My Albums of 2010 - a different type of list

It's that time of year again when the end of year best of album lists carnage starts...and it got me to thinking about my own as usual, but also about the way in which magazines and websites compile their lists.

I know they're great for getting forums chattering and getting hearty exchanges going - always a good way to warm up at this time of year - but I can't help but feel the approach of a "top 20" or "top whatever" is flawed for 2 main reasons:

1.
Who's to say there have been as many or as few as 20 or 100 (or whatever arbitrary figure you choose) standout albums in a year?

It just so happens that 2010 has been probably the best year for music to my mind since 1997 (OK computer, Ladies and Gentlemen we're floating in space coming out on the same day!) So why should anyone limit themselves to 20 top albums in this vintage year? Or perhaps otherwise pad out their lists to make sure they reach 100 records? If it's good enough it's good enough, and if it's not - let's not just place it at 97 in the list shall we?

2.
This placing of albums in order of greatness - who does that? I can't that's for sure.

Revolver vs Pet Sounds? No idea. I like them both plenty thanks. Each for slightly different reasons at slightly different times of day. And that's just comparing like for like. How on earth can you say definitively that Joanna Newsom's freaky folk is better or worse than Caribou's underwater beats? Where is the value in distinguising their worth if they're aiming to achieve utterly different outcomes? Yes they're both music, but I wouldn't compare a roast chicken to a chocolate brownie (or even chicken tikka) without thinking the comparison absurd.

Besides...in the best music of 2010, genre seems to be steadily disintegrating. Whether it's LCDs knowing take on Low-era Bowie channelled through decades of dance music, Janelle Monae's everything but the kitchen sink psychedlic pop or Gorillaz, Kanye West or Big Boi's cross-genre-guest-lists-longer-than-the-actual-track-list - contemporary music has become a joyous soup of styles and creativity (just ask Girl Talk). And it is, quite frankly, brilliant.

On top of all that, I like to think I'm slightly complicated. Complicated enough to have more than 3 moods, in fact complicated enough for my moods to have their own sets of moods.

Sometimes I'm nostalgic (Deerhunter, Steve Mason), sometimes angry (Titus Andronicus). I can be moody (Besnard lakes, Quest for fire), or happy (Surfer Blood, Jonsi). Sometimes I just want to relax (Hammock, Sun Kil moon), sometimes I want to dance (girl talk, holy fuck).

...And sometimes I want to jump around like a loon(Los Campesinos, Sleigh Bells) or listen to someone acting that way (Kanye I'm looking at you).

In other words, please don't make me choose between which of my moods is better than the other. I like them all the same.

So, now the extended preamble is over with, I decided to put my own list together this year of my favourite albums of the year.

There are no "Top 50's" or "Top 10s", in fact I don't even know how many records are actually in the list.

There is no number 1 album, nor is there a number anything album. However, I have split the list into 3 "Tiers" of goodness. Within each of the tiers albums are like for like in my mind.

Tier 3: Recommended
- Solid albums with about 60% standout in my opinion. (That's standout not merely 'good')
- I will return to the standout tracks but probably not the album as a whole.
- Possibly some clunkers on there, and possibly appeal faded over time.

Tier 2: Excellent
- Very, very good albums - 70-80% standout
- Will return to album as a whole (as well as tracks), but less frequently as time goes by
- No more than 1-2 average / bad tracks

Tier 1: Best of year
- Close to flawless to my ears
- either genre defining and/or redefining what genre is - pushing boundaries
- Not a bad track and I couldn't possibly tell you wich track I would pick as my favourite on these albums...
- Bears...no...demands repeated listens.
- Have returned to the album as a whole regularly throughout the year and will return to it frequently over the years to come.

A couple of points of order before I launch into it.

This list, broadly speaking, chooses release dates between January 1st to December 31st 2010 as cut-off points and is based on the music I have been listening to during that time (yeah, I know it's December 8th, but I have no plans - or money - to buy any more music this year).

Because I order music from the US a lot I often end up with albums earlier than they make it to the UK so many of them were on my list for last year (eg. Built to Spill, Dark night of the soul etc.), but I never wrote that list down so you'll have to take my word for it.

I'm only a sucker like everyone else. I'm not a magazine and I have a limited amount of time and money to actually hear these things so I've probably missed things that I simply haven't heard. I only got last year's excellent Fever Ray album in January for example. I have put another list at the foot of the main lists called "Right Place Wrong time" of albums that i missed out on last year or in years previous, or albums I never really gave a chance to in the first place and have been listening to again. Each of these albums would have made their respective year end lists but I was too poor, ignorant or foolish to have put them there before. Needless to say I'm digging them now!

Finally, this is my list and my taste so while any suggestions for inclusion are welcome (and I will listen to them and possibly re-visit), they're more than likely wrong so: nerr.

Here we go...


Tier 3 Close but no cigar (no order):
Flying lotus - Cryptogramma
Shearwater – The golden archipelago
Janelle Monae – The Archandroid
Joanna Newsom – Have one on me
Steve Mason – Boys outside
Girl talk – All Day
Besnard lakes – Are the roaring night
Black keys – Brothers
Tame impala – Innerspeaker
Quest for fire – Lights from Paradise
Holy f*ck – Latin
Working for a Nuclear Free City – Jojo burger tempest
Surfer blood – Astro Coast
Owen pallett - Heartland
Vampire weekend - Contra
Sun kil moon – Admiral Fell Promises
Frightened rabbit – Winter of mixed drinks
Crystal castles – Crystal Castles
Perfume genius – Learning
I am kloot – Sky at Night

Tier 2 Closer…a cigarillo in Amarillo? (no order):
Hammock – Chasing after shadows…living with ghosts
Deerhunter – Halycon Days
Kanye West – My beautiful dark twisted fantasy
Radio dept – Clinging to a scheme
Menomena – Mines
These new puritans – Hidden
Arcade fire – The Suburbs
Jonsi – Go
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Walkmen – Lisbon
Sufjan Stevens – The age of Adz
Caribou – Swim
Four Tet – There is love in you
Gold panda – Lucky shiner
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
LCD Soundsystem – This is happening
Los Campesinos – Romance is boring
Forest Swords – Dagger Paths

Tier 1 – Havana blinder! The very best of the year
(Alphabetical order only):
Beach house – Teen Dream

Big Boi – Sir Luscious Left Foot

The National – High Violet

Phantom band – The Wants

Sleigh bells – Treats

Titus Andronicus – The Monitor




Right place wrong time - albums I missed before or have rediscoverd for one reason or another
PJ Harvey - Stories from the city, stories from the sea
Future Sound of London - dead cities
Fever ray
El guincho - Allegranza
Gaslight Anthem - 59 Sound
Mew - And the glass handed kites
Lamchop - Oh Ohio
Plush - Fed
Shallow grave ost
Black affair - Pleasure Pressure Point
Cymbals eat Guitars
Memory tapes - Seek Magic
Here we go magic
Spoon - ga ga ga ga