johnny Flynn and We Are Scientists should all have been capable of much better.  This rather dismal showing from such highly anticipated records has had the effect of clearing the way for less obvious successes, and has made for a much more varied list than previous years have thrown up.

So without further ado, here is the moment you’ve all been waiting for since January; the official Eaten by Monsters blog Top Ten of 2010:

10. Lights by Ellie Goulding. By including this record I’m aware that I’m in danger of undermining any credibility I may have, particularly at this early stage in proceedings.  Hopefully you’ll have the fortitude and strength of character to continue reading the next 9 entries, where you’ll learn that I’m not actually the manipulated pop hound that this entry would suggest.  This one is most definitely a “guilty pleasure”, to co-opt an expression from the tabloids.  Goulding topped the BBC’s sound of 2010 list back in January, and as a result I gave the record a listen.  Although I despise everything it stands for, abhor all the production tricks and pour scorn on the poor quality of the songwriting I just can’t stop listening to it! Like a pernicious virus it has managed to infect most of the past twelve months of my listening, so in the interests of full disclosure I can’t help but include it here, albeit with plenty of caveats.


9. Total Life Forever by Foals. I quite liked Foals’ last record, but didn’t really think it was anything all that special.  It was a little bit too “trendy”, and it goes without saying that any band that can be described as “darlings of the NME” probably aren’t going to be my cup of tea at all.  And with their latest effort, Total Life Forever, they’re still just as achingly hip, but this time it’s tempered with an earnestness that just about overrides the hipster aspect.  No band that cares this much can ever be truly cool, so now I feel I can enjoy their music with impunity.

8. All Creatures Will Make Merry by Meursault. Meursault’s 2009 EP, Nothing Broke, seemed to be the moment when vast swathes of the public realised that the band were actually rather good, but strangely enough it didn’t have that effect on me.  While the new-found acoustic sensibilities were well meaning and competently executed, I found myself missing the electronic elements that made their debut LP so bewitching.  Thankfully All Creatures Will Make Merry has fused the best bits of both of their “sounds” to great effect, and heralds a stunning return to form.

7. Odd Blood by Yeasayer. This LP is alone on this list for being the only record that I don’t feel works properly as an album.  All the other entries here are records that have mastered the exquisite pushing and pulling of tension and the sense of an overarching vision that are essential when crafting a bona-fide album.  So why has it made this list? Quite frankly, solely on the strength of the individual songs themselves.  Much like Ellie Goulding’s Lights, Odd Blood has wheedled its way into my affections by simply having great songs.  And as a festive bonus the band are giving away a rather impressive live album (in exchange for nothing more than an e-mail address) over at their website.

6. Broadcast 2000 by Broadcast 2000.  This LP is an example of that rare and mythical beast, an album that is clearly great from the first few seconds of the first listen.  Much as I expected at the time, repeat listens have revealed it to be slightly less than the instant classic that first impressions suggested, but it is nonetheless still a very good record indeed.  Home-recorded albums often have an intangible, but instantly recognisable sheen to them that identifies them as the work of just one person, and while that is certainly in evidence here, the record still manages to rise above the morass of other self-produced efforts.

5. Becoming a Jackal by Villagers. I came rather late to the Villagers’ party, and being as I like to pride myself on being ahead of the curve, my ego wouldn’t let me like this record for a good long while; if all these people started to pay attention before I did, then it’s clearly not going to be any good, I told myself.  Thankfully I’ve now come to my senses and accepted the fact that this record is so popular purely because it is, indeed, excellent. You can read my full review of this album here.

4. High Violet by The National.  As it was the full-length followup to 2007′s Boxer, the expectations were high for The National’s fifth studio album.  In many ways it’s conformed to this years trend in that it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but being as my expectations were so high it’s no great failure on their part.  Despite not being the life changing opus I was hoping for, High Violet is an exceptionally consistent album.  There are no real stand-out tracks, but that’s only because the whole record is of a uniformly high standard.  You can read my full review of this album here.

3. Perch Patchwork by Maps & Atlases. This is the record that Vampire Weekend should have made.  Instead, the baton of rhythmic exuberance has been passed to this four-piece from Chicago, who are more than up to the challenge.  I had my misgivings on the first few listens owing to the overly cheerful atmosphere, but it turns out that this album does have the punching power to hold its own amongst the more heavyweight releases of the year.  ”In vogue” and yet never derivative, Perch Patchwork makes for a worthy number 3.  You can read my full review of this album here.

2. The Winter of Mixed Drinks by Frightened Rabbit. If anything, my expectations for this release were even higher than for High Violet.  Very rarely does an album capture my attention as thoroughly as Frighten Rabbit’s last studio album, The Midnight Organ Fight, did.  With a string of fantastic singles serving only to heighten my sense of anticipation, The Winter of Mixed Drinks may not have actually exceeded the standard set by their last record, but it has at least lived up to it, while at the same time moving the band’s sound forwards.  One of the highlights of this Christmas was getting the vinyl box set of all their recent singles.  You can read my full review of this album here.

1. Bang Goes the Knighthood by The Divine Comedy. I’ve always been a firm fan of The Divine Comedy, but it’s always been off the back of individual songs; a large percentage of my all-time-favourite-songs lie within Neil Hannon’s back catalogue, but I’ve never been enamoured of an entire album of his stuff.  So it was quite a shock when I discovered, almost by accident, that he’d released a new album, and that furthermore it was exceedingly excellent from start to finish.   You can read my full review of this album here.

*remember, there wasn’t a year zero, so the new decade starts on the 1st of January 2011…

Top 10 Albums of 2008

I know this is almost a whole month premature, but there’s all sorts of reasons for getting my list out early.  December is the time when everyone begins to take stock of the year’s achievements and gets all nostalgic about the blue remembered hills of the past twelve months, so there’s a more receptive audience for this kind of post.  Plus, when January comes around it’ll be time to look forward to the bright and promising future, so nostalgia is officially banned.  It’s also nearly Christmas and lists like this one are an easy way to decide on presents for people.  The guys at Hype Machine are compiling their Music Blog Zeitgeist 2008, so I have to publish my list before the fifteenth for it to be eligible, and  December is traditionally a rubbish month for music anyway.  As a result of the (100% guaranteed to be horrendous) Christmas No. 1 Battle, if a label releases an “alternative” record in December it’s because they’re 100% sure it will flop.  So hopefully there won’t be any great records that miss out on their deserved place on this list.

2008′s been an exceedingly good year for music, and compiling this list was a tough, tough process.  Thankfully I’m the kind of person who takes perverse pleasure in attributing arbitrary relative values to songs and fitting them into a meritocracy (as evidenced by the weekly Top Fives).  It must be noted that a lot of my favourite music from 2008 didn’t come from an actual album, so I will be writing a Top 10 Songs of 2008 post probably nearer to the actual end of the year.

So here it is – the moment we’ve all been waiting for since January:

alasicannotswim_cover10. Alas I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling.  Back in December last year it seemed as if this girl was all set to be the “big thing” of ’08.  What with her impressive WtOTVS appearance, guest BV slots with Noah and the Whale and The Mystery Jets (both of whom released goodish albums this year too), and her song Night Terror being an iTunes Single of the Week, world domination seemed to be a certainty.  She did okay, but sadly not well enough to live up to the hype.  Alas I Cannot Swim is a super album, but lacked the necessary lyrical oomph to push it further up this list; there were some great songs on it, but too many of the tracks sounded like “filler”.  Her next album, I’m sure, will be something really special.


whenthehaarrollsin_cover9. When the Haar Rolls In by James Yorkston.  This album has almost exactly the same texture as his past few records, but when you sound this good consistency is no bad thing.  Every time he releases a new CD there’s loads of press chatter about how this’ll-be-the-one-that-breaks-him-into-the-mainstream, but his records always seems to slip under the radar, which is a darned shame.


vampireweekend_cover8. Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend.  A rarity in that it was lauded by both the music press and the popular press, this little record did rather well for itself in the early part of the year.  It’s stuffed full of great songs, but the most enjoyable part of it is that the listening experience changes over time.  After repeated listening the songs that initially grabbed your attention now seem somewhat flat and predictable, and it’s other songs from the record that grow into true favourites. 


seldomseenkid_cover7. The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow.  I guess this is the only properly Radio 1 friendly record on this list, and as a rule I normally try to steer clear of all the populist nonsense that those peddlers of filth and payola try to ram down our throats.  Sadly I was sucked in, but not really with any regret, as this album is quite deserving of all the accolades that have been heaped upon it.  It contains no great songs as such, but the sheer quality of the production (all done by the band themselves) more than takes the load.


poormansheaven_cover6. Poor Man’s Heaven by Seth Lakeman.  Seized upon by the Radio 2 folky brigade following his Mercury nomination for Kitty Jay, Lakeman had been threatening to become successful for ages, but was held back by the sorely disappointing Freedom Fields (his second album, and the first to be made since he came into the public eye).  Poor Man’s Heaven is by no means Lakeman’s magnum opus (I believe his best work is still to come), he has finally delivered on all the potential he displayed in his first album.  Bad news for agoraphobes, however, as Lakeman is only truly in his element when seen live, when the songs are injected with far more energy and passion than he is capable of delivering in the studio.


fallingoffthelavenderbridge_cover5. Falling off the Lavender Bridge by Lightspeed Champion.  Another act that showed great promise early in the year, Lightspeed Champion, a.k.a. Dev Hynes (né Test Icicles) was the darling of the music press (particularly the NME) when he released a series of free-to-download EPs from his website.  The album proper was produced in Omaha by Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes fame) who is a god in my eyes, so I was sure I was going to love it.  Despite, or maybe because of, all this expectation, on first listening I was left a little wanting.  The standout songs (of which there are quite a few) seemed to be quite sparse on the ground.  After about a week of repeat listening, however, the album began to coalesce into a definite set; that is, the songs worked as an album, and I’d strongly recommend that this record be listened to from start to finish.


alarum_cover24. A Larum by Johnny Flynn (& the Sussex Wit). Full of all the Shakespearean, archaic turns of phrase that one would expect from a dedicated thespian (Flynn is a regular touring actor and fell into music almost by accident) this album was released in a blaze of absolutely no publicity at all.  Many of the songs had been kicking around on mp3 blogs for a while before the record was released (the Sussex Wit was dropped from the moniker for the official release, but the band playing on the record is still the same group of players).  As a result you can get almost the whole record for free, which has obviously harmed the CD’s sales as I imagine readers of music blogs would be Johnny’s core fan base.


Pissing/Kissing cover3. Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues by Meursault. I reviewed this record quite recently, so I shan’t blather on about it too much here.  Needless to say it’s pretty damn super, and your lives will all be enhanced greatly by its presence in your life.


angles_cover2. Angles by Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip.  This record puts me completely out of my comfort zone.  British Hip-Hop (is that what the kids are calling it these days?) has never been my first choice of listening material, but I stumbled across the Thou Shalt Always Kill single a year or so ago, and loved it so much that when this album came out I bought it straight away.  If I’m honest I was expecting little more than a mildly diverting comedy record, but Angles is so much more than that.  Engaging and effecting in equal measure, this is a rare album that delivers on virtually every front.


foremma_cover1. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver.  This one will be on everyone’s end of year lists, but deservedly so, as it’s the best album I’ve heard in ages.  All the hype and praise still hasn’t spoilt the listening experience, which is a danger with universally loved records. As a result of its success there’s not all that much left for me to say about it, other than that if you haven’t heard it yet then you really should.