Best Of 2010 8-5

8) James Blake - CMYK

In the past few weeks the hype about James Blake has reached fever pitch.  Regardless of the hype and what he goes on to achieve in the following year, he already has produced more quality tracks than many artists will ever go on to make.  CMYK is my favourite Blake track to date, a glitchy, hypnotic number sculpted mainly from 90s R&B samples, the two main ones being Kelis' "Caught Out There" and Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody".  Although the samples are key to the track, the real beauty of CMYK is how Blake manipulates these samples, distorting them and speeding them up and at the same time adding layers and textures to create something totally bizarre and unclassifiable yet utterly brilliant.

7) Beach Fossils - Twelve Roses

Beach Fossils’ brilliant Twelve Roses needs little explanation or clarification; it’s a simple beast.  Take one of the downright catchiest and addictive guitar riffs of the year, add Dustin Payseur’s droning, reverb-soaked drawl and throw in a pretty great rhythm section, and there you have it, the seventh best song of the year.  Simple yet absolutely perfect. 

6) Frightened Rabbit - Skip The Youth

Skip The Youth was the centerpiece of the band’s third record The Winter Of Mixed Drinks.  It begins slowly with a lengthy intro of noisy loops only for the feedback to be replaced, by Scott Hutchison’s trademark fragile vocal and a piano line and guitar, as the verse begins.  As the track progresses drums and haunting backing vocals are added, as it gradually mutates into something enormous and epic while at the same time managing to remain poignant, profound and as usual with the band, completely heart-wrenching.

5) Kanye West (feat Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj) - Monster

Kanye is back again.  This time with a bit of help from Bon Iver, Rick Ross, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj.  Bon Iver starts and finishes the track with a faintly eerie intro and outro before everyone else takes a turn, rapping over one of the best Kanye beats of recent times.  As good as Jay-Z, Kanye and Rick Ross’ parts are, there is only one star of this show and that is Nicki Minaj.  She genuinely blows everyone else out of the water, which is a remarkable achievement.  To completely outshine probably the two biggest rappers in the world so comprehensively, is nothing short of incredible.  It’s not that Kanye, Jay-Z or Rick Ross for that matter are off form, it’s just Minaj is on fire.  Her delivery completely flawless, effortlessly managing to change personas mid-line and at the same time displaying ridiculous energy, while lyrically she's engaging, witty and intelligent.  While nothing on her debut record Pink Friday came even close to matching this verse, Monster is not only a truly astonishing track but it also marked the official arrival of Minaj as a superstar.