Top Albums of 2010 - #4-1

This week, the BZNZmen will be bringing you their list of the top albums of 2010.

#4

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

NASTY K: I think we are continuing a theme here at the top of our list with great artists releasing an album that is good, but not as good as their previous work. I really like this album, but I don't know if it's better than Sound of Silver. I positively oozed with excitement the first time I heard "Dance Yrself Clean" with Murphy's tender lyrics colliding with an oh-so-epic drum intro. Elsewhere on this album, I liked "Drunk Girls" better the first time, when it was called "White Light, White Heat" and it was a Velvet Underground tune. I do quite enjoy "I Can Change" for it's wacky synths, and "Home" has a really crisp feel to it, but it's not as front-to-back well constructed as Sound of Silver.

LCD Soundsystem - "I Can Change"


LCD Soundsystem - "Home"

#3

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

RAJ: Frequent readers know what I think of this album (for the record, my top album of the year was a four way tie between this, Sleigh Bells, Titus Andronicus, and our overall list #1), and since any reference I've made to hip-hop, music, or life has prompted an angry screed from Andy, you know what he thinks of this album. If you're looking for more praise of this album, I'll point you to Brandon Soderberg's brilliant in-depth analyses of every song on the album, which says it all better than I can.

But the juxtaposition of this album with the (also great) next one on the list sparked the nerdiest rap metaphor that I've ever come up with, which I'll share with you. You see, Big Boi is Superman, and Kanye West is Batman. Boi is endowed with superhuman rapping talent, and he's effortlessly able to overcome any obstacle placed in his way - he massacres beats, he reminds us at length that he's the ultimate lover, he embodies a preternatural degree of confidence and self-assurance. Indeed, he really is susceptible to only one kryptonite - specifically, his ability to deal with record labels.

Yeezy, on the other hand, is as utterly human as the rest of us - his ability to rise to the level of other rappers has to do with his own Bat-Belt-esque creations (bear with me, guys), the monstrous beats that he's able to back himself with (and yes, this entire entry is most definitely inspired by the "superhero theme music" line on "Power"). But beneath his masterful creations, he is a wreck, and Fantasy more than any other of his albums splays out Kanye's tormented soul before us in all its masochistic, self-defeating glory (and to be clear, Kanye asks us not to sympathize but to empathize - he's as clearly aware of his faults as any of his detractors). As with Batman, the distinction between hero and villain isn't as clear-cut as we might think - but it's all accompanied by some trunk-rattling beats. So I prefer Batman to Superman (for the record, I guess Das Racist in this metaphor is probably like Aqua Teen Hunger Force or something).

NASTY K: In the interest of avoiding another pissing contest with Raj on this one, I'mma keep my comments brief:

• At least Kanye didn't ruin a Daft Punk song this time.
• The best verse on this album is delivered by Nicki Minaj. I am predicting that that verse will be Illmatic-esque for Ms. Minaj, who will be doomed to never elevate to that level again.
• I completely agree with Raj that Kanye is tormented (so much so that I can't give two shits about his lyrics), and I know what the cure is, what his therapist should tell all his fans to do with this album : "Just runaway from it, baby."

I'm mostly just glad we ranked Big Boi higher, because that album didn't get the love it deserved.

JESSE: Alright dudes. There's a lot of overanalysis of Kanye West right now. I think the across the board praise for the album, from the most mainstream sources to cokemachineglow and tinymixtapes. It's a good album. To be honest, many of the beefs that I had with the album have minimized from more listens (although I still think Pusha T's verse in Runaway is really bad), and that's just because my expectations have changed. It's certainly a different sound from what you'd hear elsewhere, but it's not krautrock. I think it's good, but it would be healthy to ask what we'd think of this album in a vacuum, without the Kanye drama and reputation (of course that's impossible, considering how much of the album is about it). But Kanye still spits lines that are really impressive. Raj mentioned his verse on Gorgeous before, and it's really an example that Kanye can rap successfully about things other than fashion companies, alcoholism, and depressing promiscuity:

"this the real world, homie, school finished
they done stole your dreams, you dunno who did it
I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDS
I won’t be satisfied til all my n-ggas get it, get it"

I'd say it stands up pretty well, it's got weak spots that we've pointed out, but overall deserving of the praise it's receiving. Let's see how it ages I guess?

Kanye West (ft. John Legend and Chris Rock) - "Blame Game"

Kanye West (ft. Gil Scott-Heron) - "Lost in the World"

#2

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

RAJ: (see above).

NASTY K: Phew, Sir Luscious Left Foot put his best foot forward f'sho. I think this was my favorite album released this year (clearly the best title too). As the quote on this funny Philadelphia Weekly article says: “I know everyone is swinging from Kanye’s nuts, but this is the real hip-hop record of the year!”

I liked it ever so slightly more than Cosmogramma, because, well, it's top to bottom BANGERS. Big Boi has always played second banana to his more flamboyant counterpart Andre 3000 for years, but with this album he steps out of 3 stacks's shadow with a high energy album that is lyrics and production wise pure brilliance. "Daddy Fat Sax" is a furious album opener, exploding as Big Boi reminds us who the fuck he is. He "writes knockout songs, y'all [Kanye] spit punchlines for money." "Shutterbugg" was already my one of my favorite tracks of the year, an absolute scorcher with a phenomenal stuttering beat that Big Boi deftly weaves his verse in an out of, with a killer vocal hook over the top. GOD DAMN that song is good. This album came out months ago, I'm still wondering when I'm going to tire of it. The classic "Shine Blockas" with Gucci Mane, is another album anthem. "The Train Pt. 2 (Sir Luscious Left Foot Saves the Day)" includes Big Boi railing against coke rap (pun intended) with an incredible verse:

While each in every rapper claims to be the heavyweight
Cause he mentions cocainia in bout everything he make
And they wonder why them people tryna pin him with that case
Cause his blow his dixie crystal pistol play was just for play, fake

Phew. I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT.

Big Boi - Daddy Fat Sax


Big Boi & Sam Chris - "The Train Pt. 2 (Sir Luscious Left Foot Saves the Day)

#1

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

RAJ: This is what Dave Bowman should have been bumping when he was turning into the Star Child. This is what is bigger than hip-hop. This is what happens when jazz and hip-hop make love and start a beautiful family of tow-headed kids. This is the entire universe collapsed into a single album that you can dance to. What I'm trying to say is that this is a pretty good album.

NASTY K: I have never heard anything as dope as "Do The Astral Plane". If I were to have a problem with this album in any respect, I guess at times it just feels too busy as compared with Los Angeles, which I might prefer slightly (blasphemy, I know). Just sometimes the beat is jitterin' and glitchin' hither and yon so fast that I can't focus in. This FlyLo character is incredibly talented though, and he and the rest of the Brainfeeder cats make some of the most exciting music in music if you ask this guy. This video for "Zodiac Shit" is also one of my faves. I'm pleased with this being our top album though. Maybe next year we'll set this up so Raj and I argue less...

JESSE: I didn't list any of the songs from this album on my songs of the year, but there was no question for me that this was going to be my album of the year. To address Andy's comparison of this and Los Angeles, I don't see any reason why it would be considered blasphemy to like Los Angeles more than this, it just means that you're more into straightforward beats. This album shows the forward-thinkingness of FlyLo, and how he's really jumped out of the confines of genres and scenes. Listening to the incredible Decade of Flying Lotus mix by Gaslamp Killer gives examples of genre hopping, but still sounding very much like other musicians. Madlib & J Dilla are present in a lot of the vibe, then Dubstep kicks in, etc. Los Angeles is really similar to Dilla's Donuts or Madlib's Beat Konducta albums in that it's beats, but a lot more. The beats are executed well, but what it comes down to is that it's another album of beats, which is done pretty often. Then Cosmogramma comes out and at first, you don't really know what to think of it. It's certainly not a beats album. It's Flying Lotus's sound, sort of jazzy at some times, bass-heavy, instrumental. It's genre-hopping, but not at all in a choppy, random sense. The songs flow into each other well, it's sometimes hard to know when a new song has started. I really love everything about this album, from start to finish. I vividly remember the feeling that 2:53 of Recoiled gave me when I was listening to this with the speakers up and the bass really high on a Saturday afternoon. Mmm. Cosmogramma is the sound of the exploration of a range of influences, moving away from the constraints of the expectations of a genre, and defining a new one.

Flying Lotus - "Zodiac Shit"

Flying Lotus - "Galaxy in Janaki"