Favourite albums of 2010 - 3rd quarter

I'm having problems with my internet. I'm temporarily limited to a 64kbit/s speed connection on a USB stick until my rooter is set up to work properly. This crap is keeping me from being active in my usual research and that's why I've been posting so little lately. The only thing I can talk about at the moment is the music I've been listening to. This doesn't require much browsing or searching for pictures that my connection isn't able to load quickly.

There have been a lot of new and intriguing releases so far but I'm unable to keep up with all of it. I usually give priority to new albums of bands I'm already familiar with but they all have been consecutively unsatisfying. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I should turn myself more to fresh and unheard artists instead.

My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

by Swans
??/10

Yeah, this one has no rating because I still don't know what to think of it and want to give it some more time to immerse myself in. This band used to be epic. The comeback after over 10 years of silence was highly expected. But honestly I think Michael Gira could have kept going on with his solo project or with The Angels of Light or whatever. There was no need to revive the golden name of the Swans for this... I'm not saying it's bad. There are some great moments on this album and You Fucking People Make Me Sick is an exemplary track. But I have to admit that Jarboe was part of the charm this band had and leaving her out of the reformation was certainly not going to score high with me. But just like Gira stated they are in different spaces now and this was not meant to be a reunion but rather a restart. Oh well, at least this means I have now the chance to see Swans live!

Penny Sparkle

by Blonde Redhead
6.8/10

If I had to draw a graph about how much I like each track on the album it would look like a parabola. The first two and last two tracks are fantastic. I don't know what happens in between, it never stands out or grows on you. It's all so eerie, haunting and calm (read: boring). Too bad that it also sounds like they decided to join the still ongoing synth-revival-trend. Still worth getting for tracks like Not Getting There and Spain.

Grinderman 2

by Grinderman
7.4/10

Now this is a cool record. I haven't heard Nick Cave rocking this hard for a long while. Still not as much as in the good old days with The Bad Seeds but let's not always compare everything to past accomplishments.

As you can see not everything has been displeasing so far. For a few more 2010 goodies take a peek into the 2nd quarter and 1st quarter posts.