Top 10 Best Albums and Songs for 2010 (ok ok so it blew out to 40 – I couldn’t help myself)

2010 has churned out some of the most awe inspiring music ever to skittle its way around ear drums, curl down to clench the ends of our nerves and move us in countless different ways impossible to scratch out on paper.

Some I’ve flailed limbs uncontrollably to in crowded bars, some I’ve clutched close to my chest alone on rocky outcrops in the dark, some I’ve screamed to with arms wrapped around strangers on muddy fields and some I’ve even attempted to make love to… (Apparently LCD’s Drunk Girls only works as an aphrodisiac on certain occasions)

Regardless, it has been an incredible year of music and hence why I failed so dismally at whittling my list down to a standard top 10.

I’ve also included a few of my fave tracks from each album, although I would argue that the top 10 albums at least are near perfect bodies of work. Like a fine wine, I’m sure a lot of the 2010 albums will only get better with time and like the memories of being front-centre at the respective artist's gigs (or squished at the back, imprinted into some sweaty dudes beer gut like a Hollywood star hands impression) eternally unforgettable.

Please argue with me on your choices if they differ - love a good argument!

1.Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Fave songs: Coronado, Earthquake (and only because I am responsible for about 200+ consecutive plays on youtube of Helicopter before the album was released)

2.Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Fave songs: World Sick, Sweetest Kill

3.Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Fave songs: I Walked, Impossible Soul

4.The National - High Violet
Fave songs: Little Faith, Lemonworld

5.The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
Fave Songs: A Token of Gratitude, You Stopped Making Sense

6.Local Natives (Australian Release 2010) - Gorilla Manor
Fave songs: Sticky Thread, Cubism Dream

7.Foals - Total Life Forever
Fave songs: What Remains, This Orient

8.Caribou - Swim
Fave Songs: Jamelia, Odessa

9.Jonsi - Go
Fave songs: Tornado, Kolniour

10.Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Fave Songs: Suburban War, We Used to Wait

11.Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Fave Songs: Same Dream China, Snow & Taxis

12. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Fave Songs: Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want

13. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Fave Songs: Grizelda, Madder Red

14.Beach House - Teen Dream
Fave Songs: Zebra, Norway

15.Seabellies - By Limbo Lake
Fave Songs: Smoketsar, Trans Ending

16.Delphic - Acolyte
Fave Songs: This Momentary, Remains

17.Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Fave Songs: Alter Ego, It’s Not Meant to Be

18.Mice Parade - What It Means to Be Left Handed
Fave Songs: Old Hat, Tokyo Late Night

19.Parades - Foreign Tapes
Fave Songs: Hunters, Tripping Over Your Eyes

20.Delorean - Subiza
Fave Songs: Warmer Places, Stay Close

21.Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
Fave Songs: Infinite Arms, For Annabelle

22.Mount Kimbie – Crooks and Lovers
Fave Songs: Maybes, Sketch on Glass

23.Menomena – Mines
Fave Songs: Queen Black Acid, Lunchmeat

24.Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Fave Songs: Empathy, Suffocation

25.Zola Jesus – Stridulum II
Fave Songs: Sea Talk, I can’t Stand

26.Best Coast - Crazy for You
Fave Songs: I Want To, Honey

27.Warpaint – The Fool
Fave Songs: Undertow, Bees

28.Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Fave Songs: You Do You, Lovesick Teenagers

29.Glasser – Ring
Fave Songs: Home, T

30.Twin Shadow – Forget
Fave Songs: Castles in the Snow, I Can’t Wait

31.James Blake – Klavierwerke EP
Fave Songs: I Only Know What I Know Now, CMYK

32.Alpine – Zurich EP
Fave Songs: Villages, Too Safe

33.The Books –The Way Out
Fave Songs: The Story of Hip Hop, All You Need Is a Wall

34.How to Dress Well – Love Remains
Fave Songs: Ready for the World, Decisions

35.Hunting – Earnest Ellis
Fave Songs: I am the Beast, When I feel Like Jesus’ Son the World Will Feel Much Different

36.Twin Sister – Colour Your Life EP
Fave Songs: Lady Daydream, Phenomenons

37.Blackbird Blackbird – Summer Heart
Fave Songs: Sunspray, So Sorry Girl

38.The Holidays – Post Paradise
Fave Songs: 6am, Conga

39.Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
Fave Songs: Round and Round, Beverly Kills

40.Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Fave Songs: No Future Part III: Escape from No Future, A Pot in Which to Piss

Broken Social Scene - Texico Bitches Official Video

Check out this saucy new video for Broken Social Scene's "Texico Bitches". And I thought the Preset's "This Boy's in Love" was homo-erotic! Whether it be milk or chocolate sauce, it's good to see artists using their creative license to be adventurous with their content direction. Sadly, some attitudes won't change themselves. This is a cracker of track to boot by one of my all time favourite bands:

Bear Bands and Bear Hands

Having the word “Bear” as part of your band name seems to be a mystical precursor for quality music these days, badged by scout-leading bands like: Grizzly Bear, Bear in Heaven, Panda Bear, Boy & Bear, Bearhug (Sydney band), the former Bear Vs Shark and the Bearnaked Ladies (oops wrong bear…and they were shit weren’t they). And now these little Brooklyn based furry nuggets, Bear Hands join my personal sleuth.

The boys began to cause a stir via a steady slog of support slots on the New York indie scene back in 2007 (Vampire Weekend, Les Savy Fav etc) after the release of their debut Golden EP. But it’s been their latest LP drop Burning Bush Supper Club that’s finally starting to chink its way into the independent Aussie airwaves.

They could be likened to fellow Cantora Records psy-rockers MGMT (upon hearing the track “Camel Convention” – I was envisioning a strange bird-like creature losing control of its limbs in the desert – or perhaps recalling my last night out on the town…) but Bear Hands seem to have a more jaunty texture to their sound: fuzzed-out vocals and just enough reverb to claw over dynamic percussion arrangements: some rollicking and tambourine infused, some unsuitably standard - but sounded out sweetly either way with woodland-romping melodies and abstract lyrics. I don’t know about you, but I love non-figurative language in song writing: where the sound of a feeling becomes the story and the way you flesh it out internally, tells it (true poetry? You tell me).

One of my fave tracks off Burning Bush Supper Club would have to be “Julien” (you can here what I mean by woodland-romping) as well as “Tablasaurus” (which has an Empire of the Sun kind of flavour to it).

Will Bear Hands get their bear heads mounted up on indie music fan's cabin walls alongside the formidably talented Grizzly Bear and Bear in Heaven? Only time - and perhaps a handy air rifle will tell...

You can purchase Burning Bush Supper Club from the Bear Hands website or here on itunes(although only their Golden EP is available in Australia as yet), or you can lend your heart to “Julien” here on Hype Machine. Check out their first single of the LP “What a Drag” below: