TOP 50 SONGS OF 2010 Pt. 4: 20-11

Fell behind a bit, so I guess the whole top 20 will come tonight, erk.... hopefully though, because these are after all my favourite 20 songs of the year, I'll be so inspired that I'll be able to chat crap about them all into the early hours. Anyway... Oh, look at these... what tunes.

20 "Thank You For Your Love" - Antony & The Johnsons

Sumptuous melodrama is always to be expected from Antony and his earth shattering, shimmering Nina Simone-esque tenor, but ne'er yet 'til now have we heard him express the emotion that is expressed here: HAPPINESS. Let's look back to Antony's defining moment, obviously the timestoppingly incredible "Hope There's Someone"; This is the voice of a broken man, one battered down by loneliness in a cruel world, one who's dreams are all but dissolved. And there's nothing quite like hearing this same voice, 6 years on, break out into an uncontrollable ear to ear smile and holler "I want to thank you". Whether this is the love of a newly born relationship, or one that has grown through thick and thin, it matters not. During the 4 minute duration of "Thank You For Your Love" nothing else matters but the unconditional and all encompassing adoration Antony has developed for this individual. And as horns parp out in agreement, moments of musical joy this genuine are few and far between.

19 "Coma Cat" - Tensnake

Being Balearic and sun flecked was popular in underground dance music this summer, but there's nothing like a tune that hits the big time with a hook that refuses to become tedious no matter how much you hear it. "Coma Cat" is timeless; jubilant bells ring out over a regal house beat, and the essence of the early 90s is all over the choppy vocal samples and chunky bass. There's not much you can say about a track like "Coma Cat" except that it has to be heard to understand the sheer jolt of lightning felt at the drop. Every time.

18 "Bermuda" - Kisses

The joy of "Bermuda" on first listen is just how cheap and lo fi it sounds, but oh my, that's the joy in it. 

Kisses are not here to make a big statement; vocally low key and unguilded, but no one can argue with a melody as innocent and wholesome as the one showcased here. Dippy synths plip and plop here and there as warm pads caress the clumsy drum machine, and the effect is heartwarming and achingly gorgeous. What's so charming about Kisses in general is that the real appeal here is in the songwriting. No pretences or big production, just a wonderful melody, a blissful vibe and a song that never gets tiresome.

17 "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry

Katy Perry has her own snug place in the US pop world. Somewhere between an American Idol and Ke$ha’s drunken slag persona, and all of a sudden Katy Perry is a cheeky role model who can get away with just about anything. A blink of those gorgeous blue eyes and it doesn’t matter that she kisses girls, squirts whipped cream from her nipples or gets drunk on beaches (if Ke$ha does any of that, she’s just dirty). It’s the songs though. When Ms Perry (slash Mrs Russell I guess) shoots, she scores spectacularly. “Teenage Dream” simply is every pop song you’ve ever heard that warms your heart, that makes you want to bunk off work and go to the beach, to go clubbing when you have work at 8am the next day, to do things that make you feel naughty, irresponsible and YOUNG. Yes it’s a love song, but not necessarily to another person... it’s a love song to itself. This song makes you feel like you’re living a teenage dream. Don’t ever look back.

16 "Hang With Me" - Robyn

Of the 3 big singles this year, "Hang With Me" is the one that expresses the most complicated emotion: the one a person feels whilst they heal. "Hang With Me" displays a woman who's been hurt, and hurt badly, but one who is beginning to believe she can, just maybe, love again. It's as she says in "Call Your Girlfriend": "the only way her heart will mend is when she learns to love again", and after falling in love with "Dancing on My Own" (where is that track by the way?! *wink*) I couldn't have found it easier to fall in love again with the understated and thoughtful dancepop of "Hang With Me".

15 "Come Wander" - Delorean

Delorean's Subiza is without a doubt one of the most uplifting dance records of the year, and "Come Wander" is it's dark horse of a centrepiece, tucked away towards the end of the record, but ensuring that the pace does not relent, and indeed if anything it accelerates. With its shamelessly housey piano  hooks and thunderous tribal dance beats, "Come Wander" is the closest to an ibiza club anthem Delorean have thus far created, but the dreamy vocals keep feet from touching the dancefloor, and whilst the track still pulsates, it does so floating giddily in mid air. Oh and the final 30 seconds? Best 30 seconds of instrumental music of 2010. Get ready to go wild.

14 "Counterpoint" - Delphic

Delphic were criticised this year, somewhat unfairly, of lacking originality. Words like "New" and "Order" were thrown around, shit got thrown around. Ok, I exaggerate, but the point is that the sheer scale of the 8 minute "Counterpoint" is one that cannot be argued with. A two chord anthem to end all two chord anthems, the razor sharp beats stumble as they run through streets and empty corridors, hectic synths and hyperventilating guitars speeding to keep up. Singer James Cook tries to convince us that "nothing's wrong" but as he gets increasingly distressed, the track reaches a positively religious climax, and Cook is left screaming "NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING" as the strobe light synths escalate and swallow the track whole before a blissful final chord ends matters abruptly. The most joyous emotional breakdown committed to tape this year.

13 "Wonderful Life" - Hurts

After over a year of this instant classic circulating, Hurts finally got the attention they deserved. "Wonderful Life" is simply the perfect pop song. A haunting, life affirming, yet somehow cryptic main lyric that can be taken at face value or seen as something deeper, with a deliciously gothic shawl cast over the track's tumbling rhythms and polished 80s tapestry of Spandau Ballet nuances and New Order basslines. When bands like Hurts get the recognition they deserve without having to change a thing, it really is a wonderful life.

12 "Not in Love" - Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith

It's astonishing what the presence of a different vocalist can do for a track. "Not in Love" serves as one of the subtler moments of the band's sophomore self-titled record, with a vocodered Alice Glass muttering the lyrics as if giving some dark, ritualistic sermon. When The Cure's Robert Smith (what a catch guys, god knows how they nailed this down) steps up to the mic, angst and intense yearning trailing in his wake, all of a sudden, the year's most unlikely anti-love anthem is uncovered. Smith's desperate cries of "I'm not in love!" battle with euphoric synths that say otherwise, seemingly beefier and more deafening than before. An emotional battle between despairing razor blade synths and a shivering, fearful vocalist, this is truly one of the best, if not the best, collaborations of 2010, and certainly the most moving.

11 "Norway" - Beach House
The longing to get away. This is the essence of Beach House's Teen Dream record. Previous records by the band would pass by in a daydream, lovely, but unwilling to commit emotionally. And then along comes a track like "Norway" and you could be listening to a band reborn. Singer Victoria Legrand is no longer casually conversing with you from the corner of the room, she's whispering in your ear; this is no longer some daydream. Breathlessly delivered wordless chants and spiralling guitar arpeggios raise the Beach House benchmark to a new, astronomically high level, and when the final chorus hits, Legrand's voice swells up and spirals down, and its clear that she's not in a daydream anymore, she wants to reach the other side of that fence, and 'Norway' represents that place. Heartstoppingly beautiful and a revelation.

TOP 10 tomorrow! How exciting. Although not for me, because I already know my top 10.

Top 5 Songs that made me cry this year.

I'm of the weepy sort, this is not a secret. So I present to you the 5 songs that choked me up the most in 2010.

5 "Aretha" - Rumer
Musically one of the more upbeat numbers of her debut Seasons..., "Aretha" is all the more emotional because Rumer is now 31, and the song talks of a childhood dream that seems inconceivable but perfect. "Aretha, I don't wanna go to school, they don't understand me and I think the place is cruel..." she sighs to her idol, but eventually optimistically concludes "I'll never have the right shoes, but I've got the words". For a singer who's been working for so long and for it to finally pay off, "Aretha" is less an ode to a childhood idol, and more an anthem for anyone who's ever felt that their dreams were out of reach.


4 "Walk in the Park" - Beach House
That fuzzy drum machine intro cannot prepare you for Teen Dream's most lump-in-the-throat moment and heartbreaking chorus. For a band whose lyrics are so often nonsensical and cryptic, Beach House normally rely on windswept organs and melancholic guitars to relay their feelings, but in "Walk in the Park" the lyrical message couldn't be clearer: "In a matter of time, you would slip through my mind, in and out of my life..." and combined with one of the most beautiful chord processions the band has ever produced, laced with  yearning guitars and shimmering percussion, "Walk in the Park" is almost too much.



3 "Fuel Up" - Stornoway
You can picture the scene. Final day of the university, you're looking round your halls of residence room, wondering where all the time went and how you became an adult so soon. "Fuel Up" is simply a gorgeous ode to the passage of time and all the fucked up things that hindered your every move but somehow make it worthwhile. "You're a passenger, but your mind is travelling on..." singer Brian Briggs so aptly puts it, as the band waltz sensitively alongside.



2 "In My Eyes" - Robyn
Now "In My Eyes" is a dance song, a boom-thwack banger of a beat and the most dramatic synthchord-slabs you've heard all year, but its the most emotional melodrama you've ever heard, and its message is one that Robyn stands for resolutely, but neversomore as here: 'no matter what shit goes on, I've got your back'. As she would probably put it. On the back of the massive minor to major shifts carrying sweeping life affirming lyrics, Robyn's loyalty to the individual she sings to is so fierce that its emotional punch is like a sock to the gut. "I know you think you're lost but you think again, when you look into my eyes" she implores, and assures "you'll be ok". In a generally horrible year like 2010, no one said "things will get better" than Robyn.



1 "Cry" - Gayngs
If any band know how to celebrate mourning, Gayngs have proven themselves to be certain frontrunners. Whether Godley & Creme (the 10cc members responsible for the distinctly more upbeat and 80s sounding original) are turning in their graves or not is irrelevant; when Gayngs perform Cry we are treated to something authentically whiney, depressing, plodding and self-pitying, but this is the essence of sadness. It’s not pretty, it’s not easy on the ear, but it’s still somehow beautiful. Cry is the sound of the moment when we admit that no, we’re not ok, the moment when all hope finally seems irretrievable. And as voices tearfully wail the titular word over a cheesy, lush soft rock backdrop, we are all reminded that there is a sort of comfort to be gained from giving in to your sadness.

TOP 50 SONGS OF 2010 Pt.3: 30-21

The plot thickens... and gets a bit more commercial .

30 "Get Outta My Way" - Kylie Minogue
Kylie's Aphrodite is 2010's fag hag of pop. It appeases to every camp dance cliche and gleefully dramatic chorus, and "Get Outta My Way" is its diamond encrusted tiara. Producer Stuart Price excessively scatters his eurodisco glitter all over Kylie's effortlessly classy vocals, which are double-quintuple tracked over the strobelight mania of a chorus. The whole thing is about as feel good a track as anything you've heard not only Kylie but any female artist do in years, whether as a breakup song or simply as a song for when you're late for work.



29 "Rude Boy" - Rihanna
A hint of the "Loud" animal we would see later this year, this latter single from 2009's Rated R was a standout simply because it wasn't dark or reflective. It showed us the Rihanna we know and love: tough, dominant, seductive and just classy enough to get away with the occasional dutty phrase. Although of similar pace to "What's My Name?", released later in the year, "Rude Boy" isn't dreamy or suggestive; it's in your face, cocky and impossible to ignore.



28 "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha
On paper and indeed on first listen, this could seem like nothing but going through the motions for Ke$ha. It's got the drunken whore rap verse followed by the huge autotuned chorus and thumping beat, and the whole thing resembles a mud slinging fight between Gaga and Katy Perry. But what becomes apparant about "We R Who We R" with repeat listens, is that it actual has a slight poignancy about it. Call me crazy, but to me, this isn't about glitter or whisky or casual sex; it's about individuality, and for the first time Ke$ha is making her real message heard. And through the medium of a chorus as catchy as that of "Tik Tok". Who cares if Ke$ha wears the same underwear for 2 weeks in a row? She's not saying that's what you should do, she's just saying it's ok to do what the fuck you want. I mean there is a limit, but I see where she's coming from. Anyway, tune.



27 "Call Your Girlfriend" - Robyn
What's this?! So much for being the heartbroken girl dancing on her tod, Robyn's now the "other woman"?! Talk about double standards! Well, it's easy to forgive her, and also easy to see how the gentleman in question could've been seduced by this Robyn, when you hear the caramel smooth melodies and euphoric rise and fall of the Nu-Abba backing of "Call Your Girlfriend". "Tell her the only way her heart will mend is when she learns to love again" Robyn advises and firmly confirms "it's gon be me and you" as her voice disapparates and begins to fly away into a cloud of beautiful vowels. It's tough going through a break up, but with Robyn there not only to empathise but also to offer both sides of the story... who the hell needed any other pop singer in 2010?



26 "Shutterbugg" - Big Boi feat. Cutty
Has there been a huger beat this year then that of "Shutterbugg"? Glass smashes and keyboards cry out like it's 1977, and a thousand deep voiced robots knock rhythmically on your front door. There's no way out from this track, so it's futile to resist. As Cutty sweetly sings "You're in my system", and after just one listen, this track most certainly will be.



25 "Tightrope" - Janelle Monae feat. Big Boi
"Tightrope" is one big funky grin from start to finish. The bonkers but brilliant androgynous wonder that is Janelle Monae goes all out on "Tightrope" to showcase everything that makes her great. Whether it's the sheer melodrama in her soulful voice, the absurdly addictive unhinged rhythms or the crazy motown brass section (a personal musical highlight of 2010), Janelle does "what the fuck is this? I love it!" better than any other artist this year. A musical secret agent, stationed loosely in Urban town, whilst engaging in countless missions to the districts of big band, funk and disco and commandeering the odd Ukelele. Extravagent and imaginative; a thorough delight.



24 "Time Machine" - Robyn
One thing Robyn was reluctant to do on her UK self-titled Debut was to go all-out dance. Preferring to dabble in urgent big beat on "Cobrastyle" and "Be Mine", throwing out the hip hop beats on tracks like "Handle Me", and working quirky techno heavily into her sound pretty much everywhere, our first lady of Swede-pop seemed to be afraid to be too commercial. The "Body Talk" records couldn't be more different, and "Time Machine" is hands down the catchiest straight-up dancepop anthem she's ever done. And with a chorus bigger than Jesus, it's easy to see that Robyn's inhibitions and awkward pop quirks are well and truly in the past.



23 "Young Blood" - The Naked and Famous
Just when you think the world of blogpop can't throw out any more gems this year, we get the Passion Pit esque Naked and Famous, who are most certainly destined for commercial success. A clattering synth refrain rings out over a bassy wall of fat distortion, and eager falsetto cries out triumphantly, with an "Eee-yeah-eee-yeah-ee-yeah-eee-yeah!" refrain thrown in for good measure. A perfectly formed alternative pop song and probably the best debut single of 2010.



22 "Bastard" - Tyler, The Creator
Horrorcore Hip Hop without beats = The definition of uncomfortable listening. Cheap schlock strings and cheesy horror movie synth brass make the odd appearance as a plodding piano rolls round and round, giving plenty of room for the blunt and disturbing phrasing of Tyler to reverberate inside your head. The distant voice of a therapist emplores Tyler to open up at the opening of the song, but within 30 seconds, I'd wager he wished he hadn't. Tyler covers self-harm, rape, suicide, killing his father, his insecurities, his sick fantasies and claims to be Satan's son. Over the course of 6 minutes, Tyler proves himself as the new Eminem: a near unbearable listen, but strangely poignant. And a little bit scary.



21 "Theme From Yours Truly" - Beat Connection
And now for something completely random. Another group I found in blogland, Beat Connection are as balearic as they come, and "Theme From Yours Truly" (not an actual film) is as life affirming as balearic can muster. Euphoric bells chime and tambourines jingle, but a delicious Beyonce vocal sample makes the track that bit more glorious. In a list mainly made up of perfectly formed pop songs, this is one track that doesn't do a lot, because it doesn't have to. Just repeating those same gorgeous refrains for an out-of-body 6 minutes is enough for me.



That's enough for today my dears, top 20 begins tomorrow!

My 5 favourite Nicki Minaj lyrics.

Like most red blooded heterosexual males, I adore Nicki Minaj. The tacky extensions, the mental institution faces, the rock solid bum implants (or not), and most importantly the most unpredictable mouth this side of Miranda Hart. Here's a few of my favourites.

5
"And he sweatin' me just cause I got the tightest hole, But I couldn't find that th-thing wit a microscope"
(Rihanna's "Raining Men")


4
"Cat's away while the mice-a play, L.O.L. Smiley Face, have a nice-a day!"
(Remix of Mariah Carey's "Up Out My Face")

3
"It's Nightmare on Elm Street and guess who's playing Freddie?"
(Ludacris' "My Chick Bad")

2
"And I'm all up, all up, all up in the bank with the funny face, And if I'm fake, I ain't noticed cos my money ain't!"
(Kanye West's "Monster")

1
"I just pop up on these hoes on some pimple shit, and put the iron to ya face y'old wrinkle bitch"
("Check it Out")

HONORARY MENTION. CRISIS.

I'm 22. I'm not as young and aware as I used to be.

So I must apologize for forgetting a crucial 2010 song in my list. I cannot alter anything now (and I suppose technically we heard them in 2009), but I am wholly sorry to Lady Gaga and all her fans as I did not include Alejandro or Telephone in my 2010 list out of sheer forgetfulness.

It's times like these when a man's dignity is at stake, so I hope this memoriam will at least help towards this tragedy.

Something to ease the pain. I'm still in a remix mood.

Fucking love that Alphabeat remix.

TOP 50 SONGS OF 2010 Pt. 2: 40-31

Such fun! More great music.


40 "What's My Name?" - Rihanna feat. Drake
Rihanna's pop music is so effortlessly sun flecked and so obviously influenced by dancehall that it thaws even the coldest winter day. The stop start beat, relaxed vocal hook and gentle synth chords ooze sex, and Drake's sleazy cameo makes the whole thing feel a little bit guiltier. Rihanna has a hint of the Rude Boy dominatrix about her here, taunting "I wanna see if you can go long time widda girl like me", but she's not got the insecurities of the Rated R lass; The Rihanna of "What's My Name?" only feels effortless confidence. And if there was ever a song that would require hypnosis to get out of your head, it would be this one.


39 "Infinity Guitars" - Sleigh Bells
So much crazy shit to choose from from Sleigh Bells' donkey punch of a debut, but there's something about "Infinity Guitars" that stands out from the others. Whilst tracks like "Kids" and "Run The Heart" are driven by monster robot Hip Hop beats, "Infinity Guitars" lives up to its name, the shotgun toting central riff exploding halfway through the song into a firestorm of distortion in which singer Alexis deliriously jumps all over. It's one of the album's most disarming and memorable sections, and on a bonkers album like Treats, that's something worth applauding.


38 "White Sky" - Vampire Weekend
"White Sky" makes this list on its wordless chorus hook alone, quite simply. No one does unadulterated joy quite like Vampire Weekend, and this gem off brilliant second record Contra is bursting with it. And I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but it sounds like the best Christmas song ever. Maybe it's the ethereal synths and angelic vocals, or just that the whole thing feels like a generous gift to your ears. The happiest song of the year; a real grin inducer, whatever the fuck the song's actually about. Enjoy this video also:


37 "Zorbing" - Stornoway
Another lovely, lovely song from a lovely, lovely band. Oxford's Stornoway are an awkwardly endearing bunch of chaps, and their geeky lyrical allusions (Zorbing compares an unknown extreme sport to falling in love... great chat up line) only make them more charming. But it's the folky picking and barbershop quartet vocals that really provide the charm; and when those trumpets jump eagerly in, you've fallen in love yourself. And yes, it does actually feel a bit like rolling down a steep hill in a transparent plastic ball! (Do your research with Stornoway songs, it's ultimately more rewarding)


36 "One Touch" - Mini Viva
Whilst the rather more famous Xenomania girl group, Girls Aloud, twist the production team’s spacey Eurodance to their quirky, aloof means, Mini Viva make it sound seductive and sexy. It’s no new ground, but Xenomania, led by mastermind Brian Higgins, are at the top of their game, providing a shamelessly 1990s, pulsating Hi NRG tapestry. Mini Viva themselves taunt and tease, with phrases such as “Kiss, kiss, it’s contagious” summing up neatly what makes this track great, and arguably their best single so far.


35 "Any Which Way" - Scissor Sisters
One glance at the cover of Night Work, and you know you're in for a rocky ride. Those buttocks may be clenched tight, but Scissor Sisters are gonna fuck you (oh, excuse me... "funk" you that is) any which way they can. But whatever your apprehensions are, seriously, let them. It's a hell of a lot of fun. "Any Which Way" is camp even by Scissor Sisters standards, and as D-I-S-C-O as they can get away with. Each hook is a guilty pleasure, each clavichord flurry an embarrassing dance move, each snare the sound of a whip on leather. "In front of my parents, I don't give a damn baby, just take me..." Damn. Sex has not sounded this much fun in years. And these guys are gagging for it.


34 "Your Love" - Nicki Minaj
Totally out of the blue this came. The woman known for ranting at breakneck pace, finding absurd rhymes that other rappers wouldn't think of in a million years, well, whaddya know, she's got a soft side? Debut "Pink Friday" showcases a lot of other R&B jams, but the somehow romantic "Your Love" is head and shoulders above them all. That Annie Lennox hook provides the schmooz and although Nicki can't avoid a few quirky Minajisms, see Bruce Willis tribute, she's genuinely subdued and humble here. Who'da thunk?


33 "Cheers (Drink to That)" - Rihanna
"Put it all on my card tonight, Might be mad in the morning but you know we're going hard tonight"
I seriously doubt that Rihanna has to worry about putting anything on her card these days, but her understanding of the poor person's 9-5 mentality is sound. "Cheers to the freakin' weekend, I'll drink to that" she slurs as even the beat stumbles drunkenly on. But everyone is okkkkaaaaay, don't worry, everything's just peachy. It's this laid back attitude that worked on "What's My Name?", but it works even better here, all campfire strummed guitars and drunken mob backing vocals, and even a karaoke section. Genius. And I feel the need to mention the Avril Lavigne sample so here I go: THAT Avril Lavigne sample. Thanks.


32 "Out of Tune" - Real Estate
And now for something completely different. On Real Estate's single "Out of Tune" the spirit of the Beach Boys hovers above, but never quite reaches ground, and so Real Estate's wonderful guitar tones are left floating in space; dreamy and exotic, but also rather lonely. There's a sense of resigned defeat about "Out of Tune", as if each strum of the guitar and murmur about weeping clowns is a brave smile that covers a deep sadness. As the track fades out, despite the sweeping melancholy, you can't help but feel you'd rather be here than wherever Real Estate wanted to go.


31 "Crossover" - Magnetic Man feat. Katy B
Katy B's solo debut "Katy On A Mission" showed her as tough, in control and manipulative, and so her warmth and welcoming on "Crossover" is hard to believe, and thus her silky tones have an air of foreboding about them. She tempts and teases without saying what she really means, offering to "put your every wrong to right", and all this talk of crossing over certainly suggests something of the dark side to me. But of course, none of this great performance would be half as good if it weren't for the eerie clamouring of MagMan's learing grin of a dubby backing track. Synths fly around like fireflies and the bass is subtle but threatening. It's only half a story told, but the track tells more by what it doesn't say.


OK, onwards with Boxing Day my chums! 30-21 tomorrah!

Top 5 Remixes of 2010.

Before I carry on, I realised that certain remixes that appeared on my "master list" didn't (spoiler haha) make my top 40, but because the art of the remix was very refined this year I feel the need to pay 'homage' to my favourite remixes that I boycotted from the list.

5 "Spanish Sahara" (Chad Valley Remix) - Foals

From a cold and difficult 7 minute slog (I wasn't a fan) to something that resembles Spandau Ballet on hallucinogenics, Chad Valley created something rather beautiful as per usual. Singer Yannis sounds weepy and self-pitying on the original, but here, his double tracked voice is shimmering and dreamy. "Total Life Forever" indeed.



4 "Dancing on My Own" (Fred Falke Remix) - Robyn
Making a sad song sadder and more wistful with some mournful chords, Fred Falke's take on Robyn's crowning glory doesn't much up the dance stakes, in fact toning down the brutal pulsating bass of the original and replacing it with glowing chords and a late 90s house sensibility that indeed feels like dancing on your own. If the original is desperate and emotional, this mix is one sung from the aftermath; this Robyn is resigned to loneliness, and there's no Fred Falke version of Hang With Me or Indestructible, so it seems that this is where it ends. How mean of you Fred, really.


3 "Heads Will Roll" (A Trak Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Something of a 2010 club classic, this is probably the most popular indie remix of the year, partially thanks to Annie Mac's fondness for it (she included it on her "Presents 2010" mix CD). And absolutely deservedly. Addictive beyond belief, Even Karen O is a slave to the demonic steel drum chords and commandeering funky house bass, chopping heads off left, right and centre on the dancefloor. Dangerous stuff.


2 "Starry Eyed" (Russ Chimes Remix) - Ellie Goulding
Whoa, where did THIS come from? The original "Starry Eyed" was fun, but a little bit diddly diddly to really live up to its subject matter (being high on life or drugs or whatever). However, when the Russ Chimes remix finally kicks in properly after a long 3 minute build, not going mad is simply NOT an option. Goulding's voice is cut up and haemorrhaged all over the track, as dirty throbbing bass and massive beats collide. But that piano, OH that piano. That's when you know shit's going down. The whole track is perfectly structured and a true clubber's delight; CRAZY. Though not quite as crazy as my number one...


1 "Get Outta My Way" (BeatauCue Remix) - Kylie Minogue
This is less a remix, more a cut and paste exercise. BeatauCue rip apart samples of this feel good anthem and tear scratches into the original record, so what we are left with it something that has to be heard to be believed. Kylie is essentially everywhere, screaming in your ear in distress as a colossal beat pummels her into submission and beyond. THE intense funky house experience of the year without a doubt.

TOP 50 SONGS OF 2010 Pt. 1: 50-41

Merry Christmas! With Take That, Rumer and Ministry of Sound's Disco Anthems on the playlist (all presents for my mother I might add, but I complain about none, although my Nicki Minaj CD remains untouched, I feel I owe that much to my mum to not expose her to the contents), I feel the need to round up the year in music with my joyfully geeky top 50 of the year. And a bit of pointless blabber about music in general.

Through endless indie acts being heralded as "genius" and "" by 'credible' sources (some actually were, see Arcade Fire), to a plethora of summer haze dreampop that I rather enjoyed floating around blogs, to more acts crossing the fine line now present between urban and electronic dance music, this year hasn't been half bad for music IMO. It's been about 40/60. Which I'll take.

The girls did well this year. Kylie released the gay album of the decade, Kelis broke away from stereotypes and made a straight up brilliant house record, Katy Perry had great bubblegum pop singles, despite a disappointing album, and Nicki Minaj tried her damndest to live up to the hype and ALMOST did it, although that album cover exceeds expectations by a long shot, good on her.

Rihanna was great as ever, but ROBYN is the pop success of the year as far as I'm concerned. 3 mini albums followed by a mini greatest hits of the year, and not ONE filler track. Standing ovation.

The X Factor certainly has hit an all time low though. The show is brilliant, like a soap opera for those pretending to know about music, but the results have been appauling this year. I'm not talking about fluffy voiced Matt Cardle winning, I'm talking about the ACTUAL results... the albums that have been spurned from the show.

JLS's second album was just, just horrific, Cheryl Cole's voice now resembles a drunken ferret stumbling all over some actually not too bad tracks on her new album. I'd love to hear "Yeah Yeah" or "Amnesia" given to a decent singer, but I guess I never will. Last years top two, Joe McElderly and Olly Meh (I'm clever am I not?), both showed how little they have to offer musically with dull, insipid records with zilch personality or flair. And can I just say, "Ambitions"... a great song when performed by the band that it belongs to, Donkeyboy. Check these out.





Ah, the spirit of Bronski Beat. I have a desire to go and listen to "Smalltown Boy" right now.

Anyway, I could talk about the ingenuity and reinvention of indie with the Foals and Arcade Fire albums, and how great Janelle Monae is, and how Nicki Minaj has totally reinvented female identity within Hip Hop, but frankly I don't think it'd be any good. Read NME or something.

I just want to get on with talking about songs I like now thanks. 10 a day for next 5 days, then top 20 albums over the last two days of the year. That'll work out neatly I think. Yes.


50 "Whip My Hair" - Willow Smith
So wrong and yet so right. Who'd've thought a 9 year old girl could bring the most swagger to Hip Hop in 2010? (The absurdity of this statement is duly noted and ignored)



49 "Cold War" - Janelle Monae
"So you wanna be free? Well, below the ground's the only way to be"
Euphoric, intense yet poignant, sometimes uncomfortably so. A driving funk gallop gives beef behind Monae's desperate and emotional performance of this conspiracy anthem of the heart.



48 "My Boots" - Lights
"When I'm in the summer I forget how much I love her when she's in the groove."
Not a lesbian anthem. Supporting the similarly sugary synthpop act Owl City in the spring, Lights is a little Canadian ray of sunshine. Happy little ditties about video games and higher powers were in abundance on her sweet as pie debut, but this one off ode to winter is amoungst her most charming. Tinkly synths fall like snowflakes outside and gentle guitars crackle and pop like embers in the fireplace. Lovely.



47 "Katy on a Mission" - Katy B
The dubstep invasion of the charts reached its peak with this instant club classic. When Katy B talks of "erupt(ing) into the room" you can feel it through your speakers. Despite this, the track maintains a leisurely pace and thus an effortless class. When Katy taunts "so I sip his drink as I hold his gaze", you know she's in control.



46 "Let the Sun Shine" - Labrinth
The definition of R&B and Hip Hop was stretched to breaking point this year, with house beats and trance chords working their way into any commercial urban track you'd care to mention, and this life-affirming number by producer Labrinth is a prime example, practically a synthpop anthem. Nevertheless, the infectious warmth and happiness of this track makes genres seem irrelevant. So what if the lyrics are somewhat nonsensical? When Labrinth breaks into the ear-to-ear beam of a chorus, you somehow understand the joy in every word.



45 "Roman's Revenge" - Nicki Minaj feat. Eminem
"Yeah I said it... HAS-BEEN"
A bit risky of Nicki to drop this line in a track featuring the once great Eminem, but the faux-pas is easily overlooked amoungst the sheer volcanic eruption of the threatening, the unhinged and the outright bizarre that is Nicki's outstanding performance on this highlight from "Pink Friday". Eminem's performance is slightly cringy but, all things considered, not too bad. Though I suppose if Nicki can make a track featuring Will.I.Am credible, anything is possible.



44 "Indestructible" - Robyn
"I'm gonna love you like I've never been hurt before"
After the meltdown of "Dancing on My Own" and the healing in "Hang With Me", "Indestructible" comes as a triumphant overcommance of fear and hurt and declares that its ready to love again. The dramatic neo-classical backing and tidal wave synth chords second the sentiment admirably. Although probably the weakest of the three tracks, its placing at #43 is a decent hint at how incredible Robyn's output has been in 2010. More to come, needless to say.

(P.S. I LOVE this video)



43 "Suicide Dream 2" - How to Dress Well
Truly the best musical representation of any kind of dream in living memory. Vocals come and go indistinctly as a darkly ethereal pad crackles and distorts its beauty. The words are mere shapes, distant callings, not meant to be understood literally, but emotionally. The whole track is a vague, structureless poem that repeats itself indefinately, expands and takes the listener on a journey. Don't expect to understand the dream in question, but expect the music to hint as the fear and isolation hidden beneath the musical fog. Maybe it's best not to look much closer.



42 "Lions!" - Lights
"You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid"
An uplifting message however you read it. Yet this is more than some feel good anthem: this is a self admitted ode to World of Warcraft. Which makes me love it all the more. As itsy bitsy as ever, timid beats and twinkle-twinkle-little-star vocals, but Lights has the remarkable ability to create a big noise for a little woman. Her head in the clouds and her music made in her bedroom, but this is music made for stadiums. Stadiums filled with computer geeks? Perhaps. But Lights makes it ok to be a geek, and most certainly ok to sing about computer games.



41 "Slow" - Rumer
"My love, my love, my love... killin' time is easy when you're here"
This breakthrough song for hazy voiced Rumer is one of the only truly, unashamadly romantic songs of the year. The song doesn't have a pace, it floats in mid air, each instrumental note hanging on Rumer's next breathless word, a woman who wants to give in to love when others tell her to be cautious and "slow this right down". The effect is captivating, heart wrenching and an exciting introduction to one of the years most talented new singers.

Wicked, DA DUN DONE. 40-31 tomorrow! Now I think champagne. I'm a little behind in the Christmas stakes.

Popdar #10: Robyn strikes three times in the same spot.

Isn't she great? Watch this.



Robyn is one girl who definitely doesn't need to get herself together, but the saga of sparkling synthpop anthems that is the "Body Talk" trilogy is awe-inspiring enough to encourage even the downest of the down to get themselves together, and surely that's the point. Body Talk. Talking with your limbs; dancing essentially. Despite comparisons, Robyn isn't like Madonna. She doesn't try to change the world through political stands and self assured controversial statements that she is ill informed to make; she does what she knows.

Let's go back to June. New Robyn album: track 1. We are greeted by the opening pulse of "Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do" and its defeated refrain of "My drinking is killing me" from the dark, difficult but addictive "Body Talk Pt. 1". Although we didn't know it then, Robyn had already started to heal us. She empathised with us here, and on the tragic masterpiece that is "Dancing on My Own", and she comforted us with a simple four to the floor.

Next stop, "Pt. 2". With the melodramatic "In My Eyes" and stuttering "Include Me Out", Robyn took us out of the four to the floor comfort zone and preached individuality amoungst urgent stop start beats. She told us quite simply "it's gonna be OK". Then she provided further proof with the magical "Hang With Me", the warmest, most comforting track to hit the dancefloor this year.

And now she says she's "Indestructible", but to be honest, that's been proved already. If "Body Talk Pt. 3" is just as good as the genius of Parts 1 and 2, then she'll have proved herself not only as indestructible, but also irreplaceable.

Popdar #9: Mopp.

Just when you think the summer of dreamwave was done, it's best track appears 3 months late. Typical. But just close your eyes. It's still 35 degrees out, and not a cloud in the sky. Those opening blisschords warmly shine over the vague but strangely life-affirming repeated phrase "I had a dream about you". Indeed it is the soundtrack to the many dreams of summer that this especially hard season will undoubtedly bring. Love it now.

Popdar #8: LIGHTS never stop shining.

Canadian lovely LIGHTS, real name Valerie Anne Poxleitner (sometimes a stage name is undeniably necessary), has only made a whisper over on these shores, supporting arguably inferior worldwide success Owl City (even I'm beginning to lose interest these days, I admit), but once you are ensnared by one of her irresistible butterfly-wing ditties, it's for the long term.

Debut record "The Listening" was a delight of happy-go-lucky geek-synth-love-pop that shone as brightly as LIGHTS' alias suggests. She sang about World of Warcraft and teenage crushes and celebrated all that was young and uncool. New single "My Boots" knocks up the dance quotient a coupla notches, with nonsensical lyrics that could either be about a lesbian crush, an ode to footwear or maybe another computer game song. Brilliant. Another album please?

Popdar #7: Uffie brings my beat back.

When you're laptop breaks and is sent away to be repaired, it's quite sad how much of your life is unrepairable until it returns. Without my iTunes I have been a mere shadow of a man. So I have a lot of catching up to do, and TWO months worth of listing to catch up on.

One step at a time, so I'll kick off with my new favourite video. Uffie's debut album, finally released in May, turned out to be a rather limp affair, less fierce Robyn attitude and more "whip my hair back and forth" with less whipping and more, um, hair (obligatory pop culture reference out of the way). BUT. New single "Difficult", released this Monday just gone, has the same casual shit-talking twee urban feel (if ever such a thing were possible) of Uffie's quirky masterpiece "Pop the Glock", with the kind of line that Robyn throws off the cuff as its hook, namely "don't worry if I write rhymes, I write checks".

But what sets Uffie apart from the Swedish synthpop superstar (alliteration!) is quite simply her Frenchness. Whilst Robyn is sexy in a Madonna/Dita/Erotica/Scare-you-to-death kind of way, Uffie is just sexy in an Amelie-innocence kind of way, and the track couldn't be more French if it tried. Lolloping Justice beats and a squelch-funk bass that sharpens up Uffie's lazy flow and speak-singing in a way that turns a potentially simmering track into a bubbling one. Not overflowing mind, just bubbling, but that's the way Uffie likes it.

And I'm no film critic, but that video is so blissfully avant-garde it deserves an Oscar.

Popdar #6: The Wombats

I have no idea what's happened to the Wombats, previously just about the most clangy indie rock you could have ever wished to hear (or not), but all of a sudden, the boys have gone to Tokyo and realised that they've got to up their game to compete with the bright lights of said day-glo city.
As a result, "Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)" is euphoric, Bloc Party-esque and ridiculously catchy. The video is just a bit rock 'n' roll also, culminating in a shot of "Satan" spelled out in cocaine on a hotel desk. Whether he had anything to do with it is anyone's guess, and I guess depends how 'indie' you think you are, but if he did, cheers mate.

Popdar #5: Ms Dynamite returns to full blown garage-terrorist persona.

After featuring on DJ Zinc's deliciously old school garage of "Wile Out" earlier this year (and indeed making it her own), it seems Ms Dynamite is aiming at a fully fledged return to form.

The garish paintball splat of a video sleazily compliments the frizzy schizo-dub/garage hybrid. Redlight's track is relatively subtle with its burbling synths and ponderous rhythms, but Dynamite ensures that the track still blows up in your face. She lets loose with a near inaudible ghetto flow, although one phrase clearly heard is "I'M BACK WITH A VENGANCE". And who's gonna argue with that? Here's to hearing more and more of Ms Dynamite from now on.

Released on August 30th on MTA Records.

Top 10 tracks of August 2010.

This month I felt a little underwhelmed by a lot of new music. I felt a lot of what I heard this month cruised along on the tried and tested formulas of the summer, from the endless and interchangeable balearic indie/dreamwave acts to the sticky teen-bubblegum that ruled the charts. Katy Perry's cotton candy scented (quite literally) sophomore effort is a standard in chart pop: a scattering of fantastic pop nuggets that satisfy like vanilla fudge, dampened by filler that fails to excite the taste buds. In other news, Arcade Fire's "Suburbs" was a grower rather than a show-er, and the Klaxons was a show-er rather than a grower and The Saturday EP sucked balls.

AND THAT'S WHAT YOU MISSED ON... GLEE!

Just kidding.

   -   -   -   -   -   -

10
Unlikely Hero
The Hoosiers

The Hoosiers are a band that seems to take great satisfaction in pushing the boundaries of all that is irritating, nigh on excruciating within the pop and rock genres. Whilst prior hits such as the unnervingly chirpy "She's So Lovely" had a kind of indie sensibility that helped them blend, The Illusion of Safety is a record that is unashamedly cheesy in a way that the likes of guilty pleasures HelloGoodbye and Metro Station can only half bake. Sometimes they take it too far, as shown on "Glorious", which has to be heard to be believed, but the hook laden powerpop of "Unlikely Hero" and all its dramatic progpop synth slabs and heroic falsetto flourishes, make it nothing less than either irresistible or unbearable on the first listen. And there's no middle ground, and I'm all for music like that.



9
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
Katy Perry

Lyrically, this is essentially a less ZIP code specific rewrite of her magnificent "Waking Up in Vegas"; musically it's much less scruffy college drop-out, wondering where it all went wrong, and more of an off-the-rails, glitter-pretty, teens-coming-of-age naivety anthem. Unclear whether it wants to rock out or not, "Last Friday Night" opts to cruise carefully to avoid arrest rather than making a run for it, but in the process develops a charming innocence that makes it easy to forgive all the track's, and indeed the album's, gaping flaws and vacuous melodies. Throwing around phrases like "epic fail" in a pop song cry out 'wannabe', but, much like the characters described in this song, dancing on tables and doing too many shots, you just laugh and roll your eyes lovingly at its failed attempts to be 'cool'. Dunno what the saxophone solo is about though.



8
We Used to Wait
Arcade Fire

One of the most recognisable sounds heard on the new Arcade Fire record, the flashing piano of "We Used to Wait" instantly recalls LCD Soundsystem's iconic "All My Friends". But whilst "All My Friends" managed to build up to a legendary emotional arrest without doing a hell of a lot, "We Used to Wait" does lots of little things and hints at a climax several times before shying away from the idea as the song drops gracefully out. It's dark, but comforting, distant, but somehow epic. In short, like most of "The Suburbs", it's perfectly formed, has a subtle depth, is well thought out, and is blissful to experience.

But if the music alone isn't "experience" enough for you, visit this interactive website made especially for the song. Or maybe it just uses the song, I'm not sure. Whatever, it's fun:
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/





7
Low Shoulder
Toro Y Moi

Yea, it’s some lo fi synthy pop for a chance. HOWEVER - Dreamy Toro Y Moi might be lo fi and nostalgic, but "Low Shoulder" just oozes groove and glamour. The 80s sex synths are far from classy, but that's what makes them irresistible. Even the title hints at some cult dance move, and the ricocheting piano chords give the track an air of balearic chillout. It’s all sweet and uplifting stuff, until you see the video and begin to hear all kinds of dark omens amidst the cheery hands-in-the-air vibes.




6
Anything
Chad Valley

Oh look, more glo fi. HOWEVER - This guy needs to put together an album pretty damn soon, whilst the summer is gradually fizzling out. “Anything” is sunswept and spacious, drooling lustfully after the Ibiza post-rave of the late 1990s, autotune lacing the delirious and delightful vocal line. Clunky bass-lines and underwater beats are the tide coming in as Chad Valley project master Hugo Manuel implores “I’ll do anything” as the word loops endlessly until the shoreline catches up and his voice is immersed. Nothing else soundtracks the end of the summer with more gusto.



5
Missing You
The Saturdays

It’s quite funny that although the vocal bookend yet illegally pretty Frankie finally has a lead vocal in “Missing You”, it’s torn apart and put back together again by good old autotune. However, whilst the other girls sound angry, snide and perhaps slightly dangerous in the apocalyptic chorus, Frankie’s robot-tinkerbell voice embodies what this song is really about: The effortless control and emotional sadism within destructive relationships. And all Frankie does is lick her lips and whisper a few lines that taunt her lover, and effectively emasculate him. A “What have you done for me lately?” track if you will, although it seems that what this guy hasn’t been doing is actually pretty acceptable stuff. But if the Saturdays need a guy to treat them like shit to keep a relationship exciting, you know, whatever. At the end of the day, this is a cracking tune and the subject matter keeps things spicy in a way that most pop bands would shy away from.



4
Everything You Wanted (Fred Falke Remix)
Kele

The Boxer felt unfinished and unsatisfying. Without his band to add melody to his obsessive funky house tendencies, Kele churned out idea after idea at the expensive of tune and memorability. But good old Fred Falke, a sturdy, reliable fella, did the job of Kele’s melodic assistant as well as his band ever did, although through a totally different medium that really DOES give us everything we wanted, and indeed more. The chorus is a euphoric slammer that suggests whoever turned Kele down is surely now kicking themselves. It’s refreshing to see how when applied to the right song, all the typical uplifting house clichés can give a simple melody life that the even the writer never dreamed it could. Turning “Everything You Wanted” from difficult to danceable, this is one of my favourite remixes of the year.

 

3
Your Love
Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj – The self-proclaimed Freddy Krueger of female rap. A tongue of steel, and a practically rabid sense of flow and imagination... a “crazy bitch” if you will. Forget everything you know about her however: Ms Minaj has a heart. True, she can’t keep her words sweet and adoring for more than a few seconds at a time, smarting thoughtful phrases such as “I think I met him in the sky, when I was a Geisha, he was a Samurai” with the sharp and the edgy such as the genius “Through your loving imma die hard like Bruce Willis”. But of course that quirkily beautiful Annie Lennox sample keeps things sweet enough for Nicki to express love in her own unique way.




2
Teenage Dream
Katy Perry

Katy Perry has her own snug place in the US pop world. Somewhere between an American Idol and Ke$ha’s drunken slag persona, and all of a sudden Katy Perry is a cheeky role model who can get away with just about anything. A blink of those gorgeous blue eyes and it doesn’t matter that she kisses girls, squirts whipped cream from her nipples or gets drunk on beaches (if Ke$ha does any of that, she’s just dirty). It’s the songs though. When Ms Perry (yes, she’s still Ms Perry Russell) shoots, she scores spectacularly. “Teenage Dream” simply is every pop song you’ve ever heard that warms your heart, that makes you want to bunk off work and go to the beach, to go clubbing when you have work at 8am the next day, to do things that make you feel naughty, irresponsible and YOUNG. Yes it’s a love song, but not necessarily to another person... it’s a love song to itself. This song makes you feel like you’re living a teenage dream. Don’t ever look back.

 



1
Bastard
Tyler, The Creator!

I confess I don’t know exactly when this was released this year, or if it wasn’t even indeed released last year. But I came across the 18 year old West Coast rapper Tyler this month, and therefore I am going to use that as a weak excuse to mention him here.

Despite loving the rest of the songs on this list, Tyler is the only artist that has really affected me deeply this month. I’m not the most informed of Hip Hop listeners, but after hearing “The Slim Shady LP” in 1999 “The Marshall Mathers LP” in 2000, I didn’t believe any other records could be as engaging, and downright disturbing as this disturbing duo. 10 years on and it seems I’ve found another rapper who has made me sit up and pay attention. Eminem has nothing interesting to say these days, so it’s refreshing to hear

Whilst Eminem uses a whole album to hint at his fucked up mindset and grotesque fantasies, Tyler bares his entire soul in 6 minutes with “Bastard”, the titular and opening track to his astounding full length mix tape. It’s his “My Name Is...” but there’s an unsettling lack of humour here, or if there is, it’s the blackest of black. There’s also an unsettling lack of something else... a beat. The track revolves around a morose piano loop that plods like a funeral march as Tyler pulls no punches in spilling brutally honest confessions, like vomit propelled from his body during an exorcism. It’s no surprise the track is contextualised within a counselling session.

But some of the content here is beyond consolation. Tyler’s raps are deliberately clumsy, pointedly unpretentious, straight faced and shocking. He lines up the vague “this is what the devil plays before he goes to sleep” as a warning before launching into “I cut my wrists and play piano ‘cause I’m so depressed”. He uses wry humour elsewhere; “Life’s a salad, Imma going to toss it”, but sometimes you’re not sure if he’s joking; “My wrist is all red from the cutter, dripping cold blood like the winter, the summer”. He isn’t scared of seeming human and vulnerable, and despite the horrific confessions, there’s something endearing about his youth: He even seems scared at times, as hard as he tries to hide it. He loves his mother and confesses to needing a hug at times. Sweetheart.

And yet, he dares us to “take this shit to school” and “play this shit at church”. He displays a defiant sense of self worth one moment, “I am Legend”/“I’m more talented than 40 year old rappers talking ‘bout Gucci” before launching into tirades of self-loathing the next: “I want to fucking kill me”. He frequently mentions the death of his father, and finishes with the best closing line of a song in living memory: “I wish I knew my father’s email so I could tell him how much I fucking hate him in de-tail”. That’s an email I’d like to read. Oh wait... he writes it in “Seven”. Check that out too. In fact, just check out the whole record. Never before has 15 tracks and 55 minutes seemed so short.

You REALLY want someone to get out of your way...?

...remix a track like this.

Popdar #4 - "My Forever"... Hearthrob pop is back.

What did I tell you? I bloody well said that Owl City would have an effect on pop in 2010, and fuck me sideways, My Forever are from the same planet; it took them 8 months to come to my attention but they've landed. These guys write songs like Kids in Glass Houses, as emo as they come, but there is an innocence rather than an angst that flows through their glistening powerpop, which makes it all the more escapist, all the more gorgeous, and most importantly, it doesn't make you want to blow your brains out.

This kind of thing makes geeky teenage boys feel obsolete, and downright pissed off at how good looking young musicians with sugary voices can moan about heartbreak, but YES YES YES, My Forever may be irritatingly attractive, but they're singing about butterflies and pockets full of feathers! Or at least their airy fairy titles make it seem that way.

Now enjoy this. One of the cheesiest tracks of the year, a daydream pop acoustic version (how predictable, but lovely) of the lead track from their EP, "Silhouettes and Paper Birds", which is available to download now on iTunes.

Popdar #3 - Nicki Minaj... Whoa.

Now I can't say I knew much about Ms (Mrs?) Minaj prior to coming across this; I think I assumed her as the sort of female vocalist who would simper anonomously around the heave-ho boast-shouting of whichever US rapper superstar needed a pick-me-up at that particular moment.

How fucking wrong I was.

"Your Love" is based around a sample of Annie Lennox's ode to madness in the abscene of love (which in itself was a cover anyway) and turns the celebratory and slightly weird sadness of the original into a finger-lickingly lush R&B landscape, that oozes glamour, composure and yet expresses total devotion and adoration, to the point where even slightly disturbing phrasing such as "I love him like I raised im, when he call me mama, lil mama, I call him baby" seems totally normal. And that oriental gibberish in the chorus is simply irresistable. The-Dream better watch out, he's not the only R&B force on the block wearing his heart and bling on the sleeve...

Popdar #2 - The Saturdays Remix, Royksopp and a bit of Cheryl for old times' sake.

A rather spontaneous entry for a hungover mind, but this weekend I'm actually not feeling indie. What with my current dreamy Brighton beach love of Best Coast, Depreciation Guild, The Drums and the like, that has clung to me tighter than spray-on skinny jeans, I think I've O-Ded on clangy guitars and lyrics about getting high with friends. So I think it's time for a bit of a detox.

What I want this weekend is pulsing beats and euphoric eurochord slabs at Night and fiddly, chilled electronics for the comedown. So I give you, rather coyly, The Saturdays... but not as we know them. Missing You is great, don't get me wrong, you've gotta love The Saturdays, sweet as cherry pie on the surface, but actually moderately psychotic underneath. We've had "don't know if I should stab you or kiss you", now we are treated to "I miss hurting you til you cry". A moment's silence, if you will, for The Saturdays' ever suffering lovers. (Except for Marvin from JLS... he can suffer for being a part of the worst number 1 single of the year.)

And when the silence is done, treat yourself to the Cahill remix of Missing You. I went slightly unexpectedly crazy over their regal euphoric dance treatment of Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love last year; they managed to turn something rather unimaginative into something celebratory and peerlessly uplifting. With The Saturdays' latest, they plug the 1990s to us, and turn the thunderous ballad into a considerably lighter, bouncier eurodance track that could well have won Eurovision circa 1996.




You know what? That's got me in the mood to relive the version of Fight for this Love that REALLY fights. So here it is.




Phew, I'm tired after all that overenthusiastic limb-flailing. Didn't do much for the noggin either. So let's chill to the masters of chill, Royksopp. Senior is out on September 6th (my copy is already pre-ordered bitches), and by the sounds of things, Royksopp are returning to their roots. Junior was neither nowt nor sumut to me, hints of commercial dance, but not enough commitment to the cause to really make it work. I find myself still returning to Melody A.M. and wondering what was wrong with that formula.

Evidently, Royksopp wonder that themselves, as The Drug, the first track to be released from Senior, is as hypnotic and mesmerising as Eple or Royskopp's Night Out. It's by no means a rehash though. Hints of Kaskade flow through it, as the fluffy cloud chords glide over an irresistibly funky click-clap-stop-start beat. For the first time in a decade, it seems Royksopp have realised that they don't need to do anything fancy to create a good record. Just lay down one or two wonderful elements, surround it in electronic mystery, and voila: you have something quite special.

Top 10 tracks of July 2010.

July (YES, I know it was years ago, I was on holiday, fuck you) was a month initially lipstick stained by the collosally overpromoted Kylie record, and combined with the uber-gay disco punch of the Scissor Sisters' third, it looked like it was going to be a fairly camp summer. But after the glitter settled, what we were treated to was 31 days of sun, rain and a delightfully eclectic scattering of genius ideas across the spectrum of genres that make up pop music.

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10
Bang Bang Bang
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl, feat. Q-Tip & MNDR

Retro is hardly retro anymore, but an edgy chord sequence taken from a Power Rangers episode and a cluttered Hip Hop beat makes this the best track that wasn't on Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach". Admittedly this combination of alternative hip hop and melody striken 80s pop isn't an alien one to 2010, but it's a formula that the previously soul-funked up Ronson has surprised us all by nailing. Now who the fuck are the Business Intl?




9
Katy on a Mission
Katy B

Dubstep's pretty macho huh? That sledgehammer beat that advances at the pace of a hungover Rhinocerous (and boy is he pissed) and that gargantuan maggot-infested bassline that throbs like a migrane. Well Katy B has managed to perfect Popstep, and it's as sweet as a strawberry cough drop. She flirts and taunts with the panting synth backing her, and the beat tries less to crush and more to cruise. Katy and her pals "erupt into the room", "sink into the tune" and effortlessly command the dancefloor and simultaneously eclipse her peers. Finally... a pop sound we can feel proud of in 2010.



8/7
Get Outta My Way/Can't Beat the Feeling
Kylie Minogue

There's no point in taking the time to address these tracks separately, they are both merely highlights on Kylie's glorious new record. After Fever Kylie lost a bit of pazazz. Taking the tempo down has never been a great idea with this pint sized diva. Ms Minogue "can't help feel the need to strut" if you recall, and you can't strut to a slow burner like Slow or All I See. Although the occasional glimpse of perfection could be seen, in the form of Wow mainly, Kylie didn't have an awful lot to showcase her joyous spirit and gleaming positivity. The record Aphrodite is another matter. Four to the floor the whole way, Get Outta My Way is the sound of Kylie striding defiantly onto the dancefloor after too long at the sidelines, with a bag of hooks too good not to empty, whilst Can't Beat the Feeling aptly expresses the joy of being back on top, a future disco that welcomes everyone back to the Kylie show.

Get Outta My Way - Kylie Minogue by suprem.angel
Can't Beat The Feeling - Kylie Minogue by suprem.angel

6
Any Which Way
Scissor Sisters

One glance at the cover of Night Work, and you know you're in for a rocky ride. Those buttocks may be clenched tight, but Scissor Sisters are gonna fuck you (oh, excuse me... "funk" you that is) any which way they can. But whatever your apprehensions are, seriously, let them. It's a hell of a lot of fun. Any Which Way is camp even by Scissor Sisters standards, and as D-I-S-C-O as they can get away with. Each hook is a guilty pleasure, each clavichord flurry an embarrassing dance move, each snare the sound of a whip on leather. "In front of my parents, I don't give a damn baby, just take me..." Damn. Sex has not sounded this much fun in years. And these guys are gagging for it.



5
I Need Air
Magnetic Man

As with Katy B's hook laden softcore-step that I mentioned earlier, Magnetic Man doesn't see why dubstep shouldn't be a vessle for pop magic. But Mr Magnetic doesn't settle with the club speaker system, he wants to enter the very elements that surround you. Even the heavily processed vocal sounds nervous and edgy, as the stainless steel synth blips cut through the atmosphere like a knife, and the jittery beats dictate every move made by every sound. I Need Air manages to provide just as much punch as any thick dub bassline and compressed kick combination, with only half the effort. For a genre famous for being as dirty as the ground it stomps upon, who'd've thought subtely would be the best policy?



4
Boyfriend
Best Coast

Sunny, stoned, smiley, daydreaming indiepop. And taken from an album of gleefully lazy pop songs, some sounding so similar it's as if Best Coast were so baked they forgot they'd already written that lick, but that's why it's such a great record. This track opens the show and is as good as any to lie on a beach with a joint and a bottle of Jack Daniels, making shapes out of the clouds. Bit more on the last "Popdar".



3
Aphrodite
Kylie Minogue

Final Kylie one, honest. After the limp All the Lovers, you could be forgiven for thinking that the title track of this album, named after the Greek Goddess of love, (sung by the gay-friendly Australian alternative) would follow in the underwhelmingly regal dancepop footsteps of that single. How wrong you would be however. Aphrodite is all swagger right from its first cocky tribal drum hit. When Kylie drawls "I was gone and now I'm back, yeah" you grin like an idiot and proceed to do as she says. This love goddess isn't a flowery, gentle figure smiling on sickly sweet newly weds, this one walks over your back in 7 inch hells, commanding you to love her above all else. To be fair, she provides a convincing case: "I'm fierce and I'm feeling mighty, I'm a golden girl, I'm an Aphrodite, all right!" Kylie's hooks haven't been this irresistable in 9 years, and she knows it.

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite by alienhits

2
Hang With Me
Robyn

As I wrote on my last Pop Watch, Hang With Me is a pop triumph. The remake of Body Talk Pt 1's ponderous and easily overlooked ballad finally reaches the light at the end of the tunnel which near enough beat the Robyn of Dancing on my Own into submission. Read a bit more about Robyn's latest bullseye on "Popdar #1".



1
Suicide Dream 2
How to Dress Well

It's utterly futile and indeed irrelevant to try and contextualise this kind of music, so all I can do is describe just how mindblowing it is. How to Dress Well's ethereal futuregoth ambience seeps through the speakers with a desperate sadness, loneliness but underlain with a glimpse of threat. Suicide Dream 2 is as scary as it is beautiful. The trickling keys and distant pads are hardly intrusive, but still the vocals are inaudible murmers... they could be delirious ramblings or fearful cries for help. Either way no one can hear. It's the most terrifying of dreams: the one where you are trapped with no escape. The title suggests this is a dream where you are in fact trapped inside yourself, and How to Dress Well express this helplessness with an aptitude that is all too accurate.

Popdar #1 - Robyn, Cut Copy and Best Coast.

Is there any emotion that Robyn cannot drag onto the dancefloor?! If Dancing on my Own was a mental breakdown in heels and a sequin-encrusted leotard, tears of glitter rolling down sweaty cheeks, then this strobe-doused version of Hang With Me gives us all the hope that we can dance again. It's a hesitant commitment, one that warns "don't fall recklessly, headlessly in love with me" but assures "if you keep it tight, I'm gonna confide in you."

It's only guilty feet that've got no rhythm after all, and Robyn's got nothing to feel guilty about with this blissfully feel good anthem. Should've known this minx wouldn't be dancing alone for long.




Whilst Robyn's healing herself under a discoball as the midnight hour strikes, when morning comes and the sweltering sun sweeps over our stoney beaches, certain other bands prefer to waste their long, langerous summer afternoons on the 2010 brand of reverb heavy, dancey indie.

Cut Copy take the studio trickery down a notch and drag Pet Sounds into the second decade of the 21st century with latest track Where I'm Going, complete with fairground organs, a handclap-laden bounce and frat boy yells of "Yeah!" and "Woo!" Given the sharp production and spiralling synths of In Ghost Colours, this was certainly a youth-riddled surprise to my ears, but if this is where Cut Copy are going, I'm following, sun cream or no sun cream.



And sometimes in summertime, it's just too hot for clever winter metaphores ala Beach House, and you've just got to say it like it is. On Best Coast's Boyfriend, lead singer Bethany Consentino drawls "I wish you were my boyfriend..." over a luscious 80s janglepop backdrop. But unlike many angst-ridden, desperately urgent, surf-hungry indiepop bands of this year (The Drums, Surfer Blood... I'm looking at you guys), Best Coast are just content to paddle and enjoy the ride. Consentino would quite like you to be her boyfriend, but to be honest, she's just as happy soaking up the sun.

Top 10 Songs of June 2010.

June 2010 was a tough month for me. The transition between university and real life is surely traumatic for anyone. Luckily, I had one album to help me through: Anathema's "We're Here Because We're Here". A life-affirming collection of enlightenment anthems, a veritable supernova of optimism, and above all, a true beacon of unrepressed, unashamed beauty and emotion.

'Emotion' is definately the word of the month: Tru-popwise, Robyn returned with her cockiest collection of self-assured quirkpop yet, leading with a emotional punch of a confessional lead single, Rihanna came to terms with an unrequited, passionate lesbian crush (not hers of course) and Gaga's video for "Alejandro" finally usurped itself, a high art novella of a short film that made the gay community proud and the Madonna fans outraged.

But without further ado, my tracks of the month are as follows...

10
Help I'm Alive (Twelves Remix)
Metric

A remix from a bonus disk? Wtf right? Well, this probably wouldn't have made it if it weren't for the sheer bizarre experience of hearing the original after this sunburnt skinny-dipper of a remix. "Help I'm Alive" is taken from Metric's 2009 release "Fantasies", rereleased this month, and matches ominous guitars with the fearful vocal lick "You're gonna eat me alive!". But when you add a glittery discoball, a sizzling synth bass and a Calvin Harris swagger, you get this: A shimmering, disturbingly blissed out funkfest that celebrates the previously quoted lyric, as if singing "Always look on the bright side of life" whilst tied to a rotating skewer.


9
Tenderoni
Kele

You can tell Kele’s been dying to make a track like this for years. The thudding four-to-the-floor kick and gritty bassline recall a delightfully over-compressed funky house vibe that is sadly lacking from the over-slick club anthems of late...

(Read my full review here: http://www.lastbroadcast.co.uk/music/single-reviews/v/11341-kele-tenderoni.html)


8
Te Amo
Rihanna

After the gobsmacked overlistening I gave the incredible "Rated R" last fall, that breathless first listen impact of "Te Amo" is dampened whilst writing this article, but rest assured the raw sexual curiosity of this gem continues to burn seductively. That nasal tone that whined "please don't stop the music" now ponders "te amo... don't it mean I love you?" Rihanna has been exposed to the big, bad world out there, the realities, and in a world where only Lady Gaga truly addresses homosexuality in her art, Rihanna shows maturity beyond her years as she huskily tries to let down her would-be-lover down easy. However, the sultry nudge-winks implied in Rihanna's thoughtful tones make it easy to understand how one could be easily led on. Let's hope it just holds up in court though.


7
Yamaha
The-Dream

The-Dream just has no shame when crafting his lush, exquisite R&B landscapes, and "Yamaha" is full on 80s tribute, one swung beat away from New Jack Swing. Taken from his third record "Love King", only The-Dream can make misogyny sexy and forgivable. "Never seen a girl with an ass so fat" is uttered like a desperate plee for love rather than a leering retort, amongst the stuttering rhythms and sunrise strings. Pushing the boundaries of R&B even further, The-Dream is R&B's one true talent.


6
Love
Visitor

Vistor don't have an awful lot to show for themselves other than an euphoric indie dance single that pulled out all the cheesy stops to tug at your heartstrings, but it is its predominantly instrumental 6 minute rave/house b-side that really wets the thirst of the emotional and the romantic.


5
Fright Night (Nevermore)
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

My ears are used to hearing modern bands take huge chunks of ideas that can barely pass off as 'influence' from the 70s and 80s, but its a real thrill to hear an artist truly recreate the sound of an era, warts and all. Ariel Pink are 60s psychadelica, 70s prog and 80s horrorpop, and all played through a transistor radio in the corner of a worn down California motel room one summer evening in 1972. There's a killer on the loose, you watch the sunset through your nets curtains, enveloped in cigarette smoke and the smell of cheap whisky. You suddenly hear "knock, knock, knock, on the door, 3 times!", you spin round... TO BE CONTINUED!

No, but in all honesty, it's a tune.


4
Commander
Kelly Rowland & David Guetta

Damn girl. Never has an sassy R&B diva ventured so confidently and defiantly into a rave and demanded attention, without a finger click or urban vibe in sight. "Commander" sounds so deliciously epic and thunderous that one automatically assumes it is a remix. We know Kelly translates to dance music well, see the goliath Joey Negro mix of "Daylight", but it's a delight to find she knows it too. David Guetta may be behind the steering wheel, supplying the lightning flash chords and collision course beats, but Kelly's in total control, and right now she commands you to dance. Do as she says.


3
Thin Air
Anathema

The opening notes of "Thin Air" are no strange sound to anyone who's attended an Anathema gig in the last 4 years. The delicate pitter patter of guitar that spirals around Vinny's soft falsetto has been a mainstay of their set for as long as the revered "Everything", and it follows the same glorious build up of said track, as does every perfect number of "We're Here Because We're Here". But whilst the happy-clappy "Everything" was alien to the ears of a great deal of melancholy, wistful Anathema fans, "Thin Air" is every bit the emotional battle the fans are used to, but for the first time ever, the battle is won. There couldn't be a more fitting opener for "WHBWH", and when Vinny breaks out of his falsetto restraints and soars with the line "it feels like we're already flying!" you're soaring through the sky with him.


2
Dancing on My Own
Robyn

Robyn isn't anyone's bitch or scapegoat. She doesn't compromise, she doesn't mince her words and she has attitude that could move mountains and bring down governments. But she's also an insecure little girl who desperately wants to be loved. Like "Be Mine" before it, "Dancing on My Own" is brutally honest, euphorically uplifting and yet tenderly bittersweet all at once, a thoroughly intense listening experience and yet with an all too simple message: a broken heart fucking hurts.

Thing is, "Dancing on My Own" is in a resolutely major key, and sports irresistable pulsing rhythms, shiny, tinkly synths and gorgeously warm synth strings; Robyn wants her love interest to see her having a good time without him. But he doesn't see her at all. She's damned if she cries over him, so she dances through her tears, determined to let herself go in the music. But with each thud of the kick, Robyn falls harder and harder. Proof, if ever there was such proof, that Robyn understands the sheer emotional power of a simple pop song.


1
Dreaming Light
Anathema

I rambled a lot about this'n in my Anathema blog, and there's no real need to reitterate how much this song means to me. So I will let Danny Cavanagh speak for himself.

"Suddenly, life has new meaning.
Suddenly, feeling is being.

Suddenly, I don't have to be afraid.
Suddenly, it all falls into place.

And you shine inside,
And love stills my mind like the sunrise
Dreaming light of the sunrise."

You can call it saccharine. You can call it a glorified power ballad. You can call it melodramatic. You can call it a U2 knockoff, a Sigur Ros knockoff, a fucking Coldplay song... you're not listening. LISTEN to Anathema play this song. Remember where they've been, what they've battled with, what they've expressed. Every balladic cliche is more than justified on "Dreaming Light", and it represents the end of one long, hard journey and the beginning of a new, enlightened life, full of hope and promise. If "Judgement" mourned "One Last Goodbye", "We're Here Because We're Here" dreams of light at the end of the tunnel.

"We are not just a moment in time."