Top 30 Albums of 2010

Here is the list of my 30 favorite albums of 2010, as usual, please let me know what you think, and if you'd like a copy of my best tracks of 2010 CD, drop me a line.

30. Tokyo Police Club - Champ: I only recently started listening to these guys (late to the bandwagon, I know) and their pleasant brand of upbeat indie is just fine by me.

29. Hot Chip - One Life Stand: I wish I could put this higher on my list because it's got some brilliant songs on it, but the few really awful songs on the album kill it for me.

28. Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise: Some wonderfully relaxed minimal electronica, perfect music to blissfully zone out to.

27. Mountain Man - Made the Harbor: Gorgeous understated debut from an all female folk act.

26. No Age - Everything in Between: I have a feeling this one will grow on me, but as of now it hasn't grabbed me quite like Nouns did.

25. Laura Veirs - July Flame: The 2nd female folk album of my list so far. More polished than Mountain Man, but just as haunting.

24. Infinite Body - Carve Out The Face Of My God: An album of noise. Beautiful, overwhelming, blissful noise that you could get lost in.

23. The Extra Lens - Undercard: A collaboration between The Mountain Goat's John Darnielle and some other guy I've never heard of, but I mean, John Darnielle. Yeah, it's good.

22. The Black Keys - Brothers: In which The Black Keys stop being muddy and start being good.

21. Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle: Another group on this list that I've only recently started listening to. While this album is just more of the same, that same is pretty wonderful.

20. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown: A folk opera about the myth of Orpheus starring Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver fame) as Orpheus, ambitious as hell and a whole lot of fun.

19. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz: It looks like Sufjan is never going to get back to the state albums project, but if he keeps making albums like this, I'll keep listening.

18. Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces: An unexpected blast of classic 60's style soul, more please.

17. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty: I'm patiently waiting for Andre 3000 to start making some music again, but Big Boi's hip-hop opus will tide me over until then.

16. Devo - Something For Everybody: I'm just as surprised as anyone else to be putting this on my list, but dammit, this album is good. It doesn't hold up to the classics sure, but it's the best record they could have possibly put out at their age.

15. Neil Young - Le Noise: Ol' Neil has been steadily putting out albums his entire career, but few albums in the past 30 years have been worth a damn, this is one of them. It's just Neil and electric guitar and it's wonderful.

14. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma: I resisted FlyLo for some time, I didn't care much for Los Angeles or any of his EPs, but I can't resist this little bit of insanity. His jazz tendencies come to the forefront here and I love it.

13. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles: You really need two self titled albums guys? My iTunes hates you for that, but my earholes love you. This album has toned down the screeches and upped the bass for some of the years finest electro.

12. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening: Supposedly James wants the group to disband, this album makes me hope it's not true. This is actually their worst album, but the worst LCD Soundsystem is still miles ahead of most others.

11. Vampire Weekend - Contra: Not a huge change in sound here for everyone's favorite preppies, but the sound still works.

10. Ceo - White Magic: A side project from a band I've never actually heard (The Tough Alliance). This is an album of dancey gold. It's upbeat, electronically infused fun, with great melodies to boot.

9. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest: Hipster choice, I know, but I don't care. This is a great album.

8. Baths - Cerulean: My favorite new artist of 2010, he make really interesting (but not in that pretentious "IDM" kind of way) electronic music. He mashes a fascinating array of noises into one beautiful collage of an album.

7. Girl Talk - All Day: Nobody does mash-ups like Girl Talk, NOBODY.

6. Sleigh Bells - Treats: Although I like the EP versions of those songs better, this album still destroys. Their sound punches you in the face but still makes you want to move.

5. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor: I didn't really like these guys that much before this album came out (I only gave this one a listen because the idea of an indie rock concept album about the civil war grabbed me {note: this, it turns out, was kind of a lie, the civil war thing is a small part of it}), but I'm a Titus Andronicus fan now. Like a rougher version of The Hold Steady, they rip through this album with full force musically, but don't bang your head to it or you might miss the often goofy but still heart-wrenching lyrics.

4. The Books - The Way Out: Although this isn't an album I'd want to listen to all time, it's certainly one of the most brilliant of the year. From a found recording of a boy talking about killing people to odd math lessons, bizarro samples lead the way in The Books most accessible album to date.

3. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: I can't stop listening to this album. I wasn't crazy about it on first listen, but it grows on me every time. It very well might be Kanye's best album. It's certainly a welcome return to form after the weak sidetrack of 808s and Heartbreak.

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: I don't know how they do it, but Arcade Fire have dropped yet another sure-to-be-a-classic. This album is a bit more varied than their previous efforts (electronic drum track on an Arcade Fire record? Whaaa?) but it still holds together as a cohesive artistic statement. I didn't love it on first listen because it seemed the lack the sweeping epics of past albums, but I shortly realized that this was the wrong approach.



1. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt: Without question my most listened to album of 2010. I enjoyed his first record but this one blows it out of the water. The Wild Hunt has more raw feeling in one song that most other entire albums on this list. I'm certain I'll be listening to this album for some time.

BONUS!

The top 5 EPs of 2010

5. Chiddy Bang - The Preview
4. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People (this "EP" is over an hour in length)
3. James Blake - CMYK
2. Dirty Projectors + Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca

1. The Tallest Man On Earth - Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird (Both number one spots? Yes, he's that good.)