The Best of 2010 (So far): Hidden Gems

As I rifle through all the strewn-about CDs left lazily on my desk in my last-minute attempt to come with a 'best albums of 2010 so far' list, I notice there are many that have gone unnoticed by the general public. So I decided to do a list on those less-loved albums of this year, those without the certified Triple J or Channel V tick. I call them the hidden gems.

DUM DUM GIRLS
I WILL BE
(STOMP/SUB POP)

Lo-fi, punk, garage, surf – in 2010 music critics have been pumping out these descriptors more often than BP pumps an island nation’s annual oil supply into the Gulf of Mexico. But until Dum Dum Girls (ostensibly the solo project for Los Angeles native Dee Dee) came along, they all seemed a bit hollow. Dum Dum Girls’ astonishing debut is like a bolt of lightning through your chest cavity, that ball of energy to get the fire on your belly roaring once again. It could have been written any time in the past 40 years, but I Will Be sounds exponentially fresher than the legion of lo-fi losers clogging the pipeline.

BILLY WHIMS
WHAT WE MADE
(PLASTIC VIKING HELMET)

Who’d have thought that Tasmania could be such a rockin’ place? Since months ago I couldn’t have told anything about emerging artists from the Apple Isle but two of them have amazingly made it into this list. The first is singer-songwriter Billy Whims, who crafts this nu-school style of acoustic Moldy Peaches-esque anti-folk that’s buoyed by the constant presence of keys and synths. Her debut album What We Made is like waking up on a dewy morning with the whole day to while away in your bed with a loved one. Blissful.

HARLEM
HIPPIES
(MATADOR/REMOTE CONTROL)

Revivalist movements really are a sign of the times. When no one who makes music is making any money, a return to the DIY yesteryear was somewhat inevitable. And when all the materials necessary to cut an album are widely available on the internet (for the princely sum of $0), this axiom becomes all the more apparent. While Hippies, the second album from Austin two-piece Harlem, isn’t exactly a bedroom production, it’s gritty rock & roll stylings from days gone sounds like it could be coming from your neighbours living room.

LIARS
SISTERWORLD
(MUTE/EMI)

Cult heroes in their own right, for some bizarre reason New York group Liars seem to constantly get overlooked in this country. Not even the edgier outlets give them a look-in, which is strange considering they’re fronted by an Aussie ex-pat. Anyway, listening to Liars’ fifth album Sisterworld is kind of like watching a Stanley Kubrick film by yourself on a stormy night. You might not think music can actually scare you, but you’d be wrong. The music here is as ominous as the creepy-looking door on the album’s facade. Enter if you dare...

RATATAT
LP4
(XL/REMOTE CONTROL)

Genuine musical pioneers are hard to come by these days, and sometimes even a collaboration with one of hip-pop’s biggest emerging stars isn’t enough to thrust you into the mainstream. Experimental is almost an insulting way to describe New York duo Ratatat. Over the course of four albums (LP4 being their fourth, geddit?), Ratatat have honed their sound so that it parades around with the swagger of a self-aware adolescent who know the world is lying in wait of all the marvellous things that are to come. If Kid Cudi couldn’t make them big, maybe LP4 can.

TIGER CHOIR
TIGER CHOIR EP
(INDEPENDENT)

The second of my Tasmanian surprise packets, Tiger Choir could well be the most underrated band in Australia. At times they rekindle Animal Collective at their soul-restoringly best, at others they simply carve out new musical directions with the ease and finesse of a ballerina pirouetting her way through some fiendish onstage adversary. Their live show needs a bit of work, as their recent visit to Adelaide attested to, but with a recording this good and a full-length not far behind, Tiger Choir have a future as bright as their glittery synthesized pop.

PARADES
FOREIGN TAPES
(DOT DASH/REMOTE CONTROL)

Jonathan Boulet, superlatives defeat me. This wunderkind from Sydney is just one, two, three steps ahead of everyone else. If we didn’t realise that on his solo debut of 2009, it smacked us square on the moosh with Parades’ first full-length effort, released earlier this year. Boulet drums and produces for Parades, weaving that idiosyncratic aesthetic of his into a fully-formed sonic cannon. Foreign Tapes is at times an assault on the sense, at others it’s a gentle lullaby rocking you to sleep. But it’s always unrelentingly awesome.

SEJA
WE HAVE SECRETS BUT NOBODY CARES
(RICE IS NICE)

Seja Vogel is like a digitalised Sally Seltmann. Her glorious melodies and whimsical lyrics are easily on par with the former New Buffalo songstress, but instead of pianos and guitars, Seja’s weapon of choice is the synthesizer. Her debut solo album We Have Secrets But Nobody Cares is a celebration of the instrument, from the plush cover art without to its ubiquity within. But it’s her expert use of the many synths on Secrets that makes this album such a gem. She might not be cutesy enough to ingratiate the masses, but Seja’s debut is one of the most cerebrally satisfying albums of 2010.

THESE NEW PURITANS
HIDDEN
(DOMINO)

Sometimes you can be too experimental for your own good. After a bevvy of dancefloor-ready indie tracks from their debut album Beat Pyramid, These New Puritans decided to burn said pyramid down and rebuild from scratch. Haunting orchestral arrangements partner doom-saying synth stabs and heart-stopping beats at every unpredictable turn on this album. These New Puritans aren’t too experimental for their own good, they’re just too good for most people to appreciate. 

SUCKERS
WILD SMILE
(SPUNK)

It might be a bit early to call Suckers a ‘hidden gem’ given their debut album Wild Smile only came out over the weekend. However they did release an EP in February that went largely unnoticed so I think it’s safe to know where the tastemakers sit with these guys. From Brooklyn, New York, possibly the happeningest music locale IN HISTORY, Suckers fuses all the best bits of North American indie rock. A touch of Modest Mouse here, a pinch of Wolf Parade there, finished with a sprinkling of Yeasayer, Wild Smile makes you do just that – smile wildly.

Can you think of any other 2010 albums that haven't got the love they deserved?

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