My top 10 albums of the year
Everyone else was doing it, so I figured I'd throw together a list. I'll put them in an order, but it's kinda arbitrary to a certain point. A lot of things could've easily switched places.
These lists are always tough for me because so much of what I listened to for the first time this year didn't come out this year. Beyond that, the list I put together changes a lot in time. All in all, it's really arbitrary and non-scientific. Deserving albums will almost certainly get left out. There are at least a dozen albums I feel guilty about not finding room for on here somewhere. My ideal final list included 13 1/2 albums, and those last 3 cuts were rough. And they say the first cut is the deepest... But thus is the nature of lists, I suppose
But anyway, on to the list.
I'll begin with an honorable mention:
Atmosphere - Sad Clown, Bad Summer
EPs are always tough to deal with when it comes time for making lists like these. It's only 5 songs long, but it's their best work in probably 4 years. These beats are some of the catchiest I've heard in a long time. Rap beats need more piano.
10. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
There was a time when I was pretty much living on this album. It's probably the most well-rounded CD he's made. It rocks, but there are moments that are just undeniably gorgeous.
9. Doomtree - False Hopes
There's a good chance this would be higher if it hadn't just come out. I'm not sure why that seems logical to me, but that's how it goes. I think I may be underrating it on the off chance it loses its appeal over time. Their rapping has always worked for me. The beats are catching up now. My only complaint (and one that it readily acknowledges) is that it's less an album than it is a collection of songs.
8. Tegan and Sara - The Con
So Jealous was good, but never really got beyond that for me. When this came out I thought it might be another set of songs doomed to end up being played over Grey's Anatomy montages. And that'll probably still happen, but by no fault of the album's. It's hooky pop music with some great vocal interplay between the two of them.
7. Romantica - America
This one's just simple, good music. I don't know that I could name any single outstanding thing about it. Everything about it just comes together perfectly. "The National Side" is probably the most brilliantly understated use of trumpets in a song I've heard in a long time.
6. The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
This might've been the first album I completely fell in love with this year. It's hard to listen to it and not sing along. Almost like a slightly subtler, slightly more accessible Of Montreal, there's a fair amount of depth to the music, but there's always something simple enough to get you hooked.
5. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
As I said elsewhere, I never expected this to come close to Black Sheep Boy. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not the same kind of album in any way, but they definitely played to their strengths, most notably Sheff's vocals.
4. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
This one was a complete surprise to me. They're one of a handful of bands I've ever seen twice in one year now, and it's largely on the strength of this album. It kinda got lost in the shuffle for a while, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the summer for me.
3. Motion City Soundtrack - Even if it Kills Me
You may be surprised to hear that I didn't expect to like this album. I was disappointed by the first single, and I expected the album to be more of a step toward Fall Out Boy-esque radio-friendly pop-punk (mmm...hyphens). Luckily, they grew up a bit. It's more like Fountains of Wayne than Fall Out Boy. Power-pop in the same vein as FoW or The Cars. See, for instance, "Last Night". They just don't make piano hooks like that anymore.
2. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
"Is There a Ghost" is one of the greatest album openers I've heard in a long time. "Pretty" is the best adjective that I can think of to describe this album. It's the kind of album that could make something like sitting on a bus, staring out a window on a snowy day seem significant. Or at least beautiful.
1. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
I'm listening to this album tonight for the first time in probably about a month. And, for that reason, I was a little hesitant to put it at the top of my list. But it's just so spectacular. Every second of every song just leaves me wanting more. Most albums with moments of brilliance have lots of stretches of let downs in between. This one might have a plateau or two, but there aren't any valleys. I don't know how you can have peaks without valleys, but I think they found a way.
These lists are always tough for me because so much of what I listened to for the first time this year didn't come out this year. Beyond that, the list I put together changes a lot in time. All in all, it's really arbitrary and non-scientific. Deserving albums will almost certainly get left out. There are at least a dozen albums I feel guilty about not finding room for on here somewhere. My ideal final list included 13 1/2 albums, and those last 3 cuts were rough. And they say the first cut is the deepest... But thus is the nature of lists, I suppose
But anyway, on to the list.
I'll begin with an honorable mention:
Atmosphere - Sad Clown, Bad Summer
EPs are always tough to deal with when it comes time for making lists like these. It's only 5 songs long, but it's their best work in probably 4 years. These beats are some of the catchiest I've heard in a long time. Rap beats need more piano.
10. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
There was a time when I was pretty much living on this album. It's probably the most well-rounded CD he's made. It rocks, but there are moments that are just undeniably gorgeous.
9. Doomtree - False Hopes
There's a good chance this would be higher if it hadn't just come out. I'm not sure why that seems logical to me, but that's how it goes. I think I may be underrating it on the off chance it loses its appeal over time. Their rapping has always worked for me. The beats are catching up now. My only complaint (and one that it readily acknowledges) is that it's less an album than it is a collection of songs.
8. Tegan and Sara - The Con
So Jealous was good, but never really got beyond that for me. When this came out I thought it might be another set of songs doomed to end up being played over Grey's Anatomy montages. And that'll probably still happen, but by no fault of the album's. It's hooky pop music with some great vocal interplay between the two of them.
7. Romantica - America
This one's just simple, good music. I don't know that I could name any single outstanding thing about it. Everything about it just comes together perfectly. "The National Side" is probably the most brilliantly understated use of trumpets in a song I've heard in a long time.
6. The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
This might've been the first album I completely fell in love with this year. It's hard to listen to it and not sing along. Almost like a slightly subtler, slightly more accessible Of Montreal, there's a fair amount of depth to the music, but there's always something simple enough to get you hooked.
5. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
As I said elsewhere, I never expected this to come close to Black Sheep Boy. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not the same kind of album in any way, but they definitely played to their strengths, most notably Sheff's vocals.
4. Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
This one was a complete surprise to me. They're one of a handful of bands I've ever seen twice in one year now, and it's largely on the strength of this album. It kinda got lost in the shuffle for a while, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the summer for me.
3. Motion City Soundtrack - Even if it Kills Me
You may be surprised to hear that I didn't expect to like this album. I was disappointed by the first single, and I expected the album to be more of a step toward Fall Out Boy-esque radio-friendly pop-punk (mmm...hyphens). Luckily, they grew up a bit. It's more like Fountains of Wayne than Fall Out Boy. Power-pop in the same vein as FoW or The Cars. See, for instance, "Last Night". They just don't make piano hooks like that anymore.
2. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
"Is There a Ghost" is one of the greatest album openers I've heard in a long time. "Pretty" is the best adjective that I can think of to describe this album. It's the kind of album that could make something like sitting on a bus, staring out a window on a snowy day seem significant. Or at least beautiful.
1. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
I'm listening to this album tonight for the first time in probably about a month. And, for that reason, I was a little hesitant to put it at the top of my list. But it's just so spectacular. Every second of every song just leaves me wanting more. Most albums with moments of brilliance have lots of stretches of let downs in between. This one might have a plateau or two, but there aren't any valleys. I don't know how you can have peaks without valleys, but I think they found a way.
posted by Mike at
11:22 PM
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