Black Van – Moments Of Excellence w Holy Ghost! by Black Van

K$sha – Animal (Switch remix) [YouTube music]

Lady Gaga – Judas (Röyksopp Remix) [YouTube music]

Metronomy – The Bay (Erol Alkan Remix)

Yuksek “On A Train” (The Magician Remix) by TheMagician

Aeroplane ‘My Enemy’ Rex The Dog remix by rexthedog1980

Holy Ghost! – Wait & See by DFA Records

In Flagranti – Hollow Discourse [YouTube music]

Snoop Dogg – Wet (David Guetta Remix Edit)

Benoit & Sergio – Boy Trouble

Rushhour – Moogie (Alden Tyrell Remix)

Cut Copy – Need You Now (Carl Craig Remix) by cutcopymusic

Cassius – I <3 U So (Skream’s Made Zdar Feel Like He Was 20 Again Remix)

The Knocks – You Can’t Hurry Love (Supremes cover featuring Alex Winston) by The Knocks

Laidback Luke ft Jonathan Mendelsohn – Timebomb (Keljet Remix) by keljet

Mighty Dub Katz – Let the Drums Speak [YouTube music]

Lykke Li – Sadness Is A Blessing (Gold Panda Remix) by Gold Panda

Death From Above 1979 – Black History Month (Stopmakingme Remix) by Stopmakingme

Don Diablo ft. Dragonette – Animale (Remix Teaser) by dondiablo

Escort – Cocaine Blues (Greg Wilson Remix)

Rodion+GoldenBug: Washing Machine (Bottin’s Spin Cycle Edit) by bottin

Roy Davis Jr. Feat. Bear Who? – Rock Lights by ScionAV

Faithless – Not Going Home

NAKION – JESU SUFO (CLUB SILENCIO RMX) by Club Silencio

My other favorite part is that on the oldies radio station I listen to now (thanks KVI for no longer being conservative talk radio!) I feel in love with The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” and while searching for the song I stumbled across a remix by Peter Visti of Visti & Meyland who did the song “Stars” from my May 2010 chart. I love his take on it!

The Lovin’ Spoonful – Summer In The City (Peter Visti Edit) by Iggy

Britney Spears – Till the World Ends

Canblaster – Clockworks – MASTER OF COMPLICATION EP by CANBLASTER (Club Cheval)

Mark ronson bang bang bang FINAL (count and sinden tribal horn remix) by hervespace

Deadly Sins – Mirrors

Para One & Tacteel – Infinity Riser (Remix of Bernard Fevre’s Dali) by Para One

Felix Cartal – The Joker (preview) by Felix Cartal

Daft Punk – End of Line (Boys Noize Remix) by njpassos

The Human League – Never Let Me Go (Aeroplane Remix) by pitchpie

Johan Agebjörn – Spacer Woman From Mars

Ali Love – Moscow Girl (Jacques Renault Remix) by Back Yard Recordings

David Lynch – Good Day Today (Underworld Classic Remix) by The Drift Record Shop

Be The One EP by thelittleidiot

Wicked Game Edit by Soul Clap

Tame Impala – Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind (Erol Alkan Rework) Radio Edit by Erol Alkan

KANYE WEST FT JAY Z – HAM by djgsmiles

Do You Need Someone by Beth Ditto

Herr Styler – Jack (Moullinex remix) by Herr Styler

Fischerspooner – Infidels of the World Unite (Gooseflesh remix)

Rodion – Alagoas Cowboys by Gomma

Starlighter by wearejupiter

Gorillaz – Empire Ants (Miami Horror Remix) by kevinthekid

Now the song “Nobody But Me” by the Human Beinz (originally by the Isley Brothers) is the “it” song.

I first heard the song a while back because a DJ I like named Pilooski included his own edit on one of his Dirty Edits mixes. (In what I can only call an awesome coincidence, Pilooski’s remix of “Beggin’” by Franki Valli was part of the reason I said Frankie Valli was suddenly popular last time…)

It wasn’t until The Office did their “lip dub” of the song in the season seven premier that I really noticed the song:

Also, around that time, the radio station I’ve listened to for years, KVI, switched from conservative talk radio to oldies so I started hearing the song on there, too.

But then the real strange thing happened and Nike started airing a commercial called “Throwdown” recently that used the song, as well:

I honestly think that The Office‘s use of the song inspired someone at Nike. It feels a little too serendipitous to me to think that the 2010-2011 television season suddenly realized that what it was missing was the song “Nobody But Me.”

Bonus:
Human Beinz performing the song:

Pilooski edit:
nobody but me (pilooski edit) by Pilooski (official)

The Isley Brothers original version:

I’m sure I first heard the song on alternative radio back in junior high or something, but it wasn’t until I saw David Lynch’s Wild At Heart that I realized how great the song was. “Wicked Game” plays during a great part of the film as Sailor and Lula drive across the country at night. Sailor is opening up to Lula about his past and we’re treated to total Lynchian flashbacks as well as Lula seeing her mother as the Wicked Witch of the West. The song is perfect for both the eerie drive across the desert as well as uncovering Sailor revealing his dark past and Lula connecting it with her disturbed childhood.

Then of course there is the music video for “Wicked Game” which has been called one of the sexiest videos ever:

(Also worth noting: David Lynch did a Wild At Heart version of the video [it's on the DVD] that is kind of cool/promotional, as well.)

Then a few years ago I come across a remix of the song by Trentemøller. His “Dubby Games” remix highlights the darkness in the original by adding some cool echoes and reverb.
Chris Isaak _ Wicked Game (Trentemoller Businessman Dubby Games Remix) by elodienelson

And now recently the “up-and-coming” artist Soul Clap comes out with their own remix. Unlike Trentemøller’s darker mix, I feel like Soul Clap highly the dreamy and disco-y aspects of the song. I’ve only had it a couple weeks and I’m already in love.
Wicked Game Edit by Soul Clap

So there we have it — a great song in so many aspects and forms.

• Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix) [YouTube music]
• Moda Modè – Shake (Crystal Juice Booty mix) [YouTube video (?) of original version]
• Turbofunk – Gotta Move (Trent Cantrelle & Chris Cox remix) [YouTube music]
• De Signer – Suicide Girl (Robin Porter & Subb-an Remix) [YouTube music]
• Siriusmo – Blaue Sonne[YouTube music]
• Hercules and Love Affair – My House (Leo Zero Remix) [YouTube official music video for original]
• Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar (Tensnake remix) [YouTube music]
• Katy B – Katy on a Mission [YouTube official music video]
• Marcos Cabral & Shux – Lifetime Groove [YouTube music]
• Adele – Rolling in the Deep (Keljet Remix) [YouTube music]

Note: YouTube isn’t currently letting me make a playlist for these songs so check back later if you want that.

You can hear them all via my YouTube playlist at: December 2010 Chart YouTube playlist

The fact I’ve been consistently doing DJ charts throughout the year made this considerably easier. Though at the same time I also run the risk of overlooking good music that I didn’t include on a chart for whatever reason.

Overall I would say 2010 was a great year for music. A lot of artists that I’ve liked over the years released new albums that mostly lived up to the hype/high expectations I set.

Although my lists aren’t really in any particular order, I will say that Kelis and her album Flesh Tone really wowed me more than anything this year. Perhaps it was all a matter of timing, but I found the album super refreshing and energizing. She worked with some top-notch producers (Burns, David Guetta, Boys Noize, Benny Benassi, etc.) and made an album that took the weirdness she’s been cultivating for a while and really exploded it.

As far as songs, I ranked the top 5. Picking Scissor Sisters’ “Invisible Light” over Kelis’ “4th of July (Fireworks)” was a really tough choice. In the end, I went with “Invisible Light” because I felt like it was one of those songs that really pushed the band into a new and interesting (and darker) direction. Like Ladytron’s “Destory Everything You Touch” and Cut Copy’s “Hearts on Fire” before it, “Invisible Light” was a huge departure from the bands’ previous work and the risk paid off big.

One other thing I’ll note is that in years past I’ve been pretty good at predicting Pitchfork‘s top tracks/albums but this year I felt very disconnected from their reviews/ranking. Of Pitchfork’s top 10 tracks of 2010 the only one we agreed on was “Power” by Kanye West.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts or point out what you think I missed. This year I’m getting this posted before most of the music blogs I follow do their year-end rankings so I’m pretty sure I forgot a track or two or didn’t post some super exclusive secret track that is gonna be huge next year that I should’ve noticed this year.

Albums

• Kelis – Flesh Tone
• Caribou – Swim
• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• Chillly Gonzales – Ivory Tower
• Robyn – Body Talk series (the two EPs and the final album)
• Hot Chip – One Life Stand
• LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
• Groove Armada – Black Light

Honorable mention: Acid Washed – Acid Washed, Ali Love – Love Harder, Arcade Fire – The Suburbs, Chromeo – Business Casual, Cee-Lo Green – The Lady Killer, Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles, Felix Cartal – Popular Music, Housse de Racket – Forty Love, Massive Attack – Heligoland, Rihanna – Loud, Rusko – O.M.G.!, Shit Robot – From Cradle to the Grave, Sia – We Are Born, Tame Impala – Innerspeaker, Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans, Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Disappointments (don’t hate me!! I had high expectations mostly): The Chemical Brothers – Further, Christina Aguilera – Bionic, Goldfrapp – Head First, Gorillaz – Plastic Beach, Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager, M.I.A. – Maya, MGMT – Congratulations, N*E*R*D – Nothing

Songs

1. Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” [YouTube video]
2. Kelis – “4th of July (Fireworks)” [YouTube video]
3. Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” [YouTube video]
4. Caribou – “Sun” [YouTube video]
5. Kanye West – “Power” [YouTube video]

• Hot Chip, Bernard Sumner & Hot City – “Didn’t Know What Love Was” [YouTube video]
• Hot Chip – “Hand Me Down Your Love” [YouTube music]
• Crystal Castles – “Celestica” [YouTube video]
• Visti & Meyland – “Stars” [YouTube music]
• SBTRKT – “We’ll Be Fine”
• David Lynch – “Good Day Today” [YouTube music]
• Sia – “You’ve Changed” [YouTube video]
• Housse de Racket – “Oh Yeah!” [YouTube video
• The Chemical Brothers - "Swoon" [YouTube video]
• Cee-Lo Green – “No One’s Gonna Love You” [YouTube video]

DJs/Remixers/Producers

• Villa — tons of great remixes and really captured the spacey discoy sound I loved this year
• David Guetta — great work on Kelis’s album
• Stuart Price — while not as perfect as Madonna’s Confessions on a Dancefloor, you can feel his touch on both Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite and Scissor Sisters’ Night Work
• Monarchy — formerly known as Milke they regrouped and starting putting out nice shiny intereresting remixes (Kelis, Lady Gaga, Kylie)
• Boys Noize — continues to be a force to be reckoned with; the remix of Scissor Sisters’ “Invisible Light” alone gets them here

Other

• Best Music Video: Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand”
• Best Remix: Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” (Boys Noize remix) [YouTube music]
• Best Concert: Hercules and Love Affair at Neumos (August 11, 2010)
• Best Music Blog: Too Many Sebastians
• Best Online Music Store: eMusic
• Best Record Label: (tie) Fools Gold and Permanent Vacation

Favorite Tracks From Monthly Charts

• January: Depeche Mode – “Hole To Feed” (Popof Vocal Mix)
• February: Music Go Music – “Warm In The Shadows” (Villa Remix)
• March: Appaloosa – “The Day We Fell in Love” (Todd Edwards’ Liturgical mix)
• April: Lauren Flax – “You’ve Changed (Feat. Sia)”
• May: Visti & Meyland – “Stars”
• June: Scissor Sisters – “Invisible Light” (Stuart Price Remix)
• July: SBTRKT – “We’ll Be Fine”
• August: Cee-Lo Green – “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Paul Epworth mix)
• September: Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” (Video mix)
• October: Hot Chip, Bernard Sumner & Hot City – “Didn’t Know What Love Was”
• November: Shit Robot – “Take ‘Em Up”
• December: TBD

You can hear them all via my YouTube playlist at: November 2010 Chart YouTube playlist