Every day this week, Impact 89FM will post a list of favorite albums from a different member of our music staff.  Today’s list is from Elise Yoon.  Elise hosts the Asian Invasion on Mondays from 8-10pm, has interviewed artists like Hot Chip and Julian Casablancas, and is currently the video director at WDBM.

The Gorillaz, The Apples In Stereo, and Kanye West all put out albums this past year with real narratives, the kind of album you listen to nonstop for weeks.  My favorite kind of album is one that you can get lost in, and 2010 was a good year for these albums.  While these stories are all distinct, they each took over my music listening in the same way, overshadowing other albums without such strong narratives.

1. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Virgin)
I’ve always been a fan of Gorillaz hits like “Clint Eastwood” (all the way from 2001, already!), “19-2000” or “Feel Good, Inc.”, but I’ve never gotten into the deeper cuts from their albums.  It wasn’t until my brother got really into this album and played some songs for me that I became interested.  This album is such a departure from previous releases, while at the same time keeping in line with the classic Gorillaz narrative and spacey, electronic sound.  Plastic Beach is full of unexpected but great collaborations with a wide range of artists from Mos Def to Lou Reed to Bobby Womack to Snoop Dogg to Little Dragon to the National Orchestra for Arabic Music.
The first track transports you to another world, and in the following track, Snoop Dogg confirms this: “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach”.  “Superfast Jellyfish” is probably my most-listened to song of the year.  It’s not only catchy musically, but is a clever commentary without being preachy or annoying.  Last spring I became so immersed in this album that I would listen to nothing else for a month straight.  I definitely recommend this album, regardless of your musical leanings, it manages to integrate a wide variety of genres while remaining cohesive.
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Every day this week, Impact 89FM will post a list of favorite albums from a different member of our music staff.  The author of the list featured today is Brian Garcia, host of Sit or Spin that airs on Sundays from 8 to 10pm. To hear more from Brian, you can keep up with his blog at hateyouransweringmachine.com.

1. Flying Louts – Cosmogramma
The true test of a record is what the perceived “life” of it will be. What I mean by that is how you can listen to it before getting sick of it, whether it is two weeks or 5 years from now. There are a lot of records I’ve enjoyed in 2010, some quickly forgotten about after my hard drive crashed last spring or I just heard something else. But if there had to be one record that burrowed deep into my music listening consciousness this year, it is undoubtedly Flying Lotus’ third LP, Cosmogramma. Whether it was driving around blasting it on my crappy speakers in my Ford Focus late at night, waiting on an L stop in Bronzeville, Chicago, or letting it be the background music while studying on the second floor of the library, it fit every situation. This record is 2010.
Stephen Ellison, the Echo Park DJ otherwise known as Flying Lotus, creates a complex universe of space rhythms that loosely resemble what you could call hip-hop. But if you did, that’d be dramatically undercutting it. I like to think of it as the true modern take on Electro-funk, something Afrika Bambaataa could have only dreamt about. The deeply interwoven layers of music in Cosmogramma consist of elements of jazz, dub, funk, dance and hip-hop straight from the school of J Dilla. And if you look at the album cover long enough, you might just “see your entire future in front of you” – or whatever that quote from Almost Famous is.

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Every day this week, Impact 89FM will post a list of favorite albums from a different member of our music staff. Today’s list comes to you courtesy of Matt Revers.  Matt is our on-site correspondent, reviewing shows and interviewing artists like Dan Mangan, Chris Bathgate, and Mountain Man.

Author’s Note: This is not a list of the best albums of the year. This is not a list of what I think are the best album of the year. This is a list of my favorite albums of the year.

Beach House - Teen Dream
Beach House has been making consistently dreamy, far-off music that shimmers intimately ever since their self-titled debut in 2006. Teen Dream is a logical progression following their last two albums, and is their best release to date. Their magic is continually powerful, even if a bit formulaic (electronic drum beat, sparkly synth, electric guitar picking, reverb vocals). Every track feels like it belongs, and the bedroom feel never gets dull after repeated listens.

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