Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Music of 2010 (So Far)


My Picks for the Top 10 Albums of 2010 (at the halfway mark)


1. The National – High Violet
2. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
3. Broken Bells – Broken Bells
4. Clem Snide – The Meat of Life
5. Cowboy Junkies – Renmin Park
6. Damien Jurado – Saint Bartlett
7. Dr. Dog – Shame, Shame
8. Eels – End Times
9. Mates of State – Crushes (The Covers Mixtape)
10. Laura Veirs – July Flame


Other Albums That Have Some Good Things Going for Them


Angus & Julia Stone – Down the Way
The Bird and the Bee – Interpreting the Maters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates
Beach House – Teen Dream
Bill Callahan – Rough Travel for a Rare Thing
Josh Ritter – So Runs the World Away
Suzanne Vega – Close-Up Vol 1, Love Songs


Albums That Are Worth Mentioning But Don’t Strike Me All That Much


The Flaming Lips – The Dark Side of the Moon
Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
Jay Bennett – Kicking at the Perfumed Air
Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
Blitzen Trapper – Destroyer of the Void
MGMT – Congratulations
Plants and Animals – La La Land
Rogue Wave – Permalight
Sarah Jaffe – Suburban Nature
She & Him – Volume Two
Beach Fossils – Beach Fossils

Friday Morning Addendum:

Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking it Easy

It was suggested to me on facebook, and I've gone crazy for it. It's excellent. If your favorite Wilco album is Being There, or if you like A.A. Bondy or Bonnie "Prince" Billy or early-70s Neil Young, or anything in that general category, then you really should check this out (and the back catalogue!).

4 Comments:

At 6/25/2010 2:26 AM, Blogger Andrew Shields said...

Any that you found utterly disappointing and want to warn people away from? :-)

 
At 6/25/2010 4:32 AM, Blogger John Gallaher said...

All of the third section here I found pretty forgettable.

But I just found Phosphorescent's Here's To Taking It Easy, which I'm liking as much as I've liked anything. It's wonderful.

Mostly with things I really dislike, I forget to even write them down (even the MGMT has 2 1/2 ok songs on it).

 
At 6/28/2010 2:59 PM, Blogger Jeff Alessandrelli said...

Two more suggestions since I think we have similar tastes—

Mimicking Birds (s/t)—It’s not going to change your life, but it grew on me after listening to it repeatedly for a couple of weeks—certain songs remind me of Nick Drake. Isaac Brock, the Modest Mouse leader, put it out on his Glacial Pace label.

Mo Beauty—Alec Ounsworth—His voice takes some getting used to, but once (or if) you’re able to get past it there’s a lot to like in my opinion—melodic and lots of horns. In a good way.

Also, have you heard/heard about the XX? I wanted to dislike them, but they’re actually really good.

Hope you’re having a great summer.

Jeff Alessandrelli

 
At 6/28/2010 5:42 PM, Blogger John Gallaher said...

Jeff,

I like the song "Burning Stars" quite a bit. Understated and lilting. But boy do I dislike the band name!

 

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