Appearing in our Favourite Tracks of 2010 countdown with “Undertow” were the women of Warpaint. From debut album The Fool comes second single “Shadows” released on January 10 as a limited 12” with remixes of “Shadows” and “Undertow”. Sign up for the Neon Lights remix of “Shadows” below.

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It’s hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. Webcuts lived vicariously through 2010, almost surprisingly so for a bunch of mid-30′s burn-outs, but hey, from Brisbane to London to Barcelona to Gothenburg to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we were there, chasing those who chased their rock n’ roll dream.

The selection of tracks chosen appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge. Tracks 20 to 11 are discussed here, and the countdown reaches its thrilling conclusion (envelope, please) below.

The song a reawakened Arcade Fire would open their 2010 shows, “Ready To Start” rolled into town like a dazzling carnival, drumming up intent (“Businessmen drink my blood/like the kids in art school said they would”) and setting the scene to follow. For a band only three albums into their career, it would be unkind to call The Suburbs their ‘comeback album’, but it dipped into a shared nostalgia of adolescence and ideals, succeeding in their goal where Neon Bible had failed. The Suburbs was an album to be proud of with far too many highlights to choose, so we went with one Arcade Fire chose too. (CS)

Fans’ poor reception and misunderstanding of MGMT’s new album lead a lot of people to simply ignore it altogether, which was a shame, because it boasted some gorgeous art rock. “Siberian Breaks” was the eleven minute middle of the record and nicely summed up the album’s penchant for musical journeying. From the melancholy acoustic open to the angular dreamy transitions and the mechanical spewing of the ending, MGMT’s weird ambitions shattered the indie pop ceiling of their debut. (JL)

One of the stand out tracks from The Morning Benders sophomore release Big Echo. “All Day, Day Light” crackled with electricity and smacked of effortless cool. As hand-claps slapped against the stab of guitar chords, vocalist Christopher Chu handed out alliteratively perfect lines like “someone somewhere sails the ocean/someone somewhere selling the seas”. The Morning Benders appeared out of nowhere with this near-perfect album, unburdened by pre-release hype and fanfare, hitting their marks as surely as a needle hits its groove. (CS)

Over fifteen years Les Savy Fav have been steadily forging a career based on angular art-rock ala The Fall/Pavement blended with post-hardcore topped with a pop sensibility. Root to Ruin showed age hadn’t mellowed their musical assault or dulled Tim Harrington’s acerbic tongue. Predominately a balls out mix of upbeat rock, covering sex, rebellion and, well more sex, Root to Ruin reaped the most rewards when the pace was slowed, painting the hip LA neighbourhood of Silverlake as a nightmarish place of vicious youths tied to mobile phones with tanned breasts and bleached teeth set over shimmering guitars and a bottom end as solid as Harrington’s own. (CR)

It was impossible to expect Deerhunter to topple 2008’s flawless Microcastle, but there were many moments in Halcyon Digest for fans to thrill to, and none as more perfectly crafted as guitarist Lockett Pundt’s contributions. His “Desire Lines”, strengthened the ‘pop core’ of Halcyon Digest with a meditation on age and disenchantment and a descending guitar line that gently pushed the song into 6 minutes plus of sighing serenity. (CS)

“Groove Me” was good enough to be another TV on the Radio song rather than a side project. The thumping bassline and stray hip-hop elements lent itself nicely to the new wave skeleton and disco guitars. It’s a huge plus whenever a well-constructed song is also infinitely catchy, and this had it in spades. Despite the Maximum Balloon album’s inconsistencies, when it was on, it was ON, and Sitek shined outside of his usual TVOTR role and provided some outstanding, funky diversions. (JL)

“1268” was undoubtedly one of the more aggressively danceable and musically intriguing debut singles released in 2010. North Wale’s We//Are//Animal blew in from outer nowhere (apologies to the Welsh), sounding like a feral Super Furry Animals. Little was known about them until “1268” arrived on our desk addressing the band as some kind of outdoor recording purists. What drives We//Are//Animal to make the music they do is still a mystery, but goddamn it‘s a good one. Their Blair With Project video in the Welsh countryside had us sold in seconds. Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the summer. (CS)

Whether their swansong or merely a bookend This Is Happening was LCD Soundsystem’s most realised vision to date. A fusion of vintage synths, complex percussion and ‘70s guitar riffs complemented with wry, bitter lyrics, which could only be written by a 40 year old who’d been through the music business, and life, blender and come out a little wiser and a little damaged. James Murphy knows damn well that after the party there is the inevitable comedown and after the sex the loneliness when you return home, alone. (CR)

The luminous disco swoon of Twin Sister‘s “All Around And Away We Go” would’ve found a perfect home in Studio 54, but instead had to make do as a regular staple on the Webcuts turntable. Pulled in by the part-breathy, part-kooky vocals of Andrea Estella, “All Around And Away We Go” glided in on a hypnotic rush that would’ve sounded incredible, coming up or coming down. The video clip for the song was just as off the wall, complete with a dance routine, a splash of psychedelia and some sweet stop-motion animation. Taken from the paired release of two EPs from earlier this year, we can‘t wait to hear a full album from them in 2011. (CS)

It’s almost embarrassing to admit that Wild Nothing’s debut album Gemini went largely unnoticed until months after it came out, and thus was never reviewed by Webcuts. Inexcusable and regrettable, but hey, shit happens. Word of mouth would drift from different corners of the globe and it became obvious that many people were beginning to take Jack Tatum’s music to heart. It wrestled with a kind of distant melancholia and of a pining for love, happiness, etc that always seemed never closer than an arms length away. “Live in Dreams” encapsulated such a mood perfectly and had two of the best opening lines of 2010 — “Sitting on the cigarette butt front porch/I could ask you “are you dead like me?“. Listening to Gemini was like standing in a roomful of diamonds, each track glistened and shone, the dreamiest of dream-pop gems. It seemed only fitting that it would sneak up on you and then refuse to leave. (CS)

Chosen by senior Webcuts contributors, Craig Smith (CS), Caleb Rudd (CR), and Jonathan Langer (JL).

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It’s hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. Webcuts lived vicariously through 2010, almost surprisingly so for a bunch of mid-30′s burn-outs, but hey, from Brisbane to London to Barcelona to Gothenburg to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we were there, chasing those who chased their rock n’ roll dream.

The selection of tracks chosen appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge. We begin the countdown below, with tracks 20 to 11, concluding with tracks 10 to 1 on New Years Day.

The enfants terribles of independent Brisbane label lofly recordings, Re:Enactment had one hell of a year: an eventful southern tour on the back of their Talent for Retail which garnered healthy radio support, an exhausting amount local shows, before wrapping the year up in sweaty, outlandish fashion garbed in neon Tron-like costumes at the final Hangar. “Problematic” was a faithful encapsulation of their thrilling electro-punk energy while fellow EP track “Nintendogs” revealed a more polished, soulful side to the band with a restrained vocal by Jacob Hicks that hints at an surprisingly eclectic debut album by the band in 2011. (CR)

Civil Civic made for great driver-less car crash pop. Careening guitars, uncomplicated beats, explosive word-less choruses with no cosseted front person spoiling the mixture. A handy recipe, but still, only good for a few servings. For their second 7″ single release for 2010, “Lights On A Leash” eased on the accelerator and pulled off a neat trick, sounding like Ben and Aaron (le Civil Civic) had spent the night in some art fag dive on Kingsland Road listening to The Cure. Let’s hope they can turn more late night tricks like this. (CS)

The whole Mighty EP could have been included in this list, but “The Stranger” stands out for me. Lush, heartfelt folk disguised in layers of tropical ambiance. Think of Lord Huron’s sound, particularly in “The Stranger” as Animal Collective lite. This is the noisy tenor-folk stripped of its noise, the tribal layers of vocals and electronically-reproduced sound effects without the effects. In fact, the simple melodies are almost boring upon overanalyzation, but the lush accompaniments make them worth listening to again and again. Can’t wait for LH’s full length in 2011. (JL)

California girls. Beach Boys praised them, Katy Perry revived them, but Los Angeles’ Dum Dum Girls, weren’t the kind of girls that either Brian Wilson or Katy Perry had in mind, looking as they do more like Josie and The Pussycats meets Tim Burton than a sun-tanned Runaways. Finding their perfect foil in the form of Richard Gottehrer, writer of 60’s classics like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy”, Dum Dum Girls released their Gottehrer-produced, 60′s garage-inspired debut album I Will Be earlier this year. From it, “Jail La La” was a fast action sugar-pop garage-rock delight. (CS)

Rebelling, or maybe just repositioning themselves from the baroque indie pop of their previous album Stars instead opted for an album of electronics, distortion and synths as frosty as the  Montreal winters the band are no doubt accustomed to. While not every track was successful, especially those featuring the anodyne singing of Torquil Campbell, it still had enough to hold your interest especially when Amy Milan came to the fore. When she did and the band plugged the guitars in, as well as synths, they made an almost perfect modern take on shoegaze in the failed relationship drama of “Fixed” complete with breathtaking rapid-cut video. (CR)

The darker, less whispy side of Alex Ebert, or Edward Sharpe as he’s now known to the kids, was on full display throughout Ima Robot’s new album, and is a lot more fascinating to me than the lighter. Somewhere in between the bars of “Sail With Me”, Ebert balances an almost-progressive rock xylophone open with a Bowie-sized voice and a flair for emboldened music. The shrieking “sail with me!” a minute and a half towards the end and just after the instrumental breakdown really seals the song; as the song suggests lyrically, it feels like the music is constantly moving forward even as it fades away. (JL)

The not-so-big question of 2010 is what happened to Canadian electro-anarchists Crystal Castles? The follow-up to their self-titled debut was one of 2010’s anticipated releases but fell short of delivering the same sensory assault. First single “Celestica” was a neat bait and switch that showed they could mainstream it while giving hyperactive, speaker-stack ascending singer, Alice Glass a chance to play out her X-factor. But it was the unexpected release of a reworked version of “Not In Love“ featuring the vocals of Robert Smith of The Cure that set the blogospheres buzzing and rightly so. (CS)

Of all the tracks on Foals‘ near perfect sophomore album Total Life Forever to encapsulate singer Yannis Philippakis’ description that the LP would “sound like the dream of an eagle dying”, “Spanish Sahara” was it. Several other songs would would achieve the similar ambition of melding melancholy and killer hooks, while others would deliver an upbeat sleek mix of indie and funk. It was “Sahara” though, which started with a fragile guitar line, ambient noise and crackling vocals and built to an otherworldly, heart in chest pounding finish which gave you hope that the eagle made it after all. (CR)

Accompanying an album filled with so many other memorable songs, but that sometimes didn’t stick out individually when listening to them in order. Note the percussion on “Martha”, the way it gradually expands throughout; admittedly, sometimes I get lost just listening to the drums and by the end of the song, I’m amazed I haven’t heard the rest of the song. It was this tonal depth that made the rest of Suckers’ debut so marvellous, and the clever balancing act of indie folk, rock and other world music elements that shone specifically on “Martha”. (JL)

Sounding something like a monochrome, multi-vocaled Luscious Jackson, the Los Angeles’ ladies of Warpaint left a noticeable impression with music fans with the release of their Exquisite Corpse EP in 2009. A year later came their debut album, The Fool, full of loose, layered harmonies and subdued dub rhythms, that cast an enigmatic yet relaxing spell. Warpaint’s overall effect was much like that of the fabled Sirens, who’s voices washed over you in waves and lured you to your demise, which in “Undertow” was something they clearly excelled in. (CS)

Chosen by senior Webcuts contributors, Craig Smith (CS), Caleb Rudd (CR), and Jonathan Langer (JL).

Die! Die! Die! are a great live band. Hell, they’re an incredible live band. Get 100 people and give them a few beers, jam them into a sweaty room and have Die! Die! Die! roll out a few tunes and 99 of them will walk out with a massive smile on their face. That is a fact. Unfortunately, they still haven’t managed to find a way to put that energy and excitement onto a little round disc. Although they do try, this record comes up well short of reproducing anything anywhere near as good as a Die! Die! Die! stage show.

Form is the Dunedin trio’s third full length offering, and the basic formulae of past albums are all there. Short, fast, syncopated, loud. This time, the album is more melodic, the lyrics more catchy, but the main difference over its predecessors is the amount of production thrown at it. I’m not sure what Skeptics bassist Nick Roughan was hoping for when he stepped up to the producer table but it seems as though he’s trying to make up for the lack of energy of a real DDD encounter and jam the empty spaces with a tonne of reverb. The album drips with it. Andrew Wilson’s endearing scratchy schoolboy vocals get forced right back in the mix and his guitar takes the lead role as the main melodic driver. It turns what is normally bottom heavy dirty punk into more radio friendly washed out pop-punk reminiscent of Les Savy Fav. DDD have always been more popular overseas than in their hometown, so perhaps this is a calculated move for the NZ lads trying to garner more local attention after signing with the iconic Kiwi label Flying Nun earlier this year.

At first listen, there aren’t too many surprises for most of the 38 minutes of Form, however on repeat there are definitely a couple of hidden gems in there. The arpeggios at the beginning of “Howye” slowly building into a distorted mess show the band is capable of adding some form of dynamic to their songs.“Lil Ships” is immediately attention grabbing and follows the 3 minute 30 second template almost every successful pop song sticks to. The standout is “We Build Our Own Oppressors”, released earlier this year as an impressive looking split 7” with London’s Lifeguard. The intro is lifted straight out of an ’80s power ballad handbook, but gives over to a pounding rhythm section and Andrew Wilson howling “Gotta keep those bridges burning”.

With Wilson’s eloquent call of “I want it all”, it’s clear that Die! Die! Die! don’t really give a shit what you think of them. But before you make an opinion based on their recorded material, check them out live. As the man with the microphone himself says in a previous interview, “You’re in a band to play live, not to record”.

Steven Edson

We featured Warpaint last time so this week we’ll focus on forgiving British Sea Power for bypassing Brisbane on their Australian visit last year as they’ve provided us with the title track from their upcoming 7-track EP Zeus which is every bit as thunderous and powerful as the Greek god its named after. Zeus is out on Rough Trade/Remote Control Oct 4 with a full epic (it god damn should be!) long player due in 2011. Also on the way from Rough Trade is Glaswegian’s indie-pop kings Belle & Sebastian with a superb back to form tune “Write About Love” the title track to their new album out on Oct 8. Casting an eye to the ’60s, with soul and funk organ and guitar, featuring vocals from both Stuart Murdoch and Sarah Martin which implore you to “Get on your Skinny knees and pray!”

Sounding something like a monochrome, multi-vocaled Luscious Jackson, the Los Angeles’ ladies of Warpaint left a noticeable impression with music fans after the release of last year’s Exquisite Corpse EP. Set to release their debut album, entitled The Fool on October 25 through Rough Trade in the UK (Remote Control in Aus), they’ve given out live favourite “Undertow” as an indication of what to expect. Mixed by the man who gave us Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, Andrew Weatherall, the mood-driven underwater vibe of “Undertow” inspires a tempting fate. As shown on Exquisite Corpse‘s “Billie Holiday”, Warpaint can sell a song on vocals alone, and their loose, layered harmonies and subdued dub rhythms wash over you in waves. Music to drown to? Maybe…

One of the stand out tracks, if not the stand out track from The Morning Benders sophomore release Big Echo. “All Day, Day Light” crackles with electricity and smacks of effortless cool. As hand-claps slap against the stab of guitar chords, Morning Benders vocalist Christopher Chu hands out alliteratively perfect lines like “someone somewhere sails the ocean/someone somewhere selling the seas”. Signed to Rough Trade in the UK, The Morning Benders appeared out of nowhere with this near-perfect album, unburdened by pre-release hype and fanfare. A seasonal themed video, the clip reaches its climax as the song descends into a discordant guitar wind-out over a fake snow fight. Impressive without actually trying to impress, The Morning Benders own Big Echo and make the loudest of noise by letting the music speak for them. For indie guitar aficiandos, “All Day, Day Light” is embarrassingly good, yet as straight-forward guitar pop as it gets.

Die! Die! Die! – “How Ye” [mp3]

It was only a few weeks ago that Webcuts and half of Gothenburg invaded Slottskogen for Way Out West, but this weekend it was Stockholm’s turn for the charming Popaganda to lift my post-festival blues. Popaganda started as a free festival in 2002 at the university campus in Stockholm. After five years the festival was canceled due to conflicts between the student union and the organisers but was resurrected in 2008 with a change of venue to Eriksdalsbadet a public bath in central Stockholm. Since then the festival has focused on Swedish and international acts and has been graced by artists such as bob hund, Lykke Li, The Hidden Cameras, Camera Obscura and MGMT.

Popaganda Day One – 27 August 2010

This year we were presented with a fine mix of domestic and foreign indie and electronic bands as well as some coordinated swimming on both days. The first band on was Navet (The Hub). The group have just recorded their debut album in the reclusive island of Fårö where Ingmar Bergman used to live. Navet’s music and performance are a lot more approachable than Bergman’s movies luckily being electro pop to the core with the keyboard steering the direction and singer Julia’s crisp vocals following right behind. Even with one member short the band still put on decent show and the forthcoming single “Hello hello” showed a lot of potential. While First Aid Kit’s lovely Söderberg sisters might not consider themselves as “exotic” since they live ten minutes away with the tube they sound like the daughters of June Carter. Klara, on guitar, has a powerful voice while Julia, on keyboard and cither, has an equally beautiful, if slightly softer, tone. They complement one another well especially on new song “I Just Need a Friend”. Their love for country music was demonstrated by Gram Parson’s “Still Feeling Blue”, which were followed by two other covers, their now famous interpretations of Fleet Foxes’s “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and Fever Ray’s “When I Grow Up by Fever Ray” (Karin Dreijer Andersson is their neighbor). The girls finish with a new song “The Lion Roars” which if I didn’t know better could’ve been another Fleet Foxes cover.

I have to be honest here — dance pop is not my thing, give me a good guitar riff to techno beats any day, however while Familjen (The Family) might not have got me over to the dance floor just yet, especially with “It began in Hässleholm” (Johan T Karlsson’s home town) a repetitive techno song that was first out of the gate, I was still pleasantly surprised by Johan and his friends. Johan’s lyrics are unexpectedly catchy live and his joy of performing was contagious. His friends included Andreas Tilliander and two well-known faces from the Swedish music scene Martin Sköld, the bassist player in Kent, and Markus Krunegård, solo artist and singer in Laakso. Towards the end Johan seemed a bit out of breath but when their first hit “Det snurrar i min skalle” (“My head is spinning”) started it got him and everyone else twirling.

Popaganda differs to Way out West in that it pleases a younger crowd (being cheaper no doubt helps) and during the first few hours of the festival I felt like I was part of a big sister program. However as the sun started to descend our favorite Scots came out and the grown-ups gathered for their treat. Belle & Sebastian started with a new song, “Didn’t See It Coming” with Sarah Martin on lead vocals, but was soon followed by “something for the old people” which was the early B&S classic “The State I Am In”. According to Stuart Murdoch the band didn’t quite know what to play, so they opted for a mix of songs since they felt they were among friends. Favorites like “If You’re Feeling Sinister” were definite crowd pleasers but it was the new song “I’m Not Living In the Real World” that became the sing-along tune thanks to Stevie Jackson who taught the audience the complicated “ooohh oohs” of the song. The only thing that was disappointing was the guest appearance by Linnea from Those Dancing Days since you could barely hear her voice in indie-country classic “Lazy Line Painter Jane”.

Robyn has gone from being a cute teen star in the 1990s to the queen of Swedish pop and the embodiment of a professional singer. Since she was playing in her own backyard (she went to school five minutes away) I expected something a little extra and while a great concert was delivered it lacked any special guests or extra oomph. Beginning with “Fembot”, a cute song about how robots also have feelings, she let her music speak (or sound) for itself. She didn’t exactly stand still much of the time and for the harder edged “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do“ she let go of the microphone and just danced and shadowboxed the whole song through. How I wished I was in her shape or had half of her energy. Robyn ended by thanking Stockholm and “With Every Heartbeat” you got the feeling that all of us there just want to say thank you Robyn.

Popaganda Day Two – 28 August 2010

Saturday began with The Concretes but I just couldn’t wake up and the band has always been better on album than live so I walked to the small stage where Vit Päls (White Fur) were about to start. I didn’t need to worry about being sleepy for long because it turns out that Vit Päls are like a strong cup of coffee in the morning, their energy was revitalising. Their lo-fi-pop is filled with witty lyrics and this is a band that should be seen in a live situation. Carl Johan Lundgren is one of the most charming singers I’ve seen for awhile but the band work as a whole with everyone in tune and engaged the entire time. “Kärleken bryr sig inte” (“Love Doesn’t Care”), an unreleased upbeat song was an instant favorite and had everyone singing along. Carl and the others didn’t really want to leave and after a short 30 minutes the stage crew had to tell them to stop to everyone’s disgruntlement.

Shout Out Loads are veterans when it comes to Popaganda having played four times at the festival and according to singer Adam Olenius the band had been waiting all summer for this night. This didn’t really come across during the show but the band delivered a competent mix of songs from all three albums. Highlights such as “Very Loud” and my personal favourite The Cure influenced “Tonight I Have To Leave It” came quite early. A nice touch was a version of Band of Horses’ “Is There a Ghost” translated into Swedish. Maybe Adam is getting a taste for singing in Swedish since he also translated the end verse of “Impossible”.

Popaganda is without a doubt the festival with the best looking audience I have ever seen. The hipsters and indie kids of Stockholm take fashion seriously, just like the evening’s next band Hurts. In their tailcoats and black suits the Manchester boys looked like a young Depeche Mode that had been groomed by the stylist on Mad Men. A more handsome band would be hard to find. It is not just looks though. Hurts starts out with the dramatic “Silver Lining” which brought you back to the ‘80s, whether you liked it or not, with their heavy use of synthesiser and infectious melodies. With their debut album, based on there performance at Popaganda we can expect more keyboards, dramatic songs, some choirs and perhaps even a power ballad or two.

If Hurts is the best looking band of the festival then The Magic Numbers are the friendliest. The two set of siblings had huge grins on their faces and seemed at home as soon as they clambered onto the stage. Starting out with three oldies “This is a song”, “Take a chance” and “Forever Lost” was a real treat and it continued in that pleasant manner, but sometimes things got a bit too comfortable. Still while The Magic Numbers didn’t surprise neither did they disappoint. To help interpret the Roches’ “Hammond Song” members of Shout out Louds, The Concretes and First Aid Kit came on to lend a hand but by then it was time to head over to the small stage for some cool Brooklyn youngsters. While Neon Indian looked good and sounded good, their songs blended into one another and after awhile my thirst took over. I thought I’d be back in jiffy but oh, how foolish! I was in the land of permits where alcohol was served in a closed off area. The queue to get into this inner sanctum was roughly forty metres long and by the time I had the first sip of my drink Neon Indian were rounding up.

To finish off this year’s Popaganda a blend of disco, a touch of pop and a dash of soul was served in the form of Hot Chip. After seeing trendy people all day it was refreshing to see Alexis Taylor in his white PJs, bright yellow jacket and glittery cap. What was he thinking? Well he doesn’t have to look cool, he just is cool. Hot Chip’s selection for the night was a good mix of old and new, including “Over and Over” and “Take It In”. Due to a lesson learned on Friday night I left before the end to avoid being stuck and queuing with 12 000 other people trying to get out and so Popaganda was over as the festival summer of 2010.