Sound In The Signals - Best Albums, EP's, & Mixtapes of 2010

Here is the big list from Sound In The Signals for 2010. I have included favorite albums, EP's, and mixtapes in the list. I've also taken the time to discuss some of the favorites and what made them so good. To check it out click READ MORE and let's hope 2011 can provide some good stuff as well.

These lists always start small and end up huge. I know a lot of people will widdle their lists down to their top 10 and then rank them in order. I have a hard time doing this because some of the tops are right there with each other. I've compiled this list and it contains my favorite albums, EP's, mixtapes, and the albums I'm looking forward to next year. I’ve taken the time to discuss a few of them.

I wanted to say one thing about the list. I included my biggest letdown this year. I hate to rag on people too much when they make something they believe in, but I expected some big things from Amber Pacific and the end product of Virtues was uneven. Musically, it sounded cool. Vocally, I just couldn't agree with the decisions the band had made with their new vocalist. I wouldn't say it's an awful album. I'd just say I expected a little bit more (or maybe something different).

Essential Albums of 2010:

Fences - Fences
Fences debut album was definitely one of my top favorites this year. Sometimes an album is that good and this is just the case. This was a really good debut and I listened to this album a ton this year. Lyrically, it’s great. I really like the tone and it’s hard to find many flaws with this one.

Best Coast - Crazy For You
Best coast was another one I knew would be huge back in 2009. We interviewed Bethany before Best Coast became the huge deal it is now and I could just tell they were going to have a big year. Great album. It’s one of the better female fronted bands I’ve heard in a while.

Mad Rad - The Youth Die Young
Mad Rad’s The Youth Die Young is such a good album. The beats are crazy and the lyrics are catchy and interesting. It’s their best album and I think these guys are on their way to being a breakout group in 2011.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West delivers. What more can I say than that? The album is great…I could have done without a couple of the guest spots. Other than that it is super solid. Kanye is always able to step up his game and creatively he’s at an all time high with this album.

Wavves - King Of The Beach
Wavves is another one of my favorites. I knew this album would be huge back in 2009 and it really delivered. It was a really solid effort. He opted out of the super lo-fi sound of his previous material and it really panned out.

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This
Toro Y Moi helped usher in what people dubbed “chillwave.” Causers of This is really interesting and I doubt that he’s done with this album. The track released from his new album coming out in 2011 shows he’s an exceptional talent that is going to outlive the “chillwave” trend.

Sufjan Stevens - The Age Of Adz
Sufjan Stevens. I almost feel like saying the same thing I did for Kanye West so I will…he delivers. He’s a boundary pushing genius. He delivered this one to the masses almost out of nowhere and tried a ton of new stuff and it works. It’s filled with various sounds and layered with so much cool stuff.

Steel Train - Steel Train

Shooter Jennings - Black Ribbons
Shooter Jennings tried something different on his new album Black Ribbons. After switching around a few things and delivering this high concept experimental album I think this proves he’s far from a one trick pony.

You Me And Everyone We Know - Some Things Don't Wash Out
You Me And Everyone We Know’s Some Things Don't Wash Out is a cool release from the opening track which has some very unkind words to a certain owner of Drive Thru Records. I think it’s an honest pop/rock album and it has a lot of depth which is becoming more uncommon in the pop/rock genre.

The Chariot - Long Live
The Chariot continues a trend that I’ve enjoyed from them. They are constantly pushing the bar with “metalcore/hardcore” sound. This album continues to prove why Josh Scogin is one of the better vocalists of the genre. This album may be the best one of their discography.

Underoath - O Disambiguation
Underoath delivered a solid album amid controversy and extremely high expectations. The loss of Gillespie only seems to have strengthened the group and the result is one of the strongest albums they’ve released.

Coma Cinema - Stoned
Coma Cinema’s Stoned was something I heard a little while after it came out. I see big things for this band and I think their 2011 album will be a big one as well.

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon 2: The Legend Of Mr. Rager

Drake - Thank Me Later
Drake’s Thank Me Later. I guess I’ll say it now, thanks. Drake has talent. I know a lot of people aren’t on board with Drake and that’s fine, but I liked this album and it got a lot of play.

Against Me - White Crosses

Jimmy Eat World - Invented

MGMT - Congratulations
MGMT’s Congratulations went in a different direction than most expected. I think like Vampire Weekend people expected this album to stink and it really doesn’t. I don’t think it all works, but what does work makes it a cool release. The title track is a song I listened to a lot this year.

Hellogoodbye - Would It Kill You
Hellogoodbye’s sophomore release shows a little re-tooling from the band and proves they can write an album of all new material, which was one of the big questions about their debut. Great album and you really couldn’t ask for more from it. Kline’s vocals are great, a far stronger performance vocally than their debut album. It’s exactly what I wanted from this band and I’m glad they finally got to release it.

Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Dum Dum Girls’ I Will Be was another one I anticipated for quite a while. I had the chance to interview Frankie Rose while she was in the band. Cool album. Fits in well with Best Coast and Wavves this year.

Brett Detar - Bird In A Tangle

The Republic Of Wolves - Varuna
The Republic Of Wolves’ Varuna is exceptional. DIY to the core and really well done. I think they have officially graduated from the band that had their music labeled as Brand New on Youtube and can now just be considered a great band in their own right.

Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song
Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song may be the top country album of the year. Really well-written and thought out. This double disc album stays fresh all the way through. Hopefully an album like this means we’ll never have to hear him write awful country songs for artists like Trace Adkins whose terrible country club hit “Honkytonk Badonkadonk” was co-written by Johnson.
Doombird - Doombird

Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils

The Drums - The Drums
I played this a lot while I played games on my iPOD this year and I really like this one. Really good release and it kind of stuck out from the pack of artist who were trying to do similar things this year.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti’s album Before Today was cool. The vocal performance of Ariel Pink on the album is great. I really liked the vibe of the album.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Neon Trees - Habits
Neon Trees’ album was a great album. A little short but with the bonus tracks it helped give it the length I’m use to. “Sins of my Youth” and “Animal” are great songs.

Weezer - Hurley
It is one of their more cohesive albums in a while and I think the cover art they picked is one of the worst of the year (and I’m a Lost fan). Give it to the band for continuing to do what they want though. They’ll probably never out-do their first couple albums, but they definitely outdid Raditude and most of the Red Album with this one.

N.E.R.D. - Nothing

Vampire Weekend - Contra
Vampire Weekend’s Contra has been one of my favorite albums this year. It came out in January and it has been a mainstay all year long. This band had a lot of doubters that their second album would be worthwhile. I never doubted the group and they delivered big.

Ra Ra Riot - The Orchard

Mellowhype - BlackenedWhite

Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Janelle Monae’s The Archandroid was a release I kind of felt like saying: “Is this the new Lauryn Hill” about. Maybe that’s extreme. I think it’s a cool album and she gives a great performance on it.

The Pack - Wolfpack Party

Kidz In The Hall - Land Of Make Believe

Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot

Ninjasonik - Art School Girls

No Age - Everything In Between
No Age continue to make neat albums. I really like this album. It sounds great and I think it captures everything this band is good at. I wasn’t crazy about the album art for this one either, but the music is stellar and that’s all that matters. They had a lot of pressure with this one and I think this album shows some good progression as well as sticking with the sound fans have come to enjoy.

Arthur - Watch The Years Crawl By

The Damned Things - Ironiclast

Belle & Sebastion - Write About Love

Anberlin - Dark Is The Way, Light Is The Place

Casey Veggies - No Sleeping In Class

Alkaline Trio - This Addiction

Abe Vigoda - Crush

Curren$y - Pilot Talk 2

The Black Keys - Brothers

Rufio - Anybody Out There
Rufio’s Anybody Out There is everything I enjoy about pop/punk and a great return for the band. Scott Sellers vocals have never sounded better. I heard some people give this a hard time because it was a little cleaner sounding, but I enjoyed the change. It’s the best pop/punk album I’ve heard in a long time.

The .357 String Band - Lightning From The North

Leroy Powell & The Messengers - Atlantis

Hank III - Rebel Within

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Joanna Newson - Have One On Me

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Black Label Society - Order Of The Black

The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

My Chemical Romance - Danger Days The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys



Best EP's:

The Ataris - All Souls' Day & The Graveyard Of The Atlantic

Puro Instinct - Puro Instinct
Puro Instinct’s Puro Intinct EP. This shows Pearl Harbor switching names to Puro Instinct and was a cool one this year. One reason this EP really stuck out was the song “California Shakedown.” I really like that song and I played it a ton this year.

Oberhofer - o0O0o0O0o

Maniac - Extended Play

Saves The Day - 1984

The Get Up Kids - Simple Science

E For Explosion - Hold Grudges Not Hands

Skrillex - My Name Is

Chiddy Bang - The Preview

The Tallest Man On Earth - Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

The Devil Wears Prada - Zombie

DOM - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods

The Smashing Pumpkins - Teagarden by Kaleidoscope EP 1 & 2
The Smashing Pumpkins released two EP’s worth of material off of their gigantic 44 track album they are releasing as a series of EP’s and digital songs. I think the two EP’s showcase far better songwriting than was found on their less than stellar comeback album Zeitgeist. “Song For A Son” is one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs in a long time and I played the track a ton this year.


Best Mixtapes:
The Cool Kids - Tacklebox

Hollywood Holt - These Are The Tracks...
Hollywood Holt was an artist I had been waiting to release a new project for a long time for over a couple years. Although it isn’t an album, the mixtape had a lot of original quality material and really provided fans with a much needed new release.

PacDiv - Don't Mention It

Theopilus London - I Want You

Mac Miller - KIDS

Asher Roth - Seared Foie With Gras Quince And Cranberry (FAT FREE VERSION)

Lil B - Red Flame (Evil Edition)

Odd Future - Radical

Charles Hamilton - TAFIETU

Fashawn - Ode To Illmatic

J. Cole - Friday Night Lights

Earl Sweatshirt - Earl


Biggest Letdown Of The Year:

Amber Pacific - VirtuesI hate to rag on people too much when they make something they believe in, but I expected some big things from Amber Pacific and the end product of Virtues was uneven. Musically, it sounded cool. Vocally, I just couldn't agree with the decisions the band had made with their new vocalist. I wouldn't say it's an awful album. I'd just say I expected a little bit more (or maybe something different).


Most Anticipated Releases For 2011:

Hayes Peebles
The Cool Kids
The Ataris
Taking Back Sunday
Drea Smith
Hollywood Holt
Yellowcard
Blink 182
Saves The Day
The Get Up Kids
Lupe Fiasco
Bright Eyes
Manchester Orchestra
The Knux
Trackademicks
The 87 Stick Up Kids
All Time Low
D.R.U.G.S.
Tyler The Creator
FistFam
Death Cab For Cutie
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Yellowcard
The Academy Is...
Panic At The Disco
Patrick Stump
Jacks Mannequin
The Dangerous Summer
Bayside