I know this blog's existence is solely for fueling this silly fantasy that someone might give a shit about my poorly written opinion's on music, but I should at least try to make an effort to post something every now and then.
So, today, I'm going to make a general list of my top 20 albums of 2010 at this moment in time. This list is not solely doujin music, as Comiket 79 hasn't even come to an end yet, and, I'll be honest: I have only listened to maybe 50 or so albums from C78 out of disinterest. I have went on a spree back during 77, so I have a better grasp of what I do and do not like, which slashes down the albums I listen to considerably, but even then, I still took chances with many types of music outside of the doujin scene this year, so let's see what it boils down to.
Let's get this show on the road. This is my personal (at the moment) list of best albums of 2010:
20 to 11:
20. A-1 - After School Special
Alternative hip-hop still manages to be more entertaining than most genres of music out there. There's more pressure to build a "hardcore" or "gangsta" image or even demand good production. It's a license to do whatever the fuck you want, so why not do what A-1 did: Took a bunch of early to mid-90s TV show music and mix them into beats. It's not everyday you hear someone rapping about the road to maturity over the opening to Family Matters, or having rap battles with Satan using Goosebumps as the main beat. Obviously, there's no way in hell a small name rapped could ever hope to afford to pay royalties for the Pokémon opening, Golden Girls, or the various "eye catches" and commercials, so it's a free release, which can be gotten from the link below.
http://www.a-1music.com/post/1075629165/after-school-special
19. Girl Talk - All Day
It's not Night Ripper or Feed the Animals, but it still puts most mashup artists to shame. Clocking in at 71 minutes, this is a massive beast, especially considering GT's releases barely scrape 50 minutes at most. Some mashups flop, but they are forgiven by the ones that pass with flying colors, such as Soulja Boy's Pretty Boy Swag with Aphex Twin's Windowlicker, The Isley Brothers' Shout with Radiohead's Idioteque and DJ Funk's Pop Those Things, Birdman's Money to Blow with Arcade Fire's Wake Up and Ginuwine's Pony, and so forth. It also deploys some subtly not seen in his previous works. such as only using the percussion of Talking Heads' Take Me to the River and the breakbeat from Outkast's B.o.B., along with blink-and-you-miss-it parts like Darude's Sandstorm. There are supposedly around 372 songs used in this titan of party music, and many of them are still unidentified. To those with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music and a good ear, All Day will reward them endlessly.
http://illegal-art.net/allday/
18. Kimonos - Kimonos
Kimonos is a new wave duo composed of Leo Imai and Shutoku Mukai of Zazen Boys and Number Girl fame. Founded this year, they have already released a full length album. However, since these are Zazen Boys members here, you can bet your ass that this bends multiple genres to its knees and is dripping of influences of the experimental output of ZB, the vocal style of David Bryne, and Eno's synth washes. Despite being a Japanese duo, most of the lyrics are sung in English. Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier and Zazen Boy bassist Ichiro Yoshida make guest appearances on yet another worthwhile effort from one of Japan's greatest indie rock groups.
17. ZUN - Fairy Wars GST
Yeah, yeah. I know I'm a fag for putting this over Shutoku-fucking-Mukai, but remember that this is a list of how I'm feeling right now. I could change on a dime tomorrow, but right now I like this more than the previously listed. Admittedly, it's not SA or UFO, but it's still pretty strong even with spamming the same sample. Think of it as a return to the straight-up in-your-face melodies of pre-SA days. Simpler times, livelier times. It may represent a slight change in sound in TH13. It might not. Maybe he'll be more adventurous in sound, or he'll stay planted. For now, let's just enjoy another good GST from the most influential man in the doujin scene.
16. Teebs - Ardour
I would best describe Teebs as more chilled than his friend Flying Lotus, and personally, I like his mixing when it comes to beats better. Hell, it's the way that the beats don't clip the music that makes me like Ardour so much. It's lush and very zen. Teebs shows lots of promise as a producer, and Ardour is a great starting point. If he sets out to improve himself with the ambition that FlyLo did, he might even exceed his friend from L.A.
15. Ceephax Acid Crew - United Acid Emirates
The Jenkinson brothers must have been in Bizarro World in 2010. Tom Jenkinson, best known as Squarepusher, releases a turd named d'Demonstrator, while his brother Andy Jenkinson (best known as Ceephax) puts out his best work to date. United Acid Emirates is a playful romp of funky acid techno and is surprisingly straight-forward compared to most major electronic music producers output this year. There's not a single wonky hip-hop beat to be found. Normally, four on the floor tracks that sound like they could have come out in the mid 1990s is nothing to get excited about, but it's kind of a breath of fresh air to hear dance music that does not intend to impress to be this damn good.
14. Baths - Cerulean
I know I just said that wonky can be tiring this year, so pardon my derping here, but Cerulean, much like Ardour, is pretty. What separates it from Ardour is that it's serene but much more energetic, develop faster, and are given more time to leave an impression. Take Aminals, for example: It swaggers with grace, but is also super-charged and infectious and offers a lot to pay attention to. To expect anything less from an Anticon artist is an insult to the label.
13. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
It's official: Sufjan Stevens has lost his fucking mind. Did you like Illinois? If so, you might want to skip The Age of Adz or only keep the Futile Devices, since from there on out he goes all electronic on your ass with the only pit stop being Now That I'm Older. The rest of the hour is filled with synths, drum machines, vocoders, auto-tune, and the last third is one of the most infamous songs of the year. A 25 minute-long monster simply called Impossible Soul. I always download and listen to albums several times before buying, and many others don't. To those that are still adamant about not downloading, you might want to make an exception for The Age of Adz, because the closer could be a deal-breaker. If you're not too obsessed with having a full album of great songs, you could always pretend that I Want To Be Well, the most stellar track by far, is the closer. You still get 50 minutes out of it.
12. Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea
I will admit that I am an Enofag to the end, but I will be the first to say that I do not like Music for Airports. It is boring, especially compared to his other ambient works like Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks, (No Pussyfooting), and On Land. I hold a controversial opinion by saying that Small Craft on a Milk Sea is leaps and bounds ahead of one of the most important ambient albums of all
time, and to raise an even larger shitstorm, it's on par with A: A&S. Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams join Eno on this Warp debut, but it's obvious that most of the creative control comes from Brian. His hands are all over the African rhythms, post-punk/new wave guitar solos, improv instrumentals, and abstract minimal drone soundscapes. The packaging is over the top, which could be one of the reasons for its mixed reception. Too much hype built around the special edition releases and the constant name-dropping of the label. If you ignore all of that, you are left with a damn good album.
11. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here?
Emeralds have put out Lord knows how many releases, and I doubt I will ever hear them all. For the time being, I'm very content to stay with Does It Look Like I'm Here? for the time being. The only problem with it is that it's too loud for ambient, and probably too high energy to be wallpaper music. Then again, that's why it's so intriguing to listen to. Everything rushes and passes you by and by the time you notice, you barely get to see what just went by your side disappear over the horizon. I'm sure what they call it, so I'll refer to it as post-ambient.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment