2010 Top 50 Albums of the Year: #25-1

I feel like this pretty much perfectly summarizes the best music that came out this past year. We've got everything from electronic/dubstep musicians, indie groups both new and old picking up steam, mainstream hip-hop acts, and a few surprises along the way. So here it is! The top 25 albums of the year 2010!




#25
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Genre: Indie Rock

Sample Songs: "Sun Hands", "Camera Talk", "Warning Sign", "Stranger Things"

#24
Glasser - Ring

Genre: Experimental, Electro-Pop

Sample Songs: "Apply", "Home", "Mirrorage", "Plane Temp"

#23
The Books - The Way Out

Genre: Electronica/Folk

Sample Songs: "I Didn't Know That", "All You Need Is A Wall", "I Am Who I Am", "We Bought The Flood"

#22
Miami Horror - Illumination

Genre: Synthpop

Sample Songs: "I Look To You", "Sometimes", "Holidays", "Illuminated"

#21
River City Extension - The Unmistakenable Man

Genre: Folk Rock

Sample Songs: "Our New Intelligence", "If I Still Own A Bible", "Today I Feel Like I'm Evolving"

*Note: I could only find live versions of these songs. The production quality on the studio album is actually quite good.

#20
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Genre: Dance, Electronic

Sample Songs: "Dance Yrself Clean", "One Touch", "You Wanted A Hit", "Home"

#19
Sleigh Bells - Treats

Genre: Noise-pop

Sample Songs: "Tell Em", "Riot Rhythm", "Crown on the Ground", "A/B Machines"

#18
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

Genre: Folk/Singer-songwriter

Sample Songs: "Burden of Tomorrow", "A Lion's Heart", "The Wild Hunt", "King of Spain"

#17
Chromeo - Business Casual

Genre: Electro-Funk

Sample Songs: "I'm Not Contagious", "Night by Night", "Don't Turn The Lights On", "Grow Up"

#16
Rusko - O.M.G!

Genre: Dubstep

Sample Songs: "Woo Boost", "Hold On", "Dial My Number", "Kumon Kumon"

#15
Caribou - Swim

Genre: Electronica

Sample Songs: "Odessa", "Kaili", "Bowls", "Leave House"

#14
Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Genre: Psychedelic, Experimental

Sample Songs: "The Children", "I Remember", "O.N.E.", "Mondegreen"

#13
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

Genre: Black Metal, Folk Metal

Sample Songs: "Into the Painted Grey", "Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires", "The Watcher's Monolith", "To Drown"

#12
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Genre: Hip hop

Sample Songs: "Daddy Fat Sax", "Tangerine", "Be Still", "Night Night"

#11
The Glitch Mob - Drink The Sea/Drink The Sea Part 2: The Mixtape

Genre: Electronic, Glitch, IDM

Sample Songs: "Bad Wings", "Drive It Like You Stole It", "Animal Vox", "Fistful of Silence"

#10
Uffie - Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans

Genre: Alternative Dance, Electro hip-hop

Sample Songs: "ADD SUV", "MCs Can Kiss", "Difficult", "Illusion of Love"

#9
Tobacco - Maniac Meat

Genre: Psychedelic, Experimental

Sample Songs: "Fresh Hex", "Sweatmother", "Heavy Makeup", "Creepy Phone Calls"

#8
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Genre: Hip hop

Sample Songs: "Dark Fantasy", "All of the Lights", "Runaway", "Lost in the World"

#7
Girl Talk - All Day

Genre: Mash-up, Party Music

Sample Songs: "Oh No", "Let It Out", "Down for the Count", "Get It Get It"

#6

Devo - Something For Everybody

Genre: New Wave, Synthrock

Sample Songs: "What We Do", "Don't Shoot(I'm A Man)", "Cameo", "No Place Like Home"

#5
Beach House - Teen Dream

Genre: Dream-Pop

Sample Songs: "Zebra", "Norway", "Take Care", "10 Mile Stereo"

#4
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Genre: Punk Rock, Lo-Fi

Sample Songs: "A More Perfect Union", "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future", "To Old Friends And New", "A Pot In Which To Piss"

#3
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Genre: Alternative hip hop, alternative rock

Sample Songs: "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Superfast Jellyfish", "On Melancholy Hill", "Cloud of Unknowing"

#2
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Genre: Indie Rock, Dream-Pop

Sample Songs: "Earthquake", "Desire Lines", "Coronado", "Helicopter", "He Would Have Laughed"

#1
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II

Genre: Electronic, Experimental

Sample Songs: "Celestica", "Baptism", "Empathy", "Intimate", "I Am Made Of Chalk"

That about wraps it up for this year in music! It's definitely been quite the exciting ride. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! Some really great stuff came out this year. I wander what 2011 has in store for us...only time will tell!

2010 Top 50 Albums of the Year: #50-26

Now that we've got the honorable mentions out of the way, it's time we get right to the meat of this list! I'm gonna start off with the first stretch of albums, and then I will finally reveal the rest New Year's Eve! So without further adieu, here are my choices:


#50
Zola Jesus - Stridulum EP
Genre: Experimental, Electronic, Female Vocalist

Sample Songs: "Night", "Run Me Out", "Manifest Destiny"

#49
CEO - White Magic

Genre: Synth Pop, Electro

Sample Songs: "Come With Me", "Illuminata", "Love And Do What You Will"

#48
Weapon - From The Devils Tomb

Genre: Black Metal

Sample Songs: "The Inner Wolf", "Sardonyx", "Towards the Uncreated"

#47
Warpaint - The Fool

Genre: Psychedelic, Shoegaze

Sample Songs: "Shadows", "Undertow", "Baby"

#46
HEALTH - DISCO2

Genre: Noise-rock, dance-punk

Sample Songs: "USA Boys", "In Heat(Javelin Remix)", "Eat Flesh(Crystal Castles Remix)"

#45
The Black Keys - Brothers

Genre: Blues-rock

Sample Songs: "Next Girl", "The Only One", "Unknown Brother"

#44
65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway

Genre: Electronic, post-rock

Sample Songs: "Crash Tactics", "Come To Me", "Tiger Girl"

#43
BT - These Hopeful Machines

Genre: Electronica, Glitch

Sample Songs: "The Rose Of Jericho", "The Emergency", "Le Nocturne de Lumiere"

#42
Alcest - Écailles de Lune

Genre: Shoegaze, Metal

Sample Songs: "Écailles de Lune - Part 1", "Percées de lumière", "Sur L'Océan Couleur de Fer"

#41
The Sword - Warp Riders

Genre: Heavy Metal, Doom Metal

Sample Songs: "Lawless Lands", "Arrows in the Dark", "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire"

#40
!!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It?

Genre: Dance-punk, indie rock

Sample Songs: "The Most Certain Sure", "The Hammer", "Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss"

#39
Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude/Sit Down, Man

Genre: Underground hip-hop

Sample Songs: "All Tan Everything", "Hugo Chavez", "Rooftop"

#38
She & Him - Volume Two

Genre: Indie Pop, Folk

Sample Songs: "In The Sun", "Brand New Shoes", "I'm Gonna Make It Better"

#37
Massive Attack - Heligoland

Genre: Trip-hop, Down-tempo

Sample Songs: "Splitting The Atom", "Atlas Air", "Flat Of The Blade"

#36
Working For A Nuclear Free City - Jojo Burger Tempest

Genre: Indie, Electronic

Sample Songs: "Alphaville", "Black Rivers", "B.A.R.R.Y."

#35
And So I Watch You From Afar - Letters

Genre: Post-rock, Instrumental Rock

Sample Songs: "S is for Salamander", "D is for Django The Bastard", "K Is For Killing Spree(An Ode To)"

#34
Crocodiles - Sleep Forever

Genre: Noise-pop, Dream-pop

Sample Songs: "Sleep Forever", "Hearts of Love", "All My Hate And My Hexes Are For You"

#33
Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy OST

Genre: Electronic, Orchestral, Movie Soundtrack

Sample Songs: "The Game Has Changed", "Derezzed", "C.L.U."

#32
Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Genre: Alternative Rock

Sample Songs: "CMND/CTRL", "You've Seen The Butcher", "Risk"

#31
The Chemical Brothers - Further

Genre: Electronica

Sample Songs: "Another World", "Horse Power", "Swoon"

#30
Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz

Genre: Indie Folk, Art-Rock, Electronic

Sample Songs: "Too Much", "Vesuvius", "Impossible Soul"

*Note: Impossible Soul is split into two parts on YouTube

#29
Baths - Cerulean

Genre: Electronic, Glitch-hop, lo-fi, Ambient

Sample Songs: "Maximalist", "You're My Excuse To Travel", "Plea"

#28
Wild Nothing - Gemini

Genre: Dream-pop

Sample Songs: "Live In Dreams", "Confirmation", "Chinatown"

#27
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

Genre: Psychedelic Rock

Sample Songs: "It Is Not Meant To Be", "Lucidity", "Runway, Houses, City, Clouds"

#26
Janelle Monae - TheArchAndroid(Suites II and III)

Genre: R&B, Soul, Funk, Pop

Sample Songs: "Tightrope", "Cold War", "Mushrooms & Roses"

Hope you guys enjoy my selections thus far! There's only 25 albums left to go. Think you'll be able to predict any of em? Wanna discuss which ones you think are crap and which are awesome? Feel free to leave some comments!

2010 Top 50 Albums of the Year: Honorable Mentions

2010 has been an incredible versatile year for music, and a great way to kick off the second decade of the 21st century. I decided to go big this year and move from doing a top 10 list...all the way to my top 50 favorite albums. But first before we get to that, let's take a look at some of the honorable mentions of the year:



A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Genre: Dream-pop
Sample Songs: "Drink Drank Drunk", "Sigh, inhibitionist (Come all day with me)"

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network OST

Genre: Ambient, Industrial, Movie Soundtrack

Sample Songs: "In Motion", "In The Hall Of The Mountain King", "Hands Cover Bruise"

Burzum - Belus

Genre: Black Metal
Sample Songs: "Kaimadalthas' nedstigning", "Morgenrøde"

Husky Rescue - Ship of Light

Genre: Ambient, Trip-Hop

Sample Songs: "Beautiful My Monster", "Sound of Love"

The Roots - How I Got Over

Genre: Hip-hop, neo-soul

Sample Songs: "Dear God 2.0 ft. Monsters of Folk", "Walk Alone"

Matthew Dear - Black City

Genre: Electronic, down-tempo

Sample Songs: "Honey", "Little People (Black City)"

The Seven Fields of Aphelion - Periphery

Genre: Experimental, Psychedelic, Keyboard

Sample Songs: "Michigan Icarus", "Saturation: Arrhythmia"

Jonsi - Go

Genre: Baroque pop, Sigur Ros

Sample Songs: "Go Do", "Kolniður"

Anamanaguchi - Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game OST

Genre: 8-bit, Video Game Music

Sample Songs: "Skate or Live", "Sushi Box", "Leave The Past Behind"

The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly

Genre: Synth-pop

Sample Songs: "Cranberry", "Dusty Fruit"

That about wraps it up for the honorable mentions! Stay tuned till next time! Next couple of days I'll reveal the top 50 albums of the year! I'll probably separate it into a couple posts to drag it out, but they shall be up before the year is over :)

6-24-10 Reviews: Hidden Treasures!

World's End Girlfriend - Dream's End Come True(2002)
Genre: Experimental, Ambient

Another hidden treasure from about eight years ago. World's End Girlfriend is a project brought to us by Katsuhiko Maeda, who brings us some of the most beautiful, inspirational EPs that quite honestly
hasn't received the attention that it deserves. If the stunning opening track "Singing Under The Rainbow" doesn't draw out some sort of positive emotion from you, I would be absolutely shocked. The following song "Caroling Hellwalker" departs
from the violin-laid foundation, and starts to rely more on the different variety of atmospheric beats, before drawing you back in with an incredible session of ambient build-and-release. It is in the middle of the song where the chaos of this music decides to take center stage, and it can definitely be viewed as awe-inspiring. If you can be patient with your music and feel like embracing something gorgeously produced, this is another piece of work to look into.




Satanticpornocultshop - Arkhaiomelisidonophunikheratos(2010)
Genre: Electronic, Avant-Garde, IDM

In a time period where electronic music seems to be on the rise now more than ever, this is one of the most unique albums I have heard all year.
If you can get past the rather strange album name, you'll discover an array of cross-genre songs that really captivates the listener. This record expands on all kinds of horizons. One moment you'll be feeling like your listening to something you'd find off a Venetian Snares IDM soundscape, before immediately escaping into a much more surrealistic, dream-pop frame of mind.
There are several tracks that shine throughout this underground duo' newest full length release, several of which(such as "Paradise, "Nido", and "Comment Te Dire Adieu?") feature entrancing vocals.
The production here results in a fascinating blend of sounds that I Would strongly recommend just about anyone to check out.