One could say that my blog has become merely a historical overview of the albums that I like each year. I do have plans to re-enter the blogosphere (does anybody even use that term anymore?) instead of solely Tweeting or posting Facebook status updates.

Until then, like I do every year, here’s my list of albums released in 2010 that I particularly liked. And for the first time, I’ve chosen not one, not two, but three “Albums of the Year”. Honestly, I couldn’t decide on a single one, so you’ll see three of those little trophy icons () this year.

Amusement Parks on Fire – Road Eyes
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Autolux – Transit Transit
The Besnard Lakes – Are The Roaring Night
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
Caribou – Swim
Corin Tucker Band – 1000 Years
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Engineers – In Praise Of More
Film School – Fission
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
God Is An Astronaut – Age of the Fifth Sun
Grinderman – Grinderman 2
The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
Holy Fuck – Latin
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Killing Joke – Absolute Dissent
Manic Street Preachers – Postcards From A Young Man
Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
Melvins – The Bride Screamed Murder
Menomena – Mines
No Age – Everything In Between
School Of Seven Bells – Disconnect From Desire
Teenage Fanclub – Shadows
These New Puritans – Hidden
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Tokyo Police Club – Champ
Wintersleep – New Inheritors
Wolf Parade – Expo 86

A few hornorable mentions:

The Depreciation Guild – Spirit Youth
Jimmy Eat World – Invented
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Minus the Bear – OMNI
The National – High Violet
The New Pronographers – Together
Owen Pallett – Heartland
The Radio Dept. – Clinging To A Scheme
Red Sparowes – The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
Spoon – Transference

It seems fitting that I end the year with a post about the only thing that it seemed that I could write about in the last 365 days – music. Honestly, to those who are able to work a hectic job, spend time with a significant other and do whatever else life requires of them and still find time to regularly blog about a variety of topics of interest to them…kudos! 2009 simply didn’t now allow me that luxury, and there’s no telling if 2010 will relent. The benefit to developing software in a fast-paced environment is that when I’m not in meetings or manically scrawling ideas on a whiteboard, it’s “nose to the grindstone” coding and I require a soundtrack for that.

Like bygone years, I have assembled a list of albums released this year that I found to be to my liking. As per usual, here it is in alphabetical order and includes my selection for “album of the year”.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – The Century of Self
Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
Dan Deacon – Bromst
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Do Make Say Think –The Other Truths
Echo & the Bunnymen – The Fountain
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Future of the Left – Travels With Myself And Another
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Idlewild – Post Electric Blues
Japandroids – Post-Nothing
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Matthew Good – Vancouver
Metric – Fantasies
The Most Serene Republic – …And The Ever Expanding Universe
The Pains of Being Pure of Heart – The Pains of Being Pure of Heart
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
Silversun Pickups – Swoon
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
Think About Life – Family
The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

Some honourable mentions:
The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
Muse – The Resistance
NOFX – Coaster
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
The Tragically Hip – We Are The Same
Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker – Questamation
We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

I had hoped for the best of Spiral Stairs‘ The Real Feel but I simply would rather see the reunited Pavement come to Toronto. And I was really anticipating Mew‘s follow-up to their excellent And the Glass Handed Kite album, No More Stories, but I found it quite “meh”.

Finally, I’m not Pitchfork nor am I some hipster with black-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, ironic t-shirts and an iPhone in my hand. That being said, I always try to like an Animal Collective album when it’s released but I’m ultimately disappointed at how unlistenable (to me) their music is. Merriweather Post Pavilion is no exception. It’ll appear at the top of all of the “cool” year end lists, and maybe even some uncool lists too. However, it won’t be on mine. Yuck.

I know I can’t speak for everyone, but this year went by really quickly for me. So much so that I’ve been a dismally absent blogger in recent months. Work has been hectic and I found little time away from it to come up with original thoughts to share, since I’d hate to regurgitate what you already know or can easily read about elsewhere. For 2009, I’ll make a conscious effort to return to form, assuming I had a form at one point or another. I’ll add it to my list of New Years’ resolutions…making it the only thing on the list at the moment.

Until then, let’s carry on with an annual tradition of mine – listing my favourite albums released in the past year. 2008 saw a deluge of albums from indie rockers who were either a) skinny indie rockers from England with tight pants and black-rimmed glasses producing watered-down jangle that would make 1980’s R.E.M. puke or b) bearded American indie rockers who look like they could fell you with a single swing with an axe, but instead choose to sing some Belle and Sebastien-inspired twee pop. Thankfully, my list contains none of those. I proudly present my “Album of the Year” award to Scotland’s Glasvegas. Their self-titled debut album packs plenty of emotional punch (if “Flowers and Football Tops” doesn’t make you pause to reflect on those you care about, you’re a prick) and wraps it in glimmering walls of reverb. Voici la liste dans l’ordre alphabétique pour toute le gang:

Bloc Party – Intimacy
The Breeders – Mountain Battles
Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning – Something For All Of Us
Constantines – Kensington Heights
The Cure – 4:13 Dream
Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
Deerhunter – Microcastle
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Her Space Holiday – XOXO, Panda And The New Kid Revival
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Local H – Twelve Angry Months
M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Mercury Rev – Snowflake Midnight
Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling
Mudhoney – The Lucky Ones
Nada Surf – Lucky
Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
No Age – Nouns
The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me
R.E.M. – Accelerate
Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Sloan – Parallel Play
Spiritualized – Songs in A & E
Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell
TV on the Radio – Dear Science

2008 had its share of disappointing albums for me, too. I normally love Stephen Malkmus, but Real Emotional Trash did nothing for me; I preferred the deluxe re-release of Pavement’s Brighten the Corners. Also, both Wolf Parade‘s At Mount Zoomer and Tapes ‘n’ Tapes‘ Walk It Off were boring sophomore albums, and Weezer‘s “Red Album” seems too content to try produce “hits” in the hopes of amassing MySpace and YouTube views it seems.

My hopes for 2009? A new My Bloody Valentine album!