Top Albums of 2010

This year's been overall pretty good when it comes to albums released. Unlike last year, I actually had to weed some out and had somewhat of a hard time making decisions. It seems that there were a lot of releases in the past month which made this year awesome. Along with the string of shows Christmas week, I'd say that it would be easy to make a top 10 releases/shows of the month. Instead, I decided to extend it to the year.

List by Jesse Warner

10. Nana Grizol - Ruth

Of course anything by Nana Grizol would have made the list. Though it wasn't as good as Love It Love It, it was by no means a bad album. In fact, it was a very good album. It was good enough to make number 10 on the list, that is.

9. 1994!- FCKRHED

These Lancaster natives snuck into the number 9 spot on my list while receiving heavy play shortly after purchasing their tee shirt. They would probably be higher on the list if I heard about them sooner. I'm pretty sure it's they are a two-piece, but I know I'm sure that they are pretty rad.

8. We Were Skeletons - We Were Skeletons

Also from Lancaster, this band has more than two people in it. They play a lot of mathy stuff that's really loud and screamy. There's none of that noodly nonsense, just straight up farm-land angst.

7. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

I am constantly blown away by The Tallest Man On Earth, and this album left nothing towards disappointment. Getting back to my folk roots, this album is perfect for fall and winter and I can't get enough of it ever.

6. You Blew It! - The Past In Present

There was a time shortly after it came out when I would listen to nothing but this album. I don't even know what it is, but I really like it a lot. It's for name your own price on bandcamp.

5. Mane Horse - What Do You Mean We're Just Friends?

This band is criminally underrated and is from Fresco, California both of which kill me. One because they deserve to get more popular, and two because I'll never see them live because they aren't big enough to tour the east coast yet. I can't get enough of these dudes since their demos came out and their EP was even better. It's for free and we wrote about them a while back.

4. Midi & the Modern Dance - Make It Easy On Yourself

Howdy, Connecticut. This group has some serious potential to be the biggest thing on the planet. They have a lot of sounds going on in this album and are seriously nice people. It's a win/win combo that can get them places. This album is phenomenal and for name your own price on bandcamp.

3. Merchant Ships - For Cameron/Shipsography

Okay, I really like Merchant Ships. I'm not going to lie, I was going through some serious stuff the day For Cameron came out and I cried while listening to it. It helped me feel a lot better and although it's not my favorite musically, it really is an emotional album. Shipsography also came out this year so I can also add that to the list. You can get that here.

2. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Formlessness

Flawless. A good album to me is something that plays straight through effortlessly. Not only does this release do that, but is a phenomenal listen. I believe I had over 20 listens on each track the day it came out. Great release, even better live. You can get it free here because they are out of free downloads on bandcamp.

1. Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted

Yes, Snowing took the #1 spot on the list. Usually I get bored of albums after a couple weeks, but they never got old. In fact, I listened to it more and more as the year went on. Better yet, it's free on CYLS!

Runnerups:
The Please & Thank Yous - Mind Yr P's & Q's

Bars Of Gold - Of Gold
Malegoat - To Face The Music
Grown Ups - More Songs
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Clarissa explains It All - TDK 3DEP
William Bonney - Fall Demo
Velociraptor - Spring '10 Demo
Park Jefferson - Childhood
Corcovado - Spring Baked 2010
Trunks & Tales - Standing Still Fast
P.S. Elliot - Living In Squalor
Candy Hearts - Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams

List by Donavon of thisisemo.tumblr.com

1. Monument - Goes Canoeing
2. Everyone Everywhere - Everyone Everywhere
3. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
4. The Reptilian - Full Health
5. Calculator - These Roots Grow Deep
6. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
7. Annabel - Here We Are Tomorrow
8. Castevet - The Echo And The Light
9. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
10. 1994! - FCKYRHED

Honorable Mentions:
Joie De Vivre - The North End
Merchant Ships - For Cameron
Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
Footnotes - Summer Shit
Hightide Hotel - Nothing Was Missing, Except Me
The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Formlessness

List by Kristina Boston

10. The Head and The Heart - The Head and The Heart
9. Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
8. The Black Keys - Brothers
7. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
6. Dylan LeBlanc - Pauper’s Field
5. Spoon - Transference
4. The National - High Violet
3. Of Montreal - False Priest
2. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
1. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

List by Isaac Tyler

(No particular order)
David Byrne & Fatboy Slim - Here Lies Love
Daughters - Daughters
The Black Keys - Brothers
The Acacia Strain - Wormwood
Direct Hit! - #5
Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
Murder by Death - Good Morning, Magpie
Nana Grizol - Ruth
Paul Baribeau - Unbearable
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

List by Roberto Faust

10. Das Racist - Sit Down, Man

All tan word association hip hop lyrics to mouth pretentiously while wearing badly-laced boots and levis.

9. Burzum - Belus

Black metal to finally see the light from a dark place you’ll never be able to escape from.

8. Beach House - Teen Dream

Beachwave dreampop chillgazey music by this chill bro and a chill altbroad who are cute.

7. Wavves - King of the Beach

Surfey fuzzy beach jams for chill bros who like to puff mad dank.

6. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II

Energetic dark electronica to have sex to by some keut black-haired broad and a hairy toucan.

5. Salem - King Night

Syzzurp-soaked witch-house//grave-wave//ghost-step//tomb-rave//▲ℑ†-gaze

4. Best Coast - Crazy for You

Have you ever been a sad lil girl who just wants a nice boyfriend, and has cats, and smokes dank, and luvs california? no? me either, this is still a boss fuzzy-buzzy beachwave album.

3. Ceremony - Rohnert Park

What grit and shards of glass would sound like if they made a hardcore punk band in an infected scrape you got because you got struck in a hit-and-run by a cop car.

2. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Electronic departure from sufjy’s usual style, amazing, eclectic, and beautiful, as per usual, sufjy 4 ever.

1. jj - jj n° 3

Swedish dreampop bedroom wave tunez.

List By Zach Aaron Goldberg

10. acres. - Silos
9. 1994! - FCKYRHED
8. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Formlessness
7. Merchant Ships - Shipsography
6. Hightide Hotel - Nothing Was Missing Except Me
5. The National - High Violet
4. We Were Skeletons - We Were Skeletons
3. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
2. Midi & The Modern Dance - Make It Easy On Yourself
1. Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted To

List By Olivia Hinojosa

(In no particular order)

Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz/All Delighted People EP
Andrew Jackson Jihad/The Gunshy split
Midi & the Modern Dance - Make it Easy On Yourself
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
We Were Skeletons - We Were Skeletons
One Hundred Flowers - Mechanical Bride
Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted if I Wanted
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Tunng - ...And Then We Saw Land

Top Albums of 2010

Top 10 Albums of 2009

2009 was full of great albums from every genre. Overall, I'd say that it was a pretty decent year in terms of music. It's a rough list, I only had like 20 albums from 2009 so really it wasn't cutting much down. It was also really hard to decide, but here are some of my favorite albums.

10. P.S Eliot - Introverted Romance In Our Troubled Minds

Well, I wanted to make the list varied, but P.S. Eliot made the list anyways. I'm a sucker for pop-punk with girl singers, what can I say? Their catchy punk sound strays from the traditional sound you'd expect with the labels their given and goes above and beyond.

9. Tim Easton - Porcupine
Met this guy at a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown like 3 years ago where they put people at the same table with other people. He handed a CD for his other band E.S.P which is really good also. I got back into him just as this album came out, luckily being able to snag it. It's really good alt-country with sort of a rock n' roll influence to it. Really fun stuff.

8. Pianos Become The Teeth - Old Pride

Probably one of the most blogged about screamo bands, aside from Native that had a decent recording out and didn't sound like it was done in a basement which most of it usually is. Some other choices were Thursday, Midwest Pen Pals, and Merchant Ships.

7. God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl

I literally forgot this album came out in 2009 until I actually looked at my playlist sorting by year. Maybe it's the old style of Belle and Sebastian that gets to me that made me think that. This is actually a soundtrack by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian and the movie is in production. The entire thing came in a dream to him. I kind of relate to this because I had a dream about raptors and I'm currently writing a screenplay about it. I'm not kidding.

6. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Woah, I just made a last minute switch! It was either Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros or this album for the #6 slot. And... my heart went to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It just came down to who could I dance to easier and which one was more fun. Really, indie pop is so much fun.

5. Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone

I'm all over the place here. This "fight pop" band is too much fun to leave out. Straight out of Scotland, they play some seriously high energy indie rock. Impossible not to dance to, it's almost contagious.

4. Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much

The long awaited album that paid off very well. Mika is probably the only band under "pop" that anybody listens to that avoids the radio. Simply Michael Holbrook Penniman singing excellent sometimes falsetto to catchy backings. I guess you could say "pop with talent".

3. Andrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain

I'll admit, this choice is highly biased. I absolutely love Andrew Jackson Jihad and their release of Operation Stackola didn't make the cut. It's like when Bob Dylan went electric. It's like hearing In The Aeroplane Over The Sea for the first time. It's like... Christmas?

2. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses

Ben Kweller is an alt-country dream. It is impossible to not like Ben Kweller. Actually, it's probably quite possible, I just happen to love him. It features songs from other tracks redone better and put together nicer. This album is really well done despite this. My roomate owns this on vinyl, fun fact.

1. Fishboy - Nom

Ok, Fishboy steals the #1 spot. Yeah, I've loved them since I stumbled upon them under circumstances I can not remember, but I remember asking them where I can buy their CD because they are from Texas and then they sold out online or something. Then, in 8th grade, I went to Texas on a camp trip and got lost in Virgin superstore trying to find it and just kept getting turned down. Despite all this, their new 2009 "EP" I got on a limited edition vinyl first 50 copies and I also got a press release from them a month in advance as you can see my review a couple posts down from when it was released. I feel like a schoolgirl, but yeah, I give Fishboy my #1 spot of the year.

Runner Ups:
Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem
The Builders And The Butchers - Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well
Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree In The Ear


Well, that wraps up the year. It's Christmas, but it's nothing special so I might stay up late and make a mix CD for anybody that's cool enough to come by on Christmas. Then again, it's gonna stay up so you don't really have to be that cool. Well, have a merry Christmas everybody!

Top 10 Albums of 2009