Another Top Ten Records of 2010 List

I think you should buy these artists' records, from an independent music store (Go Vashon Music!) or directly from the label, because they are very, very good records.

(1) Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

You know how dogs tip their heads to the side when they hear a funny sound? That's what I did when I first heard this record. I listened again, and tipped my head the other way. Again: well then I fell in love. A bold, complex, crazy piece of true art, the musical equivalent of one of de Kooning's snarling lady paintings, where you see an artist trying to undo every precious skill they've ever learned and end up making something strange and brilliant. Sufjan gets an A for Adz and an A-plus for the jaw-dropping live performance of Seven Swans in Seattle. He's not fucking around.

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(2) Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
When overcome with the burden of bearing witness to the decline of songbirds and forests and the atmosphere itself, it's scientist musician extraordinaire Jonathan Meiburg that I most want to hear. Meiburg's voice is mesmerizing, and his lyrics, written or performed, are pure poetry. Shearwater stands as a testament to the power of doing meaningful work, with honesty and skill, and kicking ass live.
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(3) Brian McBride - The Effective Disconnect
Two words. Absolutely Gorgeous. Composed for a film about Colony Collapse Disorder - the ever-cheering subject of the massive die-off of honey bees. If you want to be oblivious and shake your shit around, this is not the record for you. But if you want to listen to 50% of Stars of the Lid do his best solo work to date, and shed a tear only a couple minutes in because the strings are so effing pretty, this is your record. Side Note: I wonder if Mr. McBride noted that his music is often classified as "drone" and that a drone is also a worker bee? Hmmmm.
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(4) Jonsi - Go
Wilst Sigur Ros slumbered in temporary hiatus, Jonsi went out on his own, and let loose with this super pop record. Producer Nico Muhly clearly put some wind in Jonsi's sails, and it includes songs you can definitely bounce up and down to; but it's the big beautiful epic songs, Kolnidur and Grow Till Tall that support the New York Time's contention that Jonsi is "a messenger of ecstatic hope."
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(5) Under Byen - Alt Er Tabt
After seeing them on their last tour, David Frick named them "the best band in the world." And after seeing that tour, I was inclined to agree. But as it turns out, not only is this a truly great band, it's a band with balls. Big Danish balls. Because they could have (and in a commercial sense should have) just done a repeat of their critic-pleasing 2006 record "Samme Stof Som Stof," but did they? Absolutely not. Instead, they made a deeply dark, idiosyncratic art piece which speaks to the power of insanely talented musicians following their muse.
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(6) Benoit Pioulard - Lasted
I'm secretly (well not so secretly now) thinking that if Thomas Meluch, dba, Benoit Pioulard, had a band, he just might be the next Radiohead. He has the mental and musical chops. Instead, he goes it alone, beautifully blurring the lines between ambient, pop and folk. I love the feeling that these songs are emerging as if buried, coming up through layers of sound. So many records feel impersonal and over-produced, but Lasted has the quality of a hand-made keepsake you return to again and again for the memories it evokes.
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(7) Efterklang - Magic Chairs
To see them live is to love them; and while my favorite record of this spectacular Danish band remains their earlier effort "Tripper," I was completely floored by the diversity of songs and sounds this band made on Magic Chairs, and by the spectacular front and center vocals of the band's insanely charming lead, Casper Clausen.
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(8) Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
I just kept hearing "Swans" "Swans" "Swans" from musical corners far and wide. So, I got this record. And it kicks ass. I'm not going to pretend I know much else about this band. All I know for certain is that I have to see them LIVE.
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(9) Valgeir Sigurdsson - Draumalandid
Another beautiful record from the fantastic Bedroom Community label. This soundtrack to an Icelandic environmental documentary is diverse and lovely and oh come on, just go buy it, because I'm getting tired of trying to make up words about sounds.
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(10) James Blake -  Klavierwerke, CMYK - EPs
I normally don't like what I think this music is: dubstep? Does that sound right? But this guy's music is so divinely diced and spliced it's weird and beautiful, and what the hell, is he pretty or what? I hope his upcoming full-length is as good as it seems it will be; however if it is, I fear for him that he will become embarrassingly huge.
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