Best Albums of 2010

[inthisriver]

It's December, time to go back through all of the new music we experienced this year and pick our favorites. I've already stated taht I'm not big on lists, but I've always wanted to make this thread.

I'll edit in all of my favorites in a little while.

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

Sufjan Stevens - All Delight People - EP

Vampire Weekend - Contra

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Fang Island - Fang Island

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Beach House - Teen Dream

Harlem - Hippies

Happy Birthday - Happy Birthday

Portugal. The Man - American Ghetto

The Roots - How I Got Over

Meth, Ghost & Rae - Wu-Massacre

Jonsi - Go

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

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

The Apples In Stereo - Travellers In Space and Time

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise

Curren$y - Pilot Talk and Pilot Talk II

Weezer - Hurley

The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

The National - High Violet

No Age - Everything In Between

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Neil Young -Le Noise

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

ceo - White Magic

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

Sea of Bees - Songs for the Ravens

Avey Tare - Down There

God damn, should I keep going.... maybe later.

Edited December 10, 2010 by David_Bowie

[Powerage5]

The Final Frontier - Iron Maiden

Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots

Sigh No More - Mumford & Sons

Pretty sure that's all I got this year, besides Slash's piece of shit.

[wasted]

album of the year for me was Fever by Bullet For My Valentine.

but it probably came out last year.

[betterman]

Avantasia - Wicked Symphony

Manic Street preachers - Postcards from a young man

Broken Bells - Broken bells

Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

Neil Young - Le Noise

Edited December 8, 2010 by betterman

[TheBigGloom]

SWANS - "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"

[Gods Favourite]

The Floor is made of Lava - Howl at the Moon

Kanye West - My Beatiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

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

Jack Johnson - To The Sea

The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

The Black Keys - Brothers

Nas And Damian Marley - Distant Relatives

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

The National - High Violet

Kiss Kiss Kiss - Release the Birds

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

[Pico]

really good year in singles & eps imo, most albums have been pretty patchy though

kanye west - my beautiful dark twisted fantasy

håkan hellström - 2 steg från paradise

the radio dept. - clinging to a scheme

säkert! - facit

dum dum girls - i will be

frankie rose & the outs - s/t

weekend - sports

curren$y - pilot talk

the blanche hudson weekend - reverence, severence and spite

allo darlin' - s/t

honorable mentions: best coast - crazy for you, electric wizard - black masses, whirl - distressor, free energy's album

the darkness box set was cool too, and the collected works of orange juice is a gift from the gods

[Snake Eyes]

1. The Winter Of Mixed Drinks - Frightened Rabbit

2. Heaven Is Whenever - The Hold Steady

3. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

4. I Will Be - Dum Dum Girls

5. Crystal Castles II - Crystal Castles

6. Total Life Forever - Foals

7. Love Is Strange - Jackson Browne

8. Crazy For You - Best Coast

9. Fool - Warpaint

10. Falcon - The Courteeners

11. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz

12. Congratulations - MGMT

13. MAYA - M.I.A.

14. Surfing The Void - Klaxons

15. Brothers - The Black Keys

16. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

17. Sea Of Cowards - The Dead Weather

18. Life On Earth - The Moons

19. Croweology - The Black Crowes

20. Black Masses - Electric Wizard

[bt88]

Black Keys- Brothers

Kanye West- Beautiful; Dark Twisted Fantasy

Agalloch- Morrow of the Spirit

Kylesa- Spiral Shadow

The Roots- How I Got Over

[merslain]

I didn't jump into music this year like I typically do. That being said here are my favorites

Eminem - Recovery

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Ryan Bingham - Junky Star

I need to get the Robert Plant & Band of Joy album, I haven't listened to anything besides Angel Dance. Angel Dance is by far my favorite song of the year though.

[Powerage5]

Solomon Burke & De Dijk - Hold On Tight

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise

Black Crowes - Croweology

Johnny Flynn - Been Listening

Flogging Molly - Live At The Greek Theatre

Slash - Slash

Izzy Stradlin - Wave Of Heat

Moti - Good Old Times: Alive And Kicking

Pe Daalemmer & Rooie Rinus - Oud & Nieuw

Yes... I know there's live and sort-of-compilation-but-with-a-twist stuff on there (though I'm leaving the pure compilation ones out), but anyway. I think that's basically my 10 of 2010.

I've seen Sigh No More by Mumford And Sons in someone's list. It'd also be in mine, except it's from 2009. It came out in February in the US. I forgot it had already been released in the UK, so I guess it's off my list...

Honorable mention: Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St. (remaster)

Had it been an actual new album, it'd easily be the best album of 2010.

[iluvduff]

1.Bring Me The Horizon - There Is A Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven Let's Keep It A Secret.

2.MGMT - Congratulations

3.Izzy Stradlin - Wave of Heat

4.Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

5.In Mourning - Monolith

Yes, BMTH don't judge.

[Bansidhe]

Absolute Dissent by Killing Joke and The Final Frontier by Iron Maiden.

[moreblack]

I really liked Paramore's Brand New Eyes. Props of course to Maiden, and Black Crowes. Also Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion.

Cowboys From Hell 20th has to be one of the reissues of the year.

[Powerage5]

I really liked Paramore's Brand New Eyes. Props of course to Maiden, and Black Crowes. Also Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion.

Cowboys From Hell 20th has to be one of the reissues of the year.

Forgot about Emotion & Commotion - another great album!

[FuddMckagan]

My list isn't that exciting.

Imperfect Harmonies- Serj Tankian

Slash- Slash

Ignite- Shihad

Audio Secrecy- Stone Sour

No Guts, No Glory- Airbourne

Nightmare- Avenged Sevenfold

[stevGNR666]

Holy Fuck - Latin

James Blackshaw - All is Falling

Robert Plant - Band of Joy

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Kollaps Tradixionales

The Black Angels - Phospheme Dream

High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine

The Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder

Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

Junip - Fields

Mono - Holy Ground- NYC Live With the Wordless Music Orchestra

This year, in comparison to last, was much weaker. MGMT, Crystal Castles, John Butler, Dead Weather, and many others that you guys have already mentioned, dropped the ball. There were some cool tracks from The Black Keys, Jeff Beck, Jonsi, all of which I am fans of, but none could really pull off putting an album out that really kept my attention throughout the whole thing. Sigh No More really took off this year stateside - though it came out last year - and rather much like MGMT's first album, had strong singles but the rest of the tracks didn't live up to its radio hits. Maybe its my taste that's changing, but I'm finding the obscure stuff more fulfilling.

That said, even in the list that I gave, most of the albums pale in comparison to their previous albums. Band of Joy rarely ever comes close to the quality of Raising Sand (Although it's still a fantastic album). Phospheme Dream is no Passover nor Directions to see a Ghost. The Melvins are still one of the best touring acts out their (I saw them twice this past summer) but their record rarely captures that energy. Mono's Holy Ground was a live album etc.

[(t)]

Ihsahn - After

[Street_Of_Dreams]

Kanye, Fang Island

Like 1 or 2 others but those were the biggest for meh

[inthisriver]

Had to update my list with:

Vampire Weekend - Contra

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

I played those albums out so early in the year that I sometimes forget how great they are.

[moreblack]

Light Me Up by the Pretty Reckless

[chevelle]

In order of whichever ones pop into my head first:

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

My surprise of the year. I never thought I'd like anything by the man, and this album came out of nowhere. Fucking impressive.

Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

I love how smooth this album is. The beats, Big Boi's voice, his rhymes...everything about it was just smooth, and it was exactly the sound I was looking for from rap.

Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

Wasn't expecting much from them, to be honest, but The Rev dying really gave them some inspiration and you can hear it. Was nice to hear a nod to their old sound.

MGMT - Congratulations

Liked this a lot more than their last album. It wasn't as catchy or immediate, but it really works together well as a whole and sounds fairly fresh in today's musical climate.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

Fucking loved this album (though I kept thinking it was released in '09, instead of '10). I was just getting into the band when it came out, so it was perfect timing. Nice blend of their previous albums, with some new touches sprinkled about.

Orbs - Asleep Next to Science

Metal supergroup, that's not as metal as you'd expect. Sounds like Muse mixed with each guy's respective band, and it's pretty unique sounding to me (though the lyrics could've been miles better).

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Another band I was just getting into this year. I think this album saved my opinion of them, because I started off with Saturday Night Wrist and wasn't too hot on it. Then this comes out, and they sound reinvigorated and urgent. Riffs aplenty.

Cloudkicker - Beacons

Not much to say here. Instrumental djent metal, with some good atmosphere. Good for working on stuff.

Periphery - Periphery

Really modern sounding metal band, that I'd go as far as saying sound futuristic. I'd say they're the next Between the Buried and Me, and there's a lot of promise in them.

Eminem - Recovery

I've been an Eminem fan for many years, so I'm gonna at least like anything he puts out. Recovery was a big step forward from Relapse, but I really wish he didn't shout so damn much on it.

Kaki King - Junior

Really pretty music...Kaki King is a great player and this album was helped a lot by her choice of backup musos.

Honorable Mentions:

The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

Still on the fence about this one. I haven't given it too many listens, because it sounds a little too much like their first album, but it's still a pretty good listen when I'm in the mood for it.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network (soundtrack)

This is only an honorable mention because I just heard it last week, so I'm still forming an opinion of it, but it reminds me of Ghosts, only maybe more cohesive. Another good album to relax too.

Weezer - Pinkerton (Reissue)

Pretty obvious why it's an honorable mention, but there were some good bonus tracks and the expanded booklet is really good.

Weezer - Hurley

I was fairly surprised with this one, because even though it wasn't great, it was good, which was more than I expected from Weezer after Raditude. There's actually a touch of the old Weezer in places, and a few honest songs, which was nice to hear.

All in all I'm fairly surprised at how this year turned out. I wasn't really waiting for any new releases this year, but I still managed to get a decent amount of music this year. I was hoping for the new Radiohead and Protest the Hero albums, but I'm guessing that'll be next year.

Edited December 12, 2010 by chevelle

[batman007]

One of mine, wEZZER hURLEY. The only cd I bought this yr

[bt88]

The Damned Things "Ironiclast" just moved to the top of my list. One of the catchiest heavy rock records you'll ever hear.

[chevelle]

One of mine, wEZZER hURLEY. The only cd I bought this yr

I actually forgot that one on my list. I thought they actually out out a decent album, compared to what they've been putting out.