Favorite Albums of 2010 (1 Viewer)

[Severum]

Time for another year's favorites thread to complement the running 2010 threads and to combat the maligners of modern music. What were some of your favorites this year?


Here's my top 50 with links to the artist's site, the full streaming album (if available), the label, 3 favorite songs with links in preference of official video/live video/studio version, and the album's EPK/making of/other background video (if available). As always, most of my rankings are rather fluid and I hope to discover a few more contenders.

1. JJ Grey & Mofro - Georgia Warhorse (Alligator)

"The Sweetest Thing", "Hide & Seek", "Diyo Dayo" - EPK​

2. Galactic - Ya-Ka-May (Anti)

"Dark Water", "Heart of Steel", "You Don't Know" - EPK​

3. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame (Anti)

"Jackie Wants a Black Eye", "Station", "Where'd All the Time Go?"​

4. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me (Drag City)

"Soft As Chalk", "Good Intentions Paving Company", "Easy"​

5. Robert Randolph & The Family Band - We Walk This Road (Warner)

"If I Had My Way", "Traveling Shoes", "Don't Change" - EPK​

6. Shinyribs - Well After Awhile (Nine Mile Records)

"Who Built The Moon", "East TX Rust", "(If You Need the) 442"​

7. Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Preservation: An Album To Benefit Preservation Hall & The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program (Self-released)

"Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing", "Louisiana Fairytale", "Taint Nobody's Business" - EPK​

8. That 1 Guy - Packs a Wallop! (Self-released)

"Modern Man", "Laser Beans", "Warn the Kids" - EPK​

9. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues (Bloodshot)

"Harlem River Blues", "Move Over Mama", "Christchurch Woman"​

10. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue - Backatown (Verve Forecast)

"Hurricane Season", "Something Beautiful", "Neph"​

11. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch)

"Trouble in Your Mind", "Cornbread and Butterbeans", "Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine" - EPK​

12. Tim Barry - 28th & Stonewall (Suburban Home)

"Thing of the Past", "Will Travel", "Prosser's Gabriel"​

13. Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses - Junky Star (Lost Highway)

"Depression", "The Poet", "All Choked Up Again" - EPK​

14. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart (Jagjaguwar)

"The Hair Song", "Roller Coaster", "Buried By The Blues"​

15. Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) (Bordello/Self-released)

"Drunken Poet's Dream", "Black Wings", "A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)" - EPK

16. Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way (Daptone)

"I Learned the Hard Way", "The Game Gets Old", "If You Call"​

17. South Memphis String Band - Home Sweet Home (Memphis International)

"The Carrier Line", "Jesse James", "Deep Blue Sea"​

18. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever (Vagrant)

"The Sweet Part of the City", "Our Whole Lives", "Barely Breathing"​

19. Aloe Blacc - Good Things (Stones Throw)

"I Need A Dollar", "Life So Hard", "Femme Fatale" - EPK​

20. Various Artists - Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine (Oh Boy)

"Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)", "Unwed Fathers", "Spanish Pipedream"​

21. Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer (Elektra/Asylum)

"**** You", "Satisfied", "It's OK" - EPK​

22. Robert Plant - Band of Joy (Rounder)

"Angel Dance", "House of Cards", "Harm's Swift Way" - EPK​

23. The Roots - How I Got Over (Def Jam)

"Walk Alone", "Dear God 2.0", "The Fire"​

24. Rachel & The Soul Criminals - Plain & Simple (Soulplex)

"Speechless", "Plain & Simple", "Do Your Worst"​

25. Hans Chew - Tennessee and Other Stories... (Three Lobed Recordings)

"New Cypress Grove Boogie", "Forever Again", "Old Monteagle & Muscadine (Tennessee Part 1)"​

26. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms (Columbia)

"Laredo", "Factory", "NW Apt." - EPK​

27. John Hiatt - The Open Road (New West)

"Haulin'", "The Open Road", "Go Down Swingin'"​

28. Joe Pug - Messenger (Lightning Rod)

"Not So Sure", "The Door Was Always Open", "Messenger"​

29. Deer Tick - The Black Dirt Sessions (Partisan)

"When She Comes", "Mange", "The Sad Sun"​

30. The Bamboos - 4 (Tru Thoughts)

"On The Sly", "You Ain't No Good", "Got To Get It Over" - EPK​

31. Black Dub - Black Dub (Jive)

"Canaan", "Surely", "Sing" - EPK​

32. The Sword - Warp Riders (Kemado)

"Tres Brujas", "The Warp Riders", "The Chronomancer II: Nemesis" - EPK​

33. Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Agri-dustrial (Colonel Knowledge/Self-released)

"Hoboes Are My Heroes", "Dixie Iron Fist", "Greasy Creek" - EPK​

34. High on Fire - Snakes for the Divine (Koch)

"Snakes for the Divine", "Frost Hammer", "******* Samurai" - EPK​

35. Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise (RCA)

"Beg Steal of Borrow", "New York City's Killing Me", "Devil's in the Jukebox"​

36. The Black Keys - Brothers (Nonesuch)

"Too Afraid to Love You", "Tighten Up", "Next Girl" - EPK​

37. Punch Brothers - Antifogmatic (Nonesuch)

"Rye Whiskey", "You Are", "Next to the Trash"​

38. Trampled by Turtles - Palomino (Banjodad/Self-released)

"Wait So Long", "Feet and Bones", "Victory" - EPK​

39. Vampire Weekend - Contra (XL)

"White Sky", "Horchata", "Cousins"​

40. Buddy Guy - Living Proof (Jive/Silvertone)

"74 Years Young", "On The Road", "Where The Blues Begins"​

41. The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart (Self-released)

"Cats and Dogs", "Down in the Valley", "Lost in My Mind"​

42. The Phantom Band - The Wants (Chemikal Underground )

"A Glamour", "The None of One", "Into the Corn"​

43. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow (Season of Mist)

"Tired Climb", "To Forget", "Spiral Shadow" - EPK​

44. Black Prairie - Feast of the Hunters' Moon (Sugar Hill)

"Red Rocking Chair", "Crooked Little Heart", "Ostinato Del Caminito"​

45. Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do (ATO)

"Birthday Boy", "Drag the Lake Charlie", "This ****ing Job" - EPK​

46. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards (Warner)

"Die By The Drop", "Gasoline"​

47. The Derek Trucks Band - Roadsongs (Sony Masterworks)

"Down Don't Bother Me", "Already Free", "Sailing On" - EPK​

48. Busdriver - Computer Cooties (Self-released)

"Computer Cooties", "Deer God", "Coon Talk"​

49. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & The Cairo Gang - The Wonder Show of the World (Drag City)

"Troublesome Houses", "Teach Me To Bear You", "The Sounds Are Always Begging"​

50. She & Him - Volume Two (Merge)

"In The Sun", "Thieves", "Home"​

 

[XXXtraAnchovies]

ghost-opus eponymous (sounds like mercyful fate crossed with blue oyster cult)

 

[cpg]

I look forward to your list every year, Sev.

Mine this year in no particular order:

1. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
2. Fake Problems - Real Ghosts Caught On Tape
3. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
4. The Morning Benders - Big Echo
5. Free Energy - Free Energy
6. The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever
7. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
8. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
9. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
10. Crime In Stereo - I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
11. Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame
12. Cold War Kids - Behave Yourself (EP)

These are the one's off the top of my head, but I may add a couple later.

 

[RockyMtnSaint]

Can't disagree with anything on your list, Severum. To it I would add:
Jeff Beck - Emotion & Commotion
Joe Bonamassa - Black Rock
Widespread Panic - Dirty Side Down
and the Allman Brothers set at Jazzfest.

 

[Jazzbo]

My hat's off to anyone who can order ten records by how much they like them, much less fifty.

But that JJ Grey & Mofro would easily be in my top five if I did.

 

[Twenty]

Good call on Aloe Blacc.

Right off the top of my head:
1. The Roots - How I Got Over
2. Eminem - Recovery
3. Coheed and Cambria - Year of the Black Rainbow

 

[ok awesome]

Vampire Weekend - Contra
Black Keys - Brothers
She & Him - Volume 2

 

[Broadmoor74]

Full rep to the OP.

 

[GeauxSaints53]

Whitechapel's A New Era of Corruption was damn good. But I'm biased, as an avid fan of theirs. I'd like to see Lustmord's list. Miss May I, Avenged Sevenfold, and Periphery all had good albums.

 

[RockyMtnSaint]

I should also add that I have not yet heard the new Joe Krown album but I ordered it from La. Music Factory the other day. It could well belong on my tops of 2010 list too.

If Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi put out an album next year, you can go ahead and add it to the 2011 list right now. The new material they've been playing live is unreal.

 

[SonOfNOLA]

Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives
Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Eminem - Recovery
Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
Kanye West - MBDTF

 

[Broadmoor74]

I should also add that I have not yet heard the new Joe Krown album but I ordered it from La. Music Factory the other day. It could well belong on my tops of 2010 list too.

The trio of Krown, Batiste, and Wolfman is one of the great treasures of the New Orleans music scene.

 

[RockyMtnSaint]

The trio of Krown, Batiste, and Wolfman is one of the great treasures of the New Orleans music scene.

Agreed 100%. I found out about them last year at Jazzfest and now I'm a huge fan. Can't wait to hear the new album...have you heard it?

 

[voodoo_blues]

By far my favorite of the year. The CD hasn't left my car stereo in months.

 

[Lustmord]

ghost-opus eponymous (sounds like mercyful fate crossed with blue oyster cult)

yeah- this is generating a bit of buzz- though i dont care for it- lots of speculation as to who the members are.

Mine so far (ive linked to reviews where possible)

Entrails "Tales From the Morgue"

Arkheth - "IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh

Agalloch "Marrow of the Spirit

The Makai "Embracing the Shroud of a Blackened Sky"

Aiumeen Basoa - "Iraganeko Bide Malkartsuti"

Norse "Hellstorm"

Nightbringer "Apocalypse Sun"

Iron Thrones "The Wretched Sun"

Jaldaboath "Rise of the Heraldic Beasts"

Rotting Christ - "Aeolo"

Negura Bunget "Vîrstele Pămîntulu"

Decrepit Birth "Polarity"

Nechochwen ""Azimuths to the Underworld"

The Red Shore "The Avarice of Man"

Black Breath "Heavy breathing"

Shadow of the Colossus" S/t"

Woe "Quietly, Undramatically"

Hail of Bullets "On Divine Winds"

Equilibrium "Rekreatur"

Killing the Dream "Lucky Me"

Im still waiting on hearing the new Deathspell Omega- so its feasible that these will all get changed by one spot and KTD gets bumped