I commented on it when I presented the first half of my favorite albums of 2010 list that featured numbers 50 through 26 of the list, but I still can’t believe how much new music comes across my desk and inbox. I mean, there is no way possible I can even attempt to keep up with even a small fraction of it all. As someone who has wide-ranging tastes in music (see this year end list or any previous year end lists I’ve published as an example) it’s completely overwhelming. Unlike so many other music blogs, this has always been a one man show and always will be. Seriously, one human being can only listen to so much music when a full-time job and 2 kids are part of the equation.
I don’t want to sound like I’m bitching about it, but digging through all the music that is submitted to me is tedious and takes a lot of the joy out of it. I just don’t have the time to even think about listening to the vast majority of music that is made. I just looked at another bloggers top 25 albums of 2010 list today and I listened to a grand total of 2 albums on that list. No joking. I can hear a great song on a podcast or featured on another blog and never have the time to go back to it. I don’t know if it comes exclusively from being a blogger, but it’s harder to find the time to spend just enjoying and listening to music simply for pleasure anymore. OK, I’m done with that little rant.
Statistically speaking, my 2010 list features 5 self-released albums and 45 albums released on 36 different labels. Those that popped up more than once were Suburban Home (3x), Paper + Plastick (3x), No Idea (2x), XL (2x), Tiny Engines (2x), Fat Wreck (2x), Dead Oceans (2x), and Big Scary Monsters (2x). The breakdown by approximate genre came to 34% punk, 28% Americana/folk, 24% indie rock, 6% emo, 4% rock n’ roll, 4% heavy metal. It’s about what I expected. Now over the past 4 years (that’s 200 albums) my best of lists have included a total of 15 self-released albums (8%), 11 on the Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans collective (6%), 9 on Suburban Home (5%), and 9 on No Idea (5%). Add in the 17 total albums from Fat Wreck, Paper + Plastick, and Side One Dummy over the past 4 years and almost a quarter of the albums on my best of lists have been released by one of 6 labels. It’s interesting, even if a bit over-analytical.
Below are my top 25 releases for 2010. For the first time ever there are 2 EP’s on the list (I’m not doing a separate EP’s list) and both of ‘em are amazing. So good that if they were full-lengths, they’d be higher on my list. Enjoy.
25. Gatorface – Wasted Monuments (No Idea)
Melodic when it needs to be and angrily snotty everywhere else, Gatorface plays that rough pop punk card perfectly even though they’re totally ripping off Boogada3x-era Weasel. Read more…
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Gatorface - Kids Stealing Kids
24. Jack Rose – Luck In The Valley (Thrill Jockey)
On his final album, Jack Rose (RIP) combines ragtime, bluegrass, and country blues in an almost avant-garde way. It’s a raw and primitive rendering of acoustic pre-war American folk music. Read more…
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Jack Rose - Woodpiles On The Side Of The Road
23. The Riot Before – Rebellion (Paper + Plastick)
In-your-face punk rock that relies less on subtlety in the arrangements and more on volume and relentlessness. Not to say there isn’t any “woah oh’s” because there is. Read more…
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The Riot Before -
22. Hostage Calm – Hostage Calm (Run For Cover)
Hostage Calm plays complex pop rock with a punk rock intensity. It’s not hardcore despite the fast tempos and palm muted breakdowns and is really hard to describe without hearing. It’s really good. Read more…
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Hostage Calm - Rebel Fatigues
21. JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – Beat Of Our Own Drum (Rabbit Factory)
Post-punky neo-soul from right here in Chicago that’s as manic and noisy as it is soulful and grooving. Read more…
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JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound - Baltimore Is The New Brooklyn
20. The Sword – Warp Riders (Kemado)
Warp Riders is the best seventies style hard rock/heavy metal album to come out since the 1970′s. It’s also a concept album about a space traveler. Take that for what it’s worth. Read more…
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The Sword - Tres Brujas
19. Junior Battles – Junior Battles 7″ (Square Up)
Sounding like a cross-between early Fall Out Boy, The Weakerthans, and Cletus, these Canadians play pop punk like their lives depend on it. Catchy melodies, great vocal harmonies, and solid memorable lyrics abound. Read more…
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Junior Battles - Basements
18. Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt (Dead Oceans)
Just a guy with a guitar who sounds (at times) a lot like Bob Dylan playing incredibly great folk songs. Read more…
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The Tallest Man On Earth - King Of Spain
17. Matt & Kim – Sidewalks (Fader)
Synthy urban indie-pop from this NYC keys-n-drum duo. It’s bouncy and hella catchy with head-nodding beats that just make you wanna move even if there is a bit less raucous punk attitude than before. Read more…
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Matt & Kim - Cameras
16. Grown Ups – More Songs (Big Scary Monsters)
Tremendously poppy and peppy emo-punk complete with circular noodling guitars, fast tempos, and rough but somehow sorta atonally melodic vocals (think Cap’n Jazz meets early Lifetime). Read more…
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Grown Ups - Open Sesame
15. The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang (Side One Dummy)
This album is the sound of a band that has found themselves and is cranking out timeless American rock music with a cool that sounds like a ’57 Chevy and a leather jacket. Read more…
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The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
14. Jonsi – Go (XL)
The solo debut from Jonsi (Sigur Ros) is a skitteringly gorgeous album that wraps you up in pitches and tones that could only come from Jonsi and his angelic vocal cords. Read more…
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Jonsi - Go Do
13. None More Black – Icons (Fat Wreck)
Icons is a bit rougher and less easily digestible than NMB’s previous albums. It’s a bit more hardcore, a bit more cock-rock, and there’s still melody even though I wouldn’t call it catchy. Read more…
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None More Black - Iron Mouth Act
12. Two Cow Garage – Sweet Saint Me (Suburban Home)
This Columbus, Ohio roots-punk-alt-country-rock band is back with a sound that’s a bit bigger and a little less punk rock than before. Still rockin’ and meant for the barroom, but a little less overtly desperate. Read more…
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Two Cow Garage - Lydia
11. RVIVR – LP (Rumbletowne)
Shouted male vocals duel with raw and raspy female vocals atop what sounds like a merging of heartfelt East Bay punk with touch of classic rock confidence. Read more…
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RVIVR - Edge Of Living
10. The Gamits – Parts (Suburban Home/Paper + Plastick)
Parts is a relentless and hard-hitting barrage of dark-yet-catchy-as-fuck melodies coupled with great lyrics. It sonically references stuff like Clumsy, Insomniac, and Dear You, FYI. Read more…
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The Gamits - This Shell
09. Laura Veirs – July Flame (Raven Marching Band)
It’s fragile, beautiful, daring, soothing, playful, and so damn good. It’s a little more straightforward than some of her previous material, but worth checking out if you like smart acoustic music. Read more…
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Laura Veirs - July Flame
08. Iron Chic – Not Like This (Dead Broke)
Gruff, unpretentious, and ultra-fucking-melodic pop punk with amazing lyrics. This shit slays. I’d recommend Iron Chic for fans of Latterman, Dear Landlord, PBR, and general awesomeness. Read more…
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Iron Chic - In One Ear
07. Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy (Dead Oceans)
It’s part weird folk music and part lazy West Coast country music. It’s 100 percent amazing and perfect for relaxing around the house pretending that there’s a warm salty breeze blowing through the air. Read more…
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Phosphorescent - The Mermaid Parade
06. Against Me! – White Crosses (Sire)
White Crosses is a great rock album that sounds like it should be played in stadiums all over the world. Just imagine a combination of New Wave and Journey/REO/Boston and you’d be close. It’s certainly a bold statement for the band. Read more…
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No song posted because of this.
05. Juniper Tar – Howl Street EP (Self-Released)
Only 4 songs but well over 20 minutes of brilliant music that combines folksy Americana with soaring indie rock. This is something special. Read more…
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Juniper Tar - Birds In Trees
04. Superchunk – Majesty Shredding (Merge)
Poppy and punky but not pop punk; indie sounding but not indie rock. Easily the best band I didn’t listen to for the past 15+ years. Read more…
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Superchunk - Learned To Surf
03. Mixtapes – Maps (Death To False Hope)
Female & male vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, fast pop punk leads, charmingly cute but brainy lyrics, and keyboards? It’s 10 songs of near-perfect pop-punk played quickly. Read more…
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Mixtapes - Nothing Can Kill The Grimace
02. The Menzingers – Chamberlain Waits (Red Scare)
Anthemic and gritty punk fused with some darker rock elements and the raw emotional bombast of your favorite folk troubadours. A modern day version of The Clash? Read more…
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The Menzingers - I Was Born
01. The National – High Violet (4AD)
Unquestionably the best album of 2010. Partially because of what happened with my daughter but mostly because It is a moving, emotionally dense, smart album and hit me harder than anything else released in 2010. Read more…
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The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
yes, the menzingers topped mine & i probably should’ve included RVIVR.
It’s amazing to me that you clearly have such great taste in music, and then you include that Against Me! record, which I easily feel is the worst album of the year!
Really Cameron? The worst album of the year? You’ve missed some stinkers then… Sure, there are a few clumsy lyrics that I wouldn’t have expected from Tom Gabel, but as an arena rock record, White Crosses is amazing. I’ve yet to tire of it even if I though WTF initially.
I was glad the see Gaslight Anthem on you list. This was one of my favorite records of 2010. It was actually your blog that got me hipped to the band when the 59 Sound came out.
I’m really happy to see Gaslight Anthem on someone another list. This was on mine. Certainly near the top of my list. And since my kids loved it, it was likely the record I listened to the most in 2010.