here are my favorite stand out songs of 2010:

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Tensnake - 'Coma Cat' - every DJ this summer played it, and there's a reason, it's infectious as sin.

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Divine Comedy - 'At the Indie Disco' - an homage to indie rock and a great tune to boot

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David Byrne & Fatboy Slim feat. Florence Welch [Florence & The Machine] - 'Here Lies Love' - what better way to start of a double album with such a strong track.

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Pet Shop Boys - 'All over the World' (new version) / 'Together' - both songs continue their knack and ability of remixing and writing new pop songs to effortless effect. (I can't find the new version of 'All Over the World' on YouTube, sorry.)

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Dennis Ferrer - 'Hey Hey' - the best throw your hands in the air dance song of the year!

Aeroplane - 'We Can't Fly' - throw a gospel choir on a song and it's almost a guarantine that'll be a hit. Strangely I can't find this on YouTube.

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Skream - 'Wibbler' - grimy dubstep that crawls under the skin and singes the senses - dubstep's the new drum n bass, but slower

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Hurts - 'Better Than Love' - a 'goth' erasure -ace!

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Swedish House Mafia - 'One' - epic sounding dance anthem that recalls 'Faithless' best dance riffs.

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Ost & Kjex - 'We Got Ticket To Moon' - it blips, it bleeps it's quite hypnotic

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Shit Robot - 'Tuff Enuff' - a short groove-tastic track that should be a primer for LCD Soundsystem on how to write a song under 3 minutes

I can proudly say I've never heard any of the songs and most of the bands you listed. A+ for obscure and unknown cool indie artists. How long have you worked for Pitchfork?

Whirring and Cradle by The Joy Formidable are tied for my favorite song of 2010.

Hopefully, they can be one of your top songs of 2011 because they were first released on an EP, but both will be on the band's debut album "The Big Roar" due out in the UK in late January and in the US sometime in March.

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A few of my favs that should be in everyone's music machines of choice . . . .

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1. Kanye West - All of the Lights
2. The National - Terrible Love
3. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
4. LCD Soundsystem - All I Want
5. Robyn - Dancing on My Own
6. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars
7. Big Boi - Daddy Fat Sax
8. Flying Lotus - ...And the World Laughs with You
9. Janelle Monae - Tightrope
10. Crystal Castles & Robert Smith - Not in Love

Zac Brown Band (feat Alan Jackson) - As She's Walking Away

A few of my favorites. Great year for music. Everyone was releasing the "best album of their career"..

Pantha Du Prince – “Welt Am Draht”
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Tame Impala – “I Don’t Really Mind”
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The Sword – “Arrows in the Dark”
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Citay – “Careful with that Hat”
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The National – “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
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LCD Soundsystem – “I Can Change”
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The Thermals – “Never Listen to Me”
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Junip – “Rope and Summit”
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Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round and Round”
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Wolf Parade – “Cave-o-Sapien”
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Dungen – “Hogdalstoppen”
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F***ed Up – “Year of the Ox”
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Mark Ronson – “Record Collection”
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Robyn – “Dancing on my Own”
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Gold Panda – “Snow and Taxis”
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Teenage Fanclub – “Shock and Awe”
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Black Mountain – “Old Fangs”
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Lower Dens – “Hospice Gates”
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Yeasayer – “I Remember”
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Wavves – “Green Eyes”
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R. Kelly - Number One Hit

Hiro11, that is a strange strange collection of music you have there.

from Green Eyes.....

Yay. Another thread contest to see who can post the most YouTube videos no one else is going to listen to.

Judging by the year Nathan Williams had in 2009, I think he's just being honest. Also, I think the song is a sly reference to the Husker Du classic of the same name.

Never heard of them and like both of those songs. It's always a bit of a red flag when a band puts out an EP or a bunch of singles first, sometimes they've only really got four or five good songs in them and by the time the album comes out, you've heard the best of what they have to offer. See: Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, The Drums et al.

"Love the Way You Lie" - Eminem, Rihanna
"We Did it When We Were Young" - Gaslight Anthem
"Some Kind of Nature" - Gorillaz, Lou Reed
"You Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic" - A Day to Remember
"Fuck You" - Cee-Lo Green
"Monster" - Kanye West, Jay-z, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver, Rick Ross
"My Time" - Minus the Bear
"King of Anything" - Sara Bareilles
"Ridin' in My Car" - She & Him
"Written in Reverse" - Spoon
"The Ghost of You and I" - Story of the Year
"Mondegreen" - Yeasayer
"Giving Up The Gun" - Vampire Weekend
"Mama Hold My Hand" - Aloe Blacc
"Airplanes, Part II" - B.o.B., Haley Williams, Eminem

I've heard some other songs and heard from friends who've seem them live and I'm not worried at all. I pre-ordered the import from the UK because I can't wait until March. I love them. (www.thejoyformidable.com)

I think they have a phenomenal sound and I hope they get noticed here, but really good music, at least the kind I like, rarely seems to get a ton of attention anymore.

I'd be glad to send you some additional songs when I get the cd, but I hope you'll buy it when it comes out and spread the word to your friends.

Nice to see you put "songs" in quotes. I don't think anything in the mainstream can qualify as a "song" these days. It's all fake bullshit. They don't even use real instruments! Even the vocals!

Unnecessary quotes FTW.

1. Ariel Pink - Round and Round
2. Twin Sister - Around And Away We Go
3. Besnard Lakes - Albatross
4. The Apples In Stereo - Dance Floor
5. Nada Surf - Electrocution
6. Radio Dept. - Heaven's On Fire
7. Clock Opera - Once And For All
8. Deerhunter - Helicopter
9. Delta Spirit - Bushwick Blues
10. Morning Benders - Excuses

I've ragged on Pitchfork myself in the past and almost never click on their site (not a big fan of intentionally lo-fi rock when it doesn't have to be), but just because an artist is unknown doesn't mean the music sucks. I've never heard any of the songs I've listed on the radio, but most of them are dripping with melody.

Eminem - Going Through Changes
Surfer Blood - Harmonix
Big Boi - Daddy Fat Sax
Jimmy Eat World - My Best Theory
The Thermals - Not Like Any Other Feeling
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Tokyo Police Club - Breakneck Speed
Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
Neon Trees - Animal
Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You

Kewl. I actually mentioned these guys in this almost three-year-old thread:

Who's your favourite independent (unsigned) artist?

Glad I didn't jinx them.

God, I love this time of year. Enjoyed a bunch of your tunes... especially The Divine Comedy track. I've been slowly going through their back catalog. I like this tune very much.

I think when you listen to enough music, there comes a point where you do sort of acclimate toward the more offbeat/obscure stuff. I'm fine with that. It only bothers me if someone crosses into that realm of pretentious snobbery where obscure = great and mainstream = pedestrian drivel.

Anyway, I had hoped all year long to defer to my iTunes play counts for this very list. Instead what I learned two weeks ago is that even if your iTunes library and its contents are stored on an external hard drive, when you switch computers iTunes doesn't retain that information. (Nor does it save your ratings, which broke my OCD heart.) Here's the best I can reconstruct, though I'm sure I've missed stuff from earlier in the year. These are 2010 recordings (so nothing from a 2009 album that was released as a 2010 single), but not all of them were singles. Some were album cuts. The truth is, most of what I listened to this year were catalog releases.

"Bad Angel," Dierks Bentley featuring Jamey Johnson and Miranda Lambert
"Ain't No Grave," Johnny Cash*
"She's Acting Single (I'm Drinking Doubles)," Ronnie Dunn
"That's Important to Me," Joey + Rory
"Back to December," Taylor Swift
"Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian," Those Darlins
"Notes to the Coroner," Chely Wright

*Obviously recorded prior to 2010, but not released until this year.

Also, while not given an actual commercial release of its own, I liked Nicole Scherzinger's cover of "GoldenEye" from the Wii game.

I've never once claimed that my off-beat taste in music is great, if anything I've mocked it. However, pretty much any mainstream music I've heard is indeed pedestrian drivel. It really is god awful, its not snobbery, its just the utter lack of creativity and craft replaced by the appeal to easily digestible radio friendly snippets that are passed off as songs that all sound exactly the same within their genres.

To clarify: I've got no beef with someone honestly not liking every single mainstream recording they hear, so long as that dislike is on artistic merit and not a standing policy to dislike mainstream recordings.

That is at least the case for me and I should clarify it as "modern" mainstream of the past 10-15 years. Its just all such souless commercial crap and redundant. Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands. They are certainly "mainstream" so if something is good I won't slight it just because its popular (despite what some here may think).

Hands down, my fave was Whatever It Takes by Pillar. Just rocked my socks off.

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