![“Composers have the agonizing choice. They can play deaf and soldier on as if music were still music. Or they can pursue the leveling on their own account, turn music into a normal condition and in the process hold out for quality, where possible.” - Theodor Adorno, “On the Contemporary Relationship of Philosophy and Music”
“Fuck this industry / Bitch I’m in these streets.” - Waka Flocka Flame, “Fuck This Industry”
So The Awl’s on a year-ending THEME WEEK and my day job didn’t put lists online this year. I gave the Voice 2010-summation ballots for their jazz, film and Pazz + Jop polls (the latter yet to be published). But below you can find my overall “Top 50 albums + 20 singles of 2010” thingy. If I had to sum up the year super quickly, I guess I’d say that Adorno would surely be surprised if he knew which genres thought about his “future of music” options the most seriously.
“Classical music” (whatever that means) is still so unsure about whether and how to insert itself into daily-life conversations that it gets into pissing matches over the probity of terms like “alt-classical.” Jazz suffers less so in this way, but good luck getting people to listen in any case. Meantime, while precisely nobody thinks Waka is the greatest rapper alive, people dig him for the way he uses his marginal talents to make a persuasive case for our affections-on-repeat. In the space of a week after its release, I bet I heard *every single track* from Flockaveli issuing from cars rolling past my apartment window on Fulton Street. But I’m guessing “fuck this industry” worked, at the level of sentiment if not aesthetics, all across a country that flirted with double-digit unemployment for the entirety of the calendar year. Talk about your “normal conditions.”
Mikel Rouse’s “Recess” went public on Dec. 10th, which is one reason why almost nobody has heard it yet. Calendar realities aside, Rouse’s music gets filed under “contemporary American composer,” dooming it to anonymity no matter the release date. Still: Elvis Costello wishes he could write hummable folk tunes this outrageously polyrhythmic. David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label was formed precisely to champion melodies as sinuous and surprising as the ones here. And sure, Kanye’s record sounded great enough to make you (maybe) forget its linguistic shortcomings—but remains less “game-changing” to those who’ve ever heard french horn used to good effect elsewhere. Plus, Rouse wants to talk about single payer, unlike every other putatively left-wing liberal arts grad making the scene at Death by Audio or The Smell (or a Tumblr music blog). Hardly any labels—and certainly not any “tastemaking” ones—are keeping track of America’s compositional wilds right now, which is why Rouse released “Recess” on his own imprint, Exit Music. “I wanna fuckin build my own goddamn documentary and say it the way I wanna say it,” he sings in “Designing Women,” just after dropping a field recording of a woman flacking a “Medicare for All” campaign. Or, put another way: Fuck This Culture Industry.
Last but certainly not least—please do clock the women ruling hard from positions all over the genre universe. This means Halvorson writing the most intriguing jazz melodies and dealing out guitar grind to put No Age’s lazy third one to shame. Did you see how Erykah made indirection a virtue in these SEO times? Or maybe no one has told you about Sarah Kirkland Snider’s song cycle, fronted by the singer from My Brightest Diamond? We can thank the bankers, I guess, since their bailouts finally up and made Laurie Anderson mad enough to drop her too-bemused-for-school approach. Also, Leighton Meester: credible country-pop singer. Who knew? And naturally: Robyn Robyn Robyn.
Now I’m running out to Powell’s to buy a full-price hardcover of Matthew Gallaway’s new novel before I head out for a few days in the wilderness. Hold out for quality where you can, amirite? [Adorno sez yes.]
TOP 50 ALBUMS:
50. Rihanna - Loud 49. Wolfgang Voigt - Freiland Klaviermusik 48. Tyvek - Nothing Fits 47. Thomas Larcher - Madhares 46. Four Tet - There Is Love In You 45. Tracey Thorn - Love and Its Opposite 44. Robert Ashley - Atalanta (Acts of God) Part II 43. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - III/IV 42. Slices - Cruising 41. Mux Mool - Skulltaste40. Zs - New Slaves39. Tyler, The Creator - Bastard38. Matt Marks - The Little Death, Vol. 137. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs36. Rick Ross - Teflon Don35. Rhys Chatham - A Crimson Grail 34. Quasi - American Gong33. Diddy-Dirty Money - Last Train to Paris32. Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern31. Sarah Kirkland Snider - Penelope30. Gangrene (The Alchemist & Oh No) - Gutter Water 29. Ken Thomson & Slow/Fast- It Would Be Easier If28. R. Kelly - Love Letter27. Unnatural Helpers - Cracked Love and Other Drugs26. Marc Ribot - Silent Movies25. Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli24. William Brittelle - Television Landscape 23. The Roots - How I Got Over22. Versus - On the Ones and Threes (2xLP Version)21. Maurice Brown - The Cycle of Love 20. Buke and Gass - Riposte19. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding18. Seijaku - You Should Prepare To Survive Through Even Anything Happens17. Miguel - All I Want Is You16. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 15. David First - Privacy Issues (droneworks 1996-2009)14. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me13. Benoit Delbecq Trio - The Sixth Jump12. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow11. Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1 10. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik 0-60 (DGC)9. Larry Polansky - The World’s Longest Melody (New World Records)8. M.I.A. - /\/\/\Y/\ (Deluxe Edition) (XL) 7. Jason Moran - Ten (Blue Note) 6. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Bad Boy) 5. Laurie Anderson - Homeland (Nonesuch) 4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot…The Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam) 3. Mary Halvorson Quintet - Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12) 2. Mikel Rouse - Recess (Exit Music) 1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (Universal Motown) TOP 20 SINGLES: 20. Buke and Gass “Medulla Oblongata” 19. Laurie Anderson “Only an Expert” 18. Waka Flocka Flame “Hard In Da Paint” 17. Katy Perry “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” 16. Superchunk “My Gap Feels Weird” 15. Outkast “Lookin 4 Ya” 14. Leighton Meester “Words I Couldn’t Say” 13. Raheem DeVaughan “I Don’t Care” 12. Robyn “Hang With Me (Electric Version)” 11. Rihanna “Rude Boy” 10. Yelawolf “Pop the Trunk (Bones & Vocal version)” [no label] 9. Erykah Badu “Window Seat” [Universal Motown] 8. Blake Shelton (ft. Trace Adkins) “Hillbilly Bone” [Reprise] 7. Lil B “The Age of Information” [no label] 6. Kanye West “All of the Lights” [Def Jam] 5. Kylesa “Don’t Look Back” [Season of Mist] 4. Janelle Monae (ft. Big Boi) “Tightrope” [Bad Boy] 3. Joanna Newsom “Baby Birch” [Drag City] 2. Robyn “Dancing On My Own” [Konichiwa] 1. Mikel Rouse “Plug Nickel” [Exit Music]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_le7kmp4w2M1qaaii1o1_500.png)
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“Composers have the agonizing choice. They can play deaf and soldier on as if music were still music. Or they can pursue the leveling on their own account, turn music into a normal condition and in the process hold out for quality, where possible.” - Theodor Adorno, “On the Contemporary Relationship of Philosophy and Music”
“Fuck this industry / Bitch I’m in these streets.” - Waka Flocka Flame, “Fuck This Industry”
So The Awl’s on a year-ending THEME WEEK and my day job didn’t put lists online this year. I gave the Voice 2010-summation ballots for their jazz, film and Pazz + Jop polls (the latter yet to be published). But below you can find my overall “Top 50 albums + 20 singles of 2010” thingy. If I had to sum up the year super quickly, I guess I’d say that Adorno would surely be surprised if he knew which genres thought about his “future of music” options the most seriously.
“Classical music” (whatever that means) is still so unsure about whether and how to insert itself into daily-life conversations that it gets into pissing matches over the probity of terms like “alt-classical.” Jazz suffers less so in this way, but good luck getting people to listen in any case. Meantime, while precisely nobody thinks Waka is the greatest rapper alive, people dig him for the way he uses his marginal talents to make a persuasive case for our affections-on-repeat. In the space of a week after its release, I bet I heard *every single track* from Flockaveli issuing from cars rolling past my apartment window on Fulton Street. But I’m guessing “fuck this industry” worked, at the level of sentiment if not aesthetics, all across a country that flirted with double-digit unemployment for the entirety of the calendar year. Talk about your “normal conditions.”
Mikel Rouse’s “Recess” went public on Dec. 10th, which is one reason why almost nobody has heard it yet. Calendar realities aside, Rouse’s music gets filed under “contemporary American composer,” dooming it to anonymity no matter the release date. Still: Elvis Costello wishes he could write hummable folk tunes this outrageously polyrhythmic. David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label was formed precisely to champion melodies as sinuous and surprising as the ones here. And sure, Kanye’s record sounded great enough to make you (maybe) forget its linguistic shortcomings—but remains less “game-changing” to those who’ve ever heard french horn used to good effect elsewhere. Plus, Rouse wants to talk about single payer, unlike every other putatively left-wing liberal arts grad making the scene at Death by Audio or The Smell (or a Tumblr music blog). Hardly any labels—and certainly not any “tastemaking” ones—are keeping track of America’s compositional wilds right now, which is why Rouse released “Recess” on his own imprint, Exit Music. “I wanna fuckin build my own goddamn documentary and say it the way I wanna say it,” he sings in “Designing Women,” just after dropping a field recording of a woman flacking a “Medicare for All” campaign. Or, put another way: Fuck This Culture Industry.
Last but certainly not least—please do clock the women ruling hard from positions all over the genre universe. This means Halvorson writing the most intriguing jazz melodies and dealing out guitar grind to put No Age’s lazy third one to shame. Did you see how Erykah made indirection a virtue in these SEO times? Or maybe no one has told you about Sarah Kirkland Snider’s song cycle, fronted by the singer from My Brightest Diamond? We can thank the bankers, I guess, since their bailouts finally up and made Laurie Anderson mad enough to drop her too-bemused-for-school approach. Also, Leighton Meester: credible country-pop singer. Who knew? And naturally: Robyn Robyn Robyn.
Now I’m running out to Powell’s to buy a full-price hardcover of Matthew Gallaway’s new novel before I head out for a few days in the wilderness. Hold out for quality where you can, amirite? [Adorno sez yes.]
TOP 50 ALBUMS:
50. Rihanna - Loud
49. Wolfgang Voigt - Freiland Klaviermusik
48. Tyvek - Nothing Fits
47. Thomas Larcher - Madhares
46. Four Tet - There Is Love In You
45. Tracey Thorn - Love and Its Opposite
44. Robert Ashley - Atalanta (Acts of God) Part II
43. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - III/IV
42. Slices - Cruising
41. Mux Mool - Skulltaste
40. Zs - New Slaves
39. Tyler, The Creator - Bastard
38. Matt Marks - The Little Death, Vol. 1
37. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
36. Rick Ross - Teflon Don
35. Rhys Chatham - A Crimson Grail
34. Quasi - American Gong
33. Diddy-Dirty Money - Last Train to Paris
32. Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern
31. Sarah Kirkland Snider - Penelope
30. Gangrene (The Alchemist & Oh No) - Gutter Water
29. Ken Thomson & Slow/Fast- It Would Be Easier If
28. R. Kelly - Love Letter
27. Unnatural Helpers - Cracked Love and Other Drugs
26. Marc Ribot - Silent Movies
25. Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli
24. William Brittelle - Television Landscape
23. The Roots - How I Got Over
22. Versus - On the Ones and Threes (2xLP Version)
21. Maurice Brown - The Cycle of Love
20. Buke and Gass - Riposte
19. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
18. Seijaku - You Should Prepare To Survive Through Even Anything Happens
17. Miguel - All I Want Is You
16. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
15. David First - Privacy Issues (droneworks 1996-2009)
14. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
13. Benoit Delbecq Trio - The Sixth Jump
12. Kylesa - Spiral Shadow
11. Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1
10. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik 0-60 (DGC)
9. Larry Polansky - The World’s Longest Melody (New World Records)
8. M.I.A. - /\/\/\Y/\ (Deluxe Edition) (XL)
7. Jason Moran - Ten (Blue Note)
6. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Bad Boy)
5. Laurie Anderson - Homeland (Nonesuch)
4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot…The Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)
3. Mary Halvorson Quintet - Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12)
2. Mikel Rouse - Recess (Exit Music)
1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (Universal Motown)
TOP 20 SINGLES:
20. Buke and Gass “Medulla Oblongata”
19. Laurie Anderson “Only an Expert”
18. Waka Flocka Flame “Hard In Da Paint”
17. Katy Perry “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”
16. Superchunk “My Gap Feels Weird”
15. Outkast “Lookin 4 Ya”
14. Leighton Meester “Words I Couldn’t Say”
13. Raheem DeVaughan “I Don’t Care”
12. Robyn “Hang With Me (Electric Version)”
11. Rihanna “Rude Boy”
10. Yelawolf “Pop the Trunk (Bones & Vocal version)” [no label]
9. Erykah Badu “Window Seat” [Universal Motown]
8. Blake Shelton (ft. Trace Adkins) “Hillbilly Bone” [Reprise]
7. Lil B “The Age of Information” [no label]
6. Kanye West “All of the Lights” [Def Jam]
5. Kylesa “Don’t Look Back” [Season of Mist]
4. Janelle Monae (ft. Big Boi) “Tightrope” [Bad Boy]
3. Joanna Newsom “Baby Birch” [Drag City]
2. Robyn “Dancing On My Own” [Konichiwa]
1. Mikel Rouse “Plug Nickel” [Exit Music]
