My Top 2010 Albums

As I’m looking back through the new albums for 2010 I can only conclude that it wasn’t a great year for great music. A good year for good music, but not for great music. What I mean is that there were a good number of solid, enjoyable albums, but very few great albums. In fact, in my mind, only one. I didn’t even have to think about my #1 album, and after that I had a really hard time picking. Well, enough, chit-chat and on to the lists:

1. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
2. The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
3. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
4. Anna von Hausswolff – Singing From The Grave
5. Menomena – Mines
6. The National – High Violet
7. Vampire Weekend - Contra
8. She & Him – Volume Two
9. The Dead Weather – Sea Of Cowards
10. M.I.A - /\/\ /\ Y /\

Don’t read too much into the individual spots from 2-10 – they are all packed closer together than the gap between Joanna Newsom and the rest. I’ll only comment on the top album today and leave the rest for another day.

Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
I’ve been a big fan of Joanna Newsom’s previous albums – especially Ys – and it was great to see this triple-album being so good across the board. I was lucky enough to catch her live at the Phoenix Orpheum in November and it was a pretty amazing experience. Her music isn’t for everyone and it’s going to take some patience to appreciate it but it just keeps getting better with the more you hear it. I’ve listened to all 18 tracks (6 per disc, averaging ~7 mins each) anywhere from 20 to 40 times since February and I have no plans of stopping.

Honorable Mention (alphabetical order):
• Ariella Daly – Waterkeeper
• Dirty Projectors + Björk – Mount Wittenberg Orca
• Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
• LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
• Owen Pallett – Heartland
• Robyn – Body Talk (Parts 1-3)
• Various Artists – Best Of Bonnaroo
• The White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights

Albums that were ok:
• Amanda Palmer – Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits Of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele
• Basia Bulat – Heart Of My Own
• Belle & Sebastian – Bella & Sebastian Write About Love
• Best Coast – Crazy For You
• Bill Callahan – Rough Travel For A Rare Thing
• The Black Keys - Brothers
• Christina Aguilera - Bionic
• Elvis Costello – National Ransom
• Karen Elson – The Ghost Who Walks
• Massive Attack – Heligoland
• The New Pornographers  - Together
• Sufjan Stevens – The Age Of Ads
• Various Artists – The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Albums that I wanted to like, but didn’t do it for me:
• Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti – Before Today
• Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
• Ceo – White Magic
• Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
• The Drums – The Drums
• Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
• Goldfrapp – Head First
• Johnny Cash – American VI: Ain’t No Grave
• Julian Lynch – Mare
• Laurie Anderson – Homeland
• Matthew Dear – Black City
• Melissa Ferrick – Enough About Me
• Twin Shadow – Forget
• The Walkmen - Lisbon