Massive Attack's return after a near seven-year radio silence seems to me a perfect way to come back. It's not trying to be an enormous answer to '98s Mezzanine, the album that any album by the group would be compared to (and had been in the case of '03s 100th Window). Heligoland forgoes the monster bass and thick sounds for space and precise songwriting.
Maybe it's just the pre-loaded suggestion of the band name going into each listening, but the combination of Casey Dienel's clear voice, sparse but effective arrangements, dubby beats and bass, and judicious use of reverb puts alternating images of icy fields and close crops of snowy trees into my head. I don't think any other album this year did more with less.
I enjoyed their 2008 release Some are Lakes but the only tracks that stood out past the standard indie sound of throaty guitar and bash-y drums were the fantastic It's Okay and the end track Troubled. These songs hinted at some great songwriting potential that I was hoping to see on their next release. I wasn't expecting to have a beginning-to-end solid record that impressed on every track.
Awesome singles of the year
jj - Let Them
The pauses totally make the song, kind of how the pauses work on Freetime by Kenna. This was pulled from jj's mixtape Kills. I think I like the mixtape, released on Christmas Eve, better than their album No. 3, also released this year.
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
Dance track of the summer, for real. We listened to Body Talk pt.1 like 10 times driving from UT to SoCal and back.
HEALTH - USA Boys
The beat and arpeggiation on this track are crazy, thundering sex. Don't expect me to say that again.
Live Performance of the Year
Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (Live VMA 2010)
Seriously. She straight killed it. I don't care that it was on the VMAs. Her voice fills entire days.
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