NOTE: After legal complaints, I'm going to only post mp3s for songs freely provided by the artist. All other links will be to SoundCloud, YouTube, Grooveshark, Bandcamp, or other such sites. Sorry for the iTunes library hit, but let's start the year off by supporting music the right way.
2010 was a year that has carried a sense of significance for a while now. Back in 4th grade I figured out that was the year I would graduate (middle school...), and thought it was so cool that the year ended in a zero. The start of a new decade. I still think thats pretty ill.
2010 was a year that has carried a sense of significance for a while now. Back in 4th grade I figured out that was the year I would graduate (middle school...), and thought it was so cool that the year ended in a zero. The start of a new decade. I still think thats pretty ill.
For the past hour or so, I've been going through my iTunes library and checking songs from the past year -- listening as they pop with memories, people, car rides, or just straight hotness. I've decided to try and list ten of them, being completely biased in my calculations. These are not the best ten songs of 2010, but rather ten songs (or other musical entities) that did it all for me, and to be real shoulda done it up pretty well for you too.
So before this becomes a Xanga entry:
10. Das Racist
2010 saw Das Racist's image morph from fast-food loving stoners to Ray Liotta-like, complex pop culture connoisseurs. Formed by Himanshu "Taliban-chic" Suri, Victor "Second Best Rapper with Glasses" Vasquez, and their hypeman Dapwell, these dudes put together some of the most fun and insanely clever lines of the year -- droppin' two mixtapes Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man. Takeaway all the Pitchfork and indie bloggers love. Take away the dope production from the likes of Diplo and Dash Speaks. And at its essence, the reason I love these guys is cause I relate. They're our generations Beastie Boys right now: speaking in a voice that rings true. Pop cultural overload, as smart as how fast we can use our smart phone, complex like Donkey from Shrek, smoking the same loosie from 14 to 24, celebrating the fact we moved into our mama's basement. Plus Heems and Dap went to my high school, so gotta give up the Stuy love!
For more check what MUSKit said bout them a quick minute ago.
9. B.M.F - Rick Ross
ROSS! When that intro hits, no matter my age or the occasion I will start stompin' a little, aggresively start pulling at my shirt, rock back and forth, and then just shout "I THINK I'M BIG MEECH!" This song blasted from my car all summer, with Rozay's first verse just monstrously devouring my already broken speakers. It's one of the few songs that just by osmosis, the listener can actually become more gangster. The result: "cocaine, running in my dick vein."
8. A-Trak
A-Trak had such a crazy year in 2010 that he gets his own number. Under the entity of Duck Sauce - he and Arman van Helden dropped two of this year's funkier club destroyers "aNYway" and "Barbara Streisand." Then came out with fire remixes of Robyn's "Idestructible" and Sebastien Tellier's "Kilometer." The Tellier remix being my favorite of the whole lot. A-Trak has done a whole lot since buying his first turntables using his bar mitzvah money, and he is gonna be around a long time, but 2010 will definitely go down as a big one for him.
Barbara Streisand (Fare Soldi Remix) - Duck Sauce
7. Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours
Ed Banger's latest French export, Breakbot, just made my 2010 a little happier with his Baby, I'm Yours EP. Getting his 1970s - 1980s electro disco on, Breakbot dug into his keyboard and combined so many funky sounds to create a complex, yet super light and smiley pop number. I mean look at the picture! Fun!
6. We Are Trees
I stumbled upon We Are Trees by accident at a CMJ showcase, getting to the venue too early. I should do this more often as We Are Trees blew my mind. Their music combines delicate strings and body pounding percussion with the soul-wrenching vocals of James Nee to create the best emotional dance party I've ever been a part of. Said party may have just been me, in my basement, but shitt, you should have been there! Anyway for reals, this group is incredible, and are my pick to blow the fuck up in 2011. Think The xx type blowup.
Check their Bandcamp here for their EP Boyfriend
5. You Got The Love (Theophilus London Remix) - The xx
Transition! This track combines two of my favorite acts of 2010 - Theophilus London and The xx covering The Source and Candi Station's 1986 original disco number. This fresh track has a genuine bareness to it, opening with a chilling harp arpeggio and Mr. London softly repeating "You got it." The simple drum loop enters to Theophilus declaring "I think its safe to say I'm in your heart and you can't get me out" with a little wink and swagger in his delivery. Maintaining that feel, Theophilus weaves the tale of a breakup, and twists this love song into a breakup song while still maintaining all the beauty and vulnerability of The xx's cover. In this way, the song highlights the close proximity between love and breakup in a way thats's so much more earnest to the real thing than your stereotypical ballads.
You can think about all that or you can just listen to the track and be blow away.
The xx - You Got The Love (Theophilus London Remix)
4. Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework) - MGMT
When I heard the original MGMT single "Congratulations" I wasn't super impressed. Maybe I wasn't ready for the change of pace from MGMT's Oracular Spectacular or maybe I really don't listen to lyrics and the music was kinda boring. Anyway, 6 months after hearing the original the dudes at EMPT shared the Erol Alkan rework with the world, and everything was good. Mr. Alkan makes the song danceable, fun, and much more interesting -- throwing a hot riding bass line, some sexy guitar strumming, and spreading around the awesome melodica solo from the original. Like all great remixes, Erol Alkan's rework also reignites the listener's interest in the source material. After hearing this I found myself going back to MGMT's Congratulations and finding value I would never have seen otherwise.
3. Supa Dupa Lemonade - Big Sean
I first got wind of Big Sean from Mike Posner. I actually first thought about Big Sean as the dude who rapped with Mike Posner. I was an idiot. 2010 saw Big Sean rise from Posner stage mate to GOOD Music love-child and one of the hottest younger spitters in the game. Big introduced and honed the #hashtag flow in 2008 with "Supa Dupa", but it wasnt until 2010 that his style got blown up. Reclaiming his flow, Big Sean dropped the hottest example of hashtag rap that will ever be made in "Supa Dupa Lemonade." Going hard on Gucci's "Lemonade" beat, Sean eats the track clean. Instead of explaining just peep the lyrics:
Boy, What the fuck these rappers sound like, Ha just a whole bunch of my sound bites,
First whip Garbo, Second whip Largo,
Don't worry bout my niggas they're good, Marshall,
Bank account got me feelin well, Fargo,
Ballin 'till I get a milla-check Darko,
I just give em line afta line, afta line afta... Afta line, afta line, Bar codes,
They lookin for my work, Narco,
Bank account got me feelin well, Fargo,
Ballin 'till I get a milla-check Darko,
I just give em line afta line, afta line afta... Afta line, afta line, Bar codes,
They lookin for my work, Narco,
Cuz I just blackout in the booth, Charcoal
Boom. Done. This track can be played at any point of time and I will flip out in excitement.
2. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem
Whenever a song can spend the first three minutes and eight seconds slowly warming the listener for the drop, and that song is not dropping at an Ibiza club at 3am, and that song works, you have to respect it. When that song then procedes to melt your insides and cause you to jump uncontrollably with your tongue out in a cardigan and skinny jeans, then you know you got a keeper. LCD Soundsystem kept hipsters and all other sorts of pseudo-intellectuals dancing all year with their This Is Happening LP. "Dance Yrself Clean" was the crown jewel in this achievement. Unpredictable, musically complex, ugly-face inducing funky. Perfect.
1. Shine Blockas (featuring Gucci Mane) - Big Boi
All the hoes say! With Sir Lucious Left Foot, Big Boi showed the world (me) that he deserves SO much more credit for Outkast then he ever gets. Putting out an album with all the flavor, fun, funk, and wackiness of its Outkast-released predecessors, Big Boi rose above the haters and stole 2010. Teaming with the raspy greatness of Gucci Mane on this track, Sir Lucious lays back and just swags on his verses. This is a celebration track, and no one is gonna block his shine. Big Boi also cops a co-production credit on this track with Cutmaster Swiff, and thats impressive on the best song of the year.
Bonus:
I couldn't forget about my favorite dance number of the year. You may hate on it, but honestly this shit is the truth.
Happy New Year! May you fill it with as much MUSKY music as possible!
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