25 Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can
24 Ugly Casanova
180 South Soundtrack
23 Diamond Rings
Special Affections
22 MGMT
Congratulations
21 Twin Shadow
Forget
20 The Dead Weather
Sea of Cowards
19 Cee Lo Green
The Lady Killer
18 Vampire Weekend
Contra
17 Elton John & Leon Russell
The Union
16 The Black Keys
Brothers
15 The Roots
How I Got Over
14 Flying Lotus
Cosmogramma
13 The National
High Violet
12 Broken Bells
Broken Bells
11 Spoon
Transference
10 Janelle Monae
The ArchAndroid
9 Gorillaz
Plastic Beach
8 Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
7 Beach House
Teen Dream
6 Big Boi
Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
5 LCD Soundsystem
This Is Happening
4
Sufjan Stevens
The Age of ADZ
Here For: "Impossible Soul"
Stay For: "Too Much," "Futile Devices," "I Want To Be Well"
No one was too sure if we'd hear any music from Sufjan Stevens, especially after he openly questioned the point of making music anymore after his
Illinoise album. Fortunately, he found his purpose again, and created his masterpiece. Doing a complete 180, a la Radiohead with
Kid A, Sufjan put down the acoustic guitar and banjo and picked up a synth and drum machine to complete this album. The most impressive moment on the disc is "Impossible Soul," a 25-minute epic, delivered in five distinct sections, including Sufjan singing on Autotune.
3
Robert Plant
Band of Joy
Here For: "Silver Rider"
Stay For: "Monkey," "Angel Dance," "Cindy, I'll Marry You One Day"
After the commercial and critical success of his previous album (2007's
Raising Sand with Alison Krauss), we all knew that would put put the proverbial bullet into the idea that maybe one day Robert Plant would reunite with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin for one last hurrah. Instead, Plant knew that he wouldn't be able to recreate the magic of his earlier years, so like any artist, he trucked forward, and released 2010's third best album,
Band of Joy.
The album owes a lot to his collaborations with Alison Krauss, but besides the Americana feel, this is purely a Robert Plant record. While
Raising Sand featured wonderful production by T Bone Burnett, creating a sullen, snail's crawl tempo, this album is pure Robert Plant. He pushes his vocals to farther extremes than he did on that 2007 album, and the instrumentation is more varied. His backing band is comprised of many legendary recording session musicians, including guitarists Buddy Miller and Darrell Scott, as well as vocalist Patty Griffin, who does an amazing job harmonizing with Plant. Instead of taking the easy route, rejoining Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones for a year on the road to rehash his glory years, Robert Plant instead keeps moving forward, making new art, just as compelling as anything he has done in the past.
2
Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Here For: "Power"
Stay For" "Runaway," "Monster," "Devil In a New Dress"
Well that was unexpected. Just one short year ago, Kanye West was pop culture's leper, ostracized for his award show antics, especially what went down at the 2009 VMAs with Taylor Swift. Twitter exploded after the controversy took over headlines all over the globe, with people calling 'Ye and asshole, a POS, a douche bag. Heck, even the President of the United States called him a "jackass." It was arguably the greatest public backlash of a prominent musician since John Lennon stated the obvious, that The Beatles were, "bigger than Jesus."
Flash forward to the summer of 2010. Kanye West has been out of the public spotlight since The Incident. He's been traveling the world, clearing his mind and staying out of trouble. Then all of the sudden he drops the buzz single "Power," which would later be included on his fifth studio album. Later we would appear at the VMAs, the scene of the crime, and finish his redemption, performing a rousing rendition of "Runaway." The world was listening to Kanye West. Again. Then November comes along and
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy gets its release. Everyone loves it. And for good reason. It's Kanye West's most sonically impressive album to date. The samples are sharper, the rhymes hit harder, the guest appearances aren't gimmicky (unheard of in hip hop music nowadays), and the passion for creating meaningful art has never been higher for Mr. West. Dark, twisted, fantastical, and most importantly beautiful, Kanye West created one of the greatest rap albums of all time in 2010. Long live the king.
Check back later today for the BEST ALBUM OF 2010! Who was better than Kanye West, LCD Soundsystem, Beach House and The National this year? I know, and you will too!