Let’s give 2010 a nice pat on the back, shall we?
TOP 40 RECORDS OF 2010
1 – Beach House – Teen Dream
2 – Lower Dens – Twin-Hand Movement
3 – Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
4 – Midlake – The Courage of Others
5 – Neil Young – Le Noise
6 – Best Coast – Crazy for You
7 – Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
8 -- Wild Nothing – Golden Haze EP
9 – Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
10 – Tamaryn – The Waves
11 – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
12 – Woods – At Echo Lake
13 – Balam Acab – See Birds
14 – Conspiracy of Owls – Conspiracy of Owls
15 – Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
16 – No Age -- Everything In Between
17 – Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
18 – Tame Impala -- Innerspeaker
19 – Warpaint -- The Fool
20 – The National – High Violet
21 – Frank (Just Frank) – The Brutal Wave
22 – The Fresh and Onlys – Play it Strange
23 – JJ – No. 3
24 – Yeasayer – Odd Blood
25 – John Grant – Queen of Denmark
26 – Wavves – King of the Beach
27 – High Places – High Places vs Mankind
28 – Glasser -- Ring
29 – Sleigh Bells -- Treats
30 – Spoon -- Transference
31 – The Walkmen -- Lisbon
32 – Sade – Soldier of Love
33 – Teenage Fanclub -- Shadows
34 – Grinderman – Grinderman 2
35 – Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
36 – Punch Brothers -- Antifogmatic
37 – Houses – All Night
38 – Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
39 – Vampire Weekend -- Contra
40 – Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
TOP 10 SONGS OF 2010
1 – Beach House – “Zebra”
2 – Lower Dens – “Tea Lights”
3 – Best Coast – “Boyfriend”
4 – Deerhunter – “Desire Lines”
5 – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round and Round”
6 – JJ– “My Life”
7 – Wild Nothing “Live in Dreams”
8 – Midlake “Fortune”
9 – Male Bonding “Weird Feelings”
10 – John Grant “TC and Honeybear”
TOP 10 LIVE SHOWS OF 2010
1 – The Breeders // ATP New York // September 4th
2 – My Morning Jacket // Terminal 5, NYC (the At Dawn show)
3 – Tom Petty // Meadowlands, NJ / August 24th
4 – Midlake // Bowery Ballroom, NYC / April 8th
5 – Mountain Man // Living Room, NYC / June 10th
6 – The Flaming Lips // Oklahoma City // New Years Eve (January 1st)
7 – Hole // Terminal 5, NYC // April 28th
8 – Tamaryn // Santos, NYC // October 20th
9 – Pixies // Philadelphia, PA / September 7th
10 – Maluca // Mad Decent Block Party, NYC / August 7th
TOP 10 REISSUED RECORDS IN 2010
1— Morrissey – Bona Drag (20th Anniversary Edition)
2 – The Cure – Disintegration (Deluxe Edition)
3 – Weezer -- Pinkerton
4 – Bruce Springsteeen – The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story
5 – Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
6 – Galaxie 500 – This Is Our Music
7 – David Bowie – Station to Station (Deluxe Edition)
8 – Black Tambourine – Black Tambourine
9 – The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street (Deluxe Edition)
10 – Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (Legacy Edition)
TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2010
Note: I’ve yet to see Black Swan or Blue Valentine, both of which sound like likely candidates for inclusion here. I really wanted to include Best Worst Movie, but it technically came out in 2009.
1 – Winter’s Bone
2 – Exit Through The Gift Shop
3 – The Social Network
4 – A Film Unfinished
5 – Circus (PBS documentary)
6 – Trash Humpers
7 –The Crazies
8 – Jackass 3D
9 – Please Give
10 – Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2010
1 – Listen to This – Alex Ross
2 – Imperial Bedrooms – Bret Easton Ellis
3 – Just Kids – Patti Smith
4 – Other Flowers: Uncollected Poems – James Schuyler
5 – Talking to Girls About Duran Duran – Rob Sheffield
6 – 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction -- Rebecca Goldstein
7 – The Small Stakes: Music Posters – Jason Munn
8 – Life – Keith Richards
9 – Come On All You Ghosts (Poems) – Matthew Zapruder
10 – Apathy for the Devil – Nick Kent
Honorable Mention:
Catwise – Wilbur Pippin & Marian Winters (This was actually first published in 1979, but it might still be the most important book of all time. )
TOP 10 FAVORITE INTERVIEWS OF 2010
1 – Nick Cave for Numero
2 – Sufjan Stevens for Numero
3 – John Lydon for Stereogum
4 – Chely Wright for The Advocate
5 – Nicki Minaj for Interview
6 – Tracey Thorn for Interview
7 – Damon Albarn & Jamie Hewlett for Interview
8 – Tegan & Sara for The Advocat
9 – Karen Elson for Numero
10 -- Lykke Li for Details
The Five MOST Randomly Amazing Things that Happened in 2010
1 – Meeting Joshua Sanchez, Kelley Deal, and Aaron & Kendra Marable. New friends and new loves.
2 – Ceramic cat hunting in Oklahoma with my mom, my sister, and Ginger London.
3 – Going to Bali with Heather and facing my own mortality on a daily basis while on the back of a speeding motor scooter.
4 – Being the DJ at Jenny’s wedding.
5 – Getting started on my new book (finally) while in Indonesia. This is what 2011 is gonna be all about.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
xo xo xo COLE