MUSIC: Best Albums of 2010

1 - Ali & Toumani - Ali Farka Toure
No record before has ever captured the sound of death - beautiful, haunting and easily accessed, even by my ruined pop-music-loving, American ears.

2 - High Violet - The National
More about mood than it was about great song-writing, but what a mood! The National does dark better and easier more than any band save maybe Radiohead.

3 - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
Overwrought, over-the-top and even downright silly at times. In a lot of ways, it's Use Your Illusion for the rap world. I haven't actually said anything good about yet: the work of a Beethoven-esque genius or Brian Wilson-esque madman, but we'll still be listening to this album in 20 years.

4 - The Lady Killer - Cee-Lo Green
Cee-lo seems to be a one man standard-bearer keeping Motown and first-wave soul alive for pop music audiences. A valuable endeavor, indeed.

5 - The Guitar Song - Jamey Johnson
I'm not going to act like an expert about country but to my ears, it has all the usual heart and expressive storytelling while really minimizing the cornpone corniness that comes with your average middle-of-the-road Nashville release.

6 - Shadows - Teenage Fanclub
Pop music, simple, pure and a delight through and through. The Fanclub still, pound for pound writes the best love song going right now.

7 - Apollo Kids - Ghostface Killah
With all the usual Wu-Tang alums making an appearance, I'm surprised the best guest turn of the year on any record was Black Thought. Ghost's best and most energetic since Fishscale

8 - Spiral Shadow - Kylesa
It's easy to miss with Dillinger Escape Plan, Future of the Left and many others, metal is in sort of a little niche golden age right now with some of the most creative releases every year coming from that milieu

9 - Swanlights - Antony & the Johnsons
A lot has been written about Antony and his ghoulish, vibrato-laden tenor. You love it or you hate it and I fall squarely in the former category.

10 - Special Moves/Burning - Mogwai
If The National does dark the best, then Mogwai does dreamy as well as anyone.


P.S. A little late, I know