FAMKAB

THE TOP 105 SONGS OF 2010 AT HALFTIME!
By Kevin Kilker

Well it is past the halfway marker for 200, and there has already been an influx of amazing music out there, from surprising to non-surprising…new and exciting and of course old and tired. And although I wanted to make this list much more detailed with descriptions and everything I just haven’t had the time to do so, and therefore can only list them out for you. Either way this is one of the more interesting lists I have ever put up, which makes me wonder what the second half of 2010 has in store for us.

There are a lot of factors that determine how I put my lists together and how they are ordered, but the most important thing is that every song is where it is at for different reasons. I only list official singles, because if I tried to base it off of every song off of every album it would come out three or four years from now, negating purpose, especially for a halftime list. I base my decisions based off the overall impact the song has had in the musical world in the given year, whether it be for sales and airplay reasons or for critical acclaim, or in some cases even both. The list goes on and on but in the end it all depends on the overall package. I went with 105 songs instead of 100 because in December it will be the Top 210 of 2010, so why not divide it by two for a halftime list. Makes sense right? Either way in the end you must realize that although I like to consider myself a music expert it is still MY opinion, and NO ONE will agree with the list 100% Nor should you. So although I would love to hear feedback on everything…even recommending that you do, (and explain myself if necessary for certain tunes) it will do nothing to change it. Either way I hope you like it and be on the lookout for The Top 210 of 2010 in December!

TOP 105 SONGS OF 2010 AT HALFTIME

105. T.I. feat. Keri Hilson- Got Your Back
104. Taylor Swift- Today was a Fairytale
103. Ludacris feat. Nicky Minaj- My Chick Bad
102. Hole- Skinny Little Bitch
101. B.O.B. feat. Bruno Mars- Nothin’ on You
100. Godsmack- Crying Like a Bitch
99. 30 Seconds to Mars- This is War
98. Sleigh Bells- Crown on the Ground
97. Jaron and the Long Road to Love- Pray for You
96. Mike Posner- Cooler Than Me
95. Timbaland feat. Katy Perry- If We Ever Meet Again
94. The Hold Steady- Hurricane J
93. Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris- Baby
92. Scissor Sisters- Fire With Fire
91. Shinedown- The Crow and the Butterfly
90. Cold War Kids- Audience
89. New Politics- Yeah Yeah Yeah
88. Miley Cyrus- Can’t Be Tamed
87. Snoop Dogg feat. Kid Cudi- That Tree (Clockwork Remix)
86. Ke$ha- Your Love is My Drug
85. Flobots feat. Tim McIlrath- White Flag Warrior
84. AFI- Beautiful Thieves
83. Brad Paisley- Water
82. Timbaland feat. Justin Timbaland- Carry Out
81. Against Me!- I Was a Teenage Anarchist
80. Jay Z feat. Mr. Hudson- Forever Young
79. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings- I Learned the Hard Way
78. Maroon 5- Misery
77. MGMT- It’s Working
76. Miranda Lambert- The House That Built Me
75. OKGO- This Too Shall Pass
74. Black Eyed Peas- Imma Be
73. Gogol Bordello- We Comin’ Rougher (Immigraniada)
72. Uncle Kracker- Smile
71. Bullet for My Valentine- Your Betrayal
70. John Mayer- Heartbreak Warfare
69. Brandon Flowers- Crossfire
68. Adam Lambert- Whataya Want From Me
67. Paramore- The Only Exception
66. Robyn- Dancing On My Own
65. Coheed and Cambria- Here We Are Juggernaut
64. Drake- Only
63. Ke$ha- TiK ToK
62. Kanye West- Power
61. Temper Trap- Sweet Disposition
60. Eminem feat. Rihanna- Love the Way You Lie
59. Rihanna- Rude Boy
58. Three Days Grace- The Good Life
57. Cage the Elephant- In One Ear
56. MUSE- Resistance
55. Stone Temple Pilots- Between the Lines
54. 3OH!3 feat. Ke$ha- My First Kiss
53. Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg- California Gurls
52. Phoenix- Litzsomania
51. Christina Aguilera- Not Myself Tonight
50. Train- Hey Soul Sister
49. Deftones- Diamond Eyes
48. Jason DeRulo- In My Head
47. Usher feat. will.i.am- OMG
46. Lil Wayne feat. Eminem- Drop the World
45. The Script- Breakeven
44. Broken Bells- High Road
43. Kelis- Acapella
42. Silversun Pickups- The Royal We
41. Vampire Weekend- Giving Up The Gun
40. Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris- Break Your Heart
39. Johnny Cash- Ain’t No Grave
38. Ludacris- How Low
37. Drake- Find Your Love
36. Jack Johnson- You and Your Heart
35. The Dirty Heads feat. Rome- Lay Me Down
34. B.O.B. feat Hayley Williams- Airplanes
33. Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars- Billionaire
32. M.I.A.- Born Free
31. Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce- Telephone
30. Spoon- Written in Reverse
29. LCD Soundsystem- Drunk Girls
28. Nneka- Kangpe
27. Civil Twilight- Letters From the Sky
26. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs
25. Alice in Chains- Your Decision
24. Sara Bareilles- King of Anything
23. Neon Trees- Animal
22. K’NAAN- Wavin’ Flag
21. Gorillaz feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack- Stylo
20. Black Eyed Peas- Rock That Body
19. Bog Boi feat. Cutty- Shutterbug
18. David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi- Memories
17. Janelle Monae feat. Big Boi- Tightrope
16. MUSE- Undisclosed Desires
15. Black Keys- Tighten Up
14. Lady Gaga- Alejandro
13. KoRn- Oildale (Leave Me Alone)
12. Yeasayer- Ambling Alp
11. OneEskimO- Kandi
10. Erykah Badu- Window Seat
9. Dead Weather- Die By the Drop
8. Eminem- Not Afraid
7. Avenged Sevenfold- Nightmare
6. Sleigh Bells- Tell’Em
5. Charlotte Gainsbourg feat Beck- Heaven Can Wait
4. M.I.A.- XXXO
3. The Roots- The Next Movement
2. Hot Chip- One Life Stand
1. MGMT- Flash Delirium

Psychadelic alt rockers MGMT earn the distinction of having the #1 song of 2010 at halftime. It's eclectic and ever changing musical landscape truly acts as the perfect summary of their second album, Congratulations, as a whole. Usually that is a bad thing, but in a redundant or predictable way. This is far from either.

I discovered the video for Warp on YouTube and instantly fell in love with the abrasive, loud, art house sounds of Bloody Beetroots.  Comprised of DJ Tommy Tea and Bobby Rifo, this Italian duo really knows how to party (just watch the video for Cornelius).  From song 1 there is tons of energy and even if you don’t like house music that much and just like banging your head or want to put something on in the background to work/workout to, it can really fit a lot of vibes.  Since they are on Steve Aoki’s label, Steve is featured on a couple tracks but most notably the hit “Warp 1.9″ where screams of “wow” are followed up by “1, 2, Whoop Whoop!”  It’s fun and totally worth a listen or 2 and as for some extra convincing, you really do know you’re good when you make a track that is entitled “I love the Bloody Beetroots.”

Buy the MP3’s here:Romborama

By Kevin Kilker

St. Louis power pop rock outfit LUDO have been working away in the studio for the last few months working on their followup to their breakthrough major label debut, 2008’s You’re Awful, I Love You. And after several playful hints and clues revealing information on the newest album over the last few weeks on their MySpace and Facebook fan pages they not only revealed their new single, but also two other songs along with the album title (The release date was announced earlier last month).

LUDO members Tim Ferrell and Tim Convy took to the St. Louis radio airwaves on Monday, June 21 and premiered their first single, an explosive, clever and predictably catchy tune entitled “Whipped Cream” on 105.7 The Point. It’s not quite at the same level of catchiness as their most popular single “Love Me Dead” (which peaked at #8 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Charts in September of 2008), but it is a bit more explosive and stands to have a solid chance on Modern Rock radio stations all across the United States in the coming weeks and months. They also premiered two other tracks, the more orchestral and classic LUDO sounding “Too Tired To Wink” and the non surprising robotic styled “Cyborgs vs. Robots”.

They also revealed the name of their second major label album, the fun but repetitious sounding Prepare the Preparations. It is out in stores on August 17. And knowing LUDO, “Whipped Cream” probably already has a clever music videos in the works. And although they intend on announcing tour dates soon, they have been tapped as one of the headliners of Pointfest 27 in St. Louis on August 14 in the meantime. We will continue to update you as we get new information

You can access the interview and subsequent new single at the link below. It is not amazing quality as of right now but as soon as a better version is released we will post it in this one’s place

LUDO’s  “Whipped Cream” Interview and Single Release

LUDO

By Kevin Kilker

M.I.A. has never been able to be fit into a category…a little bit electronica, a little bit hip hop, and a lot a bit unique. After “Paper Planes” became a hit and subsequently exposed her to a brand new mainstream audience that was shocked to enjoy her music, she did what any other normal person would: Performed at the Grammy’s a full 9 months pregnant, then naming the kid Ikyhd (Yes Ikyhd), retire from performing only to renounce that decision a year later, and not to mention getting nominated for an Academy Award (For her Slumdog Millionaire track “O Saya”). So for her third album, the stakes were a lot higher. And as usual, she does not disappoint whatsoever.

Her latest effort, MAYA ( actually written as /\/\ /\ Y /\ ), is trademark M.I.A., but she does manage to expand her already wide ranging sound and at times she becomes, dare I say, accessible. She sings on more tracks while getting much more bass friendly on others, occasionally switching the sound up and coming out of left field.  Now some may argue that she has always been bass friendly, and in some senses they would be right. But here the bass is louder, more impactful and have a way of standing out more. It’s as if every aspect of the songs seem to speak forthemselves and stand out brighter that way. And although not every song is flawless in that respect, never is there a dull moment, and the 42 minute running time never lags, and if anything is too short.

The album starts off with the minute long bass loving “The Message”  and goes right into “Steppin’ Up”, another bass thumping journey It is also one of the first songs to feature powertools prominently in the  background beat. The next track, “XXXO”, has already been released, but it still is an accessible, catchy club jam that features ironic lyrics like “You want me be somebody who I’m really not” and “I can be the actress, you be Tarantino”.  It almost seems like she is trying to rebel against the fact that she became a household name overnight, and the welcoming dance beat cements the idea of clashing ideals. “Teqkilla” is an interesting experiment in electronica, hip hop and bass usage. And at over six minutes long, it is an epic, head bobbing, entrancing tune that serves as the CD’s longest song. “Lovalot” is an M.I.A. standard, spewing out hip hop lyrics over a tribal beat, but all the while a little bit cleaner and a little more polished. The next song  is “Story to be Told”, another awesome club bumper which features another M.I.A. trademark, a chorus with a distorted hindu sound clip. But like “Lovalot” it’s even more elegantly put together. “It Takes a Muscle” is easily the album’s most mainstream friendly track, featuring a mid tempo reggae beat with M.I.A. cooing about falling in love, a bold move for the artist, who’s sound is typically a little less sunny. But she pulls it off brilliantly, and the catchy chorus could put this song on the billboard chart. “It Iz What It Iz” follows next, and flows seamlessly from the previous reggae sounding “Muscle”, featuring another mid tempo beat that acts as a great intermission song. “Born Free”, another previously released track, is easily the most explosive song on the album. Sampling the 1977 song “Ghost Rider” from punk rock gods Suicide, the singer belts out defiant lyrics as the song continuously pulsates in the background.  The political undertones were brought out in the controversial, 9 minute long music video directed by Roman Gavras. And although I was unsure of how the song would fit into the album (as did many other critics and fans) it ended up working out great. “Meds and Feds” samples Sleigh Bells, one of M.I.A.’s groups on her predictably unique N.E.E.T. label. In fact, Sleigh Bells’ Derek Miller produced the track.  And the result is a drum and bass masterpiece that is irresistible not to bump your head to. The next track, “Tell Me Why”, slows the pace back down, while at the same time showcasing her vocal abilities, although at times she is aided by a voice modulator. Not to take anything away from the usage of voice modulators, though, as it actually compliments the track. So in the end it was probably intentional. It blends seamlessly into the album’s final track, “Space”, which is a mellow, outright psychadelic mind trip of a song,  allowing the listener to mellow out, and wrapping up the CD perfectly.

All in all it isn’t QUITE as impacting as its predecessor, 2007’s breakthrough Kala, but it doesn’t really have to be at this point in her career. It is, however, a more flawless and carefully crafted effort, taking more chances but maintaining her unique identity throughout. She stuck with her same producers, Diplo and Switch (if it ain’t broke, right?), along with adding British beatmaker Rusko and previously mentioned Derek Miller to the list as well. To conclude, M.I.A. continues to prove why she is one of the most dependable artists in music today, with a CD that shows her growth as an artist and as a person, and is easily one of the year’s best.

The album is due for release on July 13, but was recently leaked to torrent sites. M.I.A. and her label, Interscope,  have not made any plans to push the release date up yet, but have not ruled it out as a possibility.

My Grade: A

M.I.A.'s cover image for her newest album, // / Y /, due for release July 13

« Older Entries