2010 Year End List Mentions

These are records that show up in various year-end lists. Anthologies and reissues have been (mostly) weeded out, moved here. Those in blue are ones I have in more/less final form. Those in green I have as stripped down promos or don't have but have managed to hear somehow. The numbers in {} are the number of mentions. Once I've gotten far enough I'll start sorting by mentions. Finally I have some notes. Not every mention is noted, but some of the more significant ones are. To decode them, see the legend at the bottom.

Sub-Lists

Some breakdowns by genre (initially just jazz). In many cases these are incomplete, partly because this was an added feature, partly because they're hard to verify.

• Country/Blues/Americana
• Dance/Techno/Electronica
• Jazz
• Rap/R&B
• World
• Everything

Prime Candidates

Minimum 10 mentions.

1. MIA: Maya [XL/Interscope] {26}: {CL}, MC(67), AV:A-, BBC:80, CL:90, DS:80, LAT:88, MO:90, PH:100, PX:80, RS:80, SP:90, SPK:90, UR:80, VV:80; RC:A, CM, MT:A-, TH:A-
2. Konono No. 1: Assume Crash Position [Crammed Discs] {15}: {RT}; MC(85), AM, AV:A-, BBC:80, DU:80, LAT:88, MJ:80, MO:90, PM:90, SP:70, U:80; TH:A-
3. Ali Farka Toure/Toumani Diabate: Ali & Toumani [Nonesuch] {15}: {U:8}, MC(88), AM, BB:84, BBC:80, DU:90, G:100, LAT:88, MJ:80, MO:90, PF:83, PM:90, Q:80; TH:***
4. Nas/Damian "Jr" Marley: Distant Relatives [Universal Republic] {14}: MC(73), AM, BBC:80, EW:B+, G:80, MJ:80, MO:80, RR:100, SL:90, SPK:80; RC:A-, TH:***
5. The Budos Band: The Budos Band III [Daptone] {12}: MC(83), AM, AV:B+, BG:80, CMG:83, DU:80, PF:76, PM:90, U:80, URB:80

Separated out the 10+ jazz releases here, which are either over- or underrepresented, depending on your point of view.

The Rest of the List

1. Abraham Inc: Tweet Tweet [Table Pounding] {4}: RC:*, TH:***
2. King Sunny Ade: Baba Mo Tunde [Indigedisc] {4}: SP:80
3. Afrocubism: Afrocubism [World Village] {7}: MO:100; MT:**, TH:U
4. Rahim Alhaj: Little Earth
5. Amabutho: Sikelela [Alma] {2}: TH:**
6. Marcos Amorim Trio: Portraits [Adventure Music]: TH:**
7. Alex Anwandter: Odisea [Oveja Negra] {2}
8. Khaira Arby: Timbuktu Tarab {2}
9. Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu Steps Ahead [Strut] {4}: MO:90, URB:80; TH:**
10. Axum: Axum
11. Balkan Beat Box: Blue Eyed Black Boy [Nat Geo Music/Crammed Discs] {2}: RC:A-, TH:***
12. Buju Banton: Before the Dawn [Gargame/Tommy Boy]: URB:80
13. Maneja Beto: Escante Calling
14. Burkina Electric: Paspanga [Cantaloupe]: RC:S, TH:A-
15. Calle 13: Entren Los Que Quieran
16. Chancha Via Circuito: Rio Arriba {2}
17. Manu Chao: Baionarena [Nacional/Because, 2CD]: TH:A-
18. Alex Cuba: Alex Cuba
19. Bako Dagnon: Sidiba [Discograph] {2}: RC:B+, TH:***
20. Hamilton de Holanda Quintet: Brasilianos 2 [Adventure Music]: TH:**
21. Die Antwoord: 5 [Cherrytree/Interscope]: RS:70
22. Die Antwoord: $0$ [Cherrytree/Interscope] {6}: MC(67), AM, SP:70; TH:**
23. Béla Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart: Unreleased Tracks: Africa Sessions Part 2 [Acoustic Planet] {2}: RC:*
24. Gaida: Levantine Indulgence [Palymra]: TH:***
25. Gotan Project: Tango 3.0 [XL] {3}: MO:80; TH:**
26. Group Inerane: Guitars From Agadez, Volume Three [Sublime Frequencies]: A-
27. Grupo Fantasma: El Existential [Nat Geo]: TH:B
28. Jim Guttmann: Bessarabian Breakdown [Kleztone]: TH:**
29. Dave Holland/Pepe Habichuela: Hands [Dare2] {4}: TH:**
30. Huun Huur Tu: Ancestors Call
31. Rita Indiana: El Juidero {2}
32. Samy Izy: Tsara Madagasikara [Network]
33. Jienat: Mira
34. Seu Jorge: Seu Jorge and Almaz [Now-Again] {4}: AM
35. Salif Keita: La Différence [Decca] {2}: RC:***, TH:B
36. Khaled: Liberté [Wrasse -09] {2}: MT:A-, TH:A-
37. Angelique Kidjo: Oyo [Razor & Tie] {2}
38. Guillermo Klein: Domador de Huellas [Sunnyside] {2}: TH:B-
39. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fula [Next Ambiance/Out Here] {2}: DB
40. Cheikh Lo: Jamm {2}: MO:80
41. Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar: Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven [Piranha -09] {3}: RC:A-, TH:A-
42. Javiera Mena: Mena [Jabalina] {2}
43. Carla Morrison: Mientras Tu Dormias {2}
44. Nneka: Concrete Jungle [Decon] {5}: MC(77), BB:88, P:87, PM:80, RS:70; RC:*, TH:*
45. Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible: Bulevar 2000 [Nacional]: SP:70
46. Red Baraat: Chall Baby
47. Mala Rodriguez: Dirty Bailarina
48. Razia Said: Zebu Nation
49. Shakira: Sale El Sol [Epic] {7}: MC(95), AM, BB:91, BG:80, EW:A, RS:70; MT:A-, TH:A-
50. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars: Rise & Shine [Cumbancha] {4}: P:81; RC:**, TH:A-
51. Sierra Maestra: Sonando Ya [World Village]: AM; TH:*
52. Tamikrest: Adagh [Glitterhouse] {2}
53. Jimi Tenor/Tony Allen: Inspiration Information [Strut]: RC:***
54. Tierra Negra & Muriel Anderson: New World Flamenco [Tiera Negra]: TH:**
55. Timbila: Remembering the Future [Timbila]: RC:**
56. Samuel Torres: Yaoundé [BLC]: TH:**

Lists Consulted

During the year, I collected grades/ratings from various sources. They were generally listed using Metacritic conversions, which made it easier to pick them up from Metacritic. At this point, the results were listed in order: Metacritic(score), publication ratings; select critic grades, with myself (TH) last. The publication ratings were hit-and-miss, but at least started to provide an idea of what is going on.

When year-end lists started to appear, I started to rewrite the lines. I kept the old counts as seeds, and started adding the year end list rankings at the head, in braces. List mentions are simply counted; there is no weighting (which would overwhelm my ability to do this list with this technology).

Metacritic's 2010 album list was consulted Nov. 20-23 for all records with Metacritic scores of 61 and better (695 albums), as well as for selected albums lower than that.

Year-end lists. Where three numbers are listed (e.g., 10/30/100) the first are listed by place (1-10), the second by abbrev only, the third are counted but not noted. Genre or sub-lists also noted:

• About.com []: jazz piano (7), rock (16), alternative (30)
• Austin Town Hall [ATH]: 10/20/50
• Best Ever Albums [BEA]: 10/20/100
• Clash [CL]: 10/20/40
• FACT [F]: 10/20/40
• Filter [FL]: 10; staff picks
• Fly [FLY]: 10/20/50
• Mojo [MJ]: 10/20/50; reissues (20), jazz (10), reggae reissues (10), blues (10), folk (10), electronica (10), Americana (10), world (10), underground (10)
• NME [NME]: 10/20/75; readers' top 10, editors' underrated
• Paste [P]: 10/20/50
• Q [Q]: 10/20/50
• Rough Trade [RT]: 10/40/100
• Uncut [U]: 10/20/50
• Vibe [V]: 10

Some additional year-end lists were just counted but not marked above (-U means I ignored any unknown records, rather than adding them to the list, I: means list is incomplete, including only numbers shown, mostly because it isn't a list but a bunch of separate posts; I should return, but don't count on it): 4x4=12 (10); The Afropop Blog [Banning Eyre] (10); Albion (10); Amazon.co.uk (20); Any Colour You Like (I: 11-30); Asheq (20, incomplete); Atlanta's A-List: Alex (13); BBC 6 Radio (10); BBC Music: Matthew Bennett, Gideon Cole, Mike Diver, John Doran (5 each); BBC Radio Blog (5); Bearlikemouse (25); Bellowhead (5); Between the Lines (20 -U); Biomusicosophy [Elliot Sharp] (15); Bleep (10); Blitz [Portugal] (50); The Book of Linda (10); Bowlegs (20); Bubblegum Cage III (10); Building International Coalitions Through Beer and Pavement (10); The Bygone Bureau: Daniel Adler, Jordan Barber, Tim Lehman, Nick Martens, Kevin Nguyen, David Tveite (10 each); Campus Times (10+6); Centuries (50): Wesley Eason (25); Chew the Rag (10); Chicago Tribune: jazz [Howard Reich] (10); Circles in My Head (10); The Collegian: Jose Alvares (10); Cyanide Breathmint: AlmostAGhost (I: 24-50); DADA (31); Danko Jones (5); The Dirt Is Red! (10); Disco Dojo (10); Dose of Metal (10); Dots & Dashes (20); Drone (20); The Dumbing of America (10); Eardrums (28: no unkowns); East Bay Express (Ellen Cushing, J Poet, Kathleen Richards, Nate Seltenrich, Rachel Swan); The Echo Seduction (15); Elephanttrance (10); Emorywheel (9); EQ Music Blog (I: 1-13); Escalation (10+HM); Fan Off (20); Flavorwire: Reissues (10+); The Frontloader (10); Gareth Campesinos (12); Get Off the Coast (25); GlamRock.com (10); Gorilla vs Bear (30); Graffiti Lips (30); Grand Rapids Press: John Sinkevics (11+9); Gears of Rock (10); HiFashion (6); Holden Richards (10); Hope & Anchor (25); I Like the Cut of Your Jib (10); I Read Something the Other Day (20); (I'm) Not a Fanboy (5); Indie Wiretap (8); IndieBlend (29); In My Head In My Memory (60); Into the Void (25); Its Easy to Get Buried in the Past (13; unranked, first post only); Kaylaporter (10); La Quenelle Culturelle (50); La Villa Recordings (I: 10); Largehearted Boy (); Larry Koestler (10 -U); Lemons Is Lemons (6); Lightyears (I: 1-4); A Little Boy Waits (10); London Evening Standard: David Smyth (30); Mecca Lecca (50 -U); Mekong Delta (10); Memo (30-3); Minds Like Knives (25); Mister Fusty (14); Mostly Armless (I:11-50); MP3PO: Taylor (10); Mr Douglas Anderson (12); Music Review: Palmer Sturman/Sergio Pereira/Bret Dugmore (10 each); The New Beat (10); Nights Behind the Tree Line (16); Nothing to Say and Saying It (15); NPR (50): jazz (10), latin alternative (10); Off Beat Music Guide (25); Oregonian (8); Picadilly (100); Pop Culture Notes (10); Pretty Much Amazing (25); Pushlife (10); Raconteur (); Radiopetenyi (14); Ragged Glories (Door 1-2); Random Thoughts From the Revolution (10); The Record Store Blog (30); Reevo's Blog (5); Rehearsing the Blues (10); RevThom (10+3); The Riots Travel Guide (8); Rock-A-Rolls (40 -U), The Runner (10); The Secret Portobello Musrhroom (20); The Separation (11); Shot From Guns (10); Sick Mouthy (10); Sitting on My Bed (20 -U); Skatterbrain (10); The Skinny (10); Slowtrain: Matt Hoenes (25); The Soapbox (5 -U); Solemnchaos (16); Some Call Me Pilmer (9); Songlines (10); Sonic [Sweden] (25); SoundRoots (20); Stalky (I: 2-40); Summer Lovin' Torture Party (10); Sweeping the Nation (I: 46-50); Teleprompted Anthems (10+6); Their Bated Breath (15); Things (10); ToeZoo (10); Tomatrax (10); Total Blindness vs Blinding Light (15); Tracks in Stacks (30); Tranzmission (I: 1); True Genius Requires Insanity (50); Tsururadio (25); Tulane Hullabaloo (13); Turn It Up [Greg Kot] (20); Uncle Patrick and the Beerable Lightness of Being (11); Ventvox (30); The View (9); The View From Yoorp (30); Waller Not Weller (); The War on Pop (20); Zeitgeisty Report (I: 19-20); Also: JJA (Jazz Journalists Association): David R Adler (20+6), Nancy Barell (10), Nick Bewsey (10), Philip Booth (10), Marcela Breton (10+4), Thomas Conrad (10+3), RJ DeLuke (10+6), Laurence Donohue-Greene (10+6), Ken Dryden (10+16), Tim DuRoche (10+4), Steve Feeney (10), David Franklin (10), Alain Drouot (11+3), Ken Franckling (10), George Grella (11), James Hale (10), Marcia Hillman (10), Geoffrey Himes (20+5+10), Lyn Horton (10), Thomas Jacobsen (5), Willard Jenkins (10+3), Bill King (10), Kiyoshi Koyama (10), Joe Lang (15), Gordon Marshall (10), Bill Milkowski (10+5), Bob Porter (10+3), Robert Putignano (10), John Szwed (10), Michael J West (10+3),

Publications consulted for grades (inevitably hit and miss; some make it more difficult than others depending on how easy they are to collect -- many are just scraped from Metacritic):

• All Music Guide [AM]: min [MC:80], monthly critics picks and/or ****(*)
• Absolute Punk [AP]: min [MC:80]
• AV Club (Onion) [AV]: min B+ [MC:83]
• Clash Music [CL]: min 8 [MC:80] - incomplete
• Dot Music [DM]
• Downbeat [DB]: min 4 stars {3,5-6,8-12} or editor's choice {3-8}
• Drowned in Sound [DS]: min 8 [MC: 80] - incomplete
• Dusted [DU]: min [MC:80]
• Entertainment Weekly [EW]: min B+ [MC: 83] - incomplete
• Filter [FL]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• Mojo [MJ]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• musicOMH.com [MO]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• NME [NME]: min 8 [MC:80] - incomplete
• NOW Magazine [NOW]: min [MC:80]
• No Ripchord [NR]: min 8 [MC:80]
• Paste [P]: min 80 [MC:80]
• Pitchfork [PF]: min 70 [MC:70] - incomplete
• Phoenix [PH]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• PopMatters [PM]: min 8 [MC:80] - incomplete
• Prefix [PX]: min 8 [MC:80]
• Q Magazine [Q]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• Rolling Stone [RS]: min ***(*) [MC:70]
• Slant [SL]: min [MC: 80] - incomplete
• Spin [SP]: min ***(*) [MC:70]
• Tiny Mix Tapes [TMT]: min [MC: 80] - incomplete
• Uncut [U]: min [MC:80] - incomplete
• Under the Radar [UR]: [MC: 80] - incomplete
• Urb [URB]: min **** [MC:80]

Other publications surveyed by Metacritic are counted [80+], although they are very hard to access/evaluated except through Metacritic: Alternative Press [AL], American Songwriter [AS], Austin Chronicle [AC], BBC Music [BBC], Billboard.com [BB], Boston Globe [BG], Chicago Tribune [CT], cokemachineglow [CMG], Delusions of Adequacy [DA], Guardian [G], Hartford Courant [HC], Kerrang! [K], Hot Press [HP], Los Angeles Times [LAT], Lost at Sea [LS], New York Times [NYT], Observer Music Monthly [OMM], Phoenix [PH], RapReviews.com [RR], Revolver [RV], Rock Sound [RKS], Sputnikmusic [SPK], Trouser Press [TP], Village Voice [VV], The Wire [W], XLR8r [XLR], XXL [XXL].

Then, some individual critics lists, and for Christgau and myself grades.

• Robert Christgau [RC]: all grades noted, counted ≥ *
• Stef Gijssels (Free Jazz) [SG]: **** up, to 12-1 [was 11-6]
• Ian Mann (Jazz Mann) [JM]: **** up
• Chris Monsen [CM]: year-end list (in progress)
• Michael Tatum [MT]: downloader's diary (HM up)
• Tom Hull: A-list [TH]: all grades noted, counted ≥ **

And some other miscellaneous critics lists were simply counted: Hank Shteamer (Sept 9: "Ten strong 2010 jazz releases")

[*] On some lately entered lists, I didn't bother adding previously unknown records. These were usually long and obscure lists, some less than clear, but in most cases I did count the top ten.