Best Of 2010 Part 7

F. Stokes - "Remnants Of A Broken Soul"

I saw this dude open up for Mac Lethal earlier this month and he put on a great show. He's from Chicago and kinda reminds me of Andre 3000 with a spoken word type twist. This dude has Lazerbeak from Doomtree make a lot of his beats, so we'll probably be seeing more of him here in the Twin Cities next year.

E-40 - "Revenue Retrievin: Day Shift"

E-40 put out 2 full lenths albums on the same day early this year, and i'll have to admit, there's really hardly any filler at all. He diversifies all the different elements of his style so well on these albums, there's probably a song for everyone on here. E-40 shows that he can hang with anyone in any style. It's too bad he didn't end up with a hit single off either of these, but apparently he's doing the same thing again in February 2011 and dropping 2 more albums.

E-40 - "Revenue Retrievin: Night Shift"

I think I like this one a little better out of the 2.

Reflection Eternal - "Revolutions Per Minute"

I wonder how Talib Kweli can be so weak in concert nowadays, and still be pumping out these dope releases. Does he just not try at all during his live shows? I had low expectations for this project, so maybe that's what made it all the more surprising how good it is. They must've wanted to make sure it was as good as the first Reflection Eternal album.

Mr. Oizo & Gaspard Auge - "Rubber EP"

Mr. Oizo teams up with half of Justice. This EP is sick. All 3 tracks are awesome as hell, and there's a killer Flying Lotus remix of the title track. Too bad the full length of this isn't nearly as good.

The Dead Weather - "Sea Of Cowards"

I wanted to hate this band so bad, but anything Jack White touches seems to gravitate towards me. I think this is even better than their first album. I don't want it to be over when it is. I'd like to hear more rock music like this coming out.

Tech N9ne - "Seepage EP"

He kinda snuck this one out towards the end of the year, showing a more emotional side. Dope as always.

Squarepusher - "Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator"

Squarepusher's attempt at being in and writing music for a live band. This works out well, he mostly ditches his glitchyness, and the vocals are mostly vocoder style, and he rips it up on that bass guitar. The most accessible/sellable thing he's ever done without it sounding like a sellout move. I hope he does more music like this.

Krizz Kaliko - "Shock Treatment"

I don't like this as much as his first 2 albums, but this is still one of the year's strongest releases. Within the last 3 years he's become one of my favorite people in all of music. He can rap well, sing well, write well... The man just sounds good and makes quality music that's the opposite of boring- so quit sleepin on him already!

Das Racist - "Shut Up, Dude"

First of all it's pronounced DAS Racist- like "man, that's racist!", not DOS Racist like everybody keeps saying it like Das Efx or if they were from Germany or something. The mispronunciation always annoys me. Anyways, these guys came outta nowhere this year with some of the most fun music i've ever heard. Not malicious fun either, just nice drunken fun. Their style kinda reminds me of The Shapeshifters in a way, and half the time it sounds like they're freestyling, but they always make me laugh with their catchy goofy choruses and leftfield pop culture references. Look up the "Rainbow In The Dark" video on youtube.

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

I think maybe this album has gotten more props than it deserves, but it's still tight as fuck. I'd love to hear the original version the way he wanted the world to hear it though. Fuck bullshit legal politics.

Das Racist - "Sit Down, Man"

This 2nd release by them is more flow oriented in terms of the rhymes, and they had the luxury of having Diplo put this together for them too. Maybe not quite as fun as Shut Up, Dude, but equally engaging for different reasons, and still super retarded fun (they do a weird cover of Return To Innocence as an example)