Pure Funk Top 20 Albums of 2010 (15-11)

Every year the major online music sites count down what they think are the best albums and songs of the year.  Who's to say they're right?  I've been reading these lists for years now and figured it's about time to put my money where my mouth is and write my own damn list!

So all this week we'll be counting down our favourites, starting with numbers 20-16.  Feel free to comment and to suggest your own favourite music of this year.  My feeling about these lists is that at the end of the day they're just showcasing some good music you may have missed out on during the year.  So I hope you find something here that fits that description, and let me know if there's some awesome stuff that I need to catch up on.

DJ Bobz  purefunk.com.au

15. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool

Real life is, apparently, no cool.  Listening to this album I’m not so sure, as it sounds plenty cool from where I’m standing.  Lindstrom has taken his reputation as a DJ who appreciates crafting long techno jams and blown that out in favour of cocky disco swagger in the form of four minute gems.

Christabelle is an infrequent collaborator, but here she appears on every track, her breathy falsetto adding a sexual coyness that ices the R&B cake behind it.  From the strutting basslines of ‘LoveSick’ to the MJ aping ‘Baby Can’t Stop’ this is a heady mix of the best Disco, Pop and R&B this side of Lindstrom’s native homeland Sweden.



Real Life Is No Cool

14. Four Tet - There is love in you

Four Tet’s Kieren Hebden describes his albums as documents of ideas, chronicling his musical journey.  Since releasing his debut Rounds in 2003, the journey has seen him push dance in entirely unexpected directions.  This record is another one of those unexpected directions.

During the making of this record, Hebden took up residency in the very small yet very prestigious underground club Plastic People and went about designing music for the dancefloor.  The first song he made during this time was also the best, Love Cry, and its rambling techno influence spreads across the album.  

The other big influence is the clipped vocals, which recall dubstep perennial and good friend Burial.  Another favourite is Sing, it’s stilted basslines and xylaphone plonks rolling along like some organic data transfer.  And this is where Four Tet gets you, injecting the lifeless pulse of techno with an orgy of organic blips and bleeps designed to stimulate your synapses.  If you think I’m kidding, make sure to check out Pablo’s Heart - It’s Hebdens godsons actual heartbeat!



There Is Love in You

13. Gil Scott Heron - I’m New Here

Gil Scott Heron is not well known to Australians.  The American poet-musician is better known in his homeland, and better known to those who heard his firebrand poetry in his prime in the 70’s and 80’s.  Perhaps his best known composition is The Revolution will not be televised.

So how does a world weary, aging legend come to record one of 2009’s most vital records?  Richard Russell of Xl Recording has helped re-introduce Heron as a wise, gravel-voiced sage, dispensing heartfelt and honest stories over a variety of contemporary sounds.

It probably shouldn’t be so surprising that Heron’s vocal work mixes so well with the instrumentals.  The beats chosen reflect several generations of Beat Poetry, Soul, Hip-Hop, Bass and Blues, genre’s that all lend themselves to thoughts of struggle, poverty and oppression; situations Heron knows only too well.

New York is killing me provides a thrilling insight into the love/hate relationship Scott-Heron and his adopted hometown have shared for many years now, While Running sees him running from that which he cannot escape and toward that which he cannot have.  Coming from a broken home Part 1 and Part 2 bookend the album, and the two tracks provide a context for chaos and self-destruction described throughout the songs in between.

I'm New Here

12. Pantha du Prince - Black Noise

Pantha’s last album, This is Bliss, was exactly was its title suggested, a blissful, beautiful, living and breathing techno organism.  This album is no different.  The basslines are full, but not overbearing, and are ornated by an orchestra of carefully arranged instruments, a shimmering coat on a pulsing body of work.

And Pantha’s albums are just that, a body of work, and are meant to be heard as whole.  Similar in concept to the work of Four Tet, Pantha du Prince comes off as more welcoming, worn in and comfortable.  His music is like that VIP section that you can never get in to.  All the chairs look like they would be comfortable, the velvet rope and the silk drapes make you feel like royalty.

I could pick favourite tracks, but then they’re all really pretty awesome, so it think its better to let you guys go ahead and decide.



Black Noise

11. Delorean - Subiza

The Spanish four-piece burst out of a coastal cul-de-sac at the base of the basque mountains, their sun-kissed grooves exuding an exuberance that was part chillwave, part Andrew W.K.  They were having fun in the sun and wanted us to be a part of it.

More enthusiastic than the rest of lo-fi sun-loving class of 2010 (Washed Out, Best Coast, Neon Indian), and displaying musical chops that pitched somewhere between Euro House and Indie Pop, Delorean showed that Spain had more to offer than just Ibiza and Pao Gasol.

The two opening tracks are the best, but that’s because they set the template for the rest of the album.  Stay Close and Real Love bounce around like giddy schoolgirls, west coast coolers in hand and not a care in the world.  The rest of the album plays out like the best party you never attended, aching lyrics about longing and being together matched against the happiest instrumentals of the year.  My christmas wish is that all your summers be like a Delorean song.





Subiza