Top 20 LPs of 2010

After a great deal of painful deliberation, here is my prestigious top-20-albums-of-2010. Now that it’s up here in cyber-space it’s concrete, definitive, done… but, truth-be-told, the top three albums on this list were so good that they are pretty much interchangeable, and the same goes for the following seventeen records. Also, 20 is such a small number that all the shoe-horning in the world wouldn’t have allowed me to fit all the albums I wanted to onto this list. Consequentially, fantastic LPs by The National, LCD Soundsystem, Nottingham’s own Tindersticks, The Hold Steady, This is Hell, Arcade Fire, Gil Scott Heron, Best Coast, Tigers Jaw, Fang Island and countless others did not make the cut. Also, sorry to any artists who are due to release albums in the remaining weeks of 2010, I’m certain R Kelly would’ve been top 5 if I’d only waited… but nevermind, eh.


1. Laura Marling- I Speak Because I Can
With Alas, I cannot Swim, the teenaged Laura showed a precocious talent, and was often, and unfairly, lumped in with the Nash-es and the Allens that inhabited the charts at that time. Now, at the ripe old age of 20, she has released an astonishingly accomplished album of beautiful pastoral observations, sparkling acoustic flourishes and sweeping moments of orchestral gravity. Quintessentially English, without any of the jingoistic nationalism that sometimes goes with it; Laura Marling has blown the ridiculous genre of “nu-folk” apart and now has her sights set on a place in the “true-folk” canon.


2. The Wonder Years- The Upsides
Regardless of whether you think pop-punk was invented by Descendents in ’82, Green Day in ’94 or New Found Glory in 2000; the fact is, The Wonder Years perfected it in 2010. The Upsides is the Philadelphia band’s second full length and chronicles TWY principle songwriter, Dan Campbell’s battle with depression. Often poignant but never gloomy, The Upsides is 12 tracks of fist-in-the-air positivity and galloping melody that can’t help but sweep you along. Cuts like Logan Circle and the gang chant anthemia of Washington Square Park make this the most life-affirming record you will hear all year.


3. Tokyo Police Club- Champ!
Following the unrestrained, scratchy brilliance of their debut EP, and 2008’s more sedate Elephant Shell record, comes… well, a mixture of the two. Tokyo Police Club were finding the balance in 2010, and the product was this remarkable record, which showed they are equally at ease sound-tracking a quirky Michael Cera movie as Match of the Day 2. Champ is a far more diverse affair than TPC’s previous outings, with Graham Wright’s programmed beats and bleeps taking centre stage on a couple of tunes, and bodes well for their future releases.


4. Kele- The Boxer
Kele Okereke famously beefed up his bod for The Boxer’s cover shoot, and apparently beefed up his sound as well. The electro-rave influence of East London has been bleeding into Bloc Party’s work for some time now, but it took a break from the traditional group dynamic for Kele to truly unleash his vision on the world. Muscular synth beats meet Kele’s familiar lyrical introspections, making the Boxer sometimes ecstatic, sometimes fragile and always jaw-dropping.


5. Caribou- Swim
For many, Dan Snaith’s ethereal third album under the name Caribou went head to head with Four Tet’s latest offering, There is Good In You, for album of the year. For me, Swim was simply far better and, with Odessa, boasts a contender for “opening track of the year”. Listening to the spellbinding Found Out, the album’s forth track, you wouldn’t believe it was created a human being.


6. Tallest Man on Earth- The Wild Hunt
The cover of Kristian Matsson’s latest album says it all; a beautifully desolate prairie with nothing on the horizon, perfect for the mournful, acoustic ballads contained within. The Wild Hunt casts Matsson as the wandering troubadour out in the void, possibly on some sort of quixotic quest to be the new Bob Dylan.


7. Deerhunter- Halcyon Digest
The ever reliable Deerhunter return with an album of production drenched, almost aquatic sounding recordings. Frontman, Bradford Cox’s songwriting sparkles through the malaise as he creates some of his most traditional sounding indie-pop ditties to date… and then distorts the hell out of them.


8. Sufjan Stevens- The Age of Adz
Sounding like a more lyrical Animal Collective, Stevens has come a long way from the understated acoustic balladry of his early albums. At times it feels as if he is pulling out all the stops on his mad electrical flourishes and bizarre changes of pace, but it always works. The Age of Adz might not quite reach the heights of Illinoise, but vintage Sufjan is evident on classic cuts like I Want to Be Well and Too Much.


9. Magnetic Man- Magnetic Man
When dubstep heavyweights Skream and Benga got together the results were always going to be special. The overplaying of singles I Need Air and Perfect Stranger may have momentarily diluted their brilliance, but you’ll be skanking away in clubs to them in five years time, I promise. Tunes like the brilliantly unhinged The Bug and the curveball of Flying into Tokyo make this a modern classic.


10. Ceremony- Rohnert Park L.P
Kicking off with Into the Wayside Part I: Sick is Ceremony’s way of telling you that this is no ordinary hardcore record. Like a stateside version of Fucked Up!, Ceremony are just as venomous, just as dangerous and just as brutal as the rest of the hardcore community, but with too much intelligence to be pigeon-holed. Black Flag for the 21st Century.


11. Jenny and Johnny- I’m Having Fun Now

A harmonious relationship doesn’t always make for the best art, but these lovebirds are the exception to the rule. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and The Postal Service fame and solo-artist Johnathan Rice have collaborated before, but this, their first full length together, is a masterful tour through the whisky soaked barrooms and open roads of Bonnie and Clyde Americana


12. Nicki Minaj- Pink Friday
You might get tired of Minaj telling you she’s richer – and generally better – than you, but it’s undeniable that she has one of the freshest sounding deliveries around. A guilty pleasure maybe, but Nikki’s idiosyncratic style and bags of attitude make Pink Friday a solid choice for the top-20.


13. Broken Bells- Broken Bells
Another dream team in the top-20; the delicious production of Danger Mouse and lyrical skill of The Shins’ James Mercer can’t fail but make this a winner. Any doubts about the quality of the project were surely dispelled after one listen to opener, and lead single, The High Road.


14. Terror- Keepers of the Faith
A career best effort from Scott Vogel’s LA hardcore crew, who yet again prove themselves to be one of the most adrenalized bands on the planet. Positive lyrics themes of integrity, honesty and friendship abound on this record, and their old-school ethos of constant touring has made them one of the best live bands on the planet.


15. Phosphorescent- Here’s to Taking it Easy
In contrast to Terror who couldn’t take it easy if they tried, American folkie Matthew Houck’s latest offering is a paean to life in the slow lane. Here’s to Taking it Easy is a sumptuous record; softer and more filled-out than his earlier recordings, it even manages to make an AOR, saxophone driven intro sound fantastic. This man makes gorgeous music and I pray that one day he gets the widespread recognition he deserves.


16. Paul Baribeau- Unbearable
Unbearable is as stripped down as they come; most tracks are simply one man and a battered old acoustic, singing away like his life depended on it – and judging by the way Baribeau’s fragile voice falters on How Could That be True? you would think that it did. The result is a brilliant document of human love at its most pure and non-judgemental.


17. Lightspeed Champion- Life is Sweet, Nice to Meet You
Much has been made of Dev Hynes’ “musical OCD” and the well trodden urban legend of a Domino records representative turning up on his doorstep and asking for the masters for the latest album, only to be given five albums worth of material. How much of this is true is debateable, but what is true is Hynes is a fantastic songsmith, which this admirably ambitious record attests to. Marlene and Sweetheart are two of the tunes of 2010.


18. Bombay Bicycle Club- Flaws
Similarly to Laura Marling way up at number one, BBC showed a helluva lot of promise at a young age, although I Had the Blues but I Shook Them Loose was arguably better than Marling’s debut. The North London quartet followed up their 2009 debut with a massive change in direction, going from fuzzy indie scamps to composed folk-popsters. Contrary to its title, you’d find it hard to pick a fault with Flaws.


19. She & Him- Volume 2
Indie music’s – and cinema’s – most photogenic chanteuse returns with partner in crime M.Ward on another volume of sugar-coated reminiscence. Don’t let the arbitrary description of the band’s name and record title fool you, Volume 2 is captivating stuff.


20. Titus Andronicus- The Monitor
Any album that opens with a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address is going to make it into my top-20 no problem. However, The Monitor would have made it even without this boost. As rough and ready as the Civil War battleship it’s named after, this sprawling barroom opus is laced with just the right amounts of aggressive swagger and Springsteen-esque melancholy to make it a winner. Just like its name sake, the albums blaze of glory is the epic The Battle of Hampton Roads.