A Round of Sound

2010 has come and gone, so it’s time for my annual Albums of the Year list. Usually, I like to give a little summary, but I’m done trying to come up with a theme for a given year. Music has become so varied and can mean different things to different people, that trying to pinpoint an overarching idea for all of music is pretty pointless.  So I guess that’s a theme in and of itself…so there.

As usual, I’ll start off my countdown by providing a list of all the albums I purchased in some form this year, thus making them eligible for my list. Soundtracks, EPs, live albums, and b-side/rarities releases are once again not eligible.  For 2010, I have 81 albums, 76 of which are eligible. There are plenty of albums that I’m sure could have made my list had I purchased them, but just like any year, there’s always a few that slip through the cracks. Over on the right, you can see my schedule over the next few days as I continue my countdown. After the jump, I present my eligible albums (in order of release date).

Owen Pallett – Heartland

Vampire Weekend – Contra

Laura Veirs – July Flame

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast

Spoon – Transference

Beach House – Teen Dream

Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring

Patty Griffin – Downtown Church

Basia Bulat – Heart of My Own

Slow Six – Tomorrow Becomes You

Moonface – Dreamland EP*

Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Phantogram – Eyelid Movies

Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago

Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More

Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

Fang Island – Fang Island

These New Puritans – Hidden

Titus Andronicus – The Monitor

Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks

The Besnard Lakes – Are the Roaring Night

Broken Bells – Broken Bells

The Whigs – In the Dark

She & Him – Volume 2

Delorean – Subiza

Sam Amidon – I See the Sign

Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be

Jonsi – Go

The Morning Benders – Big Echo

Dr Dog – Shame Shame

The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt

The Radio Dept – Clinging to a Scheme

Caribou – Swim

Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring

Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo

Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record

Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing

The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever

New Pornographers – Together

Josh Ritter – So Runs the World Away

The National – High Violet

Sleigh Bells – Treats

Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts

Marching Band – Pop Cycle

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

Band of Horses – Infinite Arms

Wild Nothing – Gemini

Tame Impala – InnerSpeaker

How to Destroy Angels – How to Destroy Angels*

Suckers – Wild Smile

Tokyo Police Club – Champ

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today

Blitzen Trapper – Destroyer of the Void

The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang

Stars – The Five Ghosts

Wolf Parade – Expo 86

The Love Language – Libraries

School of Seven Bells – Disconnect from Desire

Mountain Man – Made in the Harbor

Menomena – Mines

Best Coast – Crazy For You

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Antony and the Johnsons – Thank You For Your Love EP*

Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People EP*

Ra Ra Riot – The Orchard

The Weepies – Be My Thrill

Jenny and Jonny – I’m Having Fun Now

The Thermals – Personal Life

Interpol – Interpol

The Walkmen – Lisbon

Junip – Fields

Of Montreal – False Priests

Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest

Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz

Antony and the Johnsons – Swanlights

Avey Tare – Down There

Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love

Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer

Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Yeasayer – Live at Ancienne Belgique*

*Not eligible

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 at 1:17 pm and is filed under All, Music, Top Albums of 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.