Archduke's Top 50 Albums of 2010

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I usually like to use this space to write a little something about my favorite record of the year, but the thought of writing anything about MBDTF kinda makes me cringe: It feels that, in the face of so many reviews (like Sean Fennessey's in the Voice) and think pieces (like Stephen Marche's in Esquire), everything worth saying about the great redemption of Kanye West has already been said, and probably more eloquently than I'm able to. But I think my favorite thing about this record-- ignoring its sheer scope, from audacious centerpieces ("All of the Lights") to perfectly positioned guest slots (Rick Ross' majestic presence on "Devil In a New Dress", Nicki Minaj's much lauded "Monster" blackout)-- is how the idea of crowd-sourcing really helped elevate MBDTF. There have been numerous, laughable attempts at this kind of communication work, usually on behalf of anesthetized middlemen. But this input felt very much artist-generated, and very much Kanye-driven-- for as much controversy he's drummed up (not for being wrong about anything, mind you), the guy cares about his fans, and he cares about what they think. For every lavish declaration or unprovoked apology or provoked provocation, there was a trackable want to be better. Not only was Kanye the most enigmatic Tweeter of 2010, but he used it to pool and poll uniquely: Though still widely accepted as a flaccid but standard PR tool (it's advisable to unfollow anyone two months prior of their record dropping), the false sense of connectedness that Twitter offers-- to friends, to celebrities, etc.-- felt less phony for a few months. You could now see the results in real time: When someone asked him why the finished version of "Runaway" was missing those awesome MPC samples from the VMA performance ("Look atcha! Look atcha!"), he put them back in. By the time we heard the finished record, there were plenty of wonderful surprises nestled into songs that we already loved (i.e. Ross on "Devil", that far-out extended coda on "Runaway"). But maybe the smartest bit of crowd-sourcing had to do with those "songs we already loved"-- by the time he had finished with the GOOD Friday Twitter leaks, we'd heard an entire album's worth of material. Some of it stunned ("POWER", "Monster"), some of it merely sufficed ("See Me Now", "Christian Dior Denim Flow"). Only half of those leaks showed up on MBDTF, and for the most part he made the right choices ("So Appalled" is kind of a grower, it turns out). Most importantly, your first back-to-front listen provided (as Pitchfork's Mark Richardson pointed out) a sense that you were listening to a greatest hits album of sorts. It felt even more like a grand, redemptive reissue to me-- the classics sounded just as sharp, and there was plenty of great lost material mixed in this time ("Gorgeous", "Blame Game"). And this was on the first go-round. Kanye was able to pull off something that few have the patience or bravado for, but something that felt illuminatingly inclusive as well as exclusive, as we all were suddenly granted complete access to one of the most memorable resurrections in recent memory. As if we had lost an ounce of faith in him.
2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
4. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
5. Four Tet - There Is Love In You
6. Beach House - Teen Dream
7. How To Dress Well - Love Remains
8. Future Islands - In Evening Air
9. Rick Ross - Teflon Don
10. James Blake - Klavierwerke EP/ CMYK EP
11. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
12. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
13. Drake - Thank Me Later
14. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
15. The-Dream - Love King
16. Diamond Rings - Special Affectations
17. Wild Nothing - Gemini
18. Dom - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP
19. Wavves - King of the Beach
20. Zola Jesus - Stridulum EP
21. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
22. Tyler, the Creator - Bastard
23. Das Racist - Sit Down, Man
24. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
25. Liars - Sisterworld
26. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
27. A-Trak - Dirty South Dance 2
28. Matthew Dear - Black City
29. Baths - Cerulean
30. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
31. Hannibal Buress - My Name Is Hannibal
32. Curren$y - Pilot Talk I & II
33. Actress - Splazsh
34. Abe Vigoda - Crush
35. Mark McGuire - Living With Yourself
36. Freddie Gibbs - Str8 Killa EP
37. Twin Shadow - Forget
38. Best Coast - Crazy For You
39. Tanlines - Settings EP
40. Delorean - Subiza
41. Julian Lynch - Mare
42. Balam Acab - See Birds
43. Kingdom - That Mystic EP
44. Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli
45. The Fresh & Onlys - Play It Strange
46. Sun Araw - On Patrol
47. Women - Public Strain
48. Salem - King Knight
49. Yellow Swans - Going Places
50. Grinderman - Grinderman 2