Ebo Taylor - Love And Death (Strut) parisdjs
Free The Robots - Ctrl Alt Delete (Alpha Pup) parisdjs
Gonja Sufi - A Sufi And A Killer (Warp) parisdjs
Homelife - Exotic Interlude (Humble Soul) parisdjs
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - Stay Gold (Kinnara) parisdjs
Marco Benevento - Between The Needles And Nightfall (Royal Potato Family) parisdjs
Mushroom - Naked, Stoned & Stabbed (4 Zero) parisdjs
Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro - Tradition In Transition (Tru Thoughts) parisdjs
Skeletons - Smile (Impossible Ark) parisdjs
The Souljazz Orchestra - Rising Sun (Strut) parisdjs

After publishing a solid 10-records-a-year selection of the last decade (from 1999 to 2009), we took a few days to think about the 2010 best of... The first thing that came to mind when weed look back at the past 12 months, was the obvious blast of compilations that were released. From the incredible Ninja Tune XX boxset (6xCDs, 6x7", 2x12" and a book - all new tracks and remixes!), the amazing "world" compilations and reissues from Soundway Records, Analog Africa, Academy LPs, Nascente or Vampisoul, the fantastic and rare funk/jazz stuff from the diggers at Finders Keepers, Jazzman or Luv'N'Haight, the jaw-dropping sets from Numero Group, all those Fania Records reissues... I'm missing a few but you get my point: this is highly-entertaining quality stuff, but from hte independent's viewpoint it also looks like the music industry has never been so much focused of its back-catalog.

Meanwhile, a few labels are still doing the job of distributing today's music to the people of today, and maybe they deserve a little bit more spotlight... That's what we thought would be interesting to look at anyway. We had to forbid ourselves not to put any Colored-Inc. release in our selection, of course, even though some of the records we've put out this year were simply astonishing... such as the Hard 2 Find series for example!

What was left: some genre-bending electronic/hip hop/psychedelia marvels from Gonja Sufi and Free The Robots, from the Los Angeles beats scene, ecstatic afro/jazz from Germany (Eboy Taylor & Afrobeat Academy), Canada (The Souljazz Orchestra), or England (Skeletons), addictive cumbia/soul from Columbia (Quantic and his Combo Barbaro), psychedelic folk exotica from former Nina tune affiliates Homelife (their leader Paddy Steer has also released a solo album that's quite a treat too), and finally mesmerizing jazz/indie rock mixtures from Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey or Marco Benevento, both released thru the sensational US label The Royal Potato Family. Well, all in all another good year for music, nothing like 1976 when stadium FM rock was rising and Hotel California was king...

Contenders : Bonobo, The New Mastersounds, Randa & The Soul Kingdom, Fat Freddy's Drop, The Qualitons, Saravah Soul, Hidden Orchestra, The Roots, Kings Go Forth, Big Pimp Jones, The Hot Rats, Flying Lotus, Candice Monique & The Optics, Aloe Blacc, Cochemea Gastelum, The Bees, Roots Manuva, Lloyd Miller & Te Heliocentrics, Brownout, Grupo Fantasma, Mike Gordon...