Top 10 Albums of 2010

Merry Christmas to one and to all - while the whole Audionugs crew are members of the Tribe so-to-speak, between the snow-covered trees, heaviliy Jack-infused eggnog, and ornately festive sweaters, it's hard not to get into the Christmas spirit.  Therefore we give you our Top 10 Albums of 2010:

1. B.O.B. - The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Hands down the best album of the year, B.O.B.'s debut album blew critics away with mixtape gem’s like “I’ll Be There in the Sky”, “Nothin’ On You” and “Bet I Bust”, while putting together instant classics like “Fame”, “Magic” and “Past My Shades” featuring Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Playboy Tre, Hayley Williams (of Paramore), Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer), Janelle Monae, Eminem and Giggs. B.O.B. continues to play around with an odd fusion of Dirty South rap and slick r&b that continues to develop into a wholly new strain of hip hop, and all with the help of up and coming hip hop producer J.R. Rotem.



2. Ben L'Oncle Soul - Soul Wash
Ben L'Oncle Soul is everything that his name suggests and more. Recently signed to France's Motown label, Soul embodies every good thing that has happened to R&B in the last 50 years. His style is an awesome blend of The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, John Legend, and a little Justin Timberlake. Soul Wash in some ways might be the my favorite pop album of the last 10 years, as Ben brings his Euro-centric soul to some of America's poppiest tracks of the last decade - you have to give credit to anyone that can make Aqua, the Spice Girls & Katy Perry sound amazing (but my favorite track has to be the White Stripes cover of 'Seven Nation Army).



3. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Covering virtually every genre of music worth listening to, Janelle Monae's debut album has been critically acclaimed and represents, in some ways, the 'rebirth of the diva' in R&B, because I don't really think that any other female artist can measure up to Monae's musical talent and creative ability.  'Tightrope' was probably my favorite track on the album, and the presence of hip hop demigod Big Boi only added to Monae's hip hop credentials...



4. Tom Caruana Presents: Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers
All I've got is six words for you: Beatles and the Wu Tang Clan. Two of my favorite musical groups mashed together by virtually unknown producer Tom Caruana, in what quickly became one of the biggest blog buzzes of last winter. The volume of samples here might seem overwhelming, but Caruana does not give any one sample excessive attention. Caruana explains, "I've seen on blogs, somebody says something like, 'I've only heard two Beatles samples that I recognized in here.' And to me that's quite a good thing - you have to listen extra hard to hear them. I was purposeful not to just take 'Love Me Do' and put Wu-Tang with it." Download the album below and enjoy.

Wu Tang vs. The Beatles: Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers


5. Black Keys - Brothers
The Brooklyn immigrants who I've come to really love since the Blackroc blues album, have outdone themselves yet again with their May 2010 album Brothers.  The album has a much more playful tone than we're all used to, which in some ways I assume has opened the music up to a much wider audience, which is never a bad thing.  Without a pantheon of rockers like we've had in past decades, the Black Keys represent the 21st century evolutionary phase of rock&roll, bringing a more unique and fine-tuned sound without a lot of the fanfare and glamor expected of rockstars.



6. Sharon & The Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way
In every way that artists like Janelle Monae and B.O.B. are taking music to new heights, Sharon & The Dap Kings are bringing us back to the glory days of soul, when Otis Redding, Sam Cooke & Marvin Gaye owned the music charts.  Singing of the hard times that drove the philosophical inspiration behind rhythm and blues, it's mind blowing that this album was produced in 2010 and not 1972.



7. Chiddy Bang - The Preview/ Air Swell
Chiddy Bang is probably the hottest up-and-coming hip-hop duo around, which may sound odd to some in the hip hop community who view the Drexel-educated (well, at least their freshman year...) Xaphoon Jones and Chiddy as too hipster for school. Honestly, who cares, because they've been killing it since they inked a deal with UK-based record company EMI earlier in 2010. Since they've yet to put out an actually debut album, we've chosen their two most recent mixtapes, because lets face it, they're probably the hottest hip hop group going into 2011, and we've all get 'Opposite of Adults' playing on repeat on our ipods....



8. The Cataracts - I Thought They Were Black?!
The Cataracs put together the amazing new mixtape I Thought They Were Black!?, which boasts tracks featuring Lil Wayne, Dorrough, and the hyphy king himself, E40. The Cataracs are able to build a unique bridge between pop and hip-hop, creating a chaotic orgy of auto-tune harmonies, drum beats, and guitar riffs best heard on "Ice Cream Paint Job" and "Undercover". We're going to see a lot more of The Cataracs in 2011, so enjoy their best music from 2010!



9. Mochi Beats - the album
Mochi Beats is one of the most exciting up-and-coming mashup artists these days, based in Santa Ana, CA at Proof.  His self-titled debut album is a wild ride of mashups, and in a lot of ways, listening to it took me back to my sophomore year of college when I heard Girl Talk's Nightripper for the first time.  Having had a number of his tracks rank pretty high on Hype Machine recently, Mochi Beats is on a sure path to success - my favorite track has to be "Hypnotize Gold", which miraculously mashes together Biggie and Neil Young!!!



10. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Arcade Fire's 3rd installment has been widely viewed as one of the best rock albums of the year, and therefore has been nominated in a handful of Grammy categories.  Finding inspiration from their Houston upbringing, the boys from Texas intended the album to represent 'a message from the suburbs', and is widely being coined the band's OK Computer album.  Not sure how much I can make the parallel between Arcade Fire and Radiohead (because as some of you may know, I really don't like Radiohead), but the band is using the album similarly, as a crucial stepping stone to musical greatness.