The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: Tweedsmatic

"My list, this be it" - Tweedsmatic

10. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
The first Crystal Castles' s/t album packed a lot of punch and had a crazy intensity to it matched only by the antics of singer Alice Glass. The second feels a lot more complete, with smoother sampling and more interesting beats, while still maintaining that edge that made them. Glass' uses a more broader vocal range than just the shouting and screaming on the first album, which really works on songs like 'Celestica' and 'Empathy'. A bit of a grower, it's as much a growth for the artist as it is the listener.

9. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
People have always said that Andre 3000 is the strong point behind Outkast. Better flow, more interesting rhymes, just a better rapper in general. So how does Big Boi respond? Firstly by having the better half of their double-album, then by releasing a solo album that can arguably compete with any of Outkast's best work. His rhymes and wordplay are beastly and the production is tight. It's just a really fun album to listen to.

8. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
If this album had turned out to be anything less than what it is, quite a few fans probably would've been disappointed. To jump from shoegaze-oriented rock to folky pop music needed some good songwriting and a sense of familiarity, which is what Halcyon Digest has. The album still sounds like Deerhunter, which is certainly a part of its success. It's emotional, it's varied, and it seems to get better as it goes on. The final song is one of probably one of the greatest tribute songs you'll ever hear.

7. Beach House - Teen Dream
I tried about 4 times to review this album for LPC, but could never get it properly into words. Teen Dream really is dream pop. It's simple, pop music with a nice, dreamy feel. It has beautiful vocal harmonies and great echoing instruments. Teen Dream is one of those albums that fits a cliche'd situation, like a sunny spring day or a walk in the park (spoilers: That's the name of a song on the album).

6. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
I'm just gonna say it straight up - This Is Happening is better than Sound Of Silver. Sure, SoS will probably have a more cemented legacy on hipster history, but This Is Happening is just, well, better. It feels more like a post-record jam (with their first album being the extended warm-up and SoS being the production stage). Of the 3 albums, This Is Happening feels like the one that takes itself the least serious, which has always been one of the strong points behind Murphy's music. And like its predecessors, it's a great album to dance to.

5. The National - High Violet
The National just keep getting better. Not only have they developed their own recognizable sound, but they seem to improve on it with every album. Their music has that emotional feel to it which makes it believable, the kind of feel you get with bands like Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian. High Violet produced songs that will inevitably become fan favorites for years to come, such as 'Terrible Love', 'Afraid of Everyone' and 'England'. High Violet is their strongest, most convincing album yet, It's no wonder Obama pre-ordered it.

4. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
There's not a whole lot I can say about MBDTF that hasn't already been said. No, I don't think it's his best album. In fact, ranking his 5 albums from best to worst, I'd place it bang-smack in the middle. But that takes nothing away from MBDTF. It is an incredibly consistent and memorable album, which for its size is impressive. Not a single song sounds the same. Kanye's rapping is generally good and at times surprisingly great. Some of the quests (Pusha T in particular) destroy it. The production is typical Yeezy brilliance. The amount of memorable rhymes and lyrics is staggering. MBDTF isn't the comeback or return to form it was originally hyped to be, it's just Yeezy reminding us he never left in the first place.

3. The Roots - How I got Over
Edging out Kanye for my top hip-hop album of the year is The Roots. You'd be hard-pressed to find two albums so different to each-other within the same genre. Where MBDTF is this grandiose display of personal feelings with too many different sounds and samples to list, How I Got Over is this raw, jam-like collaboration of a band that's stronger and more unified than ever and they're telling the world how they feel about it in more ways than one. Every guest is tight and plays their part as convincingly as possible. I love an album with seamless transition between songs. With How I Got Over, it adds an entirely new flow dynamic to it.

2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Looking back on my review of The Suburbs, I wonder how much the hype got to me. I mean, it's a very long, repetitive album. There's undeniable filler. There are weak songs here and there. Then I realize, I don't care. I love the filler. I love the length. I love the repetition. For a first attempt at a concept album The Suburbs is very impressive. It's big leap from their anthemic, larger-than-life sound to a more concise and structured album. Arcade Fire weren't aiming to make another 'Wake Up' or 'No Cars Go' this time around, they were aiming to make an album. A properly themed and structured album. And I'll be damned if they didn't succeed.

1. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
It's no mystery to BSS fans that Forgiveness Rock Record is probably their weakest LP to date. For some fans, it's too different. For others, it's too tight and controlled in comparison to the clusterfuck of awesomeness that defined their sound in their second and third albums. But in a year's time these issues will be insignificant. Forgiveness Rock Record has grown on me like few albums ever have (only one that comes straight to mind is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea). A lot of BSS fans say that starts off weak, then picks up from tracks 5-12 and finishes even weaker. But I completely disagree. 'World Sick' is an amazing opener, 'Chase Scene' is very unique, 'Texico Bitches' is catchy and 'Forced to Love' is even catchier. 'Water In hell' my least favorite track on the album, is still a very nice song, and 'Me and My Hand' is a hilariously (somewhat sadly relatable) charming closer. With its chart success being undoubtedly helped by its accessibility, Forgiveness Rock Record serves a purpose to the fans aswell. It's a reminder of the band's diversity. It's a reminder that their last album wasn't an immediate favorite either. Most importantly, it's a reminder that they're fantastic.

The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: Ace_Of_Spades

Another user I feel like I have a lot in common with, and the lists show it a bit clearer this time. A little black metal, a little of the avant-stuff, all reasonably good.

10. A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring
A Forest of Stars are one of the best examples of newer bands that take black metal and eschew all its traditional elements such as a cold atmosphere, grim lyrics, and lo-fi productions while injecting something new and fresh into the mix. In this case, they add some ambient interludes, progressive song structure, and flutes and violin, as well as spacey keyboards that bestow a somewhat psychedelic atmosphere. Definitely one of the most original black metal releases this year.

9. Alcest - Écailles de Lune
Better than Souvenirs if you ask me. Sounds more pure without trying to be "blackgaze".

8. Burzum - Belus
Now that Varg Vikernes is finally out of prison, he has released his first metal album in years. I’m not one to support Varg’s various illegal actions, but I still love him because his music is just that good.

7. Yellow Swans - Going Places
Amazing ambient/drone music; chaotic, majestic and incredibly dense. Listen to this with high-quality headphones and prepare to get lost in its incredibly vast, moving soundscapes.

6. Lantlôs - .neon
Beautiful, melancholic post-black metal with some almost jazzy jamming parts interspersed throughout. Not much else to say other than the fact that it’s one of the best black metal releases in a year without many good ones.

5. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Agalloch teaching metalheads how to do proper black metal. And succeeding.

4. Mount Eerie - Song Islands Vol. 2
Phil Elverum is without a doubt, a genius and this latest release, which is over 30 tracks long, gives him plenty of opportunity to display that genius. His subtle, lo-fi, and lyrically dense fuzz-folk style is on display in full form here. Although not quite as stunning as last year’s Wind’s Poem, a magnificent piece of music nonetheless.

3. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
Michael Gira does it again. The only thing missing is Jarboe.

2. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
I’ve only heard this album once, but I can already tell it will end up being one of my favorites. A few more listens and this might just blow away every DSO release before it. Aspa’s vocals are some of the best he’s ever done and there’s significantly more melody added to the songs. Overall, there is more emotion here is almost every aspect than there has ever been. Absolutely mind-shattering.

1. Kayo Dot - Coyote
With this album, Kayo Dot seems to have made the final transition from avant-garde metal to something completely different. While this change may alienate some, many fans, such as myself, will still love it. The music, which is dark and foreboding, sounds like some kind of collaboration between Miles Davis and Joy Division with a little bit of Scott Walker thrown in. The “goth fusion” sound of this album is one of loneliness that takes you through a hallucinatory world of fear and wonder. Fantastic chamber rock.

The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: moazzam23

Although I don't think he's joined the staff yet, moazzam23 gets his list in today. Let it be known that I do not share his sentiments with Metal Machine Music.

Balkan Beat Box - Blue Eyed Black Boy

BBB's music can best be described as Israeli-Palestinian-Gypsy. On this album they've got a message - anti-gun and anti-racism songs are a-plenty. Their trademark horns - live and recorded - are in full swing. BBB have a freewheeling feel to their music which a lot of other world musicians can't capture. I don't know how they do it, but by combining Balkan and gypsy music with Reggae, Rock and Hip-Hop they've made one of the best dance albums of 2010.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire certainly do not like to repeat themselves. They've replaced their anthemic crescendos for more space to just wander around in. The two songs that are the best examples of their fondness for change are Month of May and Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains). One is a straight-up punk rock song with amped-up church organs and the other goes into electro territory, with the mirrorball sound bringing out the best in Regine Chassagne.

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot

I thought this would be good stuff to listen to while waiting for the Outkast comeback, but it turns out Lucious Left Foot is a main event itself. His rhymes are at their best, but where you would expect Andre 3000 to come in and pick up the slack - the beats department - Big Boi, who co-produces most of them, dishes out as much variety as you could expect on any Outkast record.

Neil Young - Le Noise

Neil Young continues his tradition of following nobody's rules on Le Noise. It's just him, a guitar and producer Daniel Lanois. The result is a stripped-down distorted sound that isn't all that epic, but it also doesn't have to be. A lot of people get turned off by the spontaneous approach he has to his music nowadays, but I feel that that's where the ragged quality of his recent albums lay, and Le Noise is the best example.

Nas and Damian Marley - Distant Relatives

One of the best collaborations of the year and also one of the best political albums of the year. It's the melody of reggae meeting the "real hip-hop" that Nas champions. Both these guys love to wax poetic about the wisdom of the ancients and they have the skills to do it. Nasir Jones is as great of a critique as he's ever been, and contributions by K'Naan and Stevie Wonder make the album all the better.

The Roots - How I Got Over

The Roots are a very forward-thinking band, but they still retain a 90's hip-hop feel on How I got Over. There are some good contributions from Dirty Projectors and Joanna Newsom, but The Roots steal the show themselves. Black Thought shows he's every bit as politically aware as Nas. The album has a sobering feel that's appropriate for these times.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I like to think of Fantasy as a concept album - about fame, porn and the walking contradiction that is Kanye West. Can't really say anything about the production and sampling that hasn't already been said. College Droupout was his introvert album, Late Registration was the well-rounded one, Graduation was a celebration and 808's was the one that always got picked on. Now Fantasy can take it's place in the center of all his work and compliment their strengths.

Sleigh Bells - Treats

From Wikipedia: As a radical departure from the rest of Reed's catalog, Metal Machine Music is generally considered to be either a joke, a grudging fulfillment of a contractual obligation, or an early example of noise music. The album features no songs or even recognizably structured compositions, eschewing melody and rhythm for an hour of over-modulated feedback and guitar effects, intricately mixed at varying speeds by Reed himself. In the album's liner notes he claimed to have invented heavy metal music and asserted that Metal Machine Music was the ultimate conclusion of that genre. The album made Reed a laughing stock in the rock industry while simultaneously opening the door for his later, more experimental material. Historically, Metal Machine Music is now considered a seminal forerunner of industrial music, noise rock, and contemporary sound art.

That album was shit. Now 35 years later Sleigh Bells debut with an album that's almost as rakish as MMM, but easy to dance to. I don't know how that works, but it does.

Gogol Bordello - Trans-Continental Hustle

One of my personal favorite bands from the last 10 years and for my money the most splendidly unique. Having already incorporated Arabian, Reggae and Dub into their brand of Gypsy Punk, in Trans-Continental Hustle they also throw Brazilian folk-music into the cocktail. The emphasis on this album isn't so much on the raucous crew mentality that make them an awesome live band, but rather on Eugene Hutz' songwriting. So lyrically it's on another level but the simple and fun Gogol Bordello formula is still there.

M.I.A. - MAYA

As a fan of M.I.A's, I feel the need to defend this album, so I re-listened to it, accepted it for what it is and learned to appreciate it. The beats may take some getting used to and there are still some lyrics that draw a grimace from me, but now I've started to love the beats and notice that the opinionated lyrics that made me love Kala in the first place are still intact in MAYA. Everybody who has this album and liked Kala and Arular owe it to themselves to replay MAYA a few times.

Sweet Trip - Velocity : Design : Comfort (2003)

Since all we've had up lately was "best of" lists, I think it's about time we get a new album posted. This is just a really enjoyable record from a band that knows how to make great electronic and dream pop music. The songs feel very spacey and diverse, and no song sounds like the very next. On some songs, such as the intro it sounds sort of like a Venetian Snares CD but on others you get a glitchy sort of "Loveless" feel from it like my favorite track "Fruitcake and Cookies". The flip flopping that goes on here feels almost abrupt but it all adds to the overrall feel of the album. It's probably a love it or hate it album, for some it would sound fragmented to a fault, yet for others it could that album that grabs your attention right back everytime it manages to lose it. It's definitely something everyone should try out though.

FLAC (Cause the FLAC was too big for Mediafire)

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The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: motorhead069

Now that I'm filling in for cedar, I'll start off with probably my most compatible contributor, motorhead069. Despite that opener, however, you shouldn't expect our lists to be similar. From varieties of noise rock, punk, metal, jazz and all sorts of vanguard music, he has only one album that appeared on mine, and few that will appear much elsewhere. A very unique list indeed.

10. Nobunny - First Blood

Nobunny is a character that Justin Champlin has been performing with since 2001, originally made his stage debut as an animal-masked Elvis impersonator under the moniker Elvis Bunny.
In this album Nobunny goes through several genres of rock ‘n’ roll including subgenre–bubblegum pop, garage, rockabilly and psych. First Blood is an album that is my personal favorite lo-fi pop album of 2010. Being a fun, high energy album that you can dance to. It has moments where you would think it was a 50s doowop pop album with a dirty mouth.

9. Emancipator - Safe In The Steep Cliffs

“Safe In The Steep Cliffs” is a set of finely-crafted, epic instrumentals from Portland-based electronica/hip hop/downtempo producer Emancipator, featuring tight, syncopated percussion, organic melodies and eclectic samples.

To some, it must seem like this young electronic producer came out of nowhere this year. Emancipator played his first live show in July 2009, opening for Bonobo at the Roseland Theater (cap. 1500). Since then, he’s toured with Bassnectar, drawn crowds at festivals like Trinumeral and Symbiosis, and closed out Sound Tribe Sector 9’s late night parties in Denver at the request of the band.
But those in the know have been following Emancipator since he self-released his first album, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough, at the age of 19 in 2006. His agile melodies layered over headnodic, immaculately-produced beats captivated fans across the internet and across the world.

“Safe In The Steep Cliffs” blends new instrumentation and organic samples with the signature Emancipator style of clean production, silky melodies and addictive drums. Dense layers of choirs, horns, American folk instruments such as the banjo and mandolin, violin and some distinct Asian influences make for a playful but refined album built out of intricate tracks listeners can enjoy on as many levels as they want. Dance to it, chill out to it, immerse your mind in it.

8. We Were Skeletons - We Were Skeletons

Citing such admirable influences as Hot Water Music and Off Minor, We Were Skeletons is the brand of scream-filled, rampageous hardcore that long-time fans of the genre will be able to relate to and respect. Mixing the best elements of post-hardcore, screamo, mathrock and melodies that would make any musician step back and question their own abilities, this album is a breath of fresh air and would be a great addition to anyone's CD collection.
The lead singer delivers an uncompromising scream, back to the basics style, back to the passionate emotion that fueled the rage back in the day.

7. Happy Birthday - Happy Birthday

Kyle Thomas sings in a great, distinctive voice. It’s weird and nasal, but still kind of tough. Though the songs are actually tightly woven and structured, there’s a trashy element and sloppy feel to the sugary melodies they deliver on their self-titled debut. Lyrically the album is totally adolescent, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. While today’s pop scene is taken up by a questionable nostalgia for childhood, luckily Happy Birthday’s return to youth is not prepubescent but forcefully teenager.

6. Zs - New Slaves

One thing that is for certain is that Zs cannot be accused of being slaves to any particular soundworld. Their discography is a whirlwind of sonic references, from free-jazz to minimalism to noise to punk to downtown and beyond. While making sense of their body of work as a totality is daunting, New Slaves is arguably their most challenging album yet, which doesn’t make the task any easier. One must eventually stop totalizing and learn to love the chaos of the darting sound-instances and their elusive origins. The sounds — created by guitars, mysterious electronics, percussion, and tenor sax — are grinding, emphasizing friction and rough texture. While the inverse of Steve Reich-like tranquility is captured.

5. Univers Zero - Clivages

The best songs happen when Univers Zero sticks to what they know and do best: disturbing, classically orchestrated, meticulously composed pieces. "Warrior," "Earth Scream," and "Straight Edge" are among the best on the album, dark and brooding, just the way I like UZ. This album will not disappoint fans of chamber rock, and as far as that goes it's not a bad place to start either. So far, this is one of my favorite Univers Zero albums, but I have only heard four of them. Still, the debut is the only one I prefer to this right now, and both are incredible. Clivages is an absolute progressive pleasure, and so, Univers Zero reveals that it still has lots of creativity and strength to go on providing us great classics for the present of avant-garde rock.

4. Nice Face - Immer Etwas

Immer Etwas is an LP with 13 tracks of drum-machine driven blown out hook-laden punk rock. Shock_Troop was the one to so kindly introduce this band to and while I enjoyed their first release 'Can I Fuck it?' quite a bit, Immer Etwas just puts that album to shame.
By employing a third-world super-group of sorts, with members of Livefastdie and Imaginary Icons, Magee’s new Nice Face still manages to honor the wrist-slash of the perfunctory solo-version of Nice Face on “Selectron,” convulsing on drum machines and flammable guitars, and vocals underwater. But for the bulk of Immer Etwas, the band barrels through big menacing, almost possessed rock songs. Nice Face embrace a rebellion past meaning, a subculture which has evolved into a culture parallel whatever it tried to once sneak under.

Nice Face is cockiness without fronting, a gospel of dirty, chanted melodies pulled from under the twin bed into the master bedroom without making a big deal about it. One could practically say they’re bringing it back to the unselfconscious swagger Iggy epitomized.

3. Electric Wizard - Black Masses

This isn't Dopethrone,this isn't Come My Fanatics....it's something more intune with the late 60's...early 70's vibe. All the heavy sludge of graves and occult insanity is here..just more under produced. I mean this in a good way...The album starts off a bit on a faster note than you would expect. With a full blown devil chorus.. Black Mass..Black Mass...almost like a mantra of evil fury.
Black Masses follows quite the same production pattern as A Witchcult Today, only this time is more crisp but at the same time more heavy and dirty, creating a perfect drugged up, psychedelic atmosphere. While I understand that the overall production might seem a bit weak to some fans, I also believe that this dirtiness, this noise galore (indistinguishable noises and samples form movies and recordings that are constantly in the background) are acting somehow as an added value to the whole psych atmosphere. I for one think that this is probably the most accessible record in Electric Wizard’s catalogue and also their best since Dopethrone.

2. Heaven In Her Arms - Paraselene

I don't know what to say for this album that T_R_A hasn't already said, it's an incredible album with an amazing blend of Screamo and Post-Rock. And while this style of music seems to becoming popular in the Screamo community, Heaven In Her Arms pulls it out fantastically with this album and I would recommend it to anyone.

1. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

What else can be said about Swans that hasn't already been said by their millions of fans? Swans is one of the most unique groups to ever enter the world of music and have a distinct sound that no other band can match. Travelling through several genres such as Avant-garde, Post-punk, Experimental, Art rock, Noise rock, Industrial, Post-rock, No Wave it's hard to imagine what their next album is going to sound like. And after 14 years of absence when a message appeared on their myspace titled "SWANS ARE NOT DEAD" I could have cried. I will admit that I was a little scared that they would have lost their touch after all this time (as Atheist did with their latest release bleh). But this album did not dissapoint, the return of Swans brings a new sound with echoes of the old and of Angels of Light. Five of the eight tracks exceed 5 minutes, making this an album of mostly epic pieces with complex tempo variation and shifting textures around that wall of sound which oscillates between jangles and drones. The exceptions, Reeling The Liars In, My Birth and Little Mouth stand out in their own ways.

To me the most impressive are the 9+ minute No Words/No Thoughts and the one in the middle, You Intercoursing People Make Me Sick. The first opens with glockenspiel/chimes before setting off on a winding road in a barrage of layered guitars and shifting rhythms, whilst a didgeridoo introduces the second of which the first part juxtaposes the voice of a guest vocalist with that of a little girl to eerie effect, somewhat like Identity on Love Of Life. Then the metal/industrial sounds burst forth with great ferocity.

Gira, through his many years as a champion of alienating force, has come up with something pretty amazing. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is an advance for Swans, and Gira comes across as less of an eccentric noise-generator, and more of a presence that requires our attention.

The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: cedarpoint13

Apologies for not posting this last night, had no time whatsoever.

As the last of the admins (The_Red_Agent posted his last week), I'd like to thank all of our readers for making this site what it is today. Back when we formed LPC in late June, we had no idea that within four months we'd have our monthly visitors count rise from 3,600 to nearly 13,000. The site's popularity is seemingly growing every day, and it's a welcome sight.

So to everyone who's commented, helped, written, read, and told me to take down albums, thank you. We can only hope you'll stick around as this site continues to grow.

Anyway, on to my list:

10. The National - High Violet

It took some time for me to really understand what this album was all about. I wouldn't say that I consider this as accessible as their last album, Boxer. On the day this leaked, a user commented that it was absolutely perfect for a rainy day; I replied that maybe I need to wait for the next thunderstorm to sit down and listen to it.

I didn't need that, but upon appreciating tracks such as "England", "Conversation 16", and "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks", I started to view this as one of the best of the year. It may have taken some time, but it's just another great record by one of the best groups in indie rock.

9. Caribou - Swim

Dan Snaith is truly a fantastic musician; it seems that he can effortlessly move from the upbeat, 50s/60s melodies on Up in Flames (under Manitoba), an album GoBlue32/Tom Pickle called "the happiest album ever made" to essentially dance music on Swim.

So many standouts here - "Odessa", "Sun", "Bowls", and "Jamelia" are all excellent. It's hard for me to pick a singular favorite track off of this because they're almost equally great. Snaith makes electronic music look pretty nice with this.

8. Vampire Weekend - Contra

Can I even really explain this? I can understand why Vampire Weekend gets the hate they get, but I've never understood how you can deny the fact that it's just good, fun, enjoyable music.

Honestly, it's better than their debut. "Horchata" and "Cousins" might not be better than "Oxford Comma" and "M79", but there's less filler here.

7. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

One of my greatest disappointments of the summer was being unable to attend Bonnaroo with several friends of mine. They all seemed to enjoy it greatly, but I was stuck at home watching a mediocre stream on YouTube of the Bonnaroo stages. By the end of the night I had switched to the NPR broadcast.

Didn't stop me from watching a replay of LCD's Friday night concert, though. What he does on record is equaled by his live performances. 2010 ended up being a great year for him, as serious discussion began as to if "Dance Yrself Clean" was one of the best opening tracks to an album of all-time. The album doesn't decline in quality after the opener, though - "I Can Change" and "Home" are fantastic.

6. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

I'll go ahead and get this off of my back - I think Bradford Cox is one of the best musicians in the world of music right now. Not many can keep releasing consistently great material under a solo project AND a full band along with touring for both.

It's almost amazing how good Halcyon Digest is, though. "Desire Lines" was a serious contender for Track of the Year for me. "Helicopter" just works perfectly. Same for "Revival" and "Memory Boy". Excellence, thy name is Bradford Cox.

5. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

Ariel Pink's kind of a strange guy. His older albums such as the Doldrums and Worn Copy are the essence of lo-fi - something that sounds like an AM oldies station out in a rural area. Those albums weren't very good outside of a few tracks because it seemed like he didn't want to try hard enough. He thought he could hide his faults with poor production.

That's why it was such a shock when he released the first single from this ("Round and Round") in such high-quality production. To boot, the song sounded straight out of the 70s or 80s. Later on, I'd find out the entire album sounds like that. It's perfection. Easily the most underrated album of the year.

4. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

I'm never too certain about artists changing their sound. When an artist changes their sound, it always seems like they lose qualities that made them what they are in the first place. Not so with Sufjan - "I Walked" and "Too Much" were immediate standouts. "Impossible Soul" is somewhat daunting and a bit long at 25 minutes, but it ends up working in the end.

3. Beach House - Teen Dream

Where to start? When this leaked, I had listened to only one source of material by Beach House, their album Devotion. I wasn't impressed whatsoever and kind of forgot about them. When this leaked, I figured "might as well try it out" - surely it couldn't be worse than Devotion.

This blows Devotion out of the water. It's a beautiful and stunning album. Victoria Legrand does absolute work on this album.

2. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

My album of the year for five months. I was a fan of Los Angeles and 1983, but I couldn't really have listed Flying Lotus among my favorite artists before this was released. "Galaxy in Janaki" ended up being my #2 track of 2010. "...And the World Laughs With You" showed that Thom Yorke doesn't even have to be an essential part of a song to help out immensely.

"Computer Face//Pure Being" I can't even start on. If Steven Ellison is the future of electronic music, the future is hotter than the sun.

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Now here's my album of the year for the next five months and the entire year overall. I had great hopes for this upon hearing "Month of May" and the title track. Those expectations were, needless to say, exceeded. With much force.

The difference between Cosmogramma and the Suburbs is this - except for Galaxy in Janaki, my jaw never dropped quite like it did at several moments during my first listen through the Suburbs. Sure, I had a smile the entire album knowing I was listening to something that wasn't anything but excellent, but I just can't place it above this.

The_Red_Agent will take over these for a spell starting tomorrow. I need rest. Maybe.

The LPC Staff's Top Ten of 2010: arMa

Eighth list of our (approximately) thirty-list series. This one goes to arMa who wrote what I still consider one of the best posts on the site a few weeks ago.

I'm out of good leads, so here's his top ten albums of 2010:

10. Boy Is Fiction: Broadcasts In Colour

Overlooked and underappreciated idm/ambient -- a smoother Stendeck, or more ambient infused Sincere Trade. Less focused on heavy synths/breaks, more infused with a melancholic distance, a glacial lullaby.

9. Agalloch: The Marrow Spirit

Maybe I was anticipating an undeliverable masterwork. Great album, but unfortunately NOT their magnum opus. The riffs are amazing, the atmospheric overtones and writing-this-in-the-forest feel of the album is as brisk as the cool night, but its consistency is desultory and a bit chunky. Ambitious, and on the whole a successful album, just not AOTY material.

8. Hammock: Chasing After Shadows...Living With the Ghosts

Beautiful twinkly stuff. If you're familiar with Hammock, expect more of the same softness you've come to know and love. If you've never heard of Hammock, imagine a hammock aside a mountain ledge, between two distant pillars. Imagine your significant other in another room. You're now in love.

7. Les Discrets: Septembre et ses dernieres Pensees

This essentially boils down to folk-inspired Alcest, more specifically something Neige would do with Alcest if he wasn't so bent on making warmer music. It's a darker Alcest, I suppose, what with its brooding sense of celestial mysticism and heavier, densely-woven riffing. Great stuff, great cover.

6. The Third Eye Foundation: The Dark

Ten years is how long it took him to release this. Astounding ambient drum and bass - even more astounding than I could have possibly imagined. It's more of a mixture of the best atmospheric DnB segments of Ghost ( What To Do But Cry?, for example ) with the atmospheric thumping of his mid-era output. Awesome shit.

5. Sleeping Peonies: Rose Curl, Sea Swirl

Yeaaaaaaaaaah, more awesome shoegaze/BM. For a genre so infantile, 2010 has been extremely weak on the smoother side of black metal, but this and the following album represent the genre quite well. Whilst I still don't feel the scene has reached its apex, these are fairly adequate representations of an emerging style in an otherwise flat-lining genre.

4. Alcest: Ecailles de Lune

I wasn't sure where I wanted to put this, but this feels like the right spot. I love it, but don't particularly feel its rounded as a composite piece. First two tracks feature some astounding riffing, though.

3. Heaven In Her Arms: Paraselene

A mishmash of eclecticism; mountains of static, plodding ambiance with heavy riffing and fantastic vocals. Light years above and beyond anything Envy has done.

2. The Sight Below: It Falls Apart

Fumbling, dissonant, hyperminimal ambient techno in the vein of Gas. Breathtaking in its minimalism, hypnotic in its versatility of rhythms and melodies.

1. Yellow Swans: Going Places

Quite literally one of the best drone/ambient albums I've heard in a very long time. It's reminiscent of Earth and The Angelic Process on a purely revelatory level; vast, encumbering soundscapes that completely overwhelm with dense, delicious reverb, but perpetuate a very soft, lulling melody that escapes the entangling mess. There aren't any dreamy vocals a la The Angelic Process, but the sounds they're creating are tailored much differently. Incredibly dense, incredibly layered and moving and completely transcendent. A monolithic experience.

Well done as always, arMa. As the other admin of the site along with The_Red_Agent, I'll be posting my list tomorrow and I'll turn these lists over to him for a few days.