Of the 25 entries below, 20 different record labels are represented, including several smaller labels that have cracked the Pastepunk Best Of list for the first time. If I had assign a theme to 2010, it was the emergence of a new class of nimble, up-and-coming independent record labels that are finding their own way in the world and establishing an ability to put out new music at a frighteningly fast pace, one that moves as fast as the social scene does that helps keep music a central piece to so many of our very interconnected lives. A hearty welcome to 2011, another year that the music business will supposedly die and of course, be resurrected once again. Above photo by Manny Mares.

25. None More Black – Icons (Fat Wreck)

Jason Shevchuk and company return after some downtime with None More Black’s best full-length yet. Icons is the rare punk rock record that defies all other categorical modifiers. Aggressive and quirky in its own skin, it’s hard to put this thing down. Shevchuk’s willingness to bare all in his lyrics makes it that much easier to love.

24. Cruel Hand – Lock & Key (Bridge Nine)

Lock & Key is a twenty minute metallic-hardcore full-length that’s designed and executed for immediate ‘in-yo-face’ impact. A huge sound and style befits a band with conquering visions in its eyes. It was a big year for crossover NYHC revival, and Cruel Hand came out on top over such bands as Alpha & Omega, This Is Hell, and Bitter End.

23. Underoath – Disambiguation (Solid State)

Underoath turns right when everyone else is bearing left. With key member line-up changes altering the band’s winning formula, they could have easily made a more melodic shift and joined the electro-metal fray with all of its cheeseball fake-vocal trappings. Disambiguation ignores all of that for something that’s rougher and less polished. Frodus would be proud.

22. The Sword – Warp Riders (Kemado)

It’s a bummer that The Sword sort of blew up as a band towards the end of the year. Their future is cloudy, but their three full-lengths of retro, Sabbath-inspired metal should age well. Warp Riders is groove-tastic and plan ol’ fun. Music that moves you with baseline effort… it’s no wonder they’ve become Metallica’s favorite new touring partner.

21. Two Cow Garage – Sweet Saint Me (Suburban Home)

It’s not all mosh parts and solo pile-ons at Pastepunk HQ! (the solo pile-ons hurt like hell). Two Cow Garage have grown on me with each successive release that they’ve put out on Suburban Home, and Sweet Saint Me finally feels like the home run the rock band was close to achieving all along. When I hear Micah Schnabel’s vocals, I’m in a better place.

20. Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis (Season of Mist)

Maybe we all just take Dillinger for granted now, but in highly refined terms, this is some seriously powerful shit. All the technical wizardly in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t make a song out of it, and Option Paralysis deftly avoids the schizo pitfalls that marred their last couple of releases. Best part of Paralysis – the melodic vocals that now color the band finally add a layer to the music that feels like its part of a fabric and not some cheap iron-on decal.

19. Athletics – Why Aren’t I Home? (Deep Elm)

Why Aren’t I Home? is the centerpiece of Deep Elm’s amazing 2010 revival and just one listen of this record should have you pining for tour dates in your town. Athletics’ style of pounding, sculpted post-hardcore simply glows. Think Explosions In The Sky meets The Appleseed Cast funneled through Jimmy Eat World arena-rock power. Mind-melting mid-tempo music.

18. At Our Heels – Misanthropy and Godlessness (Creator-Destructor)

It only took about eight years, but we’re finally moving past the hardcore songwriting school of “ape everything from American Nightmare and Modern Life Is War”. I get the sense that At Our Heels have an affinity for both of those bands but were very self-conscious in their songwriting to not let their influences run over their own (impressive) creative impulses. At Our Heels have that element of desperation to their sound that doesn’t leave anyone second-guessing their intentions.

17. Get Rad – I Can Always Live (Gilead Media)

Two bands that I’ve been fans of for almost half my life: Sick of It All and Good Riddance. Get Rad sound like Good Riddance after the band toured with Sick Of It All and Ensign in the late 90s. Rampaging, short-song hardcore with memorable song-structures, achingly honest lead vocals, and personally challenging/inspiring lyrics that make this release so much more than background music. Guaranteed to put you in a mood to do something positive.

16. The Sleeping – The Big Deep (Victory)

I made a comparison of The Sleeping to Muse earlier in the year and I really can’t think of a better way to frame the band’s development with The Big Deep (maybe something from the early Dredg catalog too). With a few steps of tinkering The Sleeping could probably be a popular funk band in a college town, but saying that doesn’t exactly do justice to their meandering, thoughtful, rock-the-whole-house kind of sound. What was once a disjointed post-hardcore band trying to sing its way out of a paper-bag of influences has finally turned into a respected headlining act.

15. The Wonder Years – The Upsides (No Sleep/Hopeless)

With a staying power that unusually grew stronger with every month since its January release, The Upsides was clearly one of the years best pop-punk releases. Eons better than their feeble full-length debut Get Stoked On It, The Wonder Years dramatically framed adult life in the mid-20s, fighting through social demos and general chaos soundtracking it to a most spending combination of New Found Glory, Midtown, and Lifetime influences. Hopeless Records was wise to re-release the record in deluxe fashion.

14. Against Me! – White Crosses (Sire)

Sometimes I just want to sing-along. Loudly. In my car. In a way that imitates Tom Gabel’s voice that I’m sure doesn’t sound right to my front or back seat passengers, but feels right to me nonetheless. Against Me! songs allow me to do this and I don’t feel dumb mouthing the lyrics. I could do the same in my car to the latest songs by Usher or Katy Perry. But I don’t (exceptions may apply). Extra points goes to “I Was A Teenage Anarchist”, a song too truthful for it to earn the accolades it genuinely deserves.

13. Terror – Keepers of the Faith (Century Media)

There’s a whole website dedicated to quotes from Terror frontman Scott Vogel titled vogelisms.com. One of the quotes from the site that’s wholly accurate in describing Keepers of The Faith is “I need maximum output! More mother fucking stage dives, this is fucking war… Rip this place down! Maximum output… I need more fucking stage dives!!!!!” Ask and you shall receive.

12. Howl – Full of Hell (Relapse)

Howl are full-on stoner/sludge metal with a penchant for bulldozing percussion and bass sounds so gnarled that it scares my facial hair into shaving itself. Ever since Mastodon hit it big several years it seems like each subsequent calendar brings into the fold another band who can push this musical genre into an ever more extreme corner. Howl are the victors of this year’s spoils, and the mean marsh land of Rhode Island may never experience something like this ever again.

11. Comeback Kid – Symptoms and Cures (Victory)

After the adjustment that was Broadcasting, Comeback Kid give a whole-hearted effort on Symptoms and Cures to bridge their old-school influences with the metallic dynamic generated by bands like Snapcase and SHAI HULUD. There’s a distinct darker influence from the band on Symptoms that I initially described as “atmospheric apocalyptic destruction” and I’m sticking with that description. Keep it on your iPod when we have to prepare for the end of days.

10. Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life (Columbia)

It seems mostly irrational to root for bands to do well on their major label debuts these days, but there’s something immensely satisfying about My Dinosaur Life. It’s not any less creative or witty than their earlier releases and it rocks just as hard, if not harder. Polished and professional for sure, but these guys are a pop-rock band after all. Maybe it’s because music fans have burned so often before with this setup that when “the good result” happens, it’s easy to feel grateful about the way things worked out.

9. Dr. Dog – Shame Shame (Anti)

Dr. Dog outspooned Spoon in 2010. Dr. Dog is Spoon with bar rock swagger. While Transference initially wowed me over with its musical precision and judicious use of instrumentation, Dr. Dog’s Shame Shame charmed me with a kind of warmness that puts an arm around your shoulder and quietly offers words of complementary nature. See also: better than the last couple of New Pornographers records.

8. Crime In Stereo – I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone (Bridge Nine)

I Was Trying To Describe This Release Without Mentioning Brand New. I have failed. Nevertheless, Crime In Stereo’s (not surprising) swan song closes the chapter on a band that kept searching for its voice through shifting musical interests and aspirations. The fact that they touched a nerve musically with so many people despite their arguably/occasionally lackluster live performances speaks to the intricate depth to their songs and the lyrical narrative they so strongly tried to obscure and define at the same time. Frustrating and challenging as this final full-length is, I never wanted to close the book on what it was all about.

7. Integrity – The Blackest Curse (Deathwish)

If Terror is at one extreme of the “hardcore interaction” meter, Integrity are at another. You are not going to hear Dwid tell people to tear a room apart to an Integrity song despite the sonic elements that would support such commandment. Integrity are metallic hardcore with an anti-social complex. One does not stage dive to contemporary Integrity. One does not “enjoy” current Integrity songs. The weight of the current Integrity framework is oppressive in that it only allows for a miserable acceptance of what the band is sowing. It is indeed, the blackest curse.

6. The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang (Side One Dummy)

Normally when a full-length has a few great songs, a few good ones, a couple of bits of filler, it doesn’t make for a Top 10 selection on this list, but when The Gaslight Anthem pen one of the great ones, it becomes something that just surrounds you and your thinking. The intro to “The Queen of Lower Chelsea” perks my ears up. My brain does a funny little dance. The song is an infectious oozing liquid of rock and roll dreams. The music of The Gaslight Anthem will make starry-eyed believers out of all of us.

5. The Flatliners – Cavalcade (Fat Wreck)

It’s a primal reference but The Flatliners sound like Lagwagon meets Hot Water Music on Cavalcade, and that’s something I’m 110% on board with. The band’s third full-length mitigates most but not all of the band’s ska elements to their early catalog efforts and in turn, they ratchet up the speed and gruffness. It’s a skatepunk record made not for the sunny shores of California but for the ominous fall months in grayer, bleaker territories. This cavalcade moves like an avalanche.

4. The Gamits – Parts (Suburban Home/Paper + Plastick)

Never thought there would be another record from The Gamits. I resigned myself to their 4xCD box set years ago and put them firmly into “remember them?” status. But life is full of surprises, and Parts is a big ol’ badass surprise. It’s speedy, emotional pop-punk of The Gamits of yesteryear crossed with an out-of-nowhere Dillinger Four influence. The bitterness in the lyrics can make Parts a tough listen but Chris Fogal’s licking of his wounds begets “comeback album of the year” status.

3. Make Do and Mend – End Measured Mile (Panic/Paper + Plastick)

It could be a stretch, but it doesn’t have to be – Make Do and Mend are like Texas Is The Reason for a new generation of kids (a version that just happens to sound a whole lot like early Small Brown Bike). Their discography isn’t huge, but it’s made a massive impact already in the heavy emo/post-hardcore sphere. What grips me the most about End Measured Mile is how it uses tempo shifting, spacing and loud/quiet adjustments to punctuate the most raw and trembling moments. It’s cliché to say that music gives you chills, but I’m ready to testify.

2. Kylesa – Spiral Shadow (Season of Mist)

Somehow Kylesa were metal hipster darlings this year and while I can’t quite figure out how they became the anointed ones, Spiral Shadow is easily their most accessible and jaw-droppingly brilliant release to date. While they haven’t exactly moved on from the big riff/stoner/swamp fun of their prior releases, the group has strongly reshaped their songwriting arrangements and has used the two-drummer setup to simply blast off. It’s also a huge welcome-to-the-show moment for guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants whose smooth, calming voice is featured often on Spiral Shadow in contrast to the persistent, intoxicating rhythmic wave. It’s no coincidence that the band’s name is a Buddhist reference to a delusory mental state…

1. Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man (Epitaph)

Bad Religion promised something different with The Dissent of Man and referred to Recipe For Hate as a discography milemarker. As if on cue, the album has been found polarizing by the band’s vast fanbase, very much in the same way that Recipe For Hate was and still is loved and hated by the same crowd. No matter, Bad Religion continues to do things in a way that no one else even tries to do anymore. The ridiculous harmonies, the pointed lyrics that stand alone and always stand the test of time, there’s just no comparison between Bad Religion and anyone else, all while their always-cited contemporaries NOFX and Pennywise struggle to find inspiration or to simply reinvent themselves. How else do you frame a band celebrating their 30th year in existence who can still rattle off such pearls as “It’s a dangerous slip, a conscientious shift. In the spirit of resistance you gotta hold your grip. Because passion unabated can be readily conflated as belligerence.” To another 30 more, huzzah!

Honorable Mentions

• A Day To Remember – What Separates Me From You (Victory)
• Acid Tiger – S/T (Deathwish)
• After The Fall – Eradication (Mightier Than Sword)
• Alkaline Trio – This Addiction (Epitaph)
• Alpha & Omega – Life Swallower (6131)
• Balance and Composure / Tigers Jaw Split EP (No Sleep)
• Bars of Gold – Of Gold (Friction)
• Bitter End – Guilty As Charged (Deathwish)
• Bring Me The Horizon – There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It (Epitaph)
• Circa Survive – Blue Sky Noise (Epic)
• Danzig – Deth Red Sabaoth (Evilive)
• Deftones – Diamond Eyes (Reprise)
• Early Graves – Goner (Ironclad)
• Early Man – Death Potion (The End)
• End of a Year – You Are Beneath Me (Deathwish)
• Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast)
• Frontier(s) – There Will Be No Miracles Here (Arena Rock)
• High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine (E1)
• Hold Steady – Heaven Is Waiting (Vagrant)
• Hostage Calm – S/T (Run For Cover)
• Look Mexico – To Bed To Battle (Suburban Home)
• Man Overboard – Real Talk (Run For Cover)
• Miles Away – Endless Roads (Six Feet Under)
• My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: The True Lives of Fabulous Killjoys (Reprise)
• Nails – Unsilent Death (Six Feet Under)
• Off With Their Heads – In Desolation (Epitaph)
• OFF! – First Four EPs (Vice)
• Reviver – Potential Wasteland EP (State of Mind)
• Rhinoceros – They Are Coming For Me (Eulogy)
• Rufio – Anybody Out There (Militia Group)
• Run With The Hunted – S/T (Panic)
• Samiam – Orphan Works (No Idea)
• Sick of It All – Based On A True Story (Century Media)
• Stick To Your Guns – The Hope Division (Sumerian)
• Superchunk – Majesty Shredding (Merge)
• The Braces – First World Problems (Self-released)
• The Estranged – The Subliminal Man (Dirtnap)
• The Ghost Inside – Returners (Mediaskare)
• The Measure [SA] – Notes (No Idea)
• The Menzingers – Chamberlin Waits (Red Scare)
• The Rival Mob – Hardcore For Hardcore EP (Six Feet Under)
• The Showdown – Blood In The Gears (Solid State)
• The Thermals – Personal Life (Kill Rock Stars)
• This Is Hell – Weight of the World (Rise)
• Transit – Keep This To Yourself (Run For Cover)
• United Nations – Never Mind The Bombings Here’s Your Six Figures (Deathwish)
• Warpaint – The Fool (Rough Trade)
• We Were Skeletons – S/T (Topshelf)
• Within The Ruins – Invade (Victory)

Best Compilations of 2010

• Various Artists: America’s Hardcore (Triple B)
• Various Artists: Past Present Compilation (Revelation)
• Various Artists: To Us It Was So Much More: Tribute to Chain of Strength (1124 Records)

I Can’t Believe It’s Been Ten Years Since I Bought…

Glassjaw – Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence

Best Label Resurrection of 2010

Deep Elm. New business plan, aggressive use of streaming to promote the label’s huge discography. Awesome signings throughout the whole year. Can’t wait to see what’s in-store for 2011.

Worst Label/Company Situation in 2010

The sorry state of affairs that has plagued Vinyl Collective. Ouch.

Music Company that Better Figure Out What It’s Doing Soon or It’s Toast

Emusic. I’ve been a loyal customer since the beginning. I’ve been through all of the business model changes, the pricing changes, the catalog changes, and everything else. And now I’m wondering why I’m still paying $30 a month when many of the labels that I counted on being there have left (most epically, Merge, Domino and Beggars Group). With every chunk of newly added major label catalog, the better deal on price has been slashed. Emusic seems to think price doesn’t really matter a whole lot, that its consumers are more high brow and are willing to pay for better editorial coverage. That’s a high gamble. I’m not sure how much longer I want to be a bettor at the table.

Music Company That Has Made Updating Pastepunk Immensely More Enjoyable

Bandcamp. Hell yes. I was crushed when Apple killed off Lala, which left me with little to no options to embed music on the site’s news page… that was until Bandcamp blew up in the second half of 2010. Bandcamp is the holy grail of music distribution sites for up-and-coming bands and larger bands alike, and labels too. Sell your own music on your terms, cut out the middleman. Stream it all so it can be heard and let that stream be embedded everywhere. If and when Bandcamp adds social media features or integrates better with Facebook, watch out!

Pros

1. My son is almost three and asks to hear Green Day in the car (“I like this!”). I’ve got another one on the way set for a middle of June street-date. Stoked.

2. New Most Precious Blood, Face To Face, Set Your Goals, New Found Glory, Wonder Years and H2O covers release coming in 2011. Many more anticipated and surprises sure to follow.

3. Pastepunk’s 12th Anniversary MP3 Compilation. Still available for free download here.

4. First full-year working from home full-time. Hooray for progressive federal agencies who implement serious, accountable telework programs. Find the right work-life balance for you, especially if you have a family. Can’t stress this enough.

Cons

1. Baseball is a cruel mistress. To go from Stephen Strasburg’s major league debut, to Tommy John surgery several months later makes you question your sanity for devoting so much time and emotion to a sporting league. Can’t wait for his return… in 2012. See also, the Mets.

2. Emailing with a label person I really admire and getting the following as a response. Edited for purposes of anonymity.

“I’m so frustrated with the illegal downloading thing. I found the new <release> on the It-Leaked site… it had been downloaded 463 times. The total number of records that have sold for the record is 50 CDs and 230 vinyl. So fucking sad that kids just don’t get that <small indie label> is not a big label with lots of money and <band> is not Fall Out Boy selling tons of records that offset the loses incurred by illegal downloading. I just don’t get it, I don’t think I’m ever going to understand it. It’s getting pretty bad where I just can’t seem to break even on records that I’m starting to question continuing to pour my money into it and pay to work. Anyways, that’s my rant. I’m sure you know where I’m coming from…

I want to support banner ads on news sites like yours. I want to be able to place ads in <magazines>, not that either of them are really hurting… but it’s just money I can’t spare because I can’t sell 400 of a release to just cover the costs of manufacturing. Kids download the shit and expect that it’s going to keep coming. It’ll eventually crash on itself. I just don’t know when that’s going to happen. I’m doing my best to raise awareness that the downloading does truly kill the labels. Anytime someone orders music from me, I give them a message to let them know that they’re truly helping to keep <label> alive. I think it’s been working as they know that they’re a part of something and want to continue supporting it because they enjoy what’s going on.”

I don’t know what the answer is to that… I just know that if we don’t financially support the people whose work we enjoy the most, whether through merch, downloads, CDs or LPs, we’ll lose their talents forever.

3. Crime In Stereo breaking up. I’m the same age or around the same as them (31 next month… how’d that happen?!?)… they were sort of my “live vicariously through them” band. We grew up in a similar part of Long Island, likely attended the same shows as teens, cited Silent Majority as a life-changing influence… Crime In Stereo kept some mystery to them. Even in interviews they were guarded about their efforts, never all that excited to pump themselves up too much. They will be missed.

4. Was kinda hoping Christine O’Donnell would win her Senate race. Anyone who has the guts to start a campaign commercial with “I am not a witch…” is worthy of being a United States Senator. I love this country.