Honorable Mentions, "I Don't Get It But I Tried To", and Best Of Music of 2010

Oh man. I totally over-did it on last year's Best Music List with the album art, what I liked, what I didn't like, best songs of each album, and HTML codes out the wazoo... I just don't have that kind of energy this year (read: anymore). But here's my half-hearted attempt anyway.

Honorable Mentions

The Roots - How I Got Over
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

I almost feel bad for labeling these albums just "Honorable Mentions"--they are both good, solid albums ("Sprawl II" is one my favorite songs from this year). I just feel that End-Of-Year Music Lists should be populated by things that weren't necessarily on my radar until they drilled their way into my brain, or something like that. I guess these guys pay the price for working hard and having more longevity than other bands of the 20-aughts. I mean, seriously, don't they get it? The Twenty-Ten is all about laziness and flashiness in the pan.

I Don't Get It But I Tried To

Best Coast - Crazy For You
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this is the kind of music I imagine lovestruck 12 year olds who are into nursery rhymes would make. The lyrics are just too obvious and telegraphed--with the monosyllabic rhyming of words like 'miss' and 'kiss', 'friend' and 'end', etc. I like simplicity, but this is just too simple. And all of the weed sessions with Freddie Gibbs won't save you now, girlfriend.

Robyn - Body Talk
I'm trying real hard to like this, but ehhhhhhhh... I just don't get it. Point out the genius and I'll try to focus on it.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I like it when music stands on its own and doesn't rely on outside influences and public personas to be fully realized. I can totally stand behind the subversion of music award shows, holding shitty U.S. presidents close to the flame, and making off-the-wall comments in interviews, but would people be praising this album so highly if Kanye hadn't turned his life into a 24-7 piece of performance art? I kinda doubt it. I guess Kanye is exactly the kind of rapper that a Twitter and Facebook obsessed culture deserves--constant, but poorly conceived, stimuli. Plus, there's the issue of the rampant, two-faced misogyny. This dude is constantly saying how much he respects his deceased mother, but has no qualms about lines like "I slapped my girl, she called the feds" on the same track ("All of the Lights") that Rihanna sings on? Not to mention the constant equating of 'bitch' and 'ho' with 'female', which is sadly still de rigeur for most rap music. Oh, but I'm totally digging the Aphex Twin sample of "Avril 14th" in "Blame Game". Yet another countless example of a black musician stealing from the white man {sigh}.

Best Of (in random order)

Janelle Monae - The ArchandroidCompletely ambitious and genre-bending, this album goes from James Brown to Karen Carpenter to Prince to hip-hop (without being derivative), all while throwing in Phillip K. Dick and other sci-fi references. Love it.





Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma Outer space shit from the year 2249. Bonus points for having Thom Yorke as a guest ("And the World Laughs with You") and for using the sound of a ping pong ball as part of the drum beat on "Table Tennis". Table Tennis –  Flying Lotus Feat. Laura Darlington by themk1boy





Class Actress - Journal Of Ardency [EP]80's Electro. Sultry vocalist. Sappy love and/or break-up songs. I would ask 'where do I sign up', but we all know I already enlisted. Class Actress: Terminally Chill (Neon Indian cover) by La 3e heure!





Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man [both are 'mixtapes', both for free....for real free, not the guilty kind! Click Here] Joke-rap. Weed-rap. Sociological-foibles-rap. And they have a music video that looks like a video game (and it is actually playable--although it is punishingly difficult).





Beach House - Teen Dream It's hard for me to describe this album without using clichés like "too beautiful for words". But I think what stands out the most is how a lot of the tracks are 2 or 3 songs in one--the piano hook, tempo, or overall feel of a song will change partway through (see: "Lover of Mine" and "Real Love"). Usually when a band decides to "change" a song, I end up wondering why they didn't just stick with the awesome part all the way through. But here it blows my mind. Go figure.




...um, that's it, that's the list. Happy New Year!