As you may have noticed, we have some new members posting their best of lists this year. I’d like to welcome my friends Dustin, Brianne, and Gabe to the site. I’ve said it before but I truly believe that Late Night Wallflower is headed in an exciting new direction with the new clientele assembled. Along with a face lift, you can expect this site to become a fully function zine again. More interviews, more columns (from both us and friends / musicians), and new….attitude (yeah!). I’m excited to welcome these three on board and I look forward to seeing where the site goes as it heads towards it’s fifth birthday.

Thanks for reading and here’s to an awesome 2011.

-Matt

And now, onward with my favorite records from 2010. It was definitely a good year for new music.

Superchunk – Majesty Shredding (Merge)
Hands down, my favorite record of 2010. In a time where Pitchfork dominates what people give their attention to for 7.8 minutes and the chill-wave movement drapes its dreadful cloak of hip douchebaggery over the masses, it was refreshing to have these indie vets come back from a nine year absence and show everybody how it should be done. Every song on Majesty Shredding is so insanely infectious and lacking of any sort of pretension. No bullshit, just fun; certainly a mantra that more bands need to live by. Personal favorites include “Learned To Surf” and “My Gap Feels Weird,” but I’d be hard pressed to find one second of weakness on this record. It’s rare that you see a band this far into their career releasing their best material, but Superchunk has done just that.
Superchunk “Learned To Surf”

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Screaming Females – Castle Talk (Don Giovanni)
Yet again, Screaming Females released an absolutely stellar full-length this year that was slightly outshined by another band on my year end list (last year was Reigning Sound). I hope it doesn’t develop into Buffalo Bills syndrome. Regardless of all this ranking hoopla, Castle Talk is by far the best album the band has put out. It was pretty well-documented that the band had a rough year but instead of self-destructing, the band channeled that angst and frustration into powerful and inspired songs like “Normal” and “Boss.” If I had to pick one word to describe this record it would be urgent. Even though they’ve fallen short of the number one spot again, Screaming Females show the most promise of anyone on this list. When I talked to the band earlier this year, they spoke of expanding their sound for the next record. What that will be exactly, I can’t say, but I’m excited to see it.
Screaming Females “Normal”

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Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (4HD)
Before getting hold of Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest, I was afraid it was going be just another addition to the “Disposable Records of the Year” list (you know, those records you like for about a two week span, but quickly forget about as the calendar pages turn and other releases take their place). I have always been a fan of Bradford Cox and his many musical endeavors — and God, was I glad my apprehensions were quickly proven wrong. You could say I fell in love with the fluidity woven within the record’s prose; weaving between a soothing sound of self-destruction on tracks like “Earthquake,” to an elevated dreamy pleasure found on songs like “Fountain Stairs.” Really, it is the nonpareil subtleties of this record — like when Bradford’s voice reaches that crescendoing wail about two and a half minutes into “Helicopter” — that really makes Halcyon Digest my number one choice for 2010.
Deerhunter “Helicopter”

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Titus Andronicus – The Monitor (XL)
The Monitor hit a particular chord for me in 2010. From start to finish, the album serves as a reminder of the naive days when we all felt invincible — looking for answers to questions we didn’t have and embracing friendships formed over long, liquor-quenched nights. Within the first minutes of listening to the album’s opening track, “A More Perfect Union,” Titus Andronicus sets the stage of sitting in the driver’s seat, as the windows are down, the volume is up and  your friends are in the backseat drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes. The brisk freeway winds are swallowing drags of cigarette smoke  as you race the beat of dawn, but you never quite manage to do so, and by the end of the record its all gone. It is probably my affinity towards North Jersey that draws me closer to Titus Andronicus with each release, but as a full-length follow up to 2008′s The Airing of Grievances, I could not ask for more from this album.  It is a look back on honesty and youth at its finest; reminding us we were not always as jaded as age may have made us, as we sit alone listening to records in a dusty Greenpoint lofts.
Titus Andronicus “A More Perfect Union”

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Deerhunter has crafted their own version of “No Surprises” with their new song “Helicopter.” I always had a hard time getting into this band but now, I think I finally get it.

The band’s new record Halcyon Digest is easily one of the best albums to come out in 2010. Pick it up!

Black Lips – All photos by Bill Shouldis

The Black Lips are a circus on stage by themselves, but add King Khan & The Shrines and Deerhunter to the mix and you’re going to going to have pure mayhem. Sunday’s show at McCarren Pool was just that. It was hard to find a focal point most of the time. TP was flying while an old dude were skating on stage. Pillows were being ripped apart while flowers were placed in butt cheeks and spit was being swapped. When can you say you saw all that at a show? Some dumbasses have been asking where rock ‘n’ roll has gone? Well, maybe if you listened to all these bands more, you’d realize it hasn’t gone anywhere. Viva The Black Lips!

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Deerhunter will release their long-awaited full-length Mircocastle on October 28. The record will be released on Kranky in the U.S. and 4AD everywhere else. The band will also hit the road with Nine Inch Nails in late August and September. Check out the tracklisting and the tour dates after the jump.

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