Best Music Of 2010, Part 1

’Tis the season for year end lists. I’ve been blogging for seven years now, and each December I’ve posted a list of my favorite songs of the previous year.

Why mess with a good thing?

Here are my 20 favorite songs of 2010 . Not necessarily the best or the most played in my iTunes library,¹ but the ones from which I squeezed the most enjoyment.

I don’t know what it says about my selections this year, but few of these songs have official videos. So I offer an assortment of live performances and audio clips I’ve been able to dig up on YouTube so you can sample each song. I hope you enjoy them and find a few new favorites of your own.

For starters, the bonus tracks. To be honest, these five songs and then the songs from 12-20, or so, are all equally enjoyable. It was kind of luck (or unluck, depending on your perspective) that knocked these down into the extra section.

“The Hair Song” – Black Mountain. Here’s a song that should be in a commercial (we have a couple coming up that have been co-opted by the advertising gurus). This sounds like something that should be played loudly while driving down a windy, rural road on the way to or from a lake on a hot summer day.

“Don’t Really Know Me” – Snowden. I’m not convinced this band is actually from Atlanta. Everything about them sounds European.

“Doubt” – The Corin Tucker Band. The former Sleater-Kinney co-lead is out on her own now, and she rocks.

“One Day” – Kings Go Forth. Are they from Milwaukee 2010 or Lagos 1973?

“I Forgot to Fall” – Music Like a Vitamin. I have a thing for Scottish Indie Rock, as my love for Frightened Rabbit will attest. So when the lead singer of Frightened Rabbit joins members of several other Scottish bands to put together an impromptu supergroup, of course I’m on board.

Look for songs 20-11 tomorrow.