A Challenging Assignment

I was recently tasked with a fun little assignment by my cousins. There was wine involved so maybe no one took it that seriously but I sure as hell did. You can't ask a music nerd their top 10 albums of the past decade AND the top albums of the past year and expect them to blow it off. It immediately went on my list of things to do, I made a mental list of friends I would need to consult and most importantly, time to think it over. It took me over a week and now that it has been sent to all parties involved, I will share it.

I will state a caveat: these are MY top albums. I picked each one because of the value I have placed on them - in my memories and in sheer volume of listening hours. Also, I didn't want to narrow it to a specific number nor did I want to rank them - my rules.

So while I ponder how to spend the +$200 that Lala is giving me to spend in iTunes (because of the amount of money I spent on web albums) - enjoy!

Top Albums of the past 10 years

Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night & Because Of The Times

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (came out in 2009)

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

The Strokes - Room On Fire

The Veils - Sun Gangs

White Stripes - Get Behind My Satan

Kanye West - The College Dropout

Dave Matthews Band - Crash

Florence & The Machine - Lungs (came out in 2009)

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Lady Gaga - The Fame

Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack - Baz Luhrman directed

Jay-Z - The Black Album

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos (Live Album)

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The National - Boxer

Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane (I was an early adopter of them)

Counting Crows - This Desert Life (barely made it in there but it has memories tied to it)

Last Year Loved Albums

Florence & The Machine (see above)

Phoenix (see above)

Passion Pit - Manners

Beach House - Teen Dream

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For the Young

Miike Snow - Miike Snow

The Antlers - Hospice

The XX - XX

Avett Brothers - I And Love And You

Alberta Cross - Broken Side Of Time (the album from 2008 is great too)

The Black Keys - Brothers

A last minute addition would be Surfer Blood - Astro Coast. What validated this was my membership with the UK's Rough Trade album of the month and it just arrived. Last month was Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing, very solid as well.