\n1. Freelance Whales – Weathervanes<\/strong>
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/72.47.236.162\/images\/album_covers\/FreelanceWhales_Weathervanes.jpg\")
\nNow, this album sort of came out in 2009, but it was picked up by Frenchkiss and given a proper release this year, so I’m counting it. This is an album that fits a lot of good situations, and I’ve always enjoyed listening to it all the way through…even months afterward. On top of that it has several standout tracks for me for shorter listening bursts. Suggested tracks: Broken Horse, Ghosting and We Could be Friends<\/em><\/p>\n
2. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz<\/strong> 4. Beach House – Teen Dream<\/strong> 5. The Books – The Way Out<\/strong> 6. Land of Talk – Cloak and Cipher<\/strong> 7. Gayngs – Relayted<\/strong> 9. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs<\/strong> 10. The Velvet Teen – No Star EP<\/strong> 11. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Best songs (In a sort of order…)<\/strong> The Velvet Teen – No Star Most anticipated albums of 2011<\/strong> Wish list: Sigur Ros, Son Lux, Talkdemonic, Azeda Booth<\/p>\n Here is my Best of 2009<\/a> list and Best of 2008<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My top 10 albums of 2010 in no particular order…as well as my favorite songs and wishes for the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,45,57,58],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-2","tag-19","tag-music","tag-top-10","tag-top-10-albums"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/asthmatickitty.com\/images\/releases\/covers\/AKR077_AoA_900.jpg\" "\\"Age")
\nI caught onto Illinoise a bit late in the game, and didn’t really listen to any of the in between stuff that Sufjan Steven’s put out, but this one was just an immediate hit for me. I listened to it several times in a row as soon as I got it and was struck by the unusual range of things going on inside of each song. The 25minute track at the end even turned out to be one of my favorite songs on the album. Suggested tracks: I Want to be Well, Age of Adz, Impossible Soul<\/em>
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\n3. Phantogram – Eyelid Movies<\/strong>
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blairneal.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/phantogram_eyelid_movies.jpg\" "\\"phantogram_eyelid_movies\\"")
<\/a>
\nNow, of course this one is a bit of a given for me. Even after listening to the album way too many times while working on their live set videos, it still has a special place for me musically. I still listening to it and love going to the live shows, even though I’ve essentially been listening to the album for almost 2 years now. Really looking forward to them cranking out some new material soon. Suggested tracks: Let me go, Turn it off, When I’m Small<\/em><\/p>\n
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\nPreviously, I hadn’t really counted myself as a Beach House fan, but this album just caught me in a weird way. It took a little getting used to, but it definitely became a sort of go-to album to put on when doing work or other activities. I’m still listening to it even though it came out way back in January. Suggested tracks: Walk in the park, Silver Soul, Take Care<\/em><\/p>\n
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\nMost albums from The Books for me have only a couple songs that I really fall in love with, but with their most recent album, I was able to love almost every song. There was a consistency there that really appealed to me, even though the songs change character quite a bit. There really isn’t another band that sounds quite like The Books, and in this album they managed to push their sound that much more. Suggested tracks: I didn’t know that, All you need is a wall, Thirty Incoming<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI was really encouraged by Land of talk’s 2009 EP Fun and Laughter<\/em> and was really eager about getting a full album of those kinds of songs. I think they delivered with Cloak and Cipher. Although nothing quite came up to my favorite track “A Series of Small Flames,” I think I picked a few up for the vault. Suggested tracks: Quarry Hymns, Color Me Badd<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWhat at first felt like a sort of joke album, ended up really sticking with me a lot more than I thought it would. Suggested tracks: A Gaudy Side of Town, Faded High, The Walker<\/em>
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\n8. Hammock – Chasing after shadows, living with the ghosts<\/strong>
\nProbably my favorite ambient group of all time. I had been a little disappointed in their previous two albums, but this one felt like a real return to form for me. Their debut, Kenotic, is one of my favorite albums ever. In a way, this album it felt like “Kenotic part 2” but with a more mature sound.
\nSuggested tracks: The Backward Step, Tristia, Breathturn<\/em><\/p>\n
\nOn most everyone’s list this year. I wasn’t very captivated by it at first, but I felt myself sort of drawn in by everyone else’s enthusiasm and ended up finding a new favorite track every few days. Suggested tracks: We used to wait, The Suburbs<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSo excited for their upcoming full length. I’ve been waiting for something, anything, since their amazing 2006 album Cum Laude, and this is the first whisper that had come out. I have listened to the entire EP 14 times since it came out only 2 months ago, not a bad track on it. Hoping to finish an unofficial video for the title track in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
\n12. Menomena – Mines
\n13. Typhoon – Hunger and Thirst
\n14. Jonsi – Go
\n15. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
\n16. The Album leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers
\n17. School of Seven Bells – Disconnect from Desire<\/p>\n
\nFor me there wasn’t necessarily a “My Girls” or “Two Weeks” this year, but there were definitely some that I ended up playing way more than others.<\/p>\n
\nSufjan Stevens -Impossible Soul
\nTyphoon – CPR\/Claws pt. 2
\nBeach house – Walk in the Park
\nPhantogram – Let me go
\nMenomena – Tithe
\nLand of Talk – Quary Hymns
\nThe Books – All you need is a wall
\nBroken Social Scene – All to All
\nAnnuals – Loxtep
\nGayngs – Gaudy Side of Town
\nHammock – The Backward Step<\/p>\n
\nBraids – Native Speaker (January)
\nBright Eyes – The Peoples Key (February)
\nThe Get up kids – There are rules (January) …sure why not
\nThe Velvet Teen (rumored)
\nStarfucker (early 2011)
\nBattles (rumored)
\nRadical Face (rumored)
\nPhantogram EP 2 (Working on it?)<\/p>\n