Honorable mentions

18. Young Statues – Young Statues

17. Charlie Simpson – Young Pilgrim

16. Into It. Over It. – Proper

15. The Dangerous Summer – War Paint

14. Thursday – No Devolucion

13. Eisley – The Valley

12. White Wives – Happeners

11. The Moth and the Flame – The Moth and the Flame

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10. The Cinema – My Blood is Full of Airplanes

9. Priory – Priory

8. A Lot Like Birds – Conversation Piece

7. The Wonder Years – Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing

6. La Dispute – Wildlife

5. The Story So Far – Under Soil & Dirt

4. Scattered Trees – Sympathy

3. Balance and Composure – Separation

2. Bayside – Killing Time

1. All Get Out – The Season

What a stressful year it’s been for me. Between school, love and loss, and serious contemplations on where I intend to take myself after I graduate at the end of this year, I’ve had a lot to think about. Thankfully there has been a few stand out albums this year to tend and mend my sanity. In concurrence with last year’s list, I will make my selections as personal as possible and less in line with the standard critically acclaimed album lists.

(In ABC Order)

Balance and Composure – Separation
– Somewhere between post-hardcore and punk, this is the hardest album on my list. I’m not normally into this sort of stuff but this album surprised me. It features progressive elements akin to Brand New’s Daisy. This album doesn’t have any filler either at 12 tracks/48 minutes. For the niche it fits into, it does it remarkably well. Even if you don’t normally seek this stuff out, give it a chance.
  

Hi there, I bring you my lists again this year. As always, you will most certainly not agree with my lists, so don’t even try. Take it for what it is, enjoy.

My top 10 favorite songs of 2010:Honorable Mentions:Conspiracy - Terrible Things
The Consequence – You Me At Six
Tell ‘Em – Sleigh Bells
Good Graces, Bad Influence – The Spill Canvas
Her Words Destroyed My Planet – Motion City Soundtrack
I Felt Free – Circa Survive

10. Unspoken- Weezer
9. Shock and Awe – You, Me, And Everyone We Know
8. Ms. Crumby – The Audition
7. We Don’t Want Your Body – Stars
6. 1000 Years - Portugal. The Man
5. Suddenly - BT
4. We Were Thinking of Evolving(Wake Up) – K Sera
3. アルクアラウンド – サカナクション2. Get Out – Circa Survive
1. Forest - Number One Gun

My top 10 favorite albums of 2010:

Honorable mentions:Hurley by Weezer
The Game of Monogamy by Tim Kasher
American Ghetto by Portugal. The Man
Light Chasers by Cloud Cult

10. Dancing with a Ghost by Valencia – Huge improvement over their already good debut album. Solid from start to finish.

9. Some Things Don’t Wash Out by You, Me, and Everyone We Know – Catchy and over the top, overly honest and toppling over horn instrumentals. It’s sincere and too much and that’s why we should like it.

8. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West – You see this on just about every list. It appeals to even people like myself who aren’t into this genre. It’s not perfect but it’s damn good.

7. Of The Blue Colour of The Sky by OK Go – I feel this album is overlooked. Maybe it’s not as fast paced as some of the other albums but this is a finely crafted album that never drags but burns slowly while maintaining the OK Go appeal. Some absurdly awesome videos have come out for this album as well, go youtube them now!

6. The Narrative by The Narrative - It’s the sort of album that you take for granted. It’s light pop rock with male/female vocals and superb song writing. Next to my #1, this is a true indie gem.

5. The Five Ghosts by Stars – This band is and always was amazing. Male/female vocals as usual though the songs are shorter and the album is paced accordingly.

4. Illuminaudio by Chiodos – Former lead vocalist Craig Owens may have left but they replaced him with someone with balls and then proceeded to create their best album to date. Goodluck with D.R.U.G.S. Craig.

3. Savages by The Gay Blades – The Gay Blades first album Ghosts was great and I expected this to be similarly great. However, they didn’t just make another great album but they exponentially stepped their game up. They’re no longer just catchy indie rockers, they’ve crossed into progressive ass kickery with a good amount of sincerity.

2. Blue Sky Noise + Appendages EP by Circa Survive – I listed both the album and the recently released EP since they are both great. Appendages is b-sides from BSN but happens to serve as the perfect companion piece bringing your down from the intensity of BSN while also coming out during the appropriate wintery time of the year. BSN is intense yet more structured and accessible than any of their previous work. Get Out is the most kick ass song I’ve heard all year(next to Sleigh Bells’ Tell ‘Em).

1. Sever Your Roots by The Felix Culpa – This is the most cohesive, intense, and well crafted album release I’ve heard this year. Reminiscent of MUTEMATH’s Armistice(my 2009 #1 album) if only for having such a solid intense experience from beginning to end. Nothing is extraneous and the motifs are there. The musicianship is top notch. Listen to this album in one sitting.

Closing thoughts:
I am more self-aware of the flaws in my list this year,. There are albums I feel I should be placing on it(e.g., Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and Gaslight Anthem’s American Slang) but some part of me is resisting it. If I’ve improved on anything this year, it’s making it more personal albeit less comprehensive. Even still, I’m happy(with it) and let that improvement be a metaphor to carry me into 2011.