(Almost) Adult Alternative

I have finally found the term that seems to describe the genre of music that I have been flooding my ears with this year. I agree with Kelly- 2010 was one heck of a long year. January 2010 does seem years and not 11 months ago. Time aside, I remember feeling like I was in a bit of a music rut when I was scrolling through my iTunes back in April. All the good artists and music for this year came one by one over the next few months:

The Morning Benders

Sea Wolf

The National (I have been waxing lyrical (no pun intended) about this Ohio band since July so our love for them has been established firmly in the heart of half of DMS).

But look at Matt Berninger. I am in love with the man- beard and all.

Two Door Cinema Club (good electronica-dance rock band to come along in a longgg time)

Robert Francis

(one good lookin' man with a lovely voice- pity his 4 Dec gig in London was cancelled)

And I now realise that all the artists that defined 2010 for me are all male. Honorable mention goes to Florence + The Machine (especially for her songs 'You've Got The Love' and 'Dog Days Are Over')- listening to her on my way back to Singapore over summer in the plane really made me understand why nearly the whole world is in love with the lass's voice and red hair.

The top 5 songs that really defined 2010 for me as the year went by:

1) Hysteric by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

'It's Blitz' is a surprisingly good album because prior to its release, the only song I had really liked by the YYYs was 'Maps' (was stuck on that song back in Sec 3/4). There was this one day in May where I just listened to this on the loop- played it over 30 times that day I think and it was just so peaceful and perfect listening to this as I walked back to halls from uni at night after studying the whole day.

2) Excuses by The Morning Benders

When I saw the video by this Californian-Asian band, I was blown away. The whole song (if you put the rather provocative yet innocent-love lyrics aside) is just so summery and brings you back to the 1960s or just a time where you feel you could put everything down and dance with someone to this song.

3) Fake Empire by The National

This was the first ever National song I listened to back in May that led me to High Violet and all the albums before that. Bloodbuzz Ohio comes in to a close second (it's definitely one of my favourites from the new album) but the melancholic and haunting piano tune in the background of Fake Empire- I never get tired of it. The lyrics of the song also got me thinking alot about life and I guess The National fits the bill perfectly as an Adult Alternative band- or as a Sydney Morning Herald columnist wrote, 'they're grown ups singing about grown up things in grown up voices'

Turn the light out, say goodnight

no thinking for a little while
Let's not try to figure out everything at once
It's hard to keep track of you, falling through the sky
We're half-awake in a fake empire

4) Bruises by Chairlift/ New Medium by Faded Paper Figures

It's a tie between these two songs; they were constantly being played on my study/summer playlist. 'Bruises' eventually became my ring-tone throughout summer and I was always humming it in halls. I remember listening to 'New Medium' in particular, when sitting on the floor in the library at school reading about racism during the Victorian Times because there were no seats left. The tunes of both songs made me want to lie on the grass outside and watch the world go by.

5) Keep On Running by Robert Francis

The month of October was really one unforgettable month for me and downloading Robert Francis' album in November really made my month musically. I'm no huge fan of country music but I first paid attention to this man after my brother sent me two songs by him- Junebug and Little Girl, but it was this song on his latest album that just kept me going in a I-can-be-determined-and-DO-THIS! kind of way. Everyone needs songs like this to keep on running with life (again, no pun intended).

Other songs/artistes that made 2010 a musical pleasure all in all are: The xx ('Crystalised' and 'Islands'), Florence + The Machine's ('You've Got The Love', 'Dog Days are Over' and 'Cosmic Love'- out of this world, metaphorically), Angus and Julia Stone ('Black Crow' and 'Big Jet Plane'- their second album Down The Way does not disappoint), Wolf Parade's 'This Heart's on Fire' and last but not least, the Aussie indie band Cloud Control ('There's Nothing In This Water We Can't Fight' and 'Beast of Love').

Looking at all the music that I listened to this past year I think 2011 will not disappoint. Apparently Warpaint is one band to look out for next year ... I'll check that all-girl quartet out soon. Maybe next year all the new artistes that I'll discover and come to love will be female since this year's was surprisingly male-dominated.