CKCU's Top 50 of 2010

Thanks to the amazing online play lists at CKCU we can now present a full chart for the entire year! Thanks to Colin Henein for all his hard work making this happen. Here is the link to the full list on our web site. These are the albums that were played the most on CKCU in 2010!

http://cod.ckcufm.com/charts/2010.html

1 Arcade Fire The Suburbs
2 The Acorn No Ghost
3 Shad Black Box
4 the Sadies Darker Circles
5 Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record

6 Trevor Alguire Now Before Us
7 Stars The Five Ghosts
8 Terry Gillespie Big Money
9 Black Mountain Wilderness Heart
10 Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans The Falcon Lake Incident

Songs of 2010

Today I want to look back at the singles of 2010. Those catchy moments of things that stick in your head.

Here are a few:

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar from his disc "Good Things". John Tackaberry played this on "Black and Blues" you are a cool guy "Rusty Tack"



Arcade Fire - Sprawl 2 - from "The Suburbs"

drummer Jeremy Gara was a co-op student at CKCU and hosted a great show on Tuesday afternoon!



Caribou - Odessa - from his LP "Swim"

more great beats from this Canadian mathematician



The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio - from "High Violet"

this catchy tune was played a few times on CKCU this year



Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way - title track to her latest

sounds nothing like 2010 but this is timeless

Best of 2010 Part 7

Well we are at the end of this series. I hope you enjoyed this survey of some of the year's best. Let's finish with the sort of disc that doesn't usually work and that is a veteran performer who teams up with young hipsters and makes something contemporary. Gil Scott-Heron is not a typical music veteran and his latest "I'm New Here" is shockingly good. If you don't have any of his records this could be a good start but you would be better off picking up a copy of "Pieces of A Man", it is one of the best records with a message of all time. He has made many other great tracks during his 30 year career as well and I think that "I'm New Here" will not be an afterthought when he is finished. His reading Robert Johnson's "Me And the Devil" is bone chilling.

"It must-a be that old evil spirit, so deep down in the ground
You may bury my body, down by the highway side"

Hip beats thump over cello loops and are thrown under the wheels of dark, dangerous poetry. This is not a happy record. It has the scars of junkies and the stench of sewers and the fear of a world gone wrong. But is so real that you may need to leave the lights on and hold on to your teddy bear at night.

" if you see the vulture coming
Flying circles in your mind
Remember there is no escaping
For he will follow close behind"

It is Robert Johnson back with us in 2010

Best of 2010 Part 6

Are you looking for that last minute Christmas gift for a music fan? Or maybe you are getting ready for a Boxing Day sale to get something for yourself. Well, today's pick for Best of 2010 may just be the one to get. With the Starbucks push behind the "Buena Vista Social Club" it is easy to write it off. But if you go back and listen to that disc you will be thrilled by how great it is. Today's choice is a little or maybe a lot of what the Buena Vista Social Club was meant to be. Produced Nick Gold had intended for the amazing Cubans and Ry Cooder to be joined by two Malian master musicians: Bassekou Kouyate and Djelimady Tounkara. Unfortunately they were not able to get visas to visit Cuba and the recording progressed without them. Now 16 years later a terrific Cuban cast including Eliades Ochoa is joined by Mali's, Toumani Diabate and Lassana Diabate as well as Kouyate and Tounkara. The result is a mix of Cuban and African music that is as good as any hybrid before them. There is no way you can listen to this and not smile and nod your head. This music connects to the happy place inside of all of us.

Best of 2010 Part 4

Texas has been a hotbed for incredible singer/songwriters for some time. And you could extend that to say it has just been a great place for musicians. Since it is/has been home to greats from many styles of music as well including: Van Cliburn, Charles Brown, Cliff Bruner, Charlie Christian, Roy Hargrove, Buddy Holly, Bob Wills and many more. But for today I want to look at singer/songwriters. The Lone Star State has seen more than it's share of greats: Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Willie Nelson, etc. etc. If you like those artists than you will love, Ryan Bingham. His debut disc, Mescalito, with Lost Highway Records in 2007 was outstanding. In 2009 he put out the superb "Roadhouse Sun" and this year he hit another one out of the park with "Junky Star". It is a roots rock masterpiece. An "On the Road" for countrified folkies. Did I mention he won an Oscar for "the Weary Kind" in the movie, Crazy Heart. Yes this is the same guy. There is nothing new here. It is sex and drugs and rock and roll. And relationships and self doubt. It is just done as well as anyone.

Best of 2010 Part 2

So far I decided not to rank these releases but that will probably change. Instead for the next little bit I want to highlight some of the best music of 2010 and then we will release what got the most airplay on CKCU in 2010.

For today I want to spotlight another singer/songwriter, this time an American, Joanna Newsom. "Have One on Me" is the follow up to the spectacular "Ys", 2006. Her latest is one sweeping epic, part "Dr Zhivago" and part "Canticle for Leibowitz". Within the majesty are stark, quiet, personal moments of great intensity. She patches together a quilt of word play that is unique, varied and at times almost impenetrable. Her harp and voice tie it all together. In an often dull world she is the Dorothy after the tornado.

Best of 2010

In reality I doubt one can ever fully figure out the best releases for any year, at least not till some significant time has passed. But anyways over the next few segments here I want to highlight some good music that you may want to listen to. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions about music that hit you in a way that you are still thinking about.

I am going to begin with an artist who has been making a name for herself in a short time and who is being compared to some iconic singer/songwriters. I am talking about, Laura Marling. Her latest disc is called "I Speak Because I Can". This UK singer came to attention at the age of 16 through a series of brilliant songs she posted on Myspace and at the age of 18 she put out the ridiculously good, "Alas I Cannot Swim".

She writes and sings with a wisdom that belies her years. Her slightly husky voice is intoxicating and her writing is direct and passionate. There is little in the way of woes me, navel gazing. And she isn't tip toeing through the tulips. Not every song knocks you over but more than enough do to make this a must listen if you like singer-songwriters.

In "Rambling Man," she writes:

its funny how the first chords that you come to
are the minor notes that come to serenade you
it's hard to accept yourself as someone
you don't desire
as someone you don't want to be


I think she just summed up our times as well as David Byrne did with "Once In A Lifetime".

I have enjoyed the music of Regina Spektor and Feist and I adore Bonnie "Prince" Billy who Marling lists as a vital influence but I think in a short time she is now head and shoulders above them. This is the work of a mature, thoughtful, passionate person who says the things we wish we could put into words. She may very well be the artist of the 2010's!