For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’ve got just ten albums to go on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 6-10…

10) Beach House – Teen Dream

Key Tracks: Zebra, 10 Mile Stereo and Norway

Sounds Like: The music a female version of Neil Young would make while fighting the effects of Ambien

The Skinny: Beach House’s Sub-Pop debut, the band’s third full-length album, showed a major progression in the band’s sound as the duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally put together an album of dreamy originals that draws you in during the first few seconds of opening track Zebra and doesn’t let you go until the final notes of the closing Take Care. In between, Legrand and Scally take us on a tour of diverse soundscapes with layer upon layer of goodness that you’d never expect from a two-some. Whether using organs, slide guitar, or lush harmonies – Beach House put together a masterpiece of atmospheric rock.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

9) Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Key Tracks: The Suburbs, Modern Man, We Used To Wait

Sounds Like: Bruce Springsteen had he grown up an angsty prep-school kid

The Skinny: While most of us have somewhat fond memories of our times growing up in the suburbs, cruising around with mostly nothing to do, it seems to have had something of an adverse effect on Winn Butler. Inspired by his hometown of Houston, TX, the Arcade Fire’s sprawling third album is loaded with Butler’s confessional, emotionally charged lyrics and hauntingly passionate vocals, couple with the band’s unconventional jaunty arena rock. The Suburbs takes listeners on a journey through Butler’s apocalyptic view on suburban sprawl and the baby boomers unfulfilled vision for the future.

8) Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer

Key Tracks: Bright Lights Big City, Fuck You

Sounds Like: The funk and the soul, baby

The Skinny: Cee Lo Green has been making music since the early 90’s, but it took him  until now to drop his weight into the pool for one of the biggest cannonball dives that we saw in 2010. The internet release of Fuck You in August had over two million YouTube plays in less than a week, and was nominated for five Grammy’s in December. Arista Records is kicking themselves now for dropping him, my friends. The full-length album, The Lady Killer, is the trigger on the gun that shot the bullet that was Fuck You. Cee Lo’s voice cries, wails, screams, and calms in his 14-track love story. He brings modern pop together with the classic sound of Motown funk, soul and doo-wop without losing ground to the haters who said that Gnarls Barkley was just a played out pop sensation. Anyone who says The Lady Killer isn’t a near perfect blend of old school and new isn’t listening hard enough.

7) The Morning Benders – Big Echo

Key Tracks: Stitches, Wet Cement, All Day Daylight, Excuses

Sounds Like: Being paid a visit from a “Grizzly Bear” while numb at your “Beach House”

The Skinny: On the one hand, the Morning Benders latest release sounds like a number of modern bands that fall into the trendy dream pop neo-genre – not the least of which is Grizzly Bear, as Chris Taylor from that band sat in the producer’s chair – but those hangups should be set aside immediately, as Big Echo ambles along in an entirely enjoyable, almost anesthetic manner. While seamlessly shifting gears between ambient milieus, hushed harmonies, and 50s pop, the music comes across so textured and whooshy with reverb and instrumentation that it serves in taking the listener along on its sonic diversion. If modern indie rock has taught us anything, it’s that getting a good tone can be just as important as any hook, riff, or chorus.

6) Dr. Dog – Shame, Shame

Key Tracks: I Only Wear Blue, Station, Mirror Mirror

Sounds Like: The crossroads where The Band meets The Beatles

The Skinny: Dr. Dog have come a long way from the lo-fi basement rock of 2002′s self-released Toothbrush. With each passing album the Philadelphia-based act have continued to hone their craft. The group’s latest manages to capture the exuberant sound that makes them a must see band live. Drenched in psychedelic guitar swaths, bouncy rhythms, gorgeous harmonies and even more of their signature lush oohs and aahs, Shame, Shame is Dr. Dog’s most developed album yet arriving at the crossroads where The Band meets The Beatles.

Previously On HT:

HT Staff

Hidden Track was started in October of 2006 and features a team of dedicated contributors from across the country. This article was written by one of the newest members of our team or was a collaboration by more than one contributor. Want to contribute to Hidden Track? Send us a pitch to scott at glidemagazine dot com.

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