With each years close, there’s two things you can count on from the music press—best of lists from the past year and preview lists of the coming year. With the deluge of both filling our Google Readers, it’s easy to get them confused. So somehow we’ve come up with the Best of 2010 Preview Awards. Because if there’s one thing a good music site must do, it’s predict the future with infallible accuracy.
HIP-HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Drake – Thank Me Later (March, 2010)
Hip-hop moves at a glacial pace. So it’s safe to say the the rapper everyone is most excited about in 2009 will score big in 2010. That is assuming the record doesn’t leak, get pushed back, re-recorded, re-leaked, turned into a mixtape, then re-recorded again, at which point it will be the best hip-hop album of 2011.
BEST COMBACK OF 2010
Sade – Soldier of Love (Feb. 8, 2010)
The single is already 100x better than whatever Massive Attack has put on offer. And it doesn’t need a cheeky X-rated video to back it up. Be prepared to be told it’s her first album since 2000 a whole lot of times.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HERITAGE ACT THAT WILL ONLY BE HEARD BY THERE PRE-EXISTING FANS OF 2010
Groove Armada – Black Light (Feb. 1, 2010)
This electronica duo went and got some inspired vocalist and some more inspired songwriting chops to pull off this driving cross between post punk and diva house that actually works shockingly well together. Too bad the only folks who will give it a chance are those who have love GA since “Shakin Dat Ass.”
BIGGEST MASS DISSMISAL OF 2010
Vampire Weekend – Contra (Jan. 20, 2010)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah anyone? Bueller? And it doesn’t help that the album cover looks like something the Cardigans would have put out during their fallow period.
conversely, THE MOST BUZZED BAND OF 2010
Beach House – Teen Dream (Jan. 26, 2010)
The DJ on XM Radio said that Carls from Hipster Runoff said that this was going to be huge because the blogerati love to elevate bands that they created to begin with. I could go check the site and find out for sure, but that would contradict the point of buzz now wouldn’t it. (Hedge your bet—album artwork might be too subtle to work on internet resolution.)
Leave A Comment!