Drowned in Sound's Albums of The Year 2010

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49.

September 28, 2010
Critic Score
79
28 reviews

Everything In Between is undoubtedly a step onward from its predecessors – it’s more developed in every way, though admittedly lacks a little of the sheer raw bite that made Weirdo Rippers in particular so exhilarating.

47.

January 26, 2010
Critic Score
83
34 reviews

In There is Love in You we see one of the last decade’s most early pioneers reminding us all that he’s still just as important as ever.

46.

February 9, 2010
Critic Score
80
31 reviews

45.

March 9, 2010
Critic Score
71
33 reviews

As musical collaborations go, the one embarked upon by James Mercer, mercurial singer/songwriter with esteemed Portlanders The Shins, and Brian Burton, better known as producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse, has to go down as one of the most unlikely. While perhaps not in the sublime bracket of ridiculousness inhabited by Burt Bacharach's mutual love-in with Elvis Costello and Dr Dre that reared 2005's ill-advised At This Time or Bing Crosby and David Bowie uttering Christmas carols to one another, it certainly set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons late last year when Mercer announced Broken Bells was a fully projected work in progress and an album would be imminent.

43.

March 9, 2010
Critic Score
78
30 reviews

42.

May 18, 2010
Critic Score
86
33 reviews

It may not seem restrained, but trust when I say that nothing less than a dissertation or thesis will suffice for such a mind-bogglingly massive album.

40.

May 11, 2010
Critic Score
83
38 reviews
Stripping away all of the surrounding noise, it allows Krauss to bring her dizzyingly sweet voice to the fore, showing that Sleigh Bells are not just a one trick pony and that these songs work on more than just the basis that they are great at shaking windows.

39.

October 12, 2010
Critic Score
77
23 reviews

Whatever angle you examine it from, Lucky Shiner is an impressive statement, especially for a debut, and when Gold Panda lets the house beat sink into the background and experiments a little more with space and structure the results are gorgeous.

37.

October 5, 2010
Critic Score
78
19 reviews

36.

Richard Skelton - Landings
January 19, 2010
Critic Score
83
3 reviews

34.

February 23, 2010
Critic Score
85
34 reviews
It is a stunning and ambitious piece of work; one for the ages.

33.

May 10, 2010
Critic Score
78
28 reviews

Where Antidotes had blitzkriegs, Total Life Forever has drawn-out hypnoses; where Antidotes was furious and muscular and destructive, Total Life Forever is quiet and sinister and inconsolable.

30.

September 28, 2010
Critic Score
83
37 reviews

Yet I think conversely it’s Cox’s inability to totally connect to an audience that makes him such a spectacularly special songwriter.

29.

July 20, 2010
Critic Score
76
17 reviews

Infra was originally conceived as a 25-minute score for a Royal Ballet collaboration between composer Max Richter, choreographer Wayne McGregor and visual artist Julian Opie which premiered in November 2008 and was also broadcast on BBC2. Fleshed out to just over 40 minutes through the inclusion of outtakes and extended sections, the soundtrack was recently revisited and recorded by Richter and a string quintet with a view to documenting the ballet and giving the musical accompaniment a life of its own. Unsurprisingly, he achieves this and more with his fourth studio album on FatCat's classical imprint 130701, further solidifying his reputation as one of Britain's most versatile and identifiable classical voices.

28.

White Hinterland - Kairos
March 9, 2010
Critic Score
75
10 reviews

27.

March 1, 2010
Critic Score
78
10 reviews

25.

Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This
March 1, 2010
Critic Score
68
12 reviews

23.

June 21, 2010
Critic Score
82
11 reviews

Both beautiful and terrible at once, Returnal is the aural equivalent of a scuba dive in the open ocean.

22.

March 9, 2010
Critic Score
78
22 reviews

...the Roaring Night is by no means a perfect record, and there are minor flaws to stand alongside the frequent moments of brilliance, but what cannot be questioned is how skilled they are at shaping layers of sound to form an enveloping whole, with each overlapping texture or shifting tempo plunging the listener further and further into the darkness.

21.

May 4, 2010
Critic Score
85
35 reviews

Cosmogramma is dense and devotional, Ellison piloting his craft into the fading slipstream of his aunt Alice Coltrane’s cosmic strain of jazz.

20.

July 6, 2010
Critic Score
71
15 reviews

19.

April 20, 2010
Critic Score
82
35 reviews

18.

April 23, 2010
Critic Score
73
30 reviews

It’s pretty good, but as with any punks gone pro, Crystal Castles have lost something – attitude, fire, aggression, danger; the usual stuff.

17.

September 14, 2010
Critic Score
80
15 reviews

16.

November 22, 2010
Critic Score
91
45 reviews

For rap fans it's both a testament to the versatility of the genre and Kanye's own brilliance that he can make something so refreshingly different which still fits comfortably in the rap canon.

14.

Rufus Wainwright - All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu
April 20, 2010
Critic Score
72
23 reviews

13.

September 14, 2010
Critic Score
64
27 reviews

Those who optimistically purchased Make Believe and Raditude will know that a good first single does not a great Weezer album make, but Hurley is packed solid, with a sense of fun and good-time melodies cropping up at every juncture.

11.

August 3, 2010
Critic Score
88
43 reviews

A few nights ago, I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to write my review of Arcade Fire’s third album in real time. I would allot myself its not inconsiderable running length to bash out this article, whilst also, crucially, knocking back a finger of beer for each mention of “the kids” or “the suburbs” in Win Butler’s lyrics.

10.

October 12, 2010
Critic Score
77
34 reviews

The Age of Adz is not an unqualified success; occasionally it does feel like a little too much, and until the dust has settled it is difficult to say where it will sit in his discography as a whole.

9.

May 18, 2010
Critic Score
83
38 reviews

If Sound of Silver was the sound of someone reaching far enough to make something just plain great, then This is Happening is the sound of a man with great taste who really understands music, making dumb body music with hidden depths if anyone cares to investigate.

8.

February 9, 2010
Critic Score
78
37 reviews

Maaaaybe Odd Blood isn’t quite the hive of unfathomably exotic treats that a few of the tracks might have initially suggested.

7.

Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
February 23, 2010
Critic Score
75
26 reviews

If you’ve visited Shearwater’s website over the last couple of months, you’ll have been greeted by an arresting, scratchily-filmed series of images – of mist over mountains, damaged flags and roiling sea-waters; of travel journals and captains’ logs, bloodied bird carcasses and satellite grabs. It’s all part of the story.

6.

January 18, 2010
Critic Score
83
29 reviews

Despite the handful of standout tracks, what makes Hidden unique is the way it flows as a cohesive whole.

4.

June 21, 2010
Critic Score
75
12 reviews

Learning is a ... bruised and suggestive affair; of catharsis and rare, redemptive beauty, which ranks as one of the most uniquely endearing and quietly forceful debut albums of recent years.

3.

May 4, 2010
Critic Score
75
18 reviews
In essence this is their most fluid recording, unbroken by exploratory concerns.

2.

May 10, 2010
Critic Score
84
37 reviews

It is a wild, vivid romance that The National make their own, and on High Violet it sounds just as striking, just as wild, just as vivid as ever.

Original Source: http://drownedinsound.com/lists/bestof2010
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