I don’t mind making year-end lists, and in some cases I even enjoy reading them—but anybody who bothers arguing about them is a fool. It’s impossible to hear everything released in a year, and the “consensus” picks—the albums that show up on list after list—say more about how widely available and heavily promoted a piece of music is than they do about its quality. On the day I wrote this, the ten records below stood out in my mind as the best of 2010. Ask me to choose again in a week, though, and I might come up with a different list. —Peter Margasak
- Atomic Theater Tilters Vols. 1 and 2 (Jazzland) This Scandinavian quintet seems to turn up in my top ten every time it makes a record. Atomic has evolved constantly since forming in 1999, and over the past few years they’ve pushed their bold postbop toward a much more open and spontaneous sound—making their music more exciting and challenging without losing a bit of its satisfying soulfulness. I’m cheating a little here, as these excellent 2009 live recordings are spread across two releases, but either one would’ve made my list alone.
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Khaira Arby Timbuktu Tarab (Clermont Music) Malian singer Khaira Arby, a major figure in her homeland for more than a decade, released her first U.S. album this year and followed up with a stateside tour that included two knockout performances at Chicago’s World Music Festival. Ali Farka Toure was one of her cousins, and the kind of spindly, cyclical guitar licks he made famous turn up all over Timbuktu Tarab, interwoven with terse n’goni and fiddle parts; the music also has affinities with the so-called desert rock of bands like Tinariwen. What sets it apart is Arby’s searing, powerful voice, ironclad pitch control, and regal bearing. This is not only the best African record I heard in 2010 but one of the best I’ve heard in many years.
Parker/Guy/Lytton + Peter Evans Scenes in the House of Music (Clean Feed) The trio of reedist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy, and percussionist Paul Lytton is a paragon of European free improvisation, carrying on the first-wave style of brutally intense radical abstraction. Every member has a profoundly individual vocabulary, deployed in the service of rigorous full-ensemble interaction—no soloing over changes here—and the group’s energy and inventiveness haven’t flagged after nearly 30 years. It’s a testament to the wizardry of young trumpeter Peter Evans that he can step into this lineup of titans and improve it—his sensitivity and musicality place him in the uppermost rank among improvisers the world over.
Big K.R.I.T. K.R.I.T. Wuz Here (Def Jam/Multi) Hip-hop has been on an artsy kick for a couple of years now, and over the past few months rappers big and small have ramped it up, seemingly competing to see who can use the most cutting-edge indie-rock samples or develop the most outre aesthetic. So it’s good to have a few strong artists anchored in the tried and true. MC and producer Big K.R.I.T. makes something like the platonic ideal of southern rap—nothing on his debut hasn’t been done before, but it’s rarely been done so well.
Rick Ross Teflon Don (Def Jam) Rick Ross is the Rasputin of rap. His 2006 megajam “Hustlin’” was the kind of perfect debut single that can make and break a career in one shot—any follow-up should’ve fallen short and failed. The 2008 revelation that he worked as a prison guard in the early 90s should’ve ruined him—especially since he’s built his entire persona around his alleged prowess as a cocaine-cartel boss. Somehow he’s still hanging in, though, and not only that but he seems to top himself with every new rap. Teflon Don is an undeniable juggernaut of massive synth-hop beats and the most quotable bullshit fantasy drug-dealer talk of the year.
T.I. No Mercy (Atlantic) In a recession, nothing smarts quite like hearing that having money ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. T.I.’s “Castle Walls” (with Christina Aguilera), a standout jam from No Mercy, carries two poignantly conflicting messages: T.I. is rich (he has Ferraris and servants) and T.I. is successful (he has Grammys), but T.I. is also in “agony” inside his enormous house. Pity the (spiritually) poor rap star! He even dares us to “walk in my nines” for a minute. Dude, we wear size 14 shoes, or we would in a heartbeat. Have you ever seen wolf feet? Harsh toke!
