Top 20 Records of 2010
16. Onra – Long Distance (All City)
The vibe on Long Distance is reminiscent of 80′s R&B boy bands; there’s an overarching theme of love and relationships, primarily from a guy’s point of view. ‘High Hopes’, as the title suggests, has guest vocalist Reggie B desperately longing for a girl out of his league (“I know you see me standing there / Trying to catch your eye / Been watching you for quite some time / But you think I’m an average guy”). The title track has the saccharine sweet feel of New Edition’s ‘Candy Girl’ and revolves around the oh-so-complicated subject of your girl not picking up the phone when you call her. Onra, like Maxmillion Dunbar whom you read about earlier, clearly mines from the same source of inspiration. The result is an album that conjures up images of well-coifed dudes decked in pastel-coloured silk suits and shoulder pads moving to synchronized dance moves, albeit with more soul and a firmer grounding in hip-hop.
17. Pursuit Grooves – Fox Trot Mannerisms (Tectonic)
There’s an increasing number of female producers putting out some really good music. TOKiMONSTA, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Muhsinah, Cooly G, Ikonika, the list goes on. You can now add Pursuit Grooves, aka Vanese Smith from Brooklyn, to that list. ‘Whisper’ is quiet, spaced-out dubstep that begins with a sample of Josh Hartnett’s dialogue from Sin City. Elsewhere on ‘Mr Softee’, Smith sets the ethereal keys from Kool & The Gang’s ‘Summer Madness’ to a loping, urgent beat. Like Lukid’s Chord, there’s a little bit of everything on here. At only seven tracks, my only complaint is that it’s far too short.
18. Robyn – Body Talk (Universal-Island)
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is the same Robyn who sang ‘Show Me Love’, a song that reminds me of the worst parts of being in college and doing my A-Levels. When I had friends over at my place for New Year’s Eve, this was the one album that I could put on without boring everyone to death. Regardless of what you listen to on a regular basis, there’s always space for smart, pleasant, harmless, unbridled dance pop. Body Talk fits that role perfectly.
Watch the video for ‘Indestructible’
19. The Roots – Dilla Joints (web release)
Every time you blink, out pops a new J Dilla-related project. The reason this sticks out from the rest is because it comes from The Roots, specifically ?uestlove. Now as you may or may not know ?uest is one of the few top-ranking authorities when it comes to Dilla. The Roots were after all instrumental in championing him from the very beginning of his career, and still do to this day. Dilla Joints is basically a collection of some of Dilla’s best beats reimagined live by The Roots. It’s interesting to note how the musical influence and counter-influence goes back, forth and full circle on many of the tracks. ‘Stereolab’ for example is originally Busta Rhymes’ ‘Show Me What You Got’, which in turn sampled Stereolab’s ‘Come And Play In The Milky Night’. So does the band end up playing J Dilla or Stereolab? Who knows. Cop the free download and decide for yourself.
20. Teebs – Ardour (Brainfeeder)
Ardour is best described as pastoral. Teebs achieves this by scattering a liberal amount of bells, wood blocks, shimmering chimes, twinkly pianos and other forms of organic sound bites throughout the album. Try visualizing the Cocteau Twins but with glacial, head-nodding, bottom heavy beats. Admittedly there’s little variation from track to track, but Teebs has a good formula, so why not just stick to it.
2 Responses to “Top 20 Records of 2010”
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Michelle Says:
February 5th, 2011 at 12:52 amWhat, no shout out to the person who got your lazy ass back to London and to ATP?
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shtikman Says:
February 5th, 2011 at 2:43 amLOL! Yes, shout out to Michelle for getting my lazy ass back to London and to ATP. HOLLLAAA!!!