Here’s a playlist of my favorite songs of 2010, complete with detailed explanations of why these jams out-jammed all of the other jams this year. I hope you all like at least one of these songs as much as I do. Enjoy!
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1. One More Night in Brooklyn (Justin Townes Earle)
2010 was the year that my affinity for Americana and other bluegrass influenced sounds graduated from a side interest to the focal point of my search for new music. While Ryan Adams has undoubtedly served as the gateway into this uncharted territory for the past few years, Justin Townes Earle emerged over the past 12 months as the artist I’ve been waiting to stumble upon for quite some time now. Straight-forward and bare-boned, Earle’s music could’ve been written 50 years ago, but features the kind of timelessness and simplicity that I consider the pinnacle of amazing songwriting. While last year’s Midnight at the Movies won me over very early in the year, this track off of 2010’s “Harlem River Blues” stands up against any of JTE’s strongest tracks, and is an ideal place to start for someone curious about his music.
2. Baby (Justin Bieber)
When discussing the topic at hand, people my age tend to think I’m joking more than I actually am, while the tweens I spend my days alongside often can’t separate what is tongue-in-cheek from what is sincere. I’m not sure that I even know exactly how big or small of a Justin Bieber fan I am. What I do know is this: “Baby” is my favorite pop song of this year, and possibly even of this decade. Say what you will about the artist performing it, but the song itself is pop gold and the number of plays separating this track from whatever song I listened to second-most this year is nothing short of colossal. Of the corners of the world I inhabit, the Fever has been unavoidable, and I accept full responsibility for all of this, yet this is entirely beside the point. The point is that “Baby” is a classic, to be cherished, celebrated, and commemorated, and if not everyone can get onboard with that, then I see as my own personal duty to make up for their inability to recognize greatness and unparalleled genius with that much more of my own undying adoration.
3. Stop Playing With My Heart (Ryan Adams)
I’ve only had about two weeks to spend with Ryan Adams’ 2007 recordings which now comprise the officially released double album “III/IV”. It is hard to question RA’s ability to bounce amongst genres with little difficulty, yet at the same time, I think many would agree with the notion that he stills puts out his best material when he’s within striking distance of the alt-country sound that brought him to prominence. “III/IV” is not within striking distance whatsoever, and is amongst the farthest I think he’s strayed from home base throughout all of his releases. Has two weeks been enough time to make a fair and informed decision regarding how good these 21 songs are, and where they ultimately rank in the overall Ryan Adams catalogue? I don’t think so. Has it been enough time for me to realize that, with this album, he has effectively knocked down all barriers of what I think he is capable of not just merely “doing” musically, but also doing so remarkably well to the extent that he has put to shame many artists who spend their entire careers trying to produce a sound that he has now shown to the world that he can make twenty times better while fooling around with his friends during the recording of one of another of his entirely different. widely embraced, traditional, “what you think of when you think of a Ryan Adams album” albums? I’d say yeah.
4. F.I.L.A. (The-Dream)
If Justin Townes Earle was my own personal 2010 artist of the year, The-Dream has certainly made a strong case for runner up. While “Love vs. Money” began dominating my stereo starting late last year, “Love King” has picked up where that album left off, thanks in large part to this, arguably my favorite song that the radio killah has kept for himself (although “Right Side of My Brain” may take great offense to this assertion). I really have never cared for R&B artists of any sort this side of Justin Timberlake and Lauryn Hill, but The-Dream has forced me to take a second look. While I’m still not huge on the synchronized dancing and braggadocio that generally comes along with the genre (he‘s only guilty of the latter), this dude just writes great melodies and the style of music doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, I just listened to this song a whole lot of times.
5. Mary (Kings of Leon)
I find the new Kings of Leon album really impressive. Was I super psyched that there was a new Kings of Leon record? No. Does it make me feel cool in any way that I like the Kings of Leon? No. Do I necessarily even want to like the Kings of Leon? Not really. The fact is, I really do like the Kings of Leon, and this is exactly what I find so impressive - despite having no home field advantage, no critical encouragement, and basically nothing working in their favor, they still managed to make one of my favorite records of 2010. Good rock band making good rock tunes - I feel one could do a whole lot worse.
6. Shutterbugg (Big Boi)
Arguably the best song on arguably the best hip hop release of the year (and yes, I’ve heard that album from that other guy as well…you know the one). “Sir Lucius Left Foot” has confirmed my suspicions that the word “consistent” is the correct adjective for Big Boi’s eternal subtitle, “The _______ Half of Outkast”. While Andre is going to outshine him 9 times out of 10 when their both at the top of their game, its Big Boi who spends a lot more time in this territory, and after a few years of waiting, we now finally have the evidence. I know that I’m not a consistent enough listener to be much of an authority on what is ultimately the “best” in rap in any given year, and deep down inside, I also know that I should probably be making room for one more track from one other rap artist (for the record, I’d probably go with “All of the Lights” because it doesn’t have Jay-Z, although can I really look past the “Malibooyah“ line?), but the truth is that I rocked the Big Boi album all summer long, and it never let me down. Bangers - that’s all I really want, and that‘s all Big Boi wants to give you.
7. Ambling Alp (Yeasayer)
I saw this band play live late last year, just for lack of nothing better to do on a Friday night, and I couldn’t understand why I liked their music so much at the show, but their album kinda sucked. It wasn’t until the leak a few weeks later when I realized that most of the set was comprised of songs from their next album, which wasn’t supposed to come out until well into, what was then, the new year. For this reason, I still feel like I’m putting a really old song amidst a bunch of new songs, but the song is awesome, so I can live with it.
8. Wedding Song (Anais Mitchell & Justin Vernon)
I don’t really know a whole lot about Anais Mitchell, but I do know that this year she released a full-length folk musical about a Greek myth that, while not as musically expansive, is entirely more coherent and focused than the concept record released by the songstress two tracks later on this mix (is it interesting that this one is about the past and that one’s about the future?). With guest players and vocalists galore, Mitchell’s release truly can be called a true “musical” soundtrack, as evidenced by the fact that this is the only song I could pull off of it that wouldn’t sound absolutely ridiculous and out of place on this playlist. This one’s got the dude from Bon Iver, who seemed to be quite the busy man this year. While I’d never call this my favorite album of 2010, it’s certainly one of, if not the most, impressive release I heard all year.
9. You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man) (Paramore)
Hayley Williams is probably my favorite contemporary singer. I don’t mean that Paramore is my favorite band - they aren’t - but if I were to choose anyone in the world to sing every song on this list, I’m pretty confident that Hayley would be my pick (no disrespect to Hootie). A lot of people probably don’t realize that Paramore are from Nashville, and while I’m not sure whether or not it was just me fantasizing, I’ve always had a suspicion that if Hayley ever tried to rock a country tune, she’d absolutely slay it. With this Loretta Lynn cover, my moment has finally arrived. Was I right? Trick question; I am always right. But this time, I was incredibly right. I want so much more of this.
10. Cold War (Janelle Monae)
As I’ve already alluded to, the one complaint I can make about Janelle Monae’s “The Archandroid” is that I usually have no idea what she’s talking about as it pertains to the supposed theme/concept that the album is supposed to have. Lucky for me, I don’t care at all. While JTE still has my heart for “favorite” album of 2010, I’d still like to go on record as saying that this is what I’d consider the “best” album of the year. It’s a shame that she isn’t a household name yet, but at the same time, I can see how she could be a hard sell with the amount of ground she covers over the course over one album (never mind the fact that its her first one). More so than any other I heard this year, I feel that “The Archandroid” is an album that any serious, open-minded music fan should go out of their way to hear if they haven’t yet. It is just great.
11. Bullet (Steel Train)
This year, for the first time, I took advantage of my occupation’s most notorious perk - summers off. More specifically, by “took advantage”, I actually mean “did absolutely nothing all day, every day”. Just to ensure that I stayed true to these strict parameters, I spent the majority of my time in Westerly, Rhode Island, about a half mile from the beach. While I was extremely careful not to try to pack too many activities into one day, for fear of feeling a sense of accomplishment, there were a few things that generally found their way onto my daily schedule more often than not: eating cereal, going for a morning run (usually around 2-3 in the afternoon), showering, drinking a comically large Tim Horton’s iced coffee, and listening to “Bullet”.
12. What’ll I Do (April Smith & the Great Picture Show)
I’ve made it this far without talking about the Newport Folk Festival, but I think the biggest thing that I took away from two days at this wonderful festival was that April Smith is the real deal. Her music essentially sounds like a bunch of show tunes - the premise of which is something you’ll either love or hate, a decision that can probably be made before hearing a note of the music. Needless to say, I was more than on board with the concept - yet with the first few listens, I wasn’t entirely sold. The sound was there, but I wasn’t sure if the songs were, and I was even less sure that the authenticity was. After leaving the album alone for a while, the second go round went significantly better. The songs really were pretty good, and the strength of the ballads in particular proved to me that this was more than a gimmick. The final step - seeing the band perform live - finally put the fork in any remaining doubt I had regarding the album. Sassing it up like a true performer, Smith and her huge voice (much bigger than the recordings let on) was backed by every instrumental imaginable (even if you are imagining a suitcase), and the entire record was performed exactly as is heard on the studio recordings. As I said, the real deal.
13. Out Go the Lights (Spoon)
Spoon have been clandestinely making a run at becoming my favorite rock band for a while now, and it took me waiting out a leak of “Transference” to realize this for the first time. As much as you think you may like a certain artist, your true colors tend to come out when you are faced with the opportunity to hear a new release from them. When it’s, “Oh awesome - I can’t wait to listen to this in the car tomorrow,” you’ve got a nice little thing going on - but it’s the ones that force you to stop whatever you are doing to immediately make time to hear them that tend to be the keepers. Having reacted this way to Spoon’s newest release took me a little by surprise; I always would’ve classified them as a band I really liked, but not necessarily “loved”. Songs like “Out Go the Lights” can lead one to change such a presumption pretty damn fast.
14. Crown On the Ground (Sleigh Bells)
I’m not sure who you are. You’re reading this, so I probably do know you, but unless you are currently telling me that you are reading this as you read it, I don’t necessarily know which “you” I’m dealing with. If the “you” at hand is already familiar with Sleigh Bells, you’ve probably got some kind of opinion working already, so chances are you’re bowing out before this track. If you are unfamiliar, I feel as though the odds are strongly in favor of you hating it, hence my rationale for its placement on the track listing. With a sound that I believe has best been described as “hipster Jock Jams”, there’s a lot of feelings to be had upon hearing Sleigh Bells for the first time. Mine were extremely positive. I hope yours are as well - I’m just not getting my hopes too high.
DOWNLOAD: http://www.sendspace.com/file/0wbccn
