That said, here are some picks.
Dark Sky - Hush House Exclusive Mix #006
Excellent selections, vibes, great mixing, and a lot of good bass. This mix is a top spin.
Mosca - XLR8R Podcast Mix
Sickly dancehall and bass, running a wide range of vibes, this Mosca mix contains some real heat. Heavy bumps.
The A-Trak 'Dirty South Vol.2' mix in the above link is also hot as hell, bumped it a lot this past year.
Bonobo - Black Sands
Not only does this album contain a diverse selection of great textures and songs, it also reminds me of the earlier parts of 2010, punctuated by visits to my brothers, walking through rain and cloud (and later, heat) to reach their place in East Van. It is a great work of instrumental music comparable to another versatile and greatly respected producer named Quantic. If you don't like this, let me know. Email me. I'd be glad to hear it. Call it what you want - it is good music.
No download for this song, but it has been all over the place this past year, and it is pretty impressive. Simultaneously straddling various sounds and genres, this was definitely a standout tune for me in 2010. Hudson Mohawke killin in for the next wave of beat makers coming up out of Scotland and around the world.
Live From The Tape Deck - Skyzoo and Illmind
Super heated and heavy hip hop album combining the respective talents of Skyzoo, a beast on the mic, and Illmind, a diverse and incredibly skilled producer and beatsmith. One of the standouts this year fo sho.
I have big respect for a lot of producers, including my close friend and collaborator the Dirty Sample. He is dope, period. Also, Rinse Out member Crimson (aka Cam Boyd) has been quite impressive - his remix of I Can Feel A Hot One was one of my favorite jams last year. His soundcloud is here. All of the purple shit of the past couple years (Silkie, Joker, etc) is awesome, as is the brainfeeder shit, the echodub stuff, those crazy cats over in the low end theory school, fuck theres way too much dope shit to mention. Sorry. Check previous and future posts for more about what inspires and moves me. There is, as stated, a lot.
Hush The Fuck Up! - Hush House DJs
Absolutely fundamental mix for last year, one that I still have on my iPod to this day. A nice variety of styles, all running through the bass/dub spectrum, properly mixed and a solid listen every time. Great mix.
As for favorite artists, it can be difficult. However, three most impressive rappers to me this past year (most played, skilled, etc) are:
Fashawn repping the west coast. His recent album Boy Meets World was a fine piece of hip hoppery with a solid true school vibe and sharp lyricism. He also did a tribute to Nas' classic Illmatic this year.
Big K.R.I.T. repping the south. He has a bunch of shit out, including K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, which despite the title is a suprisingly honest and heavy duty rap album, alternating between southern swag and intelligent introspective lyrical heat.
Roc Marciano repping the east coast. He has been killing everyone with his dark, heavy album Marcberg - it brings back the east coast flavor of the early to mid nineties in fine fashion, with dark crime narratives and complex imagery.
My brother mentioned other mixes in his previous best of post here, including the Honorable Mentions mix, the L-Wiz mix, the DJ Ayres mix, and the Stickybud mix, and they were all also big for me last year. As far as other albums that stood out for me, there were a lot - the Big Boi album, the Label Love compilations, Rick Kidd compilations, Mos Dub, on and on and on... I feel like I could write forever trying to come up with all the dope shit I like from last year. Soooooooo, I'll stop right now.
Hope you all enjoyed what we have shared, and continue to do so as long as we are putting it up! There are already some releases I may have missed that come to mind - for example Eprom or Yelawolf. Thanks for reading, and I hope only good music finds you all. Peace!
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