ALARM

100 Unheralded Albums from 2010

Among the thousands of under-appreciated or under-publicized albums that were released in 2010, hundreds became our favorites and were presented in ALARM and on AlarmPress.com. Of those, we pared down to 100 outstanding releases, leaving no genre unexplored in our list of this year’s overlooked gems.

Pop Addict: Ólöf Arnalds’ Innundir Skinni

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

Ólöf Arnalds: Innundir Skinni (One Little Indian, 9/14/10)

Ólöf Arnalds: “Surrender”
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Icelandic singer and multi-instrumentalist Ólöf Arnalds has crafted an intimate and lovely sophomore record, Innundir Skinni, released on the London-based label One Little Indian. Arnalds, a touring member of Múm since 2003, follows up Við og Við – voted Iceland’s Record of the Year in 2007 – with nine songs produced by Sigur Rós keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson.

Classically trained on the violin and viola, and self-taught on the guitar and charango, Arnalds enlists the help of fellow Icelandic musicians Skúli Sverrisson, Davið Þór Jónsson, and Björk as well as Secret Chiefs 3 contributor Shahzad Ismaily.

Innundir Skinni – “Under the Skin” in English – is largely an album of balance, of the ebb and flow between quiet moments and orchestral bursts. It’s a calm yet affecting album, due in large part to Arnalds’ vocal charm. For the many instruments she plays, her most enchanting tool is her voice — at times folksy and melodic, at others high-pitched and lilting – drawing comparisons to Kate Bush and, in rare moments, Joanna Newsom. Yet her style, acutely Nordic, is distinctly her own.

MP3 Premiere: Arthur’s Landing’s “Love Dancing”

World in Stereo: Ranjit Barot’s Bada Boom

Each week, World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Ranjit Barot: Bada Boom (Abstract Logix, 11/16/10)

Ranjit Barot: “Dark Matter”

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Dividing his formative years between England and India, Ranjit Barot falls at the crossroads of two cultures, with an aesthetic that draws heavily on Indian harmonic and rhythmic accents and R&B and jazz-rock fusions. In addition to having dozens of film scores credited to his name, Barot is also known as one of the most versatile drummers in the world, and most recently a part of the impressive roster of contemporary Indian musicians on John McLaughlin’s Floating Points.

But now Barot is finally taking a break from the film scripts and featured spots to make his debut as a leader. Bada Boom is Barot’s long-overdue solo debut, an album showcasing a musical approach crafted and shaped from a long career of session playing and film scoring. As a bilingual play on the Big Bang theory (“bada” is Hindi for “big”), Bada Boom is an epic in concept with a cast of players following suit, including John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orhestra) and legendary Indian tabla player and close family friend Zakir Hussain.

Video Premiere: The Niceguys’ “The Good Shepherd”

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Integrity’s The Blackest Curse

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Integrity: The Blackest Curse (Deathwish Inc., 6/8/10)

Integrity: “Simulacra”
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Morrow: Our pick this week is already pretty old, but it’s so packed with hellacious riffs, thunderous beats, and browbeating screams that it warranted revisiting. I’m speaking, naturally, of The Blackest Curse by Integrity, one of the year’s most wailing and harrowing metal-core albums.

Why?: Hip Hop’s Lyrical Transient

One of the founders of Anticon and the primary songwriter for indie hip-hop group Why?, Yoni Wolf’s slippery, honest rhymes reflect his equally unpredictable future.

Posters & Packaging: Donovan Foote

Designer and illustrator Donovan Foote was entranced by the practice of drawing as a little kid. This preliminary interest led to his discovery and appreciation for comics and cartoons — an influence that’s readily apparent within his work.

Around the age of 11, Foote took up trumpet. “My dad is a big jazz guy, so I grew up listening to a lot of jazz music,” he says. “Most of my friends were only listening to rock, so I think the exposure to something other than rock ‘n’ roll had a big impact on me.”

Foote went on to play in a seven-piece ska band during high school and college, which revealed a whole realm of underground music. “I really loved all the new and odd music I heard while playing little shows,” Foote says. He eventually went on to pick up bass and currently plays in the Chicago-based band Torch Singer. The band will soon release its debut EP, Living Room, but Foote’s musical endeavors are more or less a side project to his visual work.

Donovan Foote: If You're Frightened of Dying album art

The Groove Seeker: Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy soundtrack

On a weekly basis, The Groove Seeker goes in search of killer grooves across rock, funk, hip hop, soul, electronic music, jazz, fusion, and more.

Daft Punk: Tron: Legacy soundtrack (Walt Disney Records, 12/7/2010)

Daft Punk: “End of Line”

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Daft Punk fans have been waiting five years for this. Tron fans have been waiting close to thirty years. As the Tron: Legacy soundtrack is Daft Punk’s first release of new material since 2005 album Human After All, there seems to be no other logical way that the French DJ duo could have staged its return.

In a perfect marriage of aesthetics that only the Master Control Program could have arranged, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have left their grand discothèque anthems and enlisted an 85-piece orchestra to build an ambitious sonic accompaniment to Tron: Legacy’s parallel digital universe.

Broken Social Scene announces US dates for February 2011

Behind the Counter: Mississippi Records (Portland, OR)

Each Tuesday, Behind the Counter speaks to an independent record store to ask about its recent favorites, best sellers, and noteworthy trends.

Look them up and you’ll find that Mississippi Records is a favorite in Portland. Since owner Eric Mast’s serendipitous encounter with the space 11 years ago, the shop has expanded into a record label, supplying hard-to-find music to the masses for low prices. A unique selection, rapid turnover, and an employee-curated tape series (various covers featured below) are the hallmarks of Mississippi.

Give me three great albums that you’ve enjoyed lately.

Group Inerane: Guitars from Agadez Vol. 3 (Sublime Frequencies), Hasil Adkins: White Light/White Meat (Norton Records), and the Daniel Johnston box set of his first six albums (Munster).