1. H.W.C. – Liz Phair – The handclaps, the sweetened strums, the cool not hot harp. It all got in the way of a classic Phair classic. Say what you will about Funstyle, it sounds like it should.
2. Hey Dude – Elvis Crespo – I love Meringue without quite getting it right. Except for Crespo. This is “Wow Flash” writ large, writ better.I’m beginning to think I jumped the gun on my best of 2010.
3. Lil Freak (feat Nicki Minaj) – Usher – Usher is to MJ, what r. kelly is to Stevie Wonder. That’s not an insult. But it’s not a compliment either.
4.Last Night At The Jetty – Panda Bear – One of three things are happening here. either 1) Panda Bear is my token animal or 2) Animal Collective aren’t as bad as I’ve said they are or 3) This is his third anomaly in a row. Gorgeous sound.
5. Kathy Kissed Me Last Night – Gary Wilson
6. Get Myself Together – Robyn – Ps? I got a tix to her Radio City gig.
7. New Perspective – Panic At the Disco – If the album is half this good, the break up won’t have been in (young) vain.
8. Getting Reading For Christmas Day – Paul Simon – I keep on going back to this song waiting for a revelation, but after “In the days I work my day job, in my nights I work my night”, I am less than thrilled but this economic marker.
9. Can’t Be Friends – Trey Songz – This song is so good, a full blown r&b tearjerker of immense proportions, I am wondering if New Year’s Eve was just a really off moment. I will have seen him opening for Usher by the time you read this so I’ll know, and I still wish it was Chris Brown instead.
10. Vampire Nurses Die – Phoebe Legere – If she plays this at the Iridium a week today I will personally flip out.