10. The Replacements - Let it Be (185 Plays)
The Replacements' best album. This is the album where it all worked in unison for them. It mixed their early works punk aesthetic as well as their later albums pop sensibilities.
9. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (210 Plays)
An emotionally devastating album. Maybe not in the sense of a complete loss of hope like, for example, The Antlers' Hospice, but more in a sense of not being able to have what you want. A study in broken hearts and busted promises.
8. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (242 Plays)
Although Forgiveness Rock Record has it's ups and downs, it was a worthy successor to their self titled album. At 14 tracks long, it certainly has some misses, but it also has some grand hits, specifically "Word Sick" and "Sweetest Kill"
7. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (250 Plays)
Frightened Rabbit's best record to date. The album has a beautifully vulnerable feel to it. The lyrics are self defecating and nihilistic, but they show the weakened psyche that all humans share.
6. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks (270 Plays)
Frightened Rabbit's latest album. While not as much as a stand out record as Midnight Organ Fight, it is still a very good album. It's also the best album name of the year.
5. The National - High Violet (278 Plays)
High Violet is another great installment in The National's discography. A strangely subdued album that touches on some darker subject than The National are used to. A paranoid, sheltered album that was a welcome addition to the best albums of 2010.
4. Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring (284 Plays)
Romance is Boring was an interesting album. It took a long time for me to really "get" it. While it is still in the same mold as their other albums, it is a more grown up sound that they brought for this one. While still punk in essence, the strings and keys are more lush and properly laid out. The songs are more varied, and while this make the album a little uneven, it shows that they are evolving as a band.
3. Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day (413 Plays)
Like I said earlier, I was way late to this album. It was such a strikingly different album from almost anything in recent mainstream hip hop. Cudi's introspective, vulnerable lyrics were a surprising change of pace from the overconfident, blow hard style of almost every rapper currently in the game. The production is also some of the best we've seen in a long time from an album not made by Kanye West. Just a powerhouse of a record.
2 & 1: Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances (447 Plays) and The Monitor (465 Plays)
Might as well lump these together. It was the year of Titus Andronicus as far as I'm concerned. Their brand of nihilistic punk brought a new, angry, sardonic voice to American punk. They carry on the torch of their forefathers such as the aforementioned Replacements and their Jersey brethrens The Misfits. Their ability to bring epic, sprawling tracks into the punk lexicon is something that we have not seen many in the genre do. They have a bright future ahead of them.
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