Best Albums of 2010 (25-21)

2010 was a pretty stacked year for music, so I had to make some tough cuts when compiling my list. Last cut was the BAWSE! I hope he can find it in his giant heart to forgive me.

Probably not too broken up about his near miss on my list

Honorable Mentions:
Completely Removed - Medications: These guys are kinda like a poppier Dismemberment Plan and Completely Removed is a very solid record.

Friday Night Lights - J. Cole: It's a Cole World and we're just living in it. Though loaded with great tracks ("Villematic," "Home for the Holidays"), Friday Night Lights barely missed the cut because it plays more like a J. Cole greatest hits collection than a cohesive album and because of the lack of references to the amazing television show.

The Wild Hunt - The Tallest Man on Earth: Scandinavia's answer to Bob Dylan continues to flourish and write fantastic, yet nearly indistinguishable, songs about death and love.

The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monae: Monae wrote two of my favorite songs of the year ("Cold War" and "Tightrope" are better than almost everything else found on the albums on my main list), but I found the album a tad too conceptual and experimental for my tastes. Still, The ArchAndroid is a fascinating debut and Monae is capable of even greater things if she hones her pop instincts.

Teflon Don - Rick Ross: I wrote a glowing review of this one back in the Summer, but it just barely missed the cut because of the pure volume of quality music released this year.

Now on to the list:

25. Kush & OJ - Wiz Khalifa

"Everything is better when you're high" - "Up"

Wiz Khalifa reached the Billboard top 20 this year with the Stargate-produced "Black & Yellow," but his most buzzworthy release, the Kush & OJ mixtape, proves that Wiz is strongest when rapping over reverb-drenched guitar and 70s drums. Kush & OJ is a comprehensive chronicle of Wiz Khalifa's favorite things: smoking in the morning, orange juice, smoking in the afternoon, video games (see Chrono Trigger sampling "Never Been,") smoking with girls, Chuck Taylor shoes, smoking with his boys (he invites fellow stoners Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. to join him in his "Glass House"), singing, smoking at night and rapping. By the end of listening to the record, they'll likely be your favorite things, too. Wiz boasts an infectious laugh (he seems to giggle on every track) and an even more infectious flow, reminiscent of stoner legends Snoop Dogg and Devin the Dude. Kush & OJ posits Khalifa as the quintessential 21st century partier, inviting you into his world of blunts, 40s and beautiful girls. Once you step in, its hard to leave.
Standout tracks: "Never Been," "Glass House," "Supply," "Still Blazin" (download link for the whole mixtape above)

24. Stuck on Nothing - Free Energy

"Bang pop pop. When does this searching stop?" - "Bang Pop"

Stuck on Nothing is what music would sound like if Big Star and the Replacements were the most popular artists of the past 30 years, instead of Madonna and Michael Jackson. Free Energy makes excellent pop songs with guitar and drums, instead of MPCs and 808s. More importantly, Free Energy is one of the few bands that do not try to hide their enthusiasm for their music. Stuck on Nothing is a fantastic synthesis of modern and classic rock, giving it a sense of timelessness that most music does not have . "Dream City," with its "na na na" chorus and sax outro, could have been written any time since Sgt. Peppers and "Hope Child" resembles what you would get if you let Julian Casablancas sing for Beggar's Banquet era Rolling Stones. That's the essence of Stuck on Nothing: a throwback that manages to convince you that it isn't a throwback.
Standout Tracks: "Free Energy," "Dream City," "Wild Winds."

23. The Hybrid - Danny Brown

"'Bout to live the title of the GREATEST RAPPER EVER"

Instead of posting a capsule review of Detroit MC Danny Brown's The Hybrid, I'm going to list some of my favorite lines from what might be, pound-for-pound, the best album for one-liners to come out in years:
"I rap like I bet my life on it/cause in all actuality, n***a I did/you rap like you used to hit the pipe/no that ain't dreck that's crackhead shit" - "Greatest Rapper Ever"

"I'm spittin' that shit, smokin on the regular/Writin' sixteens like internet child predators" - "Greatest Rapper Ever"

"Parque floor, green like Celtic/furniture you touch and be like 'what's that, velvet?'" - "Nowhere 2 Go"

"Sittin' in an Audi, L.A. hit the do-over/throwin' up the middle finger yelling f*ck Oprah!" - "The Nana Song"

"Eatin' Cheese Doodles, don't let the size fool you/tonight we eat shrimp take a break from the noodles" - "Thank God"

"Used to get domed up by crackheads/and still got my balls licked by pretty bitches" - "Re-Up"

22. Str8 Killa No Filla - Freddie Gibbs

"My sentiments exactly n***as can't outrap me" - "Crushin Feelin's"

Freddie Gibbs has a booming, authoritative voice and packs a lyrical punch to back it up. Gibbs has an uncommon versatility behind the mic, lending the same virtuosity and gravitas to weed anthem "Personal OG," as his autobiographical standout "The Ghetto." Like Danny Brown, Gibbs excels at painting a portrait of his unfortunate life for his readers, but unlike Brown, he has a fantastic ear for hooks. "National Anthem (F**k the World)" is Gibbs' mission statement, cursing out record labels who wouldn't sign him and the radio stations that wouldn't play his tracks, saying "all my sh*t still be bumpin/Never change my style up for any of them I'm strictly thuggin'." Str8 Killa lives up to its name, with great track following great track. Gangsta Gibbs is ready to hit it big and he's gonna do it his own way.
Standout tracks: "National Anthem," "The Ghetto," "Crushin' Feelin's," "Do Wrong," "Personal OG"

21. Astro Coast - Surfer Blood
"If you're movin' out to the west, then you'd better learn how to surf. The tide will break in on itself. There are no ghosts to exhume or unearth." - Floating Vibes

Astro Coast starts with the best 1-2 punch of 2010, when the Feelies-esque groove of "Floating Vibes" makes way for "Swim," a Weezer-like power ballad. "Floating Vibes" rides a distorted, yet melodic, guitar line to create atmosphere that lives up to its title. "Floating Vibes" is a perfect song to listen to when lying on a float in a public pool. "Swim," one of those songs that sounds like the band took the best parts of four or five songs and combined them, boasts a big guitar riff and an even bigger chorus. There's even a glockenspiel in the build-up to the chorus. Though the album tails off slightly after its exhilarating start, West Palm Beach's Surfer Blood out-California's most bands from California, recording the first great surf-rock album since Dick Dale died. (Bonus points for the red Gibson SG in the "Floating Vibes" video)
UPDATE: A little research shows that Dick Dale is not dead. Whoops! I still like the line though, so it's staying in. I hope you never die, Dick Dale! Here's "Misirlou"!
Standouts: "Floating Vibes," "Swim," "Harmonix"

Halftime '10: The Best Hip-Hop Songs of the Half-Year; 10-6

10. "Flawless Crowns" - Raekwon



Like I was gonna leave this song off the list. The past couple years have found Raekwon in the midst of a second career renaissance, kick-started by the release of best friend Ghostface Killah's landmark Fishscale and continuing through last year's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2, one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the decade. It's great to see Rae at the top of his game again; he released a damn good mixtape, Cocainism 2, a couple weeks back. This is my favorite thing he's released all year. A slight 2 and a half minutes and two verses, Rae spits wildfire, revisiting his Lex Diamond persona and finding several creative ways to tell the world that he sells crack. The real story here is the beat, which melds smooth jazz horns, a slinky bass groove and a glockenspiel to give what would have been a minor track a cinematic scope.

9. "Bet I" - B.o.B ft. T.I. & Playboy Tre



Though The Adventures of Bobby Ray was a slight disappointment as a whole, it works pretty well on a track-by-track basis. "Bet I" is the best showcase for the man's sheer rapping ability, as well as the most straightforward rap song on the record. B.o.B's greatest strength is his voice, and his ability to emphasize and stretch out individual words and syllables for maximum effectiveness in his flow, and he attacks the "b" sounds in his verse with a fervor that's absent in the rest of the record. As an added bonus, Bobby Ray brings along two of his ATL buddies, including label-boss T.I., fresh out of jail. Though T.I. grabs the headlines, Playboy Tre steals the show with his trademark drawl in the anchor spot, placing an exclamation point on an excellent song.

8. "As We Enter" - Nas & Damian Marley



"As We Enter" starts off Distant Relatives with a bang, diving straight into the good stuff and providing a succinct distillation of the album's ethos. "As We Enter" is the most purely collaborative song on the entire disc, with Nas and Jr. Gong trading off lines and finishing each other's sentences over a beat sampled from a song by Ethiopian guitarist Mulatu Astatke. While Nas and Marley attempt to combine political Afrocentrism with streetwise rhymes throughout the album, this song marks the only time when the contrasting styles are not remotely distracting or self-indulgent. The result is infectious and unmistakably the product of two distinctly great artists, that manages to exist outside of the shadow of Exodus or Illmatic.

7. "The Ghetto" - Freddie Gibbs



Much has been said about this song in blog circles, but I need to add my two cents. Gary, Indiana native Freddie Gibbs is one of the best up and comers around. He released one of last year's best mixtapes and has contributed some great songs and guest verses so far this year. "The Ghetto" is probably the best representative of the Gibbs aesthetic. Though less hardcore than most of his work, "The Ghetto" paints a vivid picture of his neighborhood and his childhood, as he reminisces about the small details about growing up in the hood, such as Sunday dinner at his grandmother's house and how his mother chose to ignore Freddie's drug abuse and dealing. In a just world, this would be a hit.

6. "Power" - Kanye West

(can't find a good youtube video)

Oh Yeezy. Yes, the man's an egomaniac and a headcase, but he's fucking talented. I don't really expect "Power" to reflect, too much, the overall sound of Good Ass Job!, but it's a damn good song. Kanye (or rather, co-producer S1) combines soulful handclaps and chants with King Crimson's classic "21st Century Schizoid Man" to create a unique and powerful (sorry) song. I'm a particular fan of the last minute or so, when all the elements of the beat come to a thrilling head, with a synth arpeggio thrown in for good measure. I await this album with open arms.