Top 100 Albums of 2000-2009: #85 - #81
Five more!
---#85---
Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf - Big Shots
(hip-hop)
2003
This is one of those releases where the story behind it often ends up overshadowing the music itself. For those who don't know, though, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf were an emcee and producer duo who worked together between 1991 and 1993, recording more than enough material to put together an album. Unfortunately, their work was never released at the time, and Charizma was tragically killed as a bystander during an armed robbery not long after. A few snippets were released in the interim, but it wasn't until 2003 that Peanut Butter Wolf, now the founder and owner of Stones Throw Records (who released underground classics by artists like Madvillain and J Dilla), finally decided to put the finishing touches on their material and release the album proper. There's a real old-school vibe to the album, which is full of good-spirited hip-hop party jams that all sound very "of the time", yet the material never sounds dated (in the pejorative sense of the word). Charizma was a very appropriately named emcee, with his capable flow, youthful sound and fun, feel-good lyricism making him instantly likeable. It's incredibly sad that he wasn't able to explore his talent further, but Big Shots makes for an exceptional epitaph.
---#84---
Cliff Martinez - Solaris
(ambient)
2002
Solaris, the original score for Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of the Stanislaw Lem novel (and earlier film by Andrei Tarkovsky), is a breathtaking combination of fragile electronic flickers and subtle orchestral flourishes. Cliff Martinez proves himself to be a master of texture, timing and restraint, as the pieces here are beautifully composed to present the ideal balance between light and shade, serenity and gravitas, security and eeriness. Without a single vocal track, zero percussion and generally quite little variation in instrumentation, the music of Solaris still extends itself from the gentle loneliness of "She Will Come Back" and "Is That What Everybody Wants" on through the cautious optimism of "Don't Blow It" and finally to the emotionally gripping delivery of the album's centrepiece, the ten-plus minute "Hi Energy Proton Accelerator." The sparse, ethereal feel of the music allows Solaris to quite perfectly reflect the isolation, confusion and displacement felt by the film's lead character, thus setting a mood that boasts plenty of emotional pull. Like many of the best soundtracks, it stands firmly as a great album in its own right.
---#83---
Fashawn - Boy Meets World
(hip-hop)
2009
What a marvelous debut coming from such a young and talented artist. Fashawn was barely out of his teens when Boy Meets World was released, and already he was sounding like a young Common, blessed with the same skill in engaging storytelling, bolstered by a solid sense of social awareness and some truly forthright lyricism. A great deal of the album's content is influenced by Fashawn's difficult childhood - he grew up in a virtually parentless home - and the steps he took to push through adversity and achieve personal success. It gives the album a fascinating duality of grim realism juxtaposed against a powerful sense of optimism, with Fashawn's lyrics repeatedly coming back to the ideals of determination and the pursuing of dreams. It sounds like a bit of a cliche, but there's a sincerity and lack of pretense to the way Fashawn tells it which makes it good-spirited and very appealing. There's a wealth of highlights on Boy Meets World, with "Freedom", "Life as a Shorty", "Ecology", "Bo Jackson" and "When She Calls" (which samples Joanna Newsom!) being some of my personal favourites. However, I'm most fond of the "traveling the open road" celebration of "Samsonite Man", with it's beautiful sample of Billy Paul's soul cover of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright".
---#82---
Lee Fields and The Expressions - My World
(soul)
2009
Lee Fields made a name for himself in the 1970s putting out a series of awesome (and now very rare) 7" singles on his own label, and he's spent decades honing his sound into a perfect mix of the sheer power of James Brown and Sam & Dave and the subtlety and tenderness of Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. When you listen to My World, his debut album with new band The Expressions, it becomes abundantly clear that you're hearing the sound of a man who has proven himself as a titan of soul beyond any shadow of a doubt. His voice is simply huge, commanding such a degree of attention that it's something of a marvel that the rest of the band even manage to get noticed. Opening track "Do You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)" is pure dynamite, a killer single that would've rocked the charts in times gone by, while my personal favourite, his silky cover of "My World is Empty (Without You)", is inescapably moving - one of the finest examples of straight-from-the-gut soul music I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Anyone who's been digging the fine soul renaissance that rose up throughout the second half of the 2000s needs to hear this album.
---#81---
Buraka Som Sistema - Black Diamond
(kuduro)
2008
Black Diamond, the debut album by Portuguese trio Buraka Som Sistema, is a politically-charged, addictively lively album of progressive-kuduro, a style which blends House and African styles of music, and is at times reminiscent of the ethnic London sound that M.I.A has almost single-handedly brought global in the last few years. As such, anyone who considers themself a fan of M.I.A is very likely to dig this, and not only because she appears as a guest vocalist on "Sound of Kuduro". The album's only flaw is that it's a little slow getting out of the gate - opening track "Luanda/Lisboa" is arguably the least exciting song here, but from "Sound of Kuduro" onwards, it's an adrenaline-pumping spectacle that grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. Highlight tracks include "Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)", "New Africas", "Beef" and especially "General", which features a minute-long interlude that's so charming I find myself wishing it was five times that length.
---#85---
Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf - Big Shots
(hip-hop)
2003
This is one of those releases where the story behind it often ends up overshadowing the music itself. For those who don't know, though, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf were an emcee and producer duo who worked together between 1991 and 1993, recording more than enough material to put together an album. Unfortunately, their work was never released at the time, and Charizma was tragically killed as a bystander during an armed robbery not long after. A few snippets were released in the interim, but it wasn't until 2003 that Peanut Butter Wolf, now the founder and owner of Stones Throw Records (who released underground classics by artists like Madvillain and J Dilla), finally decided to put the finishing touches on their material and release the album proper. There's a real old-school vibe to the album, which is full of good-spirited hip-hop party jams that all sound very "of the time", yet the material never sounds dated (in the pejorative sense of the word). Charizma was a very appropriately named emcee, with his capable flow, youthful sound and fun, feel-good lyricism making him instantly likeable. It's incredibly sad that he wasn't able to explore his talent further, but Big Shots makes for an exceptional epitaph.
Click to view---#84---
Cliff Martinez - Solaris
(ambient)
2002
Solaris, the original score for Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of the Stanislaw Lem novel (and earlier film by Andrei Tarkovsky), is a breathtaking combination of fragile electronic flickers and subtle orchestral flourishes. Cliff Martinez proves himself to be a master of texture, timing and restraint, as the pieces here are beautifully composed to present the ideal balance between light and shade, serenity and gravitas, security and eeriness. Without a single vocal track, zero percussion and generally quite little variation in instrumentation, the music of Solaris still extends itself from the gentle loneliness of "She Will Come Back" and "Is That What Everybody Wants" on through the cautious optimism of "Don't Blow It" and finally to the emotionally gripping delivery of the album's centrepiece, the ten-plus minute "Hi Energy Proton Accelerator." The sparse, ethereal feel of the music allows Solaris to quite perfectly reflect the isolation, confusion and displacement felt by the film's lead character, thus setting a mood that boasts plenty of emotional pull. Like many of the best soundtracks, it stands firmly as a great album in its own right.
---#83---
Fashawn - Boy Meets World
(hip-hop)
2009
What a marvelous debut coming from such a young and talented artist. Fashawn was barely out of his teens when Boy Meets World was released, and already he was sounding like a young Common, blessed with the same skill in engaging storytelling, bolstered by a solid sense of social awareness and some truly forthright lyricism. A great deal of the album's content is influenced by Fashawn's difficult childhood - he grew up in a virtually parentless home - and the steps he took to push through adversity and achieve personal success. It gives the album a fascinating duality of grim realism juxtaposed against a powerful sense of optimism, with Fashawn's lyrics repeatedly coming back to the ideals of determination and the pursuing of dreams. It sounds like a bit of a cliche, but there's a sincerity and lack of pretense to the way Fashawn tells it which makes it good-spirited and very appealing. There's a wealth of highlights on Boy Meets World, with "Freedom", "Life as a Shorty", "Ecology", "Bo Jackson" and "When She Calls" (which samples Joanna Newsom!) being some of my personal favourites. However, I'm most fond of the "traveling the open road" celebration of "Samsonite Man", with it's beautiful sample of Billy Paul's soul cover of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright".
---#82---
Lee Fields and The Expressions - My World
(soul)
2009
Lee Fields made a name for himself in the 1970s putting out a series of awesome (and now very rare) 7" singles on his own label, and he's spent decades honing his sound into a perfect mix of the sheer power of James Brown and Sam & Dave and the subtlety and tenderness of Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. When you listen to My World, his debut album with new band The Expressions, it becomes abundantly clear that you're hearing the sound of a man who has proven himself as a titan of soul beyond any shadow of a doubt. His voice is simply huge, commanding such a degree of attention that it's something of a marvel that the rest of the band even manage to get noticed. Opening track "Do You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)" is pure dynamite, a killer single that would've rocked the charts in times gone by, while my personal favourite, his silky cover of "My World is Empty (Without You)", is inescapably moving - one of the finest examples of straight-from-the-gut soul music I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Anyone who's been digging the fine soul renaissance that rose up throughout the second half of the 2000s needs to hear this album.
---#81---
Buraka Som Sistema - Black Diamond
(kuduro)
2008
Black Diamond, the debut album by Portuguese trio Buraka Som Sistema, is a politically-charged, addictively lively album of progressive-kuduro, a style which blends House and African styles of music, and is at times reminiscent of the ethnic London sound that M.I.A has almost single-handedly brought global in the last few years. As such, anyone who considers themself a fan of M.I.A is very likely to dig this, and not only because she appears as a guest vocalist on "Sound of Kuduro". The album's only flaw is that it's a little slow getting out of the gate - opening track "Luanda/Lisboa" is arguably the least exciting song here, but from "Sound of Kuduro" onwards, it's an adrenaline-pumping spectacle that grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. Highlight tracks include "Kalemba (Wegue Wegue)", "New Africas", "Beef" and especially "General", which features a minute-long interlude that's so charming I find myself wishing it was five times that length.