The Best Albums of 2010 (LPs, Eps, & Honorable Mentions)

Oh 2010, what a year you were. Not only were you The Burning Ear’s first full calendar year, but you bombarded us with so much amazing music. Great albums from old favorites, fresh faces, and even genres we didn’t even knew we liked. Thanks 2010. You were awesome and we won’t forget you. Cheers to the good times.

Below are the top 10 albums from my 2010. The list was compiled by weighing total play counts along with longevity. Not only did I listen to it a lot, but was I still reaching for it months after the honeymoon phase. These are those albums. And below them are a few special awards of honorable mention as well as the best EPs of the year. I know it’s a lot in one post but it’s already the end on January. Time to get this shit out there.

Since I can’t be bothered to rank these bad boys I went for alphabetical. That coupled with my attempts at some sort of pleasing visual design ended up pairing these albums in pretty interesting ways. Although, The Hood Internet mashed up our first pair quite nicely! Enjoy, and of course, drop your thoughts in the comments. Hearing your agreements/disagreements is always the most fun part of these lists!

Click album TITLE or COVER for original review.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BEST ALBUMS ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

♫ Big Boi – Shine Blockas [ft. Gucci Mane]

Hip Hop grabbed more in 2010 year than any other but Big Boi’s incessant flow, super-fly production, top-notch guests, and skits that are actually funny made this the cream of the crop.

Foals – Total Life Forever

♫ Foals – This Orient

The once lanky and angular Foals matured into a handsome, intelligent, and often sexy sexy thing. Keep eatin’ those veggies!

Hurts – Happiness

♫ Hurts – Blood, Tears & Gold

Melodrama done right: with no holds barred.

J. Roddy Walston & The Business – J. Roddy Walston and The Business

♫ J Roddy Walston & The Business – Brave Man’s Death

Rock n Roll done right: with guitars, soul, and some heavy piano pounding.

Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

♫ Local Natives – Camera Talk

Texture, texture, texture. Oh, and some killer harmonies.

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. – Record Collection

♫ Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – The Bike Song (featuring Kyle Falconer and Spank Rock)

Mark Ronson probably had more fun making this record than anyone on this list. It shows.

The National – High Violet

♫ The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

I don’t know whether The National evolved to meet me or I evolved to meet them, but either way, our paths definitely crossed on this one.

Steel Train – Steel Train

♫ Steel Train – You and I Undercover

Because sometime growing up as a band doesn’t mean you have to get more difficult. Life is awesome, treat it as such.

Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History

♫ Two Door Cinema Club – Undercover Martyn

Likewise for starting out as a band. Funk is not only ok, it’s highly welcomed.

When Saints Go Machine – Ten Makes A Face

♫ When Saints Go Machine – Fail Forever

The best record nobody is listening to. That’s a shame. I can’t stop.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~  HONORABLE MENTIONS  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

* Best album that is often brilliant, sometimes meandering, but generally gets me pumped for more from the artist *

Javelin - No Mas

♫ Javelin – Oh! Centra / I’m sure I’m in summertime, I’m just not sure which decade…

Big K.R.I.T. – K.R.I.T. Wuz Here

♫ Big K.R.I.T. – Country Shit / Yes he was. And he will be quite a bit longer with skillz like these.

* Best follow up album from an artist whose previous effort(s) I was never really into *

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

♫ Yeasayer – O.N.E. / Their epic live shows made up for the few misses on this one.

Wavves – King Of The Beach

♫ Wavves – King of the Beach / Sunshine and good times can be our friends. So can fidelity.

Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

♫ Kanye West – Monster (Ft. JAY-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver) / Definitely not perfect, but definitely pretty damn epic.

* Biggest “grower” album *

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

♫ The Gaslight Anthem – Boxer / My love for their last LP made me pretty hard on this one at first but over time I realized I was really enjoying every listen.

Everything Everything – Man Alive

♫ Everything Everything – Suffragette Suffragette / Sometimes you just gotta do your own thing and people will either get it or not. Or sometimes both.

* Best opportunity to be proven wrong *

Sleigh Bells – Treats

♫ Sleigh Bells – Tell ‘Em / Early demos left my ears bleeding. The album left my ears needing.

Bruno Mars – Do-Wops & Hooligans

♫ Bruno Mars – The Other Side (ft Cee Lo Green & B.O.B.) / Thank god I don’t listen to the radio. I might have haughtily missed out on this piece of polished pop perfection.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Best EPs ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Awolnation – Back From Earth EP

♫ AWOLNATION – Burn It Down / Get in, do your thing, and get out. Like an astronaut. Or this debut EP that promises some good times from this LA based space dude.

BRONZE – BRONZE EP

♫ BRONZE – Deep Freeze / If they had just put every track twice and called it an LP it would have made the best albums list.

Civil Civic – 1 EP

♫ Civil Civic – Less Unless / Between the face-melting, speaker-blowing, and their brilliant tour blog, Civil Civic are the best new band to both listen to and read about.

The Joy Formidable – A Balloon Called Moaning EP

♫ The Joy Formidable – Whirring / I’m so pumped for their debut this year!

Kensington – Youth EP

♫ Kensington – Safe / It’s too bad their subsequent LP didn’t match the tight hooks of these jams.

Muscles – Younger & Immature EP

♫ Muscles – Northern Beaches / Muscles is baaaack!

Be sure to catch all the 2010 “best of” lists!

• Best Albums — YOU ARE HERE!
• Best Songs – Pt. 1 (Jan-June)
• Best Songs – Pt.2 (July-Dec)
• Best Remixes - Pt. 1 (Jan-June)
• Best Remixes – Pt.2 (July-Dec)
• Best Cover Songs
• Best Party Songs

Tagged as: Big Boi, Big K.R.I.T., Bruno Mars, Everything Everything, Foals, Hurts, J Roddy Walston and The Business, Javelin, kanye west, Local Natives, Mark Ronson, Sleigh Bells, Steel Train, the gaslight anthem, The National, TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB, Wavves, When sai, Yeasayer