Unlike 2 years ago in 2008 when I posted my “year in music” 4 months too late, this year I’m actually getting this up on time. I have yet to do a 2010 DJ mix but I didn’t want to let that stop me from posting my favorite songs and albums from the year.

The fact I’ve been consistently doing DJ charts throughout the year made this considerably easier. Though at the same time I also run the risk of overlooking good music that I didn’t include on a chart for whatever reason.

Overall I would say 2010 was a great year for music. A lot of artists that I’ve liked over the years released new albums that mostly lived up to the hype/high expectations I set.

Although my lists aren’t really in any particular order, I will say that Kelis and her album Flesh Tone really wowed me more than anything this year. Perhaps it was all a matter of timing, but I found the album super refreshing and energizing. She worked with some top-notch producers (Burns, David Guetta, Boys Noize, Benny Benassi, etc.) and made an album that took the weirdness she’s been cultivating for a while and really exploded it.

As far as songs, I ranked the top 5. Picking Scissor Sisters’ “Invisible Light” over Kelis’ “4th of July (Fireworks)” was a really tough choice. In the end, I went with “Invisible Light” because I felt like it was one of those songs that really pushed the band into a new and interesting (and darker) direction. Like Ladytron’s “Destory Everything You Touch” and Cut Copy’s “Hearts on Fire” before it, “Invisible Light” was a huge departure from the bands’ previous work and the risk paid off big.

One other thing I’ll note is that in years past I’ve been pretty good at predicting Pitchfork‘s top tracks/albums but this year I felt very disconnected from their reviews/ranking. Of Pitchfork’s top 10 tracks of 2010 the only one we agreed on was “Power” by Kanye West.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts or point out what you think I missed. This year I’m getting this posted before most of the music blogs I follow do their year-end rankings so I’m pretty sure I forgot a track or two or didn’t post some super exclusive secret track that is gonna be huge next year that I should’ve noticed this year.

Albums

• Kelis – Flesh Tone
• Caribou – Swim
• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• Chillly Gonzales – Ivory Tower
• Robyn – Body Talk series (the two EPs and the final album)
• Hot Chip – One Life Stand
• LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
• Groove Armada – Black Light

Honorable mention: Acid Washed – Acid Washed, Ali Love – Love Harder, Arcade Fire – The Suburbs, Chromeo – Business Casual, Cee-Lo Green – The Lady Killer, Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles, Felix Cartal – Popular Music, Housse de Racket – Forty Love, Massive Attack – Heligoland, Rihanna – Loud, Rusko – O.M.G.!, Shit Robot – From Cradle to the Grave, Sia – We Are Born, Tame Impala – Innerspeaker, Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans, Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Disappointments (don’t hate me!! I had high expectations mostly): The Chemical Brothers – Further, Christina Aguilera – Bionic, Goldfrapp – Head First, Gorillaz – Plastic Beach, Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager, M.I.A. – Maya, MGMT – Congratulations, N*E*R*D – Nothing

Songs

1. Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” [YouTube video]
2. Kelis – “4th of July (Fireworks)” [YouTube video]
3. Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” [YouTube video]
4. Caribou – “Sun” [YouTube video]
5. Kanye West – “Power” [YouTube video]

• Hot Chip, Bernard Sumner & Hot City – “Didn’t Know What Love Was” [YouTube video]
• Hot Chip – “Hand Me Down Your Love” [YouTube music]
• Crystal Castles – “Celestica” [YouTube video]
• Visti & Meyland – “Stars” [YouTube music]
• SBTRKT – “We’ll Be Fine”
• David Lynch – “Good Day Today” [YouTube music]
• Sia – “You’ve Changed” [YouTube video]
• Housse de Racket – “Oh Yeah!” [YouTube video
• The Chemical Brothers – “Swoon” [YouTube video]
• Cee-Lo Green – “No One’s Gonna Love You” [YouTube video]

DJs/Remixers/Producers

• Villa — tons of great remixes and really captured the spacey discoy sound I loved this year
• David Guetta — great work on Kelis’s album
• Stuart Price — while not as perfect as Madonna’s Confessions on a Dancefloor, you can feel his touch on both Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite and Scissor Sisters’ Night Work
• Monarchy — formerly known as Milke they regrouped and starting putting out nice shiny intereresting remixes (Kelis, Lady Gaga, Kylie)
• Boys Noize — continues to be a force to be reckoned with; the remix of Scissor Sisters’ “Invisible Light” alone gets them here

Other

• Best Music Video: Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand”
• Best Remix: Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” (Boys Noize remix) [YouTube music]
• Best Concert: Hercules and Love Affair at Neumos (August 11, 2010)
• Best Music Blog: Too Many Sebastians
• Best Online Music Store: eMusic
• Best Record Label: (tie) Fools Gold and Permanent Vacation

Favorite Tracks From Monthly Charts

• January: Depeche Mode – “Hole To Feed” (Popof Vocal Mix)
• February: Music Go Music – “Warm In The Shadows” (Villa Remix)
• March: Appaloosa – “The Day We Fell in Love” (Todd Edwards’ Liturgical mix)
• April: Lauren Flax – “You’ve Changed (Feat. Sia)”
• May: Visti & Meyland – “Stars”
• June: Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” (Stuart Price Remix)
• July: SBTRKT – “We’ll Be Fine”
• August: Cee-Lo Green – “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Paul Epworth mix)
• September: Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” (Video mix)
• October: Hot Chip, Bernard Sumner & Hot City – “Didn’t Know What Love Was”
• November: Shit Robot – “Take ‘Em Up”
• December: TBD