Surprisingly enough, I am no different and have done just that... So should you be in the midst of putting your Santa list together and looking for inspiration, I'd heartily recommend any (or better still, all of the following records).
Things I've noticed in putting this list together this year:
- British Music is massively under-represented
- It's unsurprisingly guitar based
- There was a lot of synthy type stuff out again this year
- Much of the 'nu-folk' type stuff was really not that great
- January was an unnecessarily strong month for releases
Before we hit the top 10, it's also worth mentioning some other fine records that never quite made the final cut. Some albums I enjoyed this year include:
Goldheart Assembly - Wolves and Thieves, Woods - At Echo Lake, Best Coast - Crazy For You, Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record and Phosphorescent - There's To Taking It Easy... all of whom would definitely have made a top 20 list were I have to have made one...
These, as is customary, are in reverse order, and make up my Top 10 albums of 2010 with a 'twitter friendly' note on why they are so good...
10. Surfer Blood: Astro Coast
Grabbed attention with 'Swim' at the back end of 09. Happily, rest of Astro Coast's surf rock lives up to early hype. More so than The Drums.
Watch: Surfer Blood - Swim (To Reach The End)