Year End Lists: Punctuality is One of Our Resolutions

OK, OK. We know we promised one album per day. But just like you, we can be lazy, irresponsible and prone to lying. Don't despair though. The guilt was killing us, and we are atoning with two picks each right now.

Ben's Picks:

8. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
The blues rock two piece shows Jack White how it's meant to be done. 2004's Rubber Factory, the only other Black Keys record I'm very familiar with, was a great album of blues jams, but this album, produced by the brilliant Danger Mouse (and it sounds like he brought his keyboards with him!), truly takes the band a step further conceptually. Rather than just blasting you with gritty guitar and drums, this set of songs swirls around you, unraveling more with each listen.

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Sometimes divorcing yourself from the buzz works really, really well. This was one of those cases: when this band's name started whipping around the internet early in 2008 I didn't want to know anything about it. Eventually, I heard the record, and I was blown away. It's such a nice record, I can't believe there was all that buzz about these breezy melodies and vaguely African rhythms. This isn't a new trick (see: everything the Talking Heads recorded) but these kids are doing it well on this LP.

Isabelle's Picks:

8. Jazmine Sullivan - Fearless
Philly jawns stand up. This album would be higher up on my list, but there are like three tracks ("After the Hurricane," "Dream Big" and "Live a Lie" could all be better) that I feel hold this record back from flawless greatness. Otherwise, Missy Elliott's protege's album has been on repeat since dropping. "Call Me Guilty" is the best abused woman revenge tune around and of course the first singles "Need U Bad" and "Bust Your Windows" are stellar. My favorite one though, is "In Love with Another Man," which is all emotion, a bittersweet ballad about being unable to move on, even though it's in every one's best interest.

7. Rhymefest - Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest in The Man in the Mirror
Technically not an album per se, but nevertheless, a cohesive and amazing effort from one of my favorite rappers out there. First of all, the "conversations" between 'Fest and MJ are nothing short of perfection and secondly, this tided me over marvelously because Rhymefest's "sophomore" record El Che got pushed back to '09. This mix tape is the ultimate low key party or BBQ record--it revisits every fantastic Jackson tune from his childhood days on, with the added bonus of Rhymefest's straight up genius.

Never Go Pop

Madvillainy is one of the albums that really opened my eyes to how stale and unimaginative a lot of hip hop is. Now, that's not the point of the album, it's more of a side effect. The record is one of the strangest I've ever heard, in any genre. The beats still move, though, and the lyrics contain substance of a sort that I'm sorry to say is rare these days. It's a record that proves that it doesn't have to be the same old thing all the time in the genre of hip hop, even if that's what we're given most of the time.

Not only does this album have my favorite song of all time about getting high ("America's Most Blunted"), it also exposed me for the first time to two of my favorite artists of all time.
Madvillainy is the first and, up until now, only LP-length collaboration between producer Madlib and emcee MF Doom (he of the metal mask and Dr. Doom career motif). Since hearing Madvillainy, I've spent the better part of the last five years tracking down different Madlib projects, side and otherwise. There's his collection of albums of beats, released under the name Beat Konducta (Vol. 3-4, Beat Konducta in India, is particularly good). There's Quasimoto, Madlib's chipmunk-esque psychedelia project. And let's not forget Lootpack, Madlib's more straightforward hip hop group from the late 90's. This really just scratches the surface, and is to say nothing of all the production he does for other artists (Q-Tip and Erykah Badu released songs produced by Mad in the last year). Oh, and he finds time to run a label, Stones Throw, which can hook you up with almost all of this work.

Rumors have been swirling pretty much since Madvillainy came out of a followup collabo. Trying not to get my hopes up, I never really believed it. Doom and Madlib are both constantly dreaming up new, usually codenamed side projects (Doom's Dangerdoom with Dangermouse, or Mad's Jaylib with J. Dilla) to keep themselves busy. Plus, there's also what I'd call the "one album effect," where an album is so much more valuable for not having any others before or after it. Look at the Sex Pistols or Black Star.

Well, I still don't think a followup will ever arrive. But this summer Stones Throw released a sequel of sorts. Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remixes envisions Madvillainy as it would sound if it were produced by... uh... Madlib. Okay, fine, that doesn't make sense, but it doesn't need to. Some people have been calling this a fans-only release, and that's exactly what it comes across as: a small thank you token from Mad to all his loyal fans. This album isn't essential like the original Madvillainy, but it succeeds by being even more nutso than the original and reflecting just what Madlib is into these days. If you want to see if Madlib's production is up your alley, grab Madvillainy, a Quasimoto album (they're all great) or one of his mixtapes. But if you enjoy what Madlib puts out there already, do yourself a favor and grab what amounts to a concept mixtape . You can look at it as a cynical move to sell copies of a throwaway recording, but you'd to much better to see it as Madlib letting the fans in on a private project of his own. Let's hope this starts a trend.

I'll leave you with a classic vid from the original Madvillainy. If you don't want to hear more after this, I don't think you're reading the right blog. "All Caps":