2010 Albums

10. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

9. Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

8. The Walkmen - Lisbon

7. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

6. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

5. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid

I first heard about Janelle Monae on NPR's Sound Opinions, where hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot could hardly contain their praise. I immediately bought it and sat down to be blown away. It didn't happen. I liked what I heard, but was she the musical visionary they claimed? I stuck with it, though, and each song began to emerge: I fell in love first with "Locked Inside" and grew to love single "Tightrope" as well as every single other song on the album. As an artist, she's all over the map; this album is like a symphony with overtures, interludes, hip hop, disco, even a weird track featuring Of Montreal. Plus, the woman is gorgeous—and she can dance.

4. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The title of this album scared me. "The Suburbs" sounded like the last thing I'd want Arcade Fire to call an album. Wouldn't it be fun to hear them sing about, I don't know, surfing? I didn't need another dark, brooding, preachy album about how bad the suburbs are and urban sprawl.

They save it by finding their earnestness again, by showing that they love the subjects of their songs as much as they despise them. In that dichotomy lies Arcade Fire's power. They also find their storytelling voice again. But above all, the music is remarkable. They make an art of mid-tempo songs, comfortable that they don't have to hurry up and say what they need to say; if you make stunning songs, people will stick around and listen to what you have to say.

3. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Unlike Nick, I fell in love with this album from the beginning, from the very first song. A leap forward in maturity from their last album, yet still goofy and unmistakeably the work of exactly the same band. They took a risk, making music that was a little more difficult to love, just as melodic but not quite as obviously so. More than any other album, I listened to Contra over and over again throughout the year: in the dead of winter "Horchata" comforted me; I trained for the marathon this summer to "Giving up the Gun." Ezra's vocals are a big part of this album; he sings independantly from the instruments, sometimes over nothing but silence, making his voice go up and down and all around. I can't wait for what they do next.

2. Robyn - Body Talk

I came to this album late in the year, but I'd heard pieces of it throughout 2010. Robyn is like a Swedish Madonna, and this year she released this album in three parts. I heard "Dancing on My Own," still the album's best track, at some point this summer. But I had no idea how good every other track would be on this, the final installment, which features songs from the first two parts as well as some new ones.

This year was about beats for me; for the most part, indie rock bored me. Maybe it was the fact that I spent half the year mining the 80s for tracks and obsessing over Depeche Mode. I had a short attention span for music this year, but this was the last problem with Body Talk: this is my Junior Senior of 2010, dancey, a slightly guilty pleasure, the most danceable, happy-inducing music I heard in 12 months. Whether it was the melancholy of "Dancing on My Own," the dark, solipsistic persona of "Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do," the robotic vocals of "Fembots" or the bittersweet, knowing lyrics of "Hang with Me," I totally fell in love with this album and with Robyn.

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Where do I even start? I listened to this album for the first time one afternoon at home, when I was trying to get a bunch of work done. I got about 20 seconds into the first track when I literally could not work and listen to this music at the same time. I had to stop and do nothing but absorb. And I did so for the next hour, then did it all over again.

Since that day I've listened to every song on this album 3-4 times every day. I've watched the 30 minute art-film music video that features many tracks from the album at least 4 times. And the only thing I can really say is that this album is the work of an artist, on the level of the best musical artists of all time. And along with that, it is a work of a collaboration. Kanye has the gift of presenting a complete, formed vision, while at the same time allowing room for many voices and talents within it. In that sense he is a greater musical artist than many who have come before him.

I feel like I can't say much more than others have already said. We'll all be listening to this album for years.