I’ve been looking through some “best albums of 2010″ lists over the past few weeks. It might just be me, but for every year the blogging community does this, the lists become more homogenous, slightly reordered versions of the same lists. We’re all listening to the same ten albums. Music critics are becoming a singularity, which goes against what it means to be a critic in the first place: pointing out unique gems and curating music for those who share similar preferences with the critic in question. Furthermore, it’s not helping support all those arguments about the internet being a home for individuality. But those are thoughts for another day.

So, instead of my favorite records of 2010, here are some records I loved that didn’t get the attention they deserved.

The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever

They’ve been a mainstay among the fist-pumping classic rock lovers for a few years now but, aside from a decent amount of publicity right when it came out, this album seems to have fallen flat for a lot of people compared to past successes. Granted, Heaven Is Whenever was a stylistic departure from past albums. But after four releases of fairly straightforward American bar band rock and roll and heavy touring, a band with die-hard fans should be permitted a chance to try something new.

Sonic evolution aside, the writing on this album is some of the best Craig Finn and company have concocted thus far. Finn has consistently produced some of the most honest and soul-searching wordplay that’s seen the light of day in recent years.

Listen: The Hold Steady – “We Can Get Together”

Various Artists: Get Darker Presents: This Is Dubstep Vol. 2

Posting a compilation might be cheating, but considering my attraction to all things electronic this year, the Get Darker This Is Dubstep series — a who’s who in the UK dubstep scene — was both thrilling and educational for me. Get Darker pulled together a grab bag of club bangers, remixes and some of the darker, headier material most of America’s “bro-step” fans tend to overlook. Highlights include Caspa’s remix of TC’s “Where’s My Money?” and Chasing Shadows’ Weezy-sampling track “Ill.” To top it off, DJ Darkside then took all fourty (yes, fourty) tracks on this two-disc set and make continuous DJ mixes out of them. Start to finish it works great as energetic background working music or the soundtrack to a killer dance party.

Listen: Chasing Shadows – “Ill”

Four Tet: There Is Love In You

Minimal techno at its finest. Four Tet gained some attention for a few Radiohead remixes a while back, and his own material only continues to improve. “Love Cry” was one of my most-played songs of the year, and the album as a whole is a finely crafted work of art that is compelling, intricate, delicate and worthy of any introvert’s headphones.

Listen Four Tet – “Love Cry”

Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma

I never could get into jazz, but a blood relative of the Coltranes who collects off-kilter beats, Dilla-worthy hip-hop production, impressive collaborations and an Adult Swim sense of humor is hard to ignore. It has a Coltrane spirit to it in a very psychedelic, new age sort of way. Also, if you’re looking to kill some time, FlyLo is one of the most compelling producers to watch do his thing live.

Listen: Flying Lotus: “Clock Catcher”

Local Natives: Gorilla Manor

Like it or not, “indie” has a formula now. The big record labels know it sells and people making iPod commercials and films for twentysomethings take full advantage of the ubiquity of The Indie Band. Local Natives somehow fits this cookie cutter quite well, but simultaneously uses the stage in a pretty clever way. I couldn’t really tell you what makes this dance-friendly guitar pop different than your average indie band, but they manage to maintain a unique sound within that bubble. They also put on one hell of a show.

Listen: Local Natives – “Airplanes”

Gold Panda: Lucky Shiner

Some are calling it glitch or a fun take on the dubstep craze. I’m not sure what to call it, but Gold Panda does it well. His remixes are worthy of some attention, but Lucky Shiner, his debut LP full of jumpy beats and tweaked vocal samples, is better than all those remixes from start to finish.

Listen: Gold Panda – “You”

Max Richter: Infra

Richter spans the gap between modern minimalist classical and ambient. Infra is going to please anyone who likes that chunk of the musical spectrum. It’s of a type normally reserved for background music, but Richter manages to keep it interesting and yawn-free. Think of it as expanding on the territory where Philip Glass began.

Listen Max Richter – “Infra 1″

Infinite Body: Carve Out the Face of My God

Another entry in the ambient spectrum. This is more droney, using a lot of toothy synths and gritty pads that are clearly electronic but flirt with the edges of more guitar-based drone and sludge. Again, this is another one good for background music. But I would submit that such music is good for anyone doing knowledge work where long periods of focus are essential.

Listen Infinite Body – “Dive”

Freelance Whales: Weathervanes

It’s quaint, quirky, modern, relevant to a young twentysomething, merges folk and light electronics and is delightfully lighthearted. Shoot me in the face, right? Yeah, probably. But it’s good. And it’s entertaining. And repeated listens reinforce how damn good every song on the album actually is.

Listen Freelance Whales – “Hannah”

Junip: Fields

If I didn’t know better, I’d just call this José González’s next album. You might know him from his impressive solo work — which is mostly acoustic folk with some simple precussion — or his collaborations with semi-supergroup Zero 7 — who is mostly known for being a total snoozefest that causes me fall asleep. But Junip is great. It’s upbeat and folky all at once, and González’s vocals and lyrics are a gentle, yet driving, force of nature.

Listen Junip – “Sweet & Bitter”

Salem: King Night

I literally just found this one a couple weeks ago. Right in the nick of time. People are tossing it into this whole witch house genre, which is basically a bullshit way to pigeonhole people making electronic music that sounds evil, spooky and often a bit campy. However, I don’t particularly care what you call Salem as long as you call it good. It sounds like someone making a “chopped and screwed” hip hop remix album on even more quaaludes than a normal “chopped and screwed” remixer would be taking, then filtered through some toothy synths from your favorite Halloween sound effects record that got warped when you left it out in your mom’s hot garage.

Listen Salem – “Sick”

Hammock: Chasing After Shadows…Living with the Ghosts

They’re a Nashville favorite and they belong in that ever-growing ambient genre. This record came out days after my move to Nashville, which also happened to be mere days after a massive flood, which turned out to be a pretty good time for this record to come out. While not as strictly backgroundy as their last record, this one had a great, watery, 80s new wave/gothy vibe thatfelt dark and uplifting all at once. Also, I kind of like that a member of Hammock is also a member of The Choir, and they collaborated with a member of The Church on this record.

Now, if only we could get them to play a show in their own hometown.

Listen Hammock – “The Backward Step”

In case you haven’t been reading these for long (or at all) and you’re wondering why the heck I post a list of songs at the end of every month, perhaps I should explain: A few years ago a friend of mine and I started making a playlist for every month, in a sense to act as a piece of nostalgia, as something of a musical fingerprint of a moment in time. It takes very little effort and is one of my favorite ongoing musical projects.

That said, here’s January’s list, which chronicles the new Vampire Weekend album release, hitting 100,000 listens on Last.fm (the song was “Last Dance” by the Raveonettes), listening to albums from people’s year-end best-of lists, mourning the loss of Jay Reatard and the end of These Arms Are Snakes, seeing Cross Canadian Ragweed live and remembering that I like Jimmy Eat World a hell of a lot. And bands with swear words in their name.

And, to start the year off right (hey, we’re only one twelfth of the way in), I’m going to be posting the songs from one of the many handy streaming music services that let you embed playlists. Check out the player below or go here to listen.

1. The Dead Texan – “A Chronicle of Early Failures, Part 2″ (The Dead Texan)
2. The Low Anthem – “Charlie Darwin” (Oh My God, Charlie Darwin)
3. The Big Pink – “Velvet” (A Brief History of Love)
4. Vampire Weekend – “White Sky” (Contra)
5. Vampire Weekend – “California English” (Contra)
6. The Raveonettes – “Last Dance” (In and Out of Control)
7. Mastodon – “Crack the Skye” (Crack the Skye)
8. Metric – “Sick Muse” (Fantasies)
9. Jay Reatard – “Faking It” (Watch Me Fall)
10. Cross Canadian Ragweed – “17″ (Cross Canadian Ragweed)
11. The Antlers – “Sylvia” (Hospice)
12. The Decemberists – “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid” (Hazards of Love)
13. These Arms Are Snakes – “The Shit Sisters” (Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home)
14. The Very Best – “Julia” (Warm Heart of Africa)
15. Infinite Body – “Dive” (Carve Out the Face of My God)
16. Native – “Backseat Crew” (Wrestling Moves)
17. Jimmy Eat World – “Big Casino” (Chase This Light)
18. Jimmy Eat World – “Chase This Light” (Chase This Light)
19. Fuck Buttons – “Olympians” (Tarot Sport)