Aussie producer Burn Water pours one out for the Alicia Keys we all once knew with the deeply soulful “No One”-sampling “I Just Want You (Forever)”. Very very nice, Mr. Water.

Burn Water (Facebook)

Rating 8.4

Alicia Keys’ latest (complete with those “oh oh oh ohs” that she’s so adept at) becomes the bed for a new 50/Dr. Dre track that is actually knockin’ pretty hard. Can this be Curtis’ comeback single? Our homeboy had a chart hit with that “Down on Me” track w/ Jeremih last summer, so dude is still in the conversation. Is “New Day” enough to get him back to relevance?

50 Cent (Facebook)

Rating 8.1

New old Alicia. “Typewriter” finds Mrs. Beatz carefully crooning over a deep 90′s backbeat. The track was recorded as part of the Songs in A Minor sessions and was left off that seminal LP. A few listens in, I think we’re feeling this early aughts Mariah-esque jam. How are y’all feeling about it? p.s. Listen for the choral interlude on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” toward the end of track, its dope as hell.

Alicia Keys – Typewriter

Alicia Keys : (Official) (Twitter)

Rating: 7.6

The embattled Kanye vocal track gets a flip over Deadboy’s excellent remix of Drake and Alicia Keys’ “Fireworks”.

Kanye West – Mama’s Boyfriend (Dimunitive Remix)

Kanye West : (Official) (Twitter)

Rating: 8.5

Pretty Lights is fucking sick, right and this mix is off the chain. But guy. You almost had it… You almost did it. You almost wiped those weak-ass Jay-Z verses completely off the track! So close! But, meng… there’s still like 40 seconds of that shit slinger left on the track. But it’s ok. That much we can forgive. Seriously, this track bangs. We’re into it. Get into it.

Notorious B.I.G. – Empire State of Mind (Pretty Lights Remix) (Feat. Alicia Keys)

Purchase / Info

Rating: 8.8

Compiling a year end Best of Songs list is not exactly the easiest ask. There are SO MANY great songs. And ‘the line’ between making one’s list a true Best of list vs. a Favorite songs of the year list can be quite the thin one. Here’s our best go at it. Also, if you’ve yet to check out our Top 50 Albums of 2010 list then you can get familiar HERE. Happy Holidays, and thanks for reading! We’ll see y’all in 2011…

01. Adele – Rolling in the Deep (Buy It)

02. Kanye West -Power (Buy It)

03. Cee-Lo Green – Fuck You (Buy It)

04. Aloe Blacc – I Need a Dollar (Buy It)

05. Tinie Tempah – Pass Out (Buy It)

06. Alicia Keys – Unthinkable (I’m Ready) (Buy It)

07. The Black Keys – Tighten’ Up (Buy It)

08. Beach House – Norway (Buy It)

09. Janelle Monae – Tightrope (Feat. Big Boi) (Buy It)

10. James Blake – CMYK (Buy It)

11. Far East Movement – Like a G6 (Feat. The Cataracts & Dev) (Buy It)

12. Drake – Fireworks (Feat. Alicia Keys) (Buy It)

13. B.o.B. – Airplanes (Feat. Hayley Williams) (Buy It)

14. Arcade Fire – Ready to Start (Buy It)

15. M.I.A. – Born Free (Buy It)

16. Swedish House Mafia – One (Feat. Pharrell) (Buy It)

17. Jose James – Made for Love (Buy It)

18. Ski Beatz – Cream of the Planet (Feat. Mos Def) (Buy It)

19. The Fresh and Onlys – Waterfall (Buy It)

20. Rick Ross – Super High (Feat. Ne-Yo) (Buy It)

21. Cassius – I Love You So (Buy It)

22. Gil Scott-Heron – New York Is Killing Me (Buy It)

23. The National – Terrible Love (Buy It)

24. Deadmau5 – Right This Second (Buy It)

25. Phantogram – As Far As I Can See (Buy It)

26. Washed Out – You and I (Feat. Carolyn Polachek) (Buy It)

27. Deerhunter – Helicopter (Buy It)

28. Erykah Badu – Window Seat (Buy It)

29. Wiz Khalifa – Black & Yellow (Buy It)

30. Big Boi – Shutterbugg (Feat. Cutty) (Buy It)

31. Katy B – Katy On A Mission (Prod. by Benga) (Buy It)

32. Mount Kimbie – Field (Buy It)

33. LCD Soundsystem – Oh You (Christmas Blues) (Buy It)

34. Jesse Rose – You Know It (Original Mix) (Buy It)

35. Band of Horses – Laredo (Buy It)

36. Kelis – 4th of July (Fireworks) (Buy It)

37. Funeral Party – Just Because (Buy It)

38. The Soft Pack – More or Less (Buy It)

39. Jeremy Messersmith – Tatooine (Buy It)

40. Klaxons – Echoes (Buy It)

41. Chapel Club – O Maybe I (Buy It)

42. King Reign – Money (Feat. Saukrates and Kardinal Offishall) (FREE Download)

43. Grinderman- Worm Tamer (Buy It)

44. Mona – Listen To Your Love (Buy It)

45. The Sand Band – Set Me Free (Buy It)

46. The Vaccines – Blow It Up (Buy It)

47. Beady Eye – Bring the Light (Buy It)

48. Lykke Li – Get Some (Buy It)

49. Shad – Yaa I Get It (Buy It)

50. Professor Green – Just Be Good To Green (Feat. Lily Allen) (Buy It)

Honorable Mentions: Corinne Bailey Rae – Are You Here Fat Joe – Ha Ha (Feat. Young Jeezy) Chris Turner – Liquid Love Flying Lotus – And The World Laughs With You (Feat. Thom Yorke) Lissie – Record Collector Crookers – Cooler Couleur Dale Earnhardt jr jr – Simple Girl J. Cole – Premeditated Murder Cee Lo Green – I Want You (Demo) Small Black – Weird Machines NERD – Hypnotize You Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes Usher – OMG (Feat. Will.i.am.) First Aid Kit – Ghost Town Foals – Spanish Sahara Nicos Gun – Dirty Girl Flying Lotus – And the World Laughs With You (Feat. Thom Yorke) Sia – Clap Your Hands Taio Cruz – Dynamite Flight Facilities – Crave You (Feat. Giselle) Ciara – Ride the Beat (Feat. Ludacris) Tinchy Stryder – Game Over (Feat. Giggs, Professor Green, Tinie Tempah, Example, Devlin, Chipmunk) Crystal Castles – Celestica Gayngs – The Gaudy Side of Town Big K.R.I.T. – Country Shit Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know Everest – Let Go E-Train – Never Love You Breton – The Well Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Badio – Kiss the Sky Dylan LeBlanc – If Time Was for Wasting Flux Pavilion – I Can’t Stop Freddie Joachim – Transistors Great Lake Swimmers – Gonna Make It Through This Year Gorillaz – Empire Ants (Feat. Little Dragon) Groove Armada – Paper Romance (Feat. Fenech-Soler) Karen Elson – The Ghost Who Walks Manic Street Preachers – I’m Leaving You For Solitude Mark Ronson & The Business Int’l – Somebody to Love PS I Love You – Facelove Menomena – TAOS Sleigh Bells – Kids STS – Fuck A Hook (Prod. By Don Cannon)

Thank you, Thank you. You’re far to kind. You know we had to flip this on a Sunday Night. J5/Polow A. Keys/A. Graham, lets do it!

The Jackson 5 – Dancing Machine (Polow Da Don Soft Touch Remix) Purchase

Drake – Fireworks (Tom Wrecks Remix) (Feat. Alicia Keys) Purchase

2010! What a year! We laughed, we cried, we got into it! It’s mid to late December, so you know what time it is, the presents are being wrapped, the tree is being trimmed, and all the world’s music writers are popping champagne and slapping each other fives, cause it’s Best of list season! So here goes the b3sci staff’s picks for the Top 50 LPs of the year. P.S. Many thanks to our readers for a super cool 2010, the blog has grown in ways we never could’ve imagined really. 2011 is going to be massive (unveiling the now under-construction site redesign!) so stay tuned to b3sci in the new year!

Kanye West – All of The Lights (Feat. Elton John, Alicia Keys, Fergie, The-Dream, Tony Williams, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Charlie Wilson, Ryan Leslie, Elly Jackson)

Gorillaz – Stylo (Feat. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)

Flying Lotus – Mmmhmm (Feat. Thundercat)

Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Erykah Badu – Fall in Love (Your Funeral)

Cee-Lo Green – Bright Lights Bigger City

Foals – Spanish Sahara

Sade – The Moon and the Sky

Tame Impala – Alter Ego

The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

The Black Keys – The Next Girl

Aloe Blacc – You Make Me Smile

Deadmau5 – A City in Florida

The Tallest Man on Earth – A Lion’s Heart

Janelle Monae – Neon Valley Street

Bonobo – Stay the Same (Feat. Andreya Triana)

Gil Scott-Heron – Me and the Devil

Agalloch – They Escaped the Weight of Darkness

Beach House – 10 Mile Stereo

Big Boi – General Patton

Jose James – Lay You Down

First Aid Kit – Hard Believer

Salem – Frost

The Walkmen – Lisbon

Band of Horses – Infinite Arms

Deerhunter – Desire Lines

Big K.R.I.T. – Hometown Hero

The Roots – Dear God 2.0 (Feat. Monsters of Folk)

Four Tet – Plastic People

The Morning Benders – Excuses

Mount Kimbie – Adriatic

Phantogram – When I’m Small

Raheem DeVaughn – I Don’t Care

Broken Bells – The High Road

Curren$y – Breakfast

Corinne Bailey Rae – I’d Do It All Again

Tinie Tempah – Snap

B.o.B. – Past My Shades (Feat. Lupe Fiasco)

Grinderman – Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man

The Soft Pack – Answer to Yourself

Rick Ross – Maybach Music III (Feat. T.I., Jadakiss, and Erykah Badu)

Surfer Blood – Harmonix

Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom (Feat. Horace Andy)

Seu Jorge – The Model

Example – Kickstarts

Delphic – Clarion Call

Laura Marling – Blackberry Stone

Futurebirds – Johnny Utah

M.I.A. – XXXO

Best Coast – Crazy For You

Honorable Mention: TOKiMONSTA – Midnight Menu UNKLE – Where Did the Night Fall Crookers – Tons of Friends Neil Young – Le Noise Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – I Learned the Hard Way Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record Darker My Love – Alive As You Are Lissie – Catching a Tiger Ty Segall – Melted Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown Summer Fiction – Summer Fiction Small Black – New Chain Freddie Joachim – Midway Reflection Eternal – Revolutions Per Minute Warpaint – The Fool Nas & Damian Marley – Distant Relatives Magnetic Man – Magnetic Man Sleigh Bells – Treats Local Natives – Gorilla Manor Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love Gayngs – Relayted Professor Green – Alive Til I’m Dead Deftones- Diamond Eyes Ellie Goulding – Lights

South London’s Deadboy takes a great song, Drake’s “Fireworks”, and transforms it into something phenomenal.

Drake – Fireworks (Deadboy Slo Mo Edit) (Feat. Alicia Keys)

Rating: 8.0

Kanye makes records cause he absolutely has to. He has to do this. Any truly great singular artist, regardless of medium, is driven by that quality of will. He makes records cause he has absolutely has to. “Lost in the World” feels in ways nothing on the self-styled self-conscious 808s and Heartbreak ever could. The track for “Lost in the World” sounds, feels, bleeds like the work of an artist who absolutely had to create it.

Kanye West – Lost in the World (Feat. Alicia Keys & Bon Iver) Purchase / Info

rating: 8.8

new from b3sci fav freddie joachim is this fresh diary of alicia keys remix. this smooth freddie mix is taken from his just dropped olive juice remix LP. other cool shit on the record includes remixes of clara hill, esthero, and vikter duplaix. no doubt freddie hooks you up too, as the first 500 downloads of olive juice are free. check it here

Alicia Keys – Feeling U Feeling Me (Freddie Joachim Remix)

freddie joachim info buy the alicia track

smooth track from 2009 from uk dubstep producer mala. heard as part of mistajam’s summer special this past weekend. great smooth out tune! word to mistajam.

[Download]Mala – Alicia

rating: 8.4

dutch dude lenzman re-touches the alicia keys banger; styling it into a smooth summertime groove. word to mistajam on the track!

[Download] Alicia Keys – Unthinkable (Lenzman Drum & Bass Bootleg)

buy the original

rating: 8.2

a. graham hooks up with a. keys for the lead track off “thank me later”. jam.

Drake – Fireworks (feat. Alicia Keys)

pre-order Thank Me Later

rating: CRACKRON II

haters take notice

Drake – Over (W.T.C.C. Remix) (Feat. KeSha) Method Man, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon – Our Dreams (Ant Acid Remix) (Feat. Alicia Keys) Mike Posner – Evil Woman

buy buy buy

when you’re from cleveland, survival’s a must on these streets, we hustle we don’t sleep. we think there’s a version of this floating out there with chip tha rip on it. if you’ve got it….leave us a shout! ok… so here goes our dream “cleveland state of mind” line up: kid cudi & chip tha ripper trading bars on verse 1, bone thugs WITH bizzy on verse 2, eddie lavert belting the fuck out of the hook, and the corpse of george szell conducting a live string section accompaniment. and shit! joe walsh! joe walsh melting face on fender steel! ….yeah! and halle berry! and kucinich! yeah!!!! cleveland! shouts to dj steph floss!

Machine Gun Kelly – Cleveland State of Mind (Feat. Bravo & Ashley Simpson)

machine gun kelly on myspace

rating: 8.4

it’s called karma, babe, and it goes around.

Alicia Keys – Karma (Karmastition Remix)

buy alicia keys music