I stuck strictly to albums and omitted late additions (things I started to listen to after other lists came out). Therefore, Pearl and the Beard’s Black Vessel EP and other 2010 discs did not qualify.

10. River City Extension – And The Unmistakable Man

I’m tentative at putting this at the ten slot. This New Jersey based band has all the promise of the greats from the state of their origin, (Springsteen, et al) and so does their expansive debut. At the same time, they’re tip-toeing the line of obscurity. What I do know is this: From the anthemic “Something Salty, Something Sweet” to the morning after dizziness of “I Still Own A Bible” followed by the furious “Too Tired To Drink” show that this group has a ton of great ideas. Now all they need is focus.

9. J Roddy Walston and the Business – J Roddy Walston and the Business

Imagine Jerry Lee Lewis on speed, kicking out the piano bench, then taking a sledgehammer to the piano. That’s pretty much J Roddy Walston and the Business in a nutshell. These are jams designed to make you sweat. “Don’t Break the Needle” is a monster opener, “Full Growing Man” with it’s “Woo-oohs” and “Ahh-ahhs” is a glam rock mess-terpiece and “Brave Man’s Death” with it’s unforgettable chorus: “I don’t wanna die a brave man’s death/spitting gasoline/burning my teeth, getting salt on the fields on my past/and the sun’ll come down with a milky white flash/I’ll get my brave man’s death at last”. Sounds exactly like what you’ll want to listen to when the ship’s going down.

8. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

I understand the reverence that many have for Arcade Fire. I’ve seen them live. It’s a moving experience. But on record, I don’t really feel it. Simply, they are a very good band that makes strong records. Have they done anything truly great? Yes. Funeral. Their second record, Neon Bible was several shades of grey and their offering this year kind of meets the middle ground between the two. There are things to love here, of course: the slow-motion run of “Half Light II (No Celebration)” the nascent punk energy of “Month of May,” and of course, the record’s crown jewel, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”. Timeless. While this record does sprawl, as two of the songs suggest, in some strange way, really works.

7. Franz Nicolay – Luck and Courage

Franz Nicolay’s songs are a gift. They reveal themselves over time. The album had little impact at first, but with repeated listens, it literally bloomed in my ears. What’s great about Nicolay’s songs is that they have this unforgettable emotional undercurrent that leaves a lump in your throat (see “Felix and Adelita” and “This Is Not A Pipe”). Then there’s moments like “My Criminal Uncle” that practically beg an “It’s Oh So Quiet” by Bjork-style video treatment.

6. Robyn – Body Talk/Body Talk Pt. 1/Body Talk Pt. 2

It’s hard to pick from Robyn’s 2010 output, mainly because there’s so much strong material. So, I’ll settle for bits from all of her releases. What’s so remarkable about Robyn’s Body Talk series is that there are bangers that other artists would kill to have once in their career. Here, she has almost a dozen. The classic throb and hook of “Dancing On My Own,” the infinite summer of “Hang With Me” and the distressed-future by way of nineties throwback “Time Machine”. That’s just three of them, folks.

5. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

No hip-hop artist has commanded the attention of his listeners like Kanye West. In essence, he’s peerless. There are artists that will dazzle you with their wordplay (Lil Wayne) or their production expertise (The-Dream), but neither can marry both of those concepts together quite like Kanye. With West, every album is an event. If you listen from The College Dropout, the stylistic leaps he’s made are Beatlesque. Fantasy is fully realized – nine minute epics that hinge on one piano note, star-studded guest verses (Nicki Minaj’s verse-of-the-decade nominee on “Monster”) and staggering reworkings of indie-folkie Bon Iver tracks. It’s all here in one giant stew. Everyone else, go back to your corners. Kanye’s got this round.

4. Glossary – Feral Fire

The little record that could. At it’s core, Feral Fire is a straight up alt-country record with a power-pop kick to the balls. “Lonely Is A Town” is a spitfire opener, with the sandpaper and silk vocals of husband and wife duo Joey and Kelly Kneiser punctuated by a guitar solo that would make Cheap Trick proud. These moments are abundant throughout, but be careful, the gentle “Hope and Peril”, sung by member (and sometimes Lucero slide player) Todd Beane – will stop you dead in your tracks.

3. The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever

A sentimental number three, and likely here because I played the hell out of this summer. In a year where they lost Franz Nicolay and gained two auxiliary members, The Hold Steady got their bearings and managed to release an incongruent disc that just barely eclipses 2008′s Stay Positive. Gone are the trademark piano dramatics, and in place are a healthy dose of extra guitars. It’s not perfect, considering the seismic lineup change, this record feels very transitional. The band’s last two records seems like they’re yielding diminishing returns, but don’t count them out quite yet. Songs like the shimmering opener “The Sweet Part of the City” and late-era Replacements of “Our Whole Lives,” will do for now.

2. Titus Andronicus – The Monitor

Consider The Monitor as a call-to-arms more than a record. Titus Andronicus’s 2008 debut, The Airing of Grievances was an accomplishment in itself, but no one could have expected the mammoth they unleashed this year. Chock full of guitar heroics (pretty much ALL of “A More Perfect Union”) sing-along phrases – ‘The enemy is everywhere!’ ‘You’ll always be a loser!’ and a hell of a lot of bravado, it’s nothing short of perfect. What blows my mind is that the median age of this band is twenty-five, and they’ve already put their blood, sweat, tears and beers into a record so fully-realized. What’s next? There aren’t enough words. Gushing is the only thing that does The Monitor justice.

1. The National – High Violet

The one and two slots on this list are essentially interchangeable. But at the last minute High Violet eked out the top slot. For myself, 2010 was the year of The National. While I had heavily anticipated this record, I wasn’t prepared for the stranglehold I’d be put in by it. Way darker than I expected, I felt drawn to the little things – the unforgettable splash of drums in “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, the altitude change of the opening chords of “Lemonworld,” and the delightfully icky chorus of “Conversation 16″: “I was afraid I’d eat your brains ’cause I’m evil.” It doesn’t get better than that.

Most importantly it’s the soundtrack to my New York experience. It was with me on my move here in July and hasn’t left me since. Put this one on and stroll through the streets of Manhattan at night. Listen to it while taking the L into Brooklyn and get off at Bedford Avenue before walking through McCarren Park. With High Violet, everything sparkles just a little bit more.

Cymbals Eat Guitars: They were victims of a bad mix. Incredibly young looking band with a HUGE sound. It was clear after the first few notes that they were better on record than live. We didn’t stick around too long. They may need some more time on the road before they play another festival like this.

Fucked Up: LIKEOHMIGOD! Simply amazing, and it came in the early hours of Day Two. As the set got off to a rather auspicious beginning when Pink Eyes smashed a Pepsi can on his head. A giant pit formed immediately. He spent the next hour at the edge of the crowd and occasionally dove in, much to the chagrin of his fellow crowd surfers (there were many). Highlights include “Twice Born”, “Crusades” and a particularly powerful “Black Albino Bones”. Pink Eyes had the best quote so far, commenting to the crowd: “You’re better then that Animal Collective record that just sounds like Phish.” AWESOME.

DOOM: Heard a ton about him before, but never really heard of any of his material before.

Side note: The crowd is at their highest levels ever since I started attending the festival. It’s remarkable to see how this fest has grown since then.

Anyways, DOOM. Right.

He hit the stage in an entire outfit that had what looked like camo leaves on it – kind of incredible to see – along with a single hype man and a DJ. It was a spectacular hour of hip-hop. I’m not familiar with his song titles, but I’ll definately be checking out his material soon. It’s always interesting to see hip hop acts at festivals like this – kind of a bit of awkwardness mixed in with surrealism. It shouldn’t though, because all bands invited to this festival belong, regardless of how much they deviate from the terrible umbrella term ‘indie rock’.

Lindstrøm: Caught the tail end of the laptopper-dude set. Lots of high energy club stuff. Nice to hear for a few minutes.

Matt and Kim: Hands down, the set of the day belongs to these two. The keyboard and drum duo is infused with so much positive energy that it’s impossible to not dance and sing your heart out. Say what you want about them being elementary or samey-sounding, but during the set ending “Daylight”, you’d almost think they would be able to generate just enough energy to keep the setting sun up just a few minutes longer.

The National: I only stayed a few songs into these guys, despite them being at the top of my list before I came. Sticking around for Matt and Kim set me back pretty far for them. I’ve yet to see them in an ideal setting – two festival gigs and no clubs. Matt Berninger’s vocal stylings are better tailored to the nuances of smaller places. I can’t help but feel that the intimacy is lost on a larger crowd. With that said, the set was relying heavily on both “Alligator” and “Boxer” tracks.

Final Thoughts:

Day Two was a total success. The weather cooperated for the most part (some drizzling here or there), it was relaxed, and the crowds, although large, weren’t terribly overwhelming. Bring on tomorrow!

Photos:

Fucked Up

DOOM

Matt and Kim

1. Tonight I asked those of you who follow @obviate on Twitter to suggest something for me to write about. Much appreciated.

Let’s see what you said:

Very thoughtful. Perhaps I’ll take you guys up on it. What looks like the best choice? Post in the comments.

2. I saw something yesterday I found pretty remarkable: Julio Osegueda at yesterday’s rally featuring the Prez.

My initial reaction to this clip was: “This kid’s got some serious Obama love. That praise thing was a little messianic,and he’s REALLY FUCKING EXCITED to meet the President!”

As he said, he’s been working at McDonalds for 4.5 years, and he’s in his second semester of college, wanting to study Communications with either being an announcer or DJ.

Today, he probably woke up thinking today would be just like every other day. Then he met the President. Then media went nuts. Now he gets his shot being a color commentator for the Fort Meyers Miracle. It’s remarkable how your life can change within seconds.

3. I’m starting to fall in love with the album Hummingbird, Go! by Swedish singer-songwriter Theresa Andersson. She’s set up like a one-woman band. Her appearance on Conan mesmerized me with her use of loop pedals, guitar, violin, and even her record player. She has surprisingly rich and full sound. Check out Birds Fly Away, which like the rest of her album, was recorded in her kitchen.

4. Bad Boys and Bad Boys II: The only two movies where Martin Lawrence gets top billing over Will Smith.

5. Yesterday’s other big story at the rally is sad, but has a good ending. Learn about Henrietta Hughes.

6. I’m watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for the first time right now. It’s fascinating. I don’t know if I should be watching it from the perspective as a an adult comedy or as an animated feature. It’s like it wants to be both. For a movie that’s twenty years old, it’s holding up well. I like the cinematography. Also, Christopher Lloyd is creepy as hell.

7. At long last, the first teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s next opus, the long-awaited Inglorious Basterds has been released. (No, that’s not a typo, either, jerky.) Brad Pitt looks key, B.J. “Ryan Howard” Novak is in the trailer, and there’s also some Eli Roth action. Not seen is Mike Myers as a British General… which could be either awesome or awful.

Check it out:

8. The National have announced a new round of tour dates for the spring. Unfortunately, none are remotely close to Chicago. Road trip? Washington D.C. and Philly seem appetizing. Maybe. Realistically, not at all. They totally blew my mind at last year’s Lollapalooza. I sincerely hope they get out here, and release a new disc sometime soon.

9. File this one under the “I like it now, but will characteristically mock it until the end of days in about 1.5 weeks” category: Lonely Island ft. T-Pain – I’m On A Boat.

10. This is severely irritating.

11. Hell. Yes.