So! Here we are -- well over halfway through our special little list of our favourite eleven albums of 2010. Today we have numbers four and three for you. So we recommend you fix yourself your favourite beverage, sit back in your comfortable (at least we hope it's comfortable) chair, and read today's entry! You'll be happy you did. Especially if that chair's a comfortable one. Going on ...
4.
DIE ANTWOORD
$O$
I still remember when Die Antwoord first entered my consciousness. I was browsing my preferred go-to site for all things cool and interesting, BoingBoing, and one of their South African correspondents had written a missive on this fascinating rap-rave crew from Cape Town whose sound was unlike anything he'd heard before. The accompanying video was unlike anything I'd seen before. An impossibly tall and skinny blonde man (NINJA) covered with primitive tattoos, a diminutive tomboy girl (¥O-LANDI VI$$ER) with a funky platinum fringe haircut, and a huge DJ (HI-TEK) with a massive talent for human beatboxing were holding court in the hot South African sun and talking about a concept called "ZEF". Frankly, I couldn't take my eyes or ears off them, and I thought to myself, These guys are fucking crazy. They're going to be HUGE.
So when the trio finally dropped their debut album $O$ in November, I snapped the fucker up. And I've got to tell you: this record has got to be the most original I've heard in many a moon, dude. It's startling. Racing breathlessly from genre to genre, $O$ never plays it safe -- it's loud, it's in your face, it's brooding, and it's gleefully profane. Now that I think about it, that's what "ZEF" is really all about. All I can say is this album is "fokken" brilliant. Check it.
3.
ZOLA JESUS
STRIDULUM II
A concept album of sorts, based on a cheesy 1979 science fiction film called The Visitor, Stridulum II by Zola Jesus (the stage name of Phoenix, Arizona singer Nika Roza Danilova) is an attempt to discuss the powers of good and evil that rest on the weary shoulders of a young woman who is caught between the pulling forces of the two. Here's what I wrote: "This is quite literally a thrilling album, deep and mysterious and full of emotion. From the opening number 'Night' to closing time with 'Lightsick,' Danilova brings to mind the best vocal performances of Siouxsie Sioux and Kate Bush, splashing and dashing the flavour with sleek and dark synth brushstrokes and a mighty dollop of mezzo soprano classicism. Something dark and wounded in the night; a decision upon which balances the difference between success and failure; a heavy head, lost in the fog of confusion; and the blindness that careens from the deepest pits of despair -- this is not a happy record."
Here's the video for my favourite track, "Sea Talk." Like a funeral dirge backed by towering organs and a militaristic drumbeat, when Danilova sings, "Sick / I'm sick, honey / I don't, I don't got the money / Do you want a raincheck?" you can feel the raw emotion all the way down your backbone. Enjoy.
