I recently found somebody’s list of the top 20 albums of 2010. As I’m always rather behind the times, I didn’t get a chance to sample those I was unfamiliar with until this weekend. This is the list:
- Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
- Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
- The Black Keys – Brothers
- Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
- LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
- The National – High Violet
- Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
- Beach House – Teen Dream
- Broken Bells – Broken Bells
- Vampire Weekend – Contra
- Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
- Cee-Lo Green – The Lady Killer
- The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
- Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot – The Son of Chico Dusty
- Sleigh Bells – Treats
- Caribou – Swim
- Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
- Yeasayer – Odd Blood
- Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
- Jonsi – Go
I went through all twenty albums, listening to two or three songs from each. I’m already a fan of Vampire Weekend, Mumford and Sons and Sufjan Stevens, and I added The Tallest Man on Earth (rather Dylanesque) and Jonsi (ethereal and joyous, maybe less moody than Sigur Rós?).
I was still unmoved by Arcade Fire. I’d heard a lot of praise for The National, too, but I found them pretty banal. Plus, the singer is a total mumbler.
In any case, here are a couple of videos from the new-to-me artists. I am, uh, unclear if the Jonsi video is official or fan-made.
It’s interesting that Kristian Matsson, the man behind The Tallest Man on Earth, is Swedish. He sounds like he’s from Kentucky.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
FYI (or F the original list creator’s I):
The band is The Black Keys, the album is Brothers.
Whoops, thanks for that. I’ll switch those around. I actually kind of liked them too, I forgot to mention them in my post.
I had a related post on my blog late last week. I like Arcade Fire.
Always glad to meet another person who doesn’t really get the Arcade Fire hype.
Alexis, put me in that group too. I’ve been watching Sleigh Bells for awhile now, not because of their music, but because the guitar player’s name is Derek Miller, so he’s been showing up in my ego-searches.
Janelle Monae is one of my favourite discoveries from last year. The video for Cold War is pretty fantastic, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqmORiHNtN4
I haven’t heard a single artist from this list save for Arcade Fire. And I do not care to listen to them either. But the guy in Tallest Man – doesn’t he look like Ewan McGregor in that still from the video?
Hi Darren,
Great list – we continue to have remarkably similar musical tastes. A couple of lesser-known bands that fit into the genres above that I think you’ll enjoy. Both are on Merge Records and have a similar sound:
The Love Language
Telekinesis