2010年 Dec 30日 Thursday, 14:42

According to Anthony Liekins Last.fm user tag cloud, this year I'm more or less into hip-hop, indie, rock, alternative, singer-songwriter, electronic, acoustic, jazz, blues, indie rock, underground hip-hop, funk, folk, classic rock, pop, soul, reggae, alternative rock, southern rock, post-punk , underground, chill, jazz hop, chillout, 60s, blues rock and trip-hop.

My number one favourites in 2010 are Blue Scholars, an underground hip-hop/indie duo from Seattle, United States. I'm totally amazed by their performance - marvelous melodic samples mixed with social and political urban delivery, themes I always have had evaluate. For example, see Back Home about necessity to bring back US troops from Iraq war and 50 Thousand Deep, which is concerned about Battle in Seattle, the historic protest in 1999, as thousands of activists arrive in Seattle, Washington in masses to protest the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999.

In the meantime, Blue Scholars are just regular guys who likes to chill and they can inspire others to do the same by creating wonderful tracks out of nowhere. It's amazing how they can create a beautiful song called Coffee And Snow about a snowstorm canceling shows in Seattle, and making me chill to this track all year long. Blue Scholars are bigger than music, they're doing art. I'm really enjoying their laid-back working atmosphere on upcoming third studio album Cinemetropolis, watching old kung fu movies, doing photography, sampling indie bands like The xx and Owl City, and creating their own tracks Lumière and Paul Valéry just for fun. It's art, because there are a lot of people inolved in the process of creation - an indie band makes a song, Blue Scholars takes the sample and makes their own song, and in the end some photographer, may it be John Coyne or other, makes the video. They're also a part of Chase Jarvis' photo book Seattle 100: Portrait of a City. I'm so happy I digged Blue Scholars, it's a great adventure for me to follow their process of creation!

pourmeanother @ Blue Scholars:

If this doesn't make you want to steep some tea, sit on your balcony staring at the rain, and slowly bob your head in rhythm, then I guess you aren't me.

One of my friends once said, he likes peaceful songs for soul and energizing songs for body. So this is the theme of my year in music: peaceful for soul, energizing for body. Let it be independent hip-hop and rock music, and to make long story short, here is my top 40 artists, songs and albums:

Top 40 Artists of 2010:
1. Blue Scholars (570 plays)
2. The xx (340 plays)
3. Mofro (300 plays)
4. Jack Johnson (240 plays)
5. The Beach Boys (200 plays)
6. Arctic Monkeys (186 plays)
7. Mos Def (172 plays)
8. Frank Sinatra (172 plays)
9. Atmosphere (166 plays)
10. Madvillain (159 plays)
11. Norah Jones (155 plays)
12. Bag of Toys (153 plays)
13. Aloe Blacc (143 plays)
14. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (140 plays)
15. Bob Dylan (132 plays)
16. Red Hot Chili Peppers (126 plays)
17. Gorillaz (123 plays)
18. Gustavo (123 plays)
19. Kanye West (120 plays)
20. Guru (117 plays)
21. Massive Attack (115 plays)
22. Common (114 plays)
23. The Black Keys (107 plays)
24. Ray LaMontagne (107 plays)
25. Kid Cudi (107 plays)
26. AC/DC (106 plays)
27. Death Cab for Cutie (99 plays)
28. Kings of Leon (97 plays)
29. Portugal. The Man (89 plays)
30. The Roots (87 plays)
31. Moby (87 plays)
32. Bob Marley (79 plays)
33. Herbie Hancock (78 plays)
34. R.E.M. (77 plays)
35. Dean Martin (74 plays)
36. Nas & Damian Marley (74 plays)
37. Mayer Hawthorne (74 plays)
38. Gang Starr (73 plays)
39. CunninLynguists (73 plays)
40. Foo Fighters (72 plays)

Top 40 Songs of 2010:
1. Coffee And Snow by Blue Scholars (104 plays)
2. Intro by The xx (101 plays)
3. Lumière by Blue Scholars (86 plays)
4. The Christmas Song by Gavin DeGraw (66 plays)
5. No Hay Nada Mas by Mos Def (66 plays)
6. Superstar by Lupe Fiasco (65 plays)
7. Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch (62 plays)
8. Violent and Young by Iglu & Hartly (60 plays)
9. Death by Diamonds and Pearls by Band of Skulls (54 plays)
10. A Lack of Color by Death Cab for Cutie (47 plays)
11. Guarantees by Atmosphere (46 plays)
12. Let's Ride by (hed) Planet Earth (44 plays)
13. Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers (41 plays)
14. Back in Black by AC/DC (41 plays)
15. Ms. Jackson by OutKast (39 plays)
16. Lochloosa by Mofro (39 plays)
17. Circles by Mofro (37 plays)
18. The xx - Crystalised by The xx (36 plays)
19. Heart Skipped a Beat by The xx (36 plays)
20. VCR by The xx (35 plays)
21. Heartbeats by José González (32 plays)
22. Rain City by Turin Brakes (31 plays)
23. Islands by The xx (31 plays)
24. Wonderful Life by Hurts (31 plays)
25. Patience by Nas & Damian Marley (30 plays)
26. Hero by Nickelback (29 plays)
27. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor by Arctic Monkeys (28 plays)
28. Dirtfloorcracker by Mofro (26 plays)
29. Country Ghetto by Mofro (26 plays)
30. Fantasy by The xx (26 plays)
31. I Like by Keri Hilson (26 plays)
32. Accordion by Madvillain 24 plays)
33. Shelter by The xx (24 plays)
34. Fireflies by Owl City (24 plays)
35. Pursuit of Happiness (Feat. MGMT & Ratatat) by Kid Cudi (24 plays)
36. Paul Valéry by Blue Scholars (24 plays)
37. Monkey Gone to Heaven by Pixies (23 plays)
38. Closer by Kings of Leon (23 plays)
39. Puppets by Atmosphere (22 plays)
40. Coconut by Harry Nilsson (20 plays)

Top 40 Albums of 2010:
1. xx by The xx (340 plays)
2. Christmas with the Rat Pack by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. (193 plays)
3. When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold by Atmosphere (166plays)
4. Summer Dreams by The Beach Boys (161 plays)
5. Madvillainy by Madvillain (159 plays)
6. Afternooner by Bag of Toys(150 plays)
7. Country Ghetto by Mofro (140 plays)
8. Lochloosa by Mofro (136 plays)
9. Bayani by Blue Scholars (127 plays)
10. The Ecstatic by Mos Def (127 plays)
11. Trešā Elpa by Gustavo (115 plays)
12. Be by Common (113 plays)
13. Man On The Moon: The End of The Day by Kid Cudi (107 plays)
14. Only By The Night by Kings of Leon (97 plays)
15. Lumière by Blue Scholars (92 plays)
16. The Greatest Hits by Norah Jones (88 plays)
17. Graduation by Kanye West (87 plays)
18. Sleep Through The Static by Jack Johnson (84 plays)
19. Collected by Massive Attack (80 plays)
20. Iron Man 2 by AC/DC (80 plays)
21. OOF! EP by Blue Scholars (78 plays)
22. In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 by R.E.M. (76 plays)
23.Shine Through by Aloe Blacc (76 plays)
24. A Strange Arrangement by Mayer Hawthorne (74 plays)
25. Plastic Beach by Gorillaz (74 plays)
26. Distant Relatives by Nas & Damian Marley (72 plays)
27. Till The Sun Turns Black by Ray LaMontagne (71 plays)
28. The Satanic Satanist by Portugal. The Man (70 plays)
29. Greatest Hits by Foo Fighters (67 plays)
30. Good Things by Aloe Blacc (67 plays)
31. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys (65 plays)
32. Superstar by Lupe Fiasco (65 plays)
33. Blakroc by The Black Keys (64 plays)
34. Greatest Hits by Will Smith (62 plays)
35. Windmills of the Soul by Kero One (60 plays)
36. Into the Wild by Eddie Vedder (60 plays)
37. In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson (57 plays)
38. Unplugged by Eric Clapton (56 plays)
39. The Very Best In Memoriam by Bob Marley (56 plays)
40. The Fall by Norah Jones (56 plays)