Best Of 2010 - The preamble

[Andrew_TSKS]

There was better/more interesting hip-hop going on this year, but I disagree with the idea that there was a stronger hip-hop album this year than that Big Boi record.  Or, at the very least, with the insinuation that thinking it was the strongest hip-hop album of the year makes you some kind of poseur.

Something I thought of hours after I made the post above--The Roots probably made my favorite hip-hop album of the year. And that one, I would stack up against Big Boi's record in terms of solidity. It plays like one long song.

[Thermofusion]

Or, at the very least, with the insinuation that thinking it was the strongest hip-hop album of the year makes you some kind of poseur.

Agreed, that's some bunk jazz

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

but I disagree with the idea that there was a stronger hip-hop album this year than that Big Boi record.

My whole issue with that record is that it doesn't work as an album at all.

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

Mark Fell - Multistability 2-B (from Multistability) [1.52] 

this hurt my head

[Nick Ink]

Mark Fell - Multistability 2-B (from Multistability) [1.52] 

this hurt my head

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Nick, I think you will like this record that my friend made!:

http://citysurgicalsound.com/

[Nick Ink]

Nick, I think you will like this record that my friend made!:

http://citysurgicalsound.com/

I do indeed like that! A bit reminiscent of Monolake in places, which is a thoroughly excellent thing.

[Nick Ink]

boomkat's top 100, plus guest lists from Taylor Deupree, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Demdike Stare, Xela, Grouper, Pete Swanson and lot of others

boomkats 10:
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Disingenuity/Disingenuousness
Salem - King Night
Actress - Splazsh
Yellow Swans - Going Places
LA Vampires & Zola Jesus - LA Vampires & Zola Jesus
Autre Ne Veut - Autre Ne Veut
Eleh - Location Momentum
Hype Williams - Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, And Start Gettin' Reel
Pan Sonic - Gravitoni
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Generator

[fishjim]

It's a humbling experience reading these Best Of threads. I mean, I know there's all this music coming out, just never realized I'd feel compelled to buy it all. Save me!

Discovered a lot of music in 2010, but seems I'm a few years behind: enjoyed getting into JJ, The Essex Green, Bart Davenport, The Donkeys, and naturally my pal's band Spanglish Fly. Also Jack Rose, RIP, who took up the most of my ear-time, and who will continue to do so if he keeps releasing albums from the grave.

But I do have a favorite album of 2010, one I can say emphatically is fucking awesome. It's the debut full-length of Brazil's Garotas Suecas, who I got to see in September at the Uptown in Oakland (great venue, btw).

Had no idea what I was in for. This NPR review from early 2009 -- by Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein -- pretty much nails my experience:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2009/01/garotas_suecas.html

I frickin' lost my mind. Greatest freaking show I've ever seen. Bought everything in sight at the merch table and stayed up all night with a bunch of folks who felt the same. Came home at sunup and promptly framed the promo poster I'd ripped off the wall.



Merry eve of Xmas, folks.

[kyle]

I'm really late to this party, but Janelle Monae, goddamn.

Seconded. Listened to this for the first time yesterday. Whoa.

[davy]

One good listen is just about all I got out of it. But that listen was good.

[narlus]

i just found out how awesome Warpaint is.

[davy]

I keep seeing these nods to Warpaint, and the first thing I think of is the 2008 Black Crowes record. I'm all "Yes, finally!" and then I realize it's some new band. 

[nonotyet]

I am not saying that this should have been in my top twenty or anything, but The Outsiders Are Back by Kings Go Forth was pretty good, and they just came up on shuffle and I was like OH HEY THIS BAND.
 ps i am totally biased because they are from Milwaukee
pps you can listen to them here
   

[Andrew_TSKS]

but I disagree with the idea that there was a stronger hip-hop album this year than that Big Boi record.

My whole issue with that record is that it doesn't work as an album at all.

If Sir Luscious doesn't work as an album at all, then how does one describe The Carter III in terms of how it works as an album? Because Sir Luscious Leftfoot works 100 times better as an album than that thing does.

[Andrew_TSKS]

I am not saying that this should have been in my top twenty or anything, but The Outsiders Are Back by Kings Go Forth was pretty good, and they just came up on shuffle and I was like OH HEY THIS BAND.
 ps i am totally biased because they are from Milwaukee
pps you can listen to them here

I got into Kings Go Forth when their song "One Day" was on that funnyordie video with the dudes that high-five everybody and then stare intensely into the camera. I don't really understand why that video series is so funny, but I howled at all of them, especially the post-2008-election one (which was the one with Kings Go Forth on it). Anyway, I got this album for review from a publicist, but I haven't actually listened to it yet because my head basically disappeared below the surface of the promos I was getting in October or so and I haven't made it back above water yet.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Oh, and finally: where Janelle Monae is concerned, I've said it before and I'll say it again--the "Suite II" half of the album is much stronger than "Suite III." That record would absolutely make my top 10 if it ended after "Mushrooms And Roses" (or at least skipped straight from there to "Ba Bop Bye Ya," the only song from the second half that has stuck with me). As it is, it's probably gonna be somewhere in the mid-teens because I think the second half weighs it down a bit.

[Benmont Tench]

Oh, and finally: where Janelle Monae is concerned, I've said it before and I'll say it again--the "Suite II" half of the album is much stronger than "Suite III." That record would absolutely make my top 10 if it ended after "Mushrooms And Roses" (or at least skipped straight from there to "Ba Bop Bye Ya," the only song from the second half that has stuck with me). As it is, it's probably gonna be somewhere in the mid-teens because I think the second half weighs it down a bit.

This is pretty much exactly how I feel.

[edison]

I haven't listened to the album in three months, but I think my own opinion isn't far from that either.

And dammit, I am (as usual, it seems) very late on this best of list business. I have the top 3 (Newsom, Skelton, The Fall), but no clue about the rest. Haven't had time to really think about it so far, but will manage something before the deadline.

[Antero]

but I disagree with the idea that there was a stronger hip-hop album this year than that Big Boi record.

My whole issue with that record is that it doesn't work as an album at all.

If Sir Luscious doesn't work as an album at all, then how does one describe The Carter III in terms of how it works as an album? Because Sir Luscious Leftfoot works 100 times better as an album than that thing does.

I don't know about that.  In both cases, you can arrange the tracks in pretty much whatever order and it seems to work just as well.  The difference is that the Big Boi can get a bit same-y - a series of great songs that tend to all be great in the same way - whereas Weezy is all over the goddamn place.

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah, I don't really have many pretensions about what an album needs to be.  All I meant in that original post is that when I listen to that record, I listen to it all the way through, without skipping around.  That's not something I can say about other hip-hop records this year (with the possible exception of the Pilot Talks, and in that case it's more about overall vibe than the strength of the tracks).  And, incidentally, it's not something I can say about Carter III either.

[Antero]

With regards to Pilot Talk, while I've got nothing but love for Ski Beatz I find Curren$y an extremely bland MC.

[dieblucasdie]

Oh yeah, I totally agree.  Like I said, those albums are all about the overall vibe; when I listen to them, I'm barely listening to the actual rapping at all.  Were I in a more grandiose mood, I might even make the argument that it's almost better to have a laidback, non-entity at the mic for those albums.