Sound Bets: 10 for 6, Non-Rock Edition

TUESDAY MARKED THE six-month point in the year, so I started thinking about what my favorite songs were at this halfway joint.

Using my Last.fm stats, the videos I picked for Express‘ Sound Bets section and good ol’ hard-drive and CD-shelf surfing (plus a whole lotta guessing), I came up with a bunch of great tracks … and then reduced the list to tunes that could be easily embedded into a Web site.

Below are 10 non-rock tunes that have made my world a better place this year … even if some kinda sorta came out last year. (You can check my Sound Bets: 10 for 6, Rock Edition here.)

» Tarrus Riley, “Protect Your Neck” from “Parables” (The video mixes in Bling Dawg’s “What’s Life,” which is on the same riddim.)

» Toddla T, “Sound Tape Killin’” single

» Mavado feat. Jay-Z, “On the Rock” remix

» Yelle, “Je Veux Te Voir” from “Pop Up”

» Burial, “Ghost Hardware” from “Untrue”

» Buju Banton, “Cowboys / Curfew” from “Jamrock Classics, Vol. 1″

» Rootz Underground, “Hammer” from “Movement”

» Busdriver, “Casting Agents and Cowgirls” from “Roadkill Overcoat”

» Dizzee Rascal, “Old Skool” from “Maths + English”

» The Bug, “Poison Dart” feat. Warrior Queen from “London Zoo”