February 2010
Albums released in February 2010, ranked |
| 1 |  | Daniel Bjarnason
Procession
The conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra releases an album of original compositions. This guy is
one of the men behind the scenes of all the awesome music coming out of Iceland, and his compositions
are powerful examples of the best modern classical music. |
| 2 | | The Souljazz Orchestra
Rising Sun
An afrobeat album, The Souljazz Orchestra present an album of jazz with intricate, groovy rhythm that
makes jazz accessible for all. Imagine Jaga Jazzist going to Africa. |
| 3 |  | Pantha du Prince
Black Noise
You all know about this one. Excellent. |
| 4 |  | Shearwater
The Golden Archipelago
Such an improvement over Rook. Probably the best indie rock album I've heard all year, and I'll be
surprised if many can top it. |
| 5 | | Jack Rose
Luck in the Valley
A posthumous album from the guitarist of Pelt that makes Sir Richard Bishop sound like an amateur.
Deeply rooted in Americana and bluegrass, Luck in the Valley is a fun and engaging release. |
| 6 |  | Fang Island
Fang Island
Andrew W.K. experimenting with post-rock. |
| 7 |  | Local Natives
Gorilla Manor
Fleet Foxes melodies, Grizzly Bear instrumentation, and excellent production make a truly winning
combination. |
| 8 | | Aidan Baker
Liminoid/Lifeforms
The guitarist of Nadja continues with his prolific output on an album nearly an hour long consisting of only
two compositions. Drone music with real substance. |
| 9 | | Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson
Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson
A bit lengthy, but an impressively consistent double album of a post-rock band experimenting with vocals
with pretty good success. |
| 10 | | Motion Turns It On
Kaleidoscopic Equinox
I've only listened to this once so far, as I just got it yesterday, but it's a really excellent instrumental
album with high energy. |
| 11 |  | Johnny Cash
American VI: Ain't No Grave
Cash is endlessly consistent, and Rubin picked some excellent songs to put out as the reported last album
of the American Recordings series. |
| 12 | | Valgeir Siguršsson
Draumalandiš
Like Bjarnason, Valgeir is another large influence on the Icelandic music scene as the owner of Bedroom
Community, the record label that released Processions. His music pails in comparison to Bjarnason, but
still a blissful neoclassical release. |
| 13 | | Yellow Swans
Going Places
The short-lived Yellow Swans released endless amounts of music, and Going Places is their final release, an
excellent noise album that subtly develops throughout. It'll take a few more listens to really get this one. |
| 14 |  | Balmorhea
Constellations
Another Balmorhea album. Good, but not great. |
| 15 |  | Efterklang
Magic Chairs
Magic Chairs is unfortunately safe, and never striking. |
| 16 |  | Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Kollaps Tradixionales
I don't know. Efrim makes bad choices. |
| 17 |  | Akira Kosemura
Grassland
While the music is nice, Kosemura severely lacks on the production end of this electronica album. |
| 18 | | Her Name Is Calla
Long Grass
A short EP that shows the former post-rock band going in a completely new, folky direction with mixed
results. |
| 19 |  | Eluvium
Similes
Cooper needs to gain some confidence with his new direction. Similes was certainly an experiment without
any real conviction. |
| 20 |  | Past Lives
Tapestry of Webs
Why is this good? |
| 21 |  | Midlake
The Courage of Others
Disappointingly repetitive and dull. |
| 22 |  | Apparatjik
We Are Here
Mew vocalist, Coldplay bassist, and some guy from a-ha make a weirdly intangible album. |
| 23 |  | BT
These Hopeful Machines
Jared Leto lyrics behind okay techno beats. |
| 24 |  | Massive Attack
Heligoland
This should actually be higher, 15 or so, but I totally forgot to put it on. My bad. |
|
