My Personal Faves of 2010

To close out the year, I decided to narrow down my favorite albums of 2010; here are the top three.

3. All Day, Girl Talk
Girl Talk’s All Day is the perfect everything album. It’s great for parties, in the car, at the gym, or in the shower. Even if you’re more sedentary, Girl Talk’s third album will get your endorphins flowing no matter what musical background you’re from. Split into 12 tracks, the album was actually released for free as one seamless 71-minute MP3 file, and each track flows directly into the next. The hour plus mash up features samples from everyone from Bone Thugs to Bush to George Clinton to Nicki Minaj to the Grateful Dead. A full list of the songs sampled is available here, on the label’s website.

With the variety of artists sampled on All Day, if you like music, you’re bound to find at least a few tracks that get you out of your seat. While it’s not spectacularly different from Gregg Gillis’s (his actual name) style on Feed the Animals or Night Ripper, the wide variety of his samples and his unmatched skill in mashing them up into the perfect combinations are what make All Day one of my favorite albums of 2010.





2. Odd Blood, Yeasayer
Yeasayer has come a long way since All Hour Cymbals, and though it’s in a pop-ier direction, it worked for the Avett Brothers and Black Keys, so why not? Yeasayer brings their experimental, ambient psych rock influences to the table without coming off as pretentious indie rock, as has been said of their debut album. The threesome, which describe their music as "Middle Eastern-psych-snap-gospel", is defined by Chris Keating’s falsetto vocals, orchestral synth lines, and attention to detail.

Odd Blood is a great straight-through listen, and one that I’ve found, will continue to grow on you. Favorites include “I Remember,” a slower, “not-your-typical” love song driven by drums and “Mondegren,” a spooky, quick tempo jam with a great horn cameo.





1. Plastic Beach, The Gorillaz
Nothing held my attention all year like The Gorillaz‘s innovative, collaborative, absolutely wonderful Plastic Beach. If you didn’t know who Damon Albarn is before this year, you should now. The Plastic Beach tour marked The Gorillaz’s first performances in front of the screen, and for many fans, the realization that The Gorillaz is actually the brainchild of one man, Albarn.

On Plastic Beach he did it all; he nailed the concept album without coming off as preachy, over half of the tracks were well-executed collaborations, and each song had hit potential. Every song is so catchy it’s hard to pick favorites, but definite stand-outs include Stylo (with Mos Def), Empire Ants (with Little Dragon), Superfast Jellyfish and the title track, Plastic Beach. Albarn’s synthesized orchestra lacks no depth and vocals from Bobby Womack and Little Dragon really seal the deal. Albarn is planning to release an album for free on Christmas Day 2010 titled “The Fall” that was made on his iPad while touring this past autumn. If it takes off, its potential to influence how music is produced will only reinforce the genius of Damon Albarn.

BEP’s “The Beginning” Misses Its Mark

The Black Eyed Peas were going for a hip European-style dance album to follow up 2009’s smash The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies). Unfortunately, what they wound up with is a 15-track argument for why the Peas should go back to their roots in pop and hip-hop.

The first single, “The Time (Dirty Bit)” has a catchy dub step style melody behind the verses but the lyrics are repetitive and uninspired (“I was born to get wild/that’s my style/if you didn’t know that/well baby then you know now”). And the worst part, the chorus is a sample from an already overplayed song, “The Time of My Life” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Will.I.Am’s lyrics are all auto-tuned, but Fergie’s voice is refreshingly real, one bright spot on the track.

Other singles include “Light Up the Night”, reminiscent of a broken jock jams record, and “Do It Like This”, another drum/synth club jam but featuring Fergie as an early Gwen Stefani. Fergie also emulates another female rock idol on “Fashion Beats”- Blondie’s Debbie Harry, circa Rapture. “Fashion Beats” is one of the best-produced songs on the album; Will.I.Am’s lyrics are still weak but the music sounds just like Daft Punk.

Overall, the whole album lacks depth. The majority of the songs only use a synth/drum combo and the lyrics are weak. Don’t be intimidated by Will.I.Am’s empty threat, “kill you with my lyricals, call me verbal criminal”; he’s no Talib, or even Drake. The album will make your head bob- it was definitely made for the clubs, but not to be listened to straight through or thought about.

The Beginning was released November 26th, 2010, ending its first week at #6 with sales of 119,000. That’s not as well as 2009’s The E.N.D., which debuted at #1 with 304,000 copies sold in its first week. It’s doubtful that The Beginning will reach the same success as its predecessor, which has sold over 11 million copies, but maybe the loyalty of the Peas’ fans (including Oprah who included the album on her “Favorite Things 2010”) will make it happen.