2010 has come and gone, and marks my first full year of working in the music business. I present here a little overview of my favorite records from this year. I’ll spare you the lengthy diatribes and colorations – I’m most likely going to write several other posts about the year in music – and leave you with this rubric for selection on my totally awesome list:

1. Only albums released in 2010.
2. Full disclosure: I worked on some of these records.  Also full disclosure: that has nothing to do with my selections.
3. The first 3 albums are ranked in order, based mostly on how much I listened to them, and not necessarily on how good I think they are. Everything else is in no particular order.
4. It just happened to be 11 albums long. There were many other good ones, but this seemed like a nice round number.

[Also note: I've included Rdio players below. Last year I used Lala players, but all of those are dead now. Hopefully Rdio won't have the same fate. In any case, you should get yourself an Rdio account so you don't have to listen to 30s samples. I've also linked out to Amazon where you can buy this stuff - all affiliate links, FYI.]

1. The Black Keys – Brothers



2. Jamey Johnson – The Guitar Song



3. Yeasayer – Odd Blood



4. Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid



5. The Bird and the Bee – Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates



6. Midlake – The Courage of Others
Not on Rdio, sigh. But here’s an Amazon player.



7. Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise



8. Blake Shelton – All About Tonight



9. Eluveitie – Everything Remains (As It Never Was)



10. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More



11. Zac Brown Band – You Get What You Give



Really, really worth mentioning:
The Punch Brothers – Antifogmatic
Periphery – Periphery (and the killer instrumental version of the whole album)
The Sword – Warp Riders
Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra
Opeth – In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Dierks Bentley – Up On The Ridge
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today