Here are four lists for your perusal, each from a different participant in the world of Dryvetyme Onlyne.
The Top Ten Albums of 2010 for Jenn Broadwell (in alphabetical order by last name)
The Autumn Film – The Ship and the Sea
Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise
Jamie Lidell – Compass
Punch Brothers – Antifogmatic
Admiral Radley – I Heart California
Sia – We Are Born
Sarah Kirkland Snider (featuring Shara Worden) – Penelope
Angus and Julia Stone – Down the Way
Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
The Favorite Moments of Music of 2010 for Michael Dallas Miller
This year was a blur. I worked five regular jobs and was paid by at least seven different employers for random day work and writing gigs. And in a year when things are busy, money is tight, life is odd and strange and the unknown outweighs the known by a lot, a list will not do for me. I have no Top 10 albums. Or Top 10 singles. I just have a few good memories in the midst of The Blur. And like so many of my best memories, these ones had to do with music.
- I bought Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs at a Target off Highway 101 in southern California, along with a 7-UP for myself and a bottle of water for my traveling companion. We played the album on repeat all the way to San Diego. Win Butler and his stories of love, love-lost, and a childhood recalled, carried us through the dry hills beyond Santa Barbara, in and around the sprawl of Los Angeles, into San Diego and eventually back to Oregon. That album grew (and has grown) with every listen on every mile of paved road. And as I have moved back to my hometown this year (after five years in Seattle), the album has meant more and more. I could listen to The Suburbs everyday, and much like the stories of my youth, it would only grow in scope and rich detail.
- Not long after I moved out of Seattle, I got an email from Joe Syverson. I had interviewed Joe once the year before. He was part of a band called the Final Spins and he would always say hello to me at shows and make sure I got in for free at his gigs. This email included a copy of his solo record and the subject line -”Hey buddy.” Now, I have been sent free records before (The editor of this wonderful website can attest to that fact.), but there was something special about this email. Maybe it was the fact that I had not talked to Joe in awhile and it was just a nice surprise. Maybe it was how incredible the solo record was. Or perhaps this email meant something to me because it reminded me of all the great people I have met while covering music in the northwest, like Joe, like Matt Bishop, like Eric Anderson, like David Bazan, like The Blue Horns, like so many people struggling like me to find time to do what they love doing.
- The Parson Redheads might the nicest people on the planet (besides my grandparents). On a warm Seattle evening, in the balcony of The Comet Tavern, we drank beer out of a blue, camping cooler and talked about basketball, the band, traveling, Steely Dan, Oregon, LA, The Next Step, and That Awesome Parson Redheads Style. This has to be my favorite interview of the year. Easily. The profile I wrote came in a relaxed, easy, 20-minute spurt of easygoing inspiration. I cheer for his band because a) they play great music and b) because good things should happen to good people.
- I have very little money. For all my short-termed employment in the past year, I have not made much extra cash to spend at the record store. And even though my lack-o-cash has taken away opportunities to discover new music, it has allowed me to go back to my old collection and given me the chance for a little rediscovery. I recall sitting in my room and going through every Crusaders record I own, sitting in a yellow chair and reading and napping. Another day, I listened to Steely Dan in chronological order before doing the same with my Radiohead vinyl (except for Pablo Honey, because I don’t think even die-hard Radiohead fans enjoy that record). No matter what music I accumulate in the years to come, I will always My Music, the music that will be the context of my stories, the music for which I hope a radio station is created, the formative music of my formative years of forming an adult identity.
- Now, if I were to make a Top 10 Album list, Damien Jurado’s Saint Bartlett would definitely be on it. It would be on the list because it contains some of the most beautifully painful folkish tunes of this year, always without the slightest hint of sentimentality. My good friend Drew Grissom and I listened to this record in his living room after enchiladas and a few bottles of Hefeweissen. I sunk deep into the couch and Drew sat in a stool and we discussed Saint Bartlett vs. 2008′s Caught in the Trees, how tragedy makes great music, the lesbian aspect to “Rachel and Cali”, what the hell are we doing with our lives, and what could be better than drinking cold beer and flipping records on a brand new turntable. Drew and I were in agreement only on the final part of our discussion. “Nothing,” we said. “Nothing could be better.”
Here is a list of fantastic, genre-diverse albums from photographer, co-worker, and friend (and potential guest contributor in 2011) Brendan Moody (presented alphabetically by last name).
Apparat – DJ Kicks
Big Boi – Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
The Black Keys – Brothers
Burial and Kode 9 – BBC Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs
Johnny Cash – American Recordings VI
The Dead Weather – Sea Of Cowards
Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Flying Lotus – Pattern Grid World EP
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
Grinderman – Grinderman 2
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Liars – Sisterworld
Mount Kimbie – Crooks And Lovers
The National – High Violet
Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise
Phosphorescent – Here’s To Taking It Easy
Rick Ross – Teflon Don
Spoon – Transference
Avey Tare – Down There
Teebs – Ardour
The Walkmen – Lisbon
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Neil Young – Le Noise
Last, but not least, Stephen of Heroes Of Popular Wars chimed in with his Top 10 New Records Of 2010 (in actual numerical order!).
10. Captain Ahab – The End of Irony
9. No Age – Everything in Between
8. Black Dub – Black Dub
7. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
6. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
5. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
4. Wye Oak – My Neighbor/My Creator EP
3. Land of Talk – Cloak and Cipher
2. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
1. Baths – Cerulean