Best Music of 2010 (Part One)

2010 kicked ass. Actually, that's a lie. 2010 was a pretty fucking terrible year and I'm glad it's almost over. But musically, 2010 kicked more ass than any other year since I've been paying attention to music. My top twenty albums this year could have been a top fifty and I still would have had a hard time narrowing it down. This year's "Best of" mix could have been a box set. So before we get to the big album list, I wanted to give credit to ten amazing songs from albums that didn't quite make the cut. So here are the honorable mentions that, in any other year, would have been near the top of the list. The album list should be coming in a few days, if I'm not too lazy.

Belle & Sebastian - "I Didn't See It Coming"

"I Didn't See It Coming" is a perfect slow-build, starting out quietly and gently before building to an exuberant and impossibly catchy pop song. Starting off as a quiet and sweet love song, this instantly addictive opening track builds until it sounds bright and enormous. The title is apt, because it's not an easy trick to see coming.

Broken Social Scene - "Texico Bitches"

"Texico Bitches" could have been a big hit. It hits all the right notes that usually guarantee that a song will start turning up in movie trailers and Apple commercials. It's upbeat, relentlessly catchy, and comes surprisingly close to sounding like Vampire Weekend. But Broken Social Scene never goes for the easy route, and the lyrics' scathing indictment of the oil industry, and the fact that they say "bitches" about a dozen times, probably sunk the song's chances of being a crossover hit. And it's all the better for it.

Cee-Lo Green - "Fuck You!"

If you haven't heard this song, I'd say you've been hiding in a basement, but I spent most of 2010 hiding in one basement or another, and even I couldn't escape it. But why would you want to? Writing a pop song called "Fuck You" was a good enough gimmick that the song would have made an impression no matter what, but "Fuck You" is such a great song that you forget about the joke as soon as that Motown piano kicks in. It's one of the most bitter songs you could write, but Cee-Lo makes it sound like 2010's most fun party.

Fake Problems - "Songs for Teenagers"

Fake Problems have come a long way from their Against Me!-esque folk-punk origins. "Songs for Teenagers" retains the youthful energy of their earlier work, but with an unmistakable melancholy and something approaching maturity. It may be called "Songs for Teenagers," but the song is what it feels like to stare into the expanse of adulthood and wonder how the hell you're going to pull it off.

The Gaslight Anthem - "The Diamond Church Street Choir"

MTV and their gang of orange-skinned monsters pretty much ruined New Jersey's already shaky reputation this year. But The Gaslight Anthem struggled to redeem the Garden State with songs like this bluesy tune about heartbreak and finding comfort in music. It's great to hear the band stretching when it would have been easy to give us "The '59 Sound" part two. When Brian Fallon's voice starts reaching for those high notes, it's the sound of a band exploring the limits of their classic sound.

Jimmy Eat World - "Movielike"

For the last ten years or so, Jimmy Eat World has been a band split in two directions. There's the Jimmy Eat World that will forever be chasing "The Middle," with increasingly flat-feeling, radio-ready alternative songs like this year's "My Best Theory." And then there's the Jimmy Eat World that I love, the one that writes heartfelt and beautiful pop-rock songs that are able to sound simultaneously intimate and enormous. When "Movielife" explodes into its harmonic chorus, it's suddenly clear that these are still the same guys who gave us Clarity.

Joanna Newsom - "Good Intentions Paving Company"

Joanna Newsom isn't for everyone. Her voice, squeaky and sometimes shrill, can bring to mind a lost Appalachian folk singer, Lisa Simpson, or a flock of seagulls (not the band). But like other tough singers to crack, like Tom Waits or Bob Dylan, once it clicks, it's magical. "Good Intentions Paving Company" is the closest she's come to writing an accessible pop song, with its driving bass and steady beat matching its lyrics to sound like a plodding march that may not lead anywhere. Her voice sounds fuller than ever, and the melody sounds like something that's been around for decades. If the general public is ever going to embrace this stuff, here's the place to start.

The New Pornographers - "Your Hands (Together)"

It's perfect that this music video is choreographed with karate and crazy ninja moves. It's rare for a song to be this fun and dance-able while maintaining a feeling of aggression just behind its catchy hooks. It's like hearing a great pop song just barely keeping a fiery punk anthem under wraps.

The Roots - "How I Got Over (Ft. Dice Raw)"

It's a shame that hip-hop in 2010 mostly means auto-tuned party anthems designed to be played endlessly for a few months and then discarded for the next one. "How I Got Over" is a fuck-you to the ubiquity of disposable pop-rap, a soulful and moving dedication to the struggles and triumphs of the poor. But it's not all gloom and despair. The hook is as infectious and catchy as anything that hit big on the top 40 this year.

Wavves - "Post Acid"

Pop-punk has always been the music of summer. Classic Green Day songs just don't have the same punch in the depths of winter as they do on a warm summer day. "Post Acid" sounds like a great pop-punk song that maybe spent a little too much time in the sun. It's a blistered, sunburned sing-along that sounds like it was made for blasting out the car windows on the first day when it's too hot to leave them rolled up.