1. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
"Sure Thing" was my #1 single last year and I enjoyed the hell out of the Art Dealer Chic EPs earlier this year but I'm still taken aback by just how much I fucking love this album, and how much the extended single mix of "Adorn" has made it into possibly an equal of "Sure Thing." Other than the new version of "Candle In The Sun," which isn't a patch on the EP version for me, there's just so much to love on here, "Use Me" and "The Thrill" particularly killing me at the moment. The way this thing exists outside but parallel to so many things going on in R&B right now, in terms of both musical trends and narrative, is exciting but only because the singing and the songwriting back it up, take it all to unexpected and incredibly enjoyable place. I must look like such a psycho singing and clapping along to this album on headphones, hope my cats don't judge me.

2. Meek Mill - Dreams And Nightmares
As a long-running State Property stan who's often in recent years reminisced about the time when Philly was regularly turning out rap's grimiest major label stars, it's delighted me to watch Meek's rise and "I'm A Boss" may be my single favorite rap hit of the last few years. There's nothing on here that busts heads quite like that song but the whole thing holds together well and only a couple songs are opulent  MMG shit that kills Meek's intense vibe. The opening title track is fucking incredible.

3. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
I won't labor the point that Meek Mill is just more my speed than Kendrick (especially since Caramanica already contrasted the two pretty effectively), but this album had an uphill battle to win me over just because of the corny stylized capitalization of the title, to say nothing of the eye-rolling 'noble young artist in an imperfect world' tone of the title itself that's custom built to appeal to people who have bullshit reasons for dismissing a lot of great rap. Also the guy's talent is a little overstated -- he does the same choppy triplet flow on any kind of beat almost as shamelessly as Big Sean, and he just flat out has a terrible voice. That said, of course it's a well crafted, I just find it more admirable than enjoyable. And it helps me look past those singles I hated by making "The Recipe" a bonus track and adding a superior outro to "Swimming Pools" -- I still think that song is awkward as fuck and about as obnoxious as "Bitch Bad" in terms of trying to be a 'smart radio record.' "The Art of Peer Pressure" is probably my favorite song on here, also like parts of "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst." Rappers who try to use five dollar words and mispronounce them (he puts an extra T in "copacetic") just frustrate me, you can't halfass smart rapping.

4. Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos
As I'm often fond of saying, Walter Becker's Circus Money is my favorite album from the Steely Dan family in the last three decades, mainly because of the lively (by their later standards) instrumentation and hooky songs but perhaps also because the lack of Fagen's voice made it easier to not compare directly to the classics. In any case, this album may be nearly as good, and at the very least a bit warmer and more immediate than Morph The Cat. I especially dig "I'm Not The Same Without You" and "Miss Marlene," but I really kinda can't deal with "Out Of The Ghetto," regardless of whether it's supposed to be knowing satire or something like that.

5. Ken Stringfellow - Danzig In The Moonlight
Steely Dan worship is at least kind of commonplace, but I always feel like a freak whenever I admit that The Posies are probably one of my favorite bands of the '90s and that I still ravenously follow everything they do, particularly Ken Stringfellow's unpredictable procession of solo records and side projects. The second album by his Norwegian garage rock combo The Disciplines was in my top 10 last year, mostly because it put his creeping eccentricities and odd dark sense of humor in the most aggressive context possible. From the title, you might expect Danzig In The Moonlight to continue that thread, and it does in some senses, but there's not much Danzig here, it's mostly back to the downtempo piano-driven sound of his last couple solo albums. It hasn't hooked me too much musically, but I think there's a lot to dig into here that I might appreciate more if I had a lyric booklet in front of me. I have no idea what's going on in a song like "Odorless, Colorless, Tasteless" but Stringfellow has earned enough credibility with me that I'm more intrigued than annoyed by its strangeness.

6. Von Vargas - World Famous Lexington Market
I wrote about this album a little bit already, I've been occasionally browsing Baltimore releases on Bandcamp and was pleasantly surprised to find a rapper streaming a dope upcoming album, since there's not a whole ton of hip hop on there. If you've lived in Baltimore you know about Lexington Market and it's cool to hear someone dedicate a whole record to it.

7. Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
I have an aversion to the last two decades of British popular music strong enough that I pretty much assume anything coming out of that country is to be ignored until a song stands up and grabs me by the lapels, which is pretty much what "Want U Back" did. The whole album isn't as consistently hooky, but there are some jams on here, and I'm pleased with whatever perverse logic lead to Mike Posner being taken off "With Ur Love" on the American version of the album.

8. Brandy - Two Eleven
I've always taken Brandy for granted; she's got a nice voice, some good songs and at least a couple classics, but for a singer with a successful acting career she's a blank on the personality scale rivaled only by J.Lo. I didn't care for "Put It Down," but the rest of the album is pretty solid. Her voice is a better fit for murky downtempo stuff than most other R&B singers trying that mode these days, and the Mike Will Made It production "Do You Know What You Have" is the height of the mid-album groove.

9. DJ Drama - Quality Street Music
When an album called Quality Street Music features appearances from Childish Gambino and B.o.B, the jokes write themselves, but fact is that "We In This Bitch" and "My Moment" are two of the best radio rap songs of the year and the album mostly follows through on at least the meager accomplishment of being better than any DJ Khaled album. The soft joints with Roscoe Dash and Miguel hooks are kinda some of the best shit on the album, further mocking the title. Tyler, The Creator is still the worst rapper in the world, and still spitting homophobic shit after everyone decided to give him a free pass on that because of Frank Ocean.

10. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill
I figured this album of new songs would be easily better than the amusing novelty of Americana, but at the moment I'm not sure which album I think is better. I'd say I should do a side-by-side comparison, but both these albums are pretty fucking long and I don't know how much I want to revisit them. "Ramada Inn" is my favorite of the long songs, parts of "Driftin' Back" are pretty horrifying. I've probably listened to more Neil this year than any year previous, but I'm still not really a big fan outside of the undeniable stone classics, so listening to the new ones is just kind of a curiosity thing for me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2012 at 9:46 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.