My Top Albums of 2010

There’s 15 of them, really just because there were 15 I wanted to include. Actually, there were 16, but that’s not a good round number, sorry Sanchez. This list is closer to ‘personal preferences’ rather than pure critical evaluation, but you know, I like to think I’m not a complete dunce.

15. Massive Attack – Heligoland

Genre: Trip-hop
Heligoland had a lot of expectation following a seven year wait for fans, and for many it didn’t meet it. Cutting through the hype though, this is a solid release from the duo with a handful of smooth tunes that go down as some of their best.
Preview Track: Paradise Circus

14. Saito Koji – Ocean

Genre: Ambient
Previously discussed here

13. Foetus – Hide

Genre: Avant-garde, industrial
Arguably the most ambitious and orchestral Foetus release yet, Hide is a bizarre concept album inspired by collective fear. Apart from a bit of a drag in the mid-section, it’s a unique and very enjoyable release.
Preview Track: Stood Up

12. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Social Network

Genre: Dark ambient, industrial, electronica
This is arguably the most comfortable output from the NIN camp in a few years. Reznor and Ross are completely within their element producing foreboding electronic pieces, and the result is a great album, not just a great soundtrack.
Preview Track: Magnetic

11. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

Genre: Electronic, experimental
This album feels like a dense playground of electronica, dub-step, hip-hop and I don’t even know what else. Some notable vocal cameos add a fine layer of polish. Finally, video game noises on a classy album!
Preview Track: Table Tennis (Ft. Laura Darlington)

10. Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid

Genre: Pop, R&B
Janelle Monáe has it all on her debut; a great voice, thoughtful lyrics, lively production and some solid cameos. It’s not usually my bag, but I had a lot of fun with this one.
Preview Track: Cold War

9. The Ocean – Anthropocentric

Genre: Post metal, progressive metal
The Ocean put out two LPs this year, but for me this one was the standout. The band’s style of powerful riffs punctuating progressive beats and structures is on full display. The concept of critiquing creationist theory and the church are the icing on the cake.
Preview Track: She Was The Universe

8. Akira Kosemura – Grassland

Genre: Modern classical, electronica
This extremely soothing album is a fine collection of piano pieces and downtempo pop and electronica. Kosemura’s musical range is strong and he maintains his knack for intimate minimal pieces throughout.
Preview Track: Grassland

7. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

Genre: Folk, indie
If harpist Joanna Newsom is your style of music then you’re in for a treat, because this album contains three discs of her wistful string and woodwind music. One thing I really like about this is the vocals never blindly follow the melody of the music, they’re very much their own instrument.
Preview Track: Kingfisher

6. Emancipator – Safe In The Steep Cliffs

Genre: Trip-hop, instrumental
Safe In The Steep Cliffs is a wonderful ensemble of varied instrumental trip-hop tunes. You know how some albums have a really good instrumental piece tucked away on them? This album has 14 of them.
Preview Track: Siren

5. Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

Genre: Experimental
Swans are back, and they do not disappoint. This album is not their most experimental work by any means, but it retains that heavy and bleak Swans flavor and is populated with strong tracks. This is a very heavy album, not by being fast or loud, but by sheer emotional tone and how the music composed. That’s impressive.
Preview Track: No Words/No Thoughts

4. Alcest – Écailles De Lune

Genre: Black metal, shoegaze
Alcest take their sound in an ambitious direction here combining the shoegazey/clean vocal sound of the last album with more screechy black metal, and come away much stronger as a result. What’s more, there’s a real arc in the tone of the album that slowly becomes more peaceful over it’s (admittedly short) running time.
Preview Track: Percées de Lumière

This wasn’t an easy list to make but the hardest bit was definitely separating the top three.

3. The National – High Violet

Genre: Indie, alternative
My first listen to this album was directly after the last episode of a great series I was watching. That bittersweet sensation of something good coming to an end was enhanced so much by this band’s sound. High Violet is full of songs that do a great job of tugging at your emotions, even if you’re not paying attention to the lyrics.
Preview Track: Conversation 16

2. Planning For Burial – Leaving

Genre: Shoegaze, drone
Leaving was initially released in digital format late 2009 but it’s physical release was mid this year. For me, this album was the biggest surprise; it’s probably my most played on this list. The album was recorded on a low budget, and that personal feeling really comes through. Many of the songs consist of slow guitar loops that gradually build into more layers before fading back into silence, a few tracks have a more ambient feel. It can be very drone-like at times, but tracks never overstay their welcome. It’s heavy but tremendously soothing.
Preview Track: Verse/Chorus/Verse

1. Agalloch – Marrow Of The Spirit

Genre: Black metal, folk metal
Agalloch have never been a band to stand still creatively, so I was really curious about what approach they’d take to this one. The production has been toned down a lot, and the use of natural sounds give this album a completely different feel to previous effort Ashes Against The Grain. Their songwriting is also more dense this time around, with songs moving slower and more time given to build dark atmospheric soundscapes. What’s really impressive is how well trimmed the whole effort is, all of the songs have their own style and feel and none feel like filler. Overall, the impression is that this is the band’s most mature effort yet, and though it requires some more patience from the listener, possibly their best too.
Preview Track: Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires