Culling the heard, 2010

So you finally learn to stop caring whether the clerk at the record store is judging you. And then you start downloading all your music anyway. Favourite albums of 2010, in no particular order: The National, High Violet ** Sleigh Bells, Treats ** Spoon, Transference ** LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening ** MIA, Maya ** The Fall, Your Future Our Clutter ** Arcade Fire, The Suburbs ** Surfer Blood, Astro Coast ** Titus Andronicus, The Monitor. Favourite songs of 2010: Kanye West, "Runaway" ** Elizabeth Cook, "Heroin Addict Sister" ** The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio" ** Dessa, "Children's Work" ** The Hold Steady, "The Weekenders" & "We Can Get Together" ** Drive-By Truckers, "Birthday Boy" ** [List subject to change based on random whim, sudden mood changes and the possibility that new favourites are buried somewhere in the pile of stuff I haven't got round to listening to yet.]