Top LPs and EPs of 2010

Arcade Fire

Its that time of year again, where folks all around the blogosphere flex their music listening prowess by throwing together a top ten/twenty/ninety-two list of albums of the respective year. And for me, I am no different. In 2010 we have seen an amazing amount of quality albums thrown at us with Outkast rapper Big Boi throwing out his debut solo effort, Arcade Fire taking Billboard by storm by rising to Number #1 in the album charts, and Damon Albarn throwing us a curveball with the new look and sound of the Gorillaz. Now here is my list of the top LPs and EPs of 2010. 


TOP LPs


1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Cosmogramma

Number one with a bullet. Steve Ellison aka Flying Lotus has shown once again that he is a force to be reckoned with in the electronic/hip-hop world, with his third full length offering 'Cosmogramma'. However we should not be so surprised by Ellison's musical prowess, as he comes from a fantastic musical pedigree. Ellison is the great-nephew of both John and Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane in which 'Cosmogramma' is dedicated to. According to Ellison, Cosmogramma is a portmanteau of the Alice Coltrane phrase 'Cosmic Grammar'. On the album, we see guest performances by Ellison's cousin Ravi Coltrane, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and Los Angeles bass extraordinaire Thundercat. 


2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach

Gone are the curtains, and the backdrops, and the large monitors that disguised the backing band to the virtual band of 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs. While they are still there, their previous prominent role has been diminished for now. Plastic Beach originally in 2007 was a project entitled 'Carousel' by Gorillaz's creators Damon Albarn and Jaime Hewlett, which eventually evolved into the Gorillaz's third album and their first since Demon Days in 2005. According to Albarn, 'Plastic Beach' is their biggest and most 'pop' album out of the three. And big would be an understatement, as 'Plastic Beach' sees guest work from a wide variety of guests like, Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, and Gorillaz regulars, De La Soul. 


3. Native - Wrestling Moves

Wrestling Moves

If you are happening to read this and don't know who Native is, then you aren't paying enough attention. I have had the extreme fortune to interview this band and the lead singer/bass player Bobby Markos on two separate occasions, which can be seen on this blog. Native is an up and coming post-punk/math rock quartet from Valparaiso, Indiana. They have taken the DIY/underground punk scene by storm with their visceral and in-your-face live shows and their debut LP on the marvelous Sargent House label, 'Wrestling Moves'. Bands many, many years their elder only hope to come out with an album containing such force and emotion, much less in their debut LP. Only time can tell what this young group from Indiana will bring to us next. 


4. The National - High Violet 

High Violet

Knock on wood, we have yet to see a disappointing effort from the Cincinnati post-punk/baroque pop (what?) quintet, and 'High Violet' does not let us down. The National jumped in the Black Friday crowd and released a deluxe edition of 'High Violet' which included a new version of 'Terrible Love', three B-sides and, three live versions of other various tracks from the album - at a lower price than the regular album. Coming off of what many critics hailed as the best album of 2007, 'Boxer', 'High Violet' may in time be hailed as the best album by the Brooklyn-based quintet. High Violet is also the highest charted album by the band, coming in at Number #3 in the Billboard Charts, selling well over 400,000 copies in just six months.  


5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The Suburbs

Next to The Strokes, Arcade Fire has quite possibly become the biggest 'indie rock' band in North America. While 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' have been hailed as some of the best albums of the 2000's, 'The Suburbs' has the numbers behind it - Number #1 in the Billboard charts for an entire week in the last month of August, selling well over 150,000 copies at the time. While 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' were short and concise works, 'The Suburbs' is a sprawling 16 track album that took even the most ardent fans by surprise. Like The National, we haven't seen and we certainly don't hope to see in the near future, a dud by Arcade Fire. So in the mean time we have this gem to listen to for years and years to come. 


6. Teebs - Ardour

Ardour

As we have seen with Brainfeeder, run by Steve Ellison (Flying Lotus) over the years, you could look up any artist on there, get their album without any preconceived notion of what you were getting yourself into, and be absolutely blown away. Teebs' debut album, 'Ardour', is no exception. Through the hazy and beautiful IDM contained in the album, we see a DJ/producer on the rise ready to take the electronic/hip-hop scene by storm. The influence of Flying Lotus on Teebs' sound is absolutely uncanny. 'Ardour' sounds and feels like it could have been Flying Lotus' 'Amnesiac'. B-sides from 'Cosmogramma, that are good enough to be put together as one cohesive album. Knowing it comes from this new DJ on the rise, makes us all sit on the edge of our seat waiting on what will come next in the next full length by the Brainfeeder artist. 


7. Curren$y - Pilot Talk I/II

Pilot Talk I/II

If Dr. Dre released as many albums as Curren$y has in the past couple of years, Dr. Dre's last album probably would have came out almost a decade ago. While mixtapes are released at a maddening pace across the hip-hop world, rarely do you see a hip-hop artist have two full length albums released by a label, and have both of them be GOOD. This is what you have with Curren$y's Pilot Talk I and II. Not only they are some of the best hip-hop albums of the year, they are also a fantastic throw-back to the jazz rap that rap groups A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr made famous in the 80s and 90s. Both Pilot Talk I and II are so good, that its hard and unfair to talk about one and not the other. Besides the obvious similarities in album names, both albums are companion albums to each other and can be seen as a hip-hop double album.


8. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit

One-Armed Bandit

For a band that claims that they don't listen to a lot of Frank Zappa, they have released probably one of the best Zappa influenced/sounding jazz fusion albums since the passing of Frank Zappa. One listen to the title-track to the album conjures up thoughts of a long lost Zappa album stored away in the family vault that could be considered one of his best ever. Luckily for all of us, Jaga Jazzist shows no signs of slowing down, or signs of abandoning their jazz roots. While continuing with the post-rock sensibilities that showed up on their last album, 'What We Must', the nu-jazz sound that prompted the BBC to declare their debut album, 'Livingroom Hush', the best jazz album of 2002 - returns to the forefront with, 'One-Armed Bandit'. 


9. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Suites II + III)

The ArchAndroid (Suite II & III)

This year has been inundated with quality debut albums, and that is always welcome to the music-listening people around the world. Janelle Monae gave us a little insight to what she was capable of when she released her Suite I EP back in 2007, but none of us expected this as a follow up. A 18 track art-pop opera that conjures up the sounds of soul and funk greats James Brown and Prince and the odd art-pop sensibilities of Bjork. Nonetheless, its a bold statement by the Atlanta pop artist to release an album of this magnitude as her debut album.   One just wonders how she will top this offering, if she releases another - much less come near it. But we should applaud Monae for making such a bold statement and album in her debut offering. Not enough pop artists dare to take the risks that Monae has done, and we can only hope that this is not the last we hear from Monae. 


10. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt

Like I have said before, Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man On Earth can do no wrong. Matsson has the uncanny ability to fill up any venue or room with just his voice and a guitar. Not anyone since Bob Dylan has such a folk artist done the same, which may explain why critics compare the Swedish folk singer's voice to Dylan. The Wild Hunt is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed debut, 'Shallow Grave' - which is quickly become just as acclaimed as the debut. While the formula is the exact same from both albums, its almost impossible to not be fully ingrained in the listening experience of Matsson, and feel like he is in the room with you singing just to you. Few solo artists have the ability to do that, and Matsson is one of those few artists. 


Honorable Mention: 


11. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor


12. Delta Spirit - History From Below 


13. Joanna Newsom - Have One One Me 


14. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty


15. Blacastan - Blac Sabbath


16. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer 


17. The Black Keys - Brothers


18. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 


19. Yellow Swans - Going Places


20. 22 - Flux 


21. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy 


22. Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here


23. Brian Eno - Small Craft on Milk Sea 


24. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Ali & Toumani 


25. John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up! 


26. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky


27. Menomena - Mines 


28. Gayngs - Relayted


29. Aloe Blacc - Good Things 


30. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream 


TOP EPs


1. The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

There are some years when an artist comes out with a fantastic LP and then surprises us with a little gift of an EP. Not only getting an EP by Matsson was a pleasant surprise, but he throws us a little curveball in sound. Matsson goes *GASP* electric. On the track "The Dreamer", we hear Matsson thrown down his acoustic guitar, for an electric one, and by some weird cosmic happening, it may be Matsson's best song so far in his career. Hopefully Matsson's decision to go electric is responded a little nicer when Bob Dylan did it 45 years ago. 


2. Nails - Unsilent Death

Unsilent Death

Probably the most stark in music styles in a 'best of' list you will see in awhile. Nails is the latest signing to one of the best independent metal labels out there today, Southern Lord. There must be something in the water, but Nails is one of the newest and best hardcore/thrash metal trios to come out of Southern California in years. (see, Ghostlimb) In typical hardcore fashion, Nail's second EP clocks in at just 14 minutes and is such a kick in the face with its ferocity, that it lends itself to repeated listens. And while the vast majority of the songs on the EP clock in at no longer than a minute, the near four minute, 'Depths', feels like a metal epic in comparison. 


3. Freddie Gibbs - Str8 Killa 

Str8 Killa 

Next to Sufjan Steven's hour long 'All Delighted People', Gibb's Str8 Killa EP is one of the longest EPs to come out this year clocking in at 36 minutes. Gibbs barrages us with rhymes and such a flow that reminds us of the biting gangsta-rap intellect of 2Pac. In about five years, Gibbs has given us six mixtapes and a look into a MC that could be on the rise with the popularity of Str8 Killa. I mean a glowing review from the Rolling Stone can't hurt, can it? Very rarely do you see the publication come out and praise an EP like it has for Gibb's debut EP. What it all means for this up and coming MC has yet to be seen. 


4. Teebs & Jackhigh - Tropics

Tropics

Like The Tallest Man On Earth, getting a Teebs EP complement to the fantastic Ardour is something that would make any music fanatic like myself giddy. Not much is known about Jackhigh or whether he or she even exists, but we do know that Jackhigh has done a fantastic collaboration with Teebs. Such a collaboration that we hope to see some solo Jackhigh in the near future. Tropics starts where Ardour left off, in giving us an amazing hazy-chill IDM experience that shows off its Flying Lotus influences so much in a way that makes us eagerly await for what is next for the Brainfeeder DJ. 


5. Nadja - Sky Burial 

Sky Burial 

Nothing is more beautiful than seeing two people love each other so much, coming together and creating such a soul crushing drone-doom metal experience. While 'Sky Burial' is not as cathartic as Nadja's 'Radiance of Shadows' and reminds us more of 'Truth Becomes Death', its still an amazing sight to behold. The married couple of Nadja (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff) making such cathartic music is just about unheard of, but Nadja does it in such grace and beauty, that you can't ignore it. 'Sky Burial' is a two song EP that spans almost 40 minutes. While the title track is not one of their best outputs, but the first track, 'Jaguar' reminds of a massive slow-moving drone epic along the likes of Emeralds', "Underwater Mountains". At the maddening pace that Nadja releases music, its not unheard of to hear another gem like 'Sky Burial'. 


Honorable mention: 


6. Castevet - The Echo and The Light


7. Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World


8. Dirty Projectors & Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca


9. Delta Spirit - The Waits Room 


10. The War on Drugs - Future Weather