Rating: NNNNN
1. The streets Original Pirate Material (Warner)
Hiphop goes truly global with this British blast of singsong pub chatter straight out of the garage. Funny, smart, poignant and danceable, it sounds like nothing else.
2. broken social scene You Forgot It In People (Paper Bag)
The players at the heart of the Toronto pop underground stop their revolving door long enough to drop this achingly beautiful collection of soft rock. No two tunes sound the same, and that’s a good thing.
3. the roots Phrenology (MCA)
The hiphop braniacs finally got it right with an album that rocks in every sense of the word.
4. koop Waltz For Koop (JCR)
Two Swedish dudes in dresses raided their record libraries and made the year’s most swinging jazz album. Summer Sun has to be the song of the year.
5. homelife Flying Wonders (Madwaltz)
Blurping bossa breakdowns and Chinese opera tunes from the 15-piece intercontinental orchestra that’s been called the Brazilian Lambchop. Strange and wonderful.
6. cinematic orchestra Every Day (Ninja Tune)
J Swinscoe and his sample-juiced jazz orchestra blurred the line between live music and DJ culture even further with spaced-out soul, soundtracks and a shocking turn toward hiphop.
7. joseph malik Diverse (Compost)
Beat-heavy 21st-century soul from, er, Edinburgh? Yes, indeed.
8. orchestra baobab Specialist In All Styles (World Circuit)
As funky as you like, Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab remain the smoothest band on the planet two decades after their last record.
9. la musica della mafia Il Canto Di Malavita (PIAS)
Calabrian gangster music from the Italian Mafia. Includes skull-cracking warnings to snitches, heartwarming stories about the code of silence and a hair-raising ballad live from the slammer. Tony Soprano’s got nothing on this.
10. the neptunes
Sure, they’ve overstretched themselves, but Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are responsible for some of 2002’s most memorable R&B moments, from Nelly’s Hot In Herre and Beyoncé’s Work It Out to Justin Timberlake’s shockingly funky solo set. The Neptunes were the soundtrack to your lives this year.
mattg@nowtoronto.com
music 2002 top 10
So what’s all this nonsense about 2002 being a bad year for music? Just because the major labels were constantly getting scooped by indies on the most exciting new music doesn’t mean there was a shortage of amazing releases. From Broken Social Scene’s big breakout and Sharon Jones’s deep funk to Neko Case’s soul-stirrer, it was a smashing year. Here’s our best.
