2010 in Review

Top Albums 2010

1. Sam Amidon – I See the Sign / 2. Sun Kill Moon – Admiral Fell Promises / 3. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks / 4. Woods – At Echo Lake / 5. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs / 6. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz / 7. Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring / 8. The National – High Violet / 9. Titus Andronicus –The Monitor / 10. Phosphorescent – Here’s to Taking it Easy

Others: PS I Love You – Meet Me at the Muster Station / Clem Snide – The Meat of Life / Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest / Surfer Blood – Astro Coast / Midlake – The Courage of Others / Elephant Micah – Plays the Songs of the Bible Birds/ Damien Jurado – Saint Barlett / Junip – Fields / Lower Dens – Twin-Hand Movement / Hoquiam –Hoquiam

Top Tracks of 2010

1. Sam Amidon - How Come That Blood 2. Sun Kil Moon - Alesund 3. PS I Love You - Facelove 4. Phosphorescent - Los Angeles 5. Sufjan Stevens - Vesuvius 6. Horse Feathers - The Widower 7. Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness And The Scream 8. Phosphorescent - Hej, Me I'm Light 9. Sam Amidon - Relief 10. Woods - Blood Dries Darker 11. The National - Terrible Love 12. Junip - Rope And Summit 13. Meursault - Crank Resolutions 14. Clem Snide - Stoney 15. Damien Jurado - Beacon Hill 16. Elephant Micah - Still Life Blues 17. David Karsten Daniels - The Funeral Bell 18. Damien Jurado & Richard Swift - If The Sun Stops Shinin' 19. Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait 20. Frightened Rabbit - The Wrestle 21. Lord Huron - When Will I See You Again 22. Midlake - Core of Nature 23. Women - Eyesore 24. Sarah Jaffe - Watch me fall apart 25. Tape Deck Mountain – Scantrons

26. Sufjan Stevens - Age Of Adz 27. Sun Kil Moon - You Are My Sun 28. Wye Oak - Civilian 29. Arcade Fire - Half Light II (No Celebration) 30. David Karsten Daniels - Though All the Fates 31. PS I Love You - Butterflies & Bones 32. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union 33. Hoquiam - Zombies Of The Sea 34. Horse Feathers - The Drought 35. Male Bonding - Year's Not Long 36. Marnie Stern - Cinco De Mayo 37. Meursault - One Day This'll All Be Fields 38. The National - Afraid Of Everyone 39. Surfer Blood - Catholic Pagans 40. Woods - I'm Not Gone 41. Deerhunter - Memory Boy 42. Sun Kil Moon - Third and Seneca 43. Junip - To The Grain 44. Sufjan Stevens - I Walked 45. Clem Snide - Please 46. Damien Jurado - Cloudy Shoes 47. Elephant Micah - The Brighter Bird, the Better 48. Midlake - Acts of Man 49. Sam Amidon - Way Go Lily 50. Band of Horses – Laredo

Others:

Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane Arcade Fire - Ready To Start Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Avi Buffalo - What s In It For? Band of Horses - Compliments Basia Bulat - Gold Rush Beach House - Silver Soul The Besnard Lakes - Like the Ocean, Like The Innocent, Pt. 2: The Innocent The Black Keys - Everlasting Light Broken Bells - The High Road Broken Social Scene - World Sick Clem Snide - Wal-Mart Parking Lot Clem Snide - Denver Cotton Jones - Glorylight And Christie Damien Jurado - The Falling Snow Dark Dark Dark - Bright Bright Bright Dark Dark Dark - Daydreaming Deer Tick - Twenty Miles Deerhunter - Desire Lines Elephant Micah - Imaginary Melodies

Elephant Micah - Are You a Christian? Frightened Rabbit - Things Frightened Rabbit - Living In Colour                             Frontier Ruckus - Nerves of the Nightmind Girls - Carolina Hoquiam - Wooden Hoquiam - Ocean Shores Horse Feathers - Starving Robins Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring Josh Ritter - Change of Time Laura Veirs - July Flame Lord Huron - The Problem With Your Daughter Lower Dens - Hospice Gates Lower Dens - Two Cocks Marnie Stern - For Ash Midlake - Rulers, Ruling All Things The National - Conversation 16 The New Pornographers - Up In The Dark No Age - Common Heat

No Age - Chem Trails              PS I Love You - Meet Me at the Muster Station                         PS I Love You - 2012 Sam Amidon - I See The Sign Sharon Van Etten - Save Yourself The Soft Pack - C'mon Sufjan Stevens - Too Much Surfer Blood – Swim              The Tallest Man On Earth - King of Spain Tape Deck Mountain - Ghost Colony Titus Andronicus - To Old Friends And New Titus Andronicus - The Battle Of Hampton Roads We Were Promised Jetpacks - A Far Cry The Whigs - Kill Me Carolyne Wolf Parade - What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way) Woods - Death Rattles Woods - Get Back The National - England

THE BEST IN 2009 CINEMA

1. THE ROAD

No other film of 2009 will stay with you like the John Hillcoat directed "The Road." Each scene of the post-apocalyptic journey is harsh, heartbreaking, and oddly inspiring. Grey and grim, its overwhelming melancholy still leaves room for hope. It is a story about the preservation of morality and love, two things that might seem pointless in such despair, but are the things that make us human.

2. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

We all know Quientin Tarantino is slightly insane and highly indulgent. Thank God. The deliberate length of the film's best scenes create excruciating suspense, its opening sequence is a good as any in film history.  The audacity of the plot, characters, and twisted ending is at once ridiculous and satisfying.

3. THE HURT LOCKER

Equally suspenseful, but never absurd, The Hurt Locker is a study of human reaction to life-threatening situations. Who knew a story about a bomb squad could still be engrossing? (How many time's have we seen a bomb being defused on film?) What separates The Hurt Locker from, say, an episode of "24," is its realism and intelligence, and its attention to the characters cutting the wire. Thankfully, director Katherine Bigelow doesn't use the quick cuts and shaky camera that many use to build suspense. She takes her time, building on each shot.

12 OTHER FAVORITES: 

Adventureland
Big Fan
Cold Souls
Fish Tank
The Messenger
Moon
Two Lovers
Up
Up in the Air
Watchmen
The White Ribbon
Zombieland

SOME OTHERS: 

500 Days of Summer, An Education, Avatar, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, The Brothers Bloom, City Island, The Damned United, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Flame and Citron, Gomorrah, Harry Brown, In the Loop, It Might Get Loud, Julia, Precious, Red Cliff, Sugar, Taken, Tenderness, Thirst (Bakjwi), Whatever Works

2009’S PRETTY GOOD ALBUMS

MUMFORD AND SONS –SIGH NO MORE 
BUILT TO SPILL - THERE IS NO ENEMY
LIGHTNING DUST - INFINITE LIGHT
THE SHAKY HANDS – LET IT DIE
DINOSAUR JR. – FARM

JAPANDROIDS - POST-NOTHING
WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS - THESE FOUR WALLS
GANGLIANS - MONSTER HEAD ROOM
ATTACK IN BLACK - YEARS (BY ONE THOUSAND FINGERTIPS)
J. TILLMAN - VACILANDO TERRITORY BLUES

11. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
12. Old Canes - Feral Harmonic
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
14. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
15. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
16. Huck Notari - Very Long Dream
17. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
18. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
19. Sharon Van Etten - Because I Was in Love
20. Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
21. St. Vincent – Actor
22. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
23. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
24. Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown
25. Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine
26. Throw Me the Statue - Creaturesque
27. Woods - Songs of Shame
28. Band of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
29. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
30. Blue Roses - Blue Roses
31. A.C. Newman - Get Guilty

A List of 2009's Top Tracks

1. Andrew Bird - The Giant of Illinois 2. Ganglians - Valient Brave 3. Lightning Dust - Waiting On the Sun to Rise 4. Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire 5. Built to Spill - Life's a Dream 6. Mumford & Sons - The Cave 7. Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others 8. We Were Promised Jetpacks - Roll Up Your Sleeves 9. Woods - Rain On 10. Attack in Black - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) 11. Blue Roses - I Am Leaving 12. The Shaky Hands - Love Curse 13. Sharon Van Etten - For You 14. Cass McCombs - You Saved My Life 15. J. Tillman - Steel on Steel 16. Cymbals Eat Guitars - ...And the Hazy Sea 17. Andrew Bird - Fitz and the Dizzyspells 18. Great Lake Swimmers - Pulling on a Line 19. Heartless Bastards - The Mountain 20. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Gentle Sons 21 . J. Tillman - Earthly Bodies 22. Alela Diane - White as Diamonds 23. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone 24. Throw Me the Statue - Noises 25. Old Canes - Little Bird Courage 26. The Avett Brothers - Head Full of Doubt/Road for of Promise 27. We Were Promised Jetpacks - Keeping Warm 28. Grouper - False Horizon 29. Dinosaur Jr. - Plans 30. Ohbijou - Black Ice 31. Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page 32. St. Vincent - Marrow 33. Sin Fang Bous - Catch the Light

34. Tape Deck Mountain - Scantrons 35. Blue Roses - Moments Before Sleep 36. Magnolia Electric Co. - O! Grace 37. The Dutchess & the Duke - Hands 38. Ah Holly Fam'ly - All Unfolding 39. The Babies - Meet Me in the City 40. Girls - Hellhole Ratrace 41. Here We Go Magic - Fangela 42. Great Lake Swimmers - Palmistry 43. The Decemberists - The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid 44. Sharon Van Etten - Consolation Prize 45. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks 46. Laura Gibson - Come by Storm 47. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction 48. Mumford & Sons - Roll Away Your Stone 49. We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder and It's Lightning 50. Band of Skulls - Impossible 51. Clem Snide - Beard of Bees 52. Throw Me the Statue - Ancestors 53. The Shaky Hands - Let it Die 54. Heartless Bastards - Sway 55. The Roadside Graves - Far and Wide 56. Shannon Stephens - In Summer in the Heat 57. Japandroids - Wet Hair 58. Lightning Dust - I Knew 59. Lou Barlow - Gravitate 60. Local Natives - Stranger Things 61. Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man 62. Neko Case - People Got a Lotta Nerve 63. Other Lives - E Minor 64. Real Estate - Beach Comber 65. Pearl Jam - Amongst the Waves 66. Wand - Trails 67. Wye Oak - Take it In

A late 2008 release that deserves mention:
The Welcome Wagon - American Legion

Some others:

A.C. Newman - Prophets Alec Ounsworth - Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (Song for New Orleans) Andrew Bird - Oh No Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes The Antlers - Bear Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - The Slumbering Ones Audie Darling - Clouds Roll Around Band of Skulls - Death by Diamonds and Pearls Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar - One Fast Move or I'm Gone Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I) Bill Callahan - The Wind and the Dove Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer Blue Roses - Doubtful Comforts The Blueflowers - I Wasn't Her Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Beware Your Only Friend Bowerbirds - Northern Lights Brother Louis Collective - Squealing Pigs Built to Spill - Things Fall Apart Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Optimist vs The Silent Alarm Conor Oberst - Nikorette Cymbals Eat Guitar - Some Trees (Merritt Moon) Dan Deacon - Snookered Dan Mangan - Fair Verona Daniel Johnston - Freedom Dead Man's Bones - My Body's a Zombie For You

Deer Tick - Houston, TX Deleted Scenes - Turn to Sand Dodos - Fables Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Janglin' Fanfarlo - I'm a Pilot The Flaming Lips - Worm Mountain Ganglians - Lost Words Great Lake Swimmers - She Comes to Me in Dreams Grizzly Bear - Cheerleader Heartless Bastards - Early in the Morning Hello Saferide - Anna Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision Holiday Shores - Phones Don't Fued Huck Notari - Who Couldn't Let You Go? Hush Arbors - Coming Home James Yuill - This Sweet Love Japandroids - Heart Sweats Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Roll Bus Roll Julianna Barwick - Bode Kurt Vile - Overnight Religion Laura Gibson - Spirited Megafaun - Kaufman's Ballad The Most Serene Republic - Heavens to Purgatory Motel Motel - Coffee Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More Mumford & Sons - Awake My Soul

Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You The New Pornographers - Hey, Snow White Octoberman - Thirty Reasons Oweihops - These Passerines Phoenix - 1901 Phosphorescent - Can I Sleep in Your Arms? (Willie Nelson Cover) Port O'Brien - Calm Me Down Ramona Falls - I Say Fever The Shaky Hands - Slip Away The Shaky Hands - Allison and the Ancient Eyes Slaraffenland - The Great Love Song Small Black - Despicable Dogs St. Vincent - Actor Out of Work St. Vincent - Laughing with a Mouthful of Blood St. Vincent and The National - Sleep All Summer Sufjan Stevens - You Are the Blood Sunset Rubdown - Silver Moons Timbre Timbre - Lay Down in the Tall Grass We Were Promised Jetpacks - Ships with Holes Will Sink The White Buffalo - The Woods Wild Nothing - Cloudbusting (Kate Nash Cover) Withered Hand - Hard On The Wooden Birds - Believe in Love Woods - Military Madness (Graham Nash Cover)