2010: 8 Albums I'm Glad I Bought

Used to be I spent the better part of November and December laboring over a top 10 list of my favorite CDs of that year. It was a sacred process to me, enduring countless revisions and agonizations.

Last year I downshifted to an unranked list of "Albums I'm Glad I Bought." It felt right, given my diminished music obsession. So that's what I'm doing again. As I said last year, this doesn't mean I regret buying the other 24 albums I bought this year (well, in the case of Motion City Soundtrack and Weezer it does), but with my focus continuing to fall more on singles than albums, the CDs that stand out are the ones with at least 5 killer songs.

UPDATE (February 2011): Upon further listening I've added two more albums into the mix. Welcome, Kings of Leon and Old 97's!

Here're this year's faves:

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

Check Out: Modern Man, City With No Children, Half Light II (No Celebration), Deep Blue, We Used to Wait, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue

Check Out: Levi Johnston's Blues, Claire's 9th, From Above, Password, Belinda

Jimmy Eat World: Invented

Check out: Heart Is Hard to Find, My Best Theory, Movielike, Coffee and Cigarettes, Invented

Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown

Check Out: Radioactive, Pyro, Back Down South, Beach Side, Pony Up, Pickup Truck

Jeremy Messersmith: The Reluctant Graveyard

Check out: Dillinger Eyes, Lazy Bones, Violet!, Knots, Tomorrow

Old 97's: The Grand Theatre, Volume One
Check Out: The Grand Theatre, Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You), The Magician, Let the Whiskey Take the Reins, Champaign Illinois

Ra Ra Riot: The Orchard

Check out: Boy, Too Dramatic, Foolish, Shadowcasting, Do You Remember

Vampire Weekend: Contra

Check out: Horchata, White Sky, Holiday, Run, Giving Up the Gun, Diplomat's Son