Cleveland Bachelor's Top 10 Albums of 2010

I really fell off my early 2010 (and especially 2009) music writing pace, but in the spirit of finishing the year (and decade) strong, I decided to quickly crank out a list of my top 10 favorite albums of the year. I know, a far cry from my top 25 of the previous year. These are the ones I found myself playing over and again, mentioning to friends, pining to see live when/if they came through Cleveland or, better yet, their touring paths happening to cross mine while away from home on work. I endorse a visit to each of these band's websites and the purchase of their music in whatever form you digest it these days, especially some of those bands you might not yet be familiar with, like The Octagon and This Moment in Black History.

In another spirit - that of community - I'm intrigued to hear your own thoughts on best album of the year or, should you check out any of these records on my lists, what you happen to think about them.

With that, I bring you CB's Top Ten Albums of 2010...

10) Everybody Was In the French Resistance ... Now!, Fixin' the Charts, Vol. 1 (Cooking Vinyl) (Check out my 2009 interview with the band's frontman, Eddie Argos, here.)
9) Menomena, Mines (Barsuk) (Check out my 2009 interview with one of the band's members, Brent Knopf, here.)
8) Best Coast, Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)
7) Golden Triangle, Double Jointer (Hardly Art)
6) Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella)
5) CocoRosie, Grey Oceans (Sub Pop) (Check out my album review - kinda - here.)
4) Phosphorescent, Here's to Taking it Easy (Dead Oceans)
3) Titus Andronicus, The Monitor (XL)
2) Beach House, Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

... and ...

1) The Octagon, Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever (Serious Business Records) (Check out my album review here.)

Honorable Mentions:

Best Local Album - This Moment in Black History, Public Square (Smog Veil)

Best EP - Small Black, s/t (Jagjaguwar)

Return of the Show of the Month (aka Are you ready for the CB December Show of the Month?)

We haven't sponsored one of these since June and, for a while, I was wondering if I'd ever do it again.

When I heard that my good friend, Austin-based chanteuse Jessie Torrisi, was coming through town, however, that indecisiveness solidified into hardened resolved in no time flat.

Jessie's coming through our fair city along with a scaled-down, intimate version of her backing band, The Please Please Me. She'll be making a few appearances in the city while she is here, but the big draw is this Friday when she plays two sets on Waterloo Road. She'll be kicking things off with a set at Blue Arrow Records at 7, followed by a show at the Cafe at Arts Collinwood at 9. In between, there's a bunch of great stuff going on up and down the increasingly vital Waterloo arts corridor, including some super sweet deals at Music Saves, the best little indie rock record store in all of Cleveland Ohio America!

OK, now that I have you checking your watch and calendar, calculating the hours till the work week ends and the Please Please Me please you, I'll leave you with a little light reading: my original review of Jessie's album, written pre-friendship (so you know it is honest).

Still alive

Hey folks,

I've been out of pocket for a minute ... or, rather, about four months. BUT I'm back and have a few interesting things to share with you in the coming days.

Blogging will likely be light, at least compared to 2009 levels of activity, but since I have a lot of computer-related work on my agenda in the next several weeks, I plan to find times to get back in touch with my e-Cleve peeps.

More soon!