Fang Island - Fang Island

How can anyone dislike this? This record is ridiculously high-energy and loads of fun.

You know it's a good album when you discover new things every time you listen to it.

unless you really don't pay attention when you listen LOL

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me

Noisy (not in the irritating sense), catchy, lovable.

Blotted Science - The Machinations of Dementia

Technical for technicality's sake, but it's quite fun.

The Morning Benders - Big Echo

Frustrating. The first 3 songs are amazing (though Promises sounds almost like a direct Two Weeks ripoff), but the rest are ridiculously boring. But if you don't care about detail, then spin this album in the background and you've got yourself some great summer chillout tunes.

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends

Oh shit

Can't believe I slept on this for the longest time ever. Punishing thrash metal, and nothing less.

\m/

Jay Electronica - Eternal Sunshine (The Plunge)

WOW. Deeeeeeep. Rapping about dat conscious shit over looped drum-less songs from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind? This is fucking amazing.

Prolyphic & Reanimator - The Ugly Truth

Solid stuff. It's got a lot of the typical topics in conscious hip-hop, but the lyricism is masterful. Recommended if you like hip-hop.

Career Suicide - Anthology of Releases: 2001-2003

Punk-as-fuck shit from Toronto. An outstanding compilation. The integrity is kept all the way through. Listen to this if you like punk at all.

Magrudergrind - Sixty Two Trax of Thrash

This is a shitload of grind/powerviolence to get through, but it's fun times man. Not a good starting point if you wanna check these guys out though. Look out for their self-titled first.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum

It's pretty much the same song throughout the whole album, but it does give off a great vibe.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Some people are extremely disappointed with this release. Not me. Although it's not like I'm ridiculously impressed with it. Forgiveness Rock Record is neither a step forward or step backward for BSS. They've incorporated some new electronic stuff (see All To All), but they've also retained their chilled-out summer anthems style. The vocals are probably the weakest part of the album-- they do sound pitchy and uneasy at times. Otherwise, the music is quite good. Recommended for fans, but definitely not for those new to BSS.

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

I thought Cosmogramma was pretty boring at first, but then after another listen or to, I discovered that this album is really hard to hate. Although sometimes spasmodic, this music is ridiculously detailed. Great mix of glitchy instrumental hip-hop, jazz, chillout, and there's even little hints of Squarepusher-esque drum 'n' bass (listen to Pickled!). Flying Lotus is a king.



bangerz: Computer Face//Pure Being, Do The Astral Plane, German Haircut

edit: Finally clicked with this album. Holy. Shit.

Nas - The Lost Tapes

The beats are boring. The lyrics are quite good. I got a bit bored towards the end, but Nas really does have some insightful things to say in creative ways.

Sun Ra - Atlantis

Spiritual.

Pharoah Sanders - Karma

Spiritual.

Joanna Newsom - Ys

I first thought her vocals were absolutely horrendous. Luckily I got used to them, and eventually started to adore them. How unique they are.

Sadly, I have a very hard time listening to this album the whole way through. I can't even get past the first track. Sounds like I hate this album, judging from a portion of the song "Emily", right? Wrong. "Emily" is such a captivating track, filled to the brim with vivid imagery, beautiful instrumentation, and breathtaking storytelling. It really takes you places. Every time I try to listen to Ys in its entirety, I find myself playing Emily on repeat.

Now to listen to the rest of the album...

Owen Pallett - Heartland

Can't really think of a good word to describe this album right now. "Climactic"? idk... but this is definitely a highlight of 2010. Lush, intricate baroque pop-esque instrumentation, cinematic almost. Check this album out.

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

"Chillwave is the Dubstep of indie rock" -- edIT

"Chillwave"... what a fitting name. This album, which is thrown under the "chillwave" umbrella, has one great purpose:

chilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

I find that a lot of chillwave shit can sound similar, but yaknow, that doesn't really matter to me because all you need to do is throw on any chillwave album and, you guessed it, chill the fuck out.

Four Tet - There Is Love In You

Creative, blissful, chillllllllll. Sublime. My favourite release of 2010 so far.