Top Albums Of 2010, #40-31

31. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Australian psych rock band nicks the trappings of Dungen’s style, sings in English and gets catapulted into the hype-o-sphere. Sounds like a recipe for backlash to me. Innerspeaker is simply a very good psychedelic rock album. There are obvious debts to the Beatles, although more recent paisley-attired rockers like Mercury Rev and Apples In Stereo come to mind as well. Tame Impala do know their way around a good vocal hook, and like to play with texture enough to experiment a bit. This is slightly left of center stuff that you could easily play for unsuspecting classic rock fans. Tame Impala never get too far out the way an Olivia Tremor Control or Flaming Lips might. There is also enough variety to please a wide cross-section of music fans, from heavy riff rockers like “The Bold Arrow Of Time” to trippy psych pop tunes like “Solitude Is Bliss.” And it was much better than Dungen’s disappointingly boring new record.

32. Dessa – A Badly Broken Code
This is a beautiful, dark and emotionally compelling trip-hop album by Dessa, the siren/MC from the Doomtree collective. Her voice on these songs is always compelling, and her intimate, confessional lyrics are matched by the opaque beats laid down courtesy of Doomtree cohorts Laserbeak and Paper Tiger. Sounds like if Daria had listened to a lot of Massive Attack and Portishead. Dessa on “Children’s Work, “Mineshaft II” and “Matches To Paper Dolls” gives fantastic demonstrations of emotional power and compelling storytelling in her vocal performances.

33. Thee Oh Sees – Warm Slime
This record is less immediately accessible than previous albums like Help or The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In. For instance, there is nothing here as immediately catchy as here “Ruby Go Home.” Instead, Warm Slime opens with its sprawling title track, a 13 and a half minute garage psych opus. The rest of the album is made up of the kind of rock n’ roll rave-ups and exuberant hoot-along hooks that are this band’s bread and butter. Thee Oh Sees’ familiar stomping attack and boundless energy are what push these tunes over the top, resulting in a veritable half hour of power. This is a lively and rambunctious band that is deeply rooted in the greaser garage rock tradition. Fortunately this style is enjoying yet another resurgence, and aggressive rock n’ roll rebels like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, The Sharp Ends, and Myelin Sheaths are big reasons why.

34. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Bradford Cox and company have completed their transition from skuzzy noise punk terrorists to dream pop iconoclasts with Halcyon Digest. Their artistic stock remains high however, despite their less abrasive tendencies these days. The wistful autumnal feel of this record conveys an atmosphere of romantic nostalgia that is still tempered with enough propulsive rock sense to score big with indie rock fans, classic rock record collectors, guitar mangling noise enthusiasts and hazed out psych heads. The songwriting this time out is more consistent than on 2008’s Microcastle, and the sublime production and ethereal textures lends an otherworldly fog to the proceedings. The band always manages one stone classic per album, and Digest’s “Desire Lines” easily ranks with “Heatherwood” and “Nothing Ever Happened” among the best Deerhunter songs ever. Songs for walking in the leaves on a chilly day.

35. The Black Keys – Brothers
The Black Keys have been working the same territory for so long that it is easy to take them for granted. Over the past decade their greasy garage blues has been consistency defined, with each record sporting a generous helping of inspired songs. Their last couple albums wiped away some of the grime and tempered the approach with neo-psychedelic production flourishes that have even started to garner them legitimate mainstream success. Brothers continues this trend, and this time out soul infused vocals on songs like “Everlasting Light” and “Unknown Brother” are tempered with the gritty attack of Keys classics like “Next Girl” and “Long Gone.” Even the nifty single “Tighten Up” has finally gotten them some well-deserved play on that cultural desert known as modern rock radio.

36. Black Mountain – Wilderness Heart
So they did the professional studio in L.A. thing and wrote the most accessible album of their career. The band’s druggy murk and trademark ‘McBean-isms’ are conspicuously absent, so take from that what you will. I’ll take the early stuff any day, but “Let Spirits Ride” is a vicious thrasher and “Rollercoaster” absolutely crushes. Half the songs sound like rejected Pink Mountaintops songs though. Can you guys get back to rocking now please?

37. No Age – Everything In Between
Everything In Between is less noisy or visceral than either of No Age’s previous records. How you feel about the record will depend entirely on whether you think that is a good thing or not. While Nouns certainly packed a mean rock punch, I found that the short tracks and lo-fi recording caused the album to run together and become somewhat monotonous. Everything In Between is actually their longest album to date, but the band’s enhanced grasp of dynamics has led them to construct a far better group of songs. This is also the most cleanly recorded album the band has had yet, and their attack has been sharpened as a result. The choruses are bigger and the guitars hit harder. Again, your thoughts on the lo-fi aesthetic will dictate your response to this record. There is no single track to match either “Teen Creeps” or “Every Artist Needs A Tragedy” for previous records, but standouts like “Glitter,” “Fever Dreaming” and “Shred And Transcend” are all great rock songs with fully-formed melodic ideas at their core.

38. Caribou – Swim
Caribou consistently make lush, ornate records that envelop the listener in their warm electronic tones. So it’s no surprise that Caribou has been up to mostly the same thing since we last heard from them. Leadoff track “Odessa” rides a spooky off-kilter disco beat and features the ethereal vocals that have been a Caribou trademark since the Manitoba days, while “Sun” boasts some absolutely gorgeous analogue synth tones and “Leave House” sports a nifty motorik groove. Perfect for headphone listening or you know, like a car commercial or something.

39. White Hills – White Hills
Another space rock opus from these guys, who definitely have more than a little of Lemmy-era Hawkwind’s DNA (and probably some other substances) running through their veins. Similar to UK kings of speed Litmus or Oregon laser-metal dudes Danava, perhaps with a touch of Superjudge-era Monster Magnet’s grizzled biker grooves, these guys do not mind stretching out and letting the jams take off. Set the controls for the heart of the sun.

40. Wolf Parade – Expo ‘86
Quebec indie rock super-group makes another solid album. Considering the songwriting and instrumental firepower this group possesses, it’s not surprising they once again have produced a superb batch of songs. There’s no epic to match “Kissing the Beehive,” but “Pobody's Nerfect” sports a great ramshackle rhythm and the drummer sounds like he’s beating his snare into the floor while classically wailing leads make this song the highlight of a very good album.