Andrew asked me to do a top 10 list of events or albums. I didn’t know what to say. I’d been kind of a hermit and I don’t really pay a lot of attention to an album’s release date.

We found a compromise where I could do a hybrid of my top overall picks of 2010. Here’s my mixed bag of favorites, in no particular order:

1. Bonobo – Black Sands

This album is ridiculous. Normally, I’d condemn someone for making a more commercial sound but, normally, that transition decreases quality. I felt like this album was really about him maturing to a degree and making the jump from artist to designer. I don’t think that it’s a transition that all people should make but when I hear the degree of precision in each of these songs, it strikes me as being much more analytical than intuitive. This wouldn’t work for a lot of people but since Bonobo was never that raw to begin with … it feels like a natural progression.

Just as clean as I’ve come to expect from him but with an extra edge of sharpness.

My Favorite Songs: Kiara, El Toro, All in Forms, and Eyedown ft Andreya Triana
My Favorite Lyric: “Heavy, soothing… Like a gentle symphony.” from “Stay the Same” ft Andreya Triana

2. New Year’s at the Masquerade Ball

Technically, this one is kinda cheating because we got to the jam in 2009 and left in 2010. Anyways, Blue Ink Marketing throws a yearly Masquerade Ball at the hotel that used to be Union Station. Over the last 3 years, Breakers/Poppers/etc have been invited to perform at this event which is primarily a fundraiser to donate money to children on the wait list for organ transplants, if I remember properly.

Anyways, this year, we came with a pretty amazing array of dancers and had a decent time. Then, Monsta’s lady friends from Bloomington show up and we head to a hotel party in their room before finishing up at Steak n Shake (par for the course). Everybody headed home at like 8 a.m.

We brought in this year kinda hard. It was legendary.

Highlight of the Evening: Flirting with 2 sexy Korean girls simultaneously for an hour-and-a-half without creating static despite them sitting next to each other. I had to pat myself on the back the next day.

3. Javelin – No Mas

Surf-rock, soul, motown, chipmunk raps, upbeat new wave, electro, turntablism, instrumental hip-hop, and occasional breakbeats.

This album sounds like some 5-year olds took their favorite songs from the last 60 years and threw them into a blender. I mean that in the best way possible.

The consistent use of synth is about the only recurring theme and the album even gets strikingly mature, at times, in contrast to much of the tongue-in-cheek composition.

This album is neither consistent nor cohesive but I actually think that’s kinda cool. It forces you to keep an open mind as Javelin repeatedly flips the script in terms of style while maintaining quality.

My Favorite Songs: Mossy Woodland, Tell Me, What Will it Be?, Susie Cues, and Dep
My Favorite Lyric: “Girl, do that Monkey Foot. Let’s do the Monkey Foot.” from Oh! Centra

4. The Tribute to Fela Kuti at Urban Element

This was my first year going to Cultural Cannibal dance parties and I’ve probably been to 3/4′s of the ones that have happened this year.

Their events are addictive.

This one caught me a little off guard because they had thrown the last several parties at the Jazz Kitchen and had really good attendance at each one. I was concerned about how well they were gonna be able to fit their regular amount of attendees in a place as small as Urban Elements.

By midnight, my concerns were justified. It was dense in there.

The energy was super dynamic, though. Everybody was putting it down. Great music, lovely ladies, pleasant vibe. It had all the ingredients of a classic night.

Highlight of the Evening: As everyone left the building, one of the ladies in our group wrung out her top which was soaked.

She had been dancing so hard in that heavily packed room that when she twisted the fabric… it left a huge puddle of sweat on the concrete. Huge. Like I could have gone for a swim. It wasn’t even gross. Just awesome.

Awesome that she had been dancing super hard for like 4 hours in that club.

5. Grey Granite – Lust Poisons Pride

Granite and Brookinz put it down. For real. The partners in grime dropped a statement on our laps, this year. Maybe it was more like the question that Jim Brown asked Richard Pryor: “What you gon’ do?”

In Nap, I see so many talented people often held back by their concerns about whether or not they’ll still receive support if they make music that’s true to themselves.
Would the critics, the public, and more importantly, the homies understand what these guys were trying to do when they wandered off the beaten path?

Grey Granite and J. Brookinz made that leap of faith. 2 musicians that had been primarily associated with Hip-Hop dropped an album of electro-madness with almost entirely sung or spoken lyrics and nary a rap or funk sample in sight. The result was bold and dynamic. Easily the most colorful thing I heard, from Indianapolis, this year and I loved it even more because of how much courage it took them to release it in a market that justifies having a fear of taking risks.

My Favorite Songs: The Road, Date with the Future, and Off Safety
My favorite Lyric: “I’ll fill your room with magic dancing…” from 16078(Make Believe)

6. The Soul Session 5th Anniversary at the Jazz Kitchen

I’m not going to bore you by going into details with this one because I already wrote a pretty in-depth review of the event. It was musical chairs in more ways than one and allowed me to see some of the most talented musicians in the city collaborate with each other in every conceivable combination. Big ups to everyone involved and to those who attended, as well. This type of thing needs to happen way more often than it does.

Highlight of the Evening: Stacia Murphy. Her trombone playing took the first song from amazing to over the top. She was featured in fewer songs than any of the other musicians but she was shining brightly each time she came out. Ladies who play strings are twice as stunning as other women. Ladies who play horns are four times as lovely. It’s math, what can I say?

7. VA – The Dj Shadow Remix Project

Almost a decade and a half ago, Shadow dropped what may have been one of the 5 most important albums in the history of albums.

With Endtroducing, he showed that an album entirely composed of samples(it’s in the guinness book for being the first) could have the subtlety of classical and the dynamic range of jazz.
This year, instead of a greatest hits, he released an album full of other people’s remixes of his work. That’s pretty cool.

Shadow is sufficiently well respected and connected to literally have anyone remix his work. He did open submissions, instead. You are actually hearing the remixes he handpicked from the songs sent in by his fans. Maybe he did it to give shine to these producers, maybe he did it to keep down costs by hiring unknowns. Either way, it’s “Crowd-sourcing” at it’s best. I thought that the album was kinda lop-sided because it featured mainly Dubstep remixes but I’m still all about it.

My Favorite Songs: Midnight in a Perfect World(FUSO Mix), Missing on the Motorway(Tiger Mendoza Mix), and This Time(Suonho “Now is the Time” Mix).
My Favorite Lyric: “It’s my time to shine. Step back and enter the mind.” from Blood on the Motorway(Coalition of the Aware “SHDW” Mix)

8. The Steak ‘n’ Shake at Illinois and Maryland

This isn’t an event so much as the place where dancers go, after the club, if we were having fun downtown. This is me giving a shout-out to the $4 menu, the half-priced milkshakes at odd hours, the frisco melt, the rootbeer with vanilla syrup that I always order, Erica paying for me and like 12 other impoverished dancers, and last but not least: the servers.
Their jokes, friendliness, camaraderie, amazing service, discounts, and free cookies. The way they dance with us, flirt back, and tell us the funniest stories we’ve ever heard… just because we talk to them like humans and we’re being sincere when we ask how their night is going. Stay cool, guys.

Highlight of the Evening: Antoinette and Norman. These 2 are gems even when they don’t work together. Antoinette has a low-key way of telling hilarious stories and she’s super sweet. Norman is this clownin’ little guy who’s quick to say something witty and possibly sharp but charming enough to make you smile and probably laugh cause you knew it was funny even if it was aimed at you. These 2 are like Voltron cause when they combine, they do extra damage. They are server royalty, in my eyes.

9. ‘Verse – Tragic Space Dementia

Lauren Moore is very much a nerd. Sci-fi, roleplaying games, all that. She’s also an insane musical talent. Thankfully, she chose to combine those 2 aspects and do something really cool.
She wrote, composed, produced, and sang a short album themed around a show called Firefly. For those who don’t know, it was a sci-fi program about space smugglers/pirates that was produced by Joss Whedon(most famous for producing Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The cult following for this show was so deep that the hollywood feature film(Serenity) was released despite the the show being canceled before the first season was aired in it’s entirety. Fan support in the form of buying DVDs and throwing charity events made hollywood take notice.
Anyways, Lauren’s overdubs and tasteful vocal processing lead to polyharmonies that are just breathtaking. Her production is diverse but always appropriate for her vocals styling and very rooted in synthy ambient.
She just told me that it’s not officially released, yet… but it’s up for your listening pleasure at soundcloud.com/nopowerintheverse

The only thing that’s even better is that she lives here in Nap and likes to collaborate. Hooray!

My Favorite Songs: Everything I have is Right Here, The Wrong Ship, and Atmo ft Alpha Live(El Carnicero Remix)
My Favorite Lyric: “I won’t admit it, when you’re looking at me that way.” from When You Live with that Kind of Strength.

10. Knollfest at the Butler Knoll

I messed up. I told my editor and the event organizer that I would cover the event. Instead of taking notes and talking to bands like I should have, I hung out with my peoples and joined them in the dance performance. By the end of the day, I had nothing to really write about even though I had spent more than a few hours at an amazing event. The music had been great all day but instead of paying attention to it, I was drinking Wild Irish Rose, talking smack to other dancers, and trying to stay warm/dry.

I apologize to everyone for laming out on this one.

Highlight of the Evening: The dance performance, of course! Dj Dezzy Dezz killed it and me and the breakers had a playful battle with Incognito Crew. The crowd gave us almost no response but it was still super fun and worth being a part of. Come out to Knollfest, next year, and get a taste of what you’ve missed.