Al's Haphazard 2010 Best Music List

Top 5 Albums

• The Black Keys' Brothers
  This is the perfect melding of their earlier albums and the previous one they did with Danger Mouse. Polished, yet raw. And Michael Carney's packaging is dope. I'm hoping he gets a Grammy for this!
• The Roots' How I Got Over
  This is The Roots' most uplifting album and the first in a while I didn't feel obligated to like, just because they're The Roots. It's just GOOD. Secret weapon: Dice Raw. His sung vocals on the title track and "Now or Never" were surprisingly quite good and one of the many highlights for me.
  
• The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Controversial Negro
  Look, I know this is a reissue. This is my list, hombre, and I'll put what I want on it! Anyway...I've been wanting to listen to this for more than a decade, so I was overjoyed when I found out that Shout Factory was releasing it. This live album (with killer bonus tracks) encompasses everything I love about the Blues Explosion. It's sexy, sweaty, and more rock n' roll than you can handle.
  
• Shad's TSOL
  Folks who don't even like rap, like Shad. That's pretty fucking cool. He's a clean cut, God-fearing emcee that can still slap the taste out of a wack rapper's mouth. I'm kinda bummed that he didn't win the Polaris Prize, but the fact remains that he's put out one of the best Canadian rap recordings ever.
  
• Pip Skid's Skid Row
  Full disclosure: Pip is a homie, and I handled the design for this album. With that said, I'm also a fan, and I think this album is brilliant. Kutdown laced this with bangin' beats, and Pip brought his trademark vitriol to the table. Nothing else really needs to be said, man. It's outstanding.
  

Also Worth Mentioning...

• Guilty Simpson's Ghettodes
  This was a free download of Oh No-remixed Ode To The Ghetto tracks from Stones Throw, and I would've gladly paid for it. Sadly, I liked this more than his OJ Simpson album with Madlib (too many interludes, Mr. Jackson!).
  
• Nestor Wynrush Ensemble's So High From The Lo
  I was there the night this was recorded, and it was a lot of fun. Glad to have a document of it!

Albums I Should've Spent More Time With

• The Sadies' Darker Circles
• Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' I Learned The Hard Way
• Greg MacPherson's Mr. Invitation
• Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Albums I Should've Bought

• LCD Soundsystem's This Is Happening
• Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
• Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot

Regarding these last two lists: I'm not perfect (I know, you're surprised). I moved and I became a dad. Music kinda took a backseat. Also, I gotta keep up with wrestling and all of these podcasts I've downloaded to won't listen to themselves (yet they still pile up!). I can't forget all of these blogs trying to get in my ear, telling me about the hottest shit and slipping me leaked tracks. I'm only one (attractive) man!

It ain't gonna get any easier next year.

Random Thoughts: January 31st, 2010

I removed the coyote ruff, because it made shoulder-checking while driving very difficult. I'll re-attach it for walking. Not only for warmth, though...it also looks pretty dope.

• This jacket rules. The Canada Goose jacket I'm rocking in the photo above is a gift from my mom, who rules. Initially, we went to Cabela's looking to settle with a cheaper coat, and got talked into the Resolute Parka. Any misgivings I had about the price tag disappeared on the first day I wore it outside. It was -18ºC or something and I felt nothing. Nothing but warmth, that is. All I need is for this thing to be bullet and stab proof.
  
  
• My Favorite 2009 Albums. I was going to elaborate on my choices, but I'm not feeling like it anymore. The last thing I want to be is boring. Here they are:
  
  Neko Case's Middle Cyclone
  Tanya Morgan's Brooklynati
  Nestor Wynrush's Trinnipeg!78
  Marco Polo and Torae's Double Barrel
  Grand Analog's Metropolis Is Burning
  Mayer Hawthorne's A Strange Engagement
  Mos Def's The Ecstatic
  DOOM's Born Like This
  The Foreign Exchange's Leave It All Behind
  
  I will speak on this last choice, however. I bought Leave It All Behind (FE's second album) on a whim, originally looking for FE member Nicolay's City Lights 2: Shibuya project at my nearest HMV. Wanting to leave with something, I picked it up and haven't regretted it for a second. It's a compelling hybrid of soul, hip hop, and shimmering washes of keyboard-y/electronic goodness that's less rap heavy than their debut, from all accounts. I really need to buy Connected when it's back in print. Now, I know this was released in 2008 – I picked this up two days short of its first anniversary – but I can't say there's another album I listened to more in 2009. Also, they got a Grammy nomination!
  
  
• Haiti poster on podcast. This was totally unexpected, really. On their second Twitter-based episode, The Reflex Blue Show mentioned my Haiti poster. Listen for yourself! Thanks for the nod, fellas.
  While I've often disagreed with Nate Voss' views on gigposters, I haven't let that get in the way of listening to The Reflex Blue Show, or reading Nate and Donovan's blog, 36 Point. I don't know of anyone else that handles design news and opinions with the same amount of joviality and sarcasm, so they're worth checking out.
  

The Four Albums I Loved in 2008

• Opio's Vulture's Wisdom Volume One
  I don't know about you, but I felt incredibly burned by Souls of Mischief's No Man's Land. So much so, that I played the Hiero crew rather distant ever since. Sure, I kept up with whatever they were doing, but I certainly didn't feel like buying anything from 'em. This post at UGSMAG turned me around. You and I know that the game has changed, so it's not uncommon to see these guerrilla-style videos posted all over YouTube. I can't put my finger on it, but I found "Original Lyricist" very refreshing – very off-the-cuff, and I'm talking about both the video and the song. Dude's exiting a Raiders game, rhyming about how dope he is/how you can't even come close, over this chaotic beat. How can you go wrong? I think you also have to give props to whomever edited that vid, too.
  Having checked the rest of the videos, I remembered seeing the CD at the Polo Park HMV and copped it as soon as I got a chance. Fourteen tracks at a breezy 39 minutes, all about lyrical superiority and mackin' on honeys internationally. A huge nod goes out to The Architect for creating a bouncy, layered soundscape full of movie dialogue, scratches and trippy keyboards. That dude's one to watch, f'real.
• The Walkmen's You & Me
  I heard a number of rumblings about this album being a return to the energy and feel of their first two albums. I kinda see that, except there are no scorchers like "The Rat" and "Little House of Savages". If anything, this album is a slow, warm burn full of visions of traveling and regrets. My favorite moment with a song from this album came last month, as I was making my way through Portage Place and its aged food court. I use that place as a thoroughfare more than a destination, so I wasn't in the best of moods as I walked. At this time "Four Provinces" came up randomly on my iPod, and all the retail chaos around me melted, as Hamilton's voice accompanied by a single guitar sent me to a happier place. That's exactly what the best art does for me...I get transported.
• The Roots' Rising Down
  Admittedly, I haven't listened to this album in several months. It seems that every Roots release since Things Fall Apart is doomed to be compared to it, or there's something riding on every new project. Internal conflict, label drama, whether Malik B. will be involved or not...it all tends to overshadow the album (I'm pretty sure I've listened to Game Theory a total of 5 times). Plus, hey...my attention span sucks in a major way nowadays. Between buying physical releases, single tracks via iTunes and eMusic, and listening to way too many podcasts (I need something to make work go by faster), I can cram only so much in this dome of mine. And here's another thing: ?uesto's liner notes for this album? iTunes only. C'mon, man! That had me pretty pissed for a bit. The liner note experience is integral to a Roots album experience.*
  All that aside, this recording gave me two of my favorite musical moments in '08: Peedi Crakk's verse on "Get Busy", and the scintillating blast that is "75 Bars". "Get Busy" was definitely a wise choice as far as lead singles go, because that joint is all business. An insistent ?uesto beat, Jazzy Jeff scratches, and ripping verses from Black Thought and Dice Raw. As most of you know, BT and Dice are no slouches on the mic. However, it's Peedi's verse that effortlessly steals the show. Truthfully...when is the last time you heard a verse that was worthy of a rewind? Yeah, I can't think of one, either. "75 Bars" is Black Thought as his rawest, and the joint is propelled by drums and tuba. TUBA. Think about that.
  Surrounding these two joints are the Roots' most solid tracks I've heard from this bunch in a long time. Nothing worth skipping.
• Q-Tip's The Renaissance
  This one was a long time comin'. Yeah, I skipped Amplified, despite "Breathe and Stop" and "Vivrant Thing" being incredible tracks. I guess I wasn't about to accept a glossy, Hype Williams-directed version of one of my favorite emcees. Fast forward through nearly a decade of label woes, and we arrive at The Renaissance. I like it. I like it a lot! What else can I say, really. A soulful experience with tight, live instrumentation, plus a couple of joints which serve as reminders that Tip can still drop rhymes over beats (Including this Dilla contribution at the tail end of "You".). Guilt-free listening is what this is.

Other Recordings Worth Mentioning

• Shad's The Old Prince – Homie won me over big time. I can tell we grew up listening to some of the same stuff. Lyrically tight, and it's clean, so your moms can listen to it, too!
• Wale's The Mixtape About Nothing – This actually made #3 on Exclaim's list. I found myself getting a little overwhelmed around "The Bmore Club Slam", but I did have fun listing to this overall. Wale is mad slick, his flow is effortless. Dope theme to this thing too (he's a Seinfeld fan...duh.), and it was FREE!
• Pip Skid's Pip Donahue: I Can't Be Stopped – Yeah, I know...not fair. I did have a hand in this, design-wise. Still, no one does self-deprecation as well as Pip. My faves: "L' Emeni" (this one is incredible live) and "Cut Me Up Into a Thousand Pieces and Burn Them For 3 Weeks". It's like reading Ivan Brunetti's Misery Loves Comedy. Breathtaking, self-obsessive despair has never been so entertaining. If I didn't know the dude, I'd call for a suicide watch.
• Jake One's White Van Music – Solid release with a diverse cast of characters. I knew from the get-go that I'd like it more than Bryon Crawford did. Does that dude like anything? (EDIT: I just checked. He liked Tip's album as much as I did. Well, all right!)
  

Stuff I Should've Bought

• Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple – Seriously. Why haven't I bought this yet? I thought the first album was dope, and "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" is a dark gem. I'm slippin'. Hell, the album even sounds great backward!
• Fleet Foxes' self-titled album – Everything I've heard from this has been lush and infectious. I still ain't got it.
• Johnson & Jonson self-titled debut – Okay, this one I have on order. I ain't sleepin' on anything Blu does anymore.
• Chad VanGaalen's Soft Airplane – I was in Music Trader a couple of weeks ago, and this was playing. And it was fucking great. "Willow Tree" is the most comforting, positive song I've heard about death, like, ever. And I fear death. I have no excuse for sleepin' on this one.

Stuff I Should've Liked More Than I Did

• Portishead's Third and The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely – I dunno...maybe I should listen to these again.

* Of course, I found a copy later via Von Pea's blog.