Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Brad's Top 10 Albums Of 2010

10. This group’s sense of quirk added to their cutesy, loveable folk made it hard for me to not to place this group among my favorites of the year. It’s music that’s warm and approachable, and I quickly made friends with this album.

:Freelance Whales - Hannah:

09. While Archandroid was lesser than what I had hoped when it comes to a follow-up for Metropolis, Janelle Monae continues to win me over with music that’s got as much character as the girl with 'do.

:Janelle Monae - Wondaland:

08. Around these days, it seems as if people are just slapping their work with the label of "instrumental" in an effort to justify their wordless noise or songs with failed lyrics, just like how we, back in high school, kept calling the crappiest of our work "abstract." But then you come across the Octopus Project, and you realize all is still well with instrumental music, and there are people out there who still care about what they're doing.

:The Octopus Project - Glass Jungle:

07. I remember the likes of Beach House back with Devotion, and I can remember the likes of Beach House way back with their debut self-titled. Whether it’s a case of moving labels or just third time’s a charm, Teen Dream is what you get when a band discovers who they truly are and play that identity to their best.

:Beach House - Norway:

06. Yeah. Matt & Kim. It seems as if everyone else doesn’t give Matt & Kim a single serious thought, but this dynamic duo isn’t about serious. Matt & Kim are fun, and that’s all that matters to me. I have a serious amount of fun with this album. It’s childish and full of energy, and I love every bit of it.

:Matt And Kim - Cameras:

05. The musical drought that Sufjan Stevens subjected his fans to surely contributed to an overhyped release, but all things considered, The Age of Adz truly is a remarkable album. Following a period of musician’s block, The Age of Adz represents a changed, strained musician. You can sense the incredible effort that Stevens placed into this album, and the results are nothing if not admirable, incredible and truly artistic.

:Sufjan Stevens - I Walked:

04. Surfer Blood is a surprise to me. Among other things, I hate everything about Florida unless it exists solely within the confines of Walt Disney World. By most accounts, when it comes to this West Palm Beach-based band, I should have trouble liking their album, but I do like it ... a lot.

:Surfer Blood - Take It Easy:

03. I don’t know what precisely drives me to like Frightened Rabbit as much as I do, but there’s a familiarity to their music that I just find fitting and right. The Winter of Mixed Drinks continues along the group’s pragmatic perspective of down but not out, and as depressing as things come to be, the uplifting nature of their music continually anthemed me through the year.

:Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land:

02. Yeasayer had me from the start even before the full release of Odd Blood when they released Ambling Alp as a single come the end of 2009. By then, I had my opinions on Yeasayer with All Hours Cymbals - “meh” - but then Odd Blood came. It's one of those albums with an open accessibility that lends way to such a new wide, broadening horizon. It’s only right that a band keen on hallucinogenic tones and visuals be the one to open my mind up a bit this past year.

:Yeasayer - Madder Red:

01. It’s simple really. Give me any year that Spoon released an album, and I will always rate Spoon first. You call it bias. I call it genius.

:Spoon - Written In Reverse:

- Brad Benedict Corteza -



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