For the sake of balance I limited myself to one song per artist/album for my top 10 tunes of 2010. That meant like all my other lists I couldn't make a full ten from this year's releases - but what the heck.
Interestingly the top 2 are not videos OF the best songs, they ARE the best songs i.e. live performances that I never would have come across but for the glowing piece of wonderfulness that is Youtube. (To make the page load quicker I've made the non-videos small). Here goes -
1) This Too Shall Pass (Marching Band Version) - OK Go
No other song has lifted my heart this year as much as this. Thanks to Ok Go making it available for free download from their website. I've sometimes listened to this track 6 or 7 times in a row. Get it here - This Too Shall Pass (Marching Band Version)
2) Tightrope (Live On The David Letterman Show) - Janelle Monae
Not only is this preferable to the album version 'cos we lose the lame Big Boi rap, but look at the band. LOOK at the band! Every member is playing as if their lives depended on it. Ever member is playing as if they are taking sole responsibilty for how the song goes down. Check out the guitarist carrying on even when his amp falls off the speaker. Truly awesome.
3) Revolutionary Died - Sho Baraka
This was a tough choice. I could have picked another 4 or 5 great tracks from the awesome Lions & Liars album not to mention Sho's incenduary track Chaos on DJ Official's Entermission CD. But the power, passion & poetry all come together on this track...
4) 40 Deep - Lecrae (ft. Tedashii & Trip Lee)
'Crae, T-dot and Trip bulldoze your house to the ground and then give you a gospel tract. Git saved sucka!
5) Streets Of NY - DJ Official (ft. J.A.Z. & Magellan)
Great track perfectly matching the simmering tension in the lyrics
6) Treats - Sleigh Bells
Proof you can sound totally baddass with just a guitar and a laptop.
7) Taxi Cab - Vampire Weekend
I love how the african vibe soaks through this track without needing to make it explicit. It sounds like the british abroad
8) Azwaw 2 - Cheb Mami (1999)
Algerian Rai music mixed with a loping 12/8 beat, bagpipes and fiddle. Funky and foreign.
9) Mr Fancy Pants - Jonathan Coulton (2006)
Another example of Coulton's ability to inject pathos into a supremely silly song. The fact that the word 'pants' means underpants in the UK is just icing on the cake.
10) The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks (1968)
This song has been stuck in my head since it's appearance in Hot Fuzz. Awesome stream of conciousness lyrics, funky in an old school way and gloriously British.
Related Posts: Top 10 Other Stuff
My latest song: You Spoke The Stars
Other free songs by Matt Blick
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