Top 20 Albums 2010-2012, Pt. 2

11) Artist: BADBADNOTGOOD
      Album: BBNG2
      Year: 2012
      From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
      Key Tracks: Earl, Rotten Decay, Flashing Lights
      Current price on Play.com: Unavailable (too cool)

12) Artist: Connan Mockasin

      Album: Forever Dolphin Love

      Year: 2011

      From: Te Awanga, New Zealand

      Key Tracks: Forever Dolphin Love, Megumi The Milkyway Above, It's 

      Choade My Dear

      Current price on Play.com: €11.49

      WARNING: This album is equal parts strange and beautiful, and maybe 

      disturbing all at once.

      Also worth checking out his acoustic version of 'Megumi'  

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Wok0PHqy8

13) Artist: The Drums

      Album: Portamento

      Year: 2011

      From: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Book of Revelations, Days, What You Were

      Current price on Play.com: €10.49

14) Artist: Gang Gang Dance

      Album: Eye Contact

      Year: 2011

      From: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Mindkilla, Glass Jar, Romance Layers

      Current price on Play.com: €10.99

15) Artist: CunninLynguists

      Album: Oneirologoy

      Year: 2011

      From: Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Hard As They Come (Act I), Stars Shine Brightest (In The 

      Night Sky), Looking Back

      Current price on Play.com: Unavailable

16) Artist: The Bambi Molesters

      Album: As The Dark Wave Swells

      Year: 2011

      From: Sisak, Croatia

      Key Tracks: As The Dark Wave Swells, Wrong Turn, Into The Crimson   

      Sunset

      Current price on Play.com: €20.21 (or €9.49 mp3 download)

      Pulp Fiction meets The Good, The Bad and the Fugly

17) Artist: The Dead Weather

      Album: Sea of Cowards

      Year: 2010

      From: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Hussle & Cuss, Blue Blood Blues, I'm Mad, I Can't Hear You

      Current price on Play.com: €13.46

     

18) Artist: Beach House

     Album: Teen Dream

     Year: 2010

     From: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

     Key Tracks: Zebra, Silver Soul, Norway, 10 Mile Stereo, Real Love

     Current price on Play.com: €7.49 (buy it now - possibly my best album of  

     the last 3 years)

     

19) Artist: The Black Keys

      Album: Brothers

      Year: 2010

      From: Akron, Ohio, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Too many to select, at the moment Never Gonna Give You Up

      Current price on Play.com: €7.49 - another bargain, highly recommended

20) Artist: M83

      Album: Hurry Up We're Dreaming

      Year: 2011

      From: Antibes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

      Key Tracks: Midnight City, Reunion, Splendor

      Current price on Play.com: €9.96

      As an introduction I would highly recommend the excellent album   

      Saturdays=Youth

Top 20 Albums 2010-2012, Pt. 1

Below, via the medium of Youtube videos, I've set out the first 10 of my Top 20 albums since the beginning of 2010, in no particular order;

1) Artist: Beach House
    Album: Bloom
    Year: 2012
    From: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Key Tracks: Myth, Wild, Wishes
    Current price on Play.com: €12.98 (or a signed copy for €13.49)

 
2) Artist: Jack White
    Album: Blunderbuss
    Year: 2012
    From: Detroit, Michigan
    Key Tracks: Missing Pieces, Sixteen Saltines, Freedom At 21, I'm Shakin'
    Current price on Play.com: €6.46

3) Artist: SBTRKT
    Album: SBTRKT
    Year: 2011
    From: London, U.K.
    Key Tracks: Hold On, Wildfire, Trials Of The Past, Pharaohs
    Current price on Play.com: €9.48

4) Artist: The Black Keys

    Album: El Camino

    Year: 2011

    From: Akron, Ohio

    Key Tracks: Lonely Boy, Gold On The Ceiling, Dead and Gone, Little Black     

                     Submarines, Money Maker

    Current price on Play.com: €10.49

    Footnote: The below video for Little Black Submarines really kicks off at     

                  2:39

5) Artist: Wolf People

    Album: Steeple

    Year: 2010 

    From: Bedford, North Yorkshire & London, U.K.

    Key Tracks: Silbury Sands, Tiny Circle, Painted Cross, Cromlech

    Current price on Play.com: €9.48

6) Artist: The Radio Dept.

    Album: Clinging To A Scheme

    Year: 2010

    From: Malmo, Sweden

    Key Tracks: Domestic Scene, Heaven's On Fire, This Time Around, Never  

                     Follow Suit

    Current price on Play.com: €11.07

7) Artist: Kanye West

    Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

    Year: 2010

    From: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

    Key Tracks: Power, Dark Fantasy, All Of The Lights, Runaway

    Current price on Play.com: €6.92

     

8) Artist: King Fantastic

    Album: Finger Snaps And Gun Claps

    Year: 2010

    From: L.A., California, U.S.A.

    Key Tracks: Stop Fucking Playing, All Black Ying Yang (The Party Song),   

    Bonfire Sessions, Hollyrock Jam Session

    Current price on Play.com: €9.49 (download only)

9) Artist: Cliff Martinez (& Various)

    Album: Drive OST

    Year: 2011

    Key Tracks: Nightcall, Under Your Spell, A Real Hero, Tick Of The Clock

    Current price on Play.com: €10.49

10) Artist: Bon Iver

      Album: Bon Iver

      Year: 2011

      From: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

      Key Tracks: Perth, Calgary, Beth/Rest, Holocene

      Current price on Play.com: €10.49

     

Stevie Wright (Artist Profile)

Artist: Stevie Wright

Bio: Born 20th of December, 1948, Leeds, U.K., Wright went on to be considered Australia's first ever international rock icon. Between 1964-1969 he was the front man for Sydney group, The Easybeats, the most successful Australian export of the 1960's. Their one and only international hit, "Friday On My Mind" went to #1 in the Australian charts and reached #6 in the U.K. in 1966 and hit the Top Ten in France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany in 1967. Following the break-up of The Easybeats, Stevie Wright embarked on his solo career, beginning with The Stevie Wright Band, before going under his own name. In 1974, his solo effort, Evie Parts 1,2 &  3 (performed live at the Sydney Opera House in the video above) reached #1 in Australia again, a meandering rock and soul opus lasting 12 minutes. The song "Black Eyed Bruiser", also above, featured recently on the soundtrack to Australian film Red Hill (2010), about a young police officer who leaves the city for a small sleepy town with his wife expecting their first child, and finds himself on his first day embroiled in a man's revenge attack on the local police force, worth a watch. 

Recommended Albums: Hard Road (1974) & Black Eyed Bruiser (1975).

Recommended Songs: Undoubtedly the two songs above, but also "My Kinda Music" & "Guitar Band" (tracks 4 & 5, Black Eyed Bruiser) and the title track off Hard Road.