Everyone’s a Critic: One Man’s 20 Best Albums of 2010
My favorite thing about the holiday season, even more than the opportunity to get drunk in front of random co-workers at the office party, is the glut of year-end best-of lists. Rank something, order it 1 to 10, and I’m in.
King of all year-end lists, at least in my world, is always Best Albums of the Year. Nothing is more subjective than music appreciation, which is why I so love the Best Albums debate. Part of the fun is arguing, debating, compiling lists, comparing versions. Sharing opinions on music is part of the communal experience.
This year, however, I have been thinking about the relevance of the Best Albums list. Seriously, this is 2010—who cares about albums anymore? People who actually get Rolling Stone magazine in the mail, maybe. Most of us buy single tracks off iTunes, or we stream music from blogs and websites and YouTube. A friend of mine listens to nothing but Pandora, which basically is a huge jukebox of individual songs. Artists aren’t fooled, either. Most albums these days are less an artistic vision than a collection of songs that you can choose to buy together… or not.
So who cares about the album? I’d like to raise my hand on this one. I still believe that an album should be more than the sum of its parts, that songs are enhanced when considered in the larger context of an album, that sequencing and flow matters. Hell, I’m still a big fan of cover art.
And the artists who are represented on my year-end list also care about the album, so it seems to me. Each selection represents a fully realized album. Yes, I have favorite tracks, but more importantly, I love these albums. I don’t cherry-pick songs from this list. If I’m in the mood to hear The Tallest Man On Earth, I put his record on and let that puppy run. It’s a nice change in our always-on-shuffle world.
A couple of notes on the list itself: Joanna Newsom gets my vote for Album of the Year. Have One On Me is a long two hours of music, often featuring nothing more than a harp and her twitchy voice. There’s barely a chorus or verse to be found (at least, I don’t really recognize any). It takes balls to release something this ambitious. You’ll love it or you’ll hate, but either way you’ll have an opinion.
Emeralds guitarist Mark “No Relation” McGuire appears twice on my list. Both the Emeralds release and McGuire’s solo effort are excellent listen-with-headphones records. I was also pleasantly surprised with Beach House, a band that had put out two solid but not spectacular albums. But with this year’s Team Dream, the band managed to keep the same sound while expanding their range and depth of feeling.
Take a gander at the rest of the list, and if you don’t agree with my choices, flame away!
1. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
2. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
3. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
4. The National –High Violet
5. Beach House – Teen Dream
6. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
7. The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
8. The Black Keys – Brothers
9. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
10. How to Dress Well – Love Remains
11. Four Tet – There Is Love in You
12. Mark McGuire – Living With Yourself
13. Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise
14. Spoon – Transference
15. The Roots – How I Got Over
16. The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
17. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
18. Delorean – Subiza
19. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
20. Vampire Weekend – Contra
P.S. – FWIW, the top five Phish shows of the year all occurred during Fall Tour.
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