The Best of 2010: Sparkletone

To add an extra level of panache to this year’s “Best of” lists, I’ve asked my buddy Sparkletone to weigh in. Him and I seem to disagree on many things revolving around music, so I figured it would be fun to see what he thought of this past year. Like the past several years, all albums will link to iTunes and mixes to wherever they’re already hosted (as opposed to direct download.)

Sparkletone’s year in reflection:

I hate the implication of judgement that comes with numerical ordering. As if there’s a huge difference between #1 and #2 or #3 and #5. So my lists contain no numbers! And are in fact not in any kind of ordering at all…

Top Albums:
The only thing I really have to say about this list is that especially compared to my mental list of 2k9 albums… This is the year where I ended up pretty estranged from anything resembling (indie) rock music. Even the Arcade Fire album, which I love, didn’t make enough of an impact on me to warrant being listed here. This is the stuff that felt “next” “level.”

LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Darkstar – North
Robyn – Body Talk
Night Slugs – Allstars Vol. 1
Shed – The Traveller
Actress – Splazsh
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
Caribou – Swim
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Motorcity Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts Vol 1
Shit Robot – From The Cradle To The Rave
Marcel Dettmann – Dettmann

Top Mixes:
These are the mixes that stuck with me this year. If I were doing numerical lists, Optimogeddon would be number 1 by a mile. It’s a marathon; the complete 7-hour recording of the final night of one of the most famous parties in the world. JD Twitch and JG Wilkes also turned in one of the year’s best Fabric mixes, which I didn’t list below in favor of Optimogeddon. It’s got everything for everyone, mixed with heart, balls, a couple fluffed transitions and a casual disregard for anything resembling genre. I’ve listened to it beginning to end as much as I have anything else this year. The parts at the end where you can hear hints of the crowd in the room losing their shit a little bit are just the icing on the cake. If your long-running party is finally ending, this is how you go out.

Optimo – OPTIMOGEDDON
Kode9 – DJ Kicks (iTunes)
Martyn – Fabric 50 (Amazon)
Cio D’or – RA219 Extended
Crazy P – Beats In Space 513
KZA – Beats in Space 538
Four Tet – Essential Mix
LV – Fact Mix 196
Deadboy – Bouncer’s Dream
Jackmaster – Numbers 2010 Mix For URB
Ghetto Division – XLR8R Chicago Mix

Top Singles/EPs:
There are tons of omissions here. You could split singles and EPs (defined by number of tracks, of course) into separate lists and still end up with overflow. This is just a semi-random selection of stuff that stuck in my brain and/or showed up in my DJ sets.

(Editor: if applicable, audio links to 128s or YouTube and buy links to various marketplaces. If you happen to be a disgruntled copyright holder, please leave a comment and I will honor your takedown request.)

Top Shows:
I don’t mention the dates here because I don’t remember them, and I can’t be bothered with Googling them. I list the venue because I think it’s a comment on the sorry state of Chicago’s club scene this year (when it comes to dance music). This year saw some notable closures and basically no one moving to fill in the gaps. The end result will probably be that loft parties get big in 2k11.

LCD Soundsystem & Holy Ghost! (Metro)
Kode 9 (Double Door)
Four Tet (Metro)
Paul Johnson and DJ Sneak (Smartbar) (get well soon, PJ)
Marcel Dettmann (Smartbar)
Cosmin TRG / Appleblim (Smartbar)
Martyn (Millennium Park)
Justin Miller + Woolfy (Smartbar)
LCD Soundsystem/Holy Ghost/DFA family + Ellen Allien (Smartbar)
Frankie Knuckles (Smartbar)
Azari and III (Smartbar)

2k10 in TwitPics (as presented above) :
lolololololol #fatcat