Fifty Great Albums Released in 2010 (Part Five)

Spoon - Transference


Best Tracks: "Written in Reverse," "I Saw the Light," "Got Nuffin"

A surprisingly underrated new album from Spoon. This one really flew under the radar for whatever reason, which is strange because it's just as good as any previous Spoon albums. It's a bit more stripped down and less ambitious than their previous album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, but it's still a good listen. (Original Grade: B+)

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt


Best Tracks: "The Drying of the Lawns," "Kids on the Run"

The Dylan-esque Tallest Man on Earth's sophomore release isn't quite as good as his first one; maybe the striking resemblance is wearing off. That being said, he's still one of the few folk musicians today doing anything interesting or new. Well relatively new. He does sound like old school Dylan a lot, but he's at least writing interesting new songs that sound like what Dylan of old would be doing today if he was transported through time. He may be forever plagued by that comparison, but there's a greater emotional depth and songwriting skill that just puts these songs above the trend of lazy folk songs released by contemporaries these days. The Tallest Man on Earth is at least the tallest man in folk, figuratively speaking. The Wild Hunt shows that again. (Original Grade: B)

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor


Best Tracks: "A Pot in Which to Piss," "To Old Friends and New"

Titus Andronicus is a superbly talented indie rock band that blends raw power with unparalleled ambition. On The Monitor, they almost get this formula down perfect, but there's one crucial flaw: the songs all run on far longer than they should. Granted, they're good songs, but some editing down would help them so much. They can write such great hooks that go unnoticed in such excessive running times. Call it overambition. Still, they're well on their way to being one of the important indie rock bands over the next decade. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Touche Amore / La Dispute - Searching for a Pulse / The Worth of the World


Best Tracks: "I'll Get My Just Deserve," "How I Feel"

Two of the greatest post-hardcore/screamo bands around today collaborating on four tracks for a split release was a big enough deal to begin with. But when you actually listen to it, you realize just how talented these two bands are as they come together and gel perfectly, putting out a set of their four best songs yet. Easily the split release of the year. (Original Grade: A+)

Touche Amore / Make Do and Mend - Smoke Signals and Hideaways / Hand Me Downs and Cobwebs


Best Tracks: "Hideaways," "Hand Me Downs"

Another great split from the Touche Amore camp, this time with post-hardcore band Make Do and Mend. Make Do and Mend plays a less heavy, more 90's post-hardcore by way of Fugazi style than Touche Amore, but the tracks flow essentially seamlessly here, with Touche Amore going hard and heavy as they usually do and Make Do and Mend upping the ante on their part to fit in. Touche Amore's half is great, but Make Do and Mend blows the listener away with their absolute best song yet, "Hand Me Downs." (Original Grade: B)

The Corin Tucker Band - 1,000 Years


Best Tracks: "1,000 Years," "Half a World Away," "Doubt"

Corin Tucker doesn't belt out her screams or rock as hard as she used to. She described this album as "mom rock" herself. Still, it's always an enjoyable thing to hear her making music and the album itself is pretty good. It might not be as hard as Sleater-Kinney, but the songwriting is there and it's fun. We're just glad to have her back making music again. (Original Grade: B)

Warpaint - The Fool


Best Tracks: "Undertow," "Shadows," "Composure"

What style Warpaint actually plays could be debated for a while, they play a unique blend of dream pop esque music that sets them apart from other bands right now. That's probably why they're gaining so much widespread notice. They're forging their own path and writing great songs while they're at it. They've been touring hard this year and gaining a widespread following. I'm pretty happy to see that happening as I've followed them for a while, since seeing them perform live. The album, in truth, doesn't match up to their exquisite live performances, but their songwriting is strong and well worth hearing. If you have the chance though, see them. They're amazing. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy


Best Tracks: "Dark Fantasy, "Gorgeous (Featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon)," "Power," "Monster (Featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver)," "Runaway (Featuring Pusha T)," "Blame Game (Featuring John Legend)," "Lost in the World (Featuring Bon Iver)"

While I decided against rankings this year and I want all the albums on this list to be viewed somewhat equally, in that you should listen to each and every one of them, there is one album that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Kanye West's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a masterpiece of pop music and is by far the greatest album to come out in 2010. This is not meant as a slight to any of the other amazing albums on this list, but this one is just the absolute best. Kanye stepped up his game once again and somehow managed to top himself where I didn't think he could. The most talented songwriter in mainstream music today. (Original Grade: A+)

Yeasayer - Odd Blood


Best Tracks: "Ambling Alp," "Madder Red," "O.N.E.," "Love Me Girl"

Yeasayer always had pop hooks, but they dealt in more psychedelic and indie territory on their first album, All Hour Cymbals. On Odd Blood, they fully embrace their art pop leanings, recalling weirdo 80's pop stars like Peter Gabriel. It works for the most part, with songs like "Ambling Alp" and "Madder Red" being some of the greatest of the year. There is a fair amount of filler or songs that are stuck in their old style a bit that don't catch on as much. Those songs are slightly disappointing, but the album holds together well enough to be a successful turn. (Original Grade: A-)

Neil Young - Le Noise


Best Tracks: "Love and War," "Hitchhiker," "Peaceful Valley Boulevard"

Neil Young makes a slight comeback after his slightly bad Fork in the Road in 2009. We know Neil can still produce great music and he does just that here, writing a set of stripped down guitar tracks that suit him very well. The production is raw and vintage and fits him perfectly. The only downside really is that he fucks up some of the songs with an awful echo effect on his voice. He doesn't need it, his voice still sounds beautiful. It just tends to get annoying. Other than that, it's Neil playing guitar and singing, what more can you ask for? (Original Grade: A)

[Ed. Note: So that should be it right? Well it was for most of the day, until I realized a glaring omission. Though this brings the list to fity-ONE great albums, I would be remiss in not mentioning it as it was definitely one of the best last year. How I managed to overlook it when compiling the top fifty, I don't know, but it's quite embarrassing and must be corrected.]

Wolf Parade - Expo 86


Best Tracks: "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)," "Pobody's Nerfect"

The Canadian indie rock band's third album and their best in my opinion. It took them ages to get around to doing it with their numerous side projects and it got majorly overlooked, even by me apparently, but it stood as the most rocking album they had done yet and the best tribute to their influences and themselves. The band has seemingly broken up now, but they at least leave behind a wonderful discography. (Original Grade: A)

Fifty Great Albums Released in 2010 (Part Three)

Heaven in Her Arms - Paraselene


Best Tracks: "Butterfly in Right Helicoid," "Veritas"

Heaven in Her Arms brings a heavy and epic screamo album. The Converge influence runs strong, with songs the longest songs on the album reminding one of Converge's greatest song, "Jane Doe." The reminder isn't a bad thing, as they take the influence and use it quite to their advantage. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Japandroids - No Singles


Best Tracks: "Sexual Aerosol," "Lucifer's Symphony," "Couture Suicide"

A compilation of the early EPs by Japandroids, it shows them in much rawer form. They still had amazing potential though and it's almost more enjoyable as you can hear them take risks. They're hungry here and it shows. You get the feeling they don't know or care whether this will appeal to anyone, they just want to kick ass. (Original Grade: B+)

Just Like Vinyl - Just Like Vinyl


Best Tracks: "The Circulatory System," "Death of the Sheep," "No Friend of Mine"

The Fall of Troy had gotten increasingly technical, pretentious, and undesirable to listen to. Shortly after the release of their fourth full-length album, the band called it quits and singer/guitarist/main songwriter Thomas Erak set out on his own with a new band. Just Like Vinyl is getting mixed reviews, but it's the best thing Erak has done in years, in my opinion. The bloated wankfests of the last Fall of Troy releases and uncomfortable indulgences are stripped away, giving Just Like Vinyl the feel of the classic version of Fall of Troy on their self-titled release and the subsequent Doppelganger. The songs are still technical, but far more accessible and they have great hooks to draw the listener in. Breaking up the Fall of Troy and forming this band turned out to be the best move Erak could possibly make. (Original Grade: B)

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks


Best Tracks: "Mourning in America," "Bottled in Cork," "Bartolomeo and the Buzzing of Bees," "Last Days"

Ted Leo's latest release trades in unpretentious rock music, leaning heavily on classic punk and classic rock. It's heavier and harder than his last one, 2007's Living with the Living. That album was overly ambitious, but The Brutalist Bricks is stripped down the basics of his sound. It's purely the essence of Ted Leo's music and it's one of his greatest albums yet for it. (Original Grade: A+)

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening


Best Tracks: "Dance Yrself Clean," "You Wanted a Hit," "Pow Pow"

Another epic indie dance pop album from the master of it, LCD Soundsystem. While This is Happening isn't James Murphy's greatest work, it may have the greatest depth of any of his albums yet and it preserves the catchy intelligent danceability of previous releases. (Original Grade: A)

listenlisten - "dog"


Best Tracks: "Ears Are Hearing," "I Will Be Mean," "The Time We Almost Died"

The best work yet from listenlisten, it strips their sound down a little bit and is a great country folk album. The re-recordings of previous songs drag it down a bit, as they aren't quite as strong as the original recordings, having worse production, but the album as a whole is an excellent slice of acoustic music. (Original Grade: B)

Lizards Have Personalities - Snow of Kilimanjaro


Best Tracks: "In the Wake of a Dying Kite," "Upon a Scarlet Sunset," "For Once, Then, Something"

The latest EP from Lizards Have Personalities removes their second vocalist and goes harder and heavier than their first one. Their sound just keeps getting better and this is easily one of the best screamo releases this year. (Original Grade: B+)

Make Do and Mend - End Measured Mile


Best Tracks: "Ghostal," "Firewater"

Make Do and Mend's brand of post-hardcore is refreshing to hear, a throwback to older bands that played that style. They're not too heavy, but not too light. Their screamer is the old school punk style of screamer, yelling his ass off but clearly and with a little bit of melody to it. It also features a fantastic guest appearance from La Dispute's Jordan Dreyer. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Merchant Ships - For Cameron


Best Tracks: "Things Left in Last Year," "Sleep Patterns"

Just before breaking up, Merchant Ships put out their best and deepest EP yet. "Sleep Patterns" is their best song, a nearly acoustic spoken word track that has possibly the most depressing lyrics of all time. The rest of the EP rocks hard, but has superior and tighter songwriting than previous EPs. It's a shame they won't be refining their sound even more. (Original Grade: A)

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid


Best Tracks: "Cold War," "Tightrope," "Come Alive (The War of the Roses)"

Janelle Monae's wonderful debut is a mix of about a dozen different styles and the continuation of the perfection of pop music by OutKast. It's only right that she was discovered by OutKast's Big Boi because her brand of music is a direct sequel to their last release, encompassing just as many styles and doing them just as well as OutKast did on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. She's one of the few promising new artists to come out recently. The ArchAndroid isn't perfect, it runs on a little bit too long, but it is one of the greatest pop albums in years and Monae's voice just soars. An excellent new talent. I'm going to admit a mistake here, I should have given this album an A upon release. My bad. (Original Grade: B)