Best Songs of 2010 – Honorable Mentions
One of the year’s happiest surprises was V.V. Brown’s vibrant, confident debut album Travelling Like the Light, a bright fusion of retro sounds and modern hip-hop.
The breakout song from that disc was ‘Shark in the Water,’ which I featured on the blog during my summer song series and which would probably represent the album here if I didn’t have a strict no-repeats rule.
In July, I dedicated a couple of weeks to the hottest songs of the summer — songs I ordinarily wouldn’t hear because I never listen to the radio. Among those was V.V. Brown’s ‘Shark in the Water.’
It was my favorite of the 20 summer songs I featured, and intriguing enough that I went ahead and bought Brown’s album a few weeks later. And boy, am I glad I did.
Brown’s Travelling Like the Light is the most self-assured and dynamic debut album I’ve heard in years. She has a command of her material that allows her to jump between genres and styles without sacrificing cohesion. The result is a fun and dizzy blend of retro pop, rock and soul.
Here’s the second artist in my summer song series who was a complete mystery to me before now (the first was B.o.B.). I’m always surprised when I’m this unaware of a popular artist, even though I’m not the sort of cutting edge music fan who follows new acts religiously.
A quick Wikipedia search reveals that V.V. Brown is a 26-year-old English singer and songwriter recently signed to a major label. She has written songs for other artists under a different name and she has collaborated on a graphic novel with artist David Allain.
Meet Me In Montauk 