My 20 Favorite Albums of 2010

This past year was a big year for me musically, so I wanted to really take the time to make this a more comprehensive list than usual. My tastes have definitely evolved in the past year or so, expanding into new genres like electronic and rap. Another big deal for me was attending the Sasquatch Music Festival in May. A festival is a great place to discover music, and my experience definitely proves it. I saw 8 of the bands below live, and I'm sure that influences the selection. All of these reasons, combined with my lack of posting many reviews over the course of the year, makes the list a more extensive one that in years past. Below are my top 20 albums of the year, plus a film score or two.

Also, at the bottom of the post is a playlist with one song from each of the albums listed.

20. Beach House - Team Dream

This is a great album to just relax and ruminate on one's life. It's all about reflecting on past relationships, with both the joy and sorrow that comes along with it. The real triumph here are the arrangements. They are so pristine and glittery, with many diverse and sweet layers, all truly living up to the dream pop genre. Layered on top of that are the locals of Victoria Legrand's voice, creating a fantastic landscape of sound.

19. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

A huge undertaking, Plastic Beach is a pop concept album that meanders through both ideas and sounds. It draws from rock, electronic, and world music, and is features a rotating cast of guest artists ranging from Mos Def to Bobby Womack to Lou Reed. While that does make it kind of messy at times, it is never sloppy, and a great listening experience.

18. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

I love surf-flavored rock, and this Florida band's debut is no exception. "Swim" is by far and away the best song here, which features a great hook, and reminds me of driving my car near the beach. Pitchfork calls them classic dorm room indie rock, part of a "faux-genre some of us have jokingly referred to as "alt-bro"-- guitar-heavy indie rock that's probably influenced by Pavement, likely about girls, and almost certainly made by people who at first blush sound more fun to get a beer with than, say, Dirty Projectors." Surfer Blood definitely fits the bill, and they have certainly been influenced by Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Pinkerton.

17. The Walkmen - Lisbon

Another album on this list led by a surf rock single, "Angela Surf City," a wailing assault on the ears, that rocks hard in both rhythm and emotion. You can hear the pain in lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's vocals, and this band seems like they want to have a good time, but are caught up in feeling sorry for themselves. It is also superbly recorded, and each track brings a nice rich texture.

16. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Band of Horses are a solid band, and their third album proves it. According to Ben Bridwell, this is really the band's first album, is this marks the first time that the membership is solid for the future. I love the vocal harmonies throughout, and it's the perfect album for sitting around a campfire with your friends.

15. She & Him - Volume Two

This probably doesn't come as a surprise, since Zooey Deschanel is my #1 celebrity crush. I discovered her through her acting career, but her musical work is just as good. Her voice is sweet, as are her lyrics, and M. Ward's arrangements all come together to evoke the sound of California radio in the 60s and 70s.

14. The Drums - The Drums

As I have mentioned earlier, I love surf rock unabashedly. Admittedly, The Drums lead single, "Let's Go Surfing," seems to be an ironic poke at the recent surf trend in East Coast indie rock, but damn is it a loving one. Add to this the 50's throwback ballad "Down By the Water," reminiscent of Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" cover, and the lead track "Best Friend," and you have a solid album of surf rock-meets-Brooklyn-meets-The Cure.

13. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Like a few other albums on this list, this is huge an expansive. A lot of it comes from the pain Stevens experienced in overcoming a viral infection that attacked his nervous system. It's a rollicking sonic experience, so dense and riddled with differing soundscapes, yet forming to Stevens' singular vision.

12. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

This album is astoundingly good. For a debut record, it explodes with such a rich, developed sound, that you can't help but like it. Local Natives get a lot of comparisons to Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes, and they are certainly warranted. However, Gorilla Manor feels much warmer than either Veckatimest or Fleet Foxes. There is a lightness to the songs that lend themselves more to a nice summer drive than quiet contemplation.

 

11. Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy

Daft Punk scoring a Tron sequel seems like the pairing of the century. The duo themselves seem to be heavily inspired by the original film. However, the score itself is more Hans Zimmer-y than most had anticipated. Many of the tracks are incidental pieces, with percussive strings and flourishes of electronica, not unlike Zimmer's Batman scores. However, tracks like "Derezzed" bring the full power of Daft Punk unleashed, and they are sublime.

10. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West is likely a terrible person. More likely, is a raving egomaniac and a perfectionist. He also happens to be extremely gifted. To me, he is most reminiscent of Axl Rose, someone with a similar personality (imagine if Twitter had been invented in 1987?) and a similar drive for perfection. This album isn't as streamlined or as pop friendly as Graduation, but one cannot deny the sheer amount of artistry at play here. Everything here is played to the maximum, the lyrics, the beats, the samples, the rhythms. It is pure extravagance, and is really the acme of Kanye's career to date, incorporating styles from each of his previous records.

9. Dinosaur Feathers - Fantasy Memorial

A band I discovered the second morning of the Sasquatch Festival. Another Brooklyn indie band, Dinosaur Feathers being this high on my list probably says more about my taste than anything else. Their sound stems from low-fi rock of the 50s and 60s with a modern twist. Similar to The Drum's debut, Fantasy Memorial is the perfect soundtrack to a summer's day, like if the Dirty Projectors wrote a song with a traditional structure. I love this kind of bright, poppy music, especially when combined with an honest look at relationships.

8. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

There is nothing that Danger Mouse can't do. The man is a one man music making machine with the midas touch. In Broken Bells, he teams up with The Shins' James Mercer, and the two make sweet melodies together. It wisely combines the biggest strengths of each half of the duo: Mercer's voice and lyrics, and DM's production and hip-hop sensibilities. While even the best song here isn't as good as Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" or "So Says I," off Chutes Too Narrow, it is still a wonderful synthesis. And "The Ghost Inside" has the best clap line of 2010.

7. The New Pornographers - Together

The premier Canadian indie rock supergroup, The New Pornographers returned in a big way, and I think Together is their best to date. Carl Newman and Dan Bejar's songwriting is top-notch, and they really show off the whole group's strength. Everything works as a unit here, and despite perhaps underutilizing the power pipes of Neko Case, this is a high point for them so far.

6. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network

No one can doubt that Trent Reznor is a brilliant composer, but I felt that although expansive, Ghosts I-IV was somewhat unfocused. Reznor has long been able to play with whatever he wants to, but under the prodding of David Fincher, the score for The Social Network is pitch perfect. It works well independently of the film, but the sum is greater than the parts. Fincher's filmmaking has an innate rhythm to it, and that is captured beautifully in Reznor's score, where it drives the film. And the boat race sequence may be my favorite scene in any movie all year.

5. The Roots - How I Got Over

With the departure of Conan O'Brien from NBC, The Roots easily took the mantle of Best TV House Band. This album was recorded during their first year on Jimmy Fallon's Late Night show, and it shows how much Questlove and the rest of the band have taken in from visiting guests. When added to the already Best Band in Hip Hop, it really brought the group to the next level. Only 42 minutes long, it is purely distilled purpose. It's a political album that goes deeper than politics, commenting on society and philosophy. And like all great albums, it is better as a whole than individual songs.

4. Yeasayer - Odd Blood

While I enjoy experimental music on an intellectual level, I find that it is more pop leaning music that really speaks to me. And that is how Odd Blood rose near the top of the list. The album as a whole is extremely complex on the back end, with the production techniques varied and bizarre, not unlike Brian Eno's early work with Bowie. Again, this is not what elevates the album to greatness. Keating and Wilder really come into their own as lyricists, and the lyrics melted to the sound makes these songs bounce around in my head for weeks on end.

3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Supposedly the last album by James Murphy under the LCD Soundsystem name, it certainly would be going out on top. This entire band is a throwback to a time that almost never was: imagine, in the 1980s, if the kids in high school listening to Brian Eno and Bowie's Berlin were the cool kids. LCD Soundsystem comes from this alternate history. Everything here is dripping with cool, even if that dripping reveals the ugly truths underneath. Murphy is in full command of his voice, both singing and in crafting his lyrics. An absolute masterpiece.

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

An album as expansive as the sprawl that it laments, The Suburbs is this generation's The Wall without the drug-addled theatrics. Thematically, it is about the mundane, not unlike much of Springsteen's early output. And like The River, it does not mix in Born to Run-style escapism to the plight of our young protagonists. Arcade Fire are more about survival than escape. If their debut album, The Funeral, was about personal loss, love and friendship, and Neon Bible was about how authority figures were out to screw you. The Suburbs adds the fact that were you live is boring, generic, and self-righteously important (or self-importantly righteous?). But all of Arcade Fire's output does contain the flipside of Bulter's despair: Regine Chassagne's optimism: we're all in this together, and together, we can get through it. This is a huge album, and it takes a lot to digest, but it is also filled with fantastic songs.

1. Vampire Weekend - Contra

I first heard this album almost a year ago, and I knew immediately it would be near the top of this list. I honestly never imagined that Ezra Koenig & Co. would ever be able to top their debut, but they may have done it here. Contra doesn't possess the same punchy character as their debut, which left me mildly disappointed at first. However, I've only come to like it more the more I've listened to it. Perhaps more importantly, it accomplishes the goal of a sophomore album: it sounds enough like the first one to be well received by fans, but also not just a direct repeat of previous material. The album starts in a place musically close to the first album, but pushes further and further away as the album progresses. Many have commented on how Vampire Weekend songs are littered with highbrow references, but I don't think that's what matters. It's really the fact that these cultural ornaments are weaved seamlessly into lush melodies with a texture not unlike chunky peanut butter. Its an album that feels like a Wes Anderson movie: deliberately scripted, well executed, and done up in Futura. 

And here's your 20 song playlist from this year's best albums:

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