Song of the Year 2010
Paradise Circus by Massive Attack featuring Hope Sandoval
Massive Attack's Paradise Circus was my favorite song of the past year. The song perfectly captured lingering mood of malaise that looms over these harsh and uncertain times. The song is nothing more than a 3 note riff counterpointed by a tape loop of off-rhythm clapping, but there's something sinister in the honey sweet tones of Hope Sandoval's langorous and seductive voice when she tells us, " the devil makes us sin, but we like it when we're spinning, in his grin." It's the power of Hope's understated and soulful vocal that makes a relatively simple and mundane musical idea work.
There was a legion of amateur film makers who posted their own video versions of Paradise Circus on YouTube. This skillfully edited reworking of an early Jonas Åkerlund video (embedded below) perfectly captured the frosty, paranoia inducing atmospherics of Massive Attack's dark, erotically charged song better than Massive Attack's own video release of Paradise Circus. The dreader than dread music and the surrealist aesthetic of the video reminded me of footage from a unreleased film directed by David Lynch.
Kudos to Jonas Åkerlund and YouTube member, EffexorDepot for his clever reuse of the Åkerlund video. It was my favored video of my most favored song of 2010.
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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt
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