Favorite albums of 2010

• "The ArchAndroid," Janelle Monae
• "Body Talk," Robyn
• "High Violet," The National
• "The Lady Killer," Cee Lo Green
• "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Kanye West
• "Odd Blood," Yeasayer
• "Plastic Beach," Gorillaz
• "Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty," Big Boi
• "The Suburbs," Arcade Fire
• "Treats," Sleigh Bells

"Contra," Vampire Weekend; "This Is Happening," LCD Soundsystem; "New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh," Erykah Badu; "Record Collection," Mark Ronson & the Business Intl; "Hands," Little Boots

Favorite albums of 2009

For the, um, record...

• "Fantasies," Metric
• "Actor," St. Vincent
• "Merriwether Post Pavilion," Animal Collective
• "Revolution," Miranda Lambert
• "Manners," Passion Pit
• "It's Blitz!," Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• "It's Not Me, It's You," Lily Allen
• "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," Phoenix
• "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand," Franz Ferdinand
• "The Blueprint 3," Jay-Z

Top Ten Albums of 2005

When it comes to making best-of lists for music I inevitably feel like I'm leaving something out, probably because I haven't heard it yet. But one of the best things about yearly top ten album lists is I discover a lot of new music to listen to.

So with that in mind, a brief acknowledgment of 2004 releases that I first discovered and/or came to love in 2005: The Arcade Fire's Funeral, Bebel Gilberto's Bebel Gilberto, A.C. Newman's The Slow Wonder, Tegan & Sara's So Jealous and Spalding Rockwell's Kate.

No doubt there were some great albums that I would really love released in 2005 that I simply haven't heard yet, but among those that I did listen to and love over the past year were: Ben Folds' Songs for Silverman, Spoon's Gimme Fiction, Martha Wainwright's Martha Wainwright, The Go-Betweens' Oceans Apart, Queens of the Stone Age's Lullabies to Paralyze, Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor, The Like's Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?, Death Cab For Cutie's Plans, Coldplay's X&Y, Carla Bruni's Quelqu'un M'a Dit, Doves' Some Cities, Common's Be and Garbage's Bleed Like Me.

But the following were my ten (plus) favorites:

10. Employment (Kaiser Chiefs)/You Could Have It So Much Better (Franz Ferdinand)

A tie between Franz Ferdinand's follow-up album that delivers on the promise of a fantastic debut and Kaiser Chiefs' fantastic debut. Although Franz's album isn't as immediately catchy as their first it's more varied (nice ballads guys!), grows with each listen and includes the best single of the year in "Do You Want To." And the Chiefs delivered what Franz did last year: a solid, fun debut album that never wears out its welcome.

Employment key tracks: I Predict a Riot; Oh My God; Saturday Night; Caroline, Yes
You Could... key tracks: The Fallen; Do You Want To; Eleanor Put Your Boots On; Fade Together

9. Illinois (Sufjan Stevens)

If the absurdly long (often exclamatory) song titles and the lyrics built around the history of Illinois (there's even a song devoted to serial killer John Wayne Gacy) make this sound overly precious, well... it is. Yet somehow it works.

Key tracks: Come On! Feel the Illinoise!; Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother!; Chicago; The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts

8. Get Lifted (John Legend)/Late Registration (Kanye West)

There's no stopping Kanye West right now, the pre-eminent force in hip hop released a second album that was a worthy successor to last year's debut and produced a fantastic neo-soul album for protege John Legend (and a solid effort for rapper Common). You hate to feed the guy's already corpulent ego but who can resist music this good? Especially Legend's knock-out punch, the stirring ballad "Ordinary People."

Lifted key tracks: Let's Get Lifted; Number One; Ordinary People; So High
Registration key tracks: Touch the Sky; Gold Digger; Gone; Diamonds From Sierra Leone

7. Brandi Carlile (Brandi Carlile)

This debut album is as assured as it is unheralded. Carlile's voice and style have garnered comparisons to Jeff Buckley but with these ten remarkable songs she's already well on her way to carving out her own musical identity.

Key tracks: Follow; Closer to You; Fall Apart Again; Gone

6. Z (My Morning Jacket)

Although it's their fourth album, this was my proper introduction to My Morning Jacket. I've been told it's a more focused effort that has provided them with more attention then they've ever received. It's not hard to understand why.

Key tracks: Wordless Chorus; Gideon; What a Wonderful Man; Off the Record

5. Silent Alarm (Bloc Party)

Their lyrics are like deep man, but chances are you'll be too busy rocking out to the music to notice. No question, the rock debut of the year.

Key tracks: Like Eating Glass; Banquet; Blue Light; This Modern Love

4. Thunder, Lightning, Strike (The Go! Team)

Hip-hop, electronica and indie rock collide, with cheerleader chants thrown in for good measure, in the most weirdly addictive album of the year. This indie dance mish-mash borrows from the most unexpected sources and has an energy that's impossible to resist.

Key tracks: Feel Good By Numbers; Friendship Update; Hold Yr Terror Close; Huddle Formation

3. Get Behind Me Satan (The White Stripes)

The best contemporary rock band got even stronger with the summer release of this staggeringly diverse collection of songs. I'm not sure there's a musician alive today whose love of music, in all its forms, is more instantly apparent than Jack White.

Key tracks: Blue Orchid; My Doorbell; Forever For Her (Is Over For Me); Little Ghost

2. Twin Cinema (The New Pornographers)

After three albums the Pornographers seem to be reaching wider audiences and greater acclaim, but still not at the level they deserve. An unusual indie "supergroup" (of sorts) the group's main members (A.C. Newman, Neko Case and Dan Bejar) have all recorded on their own but their joint efforts are pure magic: power pop that is never overcooked. Twin Cinema is their most restrained effort yet but give the album at least two listens and the hooks won't leave your mind anytime soon.

Key tracks: Use It; The Bleeding Heart Show; These Are the Fables; Sing Me Spanish Techno

1. Extraordinary Machine (Fiona Apple)

For awhile I thought this project might be lost forever. Then came the news that the original recordings, produced by frequent Apple collaborator Jon Brion, had been leaked online. The Brion tracks were excellent (and remain worth seeking out) but it's the Michael Elizondo-produced form in which the album finally reached shelves that finds Fiona moving beyond the lofty musical and lyrical heights she had already reached. It's everything a serious fan, like myself, could ask for. Track for track, it's the album of the year.

Key tracks: Extraordinary Machine; Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song); Not About Love; Waltz (Better Than Fine); Jon Brion version: Better Version of Me

Oh no they didn't...

The Grammy nominations came out today (an announcement that I had pretty much forgotten about in my single-minded devotion to movieland's award season frenzy) and wow... they suck.

Sure, you can say complaining about the Grammys is like complaining about the weather, but the way I see it the music industry's big awards had actually been making some progress in recent years. They discovered hip hop, they stopped nominating so many easy listening/adult contemporary acts, they threatened to become cool (or at least cooler than they'd ever been before).

This year they blew it. Especially in the top category: album of the year.

I'm not expecting (or even asking for) the category to be filled with the likes of Arcade Fire, Fiona Apple and The New Pornographers. The Grammys, like most big awards, look for a mix of both critical and commercial success and I'm fine with that. Last year's album of the year nominees were: American Idiot (Green Day), The College Dropout (Kanye West), Confessions (Usher), The Diary of Alicia Keys (Alicia Keys) and Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles). A solid bunch.

This year we get:
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard - Paul McCartney
The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2
Late Registration - Kanye West
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. - Gwen Stefani

I approve of Kanye.

As for the others: Gwen delivered a fine pop album and the nomination is no worse than Usher last year, so fine I can easily live with that. But... Paul McCartney? Sure, the reviews weren't awful but this smacks of out-of-touch voters (it probably came down to this or Springsteen for the token veteran spot). Sadly, the same can be said of the U2 nomination. I love the group, I really do, but they don't need to be nominated every time out and their spot here clearly should have gone to a more interesting mainstream rock album like The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan, or hell even Coldplay's X&Y.

As for the recently emancipated Mimi... you certainly can't cite the critics to support that. She may have strong sales but damn, is it in any way necessary to encourage her like this? I can understand that living in the era of the Simpson sisters and Lindsay Lohan has lowered the bar but come on voters, blindfold yourself and throw a dart at the Billboard chart and you'll hit a better album than this. An obvious substitute nominee: John Legend, who had a deservedly strong showing overall and would've been a much better fit here.

The nominations weren't all bad. Record of the Year (given to a single song) has a couple solid selections in Gorillaz's Feel Good Inc. and Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams (and Kanye's Gold Digger and Gwen's Hollaback Girl are at least fun).

Then there's the "alternative music" album category, almost always a pleasure:
Funeral - The Arcade Fire
Guero - Beck
Plans - Death Cab For Cutie
You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes

Arcade Fire also got a nom for their original song from the final season of Six Feet Under and White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand both received an additional nom.

And Fiona, who mysteriously never gets enough Grammy love, was nominated for "Best Pop Vocal Album" for Extraordinary Machine (where she faces McCartney, Stefani, Kelly Clarkson and Sheryl Crow, what a quintet).

The Grammys aren't American Idol snobs either, nominating Kelly for two awards and Fantasia for three (plus a songwriting nomination for a track from her album that doesn't count as a personal nom for her).

But still, it's hard to believe that just two years ago the album of the year nominees were: Under Construction (Missy Elliott), Fallen (Evanescence), Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Outkast), Justified (Justin Timberlake) and Elephant (The White Stripes).

Ah, memories.

Music is better with friends

I wish I could but I can't write about everything.

So I'll let other people pick up the slack when it comes to the two fantastic concerts I saw earlier this month:

Helen took some great photos at the Coldplay show and she does a good job of describing the fun of the show itself (the band's anthem-heavy latest album may not have won raves from music critics but it makes their show pretty damn enjoyable) and the hell that was the drive home.

And I shared Kevin's delight at the brilliant pairing of Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright. You owe it to yourself to check out his clips of their awesome cover of Careless Whisper.

Ben, Rufus, Wham!, Perfect.