Favourite Music of 2010

Starting grad school at the University of Western Ontario really cut into my blogging and listening to music time, which helps explain the absence of any content over the last four months. However, after finishing my term paper writing and grading responsibilities, I took a quick skim through all the music I acquired in 2010 and put together the following lists.

Eight Favourite Albums:
01. Future Islands “In Evening Air”
02. Javelin “No Mas”
03. Fol Chen “Part II: The New December”

With extra emphasis on Future Islands and Javelin, the music of these three bands was new to me as of this year and I could not get enough.

04. Ernest Gonzales “Been Meaning To Tell You”
05. Flying Lotus “Cosmogramma”
06. Liars “Sisterworld”

It’s nice when albums that you’re looking forward to hearing meet the high expectations you set for them. In what is surely insanity, I bought the Flying Lotus album THREE times (LP, limited edition CD, and standard CD) plus two copies (LP and CD) of the Pattern + Grid World EP that came out a few months later. Liars released an overwhelming amount of music this year (the original Sisterworld album, a second disc of remixes, two EPs, and a live album) and all of it was great.

07. Phantogram “Eyelid Movies”
08. Yukon Blonde “Yukon Blonde”

Two other new (to me as of this year) bands that became new favourites. I don’t love every song on each album, but the highlights make up for the few low points.

Bonus End-of-the-Year (Re-)Discoveries (for those of you who like top 10 lists):

09. Damien Jurado “Saint Bartlett”
10. S. Carey “All We Grow”

Seventy Nine Songs From Albums I Enjoyed:

Aloe Blacc “I Need A Dollar” (from ‘Good Things’)

Baby Eagle “Crooked Coin” (from ‘Dog Weather’)
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore “My Wealth Comes To Me” (from ‘Dear Companion’)
The Bird & The Bee “She’s Gone” (from ‘Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates)
Blue Sky Black Death “Set Fire” (from ‘Third Party’)
Bocce “Michael Collins (Astronaut)” (from ‘Disambiguation’)
Bonobo “El Toro” (from ‘Black Sands’)
Buck 65 “The Niceness” (from ’20 Odd Years Volume 3′)
Burnt Ones “Gonna Listen To T. Rex (All Night Long)” (from ‘Black Teeth & Gold Tongues’)

Calibro 35 “Eurocrime!” (from ‘Ritornano Quelli Di’)
Casiokids “Fot i hose” (from ‘Topp stemning pa lokal bar’)
CFCF “Frozen Forest” (from ‘The River’)
Christopher Willits “Flowers Into Stardust” (from ‘Tiger Flower Circlue Sun’)
Cotton Jones “More Songs For Margaret” (from ‘Tall Hours In The Glowstream’)

Damien Jurado “Rachel & Cali” (from ‘Saint Bartlett’)
Deerhunter “Coronado” (from ‘Halcyon Digest’)
DM Stith “Be My Baby” (from ‘Heavy Ghost Appendices’)
Doug Paisley “Always Say Goodbye” (from ‘Constant Companion’)
Dutch “California Cloaked In Wool” (from ‘A Bright Cold Day’)
DVAS “Inner Sanctum” (from ‘Society’)

Eamon McGrath “No One’s Gonna Love You When You’re Gone” (from ‘Peace Maker’)
El-P “Time Won’t Tell” (from ‘Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3′)
Elaquent “Merlot Grapes” (from ‘Persona’)
Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed “Come And Get It” (from ‘Come And Get It’)
Ernest Gonzales “Self Awakening” (from ‘Been Meaning To Tell You’)

First Aid Kit “Heavy Storm” (from ‘The Big Black And The Blue’)
Fitz And The Tantrums “Moneygrabber” (from ‘Pickin’ Up The Pieces’)
Flying Lotus “Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph” (from ‘Cosmogramma’)
Fol Chen “In Ruins” (from ‘Part II: The New December”)
Forest City Lovers “Oh The Wolves! (Ou Est Ma Soeur?)” (from ‘Carriage’)
Frederick Squire “As Long As One Sun Could Shine” (from ‘March 12′)
Free The Robots “Granite Rock” (fromm ‘Ctrl Alt Delete’)
Future Islands “Vireo’s Eye” (from ‘In Evening Air’)

High Places “On Giving Up” (from ‘High Places vs Mankind’)
Hot Panda “1995″ (from ‘How Come I’m Dead?’)

J. Tillman “Singing Ax” (from ‘Singing Ax’)
Janelle Monae “Tightrope” (from ‘The ArchAndroid’)
Japanther “She’s The One” (from ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Ice Cream’)
Javelin “On It On It” (from ‘No Mas’)
jj “My Life” (from ‘jj no 3′)

Kings Go Forth “Get A Feeling” (from ‘The Outsiders Are Back’)

Laura Marling “Rambling Man” (from ‘I Speak Because I Can’)
Laura Merrimen “Go On Now” (from ‘Love Letters For Lonely Hunters’)
Laura Veirs “Silo Song” (from ‘July Flame’)
Liars “The Overachievers” (from ‘Sisterworld’)
Library Voices “Insider Trading (On Outsider Art)” (from ‘Denim On Denim’)
Lisa Bozikovic “The Letting Go” (from ‘Lost August’)

Maximum Balloon “Shakedown” (from ‘Maximum Balloon’)
Memoryhouse “Lately (Deuxième)” (from ‘Years’)
Mi Ami “Harmonics (Genius Of Love)” (from ‘Steal Your Face’)
The Mohawk Lodge “Done Fighting” (from ‘Crimes’)
The Moondoggies “Empress Of The North” (from ‘Tidelands’)
Mr. Chop “T.R.O.Y.” (from ‘For Pete’s Sake’)
Murs “The Lick” (from ‘Fornever’)
Mux Mool “Breakfast Enthusiast” (from ‘Skulltaste’)

Nice Nice “See Waves” (from ‘Extra Wow’)

Onakabazien “Makin’ It” (from ‘That Young Shit’)

Phantogram “You Are The Ocean” (from ‘Eyelid Movies’)

Royaume Des Morts “The Tape Deck Ate My Hit” (from ‘Royaume Des Morts’)

S. Carey “We Fell” (from ‘All We Grow’)
School Of Seven Bells “Dial” (from ‘Disconnect From Desire’)
The Secret Sisters “My Heart Skips A Beat” (from ‘Silver Threads And Golden Needles’)
Seven Project “Elegant Hot Dog” (from ‘Seven Project’)
Shigeto “Ann Arbor Part 2″ (from ‘Full Circle’)
Shlohmo “Hot Boxing The Cockpit (Tokimonsta Remix)” (from ‘Shlomoshun Deluxe’)
Silly Kissers “You Could Even Like Me” (from ‘Precious Necklace’)
Small Black “Sun Was High (So Was I) (Best Coast cover)” (from ‘Photojournalist’)
Smoke Fairies “Strange Moon Rising” (from ‘Through Low Light And Trees’)
Solex “Don’t Hold Back” (from ‘Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown!’)
Superchunk “My Gap Feels Weird” (from ‘Majesty Shredding’)

Teebs “My Whole Life” (from ‘Ardour’)
To Rococo Rot “Bells” (from ‘Speculation’)

The Watson Twins “Give Me A Chance” (from ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’)
Wavves “King Of The Beach” (from ‘King Of The Beach’)
The Wilderness Of Manitoba “Hermit” (from ‘When You Left The Fire’)
Woodpigeon “Enchantée Janvier” (from ‘Die Stadt Muzikanten’)
Women “Drag Open” (from ‘Public Strain’)

Yukon Blonde “Bride’s Song” (from ‘Yukon Blonde’)

Missing From These Lists:
Probably a lot!