2010: A Difficult Year for Music That I Like.

what i would like to say about 2010 is:
there weren't a whole lot of records that really grabbed me.

the truth about 2010 is:
i got really really REALLY fucking busy and kinda stopped obsessively buying & listening to records and going to shows. like, i think i maybe bought 10 7" records, rather than the usual 100 (or so).

this is both good and bad but it also makes me sad.

ANYWAY... i was still able to cobble up a fairly significant list. oh, and on the "records that didn't really grab me" tip: it is true that not a lot of what i heard in the garage/punk/rnr world caught my attention enough to make it. this is unusual. i'm hoping this is because not a lot of truly awesome stuff came out, and not because i'm turning into an old lame-o. i'm committing myself to a better 2011 in terms of listening and paying attention.

that said, here are my favorite THIRTY recordings of 2010, in no particular order:

Super Wild Horses- Fifteen (HoZac)
Frankie Rose & the Outs- S/T (Slumberland)
Swans- My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to the Sky (Young God)
Caribou- Swim (Merge)
Antony & the Johnsons- Swanlights (Secretly Canadian)
Dum Dum Girls- I Will Be (Sub Pop/HoZac)
Tamaryn- The Waves (Mexican Summer)
Night Gallery- Constant Struggle (Rainbow Body)
Grinderman- 2 (ANTI)
White Wires- WWII (Dirtnap)
Roots- How I Got Over (Def Jam)
Slices- Cruising (Iron Lung)
Nothing People- Soft Crash (S-S)
Pierced Arrows- Descending Shadows (Vice)
Robyn- Body Talk (Konichiwa)
Grass Widow- Past Time (Kill Rock Stars)
Sweet Cobra- Mercy (Blackmarket Activities)
Three Mile Pilot- The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten (Temporary Residence)
Clockcleaner- Auf Wiedersehen 12" (Load)
Kings Go Forth- The Outsiders are Back (Luaka Bop)
Harvey Milk- A Small Turn of Human Kindness (Hydrahead)
Effi Briest- Rhizomes (Sacred Bones)
Ty Segall- Melted (Goner)
Personal & the Pizzas- Raw Pie (1-2-3-4-Go!)
Kylesa- Spiral Shadow (Season of Mist)
Cee-Lo Green- The Lady Killer (Elektra)
Nobunny- Motorhead With Me 7" (HoZac)
Golden Triangle- Double Jointer (Hardly Art)
The Whines- Hell to Play (Exiled/Meds)
Zola Jesus- Stridulum/Valusia 12"s (Sacred Bones)

honorable mentions aka i loved you but not enough:
LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening (DFA)
Thee Oh Sees- Warm Slime (In the Red)
Nobunny- First Blood (Goner)
Intelligence- Males (In the Red)
Kurt Vile- Square Shells 12" (Matador)
Matthew Dear- Black City (Ghostly International)
Wild Nothing- Gemini (Captured Tracks)
Gunslingers- Manifesto Zero 12" (World in Sound)
Marnie Stern- S/T (Kill Rock Stars)

best band i discovered who did not technically put an album out this year:
NEW CANYONS

album i purposely left out even though i love it so (but it's embarassing):
My Chemical Romance- Danger Days

live shitz/best shows:
Pierced Arrows/Vee Dee @SubT, Swans @BL, Grinderman @Aragon, Cold Cave @Bottle, The Mat Arluck Memorial/Benefit @BK, Cap'n Jazz @BL, Nobunny/Mickey @Crown Liquors, Shellac/Ex @BL, Johnny & the Limelites/Mickey @Laurie's Planet of Sound, SLAYER @UIC, Gentleman Jesse at the Vegas Shakedown, GORIES @Bottle, The Clean @BL, Other/Outer Minds @Bottle, New Canyons @Late Bar.