Best of 2010

1. Len Price 3 - Pictures
Not just retro, but a stellar group of songs that recalls our early heroes, but does not ape them.

2. Jason & The Scorchers - Halcyon Days
Another kickass effort from this underrated band. Not a sour note or bad song in the lot and the best of them are great.

3. Two Cow Garage - Sweet Saint Me
They’ve been listening to too much Hold Steady, but that doesn’t stop this album from being everything you would want from these boys.

4. Ike Reilly - Hard Luck Stories
Another underrated artist with a kickass, literate and funny record.

5. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Most interesting release of the year marred only by it’s occasional overindulgence

6. Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing
Too power pop to be described as 70’s style arena rock, but too arena rock to be called power pop. So we’ll just call it ROCK.

7. Bruce Springsteen - The Promise
Wasn’t sure where to put this as the overall package (with the 3 DVDs) was the best thing released all year, but the music only portion ranks right around here.

8. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
See #6

9. Against Me - White Crosses
Too many good songs to ignore this solid, passionate, rock album

10. Drive By Truckers - The Big To Do
Even I’m finding it hard to believe it’s down this far. Maybe I made a mistake.

Here’s a list of bands that got close to making the list. Note that these are NOT honorable mentions, but note also the this list is in NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
Gaslight Anthem, Grinderman, J Roddy Waltson & The Buisness, Waaves, Ryan Adams, Taylor Hawkins, Peter Wolf, Glossary, the Hold Steady and the Black Keys

Post Shwackin' Post - Me Best Of

Top 10 of 2010

Difficult year. Personally I felt there were many good albums but not many great albums. In other words, many releases had great songs but were unable to hold onto that greatness for an entire 40 to 60 minutes.

10. Whigs- In the Dark   Gritty and catchy. Great percussion work.

  9. Against Me!- White Crosses   Sure a sell out, but a well done sell out. Let their fall begin....

  8. Richard Thompson- Dream Attic  Parts are slow, but the guitar work is god-like.

  7. Drive By Truckers- The Big To Do  Off-beat southern drawlers that grow on you.

  6. JP Chrissie Hynde and the Fairground Boys- Fidelity!   Big surprise. Great songs about building good relationships.

  5. The National- High Violet   Self reflecting low keyed anthems.

  4. Black Mountain- Wilderness Heart  Zeppelin-Sabbath rocker with a dash of prog.

  3. The Orbans- When We Were Wild   Poppy Wilco meets the Avett Brothers.

  2. Capstan Shafts- Revelation Skirts   Late to the party. Straight ahead lo-fi power pop.

  1. Electric Six- Zodiac  The best they have released. Deliberately goofy that is beyond catchy. It rocks.

On the Cusp

The below artists almost had the legs for my list

Superchunk, Two Cow Garage, Spoon,  Len Price 3, Black Keys, Pretty Reckless, Titus Adronicus, Scissor Sisters, Alejandro Escovedo

Biggest Disappointments

Oh there were some disappointments where there was originally hope.

Magnetic Fields- Realism  They have gone from clever and quirky to dumb and witless.

Priestess- Prior to the Fire  I guess they decided to be Metallica clone. Bleech.

Nada Surf- If I Had a Hi-Fi  I expect more. Hi-Fi wasn't horrendous, just a little uninteresting.

LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening  No it really wasn't happening. A little shortening would have helped.

OkGo- Of the Blue Colour of the Sky  Except for "This Too Shall Pass" one big Prince emulated yawn.

Rory Erickson/Okkervil River- True Love Cast Out All Evil  Hype did not soften the awfulness of this CD.

Monsta's Thoughtful and Spot-On Analysis of 2010

Good year overall.  The list is top heavy, and there were about 10 albums that could have made the bottom 5.

The Exceptions:
Can’t count them as “new”, but both the “Exile on Main Street” bonus disc and Springsteen’s “The Promise” were exceptional, and would have been near the top of this list

The Honorable Mentions:

Henry Clay People - "Somewhere on the Golden Coast"
Alejandro Escovedo - "Street Songs of Love"
Superchunk - "Majesty Shredding"

The Top 10

10. Robert Plant “Band of Joy”– Props to Plant for re-inventing himself as an Americana artist.  Good players and his eclectic choice of covers was well done.

9. Two Cow Garage “Sweet Saint Me” – Yes, they peaked on III and yes, they’re wildly inconsistent.  Doesn’t change the fact that there are 5 legitimately great songs here.

8. Southern Culture on the Skids “Kudzu Ranch” – A microcosm of their career. Its not flashy, but its unfailingly very good.

7. Mavis Staples “You Are Not Alone” – Tremendous singing, great mix of covers and originals. Spiritual while not overly preachy.

6. The Hold Steady “Heaven is Whenever” – Speaks volumes about this band that this disc was a definite drop-off from their last two, but was still solid enough to land here.

5. Peter Wolf  “Midnight Souvenirs” – This year’s token great album from a seemingly forgotten veteran.

4. Gaslight Anthem “American Slang” – Heartfelt soul-inflected punk that wears its influences proudly.

3. Drive By Truckers “The Big To-Do” – They do what they do: play high-energy loud rock and roll with lyrics that read like short stories.

2. Black Keys “Brothers” – My go-to disc of the year, played it constantly.  A startling mix of blues, vintage rock and classic R&B that manages to incorporate some 21^st century production touches while remaining true to its roots.

1. Titus Andronicus “The Monitor” – A mind-blowing, fantastic, brilliant epic.