Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Top 5 album covers of the Year

Most of world may have moved to digital downloads, that doesn't mean we can't continue to enjoy good album cover art. Here are five of my favorites from 2010.

5. Kele - The Boxer

Kele Okereke the muscled prize fighter. I dare you to tell him that you preferred him when he was in Bloc Party.

4. Massive Attack - Heligoland

Designed by band member (and former graffiti artist) Robert Del Naja who poured over 100s of photos, stencils and original art works before coming up with the street art inspired cover.

The London underground then banned Massive Attack from advertising the album in any of the city's Tube stations, because the art work looks too much like graffiti.

3. Grinderman - Grinderman 2

"Like a wolf showing its teeth in the front room"

Is there any better way to describe Grinderman's second album?

2. Klaxons - Surfing the Void

When a band uses an internet meme as their album art the result is usually uncreative, uninteresting and entirely lame. On the front cover of Surfing the Void, Klaxons have used the greatest meme of them all the lolcat, but somehow it works.

I think it is the dull stair in the cat's eyes; where is he going what adventures will he have when he gets there, will he make it home safely - we will never know.

1. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (re-issue)

The new artwork is little more than an update of the original album's cover but it is the story of lost originals, double blind searches and high-res drawings and 1989-like filters that makes this my favourite album cover art of 2010.

Slevage has the full story, http://sleevage.com/nin-pretty-hate-machine/

A New (Years) Music Resolution

A friend of Bawley recently pointed me to Andre’s Resolution 2010. In short, Resolution 2010 is a positive commitment that in 2010 you only listen to music released in 2010.

The rules (exceptions to):

• Re-issues and re-masters released in 2010 count as 2010 releases.
• For the month of January you are allowed to listen to anything from 2009. (edit: I suggest the Bawley 100 – 2009)
• I will probably come up with more rules as I think of them because not listening to Bad Brains for a year is starting to make me sad.

This got me thinking, could I do this? What would I miss? Would 2010 be a better year for new music than 2009? Such negative questions are not really in the spirit of Resolution 2010 so I turned the question on its head: if only listened to music released in 2010, what would I have to look forward to?

There are the already released albums from Vampire Weekend (Contra) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (IRM). Contra is more of the same preppy afro-beat indie-pop that made Vampire Weekend’s debut album so enjoyable, while IRM (sung by Gainsbourg but written and produced by Beck) is as good as anything Beck has done since Sea Change (2002).

On February 9th Hot Chip will release One Life Stand. With great reviews so far and the title track sitting on the high rotation list at triple j, BBC Radio 1 and 6Music, One Life Stand could be the album that sees Hot Chip break into the mainstream (without losing the their status as a critic’s favourite).

Daddy G returns for Massive Attack’s first album in five years, Heligoland, also set for a February 9th release. The album drops a lot of what made 100th Window pants and picks up a massive list of guest vocalists and collaborators including Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird, Horace Andy, and Tunde Adibempe. If the Splitting The Atom preview EP and last year’s live shows are anything to go by, Heligoland should be brilliant.

Back in September The Knife provided the soundtrack to a Danish opera based on the life of Charles Darwin. The opera was called Tomorrow, In A Year and a studio version of the soundtrack is due for release on March 1st. I doubt anything stranger will come out all year.

After some time spent writing Chinese operas and fronting the re-formed Blur, Damon Albarn is back with Gorillaz third album: Plastic Beach, out March 8th. Once again the list of collaborators is impressive, drawing big names from hip hop (Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, De la Soul), rock (Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Mark E Smith, Gruff Rhys) and soul (Bobby Womack). Albarn is promising it will be Gorillaz "most pop album".

No dates yet, but LCD Soundsystem are also due to release a new album in March. Sadly, it may also be the band’s last album. Main man James Murphy told NME "I know I said (LCD Soundsystem was over) last time and things changed, but I don't like to repeat myself."

Tipped for an early 2010 release is the next album from Interpol. Drummer Sam Fogarino has said it will be more Turn On The Bright Lights than Our Love To Admire which is a good thing.

Later in the year, details of upcoming releases get sketchier. But there are some exciting albums on the horizon: The National and Band of Horses are both suggesting they will have new releases, as are The Avalanches and The Panics.

Despite the retirement of Nine Inch Nails as a touring band, Trent Reznor has said “2010 has a number of things planned including new material from nine inch nails and something else that isn't nine inch nails.”

I know I could not go a year without listening to The Cure. Luckily they also have a 2010 release planned, the 21st anniversary remastered re-issue of Disintegration. Due in the first half of the year, the release will be a three CD set, containing the original album (remastered) , twenty previously unreleased b-sides and demos from the era, and a remixed and extended version of the Entreat live album.

While 2010 looks like being a great year for new music I still don’t know if I am up for the Resolution 2010 commitment, what about you?

What are you looking forward to in 2010? What would you miss if you were to take up the challenge?

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 5 Concerts of the Year: Hummer

5. ATP – The Breeders, Minehead, 15-17/5/2009

The combination of The Bronx’s head smashing punk, CSS’s Brazilian carnival, Bon Iver’s emotional retelling of For Emma, Holy Fuck’s free beers, Mariarchi el Bronx’s guitarrón, Deerhunter’s daydream pop, The Breeders’ classic headline set and luxury indoor camping made for a perfect weekend on the Somerset coast. (photos, knitting)

4. Phoenix, O2 Academy, Birmingham, 24/10/2009

Still largely under the radar in the UK, Phoenix brought their delicious pop songs to an ever appreciative crowd. (review)

3. Datarock, Thekla, Bristol, 23/11/2009

The Boat That Rocked: When I think of bands on boats I get images of tired old crooners wobbling away to greys in Hawaiian shirts. Datarock on the Thekla was anything but tired, though they did play a cover of (I’ve Had The) Time Of My Life that would do Jack Jones proud (review).

2. Massive Attack, O2 Academy, Birmingham, 22/09/2009

Debuting new tracks alongside classics, Massive Attack proved they are still as angry and essential as ever. (review)

1. Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction, O2 Arena, London, 15/07/2009

These two behemoths of 90s alternative rock came together for a mind blowing stadium rock show.

The freshly reformed Jane’s Addiction pulled off a performance so good you could be forgiven for thinking they had never been away, before Nine Inch Nails played their rawest, rockest set in years with the urgency of a band trying to get noticed, not say goodbye. (review)

Live Review: Massive Attack, Birmingham Academy, 22/09/2009

GAZZ ON THE RAZZ, DARK SECRETS FROM MEGAN FOX, BOY 12 TURNS INTO GIRL, TESCO BANS JEDI, MALE BOOB OPS SOAR... New ID card scheme to be launched in Britain, UK Government to install cameras in private homes, Mandelson: filesharers will lose internet connection...

Tonight’s opening act is Martina Topley Bird, her set of light, jazzy songs are all very nice, but with the exception of rocking closer Too Tough To Die they fail to capture the full attention of the chatty audience.

Massive Attack, on the other hand, are impossible to ignore. Live, original members Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall are joined by a full band, a string of guest vocalists, and a video display almost as big as their leftist political messages.

The early part of the set is made up of all new songs, their beats as dark, brooding and atmospheric as anything in the band has done before.

As good as the new songs are, it is the classics that get the greatest response tonight. On Risingson 3D and Daddy G trade choruses while the music builds and builds, til the familiar ‘Dream On’ sample brings the song back down to earth.

Touching lyrics and beams of white light fill the room as Martina Topley Bird returns to the stage to sing a beautiful version of Teardrop.

Fifty-eight year old rasta and long time Massive Attack collaborator Horace Andy makes his second appearance of the night for Angel. His seemingly happy singing and dancing is in perfect contrast to the menacing baseline being played by the band.

As the set progresses Massive Attack get more overt in pushing their message: Safe From Harm is dedicated with an f--- you to the BNP, and Inertia Creeps is played out in front of a ticker tape of news headlines, alternating between tabloid trash and under-reported intrusions into the civil liberties of British society.

After a short break the band come back to play Splitting the Atom, the dark reggae beat title track from their new EP, before diva/vocalist Deborah Miller returns lifting the roof on Unfinished Sympathy. The encore ends with a CIA rendition flight departures board ticking over on the giant video screens and the band playing Marrakesh.

The 11pm curfew has been broken when the band return to the stage for a second encore, finishing the show with 3D and Daddy G rapping Karmacoma.

Twenty years in and on the eve of their fifth album Massive Attack have the songs, a live show and a social conscious of a band that could go on for another twenty years.