Popdose 2010: Michael Parr’s Top Albums

You could certainly call the dapper boys of Vampire Weekend’s second record a facsimile of their first, but you’d be missing the point. By taking their Graceland inspired sound and refining it, the band managed to actually exceed the catchiness of their debut, and expand it to include elements of new wave pop.

If there is a more heartbreaking song to come out this year than “Please Speak Well of Me,” I don’t want to hear it. This record was made for repeated listens, back to back.

Being a card-carrying member of the purple “fam” can be a bitch. With his uneven output of the last 15 years, you either end up defending his motives, or saying “I told you so.” This year was an anomaly, as his Royal Badness released a record — not in the states, mind you — that genuinely didn’t suck. I wouldn’t put it on par with his classic releases, but there is definitely something there that we haven’t seen in years.

I’m not going to mince words: this record will seduce you, wrap you in Petty’s smokey vocals and promptly demand you to pay attention; because she has a story to tell you, and you are going to listen. The songs are intimate confessions of heartache, overheard conversations between lovers and friends, that you know you shouldn’t be listening to … but are compelled to, anyway.

Released over the course of the last year in three parts, Robyn’s Body Talk stakes her claim as the top of the dance-pop pack.

For those who thought becoming the house band for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” would somehow diminish the Legendary Roots Crew, 2010 was the year you were all proved wrong. How I Got Over is possibly the groups most consistent work yet; not a second is wasted, giving the record a real sense of urgency.

I hadn’t really connected with Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady previously, but something about this record resonated so deeply with me that I actually had to take a break from listening to it, for fear of over-exposure.

For their major label debut, Ben Bridwell and his Band of Horses collaborated to hone their southern influenced brand of dreamy rock to a finely tuned point.

Much like their compatriots in Vampire Weekend, the ladies and lads of Ra Ra Riot have taken their already strong formula of oh-so-twee chamber pop and built upon it to achieve the perfect version of themselves at the moment.

Based on my last.fm statistics, I listened to this record more than any other in 2010. They are also the band that I saw live more than any other in the past 12 months — save for the exception of Acoustic ’80s. A late ’09 discovery, the duo has quickly become one of my favorite acts.

Another late ’09 discovery — again, thanks to Jason Hare — The Silver Seas are likely the best band you’ve never heard. As I said in my review earlier this year, the irony of juxtaposing downright depressing lyrics against a backdrop of joyful tunes is nothing new, but the Silver Seas do it so masterfully you’d think they were the first. ChÁ¢teau Revenge! is pure pop perfection!

You could try to rationalize the theory of Kanye the celebrity versus Kanye the artist, but when it comes right down to it, Kanye is his art. Nothing is off-limits: almost die in a car crash, turn it into a hit song, spit through a jaw wired shut with a chipmunk speed Chaka Kahn hook; suffer the loss of a parent, turn it into a cold and detached statement; get called a “jackass” by the newly elected President, and turn it into an anthem. Kanye is possibly the most unfiltered talent in pop culture, and provide he keeps turning his trials and tribulations into compelling art, he’ll keep appearing on these lists.