The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 of 2010, #50-1

Without further ado, here's part two:

50. The Candles-Between the Sounds
49. Orange & Atlas-Euphoria
48. Brady Harris-Year of the Pug
47. Archie Powell & The Exports-Skip Work
46. Leo London-Leo London
45. Chris Abad-No Glory
44. Marc Danzeisen-Released
43. The Moving Parts-State Lines
42. Kurt Hagardorn-Leaves
41. Ian Olvera & The Sleepwalkers-The Reckless Kind
40. Marc Clayton & The Lazy Suns-Marc Clayton & The Lazy Suns
39. Smash Palace-7
38. Butch Walker-I Liked it Better When You Had No Heart
37. Buva-Not Scary! Friendly
36. Pernice Brothers-Goodbye, Killer
35. Joel Streeter-Matador
34. Neil Nathan-The Distance Calls
33. The June Gloom-Wonderland
32. The Great Affairs-The Great Affairs
31. Brother Slade-No Relation
30. Justin Currie-The Great War
29. Gin Blossoms-No Chocolate Cake
28. Oranjuly-Oranjuly
27. Joey Sykes-Human, Being Human
26. Huw Jacob-Higher Every Day
25. Aaron Fox & The Reliables-Late Too Soon
24. Graydon-Graydon
23. Brett Harris-Man of Few Words
22. Secret Powers-Lies & Fairy Tales
21. Farrah-Farrah
20. Title Tracks-It Was Easy
19. Taylor Locke & The Roughs-Grain & Grape
18. Joe Adragna-Fall Back
17. Sunrise Highway-Sunrise Highway
16. Dino-Fool's Gold
15. Seth Swirsky-Watercolor Day
14. The June-Green Fields & Rain
13. Eric Crugnale-Carol Was Here
12. John Holk & The Sequins-If You See Her
11. Slumberjet-Slumberjet
10. The Posies-Blood/Candy
9. Joe Reyes-Worry Row
8. Lannie Flowers-Circles
7. Bastards of Melody-Hurry Up and Wait
6. Billy Goodrum-Weightless
5. Timmy Sean-Music From & Inspired By Noisewater
4. Elvyn-The Decline
3. Edward O'Connell-Our Little Secret
2. Duncan Maitland-Lullabies for the 21st Century
1. The Autumn Defense-Once Around

A few words on my choice for #1. First off, it may come as a surprise to many of you since I never actually reviewed it on the site (although those who follow my Twitter feed saw me praise it more than once). The reason for this is that The Autumn Defense, being a relatively well-known act featuring two members of Wilco, don't exactly need a review from me to get noticed. Generally I spend my time on this site bringing to light the obscure and the overlooked and the independent, DIY pop artist.

Having said that, though, I'd be remiss not to point out what I loved so much about this album. It's the ultimate distillation of their sound - they finally embraced their folk/rock leanings and combined them with the melodic, 70s soft-rock sound they've cultivated over the last decade. Previously they had leaned too fair in one direction (folk/rock 2001's The Green Hour) or the other (2003's Bread-inspired Circles) or forgot the distinctive tunes altogether (I cannot recall one song from 2007's self-titled album). Here, they start off strong with possibly my favorite song of the year, the Beatlesque "Back of My Mind", continue strong with "Tell Me What You Want", the rare song where relatively unmelodic verses strengthen the powerful, propulsive chorus, add the Pearlfishers-like "The Swallows of London Town", the mellow and inviting "Step Easy" and the perfect chamber pop of "Every Day", which favorably recalls their all-time best track "Bluebirds Fall" (from a split EP with Hem). For 11 songs, John Stirratt & Pat Sansone finally live up to their potential.