10. Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
When I heard that Patty Griffin was foregoing her typically excellent songwriting for a gospel covers record, I didn't expect much to come from it. I love Patty Griffin, but have never been head over heels over any of her records - this one though, I am. Buddy Miller's production is top notch, Patty's voice is top notch. Sounds nerdy and will drive people away but it reminds me of the high points of Eva Cassidy's career. It just really works for me, gospel or not. Beautiful record.
RIYL: Eva Cassidy, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris


[b]9. Mike Stinson - Jukebox In Your Heart
To me, this is without a doubt the best country record of the year. I don't know Mike Stinson's backstory very well other than he has written some songs that were performed by some big names - but this is the country music I like. Witty storytelling, bar songs, California songs, almost a John Prine-y voice. Honky tonk style but not trying too hard to be retro - just thorough, excellent country music. It's 9 here, but I foresee myself listening to this as much or more than anything higher on the list in the future.
RIYL: Willie, John Prine, Dwight Yoakam


8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Before Today
Even after my surprise of how much I enjoyed this record, I still can't seem to enjoy Ariel Pink's back catalogue. That shit is too lo-fi, too weird and there seems to be very few actual songs there. This record though - this is the coolest/weirdest pop music to come out in a while. It truly sounds like nothing else ever, yet you could try to point to a bunch of influences that went into making it. It's just far out and totally enjoyable. The climaxes in the songs are the best of the year too.
RIYL: I have no idea.


7. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Took awhile for this record to sink in, but once it did - I hadn't been so excited about a rock record that I could remember. I just fuckin love how loud this record gets, how anthemic the songs are - how literate the lyrics are. Its just pump your fist music and it's huge and I really enjoy it. All themes and concepts aside, this is some of the coolest indie rock I've heard in the past few years and it still gets me to rock out.
RIYL: Springsteen, Bright Eyes, Hold Steady


6. Curren$y - Pilot Talk & Pilot Talk II
To me, this is the first record in a long while that really reminds me of the golden age of hip hop. Without intentionally trying to sound like a throwback ala most terrible backpack and underground rap or even a lot of Stones Throw - Mr. Ski (producer of "Reasonable Doubt" and "Uptown Saturday Night") came back out of nowhere to team with dirty south rapper and create two albums that just sound laid back and cool. Curren$y isn't the best rapper, he's not the most charismatic rapper and it doesn't matter because what he is fits perfectly for the production. Totally smooth, every song just sounds like you already lit up. Love this shit.
RIYL: Camp Lo, hip hop

Which of the two Curren$y albums do you prefer? I think I actually like the 2nd one better.

you better be sitting on that freddie gibbs ep.

i don't include EP's and I only listened to the mixtape once or twice.

It would probably be 1 or 2 on my best EP's of the year list though.

Drinky, I listen to the first one more, haven't given the second that much play yet. Some of the beats on the second are killer. But the second also has "Silence" which is the worst track on either of them and totally out of place.

i guess my top 5 is pretty ho hum, whatever. shit is the best.


5. Four Tet - There Is Love In You
I can understand why people who liked Four Tet's earlier releases found this one to be a big snore. Whereas his other albums were sparse, less dancey and pretty unique in the whole electronic music spectrum, this release is made for the dancefloor. It's not quite techno, it's not quite dubstep, it's a sum of a bunch of dance music influences and reduced to only the bare essentials. Maybe experts will find this overrated, but I listened to a lot of dance records this year, and this is my favorite. The songs just connect with me, even if they just seem like the same loop over and over for 8 minutes. Every little nuanced sound just seems perfectly chose. I lose myself in most of these songs.
RIYL: Dance music, minimal techno


4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Originally, this album was vying for that #1 spot. I probably played the album out, but going back to it now - I'm still in love with it. However, it's not in the top 3 because it's not quite perfect. I think all the songs are good, but some of the choices on a couple of the tracks (yea yeah, Vonnegut on "Follow Us") have gotten to me - but I also realize I hardly know the last few songs on the album. When it's strong (the string from "Shutterbugg" to "Be Still") - it's the best album of the year, but the fringe tracks leave a bit more. Still, so glad he finally released this and that it is so fucking good.
RIYL: Outkast, Goodie Mob, George Clinton


3. Beach House - Teen Dream
This album leaked back in 2009 I think and from the get go I knew it was going to be among the top albums of the year. And it hasn't let up yet. If anything, it keeps getting stronger. They're writing the best songs of their career, Victoria is singing better and more confident than ever, the instrumentation is just beautiful. I mean this is dream pop done right and done as well as anything since the heyday of the Cocteau Twins or Slowdive or whatever and it sounds nothing like either of them. Even though it's sleepy music, if you turn it up loud then the effect is better. Great pop record truly.
RIYL: Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins, Low


2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The consenus, critical #1 album of the year and most deserving too. Following an ingenious media campaign and near-Kanye overkill, the dude released the best album of his career. Combining everything that made his past 4 albums good and throwing them in here and creating something that hasn't been seen in hip hop. It's audacious, but it's still pop. It's just little things and not every song is perfect (I don't actually like "So Appalled" very much) but everything flows just great and Kanye is at the top of his game. I can't really even explain why I like it so much, but since it's leaked, I can't stop listening. Brilliant shit top to bottom.
RIYL: HIP HOP AND POP MUSIC


1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
I just can't even put into words really how I feel about this album. I've said a million hyperbolic things, but I think this album is truly something special and will go down as one of the more important albums in electronic music, period. Big words, sure - but this album has it. It's schizophrenic, it's spacey, it's fucking nuts and it's deep throughout. If Flying Lotus continues this upward swing, he's gonna be the best dude in music ever. I can't even listen to this record that frequently because it's exhausting, but when I do - I'm always amazed. Who even thinks of this shit?
RIYL: Warp records

yeah, I like it.

I liked Los Angeles enough, and I read the strong reviews of this one, got it, and listened only 1 1/2 times. I thought it was noisy and inchoate. Given this list and your response to it I'll try again. I don't know, I respected Sun Ra but never really liked him.

The Danny Paul Grody sounds like something i would enjoy, the drone part anyway. Does it touch on the heavy-ish of Earth or is it more mellow?

I thought the Demon's Claw was pretty solid after a couple of listens, just haven't found the time to get into it further. I'm sure i was keen on the first record but my memory is poor.

Thumbs down for Quest For Fire for me, i thought it was just stepping into mediocre indie-rock territory, rather than the stoner/pysch side of things. I hated the drum sound on this.

I checked a couple of Male Bonding youtubes on the Flipper riyl. You owe me 5 mins and 5 seconds.

Definitely get around to checking out The Souljazz in the near future.

Thanks very much for doing all these write ups here and your other thread, although we don't have a huge amount of overlap on our taste, i really enjoyed reading it all. I wish i was more articulate and could do similar for my list/favourites.

For all the talk of Ariel Pink, your review nails it. I just started listening to it the other day to hear what all the fuss is about it. So far I'm just not sure if I like it or if I am repulsed by it. It really is that kind of record.

more mellow. my RIYL's are always off, but I guess I often think about would could work in like a mixtape sense. You might enjoy the record anyway.



I liked the first record, then hated it. This one I just like it. More thorough.



it's not the most adventurous or heavy psych album of the year and some parts are cheesy too. that's why i like it.



i don't know why i compared them to flipper. some guitar parts here and there? seemed right at the time. but still surprised you don't dig them.



you should.



you're welcome. I think our tastes overlap a lot on the fringes - or at least in comparison to a lot of the rest of the board, but at the core they're very different. i have that with a few people on the board. but glad you enjoyed the lists and you should (as everyone should) write some descriptions i think, because lists without context are boring as fuck.

Thank you (and several others) for the Aerial Pink writeups. Convinced me to pick it up and I think that it is probably my favorite of 2010.

the twin shadow really is great. ive enjoyed it more than most "stumble-upon" releases

So, the album art -- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is Kanye's Fair Warning?

"c'mon, 'ye...gimme a break"
"HEY, HEY...ONE BREAK, COMIN' UP!!!"

Ariel, not Aerial.

Re: Titus Andronicus, I feel like it is Conor Obert fronting an alt-country rock band.

It's not alt-country in the least, but I totally get the Conor Oberst thing from it, too.

Maybe that's part of the problem I have with it. I dunno, it's grown on me a little.

Yeah, I don't know why I called it that. I was thinking more along the lines of Flogging Molly/Dropkick Murphys.

Also, I just noticed I spelled his last name wrong, whoops.

I finally stumbled on this yesterday after mistakenly putting it in the wrong folder on my music hd when I d/l'ed it back whenever. I concur 100% with all the praise by you and others here. Best pure country album I've heard since Porter Wagoner's final release, and that's saying a lot for me, and would have been way high on my year end list had I just located the damn thing. Muchos gracias for bringing this one.

In bold is what did put this album towards the 20 - 30 in rankings of the 100 or so releases I heard this year. I spend so little time with a stereo or headphones and listen to music mostly in my car or on computer speakers. In the 10 or so times I heard it, I do know that the album is pretty mindblowing, but I couldn't give it a fair shot.

Your #1 and #2 choices are the same as mine. Neat!

Also, I still need to check out the Big Boi album.