8. Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Intoxicating rhythms and limitless energies, this is the most danceable and bum shakin’ release of the year.  Less a mere album and more a compilation of feel good treats, Odd Blood delivered two of the best singles of the year: “Ambling Alp” and “O.N.E.”

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7. Broken Bells – Broken Bells

A healthy collaboration indeed was the partnering of Danger Mouse and the Shin’s James Mercer. There are lots of guitar strumming tunes — similar to Shin’s pop classics — but topped with the well-known soothing electronic beats of vintage Danger Mouse. This is the perfect stitching together of disparate pop components, and without any visible seams.

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6. Villagers – Becoming a Jackal

The Villagers are an Irish band fronted by Conor O’Brien. There is something compelling about O’Brien’s vulnerable honesty and dark, soulful lyrics. He has the dual gift of full-band intensity, and solo-artist simplicity.  His vocals and crafted guitar will swim up your spine.  It is this sort of familiar sensitivity that makes the artist relatable to the listener.

Villagers – “Becoming A Jackal” mp3

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5. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

If one tracklist could please your entire, diverse crowd of friends, this would be it. This band went in a matter of months from virtual unknowns to standing room-only headliners. The falsetto guy-harmonies and curious drum tapping blends to form a one-of-a-kind sound.

Local Natives – “Airplanes” mp3

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4. Lost In the Trees – All Alone in an Empty House

One of 2010′s surprisingly powerful albums is this little unknown orchestral folk band, Lost in the Trees. Ari Picker’s songwriting is influenced by his precarious upbringing and his time at Berklee where he studied film scoring. Some of the tracks are simple love songs, and others, full blown classical arrangements. Picker doesn’t snivel excessively about his tumultuous childhood –  and in this case, he would be well within his rights to do so — but instead he describes the healing that has come over him: “The lyrics of the title track ‘All Alone In An Empty House’ are taken from powerful arguments my parents had while living in the house where I was born. The songs locations and happenings, my father’s stone wall, the tower off the side of the house that he eventually moved into, my twin sisters who died at birth, my mother’s extreme depression, the emotional and sexual abuses, they are all real. But my intention in sharing them is to turn this hard reality into art, something that the listener may find comfort and hope in.”

Lost In The Trees – “All Alone In An Empty House” mp3

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3. Jónsi – Go

Post-rock immortal Jónsi burst into new territory this year with his first solo album, Go: compositions that Sigur Rós would create if they ever once took their happy pills. Songs like the flute toting “Go do” could make any couch potato want to jump out of the covers and smilingly run through a random corn field with unicorns and rainbows. Yet Sigur Rós die-hards can rest assured that the slow-groove, old-school Jónsi material will keep you melted to your seat, like always.

Jónsi – “Boy Lilikoi” mp3

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2. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can

Wise far beyond her 20 years, Marling has tendered another extraordinary album. At times she is tender and sweet, at others, bitter and broken. The heights of her vocals and depths of her lyrics seem to navigate you through her old soul. This brilliant singer-songwriter makes it all seem effortless once again.

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1. Laura Veirs – July Flame

The most overlooked release of the year. The addition of Yim Yames’ (Jim James of My Morning Jacket’s solo alter ego) vocals and guitar picking made Veirs’ seventh album a masterpiece. Every song is a spectacle, and magnificent. Her poetic portrayals and smooth craftsmanship swoon the heaviest of hearts. Descriptions like in “Sleeper in the Valley” whisks the listener away in the foretelling story of a young soldier who would soon die, “So soon, so soon, and the crows they swoon. At the two red holes, in his right side, oh”

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