George Booker’s Top Ten
< author: g booker > |
1. BASEMENT JAXX CRAZY ITCH RADIO MP3 | MySpace |
| In a perfect world, this is what top 40 pop radio should sound like. It can be difficult to take something with so many bells and whistles, goofy noises and silly British people shouting seriously. Basement Jaxx, however, have perfected maximal pop fusion (there are elements of too many sounds and styles to attempt to list), and the result is both a tasty pop confection and an endlessly fascinating, engrossing album. |
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2. GHOSTFACE KILLAH FISHSCALE MP3 | Official Site |
| Sorry, underground. The best hip-hop albums of the year were major label efforts largely concerned with cocaine. Wu-Tang veteran Ghostface shows the Young Jeezy’s of the world how this should be done: with wisdom, perspective, and mindblowing lyricism. Ghostface proves himself again to be the greatest emcee alive, and probably one of the finest stylists of language to have ever walked the earth. I am not exaggerating, this is amazing. The lack of production input from the RZA is ably compensated for by the enlistment of other sympathetic knob twiddling genii like MF Doom, Pete Rock, etc. |
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3. CLIPSE HELL HATH NO FURY MP3 | Wamp Wamp (What It Do) |
| Hometown heroes finally release a second album after years of legal boondoggling, and it miraculously lives up to the hype. A tight, all killer no filler album featuring the Neptunes’ best (not to mention sparsest, hardest, and scariest) production in ages and a million jillion wonderful ways to say coke. |
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4. THE KNIFE SILENT SHOUT MP3 | Official Site |
| Another sparse, scary album, the minimal ying to Basement Jaxx’s maximal yang in this year’s electronic crossover derby. Elements repeat and drift in and out, never quite connecting completely. Tweaked vocals scare the shit out of me. Creepy, uncanny and indelible like a great David Lynch movie. |
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5. OUTKAST IDLEWILD MP3 | Official Site |
| So strange for Outkast to release an album that is not the best of the year, and perhaps they have spoiled us that way, which may explain why this one got relatively little acclaim. Somebody beat me to the punch in making Outkast/Prince analogs by making the observation that in making an anachronistic old timey movie with an undeniably weird soundtrack, Outkast has now made their own “Under the Cherry Moon”/”Parade.” That movie and album were a joke in 1986. “Under the Cherry Moon” is still something of a joke, but “Idlewild” is a much better movie. 20 years later, however, “Parade” has come to be seen as some type of freak funk masterpiece. In 20 years, “Idlewild” the album is sure to have its own eclectic cult, as the odd mixture of hip hop, ragtime, funk, and gospel sincerity only gets better with each listen. |
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6. THE COUP PICK A BIGGER WEAPON MP3 | My Favorite Mutiny |
| To say that this defiantly independent hip hop duo are Marxist activists from Black Pantherland aka Oakland doesn’t hint at what a good time their music is. This is revolutionary rhetoric to make sweet love to your old lady by. This sublimely funky album contains tracks ideal for fist shaking, ass wiggling, and baby making. Not even a non-socialist can resist the pure charm and sway. |
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7. VARIOUS STONES THROW ARTISTS CHROME CHILDREN MP3 | Chrome Mix |
| Stones Throw are definitely a bunch of talented, funny kids with great taste. This album is an idea of what they could do if only they focused. Of course, its all over the place, but every track is a winner that shows something special Stones Throw artists like Madlib, Gary Wilson, Peanut Butter Wolf, Oh No, and the late J Dilla are capable of, from blunted hip hop instrumentals to sampledelic madness to straight bangers to multigenre raveups to classic dug up soul. |
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8. SONIC YOUTH RATHER RIPPED MP3 | Videos |
| My favorite rock and roll record this year was the new Sonic Youth. And I am boring. Coming after “Murray Street“ and “Sonic Nurse,” it would seem that these legends are at the peak of one of the best phases of their career. If a younger, sexier band made those 3 albums back to back, they would be gigantic. |
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9. SCISSOR SISTERS TA-DAH MP3 | Official Site |
| There seems to be a rather strong resistance indie air to entertainment this nakedly gimmicky, but can something so blatantly kitschy even count as irony anymore? What gets overlooked is that the Scissor Sisters are the real thing, America‘s finest, sharpest classic pop songwriters, as proven on their second album. Beyond the silly names and props they delivered a better set of songs than anybody of those “first and last name“ performers that seem so popular these days. |
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10. VARIOUS JAMAICANS SERIOUS TIMES MP3 | Label Site |
| Its funny when a collection of tracks so fixated on poverty and suffering is described as positive, but that seems to be the relative standard in Kingston. An often sublime collection of new Jamaican music refreshingly free of gun love and homophobia. For anybody who’s lost faith in the island’s music. |