Best Albums of 2010, #1-10.

Here it goes.

10 Big Boi "Sir Lucious Left Foot..."
This man has incomparable flow and it's a shame that label wrangling delayed its release for so long: the world needs to hear this! Big Boi has a seasoned confidence but really, what rapper doesn't try to project swagger? The difference is that big Boi's confidence just oozes effortlessly out of the tracks (effortless oozing?) and the results make for a great party album showcasing the other (equal) half of Outkast at his finest.
Check out: "Shutterbugg," "Shine Blockas" (feat. a great Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes sample of their song, "Thank You" -- thanks to my friend Alicia for pointing that out...),

9 Trampled by Turtles "Palomino"
While I enjoy this entire album by a great Minnesota band, it's hard not to make the comparison with the 2010 Indianapolis Colts; without the Peyton Manning that is "Wait so Long" and the Reggie Wayne that is "Victory," I'm not sure if "Palomino" would make the Top-10. Another band I'm dying to see live, kind of hard to believe it has yet to happen. 2011, let's make it happen, Trampled by Turtles.



8 Wolf Parade "Expo 86"
So this is one band I did see live this year and it was a great show. And so it's sad that they are apparently on indefinite hiatus now. For me, seeing the concert helped to solidify the very distinct character of Wolf Parade's frontmen. Spencer Krug (also of Sunset Rubdown) is kind of 2010's Isaac Brock...yelpy, yes, but yelpy in a way that adds a sense of urgency to every one of his songs (see "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" off of 2005's "Apologies of the Queen Mary" for a great example of this). I prefer Dan Boeckner (of Handsome Furs), because he tries to recreate Springsteen's greatest hits on every one of his songs (even on Handsome Furs stuff, which is more blippy and bloopy, the Boss is never far away, see "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything" for an example embedded in the frickin' title!). But together, they make (made?) a great team, which leads me to wonder, is every Canadian band some sort of supergroup? (looking at you, Stars, Broken Social Scene, New Pornographers...)
Check out: "Yulia" (I love space history and have recently been engrossed in the documentary series "When We Left Earth" which is about the early U.S. manned space program, my pick for the greatest achievement of humankind in the 20th Century...) "Yulia" could be my generation's "Rocket Man," although I can't imagine ironically singing it 20 years from now at karaoke...



7 Robyn "Body Talk"
Coincidentally, this is what my body does after consuming too much Taco Bell. This is Robyn's third (!!) album of 2010. It's a collection of the best tracks off of the first two along with a handful of new songs. Any discussion of "Body Talk" begins with "Dancing On My Own," which to my ears blows anything in pop music out of the water with Robyn's combination of fierce independence with affecting vulnerability. The song is a perfect introduction to the entire album, which clicks off one song after another with this amazing combination of emotions. This is an album for going out but also an appropriate one for coming home after a rough night. Hopefully getting tickets soon for her upcoming show at First Ave!
Check out: "Dancing On My Own," "Call Your Girlfriend," "Don't Fucking Tell Me What To Do"



6 Beach House "Teen Dream"
So this album has been appearing at the top of quite a few Best-of lists this year and for good reason, too.  In comparison to Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," well, there's no comparison, but if there were Beach House would totally be the Gods of Love bringing the hammer down on Katy Perry's Daisy Dukes. Their sound is just so imposing. I found the first two Beach House albums a little slow, similar to how I felt about Grizzly Bear prior to "Veckatimist" last year. On "Teen Dream," Beach House doesn't necessarily speed things up -- most songs are dreamy strolls (sometimes literally, "Walk in the Park") through shimmery guitar and keyboard -- but the band has matured, there's less plodding and more hooks on this album. They had a show last spring at the Cedar and are highly recommended to see live. I also have a mini-crush on Victoria Legrand, although I think she would eat me for breakfast, she seems very intense.
Check out: "Zebra," "Norway," "Real Love," "Walk in the Park"
And watch Beach House play "Norway" on PitchforkTV, in an scarily accurate re-creation of my bedroom. I never get tired of watching Legrand usher in the chorus with a sweep of her hand in-time with the cymbal hit; I can't explain why, but it gives me the chills every time.

...the turn

5 Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"
This top-10 list was hard to sort -- I can now feel some empathy for law professors grading on a forced curve. So really, if this were like the NBA lottery, "MBDTF" is like the Minnesota Timberwolves; no album had a better chance of being #1, but by luck (or unluck) of the draw, it came out at #5 instead. Whatever, Kanye will get over it. First of all, this is not a "rap" album, it's shifted into a new genre that is probably too grand and all-encompassing to accurately categorize. The best way to describe it comes in the relatively minor song "Gorgeous," when Kanye raps, "I ain't got it, I'm coming after whoever who has it -- I'M COMING AFTER WHOEVER, WHO HAS IT?" with such urgency you're left with no choice but to accept that he's out to conquer the world with this album. And he largely succeeds.
Check out: "Monster" (Nicki Minaj has a MONSTER verse here), "All of the Lights," oh, c'mon, you don't need me to tell you which ubiquitous Kanye songs to listen to...


4 Arcade Fire "The Suburbs"
Probably the best album out of the coterie of albums from established artists on this list (see Spoon, the Hold Steady, LCD Soundsytem), it's also one of the best albums out there, period. It earns a place in the Top-5 not on legacy, but on merit. And making such a potentially disastrous theme, suburban life (ahem, "Weeds" after Season 2...) Arcade Fire offer a sprawling narrative of adult longing, riffing on similar themes as their debut album, but in the context of aging and growing distant to childhood people and places, not the apocalypse...Also, probably the best concert I've attended this or any year was Arcade Fire at Roy Wilkins. I watched their live webcast from Madison Square Garden and the energy of their performance in the most famous arena in the world was the same as it was in St. Paul in September -- pretty incredible to do anything at such a high, sustained level of dedication.
Check out: "Ready to Start," "Modern Man," "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"



3 Best Coast "Crazy For You"
Best Coast doesn't win any awards for artistic merit or ambition with their debut album, but that's the point. Beth Consentino sings about getting high, her cat, and boys. The music is also pretty elemental, basically just surf rock guitar with a nod towards vocals of 50s girl groups and hooks of alt bands from the 90s. But it's a great album, nonetheless, and one of the best go-to albums for driving down the coast on a muggy summer evening, with the windows open.



2 Joanna Newsom "Have One on Me"
It's difficult to put this album on the list, not because it's not good -- it's really, really good -- but rather because it almost seems inappropriate. Something like sticking a high-art photograph in with random pics taken off of Facebook. I also have to admit that it took me a while to warm to Joanna Newsom. I first heard her on her second full album, "Ys," and I couldn't see past the wordy, archaic lyrics, the somewhat amorphous song structure, and the most common complaint: her voice. But after giving "Ys" a second and third chance, I finally realized what all the fuss was about. I mean, semi-academic essays have been written on her genius and compiled into a book (seriously). And these essays are not written by some random, geeky indie music 'zine writers, but by heavy-hitters like Dave Eggers (who, to be fair, could be categorized as just an especially famous fanboy, projecting his ideal female though potentially sexist conception of the delicate, vulnerable artist on Newsom). Like it or not, these outside influences (including her place at the top of one of my friend's top-10 lists) changed how I view her work. The closest thing I can compare this album to is "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," Neutral Milk Hotel's masterpiece. That particular album comes to mind not because of the musical similarities -- the lo-fi aesthete of NMH is the antithesis of Joanna Newsom's sound -- but because of how each album works as a piece of art, existing outside of most notions of what music can do and mean. NMH evoked loss and helplessness through an approximation of Anne Frank's story, while Joanna Newsom evokes similar emotions of loss, love, and regret through archaic imagery rooted both in present and in fictional historical times (yes, she does talk about dragons). It's hard to explain, as you can see, but "Have One on Me" is a really great album and work of art. Oh, god, I just became a fanboy...
Check out: "Good Intentions Paving Company," "It Will Suffice," "81," "In California," "On a Good Day"


1 Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"
Notwithstanding the fact that this album shares the same title as my nickname in high school, it's been hands-down my favorite album of the year. In relation to some of the artists on this list, Janelle Monae adopts the android-with-feelings character of Robyn, mixes it with the chops and ambition of Joanna Newsom, and weaves a sense of loss through her songs like the Arcade Fire. But most of all, she's just really, really good at what she does. I believe that while music is not linear, meaning the genres blend together at the borders, and are sometimes erased completely, listening to this album is kind of like listening to all of the great music in R&B (and funk, rock, soul, hip-hop, pop, etc. etc. etc.) from the past 60 years in one tidy package and all in a totally original way. The music sounds like it was made with one foot in 2010 and one foot in 1955, 1972 -- pick your year. Finally, this album is #1 because I've loved it since the first time I heard it and still find new elements in songs that suggests I'll love listening to it for years to come. And isn't that what listening to music is all about?


Well, I hope you've had fun reading my best-of list for 2010, it was fun recalling the past year through music. I'm also really interested in hearing what your top albums of the year were. If you're reading this, you probably know me, so send me your list!