Top Albums of 2010

I’ve a bit of an eclectic taste. I’ll listen to anything, from country to hip hop to acid jazz to good ol’ fashioned rock and roll. I love music. I love sound. Every year, for whatever reason, I write a top 10 albums list. I do this, despite knowing not a single person whom cares, to keep myself motivated throughout the year to sample the new releases.

There’s no science behind which albums make my top 10 list. Typically my top 10 albums are those which kept me coming back for more throughout the year since their release. Given that I listen to hundreds of albums a year, those which keep me coming back must have struck the proverbial chord. Albums which made me gasp repeatedly, stirred my emotions, or released the childhood boy inside me. In short, albums which made an impact and continued to do so with each listen.

These are those albums for 2010.

1. 
   

   #10 Mike Patton Mondo Cane

   Easily the most interesting album of the year. Take 1 cup of Mike Patton, equal parts of 50’s and 60’s Italian pop songs, a 30 piece orchestra, and you have Mondo Cane. As always you get to hear Patton croon, growl, scream, launch falsetto, and go to crazy town and back, all somehow without crapping himself. I can’t guarantee the same for you.

2. 
   

   #09 The Roots How I Got Over

   Newsflash: I’m a skinny, pale-as-hell white dude from Saskatoon. I wear ties and casual jackets to work when we don’t have a dress code. I believe a suit is incomplete without a pocket square. I haven’t had a date in several months and I write software for a living. My existence, in essence, is somewhat pathetic at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t listen to hip hop. I don’t even know where to start with this album other then saying it is the complete antithesis of myself. While I eat cold popcorn and watch movies by myself, The Roots are sweating out vial after vial of 100% pure kick ass. This album is a testament to that effect.

3. 
   

   #08 Villagers Becoming a Jackal

   What do you get when Paul Simon gets drunk and has raucous sex with Peter, Bjorn & John circa 2006? They squeeze out Villagers. The album doesn’t have the same up front, in your face hooks as the whistling in PB&J’s Young Folks, or the beautiful harmonies of, well, any Paul Simon record ever recorded, but the physical feeling you get from any of those albums is still present. You’ll tap your foot and smile to yourself while you hum or sing along. You’ll even close your eyes and let yourself get carried away in the lushness of it all, until you realise you’re driving your car and thus would do better if you paid attention to the road lest you almost take out another pedestrian.

4. 
   

   #07 Angus & Julia Stone Down the Way

   While going through high school I greeted each and every week with a barrage of comments about my hot sisters. “Hello, Monday!” I’d say. “Hey, your sisters are hot! I’m gonna make out with them! Whatcha think of that, Baldwin?!”. Wash, rinse, repeat as necessary. In hindsight I realise the proper solution to this was not to get mad, rather I should have taken Angus Stone’s lead and just make a band with them and write beautiful music. This brother-sister Australian duo put out an album of dreamy songs with buttery vocals. Listen to Yellow Brick Road and tell me you didn’t close your eyes and think of your childhood summers. If you didn’t then you were birthed at the age of 18, have no youth to go back to, and I pity your future self. Stay away from my sisters, you loser.

5. 
   

   #06 Minus the Bear OMNI

   Fact: This album has the best hooks of the year. True story. It’s like Peter Gabriel’s ghostly spirit haunted the recording studio, or it would have if he were dead. The crazy synth on My Time, the repeated quad-crashes on Summer Angel, the groovy offbeat drive on Secret Country, this album is relentless in its ability to make you scream “yyyyyyeeeeeeeaaaAAAAAAHHH!”. I understand the album may not be everybody’s cup of tea; inevitably there has to be at least one person in every group who has terrible taste in music, so I won’t take offense for them sucking out.

6. 
   

   #05 Arcade Fire The Suburbs

   I have a confession to make: I hated this album the first time I listened to it. “It doesn’t make any sense.” I flatly stated. “The album doesn’t seem to flow. The start is too jarring! Won’t somebody please think of the children?!” Admittedly, had I not skipped around the album the first couple times I listened to it I likely would not have had such warped perceptions of this beautiful piece of art. In my defense I was reading “Harperland: The Politics of Control” at the time and, thus, the lack of artistic appreciation had burrowed deep into my bones. My recommendation for listening to this album is to start at track 1 and listen to the thing, in its entirety, without stopping. Make sure you have “repeat all” turned on to your discman while doing so. When the album’s over allow it to continue from the start. Boom! Your brain just melted into a bucket of awesome sauce.

7. 
   

   #04 The National High Violet

   Are you having a great day? The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and you’re feeling great about yourself and life? Put on this album and watch it all come crashing down into a painful, pathetic, puddle of tears. With hits like Sorrow, Lemonworld and Conversation 16, this album will leave you a blubbery mess. In 2005 Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy penned the lyrics “And where are you going? And why are you leaving? Left on the walkway to swallow my grieving.” Little did he know he was actually writing a metaphor for every single fan of The National who listens to this album.

8. 
   

   #03 Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

   Hey, remember that time when Kanye West was a total dick and stole Taylor Swift’s moment of undeserved 15,000 minutes of fame? This album more than makes up for it. To quote
   Saskatoon’s own Maybe Smith “I wish I had the balls to make an album like the one Kanye just made.” And it’s the truth. This album is insane. It’s like a cajun gumbo with every single type of meat and pepper, all fused together into THE SUPER SOUP OF MONSTER KILLER GUMBO FROM OUTER SPACE. This is, quite seriously, one of the greatest rap recordings ever produced. It’s insane. But it’s Kanye, and for that reason alone I refuse to give him album of the year.

9. 
   

   #02 The Black Keys Brother

   Quick: where do you think these guys are from? If you said Missouri, or New Orleans, or Alabama you wouldn’t be alone. If you said “Akron, Ohio”, well, you’d be an awkward combination of “correct” and “alone”. This album reeks as though it was made in the dusty saloon of some disgustingly sweaty swamp of the deep south. But it isn’t. Not even close. As I type this the temperature in Akron Ohio is -2°C. This album pairs well with a sweaty woman seductively dancing in a cropped shirt and a cold beer. If this album were a cologne commercial it’d be for Stetson, with 1 exception: It wouldn’t suck. Listen to this album in the presence of cold beer and whatever gender you’re attracted to and try not to grab him/her and get up close. You won’t be able to control yourself. There’s an undercurrent of sensuality that exists on this album that I haven’t heard since Junior Boys released their debut album Last Exit.

10. 
    

    #01 The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt

    In a top 10 list that’s filled with over the top complexity, Kanye West’s ego, and Mike Patton growls, it’s fitting that the #1 album of the year is one in which the only recorded instrument is an acoustic guitar. As they say, “Less is more.” The Tallest Man on Earth is 27 year old Swede Kristian Matsson. He’s not exceedingly tall, but what he lacks in height he more than makes up with talent. Every song, every verse, and every note is an impeccable piece of perfect song writing. The Wild Hunt is easily one of the best folk albums I’ve heard this decade. He is, in no short order, our generation’s Bob Dylan.